During this process of becoming a teacher, there were many aspects that I did not consider, the long nights studying, the hard work inside and outside the classroom, the struggles of preparing everything on time; but also the joy of students when they learn something new, when they answer something correctly, when you ask them how they are, how their weekend was, or even when you just smile at them.  

All this time, I have asked myself if I am doing it right, what I can do to make it better, what’s new to learn. In this portfolio, there is a new experience that I lived, observing how students in primary schools acquire a new language through video conference classes, with a teacher from another country. It has been a unique encounter, leaving me the desire to explore it even more.

Province: Flores 

City: Trinidad 

Address: Artigas 555 (shares the building with school N° 47) 

Phone number: 43642804 

Principal: Mónica Torres 

Number of students: 263 

Sociocultural context: Quintil 5 urbano 

Shift: Morning 

English Program: Ceibal en Inglés 

Teacher: Laura Barragán 

English teacher: Retchel Alivio(Philipines) 

Number of students: 23 

Girls: 13 

Boys: 9 

 

It is a nice, well behavied group, formed by 13 girls and 9 boys. They all come from the same school. They share interest for the same kind of music and sports, mainly soccer, basketball and handball. 

Most students do not study English outside the school program, there are only 3 of them who go to private classes. Two of the mentioned ones have been studying the language for 4 years now, and the other one for 5 years.  

The group has the class room next to the video conference room. The doors are open so the primary teacher hears when the English teacher is calling. They are always sitting in groups of 4 or 5 students facing the screen, but they are changed by the primary teacher each class according to her criteria (mostly depending on their behaviour in the moment). 

The room does not seem like a friendly environment to learn the language, as it does not include posters, drawing, pictures or materials of any kind. The main reason probably is due to the fact that it is used as a video conference and meetings room, it is not designed or used specifically for classes.   

 

Teacher greets the class and the teacher. It takes students some minutes to arrive and sit in their places. 

Teacher ask them how’s the weather in Flores. Some students answer aloud.  

Teacher tells sts that the lesson of today is going to be about Great Scientists. Then she shows them a video with some Wh questions (What, Who, When). 

Then she tells them she will show them some questions on the screen and they will have to answer with claps if the answer is A, snap their fingers of it is B, and dash if it is C. 

She shows them and students answer with some help from the primary teacher. Then the English teacher asks the Primary Teacher to sit students in pairs, and asks them to talk about some questions that she will show, but not to write anything. 

While students are discussing English teacher zooms in to see if they have finished. Then she asks Laura to choose a pair to answer the first question. Then goes on with the other ones. 

E. teacher writes some Wh questions on her whiteboard and ask sts when we use them. Some students answer. The, she shows some questions on the screen with possible answers for students to match in pairs, after they finish, she ask them to compare with another pair, after that she chooses some students to answer. 

When the activity is over, she shows students some information about Marie Curie and she ask some questions orally. A student raises his hand ans answer correctly but incomplete, she encourages him to give a complete answer, making him repeat after her.  

After all the questions are answered, she tells sts that they are going to play a memory game about Louis Pasteur. 

She asks Laura to put sts into 4 groups. She presents some information about him and they have 2 minutes to remember it, she shows a chronometer with a count down. When the 2 minutes are over, she shows a question on the screen with 3 answers. They have to write in a big piece of paper the number 1, 2 or 3 corresponding to the correct answer and show it to her. She continues like that with some more questions. 

After the game is finished, she asks sts what they learned in class, some students answer. The bell rings and she say goodbye, students leave the room. Teacher says goodbye to the primary teacher, who responds and turns off the screen. 

 

September 28th 

 

Teacher greets the classroom and asks about their vacations, some students respond, sharing some of the activities they did. Using loose words. 

Teacher says that today they are going to work with “Great People from Uruguay”. She shows pictures of Quiroga and Figari. She asks them if they know who they are, a student answer aloud. And then she says that they are going to practice Which and Who questions. And she asks when we used each. (people and things), she asks why and a student answer. 

(Some students are not paying attention) 

Teacher asks Laura to put students in pairs, and asks them to take their notebooks and write the answers to the sentences she shows in the screen. 

T zooms in to check student’s work. After a couple of minutes, she asks if they have finished. Kids are distracted, nobody answers. Laura asked them to answer to the teacher.  

T ask a volunteer to read the whole answers. T then asks Laura to put students in groups of 4, and then they have to write the letters A, B and C in pieces of paper, she says that they will have 20 seconds to discuss with their groups the correct answer to each question that she asks and show the letter that corresponds to the answer. The go on with the activity for some minutes. 

Laura takes a student outside the classroom as he was talking all the time. She comes back without the student. 

English teacher asks students to take a look on the screen where she put two sentences, and wanted them to make it into one. 

Pedro Figari was a famous painter. He was born in Montevideo. 

 She asks for a volunteer, but no one wants to answer. Teacher asks Laura to pick one. A girl raises her hand to answer, she does it but she made a mistake. So, the teacher asks her to change He for Who.   

The girl read the sentence right this time.  

Pedro Figari was a famous painter who was born in Montevideo. 

Then she shows pictures with many different people including some cartoon characters. She asks them to write sentences using Who or Which as in the previous example. 

Laura monitors the groups to see their work and help them in some cases. 

The bell rings, teacher says goodbye. 

 

 

 

October 5th 

Teacher greets the class, and asks if they remember what they worked last class.  

Some students answer correctly (Who and Which). 

She tells them that today they are going to work with “Great Musicians”. 

She asks which ones they like. Many students start to name some of their favorites. 

Then, she shows some pictures with different singers and ask them if they know who they are. (Ruben Rada, Adele and John Lennon) Then, she plays a song and they have to guess who is the singer. They answer.  

After that, she shows a picture of Rada with some information about him (date and place of birth, kind of music, etc.) She asks them a question about him. A student gives a short answer. She encourages him to give a complete one.  

Then she asks Laura to sit sts in pairs as she shows them some scrambled sentences and asks them to unscramble them in order to make a question. 

Laura monitors the pairs, then she’s asked to choose a pair to answer. 

Teacher listen to all the answers, and corrects some. Then, she reads the answers aloud and ask them to repeat after her. 

Then, she asks them to remember the questions, because they will need them later. She asks Laura to divide the class in two groups and she name them using the colors orange and purple.  

Then she shows in the screen information about Rada (in orange) and Adele (in purple). She gives them two minutes to remember all the information about their singer. 

Laura has a paper ball and has to throw it to a group and they have to ask questions to the other group about their singer and they have to answer. The game goes on until they have to ask them all. 

Every correct answer wins a “prize” that the teacher shows in the screen. 

 After the game is over. She asks students to ask her questions about John Lennon. Students go one by one asking her, with Laura´s help. 

Then she shows pictures related to the song Imagine and words that they have to match.  

The bell rings, she thanks them and say goodbye. Students exit the room. 

 

 

 

October 12th 

 

Teacher greets the class and calls the roll. Only 9 students are present. (rainy day) 

She tells them they are going to continue working with famous people and shows in the screen some musical notes. And asks them if they can guess what they are going to work with today. Students answer “Music”. Then she shows them a picture of Freddy Mercury wearing a crown and ask them if they know who he is. A student answers “a King”. She tells them he’s Freddy Mercury form the band Queen.  

She shows them some information and questions about him to match in pairs. When they finish that they have to compare answers with another pair. 

After they are over, she shows them some pictures of people, objects, dates and places, in the screen and ask them when do we use Who, When, Which and Where. They answer while she matches them.  

Then, she gives them question with the Wh word missing and they have to raise their hand to complete it. 

______ was this singer? 

Who/When/What 

She practices with several questions. 

Teacher shows them some more questions, but now they have to answer on their notebooks.  

After some minutes, she chooses a student to answer. She continues picking other students for the other answers. 

When she finishes, she shows them three paintings and tells them if they know who the painter is. (Rafael Barradas) Some student’s answers: Van Gogh, Picasso, Diego Rivera. 

Teacher shows them a text where they have to complete with Who or Which in each blank space. 

She gives them a couple of minutes and then she asks some volunteers to read aloud completing with the missing word. 

She makes three groups of three and shows some information about Barradas and asks them to write three questions about him. After some minutes she asks them to share their questions, while she answers them. 

To finish the class, she plays a small part of a song (We are the champions) and ask them if they know it. They don’t realize which son it is. They ask her to play it again. She does it, but this time she plays it for a longer time. Students start to identify it, some even start to sing it a little. 

She asks them about what they have learned today. They answer: “the champions”, “Music”, “Rafael Barradas” and “who and which”. 

She says goodbye and the students start to exit the room. 

 

 

The program it is a good solution when there are no chances of having an English teacher in the classroom. Of course, is not the same. 

I could observe that the teacher has a nice attitude toward the students, and is friendly and nice. But from my humble point of view she lacks of transitions between the activities and the lessons. She also could have used students’ personal interests a little more. For instance, when she used singers, or famous people in general most of them were not familiar to them, or if they were, they did not feel interested in them.  

In some cases, there were plenty of students who were distracted or bored by the lesson. And I could observe that the English teacher did not pay attention to that, of course the fact that she sees them through a screen might have influenced that.  

Another point worth to mention, not sure if it is a teacher, the students or the program characteristic, is that students don’t participate asking questions or doubts, or giving comments during the lesson. On the contrary, I saw a lot of teacher talking time during every lesson, and not so much participation of the students, except when they are asked to. 
The ecological approach was not presented in the classroom all the time, and that could affect their learning. They were not always comfortable to participate or contribute in the activities. The room looked like a little too cold, not a nice environment to learn, no posters, no pictures to reinforce their knowledge, and help them to remember things, probably a characteristic of the Program.
Leaving that aside, the teacher used a lot of games in the lessons, was the moment when they participate more in the activities. They also worked in all of them cooperatively.

 

To conclude, it was an enrichment experience that contributes to the process of becoming a teacher, and left in me the desire to explore working with small children.

 

An ecological approach concerns itself with the construction and maintenance of positive learning environments comprised of effective preventative measures, targeted interventions where necessary and the fostering of student self-discipline. The provision of well delivered, engaging classroom activities that are perceived as worthwhile and meaningful by students, and attention to building positive, cooperative relationships are also imperative. An inclusive environment where students feel safe to contribute is created. In this way, classroom management becomes a collaborative process. The teacher’s task involves a cycle of providing structure, warmth and guidance, encouraging participation and belongingness, then monitoring and adjusting as necessary. (Osher, Bear, Sprague & Doyle, 2010) 

Thinking about the way students work, most of them learn best when they are immersed in learning, through interaction and application. A student is more likely to remember something discovered through active participation and peer work than through the passive acceptance of information presented by the teacher.
By working with their classmates, students come to recognize, understand and see different perspectives. But also, their performance is improved. With collaborative and cooperative methods much more valuable than individualistic ways of building student performance and progression. 

Group work also helps students who have difficulty with social skills. Providing a safe and structured space to interact with others, and not being afraid not being able to accomplish on their own the activities, their confidence is upgraded. 

Another good point to mention is that collaborative and cooperative methods allow each child to work to their strengths. There are many tools that let teachers create study groups (and assignments for cooperative learning) based on their ability, level, and learning style. With this approach, children are more likely to play an active role and are less liable to become bored and frustrated.
The CBI method is divided in four types, some of them were seen in the observations at the school. For example, in a shelter class, the teacher uses special methods and techniques to make the content more accessible to the students that are learning a second language. As the purpose of the course is learning through content and not so much language learning. This could be seen in some of the activities where the teacher used real artist or singers, and information about them, while she was teaching grammar. 

But on the other hand, taking Theme-based course, she used some activities where the language was more important than the content. As it is a particularity of Theme-based course, the supplementary activities that interrupt the systematic study of grammar with reading and certain topics, such as music in this case, but also with food or family. 

The other characteristics of CBI were not presented as much as they are; the adjunct/linked courses that connects English as a Second Language classes to content classes in the regular academic program. It offers opportunities to develop the academic strategies necessary to deal with real academic content. And the Second language medium courses that are advanced regular academic courses in particular disciplines like History or Literature. Did not apply in this program, Ceibal en Inglés.