For my first hour of classroom observation, I observed an adult ESL class taught by Tanya Cowie. This was a literacy class, made up of students with varying levels of English proficiency. Tanya broke her lesson into a warm-up activity, lesson, card game, review activity and closing activity. During this observation several important aspects of Tanya’s teaching stood out to me, including her use of verbal and non-verbal communication, frequent feedback, ongoing assessment throughout the class and repetition of key phrases and vocabulary.
Tanya used both verbal communication and non-verbal communication in the form of pictures, body language and pointing to objects throughout the entire class. The intentional use of non-verbal communication allowed students who were not confident with the vocabulary yet to gain an understanding through the gestures, pictures and props. Using both verbal and non-verbal communication is something that I would like to incorporate into my classrooms. Throughout the class Tanya provided frequent feedback to students. In some cases, she provided feedback immediately to individual students and in others she waited and gave general feedback to the entire class. It seemed, that see gave immediate feedback to students that were more confident and waited to give feedback to students who were more nervous. Additionally, the activities performed in the class were designed to allow for ongoing assessment. Assessment activities, included talking lines, role-play, a card game and an exit activity. I believe that quick informal assessments throughout the class are important because they provide the teacher with real time feedback on how students are performing and processing material. Tanya also uses repetition frequently throughout the class. I noticed that the use of repetition allowed for students to practice more and perhaps understand the material better. Overall, this class was fast paced and incorporated several different activities, which ensured students were engaged. The activities were a mix of group work, individual work and lecturing. It also became apparent after watching this class that Tanya had made personal connections with her students and that the students were very comfortable participating in the class. This showcases the importance of getting to know your students as individuals to make them feel comfortable in the classroom.
This classroom observation showed me the importance of using verbal and non-verbal communication, providing on-going feedback, designing activities that allow for assessment and including a variety of different activities to keep students engaged.