SHARJAH HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY

OBSERVED LESSON - LESSON PLAN & OBSERVERS NOTES

Teacher: Naeema Jin Date: 31st January, 2017

Observer: Robert Miles Level & class: Level 3, Section 7
Duration: 50 minutes N. of students: 13

Lesson Type: (skill(s))

Aims. By the end of the lesson, the ss will: Achievement of aims (to be completed by observer)
HCT Learning Outcomes: 1. Yes
F13 Talking about hypothetical situations (basic)
G08 Conditional (1st and 2nd):

1.Recognize the positive and contracted form of the second conditional: if +

past simple, + would by listening to a song
2. Conditional Understand the meaning of the second conditional 2. Yes

3. Use the second conditional in a speaking and writing activity. 3. Yes

Areas teacher wishes to receive feedback on:

Timetable fit:

We are in the fourth week of the current cycle and as part of the learning objectives of the course, students need to be able to recognize and use
second conditional. They were introduced to the first conditional in week 2 and simple past in week 3. These two grammar structures should make it
easier for them to grasp the second conditional.

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Background:

There are 13 students in Level 3 Section 7. This is a group of repeating students, with the majority taking the course for the third time. Generally,
good attendance and the students are enthusiastic and participate well in class. There are a few, if any classroom management issues with this group.

Anticipated problem Solution

Students might have difficulty with irregular verbs in the simple past. Use irregular verbs students are familiar with.
Problems with using the grammatical structure:

Students might use the infinitive or gerund following would e.g.

she would to buy Have the structure written up clearly on the white board, monitor closely
while students are completing the activities and refer them to the
Using would in the if clause e.g. If I would live in another structure written up on the board.
country Using will instead of would e.g. If I won a million, I will
travel the world.

Not using the past simple in the if clause - If I win a million

dollars, I would travel the world.
There may not be enough time to complete the speaking and writing If that is the case, we will continue with the speaking and writing activity
activity planned for the freer practice stage. in the next class.
Technology used during the lesson may fail. Im using Nearpod as a Have hard copies of all materials.
presentation tool in this class and students might not be able to join the
session.

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Time Activity
12:00 12:05 Lead-In: To set the context and to engage
students with the language and topic of
(5 min) the lesson
Ask students in pairs to discuss what
they would do if they were a boy for
one day.
Feedback as a class
12:05 12:10 Presentation Stage 1: To introduce target
language in context
(5 min)
Tell students that they are going to
listen to a song by Beyonc called If I
were a boy
Hand out song worksheet and tell
them to read the first eight lines and
on Nearpod choose 4 things she
would do if she were a boy.
Presentation Stage 2: To understand the
12:10 12:15 meaning/use of the second conditional
(5 min) On Nearpod ask the poll question: Is
this a real or possible situation?
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Interaction Pattern Observation notes
Students dive straight into this very engaged. You
obviously have a good connection with the group
answers might get risqu but you have the rapport
to get away with it.
Student Student
Student Teacher
Students quickly engaged again maybe concept
check here for understanding?
You need another bullet point I tin here for when
they actually listen to the song, e.g. Students now
listen and check their answers
Hang on we didnt actually listen to the song yet
thats coming later. Ignore me
Individual Student
Ok, got it now youve used the lyrics / situations
Individual student to elicit the meaning / use of second conditionals.
I think youve covered the bullet points from the
plan, but maybe it needed to be more explicit? Or
maybe put this into the next section after they
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Is this something shes imagining listen when you elicit the form. You are in fact
(thinking about)? doing this.

Draw students attention to the use Teacher Student

of the second conditional i.e. used
to talk about
impossible/unreal/imaginary
situations

Draw students attention that we

dont use 2nd conditional to talk about
the past.
12:15 12:25 Presentation Stage 3: To notice the form
of the target language Ss are getting the target language well, meaning
(10 min) and form.
Students listen to first 8 lines of the Students are writing an example sentence is this
song part of the drill? Ah its on the worksheet. Good
to spell it out here too / refer to the worksheet.
Elicit the form of the target language
(Positive and short form) from the
song

Drill target language

Controlled Practice 1: To provide

12:25 12:30 practice of the target language Ss very engaged again. Challenging but they are
really trying.
(5 min) Students listen to the rest of the song Individual Student
and complete the blanked out spaces
using the target language.

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Students check their answers in pairs

Student Student
Controlled Practice 2: To provide further Students quickly on task, with you able to monitor
12:30 12:40 practice (using different past tense verbs) and assist as necessary.
of the target language
(10 min)
Students complete a gap fill exercise

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Freer Practice
12:40 12:50 1. To allow learners to produce written You stress that they have to use the structure here
and spoken examples of the target Student Student good.
(10 min) language. This gets the students to practice speaking AND
writing, plus use the structure. You monitor well,
2. To allow the teacher to diagnose how correcting and assisting as necessary. Students are
well the students produced the target engaged and the group I can hear are producing
language. some good answers they might struggle a bit with
the structure / accuracy but they have definitely
3. To cognitively engage students with
got the concept.
the task and the language.

Procedure:

Explain to students that they are going to

interview another classmate in order to
find out what she would do.

Give each student a role-card. Students

interview another classmate in order to
find out what she would do.
Then they write a second conditional
sentence about that person. E.g. If Maryam
won a million dollars, she would buy a
Ferrari.

Students then exchange their old card for a

new one.

The activity continues until everybody has

written at least 4 sentences.

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SUMMARY

The plan is nicely put together you should do PD on this and perhaps come up with some sort of template others could use. Just remember
to link the aims to the Learning Outcomes on the curriculum, e.g.

1. G10. Conditional (1st and 2nd) : Recognize the positive and contracted form of the second conditional: if + past simple, + would by listening
to a song.

You can always expand on this (see italics above).

At the same time, check my notes on each stage the language point would be better moved into the next section, and you ask them to write
a sentence I cant see this in the plan.

Your timing is really good, which shows strength in your planning. As you know, I like to see students in groups as well.

The group are engaged very quickly and keen to participate and contribute youve grabbed their imagination here which is important as the
second conditional is all about imagining. Its good that you have the confidence to use a song in class. I used to do this all the time in other
teaching jobs, but here I almost never see it. It really engages the students, though its challenging, often more so than an exercise we give
them, but they want to understand so really push themselves.

You make good use of Nearpod I have good news on licenses by the way. Nearpod really suits grammar work and lessons with a strong
structure.

I like the card speaking activity at the end again, this is something I/we used to do a lot in other teaching situations, but I rarely see in ours.
Well done for doing it and making it work. Students often dont get speaking type activities conceptually they see them as something to
finish rather than to practice for the sake of practicing. The exercise engaged them, however, and this was less of an issue than Ive
experienced in other classes.

I enjoyed this lesson well planned, well executed, well done. I look forward to our next observation.
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Teachers Reflection and Comments:

This grammar lesson focused on understanding and using the second conditional. The aim of the lesson was for students to successfully
understand the form/meaning and use of the second conditional. In terms of planning, the lesson was divided into lead-in stage, presentation,
controlled practice and freer practice stages.

Overall, the main aims of the lesson were achieved. Students understood and successfully produced the target language during the speaking
and writing activity. All activities set in the lesson were covered.

I have previously used a song with this group to present another grammar point. Id also asked all the students if it was ok for me to use a
song/music in the class.

The strengths and weaknesses for each stage of the lesson are identified below.

Activating Schemata

This stage went well in terms of timing and getting students engaged in the lesson.

Presentation Stage
Students were able to grasp the meaning/use of second conditional and I was able to elicit the form of the structure too.

I think in terms of execution, this is the area I generally need to work on. I moved (as I have done in previous lessons) through this stage

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quickly. Once students noticed the form and wed written it on the board, I should have concept checked and given more examples here and
also drilled the target language more than I did, especially using the contracted form.

Controlled Practice

Most students were able to complete the song although not accurately. I did have another easier fill in the gap activity, which they were able to
complete fairly accurately.

Freer Practice

This was designed to be a speaking activity and writing. Students did produce the target language, so the aims of the lesson were achieved. All
students were engaged, however, they finished quicker than I had anticipated. Some did write down sentences while others didnt. The
instructions could have been clearer here and it should have been planned only as a speaking activity. Since I noticed students had finished, I
asked them a couple of open-ended questions on Nearpod If you could do anything in the world, what would you do? and If you could marry
anyone, who would you marry?. This wasnt planned as part of the lesson as it should have been, but it allowed me to check their use of the
second conditional in written form and I was able to use their answers as part of the language feedback at the end of the lesson.

Overall:

The lesson went quite well. I had different activities planned and students were engaged and seem to enjoy the class. For future grammar
lessons, Id like to improve on how I present the grammar point.

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Faculty Signature Date: _____31st January, 2017_________________

Chair Signature____________________________________ Date: ____________________________________

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