ESL Lesson comparison (Poland vs. China)

 

I wanted to share my thoughts on two ESL lessons, one from Poland and the other one from China.

The aims and objectives from both lessons will be juxtaposed below.

Poland – ESL Kindergarten class from Knurów

Topic: Fruits and numbers (1-7)

Aims:

-          Students will be able to name basic fruits (apple, pear, banana)

-          Students will be able to identify fruits orally and aurally

Objectives:

-          Student will be able to distinguish fruits by their color

-          Students will be able to count the number of fruits

China – ESL Kindergarten class

Topic: Fruits and prepositions (in and on)

Aims:

-          Students will be able to name basic fruits (apple, pear, orange, banana)

-          Students will be able to identify fruits orally and aurally

Objectives:

-          Students will be able to identify fruit’s colors

-          Students will be able to use the fruit with the proper preposition (in/ on)

-          Students will be able to use the correct article form with the corresponding fruit (a/on)

What was your preferred lesson?

In my opinion, both lessons went well, but my favorite would have to be the lesson from China. I was particularly drawn to his lesson due to the positive energy from the teacher and his creative activities. I appreciated that the teacher used only the target language and not students’ L1 in the lesson. On the other hand, I do have to take into consideration the amount of time he teaches on a daily basis. If he was to teach four or five classes in a day, I don’t know how he would have enough energy to keep up with all his students.

Which teacher managed to achieve the aims/objectives better? Why?

Both lessons had students sitting in a circle, they asked individual students to complete a task, there was a lot of repetition and drilling in the lesson. They had numerous activities and both used the magical box to guess the fruit inside. By the end of the lesson, students were able to identify the fruits and count/use a preposition. Thus, I think that both teachers achieved their teaching goals.

The differences between the two lessons were very slight. The tone of the lessons was different, as the ESL teacher from China had more enthusiasm and energy, whereas, the ESL teacher from Poland displayed a more relaxed atmosphere. The activities chosen by the teachers were also a bit different. The Polish lesson was a standard lesson, as the teacher incorporated a song with fruits and numbers, while the Chinese lesson continued with an experiment to show the meaning of basic prepositions. It was very creative to conduct an experiment with the fruits to see whether or not they would sink or float. I especially liked this activity; it was extremely interactive and out of the box. I was curious myself if the banana would sink or not.  

If you would like to share your thoughts about the lessons, do not hesitate!

Sara