Brian_CO2

My second class observation was a listening class with Olga Garmash. This class was even smaller than the previous one that I had observed, and the intimate environment allowed for a very relaxed atmosphere; students seemed at ease, and exchanged jokes with each other and the teacher. The primary activity in class was to answer comprehension questions about a story they had listened to. I sat with a group of students while they worked on this, often using a process of elimination to discover the right answer. When one student asked Olga the definition of a word (fit), she used the example of a fitting room in a clothing store to illustrate its meaning. When the student mentioned that he had heard other definitions, Olga confirmed that it could be used in a variety of ways, and told the student to look up other uses of the word for homework which would be discussed in the following class. I thought this was a great idea from a teacher's perspective, but I wondered - if I were that student - if asking questions led to more homework, would I be more hesitant to speak up in class. Maybe, but learning another language requires lots of practice at home anyway, so I'm sure this didn't hurt.