TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed

Name of Observer __Boyoung Kang____

Date

Observation Environment

(include URL if the

class was online)

Class
Skill/Content

Observation # _9_

Class
Teacher
Level/Number
(Beg./Int./Adv.)
Beginner
Margita Haberlen

05/06/2015 Online Class at

Speaking
www.learner.org
Writing
Focus on relevant areas from the What Can Be Observed handout. Notice how the
teacher handles these areas during the class.

OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON:

1. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO PREDICT THE WORD BY ASKING QUESTIONS
TO SOLVE RIDDLES.
2. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST BETWEEN
GERMAN HOLIDAY AND AMERICAN HOLIDAY WITH A VENN DIAGRAM.
Note: In previous class, Ss learned vocabulary about months, seasons, and holidays in
German. Also, Ss made a year-clock which shows the matching seasons with months. Ss
use this material when they sing the year-clock song.
Warm-up (4 min)
T greets Ss while bringing learning materials to the class. T locates the materials next to
the board to make it easy to use them anytime she wants.
[Holidays and Seasons]
T starts the class having Ss sing a song to greet each other. Ss shake their hands with their
partners while singing a greeting song in German. (Lyrics : Hello, dear partner. How are
you today? Fine, thank you, dear partner. Ah, I'm happy to hear that.) T gets Ss to find
another partner and do it again. T introduces the topic of the lesson which is months,
seasons, and holidays by saying, "Everyone is fine this morning. The weather is beautiful.
Now it is Spring."
Practice 1 (4 min)
[Sorting by Seasons]
T holds a big picture which shows four seasons and asks, "What do I have here?" One S
answers, "It's the seasons." T puts the picture in the middle of the classroom ground and
passes cards to each S. A season is written on each card. T has Ss stand up and sit down
in the right place with their cards. Ss are asked to help classmates who make mistakes. T

Last Updated: 7/24/2015 12:39 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
has Ss sing the year-clock song. After that, T has a S be a teacher. The S points her finger
at the months while other Ss sing the song again.
Practice 2 (3 min)
[Solving Riddles]
T introduces the guessing game with the months. T models the first riddle by giving clues
to solve it. T reads clues on the board pointing the sentences. Ss guess right. T has a S
give a riddle. The S makes clues changing a little bit from T's example clues. At the end
of clues, the S asks, "What is the name of this month?" Other Ss make a guess. Another S
volunteers to think up a riddle.
Practice 3 (3 min)
[Building Sentences]
T asks, "Who can read German well?" Ss raise their hands confidently. T explains the
activity. T has strips of sentences, but they are all incomplete. Some strips are only the
beginning of the sentences and the others. Ss are asked to find the classmate who has the
rest part of the sentence that they have. Ss stand up and start to find their partners by
reading the sentences. After finding the partner, Ss read the complete sentence with their
partner in front of the class. The sentences include months, holidays, and seasons.
Practice 4 (3 min)
[Questioning for Information]
T asks who wants to begin the game. T picks one S among other Ss who raise their hands
wanting to participate. The S come front of the class and choose one secret card. Other Ss
cannot see the card and only the S who has the card know the answer. T gets one
volunteer to write down how many questions other Ss ask on the board. Ss start to ask
questions to guess the card. The games keeps several turns in the same way. Ss can only
asks five questions for each card.
e.g. A : Is the celebration in winter?
B : Yes.
C : Is the celebration in January?
B : Yes.
D : (Answer)
B : Yes, that's right. (shows the card)
Practice 5 (5 min)
[Comparing Holidays]
T explains that Ss are going to compare German holidays with American holidays. On
the board, there is a Venn diagram. T briefly defines what the Venn diagram is by asking
some questions to Ss such as "Where do we write things that are the same?" T writes
'same' in German in the middle of Venn diagram, which means they should write same

Last Updated: 7/24/2015 12:39 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
features between German holidays and American holidays in it. On the left side of Venn
diagram, T writes Fasching which is German holiday and on the right side T writes
Halloween. T elicits differences and similarities between those two holidays. After filling
the diagram, T has Ss read the differences and similarities by looking at the board.

Fasching

Same
(in German)

Halloween

Wrap-up (4 min)
T says, "Here we are at the very end. You learned so much today. What are all the things
we learned today? Who can tell me?" Ss answer, "Months and seasons." T finishes the
class by singing Mother Earth song which is traditional German song. To sing a song, T
gets Ss to have roles as mother earth and seasons.

(continue on back)

Last Updated: 7/24/2015 12:39 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Discuss your
observation focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes. Consider
the three levels of teacher reflection (surface, pedagogical, critical). (100-200 words)
The instructor put lots of activities in the lesson. Throughout the class, Ss
participated actively by singing songs and finding partners. She emphasized Total
Physical Response (TPR) which was developed to reduce the stress when people feel
when they are studying other languages (Freeman, 2011). The instructor believed putting
songs and games makes class atmosphere not too serious and such positive experience
helps Ss remember better. To complete the given tasks, Ss moved their bodies and looked
fun. When T got volunteers, she gave fair opportunities to all Ss by calling different Ss in
each activity. It prevents Ss feeling isolated from the class.
Freeman, D. (2011). Techniques and principles in language teaching (3rd ed., p. 109).
New York, N.Y., USA: Oxford University Press.
What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your own
teaching practice? Discuss specific ways in which you could apply the techniques and
methods you saw. Discuss your future teaching environment and your students needs
and goals. (100-200 words)
There were many interesting games in the lesson. I learned many different kinds
of games from 'Effective Use of Games' class which is one of workshops in TESOL
program. Using games in class can reinforce the information, provide motivation to learn,
and promote communicative competence. Moreover, even shy students can participate
positively because games lower affective filters. Games can be used in various types of
classes to teach every skills such as speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Probably I
am going to teach either middle or high school students in the future. They might be
intermediate or advanced levels. Although in this lesson, students were young and
beginner level of learners, if I modify the content of games, it is enough to apply games
for intermediate or advanced classes. For example, in solving riddles I can put more
advanced vocabulary in the cards.

Last Updated: 7/24/2015 12:39 AM