Emily CO #2

Date/Time: Thursday, 9 March 2017 at 1 PM

Topic/Skill: Speaking with Angel Rios

My second classroom observation was a speaking class with Angel Rios. Of my three observations this one was probably one of my favorites to watch because of how enthusiastic the students were. The class began with students sharing doughnuts one of them had brought in and Mr. Angel, as the students called him, taking this time to ask about their spring break plans and what they were looking forward to. After this the teacher had me introduce myself and the students asked me some interesting questions about where I wanted to teach one day; they found it quite funny that many American teachers go on to teach in Asia. Once my introduction was out of the way Mr. Angel did a brief recap on a speaking log the students had just turned in and some of the things students did and did not do well. The common problem was using fillers such as “ah” or “um.” The students then had a rapid-fire group discussion in which Mr. Angel would ask them questions about social media and students would have one minute in which to talk about the topic. In order to earn points students needed to make a brief statement that would enhance the overall quality of the conversation; just saying, “I agree” wouldn’t suffice. With each passing question the topic got a little more divisive and when students wanted they were allowed a small extension in which to continue discussing this topic. It was quite fun to watch the students as they would try to get their two cents in and when one student who was a bit older, Muhammad, would speak the class would applaud as if he had just said something quite profound. It was nice to watch this dynamic because it showed that learning English needs to be fun, engaging, and relevant. Occasionally, Mr. Angel would pause the group discussion to correct some common grammar mistakes or would simply point out the error and see if students could fix it themselves. Overall, the class was about encouraging more informal English and the quality of conversation.