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Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer_ Park yu jin_________ Observation # _1__

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
01/26/2019 Face to Advanced Grammar 500-600 Johanna Kim
Face level concepts that
are often
used in
writing

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

1. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO SAY FORM AND USE THE MODAL VERBS .
2. IN WRITING, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE AND CORRECT COMMON
MISTAKES WITH MODAL VERBS.

Notes while observing:

13 : 00 p.m. Warm up
T says “let’s get started! “ and writes the five things that they will do on the blackboard,
that is review, checking homework, common errors, writing, and quiz.
T writes down the ‘modal’ and asks Ss what came after the modal.
A student says “ base verb”
T asks one more question ,”how do you make a negative type of modal verb?”. T also
says “ where should ‘NOT’ be located?”
A student says “ in the middle” .
T says “ yes, in the middle, and then what kind of modal verbs are there?”
Ss says “ may, might, can..” , T asks students “ what is the last one?”
A student says “ have to”, and T says “ have to, good!”
T writes down the role of modal and asks Ss “ what is the role of modal verbs?”
Any students did not answer the27uestion and T gets the answer “ hed…”
A student says “ hedging” and T says “ yes! Hedging” and writes down ‘ hedging’ on the
blackboard.
T says “ when we use modal verbs as hedging, we can make polite expressions. In
academic writing, we had better be polite” and asks Ss “ We do not have to be polite in
speaking, but in writing, especially academic writing, why do we have to use hedging?”.
A student says “ for space”.

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T says “ yes, for a little space of your argument. Because, there may be someone who
criticizes your argument.”
T says “ okay, what is the next one?”
Any student did no answer and T says “ when we use modal verbs, we add…what?”
A student says “ meaning” .
T says “ right! Meaning. That’s it. Modals add meaning” .
T asks “ which is stronger between must and have to?”
Ss says “ must”.
T says “ right. Like this, modals add meaning!.

13: 05 p.m. Activity

T says “ let’s check homework. From now, check the answer each other with your
partner”.
T says “ While you are doing with your partner, I will look if you finish your
homework”.
Students start to work with their partners.
T walks around for checking , monitors their discussion, and answers the question of
student.
For example, a student asks “ I do not know what is the answer of this sentence.”
T says “ you can see this sentence’s tense is past, right?”
The student says “yes, it is past”.
T says “ because it is past tense, you have to use may have been or might have been
here”.
The student says “ okay, I understand that.”
T walks to other students and asks them “ Any questions?” until they finish checking the
homework.

13:20 p.m. Presentation

T says “ let’s check the best answer ! “ and Ss says “ yes”.
T says “ Number one’s best number is will”, and “ Number two is have to because the
evidence is the subject, they.”
A student asks T “ Can I use could?”
T says “ Here is a chart about that.” T shows the textbook to the students and explain the
answer of question.
T says “ if the verb of sentence is past tense, and if you can choose can or could, then you
have to use could for past tense.” T says “ so, in this sentence, which one is correct?”
The student says “ can”, and T says “ Yes”.
T asks Ss “ any other questions for this activity?”. Ss says no and T says “ okay, let’s do
the next one”.
T says “ it is about the hedging of modal verb. What is the answer of number one?”
A student says “ would “ and T says “ yes, would”
T also gives a recommendation to Ss . T says “ Modal verbs have to come with base verb,
so you had better say would go in this sentence”. And T says “ any questions?” , Ss says
no.
T says “ Do you remember that we read about the common errors?”
T asks Ss “ What is the first common error?”

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A student says “ to..” and T says “ yes, the mistake is using to after the modal verbs.”
T writes down ‘ Do not use to’ on the blackboard.
T asks Ss “ In general, do we use to when we use modal verbs?”
Ss says no and T says “ mostly no, when we use ‘to’ is ‘need to, supposed to,and have
to’.”
T says “ that is the first error, what is the second error?”
Any Ss cannot answer the question and T says “ hedging with ‘I think’”.
T says “ when you have a discussion, you can say president Trump is terrible. This is
what was topic in my morning class.”
Ss laughs after listening T’s saying.
T says “ You can understand the meaning of the sentence directly. It can be a opinion,
assessment or something. But if you say ‘ I think president Trump is terrible ‘, then you
can have space for your opinion. You can be more comfortable when there is a person
who disagree with you, right?”
T continues the explanation about ‘ I think’.
T says “ we can see ‘I think’ in many conversation, but we do not use in writing. It is not
used in academic writing. Also, there is one more thing which is same with ‘I think’.
What is it?”
Ss do not answer.
T says “ ‘ maybe’ , this is a least formal word. It has same function with ‘ I think’.”
A student asks T “ Can I write that in two words?”
T says “yes! Do you remember the difference between maybe and may be?”
The student says “ not sure”.
T writes down the words on the blackboard.
T says “ one is modal and the other is not”. T asks Ss “ which one is modal?”.
A student says “ the two words”.
T says “ right, the two words, modal plus base verb and the one word ‘maybe’ is…”
A student says “ adverb”, T says “ an adverb”.
A student asks T a question, and T asks Ss “ did you hear his question over there?”
A student says “ No”.
T says “ Okay, he asks me that he can use ‘I think’ in speaking. In general, when people
say ‘ I think’ in speaking, I do not care about that. But if you use it in academic writing, I
go back that sentence and revise it, okay?”

13: 35 p.m. Practice

T says “ we will do some practice, you find errors . Let’s start the page 181. How many
errors? I think this is the easiest one to identify. Okay, this practice will be done
individually, and divided four groups and each group will report two answers. If you have
questions, tell me. “
Ss works the practice individually and T waits for them and monitors them.
T writes down the name of people in each group on the blackboard.
T says “This is your group. Each group will figure out which is correct and after a minute
or so, I ask you report”.
Ss start the work by pair.
T says “ let’s get your answer” and makes an order of each group.
Ss takes a turn by answering the question in each group.

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T says “okay, now we’re going to do the second error. It is about hedging of modals.”

13:45 p.m. Wrap up

T says “ we will check this after 10 minutes” .The assignment is finding errors about
hedging of modals.

What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)
When I decide to observe this class, I planned to focus on the content of the class
because I have an interest in teaching English grammar. However, during the class, I
became focused on the teaching. This class is for advanced level class and more than half
of the whole students were Asian. It is about grammar concepts which are used in writing
and I began to pay attention to the way the class was taught.
At first, I could know how the teacher made an attention of students by writing
the lists that the class will do in the class on the blackboard. It was good idea for making
the students’ focus to the class because the students can see the order of today’s learning.
The teacher started the review of last class by asking questions about the form of modal
verbs. After asking question, the teacher asked more questions related to the form of
modal verbs. I could know that it is important to teach the form in grammar class. The
importance for a focus on form and the paying-attention-to-form argument is also related
to grammar and methods. (Scott Thornbury, 2002)
When they finished the review of the last class, the teacher let the students find
the common errors in using modal verbs. This helped the students recall the form and the
use of the modal verbs and made students have some questions for their understanding.
By finding the common errors, the students learned what they can do with the modal
verbs and cannot do with the modal verbs. In Scott Thornbury’s book, if leaners who
receive no instruction seem to be at risk of fossilizing sooner than those who receive
instructions. The teacher gave some instruction as well as assistance about the students’
understanding. It is significant that teacher has to lead the students to the right way by
giving the right instruction.
Additionally, in practice part, the teacher made groups and let them work together
by helping each other. It is also common in Korea, and it made the students have some
discussion about the class. During the work, the teachers walked around and asked them
if they have questions about what they were doing. If they have some questions, the
teacher gave feedback and made correction for them. According to Scott Thornbury,
correction can provide the feedback the learner needs to help confirm or reject the
hypothesis, or to tighten the application of a rule that is being applied fairly loosely.
In addition, as you can see my note, in practice part, the teacher taught writing skills
which is related to the modal verbs, especially the academic writing skill. The teacher
introduced the academic writing skill by using the form and use of the modal verbs. It
was good relevance of content, and relevance is a rule that reflects students’ specific
needs and problems.( Scott Thornbury,2002).

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To conclude, Johanna’s class of grammar was successful in teaching grammar
concepts that are related to writing skills and she led the class by effective way such as
making some groups and taking turn to report the answers. When I teach the students in
that class, I can do well because I learned the right way of teaching grammar.

References
Scott Thornbury.(2002). How to teach grammar by Bluestone Press, Charlbury,
Oxfordshire, UK.

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Last Updated: 4/10/2019 2:20 AM