Jennifer_CO1

Today I observed at Group 2B Listening class with Olga Garmash. I wasn't sure what to expect of the class - I kind of imagined that all they would do was listen to boring recordings, but it turned out to be very fun! There were only four students in the class, the teacher, a TESOL intern, and me. The first thing I noticed was the very light and fun atmosphere in the class. The teacher was able to be close to the students and use humor, but she still maintained authority over her classroom. At the very beginning Ms. Garmash handed back papers from the previous day and answered any questions the students had about them. Then she replayed a recording they had listened to yesterday and checked their comprehension using true-false questions to answer as they listened. The recording was much slower than a native English speaker. She then asked the students for their answers. She also went into detail about questions and had them understand what was false about the false answers, which was good. Throughout the class, the teacher would correct any pronunciation issues the students had by saying the exact thing they said, except with the correct pronunciation, and the students would automatically correct themselves. I also noticed that she gave students plenty of time to answer her questions and didn't just rush to the next student - this really seemed to help them understand the lesson. She then turned to an activity about common phrases dealing with money. She had the TESOL student work with two students, and I worked with two students which was unexpected but fun! The students had a list of money expressions, and the students would try to guess what each phrase meant. I was there to reinforce or correct their answers and provide explanations, and so would the teacher if they were still having trouble. After they guessed the expressions, Ms. Garmash played a recording that explained each phrase using a story, and the students listened. Afterwards we all went over the vocabulary again. Ms. Garmash picked on students and asked them to define each term according to what the recording said. She was very good about thinking on her feet and using synonyms and examples if the students still had trouble understanding. Overall I really enjoyed her relaxed, yet in control, teaching style and her ability to connect with the students!