Post- Lesson Evaluation

This is a post-lesson evaluation of the listening lesson plan that took place last Monday
8th September, 2008 at CELT Athens premises with a group of Beginner learners.
Generally speaking, I would say that the lesson`s main aims, which were to introduce
language learners to informal speech in the target language, and to listen to recorded
material that will relate to learners` schematic knowledge of the world (White, 1998),
were met.
In reality, the beginning of the lesson plan went well, after the pre-listening
activity, had guided them to the content of the listening tape script. In addition, the
visuals of the “school” and the “café”, guided them to the setting of the listening
transcript. Playing and pausing the tape, at intermediate intervals, facilitated listening
comprehension. Moreover, clear non-native speech facilitated comprehension of
nationalities. The listening input was challenging for their level, too.
Furthermore, clear, organized board plan enhanced their learning, plus the fact that re
alia-flags consolidated listening comprehension of countries and nationalities. As for
pronunciation, presentation of countries and nationalities on the w/b, with coloured
different markers and dots on top of them facilitated comprehension and aided the
learners’ speaking skills, too. T`s use of the flags and use of herself as a model to tell
the difference between “I’m from Italy” and “I’m Italian” fixed it in their memories.
Last, but, not least, the learners enjoyed doing the speaking tasks, after they had been
modeled by the T and a good student.
On the other hand, I ought to beware of culturally inappropriate activities, and
unclear visuals, which do not enhance comprehension; on the same level, I have to pre-
teach key words (“Italy- Naples- part of the country”), to avoid confusion amongst
students. Secondly, the background noise of people at a café on the radio did not
facilitate comprehension of the setting; on the contrary, it even confused them more.
Reading problems also impeded progression of the listening comprehension task, but,
since there were new students in the group, I was not fully aware of their reading
problems.
Non- native accents impeded aural comprehension, hence, I needed to play the tape
many times and contracted speech did not facilitate understanding of “my sister, Kay”,
as well as people`s names for the students to take down. As a result, the number of
listening times took up a lot of time from the speaking tasks. Finally, all the handouts
should have been marked with listening/ speaking symbols to promote understanding
of the rubrics and the tasks.

Action Plan
• Clipart symbols (ear-listening, book-reading) in handouts to avoid confusion
and to facilitate task comprehension
• Use of clear visuals to avoid confusion amongst students
• I should clearly check instructions (rubric & management) to facilitate Ss`
listening comprehension
• I have to beware of assigning culturally appropriate activities for multinational
students
• For beginner students, I ought to use a lot of non verbal checks
• And I have to combine listening with speaking tasks, not reading ones.