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Hello Nico and Caro! It was such an amazing experience to tuning in to your podcast. Your page is completely well organized. Besides, I think talking about hobbies in the free time unit would be an interesting idea. For this, it is important to make sure the content we, as teachers, plan it is as much close as it can be to our students’ realities. When I heard Caro talking about squirrels I got surprised. Even though I would love to feed squirrels, these animals are not found in Chile, so it would not resonates with the students’ perspective of Chilean animals. However, Nico mentioned a possible change to it, great! If you are teaching in a rural school you may mention sheep, pigs, cows, and a lot more, but if you live in a big city I would say domestics animals is the best option to relate the content with the reality of the students. Overall, you did an amusing job that provides such an enriching insight about adapting lesson plans to the context you are teaching. Keep up the great work!

-Ariel !

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Hi there, is Constanza here! First of all I would like to say that I really liked your video and how you implemented the UDL. Also, I couldn't agree more with your reflection regarding implementing UDL in the chilean context, It gives students equity and inclusive opportunities to learn. Your video was super engaging for me and using the objects of the pencil case with the students was a brilliant idea for them to remember the vocabulary. Overall your video was outstanding, loved it. Good job!

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Hello Nico and Caro! I truly enjoyed the activity you enacted in your video. I think it aligns well with UDL principles as it effectively provides different means of representation to introduce the new vocabulary of the unit. I like how you used realia to explain school objects since it allows students to connect new vocabulary directly with objects they see every day. Additionally, the structure of your activity was well organized. The way you presented the vocabulary followed a clear structure, which facilitated the learning experience.

Finally, I want to add that I resonate with your practicum experiences. In my case, I had a third-grade student who struggled with reading in English, though he understood the language well when visual aids were provided. During one class, I helped him read a text and asked him to draw the words he recognized in the text. This approach increased his enjoyment and reading comprehension without requiring translation. I think my experience could also serve as an example of the importance of addressing students' individual needs and learning styles in the classroom. Therefore, I want to thank you for providing a clear example of how to make classes more inclusive. Well done! Keep up the hard work!

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Hi Nico and Caro.

I am Carolina Riquelme. I really enjoyed your pre-listening activity. As we have seen in classes, young learners enjoy activities that involve movement, chants, and songs. Therefore, I believe this activity is effective for the context you are implementing it. The use of Total Physical Response (TPR) in the activity will keep the students engaged and help them understand the meaning of the words without relying on translation, which is very positive. I think that after this activity, the students will be ready to listen to the story and understand its content. When I did my first practicum with young learners, I found activities like this, that is why I like this activity and I wouldn't change anything about it. It might be helpful to include saying the actions after doing the chant and checking if they are doing the movements correctly, just to check comprehension. This is an activity that I would include in my teaching practices if my students need to listen to this story.

How do you think the integration of movement and chants in learning activities impacts young learners' engagement and understanding?

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Hi Caro & Nico! I love how you considered students' different learning processes when creating this piece of art. Besides, I believe that all the strategies presented are important to keep students' attention and help their understanding.

It is also true that the constant use of these strategies is crucial for students' language learning facilitation.

When it comes to my classes, the use of concrete objects and songs or chants is something I would like to incorporate into my future students' daily routines. However, I believe that slowing down my rate of speech is a strategy I need to put into practice.

What strategies you've found most challenging to incorporate in your practicums so far?

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Hello Caro & Nico! I am Benjamín from @teachingandlearningpyb and I answered your quiz for challenge 3! It was really interesting because it pointed out the main points of the authors' text. As a future teacher, I agree with the idea that we have to be aware of the materials that we are going to use in the classroom, as it could really make a difference in our students' motivation and learning. It is our job as teachers to engage our students, take into consideration their needs, and teach them in a contextualized way in order to help them in their learning process. Now I realize that motivation and attitude towards English is not something that we cannot affect, but the opposite! Good job :)

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Hi guys! It's Ivana!! I wanted to tell that I really enjoyed reading your pre-listening activity. I thought it was super fun and appealing for young learners!

I really liked that you started the class with a song related to the content, I think it is a very good way to attract the attention of students as young as second grade, who are naturally attracted to fun tunes, cartoons, or any kind of activity that keeps them entertained and active. Along with that, I also think it is a great technique to include the use of gestures and mimicry during the song, I think that will allow students to understand through their own body the representation of each type of action that is included in the story. I found it to be well organized and with enough support to ensure students' learning. Giving students the space to interact with the content and vocabulary through body movements seems to me a great idea to encourage their motivation and participation, as young students usually enjoy staying active.

In direct response to your question, it seems to me that the pre-listening activity you designed contributes significantly to student learning. Giving them the opportunity to connect the vocabulary with specific types of gestures and movements I think is a great strategy for students to learn and remember the content in a more entertaining and didactic way. And personally, I think it would be an eye-catching and creative activity to implement in a classroom with young students, I would not make any changes to it, as I think it presents the vocabulary without hindrance and ensuring student participation and attention.

Overall, I think you did a great job on your challenge 9. I enjoyed seeing how you presented your script with pictures and the chant you created for the activity. Congratulations!

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Hi Caro & Nico

Regarding your challenge 9, I think that it is a good idea you decided to implement as a before listening activity. You used a song and use this type of strategy with young learners is so meaningful, 1st graders love sing songs. It is an engaging activity. Also, you used total physical response. With this, students can use your body to express something and they are charge of your learning process which is so significant! Answering the questions that you ask: do you think this type of activity improves the learning experience for young learners? Would you implement this activity in your classroom, and what changes would you make if it is necessary? In my opinion I think that this type of activity improves the learning experience since they have meaningful instances to learn, for instance, singing a song. I would implement this actitivy inside the classroom because I believe it is an effective way that students can learn and also they can sing outside the classroom! Finally, I think that the activity is appropiate so I do not make changes.

Good job! See you!

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Hello! I really liked how you started with a song including a TPR activity, for sure young learners engage with these activities. By integrating movement through Total Physical Response (TPR), children can memorize vocabulary more effectively as they associate words with physical actions, so I think it is perfect for a pre-listening activity. I have become very aware lately of multisensory strategies to implement in my classes. I believe asking students to repeat the vocabulary learned in an exit ticket activity is also beneficial to check comprehension. At first, it was challenging to incorporate TPR, but with practice, I unconsciously created activities like these every time. Does this happen to you too? Is it hard for you to implement these techniques or do you think with practice it is easier now? --- Javiera Córdova

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Hello Nico and Caro! I'm Flavio, Firstly I have to say that I loved this portfolio in general, very well organized, easy to understand and attractive to look at, great! Regarding this challenge, I think that if you doubt this activity facilitates the students' understanding and as a future teacher, I would apply it in my classroom anyway. I think that the topic about animals, and that children can relate them to their personal experience, is really attractive and helps make the learning objective of the class more effective and achievable. In the first, listening is promoted and in the second, speaking, in ways that students can approach according to their age and language level. Great job!

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Hello Nicolas and Carolina!

I would like to start by addressing the organization of your post. It is very well structured, visually appealing, and easy to understand. Excellent job!

Now, regarding your challenge, I can say that I consider it highly appropriate for first graders since it is engaging, easy to follow, and interesting. Chants are always a very good alternative to implement with young learners because they seem to have lots of energy! and what is better than using it while learning? Having fun songs during classes enables students to learn through participation and body movements, which makes their early language learning experience more meaningful.

Furthermore, your challenge helped me to understand how easy it is to implement this kind of activities, because we do not even need a musical backtrack, we just need our voices and bodies to create rhythms! Said characteristic makes chants accessible for everyone. I think that having enriching tools to apply on the Chilean classrooms and their different contexts is highly relevant due to how difficult it can be for YL to learn a foreign language that is not fun nor linked to their realities.

Along these lines, repetition is also a key part of chants. As I have learned in courses like Second Language Acquisition and Teaching and Learning Primary I, learners need to listen to a word several times to remember it. Therefore, this strategy enables the learning process to be both enjoyable and effective, because by singing along multiple times students become repeat and familiarized with the pronunciation and stress patterns of the words they are expected to learn.

Moreover, your activity made me remember that students (third graders) in my second practicum practiced different chants per unit, which allowed them to learn vocabulary faster. In that way, not only did they associate words with images, but with songs and rhythms made by clapping and stomping their feet. Due to the amount of enthusiasm they showed when a new unit was introduced, I can assume that the strategy was enriching and entertaining. They seemed eager to learn, participate, and interact, because it felt like playing (in a regulated way to ensure a positive yet enjoyable classroom environment).

You did a very good job depicting and including the strategy into your script!

Nonetheless, I would like to ask a few questions before leaving. Do you think there is any consideration that EFL teachers should bear in mind in order to use chants as a learning tool with young learners? Do you think chants can be effective if used with older learners?

Thank you so much guys!

-Antonella García