TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer_Jiayun Zheng__ Observation # ___3____

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
01/25/2019 Face to Integrated Listening 200 John Moran
face skills and speaking

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO MATCH THE MEANING AND WORDS WITH THE HELP OF
MOVIE TRAILER, WITH 100% ACCURACY.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO PRONOUNCE THE NEW VOCABULARY , WITH 100%
ACCURACY.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO RETELL THE STORY OF MOVIE WITH THE NEW WORDS,
WITH NO MISTAKE.

Notes while observing:

9:05-9:16 check homework

The homework is about a story from a movie. T asks students several questions to review
the homework.

T: “The movie is called?”

S: Chinese name of the movie.
T: “Was any English?”
S: “The Pursuit of Happiness”
T: “You guys know the happy, happiness. What is the pursuit?”
S: “Find.”
T: “Things you looking for.”

T shows a picture of Will Smith on the screen and asks students that whether they know
him or not. And he also asks student what is in the story of their homework. A student
tells the teacher that main ideas and details. T checks the answers of the homework and
explains some new words.

9:16-9:29 warm up and review

Last Updated: 3/18/2019 3:13 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
T plays the trailer of movie The Pursuit of Happiness. Before played the trailer, T
explains the meaning of trailer at first and writes down some words which students have
learned before.
.
T: “When they do a movie, typically they want everybody to go to the movie at the first
week. So before the movie, they put a little part on TV, on the Internet. A trailer is
usually one minute, two minutes, hopefully getting people interested in so they go and
buy a ticket for it.”

T writes the meaning of words on the board. Students should figure out what the words
are.

On the board:
Stop
Good in every way
Do things together
Something that is very difficult to do
A job for a long time
Things you usually do

T gives some directions to the students when students are getting the answer.
T writes another three new words on the board which will show on the trailer and
explains the meaning.

On the board:
Internship
Application
Quarter

9:29-9:32 play the trailer

T tells students that they quickly raise hands if they hear any words on the board. T
models this activity. “If you hear internship, raise your hand.”
After the trailer, T asks students to retell the story of the movie. While students are doing
this, he asks questions to help students.
For example,
T: “What was his first job?”
S: “Salesman.”
T: “But he...?”
S: “Stop.”
S: “Quit.”
T: “He quits. So he..? He changes his...?”
S: “Career.”

9:34-9:50 textbook activity

T reads the paragraph on the textbook and students are asked to catch the new words in
the paragraph.

Last Updated: 3/18/2019 3:13 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
T repeats the words which is difficult to pronounce, like exotic, rough and freezing. T
also reminds students that be careful about /gh/. Sometimes, it pronounces totally
differently. T lists the words “ thought, through, rough and weigh” on the board and asks
students to read it.

T asks students to match the meaning below the paragraph to the words in the paragraph.
Students have on minute to quick check with their neighbor.
Students are required to read the words while T are checking the answer with the whole
class. T corrects their pronunciation when they make mistakes. A student can’t pronounce
frozen correctly, so T repeats the word.

9:50 break

Last Updated: 3/18/2019 3:13 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

In this observation, I focused on the listening and speaking activities. This is an

integrated skills class for beginners. The students were mostly from China and middle-
east countries. I wanted to see how the teacher developed the listening activity and help
students correct the pronunciation mistakes.
Before played the movie trailer, the teacher spent a lot of time reviewing and
introducing the words which would show on the video. To ensure everyone get the
meaning of the words, teachers gave them a pre-listening task-match the meaning with
the words they had learned before. While listening, teacher asked students to listen to
some specific words-raise their hands if they hear the words they learned. However, I
don’t think this is a good task since there are over ten students in the class and it is
difficult for the teacher to monitor the activity. After the listening, the students were
required to retell the story of the movie according to the trailer and their homework
reading with the words they had learned. Students were given a related speaking task
after the listening. This class basically followed the listening steps- pre-listening, while
listening and post-listening. And the listening material- movie trailer was right at the
level for the learner and could easily draw students’ attention.
As for speaking, the teacher corrected students’ mistakes while they were reading.
And John also repeated the words which were difficult for students to pronounce. It was
worth mentioning that the teacher listed some words with “gh” and told students that they
should be careful about the pronunciation of /gh/ since they were totally different in
different words. Having a good pronunciation of the language can help in normal
communication.
In conclusion, the teacher is helping students improve their English skills while
listening and correct their pronunciation mistakes effectively and accurately. Moreover, I
noticed the students were really engaged in the class activities.

Reference
Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. NY: Routledge,
Taylor & Francis.

Last Updated: 3/18/2019 3:13 PM