Author Archives: Bintou Cisse

Concluding Post

The first thing that came to my mind while writing this last post of this module TE719 is why? Why is this module not imposed on all the learners in the MA course? I chose this module without really knowing what it entailed. It was not a walk in the park, but I can admit that it was worth doing it. Before diving into my take regarding this module, it might be necessary to recall the expectations I set for myself before starting this journey. The first challenge was to increase my self-confidence as a second language English teacher. The second area was to better my teaching practices and make them reflect the UK standard. The next one was to Become an eclectic teacher (who can adapt and modify his techniques regarding teaching affordance and learners’ expectations) and finally help my learners go beyond the ideal native speaker and own their accent. I also wanted to analyse my strengths and my weaknesses as a teacher and go back to my country with an effective process of how to design a curriculum. These expectations seemed to be unrealistic, and at a point, I thought I would not make it, but the unconditional support of my tutors and my classmates proved me wrong.

Self Confidence
Before taking this module, I was always worried about how to teach proficient English learners confidently. I was battling with my self-esteem as a non-native English teacher. I was afraid to work with intermediate (B1), upper-intermediate (B2), and C1 learners because I wondered what they could take from the class and if they would find it challenging enough to learn something from it. This feeling seems to be common to most non-native English teachers despite their number of experiences, their high level of English, and their certifications (Ene, 2019). There is always this fear that one learner will mock our accent, or we would make a big mistake without realizing it. Or, we might not have an answer to learners’ preoccupations. So many ideas go on in the mind of the non-native English teachers, and I was always struggling with them even if my learners did not perceive them. Today, I challenged myself to work with the C1 learners, impressed by their reactions. I think I prefer working with proficient learners now, it is less challenging than working with beginners, and this would not have been possible if I did not have the gut to complete this module.

Class management
In hindsight, I can say that I made tremendous progress. When I look back at the first feedback I received from Theresa and Nancy, I understand this quote that says a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. And my first step was to build on her feedback and improve my teaching in the next class. Below is what she told me:
1. Your lesson plan needs to be more detailed and accurate
2. Instructions need to be clear
3. Make sure your prompt questions and any modelling of TL are accurate so they can mirror your use of TL.
4. Make sure ss feel they are learning while reporting back/listening to each other
5. Share the chat in the recording. Put new words in the chat for records.

For my second observation, I had Nancy as my observer, and she was happy with the detailed lesson plan, which shows that Theresa’s suggestions have fallen on receptive ears. However, she asked me to improve some areas like narrowing my aims and experimenting with different online whiteboards to smooth the online learning process.
1. The plan is much improved from last time but continues to work on narrowing your aims
2. Only present your assessor with a plan for 1 hour, even if your lesson is longer than that.
3. Think very carefully about the coherence of the tasks you ask the students
4. Factor in some pair or group work. If you have a larger class, make sure you use breakout rooms (and record one or two of the rooms with the student’s permission). If the class is much smaller, then turn off your video and mic to allow the students to do the pair/group task
5. Unless there is a competitive aspect to a task, try to give students more space to answer and don’t always hurry them to answer quickly. This can be stressful and anxiety-inducing for certain students. Also, give all students equal time to prepare for a task such as an individual presentation so that there is parity between them.
6-Experiment with different online whiteboards such as Google Jamboard for recording vocabulary. They are usually more effective than a PowerPoint slide for this purpose.
This post-observation conversation was best for me because it revealed my limits regarding the technical knowledge that I needed for an effective online class. Unexpectedly, it fell into the time I was attending a class on sound and vision regarding module TE714. I had the opportunity to explore a range of materials suggested by Paul to select the web-based applications that could help teach online. I did lots of research and learned about different platforms I could use to make the online class different, interactive and efficient. I learned about Jamboard, Vocaroo, which is a recording service that offers both teachers and learners the opportunity to record their voice and share it on web pages through an embed code, to name a few. This module impacted me significantly, and I applied everything I learned in my classroom. I became more comfortable with the digital applications to bridge the gap between the way learners are trained and the real-world issues (Zoom, Microsoft teams, google Docs, vocaroo). These applications and platforms facilitate the learning process, and I started using them after this post-observation with Nancy, and my learners were all impressed. In short, the other modules on the MA consolidated my knowledge regarding the technical skills I had to develop to better my online teaching performance.

For the third Assessed observation, I was completely down. I thought that my supervisor would see how amazing I implemented all their suggestions. Yet, it was not the case. I messed up everything. After the post conversation with Nancy, I started doubting myself, but I did not give up. I decided to observe an ESL class in the UK to figure out what was wrong with my teaching. I was thrilled and excited to observe different teachers teaching C1 and C2 learners in a language school in Brighton, and all of a sudden, I admitted that Nancy was right. I took some notes and watched lots of videos https://www.iselanguage.com/en/page.php?id=842 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEdRlZ4EpYU/ https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/online-tutoring
to nail my final observation with Barbara. The peer observation with Lucy and her colleagues was thought-provoking, and I learned more than I was expecting. The last assessed observation being decisive for me, I decided to apply all the knowledge I learned from this module.

Barbara’s feedback about my last assessed observation doubled my self-confidence. She did not complain about the aim of the lesson nor my technical abilities to deliver online classes. I explained my choice of the materials critically and why I decided to implement them differently while trying out new controversial ideas ( pre-teach vocabulary). It was a big step in the right direction. Because mistakes are inevitable for building a professional career as an English teacher, I allowed myself to make some, and here I am. Even if there is always room for improvement, I think that I am ready to take the next step. I am TESOL qualified teacher, and I plan to take the CELTA in august 2022 before leaving the UK. I am so grateful for the support I received from Theresa, Nancy, and Barbara, which increased my thirst for knowledge, and I will not stop learning no matter how tedious it can be.

Reference list Ene, C. (2019). Are native teachers better? Non-native teachers and self-esteem. [online] Tefl.com. Available at: https://www.tefl.com/blog/article.html?are-native-teachers-better-non-native-teachers-and-self-esteem&document_

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At the chemist (last peer observation as an observee)

For my last peer observation, I was observed by Lucy, who is a CELTA qualified teacher in a language school in Brighton. The lesson was taken on the British council website At the chemist | LearnEnglish (britishcouncil.org), and the aim was to equip the learners with some listening strategies and introduce new lexis related to ‘At the chemist’
Before the observation, my observer Lucy received an email from me where I mentioned the aspects of my teaching, I would like her to focus on: Time and classroom management, Giving instructions clearly, and the accuracy of my language. Then she watched my recorded video and met with me for feedback.

Classroom management
The first aspect of my teaching she highlighted was the respect between my learners and I. They were all men of a certain age, and she was so surprised how I successfully involved them in the learning process. Some learners were lying down on their sofa, and others were facing connectivity issues; two of them were in and out, but I succeeded in creating the right environment where no one fell aside despite their personal problems. A possible explanation could be related to the fact that I spent one month teaching them, which allowed me to get to know them and have a clear-cut idea about how they want to be taught and the issues they face whenever we have class. I remember mentioning this aspect in my first reflective essay as an observer. The classroom accommodates students from different backgrounds and expectations, and I think it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure they feel a sense of belonging despite their different challenges. In his book How to teach English, Harmer (1998, p.37) encourages teachers to ’empathize with the people they are talking to by establishing a good rapport with them,’ and I work toward that. My rapport with the students has changed since I started taking this module. I am more tolerant than strict with them.

Use of online and technical aids
The second thing that impressed my observer Lucy was my ‘excellent use of tech and powerpoint’ to quote her words. I should admit that the previous post-observation conversation with Nancy pushed me to develop the technical skills needed for an effective online class. Back in my country, I used to teach face-to-face, but I had to readjust my teaching materials when I started this module. Several teachers find it difficult (Suherdi & al, 2021). It can be challenging and daunting at first, but you become more confident as you progress.

In delivering classes online, I realized that teaching online does not equate to opening your coursebook and following the sequence of activities. It requires adaptation of the content, anticipation regarding the issues they might face online, consideration of the layout, colors, the visual element of your PowerPoint, the recordings, and the classroom set up, which is most of the time new to the learners. The teacher should navigate between the screen and the learners and have to stick to the time allocated to the class at the same time. In short, I could say that about my three last assessed observations.

Time Management
However, everything was not perfect. The area the observer wants me to work on is time. I was supposed to teach for an hour, but I exceeded the time by 20 minutes. It would have been better for her to spend 8 minutes on the warm-up activity instead of 20 minutes. It took longer than usual, but I decided to spend time on this activity because it was my last class with them. It was a pleasant conversation where the learners were required to describe an image and guess the content of today’s class. I succeeded in engaging them in the negotiation of meaning, and some of their classmates even helped the weaker learners. I also provided immediate feedback regarding their mispronunciation (ache, lozenges, cough). It was worth doing. I did not feel the urge to rush them up, but Lucy made a point. I could have done better if I had chosen another image of a pharmacy, which reflects the type of pharmacy they are likely to find in their home country, for them to easily describe it and allow me to move to the next stage. This feedback regarding my time management was valuable, and I will carry it to my next class.

Power of images
Another suggestion was to use images whenever the learners seem not to understand a word. This reminds me of our class on vision and sounds, where Paul appealed our attention to how visual aids can facilitate the learning process. The visual material (images, illustrations, photographs) could make comprehension easier or more complex, and this idea reflects what happens in my class. I will consider it next time, even if I had to admit that I wanted to challenge my learners to an extent.

Instruction Checking Questions (ICQs)
Moreover, the observer recommended using the instruction checking questions (ICQs) whenever I give my learners a task. I could have used the following questions (are you going to work in pairs or individually? Are you going to read the transcript while listening or do it separately/) instead of popping in the breakout rooms and fixing their misunderstanding of the instructions? Nancy gave me the same idea, and I think I should work hard on it and implement it in my classes.

In hindsight, I can now say that teaching online is a process that requires the total commitment of the teacher and willingness to learn and use technical aids to facilitate the learning process. My three last observations helped me develop effective use of online materials (PowerPoint, jam board, an interactive whiteboard, and breakout rooms). I can admit that I feel comfortable with these tools. Having Lucy’s feedback regarding my class doubled my self-confidence, and I was thrilled when she commended me on the accuracy of my language, and how I praised my learners whenever they got something right. I was elated to have Lucy as an observer, and I thank her for her insightful and honest feedback. Below, you will find her voice recording

Lucy Feedback
Listening 3 cough
worksheet 3

Reference list
Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English. Harlow, Essex: Pearson/Longman.Suherdi, D. (2021).
EFL Teachers’ Considerations in Developing Online Teaching Materials. Journal on English Language Teaching. [online] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/73976409/EFL_Teachers_Considerations [Accessed 5 Jun. 2022].

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A writing class (Peer observation observing)

My third peer observation with me observing was a face-to-face classroom delivered by Lucy in a language English school in Brighton. I thought it would be valuable to observe her because of the quality of her intervention whenever we have a seminar or a given class. I could see that she is an experienced teacher from whom I could learn and improve some aspects of my teaching practices. She is a CELTA qualified teacher with almost three years of experience in the UK.

My aim for this observation was to challenge and question my underlying assumption when it comes to teaching and to enhance my teaching performance for my personal and professional development. Moreover, I have never had the opportunity to teach advanced English learners or observe that. I was, therefore certain that observing will give me fresh insights into facilitating the process of learning in my classroom instead of just transmitting the knowledge. Also, the context being different from mine, I will be able to reflect on my own practices critically and, as mentioned by Peel (2005, p.496), develop my ‘own discursive understanding’. In other words, the multiple experiences that I will gain by being exposed to different ways of teaching in different contexts will widen my understanding of how things should be done and, at the same time, lead me to question my own beliefs and habits for new perspectives.

The ESOL class consisted of 12 students (11 young ladies and one man), C2 level coming from Sweden for an immersion in the UK. The lesson aimed to equip them with a range of fixed expressions they can use to write a formal email. The language focus of the language was writing. The teacher followed the coursebook of the school and this lesson was meant to be taught on this particular day. Overall, it was a lively and engaging lesson, but, in the following, I will flesh out the different aspects of the lesson that really stood out for me and the potential areas that needed improvement.

The class started with a running dictation (dictogloss) where the learners were expected to listen to the teacher reading a text, try to write down the main ideas, and build back the story with the help of their classmates. Some learners swapped to different groups and were required to work collaboratively, compare their own text with their classmates, make corrections and reconstruct the full story. I heard about dictogloss during our last seminar on ‘materials’ with Paul. One of my classmates used it as a lead-in activity to activate her learners’ schemata about collocations with ‘Go’. I was really impressed, and I promised myself to implement it one day with my learners. Surprisingly, Lucy used it with her C2 learners, an opportunity for me to see how helpful it will be for her to achieve her lesson aims since the language focus is writing. Since Dictogloss has been introduced to ELT by ruth Wajnryb as an alternative method to teaching grammar (Vasiljevic, 2010, p.41), I was wondering how it will be implemented in a writing class and how effective it will be. I was pleased to see how enchanted the learners were to correct each other. This first activity fostered language decoding and encoding, cooperative learning, and a sense of achievement when they succeeded in writing the text. In short, the running dictation or dictagloss was effective in integrative form and meaning and allowed the learners to write down the text. It seems to be an effective tool for improving writing skills. What lucy may improve is to find a way to involve the shy learners in the collaborative work. Some of them were really shy to participate. What could have worked to get all of them engaged would have been to make the weaker learners work together and the proficient ones together?

After the lead-in activity that lasted eight minutes, the learners were asked to open the textbook and work on the first activity.
Textbook
The teacher followed her lesson plan, and everything seemed to work the way she predicted. What really surprised me is the content of the textbook. She is working with C1 level learners, but the activities were quite simple for them to do it. The activities were not as challenging as I thought they would be. The learners were asked to read an email written to a catering company and cross out the irrelevant and inappropriate sentences. They did it perfectly and most groups got it right. I might be wrong, but the learners easily completed all the activities. Much of the lexis was known to them, which allowed them to handle the second activity easily. This reminds me of an argument made by Ghorbani (2009) that stipulated that the educational system sometimes fails in demanding enough from the learners. The module on materials with Paul maybe turned be into a critical teacher when it comes to textbook evaluation. Besides that, it was a brilliant activity and Lucy succeeded in creating a supportive environment where they could help each other.
Email

An area that needs improvement might be the use of classroom materials. The whole session was oral. The teacher did not make use of the board. As regards to their level, it is not obvious that she could bring in more error correction because the emergent language from the learners was accurate. But using the blackboard would have helped the weaker learners to better understand the instructions. Yet, I really liked the fact that she used some instruction checking questions to clarify misunderstandings: are you going to work together on this task? What page is it on? What do you have to do?

Another area that I felt was missing in the class is the personalization of the task. The teacher was following the textbook content which is not necessarily wrong. By the end of the third activity, the learners were equipped with different types of discourse markers and useful language related to polite requests and inquiries that can help write formal emails. However, she could have made them write an email in pairs, make sure they corrected each other’s work, and use the blackboard to consolidate their knowledge about it. The class was perfect, but she could have brought in more creativity and allowed the learners to use their background knowledge to write an email in the classroom. This would have been an opportunity for the teacher to know the type of language they need to write a successful formal email before involving them in completing the rest of the task. As a teacher, I need to try out new ideas and see how they will go with the learners. During the post observation conversation, she agreed with me on this point but told me that she was running out of time because the students were to meet the school counsel, she had to free them earlier than usual.
Writing

Overall, Lucy’s class was magic. Even if she was time conscious, it was not that obvious because she allocated much time to each task for the learners to work collaboratively. It was not a race against the clock. I learned a lot about time and classroom management. I have also learned about dictogloss, and I think I will implement it in my text class.

Reference list
Farrell, T.S.C. (2017). Research on Reflective Practice in TESOL. Routledge.
Peel, D. (2005). Peer observation as a transformatory tool?1. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(4), pp.489–504. doi:10.1080/13562510500239125.
Pertiwi, D., Ngadiso, N. and Drajati, N.A. (2018). The effect of Dictogloss Technique on the students’ writing skill. Studies in English Language and Education, 5(2), pp.279–293. doi:10.24815/siele.v5i2.11484.
Vasiljevic, Z. (2010). Dictogloss as an Interactive Method of Teaching Listening Comprehension to L2 Learners. English Language Teaching, 3(1). doi:10.5539/elt.v3n1p41.

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A listening Class ( Last assessed observation with Barbara)

My final assessed observation was a listening class on listening strategies. It was completely different from the way I used to teach before. I have never taught listening on zoom because I used to deliver face-to-face classroom. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and give it a try, acting upon the advice of my supervisor Nancy. For a meaningful data-driven reflection, I watched my recorded video two times in order to reflect upon how I taught and the potential mismatch between my lesson plan and my classroom practices. The conversation with Barbara, who is my observer on this last assessed observation might stimulate other reflections as reported by Farrell, (2017). For him, collaborative reflection with an experienced teacher can be beneficial to in-service TESOL teachers and I think he is right. Meanwhile, this paper will look at specific points that I wanted to improve after my previous post-observation conversation with Nancy.

This last assessed lesson was an attempt to put into practice all the knowledge I gained from the module. We did not face any technological failure or big issues with the learners. However, there are some aspects of the class that I want to comment on. It might also be necessary to mention that prior to teaching this class, I went to a language school here in Brighton to observe one of my classmates and have a clear-cut idea about her teaching practices. Even if it was a face-to-face classroom, it was helpful to see how teaching English to ESL learners was implemented here. It gave me insight into how I wanted to deliver my own teaching content. Having watched my video, I think there are different aspects I would like to further discuss but I may start with the elicitation of information.

ELICITING INFORMATION
The class started with a lead-in activity where they were instructed to describe an image related to the topic of the lesson. I used some concept-checking questions to elicit information from the learners. Here, my observer Barbara appreciated the way they reacted but suggested the creation of a clearer context and maybe the use of a different picture (a picture of the ear) that could have allowed the learners to talk about their experiences with listening and facilitate for me the process of elicitation. I could have asked questions like what you find difficult about learning English, what about listening, what difficulty you have in listening, and what do you do when you have these difficulties? I could have asked them those questions to get them talking about themselves. To be honest, I prepared these kinds of questions to start with, but I was wondering if the time will allow covering everything that I planned to teach. I decided to drop the questions and do something different. Barbara gave me this brilliant idea to build in activities that are optional that I could include in my lesson plan or take it out if I do not have time.

PRE-TEACH VOCABULARY
Another thing I did is to pre-teach the vocabulary words that are likely to prevent their comprehension of the podcast. I know that Chang & read (2006) argue that pre-teach vocabulary is not helpful in a listening text, but I think it can help some learners with a very low level of English. I have never pre-taught vocabulary before in a listening class, but I decided to give it a try and see how it will go. My supervisor seemed not to appreciate pre-teaching vocabulary but really liked how I proceeded with my learners. She advised me to expand on the vocabulary by using concept-checking questions more to elicit information from the learners. For example, instead of asking them to tell me what they know about ‘sweat’, I could have asked the question does the cold make you sweat. By asking questions and contextualizing the words, they would have been able to say much about it. This is a valuable idea that I look forward to using.

Student Engagement
Another area that I wanted to improve is student engagement due to individual differences. One of the biggest hurdles that I face as an English teacher is how not to eliminate the less active learners during the class. I worked with five learners but two of them did not fit the intermediate level and found some aspects of the class challenging. It was a bit difficult for me, but I tried to immerse them as much as possible by getting them to work with their classmates on different tasks. By getting the weaker learners to work in pairs with the proficient ones, I wanted to create a supportive environment where they could help each other. Barbara liked the idea but asked to try different avenues by allowing the shy learners to also work together. They might get more involved in the conversation and feel less intimidated by those they perceive as proficient. I will explore this idea and I think it will definitely help depending on what I am working on with the learners.

AUTONOMY
Another point she asked me to explore next time is to give my learners a bit of autonomy by allowing them to use the chat facility to ask questions or contribute to the class. It might help the shy learners to share their concerns or participate in the class actively.

Technique for error correction
Besides students’ engagement, I also asked her to comment on the way I gave instructions. She mentioned that no issue clearly stands out, but I can bring in more error correction next time by recycling the learners’ mistakes from the breakout rooms and displaying the words on the whiteboard. This way, I could treat error correction in an anonymous way without frustrating any learner.

Building learners’ self-confidence through positive feedback
I blushed when my supervisor told me that I am a positive person because I praise my learners using encouraging words such as perfect, amazing, and congratulations. I did not really notice it because this is something that I do unconsciously, but I think it helps to an extent and gets them to become more confident. I think that motivation serves as a powerful trigger for learning a language. It is a determinant factor for an effective learning process, especially in the second language acquisition domain (Alrabai, 2014). Since learning a language seems to be a tedious and lengthy process (Ibrahim. 2017, p.24) that seems to have no end, I think it is valuable to create a condition where they will learn without anxiety by receiving positive feedback or encouragement from their teachers and classmates. This is my take from my SLA module and since then, I am empathetic when it comes to my learners. I walked in their shoes some years ago and I know how it feels to learn a language.

Conclusion
Overall, I think the lesson aims were achieved and if I were to teach again, I would bring in more correction by recycling the learners’ mistakes from the breakout rooms and displaying them on the whiteboard anonymously to appeal their attention to that. I will also visually show the instructions on the board or PowerPoint slide to ensure clarity. I will not reject flipped learning because I discovered a new way of teaching listening with this module. Barbara asked me not to ignore flipped learning but think of it as a way of activating receptive skills into productive skills. As Barbara mentioned, there is always scope for trying out new things. I am happy I dare to try out new ideas in class. I am even eager to learn more and another assessed observation. This last assessed observation is the result of all the knowledge I accumulated from this module. I am really elated. I am sure of something: I am no longer the same teacher.

Listening 2 assessed
worksheet 2
Lesson plan listening b

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Assessed Observation 3

According to Mishan and Timmis (2015, p.89), language learning materials should be conceived with more holistic aims and integrated skills. This assertion guided me through the process of teaching this lesson. For my third assessed observation, I decided to deliver a class with a grammatical focus while integrating implicitly the other skills. The curriculum being flexible, I decided to teach ‘’modal verbs’’ because, during the previous class, they could barely express ‘’ability’’ or ask for ‘’permission’’ in English. Unfortunately, I only had two learners instead of six. However, they were happy with this restricted number since I could focus on their personal challenges and allow them to speak longer than usual.
To my surprise, it was a good class, and I was really moved by my two learners who showed satisfaction concerning the whole class but especially the speaking activity. I might say that I made some improvements compared to the last class in terms of classroom management, Time management, and selection of adapted (Google jam board) for the class.

Classroom management
The class size plays a major role in the academic performance of the learners. The fewer the learners, the easier it is for the teacher to meet the learning outcomes (K. and I.F., 2022). I used to teach a set of 6 learners online but this time, I only got 2 learners. It was a different experience. I had more time to address their personal issues and maximize the class time by focusing on different activities that they find relevant. It gave me the opportunity to know each of them and select the learning content accordingly. By working with this small class of two people, I could notice for example that they both like cooking, and one of them (Selarie) is pregnant. Based on this observation, I can easily predict the content that is going to enchant them or anticipate their personal preoccupations during class time.
Another challenge I took up regarding class management is to adapt the plan when necessary. As I mentioned earlier, the class aimed to raise the learners’ awareness of the use of two modal verbs: can/ could. During the implementation of the class, I planned to teach them the negative and interrogative forms of the two models. Unfortunately, I could not cover up these aspects because, as beginners, they needed sufficient time to respond to the questions or read the text. Therefore, I decided to shorten some activities and reschedule them for the next class. This allowed me to manage the time better and stick to one hour as required by my supervisors.

Time Management
The factor of time management is the most challenging aspect of teaching for me because no one can predict what will happen in the classroom. During my class, for example, one of the learners was moody. Despite my willingness to extend her talking time, I had to interrupt her occasionally to give the floor to her classmates. Besides that, I have never taught for an hour, so it was a very new experience for me. I have never thought that I can teach beginners effectively for an hour because they expect more explanations from the teacher very often, speak slowly, and feel frustrated when you interrupt them. Despite the fact that my fears were based on the previous class, I managed to stick to the time, but I have to admit that my detailed lesson plan with the different stages helped.

The teacher’s road map
For effective online teaching, EFL teachers need to be able to design professional lesson plans that will guide them and determine what the learners should learn and how and when they should learn it. It helps teachers track the learners’ progress and effectively use class time. After 30 minutes of class with the learners, a glance at my lesson plan made me realize that we were running out of time. Instead of rushing the learners, I decided not to focus intensely on the negative and interrogative forms of could/can in the sentence. It will be covered during the next class.

Besides the lesson plan, most EFL online teachers should be trained to use some digital resources to make their class lively and memorable to the learners. Before talking about their training, it might be relevant to mention that some are not even aware of the existence of these materials that can facilitate learning acquisition and tap the learners’ minds. During my previous feedback tutorial, Nancy encouraged me to use ‘’Jamboard’’, an interactive whiteboard that is access-free and handy for teachers who might be reluctant to use the new technologies. I have been using it for one month with learners and they are impressed. They found the class more professional and different from what we were doing before. Jamboard helped them memorize and remember the new words we collected from their conversation.

The balance between TTT (Teacher talking time) and STT (Student talking Time)
There is an essential aspect of my teaching Nancy insisted on last time: The learners’ role. She reminded me of my desire to create autonomous learners. Therefore, my teaching practices and classroom management should reflect this will. I decided to give the learners much time to speak together, make some mistakes and learn from each other. I was listening to the microphone off and jotting their different mistakes. They found it challenging, in the beginning, to speak without the teacher’s help, but they appreciated it. One of them even said ‘’without the eyes of the teacher’’, we can speak.
It was brilliant, even if I could not cover some class parts. I allowed my learners to express themselves. Unfortunately, I had to interrupt them at some points because I was time conscious, but with 20 min extra, I would have been able to cover the entire content. I made some improvements, and I think my teaching is becoming more student-centered.

Development point after feedback from Nancy
These are the things I would improve or use in my next class:
-Concept checking: Nancy really insisted on how I can start my class by eliciting information from my learners while using concept checking questions. During my next class, I plan to use it effectively with my learners.
-I also need to improve my technical abilities when it comes to teaching online. I have started using Google jamboard but I have not completely mastered how the platform works. More research about that might help me navigate it easily.
-I plan to observe a class of one of my classmates who is a delta qualified. This observed lesson might give me a clear idea about how to teach according to the UK standard.

Lesson plan 3
Powerpoint 3 (assessed observation)

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Assessed Observation 2: Vocabulary related to education

My second assessed observation was with four intermediate learners, and the lesson was on speaking. The lesson aimed to equip the learners with some lexicons related to education and allow them to put the new words into practice.
Based on the feedback tutorial of the first assessed observation, I decided to improve three main points in my teaching: Lesson plan, classroom management, and PowerPoint to record new vocabulary words.
Lesson Plan
Compared to the first one, the lesson plan for this second assessed observation was detailed and reflected what happened in the class. This detailed lesson positively impacted my lesson since I could follow the different stages and adapt when needed. It also increased my self-confidence as a teacher because I knew it was of a high standard. For example, I had a particular aim that I wanted to achieve for each stage, so I knew exactly what to tell the learners to get them engaged. The class started at 8 pm by asking the learners to recall what they learned during the previous class. They had 10 minutes exactly to ask questions and share what they could remember from the previous class with the teacher. By activating their prior knowledge, I wanted to create a less anxious environment and get the learners ready to switch from French to English, and it worked out.
Another advantage of a detailed and accurate lesson plan is that I can predict my learners’ answers, reactions from one activity to another. It allowed me to anticipate and find solutions to the problems that might occur. I knew, for instance, Alassane and Malick may have some issues with the internet because of the areas they live in. fortunately, only Alassane got some difficulties joining us. However, since he has the highest level among the learners, he did not find it difficult to catch up on the twenty minutes he had lost. He had the lesson plan and could quickly figure out the activity we were working on.
Classroom management
The second area I wanted to improve in this lesson was how to manage a group of four men effectively and make them feel a sense of progression. As mentioned above, the class aimed to increase the learners’ vocabulary and create the conditions for them to use these words in context. So, from the onset, I corrected the learners’ errors quickly and directly to prevent them from making the same mistakes. However, while watching my recorded video, I noticed that I was not involving them in the learning process. I could have let them correct each other’s mistakes and learn from their classmates. One learner asked if it was possible to say ‘’ in the poor shoes’’, ‘’in the rich shoes’’ and instead of asking the others, I gave him the correct answer: in the poor man’s shoes’’. Sometimes, as a teacher, I fail to demand a lot from the learners and this is something i should work on. By trusting my learners and answering their peers’ preoccupations, I could implicitly develop their self-confidence and reduce their anxiety.
The last point I had to improve was to keep the learners engaged when one of their classmates has the floor. It was an opportunity to practice active listening with my learners. The idea I had to make that happen was to interrupt my learners at any point in their speech and ask one of the other learners to summarize what the person was saying. On this point, my assessor did not find the idea genuine and gave me a brilliant suggestion: I could ask the learners to listen to the person speaking and prepare a question carefully. They will no be dead time, and the learners will feel like they have control of their learning rather than being mere listeners.
Overall, my class was funny and instructive. I met the learning objectives, and I was proud because I could design a proper and professional lesson plan from now on. Compared to the first assessed observation, I made considerable improvements. One point my assessor insisted on during the feedback tutorial was the role of students when I deliver classes. She wants me to give them more control over their learning and be mindful of the words I use with them because she finds me too ‘’severe’’. I will work on that and avoid words like: hurry up, quickly.

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A Podcast for B1 (Assessed observation 1)

My first assessed observation was with four intermediate learners, and the aim was to improve their listening skills. The learners were expected to listen to a podcast about some changes in two friends’ lives. They received the podcast before the class and were expected to write down the summary. I used to follow the Common European Framework of reference syllabus, but since it was my first class with them, I decided to do something different to get to know them more. Although I failed to mention this aspect in the lesson plan, the class went well, and the learners appreciated it.
First, I opened up the class with some basic comprehension questions to check their understanding of the podcast (What is the podcast about? How many speakers do you have in the podcast? What were they talking about?). While involving them in this task, they confessed that they found the podcast a bit challenging at first, but they succeeded in understanding the full content with several attempts to listen to it. They felt excited about this class because they had much to say about the topic.
However, I had lots of challenges regarding how I will be teaching a listening class effectively online. At first, I did not really know how to engage my learners in the task, but the nature of the podcast (conversation between 2 people) helped me scaffold the different activities.

Learning Content
To reach the intended goal of the lesson, the learners had to perform three different activities. The first part of the class was devoted to the podcast’s content. The second part was the grammar section, where they learned the use of the present perfect tense, and the last part was about the practice section, where the learners talked about some changes in their own lives.

Tutor feedback and my reflection
After the feedback session with my tutor, I realized how bad my class was and how difficult it had been for her to understand my lesson plan. I failed in sending her the full recordings of my class. I sent her 40 min of the class I had with my learners, and she could not figure out which part of the lesson part it was. She made me realize that the lesson plan was not detailed enough, and some parts were even unclear to her understanding. She shared the first class I had on the teaching practice and lesson plan (TE719) plan and sent me some templates I can bank on to design a proper one. I should confess that I did not take this first lesson because I was still familiarizing myself with ‘’my studies’’ and I may have missed it.

Another area of weakness that I should work on is to effectively hit the target when I teach a particular aspect of the language. For instance, the second part of the lesson was devoted to using the present perfect tense, but I could not reach this learning goal because it was too broad and vague. My tutor advised me to break it down next time and choose the specific context in which my learners will be using this tense. By narrowing it down, I will help them avoid any confusion.
I realized that integrating three different activities in the same class was not as effective as I thought. Also, we could not cover some parts of the lesson because I failed to manage the time efficiently. The learners could not compare their work, which was essential to me because they better learn from each other. I decided from now on to set just one task and delve into it deeply to allow learners to engage in the learning process freely.

The only aspect of my lesson that seemed reasonable when I watched the video was the learners’ talking time. They were involved in the discussion and willing to share with me the reason why they have changed their jobs. My tutor also mentioned that the rationale for the class was also good. I used the flipped learning approach with my learners because I wanted them to carry on their training at a point and engage actively in the classroom. They received the learning content a day before the class, listened to it, summarized it, and extensively discussed it with their peers during the class.
To sum up, I could say that this was one of the most disastrous I have ever had in my teaching experiences, and I hope to be better next time.

Bintou February 2022 (Lesson 1 with FB)

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Formative Observation

For the formative observation, I chose to focus on expanding the learners’ vocabulary. It was a group of people aged between 23 and 33 years. They all live in Cote D’Ivoire and are taking English classes for professional purposes.
The institute uses the common European framework syllabus, and I was to teach a lesson about ‘Daily Routine’. The purpose was to equip them with some basic expressions they could use to describe their daily activities.
The basic outline of the lesson was as follows:
-The learners were asked to watch a video about ‘daily routines’ This exposure to this multimodal was to introduce them to some basic words they should know when talking about their daily activities.
-The learners were asked to use some expressions from the video to write their personal daily routine
-Each of them was given the floor to talk about their daily activities
-The other students were encouraged to listen to each other in order to sum up or ask questions

Lesson
Before teaching, I sent the lesson plan to my tutor who advised me to add the different stages and procedures for the observer to have a clear-cut idea about the different activities implemented in class and the methodology.
Stage 1: (45 min) Learners were asked to discuss the video they watched before attending the class and bring in their own experiences. My assessor called it personalization
Stage 2: (10 min) Learners were encouraged to list the different types of adverbs they could remember, and they were introduced to new ones
Stage 3: (45 min) Practice session. the learners described in turn some images about some daily activities they might relate to in different settings. They asked the teacher questions for clarification and their performance was graded.
Stage 4(15 min) The learners shared with the class what they really appreciate about the class, what they did not, and the new lexicons they learned.

Feedback
This session with my tutor was impressive and highly instructive to me. One of the things she was proud of was the use of the CEFR for selecting goals-oriented aims for my lesson and how I implemented the Dogme approach in my class, using the students’ experiences and ideas as resources. She finds it quite interesting because the learners were given enough time to practice with their peers under the guidance of the teacher. She called it personalization because they bring in their own experience. However, she pointed out that to make sure they have learned some new words and mastered the pronunciation, I should provide students with a written record of new and target language (using a virtual whiteboard like jamboard (google) or add a slide to my PowerPoint. This will therefore ensure students’ vocabulary or grammar notebooks are accurate.

Another point she appealed my attention to was how the learners were required to repeat the words after me to ensure accurate pronunciation. She thinks that individual responses could be really intimidating, and I completely agree with that. To focus on pronunciation, I could do it via choral drilling (perhaps with the microphone muted) to build confidence and give students opportunities to practice saying words before nominating individual students to check the accuracy. To avoid mispronunciation on part of the teacher, she asked me to use an interactive phonemic chart and/ or a dictionary to demonstrate target language for students.
Besides, even if the learners were allocated a lot of time to speak, she thinks that I should go further and include more interactivity between them. For example, for the clarity of the instruction, instead of using French, I could have used the ‘Instruction checking questions’ where students are asked to repeat the teacher’s instruction and explain to those who seem not to understand. The translation should be used as a last resort. They can also work in pairs and compare, speak together. It will build their confidence and give them more opportunities to practice.
I am a bit strict as a teacher and my assessor asked me to mind how I talk to the students because ‘some of my commands and occasional judgments’ could be really intimidating. However, she appreciated how I always recognize and praise them for their efforts or when someone was giving the right answer. She thinks that it is natural, and she could see how proud the learners were.
Overall, I can notice a shift in my attitude. This feedback increases my self-confidence as a teacher. I was proud to hear Theresa congratulating me for this brilliant class.

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Peer Observation 1 as an observee (A class on modal verbs)

My first observation as an observee was done online with a class of three people from cote d’Ivoire. They subscribed for a six-month training, and their long-term goal is to become pre-intermediates. I taught them for three weeks, and we got along perfectly. Daniela was the observer. I was happy to have her watch my video because she has 12 years of experience in teaching people from different nationalities, and I thought that with someone of her calibre, I would be able to gain insight into improving my teaching practices. I wanted her to focus on student engagement and Class dynamics. Her personal aim was to see how I integrate technology into my lessons.

My feedback about how the lesson went
The class was made up of three female students from the Ivory Coast, and their motivation for learning was to get a job or pursue their studies abroad. The level in the group was beginner or A1, and the students all knew each other since they were formerly attending the face-to-face classes. Then the lockdown began, and they were compelled to take the classes online, and I set up a WhatsApp group where they received homework and follow ups daily.

At first, I thought the class went well. The lesson aims were to introduce and practice various modal verbs. By the end of the lesson, the students would have better understood which modals to use when expressing ability, permission, advice, obligation, and possibility. I used a table of modal verbs to clarify when to use them and a range of example sentences (can, could – Ability – David can speak three languages/ Should – Advice – You should visit your dentist at least twice a year). The content was displayed on the screen, and the learners could see the spelling and take notes. They were all eager to participate in the class despite the frequent connectivity issues we had to deal with. After the class, I was convinced that the aims and objectives were reached, overlooking some crucial aspects.
The post conversation discussion with Daniela highlighted my traditional way of teaching, which was teacher-led. It was surprising that I could not notice, but I was ready to challenge my own teaching beliefs and develop my professional knowledge (Manouchehri, 2002).

The first thing my observer Daniela asked me to work on was classroom management. She appealed my attention to the fact that there was no interaction between the learners. I was the one correcting their mistakes, and they were taking notes and answering my questions. Undoubtedly, she was right. I did not get them working in pairs because I found their level too low, and I was wondering what they could learn from each other since they are non-native English speakers. I was wrong. My own beliefs tricked me according to which my students could not learn from each other without the teacher’s help. Reflecting on what Daniela said, I decided to allow my students to speak to one another during the next class. This reminds me of My Duong (2014), noting that the teachers might be willing to help their learners take responsibility for their language learning process but stick to their traditional methodology because of their challenges in promoting learner autonomy.

The second area she thought I should improve is the teacher’s talking time. English is a vivid language, and having a classmate to practice with could be rewarding. She gave me this genuine idea of encouraging my learners to help each other instead of me helping them out whenever they get stuck. This would allow them to speak a lot, make mistakes and receive support from this community of practice that I would succeed in creating where classmates can help each other. As quoted by harmer (1998, p.38), the more a teacher speaks, the less there is for the students to practice their speaking. Therefore, I decided to reduce my talking time by getting the learners to interact, give explanations, ask questions, participate in pair work activities, and practice active listening.

She also mentioned that a couple of students seemed to come and go, and there was no explanation for why it was happening”. Regarding this issue, I would say that this is part of the strategies I use to complete my course within the timeframe. I do notice the in and out of some learners, but to be honest, it is always related to technical issues. Talking and complaining about it will not improve the situation. I repeat myself repeatedly for the person who is back on the platform to catch up on what he has missed. The others with a stable internet connection might feel bored, but repetition in a second language teaching classroom always impacts pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency. At the end of the class, I make sure they receive the recorded video from catching up on what they potentially have missed.

The use of the learner’s First language (L1) in the EFL classroom has led to many controversies, but I think it is one of the most valuable tools EFL teachers can use to help less proficient (A1) learners (Swain & Lapkin, 2000). Fortunately, not everything was negative. She liked that I was using French, the learner’s mother tongue, to clarify misunderstandings. It resonated with her since she finds herself doing the same thing with her Italian learners. For her, the students need a starting point that is familiar to them to get involved in the conversation gradually.

Moreover, she particularly liked the way I explained that English is about intonation and how I gestured with my hand in an up and down manner for the learners to understand (Could I open the window? Could I borrow your computer?). She also commended me on how I fairly corrected my learners mistakes, and none of them felt frustrated but were happy to learn.
When she corrected their pronunciation, she did it in a fair manner, and the students did not seem to mind. She also talked about how structured my lesson was. I prefer quoting her words: ”As I had expected, the teacher gave a well structured lesson, and I liked the online table she used with the various models and instructions about when to use them. Bintou told me afterward that she designs all her worksheets based on the Common European Framework of Languages. She also used the chat to interpret the original information and when she realized that a student needed more clarification. Overall, it was a delightful lesson, and I noticed a few things that I could use to improve my online lessons. It was impressive to watch how well another teacher had adjusted to the new online teaching environment.”

However, we did face some connectivity issues. We had to stop the class over and over and launch a new meeting for some of them to be able to hear us or see what I was writing in the chat box. I was obliged to use the direct repair feature (correct my learners mistakes quickly and directly on the spot). Instead of writing, I would rather spell for the learners to write the orthography in their copybook. This way, I treated them equally and allowed all of them to have an idea about the spelling of the new words.

She also mentioned that a couple of students seemed to come and go, and there was no explanation for why it was happening”. At this point, I will say that this is part of the strategies I use to complete my course within the timeframe (2 hours). I do notice the in and out of some learners, but to be honest, it is always related to technical issues. Talking and complaining about it will not improve the situation. I repeat myself repeatedly for the person who is back on the platform to catch up on what he has missed. The others with a stable internet connection might feel bored, but repetition in a second language teaching classroom always impacts pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency.

Overall, it was a great class, and I plan to integrate the advice of my peer observer regarding classroom management in the next lesson. I learned a lot from her, and I think my next class will be different.

Reference list Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English. Harlow, Essex: Pearson/Longman.Manouchehri, A. (2002).
Developing teaching knowledge through peer discourse. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(6), pp.715–737. doi:10.1016/s0742-051x(02)00030-6.
My Duong, T. (2014). EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Learner Autonomy and Their Classroom Practices: A Case Study. International Journal of Education and Management Engineering, 4(2), pp.9–17.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (2000). Task-based second language learning: The uses of the first language. Language
Teaching Research, 4, 251-274.

Lesson 6

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Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns (Peer observation as an observer)

This week, I had the opportunity to work with Daniela, an amazing English teacher with 12 years of experience. I decided to work with her because I wanted to learn new approaches to address the challenge of the students with a low level since she was working with A2 students like me. She is an English teacher in a private school in the UK. Her students are of different nationalities: 5 from Saudi Arabia, 1 from Libya, another one from Palestine and a woman from Spain. Her class was therefore made up of 08 people from different cultural backgrounds. They are learning English for academic and professional purposes. Their current level is elementary. The purpose of the class was to equip the learners with the possessive adjectives and pronouns, a class that was prescribed by the school that day for the elementary class.
This is my first peer observation in which I am the one observing. I had to watch a 6 minutes video clip, short but insightful regarding her way of delivering her class.

First of all, she started the class by asking them about the possessive pronouns (My and Your) to see if there is any similarity in their use Arabic. From their answers, we could deduce that they did not get her point. She had to find another way to make herself understood and this is something I can relate since I do work with beginners as well. It could be so frustrating not to be able to be comprehended by the learners after lots of eliciting. She could not speak Arabic unfortunately but was making gestures to pass across the message. This teaching method reminds the total physical response where the teacher gives instruction in the target language using gestures and body movements to ensure effective understanding ‘Asher( 2012 cited in Wikipedia, 2018).
In contrast, my way of delivering classes is quite different. Maybe, I am not patient. I always allow my learners to use both the target language and their L1 (French) if they are stuck. The purpose is to reduce the affective factors that could lead to less participation in the classroom. The classroom accommodates people with different attributes and attitudes as mentioned in Graham’s Article so the teacher should create an environment where they will be free to express themselves without fears and doubts.

Another thing that caught my attention was the teaching technique she was using besides her gestures and body movements. She was applying the talk and chalk method which is an old technique where the teacher delivers his classroom by giving more explanations on a board with a chalk or a marker. (Sharman &al, 2019). Obviously, the aim is not to create learner autonomy because the learners are passive listeners who wait for the teacher to transfer to their brains the whole knowledge. The benefits of such a method are arguable even if the learners seemed to really appreciate Daniela class. Her voice was loud and intelligible to avoid any confusion. Besides, I was also impressed by the way she was calling on her learner’s names. That feeling of belongingness could be really rewarding with their active participation in class. I hardly remember my learners’ names and I think this is something I could really take out of this observation.

However, something unexpected occurred in the classroom. One of the learners was tired of her explanation regarding a specific area and asked her to move forward. Maybe, this is an area to improve.
She might try out different ideas to really involve her learners in the learning process to avoid boredom. She told me that it is complicated to do that because she has to follow the curriculum guidelines. Little (1995a cited in Benson, 2015) think thats ‘regardless of the curriculum and the content, the teacher cannot help but teach herself. In another terms, she could decide on the area to focus to foster her learner’s autonomy. Nevertheless, after observing her class, I intend to use her model lesson with the talk and chalk technique since it allows the learners to learn at their own pace.

Something to consider in the future is to really work on the lesson plan. It would have given me a clear-cut idea about the lesson stages. She told me about the insubordination of the learners. I would have appreciated to see at least 20 minutes of the video clip instead of six minutes to figure it out by myself and suggest some ideas to address it.

From this observation, I understood:
-How important it is for the teacher to involve the learners in activities that are meaningful to them in order to create active participation
-that gestures and body movements could really help the learners to quickly learn the target language without resorting to their L1
-how important it is to develop learners’ autonomy in the classroom

I focused on the paralinguistic features (Volume of the teacher’s voice, Speed, the intonation along with gestures and non-verbal clues) of her communication and the interaction with her learners to reflect on her teaching practices

Reference list
Benson, P. (2015). Teaching and researching : Autonomy in language learning. Routledge.

Kumar, N. and sharma, A. (2018). Importance of Talk and Chalk Method of Teaching: Dental Students’ view in Preclinical Years. International Journal of Healthcare Education & Medical Informatics, 05(03), pp.11–15.

Little, D. (1995). Learning as dialogue: The dependence of learner autonomy on teacher autonomy. System, 23(2), pp.175–181.

Wikipedia Contributors and Asher, J. (2018). Total physical response. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_physical_response.

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