Barbara CO#1 Grammar Class

My first class observation was in Ms. Felicia Ciappetta’s Grammar class, Group 3A and it was nothing like I expected it to be. Ms. Ciappetta started the class with a 3 minute discussion question.  Students were paired with a partner and asked to discuss the question of whether or not higher education colleges in cultures around the world were worth it or if the education was overrated? 

   After clarifying the terminology that colleges and universities meant the same thing, Ms. Ciappetta turned the conversation over to the students while she walked around the room listening and taking notes. The students were very engaged with each other in conversation about this topic although there was no consensus.   After 3 minutes, the instructor again went around the room asking each student for his/her point of view.

 At the end of this exercise, Ms. Ciappetta told the students that “the purpose of the conversation was absolutely grammar.”  She said that it prepared them for the University by discussing a topic in its real context. And she also collected mistakes as they spoke.  She frequently helped a student with the correct grammar while he or she was speaking but Ms. Ciappetta also commented that she had recorded the mistakes and that they would discuss them on the next day. In the next exercise, she asked the students to find a partner so that they could describe what was happening in photos they had taken with their phones in the previous day’s class.  The point of this exercise was to use the verb “is” in the present continuous tense. 

 Finally, she showed the students a short music video from the BBC and asked them to write 5 sentences about what Mr. Bean “was” doing.  The purpose of this exercise was to practice using the past continuous tense.  The instructor brought a lot of energy to the class because she began with an activity rather than just teaching rote grammar.  It was a great example of the inductive method of teaching because grammar was taught in context and the students actually got to participate rather than just listen and take notes.  After sitting in the class for a few minutes, I realized that I had expected the deductive method and that I was seeing something new that worked a lot better.  It was a great learning experience.