Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,
I am interested in teaching, and need a few more classes to get certified to teach ESL. I have a masters in linguistics, but am not certified to teach. I was thinking about sitting in on an ESL class or two at my local community college -just to get a feel for it all. As teachers, would you have objections to someone sitting in your classes to observe? Is this even a good idea?
Thank you for your response.

I think it's a great idea.

You need to do observations, preferably with a few different teachers, before knowing what sort of teacher you want to be.

When you approach teachers with the idea of you sitting in, you may want to offer some benefit to them. You could offer to assist them in class as directed. They may want assistance. Or they may prefer you to just sit silently in the back. But you should ask to make sure. It also would probably be appreciated if you gave some token gift to the teacher--homemade cookies, some flowers, a bookstore gift certificate, or even just a thankyou card or a cup of fresh coffee.

Good luck,
-EH

Observing qualified teachers in action is a very good idea! In fact, observation is a never ending process as it's a powerful professionl development tool.

There are many different ways to observe a lesson. However, since it's something you've nevr done before, you could just watch and notice to yourself what's happening in the classroom. You can either jot down teacher-student dialogues or good ideas or you can bring in a dictaphone with you- it all depends on your own style (I personally prefer using a dictaphone). You could also speak to the teacher after the lesson and find out why s/he did certain things.

Then, as the previous speaker has suggested, help the teacher where possible (circulate among the students while they're doing small group activities or rople-play dialogues)
When you start teaching on your own, it's advisable (in literature, not by me) that you mirror qualified teachers's lessons. That means you repeat the lessons that you've observed. A pattern will certainly appear which you may or may not adopt.

For example, when I just started teaching I was very lucky to observe some very professional teachers. The techniques they used often appear in my lesson plans.

The more teachers you observe the better, because you'll get to see different patterns, techniques and ideas.

Observations are a great way to improve your skills as a teacher. It's so much easier to see what's happening (and analyze the successes and failures) when you aren't at the front of the classroom and responsible for giving students the skills to walk away using today's target language correctly.

That said, you have to know on which points you want to focus when observing a lesson. Is it teacher talk time and/or student talk time? Is it the lesson structure? Is it how the teacher sets up the activities to practice and reinforce the material? If you just walk into a class as a passive observer, you'll learn a trick or two... but that's about all.

Whenever I do an observation (and I do a lot), I always watch and comment on the following:

1. How is the lesson structured? Is there a warm-up? Does the grammar, vocab, and other target language get introduced effectively? How do the activities, worksheets, etc. allow the students to practice the material?

2. How much time is devoted to pair work and group work? Or is it a teacher-centered class that gives students little chance to use the language?

3. What is the teacher's attitude in the class? Is it friendly? Is it positive? Is it patient? Does he encourage the students to relax, not worry so much about producing perfect language, but rather communication?

4. How much does the teacher talk? Is it effective (giving clear instructions, examples, etc.), or is it ineffective (too many anecdotes, jokes, slang, speaking above or below the level of students, etc.)?

5. How much do the students talk? This may be there only chance in the week to use English, so they need to practice as much as possible.

There's a lot more to look for, but if a teacher hits most of the above points effectively, the class is usually a success.

Chris Cotter
www.headsupenglish.com