Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Observation Task 1: Giving instructions

Page 3

Observation Task 4: Teacher talk VS Student talk

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Lesson plan implementation afterthought

Page 9

Learning afterthought

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Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Observation Task 1: Giving instructions

1) Observe the instructions the teacher gives during the lesson and complete
the table. For each skill, observe whether the teacher used it and decide
how successfully it was achieved.
Instruction-giving skills

Used?

Discussion points

Signalling start of
activity (creating a
silence)

Yes

The centre is an EOI, so the pupils are adult

people with responsibilities and they are in
the classroom by own decision so it's easy to
get an optimum ambient for a class
development. It's not difficult to create
silences in the classroom to give instructions
and introduce the students to the activities.
Furthermore, the teacher knows how to link
the different activities between them, how to
propose an activity relating it to the activity
below and how to introduce this activity,
setting a context and a reason to do it.

Use of simple language

Yes

The language the teacher uses is not

"simple", is adjusted to the level of the
students. The students uses to understand
correctly what the teacher says and if they
don't, they are not afraid of asking anything
to her. When the teacher have to explain the
meaning of a word she does it in English,
through explanation of the meaning or
contextualization of the word.

Use of short sentences

Yes

It's important to know how to get the

students to achieve the target knowledge
without getting around too much, it could
confuse them. To help them to get it it's
better to use the less content you can. The
teacher tries to use the less words,
expressions and use short sentence to
explain during the class and encourages
them to speak.

Logic and clarity

Yes

The teacher is clear and concise with what

her explanations. She already know the level
of the students and it causes a rapport in the
language learning-teaching process that
makes it something daily and easier.

Use of target language

Yes

The teacher uses the target language every

time during the lesson, she almost never
speaks in Spanish (just if the student doesn't
understand something and it's impossible to
make them guess it by himself/herself).

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Eye-contact

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Yes

During the lesson, the teacher keeps as time

as possible standing up in front of the
students, to keep the eye-contact and
thereby, their attention.

body

Yes

The teacher uses the classroom as another

resource for improving their attention.
When she makes them work in pairs or just
alone she walks around the classroom
checking their work and their activities
development, and, if necessary, she helps
them with their doubts.

Repeating instruction in
a different way

Yes

When students don't get the instruction in a

first instance, the teacher explains the
activity in other way, trying to make it
understandable for everybody, always in the
target language without using the mother
tongue.

Use of visual aids

Yes

During the lesson there is always projected

homework in the whiteboard so students
can see where they are and to prevent
students to get lost. She uses the computer
to project it and she uses resources as
videos, pictures and internet to make the
lesson more interesting.

Demonstration
rather
than explanation

Yes

To explain words, sentences or grammar

forms is usual that the teacher demonstrates
them these through a contextualization of
these.

Checking understanding

Yes

The teacher always check when somebody

hasn't understand well the instructions or a
grammar form, anyway students are
confident and responsible enough to ask her
when they have any question, teacher always
solves every doubt.

Signalling end of activity

Yes

It's important to set an end of an activity to

let them make a feedback and realise what
they did well and what they did wrong. The
teacher also gives feedback and helps them
with their mistakes and doubts if they have.

Mime, gesture,
language

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

2) Evaluate the instruction-giving that you observed.

Answer the following questions:
In your opinion, which elements make instructions successful?
1.

Provide the necessary conditions for optimum learning and

engagement: a safe and supportive environment in which students can
do what you want them to so that they learn within a meaningful,
authentic context.

2. Establish and communicate clear, specific learning objectives aligned

with established state and national academic and career standards.
3. Make explicit connections between present and past lessons, students'
lives, other texts or subjects, the real world, and the Big Ideas around
which lessons are organized.
4. Prepare students by teaching relevant background knowledge, skills,
and academic language and literacies.
5. Integrate assessment throughout the instructional process, using the
data to establish initial understanding, measure progress, provide
feedback, refine instruction, and prepare students for future
performances; this includes students reflecting on and assessing their
own performance and progress.
6. Teach students strategies for learning, remembering, and doing.
7.

Demystify literacy practices and performances by modeling, providing

examples, and giving clear directions as students graduate from
dependence on you to responsibility for their own learning.

8. Use different instructional methods, modes, and media in clear,

coherent ways.
9. Ask students to generate a range of ideas, interpretations, solutions,
questions, and connections.
10. Provide meaningful opportunities to practice, perfect, and perform all
lessons in class and at home.
Which elements make instructions less successful?
1.

Get around in giving explanations, not making brief explanations.

2. Using hard vocabulary to give easy instructions.

3. Speaking not aloud enough, talking quietly gets students bored and
helps them to disconnect with the lesson.
4. Not contextualizing the activity with the activities below.

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

What are the most important factors for you personally when giving
instructions?
I consider important to be clear and as short as possible in giving
instructions, talking aloud (besides I talk always too low...) and keeping
eye-contact with students while giving instructions.
What will you incorporate into your own teaching after doing this
observation task?
I use to talk very quietly and that's a problem for teaching because you get
your students bored so I'll try to speak aloud more usually.
I will also try to link all my activities for each session with the activity
below.

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Observation Task 4: Teacher talk VS Student talk

How much the teacher talks during a lesson vary according to the stage of the
lesson. For example, the teacher needs to speak more when providing
explanations of and examples for the target language early in the lesson.
Elsewhere he may speak less as students need ample opportunity to practice the
new material. Overall, however, the teacher should roughly limit his speaking to
20% to 30% of the class time, with the remainder devoted to speaking/use of the
language by the students.
On the other hand, student talk time should be around 80% during the course
of the lesson. Their use of the language should further promote qualitative
thought. For example, this means that choral drills, substitution drills, and
other exercises remain important because students need these activities to
become familiar with and absorb the target language. However, too many drills
or other, similar activities result in students who switch off their brains. The fail
to critically observe, analyze, and practice with the new language.
Talk time by the teacher and students accomplishes the following:
1. It allows the teacher to restrict his speaking to vital areas of the lesson.
When he then speaks, students know the information is important. They
listen more attentively and work harder to successfully process the
information.
2. Students get to speak more. When students speak more, they have
increased opportunities to become familiar with the new material.
3. Students have more chances to experiment with and personalize the
language. They can mix previous vocabulary and grammar structures
with the target language of the lesson, as well as steer conversations
towards their individual interests.
4. As students speak more, they must also rely on their skills. For example,
if two students fail to understand one another, they must work together
to repair the miscomprehension. This better prepares the class for the
real world, where they can't rely on the teacher for help.
5. As the teacher speaks less, students have added opportunity for interest
and challenge. For example, think back to your life as a student. Which
classes did you enjoy the most, ones with a long lecture or ones that
allowed active engagement?
From the above five points, it should be clear that the class greatly benefits from
limited talking by the teacher. What's more, these are but a few of the positives
available with low teacher talk time.

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

During the lessons I attended I could see my teacher let the students talk as
much as she did and furthermore, she prepares speaking activities for each
lesson where students could talk in English in pairs or groups and discuss about
topics guided by the teacher during 10 to 15 minutes so they could develop their
speaking skills with freedom while being guided by the teacher. Our teacher
lessons were very participative, everybody talked with self initiative.

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Lesson plan implementation afterthought

Self-evaluation is a powerful tool that will help you become a better teacher.
Reflecting on and evaluating your teaching after a lesson is over will give you
insights that may save you lots of trouble later. Even a few brief evaluative notes
on a lesson plan will help you immensely the next time you teach that lesson.
In the rush of teaching, you may be tempted to skip self-evaluation. There are
always plenty of other pressing things that need to be done. But if you don't
evaluate yourself, you will be the loser. You will be surprised how much you
forget if you don't write your ideas down, and you may end up making the same
mistakes over and over. Also, you will be surprised at how just a few minutes of
reflective writing can help you discover things you would have otherwise not
noticed.
Self-evaluation is a very important part of every lesson even though it typically
takes place after the lesson is over.
1. What went well in my lessons? Why?
I think my students got fun during my lessons, the activities I set and
prepared were funny and participative, I could see students liked it and
appreciate my work. They are adults and they know what we are doing there
and they help us to feel more comfortable with us and with them during our
lesson. It facilitates notably my work in the classroom. One of my fears was
to get my students bored or even disgusted with my Didactic Unit but I
could see it didn't happen so I feel happy with it. It's important to prepare
the lesson and divide it in different parts that encompasses all the different
skills a English Teaching Lesson must include (speaking, writing, listening,
grammar, vocabulary and reading), taking these points into account it's
much easier to set a nice lesson plan that all students can enjoy and learn
with.
2. What problems did I experience? Why?
Sometimes I didn't prepare the vocabulary properly so when they asked me
about a word they didn't know I could not have a correct answer for them,
or it was difficult for me to explain it without using the mother tongue.
Another problem I found is not having prepared very well some activities, I
focused more in some activities than in others and it caused a chaotic
passive voice explanation for me, I prepared too much the activities before
because I found them funnier and I forgot to prepare the grammar part of
the lessons so when I had to explain it I failed miserably. But it helped me to
understand my failure and now I know what I mustn't do for the next time I
have to prepare a lesson, of course. Another problem was the lack of time
sometimes to make all the activities planned or the lack of activities to last
the full lesson, and it's better having activities left to do in the classroom
than free time because you don't have activities enough.

Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

3. What could I have done differently?

I could have prepared better some points of the lesson, I could have speak
more aloud during my speeches and I could have adapt more some activities
(one of my listening activities was too difficult to understand because of a
close British accent almost impossible to understand) I should have
consider more my students level to get a better adapted activity for them.
4. Was I well prepared? What could I have done differently?

I had my activities well organised, I had the activities for them and my own
activities with the correction to guide them to the correct answer, anyway I
should have follow an order because I had all the activities well prepared
but I didn't thought the order of them so when I get the classroom I just
took the one I most like or the one I most wanted to do in that moment and
I applied it and it could have been chaotic and it made difficult my
introduction of the activities because I didn't had a link between them, all of
them was related to the same topic but none of those were directly related to
the activity below. I should have prepared an order and a link in that order.
I just realised that a lesson plan is like an album, it has an "intro", some
"interludes" between the activities and an "outro" (where students get a
feedback and assimilate everything seen before. It's easier for them to
assimilate when all the activities are linked and related.

5. Were the students involved? Was I clear in my presentation?

How was the pacing?
I tried to involve my students during my lessons as much as possible but
sometimes is difficult for me, I'm not a leader person or a voice guy, I like to
be in places, learn and talk but it was complicated for me to get students
involved just by myself, luckily it was an EOI so the students like to be
involved in the classroom so it wasn't very difficult for me. I think I was
clear with my explanations and if not I tried to repeat in other way so they
can get what I'm saying.

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Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

Learning afterthought
According to the EPOSTL:
Context:
A. Curriculum
1. I can understand the requirements set in national and local curricula.
2. I can design language courses around the requirements of the national and
local curricula.
3. I can understand the principles formulated in relevant European documents
(e.g. Common European Framework of Reference, European Language
Portfolio).
4. I can understand and integrate content of European documents (e.g.
Common European Framework of Reference, European Language Portfolio)
as appropriate in my teaching.
In this way I am able to get my didactic unit and teaching practice
contextualized intro the European Framework and local and national curricula
presented according to the needs of my centre.
B. Aims and Needs
1. I can understand the personal, intellectual and cultural value of learning
other languages.
2. I can take account of overall, long-term aims based on needs and
expectations.
3. I can take into account differing motivations for learning another language.
4. I can take into account the cognitive needs of learners (problem solving,
drive for communication, acquiring knowledge etc.).
5. I can take into account the affective needs of learners (sense of achievement,
enjoyment etc.).
6. I can take into account and assess the expectations and impact of
educational stakeholders (employers, parents, funding agencies etc.).
7. I can take into account attainment target levels set in curricula (e.g. deriving
from the Common European Framework of Reference).
As a teacher and as a foreign language, I find learning a language something
very valuable that implies vocation and interest from learners, and the teacher is
an important part of this, students motivation is sometimes carried out by the
teacher and he/she must know how to manage it according to students' interest
and needs.
C. The Role of the Language Teacher
1. I can promote the value and benefits of language learning to learners,
parents and others.
2. I can appreciate and make use of the value added to the classroom
environment by learners with diverse cultural backgrounds.
3. I can take into account the knowledge of other languages learners may
already possess and help them to build on this knowledge when learning
additional languages.

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Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

4. I can draw on appropriate theories of language, learning, culture etc. and

relevant research findings to guide my teaching.
5. I can critically assess my teaching on the basis of experience, learner
feedback and learning outcomes and adapt it accordingly.
6. I can critically assess my teaching in relation to theoretical principles.
7. I can accept feedback from my peers and mentors and build this into my
teaching.
8. I can observe my peers, recognise different methodological aspects of their
teaching and offer them constructive feedback.
9. I can locate relevant articles, journals and research findings relating to
aspects of teaching and learning.
10. I can identify and investigate specific pedagogical/ didactic issues related to
my learners or my teaching in the form of action research.
Knowing how to manage your role as teacher is relevant in the lessons. Teacher must
keep students attention, sometimes I realised I didn't stand up and move around the
room enough but now that I've realised that I can say that I will give more importance
to this, I must play with my role and my perspective of teacher for them, I must attend
their needs and assess them properly.

D. Institutional Resources and Constraints

1. I can assess how I might use the resources available in my school (OHP,
computers, library, etc.).
2. I can recognise the organisational constraints and resource limitations
existent at my school and adapt my teaching accordingly.
I knew the centre I'm working in and be able to use all the resources perfectly
for the correct development of my lessons.
Resources:
1. I can understand the requirements set in national and local curricula.
2. I can design language courses around the requirements of the national and
local curricula.
3. I can understand the principles formulated in relevant European documents
(e.g. Common European Framework of Reference, European Language
Portfolio).
4. I can understand and integrate content of European documents (e.g.
Common European Framework of Reference, European Language Portfolio)
as appropriate in my teaching.
I used my available resources to improve my lessons attending to the different
curricula to make effective lesson plans (medias, spaces and internet).
Lesson Planning:
A. Identification of Learning Objectives
1. I can identify curriculum requirements and set learning aims and objectives
suited to my learners needs and interests.
2. I can plan specific learning objectives for individual lessons and/or for a
period of teaching.

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Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

3. I can set objectives which challenge learners to reach their full potential.
4. I can set objectives which take into account the differing levels of ability and
special educational needs of the learners.
5. I can decide whether to formulate objectives in terms of skills, topics,
situations, linguistic systems (functions, notions, forms etc.).
6. I can set objectives which encourage learners to reflect on their learning.
I had to set objectives to start designing and preparing activities for my learners
to get a effective learning process, attending to the level, the needs and their
interests. Sometimes I didn't planned any objectives but in the last lessons I
found it pretty important to prepare a lesson properly.
B. Lesson Content
1. I can structure lesson plans and/or plan for periods of teaching in a
coherent and varied sequence of content.
2. I can vary and balance activities to include a variety of skills and
competences.
3. I can plan activities to ensure the interdependence of listening, reading,
writing and speaking.
4. I can plan activities to emphasise the interdependence of language and
culture.
5. I can plan activities which link grammar and vocabulary with
communication.
6. I can plan to teach elements of other subjects using the target language
(cross- curricular teaching, CLIL etc.).
7. I can identify time needed for specific topics and activities and plan
accordingly.
8. I can design activities to make the learners aware and build on their existing
knowledge.
9. I can vary and balance activities to enhance and sustain the learners
motivation and interest.
10. I can vary and balance activities in order to respond to individuals learners
learning styles.
11. I can take on board learners feedback and comments and incorporate this
in future lessons.
12. I can involve learners in lesson planning.
Preparing a lesson it's essential to integrate the different English Language skills
(speaking, writing, reading, listening attending to vocabulary and grammar),
and integrate them according to the level and making it in a way they don't get
unmotivated or bored and I think I got it, I integrate all skills in every lesson I
planned.

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Mster Profesorado: Lenguas Extranjeras (Ingls)

Jos Emilio Prez Abad

C. Lesson Organisation
1. I can select from and plan a variety of organisational forms (frontal,
individual, pair, group work) as appropriate.
2. I can plan for learner presentations and learner interaction.
3. I can plan when and how to use the target language, including
metalanguage I may need in the classroom.
4. I can plan lessons and periods of teaching with other teachers and/or
student teachers (team teaching, with other subject teachers etc.).
I had to prepare my lessons in cohesion with my teacher lessons not to get
students confused in some way. I also planned some pair work activities (and
individual) taking into account that I must be near them to help them if they
need any help.

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