Class Observations - Classroom Routines (6-10)
In the next hours of my observation, I focus on different classroom routines which occur throughout the lessons.
So to start with, before the lesson begins, the students are expected to wait outside of the classroom until the teacher arrives, who will then call their class into the room. In the interim, the students are allowed to play and hang out in the main hall area under the supervision of one of the teachers. When it comes to in-between lessons, the students can relax in the classroom (as well as the hall) before returning to the lessons. There is no bell, so time management is organized by the teacher, this is especially useful when there are two lessons in a row and some activities require a little bit more time.
When beginning a lesson, different teachers have different ways of gaining the students’ attention, this depends on different aspects such as a personal choice, the size of the class and the age of the students. The different attention signals that I have seen so far were mainly through clapping, raising of the voice to grab attention and, repeated vocal signals such as “one, two, three, all eyes on me”.
If students arrive late, of course, depending on the class, they are expected to say a greeting. Ones that I have witnessed were, for example, "Hello" or "Good morning" before adding " I'm sorry I'm late.". It is often not too big of a deal and the lesson continues without much issue. In the event that the students request to leave the classroom for any reason, they are allowed to do so with permission and it is often not made out to be a big deal. There are occasions when they are to wait until all of the instructions are given by the teacher but in general, they can go at any time with permission.
During the lesson, if the students need any help they often put up their hand to ask their questions and wait for the teacher to approach. It is also common for the students to help each other out and work together as the classroom environment allows for peer and group work. After some time of trying to help each other and if they are still unsure about the activity or question, they will then proceed to ask for help from the teacher. On the other hand, when they finish early, students either help out the others or wait until the teacher signals for the next activity or the end of the lesson. This is often not too much of an issue in the lower levels as the time given for the activities is usually enough for the majority of the class to finish in a timely manner. With the older groups and activities that require the production of personalized sentences (often near the end of the lesson), they can show their work to the teacher for any corrections. If near the end of the lesson, a student finishes early and has their work checked, they can go on an earlier break. An example of this was in a grade two class where the students who asked to write out some basic sentences before going on their break, they were then to show their books to the teacher who would give feedback on it before giving them the 'okay' to relax.
The lessons are often finished with a production-type activity where the students are expected to write or speak a few of the target sentences or about the target topic. They're often expected to finish the required work before going to their break times.
Over the hours of observation, I have noticed that there was a lack of homework being given out to the students, so after inquiring with the teacher I was told that the homework policy was personalized to each teacher. When it comes to the teachers I spoke to, I was told that because of the number of English classes that the students have (5 per week), the teachers rarely give any homework as the students get a lot of work from their other classes and they don't want to overload them with additional revision. Due to the frequency of these lessons, it is not seen as necessary. Any occasional times when the students are given homework, it is often either small reading activities, vocabulary reviews or work that can be completed quickly (if the students want) during break time.
In turn, for the students who struggle a bit more with the classes, there are extra supplementary lessons in the mornings and afternoons on specific days. During these times, they can get more focused and personalized help with what they were working on during the lessons as well as more focused small group mentoring.
In conclusion, the routines are generally pretty lax when it comes to all of the stages of the lessons, before, during, and after, as well as with the homework policies. It appears to me, that even if they are relaxed, it works well for them in the long run as it allows the students to learn effectively and also not stress about the workload or finishing activities on time. These routines work well in these classes, however, this may not be the case in other schools which have different requirements. I personally really like the way it is done here because there is less pressure on the semantics of classroom learning, but a greater focus on actual progress and development. The students are not stressed about the work which makes learning more effective. I have also noticed the actual progress after finding out that the teachers have had the same classes for multiple grades, so the production of language can be seen the older they get. The teachers can work with the same students over a longer period of time so know the class well and are able to work with them and build on their past knowledge.
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