Finally Done!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everybody!!! I am so happy for today was my last day of practice. Let me tell you that I was kind of worried because I had to record my class. I wanted my class to be great so I tried to do a better effort.

Yesterday, I was very worried since I had to teach "be going to", "present progressive" and also I had to review "subject and object questions". The teacher was very specific. She wanted the warm up to be a review of the previous class. I always try to link all my activities to my objective, so I looked for a way in which I could introduce the two new topics and at the same time review the last one. I made students to work into three different teams. I placed tree desks in the same position and distance from the board. I placed a set of questions and answers in each desk. Students had to work together, pick up any question, look for the respective answer, and paste them on the board (the board was divided into three parts). Each set of questions contained: subject and object questions using "be going to" and "present progressive", and also some distracters to make the task more difficult. The three teams had only one minute to paste as many questions and answers as possible. I liked this activity since students had some fun, practiced the target structures, and also helped me to prepare the board for the grammar explanation.

After that, I asked students to identify the subject and object questions which they had pasted on the board. I also introduce the two new tenses to talk about future. I explained the different forms of each structure by asking them to give me the examples
.

Then, I pasted on the board a chart with some prompts to make sentences. I wanted to check students understanding so I asked them to write a sentence using "be going to" and a sentence using "present progressive" for each prompt. We practiced with some of the prompts in the oral form, and then, they wrote the sentences.

After that, I made students to work in two different teams. They had to choose a representative who had to mimic some actions. Each team had a minute to guess as many actions as possible, but they had to tell the complete sentence using "be going to".

Finally, I thanked my students for their participation on my classes, and also for being so kind during my time with them. They gave me a so warm applause that made me feel so good. I really liked working with this group.

My feedback was great, and my grade was excellent.

Almost done....

Hello everybody!!! I am so happy because I almost finish this last teaching mission. I am not saying that I do not like to teach, but what I really hate is to get a grade which sometimes has been that I have unfair after each class. I really like teaching, but not being observed and evaluated by people that criticize my mistakes, even though when they make the same ones. Anyways, I guess that's part of the process.

Let me tell you that yesterday, it was a little bit difficult to go to teach after a long period of vacations, but anyways, I did it. I had to continue on the less control practice of the same lesson we used last time. You know that I really hate the practice phase, but this time I tried to enjoy it more.

I began with a very common warm-up "change places if..." Since my objective was to practice the present perfect in the oral form, I asked them to say phrases like "change places if you have taken a shower, have done homework, have eaten, etc" Besides, the standees had to pick up and answer a "Have you ever...?" question which were on a box, and then, they had to say another phrase to make people stand up. I really like that activity in which students easily put into practice the target structure and they also had fun.

After that, I asked students to work on groups of four to work on some yes/no questions which were supposed to be in the handout, but they weren't. So I read a question, and they had to ask it to each other on the groups, but if the answer was yes, they had to tell the experience. I monitored their conversations, and every certain time I changed the questions.

We continued with a great activity in which a student had a minute to look around him to memorize the position of everything; then, he had to go outside for some minutes while we were inside the classroom making some changes. After that the student had to go in and try to guess what has changed...

Finally, they work on groups again, and I gave them an adjective flashcard to each group. They had to discuss and give ideas of what they thought that could have happened to the people on the flashcard for them to have those expressions on their faces. I was monitoring students when my tutor told me that time was up.

This time, there was no oral feedback. My tutor only gave me the evaluation page to read what she had written. I did not want to read so I just checked my grade which I think it was acceptable.

Last teaching mission!!!

OMG! I cannot believe that we almost finish this hard teaching missions. I feel so happy because we are missing only two more classes and we´ll be free from all this.

I have to tell you that I have a very nice group this time. My new students are so kind and participative that I really liked my first teaching experience with them. However, that group is kind of large so I have to be very careful if I want to manage everything well.

I was so happy to know that I was going to introduce the grammar part instead of just working on the practice phase that I think that was one of the reasons why I felt so confident and which made me forgot about nervousness; and also because I already knew my tutor so I knew the way she works which was another advantage.

Today, I arrived 15 minutes before the class. Thanks God I had enough time to arrange everything before the class. My tutor arrived some minutes later which was perfect for me.

I began the class by introducing myself. Then, we continued with the warm-up. Well, let me tell you that Raul and me were assigned to teach the same topic, so we decided to work together on the preparation of activities and also materials. We did exactly the same warm-up, the same practice with the flashcards, and we even taught grammar in the same way using the sentences which they had to order on the different uses as we were explaining. I tell you this since it would be a waste of time for me to write what I did if you had already read Raul´s blog.

I can only tell you that it was a very nice class which I enjoyed a lot of. Since it was about the use of "can", I asked students to think about special abilities that they had. Some guys say they could move their nose or ears, and they showed it to the rest of the class. It was so funny because one guy said he could sing, and he sang a piece of "La Reina Del Sur" song. Another guy showed us how to dance reggaeton. Everybody was so excited by showing their abilities. I liked this part of the class since they were using the target structure without noticing it.

The feedback was nice. I had some pronunciation mistakes. But the rest was great, my tutor told me she liked the activities.

Game Over =)

Hello everybody! I am glad to tell you that I have already finished my second teaching mission. I feel released for I will have a week off.

Well to tell you the truth, I don´t feel so satisfied with my performance on this period. I think I could have done a better job; however, the group of students I had was kind of large and it was a little bit difficult to manage.   I hope my last teaching mission could be better.

For today´s class, I was assigned to work on the practice phase of the "future progressive and future perfect" tenses. I have already said that I hate to work on that part as some of you hate teaching grammar. Anyways, it is part of the process so I have to do it.

I began the class with a nice warm-up (kill your classmate) in which students had to make two teams and each member of the teams had to compete against a member of the opposite team. I wrote the name of the game on the board, and they got excited just by reading  it. They were asking what they were going to do. I asked them to make to lines in front of a desk in which I had placed a toy gun. When they saw the gun, they got even more excited. 

I had to call out any verb in its base form and students had to give me the participle form (which was required for them to practice the use of future perfect tense). The first student on giving me the right participle form for the verb could pick up the gun and kill his/her classmate.

After that,  I continue with a reading which contained many sentences on the target structures. To introduce the reading we discussed a question related to the topic of the passage. Then, I pat many words which I had written on different colorful papers on some desks.  While I was reading the passage, students had to pay attention for them to be able to pick up the words I mention. If a student picked up a word which did not belong to the passage, he had to get a penalty. 

Then, students underlined the sentences on the target structures, and we read them together. They also worked on some collocations related to the passage. 

Finally, they work on an exercise in which they had to write sentences according to the prompts that I provided. I pasted some flashcards of different professionals  on the board, and also different times on colorful pieces of paper for each flashcard. Based on that, they had to write what that people will be doing by that time next week. My time was over so I could not checked that exercise. 

 Well guys, that´s all what I can tell you. I hope you have a nice day...

Frustrated :(

Hi everyone!!!

I am so disappointed of my performance in today's class. I was assigned to work on the book which is something I really hate since I have to follow step by step what is there; and I prefer to use my own activities and adapt them according to my students and also to what I have to teach.

Since the moment that my tutor told me that I was going to work on the book, I imagined that it was not going to be such a great experience. Even though, I try to prepare myself and also enough material to get students interest, I felt worried because I have to work with lots of vocabulary that was new not only for the students, but also for me.

Well, I arrived one hour before the class so I could have everything ready when students arrive. I also needed some minutes to look for the meaning of some new words that were a little bit difficult for me.

I began my class with a warm-up in which students had to work in two different teams. I gave them an envelope with the target vocabulary. I had to call out a word which they had to look for. Then, a member of the team had to run to the board and paste the word on it. The first person on pasting the word had a chance to spell it correctly and if so, they gave a point to their teams. Everybody liked the game. They were very excited, and even my tutor told me that it was a nice way to introduce new vocabulary.

After that, I had to continue with a reading (here comes the awful part). My tutor asked me to cover three pages from the book, and there were two readings, a listening and some vocabulary practice. There were too much things to cover that I was afraid of not being able to finish so I try to hurry up. The problem was that my tutor wanted me to spend more time on the first reading and I did the opposite since I wanted to cover more from the book. At the end, my tutor told me that it seemed like if I were not prepared enough for the reading which is something true.

My feedback was good since my tutor is pretty nice on doing so, but my grade was low. I hope I could improve next week.

On the middle!!!

Hello guys!!!

Today, I felt kind of nervous since I was going to be observed not only by my tutor, but also by one of my classmates. I do not know why I felt in such a way since when I teach I have many students in front of me. It might be because when we see people taking notes about our performance, we tend to think that they are writing something we did wrong. Thanks God as the class was going on, my nervousness started to disappear.

For today’s class, I was assigned to begin a new topic which is something I really love since I have the chance to explain the grammar part (in this case: first and second type conditionals). Yesterday, I looked for activities on the internet, and I found a nice reading with many target structures for students to underline. I decided to use it on the practice phase.

Today, I arrived very early to the university since I had to observe a classmate’s class. After that, I had some minutes to prepare all the material I was going to use for my class. I arranged the seats on a semicircle since that’s the only way in which I could monitor all of the students. I pasted the class' objective on the board, and .some other material.

Well, I began with a very common warm-up (the hot potato); however, I made some changes. Before giving the directions for the game, I asked students to read a quotation which was on the board (“If you do it well, I will give you a candy”) they had to report that sentence which was the topic on last week. They did it very well. The purpose was to review the previous class (reported speech), and also to introduce the new one since the quotation was a conditional.  In a general way, I explained what a condition was. Then, I made students to stand up and make a circle. I gave a ball (a blue and a green ball) to two of the students which they had to pass on opposite sides while some music was playing. The students who got the green ball had to pick up a paper which contained a funny condition (e.g. If you don’t go to the bathroom, If you eat a frog, If you kiss my sister, etc), and the other student had to provide a complement to the conditions.  The activity was appropriate to the topic, but the important thing was that students enjoyed it as they were practicing the target structures without noticing it. After the warm up I gave a candy to the students since it was the result of the condition which they had fulfilled (“If you do it well, I will give you a candy”).

After that, I continue with the grammar explanation. I wrote some rules and their respective examples of first conditional on the board, and I also dictated some others to the students. Then, we had an oral practice for which I used the conditions from the warm-up. I read the condition, and students participated by giving some options to complete the sentences. Then, I dictated them for them to write their own ideas on how to complete the conditions.

Then, I continued explaining the second type conditional. After that, I asked students to work in pairs. I gave a reading to each pair for them to read it and identify all the first and second conditionals on it. Unfortunately, my time was up, so my tutor checked the answers on the passage.

My feedback as it was expected was great. I had some pronunciation mistakes, and even though I felt kind of nervous, I got an acceptable grade.

Second period!!!

Every beginning is kind of hard. Today, I felt so nervous that I even felt sick. I don’t know what happened to me; I think I was worried because the topic I had to teach was a little bit confusing for me, and also because I had never taught on an Advanced English class. There was no lesson since the person in charge did not send it on time, so my tutor told me to look for activities to introduce the new topic (reported speech) that’s why yesterday, I had a hard time preparing today’s class. I wanted to link all the activities with the target structure so I look for some good ones on the internet; however, I did not find what I wanted. Then, I just tried to adapt some activities I had.

Well, even though I did not feel so comfortable with the topic, I arrived very early to the classroom so everything could be ready before students and my tutor arrived.

I began with a very common warm-up (the whisper game) which was perfect to introduce “reported speech”. Students made a semicircle, and I whisper a funny message (“yesterday, I saw a green monkey and a blue cat dancing on the moon) to the first student on one of the sides who had to pass the same message to the next student up to the last one. The last person had to write the message on the board so everybody could read it and checked if their classmates had told them the same. Then, I paste the original message on the board and everybody was laughing about it since they were pretty different, and the original message was so funny. My tutor told me she really liked that warm-up since it was very appropriate for the topic.

Then I continued with the presentation phase for which I used a nice reading that contained many sentences on the target structure. I split the passage into five parts. I asked students to work in pairs and I gave them a set of paragraphs to each pair. Before they checked it, I wrote the topic on the board (“the worst unsuccessful rescue”), and I ask students to make predictions about it so they had the opportunity to give their opinions and to put into practice their speaking skills. After that, they had to order the paragraphs chronologically. Then, I read the passage for them to check the correct order. Everybody did it well. In addition, they had to underline the sentences in which someone was reporting what others had said.

The grammar phase was not so difficult to explain as I thought it would be. I used some adjective flashcards in which a person was showing different expressions, and I made a bubble for each flashcard with a quotation inside (direct speech). I explained the rules using the flashcards as examples, and students perfectly gave me the reported speech for each example. My time was up, and my tutor continued with the rest of the class.

My feedback was great. I have always said I love the way teacher Yesenia gives the feedback. It is not because she tells me good things, but also because she makes me notice my mistakes in a very kind way.

FIRST MISSION OVER

Hello everyone!

I am so happy because I already finished this first teaching mission, and everything went well. Even though I had some challenges, I learnt a lot of.

Today, I planned to use a warm up I had read on Raul’s blog which I like. Students worked in teams, and they chose a representative who had to sit in front of the class. I was behind the representative showing some daily activity flashcards which their respective teams had to mimic. The representatives had to guess the daily activity but they had to use the “ing” form (doing the homework, watching TV, playing soccer, etc). Unfortunately, this activity took too much time, and also the teacher told me it would be better a warm up in which students could have more opportunities to speak since in the one I used today students had only to mimic.

After that, I continued with some controlled practice which was on the lesson plan. There was an activity in which students had to look a person’s schedule, but I considered it was so simple because it was just a chart so I decided to adapt it. Instead of using a simple chart with the schedule, I used daily activity flashcards, and I wrote on pieces of paper the different times in which the person did each activity. I pasted each piece of paper on the flashcards. I had to ask what the person was doing on different times. Students had to answer using the past continuous tense.

Then, we continued with another activity in which students had to complete some sentences using one of two options provided. I carried a chart with this exercise and I wrote all the options on colorful pieces of paper which I pasted on the board. I asked students to work in the same teams they worked with at the beginning. They had to work together to complete the sentences. Then, they competed to paste the answers on the chart. They made two lines and they had to run and picked the right option for the sentence I read.

My time was over so I thanked my students for their participation and for being so nice. Then my tutor continued with the rest of the class.

I am proud of myself!!!

I feel so satisfied with my progress through this period. I began with a good grade, but thanks God I have improved it with each opportunity I have had.

When all this stuff about teaching in the major began, I thought it was going to be so difficult and stressful; however, I have realized teaching is something I enjoy, and that could be one of the reasons why I always try to do my best. I think my progress has been shown in many ways.

Today, I had to begin a new lesson which is something I like, since that means I would have the chance to explain the grammar part (in this case the use of “so” and “such” and a review on “countable and uncountable nouns”). Thus, I decided to take advantage of the warm-up to check students’ previous knowledge on the topic. I prepared two sets of sentence strips using the target structures which I pasted in a scramble way on the wall near the board. I divided the class into two groups, and they had to order the sentences trying to guess the sentences I have written, and they had to paste them on the board. They did it very fast considering that I had not explained anything yet. The sentences they order, I used them as examples to explain the grammar structures. I gave students extra material on the grammar explanation so they do not have to copy and I could get their complete attention. On the explanation of the use of “such” I had to make emphasis on countable and uncountable nouns, so I carried a nice reading which I split into many pieces and distributed among students. I read the passage and they had to paste each piece of it as I mention it. Then, students had to identify all the countable and uncountable nouns from the reading which surprisingly they did very good.

Finally, I ask students to work in an exercise which was in the handout I had provided them. Unfortunately, my time was over and the teacher finished checking it.

I liked this class since I not only taught, but I also had the chance to review a topic I had forgotten (so and such).

Great!!!

Today, I taught my second class. It is curious that when you feel everything is going to be ok, nothing goes well; but when you think your day will be a disaster, then it becomes a great day in which everything goes perfect (or almost perfect). I say this because today I felt kind of sick, and I really did not want to teach. In addition, I had to work with the controlled practice, and I felt kind of disappointed because I prefer to teach the grammar part since I can choose the way to introduce it and explain it. I feel limited when I just give instructions for the students to work on activities that I have not chosen. Therefore, I always try to adapt or modify the activities to make them more interesting, so I can stimulate students’ motivation. Thanks God, everything went very good on the development of my class, and my grade also improved…

 I arrived early before my class. Unfortunately, there is a class before mine, so I have to wait until they finish, and I cannot have the environment ready before students arrive.

I began with a common warm up (the whisper game). Students had to work in two teams for this activity. The funny part was that they were only five, so I asked my tutor if she wanted to participate, and she kindly accepted. Students and even the teacher enjoyed the activity; they had two make two lines. The last person on the line had to whisper a sentence I was showing to the next person and so on until the first one on the line who had to write the sentence on the board. The first team to finish writing the sentence without any mistake got a point. I was planning to use those sentences to introduce an activity which was part of the practice; however, when I notice a student had erased everything on the boardL. Then, I had to read the sentences for them to identify their tenses and also the negative form of them. After some oral practice, I dictated the sentences for them to work on their notebooks. While they were working, I pasted some daily activity flashcards on the board, so I could have everything ready for the next activity. Then I monitored students’ work, and I corrected some mistakes. Finally, they took turns reading the answers of the exercise.

After that activity, we continued reviewing the present continuous tense. I used the flashcards and I also pasted a name tag to each of them, so students could write sentences using a proper name rather than a subject pronoun. First, we practice a little bit in the oral way. Then, each student went to the front and chose a flashcard which s/he used to write a sentence on the present continuous tense. They did it very well.

Finally, I gave some photocopied material for students to continue practicing. Unfortunately, time was over, so the teacher continued with it.

I had less pronunciation mistakes than the last class, so my grade improved.

I really liked this day because I did a good job which was reflected on my grade.

A New Beginning!!!

OMG! Time really flies. Vacations were just a dream, and now we are here once again to continue with this long preparation to become teachers.

We have just begun a new mission, and new experiences and challenges are arriving. I just hope this new opportunity could teach me as many things as I might need to be a good teacher.

Yesterday, I began my teaching practicum. This time, I was assigned to the Intermediate English I class which is in charge of teacher Cristy. This group is very small; there are around 12 students, so I feel very comfortable in the classroom.

At the beginning, I was not nervous; however, as I was giving the instructions for the warm up, I got a little bit. Yesterday, I was not only being observed by my tutor, but also by a classmate. I guess that could have been one of the reasons why I got kind of nervous.

The warm up took more time than the expected because students had some difficulties to understand the instructions :( They worked in teams, and they had to bet each member of the opposite team to do something; for example: Bet you can’t dance for three minutes. Each bet was directed for a speciphic person, and if that person said s/he cannot accomplish the bet, then the group who bet got a point for their team.

This activity was just a review for the use of CAN which they were studying a class before.

After that, I continued with a new topic which was "be going to". The teacher asked me to introduce this topic, but because there was no activity to present the topic I looked for an interesting one.

I had a chart with a drawing of a guy at the supermarket which Sonita made for me last semester (thank you monita). I decided to create a short story for that drawing in which I could include the target structure. Then, I wrote the story in a separate chart and I carried them to the class.

First I paste the chart with the drawing, and I introduced the guy as one of my friends whose name was Mark. I told them he was at the supermarket because he was going to have a party the next day. After that introduction, I continued asking some questions related to the party for them to make predictions as they used the target structure without noticing it. Then, I pasted the other chart for them to check if their predictions were right.

Some of them went to the front to underline the sentences with the target structure on the chart (they did it very well)

After that activity, I used the sentences they had underlined on the chart to explain the grammar part.

As I was explaining the structures, I allowed students to help me with the explanation by making questions such as: Do you know what we need to add to a positive sentence to make it negative? or How could they change a sentence into a question? and so on. They had gotten the topic very well since the presentation activity, so it turned easier for them to answer my questions and without realizing it, they were explaining the target structure to themselves. I really like that because I had taught a new topic to my students with their full participation.

Finally, I asked them to change all the sentences they had underlined on the chart into questions. That was my last participation because time was over. The teacher finished with that activity.

Then, I thanked my students for their wonderful participation.

I liked the class, but I think I could have done it better. The grade was acceptable.

Thank you guys for reading my post. I hope you have had some nice experiences on your teaching mission.