Alyssa B - CO#1 - Speaking Level 4

Classroom Observation 01

Date: July 3, 2017
Time: 1:00pm – 1:50pm
Area: Hecht House, Classroom 311
Teacher: Angel Rios
Class: Speaking Level 4

To start off, conversations were begun by asking what the students did that weekend. Professor Rios always made sure to add on to their answer, asking things like, “What did you do there?” or “Why?”

              After that, there was a quick going-over of the agenda, and then the class went straight into an exercise called “Rapid Fire”. The basic idea is that the instructor picks a theme, and then adds topics to the themes. That day’s theme was “Would you rather…?” Then he gives two situations, and the students have to give a substantial contribution in order to get the participation points. That means, for today, when they choose between the two given circumstances (such as, “Would you rather be invisible for a day, or be able to fly for a day?”) they have to explain why they chose that thing. It’s a discussion, so anyone inputs and there are no set orders. Everyone in the class seemed to enjoy it, including me. Each topic lasts for one minute, and this goes on for twenty minutes—it goes by surprisingly faster than you’d think!

              They also went over what their final project was going to consist of, which was very interesting. It is going to be a digital story of their life, narrated by themselves, using pictures and going over all the significant parts of their life, including what their plans are for the future. It has to combine visuals and also a recording of them speaking, but not essay-sounding! It has to sound like a story.

              It was a very interesting class! I think it’ll help me get a gist of what to do for my own speaking class.