Reflective Analysis Of The Classroom

1. Observed lessons analysis

Everyone who has ever tried to teach knows how important is the teacher’s language as well as gestures and visual prompts. It affects students and the classroom dynamics.

I was impressed by how an experienced teacher managed the classroom. The use of clear, concept questions resulted in an immediate response from students. The lesson was conducted in accordance with the plan and procedure which in my opinion brings only benefits to both students and teacher and minimises TTT. Furthermore, instructions were very clear and tailored to the students’ language level. I realized how crucial language choice is when recently a trainee used expressions like ‘What would the question be?’ or verbs like ‘to assign’ in low-level

So far most of the charts prepared by trainees were helpful, especially while eliciting grammar forms. Gestures used in the classroom are a powerful tool that helps strengthen instructions. I observed an experienced teacher drilling pronunciation and intonation, and a hand gesture was enough to nominate a person to speak. Trainees as well used gestures to reinforce their instructions while setting pair work tasks.

2. Evaluation of teacher-talk-time After listening to my recorded lesson, I noted that the ratio of teacher-talk-time TTT to student-talk-time was high. However, I believe I considerably decreased it comparing to the previous non-recorded lessons. In my opinion, TTT was too high during the final stage. I could increase STT by setting this feedback as a pair work. Moreover, the speaking about predictions task was a great opportunity to raise the STT level and to intensify students’ involvement.

3. Clear ‘teacher language’

Examples from tape Comments

What do you know about James Bond?

Do you like films about James

What happened next? When I asked students to answer these questions, I hadn’t thought it through. I should have told them to work in pairs to maximise STT. This discussion could have been done in pairs rather than in a teacher-led fashion. What do you think?

Please look at the board and discuss these questions in pairs.

T: ‘How did Mary Goodnight get into the room?’

SS: ‘Through the window.’

T: ‘Through the window, that’s right.’

T: ‘Why did she come to find James Bond?’

SS: ‘She wanted to give the message from HQ to James Bond that the agent Scaramanga is looking for him.’

T: ‘She wanted to warn him about an important message from HQ, that’s right.’ When asking questions, I was constantly standing at the computer, and I was echoing back what students say. For this, I should sit in the middle and make eye contact with the whole group to encourage all students to participate. I also noticed that I overuse certain phrases e.g. ‘that’s right’. T: ‘How did Mary Goodnight get into the room?’

(feedback from the whole group)

T: ‘Why did she come to find James Bond?’ 5. My action plan

• Maximise STT: I will focus on setting some tasks as a discussion in pairs or groups. In addition, I will pay attention not to echo back what students say and to avoid overusing words and phrases e.g. ‘correct’ or ‘that’s