Ganem CO-1

I had my first classroom observation on Wednesday May 18^th. The teacher was Ron Garren and it was a reading class. The first thing he did in class was take attendance. He then did some other housekeeping duties such as taking down the students’ e-mail addresses. His way of conducting the classroom was a teacher-centered approach. He stood in the front and center of the class room writing down on the whiteboard what he was lecturing. The students would be quiet and pay attention.

Before starting the lesson he announced I was observing their class. He told them I was in Ramin’s TEFL class and I was going through the program to become an English teacher. He asked me to introduce myself and so I did. The students asked what country I was from and I replied I was from Bangladesh. They asked why I wanted to be an English teacher. I told them I want to travel to other countries and teach students English. One student asked what country I wanted to go to and I replied Turkey.

Before starting the lesson, he reminded them of a reading quiz they were going to have on Thursday based on their readings from their textbook.The lesson was on shipping and mailing in America. The students in class were assigned to read an excerpt on the subject. He wrote down vocabulary they would encounter on the whiteboard. He explained the difference between private companies who did shipping and the public services such as the US Postal Service. He explained the postal service was a really old service provided by the United States Government. As the students read in through the excerpt, he explained what the main idea in each paragraph. He would then ask students what the sentence explained the main idea in that particular paragraph. He would also ask students what the main idea of a particular paragraph is. If the student gave too simple of an answer he would ask him or her to expand on the explanation by using details from the text. He gave them a rationale for this; the crucial information that gives the readings their meanings would be in the details. It was important to know the details to give context for the vocabulary and explanations.

In one paragraph the subject of domestic and international shipping came up. He asked the class if they knew what the difference was. He then explained that domestic shipping happens just within a country’s borders and international shipping is from country to country.

At the end of class he reminded them of a social he organized for the international students. It was a get-together at Sheesa Night’s Café on Thursday at 4PM.