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Observation Tasks
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OBSERVATION TASK 1
Notice how the experienced teacher ’manages’ the group and make notes of tips for your future lessons!

What the teacher did What the students did What I learned
e.g. The teacher taps on the board / makes eye Students stop and focus on teacher Important to get students’ attention before
contact with students before giving instructions speaking to the whole group
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First Day of Teaching - Peer Observation Task

Make notes on as many of your colleagues as you can!

How did the teacher

come across and what
was the rapport with the
class like?

How did the students

respond? Passive/
Active? Enthusiastic?

Were instructions clear?

Why? Why not? Take
down specific examples
verbatim.

How useful was the

monitoring of students?
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Comment on the balance

between teacher talking
time (TTT) and student
talking time (STT).

Which element of the

teaching did you
particularly enjoy?
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TP 2: Observation task
Think about the things we’ve talked about – make notes about each of the teachers you observe, focusing on the following:

Name of Teacher

Setting the
context clearly in
the lead in

Being attentive to
learners
(monitoring,
dealing with
questions etc.)

Instructions

- ICQs
- time limit
- clear lang
- examples
/demos
- screen-
sharing

Teacher talk

-amount

-speed

-complexity
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OCFB: Seeking
consensus and
responding
naturally to sts

(asking follow up
qs)

Balance of time –
was there more
pair/groupwork
than open class?
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Observation Task

Using the Whiteboard

Evidence of Planning

Did the teacher appear to be referring to a board plan?

What do you think was on it? Complete the plan below:

Evaluation of Board Work Yes/No Suggested Improvement

Visible to all students?

Layout clear & organised?

New language highlighted?

Accurate?

Legible?
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Upper case used

appropriately? e.g. Paris

Any useful visuals?

Good use of colours?

1. Conclusions
What were the purposes of writing on the WB?
Was board work a useful summary of the lesson content, and will the students understand their notes in a few days time?
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Staging
Stage Inter-
Time (give it a brief name, What the T/Ss did Comments
afterwards)
action
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Learner language
To help with assignment 2 (Focus on the Learner) you need to try and find examples of successful uses of language- and also mistakes. Listen carefully to
the students today, and make a note of anything you hear in the boxes below / on the following page. It might be useful to note down the context in
which it was said too.

Successful uses

Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation

If I’d known there was a lesson on Friday I would I took up painting last year. inconceivable
have come.
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Mistakes / Errors

Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation

I am living here since last It was satisfied for me. I was thinking (’tinking’ ) about that.
summer.
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Change of TP Levels (Observation Task)

Focus on – the students:

What is your overall impression of the group in terms of linguistic ability & motivation? Who are the strong students & how might you be able to use them in your lessons?
Who are the less able students & how might you be able to support them when you’re teaching?

What kind of activities do the students seem to respond well to? At what points are they more forthcoming? Are there any reasons for this?

Focus on - teaching at this level:

What seem to be the main differences between this level & the group you’ve been with recently? Think, in particular, about the following areas:

a instructions, setting up tasks

b language grading & TTT generally

c the teachers’ use of gesture, mime, facial expressions, the board, visuals etc

d the amount of material covered in 45 minutes & general lesson pace

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Progress on Previous Lessons

For this lesson, look at the words in the box below and consider how this lesson compares to previous lessons. Ask the teacher what they would like specific feedback on, and add it on the
dotted line.

monitoring instructions / task set-up feedback

clarification(MFP) teacher talk interest / exploitation of materials
pace use of questions ................................

Which of the items are better dealt with in this lesson? Which ones are the same? And which ones are worse? Put the each word in the correct position in
the chart beneath and make a note on why you have written it there.

better

same
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worse
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Focus on Language
1. What context was used for the teaching of the Target Language? How effective was this choice of context?

2. How was the target language conveyed and clarified? List some examples of Concept Checking Questions that were successful.

3. Draw a quick plan of the board- How was Form highlighted?

4. What did the teacher do to help the sts with Pronunciation?

5. What was the practice? To what extent did it practise M, F, P?

6. How do you think the students found the practice? Easy/hard? How do you know?
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7. How did the teacher do feedback to practice? Make notes on some effective FB, and how else you’d have done it.
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Focus on Skills

1. How well did the lead-in work? How do you know?

2. How did the teacher generate interest in the text / tapescript?

3. How difficult/easy were the listening / reading tasks? Give some specific examples to support your thoughts.

4. How engaged/involved did the students seem on the tasks / in the lesson as a whole?
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5. How was feedback to the tasks? List some examples of things that worked, and things that didn’t work so well.

6. Was there a pre-teach stage? How necessary was this? How well was it executed?

Addressing personal aims

In order to do this task, first find out three personal aims that each teacher is working on in today’s lesson(s) and make a note of them. During the course of
the lesson, decide whether the teacher has met / improved on these aims (or not) and record on any evidence to explain your decision.

Teacher:
Personal aim Met? Evidence
1.

2.

3.

Teacher:
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Personal aim Met? Evidence

1.

2.

3.

Teacher:
Personal aim Met? Evidence
1.

2.

3.
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