On 3rd February, 2021, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room. The topic covered was ‘Food n Sauces’. As always her first slide was very engaging. I could relate this session to a mix of Communicative Approach & Suggestopedia*, as the instructor brought in authentic material to show students, this created lot of excitement in the class.

Reflections

  1. There are a lot of things that appealed me as a language learner:-
  • This topic was requested by a student in the previous session. Teacher took note of that and planned the session. It reflects on her consistent efforts to make sessions interesting for students.
  • As always, students were engaged right from the very first slide. Students had to write the names of restaurants by identifying the icons. Interactive board was used from the very 1st slide, creating student engagement.
  • Authentic material was used by the teacher. She showed actual sauces and soups she uses at home and encouraged others to tell the same.
  • Interactive circle was used in a good way that brought practical life to the classroom. Creamy soup container was shown by instructor and other students were told to share the names of the sauces they used.
  • Few students kept their cameras on showing their interest in the class.
  • Teacher encouraged few other students, who did not participate in any activity to speak or type answers in the chatbox.
  • Flaws in the previous session were improvised here. Breakout rooms were created for a longer duration, as a consequence, it led to a good interaction among students.
  • *Roleplay was done in the breakout rooms which students thoroughly enjoyed.
  • In another activity, teacher asked questions to each and every student. This ensured equal and active participation.

 

  1. Nevertheless, there are a few things I would do in a different way:-
  • I would have told the students to type the names of sauces in the shared notes on Moodle instead of the public chat. This is because students could make notes easily using the former chat option.
  • I feel few more slides would be good as focusing on the main activity on 1 slide for 15-20 minutes creates monotony.

 

  1. My key take-aways from this observation are as follows:-
  • The extent to which the instructor went and managed to make a presentation on a new topic based on student request is commendable. This reminds me of one of the characteristics of a highly effective ESL teacher i.e. ‘willingness to go the extra mile’.
  • The session ended on a funny note. Students enjoyed the idea of telling jokes on food, as an exit ticket.
  • Additionally, to maintain interest I would adopt the scaffolding technique, by giving little information to students and then gradually adding a little more. This would ensure an intriguing environment conducive of L2 learning.
  • Lastly, I would like to do things little differently by adding more slides in my ppt’s as I feel it breaks the monotony and keeps students engaged all throughout the 1-hour class.