Universite d’antananarivo ecole normale superieure

CONCLUSION TO THE CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS

The fact of having observed some classes in the lycées helped us find out about the actual teaching of conditional sentences in “première” and “terminale” classes. It helped us discover the methods, the techniques and activities as well as the way they manage time and the classroom. Moreover, the classroom observations provide us with information on how students react towards learning.

Concerning the teaching techniques, we found that it is easier for students to acquire the lesson on conditional sentences when the context of the structure is clear and when they are asked to participate rather than waiting for the lesson and completing tasks in given exercises. Some teachers teach conditional sentences communicatively. Therefore, the lesson is more effective because the students understand the use of the conditional sentences in realistic situations and can develop their communicative competence at the same time. However, when the teacher does not teach conditional sentences communicatively by integrating language skills and by eliciting, the students have a tendency to learn the rules by heart in order to be able to apply them in written exercises without considering their use in real life situations. Teachers only have a problem of timing because they do not apparently know how to manage their time when dealing with communicative activities in their lesson. In other words, even though teachers have good teaching techniques and methods, they are more likely to have a timing problem when they do not balance the activities in which they want to develop their students’ communicative competence.
Clearly, it is worth mentioning that through the classroom observations we carried out in some Malagasy lycées, we learnt something good to imitate and something which needs to be improved concerning the teaching of conditional sentences in “première” and “terminale” classes.