Describe the ESL language class you are observing now: school, grade level, language proficiency level. Who is the teacher you are observing? What is his or her ethnic and language background, her teaching history and training in ESL? Describe the lesson(s) you observed in detail. How many students were there in this class? What was the language of instruction? What was the topic of the lesson? What were some of the visual aids or audio assistance or technology resources that the teacher used?
Discuss the teacher’s ways of speaking, facial expressions, body movements. Describe the lesson sequence and board work or smart board work. What were some of the modifications of the reading materials? Give an example of ESL vocabulary instruction in detail by including an actual dialogue between the teacher and students.
Document factors influencing ELLs’ learning, such as the environment, learning materials, teacher talk, peer interaction, etc. Discuss effective language and literacy teaching and learning. Collect handouts, reading materials, or sample student works and attach them to your journal.
Harklau (1994) compared the learning environment and demands between ESL and mainstream classes. Discuss Harklau’s article by connecting what you have found out in your observations with Harklau’s findings (make three connections). How can you help English language learners’ language and subject matter learning in your future classes?
The name of the ENL teacher who I am observing, Georgia Ikonomou. She is from Greece. She has been teaching for over 20 years. I also uploaded pictures of some of the handouts of the lessons she taught the days I observed her class, to be used. I uploaded the “reflective journal 1” as well use the informations from it.
