TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed

Name of Observer Hyeonseong (Daniel) Shin Observation # 5

Date

Observation
Environment (include

Class
Skill/Content

Class
Teacher
Level/Number
URL if the class was
(Beg./Int./Adv.)
online)
Listening &
IEP 300
05/15/2015
UCR Extension
Johanna Kim
Speaking
(Intermediate)
Focus on relevant areas from the What Can Be Observed handout. Notice how the
teacher handles these areas during the class.
OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON:
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR PERSONAL OPINIONS BASED ON
LISTENING CONTEXT.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO CLASSIFY POLITE AND IMPOLITE ACTIONS THROUGH THE
DEBATE WITH PARTNERS.
Notes while observing
Warm-Up (9 minutes)
Before the class, T put the question on the board Are people less polite these days
than in the past? Give an example and explain your opinion.
When the class starts, T has Ss stand in two lines and find the partner. T then asks
Ss to talk with their partner about the question on the board for two minutes. After
that, Ss are required to find other partner and are asked to talk with the partner.
During the activity, T uses timer to measure two minutes and walks around the
class so as to encourage Ss to tell their opinion.
After the activity, Ss go back to their own seats. T asks some Ss Who were your
partners? What was the opinion of your partners? When T selects student who will
answer the question, T uses sticks with names. The Ss names were written on the
one side of the stick.
After Ss answer the question, T reports again what S said in correct way. In other
words, if Ss make errors, T gives corrections indirect way.
Pre-Listening (10 minutes)
T says Ss are going to learn new vocabulary: Confusing, Electronic device, Faceto-face, Immediate Response. The new vocabulary will activate students schema. T
teaches a pronunciation. T explains where the stress is in the vocabulary.
Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:50 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

T asks Ss to read the sentences and to choose the right vocabulary. Ss find the
meaning of the vocabulary from the context. After that, Ss check the answers with
their partners.

Listening (10 minutes)

T introduces Ss are going to listen to the next part of the radio. (Ss listened to the
beginning part of the radio yesterday.) Ss listen to the radio and then check what
they have listened with their partner. T walks around and facilitates Ss while Ss are
discussing the questions.
T checks the answers with Ss and then asks why Ss think it is the answer.
The listening was about the impoliteness in these days rather than the past. After
checking the answers, T asks Ss Do you have an example why it is true? One
student answers Texting causes impoliteness because I text with my sister even
though we are staying in the same house. T summarizes what the student said
Yes! Right. People text instead of talking to next person.
Post-Listening (20 minutes)
T has Ss categorize polite and impolite action in the chart giving the reasons and
opinions. T gives some hints and explains the sentence when Ss seem that they
cannot understand it.
Ss make group in three people and share the answers whether the situation and
reasons are polite or not.
T divides the board into two parts drawing a column on the board. T teaches
indirectly new vocabulary Courteous, which has same meaning with polite.
Courteous

Impolite

Ss are asked to come up with their own ideas and reasons why people do impolite
behaviors for two minutes. Ss are given one minute to recap and arrange their
reasons.
Ss in group report their reasons to the teacher.

Wrap-up (1 minute)
T gives students homework, which is to study and record the vocabulary in the next
chapter.

(continue on back)
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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Discuss your
observation focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes. Consider
the three levels of teacher reflection (surface, pedagogical, critical). (100-200 words)
Overall, this class was based on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
because students were encouraged to communicate in the target language with other
students (Larsen-freeman and Anderson, 2011). Whenever students were asked to figure
out the answer, students had to found out the answer by discussing and communicating
with their partner.
In this observation, first of all, I could learn how the teacher designed prelistening, which is warm-up task in listening class. At the beginning of the class, as a prelistening, the teacher asked a question that was relevant to the topic and Ss were asked to
discuss the question with several partners. This pre-listening step activated their
schemata, which reminds themselves of content related to what they will hear as well as
vocabulary and forms that will carry the content (Helgesen and Brown, 2007). In this
step, by having students stand and find the partner, the students were also activated to
use kinesthetic intelligence which is the ability to use someones body to express oneself
and to solve problems (Larsen-freeman and Anderson, 2011).
Next, I learned how the teacher integrated listening and speaking skills. Listening
and speaking are linear skills because people need to speak when they listen to something.
This is why the teacher put communicative activity, which required listening and
speaking together, in the post-listening phase.

What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your own
teaching practice? Discuss specific ways in which you could apply the techniques and
methods you saw. Discuss your future teaching environment and your students needs
and goals. (100-200 words)
I want to apply how T designed pre-listening activity in order to activate Ss
schema in my future class. This will be beneficial for my future students who are not good
at speaking as well as listening. When I was a student, I never spoke when I was studying
listening. However, I got an idea how I should teach listening and speaking together. In
this class, the teacher had Ss discuss the question that was relevant to the todays
listening topic.
In addition, I would like to apply the technique of using wood sticks when the
teacher chose a student who was going to speak and answer. With this technique, T could
call students evenly during the class and it would be helpful to memorize students names.
Teachers, in particular, the beginning teachers usually point a same student to answer

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
because they get nervous in the class. When I will be teaching, this is going to be a great
technique to point students evenly.
Lastly, the teacher gave corrections indirectly when students made errors. When
a student was talking, the teacher checked the errors and then recasted what the student
said in correct way. From what the teacher said, the student could realize what his or her
errors were and could correct on his or her own. This would decrease affective filter
According to Krashen, when affective filter is low, the best acquisition will occur in
environments of low anxiety (Brown, 2014).

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:50 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
References
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). In Techniques and principles in Language
Teaching. New York, N.Y., USA: Oxford University Press.
Helgesen, M., & Brown, S. (2007). Practical English Language Teaching: Listening.
New York: McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT.
Brown, H. (2014).Principles of language learning and teaching(6th ed.). New York, NY:
Pearson Education.

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:50 AM