I observed Ms. McHarek's grammar class last Monday. They were going over the Simple Past tense and using it to describe what they each had done over Spring Break. First, the teacher reviewed the grammar rule on the board and went over some irregular verbs. She has students work in pairs and circulated the classroom to make sure they were working correctly. Ms. Mcharek returned a paper they had worked on before with their errors underlined so that they could fix their mistakes on their own. She then had the students do a worksheet involving the -ed endings with a partner for ten minutes. There were a few words students were having trouble with like "seem." She then went over stative verbs and what "seem" means.
Ms. McHarek remained very calm and patient with her students. A few of them came in late and she made it clear that this was not acceptable while still retaining her kindness. When she caught a student copying another's work she calmly dealt with the situation.
It's never a good idea to get upset and take things personally in class, but students definitely need to know that there are laws of the land. CIES is also preparing students for the university level, and it is important they know what the cultural and academic expectations are.
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