Students don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.

Teaching Practicum II is over; however, the learning process of a teacher never ends. I am more than grateful for this amazing experience; I can say that I have grown as a teacher, as a student and as a person. I have always said that it does not matter if you have the best pronunciation, the greater ideas and creativity; here the most important thing is your ATTITUD!  Students feel our mood and our willingness to teach them, so I encourage my colleagues to make a change and put in practice what we have learned. My impressions about the group of students I was working with are the following:

Teenagers = troubles. This experience taught me that this assumption is more than wrong. The group of students I worked with was wonderful. They paid attention to every single instruction that was given. Also, they enjoyed all the activities and role plays performed in the classroom. During this course I learned how teenagers’ brain works. Here I added a chart of the normal aspects that a normal brain has versus the behavior I saw n my students.

Peer Pressure	The pre-frontal area is in charge of making judgements, choices and feelings. I could see that most of the students were around 15 to 17 years old. However, I was impressed of the nice environment they had, I could not see peer pressure at all. On the contrary, they liked to help each other. I do not know if their normal behavior were caused by how the other teachers treat them, or simply they are normal teenagers.
Pruning	A process in the brain in which unused information is eliminated. I expected to see that they had forgotten what they had learned during 15 modules. My God! These students had long term memory; they even knew words that I did not remember when I was studying English! I believe that their brains are processing that English is meaningful information that it needs to be retained.
Myelination	A process in which the speed of the information travels, resulting in a higher quality of thinking. The first day I observed that the teacher just explained once, and all students understood. Probably from 14 students only one did not think faster than the others. In this module be patient was not required, because the topics and instructions were easily understood.
Procrastination	During adolescence is harder when they do not finish tasks or homework. I could only observe that one student had always an excuse of why he never did the homework. The rest were very responsible.

Things that I liked

·        I really enjoyed the full energy these students had. They were always laughing and having time.

·        They were good listeners. I was impressed how fast they completed all the listening activities. I will confess that even I could not complete some tasks, and they did them at once.

·        The projects that they delivered were so meaningful for them that they shared them with other modules. They had the opportunity to show their progress in English trough oral presentations.

·        I also liked the friendly environment they created. There was not bullying at all, and all of them respected each other.

I had the opportunity to be in front of them 8 times, my mentor since the very beginning put me in front of them, participating in the activities that she delivered. This really helped me to earn their trust. At the time of delivering my whole lesson they really cooperate with me, because they did not see me as a strange person.

I felt accepted among them, they asked me all the time about the meaning of the vocabulary, or if I could help them to complete some exercises. I liked when they asked me if I would be teaching them again. I also shared with them in the break time, out of the classroom I could know them better, of course, they saw me as a their teacher and they treated me with respect.

My tutor was more than my tutor; she is a model to follow. I was blessed to observe their classes and how she delivered the activities so easily. Since the very beginning she allowed me the time to deliver my activities. She also took the time to check my weaknesses and improve them in the classroom. While I was in front of the class, she was always taking notes so that at the end of the class she provided me with feedback. This really helped me to grown as teacher. She was more than willing to help me and she gave me the opportunity to learn from her. Watching Teacher Lorena’s class was like the goal of each teacher wants to reach, teach with love. She controlled the class; her activities were so creative that none of them were repeated. She understood that I

was not there to do her job; however, she gave me the task to plan a complete lesson of two hours. That made me feels that she trusted me her class, her students! And I did not want to disappoint her. She definitely knows where to push you and in which stages you need to improve. She never criticized an activity and she was always willing to provide feedback. She applied ECRIF and PDP Lessons all the time; I could see that she took the time to prepare her class and her personal projects with the students. Of course, if I failed in something she let it me know and she gave me the opportunity to correct myself. Teacher Lorena is definitely a model to follow.

Teaching my own lessons

Before

Teaching teenagers was not the same as teaching to children. I had confidence in myself because I have my own style and I did not want to copy to my mentor. My first class was a PDP lesson. I was scared because I needed to prepare a variety of activities and I was worried about the time. When my teacher in charge of the subject gave me green light in my lesson, I was more than ready to prove myself that I could do it. I did not have any troubles in planning my lessons, perhaps the order of the activities or in how should apply some activities in the topics. In all the classes I gave the process was the same: think, plan, prepare and teach. Several times I changed the activities or the materials because I came up with better ideas. At the end I always had a plan b, c and d just in case an activity was not working.

During

 Before or after the break, it does not matter. When you start a class you need to be ready with full energy. I still do not know how I was capable to do this. I work in the mornings and in the afternoons I was so tired. This was what worried me, I was afraid of reflecting my tiredness to my students. Surprisingly, when I greeted my students my batteries were reloaded! I had full energy and I did not feel the time. I enjoyed being in front of the class, each Saturday was different, but my attitude was the same. I wanted to give my best and improve in each class.

After

I did it! That was always what I though after a lesson. I could not believe that I did that or I want to do it again. I was proud of myself and ready for the next topic or stage that I had to teach. After a lesson, I received feedback from my tutor and for next lesson I always tried to improve my mistakes.  

Positive aspects about this experience

·        I liked that we were part of the English Course from the Saturdays’’ Program. What better way to earn than with real students in a real life schedule. Theory is not the same as practice, and I could learn a lot.

·        Because of my duties in the mornings, my practices did not interfere with my job and I could be in the afternoons.

·        Students and my mentor  received me well since the first day

·        I had the opportunity to challenge myself in planning a lesson of 2 hours

·        I know how to plan a PDP lesson with extra activities

·        Writing a blog helped me to think twice the job and my performances of all the Saturdays

·        I have grown as a teacher and as a person. These practices are not just a subject; these practices are building us to face in a good way to our future students.

Negative aspects

·        In a blog I cannot truly express how grateful I am for this opportunity, I believe that I will shot it inside the classroom the things I have learned, because my words are not enough for the experience I have earned.

Class Observation 2

Saturday September 10th 2016

Second Saturday was my turn to start the class and perform the Encounter and Clarify stages. I had a week to prepare myself. I was not nervous but I tried to do my best in think which activities could work better. I studied the topic and the possible questions they might ask. In addition, I prepared even a plan b and a plan c just in case. I teach in the mornings and I have experienced that sometimes you have planned something but your students do not understand or they easily get bored. That is why I was more than ready to show my mentor that I can control a group of teenagers that they are observing every single move or mistake that you might commite. The unt was 5: In the workplace.

Warm-Up

I started the class but my dear students had a mess in the classroom. As a teacher i had to take the control of the class and I asked them to sit down a put everything away because we needed to start with the class. They did it and I felt ready to start my first activity. I divided in two groups, boys versus girls. I asked them to write on the board as many jobs as possible, I only gave them 1 minute to complete the task. When they finished, we checked together the spelling and we decided that the girls had won because they only had one mistake.

Encounter

I used the same two groups to complete the following task. I gave them 5 unscramble words

to each group, they were related to jobs. In their groups they needed to guess and write it on the board. Some of them could not guess, but I asked them to pasted on the board the words they could not guess. We checked the spelling and the meaning at the same time. The following list shows the answers to the activity:

• Accountant
• Artist
• Actor
• Chef
• Lifeguard
• Nurse
• Teacher
• Flight attendant
• Professor
• Salesclerk

Clarify

By using the same jobs, I asked my students to write on their notebooks what was the

workplace of each job. For example: Doctor-----Hospital. While they were thinking, some of them asked me what was the difference between teacher-professor. I replied the answer but not for the ones who asked me but for the whole class. I explained them that a teacher is the person who works at the schools and a professor is the one who works at the University. However, we always say teacher to our professors, but I explained them that it was part of our beautiful culture. They agreed and finished the task. I let that the group of boys could share their answers with the girls. They did it well organized. One of each group helped me to write on the board the respective workplace.

They did a great job, I just provided them with two workplaces they did not know: a movie set and a studio. I thank them because they behaved well and I asked to my mentor to continue with her activities.

Remember

I did not know how my mentor could continue with this stage. She has more experience and

I thought that my activities were useless compared with hers. She asked them to make a circle and mimic the job while the other tried to guess. I do not know if she thought in that activity at the moment or if she had planned before. But it totally worked.

Listening Activities

Gist

The teacher asked what the conversation was about?

• Is it a job interview? Yes - no  why?
• How many people are talking?
• Are they friends?

Students listened to the audio twice because they checked their answers with a partner. The activities were happening so fast because that day the students had to perform after the break.

Outline

Students opened their books and they had to described some pictures what were they doing. After that, they wrote the correct order of the events. I was impressed because these students understood everything so fast. There was no need to play the audio one more time.

Details

The teacher wrote on the board the following questions:

• Why does Sally have to shake hands with visitors? __
• Why isn’t it necessary to use the fax? __
• What time is Sally’s lunch? __
• Will Brad wash the fruits? __
• Who is in charge of taking the money? __
• What time does he finish? __

She asked again one by one to her students only to check if they had written the questions. I loved this technique, because you are forcing to your students to pay attention of what you are writing. They listened to the audio one more time and they could complete the task.

Post

Students opened their books and they had to discuss the several questions written on it in pairs. The questions were clear, some general and others were specific. They did not have troubles in answer them.

Unit 5: Unusual Jobs

This was the last part of the unit and it was covered as a PDP lesson.

Pre-Listening

Students saw four differents unusual jobs in their books:

• Dolphin trainer
• Video-game tester
• Lumberjack
• Movie extra

In order to remember these new words, the teacher asked them to make pairs and play the hanged man. They had to spell in English and use only the 4 unusual jobs previously taught.

Gist

Students listened to an audio only once and they tried to guess if the people in the conversation were happy, sad or just normal. They immediately inferred the answer.

Outline

One more time students had to order the events in the conversation. These were the

sentences:

• So, it’s all fun? ___
• So what do you enjoy? __
• Is there anything you do not enjoy?__
• What are the best things about it? __
• What do extras have to do? __
• So what do you enjoy the most?__

They completed and the teacher gave them a worksheet for the last activity, they were getting anxious because it was almost time to perform their oral presentation.

Details

Students listened to an audio one more time but this time they had to complete a more complex task. The audio was about unusual jobs that some people had and what were the pros and the cons about their jobs. On the worksheet, they had the answers but they needed to complete a chart with that information.

Oral Presentation

After the break, the students were ready to have their oral presentation. I was assigned to go to each classroom and invite every group to participate with them. In order to do that, they had a specific schedule. The topic of the oral presentation was “Museum of Living Wax”. the instructions were clear, if you wanted to listened the presentation, you had to touch their shoulders.

Conclusion

I really enjoy the experience of this saturday, it was full of activities. I loved being in front of the class and experience a real class. I learned that your hard work will be reflected on your students’ performance because the way you teach them is the way they speak in front of others. I would apply all the activities I can in the future, because they are perfect to teach English.  

Class Observation 1

Saturday September 3rd 2016

Tutor: Lorena Perez
Module: 16
Book: Let's Talk 2

First Class

The day finally arrived!! Being in the saturday’s program is a huge opportunity to me. I can be in a real class observing what my mentor does. On these 10 following weeks I will have the opportunity to observe and deliver any activity that my tutor requires. I am in the module 16 with Miss Lorena Perez. It is a speaking module with only 14 students.

There were only 8 students because they had to be in a project at Don Bosco school

Warm-Up

The topic was: What’s the weather like? The teacher wrote the date, the number lesson and

the objective. After that, as a warm-up she wrote 4 numbers on the board and she asked to the class why there were important for her. Students were able to participate because they did the same, they had to write 4 numbers and ask each other if they could guess why these numbers were meaningful for them. I really enjoyed this activity because my mentor asked to their assistants (in this case my classmate and I) to help her with the activity. This activity can be adapted to any topic to deliver it as a community builder.

Encounter

Also, the teacher asked them to watch a video related to the topic, where the students needed to write on their notebooks all the words that were related to the weather, for example: cool, fresh, windy, dull and so on. The video was a real interview that took place in London and some cities of the United States. By using realia materials, students can listen to the native speakers’ accent. The teacher played the video one more time but with the subtitles. I would definitely use this idea because I saw that students were willing to correct themselves because of what they had written before.

Clarify

Moreover, the teacher divided the class in two different groups, they wrote on the board all the words they had listened before with their respective synonym. I liked the way how the teacher tried to to clarify some of the meanings because she creates an environment where every answer is possible and correct. One of the CCQ’s she asked were:

• Do you know all the words or do you have any doubt?
• Can you tell me a sentence using this word?
• Do we have this type of weather in our country?

For a moment I forgot that I was in a speaking module, they talk and talk and share their ideas with others. I just saw one or two students that were afraid to participate.

Remember

In this module, I could see that students like to challenge themselves, that is why in the Remember stage, they were forced to remember 10 words and their respective synonym. At first, all the vocabulary were written on the board, secondly, the teacher erased all the words. Finally, she asked one by one what was the synonym of each word. Of course, she gave them one minute to remember all the words. For example:

• What is the word for cold?
• What is the word for chilly?
• What is the word for humid?

They enjoyed it because some of them knew the word but not the correct pronunciation. It was really fun to see how they were learning and having fun at the same time. I would do this activity with my students because it is really useful to apply CCQ’s to them. I would only modify it if I change the topic, otherwise, this activity was perfect.

Internalize

I used to think that a teacher needed to follow the exercises from the book; however, because of the previous activities, at the time to open their books, students completed the exercises from the book and they shared with a partner if they had the same answers. This activity made me realize that the book is only useful as a guide, as a teacher we can come up with new activities and leave the book just to reinforced what we have taught.

Fluent Use

I was very attentive to the fluent use stage because it is the most important part in a lesson plan. I was surprised when the teacher asked them to listen a weather report. Their task

was to prepare a conversation similar of what they heard talking about how the weather would be tomorrow. They had 10 minutes to prepare it. After that, the teacher asked them to make a circle so everybody could see each other at the time of the performance. Their performance was perfect, they used several words to describe the weather and they showed professionalism.

Wrap-Up

After the performances, it was to to relax. They were anxious because it was almost time for the break; however, the teacher gave them a short poem. They had to read with emotions. For example: they needed to be angry, happy, sad or laughing. Some of them were shy but others deserved an oscar. I would do this activity to help them to be in touch with their emotions.

After the break

As a consequence of the Crea-J Project, some of the students arrived late. The teacher could not start the class because more than half of the students were not on time. The teacher was really patient and she waited for them.

Encounter

The class started with the topic “Extreme Weather” and the teacher asked them to write on their notebooks the following words: power lose, drought, floods, frost bite, wildfire and close-roads. They needed to classify them in three columns:  

                         I know -----------  I have an idea ----------------  I want to know

Then, students got up and shared their answers with a partner. I like the TPS technique (Think-Pair-Share), because it helps the teacher to observe if the students understood the task.

Clarify

In this part the teacher asked for a volunteer to write on the board the same words they had classified on their notebooks. Later on, students could checked the spelling and ask for the meaning of a word. Some of the CCQ’s the teacher asked were:

• Do you remember any situation in our country where we had floods?
• In which situation does a person suffer or frostbite?
• In which country can you see droughts?

Because all of them already knew the meaning of the vocabulary, expressing their opinions were not a difficult task.

Remember

Teacher asked them to open their books and they had to discussed several questions by using the previous vocabulary. After 5 minutes, the teacher asked them one by one each question in order to avoid that some students participate more than others, she always tried to keep a balance and she gave the opportunity to express what they thought. What i liked about this idea is that no one can express that your opinions were wrong, because they are learning to listen first and then express if they are agree or not. As I said before, no one bother someone else because they know each other, and they know who participate less than the rest.

Internalize

Teacher divided the class in groups of three. She numbered them from 1-3. Each group was assigned with a extreme weather and they needed to think in 5 things they should and should not do to survive. They had 10 minutes to prepare it. Then, two of the students presented what they had written. I would do this activity with my future students because the activity was controlled but at the same time they were free to express different ideas.

Fluent Use

In this part students took a time to complete some exercises from the book. They will have an oral presentation next week and the teacher allowed them to practice.

Conclusion

What I learned in this week was no matter the activity you deliver, as a teacher we need to

help our students to use grammar structures and new vocabulary in real life situations. Also, if you planned your lessons with lots of activities, students will feel that English is fun. I am impressed with these students, they like to share and compare their answers with everybody. They enjoy oral presentations because they like to challenge each other to see who participates more. My mentor is the best, I like the sequence of her activities, they are short but meaningful. I have learned that for every task it is necessary to allow them to share with their classmates, because they feel free to use the language and they feel proud of themselves when they discover that they had the same answers.