John Greubel

The objective for the lesson was primarily to have the student use the key vocabulary
accurately and correctly when describing the positive and negative aspects of the regions of
Spain. Specifically, the assessment of this objective involved the student performing an
expressive and verbal demonstration by answering what region of Spain they would like to visit
or live in and why. I believe we achieved the objective in a basic form, although the reality of the
situation limited the effectiveness of our lesson. Since this was not an assessment with stakes, the
student did not have an interest in providing attention and retaining the information in a
meaningful way. While the student was attentive and participatory, the previous two lessons that
the student had to sit through might have drained their endurance. I was able to make this
observation through the students regimented responses and signs of physical tiring, such as
slouching in the seat and a slight tilt of the head upwards that indicates neck strain. The student
also required the refer back to the notes in order to describe some aspects of the regions verbally,
indicating that the information had not been actively absorbed during the lesson. Besides these
two signs, the student was able to follow the lesson and speak competently on 80% of the
material assessed.
Relating to language objectives, the student was challenged throughout the lesson by
being introduced to words that are both new vocabulary and in another language. Although the
student chose not to verbally express more difficult terms, such as the squid dish from Basque
country Txipirones, they did use many other terms to describe Catalonia and parts of Galicia.
The student chose Catalonia as their preferred region, accurately identifying the climate, the
name of the theme park, and the artist Gaudi without their notes. The student also indicated that
they would prefer the food Paella instead from Andalusia and that the weather in Galicia would

not be desirable. From all of this, the co teacher and myself were able to confidently conclude
the lesson without need for reinforcement. Although I do not believe this student has retained the
material long term, They demonstrated competency in the moment and were able to use the five
key vocabulary words accurately.
Although the nature of the lesson was to give a brief outline of each region to help
solidify their differences, I believe the key terms could have been used in a more interconnected
way when discussing Spain as a country rather than a series of distinct regions. This presentation
style came from the regimented and segmented presentation of each region through a formatted
powerpoint. Additionally, the final assessment was intended to be done without supportive
materials. Possibly due to a miscommunication or a feeling by my co-teacher that the student
would not be able to perform competently without them, the notes remained with the student
throughout the assessment. Upon viewing the students performance, I agree with my coteachers decision, as the materials were needed for the student to demonstrate their knowledge.
Upon reflection, it was not necessary to take away the materials as the key vocabulary was still
assessed with the notes. Aspects of the assessment that make them more difficult without an
educational reason behind them are easy to pass over on high performing native speaker, but
might cause problem with a real ELL situation.
If the lesson had been given to a ELL student, the language used on the powerpoint
would require much more consideration and less word count. I also would have preferred a one
teach, one support system with a larger ELL class, allowing the aspects of the lesson to be
reinforced in real time with each student, rather than having one teacher stand around waiting to
present their material. The alternating system of teaching could still be implemented with the
support system, as most of the presentation one of the teaching team was idle. Also the

worksheets provided might have included a word bank to help a student with spelling and
sentence structure, as the real aspect being tested is vocabulary and its expressive use.