Observation Task 2: Teaching a Phonics Lesson
Focus: Identify the structure of a phonics lesson used by your MST and the supporting activities
used to reinforce the concepts taught
Objective: To encourage student teachers to identify and discuss the structure of a phonics
lesson, focusing on what the MST does, what the students do in response and the student-
centered activities used to support the students learning.
Procedure: Familiarize yourself with the Observation Table: Teaching a Phonics Lesson
Table 2: Teaching a Phonics Lesson (Example)
The Structure of the Lesson
What the teacher does What the children do Comments
Introducing the Sound:
Before starting the lesson teacher will play the Children are reading the sounds of the Reviewing the letters previous letter
sound of letters song then review the sound of letters. The children sing the song of and sounds of the letters is a very well
the priviest sounds. Teacher will provide sounds of letters. strategy to make sure students always
pictures of the priviest letter sounds. remember what they had before.
The children try to remember the
sound of letters by singing the song. Using simple songs is a very good idea
because students can understand it and
Then they read the letters and sounds singalong with.
of the letters.
I really like the writing activity because
After that reading the new letter and you don’t have the chance to learn how
the sound of the letter. to write every English class and I can
Student well watch a video of how to tell that they are in a very good level
write the letter H in capitals case and because of that.
low case. I like that the teacher integrated the
Student will grab their whiteboards or site words with the words that start
notebooks and write down the letter with the letter of the week.
in 30 seconds. After finishing writing I would like if the teacher gives the
the letter, they will share their writing other students the chance or ask them
with the teacher. by names to join the lesson instead of
Students are viewing the site words of been quiet the whole lesson, however
the week. After that they will build a there are some active students.
sentence of this site words with the I can tell by the end of the lesson that
words that start with the letter H. most of the class understand the lesson
since the beginning also I can tell that
the students have a great time and they
Students are working individually and enjoy the lesson.
reading individually.
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Teacher asked the students what sound the
letter H makes.
The teacher explains some words that makes
the sound h.
H h Hat, h h horse, h h house, h h hand.
The teacher show students how write the letter
in capital case and low case, then ask the
students to write it down.
2
Teacher integrate sight words and letter of the
week to make a sentence using the words. For
example, the sight words are, I / Can / See / The.
Hearing the Sound /m/ in the initial position: Students were reading the site words. I like that the teacher integrated the
site words with the words that start
Before giving examples of words start with the After reading the site words student with the letter of the week.
letter H the teacher starts with her sight words. read the words that start with the
letter H. Me personally when I teach, I like to
She reviews the site words with the students use a real-life picture for example the
then she presents the words that start with the Students are reading independently letter H we have the word horse the
letter H. most of the time preacher only teacher uses a picture of a real horse
provide help and they really stuck and also a picture of a real house. I prefer
Teacher asked the students to read the words. reading what they usually three very
She helps the students if they had difficulty to real life pictures that clip art pictures.
influence.
read some words. Most of the class were able to track
Students were able to read all of the with the teacher and they were very
The words were: horse, house, hat, hen, hand, words that start with the letter H, as
Hannah. excited to read.
well as the site words.
I also really liked that the teacher give
After reading all the sites were the students to the chance to read all
students start reading their sentences themselves, when the students feel
little insecure or shy to read, teacher
will encourage them and told them that
they are doing very well, if they still
don’t feel that they want to read, she
read instead.
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She was giving clear instructions such as first we
will see the picture then we were in the
sentence. So, the students first should be
looking at the picture and name the picture
after that build up the sentence.
Introducing the Writing of the Sound: All you do
For in the writing stage teacher shows the
students are video how to write a letter H and a
capital and small case. The children sit and listen attentively.
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The children repeat the teacher’s Getting the children to repeat the
directions and trace the sound /m/ in directions for writing the sound /m/
the air with their fingers. and to draw it in the air provided good
preparation for writing on the
worksheet.
The child draws the letter whilst the
other children direct her.
After watching the video teacher will explain the
steps of how to write the letter H for examples
for the capital case she said ‘okay now for
writing the letter H please we go down cross
down.” And for the lower case we go down then
around. Teacher repeat explaining each step
twice. After watching the videos teacher asked
the students to bring their whiteboards and she
set up the timer for the student then they
started to write their letter.
After 30 seconds teacher when I asked students
to share their work with her.
Practicing Writing the Sound Students listen carefully to the teacher I strongly believe of the
and follow the instructions.
Teacher always ask the students to write. importance of writing in the
Writing activity is a important activity for Students bring their whiteboards/ early stages of childhood and I
my MST. notebooks, and markers/ pencils. really love this activity it’s not
that hard for the students and
Teacher ask the students to bring their Students listen to the teacher
this activity build their ability to
whiteboards/ notebooks, and markers/ when she read the letter and the
sound of the letter. write and read.
pencils. Before they start writing the
teacher remind the students of the time for Students also love this activity
Then they start writing on their
writing which is 30 seconds.
boards. After they finish, they and get very excited to write
Teacher read the sound of the letter and shared their writing with the and show their work for the
the letter before start writing. teacher. teacher.
After finish writing teacher ask the students Student read the letter and say the
to show her their writing. Teacher ask the sound of the letter for the teacher.
students to read the letter they wrote and
say the sound of the letter. Teacher give
the students good reinforcement for their
writing.
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Observation Task 2: Teaching a Phonics Lesson
Table 2: Teaching a Phonics Lesson
The Structure of the Lesson
What the teacher does What the children do Comments
Introducing the Sound:
Teacher start her lesson what the song of Students singing along with the I think it’s really important to remind
sounds as opening that lesson. song. the students of the sound of the
letters by playing the song, because
it’s an easy song and very
rememberable.
Hearing the Sound in the initial position: Students were listening to their
teacher after that she said
For presenting the letter H sound the pronounce the letter with the sound It would be more interesting and
teacher only use the song of songs and she then she asked them to repeat after engaging if the teacher use video
pronounce it for them. her. from YouTube that present the
sound of the later age there are so
many videos out there which I think
students will be more interesting and
engaging if the teacher includes it.
After watching the video, she can
pronounce the letter and ask them to
repeat after if she still wants to use
this strategy.
Introducing the Writing of the Sound: Students are watching the slides I think this activity is very
about how to write the capital and important to teach and every
Usually after watching or singing with the lowercase H after that they start
songs of sounds teacher have two slides writing. English lesson for phonics
about how to write the capital H and the lesson students have to know
small age then after that students would how to write the letter
write down the letter in their whiteboards.
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Practicing Writing the Sound: Students are singing along with the I think teacher should focus more on
song of sounds and reading the the sound of the letter and how to
Teacher focus more on pronouncing the words. pronounce the sound instead of just
letter and the words. She only says the singing along with the song and start
sound on the beginning. ahead with the words. However
students are really good on reading
the words and pronouncing the letter
the only thing is there is no focusing
on this song they only pronounce it
one time in the beginning and that’s
it.
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Reflections on Observation Task 2: Teaching a Phonics Lesson
1. What program is used in your school to teach phonics?
Teacher use Teams and PowerPoint to present her lesson.
2. How is phonics taught in your school?
Teach and start her phonics lesson with Song of sounds and letters. She provides some simple
activities, there is also writing activity for the students to write and read the letter and say the
sound of the letter. She also provides pictures for weren’t related to the letter H, like, horse, house,
hand, hen.
3. What was the focus of the lesson?
The lesson was about the sound of the letter H and this site words. Teacher focus more
about the words and how to put them in a sentence.
4. Were the learners engaged in the phonics lesson? If they were, select (a); if they were not, select (b).
.
a. Describe the diff erent types of acti ve engagement acti viti es that
the teacher used.
There were two activities for the lesson, the first activity was writing activity where the
students are writing the letter H capital case and lower case. The second activity was reading
activity where the students are reading the words that start with the letter “H” and read the
sentence.
b. What active engagement acti viti es could the teacher have used to
help learners b e tt e r understand the lesson?
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5. What types of activities did the children participate in during their independent centers that reinforced the
lesson objective/learning outcome? If they participated in learning centers, select (a); if they did not,
select (b)
a) Describe the diff erent types of learning center acti viti es that the
students did.
The only independent acti vity was when the students writi ng the lett er H
they were writi ng on their whiteboards aft er watching the video of how to
write the lett er and when they fi nish, they share their writi ng with their
teacher.
b) Describe two (2) learning center acti viti es that the teacher could have
used to help reinforce the learning outcome.
There is online games for the later age some of the games are matching
the right lett er with that picture that start with the lett er H also there is
writi ng games.
