Three most important moments during Teaching Practicum II

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TEACHING PRACTICUM II-ADOLESCENTS

Hello everybody!

This is the last blog entry of this semester and as I reward for our learning experience, I will describe three most important moments ocurred in the semester. 

Provided that we had just finished our teachings, I am trying now to remember those moments of mine which will never be forgotten, because those bad moments and happy ones, thought me big lessons of life and of my own teaching.  

I like this Einstein's quote:

Moment number one

Explanation of the preposition of place

I had learned that oriented and well structured materials give students a clear and conscise idea of what we are trying to teach. On Friday 9th, May I really felt that my chart in the explanation stage was promising. However, where I put the chart and how it was designed affected students's perception of the places. Also, I was told that the labeling of the places were too short for students to see. I asked two students to tell me the positions of two places, but they did not have enough time to encounter the prepositions and thus create sentences or short phrases. 

It was really bad, I felt bad since I felt it. I had a hunch that students were not going to appreciate the chart so that the topic would have been clear and internalized.

the chart moment

I had thought to make the chart of the places simplier. Though, I thought the final design was more appropiately, but I had not seen how the labels of the places might affect students' learning. 

Then, the practice came and I took 4 or so minutes for them to practice the prepositions and after a little while, they got it. At that very moment, I felt through their actions that most of the students had recognize them. 

Students were practicing with me by showing them prepositions

Another drawback from the same lesson, happened in the practice stage, when they were asked to fill in and complete exercises in a worksheet. It had some details in format, like put the prepositions in bold, that affected the way students perceived it. I now see how important this detail was, because they were like hesitating what to underline. It was not that clear. 

Practice stage: Worksheet!

Second moment

This a positive one. This lesson was about "be negative". I think that this lesson provoke students to participate and interact a lot! The topic and their moods were in the right direction. The presentation was in a short paragraph and students did get the general message of the topic. 

 I imagined how to explain the grammar through the subtopic "jobs" and I first put one of the subjects near the verb "is not", so that students could identify those personal pronouns and how to select the right negative verb. 

Then, I was advised to lead the explanation as a manner of interaction, so that students can interact with me in the same stage and it was successful. 

 

That is why I selected Fátima to come to board and pick one personal pronoun and to paste it near the verb she thought was the correct one. I asked them if it was correct or incorrect, and most of the time they corrected themselves a few times and then I corrected them.  Then, Xiomara passed to do the same. 

 

 Involving them into this stage has provided me the opportunity to see that students fail and success depending on what they already know of the topic. Also, by doing this, students feel motivated to help the rest of the class to get it right and at the same time they are learning. They were happy when I get them participating giving them a new opportunity to excel their abilities and self-confidence. 
After this, the next moment students wrote one positive sentence and one negative. 

-Students' senteces based on a big chart pasted on board.

Next to me, there was the chart for the practice.

Third moment

This moment is a short one, but a big one to me. This occurred when I was trying to get from students words from a song (a practice of listening lesson). I used the lyric and two power point slides so that students catch the word and come to board to write it on the space.
The bad thing came when they listed to the song and began working on see the lyric on the board and at the same time look for the correct word to fill in the lyric.
It was not meant to make it hard for them. However, the lyric was too wordy. They knew what song was, but they hardly recognize the words to come to board. I try to encourage them by giving them two answers, but they just got three words out of 9, I guess. I felt anxious and really bad because even though they knew the song they felf unable to puzzle the activity. They fished more puzzle... and they did not enjoy singing the song. 
I learned that students are able to catch words. Teacher Yanni, told me to use a simple lyrics from the 90' or 80's, but I did not see the value of her advise, until mine got failed. It is funny now how I believe it would work, I was pretty sure girls at least, would know the lyric since it was one their favorite bands and do the task, but it was way too hard. I mentioned it in one of the entry: "The problem also was that I assumed many things. Though, I also had expected these problems to come up. Since they are beginners in the target language, they needed a song that was appropriate for their level, such as a romantic song that had a normal rate of speed so that at the end they can cope with my expectations. I have to be very carefull and not let things slip this way". 

At this point,  as my reflexion on learning, I am so happy to have finished this course. Success or not I do know most of time were days of learning rather than success. Success only comes when experience and logic (ability to manage on the planning) on the planning get together. Logic or dimension, I mean, to figure how my chart will work for them, not for me; I prefer now to make materials focused on their learning, because that will affect greatly positively or negatively to them. I felt bad and dissapointed because I wanted so bad to finish this practicum with positive vibes or good comments. Though, I had not thought on the greatness on the negative side. This side thought me a lot lot more than only winning. My mistakes are my teachers and I want so much to turn all my mistakes into good things in every single teaching. 

When my partners and I get together to be working in the same classroom I thought would bring to me more energy, but it happened that it brought both sides. I considered it as a big opportunity, because it was more or less alike to the teaching practicum I. I observed my partners doing the teaching and I perceived their goods and bads. Then, I reflected how to change it, how to do it differently with the same topic. Ideas came and went as I thought how to improve them. This exercise is good because I now see it like a reflection on the learning process. I learned from Gisselt, Monica, Mercedes and Cristela a lot. They all are unique human beings and they know what to do and not to do with a lesson. I see all of us growing and learning do better and significant lessons for students. Lessons that reflect kindness so that students feel comfortable while learning the language. 

¡This is not the end, but the begining of a long and beautiful teaching story!

I would like to acknowledged my thankfulness to God, who guided and encouraged me every day so that I could finish this course, without him I would not be standing where I am; to my family, who is continuously supporting me with love and patience in this path; to teacher Yannira Peña, who always finds a way for letting me know what I am and to find what kind of teacher I want to be, her kindness and support has become my solid ground in the teaching.

And to my classmates for being so kind, lovely and thoughtful with me in every feedback in the teaching. 

Thank you very much! =) 

Class March 24th and March 28th

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

Confucius

Today's post is full of great things and many of them are about my students enjoying and interacting in the activities, some of them are not than great. 



Monday's class was nice and I approve or accepted the fact that an evaluation of my performance was necessary to improve. This helped me a big deal and helped me see what aspects I should focus more in teaching. The evaluation of my friend Mercy helped me to see what should I do and do not do at the moment of the class. 
It is not that easy to see that our energy and attitude can actually affect the students. The energy began to flow in the warm up. They were asked to guess what two students were drawing on the board. The rest of the students were saying what was and describing the drawing using the prepositions of place "in", "on" and "under". 
The last class, on Friday, they actually understood very nice these three prepositions and I took advantage of that. They enjoyed it and laughed. 

Writing 

In this stage students were asked to remember what words teacher Mercy taught them, like "desk", "closet", "bedside table" and the objects. They could classify them. This step was to get them ready to use those words in a writing final activity, as production. 
They did a nice job and could demonstrate me that they can write at least three sentences using was was expected. We all know that writing a short paragraph can be hard for them, they felt sometimes that they could not do it. So, in the during- (writing) I showed them a text that will serve as a sample. 
In the second during activity, I used a chart. The chart did not work as I expected because the first text had "John's information", so they did not relate that part to use it in the chart. I did not remember to erase that part in the chart for not confusing them... The last two lines in the chart where it is said to put information about themselves and another classmate was great. 


They did a nice job on writing the short paragraph, but they need more practice. This part was difficult for me to handle, mostly because the material of the chart was a little bit hard for them to use.

Grammar

The part that I loved was seeing them having a great moment in the warm-up. The activity was called "crazy alphabet". They had to find the exact words to create one word. Two teams meant competition and they love this feeling, competing. 
They had a nice energy and this faciliated me the next part of the teaching. 

I presented the information in a Powerpoint presentation. I use it to present the topic and the exercises. I only missed to read first the information in the slide and then asked them to read it. This part is important because, as the evaluator mentioned, this enable students to recognize how to read and pronounce senteces. I will not forget that comment :) 

Presentation of the grammar point.

TEXT in the presentation stage.

The pictures below show different moments of the "Explanation" stage. I found it not so difficult for the students. They were paying attention and were expectant to that moment. I was able to module my voice so I could have everyone's attention. 

I will also work hard to remember that teachers also make mistakes and these mistakes have to be clarified and remember that if I made a mistake I have to be honest later and say what I did wrong and what was the correct information, specially when adults are in the classroom because they tend to be critic in those situations.

The practice stage was about three famous people. They had to see how was the pronounciation and then they had to read them. Then, students worked on a true and false exercise about the same people. They did respond when I mentioned their names to participate.


This part was to practice a little bit the part of the "articles". Seven sentences were shown in the slides. They passed to the board and only circle the correct articles depending on the word. They did a great job. 

Students resolved sentences about "articles".

After that, Students were asked to create a description of a person they know. They had to include the name and job. My job was to monitor and help if they need help. I also notice that, as the books mention, writing something requires that students work more and therefore, it is difficult to create a well written paragraph. 

Camila asking for revison of her short paragraph. 

This is the lesson plan: 

Universidad Don Bosco                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Teaching Practicum II

Teacher’s name: Ingrid Tatiana Girón S.                                  Date:  Monday, March, 24^th, 2014     Module: 1

Unit:  2 “My Stuff “and 3 “Famous People”.                             Lesson(s): 7    

Objectives:

-Students can write a paragraph using vocabulary from personal stuff.

-Students can use “a” and “an” in a sentence using the famous people topic.

WRITING
Time	Stage	Procedure	Details
7”	Warm up	Draw the Picture Teacher will choose two students. They will be with me far from the rest of the class, who are the opponents. I will whisper in the ear of the person in turn. Students will go to the board to draw one at a time. They will get closer to me and I will tell them to draw: “the laptop is under the chair”, “the cellphone is on the desk”, “the MP3 Player is on the bed”, “the lamp is on the bedside table”, and “the sneakers are on the bed”.	Aim of the activity: to review prepositions of place. Type of learner: A, V,K Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: three images, two markers, board.
10”	Pre- (writing)	T will ask students to say what words they remember from the last class. T: “Do you remember the last class’s words?” For example: Bed and closet and lamp? Please tell me the words you remember.  I will listen to them and write them on the board. They may say objects and furniture words and if they do not say any of those categories, I will point to the teacher’s desk so that they can remember. T: What is this? Students: Desk! Then, I will write on the board,” furniture “and “objects” and I will ask one student to help me organize the words into those categories.	Aim of the activity:  To remember words already studied. Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S Materials:   Board, marker.
12”	During-(writing)	1-    Each student will read the text. After this, they will complete it with one of the words presented in a box. I am (1) _________ and (2) _______favorite thing is (3) ____________________. It is small and red. Right now, it is in my bag. My friend’s favorite thing is his (4) ________________. It is black. It is (5)_____ and (6)________. Right now, it is on his closet in (7) ______ bedroom. 2. Students will fill in the chart (attached to the LP) with information about them and her/his partner in a chart that I will give them. They will have this previous moment to find out about their classmate’s stuff. I will model how they are going to use this chart.	Aim of the activity: To read and fill in information in a chart. Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S Materials:  Conversation text, chart to fill in.
	After-(writing)	1.     Students will be asked to use the information about them and their partner to write a paragraph similar to the previous presented. They will use the back of the sheet of paper.	Aim of the activity: To write about themselves and their partner. Type of learner: V, T Interaction: S-S Materials: none

    

                                                 

                                                                                                                                              Part 2                                                   

GRAMMAR
Time	Stage	Procedure	Details
7”	Warm up	Crazy Alphabet 1. Students will be divided into two groups; 2 groups of 3 or 4 students depending how many they are. 2. They will form a line in front of the desk.  Each student will have someone to compete with. 3. Then, teacher will put the pieces of paper (2 sets) with the letters of the alphabet on the desk. The teacher will show to them (two students at a time) the word they are supposed to construct. This part will be timed, so that the one that does not have the word constructed by 1 minute will lose the chance to get 1 point. 4. The first student to get the word correct will win a point.	Aim of the activity: to practice spelling and clarify vocabulary. Type of learner: V,A,T, K Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: 2 sets  of the letters of alphabet
10”	Presentation	1. First, they will see 10 types of jobs in a PowerPoint presentation. After this, I will show them in the same presentation this conversation. Conversation A: Hello, Dani. My father is a doctor and I am a student. B: I am a student, too. Hey, my father is an athlete. A: My sister is a model. What about your sister? B: She is a singer. A: Wow! That is great!	Aim of the activity: to elicit from students what vocabulary they know.   Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S, Materials: PowerPoint presentation “job images” (1)
10”	Explanation	1. Students will see three people with their personal information in the slides.  (switch students) ·         Where the person was born. ·         Occupation or job, etc. 2. Also, they are going to see in colored papers the usage of the articles “a” and “an”. A An                                Ruler                                eraser Note! - “an” means that the word has a vowel sound. Like for example: “artist”, “actor” and “athlete”. They all have an “a” sound. -“a” before a word, means that the word has a consonant sound. For example: “a singer”, “a model”, “and a doctor”.    2. Then I will show them 7 sentences for them to go to the board and choose the correct one. (The one that is named “job images”). Students will go to the board and circle the correct one.	Aim of the activity: To encounter jobs and review the possessive adjectives. Type of learner: V,A,T, K Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: PowerPoint presentation (1), usage of articles in colored papers, masking tape.
10”	Practice	1. Students will be shown three different texts about three people on the board (SECOND PART OF THE SAME PRESENTATION). They also are going to be asked to stand up and switched partners, so they can be next to a different person.  On the board, I will show the text in the PowerPoint presentation. I will ask them to: ·         Read the text out loud:  The first time, they will be reading alone and I will have a pencil to underline the words they mispronounce. ·         I will say how those words are pronounced and will point to specific students to say the same word. ·         Then, they will read the text again. When they finish reading, I will pass two dices to two students and I will play music. When the music stops, the students that have the dices will read the same text. ·         I will present the next text.  I will play music and when it stops two students will read it and I will ask them to look for the name and job by circling this information.  If they fail I ask another one student to do it. ·         The next students will look for job, nationality and date of birth by circling this information. 2. Students will be given one strip of paper with a true and false comprehension exercise. They will do it individually. After this, I will point specific students to read the sentences out load and another will read the answer.	Aim of the activity: to practice reading and pronunciation. Type of learner: V,A,T, Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: PowerPoint presentation (2), (USB) music, CD player, pencil.
10”	Production	1. I will ask students to create a description of a person they know. They have to include their name, job. 2. Comprehension Questions From the same sample of text pairs will be hand out a worksheet of T and F exercise. Then, teacher will ask them to paste it on board. Then, we will go one by one checking each item.	Aim of the activity: to write a short paragraph and to be able to comprehend a true and false exercise. Type of learner: T Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: 5 pieces of the True and False exercise for each pair.
5”	Wrap up	Students will be asked to write a name of a famous person they know in a piece of paper. I will get them and then they will pick up one different. They have to write one sentence, like this: ·         Ronaldo is a soccer player. ·         Shakira is a singer.
Assignments  and  Announcements:        ·         The first written evaluation is due this March 28th. Students must take this into account, so they know beforehand that they have to check their notes and not to miss coming on Friday.

Friday's Lesson 

This lesson was short but nice to the students. This was different because it was divided into two parts. The first one was about the grammar. The next part was the first written exam. 

So, taking into consideration that the word "exam" is too difficult to digest for anyone, I decided to tell them on Monday that they had to study their notes and some of the handouts they were given along the weeks. I consider to review some topics to help students. However, I did not do it. The time went fast and I did have the enough time to review the possessive adjectives, a topic that students did not have the enough practice. 

I am sorry for that. One thing I could do is to incorpore it in a future lesson as much as possible. 

In the picture below, I am introducing the topic. The topic was a bit hard, but I wanted to introduce it less harshly for them. I think that while I was teaching it, they did not seem to be confused. The two texts or paragraph were read and explained. I focused on the negative sentences and explaining why these sentences were negative. I used two charts. 

I also notice that since the handwritten was not as big as I thought, I arranged students to get closer. 

Then, on the board I pasted the seven pronouns around the three boxes, "am not", "is not" and "are not". 

I was moving the circles while I was explaning how to use it in a sentence. I wrote a sentence and took time to explain. I used examples of "you are students" " you are not models". 

I noticed that they got the idea. 

After explaining two pronouns, I wanted to be helped by the students. They passed and I asked them where the circle was to be put. 
They understand that each pronoun had its space within the box. 

Xiomara asked: What does this mean (We)? 

I explained: We, means "all of us". For example: We are students. 

Then, she got it and put the circle around the "are not" box. 

Then, students were given a little exercise about "is not/are not". They got it all! They rocked! :) I asked about the answers and they agree to participate. 

Then, I wanted to see how the next activity was going to be developed. The chart contained 6 people, who are going to presented to the students and the point was to use the information. First, I gave students unscramble sentences. They had to read the sentences (individually) and think if the information was true or false. If it was false, they had to rewrite making it positive. They did on the board. All students wer asked to participate. 

The next activity was to see images and create one negative and positive sentence.

Students were explained how to do the activity. I gathered the students around me near the wall where all the images were pasted. I had an image where two lines were given to put the sentences. They were paying attention and they worked smoothly. 

Their energy and attitude was the correct one. They were willing to work and they did not feel bad when I made corrections. I stop myself from correcting or helping them while they were on the task. I correct the sentences at the end, when they pasted the strips of paper near the image. I was conscious about that. There is great impact on when to make corrections to students. They have to know that it is necessary and helpful for them. I think I was ok on this. 

The last part was kind of difficult to understand, but after explaining them with examples, they did a good job on thinking in false sentences about three people they knew. They just focused on writing the sentences and then only two of them told the sentences orally. 

After that, I ordered them into lines. They were said that they were going to do an exam. I could see that they were kind of nervous, but then they were doing fine with the evaluation. 

The lesson plan: 

Universidad Don Bosco                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Teaching Practicum II

Teacher’s name: Ingrid Tatiana Giron S.                                  Date:  Friday, March, 28^th, 2014     Module: 1

Unit:  2 “My Stuff “and 3 “Favorite People”                             Lesson(s): 8    

Objectives:

-Students can write at least three negative sentences using the verb “be”.

GRAMMAR
Time	Stage	Procedure	Details
5”	Warm up	Students will see on a big chart, the crossword puzzle. This one contains 9 scrambled words at the left and in the middle there is the crossword, but first the 9 scrambled words are in disorder. They have to first unscramble it and then find where the word goes. These words are numbered.  A sample of the warm-up will be attached in this lesson plan. ·          I will choose 2 teams. They will be chosen by the teacher. After this, they will have to take turns to go to the chart and decode only one of the words in the chart. Students in the front line will take turns as well and if one of them does not decode the word immediately, will give the marker to his/her partner’s team. Team B will only discover 4 words and 5 words for team A, because the mystery word is the last word that will appear in the puzzle.	Aim of the activity: To review vocabulary from last class. Type of learner: V,T, Interaction:  S-S Materials: the crossword about jobs.
10”	Presentation	1. First, they will see two short paragraphs about famous people. Its description, what type of job he doesn’t do and what he actually does in life. Text I am Becky. My favorite person is Nathan Kress. He is from the U.S. He is fantastic! He is not a doctor and he is not a singer. He is an actor! His show appears in Nickelodeon. Text My name is Linda. My favorite person is Lionel Messi. He is from Argentina. He is amazing! He is not an actor and he is not a singer. He is a soccer player! He plays for F.C Barcelona.	Aim of the activity: To present be negative in two paragraphs. Type of learner: V,A, Interaction: T-S Materials: two short paragraphs about famous people in a chart.
10”	Explanation	1. Students will see one short paragraph that I will use to explain the “be” negative in sentences. (switch students)   2. Students will see on the board three boxes. Each box will represent one form of the verb “be”: “am not”, “is not”, “and are not”. Also, there will be pasted the 8 pronouns around the boxes.  First of all, I will explain that the pronouns around the boxes are always used with one form of the verb “be” that is in the boxes. Ø  I will explain the first two pronouns and then I will ask them to help me in order to have some interaction. Since the personal pronouns are going to be pasted around the boxes, I will use them to move them one at a time and students will use them as well to present the negative form with each box. (I will say this orally) Teacher:  “I” goes with “am not”. “You” goes with “are not”. For example: I am not a soccer player.               You are not an artist.	Aim of the activity: To encounter the “be” negative form.  Type of learner: V, Interaction: T-S, Materials: Short paragraph using the “be” negative, Three forms of the verb “be” and the eight pronouns.
15”	Practice	1. Students will circle the correct word from the sentences in a worksheet. In order to elicit from students the answers, I will ask one student to read one of the exercises. (switch students if needed) For example: 1. Lily is not/are not from Australia. 2. You are not/is not eleven. 3. I is not/ am not sad. 4. He am not/ is not American. 5. It are not/is not a magazine. 6. They is not/ are not singers. 7. We are not/is not students. 8. I am not/are not a doctor. 2. They are going to see a chart with 6 people on it. Each person has their name, nationality, age and job and I will paste it on the board. Then, they will look at the chart. I will read the information in the boxes. The unscramble sentences will be presented in long strips of paper to be picked up for them. First, they will read the words and will find out what the order of the sentence is. For example: Are/students/Debra and Luis /not The student will rewrite the sentence on the board.	Aim of the activity: To practice the target topic in different ways. Type of learner: V,T, K Interaction: T-S Materials: bond paper chart with pieces of paper (missing letters), Worksheet to circle the correct form, chart with 6 people on it.
15”	Production	1. Students will be asked to stand up. They will take a look at the job images they will see around the wall of the room. This activity will be in pairs. Each pair will be given strips of paper to write one affirmative and one negative sentence based on the image. One student will write the affirmative and the other the negative. The image will have some clues for them to guide the creation of the sentence. For example: I/artist/athlete The answer: I am not an athlete. I am an artist. I will explain how to do the activity by giving an example and model. For example: The image is about an athlete, so one affirmative will be “He is an athlete”, the negative “He is not a model”. 2. 1. Students will think about three people they know. They will use one piece of paper to write three false sentences (one per each person). For example: Rihanna is a soccer player. Lionel Messi is an actor. Cristiano Ronaldo is an artist.     2. After this, they will give me the piece of paper. I will gather them and mix them.   3. I will choose one student and he or she will stand up and pick one piece of paper. His or her job is to make them correct, by saying: Piece of paper: Rihanna is a soccer player. Student: No! Rihanna is not a soccer player. She is a singer.	Aim of the activity: To write sentences, one affirmative and one negative.  Type of learner: V, T Interaction: S-S Materials: 5 images of jobs and their signs, masking tape and one marker.
5”	Wrap up	Students will be asked to stand up. Then, I will point to one of them at random. The pointed student will be asked to say one negative sentence. If he or she does not say what it is requested, she or he will be standing. Then, the next student until everybody says the sentence.
Assignments and  Announcements:       ü  Students will be notified that they will not be attending classes on Monday, March 31st and Friday, March 4th.

That was my week of teaching! :) 

Thanks for the experience!!