GAME OVER...

  Hello everyone...


I feel so satisfied because I have finished my first teaching period and everything went ok. At the beginning, I thought teaching to students from the major was going to be very difficult and also so stressful, but it was totally different. I really enjoyed that first experience. My students were very nice, they participated all the time, so it was easy to develop the lesson. My tutor, she was a very kind person. I really like the way she gave me feedback because she made me see my mistakes in a positive way and I even laughed about them. I really didn't like this first period to get over. I would had liked to continue with the same group, but any way I have to continue learning so I need other experiences with different people.

My last class, it was a very nice experience. I was expected to teach about shopping habits, so I began with a pictionary game to introduce clothing vocabulary which I was going to use later as the class went on. Then, I used some clothing flashcards to review vocabulary and to introduce more. We categorized clothe into formal or casual, and we also talk about the differences between men's and women's clothe. After that, I continued with some questions about shopping habits. For example, Which are the places they like to visit when they go shopping? What things do they like to buy?, etc. I carried some collages about things we can find in the supermarket. I gave the collages to the students for them to tell which of those things they like to buy. They started to practicing food vocabulary without noticing it. Shopping is a topic which almost everybody likes, so they got interested very fast. While we were talking about shopping habits, I asked them which the most important thing we ask  when we go shopping is, and inmediatelly they said "the price" so that was my opportunity to introduce 'How much is...? and How much are...? which was part of my teaching assignation for that class. I briefly explain about the use of the two questions because they got it very fast. I continued practicing by using the flashcards. They had to tell me the questions depending on the flashcard (singular and plural clothing items) Then, I explain how to give the prices.
Finally, I used a very nice activity to check students understanding of the class (dress the model). I carried real clothing items to the classroom, and I asked students to make two teams. They chose a representative which was going to be the model (a girl for one team and a boy for the other one). My tutor and I were the clercks of two stores (one per each team) I gave some pieces of paper whith the name of the clothing items they needed to buy. Students had to take turns going to the stores to buy the clothe, but they needed to use the questions to ask for prices in the correct form because if they did not say it correctly my tutor and I did not give the clothe to the person. They had to do it faster than the other team because the first person who had their model dressed was going to be the winner. They got very excited with that game that they even asked me to do it again, but time was over so it was impossible. I felt very happy because they enjoyed a lot my last class. I hope  my next teaching period goes as good as this one went. 

THIRD CLASS, EVEN BETTER...

Hello everyone...
Here I am one more time to tell you my experiences on the teaching practicum.
I arrived some minutes early to the classroom because I like to have everything ready when the students start entering. It was my third day, and I was there, in front of my students and tutor without feeling nervous. I felt very relaxed as if I were with my classmates in a normal class.
I started with a warm up as was expected by the students. This time, I chose an activity in which students had to work in teams, order some sentences and then, paste them on the board.  I chose that activity because I knew they were get excited as they competed against their classmates, and at the same time the sentences they pasted on the board I was going to use them to introduce the new topic which was "Simple Present". The only problem I could notice with this game was that there were some students who arrived late, and I couldn't incorporate them to the game because I had to payed attention to what the others were doing. That's why I got a lower grade on class management.
After the warm up I continued with the grammar explanation. I prepared a chart with the rules of the simple present , so I could avoid a waste of time while writing on the board. There were some students that were copying when I was explaining and my tutor suggested me on the feedback session that I should ask my students to pay attention to my explanation and to copy until the end to avoid distractions. I also carried some flashcards to practice the use of the simple present when talking about daily activities. I think the use of visual aids help my students to understand faster because they participate a lot in the class. They even asked me about some doubts they had on the use of some verbs. I really liked that they made questions because that meant that they were interested on the topic.
After that, I continued with the practice. I asked them to work on one of the exercises that were on the appendixes. To my surprise some of my students had already finished the exercise, so I just monitored to some of them and I asked to the ones that had finished to help their classmates. The time was over, so my tutor continued checking the exercise.After the class, my tutor gave me some pieces of advise to manage the classroom which I know were going to be very helpful on my next classes. This time I got a better grade which made me feel very happy since that means I am improving more every time.

Second day... second chance to put into practice what I have learned...

It was my second day teaching and I still felt a little bit nervous before the class started. The nice part was that when the class began I forgot about nervousness at all. I just payed attention to what I was teaching and to what my students were doing. 
I arrived very early because I wanted everything to be prepared before the students arrive.
It was still early and almost all the students were in the classroom waiting for my class. That made me feel satisfied because for me that meant they liked the way I taught the first time. I like that time because I could interact with them to know more about their interests and to give them the chance to know more about me and about the teaching practicum since that is a topic they really want to know  about. Time flew... It was time to begin but my tutor was not there which made me feel a little bit worried. Finally the teacher appeared and my fears went away.
The first thing I did was a warm up to break the ice. I used "the whisper game" to review the previous class and to introduce the new topic. The bad part of the warm up was that I spent more time than I expected. That was one of the points we talked about during the feedback session. I need to pay more attention to the available time to teach, so I can cover all or almost all what I have planned.
After the warm up I took the rest of my time to explain my students about "possessive nouns" which was the grammar focus. I also introduced the new vocabulary which was "Family" I carried to the class a family tree chart and another chart with regular and irregular nouns which helped me to explain easily the topic. I gave many examples to the students and at the same time I made some practice to check their understanding. Something I like of my students is that they are quick learners, so is easy for me to explain.
I finished a little bit early because the students had a quiz and the teacher asked me to stop the class some minutes before my time finished.
In the feedback session I felt good because I really like the way my tutor gives me suggestions for the things I need to improve. She is very kind and she makes me know my mistakes in a very nice way. I know I need to do it better next time.

Everyday is another opportunity to be better...

My first experience...

I started my teaching practicum yesterday. I arrived a little bit early to the classroom so I could arrange the enviroment that I was going to need for the development of the activities I had planned. 

At the beginning I felt a little bit nervous as normal, but that feeling lasted until the teacher introduced myself to the class. She told them that I was going to be the teacher and that everything I said, it was going to be as if she had said it. That comment made me feel sure about what I had to do. 

I started my class with a scramble board game in which students had to make teams to compete by trying to get the words I called out from the board and by trying to spell them. The game was perfect to break the ice, even the teacher told me she liked it, but the problem was that students were competing boys against girls and the game required phisical competition. The leader of the girls fell down while trying to get one of the words. Fortunately, she did not hurt herself, and she did not feel ashamed. She continued playing and laughing as if nothing had happened. From that experience I learned that every time you would do those kind of activities which required phisical competition, it would be preferable to make mix teams and to choose leaders of the same gender to avoid similar accidents.

After that, I continue checking the homework the teacher had assigned the day before. Then I had to explain about possessive adjectives and I had learned from Didactics that we need to make a transition between activities so I took one sentence from the homework as example to introduce the grammar point. After the explanation I wanted to know if they had understood so I made an activity which I called "The mistery bag" in which they had to put one of their possessions inside. Then I model the question "Is this your pen ?" and students had to go around the classroom asking that question to their classmates who had to answer "No it isn't or Yes, it is" according to the situation. I chose this activity because is preferable to use real situation activities which are going to help students to learn something they experience almost every day instead of a simple "fill in the blanks" in which they can deduce the answers. After this activity the teacher told that my time was over which I could not believe because I thought It was still early. I was so excited teaching that I did not pay attention to the time. Then I sat down to observe the rest of the class and I felt very satisfied to see that I had make what I thought it was going to be very difficult.

After the class the teacher gave me feedback. She told about some mistakes I made in pronunciation so I could correct myself. She also congratulated me because of the activities I used. She said students enjoyed them. She even told me that one of the students told her "She is going to be a good teacher". That comment made me feel very happy because that meant that they liked the way I taught and that I am doing it well.

That was all what I did in my first they as a teacher on the university.