jueves, 21 de mayo de 2015

Second entry (3rd period)

DESCRIBE

I think this class was better than the last one because I was more confident about the activities I was developing. Also, one of the things I think helped was that I developed the exercises from the book. It was strange because in the last two periods I didn´t work with a book, so I had to look for many activities by myself without a book or lesson plan as a support. But this case, it was different since I had the book as a backup. I had to look for one free activity in which students stood up and work in pairs. I think that the results were good and I got a good feedback about my whole class. So I am happy because it was a good day at the practice.
ANALYZE
PLAN ACTION
INTERPRET
GENERALIZE
Having a book as a support helps the teacher during the class since the book itself provides what to develop in the class. However, it is really important to look for information by ourselves to vary the activities and the students can move and get interested in the topic. It is good for the teacher and the students to get interested or focused on the topic in order to learn. Many students are kinesthetic learners so it is good not to keep them on their seats. Make them participate, talk or discuss are a good resources for the class.
Bringing interesting or controversial topic to the class is a very good idea because you make them think and analyze about it. Then they can share their personal opinions about those topics. For example, they liked to talk about capital punishment, abortion, lowering the age of having a driver´s license etc. I think they really like those topics because they were participating in class.
Next class, I plan to make a activity similar to the one I made today because I had a good feedback and could see the interest of the students to complete their task. Also, I plan to study deeply the exercises and words of the book because they always have questions or doubts about. So as a good teacher you need to go ahead your students.

lunes, 18 de mayo de 2015

First entry (third period)

DESCRIBE

I think that having to plan a class a day before teaching it is really stressful because the day passes so quickly that you don’t have time to investigate deeply about the topic and also to find the most accurate activities for your students. Moreover to be taking other subjects make it even more difficult, so, when doing our teaching practices, it becomes really difficult to teach. In my first class of the third period, I was sent to intermediate II, where I had to deal with one of the most difficult topics for me that was “The unreal conditional.” I think that this topic is difficult to teach from scratch (talking about grammar), but not to put it into practice. Also, I think it was a challenge because I couldn´t observe how the class was, and what kind of students I was going to deal with. I was really nervous because I had never been with them. I had to introduce myself because the teacher didn´t explain to the Ss I was going the practitioner this period. Besides that I felt weird since most of the students, that are boys, were thinking about the soccer game of the Real Madrid that was playing in that right moment, so they were distracted using their cellphones to know the score, etc. Unfortunately, I had to explain grammar (theoretical part) so I couldn´t develop many kinesthetic activities to get them distracted. Well, even though it wasn´t a really good day for me, I got a good grade at the end.    
ANALYZE
PLAN ACTION
INTERPRET
GENERALIZE
When having exterior distractions, it is really difficult to get them focused on the class. So it is important to make activities in which they can relax and enjoy the class. Activities that help them forget about outside and concentrate in the class. Also another way is to make them participate in the class. Making questions, working in pairs, or making a contest among groups can help Ss to get involved into the class unless, it is the theoretical part you are developing.
When there is difficult topic, it is important to go step by step in the grammar part because if Ss don’t get it, it will become challenging when putting into practice. Sometimes we, as teachers, make the mistake of pretending Ss will remember the tenses studied before. That would be perfect for us, but I think it is our job to make a review of the past topics in order to facilitate them to learn a new tense.




For next class, I need to use activities for them to move since I realize they get bored or distracted easily. They need like a couch that is speaking out loud, motivating them in every move. Maybe, they are accustomed to it because of the teacher they have. So I need to get my inside couch for this new group of Ss.