I observed one of Sana's Level 1 grammar classes. It was a basic class on using past tenses. I sat in the back with a few students and helped them on the in-class assignment.
During the overview and explanation of the topic, past tenses, she allowed the students to take pictures of the board with their phone, which I thought was a great idea. She often had to call on students that did not want to speak, because often there were a couple Middle Eastern boys who were more apt to speak than anyone else. This is a definite trend I have noticed.
The class was pretty split between students who really understood the lesson and those that struggled a lot. I noticed that the students who had a better spoken grasp on the language were better in this grammar class. There seemed to be a wide variance between a few of the students; there was clearly an advanced section of the class.
I sat next to a Kuwaiti girl who definitely had trouble understanding the lesson. Her friend was catching on quickly, but she definitely struggled. She was one of the more silent people in the class- and that seemed like a definite correlation. Many of the more advanced people were the ones who spoke frequently and often.
That made me really understand the point of interaction and group activities- simply speaking as much as possible allows students to make errors and learn from them at a more rapid pace.
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