David Sutton CO#2

On Tuesday afternoon, March 4th, I observed a speaking foundations course under the instruction of Ms. Debbie Carretta.  Class began at 1pm with only two students present.  Five minutes later two more students drifted in and a minute after them, one last student arrived.  Before class began, Ms. Carretta informed me that several of these students took this course last semester but unfortunately failed to meet passing standards. 

At ten minutes after the hour Ms. Carretta began the class with typical salutations and introductory greetings in an effort to encourage the students to speak.  It became immediately apparent to me these students had a very limited understanding of English.  Beyond salutations and greetings, even the most basic speaking exercises were extremely challenging to them.  I think a less experienced instructor might have struggled with this situation, but Ms. Carretta demonstrated great patience and remained cool, calm and collected.  As a teaching tool, Ms. Carretta used the family tree to generate classroom discussion, in essence, family relationships between mother-father-daughter-son, etc.  However this task seemed to overwhelm the students.  Ms. Carretta recognized this and transitioned from family tree to the use of pronouns.  However the students seemed to have great difficulty understanding and retaining these words in this simple discussion exercise as well.

Overall, this teaching session looked to be extremely challenging for any instructor.  Although the students remained attentive throughout the lesson, not one student took notes during class, not one, even when Ms. Carretta spelled out key words they did not know or understand.   And one final observation note, these students were all from the same country, and when called upon to answer a question, fellow students would try to help one another in their native tongue, if a student did not know the answer himself.  This effort to help did little to aid in the learning process.  These students appeared to operate in survival mode with no clear understanding of how to digest and learn this language in a piecemeal, methodical manner.  I think it is important for any aspiring teacher to observe a class this challenged.