TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Name of Observer: Jiweon Lee
No.

Date

Observation
Environment
(include URL if
the class was
online)

5/4
2016

Face to face
(classroom)

Observation # _02__

Class Skill/Content

Class
Level/Number
(Beg./Int./Adv.)

Teacher

Reading & Writing

300(342)
low intermediate

Robb
Hughes

OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON:

1. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO BUILD VOCABULARIES THROUGH
STUDYING SUFFIXES.
2. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY VOCABULARIES THROUGH
STUDYING SUFFIXES.
Before the class started off, the T had prepared a Microsoft Word document. T
introduced the observer to students. He said that today there is an observer, Jiweon. Then,
he started his class.
The T talked to the Ss to pull out their handout. Then he read a question sentence
in the paper. During his reading, he stressed the word suffix. He asked to Ss what it
means, and the Ss answered his question. He gave feedback on these answers: he
explained the word 'Persistence' as an example. The T spoke 'Persistence' again, and the
Ss repeated after him. The T corrected their pronunciations: he stressed the /r/ sound in
the word 'Persistence'. He said the suffix of 'Persistence', '-ence' and gave another suffix 'ance'. Next he gave information about the meaning of 'Persistence'. Then, he moved on to
quizzes. To solve the quiz, he demonstrated how to solve it. First, he said the function of
'Her' is an adjective-noun, typing the word on screen. He gave three minutes to work on

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
those quizzes. The Ss could work using the packet given in the class. While the Ss solved
the question, he notified how much time was remaining. After three minutes, he asked the
Ss to share their answers with their partner. He made several pairs to do it. When the Ss
spoke their own language, he said that they should speak English to share it. The T
started his class by asking the Ss: what kind of word could be the answer to question
number one. The Ss replied in groups and the T added more information. He went
through the questions: First, focus on the form of the words. Second, he explained the
meaning of the words. When he did so, he searched on an online dictionary and let the Ss
listen the pronunciations of the words, or he explained the meaning using easy
vocabulary words. Also he mentioned 'Voca-block', which was in the packet of class
materials. He asked the Ss to write down some vocabulary words when they came across
words that they didn't know the meaning. He pointed out the right usage of the words'
tenses. Moreover, he mentioned some words that were similar to words in the handout.
For example, when he taught the word 'Adulthood', he compared it with 'neighborhood',
explaining the suffix '-hood'. He gave few minutes for each question to be solved with
their partner. He repeated this method until they went through all of the questions in the
paper. When they started to use the textbook, he read the grammar section to the Ss, and
he asked the Ss to underline five words that they studied.
After that, he asked the Ss to hand in their homework. Most of the Ss submitted,
but there were two students who didn't submit it. He explained to them that there would
be a deduction of ten points for being late. After checking it, the T asked the Ss to give
their homework to their partner, and circle every single past tense verbs in the homework.
When the Ss finished it, he told them to look carefully whether their past tense verbs

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TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
were correct. He gave one minute to the Ss for correcting what their partner checked
before submitting it. He mentioned the Ss should check their emails every day. The class
was finished.

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)
I focused on how he made the students feel comfortable. When I took his class
before the observation, I could feel relaxed even while I was learning. I was curious
about the reason why I didn't feel stressed from learning. I found two reasons. First he led
his class with confidence and I think that came from his materials. He prepared what he
would teach in his class perfectly and simply followed it. Second, he used humor to relax
the students. When a student made a mistake, he converted the mistake to humor. The
student didn't feel bad but he was laughing and the class kept going.

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 remember how to teach the lower level students. After observation, I
asked to the teacher: why did you do first step was identifying and then correct second. I
thought that just going to the second step was faster. However, he explained to me that if
he taught the level 500 students, he could do that, but he taught the level 300 students, so

Last Updated: 11/13/2016 11:23 PM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
he thought that they needed to have time to identify which word is a subject or a verb. I
think this technique- to consider the level of the students and have different steps to teach
them is very important. In my future classes, I can use this method to teach students of
varying levels together in a class.

Last Updated: 11/13/2016 11:23 PM