Today I observed Ms. Wagner's foundations speaking class. Leslie's class was composed mostly of Arabic speakers and it seemed like a real challenge to keep the students from conversing with each other in their native tongue. Leslie started the class with a quiz. The quiz had two main sections: an error correction section and a section where the students were required match words from a word bank to small diagrams.
The main lesson was about money. Leslie described how to write money(using either the dollar sign or the cent sign) and different ways these can be said( one fifty, one dollar and fifty cents). She then wrote random amounts on the board and called on students to read the amounts to her.
After this the was an activity in which three items were presented (car, phone, shoes) and each student had to find three classmates and ask these students how much these items cost each of them.
Thoughts:
I think Leslie handled her classroom well, but i think it's very difficult for a young white women to control these young arab men. She implemented a strike system where each time she heard arabic she would give that student a tally mark. Three tally marks and the student would have one point deducted from final final class grade.
I think she could stand to be more strict in the classroom. I enjoyed her involvement of the class but it got out of hand at times, with students shouting the answer before the selected student could answer.
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