Reflection on a lesson (2)

During our class we have watched the beginning of a video containing an English lesson with young learners. Learners are students of Polish primary school.

This lesson was devoted to practicing vocabulary and introducing new words. Vocabulary used by the teacher and students includes: 

• colours (yellow, blue, grey, pink, black, green)
• names of animals (teddy bear, spider, fish, snake, penguin)
• other characters (witch, Santa Claus)
• fruits (apple, banana)
• numbers from 1 to 15
• new words (good and bad)
  

During the class students practiced reacting to instructions (stand up, sit down, clap your hands, jump, stop, turn around, point to the ...) and answering questions (What's your name?, What is it?, How many?, Who is good?, What color is it?). 

Teacher used blackboard and chalk, a picture book and flashcards with numbers. Activities used by the teacher include:

• cirlce time (introduction, answering questions)
• team game (listen and touch)
• TPR (reacting to teacher's instructions)
• guessing (What is it?)
• reading time 
• naming numbers on the flashcards
  

I generally liked this lesson. It was dynamic, engaging and entertaining to the students. Teacher covered a new material while making sure to revise previously learned vocabulary and practise speaking skills. Teacher made sure to include all students in classroom activities and gave them lots of input in L2. There were some activities I would use differently, but overall I enjoyed it. I was especially fond of the activities with all students involved (naming numbers, game). 

To maintain a discipline teacher used methods like counting down from 10 and asking particularly noise students to stay focused on the lesson. She uses short, clear instructions (e.g. stand up, sit down). Students don't have to sit still in one place - they sit in the desk, sit in the cirlce, stand in front of the blackboard and sit in front of the teacher. More dynamic activities are sometimes intertwined with more still ones.

The activity I particularly like is a game in front of the blackboard. Firstly, the teacher used a creative way of dividing students into groups while repeating previously learned words. It is a very interesting way of revising a vocabulary. Students were motivated to do their best and kept on repeating the vocabulary. This activity was dynamic and learners got a chance to move a little bit.

I noticed two issues with this lesson. Firstly, I am not sure students understood the concepts of good and bad. One of them indicated bad means sad and associated good with being happy. The teacher didn't correct her. It's possible she didn't hear her. If she did, I believe she would spend more time on explaining the meaning of those words. Secondly, the story was probably too difficult for the students. There was only one after-reading task - question about the witch. Before the reading there was some focus on vocabulary, but after the story not much was done. This question also highlighted the problem of not understanding the story (students classified the witch as bad).