Notes upon observing a class at another college

I just finished observing a class taught by a friend of a friend at a national university in Tokyo. Thanks John!

The 90 min. class was a required English communication class for 2nd year engineering majors.

It was a very organized and well-planned lesson based on a textbook the American instructor himself had written. Almost all students were shy but engaged in all activities throughout and seemed comfortable with the teacher and the format of the class.

Just to type up my handwritten notes, this is how it went:

8:45am
Good morning! Students do a self-checked vocabulary quiz/practice sheet. It doubles as a form of taking attendance. There are different quizzes for different students. It is self-paced as in when you "pass" one, you go to the next. That is reflected in the grade in some way.

8:55
Students start using the textbook with the teacher giving directions in front, reviewing phrases from the previous week. Review methods include repeating after the teacher, shadowing, and working in pairs to find mistakes in the sentences about the lesson. Then after a yoga stretch (good for sleepy students--why not do it earlier?), all students have to stand, and the teacher starts to read some "mistaken" sentences about the previous lesson. When students hear a mistake such as a wrong word, they raise their hand and say "not __, but __" and they get to sit down.

9:05
All students are sitting down and they try to say the complete, correct sentences from the previous lesson (a six sentence listening narrative about crime and punishment) based on incomplete cues. Then they change the sentences to third person (since the original narrative was first person.) Finally, the teacher holds up 6 pictures from the narrative and students try their best (some with difficulty) to say the sentence for that picture when called on. They didn't do the "re-tell the whole story" - not sure why not.

9:15
New lesson on refugees - do vocabulary matching at the start, teacher asks for answers, students have no problem, brainstorm what the new photos mean, try to guess in pairs, no reporting to the whole class.

9:25
Students listen to the teacher read six sentences about the pictures and answer T/F questions and then transcribe them on the next attempt, with pair work to confirm, and then reporting their answers to the whole class.

9:45
In preparation for a reading section, teacher explains vocabulary list and reads answers to a matching exercise. Then students take turns reading line by line. Students can read, but not clearly or with emphasis. Need some help there? Also, no discussion about the text?

9:55
Write a blurb in the back of the textbook about "Who you appreciate and why?" in relation to the point that refugees appreciate when someone extends a helping hand (not explained, my guess). Not sure what students wrote - no example given either.

10:00
Free talk time. What recent news have you seen? What topics do you want to talk about? Totally free - the pair I sat with discussed TV watching - What do you like to watch? etc.

10:10 Country profile. The teacher gives a talk about Bolivia based on a blurb in the textbook.
10:13 Go to an earlier page in the text and talk about causes of war. Not sure why - just something to fill the last two minutes.

10:15 See you next week. Do your Independent Learning Journal! Student grades are adjusted in some way (complex to me) related to their journal of independent learning. Since it is a journal, why not make it a solid part of the grade?

Some general ideas on the class:

1. At the beginning of class, I wondered if more energy might be raised by allowing students to ask each other how their week was. Vocabulary quizzes are good for review, but not energy raising. If feasible, perhaps a spoken activity for review?
   
2. During the "news talk" "free talk" time toward the end, which was about 10 minutes, I found that the students were the most lively and were enjoying the freedom to express their ideas. But I was puzzled that the discussion was not related to what they had learned that day, so I wonder if more might be done with student discussions about the topics that are in the textbook. For example, if students are studying crime and punishment or refugees, why not structure an activity so that students are discussing their personal views on the issue (Should Japan accept more refugees?) or generating their own discussion questions?
3. Also, although homework for independent study was assigned, I wondered if the class might be more effective and lively if a certain degree of preparation toward the class is required such as reading/listening to the text to finish some preliminary activities in advance. Of course some students may not do them, but if students had to keep a journal on a course management system such as Moodle, accountability could be kept.
4. Also, it sounded like only one class would be used for student project presentations (they write a six sentence narrative and tell it to the class), but I wonder if a few more weeks could be used for presentations, possibly in a group format.
5. The class was designed in a very helpful way to help students improve their comprehension of content, but a little more emphasis and use of class time on expression, including a chance to say ideas in groups or to the whole class and get feedback from the instructor on aspects such as pronunciation or articulation or phrasing might help students overcome their fear of speaking.

Just some ideas on what seemed to be a very effective class and curriculum!

Mark