last class, English Access

On Friday 8^th,   I finished with my teaching practicum with the students of the English Access Program. As a warm up activity, I made use of a game called “Simon Says” I decided to choose that game because It helped me to capture student’s attention, and also because they were motivated before starting with the class. To continue, I gave them some role play situations; those were about some of the lessons parents taught us as children. During that activity, I could observe how motivated students were when preparing their role play. At the time they finished with that activity, I told them that I really liked to see them performing all the situations because they were using the target language; I also congratulated them for their performance in that activity. The teacher told me that he enjoyed that part too because the guys do love to speak, so that he said It is our responsibility to make them do it. After all, they were working in some exercises that were on their books before the reading section, and that was all I did with them that day. Let me tell you that I really enjoyed to be working with those guys, I learned many things from them, and I just want to tell teacher Cristian “thanks” for allowing us to have this great opportunity.

second class, English Access.

November 1^st, 2013

Hello everyone! Let me tell you that in my second class, I had the chance to introduce the third unit which was called “Growing Up” As a warm up activity, I made use of a game called change places if…; with this activity students were supposed to say a sentence about something they did when they were a child. To start, students were discussing some questions they had on their books after that, they were talking about the unit question which was “what important lessons do we learn as children? To do this, they got in groups of four and made use of a page to write all the lessons they learned as children, at the end they were discussing all of them. To continue, students were answering a survey by interviewing a classmate, and at the end they were sharing all the responses they got about their classmates.  To conclude, I can say that I liked this class because I felt more identify with the students; also the teacher told me that I looked more confident, so I hope to continue the same and do a better job in my last class. 

first class experience, third period.

On Friday 25^th, I started with my first class of the last period. This time, I had the opportunity to be teaching to the English Access Program. To start, I introduced myself and after that, students were doing the same by standing up, telling their names, and why they decided to study English. For the warm up activity, I made use of some flashcards that helped me to present the new unit which was about “what makes people want to buy something”. Then, they were discussing the first two questions that were on the book. To continue, they were answering a questionnaire about their recent shopping purchases, and also they were discussing with a classmate about the kind of shopper they are. To finish, I just introduced the new vocabulary of the reading, and that was all I did that day. Let me tell you that I really liked that group because they participate and ask as many questions as they can during the class, and believe or not it has been a new experience for me because I could see their interest to learn the language, which is nice and something that I did not see in the students of the English major in my last teaching experiences. Well, from my part I will try to do a better job next time, and also I will be ready to clarify all the student’s doubts.

third class experience, secon period

On Thursday 3^rd, I finished with the third class of the second period. That day, I was working with some practices about modals verbs only. To start, I made used of some flashcards about different places and students had to say what they could do there and what they could not using different modals verbs. The teacher told me that it was a suitable warm up. To continue, students were reading a short paragraph that contained rules of a hotel in order to complete some sentences about it using the appropriated modal verbs. Then, I provided them another practice, and it was about different images which they had to create sentences using the verbs that were added in the practice. After this, I asked students to talk with a partner about what “they have to do” in an English class and what “they do not have to do”, and then they had to pass to the front and write all the ideas they had regarding this. I did not like the students attitude in this activity first because they made a mess in the classroom, and second because some of them were writing stupid things about what I asked which I did not like, even though I tried to control the situation. To finish with the class, I just give them another practice in which they have to complete some phrases by filling the gaps and classifying them through the different uses according to the examples, and this was all I did in my last class with the students of the intermediate level I.

second class experience

On Thursday 19^th, I developed my second teaching practicum. This time, I had to continue with some practices about comparatives and superlatives adjectives, also I had to introduce the new topic which was phrasal verbs. To start with the class, I made use of some flashcards about means of transportation for students to compare them. Then, I provided them a reading in order to take out all the sentences in which the speaker was making any comparison through the reading. After this, they were working in oral and written activities that were on the book, and almost at the end I was introducing the new topic.

Taking about classroom management, I can tell you that I did my best because I tried to control the class in a better way, also I was more enthusiastic and I tried to fix all the mistakes that according to the teacher I made previously. Well, I had big expectations about my second class, first because I got a bad grade in the first one, and second because I wanted to show the teacher that I could do a better job regarding this. After the class, I thought I had got a good grade, but when I saw my grade it was less than the first one, so it made me feel really sad; the teacher did not explain to my why I got that grade, she just told me about a word I mispronounced. Another thing I did not like was that she was grading me in front of a student which I consider is not appropriated because students do not need to know the grade of the practitioners as we know, it is something between the teacher and the practitioner only.

Well, all this have helped me to understand that as teachers we are going to deal with many good and bad things, so we have to pay attention to everything we really need and take advantage of it.

first class experience, second period.

On Thursday 12^th, I had the chance to be teaching to the intermediate level I. This time I started with unit number five which is called In Shape. Fortunately, it was the unit Veronica and I did last period, so that I had some ideas about the lesson plan. To start, I introduced myself, and I asked students to do the same by standing up and telling their names and one of the expectations they had from the course. As a warm up activity, students listened to a song named fighter by Christina Aguilera, the students’ job was to underline all the adjectives they found through the reading. After that, they mentioned all the adjectives as a whole class. As a presentation, they were working on their books; they had to answer a questionnaire and at the end, they had to calculate the score and compare it with their classmates. Then, I introduced the grammar part, it was about comparatives and superlatives forms of adjectives; I really liked the way I did it because I could see how motivated students were when I provided some written examples, and also when I made use of realia for them to had a better understanding. In generally, it was all I did in the class. Let me tell you that I felt confident with students because they were participating and asking different questions. In the feedback the teacher told me about many things that according to her I need to improve, even though I know not all she told me is the true. To sum up, I just want to thank the teacher because in this opportunity I could remember what he told us at the beginning of the year, and it was to pay attention to everything we consider is important, and not to those things you are sure you do well in your classes and that some teachers criticize you. 

On Tuesday 20^th, I finished with my third class of the first period. That day, I was working with some practices only. To start, I made a quick review of the grammar part, also I wrote some sentences on the board for students to practiced and remembered about the all grammar explanation. During this, they were paying attention and providing different information related to the topic. I could see the student’s interest with the class, so it made me feel confident since the class started. After that, I provided them some written practice about the topic which was reported speech; students were really motivated working with this, also they were asking me some questions if they had any doubt. Then, I integrated a speaking activity for them to practice too. In that activity, I asked students to come out with a couple of sentences or ideas. Then, their classmates were going to report what their classmates had expressed. I observed that not all were practicing, so I motivated to do it, and at the end the activity took around 8 minutes because they liked to be practicing orally. At the end, I continued with a reading practice, and it was a dialogue. To work with this, students had to read a conversation, and after that they had to report what the speakers said. The reading took around 10 minutes because it was a little bit difficult, but they did a good job with this. To conclude with the class, let me tell you that I felt really satisfied because I could see how much students understood about the topic. Well, it was all I did in the advance level I the first period. 

second class advance I

August 15^th, 2013

Hello everyone! Let me tell you that in my second class, I had to teach about reported speech. To start, I developed a short activity related to the topic. First, I gave students a piece of paper that contained a statement in the direct speech for them to transform it into the reported speech, after that, they had to read it aloud for all their classmates. I really liked that activity because it gave me an idea about what students already knew about the topic. Then, I continued with the grammar explanation. During the grammar explanation, I tried to make students participated by asking questions about what I was explaining, also I asked them to provide their own examples too. To conclude, I just made a review about the all grammar part, and they were asking me some questions about the doubts they had about the topic. Well, during this class I don’t have too much too say because I only explained the grammar part and it was all I did in the fifty minutes class.

first class experience, advance I

July 25^th , 2013

I had my first teaching experience on Thursday afternoon; it was with students that are in the advanced level I. Let me tell you that this time I got less nervous than the first time because I already got some experience related teaching, so I could control myself better. First, I started with a review of the last class they had and after that, I developed the warm up activity I had chosen. For the warm up activity, I had prepared a song; at first, I asked them to read it and underlined all the infinitive phrases they found and after that, my intention was to play the song, made them sing it and checked what they had underlined. Regarding the activity, not everything was the way I thought because I faced a situation I did expect. I choose a song called “I want to break free”, and at the moment I had to play that song, the teacher told me that I could not play the song because the university did not allow us to play that kind of music.  At the moment, I got paralyzed because I did not know how to react about that, and I explained him that I did not know about it. So I had to improve in front of students, I told them that the computer did work and because of that I had to read the song while they had to tell me the infinitives phrases they found. Well, I can say it was really meaningful for me because I consider that there are many things which are not written in books, so you did not learn until you experiment situations like mine. I felt kind of sad because the class was not the way I planned to be, but I think that everybody knows it is part of new experiences. Now, I have learned that when given a class you have to pay attention to diferent details and settings where your class is going to take place. After all, I just worked with some exercises about gerunds and infinitives on the students’ book, and it was what I did in my first class.

Third class experience

May 16^th, 2013

Well, this day I had to teach about present passive voice, and I really liked this topic because I consider students understood it very well, which made feel satisfied. In the warm up activity, I made two groups and I used two sentence strips related to the main topic, each group had to form the two sentences as soon as possible and write them on the board. Regarding this, the teacher told me that it would be better if I had made more groups for this activity because some of them did not participate and I could see it, but the problem here is that they are too many and the room is too small, so it turns difficult. In the grammar part, I could see how students were paying attention to what I was explaining; also they were asking questions if they had any doubt. After the grammar part, I incorporated different exercises for them to practice; I included written, reading and oral exercises. During this, I was helping them and trying to clarify their doubts. At the end, I was happy because I could observe how students understood the class I prepared for them.

May 9^th, 2013

Hello everyone! Let me tell you that my second class was not the way I planned because I faced a problem that did not let me to be concentrated with my class. On Wednesday night while I was preparing everything for the class, my uncle called my mom and told her that a cousin who was 33 years old had died because of a heart attack he suffered while he was working. My God!!! At the moment, I felt totally devastated and I got sick because of a terrible pain on my chest, so that I did not want to go teaching next day, but I remember the teacher’s words when he said that students do not care about teacher’s problems and that they are there because they are paying and want to learn, so I continued doing charts and everything I needed for my class. Next day, I did not feel ready with all I had to do, but I tried to focus on the class. Well, the class was not so bad I started with a warm up activity students liked; the class was about infinitive verbs, I presented some grammar uses and also some exercises related to the topic. At the end, the teacher gave me some good recommendations which I will consider and put it into practice next classes. To conclude, I can say that is not an easy task to teach a class when you have a big problem and you have to. I learned that the role of a teacher is too big because you have to forget what is happening to you when you are working, and also that you can control your mind when you do not want problems affect you in specific moments. 

May 02^nd 2013

I am feeling so excited because I have had  the opportunity to be teaching  in the three level of the major, and it has helped me a lot because I could  see the differences between them. Teaching to the intermediate level has been a challenge for me first, because they are many and the room is too small, so it is something that will affect me at the moment of developing activities that require some space. Second, because students do not like to participate, so the environment turns difficult for me because I have to find a better way to make them do it. Well, as you could read I have some disadvantages with this group, but of course they will be my challenges during this period. On the other hand, I am happy because during the feedback the teacher told me that he liked the class as I incorporated the four skills in the activities, and also because of the way I introduced the topic during the warm up part. In general I can tell you that I felt confident in this class, and I wish to do my best in the next ones. 

April 09^th 2012

To start let me tell you that this time not everything was nice for me because since the very beginning students were not motivated with the class. Almost at the end, I realized they had a phonetic exam, so that they were not willing to participate in the class.  After the warm up activity, I gave them some exercises about relative clauses which were kind of difficult; at that moment, I could notice they were not doing their best because they were wasting time and doing something else. The only thing I think they enjoyed was the speaking activity because I observed they were talking and sharing ideas about the statements I gave to them. After this, we continued with more practice bout the topic, and at the end I finished working on the book with some exercises and a listening activity too. During the feedback the teacher explained to me that not all the classes are the same that you have to deal with something different every class, so you must be prepared with it. He also gave me some recommendation for next classes, which is something I am thankful because it will help me to be a better person when teaching. 

ADVANCED LEVEL II

Second class experience

On Tuesday 19^th, I had my second class experience. I started with a warm up activity called the broken telephone. Students really like the activity because they were willing to participate. After that, I had to explain some points of the grammar section, and I liked to do this because they were asking many questions related to the topic. After explaining the grammar part, they had some practices of the same topic; during this, I faced a problem because some students were asking me many tricky questions, so I was nervous for a moment because I got a little confuse with the topic. Almost at the end, they had a speaking activity, and I felt really happy because students were talking with their classmates and using the suggested vocabulary for the activity. When the class finished, the teacher gave me some recommendations about classroom management, and I liked it because it will help me to do my best in next classes; also he congratulated me again for my attitude during the class. To sum up, I can say that I am happy with this teaching experience, and I know for sure it will be something I won’t forget ever.

ADVANCED LEVEL II

First class experience

When I knew I was going to teach an advanced level, I was really nervous because it’s not the same thing than teaching a basic one. The day of the class I got a little bit nervous, but I tried to control it, and everything started in the right way. Students liked the warm up activity, so it made me feel more confident in front of them. I liked the way they participated in class, also how they liked to ask many questions which I considered really necessary, so you must be prepared with this. This time, not everything was nice because I faced a problem when starting with the exercises; I asked students to go to appendix 2, but they got surprised because they did not have the copies of the appendixes with them. At the moment, the teacher told me that they did not work on the appendixes, and that he made copies in case he would need to work on that or in the things he considered important for them. I got really nervous at that moment, but I explained to the teacher that I did not know that, and he understood because he explained to me that some teachers work that way. After this, I asked veronica to make some copies of the appendixes while I continued working with the other activities. Now, I have learned how important is to have a plan “B” because you never know how things will go in your class. To conclude, I can tell you that I am happy with my first class, because the teacher congratulated me for the way I managed the class when students did not have the copies, so it made me feel proud of myself and motivated to do my best in next classes.

MY THIRD CLASS EXPERIENCE

February 21th, 2013

Hello everyone let me tell you that in my third class not everything was nice. I felt worried about my students, because since the very beginning they did not show interest in the class, so it made feel a little bit nervous. I tried to create a good environment for them to participate and speak, but it was not easy. For a moment, I changed the methodology in order to get students’ attention, and it worked because they were more concentrated in the class. Up to now, I have realized that teaching to a basic level is not an easy task because they are beginners, and some of them do not have previous knowledge about English, so the teacher has more responsibility regarding to this. I remember that when I chose the level, I was happy because I thought everything would be easy with this group, but it was not like that because now, I have noticed that a teacher needs to be aware of many things inside the classroom for example, when giving directions, you have to be sure if students understood, you need a bit of spontaneity to make up sentences or any oral practice to see if they really catch the topic, also you must include repetition  for checking their pronunciation.  To sum up, I can tell you that in each class, I have learned something different, and I am willing to learn even more in the coming ones.

MY SECOND CLASS

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14^th, 2013

In my second class, I felt different because I was not nervous as the first time, so I felt I was more confortable. I could manage the class in a better way and students were willing to learn too. I want to share with you that this time not everything was nice because I faced a problem in the warm up activity. I chose a short phrase for students to pass it secretly by whispering at one another, but this did not work as the way I wanted. During this, the first student who I told the phrase did not understand what it meant, and as a result he was thinking too much in how he would say it to his classmate, so I decided to start from the other side too, but the same happened, and they started wasting too much time on this, so they did not do anything. I got a little bit worried about this, and I did not know what to do, so I tried to make something different, in other words, I was improvising for some minutes. Next time, I will be prepared with two activities if something like this happens again because you never know.

1st entry

Thursday February 07, 2013

First of all, I would like to say that I got a little bit nervous a day before the class because I started thinking that this time everything would be different because teaching at university level was not the same thing than teaching children or tercer ciclo of basic education, so I was kind of worry for this, but happy at the same time for the new experience.  The day of the class I prepared everything and I felt more confident with what I had to do, but I did not know why I started swearing that you do not have any idea. This was a problem for me because it made feel even more nervous for some minutes, but after that everything changed because I was not paying attention to this anymore. In general, I can tell you that I am motivated because students were paying attention and participating which was something that made feel confident during the class. Up to now, I have not faced a big problem; everything has been nice with this group. Fortunately, I got a good grade; however, I know that I should take into consideration all the suggestions the teacher gave to me for the next classes.  

TEACHING

HELLO TEACHER