Aileen CO#1

  Today I observed the Group 1A Speaking class taught by Andrew Wilson. He had a very energetic vibe that he uses to his advantage by keeping the class fast-paced so it doesn't drag on. I introduced myself to the class before starting and learned the demographics of the class - from Saudi Arabia to Venezuela to South Korea. I was also able to participate in one of the speaking activities with them and actually the South Korean girl that I was paired up with is friends with my conversation partner that I met up with on Saturday. During the activity we exchanged sentences of what we did this past weekend using the past tense forms.

  Overall I enjoyed the pace that the teacher took. He started off with initial interactions for asking how their weekend was to make the students feel comfortable. He then introduced an idiom (in this case being up-to-date) and shared with me a strategy to choose students to answer at random: He asked them to write their names on a green stick and from there he would draw their names. He went on to say that he does this so that you don't fall into the tendency of calling the same people over and over.

  The instructor had the students read aloud a worksheet that did an overview of what Tallahassee is like. Then he split the class in two groups (there were 8 classmates) and had the students answer questions that describe their perceptions of in Tallahassee thus far. As well as compare them to how they would work differently in their home country (for example public transportation). He finished the class with a worksheet that aided in pronouncing the different endings for past tense conjugations. Overall I was able to draw similarities between his teaching methods and my own desired methods in my lesson plan and I will definitely draw upon this experience when I prepare for the next one.