Adam CO # 2

Today at 2:00 p.m. I observed Ms. Ah Young Kim's level 3 Listening class in Room 345K. The students had done a homework assignment that they were reviewing in class. Ms. Kim wrote her lesson plan for the day on the board. The lesson plan was simple and very well structured. For the first half of the fifty-minute class, students would watch a short lecture video and answer questions about it. The second half of the class was a dictation exercise in which students would watch a scene from the classic Steve Martin comedy film "Father of the Bride." Students were expected to fill in the blanks in a page that included a written excerpt from the film's script.
The lecture video was particularly helpful for students at the advanced (or higher intermediate?) level that Ms. Kim was teaching to. The method of absorbing information from a lecture seemed as though it could have been particularly useful for those students in the class who contemplated attending a university or junior college in the United States. Ms. Kim did not really lecture herself so much, nor did she engage in any lengthy conversation. However, she did ask students for input in order to gauge their level of comprehension. Additionally, she was sure to carefully guide the students through their work.
Ms. Kim took a very student-oriented approach. She took her role as a coach and facilitator particularly seriously. Ms. Kim allowed students to figure out information themselves, but when something was not clear, she would be sure to help them through the problem they encountered. Ms. Kim also occasionally paused the second video to explain pronunciation quirks that are found in American English, as well as to explain aspects of American culture that students may or may not have been familiar with. The film itself was also a very good glimpse into American popular culture for the students in Ms. Kim's class. Ms. Kim also introduced students to a number of new vocabulary words, such as "freelancer." The film seemed to be a useful teaching tool in that it made learning fun by presenting a scene that included both comedy and intense drama.
In general, Ms. Kim's approach emphasized cultural aspects of English as well as distinctive quirks of the English language. She was also able to use humor (both her own sense of humor and the "Father of the Bride" clip) to intrinsically motivate students. She made sure that she went into class with a clear, simply formatted plan and kept to that plan throughout the class period.