Bilkent Observation

I went to my observation on 08.11.2018 for the second time in the İhsan Doğramacı’s

primary school. Today I was with Sibel and Holly teachers. Today we had seen numbers

along with Holly teacher. There were some materials for the students. Numerous cards,

colored cardboards, and magnetic bars enabled the students to comprehend the numbers more

easily. These materials are authentic for the student’s level. Together with Sibel we made

stations for students. We divided the students into 4 groups and we did a different activity for

each station.

First, Holly opened a cute video about the numbers to the students and repeated the

numbers with the students. We made three stations with Holly. At the first station, some of the

students sat on the floor and stitched the colored number cartons with the rope together with

the class teacher. (Appendix-1) I think this is a very useful activity. First of all, when students

sing with numbers with their teachers and then touch numbers (colored cartons) like that, it is

more useful for them. “Five years old learning a foreign language need very concrete

vocabulary that comments with objects they can handle or see.” (Cameron, 2001) The

students were very excited and enthusiastic for doing something by touching in this activity.

At the second station, Holly handed out cards to the students and asked them to put the

same numbers together. (Appendix-2) The students sit around the round table and count

together with their friends which of these numbers are the same. And then they combined the

same numbers. (Appendix-3) This activity attracted the attention of students because the

points and colours on the cards were attractive to the students.

At the last station, Holly brought magnetic rods for students. It was writing numbers on the

bars. There are magnets above the numbers, and the students adhere to the magnets to count

the numbers. (Appendix-4) Thanks to these stations, students are in a continuous repeat and
recycling. “Children need to meet words again and again, in new contexts that help increase

what they know about words. Teaching needs to include the recycling of words.” (Cameron,

2001) Therefore, Holly was constantly making her students repeat and repeat, and she was

observing it at the stations. At the end of each station, the students at the other station were in

a recycling place.

In Sibel's class we created 4 stations with students. At the first station, the students used to

paint with me and bean seeds on the soil at the glass. In the first step, I gave them a picture of

a castle and that should be painted with the colored pencils. The students painted them with

colored paints. And finally, we put the pictures on the glasses and filled the soil with the

glass. We planted bean seeds in the soil. Meanwhile, I noticed that the students were willing

to learn more in everything they did by touching them, and it was obvious that they were

curious about their eyes.

At the second station, at the second station, the students cycled along with the class

teachers on the balcony. As far as I've observed, this is the station that the students draw most

attention to. Because children in this age group are much more likely to play and want to be

active. Another observation is that Sibel took the names of the students who were written on

the board from the previous lesson (I think the students on the board got a bit mischievous in

the class), and the teacher allowed to go the students for 5 minutes late to the bicycle station.

And Sibel asked: “Which station would you like to go to?” to the successful students’ names

written on the board and she gave them priority. Sibel was very interested in her students.

While she gave importance to their needs and interests, she observed the students’ behaviour

in the classroom. She motivated her successful students and was giving punishments for her

mischievous students to understand their mistakes.

on the toy animals. The students were playing with them and learning what they were. “For

children who start language learning young this is particularly important. Although some of

the words learnt early on may become more redundant because they refer to childish things

e.g. doll, may become redundant useful later, but only if they can be recalled.” (Cameron,

2001) The students' ability to play with toys both made them more willing and improved their

learning. It can be more an effective way for children in this age group to learn with toys.

At the last station, Sibel gave white board and colourful board marker pens for the students

on the round rug. She wrote words on white board in the class and asked her students to write

the same words on their whiteboards. The students tried to write the words on this station.

Sibel teacher warned them when some students started drawing instead of writing words with

pencils. She was closely associated with them and helped them write the words.

In summary, when teaching the words for the 5-6 age groups, we should pay attention to

repeat. The group of students at this age need to be constantly repeated. It is more important

to think of how I can impose these words on students with different activities rather than

memorizing them while constantly repeating words. “Vocabulary needs to be met and

recycled at intervals, in different activities, with new knowledge and new connections

developed each time the same words are met again.” (Cameron, 2001) Considering the

stations that teachers make, it will be the most beneficial way for the student to comprehend

that knowledge by constantly repeating new words in different activities.

References:

Cameron, L. (2001). Learning words. In Teaching Languages to Young Learners (Cambridge

Language Teaching Library, pp. 72-95). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.