My third peer observation with me observing was an online lesson given by my Director of Studies. Even though he manages the ESOL department, he still teaches 15 hours a week. I am unsure if this is something that he does because of his love of teaching or is something required by the college. I suspect the latter.

I was looking forward to this observation as I thought it would be an invaluable opportunity to see such an experienced and well-respected teacher in action and to see another teacher’s approach to some areas of online teaching that I had been struggling with.

My aims for this observation were:

• To see how the teacher integrated technology into the lessons
• To see how the teacher handled student feedback and error correction in an online lesson

The class was a mixed nationality, C2 level, ESOL class English class of eleven students: six female and five male. The level within the group ranges from low to high C2. The lesson focus was IELTS speaking which was something I have experience with so I was intrigued to see another teacher’s approach to this.

The lesson aims were to introduce and practice using discourse markers in part 3 of the IELTS speaking exam. The teacher had produced his own materials for this lesson and told me after the lesson that he had used them many times before.

The first thing I noticed was how relaxed the students were. This was another topic I discussed with the teacher after the lesson, and he explained that he had spent some time when the lessons had first moved online addressing student concerns and any technical issues.

The lesson itself was engaging and productive. I had wanted to see how the teacher integrated technology into the online lesson and thought that he utilised this well. Students were put into groups and then broke off into ‘rooms’ that he had set up beforehand and which both he and I could drop in and out of. Another thing he did which I was impressed with and am hoping to utilise in my own teaching was to use an online mind map for a class brainstorm. What I really liked about this lesson was that the technology that was incorporated into the lesson served a purpose and didn’t feel like it was shoehorned in there just because it was an online lesson.

An area that I think wasn’t as strong was how the teacher handled student feedback and error correction during the lesson. In a classroom setting a student can just raise their hand and ask a question, or even ask a fellow student, in an online setting, this isn’t the case. When the students asked the teacher questions, it felt like the flow of the lesson was interrupted, and there was no interaction between the learners apart from the stages that specifically required it.

We discussed this afterwards, and he said that he felt it was an unsatisfactory element of teaching online that he hadn’t quite found a way to get round yet. He also added that he always told the students to email him with any questions after the lesson, but they rarely did. After the lesson was over, I contacted one of the students I give extra lessons to and asked if she had the same arrangement with her teacher. She told me that she didn’t email her questions either as she didn’t feel her questions were worthy of an email, and it was something that frustrated her too.

I enjoyed observing this class, and I think I gained a lot from the experience. I also definitely saw some things that I could use to improve my online teaching. It was interesting to see how well another teacher had adapted to the online environment we are now teaching in and to know that I am moving in the right direction with regards to my online teaching development.