This year was a big challenge to us, but we made it to the end of it with all of our objectives reached.

One of the hardest was this subject since we were two years without doing practicas, but with a lot of effort, discipline and good classmates we did great things. Despite all of the insecurities we had, we managed to learn all that we had to and the BEST advice I can ever tell you is that: those mistakes weren’t as big as they seemed in our head, and each of them taught us something valuable that helped us to grow. I’m proud of how far we've come, and I hope we keep learning with the same courage and curiosity, always trying to trust our innerself more.

• When working for the first time with vocabulary IT IS NEEDED A worksheet since the students are going to use it to review it, and also it serves as a model or kind of guide.

• ALWAYS have the structure of the questions you are going to ask and also the structure of the chunk we are going to introduce so then, mistakes are less probable.

From the 1st partial exam I learned:

• no matter how i feel at the moment of sitting for an exam, I MUST try to complete everything and I MUST have more confidence in myself.

• A good teacher is not just someone who "knows the content and how to transmit it", but someone who cares about their students, listen to them, and someone who is flexible enough to adapt to the daily challenges teachers face everyday.

• Flexibility is key, because after finishing the observations we could saw that not a single class goes exactly as planned, so one must know how to react and have a plan b when an unexpected moment occur.

• Rapport (that us the positive, respectful and trusting relationship between teacher and the students- it is a key factor in SS intrinsic motivation) is crucial for effective learning and classroom atmosphere since when students feel safe, respected and motivated they are more willing to participate and use the language without fear take risks.

  It also helps to manage the class because when students trust and respect the teacher, according to Harmer discipline problems decrease.

• The teacher's presence, movement and voice pleay an essential role in creating a good atmosphere where learning flows. So we have to take into account how we stand, speak and move because it can affect students attention and confidence.

• Communication ALWAYS must be clear and adapted to students level, giving simple and logical instructions.

• Regarding communication, Harmer mentioned that there must be a balance between teacher and student talk, because students need space to participate and use the language, and teacher's talk should be meaningful and supportive.

• Use of L1: it must be used strategically, for instance to check understanding, but it must not predominate, English should always remain as the main language of interaction.

• Classroom organization can change the atmosphere and type of learning that happens, so different seating arrangament and groupings have a crucial role.

Benefits:

• Clarity

• atractiveness

• Ss view progress as they proceed through different units.

• T guides with extra resources or activities.

Disadvantages:

• They may be culturally inappropiate (not connected to the context of Ss)

• Often have topics which are not interesting for Ss.

Checklist to choose a coursebook or not:

• price

• availability

• design

• instructions

• topics

• cultural acceptability

• methodology

• L study activities

• L skill activities

• usability.

If we want to use coursebooks in a more creatively way we can:

• Add activities that are not in the coursebook to extend the engagement of Ss.

• Adapt the lesson by rewriting parts of it, replacing some of the activities or by reordering or reducing the number of activities.

• Also, we can replace boring topics/activities, by changing them with a more appropiate or interesting topic than using the coursebook.

Tasks are essential in primary classrooms because they create engaging, authentic and meaningful contexts for communication, and are aligned with the goals of the curricular designs. Tasks show SS that English is something we can really use in real life, not just in schools. And it help us to make learning fun and it helps SS to get better little by little, so they can keep learning more in the future.

From this unit I think I must remember what a curriculum design is.

Curricular designs acts as a guideline that helps teachers to know when and how to teach topics in schools. It includes the different subjects, the goals of learning, the contents, the teaching methods, and how we will evaluate our SS.

There are two kinds of curricular designs:

--> common curricular design: it refers to standardized curriculum for all schools of all region across the country.

--> prescriptive curricular design: it focus on what should be taught and sets guidelines, objectives, and content ahead of time.

How SS construct language.

Children learn language in situations where they use it, by learning the conventions needed to carry out their communicative intentions. To teach English to a child is necessary to involve them in a communicative interaction where meaning is negotiated.

The use of chunks.

Are highly lexicalized phrases that appear frequently and are used specific situations associated with specific practices, which allows children to remember and use them easily in particular situations.

Stages of a task.

A task consists of 3 stages which are:

• A moment of preparation: in which the T introduces the topic and the context to SS. This stage starts by recycling topics that were introduced previously, and then it continues by incorporating a new topic.

• A core task: is the main task where SS communicate to complete a goal, like solving a problem, making a plan, or sharing information by using the target language.

• A follow up: is an extension of the core task, and helps SS to reflect, and appropiate what they did durinig the core task.

In the primary part the focus here is on gradual and playful learning process, emphasizing:

• Learning through games and playing.

• Content and skills are devloped slowly and flexibly.

Secondary education: in this level the focus is on promoting autonomy and complexity in their production. This curriculum aim to prepare SS for abstract thinking and higher academic demands.

• Here the assesment become more structured and is based on criteria.

• Students are encouraged to take more responsability in their learning and to become more active in their process.

• In this level, the difficulty of writing and reading starts to increase

Similarities across levels:

• Language learning focuses on real communication.

• Task based approach.

• Content is related to real life situations, and it is presented in a meaningful way.

• SS are exposed to various literary forms and genres.

• Teamwork is essential across all levels.

• Respect and understanding of different cultures is emphasized.

• Assesment is used to to guide and improve learning, nos just measure it.

• The teacher's role here is as a facilitator or guide rather than just delivering knowledge.

• To encourage students to learn from and with their classmates.

Differences across levels:

• Vocabulary becomes more specialized and specific over time.

• Interdisciplinary approaches might look different depending on age and context.

These differences helps us to reflect how teaching strategies and content evolve as students grow.

All in all, my e-portfolio represents a big step for me, showing mu progress, my reflections, my mistakes and how I improved thhem. I know there's still a ot to learm, but I feel more motivated to continue growing as a teacher who plan meaningful classes, with purpose and that teach with care.

• Task: is an activity that calls for primarily meaning focused language use, requiring the students to function as language users by employing the same communicative process involved in real world activities.

  Here learning is incidental.

• Exercises: are activities that call for form-focused language use (concerned with semantic meaning: vocabulary-grammar) requiring students to function as learners. Here learning is intentional.

https://www.argentina.gob.ar/educacion/esi/recursos

After analyzing the three educational levels we could observe, (kindergarten, primary and secondary school) we can conclude that each level has its own dynamic. For example, in Kindergarten learning was strongly mediated by rapport and the use of visuals such as videos, music, flashcards and games, because even though they had linguistic purposes they also had emotional ones. The teacher’s constant use of gestures and body language by doing mime while she was introducing vocabulary helped children to construct meaning even if they did not understand every single word. This connects with the idea that in early education, communication goes beyond language itself, and that it relies on interaction, and expression. The structure of the lessons showed consistency and routine, for example, when the teacher introduced the topic of colours using “baby shark” song and also asked about members of the family that they had been working with, so then, the following class they could review what they saw previously and later on, complete an activity successfully. This way of working helped students to anticipate what was coming next and feel secure about their knowledge and participation. This practice can connect to Vygotsky’s concept of scaffolding, since learning at this level occurs through guided participation and social interaction. All this was possible since the teacher selected material that students were familiar with,because the class teacher also worked with the same topic, and the visual material she used like the flashcards and song was related to students since they knew it beforehand from their everyday life.

In primary school we observed two different institutions, one private and the other one public. In San Jorge school students were working with the topic of toys and then worked  with actions. First, the teacher introduced the topic of toys by using visuals like flashcards and their coursebook. In this level we could observe that games, songs and the use of gestures and expressions were also present, but in a more superficial way than in kindergarten. They started playing games to recognize toys like “skipping rope”, “skate board” , “ball”, “roller blade”, “bike”, so then the teacher could establish clear connections with actions since they had already been working with toys. After working with toys and completing activities, the last class we could observe the teacher was introducing actions like “roller blading”, “play football”, “ride a bike”. Here, the lessons reflected a transition toward working more on their own but despite this, there were still some limitations since the classroom management of the teacher in some situations was limited.

In the E.P N°1 we also observed primary level but in the second cycle, there were visible and big changes in the manner of working. The lessons reflected a transition toward more independent work of the students with more complex cognitive processes. The sequence of the classes was based on “funny animals”, demonstrating a task based orientation. The process moved from structure and vocabulary exercises like completing a missing gap, ordering the letters and identifying the different body parts of animals to a creative production of a poster of their favourite animal, which allowed students to apply the knowledge acquired in a meaningful way with a clear outcome that was to come to the front and tell their classmates about the animal they investigated. This can be clearly connected with Bloom’s taxonomy because it shows a progression from lower order skills, such as  understanding,  to a higher order thinking skill like creating their own poster, supporting deeper learning and understanding. Despite this, there were some complications since some students forgot the material to work, misunderstood the task or relied too much on AI or adult help, which indicates that additional scaffolding and modelling was required to successfully complete the final task; highlighting the importance of differentiated instructions and explicit guidance when aiming for more autonomous performance.

The secondary school observations were more enriching for us, since at that level we could see how the teacher applied most of the theory we have been working with. Lessons were organized in clear stages of preparation, core task and follow up, which also aligns with task based approach, where students moved from prior knowledge to practice, reflection and also communication through the activities they worked with like telling their classmates what they do in their free time. The teacher demonstrated strong classroom management and a good rapport. On various occasions, we could observe that she got along well with students, and that students felt in a secure atmosphere because they participated a lot. Whenever they made a mistake, the teacher  would use different strategies, such as raising her voice in the part of the utterance which was incorrect, or asking the rest of the class whether they considered it was correct or not. This increased motivation and participation, but also critical thinking about the use of the language, which we think is a main goal of secondary school education. Moreover the teacher  balanced academic interests with flexibility and empathy, creating a positive classroom climate that fostered participation and confidence.

Comparing the three different levels, we noticed that in kindergarten the  teacher worked most on routine and affectivity to create a safe place for early education; in primary the teachers emphasized more structure and production, but they still needed to work with more creative material and needed more movement, gestures and expressions. And in secondary school, the teacher focuses more on reflection and communication. We think that these distinct priorities respond to the developmental characteristics of students, showing understanding of how learning evolves across the different educational levels. Some transversal aspects we could notice that were present throughout all levels were the need of clear instructions, the use of visual support, music support, and motivation through meaningful activities. In all cases we observed that language learning was more effective when it relied more on emotions, creativity and personal reflection and expression, reinforcing the idea that meaningful learning happens when students are in a secure atmosphere, feeling involved and valued.

• Preparation: here the T introduce a new topic in a context so the language use has a purpose and it is meaningful.

  When the topic has been already introduced, the T will use this moment to recycle and review content from the previous class, and then will introduce a new topic. The teacher will scaffold giving more support at the beginning and less support when the students gain on the task.

• Core task: is the main task that should be meaningful. In this stage the T have to give students a problem to solve that requires that the student have to apply everything learnt in the preparation stage.

• Follow up: The T makes sure that the students understood the lesson by reviewing what they learned, giving feedfack and help them reflect so then, in a future they remember better.

Rapport: SS learn better when they feel emotionally supported and understood. Rapport helps teacher's to create a a positive and safe classroom climate where SS feel comfortable asking questions, making mistakes and trying new things.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l6Y4BEmcnC05G5ZHzS-VmNLJIbTzlfAvONpby0b1do4/edit?tab=t.0

Baby shark siblings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2T9q6gDVOs

Advantages of TBL:

• Students process the language in a meaningful way.

• The learning is incidental.

• The syllabus is centred on an ordered list of linguistic items.

• Students learn the language by communicating.

• Activities are designed around the learner's real life needs.

• It is concerned with pragmatic meaning.

• It is student centred.

• Learners are actively involved.

E.g: SS are asked to write an anecdote of something that happened to them. (as final task)

-->Second generation tasks: they aim to develop communication skills and general cognitive strategies of handling and organising information (such as: analysing what information is needed to complete the task, deciding procedures, collecting information, selecting relevant data, presenting data in an organised way)

E.g: T gives SS a topic, and they have to investigate, analyze and collect information to carry out a piece of work. For instance a project where SS investigate a topic and make a report about it after deciding procedures and selecting relevant data.

--> Third generation tasks: In addition to the communicative and cognitive strategies metioned before, this kind of task aim to develop the personality (at an educational leve) of the SS through the experience of learning a foreign language. Its main objective is to enhance motivation and awareness, to develop creativity and interpersonal skills.

E.g: After reading a news that adress a real life problem, SS should analize its importance and how it is related to their everyday life. To continue working with the topic the T asks SS to research for further information and collect it in order to create a presentation to show at school.

For instance, T give SS the topic of Animals in danger, and they have to investigate, analize and collect information to create a poster to raise awareness at school.

In my experience I learned better through playing games. I remember that when I started English I was 6 years old, and that in my first class we introduced ourselves by playing with muppets.

I think that it was a very memorable learning through playing because, nowadays I can recall to that memories where I had a meaningful way of learning doing something really funny.

In my opinion Fernanda was such a good teacher, she had this unique form of teaching through playing and also because of her motivating way of teaching.