CO#2 Alice

For my second class observation, I observed Alexandra Ramos’ Group 2C speaking class. I was told that I could sit anywhere, so I took a seat beside a student that introduced himself as Andre. He seemed very cheerful, and we spent the few minutes before class talking about soccer and Brazil. Alexandra began the class with a little classroom chat, which really seemed to lower the students’ affective filters. She spoke very clearly and used their names. On the board, she wrote a list of assignments that the students had coming up. Apparently, they have midterms this week! Most of the class time was spent preparing for a timed presentation that would be in the near future. Students were told that the speech had to be at least four minutes long, and that it also needed to be over one or more of the topics that they had been discussing in class, which are as follows:

Directions
Shopping
Justice/Crime
Genres – to express opinion
Comparatives (she asked the class to provide examples for these)

As a class, each topic was reviewed to make sure the students had a grasp of what the terms meant. She provided plenty of examples, and the students appeared to be very receptive and actively participated in class discussion. Students were given class time to brainstorm ideas for a topic. During this time, she walked around the class assisting students when they needed help by providing supportive suggestions. The students at the table that I was sitting at asked me for help as well, which I gladly offered. I love the brainstorming process of writing papers. When students would pronounce things incorrectly, she would politely correct them. For some of the rowdier boys in class, she made them accountable for their work by telling them she would be sure to check their progress at the end of the brainstorming session. This technique functioned nicely, because they got to work!

       For the remainder of the class, the students learned about family relationships. Alexandra drew a family tree on the board as a means of illustrating and introducing the vocabulary. This approach was very interactive. Students were given a handout of a family tree and were asked to fill it in, providing information about each family member and familial relationship (personality traits, occupation, how significant others met, etc.). One of the students made a comment saying that he did know the name of his great-grandfather, to which Alexandra responded, “Some cultures place a lot of emphasis on cultures, and others don’t. It is okay if you do not know who your great-grandfather is”. I thought this was a very considerate way to address cultural differentiation. Before I knew it, class was coming to a close! She reviewed the vocabulary learned that day, and clarified the specifics about future assignments. I really enjoyed observing this class!