Práctica Docente III: My journal by Cristina Bach

1st Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-06 00:38:07 UTC

This is a picture of the beginning of my first class and, as can be inferred by my expression, I was really nervous. But this anxiety soon disappeared as the children were receptive and easilly engaged in the activities proposed. The game at the end of the lesson was a hit. We revised personality and appearance adjectives related to superheroes. They played a team game in which each team had to described a superhero and the others had to guess. They loved it!

2nd Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-18 22:43:26 UTC

In this lesson there were some issues at the beginning when a student dind't address the teacher properly so the auxiliary teacher (a kind of "preceptora") had to interrupt the class and talk to the children. Due to this, I couldn't attatch to the timing as planned and didn't do the closing acivity. Anyway, in spite of the incident at the start, the lesson went on nicely and we managed to create a pleasant working atmosphere.

The main activity was to create a profile of their favourite superhero. For this porpuse, I gave the students a worksheet with examples of profiles and an excercise where they have to complete the gaps with information from the texts. I prepared those activities as a schaffolding so that students could write a profile on their own.

3rd Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-18 23:02:23 UTC

The context of the lesson was a surprise birthday party. I created a worksheet based on material that I found in a coursebook. The topic and the activities proved to be appealing to the students. They could practice the four macro skills in an integrated way. At the end of the lesson, students engaged in a pair activity planning and writing a birthday party for a friend and then enjoyed telling their mates about their ideas. The task thrived because students related it to their world and cherished connections with people.

4th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-20 13:45:14 UTC

For this lesson I used realia (milk, buiscuits, pasta) and a lot of flashcards to introduce food and drink vocabulary items. Children enjoyed telling the items they already knew. In the moment of the class shown in the video, after writing down the names of the food, I was cinducting a kind of survey about likes and dislikes. I believe that the idea was successful as learners engaged in an oral activity having the oportunity to express their preferences, but there are two aspects (at least) that could be improved: I should have involved children more for example, telling them to come to the front and write the faces tehemselves (this would hae made the activity funnier and more dinamic), and I should have address the children in English all the time.

5th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-20 13:54:34 UTC

Let's play words chain! he game at the end of the lesson was a complete success. Students weren't used to playing games so they always feel motivated when we played. But this partcular one was very appealing to them. They played in three teams, developing cooperation, patience and respect. the game really gripped students

6th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-21 22:01:37 UTC

In this lesson I introduced countable and uncountable nouns to students. So, after explainig and giving examples, I put a poster on the board with a Venn diagram drawn on it, and gave each student a noun written on a piece of paper. They took turns to come to the board and paste their nouns on the corresponding place. The activity went on greatly and students were able to work on the new vocaulary in a different way. They really engaged in the task.

The product of this task, the poster, will be a great resource for following lessons. The dinamic of the activity and how successfuly students got involved in it, is something that I'll took into account when planning how to present new vocabulary from now on.

7th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-21 23:56:08 UTC

First class after winter break and this is my feeling.

8th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 22:56:44 UTC

My town! This lesson was important for students because they had the oportunity to talk and write about where they live, their favourite places in town. It was meaninful as they could connect the items in the lesson to their feelings and everyday life.

9th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:14:29 UTC

I brought some brochures to class in order to introduce new vocabulary related to rooms and things in a house/flat. In this lesson I realized how much students enjoy and apreciate working with rmaterial that they can see in their everyday lives.

10th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:26:24 UTC

For this lesson I prepared a game using a web page but I didn't have an internet connection at school that day. I had to use my mobile which made almost impossible for kids to see the screen. Wee, it was a waste of time. One aspect that schools here in Santa Cruz need to improve, is the availability of technological tools and devices to use in the classroom.

11th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:30:32 UTC

Timing! I extended myself presenting and practising the new vocabulary and structures that we didn't have a proper wrap up at the end of the class. Felt like if everything was left loosened.

12th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:39:43 UTC

Today the students worked in groups creating a poster about the meals of the day. We first made a preparation task where I explained what I expected them to do, and we all discussed the grouping arrangements, some general rules about what will be accepted and what will be not, and what and how I will assess the activity. Then, I monitored the activity and gave assistance to students when asked. I believed that the children benefited with the tasks as they could develop their social and interpersonal skills. They weren't used to doing this kind of things and I can say that overall, everything went well.

13th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:42:48 UTC

Today students had to present their posters in groups but most of them were absent. This was due to the strike: they only had classes with me so, presumably, they decided to miss school :(

I went on with the rest of the activities planned.

14th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-22 23:53:25 UTC

I was asked to give students a test that their teacher prepared. I did the warm-up and closure activities differently from the lesson plan as suggested by my tutor and it was actually better.

Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the test. Anyway, I would have used a different kind of formal assessment; more communicative and meaningful. The test was grammar based, with exercices to fill in the gaps, transform possitive sentences into negative, for example.

15th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-24 18:35:12 UTC

In this lesson we did a revision of the test from the previous class. I believe this was an important moment for students as they could reflect on their performance, clear away doubts, and share feelings. I tried to encourage students to reflect upon language rules as a way to construct knowledge together.

16th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-24 18:42:10 UTC

Today students roleplay a dialogue. They had to choose among four different situations (dinner time at home, introducing a friend at school, shopping in a greengrocery, and tidying a room). Previously, they listened to the dialogues, did an activity in which they had to fill in the gaps, and practised reading the diologues. I am very glad to see how positively students react to the proposal and how well they performed in front of the class.

17th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-24 18:48:28 UTC

Again I want to highlight the importance of giving students the oportunity to deal with authentic material. In today lesson's case, it was a reaturant menu. They went through it, worked with a dialogue, and in pairs, they created their own menu; they even made up a name for their restaurant. Then, taking advantage of the favorable experience from last class, they roleplayed the dialogue using their menus, one student being the waiter and other two students the customers. We had a great time.

18th Class

cristinasamantabach — 2023-11-24 18:59:18 UTC

Today was our farewell. This was a very significant moment for me because I was really sad about leaving them. I had a wonderful time with these kids: they welcomed me in their world, they were patient, respectful, and understanding with me, they've made my teaching experience a lot more pleasant and easier. The students told me that they were going to miss me, and gave me a good-bye hug at the end of the class.