Observation Report 1 Grammar
Observation Report 1 Grammar
Observation Notebook
13 : 00 p.m. Warm up
T says “let’s get started! “ and writes the five things that they will do on the blackboard,
that is review, checking homework, common errors, writing, and quiz.
T writes down the ‘modal’ and asks Ss what came after the modal.
A student says “ base verb”
T asks one more question ,”how do you make a negative type of modal verb?”. T also
says “ where should ‘NOT’ be located?”
A student says “ in the middle” .
T says “ yes, in the middle, and then what kind of modal verbs are there?”
Ss says “ may, might, can..” , T asks students “ what is the last one?”
A student says “ have to”, and T says “ have to, good!”
T writes down the role of modal and asks Ss “ what is the role of modal verbs?”
Any students did not answer the27uestion and T gets the answer “ hed…”
A student says “ hedging” and T says “ yes! Hedging” and writes down ‘ hedging’ on the
blackboard.
T says “ when we use modal verbs as hedging, we can make polite expressions. In
academic writing, we had better be polite” and asks Ss “ We do not have to be polite in
speaking, but in writing, especially academic writing, why do we have to use hedging?”.
A student says “ for space”.
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)
When I decide to observe this class, I planned to focus on the content of the class
because I have an interest in teaching English grammar. However, during the class, I
became focused on the teaching. This class is for advanced level class and more than half
of the whole students were Asian. It is about grammar concepts which are used in writing
and I began to pay attention to the way the class was taught.
At first, I could know how the teacher made an attention of students by writing
the lists that the class will do in the class on the blackboard. It was good idea for making
the students’ focus to the class because the students can see the order of today’s learning.
The teacher started the review of last class by asking questions about the form of modal
verbs. After asking question, the teacher asked more questions related to the form of
modal verbs. I could know that it is important to teach the form in grammar class. The
importance for a focus on form and the paying-attention-to-form argument is also related
to grammar and methods. (Scott Thornbury, 2002)
When they finished the review of the last class, the teacher let the students find
the common errors in using modal verbs. This helped the students recall the form and the
use of the modal verbs and made students have some questions for their understanding.
By finding the common errors, the students learned what they can do with the modal
verbs and cannot do with the modal verbs. In Scott Thornbury’s book, if leaners who
receive no instruction seem to be at risk of fossilizing sooner than those who receive
instructions. The teacher gave some instruction as well as assistance about the students’
understanding. It is significant that teacher has to lead the students to the right way by
giving the right instruction.
Additionally, in practice part, the teacher made groups and let them work together
by helping each other. It is also common in Korea, and it made the students have some
discussion about the class. During the work, the teachers walked around and asked them
if they have questions about what they were doing. If they have some questions, the
teacher gave feedback and made correction for them. According to Scott Thornbury,
correction can provide the feedback the learner needs to help confirm or reject the
hypothesis, or to tighten the application of a rule that is being applied fairly loosely.
In addition, as you can see my note, in practice part, the teacher taught writing skills
which is related to the modal verbs, especially the academic writing skill. The teacher
introduced the academic writing skill by using the form and use of the modal verbs. It
was good relevance of content, and relevance is a rule that reflects students’ specific
needs and problems.( Scott Thornbury,2002).
References
Scott Thornbury.(2002). How to teach grammar by Bluestone Press, Charlbury,
Oxfordshire, UK.