On May 26, I was able to observe Hilda’s ESAL 0320/0420 Advanced Grammar class. I appreciated being able to see this class as it was a continuation from the first adjective clause lesson from the week before where I had only been able to see the first half and wondered if the students had more practice during the half that I was not able to see. It was especially beneficial because I was able to witness how Hilda took the comments of the students from the previous class and adapted her lesson to ensure they got the extra information and practice that they were needing. The practice made a difference as the students were able to demonstrate a better understanding of the clauses.
As a leader of one of the breakout rooms, I was able to help the students to combine the sentences into one sentence joined by an adjective clause. I found I was a bit anxious completing this task. When I was able to think about where that feeling was coming from, I realized that it stems from an insecurity I have around my own grammar knowledge and having to explain things, especially something like grammar. Without having had the chance to review the grammar myself first, I was not feeling confident that I was giving the students the right information. When one of the students was not sure why one of the other “wh” words was not used instead, I explained the reason. The student said they understood, but I was left wondering if they said that to just make me think that was the case so we could move onto the next one. I sometimes worry that I am not clear when explaining something, and then in an effort to reexplain it a different way, feel that I have made things worse. After we joined back together, Hilda and the groups went over each sentence, and we were able to see how the sentences were to be combined. I had a moment of relief after each sentence was gone over as I realized I had not misguided the students in my group. I have some reassurance in knowing that when I am teaching, I am able to preview the material first; knowledge and practice will help me with my confidence and ability to explain clearly to the students.
I enjoyed the strategies that Hilda incorporated into her lesson plan as well with the creation of their own adjective clauses and picking out the adjective clauses from the movie trailer clip. As I was participating in these activities, I was thinking about how I could incorporate the same idea into my own lesson plans as a teacher. Being able to participate gave me the perspective of a student completing the task. I found that as a native English speaker, I was only able to complete part of the movie clip task of finding the three adjective clauses that were mentioned in it. I wondered the difficulty that this posed for the ESAL students, especially the ones in the 0300 level. If I were to use this activity in my own lesson, I would find a clip that had the subtitles written so that the students would be able to place more focus on finding the clauses than deciphering the language as they would also be written on the screen.
I really enjoyed being part of Hilda’s lesson today. I was able to participate in some fun activities that I look forward to using in my own lessons, and I was able to confront some of my own feelings and insecurities as a student and teacher.