Lesson One – hybrid lesson

This is my first recorded lesson I have done ready to be observed by a tutor. In fact, my lessons on the 9th and 10th of November are the first times I’ve ever recorded myself teaching. So this is a whole new experience for me. It was topic week at school and students from the 4 current classes were asked to choose between a variety of subjects on offer. For that week, students would be in a class of mixed abilities with people they may not have had lessons with before and that may not have been previously taught by me. The topic chosen by this class was food and I developed a week of lessons to cover this.

The morning of the lesson wasn’t without its difficulties. The class was originally meant to be offline only, but there was a last minute online addition. However, that’s the way teaching life can be in the current climate and hybrid teaching is something I am getting used to.

click here to view my pro forma

click here to view my lesson plan

link to lesson materials:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LxCFYP81vrvicjF2Iva_KqrPg1KZxGv3TC4l7MUnqz8/edit

After watching the video back I have identified the following areas that need development:

Timing

Both during the lesson and immediately after I was acutely aware that my timings were wrong. The beginning of the lesson took longer than I had anticipated and it takes longer to group students than I allowed for in my plan. I hadn’t anticipated the length one of the activities took too, and this took me by surprise. I was able to finish all that I had planned in the next lesson and adjust my plan but it did have an impact. Timing is definitely an area I need to think more carefully about when planning my lessons.

scaffolding activities 

One activity students found more difficult than I had expected was identifying verbs we use to cook. Originally I was going to show a clip of Mary Berry cooking and ask students to identify some cooking verbs she uses. This may have helped students with the activity that followed. I was trying to cover too many things in one lesson so had ended up taking the clip out.

Giving Instructions 

I’m not clear when giving instructions for all the activities. For example, when instructing students about a web quest to research celebrity chefs I think I say “what I want you to do….” 3 times before I actually tell them what I want them to do. It may be that I need to write down instructions in order to help both myself and the students

individual needs

As this was a multi level class and included SEN students I missed a few things. Firstly, I had allocated a time for an activity on the google document and then I asked the class how much time they would like. One particular student would have found this difficult and pointed it out to me. Secondly, from the video I’m not sure if 2 of the students at the back of the class are engaged in the lesson or not. They are both lower level students in comparison with the rest of the class and I should have tried to bring them into the class discussions more. Particularly as the stronger students were participating and speaking a lot.

Post tutor discussion

After some tutor feedback and discussion I feel that the areas I identified that need improvement were correct.

The first consideration is not to try and cram too many activities into my lesson as this had an effect on both my timings and my scaffolding. Leaving out the Mary Berry clip would have assisted with the students understanding and clarification of the cooking verbs activity. I think it would have helped the lesson to flow better too. As Nancy pointed out, ‘less is more’. With less activities to do the students will have the space to explore the subject more and as a teacher I will have the opportunity to explore more incidental learning opportunities. Funnily enough, just writing this makes me feel like I can breathe a little more throughout the lesson and make more room for growth for both the students and myself. I love the idea of the students having more input into the lesson and this is one way to do it.

In terms of giving instructions it may be that I need to write these clearly for myself and practise delivering them for a few lessons to see if this helps. This may enable me to give clearer instructions in a more fluent and concise way. I could also try and use ICQ’s, a tool I often use with lower level students but rarely with medium to higher levels. I’d have to think about how to write these into my plan so that they are meaningful and not just a token gesture, and target which parts of the instructions are likely to cause confusion. The game of taboo at the beginning of my lesson needed more explanation and a demonstration to aid learner understanding.

On the whole I was happy with how this lesson went and have learnt some valuable lessons to take forward. Here are some of the areas I’d like to concentrate on:

1. Don’t cram in too much.

2. Make sure all stages of the lesson relate back to the main aim and purpose (this relates to the addition of the Nigella Lawson video clip which didn’t really serve a purpose).

3. Work on giving clear instructions with a demonstration if needed.

4. Try out new materials before the lesson and have some visuals on hand to aid with explanations.

5. When writing the pro forma I need to include the situation we are in regarding COVID-19 as this impacts on the lesson and watching the video doesn’t always show this clearly.

 

                                                   Lesson Two – online 

For my second observed lesson I chose to do a topic based lesson that I could incorporate some reading strategies into. I chose the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling for a numbest of reasons. I have taught the poem twice before to B2/C1 level classes and feel that the themes are still of interest and relatable to students now. The aim of this lesson was to encourage learners to use strategies in order to understand the poem, generate more interest and make it more relatable. In order to do this I adapted some materials to make the lesson more coherent and structured. I have taught the students in this class since the beginning of January and have found that as long as the instructions and materials are clear, they will engage in class based activities.

Pro forma:

pro forma for observation lesson 2

Lesson plan:

Observed lesson plan for 2nd lesson

Materials:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XD57_UsICPqKT5c-1TouUTL8sCOSSrSQD6DdxJ-d95o/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yhxJGTMmpSqH6FUaBvPehPPCKW-VXU_C8jjdAgjT6fM/edit?usp=sharing

Link to hot feedback video:

https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0l5PtOfJT4o0T3cwJ7JJkLhRg#hot_feedback_for_observation_2

Initial post lesson feedback

Areas I chose to specifically focus on were scaffolding, content feedback and extended wait time.

On the whole I was really pleased with the lesson, largely because the students seemed interested in the topic and gained a good grasp of the poem. They were analysing, connecting and relating the poem to their own lives which is just what I hoped they would do. I was worried that I talked too much at the beginning of the lesson. A lot of the first half is scaffolding and build up to generate interest in the writer and the topic as I try and elicit who Kipling is and what the general them of the poem is. I felt happy that the class in general seemed to engage with the idea of advice and were able to identify times in their own lives they had had advice. After watching the lesson back I felt concerned that I hadn’t emphasised the strategies enough, however, the students did seem to grasp them and were having some incredible discussions in break out rooms.

In terms of content feedback I had made the decision for this lesson that I wanted students to discover the meaning of the poem rather than focus on form. I made a note of some of the errors that I can go back to in another lesson, but the important focus was on fluency. I have been working on giving students time and space to explore subjects, and this includes extended wait time when asking questions. Sometimes the silence seems to go on for a long time but that is more about me feeling uncomfortable than the students. I am beginning to realise that after a while, students will try and answer the question and I don’t have to fill all the silences.  Break out rooms do lend themselves well to giving students space without the feeling of being listened to all the time by a teacher. During this lesson, some learners were sharing some personal information about their lives and I’m pleased they felt at ease enough to do so. It is hugely important to create a safe and supportive environment for all learners, but especially in classes where some suffer from a variety of special educational needs.

My biggest concern of the lesson was regarding one particular student who is having difficulties with English comprehension at this level. I tried to include him in the lesson as much as possible without making him feel uncomfortable or under pressure, but I still felt he did’t have the comprehension and language tools to engage very well.  Since carrying out this lesson, it has been agreed that the student will move to another class where his needs can be properly met.

Post tutor discussion

After some discussion with Nancy, I am still pleased with the lesson overall. I discussed my unease about the student who found the comprehension difficult. Even though he was clearly in the wrong class for his level, I still felt a sense of responsibility both in terms of his language learning and feeling comfortable in the class.

Here are some areas I need to work on for future lessons:

  1. Adding timings to my lesson plans

After my first observed lesson I discussed how my timings were wrong and I had not planned enough time during the lesson to finish all the tasks. I have since tried teaching a few more lessons with structured lesson plan timings and have ended up becoming more worried about sticking to the times rather than concentrating on delivering the lesson itself.So for this lesson plan I decided to leave the timings off. I feel I have a good rapport with this class and felt confident that the lesson would flow fluidly in an organic way using intrinsic timings.  However, I’m not sure that this would work with a higher level class or one that I didn’t feel so confident in teaching. One suggestion from Nancy is that I structure and write the lesson using times, but then erase them when I actually teach the lesson. Therefore, I still have the structure without the pressure of the timings on the day.

2. Citing materials

When creating this lesson I used the poem itself, and then researched on the internet for comprehension questions, discussion questions, various poem analysis and strategies used for poetry comprehension. I then took parts from a number of sources and adapted them to make them more relevant for the learners I am currently teaching. However, I took all the strategies from one particular source before making some adaptions. I therefore need to make sure I reference the source on the lesson plan.

3. Future lessons

My first two observed lessons have been based around topics. The first around food and the second around a poem. My next lessons need to address different areas of teaching, for example on grammar or a different language aspect. I have already decided to focus on a grammar lesson. I think it will be interesting to see if I can still give students the time and space they need in a different type of lesson. It will also be a different challenge for me in terms of timings and how I keep to time whilst still trying to let the lesson flow organically.

 

 Lesson three – online

 

I chose to teach a grammar lesson this time. This is a small online class composing of two students. One I taught during the Autumn term and the other student I have been teaching since January. Individually they have had their difficulties both inside and outside of the classroom, but seem to moving forward in this class now. I chose to review the present simple and continuous tense as it is ones we have been working on for a few weeks now and I wanted to see if further support was needed. I decided to go with simple, straightforward activities that I adapted and personalised from a previous worksheet I had used. It is of great importance that both students clearly understand the tasks, so I needed to concentrate on eliciting and scaffolding each activity followed by clear instructions and ICQ’s. I also wanted to make sure both students felt they had time and space to work through the activities without feeling pressured, but feeling supported. I chose to offer to turn off my camera and sound but remain present in case I was needed for support.

Pro forma:

Pro forma for observed lesson 3

Lesson plan:

Observed lesson plan 3

Materials:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H9hczOGtRKvRbXEFl4YWunedYr-X7p3Fix7VDIe8aF8/edit?usp=sharing

Link to hot feedback video:

https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/03dpegBtmeDOGVVtTWj4BPKJQ#hot_feedback_observed_lesson_3

Post lesson initial reflection:

I felt this lesson went ok. I was happy with my eliciting and scaffolding before each activity and both students seemed to enjoy the lesson. I was able to identify that one student has a better grasp of both tenses than the other, which will help when I am developing future lessons. In terms of the ICQ’s I used, I’m not sure they worked too well. I needed to be so clear and exact with what needed to be done, and I’m not sure I achieved that. After the scaffolding and for the first activity I thought they understood the instructions. However, it became clear as I was listening to them discuss the questions that they had not fully understood so I interjected. After that they seemed to be ok. I gave them both the option of me staying or leaving them to carry out the activity without me there and they both chose the latter. The activity took longer than I had anticipated but I had created an activity later on in the lesson that could be easily adjusted if needed. I feel that by creating an activity that could be used or left out really helped with my anxiety around time keeping that I experience when following lesson plans.

Both the students had great discussions when tackling the first task. It was interesting to hear the stronger student taking the lead and supporting their class mate towards the right answer. It was wonderful to listen to the weaker of the two students engaging in discussion trying to work out the answers, especially as this student barely spoke in lessons a few weeks ago when in a different class.

Post tutor discussion

After watching the lesson back again I wasn’t as happy with it as I initially had been. I wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing in choosing to leave both the students to work out the answers to the first activity for the amount of time that had done. I had made a decision before the lesson to give them space to learn in a more autonomous way, and had kept to this. However, I felt concerned that I should have supported them more. After speaking with Barbara she felt that giving them the space had enabled them to find their own answers which was a positive way of teaching. Barbara even observed that one of the students was concept checking the other student at one point, which I hadn’t picked up on. This is something I hadn’t identified myself, but when I rewatched the lesson after my session with Barbara I saw one of the students concept checking the word ‘shaving’. I very much enjoy this style of teaching to enable students to find their way and explore the language. I realise it isn’t always possible and that different teaching styles are needed in different situations, however, I hope I feel confident enough again to try this.

In terms of setting up the activities, I had done a lot of scaffolding and given clear instructions and felt happier about this after the feedback session. Barbara raised an interesting point that it would be interesting to see how different it was setting up an activity and using ICQ’s with more advanced level students engaging in more complex task. We also discussed using materials that we have been exploring since starting the diploma and trying out different ideas. This is my goal for my next observed lesson.

 

Lesson Four – Hybrid lesson

I was extremely nervous about this lesson. This is my first time teaching proficiency students General English. I had taught C2 students as part of mixed level classes for short periods such as a week, but never as being the lead teacher for their general course and I was really being stretched by it. Due to my teaching context being within a folk high school I had a number of students with problems ranging from depression, anxiety and ADHD. This would be a hybrid lesson with students both in the physical classroom and online due to the pandemic. All of this information fed into my decision to do a lesson on small talk to address an intercultural communicative need. On a number of occasions previous Swedish students had spoken about their difficulties of making idle chit chat with people they didn’t know or barely knew. They spoke about not knowing what to say and feeling very uncomfortable in situations when in Brighton and people started chatting to them. They identified situations such as being at the bus stop, in a cafe, in a shop, having dinner with a host family or going on a date. Small talk is not a cultural norm in Sweden.

As society was starting to open up and COVID restrictions were being lifted, it seemed like an ideal time to approach a lesson on small talk. Students would be venturing out more and those currently online would be coming out of quarantine very soon. It was even more important to tackle this subject within my current teaching context as many of the students suffer with social anxiety and find small talk situations extremely difficult. Whilst their language level is high and they wouldn’t necessarily have any linguistic problems in this situation, their emotional problems impact on their fluency.

I decided to use a video clip that highlighted the difficulties Swedish people had with small talk and showed a couple of scenarios all spoken in Swedish with English subtitles. I wanted students to connect with how this made them feel and give them a safe space to discuss. This would then lead into reading and comparing 3 short dialogues to identify situations and to give a platform to discuss accepted topics, open ended questions and appropriate language. The final part of the lesson was to try out different role plays and scenarios they may find themselves in. For this activity I had designed an online game for my materials assignment and wanted to try it out in class. I had used text, photos and video to try and enhance the experience of the learners and engage in a variety of role play situations in a stress free and relaxed way.

Pro forma

Pro forma for observed lesson 4- final document

Lesson plan

Observed lesson plan 4

Materials 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MZZ7nyKfVxRo_nrRvQjAy_ApOcyPy5dQWtPRayHEGUY/edit?usp=sharing

Online game: https://www.flippity.net/bg.php?k=1UHgnCJszdOet5HTJdgqpOWJ2WmRurimLQK3JQOgeqwY

Link to hot feedback video:

https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0MoMfPJ_yzvoMbFuAnm3z093g#hot_feedback_obs_4

Post lesson initial reflection

My initial response was that the lesson had felt a bit flat and hadn’t gone as well as I had hoped. I teach two different classes both at C2 level and had done this lesson with students who are all within the physical classroom earlier that morning. Whilst the lesson had gone well, I had found out that some of the material I was using (the video clip of Swedish people and small talk) had already been shown by a previous teacher in a previous module when they had touched on the subject of small talk. I felt annoyed with myself for not researching this more before planning and carrying out the lesson. During the short break between lessons, I could have changed things around and possibly found another clip to show. However, I decided to stick with my original plan and show the short clip. Not all the students would have seen the clip, it was short and the fact that it was in their mother tongue I felt would still help with connection. However, it still played on my mind a bit.

I’m always aware during hybrid lessons on being so dependant on the internet. It can be difficult to integrate students online with those in the physical classroom and this can be made so much worse if the internet is being temperamental. Throughout the lesson my unstable connection warning banner kept coming up on my screen which can be such a worry. Although, thankfully I didn’t lose connection with the students. It has happened to me on more than one occasion over the past 6 months since hybrid teaching, and can be disruptive for the whole class. The set up at school and in this classroom is that I project the image from my computer of those on zoom onto the white board behind me so that those in the physical classroom can see them. However, those on zoom cannot see anyone in the physical classroom as we aren’t using webcams, so I am very aware of students on zoom feeling disconnected. Sometimes those students don’t participate as much and I was worried that this was the case during this lesson. Students within the physical classroom were also reluctant to log in to zoom for the final activity.

In terms of my own materials I think I was nervous about their reactions to the game and the feedback I would get. I had spent a lot of time on creating the game and was well aware I could receive negative feedback and I had to be ready to accept, learn and reflect on this.

Post tutor discussion

I was reluctant to watch this lesson but, after a few days, I watched it back and felt some relief. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it had been. In fact, I was quite happy with some of the outcomes, especially after my discussion with Barbara. The video had worked well and students were at ease discussing the scenarios presented and expressing their opinions regarding small talk and different cultures. Out of the 3 students online, one had participated a lot more than I had initially thought. Barbara had wondered which way the lesson was going to go when some of the students bought up cultural differences and how they viewed certain situations. One student bought up how she was always asked when she would be having a baby when she visited her native culture, and discussed her feelings about this. Another student discussed how one of the characters in the video had seemed a bit like a stalker whist the girl was waiting at a bus stop. I explained to Barbara that I felt it was like walking a bit of a tightrope. I wanted students to explore these topics but was aware of some of their own personal difficulties and anxieties so didn’t want anyone to feel uneasy.

In terms of the 3 written dialogues, this was an opportunity for students to work out where the conversations were taking place and lead into a discussion about appropriate topics. I had a Padlet ready in case students needed more support with this and the use of open questions and expressions to carry on conversation. However, this didn’t seem to be needed so I made the decision not to use it. Time was also moving on and I wanted students to be able to try out the game because this was their chance to try be spontaneous and adaptable in situations presented. I had managed to record one of the breakout rooms on zoom so that I could reflect and evaluate in more detail the students use of the game. Some students from the physical classroom had agreed to log into zoom so that the class felt more integrated and students got to work with different people.

Barbara and I had a lengthy discussion about the game and designing your own materials to use  with a class. Barbara felt that on the whole the game had been a success. Students had fun with it, which was one of the instructions, and they took part in the scenarios. Watching back some of the role play of students online had been interesting. Some had used humour to explore the situations whilst others had seemed more openly anxious about what to say to keep a conversation going. Two things in particular came out of this observation for me. Firstly, it would be good to explore with students where the conversation broke down. Barbara thought about recording and playing students a conversation where this is highlighted and asking them to discuss what went wrong and what would be a better conversation. Another area is to look at expressions to carry on conversations when students get a bit stuck. Even though they have the language ability to do this, nerves take over sometimes and having some practiced language to hand might be useful. Perhaps the Padlet would have been good to use after all. I definitely think I would keep it in if I do this lesson again in the future.

I asked students to give me anonymous feedback about the game by answering questions I had put onto a Padlet. The feedback in general was positive. Some of the more negative feedback included students landing on the same squares. I had thought they might come up with different scenarios but they didn’t. Barbara and I discussed starting students at different parts of the game to minimise this. Other feedback included feeling anxious at times. Perhaps I need to look at more scenarios as a class first and work through them together before trying the game. It seems that more scaffolding was needed. Perhaps I could use a couple of scenarios from the game before and/or after.

This lesson was by far my biggest test and it is one I have got so much out of. I really want to try it again and make some improvements so the students can experience something that will help them whilst in England or travelling to other parts of the UK.

Further Reflection

I have since re-written the lesson plan for this particular lesson as I know I will use it every term whilst at Loxdale. I have included much more scaffolding so that students have more ideas to put into practise during the game. I’m really looking forward to trying it out again. Funnily enough, designing the game gave me the confidence to try my hand at using other online templates that sites such as Flippity and Wordwall offer. The students seem to really engage with them and it’s given me a platform to vary the way I teach. 

 

Lesson 5 – Hybrid lesson

This was a lesson for proficiency students, two of which were online and nine in the physical classroom. Unfortunately, one of the online students was away so that left one learner online which is slightly more difficult to manage in terms of integration. I carried out the observation on a Monday morning and I’m not sure if that was the right decision. This isn’t a particularly energetic lesson and I usually prefer to do something a little more up beat on a Monday. However, this lesson followed on from Friday and I wanted students to remember what we had done.

The class watched a Ted Talk in their previous lesson that challenges the simple view of emotional language. (https://www.ted.com/talks/tiffany_watt_smith_the_history_of_human_emotions?language=en).

Common core words such as ‘sadness, anger, fear, disgust, happiness and surprise’ are often used as a baseline to describe how we feel.  We looked across different languages and cultures to show the complexity and diversity of the words used to describe how we are feeling. The talk suggests that the very existence of these words may allow us to feel things that people in other cultures don’t. Following the Ted Talk, students took the 6 core emotions and broke each down into 4 more emotions, and then each of these down to 2 more emotions. The idea of this is based on a feelings wheel.

https://images.app.goo.gl/aRCbaSxdUFfTc78v8

This lesson uses the emotions broken down by students to find collocations and then use the language to create a piece of dialogue based on the differences of what people say and how we really feel or think. I started the lesson with a re-cap of Friday to engage and refresh students memories. They did well and seemed to remember a lot.

I began the next part of the lesson by eliciting noun, verb, adjective and verb collocates for the word disgust. I chose to work with ‘disgust’ as a group because this had been the most challenging emotion for students to break down. I had anticipated that students might change the form of the basic emotion and had decided not to error correct this, as the aim of the lesson was for students to come up with and use collocations in general more in their writing. For example, I didn’t challenge one students contribution of ‘disgusting food’. However, I did try and elicit further noun collocations such as ‘horror and disgust’. Whilst this part of the lesson felt a little lengthy and lacked some pace, I’d wanted to scaffold it well before asking students to work more independently. I had made the mistake in the past of assuming C2 learners understood what was required for what I thought was a fairly simple activity. However, this had resulted in some confusion, so I wanted to make sure they knew exactly what was required. One of the students is one I have discussed in the critical incidents 4 section of the blog. Therefore, I needed to make sure my scaffolding was as good as I could possible make it. Students were then able to work in groups or independently to collocate one of the other emotions and record their findings on a Padlet so that everyone had access:

https://padlet.com/sonjawootton/a7xubjn09kf9ppww

For the next part of the lesson I wanted students to think about situations they have found themselves in that might be somewhat awkward. For example, family get togethers. The aim of this is for students to think about when they say things that aren’t the same as what they are thinking or feeling. To illustrate this I chose to show a clip of the film ‘Inside out’. The clip shows a family scene and demonstrates that what we say is often not what we are thinking or feeling:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi_2v-ewZvxAhVsA2MBHRSFCwQQtwIwAXoECAIQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DyRUAzGQ3nSY&usg=AOvVaw2q_c3AMwi4dWbtdsK6gcp0

Following the clip students were then asked to thought shower some more situations, which I felt they engaged well in. These situations were to give them ideas that they could use for the their next activity. This was to write a piece of dialogue showing what someone is saying and what someone is actually thinking or feeling. I gave them a choice of using their google document to write this, showing speaking and thinking in different colours. Or they could create a comic strip using the following:

https://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

I chose to use this as an alternative after being shown it by a fellow student on the materials module of the diploma. I thought it would be a great way for students to have some fun and be creative whilst using the language from the lesson. I had spent some time exploring the material and felt confident to explain how to use it with the class and take them through some examples. About half the classed seemed interested in trying this out. I gave them about 15 to 20 minutes of the lesson to start this task to enable me to support students who may be struggling. They could then finish it for homework.

Overall, I felt the lesson was fine. It lacked some momentum at times but the students engaged well and carried out the activities. They seemed to enjoy the film clip too.

Pro forma

Pro forma for observed lesson 5

Lesson plan

Observed lesson plan 5

Post tutor feedback and discussion

The initial discussion Paul and I had was about hybrid teaching and the difficulties it brings to the classroom. Whilst it is do able, it doesn’t mean that learners have the best experience.  My own personal experience is that both online and offline students suffer, but more so those online depending on the ratio. I think it is also dependant on learners in the physical classrooms willingness to engage with those online and how much the teacher wants to try and integrate the students. As teachers, one of our aims is for students to work with others and to vary who people work with. This is more of a challenge with a hybrid set up. One of the difficulties I have found is the reluctance of students in the physical classroom to want to login to zoom and pair up with an online learner.  I felt the online student, of which there was only one, was not as integrated into the lesson. Due to the set up at the school, the online student cannot see the rest of the class but only the teacher logged into zoom, this adds another barrier. Paul also felt that the students in the physical classroom were hindered due to having to use computers and shared documents (google docs). It disrupts the fluidity to some extent. I have to type contributions or instructions onto a document instead of using a whiteboard and this is then displayed on a monitor or students can use their own computers. In this particular classroom the screen is fairly small so may be difficult for students to see clearly, therefore using their own computer is needed.

The main focus of this lesson was to teach collocations and concordances in relation to the six basic human emotions already identified.  It is a follow up lesson to the one written about as my last peer observed lesson. I had started with ‘disgust’. Because this was the part of the lesson I felt lacked in energy and interest, I was keen to discuss ideas with Paul as to how I could have done this differently. Paul wondered if I had explored data driven teaching. I wasn’t sure I fully understood what this was, but after a brief explanation I could see how this would have benefited a lesson such as this one. Instead of trying to elicit collocations I could have asked students to explore resources such as online Oxford collocations or lextutor.ca (which was one I hadn’t heard of before) and they could have found collocations and concordances themselves. The task may have been more interesting and engaging.  Part way through the lesson I do discuss concordances and refer learners to using tools such as English-Corpora.org to use when writing essays. At the beginning of the course we give students a list of useful online resources, but I must admit, I don’t really incorporate these resources into my lessons so they may get forgotten or not used to their full potential. Lextutor.ca, advocated by Scott Thornbury, shows concordances for both spoken and written words. We could have gone on to compare the uses or examined the subject areas of when the word disgust is used, in more detail. Another possibility would be to begin the lesson with what subject areas elicit the word ‘disgusting’, before exploring the data driven material.

On reflection, I think a more data driven teaching approach would have worked better for this lesson. Firstly, it would have taken the pressure off of me. Teaching Swedish proficiency students can be challenging and I need to find material that will stretch and engage them. However, due to the nature of the students, there are often times when they are not forth coming with ideas, answers or questions and I often fall into filling their silences and gaps myself. This can prove tiring and somewhat tedious. However, one of the students in this class can be extremely forth coming if he is bored, confused or feels unchallenged. Again, I have written about this in more detail as part of my fourth critical incident, but I wanted to mention it here as it can feel like walking along a tightrope at times. Secondly, learners would have been using resources themselves and finding their own answers. Perhaps a few short activities of setting a task, research some answers, and feedback would have worked well.

I felt happier with second part of the lesson and Paul and I discussed how using the comic strip would also have worked well as part of my previous small talk lesson. Thinking back to showing students the clip of someone in a lift having to make small talk with someone they barely know, and thinking something very different to what is said, would work well with the comic style material. I’ve already started to look at when I could and how I could incorporate this. I feel incredibly positive about a small talk lesson that wasn’t particularly dynamic when I first taught it in January 2020, has the potential to become a really good engaging and useful lesson. In terms of the work I had returned for this lesson, I received some great pieces of dialogue. What was interesting was the differences between those who had chosen to use the comic style approach and those who had use their google doc to write a dialogue. Those using comix were generally more creative in terms of the story. For example, one student wrote about having a conversation with an alien, another wrote about waking up and finding themselves in Egypt. However, the level of language used was fairly basic. Those who chose to use their google doc to write a dialogue, included scenarios such as office conversation or family dinners. The level of language used was definitely more complex. This is something I need to consider that I hadn’t even thought about. It isn’t necessarily a problem, but I need to think about what the aim of writing the dialogue is.

Thinking about collocation lessons, I have some new ideas to try out when I next teach them. I’m particularly interested in reading ‘From Corpus to classroom: language use and language teaching’ (O’ Keefe, A et al, 2007) to get some ideas of activities that could enhance this kind of lesson.