Blog #3: Observation of veteran teacher (due Monday, 1/30/12 by 8 AM)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard Barrett on January 29, 2012 at 8:38pm

My general impression of classroom that I observed (and I hate to be so negative) was that it was boring.  Even though the material wasn't all that complicated, I could tell that many of the students were just not engaged at all; they had just tuned out.  In one of the activites, the students were basically answering rote-style and many seemed to be just moving their lips.

As far as use of the L2 goes, it was minimal at best; Mrs. X would use it only with gambits and one-word things.  The students didn't hardly use the L2 either; as I mentioned earlier, it was mostly in rote-style (they had done a written activity earlier and were just calling out answers.  It is a little frustrating that neither the students nor the teacher used the L2 very much; I think for adequate language learning, one makes errors along the way to help learn, but you can't make errors if you don't use the language.

The teacher made use of Communication, Comparisons, and Connections, but I don't specifically remember much emphasis on Culture nor Community.  The teacher did however have her lesson organized and planned very well; it was on the board and she went through it at the beginning of class.

If I were to do the lesson, I would work to make it more interesting and engaging to keep the students' interest peeked.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Richardson on January 29, 2012 at 8:54pm

I was generally quite unimpressed with the amount of L2 used in the classroom. Mrs. X, although she is a native speaker, almost exclusively used English with very little Spanish sprinkled in. The kids naturally followed suit and used very little L2 in communicating with her and with each other. They are simply not used to having it in the classroom, even as level 3s. However, two out of the three classes are capable of understanding a class that uses the TL almost exclusively, at least for class discussion.
I was most concerned when a student spoke to the teacher in the TL and she responded in English. That is a very quick way to convince a student to avoid the TL.
However, the Cs of Communication and Connections were incorporated well in that the students were doing role-plays in a cafe, so they were generating the TL and communicating with one another in a realistic context. Later, with a music video and filling in lyrics to a song they received communication in another form.
However, if I were doing the lesson I would have been using more TL for classroom communication and would have taken a minute to incorporate Culture into the music video, explaining some background about the singer and some of the awards that song had won.

Permalink Reply by Richard Barrett on February 5, 2012 at 9:19pm

Jessica, I feel that I must echo what you have said about the amount of L2 being used in class.  My teacher doesn't use the L2 very much either, however, I must say that you should find yourself lucky that some of your students use the language in the class; my students hardly speak in the L2.  But I guess like you said, it's probably because my teacher doesn't use the L2 very much in the class.

Permalink Reply by Ben Campbell on January 29, 2012 at 9:59pm

My overall impressions were pretty good! Although it was a lecture day on how to use informal tú commands, the teacher did a very good job of keeping the students focused and involved.  When the teacher told the students at the beginning of class what he/she was teaching I was a little worried that it was going to be boring and un-engaging (is that a word?) however the students took notes and participated.  I think the reason the students seemed engaged was because all though it was all lecture notes, he/she had the students involved answering questions and writing on the promethean board.  So the students weren't just stuck in their seats forced to listen.  Also, the contexts in which the teacher explained the usage of the commands where very relevant and the students really enjoyed them.  

As far as incorporating c's into the lesson there was not a particular activity that focused on a 'c' however the communication c was incorporated a lot while the students responded to the teacher with examples of commands.  The culture 'c' was incorporated in explanations of vocabulary dealing with food eating habits and mannerisms of spanish speaking countries.  Although they didn't focus a lot on the c's in class the teacher did mention a unit project the students will be doing that will incorporate all the c's.

The one thing I think that could be improved is what richard and jessica have already stated.  The TL could be used a lot more often.  The teacher would speak in the TL but would often have to explain what he/she meant in english because the students would stare and say they didn't get it.  Also there was very little usage of the L2 between the students.  They would usually talk to each other in english.  However I have observed this class on another day when the L2 was almost used the entire classroom, so I think they may have used a little more english on a grammar lecture day to make sure the students understood.  I still think the TL should be used more frequently.

In conclusion, I think the teacher did a great job getting the students involved especially since it was lecture for most of the period.  I usually see students fall asleep during lecture but these students were all awake and actively involved and asking questions.  The only suggestion would be to focus more on the L2 in class.  Other than that the lesson was well laid out on the promethean board and the explanation of informal commands was very applicable for the students. If i were to do the lesson the only things I would change would be encourage more L2 usage and probably have some kind of activity that would have the students talking and practicing the informal commands.

Permalink Reply by Ben Campbell on February 4, 2012 at 9:24am

I totally agree with the need to use more L2 in the classroom!  I think it may be more of a common problem to use more english than spanish than we think.  I remember back in high school we used A LOT of english in our Spanish classes and it really wasn't till Spn 3 at the end of the year where I had to start speaking the language.  Coming to Furman I knew how things worked grammatically and knew vocabulary but I couldn't speak in clear full thought out sentences until after my first Spanish class at Furman.  I totally agree though that it shouldn't be this way but I have a feeling it is pretty common.  But hey we can change that once we start teaching!! And students will catch on to what you are saying, they will learn a whole lot more just through hearing you speak the language, and they will love you!  You can do it! (alright pep-talk is over...if you need another pep-talk just let me know)  :) 

Permalink Reply by Jessica Richardson on February 3, 2012 at 2:10pm

I have to keep that in mind as well. Other teachers than my coteacher exist and they are using the L2 effectively in the classroom, so I can too! I think my teacher underestimates my students as well because when she did a TPR lesson with them on Thursday that was all about prepositions, they loved it! All the students participated and I remember learning a rhyme just like that which has stuck with me over the years. I definitely will be holding my students to a high standard, but be doing more concrete activities with them like that because the level f engagement and instruction was very high.