After thinking about going to South Korea and working with EPIK I was glad I chose to observe this class. One thing that strikes me right away is that the class has two teachers a lady who I assume is the Korean teacher and a male who I suspect is the English teacher. Not sure if one is the main teacher and the other is an assistant or they are co-teaching. One of the first things that I noticed and liked is that they use lots of visuals on their PowerPoint. Lots of visuals are great because they can keep students engaged. They begin the class by doing a review using a dialogue. There is lots of repletion as the students practice it. One thing that I noticed is that English is the only language being used. I am not a fan of the English only way of teaching, so I was not very fond of that. Both the teachers take turns upfront. I think they both work well together and are very in sync. They then use a video dialogue which I think is great because it helps with listening skills and again video is a great way I think to engage. One interesting thing is that they use tickets for good answers and hand them out periodically throughout the class. I could see why this strategy could be good giving the students a sense of accomplishment that they can physically see. Students then practice the dialogue on each other while the teachers walk around and observe. One thing that I think is great is that it is a big classroom so nice to have two teachers to walk around and help. They use a clap pattern to get everyone listening again which I might not sure if I like. That sort of control mechanism was used a lot in elementary school for myself as well and I always felt like it was like how one whistles for a dog. With a big class though it probably does make it easier to grab everyone’s attention. We then have one teacher controlling the computer while the other teaches. I think this is great makes it easier for the teacher teaching to focus on the class and not worry about moving the slideshow. They continue with the same pattern of listening and repeating dialogues. This could get very old very fast for students and you could tell that some were not participating. They then switch to working on Look and listen which involves another dialogue. This is harder and has unknown vocab. What is interesting here is that for some things they use pictures instead of words for the dialogue. Does change it up a bit which probably nice for the students. Students then get to try and make a dialogue from the pictures while using the old dialogue as well.
They now do the dialogue in a song where there are images and video. So, makes it very interactive and engaging which I think is great. They make them sing along and then they repeat the song with the video. Teachers do ask if the students liked the song to which the students replied that they did not. I like that they asked their students what they thought making the teachers able to perhaps take things out of their lesson plan and switch it with something new. The song seems very childish though and it was obvious by the second run-through that students were not into it. So, I think it is good for the teachers for noticing and asking for feedback. They then finish the class with a game called the last word. I love the games in class. I find that it keeps everyone involved and brings out a bit of competitiveness that makes many students try harder. This is in teams which is great since it is such a big classroom give everyone a chance to be heard. They use the game to teach past tense and I quite liked it. This is something that I want to go back to and try with my students in the future. The teachers work together again walking around and helping them out. The teachers are great at communicating and encouraging the students during the game. One thing that I do not quite get is that at the end of class the tickets are given back without anything being traded for them or the teachers taking note. It makes me wonder if there is something bigger to the idea that I am just not seeing or if the tickets are just for a show of accomplishment for that day. In the end, I think it was a good idea to observe that class especially since it is in a very different culture than my own and what I am used to.