Lindsey_CO_#1

I had my first classroom observation on Monday with the Advanced Foundations group, focusing on grammar. I really enjoyed sitting in on the class. At the beginning of the class, Debbie, the teacher, had every student introduce him/herself to me and say where they s/he was from. Some of the students were clearly shy, while some of them loved the chance to talk. 

Debbie started the class by asking students what the date was and what the weather was like. Students gave many descriptions, like “rainy” and “cloudy”. Multiple times during the class Debbie distinguished between vocabulary words. For instance, she used a gray sweater to explain to a student that the sky was gray, and not silver, like her necklace. 

After this, she moved on to the lesson, the verb “ to be”. She gave students the conjugations of the verb and had them interact by using it in sentences, like “she is tall”. After this, students moved to their book, where Debbie used the subject of family members to explain the verb “to be”. Students had many questions, like what the difference between a teenager and kid was. Debbie told students to be quiet a few times when they spoke out and had everyone raise his/her hand to participate. 

Overall, Debbie seemed like an experienced and confident English teacher. I particularly noticed the distinctions she had to make between vocabulary words and how she had to correct students’ speech. She even wrote a template on the board for one student who kept forgetting to use a verb when he spoke. This method of using a template seemed very effective for helping students to use correct grammar when speaking.