1.0 Introduction

According to Gootman (2008), ‘rules give students a concrete direction to ensure

that our expectation becomes a reality’. The success of teaching and learning in the

classroom is closely linked to its management which is controlled by the teacher. Gootman

(2008) further noted that issues of motivation, discipline and respect are also inter-related

within the context. Based on these quotes, it is agreeable to say that a good classroom

management will not only affect the students’ behaviour throughout the lesson but also to

create the perfect environment that will promote effective teaching and learning outcome.

For this report, I was given the consent to observe a 30 minute video-taped English

language teacher teaching in a local primary ESL classroom. Through the observation there

many aspects were observed such as how the teacher manages the classroom, the

application of the theories, communication skills of the teacher, the resources used and

possible reasons for the actions or decisions taken by the teacher.

2.0 Theories

Firstly, I can see that teacher always allow her pupils to try and offer them a chance

think of their answer ideas during the lesson. Teacher give the pupils opportunities to learn.

The pupils then learn how to enquire and discover new information during the teaching and

learning process. Teacher also involved her pupils by practicing the oral drills among

themselves. For example, teacher asks the pupils to repeat the part of tree until he pupils

understand and remember. From the activity, pupils learn to communicate with their teacher

and also their own friends. I have read one of the theories that related with this activity. One

of the theories that can be practiced is the Congruent Communication Theory by Haim

Ginott. Teacher also implemented some of Democratic Teaching strategies where teacher

encourage her pupils to take part actively in the discussion. This is to support the teaching

and learning process.

Other theory that I can detect in her lesson is the Theory of Instructional

Management by Jacob Kounin. Teacher was giving her focus on the group work and

teacher communicate through her action besides using words. For example, from the lesson

the teacher is actively present the lesson with her actions pointing on the tree that she has

drawn on the board while saying the word that match the parts of the tree. She also ask the

pupils to say the words loud and clear according to their group. By doing these activities, the

pupils are convinced that the teacher really knows what is going on. Thus, pupils were acted

appropriately in the lesson by paying attention towards the lesson.

Communication Skills

The teacher used a variety of communication skills in the classroom. She had loud

and clear voice which able the pupils to hear what she wanted them to do. Moreover, her

choice of words is good when explaining and giving instruction as she chooses simple

words and direct to the point. This make the pupils easy to understand what she is teaching

and her instruction. Besides that, she has good non-verbal communication to make the

pupils understand her lesson. For example, she makes a big circle using her hands to

indicate that mango tree is huge when explaining about the mango tree. She also makes

good eye contact with the pupils. When she focus on or asking certain pupils, she look at

the pupil’s eyes to eyes. This shows that she is interested and encourages the pupils to be

interested in return.

However, the teacher was less assertive towards the pupils especially when giving

out instructions. This made the pupils pay less attention to what she says. The rules and

instructions given were less clear which made her a little bit difficult to control the class. In

whole, the teacher was able to produce an interactive climate where there were two way

communication in the classroom only that she was less assertive.

3.0 Resources

From the observation, the teacher starts off with a good set induction where she

used realia which is mango as the teaching aid to attract pupil’s attention and to bring the

pupils to guess the topic of the lesson. The idea of bringing the real object into class is a

great effort as it can connect the information with the real life situation and encourage the

pupils to excess their previous knowledge about the lesson. Bryan Smith also agreed with

this as he said the TESL Journal; The use of realia is common place in the ESL classroom

and is widely considered to have great value in fostering an active teaching-learning

environment. By presenting information through diverse media, realia helps to make English

language input as comprehensible as possible and to build "an associative bridge between

the classroom and the world" (Bryan Smith). Other than that, whiteboard, presentation

papers and newspaper are majorly used in the lesson. The teacher uses whiteboard and

presentation papers to draw mango tree and label the parts of the tree. What I can see is

that it is very piratical and she is able to explain to the pupils using the resources. Perhaps

by using the resources, it conveys her confident and determination about the topic she

wants to teach. Other than that, the idea of using newspaper is brilliant. Newspaper is a

motivating and meaningful authentic piece that it brings creativity and information into the

language classroom. As seen in the video, the pupils need to cut the letter in the newspaper

to form the words of the parts of the tree. This can enhance pupils’ creativity and enhance

their understanding in learning the topic.

4.0 Classroom Management

Classroom management involves both physical and socio-emotional aspects. Both

aspects are important to promote a good classroom for a lesson to take place. For the

observation, I focused on one main criteria, the seating arrangements of the classroom. I

can see that the tables and chairs of the pupils were being arranged in clustered

arrangement. This shows that most of the lessons were focusing on group activities. The

seating arrangements in the classroom should be arrange in good order in order to help the

teachers and the learners to move freely in the classroom during the teaching and learning

process.

On top of that, teachers should be sensitive towards their students’ socio-emotional

needs which can be varied from one to another. As in the lesson observed, I noticed a very

enthusiastic participation from most of the students as they were too excited answering

every question that the teacher asks. However, I also noticed some students who act as

passive passengers as the lesson proceed. For me, these are typical circumstances in any

language teaching where we will see different levels of participation from the students.

Furthermore, teacher also never forget to praise her pupils who perform and behave well in

the activities. Teacher knows how to motivate her pupils to involve in the discussion. As

quoted from Haim Ginott (2011), “Praise should deal, not with the child’s personality

attributes, but with his or her efforts and achievements.” The praise are given based on the

pupils’ performances in the classroom by either give motivational words such as well done,

good job or by giving small rewards such as stars and this can be seen during the lesson as

teacher always praises the pupils such as “very good” and “well done” every time the pupils

give correct answers.

5.0 Possible reasons and comments for the actions/decisions taken by the teacher

One of the major things that I think the teacher should not do is allowing the pupils to

communicate with the teacher using Malay language. This violent the purpose of having

ESL classroom. To tackle this problem, teacher can apply the concept of rewards and

punishments in the classroom. The teacher must set the rules and enforce the

consequences without bias or discrimination. Then teacher apply the Glasser’s Choice

Theory. Teacher make sure pupils understand their responsibilities as a pupil in the

classroom. Teacher ensure pupils understand that they can choose their behavior, to use

English or not, and that their choice brings with it either desirable or undesirable

consequences. Teacher tell them if they use English, she will be very happy to teach and

she will be very kind to them. If they don’t use English, she will be very sad to teach and she

may detain them for recess time and they will go out late.

Furthermore, the pupils also keep on making noise and screaming when the teacher

is delivering the lesson. Teacher should not ignore this problem because the pupils will think

that it is alright to make noise while she is teaching. Jacob Kounin believed that teachers

who demonstrate effective instructional behaviours usually have better-behaved students.

Testing his theories over two decades of work, he analysed thousands of hours of tapes of

classes on a variety of grade levels and in a variety of neighbourhoods and communities

Eilerman, T. (2002). Through this theory, the teacher can apply the concept of withitness,

ripple effect and overlapping in the classroom.

Withitness is when the teacher is aware of all events, activities and pupils behaviour

in the classroom and that they convey that knowledge to the pupils. Teachers who

demonstrate withitness are usually skilful at two particular instructional behaviour. It is like

‘the teacher has eyes at the back of heads’. The teacher is able to control the class and at

the same time teach. Pupils will behave as they are aware that the teacher pay attention to

them. This concept is good and can be used by the teacher to improve her class control in

the classroom where she teaches and able to control the pupils at the same time.

The teacher could also apply the concept of ‘ripple effect’ and ‘overlapping’. ‘Ripple

effect’ is the effect when a teacher corrects one student who is misbehaving and the

behaviour ‘ripples’ to other pupils causing them to behave in a better way. ‘Overlapping’ is

what teacher does when they have to deal with two matters at the same time which is the

same idea as multitasking. A better class control can be produced by the use of ripple effect

and overlapping.

Last but not least, the teacher failed to five clear instruction to the pupils during the

game session. It causes pupils to confuse and they were unable to play the game

successfully. What I can suggest is that the instruction should be short, easy to understand

and precise. To attract the attention of pupils, teacher can try clapping her hands or

knocking on a desk then make sure that pupils understand that by doing this she want them

to put everything down, stop talking, look at you and listen. Instructions should always be

followed by demonstration. The best way to tell the pupils how to do something is to actually

do it herself. Talking for minutes can be less productive and time-wasting when a quick

demonstration can illustrate the activity not only linguistically but visually.

6.0 Conclusion

In order to build a good classroom management, it is not rely on the teacher to make it

or not. As for teachers, a good lesson not only focuses on the content of the teaching but also

on how they manage the classroom throughout the lesson. According to William Glasser once

said that, “when you study great teacher, you will learn much more from their caring and hard

work than from their style.”

References

Eilerman, T. (2002). The Kounin Model. Retrieved , from https://www.google.com/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQFjAD&url=http%3A

%2F%2Fwww.cehs.wright.edu%2F~cfinegan%2FTeachingResources

%2FEde_702_302%2FKounin_Model.ppt&ei=AC4TU5TUKY7GkQXvnoGgAg&usg=AF

QjCNEJNEnlUkMJF0atdm029dVHPmj8Yw&bv

Ginot (2011). Congruent Communication. http://www.scoop.it/t/reflect-create-inquire-and-teach-

for-the-21st-century-learner. Assessed on March 19th, 2015

Gootman (2008). Classroom Management.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classroom_management. Accessed on March 19th, 2015

Lee and Marlene Canter (1976). Assertive Discipline Theory in Classroom Management:

Approaches, Theories and Models. Managing The Primary ESL Classroom TSL3109.

Institut Pendidikan Guru.

Smith, B. (1977). Virtual Realia, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. III, No. 7, July

1997http://iteslj.org/Articles/Smith-Realia.html

Randall, Kevin. (2004). "The theories of William Glasser." Retrieved November 26,

2007, from http://www.kevinrandell.com/docs/sci_port/ EDU4112_Glasser_essay.doc