Classroom observation's report

 

     At the beginning of this semester, we have taken some classes about computer assisted language learning with Dr. Abdulaziz Fageeh in which he talked about the importance of technology nowadays in the educational field. Then he asked us to visit schools and make a report about how teachers use technology to enhance language learning. So, I have decided to visit " Abha International school " because it is one of the schools which is teaching English as an international language. In this report, I am going to present my notes about classroom observation which were taken during two visits to the school.

The First Part

     On 27^th of October, I have visited "Abha International school". There I met  the school's principle Ms. Zainab, I introduced myself, then I explained to her what I want to do. She gave me a permission to attend the classes and she introduced me to the teachers there. And here is what I found:

First class. The first class I have attended was a reading class with Grade ten from eight o'clock to eight-forty. I entered the class with Ms. Aziza I sat at the back of the class where I can see the whole class activities. There were eight students, one of them has the original book, the other one has a photocopy of the book and the rest only have a copy of the article itself. The teacher was sitting in the front of the class  and the students were sitting in a row. The class has started with a short discussion about the article's topic which was "An Art no More" and taken from English as Second Language by Peter Lucantoni. The teacher was reading for the students and there were oral discussions about the meaning of some jobs and its positive and negative features and the teacher was giving explanations. After they have finished the reading part, she asked them to fill some questions about the article and she reviewed their answers. After that students were asked to write a summary and give  a title for it, but there was no enough time, so, the teacher asked them to do it as a homework.

     The conversation between the teacher and her students was good and the students were active, but the classroom's atmosphere was not exciting. There is a projector and it could be used to display the article for the students and make them read it from the board. Also the book's CD is not used, so the students miss a chance to hear the article from a native speaker. The reading was once only and I think it should be more than once to make sure that students pronounce the words correctly. The teacher did not even use the board to write the new words and no cards to simplify their meanings. There were no laptops in the classroom or electronic dictionaries. Finally, I have noticed some of the students came very late, so the missed lesson's introduction which I think very important part.

Second class. This class was grammar revision for the second grade students, which lasted forty minutes, 8:45 to 9:25. In this class, I was with another teacher and the class was a unit revision. The teacher started reviewing "can & can't" and "verb to be" rules and ask her students to give examples. The examples were written on the board . After this she gave the students some nouns on the board and she asked them to make simple phrases by adding adjectives. Finally, she dictated the students some of the unit's vocabulary and collected their notebooks.

     There were 18 students in this small class and there is no projector in the classroom. The teacher used the blackboard only and I think it's because it is only a revision. While there were very good active students, but still there were some at the back of the class didn't engage in the participation at all.

Third class. This class was a short story for sixth grade students and it has started at 11:45 and lasted for forty minutes. This class was with Ms. Azeezah also. The class started with a small discussion about the previous part of the "The Secret Garden" and the teacher asked her students to give the definition of some words like " cottage and squirrel ". Then students started reading the new part of the story one by one with little discussion in between. During reading, students mispronounced some words and the teacher immediately corrected for them, but she didn't ask them to read the word again.

     There are 13 students in the class and the class is very small. There are no technological equipment at all. The teacher should use some pictures to illustrate the new words or the events of the story. I have found a cartoon film about the story in the YouTube, if the teacher uses it will be very useful to understand the story better.

 

     At the end of this visit, I went to the school's principle to ask her whether there are smart boards or not, and she told me there are three smart boards in the labs. Actually, I don’t know whether these labs are used or not this what I will try to know next time.

 

Part two

     On the second of November I have visited "Abha International school "and it is my second visit where I have attended four more classes. I came in the early morning and the students were having exams so I was waiting till 10 a.m. when they started the classes. And here is what happened:

First and second class. I have attended these two hours with Miss. Azizah for the students of ninth grade. This class was about three topics: 1- how to write a formal letter, 2- words and definitions, and 3- a debate about modern and old life. The teacher started the class by formalizing the formal letter to her students and she has written a formal letter on the board. She told the students when they have to write a formal letter and to whom, she also gave them some instructions to compose an effective letter. After that, the teacher has written those following words on the board: canvassed, ubiquity, vernacular, and syndicated and she asked them to give definitions of them and then student discussed those meanings. The final part of this class was about a debate between the features and the way of living in the current days and previous ones,  It is about how the grandparents used to live and how their grandchildren are living. The students divided  into two groups, one group is with the modern life and the second group is against. It was a marvelous debate and they were extremely persuasive.

As I said in the previous visit, there were a smart board and also a projector in the class but they don’t use it at all. The smart board in the class was not even  connected to the electricity and when I asked the teacher about it, she said:"it's not working". I have asked the student about the classera system and whether they are using it or not and one of them told me that: "We have an access but we don’t use the system for anything".

 

Third class. This class was about a short story for grade 4 and the story and it was from 11:55 to 12:30. "A Little Princess" is the title of the story and the teacher introduced it with the following questions: Who is Lascar? And Who visited the people next door? This short story talks about the life of the princess. The teacher has written the previous questions on the board, then she discussed them with the students. After that, she asked the students to read the story individually. This class has no smart board nor projector.

After this eight classes that I have attended and as shown above I can say that teachers do work hard and the students are intelligent and hard workers, but the school doesn't care too much about using technology in classrooms even outside the classrooms to enhance language learning. I can also say  that technology is completely neglected.