The Thirth and Last Class

     My last class was very good because of the activities I developed. It was really nice to teach my last class because I already knew my students and the way they behave during the class, which I love because they love participating. This time teacher Salvador told me to teach about second class from the lesson, and it was just practice about TOO+ADJ+FOR PHRASE+INFINITIVE; he also said I was free to change anything from the activities in order to adequate them as I preferred. I developed my class into a grammar practice, a Tip Ranking Activity, and an Impromptu Speech activity about Global Warming.

     Before starting the class, I had to wait an hour because I was supposed to teach at 3:00 pm, but there was no one to evaluate my teaching, and so I had to wait until 4:00pm. The grammar practice was not so difficult to manage because students just have to open their books and complete the sentences from the activity. First of all, I tried to make a review of the previous class in order to get students familiar with what they were going to do; then, I gave the directions and wrote an example on the board for them to follow the same structure in their books. When they were done, I checked with all of them the answers. There was no problem with the exercises.

        During the second activity, I was nervous because of the space, so students were supposed to be moving around the classroom stopping by different stages; fortunately, it went well although my directions again were clear at all because I could say everything in just some words, but they understood because I asked someone to retell what they were going to do. Before the activity, I had already pasted the tips for helping the environment to decrease global warming around the classroom, so I saved time with that. After that, I counted until three and they had to read and to start discussing about the tips and sharing if they would apply those tips. Then, they had to move to the other stage and continue doing as the first time three more time. I monitored and it was pretty nice because I could notice they were interested on talking about global warming, so they were even sharing some other tips to decrease global warming.

     Finally for the impromptu speech, I got them follow me to the basketball court. I asked them to form a circle; then, I gave directions. They had to pick a piece of paper containing a statement or a sentence about global warming and start taking about it. I decided to number them from one to two, and in the first time number ones had to start talking and then number twos. It was good, but I know I could have more advantage of the activity, and again I was thinking on the bell which was about to ring, so I got the activity finished and say good bye to students. I felt satisfied because they could learn something from me, and I learn and had experience at teaching from them.

  As a conclusion, the opportunity to teach at English Access was wonderful because I learned a lot from the other side of teaching English because it is not the same as in the major because there we are dealing with children and not teenagers or adults. Based on my experience, I can infer that every time you are teaching you have to be well prepared in order to succeed with your class and set the goal or objective, so in the future I plan to dedicate more time for preparing the activities to develop. I will also try to learn on how to give clearer directions, because this time I had some problems with that; I will also try to manage the time very well for not missing teaching time and for not taking more time to finish. To sum up, the first teaching practicum gave me a lot of experience, and I am sure that now I can go any classroom to teach English without problems, so I have known how to manage the groups and also how to develop a lesson successfully. 

Second Class at English Access

     My second class with students of the second year at English Access was cool. As always, I tried to do by best by teaching in a way Ss feel comfortable because that is important for the learning process and we know that when we try to be friendly, students are more attentive to the class. What I did this time was to start with a good atmosphere remembering what we did during weekend, making grammar review and some grammar practice, and practicing orally talking about controversial issues in our society.

     I tried to start as early as possible, but it could not be like that because there was a meeting and some parents were still there in the classroom talking about their children with the teacher in charge of the group; anyways, I started like 5 minutes later. On the other hand, it was nice to be in front of my students the second time, so I really admire their willingness to learn and participate; I asked them how their weekend was and I also ask them to talk with their classmates about it, and they were excited.

     To make grammar review, I asked students to remember me about it; it was awesome because they gave ideas about it, and I could notice they had learned about last week topics. I wrote on the board all the abstract nouns they remembered and then I wrote an example for them to state if it was correct or not; I did the same with the second grammar, which was about verbs followed by an object and infinitive.

     I also made students read some paragraphs and then talk about it. To do so, I made them get in groups of four and number each of them, so numbers one had to read paragraph one, numbers two paragraph two, and so on. Consequently, it was nice and I liked that part of the class because it became interesting when they were doing exactly what I asked them to do. It was going really well when the bell rang. This was the first time that time was not enough for me, so I had planned the activities and I thought I was managing the time, but since the class started like five minutes later it consume my teaching time as I had planned.

     Concluding, I can infer that not always the class goes as you plan it, and based on my previous experiences, I have to be careful with that. Besides, for my future class, I will take care of the time I use for each of the activity; I will also try to be clear when giving directions and CCQ. Moreover, will create more visual aids, and I will use an appropriate sitting arrangement.

First Class at English Access

     Having de opportunity to teach in the major before helped me a lot at English Access because it was really nice being there with teenagers who are really smart. I taught the second part of the class because Teacher Salvador Buen Dia suggested me to go with the practice, so I started at 4: 10pm. I was excited because since I went to observe the class, I could notice that those 25 students are really good at English, and most important thing was that they love participated. My class was divided into three parts such as The Grammar Practice, Dictogloss, and Agree or Disagree activity.

     The grammar practice was nice because Ss recognized the non-count nouns that show abstract ideas perfectly however some of them asked me the meaning when they had doubts. Before starting the class, I tried to activate their schema by asking them what they had been doing during the first class, so they answered enthusiastically.  Then, I started by giving them the practice; they had to circule or underline all the abstract words they found in the piece of paper, and after that they had to develop exercise A and B from their books on page 101. This activity went really well because they did ir rapidly.

     The dictogloss was the next activity. First, I had to read the text so that students could get an idea about it; then, I had to read it again and students had to write keywords in order to build up the paragraph I was reading; because of time, I did not read the last time, so I asked my Ss to discuss about what they had listened and the words or ideas they got while I was reading. I really liked it because the reading was about racism, so it gave them the chance to share about it with not so much problems. Teacher Salvador said it was really nice when I was monitoring them because that was a good way to be in contact with them because while that, they asked me about the meaning of some words; I also took the advantage of asking names.

     Agree or disagree activities are really nice to make Ss discuss. This time they were asked to get in pair and were given 2 cards that showed agreement or disagreement. I had o read some some statements, and person who had the agreement card had to start discussing about it giving the reason why he or she was in agreement, so the same for the one who de disagreement card. This activity did not go as it was planned because Ss did not understand what to do, so I might have been clearer while explaining, but it was because of time. What I did at the end was to explain it in another way for them to et the idea, and finally it worked well.

     For my next class, I pretend to take into consideration what teacher suggested me to do while giving directions. I will be more creative and will keep on being with good attitude as teacher said; I will also take the advantage of the energy my students have.

Second Class in Basic English

   My second class in Basic English was based on practice related with food vocabulary and countable and uncountable nouns. To develop my class I started with a warm up activity in order to get my students engaged with the rest of the class.

     This time it was really good teaching there because I already knew the unit and also I knew that my students had learned food vocabulary and some grammar related to that; that is why I did not have a lot of problems when planning my class, but the only thing was that I felt the activities were the same because all of them were about food. On the other hand, I discovered that this kind of topics is really nice to make students think and share.

Based on what I did, in the future I will try to vary the activities in order make them follow up activities for my students to enjoy the class and understand them. I will also try to better my classes even if there are some issues as the one I faced because I had a health problem while monitoring the students, I got the flu and because of that I could not breath so well and then my voice was like tired, but I did my best and finished my class.

Basic English Teaching.

My Fourth Class

       

 My fourth class took place in Basic English, and the teacher in charge was teacher Luis Gustavo Centeno. There were thirty three students. For this time, I had to continue teaching the unit four about food, so it was nice because talking about food generates a lot of ideas and everybody loves thinking on food. The fifty minutes were developed into four activities; the activities were Find Someone Who (as a warm up), Vocabulary Teaching, Planning Tomorrow´s Meal, and The onion Ring.

     As a warm up activity, I decided to get Find Someone Who because this is a pretty nice activity for having your students get in contact with the rest of the class and even with you. Because the class was related with food, I asked them to look for someone who likes any kind of food and the favorite meal of the day for them and so on.

     I had to teach vocabulary related with food. What I did was to create a lot of flashcards in order to make my students associate the vocabulary with the drawings. I wrote in some pieces of paper the categories of food, and then I showed the flashcards one by one. Students were supposed to tell where the kind of food belonged to, so this went pretty well; after that, I elicit students' participation by drilling with the name of each kind of food.

By having practicing my students, I gave each of them a graphic organizer in which they had to plan Their Meals for Tomorrow. After that, they had to share with a partner their food planes; this activity was nice because they were engaged and they were using the vocabulary previously taught.

     Finally, The Onion Ring Rotation task was awesome because my students had to form two circles. I used a whistle for them to notice when to move and when to stop rotating; if they listened the whistle a second time, it meant they had to start talking with the person in front of them. They had to ask some questions like: what is your favorite meal of the day? What do you usually have for lunch? What do you like to eat for breakfast? They also had to use all the vocabulary related with food.

     Concluding, I can say that this time I really enjoyed the class because it was nice having my students participate in the class and in all the activities. What I like the most was that they asked questions, and also that they are good students because they tried to speak in English almost all the time.

My Third Practice.

     

     My third class was even better than the previous ones. I already knew my students and the way they react while I was teaching. At first, I was a little bit worried because of the topic I had to teach. It was causative case. By reviewing, and studying the topic, I got ready, and I started to prepare the material for the activities. Because I had to do like a review about active and passive causative, the teacher suggested me to do it through a reading and then through a speaking activity. They were students from Intermediate English II, so that was not a difficult task for them. As in every class, I had to start with a warm up that were useful for the next activities, so I decided to organize my class with a warm up activity called The Participle Train, a reading about Two Teaching Styles, and a speaking activity called  In Class Activity.

     With the warm up activity called The Participle train, I firstly count my students. They were thirty, but some of them were missing. Then, I divided the class into two groups and asked them to form two lines facing the board; after that, I gave them the directions. They were going to be given a marker per each line, so that they could quickly write on the board the past participle of the verb I said. Next, the student who already wrote the verb had to pass the marker to the next one and go behind the line. The line who had all the past participle forms of the verbs well written was going to be the winner. Obviously as in every class, there were some late comers, so what I did was to locate them in the two lines; then, I ask the students to explain latecomers what they had to do. They did it, and it was awesome! Ater that, I started the activity and they really liked it because the fact of trying to win motivated them. Finally, I ask them to go back to their places, so that I checked and count the written verbs on the board and said who were the winners. I really enjoy it.

     The pre stage of the reading activity was astonishing. I thought the topic of the reading was not going to generate a lot of ideas to my students; it was Two Teaching Styles. I wrote the topic on the board, and also I wrote: Student-centered teaching and Teacher-centered teaching; to my surprise, that generated a lot of ideas to them when I asked them to guess about it. Then, I asked them to discuss with the person next to them, and finally I asked them to share the ideas they got. For the during stage, I gave each of them a piece of reading ( It contained the active and passive causatives.) They were asked to read it and discuss about it. I think it worked very nice. For the post stage, they had to pay attention to the highlighted sentences ,and state if those were active or passive causatives.

     Lastly, in the speaking activity, My God, It was a mess for me! I don't know why, but I confused the directions and asked them to stand up; first, I had to give them the pieces of conversation that they had to complete, adding causatives. Anyways, I did it like that, so I asked them to stand up, and then, I formed the groups; I spent time giving each group the pieces of conversation; but at the end, it produced because my students were speaking even if they didn't understand at first because of my confusion.

     Concluding, I can infer that my third teaching was nice because I could manage the last situation although I got confused with the activity. I think Everybody face that. Having experienced these three classes, helped me to improve many of the things I have to change while teaching. Based on what I observed, I think students like and understood the topics a little bit more even if sometimes they face some difficulties with the topics. On the other hand, I think that trying to do our best in every class motivates the students, so that they learn. In the future, I will try to think carefully which activities are appropriate for my students to get the knowledge they need, and also I will prepare myself even better to be ready at the moment to teach, and leave behind all the nervousness I felt facing this gorgeous adventure.

     

My Second Practice.

     My second class was much better from the first one. In this second experience, I felt a little bit more confident because I already knew my students, and the way they behaved in class. I saw my students were expecting my class because they were there attentive. I was writing  my agenda on the board when a girl asked me what the class was going to be about, so in that moment I felt something really good because I could notice she was interested on that; the environment was quiet and sitting arrangement helped me do the activities without any obstruction. My class was like a review of modal verbs, and some vocabulary about illnesses and symptoms, so I divided my class in a warm up activity called ´´Mimic the Word´´, a reading comprehension about the evolution of dentistry, and a listening about Asthma disease.

     In the warm up activity, I ask my students form three groups; they had to choose a representative per each one. To start with, I told them they would be groups A,B, and C, so they must have chosen their representatives, but they were hesitant about who was going to pass to the front. I was nervous at that time because they did not do it fast, and time was running. The guesses I make about this are that most of the time they do not want to participate because they feel unsure, also they don not like to participate, and it was a challenge for me to ask for their participations. Then, when I had the representatives per each group in the front, I explained the activity. I show them a paper with a word written down, so that they could mimic the word; it resulted very nice and funny, and I think that it helped them be not only funny with the class, but also engaged with it.

     Then in the reading, I prepared a pre, during, and post activity, for them to understand more and review the modal verbs. At first it worked pretty nice because they formed the groups I ask them; basically, they had to look at the pictures I showed them, but the pictures were not so big and I had to show them group by group, so it would have been better if the pictures were bigger and pasted on the board, so that everybody could see them. They had to guess about what the pictures showed and then, they had to comment about it. After that, I gave each group a different reading related to the evolution of dentistry. They were groups A,B,C, and D, and all of them had a different one but related. While reading they had to answer the questions, and finally each group had to select a representative to share about the piece of reading.

     Lastly, I developed a listening activity; my students had to guess about the word I wrote down on the board. It was ASTHMA. Then, they had to share what they knew about it and the possible symptoms a person with asthma can face. After that, I played the audio for them to get familiar with it. Subsequently, they had to listen again and answer some questions; finally, I asked to some of them to answer if they knew a person with that disease, and then I told them I have trouble breathing and some symptoms, but that I do not suffer from asthma; to my surprise they were really interested on what I was sharing with them.

     Concluding, I can infer that my second practice was better, even if I have many things to improve like when giving instructions, or managing the large group I had. I think it is important to be well prepared and to have a plan B for any issue. Based on what I already know about teaching, I think I have to improve many things; I have to be sure of what I am teaching and the activities I apply. I believe that this second experience will be helpful for my next practices. In future lessons, I will try not to be hesitant or nervous at the moment to teach; also, I will try not to be afraid of gestures, manners, etc., students do; the next time I teach, I will plann very nice and productive activities where the macro skill can be developed very well. I will also include, appropriate, and interesting  information. Finally, I can say that with the feedback I have received, I have to try to improve many of the aspect that were identified in my teaching.