My last teaching practicum...

This was my last class in advanced. In my first experience, I was so nervous. In the second experience, I was less nervous than the previous one. In the third one, I was relaxed. Well, we started the class with some exercises. I gave a photocopy per each student. They had to fill the gaps with causative verbs that were in a word box. After, some of them read the complete sentences. It was nice because all of the students were working on that. Then, I asked the students to make pair-works. They had to choose the best answer per each incomplete sentence. After, they share the answers with the whole group. I asked the students to make groups of five. I gave each group a branch of pieces of sentences (10sentences), a half sheet of long-paper, a marker and a masking tape. Each group was going to build the ten sentences on the half sheet of long paper. After, I read each of the sentences and checked them at the same time. I liked this activity because all the students were working. Some of them stood up and pasted each of the pieces of the sentences on the paper, others were ordering the sentences on the desk, and others were worry for being the winners. It was very nice!!!

Well, I learned a lot from this period. My third class was the best one. My tutor told me that I did a good work also the students told me the same. It was very nice.

Things that I learned from this period:

*-A very simple activity has to be at the beginning of the class.

*-Make lesson plans per each class; following the PPU framework.

*-Establish an objective per each class.

*-Write an agenda.

*-Take in to account our own culture for designing or downloading exercises.

*-Some teachers are more demanding than others.

Well, I liked this experience. Sometimes we say that the teacher is very demanding and that´s why we don´t like to work with him/her. Now, I realized that those kinds of teachers help us to form our professional profile. All was nice!!! I had a nice tutor and a nice adviser.

My second class........

This time the class was better than the previous one. We began with a warm-up. I gave each student some questions. They had to work in pairs and answer the questions. After, I pasted a question on the board. The students had to discuss it and share their answers with the whole group. Then, I gave a photocopy with some information about the topic. After, we did a listening activity. The students had to listen to the audio and answer some exercises related with it. Then, we did a speaking activity. The students had to talk about a romance experience that they had had. It was nice because they participated and shared their experiences with the whole class. At the end of the class, I assigned homework. Well, it was a good class. All of the students participated in the activities.

Things that I learned:

-Plan activities depending on the culture or context. Sometimes the book brings activities related with the USA culture. So, I have to adapt the activities with our own culture.

-Add practice from the text book. Sometimes we are focused on the activities that we download from the web, and we forget the activities from the text book. So, I have to include the two types of activities; web and text book.

I learned a lot. I am learning things that I will never forget!!!

My first class in Advanced I!!!

Well, I was very nervous. As practitioner, I had never been in the advanced level. I began the class with some explanations about the difference between vacation, holyday and day off. After, we did a warm-up called “the onion ring”. It was nice, but it took me too much time. Then, I pasted some questions on the board. The students had to discuss them in groups. All of them were participating in the oral exercise. After, I gave each group a sheet of bond paper and a marker. The students had to make a list of kinds of things that they thought might spoil a day at the beach. Then, some of the students told me: “it´s time to go home teacher” when she told me that I realized that it was time to finish the class!!! Imagine!!! I just covered the half of the lesson plan that I had to develop in that day. I was worry because I could not finish all the activities that I had planned.

Well, I learned a lot of things from my first class in this level. Some of them are:

*All of the tutors are different. In this time, my tutor asks me to do a lesson plan per each class. It is nice because I realize the responsibilities of being a teacher.

*I have to save time in class. If I notice that the students work slow, I have to make a little pressure in the development of the activities.

*I have to write an agenda. In each class, I have to write an agenda on the board. This is going to help me for informing the students what activities we are going to develop in the whole class.

Well, it was a nice experience. Honestly, I was very nervous, but then I felt nice. The better thing is that I learned a lot.

Grammar explanation... my last class...

This was the last class in Intermediate English I. We started the class playing the “Bingo” game. I asked the students to make groups of three. Then, I gave each group a piece of cardboard with some adjectives on it. Also, I gave them a bunch of bits of paper which would be used to mark the adjective that I mentioned. The group that marked all the adjectives would be the winner. It was very funny. After that, I did a review about the previous class. Then, I explained some rules about comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. I used a chart per each rule that I explained. Also, I used some images for giving examples of each rule. As well, I gave each student a page with the rules and the examples that I explained. I almost spent the whole class in that. Well, the class was just grammar explanations. When I finished explaining a rule, I gave some examples and the students helped me by reading them. Although it was grammar explanation, we enjoyed that time. All the students participated. At the end, I gave each student a page with some exercises. Just five of the students shared their answers with the whole class. On the other hand, in one of the charts that I pasted, I had two spelling mistakes. Another thing was that before I started the grammar section, I mentioned the word “grammar” and it was not necessary to do that.

Things that I learned:

*- I have to make examples that include the people and things that are around the class. Because doing this the examples are meaningful for the students.

*- I can change difficult examples for easier ones.

*- I have to double check the material that I am going to use in the class.

Well, this was my last class in this level. I really liked to work with them. They were a nice group. The tutor and the students made me feel confidence in my teaching practicum class. I enjoyed working with them.

Sometimes we need to make changes...

We started the class with a warm-up called “change seats”. The students were sitting in circle. They had to change seats when I mentioned what they were wearing. For example if I said “change seats those who are wearing leather sandals”. All of the students, who were wearing leather sandals, had to change their seats. The ones who did not change must be in the middle and say all what they were wearing. After that, I pasted some incomplete sentences on the board which the students had to complete with their own ideas. They were working individually. Then, I asked them to make partners and share their answers. After, some of the partners shared their thoughts with the whole class. Later on, I pasted some pictures about clothing items. While I was pointing each of the items, the students said the name of the clothing item. Then, I asked the students to make trios and work on page 36 of their text books. The exercise was about a fashion magazine article. The students had to look at the pictures that were in the book and complete two descriptions with some words about clothing items. After, each of the groups shared their answers and gave opinions about the magazine article. All of the students participated. The students continued working in trios; I gave each student a picture in which they had to look at it and make oral sentences using the present progressive. It was a nice activity; they were giving their opinions and using the target language. On the other hand, I did not set time for each activity. Also, I forgot to give a review from the previous topic.

Things that I learned from this experience:

= I can change some activities from the lesson plan.

= I always have to make a review of the previous topic before working on an activity that requires it.

= I have to set a time limit per each activity.

Well, I always enjoy each of my teaching experiences... they teach me meaningful things...