Reflection on the Video on Lekcja języka angielskiego - Dąbrówka (English Lesson :Reading)

 Reflection on the Video on English Lesson Dąbrówka (Reading)

The lesson began with no defined lesson objectives at all, something like

 “Ok, kids, today we are going to do reading, but first I would like you to move to the floor in the order in which I will tell you…” When I started taking down notes about the video, I taught the teacher was confusing the kids with her questions on colors. First, when she asked “who has something green?”, I expected the kids to respond, but no one did, and instead, she told them to go and sit somewhere. Then without waiting for the answers, she asked “who has something black?”. It’s is only later that I understood that it was actually a very organized way to move the kids from one place to the other, just like she later aligned them by classifying them under “banana” and “apple”.  It was very new to me.  The only thing with this is that she didn’t really check if the kids were following her instructions because the first girl who moved did not have anything green on her, or I didn’t see well. However, there was order in the movement of the children. She did not also check the safety of the kids in the new learning environment, because one of the observers had to shift the chairs away from the kids as they might heat their head when sitting down, or the chairs might cause some to fall in the course of the activity, as they are so unsteady.

          Once on the mat with the students, the teacher had them sited in a circle on her left and right sides. I see it as very restful and efficient because this way she is able to see everyone, without having to turn around herself like it would have been the case if she had stood up in the middle. Her technic of using a teddy bear to identify the next person who would talk was very engaging, all the kids said something, and there was effective involvement from the learners. She asked good questions as a conversation starter, like “How are you today?” But I think she should have made all the kids answer “I’m fine, thank you”, instead of just “I’m fine” which most of the kids said because she would have taught them greetings and politeness, which generally go together. She did not say “thank you” either. Again, when she asked “what is your name?” some kids answered “I’m Paulina” which is good, but she should have insisted that they all made full sentences or say “My name is…” not only say “Sacha”. Besides, not all the students were asked to say their names because the teacher proceeded randomly. In her place, I would make sure I gave everyone the chance to talk, because they see it as a game, and it is frustrating when they can’t participate like the others. It was obvious that the kid with the white top was somehow disappointed when she raised her hands to get the teddy bear to talk, and couldn’t because the teacher threw it to another kid.

Moreover, when she asked the good/bad questions she selected one child twice, whereas there were some children who had not said anything. I know they are very sensitive towards such little details, because in my class when I forgot to send a child to the board to identify a letter or an object using a pointer for example, (s)he would call me and say with a sad voice that (s)he has not yet gone to the board also; they loved using the pointer like the Madam or the Sir of the class, and enjoy when the whole class would clap for them when they got it right.     The activity where kids lined up in front of the board to answer questions clearly meets this goal: all the kids had equal chances to participate.

          The teacher animated the class with many activities which I love, especially the “stand up, sit down” part that made the kids laugh, and me too. But at the end of it, I expected her to say something like “now you’ll  go back to your sits to …” a small transition before the next activity. The only time when she actually did a transition to the next activity and clearly explained her goal was when she announced the revision of colors and numbers, toward the end of the lesson. However, her counting that silenced the class and her prompting of the kids to guess what she was drawing was very interesting, especially the latter, which caught their attention, aroused their curiosity, and caused them to think. This pre-teaching was very efficient to prepare the students for the reading session proper. But I did not see the link between Santa Cruz and the reading, because it was not mentioned anywhere in the book the teacher read.

          I don’t know if she did it intentionally, but it was a great thing to allow the kids a moment of respite by letting them make their noise for a little while before starting to count to keep them quiet before the next activity of “good” or “bad”. Here the teacher didn’t make sure that all the kids focus on her during this activity. Two kids were distracted with a book such that one of the observers had to take it away.

          As far as the reading activity is concerned, the teacher’s mistake was to sit against the window, meaning against the light. So, it was difficult for the kids to easily see the illustrations in the book. Some struggled to see by shedding or blinking their eyes. In her place, I would have made the kids face the observers, while I sit in front of the kids.   She shared the reading activities into three parts. First, she identified the characters, then she read, and finally she talked of emotions or mood -good or bad. I found it appropriate, and the reading was not boring.

Throughout the lesson, she used the target language for instructions, and communication was flowing, and she was able to get the kids to speak in the target language, though the kids talked only in their mother tongue among themselves, which is normal at this age. The kids were very funny when the teacher asked them to “sit down” some just sat down on the floor, when she meant on the chair, and she had to show them. Another instance is when after the standup/sit-down activity, the last kid searched for something yellow on her pink dresses.

I think the teacher has good time management skills: she didn’t waste time telling kids to stop the noise, she just started counting; by categorizing students under “banana” and “apple” and different colors, no need to waste time controlling how they line up or move from one place of the classroom to another. She was very time-conscious because I noticed that she checked her watch at least twice, and she informed the observers 5 minutes before the time that they would soon finish.

The classroom was full of realia, and drawings, a lively learning environment. The teacher made effective use of materials, the teddy bear, the board, the textbook, and the flashcards. I saw that she has two trash cans, which was surely to distinguish between plastic wastes and biodegradable wastes. If that is the case, then I give her a high five because I love environmental preservation, and to inculcate this notion to kid at a very early age is just amazing! I wish she also added some plants or flowers in the classroom.

In a nutshell, I can say that the teacher showed a good mastery of professional skills. Though the kids look younger, this class was not as noisy as the other video of the boys’ classroom that I watched. The teacher was not enthusiastic or dramatic at all like the other teacher, but she successfully involved the learners throughout the teaching and learning process. The whole session was very inspiring, and I will not hesitate to implement her classroom management techniques. I can say the negative aspects that I mentioned above are not strong enough to influence the performances of these kids and the teacher. I enjoyed the class so much.

Lekcja języka angielskiego - Dąbrówka - YouTube