Week 5-6 - Report 3

REPORT-3                                                                     

Kamile YENEL  &   Duran TORUN

School: Celaleattin Sayhan Primary School
Date: 13.112015-20.11.2015
Class: 4/D - 4/E

Yonca ÖZKAN

Yasemin ÖZDEMİR

 Task 1:

In this task, we were supposed to observe the instructions the mentor gave during the lesson. 

According to the observation we did, we saw that the teacher used the instructions in a target language. 
Moreover, the instructions were generally clear and short. For example, before teacher starts an activity, she uses some instructions like ‘open your books... page 20’ and while managing classroom, she uses ‘stop talking...be quiet’. 

Although there is no problem with the instructions, teacher has difficulty in classroom management. Students sometimes don’t care for the teacher when she says something. 
For example, when teacher warns a student because of noise, talking etc. , student stops talking but then he or she starts talking again. This has nothing to do with the instructions teacher uses since she uses proper instructions at the right time. Maybe, it is all about teacher or students. This is a really serious problem since it affects the whole classroom. 
As to instructions, when they are long or difficult to understand, teacher support it with mother tongue. For example,

T: Start exercise and do this by yourself. Aktiviteye başlayın ve herkes kendisi yapsın.

T: We can see a red dress. This one. Bu kızın üzerindeki kırmızı elbiseyi hepimiz görüyoruz.

T: A boy with white dress. Beyaz elbiseli çocuk.

Sometimes teacher used supported mother tongue to draw their attention. 

For example,

T: Open your workbook. Page 15. Çalışma kitabı sayfa 15. Açtık mı ?

Of all elements, there are three main elements contributing more to the lesson when compared with them. First one is signaling start activity which makes students ready for the lesson. Second one is simple language making the language easy for students and the last one is mime, gesture, body language, which makes the language more efficient. Lastly, voice quality must be good enough. If it is not good enough, it may have a negative impact on students.   

Task 2:

In this task we supposed to observe pair and group work activities. Unfortunately, we could not observe any pair work or group activities in classroom. Teacher did not prefer to use pair work or group work activities not only in 5 and 6 weeks but also in previous weeks. As a result of this, we could not find anything to observe for this task.

I think I will use both pair work and group activities since it has many advantages for students like lowering the barriers of the students. Firstly when students work with other students, they have chance to interact with the other students, which enables them to learn from each other and also they can feel more comfortable. Moreover I can create various activities including games, role plays thanks to group work. So every student can be active during lesson. This is one of my primary activities I will use in the near future. Furthermore in pair work or group activities, students can see peer’s mistakes and correct them. As I explained, pair work or group activities can provide effective learning experience students also enjoy. 
(Duran TORUN)

We know that pair work and group work activities are very important and effective for second language learning. Because they have an important element which individual learning activities do not have. It is 'communication'. These kinds of activities give the students a chance to communicate with their friends in English or about English (even 2 or 3 words). They should be active in learning. So, I will use both pair work and group activities in my classes. 
(Kamile YENEL)