Sewickley Hills, Pennsylvania TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

UNIT 6 This unit is based on video lessons about two teaching demonstrations featuring the ESA techniques. Below is an overview of the two videos, ESA demonstration – class 1, and ESA – demonstration – class 2 respectively: ESA – DEMONSTRATION – CLASS 1 The teacher greets the students upon entering the classroom, goes straight to a table and picks up what looks like a lesson plan, checks it briefly, then starts the lesson. Tells the students what the lesson is based on, i.e. Things that are necessary and things that are not necessary to do. He invites the students by name to tell him the things that are necessary to do. The students are unable to answer the question so the teacher follows up with another question, “What is acceptable to do and what is not acceptable to do?” The students do not give a clear response. They seem confused by and do not seem to know the words, necessary, acceptable, and regulations. The teacher then moves to use a flashcard which features a STOP sign to demonstrate what to do and what not to do in terms of road regulations. Students attempt an answer. The teacher says the answer is wrong, then proceeds to write Gap Fill sentences on the board. i.e. Have to/don’t have to stop; and Have to/don’t have pay. The teacher then initiates a choral repetition of, “Have to” and “Don’t have” phrases. Suddenly, three students enter the classroom. The teacher shows his disapproval of their lateness by turning his back to them. Apprehensive, the students react by retreating out of the class. The teacher calls them back to find seats. He scolds them and advises them to be on time. The teacher continues the lesson by introducing Can and Can’t sentences using a flashcard showing a traffic light and right-turn sign. He gestures a choral repetition then points to three students to repeat. Drills of Can/Can’t pronunciation, then asks students to name question markers for new sentences. Students seem confused. The teacher then introduces worksheets, one to each student, and asks to read and follow instruction on the worksheet to complete; and to do individual work. Teacher announces a timeframe of about 3 minutes within which the exercise is to be completed. He hovers over the students pushing them to work faster. The teacher calls for an end to the exercise and proceeds to check answers. Drills students on have to/don’t have to; can/can’t in choral repletion. Prepares students for an activity, dividing them into groups of five. Instructions are given out hurriedly and a few of the students guess the answers to questions the teacher asks. The students don’t seem to understand. Few of them try guessing the answers to please the teacher. The teacher seems to choose the side that is winning the game. The students still don’t seem to understand the activity. The teacher controls the activity for a while, then gives up when students continue to look confused. ESA – DEMONSTRATION – CLASS 2 The teacher enters the class and introduces himself as Simon. He then invites the students to do the same one after the other. The teacher had already written a gap-fill exercise on the board. He first elicits what can be seen in a Zoo. Students immediately answer, “animals.” The teacher then calls on one student to name an animal to fill the blank. He gives each student the chance to participate by calling by calling them by name. Students offer correct answers easily to the question, “what can you see at the zoo?” and “what can you do at the beach?” The teacher then used a plate to elicit the question, “what is done after eating at a restaurant. The students quickly understand and provided the answer, “pay.” Which was then connect to the first two sentences. This is followed by more board gap-fill exercises using another verb that expresses an obligation or a necessity, i.e. Have to/don’t have to, in the same vein. The teacher then introduces a worksheet, asking students to work in pairs. He gives them the instructions and shows some examples on the board as to how to do the exercise. He checks on students during the work time, then proceeds to check correct answers together, but by encouraging responses from each student. At the end, the teacher introduces the game Bingo. He first asks students if they know the game to which they respond in the affirmative. He then verifies their knowledge of the game by asking questions and elaborating the game on the board. From this unit, I have learnt the following: Video 1 – The teacher is unprepared. Had to check the lesson plan before remembering what to teach, does not know how to elicit the language points, uses difficult and unknown vocabulary. E.g. Necessary, Acceptable, Regulation, and follows up with even more difficult questions, further confusing students. He responds to incorrect answers with a blatant “No” and “That is wrong!” Very impatient - does not care about students’ understanding of the topic, and complains when the response he expects is not forthcoming. Points at students and refers to them as, “you” when inviting them to participate. Student participation was low because they did not understand the lesson. They guessed the answers most of the time. The students are afraid and timid. Does not encourage equal participation. Called only on some students to answer question. Does not encourage student-student rapport. He promoted individual work, and choral repetition only. He is not fair. He calls on only some students during drills. He chose to the with sides with the winning team during the last activity. The lesson does not follow any structure. It seems to have begun at Study stage and ended at study stage. Teacher is overly controlling his talk-time dominates the lesson throughout. Student talk-time is quite low.