METHODS COURSE I: SURVEY OF BEST PRACTICES IN TESOL

Sample Peer Observation Worksheet

Your Name: Mohamed Ali / Date of Observation: 9 February 2012
Name of course observed: Business English DU 225 / Type of course: Second year university course
Number of students in class: 25 / Language level of students: High Intermediate
General Description:
The average age of the students is 20 years old. They are mostly business majors. This is a required course.
The students are sitting in four rows. No student is sitting in the first front row.
All of them are Moroccans (L1=Arabic, L2= French)
Objectives for observed class session:
Content is based in Unit 4 “Advertising” from Market Leader, Intermediate, published by Longman.
Objectives:
·  Skimming, reading for information
·  Expressing one’s opinions about a specific topic
·  Guessing key vocabulary associated with advertising
·  Listening for specific information and vocabulary
Language skill focus for observed class:
The three skills: Speaking, listening and reading
Grammar structure(s): articles
Vocabulary for advertising media and methods
Lesson Outline
Time / Procedure / Notes
00-05 / Warm – up: asking students to think of ten products or services which they buy regularly, own or use and write them down
Eliciting whether the advertising for a product is rather on TV, the radio or print
Asking about the role of advertising in their purchase of brands
05-10 / PRESENTATION. Overview: asking students to read the quotation at the head of the page.
Asking them if they agree with Marshall McLuhan that “Advertising is the greatest form of the twentieth century” / Should ask about art forms they know
10-25 / Starting up: asking students look at 4 advertisements and choose the one they like best and justify their choice / Pre-listening
25-35 / PRACTICE. Listening to 5 people describing their favorite advertisement. Listening and taking notes (product and reasons for liking the advertisement) / While-listening
35-40 / Ask them if they are familiar with any of the advertisements described in the recording and elicit their opinion. If not which one they prefer based on the description from the speakers (Pair work) / Post-listening
Giving a few minutes to express their opinion
40-55 / Speaking: eliciting students’ opinions on whether some advertising practices are acceptable or not (Work in small groups): / Post-listening
Further speaking practice
The advertising practices are listed as five statements
55-65 / Vocabulary
Advertising methods and media
Completing a table with the help of a dictionary / Many words were difficult
Most students did not have a dictionary
65-90 / Reading: article on outdoor advertising from the Financial Times
What is outdoor advertising, examples, their favorite one?
Skimming the text for the main idea
Scanning the text for specific details: comprehension questions / Pre-reading: Before reading he should briefly pre-teach some vocabulary which might cause problems for them: e.g. arty, backlit, teaser campaign
He spent too long on the concept of outdoor advertising
90-100 / PRODUCTION. Discussion: what products are suitable for outdoor advertising? Is it a good thing that outdoor advertising in increasing in many countries? (work in pairs) / Post reading
100-115 / Grammar:
Students read the language check box
Then they read a car commercial featuring Steve McQueen. There are no articles in the text. Students write the article where appropriate
(work individually) / Skipped listening planned in the book
Practice of rules governing articles was done in the context of the lesson theme, advertising
Grammar is not taught inductively: the language check box consists of explicit rules for the usage of articles
They should compare their answers in pairs. Again he did not call on all students
Another Exercise: reinforcing the rules for using a and an.
Evaluation/Assessment / Did not ask them what they learnt from the lesson
Reflection
1. Did the teacher use Communicative Language Teaching? What did you observe which supports your answer?
Yes the teacher used the Communicative Language Teaching for the following reasons:
§  Focus on communication through interaction in English
§  Use of pair work
§  Focus on interaction activities (e.g. discussion session)
§  Focus on fluency (less frequent correction of grammatical mistakes)
§  The use of authentic texts (text from the Financial Times)
§  Grammar was studied in context
2. How much were the students involved in and engaged with the lesson?
Only 20% of students participated. Although the teacher was encouraging, but he did not call on all of the students to participate. When he addressed the class as whole and asked them questions, there were usually four to five students who were willing to participate.
3. What did you notice about teacher talk time vs. student talk time?
The teacher tried to reduce TTT (teacher talk time) by engaging students in pair work; however, STT (student talking time) seemed sometimes to be inefficient as I could hear student talk in Arabic. It seems to me that the teacher dominated classroom talk: (a) He tended to read the instructions; (b) most of the time he asked the questions; (c) he repeated answers of some students who did not speak up
4. What was the warm up of the lesson?
The warm up prepared students for the lesson theme, which is about advertising:
§  Asking students to think of ten products or services which they buy regularly, own or use
§  Eliciting whether the advertising for a product is rather on TV, the radio or print
§  Asking about the role of advertising in their purchase of brands
5. How was the new material presented?
Practice of rules governing articles was done in the context of the lesson theme, which is advertising. Students read a car commercial featuring a famous actor, where there are no articles. Students write the articles where appropriate.
Prior to this activity, however, the teacher asked the students to read a language check box from the course book. It contained explicit rules for the use of articles. Hence, grammar was taught explicitly.
6. How did the learners practice the new material?
For grammar practice, the task consisted of a list of words, and students chose either a or an to put before these words. The teacher did not suggest activities from the Practice File Student Book.
The new vocabulary associated with advertising was practiced throughout the lesson, and through the three skills, namely speaking, reading and listening.
7. Was there an evaluation?
The teacher did not ask students to evaluate the lesson nor did he ask them what they learnt from the lesson.
Any final comments you have about the lesson you observed.
It seems that the new vocabulary was well acquired. In the speaking activities, students used the new words and expressions when expressing their opinions about their favorite advertisements and about advertising practices.