6th Report / Alejandra de Antoni / Classroom Observation / Methods 2 2009

Classroom Observation: Report 6Teacher Observed: L

Observer: Alejandra de AntoniDate: October, 20th 2009

Class: 1st Year Polimodal (Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires)Number of Learners: 19Age: 15/16 years oldLength of Lesson: 60 minutesLevel: BeginnersObserver: Alejandra de AntoniTeacher Observed: L

The Learner as Doer 1 Observation Task taken from “Classroom Observation Tasks” (Cambridge)

General Comments:To begin with, I must say that, judging by what I could hear and see in this lesson, it is not one of those classrooms in which we would say that the ideal conditions for learning English are present. Most of the students, following what I could witness in these 60 minutes (which may not be, of course, the best representation of that classroom), were neither motivated nor interested in learning and, what is more, saw no point in doing what they had been asked to do by the teacher (“Pero, ¿para qué quiero hacer esto yo?” “¿Y a mí de que me sirve esto?”). The activities, which will be analysed in this report, were, in my opinion not challenging or motivating. I know, however, that there were several restrictions for the teacher to plan the lesson in a more “motivating” way”. Even though the students had access to a coursebook, they were not allowed to write or work on it and had to copy everything to their notebooks, which is something both time-wasting and boring. Furthermore, if the teacher had wanted to give them photocopies to work on (instead of copying), who would have been in charge of paying for them? The students cannot be asked to spend too much money because most of them will not be able to afford it and the teacher cannot be asked to pay for all her students’ photocopies. Even though photocopying textbooks is illegal, it has become common practice in most state schools (at least the ones I know) because it is the only way of allowing students to have access to the materials they need not only for their English lessons but also other school subjects. NB: Please do not take my comments as “the rule” for all state schools. I am just reporting what I have witnessed in this particular classroom in the particular context of this lesson. Therefore, it does not mean that these students or the teacher are what I saw them do or say.

1 See the Appendix to have a complete view of the Observation Task I followed in this report.

Liceo Cultural Británico Teacher’s Training College. Methods II. Classroom Observation Reports 2009

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The ActivitiesWhat Learners Do What This Involves Teacher’s Purpose Comment (Type of

activity according to what students are

asked to do)o Writing questions

in the Present Continuous following prompts (the sts were given the question word and the answer).

o Both knowing how a question is structured and how the Present Continuous is used.

o Consulting previous exercises and grammar notes.

o That students practise question formation and the Present Continuous form.

Cognitive (the only thing students were asked to do was to complete the questions with the correct use of the tense. They were not told to concentrate on meaning even though it was necessary for them to understand the difference between why, what and where, for instance. There were no feelings or physical activities involved).

o Role-playing a dialogue in pairs but in turns (while one pair is role-playing the rest has to be listening to them).

o Handling both the pronunciation and intonation of the dialogue (which was not true for them because they found it extremely difficult to pronounce even common words such as “time”).

o To teach pronunciation (I say teach here instead of practise because the teacher interrupted them every two words to correct their pronunciation and wrote the words with their transcriptions on the board).

Cognitive (No reasoning or thinking took place here. The only thing they had to do was to read and repeat the words they mispronounced but still it is a cognitive activity since no feelings or physical activities were involved).

o Completing a chart with different pieces of clothing (They had the pictures and the names in the coursebook to do a matching activity but, since they cannot write on the books, the teacher created a chart on the board for them to copy it in their notebooks to complete it with the names in English and their corresponding translations into Spanish).

o Using a dictionary (the teacher told them to leave the ones they did not know incomplete for them to look them up afterwards. What I don’t know, however, because it was not clarified, is if they had dictionaries available at school or if the teacher would provide them with one).

o Resorting to previous knowledge (students were already familiar with some of the

o To make students create a vocabulary chart from which they can study at home (they cannot take the coursebook home so the only resource from which they can study is their notebook).

Cognitive (students have to match the words with the corresponding pictures and then write their translation which involves only thinking. There are no feelings or physical activities involved).


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words).

Analysing the Data collected

The author of the book suggests that I should discuss the balance of cognitive, affective and physical activities with the teacher of the course. However, I will analyse it on my own because the teacher had no time after the lesson to stay with me to discuss the activities. She had to go to another school.Considering the data collected, it can be said that, in this lesson, there was no balance at all. The only three activities that were done by students were cognitive. Ideally, it would be great to find a balance of cognitive, affective and physical activities so as to appeal to the different learning styles that students have. Some students learn better by thinking, reasoning and analysing what they are presented with so, for them, cognitive activities will work wonders. However, not all cognitive activities actually demand analysis or reasoning. The first activity, for instance, did not require students to analyse anything but to write questions following the grammatical structure of the Present Continuous. Regardless of the student that carries it out, the activity will always have the same outcome. It gives no room for any students’ personal contribution.Other students find it easier to learn by means of “reacting” to what they are presented with. These students learn better with affective activities. With these activities, students are given the possibility to take what they have learnt to their personal lives. For instance, when students are asked to concentrate on content, i.e. to read and/or listen to something in the target language to respond to its message, they are given the chance to do an activity in which no linguistic responses are required but affective ones. A simple question such as “what do you think about Peter’s attitude?” or “Do you think that what he did was OK?” “Why?” can very well be an affective activity. We should try to find a way of adapting activities to our students’ level. The fact that they are beginners does not mean that they can only do cognitive activities. It is more difficult, of course, to create affective activities for students whose English is limited but it is not impossible. We might even allow them to respond in their mother tongue if necessary. In addition, some students may find it useful to learn by actually doing things. Instead of studying ways of walking, for instance, some students may find it easier to actually perform them by carrying out a TPR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Physical_Response) activity. It is true, however, that no all age groups are keen on standing up and moving round the classroom but physical activities may be really profitable for kinaesthetic groups. It is essential to remember that the best way of facilitating learning is to provide our students with several and combined opportunities for learning. A balance of cognitive, affective and physical activities is always advisable even though we may need to simplify some activities for our students to be able to carry them out. After all, each teacher knows their students and it is their job to decide on the best combination of cognitive, affective and physical activities to enhance the students’ learning experience.If I were to say which of the activities I think were most valuable for the students, I would find it really difficult to choose one. As I said at the beginning of this report, I do not think that the activities were particularly interesting or challenging for the students because of their lack of interest and involvement while doing them. It is important to highlight that I do not think that cognitive activities are not good enough. What I want to say is that regardless of the activity being cognitive, affective or physical it is essential to make it relevant, interesting, challenging and encouraging for the students. Following this idea, I would say that the students did not find any of the activities valuable or, at least, the first two because they were boring and pointless,


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Physical_Response



especially the second one because they were asked to read out a text they had never practised in front of the whole classroom, which made them feel uneasy and not capable because they had not had any chance to practise or prepare it. The third one may have been valuable for the students if they took it as a chance to prepare a chart of the different pieces of clothing they will have to study later on. In this case the activity was valuable because it allowed the students to create a resource from which they would study later on. However, this validity can only be seen from the point of view of the teacher because I do not think the students considered the activity useful when they were doing it. Another important issue is whether our teaching methodology is compatible with our learners’ learning style. When we encourage our students’ active involvement, how can we know if we are actually asking from them something they can give? Knowing our students is essential for us to be able to give them appropriate and useful activities to cater for their own preferred learning methodology. In my personal opinion, we should be ready to sometimes sacrifice our teaching methodologies so as to adapt our teaching to our students’ needs. Even though we all have our teaching preferences, it is a defining characteristic of a good teacher to leave aside their preferences so as to provide students with the combination of cognitive, affective and physical activities that better helps their learning experience. The most important thing, I believe, is not to marry a certain type of activity but to constantly innovate and improve the activities so as to keep the students interested and motivated. Talking to our students and asking them about their learning styles and with what type of activities they feel most comfortable with are excellent ways of showing not only that we care about them but also that they can be active participants in their learning process.

Reflection

As regards my own teaching, I would say that I always try to have a balance of the three types of activities. It is true, however, that not all the students and classrooms work in the same way and, therefore, the balance will inevitably be altered. What I do believe is not in having a rigid number of a certain type of activities but to be flexible. It may be the case, for instance, that in one classroom almost all the students are cognitively oriented and, consequently, the more cognitive activities I provide them with, the better they will learn. However, I will give them both affective and physical activities as well for them to be able to experience different approaches because they may find out that they were actually better prepared to work with another approach. This may happen in the case of students that seem to be cognitively oriented because they developed this learning style more than the other two not because it is the one they feel most comfortable with but simply because it was the only one they have been encouraged to develop in their previous learning experiences (such as school). Finally, I would like to say that, the more teaching approaches we use, the more our students will learn. Combining cognitive, affective and physical activities we are opening new doors for our students to enhance their learning experiences. In the traditional classroom attention was drawn only to the students’ minds, and, more specifically, to their linguistic abilities. By means of combining cognitive, affective and physical activities we are giving our students the possibility of learning English not only with their minds but also with their feelings, thoughts, ideas and bodies. Students think, feel and do. Thinking, feeling and doing our students will certainly learn.


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APPENDIX (Observation Task 1.3 – Classroom Observation Tasks – Cambridge)

The Learner as Doer; Page 1


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The Learner as Doer; Page 2


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Documents

6th Report / Alejandra de Antoni / Classroom Observation / Methods 2 2009