FSU TEFL 120 Fall 1 2021

 For my third classroom observation, I joined Ryan Flemming's beginner/intermediate listening class. This class was unique in that it contained mixed skill levels. Based on what he told me, I don't think this is typical for a CIES classroom, but was unavoidable this semester because of enrollment/COVID-related issues. Since this was a listening class, Ryan did most of the talking. More than any of the other classroom observations, the manner in which the instructor's speech was modified for the students' sake was most apparent here. Given the level of the students, this was totally appropriate and to be expected. I think it takes a lot more skill/practice than one might think to speak in a way that is comprehensible to beginner and lower intermediate students of English, but I think Ryan did a terrific job, and I sought to emulate him specifically when I was giving my own lessons (both the "fake" one during our class meeting, and the real one where we taught i...

 For my second classroom observation, I joined Dr. Rios' intermediate speaking class. The activity for the day involved the students getting together in pairs to discuss an assignment that they had done before class, or in a previous class. This took up much of the class time, but there was also a significant portion of the class during which Dr. Rios simply interacted with the class. It was a rather small class, so it was possible to involve all of the students in this discussion. This was the part that was most helpful for me. In interacting with the class, Dr. Rios asked them about their weeks/weekends, told various jokes, and was just all-around very lively, interactive, friendly, and even critical but in an entirely non-abrasive way (e.g. correcting mistakes by way of repetition with the correct terms). His manner of speech was noticeably slower and more carefully pronounced than what would be appropriate for advanced students or native speakers. I also noticed that his vocabu...

 For my first classroom observation, I joined Olivia James's advanced listening class. The two topics that she spent the most time on in class were the local weather and a board-game similar to chess, called Go. Unlike chess, Go was created, and has been traditionally played, in the East rather than the West. I paid close attention to the way that Olivia spoke: her volume, speed, vocabulary, and so on. Since this was an advanced class, I didn't notice too much in her manner of speaking that would have felt out of place for a native speaker. I did notice, however, that she used physical gestures quite often, especially when she had the weather radar pulled up via the projector. Many of the terms she used when talking about the weather could potentially have been challenging for the students: e.g. doppler, precipitation, and so on. However, this fit nicely with the idea that students' listening practice should contain around 75% known vocabulary. When it came to the discussio...

Date/Time: Thursday, October 21, 2021, 8:30PM Location: via Facetime Topic discussed: Religion, Favorite Movies, and Cooking Cultural and/or Linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Mehmet and I discussed our favorite movies in American culture, and Mehmet shared some of his favorite Turkish movies. We discussed Sci-Fi movies, such as the Lake House and Annihilation. We also talked about our favorite comedy movies and comedians, such as Jim Carrey. Mehmet told me about his favorite Turkish comedy movie, which is called G. O. R. A. He also told me about a group of famous Turkish horror movies, which are based on stories from the Quran.

Date/Time: Saturday, October 1, 2021, 11:00AM Location: via Zoom Topic discussed: School and Cultural Incident Cultural and/or Linguistic topics you and your partner learned: For this session, I asked Fahad about a time when he experienced a cultural incident. He told me that a teacher once “shushed” him by putting a finger to her lips and saying “shhh,” which is very offensive in Kuwaiti and Arabic culture. He did not realize that that gesture was more normalized and common in America, which led him to be extremely offended and talk back to the teacher.  

Date/Time: Wednesday September 23 at 6:30PM Location: via Zoom Topic discussed: Cooking and adjusting to life in America Cultural and/or Linguistic topics you and your partner learned: During this session, Mehmet told me about trying to find a job in Tallahassee, which is extremely difficult due to his citizenship status. He also told me that it was very difficult to take his driver’s test and he did not know how to find a car which he had to provide one for the driver’s test. He also told me about some of the reasons he chose to move to America. Because he wants to be a chef, America is a place where he can try and learn about a lot of different types of food.

Date/Time: Saturday, September 11, 2021, 11:00AM Location: via Zoom Topic discussed: Birthdays in our cultures Cultural and/or Linguistic topics you and your partner learned: On this day, I had driven to Atlanta for one of my friends who was having a big birthday party. Fahad told me that he was shocked by how big Americans go with their birthday parties. He said that in Kuwait, they do not do anything to celebrate birthdays. When he first came to America, he was taken aback by the money and effort some people put into their birthday parties. I did not know that Kuwaitis did not celebrate birthdays like Americans do!