On the 11th of May, 2023, I observed my second ESL class which was ESAL 0450 class. The class started at 8:30 am and 10 students were seated at the beginning of the class. The students were seated in a circle layout with enough room making movement to each student possible.
The class began with a warmup activity and looked like it was a routined warmup activity, students in turns have to present a famous quote from their country and explain why they liked the quote. This warmup was really impressive because I think it was a great way for students to practice their speaking skills and also students sharing something from their culture or country in a new country will make the students feel their culture is appreciated and accepted and this will make the students more comfortable in class.
The teacher started by telling the students what the lesson was going to cover and how it will be done and I think that was how the objectives of the lesson was communicated. Materials for the lesson was provided for the students that included worksheets and passages.
There was a group discussion on a passage and a group activity after reading. During group discussion, the students were giving roles to play in the discussion or the group activities and most of the groups were in 4 roles and it included the devil’s advocate, the leader, the reporter and an active participant. These roles were clearly explained to students and students were giving the chance to choose the various roles they wanted to play in a discussion setting. The students rotate roles, and this makes them not feel too comfortable in a particular role but build student’s confidence in other roles or responsibilities. I think roles giving in group discussions or tasks is very important and useful and this is because each student will have a part to play in the discussion and give out their full participation other than leaving all the task on one student.
In class discussions, students were attentive, the students had their attention focused on the teacher and the students followed throughout the lesson and were not distracted at any particular time. The teacher had control of the class and also gave room for student’s contributions and suggestions. Classroom management was very effective which was really impressive.
The students were not sitting close in the circle of students from their culture, but all students were closely connected with each student irrespective of their culture. I thought this was great because this surely will promote intercultural communication and corporation in the class.
During the group discussions on the passage, the teacher went round each group to make sure the students are participating, and the teacher provided assistance and explanations to groups that needed help. I thought this was really remarkable because the students really felt supported by the teacher and students who felt stuck due to not understand what to do or some words had the necessary explanations to help in their discussions.
The teacher was patient and gave time and tolerance for student’s suggestions and contributions, students did not feel pressured but encouraged to be confident in making suggestions or asking questions and there was no right or wrong response or suggestions. Since there was tolerance and comfortability in the class, the students were more confident with their responses and contributions and there was respect and consideration for each culture in discussions which I think is very important in class with many cultures.
During the lesson, the teacher wrote most of the things he said on the board even though the teacher’s voice and tone was clear and understandable. This made the students more attentive since they had something on the board to focus on, to check spellings and if they didn’t hear a word clearly from the teacher, seeing it on the board really helped in understanding.
There was a 10 minutes break and the lesson ended right on time. I admired how the teacher was patient with the students but managed the time and pacing really well. That is a skill I would want to acquire in my future classroom.