My journal by https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm Maria Algorta en-us 2022-06-10 14:02:21 UTC 2022-11-30 17:38:35 UTC hello@padlet.com Observation - Day 1 - 29th of June https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257388352 Today was my first encounter with the teacher and the group. The children were very happy with the new English classes they will have. Some of them told me that they take and English course outside school, since it is not bilingual.
I am doing my practice with 5 year old children, that already master L1, apart from two or three children that need to attend a specialist for the matter.
I arrived to the class around half an hour after they did, so I could witness most of the opening routine. Valeria, the teacher, asks what day it is and they take turns writing it down on the board, the same with the date and month.
Valeria showed me the way she plans: annually, by periods, by working area and weekly. She assesses by period, area and always on a positive note.
What she told me is that you have to emphasize instructions in order for the children to really understand what the have to do.
Then she told me about the daily routine: all the kindergarten raises the flag in the patio. Then, once in the class she calls the roll and she starts working with the day, as I stated before. The day is written on the board, and then she works with that. For example, asking the letter the month or the day begin with.
That first observation day the had some playing time and, after I left, they had a visit to the town's library.]]> 2022-08-09 12:52:59 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257388352 Observation - Day 2 -6th of July https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257393830 Today I arrived when the teacher was calling the roll. She used this as an opportunity for counting. She said "I counted 17 in the list" and asked a student to count one by one, later asking if she missed someone or counted someone twice. The class has a banner with numbers, so they looked for the number in the banner. Then another student wrote the number down on the board.
Then we went to the room with computers to watch a video about "Candombe", since they were learning about it for the 9th of July act.
Once we went back to the classroom, each student had to reach for his or hers "cuaderno agenda", a copybook they use as a diary to document activities and to reflect on what the learned. They wrote the date, then wrote "EL CANDOMBE" and they had to draw something about the video. Most of them drew flashy and colorful clothes. I could notice some children were able to write "EL CANDOMBE" easily and some needed help. As I was sitting on one of the group tables, I assisted them, since they asked me for help.
After this, I left.]]> 2022-08-09 13:03:23 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257393830 Observation - Day 3 - 13th of July https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257400695 This was my last day observing the classroom routine and activities.
when I arrived the group was spelling the word "MIÉRCOLES".
Afterwards the teacher sat near a corner that serves as a reading corner and read the book "Un barco muy pirata". Before she began reading she asked questions about the cover and the back cover, such as letter, colours, the author and asked for hints the identified with the summary the back cover has. Then she went ahead and read the book. While reading Vakleria, the teacher, had a ver successful group management, since she was able to avoid having useless interruptions.
Once the reading finished the children went to the patio for the break. This was a great opportunity to analyse the different dynamics int eh group. For example, girls grouped and were less active and let some boys get in, but not all of them. Boys were more active in their play. There was an interesting situation when some kids were hitting each other with bowling pins and, to solve the conflict, Valeria suggested playing bowling. In that way, the conflict was easily dissolved and they started playing altogether. During the break my time was up, so I left before the went back to the classroom.]]> 2022-08-09 13:12:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257400695 Interview with the headmistress - 15th of July. https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257406003 Since I didn't have the opportunity before to interview the headmistress, wee coordinated for that day to have a long talk about the school, the PEI and some of the dynamics at school. I interviewed Marisol, the headmistress, for about an hour. She took the time to explain me a lot of things about the school, the school community, the dynamics and communications with the teachers.
We had interesting talks about how happy parents and children were about having English at this age (5 years old), since English begins in 4th grade, as stated by official education in the Buenos Aires Province. Marisol told me they would love to have English since earlier, but, since the salaries are payed by the province, they don't have enough money for extra curricular teaching. we also talked about what families are the main "market" for the school and why it would be very difficult to raise the bill, even mor so in this economic situation.
We also talked about the catholic formation of the institution and the role the school has in the community. It is the only "private" school in Coronel Vidal and it is the only one with a Catholic formation. Although they do respect families and students that don't profess the Catholic religion, they emphasize that the school is catholic and gives a lot of importance to the values the teach to the children.]]> 2022-08-09 13:20:53 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257406003 Assistantship - Day 1- 3rd of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257412863 I met with the group after winter recess. The dynamics were quite similar to the observations, but I played a more active role in helping the children and providing them with materials.
The group is starting a new learning theme: recycling and ecology. There was a talk at school for kids about ecology and recycling, so they are working with the theme as a starting point.
Today Valeria planned to watch a video about Antonio Berni, the painter. She connected his story with recycling, because she told the children they would watch on the video how he reused some thing to create his art pieces.
Since the computer room was not available at the time, the kids had some free time to play or do the activities they chose inside the classroom. Some children asked for blank pages to draw and paint, some played with blocks and some of them played with wood, as if they were carpenters.
When my tome was up I accompanied the group to the stair where the would go to watch the video ands after our goodbyes, I left.]]> 2022-08-09 13:31:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2257412863 Assistanship - Day 2 - 10th of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2259033489 Today I had a more active role in the classroom. The children had to make a drawing inspired in San Martin's portrait, since this group will be decorating the board in the entrance of the school for the 17th of August festivity. The teacher asked them to write their names and San Martin's complete name. Some of them did so on their own and very well, but Valeria, the teacher asked me to help some of them that were struggling with the writing part of the activity. This helped me realise better how some of the kids are still a little far behind from the rest of the group. Some of them are those in the group that I previously noted that had difficulties with L1. So I was thinking I need to find strategies to help them learn just like the rest of the group. I was very happy to be dealing directly with them and assisting them, I believe it was a great day for me in my learning and I could notice the children relied on me, which also gave some more confidence.
In the picture we can see how the teacher is using the board. We can see a poster from las week's activity, Antonio Berni´s lesson, and now she was adding San Martin's poster. ]]> 2022-08-11 12:57:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2259033489 Assistanship - Day 3 - 17th of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2263734263 Since today we commemorate San Martin, I knew in advance that this assistantship would be mostly about helping during the act. The act was with kinder and the 3 first years of primary school combined. Kinder made a video with the three classes together acting San Martin's life and primary school had a short dance or reading for all the attendees. What I found interesting and very positive was that during our hymn, primary school teachers also used the signal language and some students were able to also use it. Both primary school and kinder had standard-bearers for the Argentinian flag, the province flag and the papal flag (this is shown in the picture).
Once the act was over we went to the class and had some free time. Since some students were absent, I had the opportunity to have conversations with most of the ones that did attend today. I hadn't had the opportunity to ask them about what they are learning in English outside school until today, but they couldn't tell me much about it. So, I think the best thing will be to treat the whole class as beginner in L2. ]]> 2022-08-17 22:15:47 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2263734263 Lesson 1 - 24th of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2270467459 Today was my first class teaching completely on my own. First, the teacher asked me if I needed some support or if I needed for her to stay aside. I said I had no problem if she intervened, which was great, because she helped every now and then.
I started with the hello song, and the third time, they asked me to sing it without the real son. It was great because that helped us sing. They sang with me. I read them a Paddington book about the weather and then I used flashcards to identify each type of weather. Sometimes they didn't pay attention, but most of the time they were asking I f they could go to the board and write down the word. It wasn't in my lesson plan, but I thought it could be something to help them incorporate the words. I didn't have time to ask them to draw something about the class, which was my idea in order to assess them. But the whole flashcards activity helped me engage with them. I believe the next class I will use the vocabulary of this first class and I will be able to propose a more fun idea (I think some of them were a little bored).]]> 2022-08-24 18:29:57 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2270467459 Lesson 2 - 31st of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2281443982 This was my second lesson. I was much more satisfied than with the first one. Children were more engaged and they were having fun. The lesson was about colours and they were able to repeat what I was teaching. Although it is still hard to use mostly L2, I was able to use it more than in the first lesson. And, watching the video, I realised that when I asked them to sit down, after a while, they did. So, they are incorporating these little things. The teacher was not Valeria, because she was sick, so my "docente co-formadora" was Milagros, who also helped me to keep the children organised. However, I needed less help than in the first lesson. Something that I need to improve is the transition between activities and using my computer, the speaker, etc. That takes me a lot of time and might make children uninterested. Overall, I think the children and I are understanding each other and future lessons will be more dynamic.]]> 2022-09-03 11:09:18 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2281443982 Lesson 3 - 9th of August https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2293007289 In this class I continued with colours. The children remembered a lot of the previous class, although I had to help them a little bit. I told them to shout the colours very loudly so the teacher, who wasn't in the previous class, could learn them. First, as usual, we sung and danced our hello song, which they start to remember more and more. Then, I asked them what the weather was like that day, and they also remembered a bit more. Then we watched the same video with the colours song I played the previous class and they even danced. Then we mixed colours to form new ones with cellophane paper and they seemed to have fun. To end the lesson I gave them red, blue and yellow pieces of cellophane paper and they had a free art moment. I went around the tables and asked one by one about the colours they were using and combining, which was a good way of scaffolding. We ended the class with our goodbye song which they also remember more and more every lesson. I had a better time management, which was very important for me, since that was something I failed previously. Also, I find the group more engaged every time I visit them.]]> 2022-09-12 19:20:24 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2293007289 Lesson 4 - 14th of September https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2300065975 This was my fourth lesson with the group. Many were absent, so it was quieter However, it was a still difficult to keep them all interested. I was sitting down almost the whole lesson and it seemed to keep them more organised, but I don't think I achieved to have their attention the whole time. Maybe the activities proposed weren't as interesting. I ended the lesson with an art moment that it seems they really like these moments. This also gives me the opportunity to go around the classroom and have one on one moments.
They are starting to repeat very well the routine songs. I will add counting how many students there are to the routine, which is always fun and will help them practice the numbers and counting.]]> 2022-09-16 14:12:30 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2300065975 Lesson 5- 21st of September https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2310924680 Today had ups and downs. I think I was better at organising myself. Even the way in which I organised the classroom was much more positive, and helped have all the kids paying more attention. This helped keep them engaged. However, they were 21 children, which is a big number and sometimes I am not able to have a good management of the lesson. I proposed a game with big dices and they had fun, but I am not sure it helped them interiorise the use of numbers in meaningful ways. They respond me in Spanish most of the times, so I have to encourage them to repeat the word in English. I managed the time correctly, I was failing to do so in previous lessons. That led me to think that, being such a big group, I must take into account that on a activity only can take me 30 minutes. ]]> 2022-09-23 18:18:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2310924680 Lesson 6 - 28th of September https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2321530906 The lesson today was, again, longer than planned. I talked about it with the teacher and she gave me some tips. For example, not changing form one place to another. After playing a video that narrated and showed the

"Go away, big green monster!" book, I asked children to draw a monster of their own. I put the timer and when time was up it took me 15 minutes I believe to get them to hand in their drawing. So, I need to find a way of making the lesson dynamic, fun and cohesive. I had planned on playing "Head, shoulder, knees and toes", but Ceci told me it was out of context, so I avoided playing it. Had I played it, the lesson would have been even longer and messy. My conclusion is that I need to work on better lesson plans in order to avoid these messy moments. And always taking into account that they are 23 kids.

]]> 2022-09-30 19:18:04 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2321530906 Lesson 7 - 5th of October https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2332128925 This lesson was quite dynamic. I always leave the classroom thinking I have to make the lessons more continuous. But this lesson almost achieved that. Children were very excited with the head and shoulders song and this set the basis for an almost full engagement. We also played with dices but the game was quite dynamic as well. I do think I wasn't very good at explaining one last activity, worksheet activity. Since the group is big I tend to struggle with their attention in order to explain, so I need to work on that. Overall I felt this was a positive lesson.]]> 2022-10-08 20:07:39 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2332128925 Lesson 8 - 19th of October mariaaalgorta https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2354417624 This lesson I continued with body parts. They had a lot of fun with the song again and danced a lot. Then they had to name the part of the body the flashcards I used asked for. They didn't engage much with this activity. But in the end we played bingo in groups and they had a lot of fun. Since they had flags in the classroom with different colours, I improvised and asked them the colours. In this way we revised colours and they remembered a lot, which made me very happy. In general, the class went smoothly because they were only 16. I was able to comply with the time proposed, which was interesting since I struggle with time management a lot. In all, the class went smoothly and synchronised.]]> 2022-10-24 22:31:34 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2354417624 Lesson 9 - 28th of October mariaaalgorta https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2362263854 This was an interesting lesson, since I feel children were more engaged than in previous lessons. It was one of the girls's birthday, so I took the opportunity and we sang "Happy birthday" a few times ( in the beginning and the end of the lesson).
Ceci suggested me to count boys and girls, not just how many students attended the class that day. So, we did so and it was a positive incorporation to our routine.
We watched a video about greetings that was very interesting for them. they asked me to play it more than once. I encouraged them to repeat what the video was saying as we were watching and they did, which showed me that they were confident enough to do so.
Then we sat in a circle and threw a ball. The person that received the ball had to answer to my question "What is your name". If someone received the ball twice, they had to answer "How old are you". They had a lot of fun and all of them answered in a loud voice, which sometimes is difficult as some of them are shy.
The lesson was very dynamic and I left feeling that they were all interested in the lesson.

]]> 2022-10-30 18:41:32 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2362263854 Lesson 10 - 2nd of November mariaaalgorta https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2367361121 Today I felt like a took several steps back. I couldn't manage the class very well and children were quite messy and misbehaving. There was a teacher replacing Valeria, and I don't know if that was the reason why everything seemed to develop so differently.
We worked with emotions and I read a book called "I love you when you're angry". I followed Ceci's guidance and simplified it a lot. However, I couldn't capture everyone's attention. There was a group that was determined to bother the whole lesson. So, in the end I simplified it and just asked to recognise happy, sad and angry. But I couldn't get everyone to pay attention. I tried miming, asking them to do sad, happy or angry faces, but I failed at getting them engaged.
I did have a positive moment which was when we talked about weather, which is part of the routine. The hello and goodbye songs were also quite successful as it was the counting of attendees, both girls and boys.
To finish our lesson I proposed they completed a page with their name, age, favourite colour and how they were feeling that day. They liked drawing and painting, so it was better than the reading.
I couldn't respect the 40 minutes proposed in the lesson plan. I talked about it with the teacher and we agreed that the class was way too messy. She told me she was unable to propose more than one activity the previous day.
I do think I learned something, which is to know that not every lesson will go smoothly as planned. ]]> 2022-11-02 20:47:35 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2367361121 Lesson 11 - 9th of November mariaaalgorta https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2377397339 My proposal for today was based on farm animals. I started reading a short book, but while doing so I realised it was more engaging for them to point at the animals, ask about the colours, count the animals... For example, the bull had an angry face, so that gave me the opportunity to revise what we learned on the previous lesson. So I asked them if the bull was happy, angry or sad. Most of them imitated the face and we all agreed that it was an angry face.
In all, they were interested and kept more silent than in previous lessons. I learned that the are more engaged if they can relate one thing with another. For example, our mascot is a donkey called Pinky and when another donkey appeared some of them said that it was Pinky's brother.
Then we played with the animal noises and I continuously repeated the names for them to imitate me. Some of them did, but forgot after a while. So I kept bringing the names up.
Next Wednesday is my last lesson, so I asked them what they wanted to work with. We agreed that the last lesson would be based on the World Cup and Argentina.

]]> 2022-11-09 19:19:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2377397339 Lesson 12 - 16th of November mariaaalgorta https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2387187699 Today was my last lesson. I struggled with the planning because I wanted to unify the main things taught and to use the World Cup as a theme.
What I finally planned was to start with the routine, as always, and then have a short conversation about the World Cup. So, I asked about the colours of our team's T-shirt, Messi's number, if they were excited or happy. In that way I got them engaged with the theme.
Then I asked them to paint Messi's drawing as they wished. I could see how some of them were very focused on using the "correct" colours, others copied whoever was by their side, but some felt free to let their imagination flow. As they painted, I went around the classroom to talk to each one of them and see what colours they were choosing and why. They were really engaged with the activity.
My last activity was a bingo with numbers, colours and emotions. This past of the class was a mess. I divided the class into two groups, but they quarrelled a lot because of who was writing, who had the paper in their hands... So it was hard to start, but by the end they were able to play and pay attention. I had to help them with the counting and pointing at colours. My impression is that they need the scaffolding...
Even though the lesson today was quite messy, they were very sweet, they all hugged me.
The good news is that the headmistress asked me to participate in their graduation with a song, which made me very proud.]]> 2022-11-16 19:22:37 UTC https://padlet.com/mariaaalgorta/fff1x2ht9rfr05vm/wish/2387187699