ESAL 420 Advanced Grammar-Brian Bouthillier

1st Observation 12:30-2:30

Time

Objective Observations

Subjective Observations

12:30-12:40

Opens class by taking attendance and asking how they are doing and how their weekend was. Students respond verbally over the mic

Great way to get to know students and get them talking and using grammar. Some students may have problems with tech and microphones. Most students are able to communicate clearly but there are some minor errors.

12:40-12:43

Introduced Sydney and I

12:43-12:45

Explained why he asked how weekends were. Used the activity as an intro for teaching Past Tenses. “Any questions?”

Good example of an isolation activity

12:45-12:52

Classroom admin. Explained how to access class recordings and assignments/grades. Explained how he marks and gives feedback

He does not always correct mistakes, just signals that it is a mistake. Wants students to figure out their mistake which is a good way for them to learn

12:52-12:53

Begin lesson. Upload powerpoint (Past Time).

12:53-1:07

Reviewed past tenses. Simple past and past progressive, present perfect. Used sentences about himself as examples of the tenses.

Good way to keep students engaged with relatable content, not just sentences from the book. Brian speaks slowly and clearly.

12:59-1:01

Asked for examples of other past BE verbs during past progressive.

Keep students paying attention by asking for participation

1:07-1:23

Covered modal auxiliary (helper) verbs. Used to and would.

Gave synonym for complicated name (helper) to aid in understanding of the type of word meaning. Brian uses different colours effectively in his powerpoints to highlight elements in the examples

1:23-1:33

BREAK

1:35-1:53

Reviewed Present Perfect, past perfect progressive

Brian does not do many student focused activities, more of a teacher focused lecture style.

1:53-2:01

Reviewed Future in the Past

Brian is always very positive and upbeat when he speaks

2:01-2:24

Finished lesson. Went over upcoming assignments and activities from the textbook. Typed examples onto the screen to show how the activity is to be done. Exercises 1, 2,3  from the text

Intro activities are more focused on recognizing the patterns in a text rather than correcting or changing a text.

Would be more engaging for students if they all had to participate in groups. A few students do not have the textbook yet

Reflection:

Some of the students are in Kamloops but some of them are located in their home countries (Japan, Kazakhstan, china, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Iran). This means that some of the class will be awake and refreshed, while the others may be less eager to participate or enthusiastic about content. Brian covered a lot of material during this lesson but it was largely teacher-centred with little participation so it will be important to use small groups on Wednesday in the lab to ensure students get maximum opportunities for practice. I appreciated Brian’s use of different colours in his presentation to highlight the parts of speech. It was simple and easy to understand. He also spoke very slowly and clearly, which made him easier to understand but didn’t hold my attention at times. I will try to strike a balance between being understandable but also exciting.