Student Practice - CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

On 10/01/2022, I decided to take it as my adaptation day at the Monnet International School, ul. Stępińska 13 (PYP) to get familiar with the teachers, 12 (13) students (4th graders) and the environment. During that day I had the chance to observe three lessons, which were Chinese, Math and Native English, but before that, I had the chance to know more about the students, the mentor teacher, the supportive teacher and introduce myself to them at the homeroom meeting as well. 

During the Chinese lesson, the children were exuberant, and the classroom was a bit messy from my first impression because children were acting out actively. The teacher and I supposed that maybe it was the first day that they went back to school and the first stationary meeting during the new year. In the class, the teacher gave Ss 2 songs to choose from, which showed me what student-centred education resembles. The teacher asked Ss to listen to the song and follow the printed lyrics with fingers at first. Then, the teacher used TPR to explain the song. At last, Ss did a really great job, and I was amazed at it. 

In Math and Native English class, they were more organised. In my opinion, it was because they were tired but they still focused on learning. To my surprise, their Math teacher is Chinese, so it made me think out of only teaching English and enabled me to understand CLIL further. 

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT 

Observation dates: 12/01/2022, 13/01/2022

On these two days, I paid attention to observing the classroom environment. Two classes about Unit of Inquiry (UOI)/English on the topic of migration were observed. 

The first class was about homophones (2) and aimed at enabling Ss to distinguish the meaning of the word pairs and enhance spelling rules. The second lesson was a reading lesson about "meet young immigrants", aiming at reading to get information about four people, and strengthening their communication and social skills while working in groups. Coursebook was not used in these two classes, but the contents were deeply connected with the textbook (Jolly Grammar, Pupil Book 4, Publisher: Jolly Learning ) and the theme of UOI.

Overall, students behaved well in class, and they took part in activities actively, though two to four students interrupted the class by talking with their partners a few times.  The teacher used the gesture of “shush” to remind students. The teacher also used “count down” when the teacher wanted students to clear their desks and keep quiet. The classroom environment was relatively free for students, especially in the second class when they have reading tasks in pairs. Every pair was studying at their own pace to read their own text.

According to the observation, the seating arrangement is mainly presented in two ways that are shown below:

Sometimes, Ss move to the carpet next to the desks in the form of an oval. When they sit on the chairs, the arrangement is similar to (2) as it has been illustrated above. The sit can be arranged, but it may not be that necessary from my perspective because in this way they have bigger concentrated places/room to act out freely, such as the place around the carpet. Meanwhile, Ss can perform suitably in from of their desks when the chairs are put under the desks. Also, in this way, pupils can work comfortably in pairs of three (four).

Apart from the chairs and desks, many other appealing elements can be found around the classroom, too. For instance, "Our Unit of Inquiry", contents about Polish, Chinese, English, Science and Math can be seen separately on the wall. There is a mental health check-in board for Ss as a task on a daily basis next to the whiteboard and a small gadget for Ss to change the date on school days. And "Our class rules" can be found as well for Ss to refer to when necessary. The picture is attached below:

To be honest, before going to the school I was really nervous, though I had a little experience of teaching young learners, even Polish young learners. However, I felt relieved after these days, which is exactly a positive trend for me, particularly it is now clearer for me to take a large amount of time to dig into the realm of teaching with purposes and goals.