Teach English in Zhongyuan Zhen - Ankang Shi

Observed teaching practice has many benefits for teachers. Three points I would like to focus on are that an experienced observer can give critical feedback, an observer can help identify and solve problems, and teachers -new and experienced alike- can get and share ideas. The first and most obvious thing teachers can gain from an observation is advice for what they can do to improve. An observer is likely an experienced teacher who has also watched lessons by many other teachers. He or she can give advice to make demonstrations clearer or an activity more effective. If a lesson doesn't go so well, the observer can give tips for doing better next time. This will help new teachers feel more confident going into future lessons because they will have a stronger lesson plan and clear solutions to help avoid making the same mistakes again. Here in Japan, many native English speakers work as ALTs, or assistant language teachers. They work alongside a licensed Japanese teacher in the classroom, but many Japanese don't give direct feedback. Elementary school teachers often have limited English skills and just want to leave English class up to the ALT. It can be uncomfortable for ALTs to be left wondering how a lesson went or how to improve. In these cases, ALTs truly need an observation by their company or organization to get critical feedback. Second, there are things we don't notice when in the moment of teaching that are a problem. We don't notice because we don't see the problem immediately. For example, a teacher may start teaching a new tense, like present continuous, without clearly identifying the timing of the action. Students start practicing and drilling and seem to be doing well. However, in future lessons, students may mix up present simple and present continuous or just use the latter all the time, because they never got a clear idea of when to use it. The teacher may feel frustrated with the students, thinking, "But they understood it the other day!" An observer can point out the missing step so the teacher can clearly address it during the next lesson. Even teachers who have been teaching for a while can benefit from occasional observations. Some teachers come to accept bad behavior by certain classes, not realizing that they (the teachers) are missing opportunities to better engage the students. An experienced observer can find small (or big) ways to improve a lesson and address any bad teaching habits teachers didn't know they have picked up. Finally, even the observer can get new ideas that can be used in his or her own lessons and shared with other teachers. Teachers just starting out may have new, creative ideas that teachers who have been around a while haven't thought of. Sometimes, a new teacher can make a more effective variation of a tried and tested activity. I have observed demonstration lessons by new teachers here in Japan. In one popular warm up activity called "Criss-Cross," the students all stand and the teacher asks a question. Students raise their hands to answer. The first student with a good answer chooses a direction (row or column), and all students in that direction can sit down. The game continues until all students are seated. This works well in large classes, but in small classes few students get the chance to speak because the game is over so quickly. In a demonstration lesson with just nine students, I saw a new teacher turn this game into "Sit Down Bingo," in which individual students sat after answering the question, and the first complete line (of three in this case) to be seated got a little sticker prize. Students were competitively trying to speak English! It was such a simple variation, but I had never seen anyone do it. It is important for teachers to bring a variety of activities into the classroom to keep lessons fresh and interesting for students, while providing plenty of chances to speak. Observers are able to get ideas from one teacher that may help another. By ourselves, it can be hard to identify problems or areas for improvement in our own lessons. In some cases, we don't even see a problem at all! Observations are an important part of teaching, because they help be more effective, teachers solve problems, and get new ideas.