TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer: Lingjing Li
Date

Observation
Environment*

10/31/2016 UCR Extension

IEP Class

Class

Observation #4
Skill/Content

Reading and Discussion and

Writing Class vocabulary

Level

Teacher

400

Reza Fiyouzat

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DISCUSS AND SHARE THEIR OPINIONS ON THE TOPIC OF A NEW
UNIT AS DEMONSTRATED.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF WHAT THIS UNIT IS ABOUT THROUGH
PRE-READING EXERCISE.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DEFINE THE MEANINGS OF NEW WORDS AND PHRASES AS
DEMONSTRATED.

Notes while observing:

On board (before class): Unit6: Philosophy
On board (before class): When and why do we help others? When and why do we not
help others?
10:00 Class began
T handed out Halloween candies.
T talked about the quiz on Friday, and further explained the why there are grammar
mistakes and slangs in these assigned chapters in the book Seed folks.
10:09 Warm up
T introduced the topic of the new unit: philosophy (already on board).
T broke down the topic into two specific questions: When and why do we help others?
When and why do we not help others? (already on board)
T asked Ss to discuss these two questions in groups.
T asked Ss if they understood the instruction. (Ss were quiet.)
T gave a detailed situation: when you meet a homeless people asking for change, how
many of you will help? (No one raised hand.)
T gave instructions on discussing why you wouldnt help.
T assigned groups of 4 to 5 people and asked Ss to discuss for 5 to 6 minutes.
Ss discussed actively, while T wrote on board: Situations: you see a young kid being
bullied by three older teenagers, will you help the kid?
T noticed one S didnt participate in any groups discussion, so T asked him to join a
group.

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
T continued to write on board: You are with two friends.
T stopped the discussion and explained to Ss the situation described on board.
T let Ss go back to their groups and discuss the given situation.
T asked for response.
Ss gave opinions like depend on the situation and call more back up.
T specifically asked the S who was reluctant to talk earlier. (S answered.)
T then changed the condition in the situation (on board): old woman was bullied
T explained the new situation while one S came in late.
T kept changing the condition (on board): by one teenager. You are not alone.
T asked if Ss would help. (Ss gave their answers and opinions.)
T changed the conditions again (on board): a woman was bullied by some teenagers.
T started to describe details of the situation and asked Ss if they would help.
The majority raised hands.
T kept changing conditions of the same situation and asked Ss to raise hands to show help
or dont help.
T concluded the activity and connected it with the new unit.
10:25 Presentation
T briefly introduced the reading.
T asked Ss to turn to page 133 and explained the pre-reading exercise: only read the title
and look at the photograph.
T asked what happened in the photograph. (2 to 3 Ss answered.)
T kept asking the details in the photograph (e.g. what do they look like they do for a
living?)
Ss were quiet, so the T kept giving hints like do you think they look like construction
workers, or businessmen?
Ss responded.
T described the photograph by giving more details and possible causes.
T led Ss to go back to the pre-reading exercise and explained the instruction.
T raised examples to illustrate the picture of the situation using Ss as characters.
T asked if Ss understand the question: in which situation would we help others? When we
are alone or there are a lot of people around?
Ss picked their choice, and T walked around to check if they finished.
T explained this time they would check the vocabulary first.
T asked Ss to look at according to and tell him the meaning.
One S said depend on, another S used examples according to the police.
T agreed with the second answer and further explained (on board) that according to
someone means someone says/claims.
T gave another example using according to.
Using the same method (looked at the new word and phrases, some students gave
definitions, T further perfected and simplified the definitions, and gave more examples),
Ss and T went through all the new words and phrases including: apply to, complex, end
up, factor, prove, responsibility, theory, and witness.
10:50 Class ended

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)
In this class, I mainly focused on two aspects of teaching. The first one is how the
teacher asks questions, and the second one is learner-centered teaching.
During the class, its easy to notice that the teacher actually only gave two questions.
And by changing the conditions in the given situation and adding new information
relating to students themselves, the questions became intriguing and more students were
engaged. Furthermore, I noticed that whenever the teacher needed to ask a question, he
would describe it with a lot of details and sometimes include students into his description.
I think this is a good way for students to visualize the situation with the provided details
and their answers would be more realistic and true. The questions the teacher gave at the
beginning of the class can be viewed as comprehension questions before reading
regarding of the topic of this unit, and according to Nation (2009), comprehension
questions motivate people to read, which explains why in this class comprehension
questions were placed before the reading.
The second perspective I observed was learner-centered teaching. One assessment of
learner-centered teaching is the amount of talking the teacher does during the lesson
(Richards, Farrell, 2013), and from the note and my observation, the teacher was trying to
get students talk for most of the time. If time was limited for discussing a question, the
teacher would at least do hand raise to let students make a stand. I found it very useful for
letting the students know that the teacher cares more about what students think than
teaching endlessly. Also, from the student who was not very engaged in the class, and the
teachers conversation with him, I could tell that the teacher has been familiar with this
students learning style, and maybe it is the students norm, in which case requires the

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
teachers adjustment to individual needs (Richards, Farrell, 2013). The adjustment the
teacher made in this class was specifically asking the student to talk to classmates and to
answer questions. And all these instructions were given in a friendly rather than tough
way by the teacher to motivate and encourage the student instead of intimidate him.
From this fifty-minute class observation, I learned that comprehension questions
designed before the reading can be a good way to intrigue students and motivate them to
read, as long as the teacher gives enough detail and situation allowing students
imagination and visualization. I also learned that learner-centered teaching maximize the
students time of using the target language and the teacher sometimes needs to use
different approaches to adapt to students individual needs and situations in order to be
more learner-centered.

Last Updated: 12/6/2016 1:17 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
References
Nation, I, S, P. (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL reading and writing. Intensive Reading, 31.
Richards, J, C., & Farrell, T, S, C. (2013) Practice teaching: a reflective approach.
Developing Learner-Centered Teaching, 121.

Last Updated: 12/6/2016 1:17 AM