Graduation

I can say that that are finished. This was one of the most beautiful and greatest moments that I could ever had in my life. To have been teaching children in this period of time has been very challenging for me. I have seen the students improving their vocabulary and more English skills. Unfortunately I could not assist to the graduation but I would have been very glad to see my students finally graduated. Now I have a big connection with them and I have learned a lot from them, for example, that I as a teacher must be flexible and more creative. I will remember these classes for the rest of my life because even they were kind of difficult, I know how to teach English to children.        

Unit 5

This unit is about toys. Things that they are get used to it. However, the grammar in this unit is kind of challenging for us as a teachers. The grammar implies questions which sometimes is kind of difficult to get them even in adults leaning process. In my case was a really big challenge because to teach grammar, in my opinion I have to explain how the question is contracted or each part of the question. However, when teaching kinds there is another process. One advice is that do not explain to much about the grammar. Teachers should give the question and make students to get the question and repeat it to have a better understanding. In my lesson plan, by the time of worksheets, I include to fill in the blanks and I quit out the words that were part of the grammar. In this case we should make sure that our students practice the grammar not vocabulary. This part of the class is very important because teachers should keep an eye on the entire students to make sure everybody is following and get the grammar. My feed was the following:   

Good aspects:  

·         I was involving with the kids always.

·         The activities to share answers were good and dynamic.

·         I am always energetic and having control of the class by keeping an eye on the kids.  

Things to improve:

·         When someone is not paying attention or talking too much, it is better to ask them a question.

·         To clean the space to use it better.

·         At the end of the stage make sure they produce the complete target. Ask them to say it complete questions or answers.  

·         Change activities to wake up students because making the same activities kids get bored.

·         Pronunciation of you. 

·         Too much time to checking answer.

·         Do not move to another stage until everybody understands the activity.

·         it is necessary to make the whole stages in the lesson plan. It includes time management.

·          Modeling was not enough. It is necessary to model the activities first.

Some advises that were given in that unit are: when we teach grammar to kids we do not have to explain too much about the grammar.  We must teach as a command or something like that, as a consequence, the kids will understand better and get the idea of the grammar. It is a good idea to show the answer to the class in order to make your students have a better understanding. Also teachers should do no complex activities. It means that we should make activities that do not need too much explaining.

Unit 4

It is the beginning of the unit four. The name of this unit is “Body talk.” The first day was the turn of my partners and their warp up was really good because it was a vocabulary review.  Kids seemed to be familiar with the topic, they already knew some of the vocabulary presented in the class. As a matter of fact, they did not struggle with the lesson.  It is a good idea to make your Ss participate, in this case, presentation was about to paste the parts of the body on a big face. Teacher must be checking and also correcting. In this case teachers tend to reward their student, which is good; however, they must be given at the end of the class. For vocabulary lessons the meaning and the spelling of the word must be taught together.  Some comments given in that unit were:

·         Tone of voice

·         Try to do something to get your students attention

·         Give the instructions in chunks

·         Teacher must do more modeling.

·         Take control over SS

·         The use of speaker is more convenient

·         The material was really good at the presentation stage.  

·         To sit ss on the floor is a good idea; so that, teacher will get Ss attention easily.

·         Pronunciation of hand /han/  mouth /m0th/

·         The use of the equipment must be more comfortable.

·         Do not forget to give instructions first before you give worksheets.

·         The use of the worksheet was really good.

·         When the teacher turns off the lights, make sure to turn it on then.

·         Do not use advanced vocabulary.

Some tips were given in that unit. For example, when Ss are not following instruction, it is our fault. We as teachers should try another way to give instructions such as show pictures, write on the board, mimic, etc.  It is a good idea to have your Ss near to make your students pay attention. Introduce or say hello to Ss always.

In the second week, teachers tend to do an activity in order to break the ice at the beginning of a lesson.  But it is important to mention that we as teacher should be monitoring more these kind of activities because we have kids as students. As a matter of fact, they like to play and teacher can lose control of the dynamic. In addition, teacher should keep instruction simple. It means to provide instructions in chunks. Moreover, teacher should show that he or she is the authority in a good way. This is important because the class could be out of teacher control. What teachers can do is to ask question to the kids that are not paying attention or to ask them thing about the class and also to pass the student in front of the class to make an exercise. As a consequence, they will be paying attention always. It was my turn to teach and my feedback was the following:

Good things:

·         Very good warm up because it was a vocabulary review of all classes before.

·         Goo attitude such as energetic , smiling, positive, etc. voice tone,

·         The pre listening was good because of the monitoring and modeling.

·          The idea to count instead of music was good.

·         The modeling of two arms and all of the body parts.

·         I included the last students that came late.

Things to improve: 

·         Time management.

·         Attitude to say no or when not to allow something.

·         Turn off the light when using the projector.

·         The pronunciation of hand.

·         To be careful with the gestures.

·         To be careful with the images.

·         Improve the lesson plan more activities.

·         Do not teach grammar in pre listening stage, just to teach vocabulary that will be new in the reading or listening. It is more about to learn new vocabulary. Be sure about teaching the new vocabulary because it will have interference on the worksheets.

·         Lack of materials.      

Unit 3 insect life

It is the third unit. It is so amazing to see my classmates doing their best in order to make their classes more enjoyable. This unit was about insect life which means that the vocabulary was about insect but also grammar was taught. My teaching lesson was to present a listening using vocabulary and grammar at the same time. It was the first time I did that, I took it like a real challenge for me because of the fact that there are a lot of students and it is really difficult to get your students attention when you present the during stage. My partner did a very good job teaching the grammar part of the lesson explaining step by step and making the difference between using the verb to be in singular and plural. She took around 20 minutes because she made sure that everybody gets the information. However, the students look really tired by the time the during stage was presented. So I did a dynamic in order to wake up my students. I said a command and they followed me. They were very happy and they woke up. So that, I could get their attention and I said to be quiet. Before I gave them the worksheet I said the instruction because if I have done it the other way around, It would have been a disaster. Everything looked perfect and we as class achieve the goal because they did the worksheets very well. The class has finished and it was the time for my feedback. I got positive comment such as the dynamic was perfect because it woke up the students. I looked more confidence than the last time and my nervousness was not anymore. I paused the audio; so that, students could get the answer. My tone of voice was perfect and also the vocabulary review at the end of the class was so perfect. However there are some things I should improve. For example, the usage of the board when I when I write on it. I do not have to use one corner only. In my presentations, I should make my images clearer because students got confuse with one of my images. I should take control over the ones that are not in the class, I mean paying attention or the ones that are standing up. Also, in the production stage, students must not be corrected because they are producing and if the teacher corrects them, then they will feel scare by the next time. On the other hand the teacher said congratulations to everybody because students are starting to produce and make their own sentences using vocabulary and grammar from previous classes. We all are really happy to teach and achieve the class goal.     

Unit 2 Great Outfit

Here we are in the second unit. It is all about clothing items. In the first class it was my turn to teach vocabulary; so that, I was really nervous. As a matter of fact, my feedback was all about nervousness management. Also my tone of voice should be improved. In addition, my classmates suggested me that I should be careful by the time I start my class for the first time because I forgot to introduce myself. This is one important part that teachers must not forget.  On the other hand, one of the positive feedback I got was that in the warm up I gave students some commands such as “stand up, sit down and clap” in order students to mimic them. Everybody seemed to enjoy this activity so it is recommended to break the ice from the first stage. It was a really good experience and I could learn a lot from it. In the second week was the turn of my co-workers and what I really like was the activity that was about students getting out clothes from a box. Everybody was paying attention. Students were rewarding by stars, as a consequence, they were happy and doing their best in order to work in the class.  When doing the listening exercises it is a good idea to do it step by step; so that, student do not get lost. Also to have another student to help you give worksheets is a good option because the student get involve and it will not be difficult to cover the whole group. Even though It is difficult to get student’s attention, the teacher can make a dynamic or say a command in order to call student’s attention.

Unit 1 My family

It was the first class. It was a really good experience because all kids were happy the first class and expecting more than excited. The first unit was all about “My family.” Consequently,  the vocabulary was something the student were used to. So student could practice and get the ideas. The activities presented in the class were clear and fun. However, there must be more control over the instructions because there were a  couple of them that were not clear; so that, student got lost and they did not know what to do next in the activity. In the second week, we had a surprise because the number of students was more than expected. There were around 35 kids in the classroom and to be honest, I felt scary of that. Teachers were dealing with the nervousness and anxious because they did not expect that number of students. However, this was a really good class and they could achieve their class object. Students were paying attention because of the activities that were applied in the class. As a result they could learn vocabulary in a funny way. The following feedback was given for this unit.

Comments:             

• ·         The use of speakers should be improved because the volume was not loud enough.
• ·         Instructions must be clear.
• ·         It is necessary to use images in order to present vocabulary. As a result student will have a          better understanding.
• ·         Tone of voice.  
• ·         Worksheets must be done part by part.
• ·         Teacher was monitoring students and helps them in the practice stage.
• ·         Teacher checked and corrected answer with students.                    
• ·         Worked to get the students attention.
• ·          Create another way to make groups.
• ·         Do not miss the target. (Vocabulary, grammar,etc)
• ·         Made a review of the vocabulary.
• ·         Teacher was monitoring the students.
• ·         Asked students if they have any question.
• ·         Used the phrase “It is clear” instead of “Did you understand?.”
• ·         Teacher was checking and correcting answers.
• ·         Create more material to present vocabulary or the worksheet answers.
• ·         The class must be more organized.
• ·         Pronunciation must be checked before the class.
• ·         Time management. 

Workshop

Let me tell you that this was an awesome experience. What I learned in that workshop was all about breaking my fears and cross my limits. Also I discovered what kind of this I need to improve. For example, I used to be shy when I am in from of people. Moreover, my tone of voice should be a little bit louder. The space is very important because if teachers stay in the same place the class would become boring. In addition, the use of the body to express ideas is essential when teaching vocabulary because it is kind of difficult to understand them at the first time. What I like the most from the workshop was that we could learn just by having fun and that is the purpose, that we can learn something useful by playing games and having fun together not only students, but also teachers. I could break my fears and improve myself. Now I feel more confident and I have more ideas to make my classes better. I hope this kind of workshop become like subject, so we could learn more and be betters teachers before we go to the field and real life.