Bob CO#3

Date/Time: 01/25/2017 1400-1450
Topic/Skill: Listening - Foundation

There are 5 students in this class. There were 3 listening exercises. For the first, the instructor handed out the quiz, read the questions and the answers aloud to the class. This was done twice before reading the passage to ensure the students understood the quiz and its attendant vocabulary. The instructor read the passage. While the instructor read the passage, the students listened and selected answers that correctly answered the quiz questions. This was repeated. The quiz was reviewed as a whole class participation activity.

The second was a "what is ______ wearing?" exercise. While this may sound on the surface like bad phone sex, the exercise required the students to describe what each other was wearing.  It was valuable in allowing the students to employ both listening and speaking skills using common, high frequency vocabulary. This was followed by an exercise in which a slide that displayed approx. 15 illustrations of children attired in various colors of clothing (shirt, pants, shoes) and displaying different colors of hair, with or without glasses, etc. was projected on the board. One student was selected to describe one of the children. The remaining students then attempted to identify the child being described.

The third exercise resembled the second but was focused on "what is he/she doing?"

The instructor employed both formative and summative evaluation. This particular cohort of students spend their entire academic day together. I was told this is customary and appropriate for this level student.

This was the most beneficial class observation, so far. If I were asked to recommend which level classes to observe, I would recommend the lower level classes. These are where the language gulf is the greatest and the communicative skills required of the instructor seem greatest. Teaching at this level requires a great deal of creativity and finesse!