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...

Students` participation motivates a teacher...

Well, in this time we started the class with a speaking activity. First, I asked the students to make pairs. Then, each of them had to talk about his/her daily routine. After that, each pair passed to the front and shared about his/her partner`s daily routine. It was nice! All of them participated and enjoyed the activity. Later, we continued with another speaking activity. I pasted some images about different holidays on the board. The students continued working in pairs. In this time, they had to talk with his/her partner about what they usually do on the different holidays. Then, I asked some of them to share their information for the whole class. Later on, I divided the class in two groups. After, I asked them to make two lines with the desks. Each desk had to be in front of the other one. So, one group sat on a line and the other in the following. Then, I gave each student a set of pieces of paper that contained adverbs of frequency. The student from group 1 had to ask a person from group 2 a question, trying to get them to respond with the adverb that he/she had in his/her hand. So, if a student from group 1 had in his/her hand the piece of paper with the adverb never, he/she would ask a student from group 2 ; ¨how often do you speak French?¨ hopefully he/she would say ¨never¨ and the student that did the question would get a point for his/her group. This activity worked very well. All of them were asking and answering. I could realize that they enjoyed the activity. After that, I explained some grammar rules. For doing this, I used some pieces of wool and some pieces of color paper. Well, I already wrote some words on the pieces of paper that together form a sentence. So, I stuck a piece of wool on the board thereby forming a line. After, I explained each grammar rule by forming the sentence with the pieces of color paper on the wool line. The students were paying attention. They really liked this grammar explanation way. It was nice. On the other hand, I forgot to give feedback to the students as excellent work, nice, good, etc. Also, I forgot to look for some techniques about error correction for the students.

Some things that I learned from this class:

+ I always have to give feedback to the students.

+ I have to look for error correction techniques.

+ I always have to give my best.

I really like each of my teaching experience because each of them helps too much.

Speaking, speaking, speaking...

This was my first experience with Intermediate I. Well, we began the class with a warm-up. All the students participated in the activity. Then, we continued with the class. We did some speaking activities based on daily life problems. For the first one, I gave to each student a page with a reading about how to tell if someone is lying to us. After they read it, I asked them to make pairs and I gave to each pair-work some situations that they have to discuss. Then, each pair-work shared their opinions with the class. After, I gave a quiz about how stressed we were. This quiz took students´ attention. They liked it so much. They had to rank some statements from one to four. Then, they had to get their score and read what their score meant. After, I asked them some questions about how we could do for reducing stress. It was a nice activity; because all the students participated and showed interest in class. Later on, we finished the class with a pair-work activity. They had to discuss about differences and similarities that they had. I enjoyed this class because I could notice a positive attitude in the students. On the contrary, I forgot to introduce myself with the students. Also, my warm-up took too much time. Another negative thing was that I gave long instructions instead of concrete instructions.

Well, from this class I learned:

* I always have to introduce myself with a new group.

* I have to give direct instructions.

* I have to prepare short warm-up.

Every experience is a nice tool for me...