TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer_John Park Observation # ___1_____

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
10/7/16 Online English Basic Beginner Allen (Sean)
Kindergarten

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE FEATURES AND EXPLAIN WHO THEY ARE AND WHERE
THEY'RE FROM.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO PRODUCE THE CORRECT SOUNDS WHEN PRONOUNCING WORDS
AND COMPLETE AN ACTIVITY THAT ASKS THEM TO MATCH OR IDENTIFY WHAT IS HAPPENING
IN A PICTURE, USING ENGLISH WORDS.

Notes while observing:

Kindergarten ESL lesson, basic words, speaking and describing events

Implementing Song/chants after beginning with certain phrases or words
Utilizes body language/movement (mostly hand gestures and props during
song and chant)
Practicing speaking, word fluency, description, and explanation
Word association during song/ chant, asking questions focused on the
students to get them engaged in the conversation/lesson
Basic gestures to get class to settle down or uses song/ chant, which calms
the students (due to the excitement and age of the children) and practices
speaking speed, fluency and what is happening
Picture and video association
Uses video software and different props to present, practice and produce
Talks about what has happened in the video and begins to go over together
and gets the kids to explain the scenario ( began with explaining it, going
over with them, watching the video and then asking them, and finally
going over it one more time

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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 observation, I focused on teaching, along with the motivation of the learners and
the materials used in the lesson. The class took place in Suzhou Foreign Language
School kindergarten, where the lesson was instructed by Allen. Students in the class
seemed to be no more than four or five years old, and I wanted to identify the different
techniques an educator could use, to teach a foreign language to a much younger class;
possibly a class where they began to speak their own mother tongue, which in this case
would be Chinese.

There seemed to be around 23 students that came to the ESL class, and the instruction
began when the teacher asked the students to sing/chant with him. During the start of
the class, the students were energetic and it seems the teacher utilized the active,
energetic nature of the children to get them to settle down while review what they have
probably learned through song/chant. The way he implemented the lesson was through
fun enjoyable activities that are attractive to children, He showed an aura that was
comfortable, fun and loving. During the song/chants, which was done three times
explaining different things, instructor Allen utilized a large amount of exaggerated
body movement. This seemed to get more of the childrens attentions and the song
seemed to help with their pronunciation, as the exercise allowed him to get their
attention as well put in the practice of speaking.

The lesson plan format seemed to follow a PPP model, as it was effective in the
speaking and description category of the lesson. While researching, I find that when
teaching speaking [utilizing] PP (presentation, Practice and Product) lesson plan
allows for a better learning experience (Socheath, 2010, p. 64). The instructor began
with a small description and began practice with song/chant while using props, and had
them produce the result while guiding them at the same time. This happened around
4:20 in the video, where he used the T.V. and the software Yipee, published by
Harcourt, as materials for the PPP lesson. I learn from the lesson in the video that the
best way to get little kids to learn would be to engage in an activity that circles around
learning. It truly becomes a student-centered education which allows for better results
and more joy in learning.

Overall the lesson plan that the instructor came up with was interesting and pretty
unique. This is because all the activities he did were highly interactive and allowed the
children to be themselves. It made learning fun and was student focused, rather than
teacher focused. If the teacher engages in classroom lessons with a sense of intellectual
excitement, there is at least a fair probability that learners will begin to participate in the
excitement and to perceive classroom lessons mainly as learning events-as experiences of
growth for themselves (Prabhu 1992: 239)

Last Updated: 6/13/2017 11:58 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
He made sure to be interactive and involved with the learning process, being patient
every step along the way. I saw that the teacher enjoyed the energy of the class, which
made things easier for him to teach English. One similarity that I found when
observing the lesson, is that the lessons do not differ to the ones in America. This could
be because the kids are also starting to learn and understand their own language, which
creates an easier time to absorb the words through listening, speaking and reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2tGtw1_W_E

Socheath, M. (2010). Simple Ways to Improve English Speaking in Teaching and

Learning. Leksika, 4 (2). Retrieved from
http://jurnal.ump.aci.id/index.php/leksika/article/viewFile/311/296

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques & principles in language

teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Last Updated: 6/13/2017 11:58 PM