For my second hour of class observation, I observed an online ESL class taught by Jack Massalski at Thompson Rivers University. It was a level 4 advanced oral communication class consisted of approximately 14 students from various cultures and backgrounds. The main goal of the class was to enhance students’ language skills to discussion and presentation about discussions.
I learned a lot from the instructor’s teaching methods and being flexible and resourceful towards the class situation. I observed how the instructor mixed controlled practice and free practice. Before the discussion started, the instructor firstly reviewed a list of discussion language with the students, including confirming meaning, asking for opinions, responding, and so on. This could help students be familiar with the basic sentences they needed to use in discussion to express themselves and communicate with their peers. This teacher-centred part is actually essential to prepare students for the communicative and student-centred phase.
After giving the students a discussion topic, the instructor firstly arranged a discussion of the main word in the topic by asking the students to put the synonyms of the word. I found this was a very inspiring approach as it contained several advantages. First, it was an assessment of students’ understanding of the main word and their vocabulary levels. Second, by putting the synonyms, students’ understanding of the discussion topic would be enhanced. And third, students’ vocabulary could be expanded by connecting the same meaning words in their brains, which could eventually enhance their discussion and communication skills.
Another thing I learned from the instructor’s teaching was how teachers should facilitate learning during the student-centred time. In the discussion, the instructor firstly encouraged the students to put their own opinions and reasons freely, which was an open-minded communicative free practice. Then, the instructor provided a certain opinion and ask the ideas of the students from different cultures and backgrounds. I found this approach very effective for oral communicative class because it provided students opportunities to expand the topic. This approach enables students to express their ideas in a multi-angle way, which decreases the possibility of students not participating because of lacking ideas in discussions.
I think the main challenge of learning in this hour was that students were in low participation. The most probable reason for this might be the online class format. Students may feel a lack of connectedness with their classmates and teachers. Also, because teachers cannot see the situations of students, they cannot see if students are quiet because of not understanding the material or they are hesitating to speak up for fear to make mistakes. This online class format can be a challenge for teachers as well, especially when they are not yet familiar with their students.