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Class one- In the video I´m about to enter the classroom, I was super nervous.

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Class one- In the video I´m about to enter the classroom, I was super nervous.

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In this first lesson I aimed to bond with the children from a different place, since it was my first time  giving instructions.As teaching strategy I try to follow their rhythm and see how were they feeling during the task, I focus more on these aspects since some of them are very young.As regards the task the children  really enjoy it, they engage quite fast to the activity and work quietly.

I think an aspect that needs to be improved is having the routine parts more present, to help the students to be aware of the moment of the lesson. They don't really know the purpose of  singing each song. Having this issue in mind , it would be very useful to work deeper with the use of the emotion cards.

A highlight of the lesson was to see Aron, the youngest in the group, to engage in the activity without causing a fight. In almost all the observation lessons Aron was asked to leave the room because of his bad behaviour, but this time that was not necessary. For a first lesson I felt quite good.

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In lesson two I tried to use an activity my sons did at their kindergarten and that they enjoyed very much. As soon as I showed the children my colour doughs they were really happy and they  engaged quickly. However, the aim of the task was not fully developed since the red dough looked more pink than red and they confused it. So I think this is an aspect to bear in mind when working with textures.

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A friend of mine recommended the book Go away big green monster the spanish version, so I browsed for the English version, which is available on the internet.My friend told me that this books elicits the parts of the face, so I thought it would be great to use it for my lesson planning. However, this lesson never happened.

When I arrived at the classroom the head teacher told me they were being too active and asked me what I had planned. While I was telling her my plan I felt scared since I was supposed to work with the story  and they should be calm for me to develop it. I supposed the teacher felt my nervousness because she advised me to do something else. That's why, I ended up with the second option which was painting some dough faces students had made a few days before. The activity was quite calming for the pupils and they worked at ease by themselves. The problem was when they wanted to move the pieces to another paper frame, the dough was too thin in some parts so some of them started to fall apart and the children didn't feel comfortable with this. My co-teacher helped me with this part and by the end of the lesson we could paint most of the faces. However, the task was fulfilled and the aim was achieved , it felt bitter  not to have done the storytelling which was the first option.

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This lesson's aim was to introduce the part of the body, by drawing their own shape. I thought they could self-reflect about their height and size by looking at their drawings. The children did the activity without much asking though it took longer than expected so some of them couldn´t draw their shapes.In this sense there was not a necessity to continue in the next lesson since the ones who didn't get the chance to be drawn were not very eager to do so.

I reflected on this issue after the class. The students who didn't want to be drawn were the youngest ones, but also the most active in the group. It seemed to me that lying down on the floor was somehow challenging for them, maybe they felt vulnerable.So I 'm keeping this idea in mind for future activities, maybe they need more trust within their group of peers. Lolo.

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Working with simple puzzles was a way of having a quiet lesson. I thought about this since in the previous lesson I felt that the pupils were being more active than usual.

The aim of the task was introducing animal names and it was fulfilled. The development of the lesson was fluent and the learners enjoyed the puzzles.I notice they didn't work much as a team but there were seven of them when the group was formed by 12 students.

There was a moment in which Aaron was by himself playing with one of the puzzles and I felt he was focused which is great because he tends to tease the rest of his classmates to call their attention. Lolo

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Lesson 6-Drawing half shapes of animals.

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Lesson 6-Drawing half shapes of animals.

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The task of this lesson was to see how they handle their motor skills, as well as introducing some animals.During the lesson I realised that Benja wasn't able to draw curve lines, so I helped him. It caught my attention that he  is 4 years old but he has less control of his fine motor skills than the rest, he speaks just a few words and his span of attention is shorter than his peers. I was reflecting on this since I wanted to find out about his interests. I´ve had behaviour issues when he is not focused on an activity.

As regards aspects I may need to improve, I think I have to try to make transitions more visible for the students, since they are not engaging with the chants. Lolo

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This lesson was planned aiming to one of the group characteristics, which is their active behaviour. I had great expectations about developing the game, since I thought my students would engage easily. At the beginning they did engage and they were having fun, however as the game was progressing one of the  students refused to continue playing, alluding that it was boring.I know children are direct when they want to express their thoughts but I felt the message was I don´t want to compete, more than I´m bored. Reflecting on competition, I wondered if I have not underestimated the children's characteristics so I should bear in mind this aspect for future tasks.

As regards, the aim of the lesson  I believe it wasnt achieve since the children were not eager to use the L2 instead they were focused  on playing, it was quite difficult to guide them to repeat the vocabulary in the target language.

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Lesson eight was quite successful since the aim of it was achieved by getting the students to participate and use the target language. They were eager to decorate their masks and were very playful while doing the task.The learners howled as I was saying the name of the animal and it was very funny.

I selected a moment of the lesson when Fausty invited me to pretend to be a wolf by wearing the mask he was decorating, that felt nice and made me feel we were bonding.

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Lesson 9 was developed to create awareness of animals and parts of the face and there was also an idea about integrating all the concepts. These two aims were fulfilled since learners were able to utter the vocabulary in the L2.An aspect I couldn´t develop was that the students played pretend to be the animal puppets, this was due to lack of time but they really enjoy making the puppets.
A highlight of the lesson can be Aron playing around with his puppet. I attached a picture of him.

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Lesson 10 was supposed to be about painting dough faces we had made some days before, however that was not possible since the headmistress had delivered the dough faces to the students parents thinking that they were ready. So I ended up giving the following lesson plan which was practising the animal song. This song is part of an end of year presentation so my co-teacher  asked me to devote at least a full lesson to practise it. The lesson was really good since the children had a lot of fun dancing and making the animal sounds. The idea of using real animal pictures was a great tool since learners tried to predict what animal was next and they pointed to the pictures asking me if they were right. There was a lot of use of the vocabulary in the target language and I laughed a lot at the children's funny moves.
There was a teaching in this lesson which was not for the students but for me. If I hadn't had the following lesson planned I may not have done a good lesson that day and also that there is always the possibility of something going wrong.

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Do The Animal Dance | Dance Party | CoComelon Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs

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Lesson 11 was done properly in time, there was repetition of the vocabulary in the target language, children were playful and we chose what animal each of them would be performing in the presentation. I realised in the previous lesson  that my video version of the song was lacking two of the animals that the teacher observer had in her video, so I had added the pictures to the planning in order to have a representation of all the animals.

There was an issue with the animal choice since four of the boys wanted to be the wolf, but we talked about it and they agree that there could be more than one wolf,A significant moment in the lesson was Isabela participating since in most of the lesson she had avoided finishing the activities or pretended to be a baby as a way of rebelling herself.  This time she was a cat and took the performance quite seriously, she meowed all the time.

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What is a Mink Ragdoll - AB Canada Ranchinragz Ragdolls(1)

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Lesson 12: This day the children met their new class teacher so they were super excited when I arrived.

The task of this lesson implied competing to colour according to my instructions, this was developed at ease. During the development of the lesson I allowed the younger ones to paint what they wanted and I praised them for doing it. While using this strategy of giving them freedom I tried to monitor that they still listened to the target language and tried to comprehend it.

An aspect to keep in mind for future lessons is timing, I couldn't have a proper closure of the lesson since they wanted to continue painting. I generally ask them to wrap it up and we sing the goodbye song but on this particular day I felt I was not able to draw their attention back so I didn't request  them to stop, instead I asked the class teacher to allow them to finish.

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At this stage of my practicum I felt that I lost some control over the students' behaviour, even if I´m not the kind of teacher that thinks students must be under my control. My group has been very active and noisy from the beginning but during this lesson I felt they were trying to cross more limits than they used to. This was the first time I drew limits using a stronger energy. I asked them in my serious tone to behave themselves. This was new for me since I have always worked with older students and the register and tone I use is different. I noticed they knew I was being serious and that made me feel weird since from the beginning of the practicum I had purposely avoided to be myself. Being honest, I thought my real me was going to be too shocking. By the end of the lesson I reflected on these facts and I realised I can be soft and caring and draw limits as well.

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Lesson 14-Paper bag masks (picture of me trying out the paper bag)

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Lesson 14-Paper bag masks (picture of me trying out the paper bag)

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Lesson 14-Technical aspects.

Progression between moments was okay, the activity was engaging and students were eager to do it. For the first time in the process of the practicum all the students were present, even Lucy who always arrives late. As it has been in the previous lessons, learners were talkative so during the development of the main task I had to draw their attention back three times at least. The material  was suitable and there weren't difficulties using it as planned.

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Lesson 15- With this lesson I felt I reached a balance in my practicum. I felt less unsure about my performance, progressions were planned and applied skillfully, I managed childrens distractions comfortably. The strategies implemented were meaningful and successful. I had all the students paying attention without limiting their creativity, they responded to my commands and I felt more myself in the role of a teacher.

The activity was developed accordingly, I took into account a comment from my tutor and before ending the lesson gave the group another  activity to help them to be quieter.

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Pharrell Williams - Happy (Official Music Video)

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In my final lesson we played in the hall again, the children participated and everything ran smoothly.There were no highlight moments but the lesson fulfilled its purpose.

I think I should have called this lesson a bittersweet symphony( Verve) though not so dramatic.I felt really anxious during the practicum so I wanted it to end but at the same time I've learnt to like it so it was a bittersweet feeling.

I will miss the children, their occurrences. Fausty giving  me hugs or pretending to hate me, Joaquin saying he was listening to me while making funny faces, Benja misbehaving but being himself, Jaz trying to rule the world like a princess, Isa ignoring everything and pretending to be a baby, Aron just showing me some children do not need to please everybody, Lucy running around like a kid goat, Agus always sharing his knowledge with humility. I will miss everything they taught me and shared with me.

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Conclusion

I began my practicum in October and finished it the first days of November. I had 16 lessons of 30 minutes each, with a group of 12 students aged 3 to 5. The process of the practicum felt longer than I expected though by the end I felt quite happy with the outcome.

In general aspects, I think I have achieved more confidence in my skills, more experience working with children and a new perspective of what teaching young learners means. I have realised that I have  preconceived ideas which limited the way I approached lessons, and I was not allowing myself to grow better as a teacher. In some ways, young learners are the same as old ones, however in many aspects the firsts are simpler, they work along with you when supported and cared for. They are amazed by everything that is presented to them which means they can engage easily in different tasks but one has to be creative.

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23. Práctica Docente II - GONZALEZ.L- Schedule