WEEK 7

This week the taecher started the lesson with warm-up questions as always. 

- What is the world's biggest shopping web-site?

- Have you done any shopping from there?

Than teacher wanted the students to the something different. She wanted them to do role-playing spontaneously.

' We are in the shop now. I need a salesman and customer.' Than selected two students and help them to create a mini sketch. While she was doing them I observed that she was very aware of her teacher roles as prompter, communicator, coordinator, instructor and planner.  She could manage and control the class well. Also the activity was very funny, engaging and helped the students to improve their oral skills.

As a while activity there was a reading passage about online shopping. First they they listen the passage via smartboard. The passage was consisted of 3 parts so teacher wanted three students to read it aloud. While the students were reading teacher ignored the wrong pronunciation, she rarely corrected. I think it was because of not to disturb and discourage the student.

After that teacher asked some reading comprehension questions about the passage in order to check their understanding. Also she asked some vocabulary questions.

‘What is the word for paying money for something?                                                                 àpurchase’

 As a post activity teacher wanted the students to close their books and take a piece of paper. In the reading passage they read three different story and teacher wanted them to choose one and write what they remember about the story. There were highlighted words in the passage and teacher asked the students to use them.

Teacher walked around the classroom while they were writing to observe,check and help them when necessary. Teacher read some papers and gave back the paper to the students who write it to give the students a chance to correct his/her mistakes.(feedback) At the end of the class teacher collected the papers.

WEEK 6

  This week the teacher used the coursebook for the lesson. There were a reading passage and some activities on the book. Before reading, the teacher asked some warm-up questions about the topic and it helped teacher to draw the studnets’ attention on the passage. Than students read the passage on their coursebook also they could see the text and the activities on the smartboard. The passage consisted of 4 parts so the teacher chose four student for each part and wanted them to read aloud.

After reading the passage teacher asked some reading comprehension questions in order to check the students’ understanding. Than there was a good activity on the book. The students were supposed to match the headings with the paragraphs. Finding the suitable heading is very helpful activity for students because it enables them to reflect the text that they read.

At the end of the class there was a song activity that they frequently do. A student brings a song with its lyrics. Some of the words are missed in the activity paper. The students listen and try to catch the missing words from the song. When they finish they sing the song together.

WEEK 5

           

This week the teacher wanted us to do an activity with the class. So we decided to do an activity which is related to their subject (adjectives and superlatives) and also we wanted to do something funny.

We prepared two activities, one of them was a competitive game related to ‘comparative and superlative’ forms of adjectives.We wrote the adjectives on the board and said ‘’You should decide which column the word goes in.’’ There were two columns:

 1)     -er             2)  more…

The class line up as Group A and Gruop B. We devided the board into two part for groups. The students were expected to run to the board and write the adjective to the suitable column by one by. The Gruop who finishes the first and completes the adjectives correctly is the winner.

The second activity was a game called ‘Find Someone Who..’

Students use a checklist as they walk around the room trying to find a person who has a certain characteristic. When students find “someone who drives a truck” or

“someone who was born at home,” they write that person’s name on their checklist

of paper and move on to the next person with the hope that that person meets one

of the other characteristics on the master list. The goal is to meet and talk to as

many people as possible within the time limit in order to put one name by each of the

characteristics.

  By doing this activity we aimed to improve the communication and rapport in the classroom. They loved the activity so much and standing up, walking in the class were also good for them.

WEEK 4

This week the subject was comparative&superlative, the class already knew the subject so they overtly did practice. Teacher chose 2 students and wanted them to came to the board than asked students to compare them.

-Sinan is taller than Kerem.

-Kerem is thinner than Sinan.

-Sinan is more serious than Kerem.

-Kerem’s hair is longer than Sinan’s.

Comparing their friends was a good and funny activity students liked that. Than teacher wanted the students to pay attention some adjectives which are different.

Dirtyà Dirtier

Careless ier  Teacher warned the the students ‘if you add –ier to the words which have more than one syllabus it will be totaly wrong.’

As a while activity teacher told some Turkish sentences to the students and wanted them to translete the sentences into Turkish. While thay are translating teacher walked around the class to check them, also students worked with their pairs and checked their answers.

-Buzdolabında reçelden daha çok peynir var.

- There is much more cheese than jam in the fridge.

-Taksiciler diğerlerinden daha az dikkatli araba kullanırlar.

- Taxi drivers drives more careless than others.

Teacher immediately corrected the mistake and told the students to add –ly to make it adverb.

As a post activity they played a game. They played word chain game with adjectives (comparative and superlative forms were included). I observe that it was very entertaining for students and also it was a good way of practicing the adjectives that they learned.

The First Lesson

My first lesson in Çapa High School of Science was a great experience for me. I joined the 9th class' English lesson, in this classes teacher generally focuses on listening and speaking rather than grammar. The teacher was so cheerfull and the class was amazing.

                                
The theme was sport and the lesson started with some warm-up questions such as;

-What is the initial first number in basketball form?
-Who won the first World cup?
-Who is the first Turkish climber to Everest?

The class was so smart and eager to join to the activities as if there was nothing they don't know.
The teacher could manage the class well. Also, teacher asked some questions about her personal life which was a good way of drawing attention such as 'I have a son. Guess his age. Guess his favorite football player.' Then teacher asked every student about their favorite team. It was so entertaining and the class was so interested.

At the end of the lesson the teacher chooses one student and this student brings a song that she/he likes. Also the student distributes some kind of worksheet that he/she prepared which was written the lyrics of the song with some missing words. They listen the song first time just for entertainment and the second time for finding the missing words. The student who brings the activity chooses their friends for answers like a teacher and I find it encouraging. Finally they sing the song together. After the lesson I talked with the teacher and learned that they do this activity in their all lessons. It was a good activity to improve the students' listening ability.

Week 3

 This lesson the topic was ‘Feelings’ and the lesson overtly focused on speaking. As a warm-up activity the teacher asked some questions to class such as;

-What do you feel before exams?

-What makes you feel jealous? and so on…

 Than the teacher asked the class about their friends. ‘Who is the most pleased/upset/nervous student in the class?’ It was very good, entertaining and encouraging activity that the students liked a lot. The classroom athmosphere was very funny and motivating. But there is a point in this activity that the teacher should be careful about selecting adjective because a negative word such as upset or lonely can make that student feel bad. As they are in adolescence period we know that they are so emotional and the teacher should be careful about it.

 The teacher continued the activity by choosing a student and asking the class about her/him.

‘Tell me about her by using the adjectives.’ The class liked this activity a lot as well and they were so eager to see who was selected, who said what about her/him and they wanted to share their thoughts/feelings.

 Than there was a vocabulary activity. There were words and their definitions on the book so the students were supposed to match the words with their definitions. The teacher allowed the students to use their mobile phones or dictionaries. Of course most of them chose to use their mobiles J It think that it was good for the teacher to let the students  to use or engage all the amenities that they have in the classroom.

 As a post activity they watched a video on the smartboard with English subtitles. It was a documentary and the speaker had English accent so I think that was an authentic material. At the end of the class the teacher asked some questions about the video in order to check their understanding.

Week 2

WEEK 2

This week I observed the 10th class. The topic was ‘Past Tense & Past Continuous Tense’ and they were going to have English exam the following week so the teacher wanted to finish the grammar subjects as soon as possible.

At the beginning of the class there was no warm-up activity. The teacher directly started the lesson like ‘Open your notebooks and write down the sentences on the board.’ It was 8 o’clock and I felt as if the students had a bit difficulty to adapt the lesson. The sentences were about the usages of the past tense;

-actions at a definite line

-repeated actions in the past

- people who are no longer alive

Than the teacher asked the students which tense is it? As they already knew the tense from the last year they just reminded the rules. Teacher gave some sentences as an example which were funny from the newspaper headlines. (e.g. ‘Diana was stil alive hours before she died.’) It was real language and very authentic sentences taken from newspapers so I found it beneficial and encouraging.

In a same way teacher continued with ‘Past Continuous Tense’, first she gave the usages and than rules. After finishing the rules she wanted the students to complete the exercises in their book.While the students were doing the exercises about the tenses the teacher walked in the class, checked and observed the students also helped some students who needed help.

I observed that standing in front of the board while teaching the rules helps students to focus the subject and walking around the classroom while the students doing activity helps teacher to control, observe and eventually reflect to her students.