EIL 343 Class Assignment

For this assignment I had the opportunity to sit in brother Wolfersberger’s EIL 343 class on March 9, 2016. EIL 343 is an advanced grammar class for students who are familiar with the English language and are ready to tackle the structural components. This class had all the components that made a successful learning environment; structure, respect, and positive interactions. The teacher and other students welcomed me and even allowed me to participate which made this an even more worthwhile experience. From walking in to the classroom I could tell brother Wolfersberger cared a lot about his students’ because he took the time to learn their names and the proper pronunciation it took to say them. Throughout the lesson he kept the mood fun

At the very beginning he said that the homework hadn’t been decided on yet but depending on how the class went he would determine it towards the end. I really liked that because the material he was covering was difficult and since it is still the beginning of the semester it would be way too overwhelming if the foundational lessons weren’t clear. There was a handout that was given on noun clauses and some common practice examples, the textbook was also utilized and students were encourages to underline, circle, and mark the necessary sentences. Which I thought was a good way of breaking things up from the typical lecture format and provided various ways that the students could learn. If students could not grasp the concept from the question written on the board they could do their own example, and after trying both those ways they would then discuss in their partners to give a more real world feel since noun clauses are not as common as textbooks make them seem. The hour was spent on welcoming the newly added students and noun clauses. The instructor has obviously been teaching for a long time and therefore he didn’t need to follow a lesson plan but still had a basic structure of how the class should go. The pace of the lesson was average/a little slower however, students appeared to be learning a lot and since the material was difficult any faster would have left everyone

When learning individuals names brother Wolfersberger would crouch across the table from them in order to have the same level of eye contact. For the student this shows a lot of respect and the teacher/student bond becomes greater. While teaching the teacher used lots of hand gestures and acted out certain scenarios which greatly helped engage the students and help them understand what he meant. I particularly liked his quirky style because it helped everyone feel comfortable with asking questions which may not be common in their cultures. I noticed he made sure to position certain students in effective partnerships which let them get to know each other more and avoid cultural norms (like sitting back and talking between Polynesians, etc.). The table I sat with had two Koreans and I did notice that when they finished the assignment they did speak with each other in Korean. Whether this was because they were dating or not I am not sure because I didn’t really notice anyone else doing this. However, I did notice people tended to gravitate towards their own cultures. Although on the flipside they were very welcoming to include me or other ethnic persons. I think the teacher did a good job with mingling people because it still kept people in their comfort zones but they also branched out to include new people as