TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

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

Name of Observer Mami Abe

Date

Observation
Environment (include

Observation # 8

Class Skill/Content

URL if the class was

online)

5/19/201
5

UCR Extension

Listening Speaking

Class
Level/Number
(Beg./Int./Adv.)
400

Teacher

Karen Lindwall

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 identify main ideas of a text by answering true or false questions.
Students will discuss details of the text with their partners.
Students will practice giving a short presentation with their partners for multiple times.
Notes while observing:
Time Activity
10:10 Warm-up
The teacher greeted students and wrote the plan for the day on the board. The
teacher also reviewed what students would have to do by tomorrow and the next
week.
10:17 Review
The teacher asked students to review the last lesson in pairs.
10:20 Listening
Students listened to a text for main ideas and talked about them in pairs. Then, the
teacher asked the class questions about main ideas and explained some
vocabulary such as employer and employment.
10:24 Students listened to the text again and talked in pairs as well. Then, the teacher
asked students further questions.
10:26 Students listened to the text for the third time and talked in pairs, and the teacher
made sure that all students understood the main ideas of the text by asking
questions.
10:32 The teacher asked students to open their textbook and answer true or false
questions in pairs. Students listened to the text again to answer the questions and
talked in pairs, and the teacher asked the class the answers.
10:42 Students answered questions about details of the text in pairs, and the teacher
checked the answers.
10:48 Speaking
Last Updated: 8/12/2015 21:14 a8/p8

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
The teacher asked students to stand up, make two lines, and face each other.
Students who lined up on one side started to talk about give-back companies.
Students were asked to make a research by the day, and they told their partners the
name of the company which they researched and what the company does.
Students switched their role, and in turn, students who lined up on another side
started to talk.
10:53 The teacher asked students who lined up on one side to move and meet another
partners. Students told the same thing which they had already talked before to
another partners in shorter time than before.
10:56 The teacher asked students who lined up on one side to move and meet another
partners again. Students gave the short presentation for the third time to another
partners in much shorter time than before.
10:59 Wrap-up
The teacher assigned homework and finished the lesson.

Last Updated: 8/12/2015 21:14 a8/p8

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 found that the lesson was carried based on TBLT, Task-Based Language
Teaching method. My thought springs from the fact that the teacher explicitly told the
purpose of listening whenever she asked students to listen to the text. As a case in point,
for the first listening, she said, Listen for the main ideas, and for the second listening,
she said, Write down key words from the text. By making it clear the purpose of
listening, students can concentrate on listening more. Additionally, the teacher kept
encouraging students to focus on their work by giving reinforcements. In that point, I
think that she used Dessugestopedia method. For instance, although the length of the text
was somewhat long, and the content of the text was difficult, she told students that they
did not have to worry if they could not understand all.
As to the three levels of teacher reflection, the lesson was well organized. At the
beginning of the lesson, the teacher wrote the days plan on the board, and she completed
the plan in time, so I think that her time management and prediction toward the class
were superb. Moreover, the students could have enough time to listen to the text so that
all the students could understand the main ideas of the text. Finally, the teacher gave the
students fair and enough opportunities to speak and ask questions; in fact, she took a lot
of time doing pair work. Regarding the content of the lesson, the topic was about CSR,
Corporate Social Responsibilities, and it seemed difficult for students, but such an
academic text is important for students who want to work in the company in the future to
build basic knowledge about the society.
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)
As one of the activities that the teacher used, she had an activity called 4/3/2. I
learned the activity in a textbook about teaching vocabulary. In the activity, students talk
about the same topic, the give-back company in the lesson, for three times, but the time
for speaking shortens every time. In other words, students have four minutes to talk for
their first speaking, but they only have three minutes to talk about the same speech. That
is, students have to improve their speaking in terms of the speed and fluency so that they
can make it to finish speaking in the allotted time. Learning the activity in the textbook, I
thought that the activity was very fun and useful to improve students fluency. However, I
have never experienced the activity as a student nor teacher. Therefore, the lesson was
meaningful for me. I could see how the activity worked in the actual class, and I realized
that the activity is truly useful. In my future teaching, I will definitely use the activity.