The sponsor teacher for my practicum placement gave me a choice of several classes that I could observe and teach in. I chose two classes. One focuses on reading and vocabulary while the other is conversational. Both of these classes are held three times per week and are two hours long, with the exception of reading and vocabulary class where the Friday class is only an hour long. I have observed the classes on May 13th (4 hours), 24th (3 hours), and 27th (4 hours). The classes are for international students who are at the high-beginner to low-intermediate level. There are approximately 12 students in each class and most of the students attend both classes. Students are mostly university-age and come from various countries, including China, Japan, Vietnam, India, and Peru. Some students are in the classes because they just want to improve their English skills in an English-speaking country while others will be pursuing further studies where the instruction is in English.

In the reading and vocabulary class, the learning outcomes include:
- Students will develop literal comprehension skills and have opportunities to practice these skills.
- Students will learn to recognize and apply a variety of reading skills and strategies.

In addition, the learning objectives include:
- Students will be able to identify the topic and main idea of a reading passage.
- Students will be able to recognize, interpret, and use selected words from the General Service List.
- Students will be able to identify supporting details in a reading passage.
- Students will be able to make inferences while reading.

In the conversational class, the learning outcomes include:
- Students will learn to create their own conversations using target language.
- Students will learn language that reflects authentic conversation in terms of politeness and appropriateness.
- Students will learn language that observes social and cultural conventions.
- Students will reflect on and discuss cultural differences and similarities between their home countries and Canada.

In addition, the learning objectives include:
- Students will be able to interpret and use appropriately the vocabulary and expressions used in small talk, conversation starters, compliments and their responses, requests and their responses, invitations and accepting or rejecting invitations, apologies and their responses, and in expressing sympathy and regret.
- Students will be able to reflect on and discuss cultural differences between their own countries and Canada regarding meeting and getting to know people, participating in social events, and in dating and relationships.
- Students will be able to create and present dialogues that illustrate themes and use target vocabulary and expressions.

I will also note some of the best practices that I noticed during my observation hours. The best practices for presenting materials include breaking up a task into phases that provide instruction on how to complete it, modeling of the task by the teacher, practice doing the task as a class or group, and then successfully performing it individually or as a group. This makes lessons more engaging because it allows students to participate meaningfully rather than relying on the teacher to provide information through lectures. The best practices for error correction are to avoid giving students too much negative feedback at once since they will likely lose confidence in themselves and feel overwhelmed and discouraged from participating. Teachers should instead pay attention to common mistakes and take time to address them in class. Similarly, students may avoid participating and voicing questions in class due to fears of what their classmates might think about them. The lack in participation does not mean that they do not understand the lesson and silence does not mean that they do not have questions or that there is nothing that is unclear. Instead, my sponsor teacher argued that one of the best practices in this context is to provide time after class is finished for students to approach the teacher to discuss any questions or difficulties that they might have. In cases of classroom management when students do not volunteer their answers or freeze because they lack the vocabulary and language knowledge to complete spoken tasks, best practices include using attendance sheets to call on students, as well as using both random (so that students are not always with the same partners) and strategic selection (pairing students based on different L1s, countries of origin, and skill levels) to pair students with each other. In addition, the best practices for incorporating technology include making use of the equipment and materials in the classroom. Sometimes classrooms in academic institutions lack this equipment or it is unsuitable for the students’ language levels and familiarity with technology. In these cases, it is best to rely on what materials are available in the classroom, even if it is not as contemporary.

References

Row of Books [Digital Image]. (2018). Retrieved from http://clipart-library.com/clipart/dc9pbERc7.htm