OBSERVATION CHECKLIST

An observation checklist

It helps to make an observation sheet to complete while you are watching classes both to guide you and make a record for each group. Show the teacher what you are doing and get as much information as you can. Keep this observation sheet with a record of the work you cover with the class. This record of your work could be passed on to the next assistant to help give a feel for the school.

Class name ..................................... Teacher .....................................

Age of students .............................. Level of English ..............................

Number of students .........

Number of hours per week English studied .........

Textbook name .....................................

Type of textbook (traditional, very trendy, colourful) .....................................

Support materials (readers, dictionaries, extra grammar book)

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Equipment used (tapes, CD-ROMs, videos, other)

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Student needs (more structured practice, listening work, tense work, specific exam practice)

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Student difficulties (pronunciation of certain sounds, specific grammar points, reading texts)

...........................................................................................................................

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General attitude towards learning English (bored, motivated)

...........................................................................................................................

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Classroom management techniques

...........................................................................................................................

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How noise level is contained

...........................................................................................................................

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How talkative and disruptive pupils are handled

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Modes of working used

• Teacher with whole class..............................

• Pair work..............................

• Group work..............................

• Choral repetition..............................

• Individual work..............................

Use of mother tongue

• When? ..............................

• What for? ..............................

Classroom language used/familiar to students, (Open books; Can you ...?)

...........................................................................................................................

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Using English in the classroom

Some of your students will not be used to an English-only classroom. It is advisable for them to make the most of your mother-tongue status but it can sometimes be difficult to insist on English-only. In some school systems translation is used, particularly in a contrastive way, to highlight differences between the native language tense system or use of prepositions, etc. and the relative usage in English. These uses can be constructive but assistants are generally not called upon to present language, just to reinforce and practise it. Therefore your lessons should be in English, except in exceptional circumstances, like a student falling ill or major misunderstanding that can only be cleared up in the native language.

Tips for encouraging the use of English in the classroom

• Always reply in English, even if students are speaking in their own language.

• Try not to be too dogmatic, but comments like ‘It’s easier for me to speak English and it helps you’can explain your approach.

• Artificial motivators like the swear box for use of the students’ mother tongue can be introduced in a light-hearted way, or a list of forfeits which anyone not speaking in English must carry out. Use dice and a list of six forfeits (which you can vary throughout the year), e.g. ‘Count from twenty backwards very quickly’, ‘Sing a song you know in English’, etc.

• Points can be deducted from the team score during games or contests if the mother tongue is used.

• Make it clear to the students that you do not welcome the use of the mother    tongue in your classes. If this proves to be a problem, report it to the teacher in    charge.

• Simplify the English you use to suit the comprehension level of the class and stick to a clear body of classroom instructions which are concise and supported by gesture if appropriate. This does not mean speaking in monosyllables or broken English. Use tone of voice, stress, intonation and any visual methods to aid understanding.

• Help students to make an effort to understand without depending on a quick translation. This can take time in groups not used to making intelligent guesses or deducing meaning from context.

How to prepare students for real communication in English

• Personal response. Give students tasks which ask them to contribute information about themselves.

• Variety of responses. Give them dialogues which require more than one set response so they have to decide and create their own dialogues.

• Work in pairs or groups. Give students tasks in which they have to communicate with others to exchange information, as this gives a greater number of students a chance to talk.

• Varied language. Give tasks which require the use of more than one type of sentence structure so students get practice in combining different language forms, e.g. tenses.

• Balance accuracy tasks with fluency work. Make it clear that you are interested in what students are saying, not just how grammatically correct they are being! Encourage them to show verbal signs of interest: ‘Really?

That’s interesting, I didn’t know that!’, ‘I think that’s a good idea!’, ‘Are you?’, ‘Did you?’

• Less teacher talking time. Be careful not to do all the talking, and aim for student participation from the very start of lessons. When preparing pair work, bring in student responses, use students to rehearse roles, get all the class to repeat key items and try to avoid lengthy explanations.

Demonstrate. Keep your own talking to a minimum during the activities.

Techniques for preparing the text and topic

All of the techniques listed below aim to make the text as accessible as possible so that students can get to the meaning and main ideas quickly. Texts intended as a stimulus for discussion should not turn into lengthy reading comprehension tasks. They should serve as a vehicle for giving students time to think of a topic, preview the relevant vocabulary, talk about it and share their ideas with their classmates.

• Use any visuals for vocabulary brainstorming.

Example: Think of five words related to the photo or anticipate the main message of the text through careful questioning: ‘Where is the girl in the picture? How old do you think she is? Why do you think she is working there?’ All this elicits useful vocabulary and prepares students for the content of the text.

• Use any headlines or sub-headings. Write these on the board before showing the text. Ask students to guess what the article is about.

Example: What type of work do you think will be described in the text? Think of another way of saying ‘turn to’.

• Use key words. Take five or six key words from the text and put them on the board before students read the text.

Example: Saturday job save up part-time university fees pocket money low-paid

After reading, ask students to look at the words again and verbally summaries the message of the text using the words as prompts. This gives students time to think and to practise making sentences about the topic.

• Use questionnaires. Give students a mini-questionnaire related to the theme of the text before they read it.

Example: Do you get any pocket money or monthly allowance? Have you ever worked to earn money? What type of things do you use your spending money for?

• Use prediction exercises. Involve students in a prediction exercise to anticipate the vocabulary and ideas of the text. This helps them to read the text with real interest.

Tips for achieving a good model of spoken English

• Speed.

Don’t change, keep to a fairly normal speed but pause a little longer between sense groups. The learners’ ears have to tune in to your voice and this will take time. Slowing down too much will only distort the sound you are modeling.

• Consistency.

Don’t change your intonation. This is easier said than done if you are not used to modeling intonation. One tip is to break your model by giving a brief command to the class which then helps you to repeat the item, e.g. ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Listen again / all together / What’s your name?’

• Variety.

Use a good balance of whole class or choral responses and individual repetition.

• Listening.

Move around and listen to individuals. Try to be silent when students are speaking so that you can listen to them. When students repeat, don’t repeat with them.

• Frequency.

It is better to do five minutes of speech work every lesson than one long session every now and then. Pronunciation practice can be boring and repetitive if you do it for a long time.

• Clarity.

Make every possible use of visual clues to help students. Speak clearly, facing them so they can all see your mouth and facial expression. When using video, exploit the video with sound off, asking questions about the speaker’s mood (e.g. ‘Is he angry?’ ‘Friendly?’) and body language, before showing the video with sound on.

Ear training

One important part of pronunciation practice is helping students make sense of the fuzz they may perceive when listening to spoken English. This can be done by sensitizing the ear. Our ears will pick up sounds similar to those in our own language but might not hear sounds from another. We need plenty of repetition, pronunciation practice and ear training. For example, Spanish speakers have difficulty hearing the difference between /b/ and /v/ in English. Similarly, German speakers have difficulty hearing the difference between /v/ and /w/. The ‘th’ sounds (i.e. /D/ as in they and /T/ as in think) do not exist in French or Italian, so learners don’t know where to put their lips, teeth or tongues to form the sound!

Minimal pairs

It will not be sufficient to just hear the sound that is new, it needs to be compared and contrasted with the sound from the students’ own language which is mistaken for it. This involves creating minimal pairs of sounds to highlight the differences in, e.g. ship/sheep; fit/feet, since the sound    /I / in the English ship and fit does not feature in Spanish, French or Italian and is substituted with    /i/ as in sheep and feet. Consonant clusters beginning with /T/ are a problem for Germans, Spanish, French and Italians. Minimal pair work can contrast /T/ in three with the /t / as in tree.

Minimal pair tasks – when and how

It is best to deal with minimal pair work when it arises out of a real need. It can be a mistake to identify sounds which cause bother for the learners in your host country and then introduce activities out of the blue that bear no relation to the rest of the lesson. If a problem arises during a class with a teacher and you are asked to model a consonant or vowel, then it is an appropriate moment to give a set of minimal pairs to illustrate the sound, so have a list prepared wherever possible.

Games for ear training

• The same or different?

– Prepare a list of minimal pairs, e.g. hit /heat bit/beat sit/seat grin/green tin/teen.

– Read out one pair and get students to say which word is each, writing them on board.

– Read one of the words twice. ‘Are they the same or different? ’ (The same)

– Read the contrasting words. ‘Are they the same or different?’ (Different)

– Continue with all the pairs, mixing same and different. Students write S or D in their notebooks.

– Pairs can confer and then read the list of pairs again for checking.

Alternatively, make it into a team challenge game. Doing this with numbers from the beginning is great fun, e.g.      ‘13 or 30? 14 or 40? ’ and numbers which cause confusion, such as 6 and 7 in combinations.

• Minimal pair pictures.

With younger learners the minimal pair listening can become a drawing exercise. Either circle the drawing if you hear the word, e.g. house or mouse or ask a class to draw the word they hear and compare drawings to check.

• Odd man out.

Read a list of four words, all except one containing the same consonant cluster or vowel. ‘Was it 1, 2, 3, or 4?’ For example, church; shoe; chess; cheese.

• How many times?

Choose a sound to focus on and after initial repetition read sentences or a short text containing the sound once, twice or even three times. Teams must say if they have heard it more than once or just once. Pick some sentences where the sound is not there at all!

Making repetition fun

Repetition of phrases and words is a necessary part of language learning. Teenagers are the most reticent group of learners, since they are more concerned with making fools of themselves in front of their peers. Making repetition into a fun activity, and not a chore, can be done in a variety of ways.

• Play with volume.

Ask learners to say something in a louder voice, increasing the volume (be wary of the classes next door) or ask students to speak in a whisper, very quietly.

• Experiment with tone.

Say something in a curious, surprised, angry, bored or frightened tone. This is great for raising awareness of intonation and its importance. Even beginners’ classes enjoy experimenting with

different ways of asking Yes? or saying Thank you. This is also useful for higher level students preparing for reading aloud in exams.

• Experiment with speed.

 ‘How fast can you say it?’, building up speed like a train.

• Adding to a list

(see list games for practicing unstressed syllables below) and making it into a game-like activity: ‘ We went to the park and we played tennis, played football, played cards on the grass, played ...’

• Playing with numbers.

Counting in evens, odds, tens, backwards or saying times tables. (If you have younger learners and beginners use maths chants and times tables to music – there are lots of CDs available in the UK.) Look at alphabet games used in UK primary schools for more inspiration.

• Playing with rhyme.

Play rhyme games, where one student says a word and the next adds one that rhymes, e.g. day ... play ... say ... pay ... grey.

• Categorise words.

Mix up groups of words with contrasting vowels or consonants which cause difficulty with different stress patterns. Students in pairs divide the words into two or three categories and then listen to

check. Repeat the words with the class. Students think of more words to fit each category.