Observing Other Teachers

     One of the best ways to improve your teaching methodology is to observe other teachers in their classrooms. Whilst you might feel awkward asking a teacher for permission to observe, the reward far outweighs that awkwardness. Recently a casual ESL teacher was sent to our school to replace one of our regular teachers who was suffering from the ill effects of a recent operation. I spoke with him at assembly and discovered that he had been teaching for over ten years. I knew that I had to make a request to observe him as it was an opportunity to learn from such an experienced teacher.

So how do you go about asking permission to observe without putting the teacher under pressure? I just acknowledged his wealth of experience and asked politely if it would be OK to watch him teach a class. I said I had no interest in criticising him and that even if I picked up one technique to improve my teaching then both I and my pupils would be most grateful. So he said OK and at the start of the next lesson I was observing him.

I was so pleased to watch this teacher. I saw the way he used effective warmers to He switch on the minds of his students into speaking English mode. He was warm, funny and positive and soon had the students totally engaged. He proceeded though the lesson radiating confidence and the students were enjoying and contributing to the lesson with great enthusiasm. I noted the way that his confidence gave the students confidence and the students were able to complete the more challenging tasks as the lesson proceeded.

I was able to observe him teach a couple more times before he left our school after four days. I now understand the importance of using just simple warmers to engage the students and get them to speak and understand English before the main body of the lesson begins. His experience with Thai students gave me a greater insight into their psychology and now I enliven my lessons with nursery rhyme recitals and increased use of gesture. He  reinforced the importance of approaching each class with confidence and I now better understand how a confident teacher makes students more confident, ultimately leading to more productive classrooms.