For the micro-teaching session in PPG 215, English Language Teaching Methods I subject, I will be observing R. The topic of the lesson was “Transportation” and the lesson must be related to teaching listening and speaking. For the topic, R was teaching the second part of the lesson which is “Let’s Travel”; how to create map and plan the journey by using the selected transportation. The observation took place in a class with a group of 18 students of the Form 2 and their level of knowledge of English language was intermediate.
Based on my observations towards R, she demonstrated outstanding teaching behaviour by arriving early to class. After that, she spent some time to speak with her students before started the learning session by asking simple questions such as, “Have you eaten?” and “How’s your day?”. By asking these kinds of questions, she showed her enthusiasms in knowing her students before the learning session started. In addition, she began her class on time by greeting and introduced herself to students. She also clearly explained the learning objectives verbally and also by writing it on whiteboard so students recognize what objectives they need to achieve during the learning session. Thus, students can get the idea of what they will learn and obtain through out the learning session and the teacher should implement her lesson plan which she had prepared before.
From my observation, I really enjoyed how smooth the lesson was run. This is because, R was assigned with second part of the lesson and her activity clearly demonstrates transition from the previous part of the lesson. In general, she did really well in relating previous activities with her activity which is Let’s Travel; how to create map and plan the journey based on the transportation given. From my personal view, I think the transition of the activities helps students to understand the lesson better. this could prevent students from encountering confusion regarding the lesson. As for example, in the previous activities, the students learned about the transportations and its functions and applied what they have learned and understand in next activity which is related to each other. Hence, R presented her strength in connecting the previous activities with her activity and she should maintain it for her future teaching session.
Next, I found that R has strength in giving and explaining the task because students were not encountered any difficulties to understand the task given by her. She clearly explained the task clearly and, in that way, the students could understand what they were supposed to do. I really enjoyed the way she showed actions for “Plan your journey” activity which she demonstrated visual (map) into real life situation. She also emphasized points by pausing, raising voice, and asking the students when delivering the task and I think it helps students to distinguish important points through the way she spoke. These instructions would help to avoid confusion between the students because without clear instruction, activity will become chaotic and eventually fails. Her instructions were precise and simple which cause a major positive impact on how well students are able to carry out activities based on what they have learnt.
Furthermore, she always set time for her students to think and analyse the activity given to them. R initiated students to practice listening and speaking skills throughout her teaching session which it can be seen through brainstorming session before conducting the task. As for example, during her teaching session, she gave two minutes for each group of students to comprehend and discuss the riddles. This would help the students to think broadly in creative and critically and use their prior knowledge when it comes to problem solving questions. From my opinion, by conducting this kind of activity, R has succeeded in creating a student-friendly surrounding so that the students do not feel anxious or uncomfortable. Therefore, this made the students work progressively and they were truly occupied with what they were doing.
Besides that, R’s strength also involved her way of interaction with the students. From my observation throughout her teaching session, she showed outstanding enthusiasm in developing teacher-students relationship. I liked the way she encouraged active learning such as upholds students’ participation in class by calling out students’ name and asked them to share their riddles and their plan of the journey. By encouraging students to participate in class, R was able to identify the students’ thought and idea about what they learned and may be benefited to R in her future teaching session. From what I see, she praised her students when they were doing well during the learning session. As for instance, she always mentioned “very good” and “well done” whenever the students did well during the presentation. She always check students’ understanding by frequently asking the students about task given and approach the students to explain whenever they encountering any problems in settling the task. Thus, positive teacher-students relationship made R taught with passion and excitement resulting fun learning in class.
In my opinion, the lesson given by R was effective and the aim of the lesson was accomplished however, I noticed that her teaching session has a flaw. Her flaw was she didn’t used blackboard to picture the map. She only used A4 paper to picture the map and it was small and not everyone can see it. So, from my point of view, she should use the whiteboard to visualize the map so everyone can see it and get what she tried to portray through the map. R also can use large white paper known as Mahjong paper to picture the map. In addition, R should provide suitable paper for students such as drawing paper and Mahjong paper to draw the map. This is because; to visualize and plan the journey on the A4 paper is not easy as it took lots of spaces to draw and different kind of transportation used.