First Class ( 3rd Period )

Aloha my dear friends!!

I hope you be doing great, by this moment I hadn’t had time to check your blogs, but I will as soon as I finish writing mine ok ;D

Well, first of all let me tell you that this time I’m teaching Intermediate I again, but with a different group. This group has only 14 students and they seem to be nice and kind as well as kind of shy.

My class was good, but not so good as I would have liked it because at the beginning of it I was very nervous which was very strange because I didn’t feel like that; maybe it was just a reaction for being with a new group after 5 weeks without teaching as a practitioner inasmuch as 15 minutes later, I started behaving pretty much as normal.

In regard with the lesson, it was very good; the ss, the teacher and I liked the activities because they were interactive and interesting. The target grammar was the modal verbs “Must and have to”.

The warm-up was cool and fun, I asked ss to stand up and make a circle in front of the board in order to play “the hot potato”; the ss knew the game so I didn’t explained that much. We played the game three times and the student, who had “the hot potato” in their hands when the music stopped, gave a piece of advice for a problem given by me; I helped ss to imagine the problems by showing them flashcards; these were the problems:

1.        The child really needs to do “number 2” 

      in the toilet, but the toilet is too high 

      for him. What would you advise him?

2.       The little pig is sad because he went 

      with his mother to the market and he 

      got lost. What can he do now?

3.       Whenever this guy is in front of the girl 

      he likes he starts to stutter. What does 

      he have to do in order to solve his problem?

The next activity was a brainstorming about all the modal verbs the ss listened in the previous game and the ones that they knew; this helped me to introduce ss in the target grammar.

The grammar explanation was interactive and interesting, for it I used a video and two charts; the video helped me to explain how to use and when to use the target modal verbs as well as their forms in the different tenses. I played a part of the video; then, I reviewed that part and CCQ ss by using the charts, and I felt glad when they responded correctly. I did the same with the other two parts.

Next I continue with the control-practice, for the first exercise ss worked individually in order to fill in the blanks with “Must or Have to” and for the second one they worked in pairs in order to fill in the blanks with “Mustn’t or Don’t have to”. I checked them both orally and I felt happy because almost everybody had all the answers correctly.  

As a wrap-up, we play another fun game for which ss formed two groups and I gave to each group a little package containing scramble sentences which they had to unscramble and paste them on the board; in addition, they had to analyze the sentence and choose whether to use must/have to, or mustn’t/ don’t have to in each sentences inasmuch as two of these choices were in each package and they were highlighted with red color to avoid confusion. The team who pasted most of the sentences first and correctly won claps from the other team.

Finally, I thanked the ss for their participation. They were nice.

MY THIRD CLASS (SECOND PERIOD)

Greetings!!

Thanks God, this class was a pretty nice experience because all the activities went well.

In this class, I only developed activities to practice the target grammar of the unit which was “Comparative and Superlative Adjectives”. I developed one listening activity by using a song, two recognition exercises and at the end, a game which was called “The Superlative Award”.

I used the “Survivor’s” song by Destiny child as a warm-up. Ss worked in pairs and filled in the blanks of the lyrics with the comparative or the superlative adjectives in brackets and according to the ones they listened in the song.  I played the song three times; the first time I played it all, the second part till the part which ss needed to listen to it to fill the blanks in, and the last time I stopped the song just after each blank so that ss could check their job. Finally, I checked the activity by eliciting answers orally and by asking ss to say a sentence with the comparative and superlative of each adjective in the song.

For the next two activities ss continued working in pairs. For the first one, ss fill the blanks in with the comparative or superlative adjective in brackets. For the second one, ss fill the blanks in with the comparative or superlative adjective they considered appropriate for each sentence. During both exercises, I monitored the class and I clarified their doubts. Finally, I checked both exercises orally by eliciting answers from each couple.

The last activity was my favorite because it was pretty nice and sweet; as I wrote before it was called “The Superlative Award”.  

I gave ss instructions:

1.        1.   Think about a positive adjective which best describe one of your classmates.

2      2.   Don’t repeat the adjective with another classmate.

3        3.   Don’t give the award to the same person.

Then, I modeled the activity and finally I started it with the teacher; I said “The Superlative Award” goes to: the wisest person in the classroom, everybody clapped him, and the teacher continued with it. Finally, my co-worker gave me “The Superlative Award” for the most generous person and I shared the candies, which were in the award, with the whole class.

Finally, I thanked ss for their behavior and participation because they were very nice as my tutor.

SECOND CLASS(SECOND PERIOD)

Greetings!!

On Wednesday September 11th I taught my second class and it wasn’t as good as the previous because I was tired and I had some problems with the computer and the game I used in the class.

Mental fatigue caused me troubles to think fast and remember some examples I had previously thought as well as to speak English correctly; during the class, I found myself committing many grammar mistakes, which I immediately self-corrected them.

For being honest, I wasn’t nervous neither worried because these things were happening to me inasmuch as I understand that as humans we can’t control everything so I tried to handle things with humor. Nevertheless, I felt kind of a shame with the teacher in a moment when I couldn’t remember an example for what I was explaining; it was awkward, this never happened to me before but I just said, as “El Chavo del 8”, -“But that’s the idea” so we all laughed and I continued as if nothing happened. Some minutes later, I found in the game we were playing the example I couldn’t remember so I remind ss about it and they understood my explanation better.

But…what went well?

Well, my lesson in general was good; it had three dynamic and interactive games and one speaking activity at the end.

As a warm-up, I did a common speaking and TPR game named “Swap chairs” for which ss had to use the adverbs of definite and indefinite frequency to make sentences.

Next, I numbered ss from 1 to 2 to make two groups; I did it in this way because the teacher told me that the newest ss, who always sit near the windows, don’t socialize with the former ss, who always sit near the door, so in this way I could have them all working together to play a game named “Jeopardy”, which I made. Take a look to it:

https://col125.mail.live.com/default.aspx?id=64855#!/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=10f1706a-1aa0-11e3-aad1-002264c197ee&folderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&n=1734851000

After the Jeopardy game, I gave each group a worksheet containing 10 sentences for which they found the Direct and the Indirect Object and the team who finished the task first and who had all the correct answers won candies; take a look to it:

https://col125.mail.live.com/default.aspx?id=64855#!/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=10f1706a-1aa0-11e3-aad1-002264c197ee&folderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&attindex=1&cp=-1&attdepth=1&n=178695148

Finally, I did a speaking activity for which ss stood up and formed two lines in front of the board, one line in front the other one; then, I gave each ss a picture which their classmates used to make sentences with two objects and by using “for” and “to” in the prepositional phrase in which they included the indirect object. The mechanic was this: Each participant of line one moved to their right after having done a sentence of the picture of the classmate of line two, who was in front of them.  The activity finalized when the first person, in line one, did a sentence for the last person’s picture of line two. And finally, I checked the activity by showing some pics to the class and by asking them to share the sentences they made for them.

By the end of the day, it was a good experience because I learned from it; I especially learned the importance of resting at least some minutes before teaching.

Ok, that’s all….Once again, thanks for your comments beforehand. J

FIRST CLASS (SECOND PERIOD)

Salutations everyone!!

On Wednesday September 4^th, I taught my first class of this second period in Intermediate I; it was in the afternoon and with the group I was recorded teaching last semester.  The groups’ behavior is very good because they are very respectful, easygoing and they also work and participate in class.

Thanks God, I had a very good experience with this group; my tutor liked my lesson and the way I developed it. Nevertheless, we are still learning and we commit mistakes, aren't we? Well, what the teacher told me that I should improve was regarding the shy ss' participation...Mmmm...this is the second time I was told, so I'm going to do my best to be more aware of this situation in my next classes and I'll try to avoid it. 

In regard with the lesson, it wasn’t challenging at all to create it or develop it inasmuch as it was about “Adverbs of definite and indefinite frequency”. So, I began the class with a speaking activity which helped ss remind their previous knowledge about the target grammar. It was a “Find someone who...” activity for which I wrote on the board “Do you…?”,the question structure that ss used to make questions and complete a chart which I gave them in a piece of paper like this:

Find someone who…	Name
Usually watches T.V. at night

 After ss finished, I checked the activity orally by making questions in general; for example: “Who usually watches T.V. ….?”, and finally I asked ss to tell me the adverbs of frequency they recognized in the chart and they did it.

Next, I continued with the grammar part for which I used a PowerPoint presentation; take a look to it:

https://col125.mail.live.com/default.aspx?id=64855#!/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=a23cfb78-1537-11e3-b29b-00215ad85762&folderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&attindex=1&cp=-1&attdepth=1&n=2019189893

The topic was easy, so I only explained it twice and they go it; the first time was with the presentation and the second time during the general practice. For the practice, we did an interactive exercise for which they had to find the mistakes in a very short reading, which was in the presentation. Then, I gave ss a worksheet containing some statements and “Adverbs of definite and indefinite Frequency” in parenthesis which they had to put in the correct place in each of the statements.

Finally, I asked ss to work in groups of five and I gave a picture to each member of each group so that they could use them to make questions by using this structure: “How often do you…?”. I modeled the activity as always and after some minutes I checked it by asking one participant of each group to share his/her question and the answers his/her classmates said.

To sum it up, the class was cool; I liked it, I enjoyed it, we laughed and I think my ss liked it too, and the most important thing: we all learned from it.

Thanks for reading my blog and for your comments beforehand ;D

THIRD CLASS (FIRST PERIOD)

HELLO!!

Thanks God I'm done with the teaching practice of this period! Yuju!

I’m not only very happy because I’m done with this period, but also because I did it very well and I also gained new and valuable experiences in regard with the classroom management.

About this experience:
What went well?
Thanks God, almost everything went well since the first activity till the last one.
For the class, I developed a PDP listening about UFOs and aliens, so it was very interesting.

For the pre-activity, I pasted a chart on the board with a few questions which ss discussed in pairs 
and later I checked them by eliciting answers in general.

For the during-activity, I gave ss a multiple choice questionnaire, which only had 5 questions, and I asked them to read it silently so that they get familiarized with it and find the new words; then, I explained the ss the new words and I played the audio three times while they underlined the answers. Finally, I checked the answers orally.

For the post-activity, I put some pieces of color paper (red, purple and yellow) on a desk and I asked ss to picked one of them in order to have the ss performing in pairs different role-plays. Then, I pasted on the board a chart containing three different role-plays, one for each color; thus, the ss who chose the red color would act out a different situation from the other two colors. Take a look to the pic:
ROLE-PLAYS

I gave ss enough time to create their “sketches” as I helped them with their vocabulary.
Finally, just four pairs performed their situation because of the time.

What didn’t go so well?


Thanks God, almost nothing; the only thing that the teacher told me was that I should have the shy students participating inasmuch as in all the activities that implied participation, especially in the role-play, only the extraverted ss participated.  
And I’m totally in agreement with that nevertheless when you are a practitioner you have your time limited to developed different activities; thus, it becomes time-consuming trying to have shy ss participating because you have to tell them a few times and be patient till they decide to do it, in my opinion. 
On the other hand, as a teacher I know that it’s a must; it’s my responsibility to have all my ss working hard and participating equally.  


Ok that's all. hanks for all your previous comments and for the new ones beforehand :D

Second Class (Second Semester, First Period)

HILARIOUS EXPERIENCE!

Konnichiwa my bloggers!

Yesterday I taught my second class with the Intermediate I group and it was a nice class because we all have fun and learn at the same time.

As I told you in my previous entry, most of the students are boys who are so outgoing and who like to joke around, which is good when you need their participation and to have a fun environment in the class. Nevertheless, you have to lead them correctly; you don’t have to be “so tight neither so loose” otherwise they may feel and behave inhibited or they may do a party in the classroom! Thanks God, the teacher told me in the feedback that she liked my classroom management.

I began the class by playing an Bingo of Adjectives…

      

Then, I did a quick grammar review about Adverbs of Manner; I wrote some of the spelling rules to make adverbs of manner from adjectives and I used some of the adjectives of the Bingo as examples.

Next, I asked ss to form two groups to do a competition game for which I gave each group 12 of the Bingo’s flashcards so that they could write the correct adverbs of manner by using the given adjectives. The group with fewer mistakes would win candies…

…I checked each group’s answers on the board so that they could learn from their mistakes and group 2 won the candies!

The next activity was a mimic game in which participants were chosen by playing the hot potato…And here is when the HILARIOUS MOMENT comes…

                   

To begin, the teacher didn’t take the CD player to the class so I asked the students if one of them could sing and one of them agree, so he went to the board and started singing while the rest of the class passed the CANDIES…yes :$ CANDIES…I thought it was going to be a good idea that the object that students will pass were candies…for sure that was a bad idea because they eat them! …

While the game I heard ss laughing, but I thought they were laughing because of their classmate’s voice…I didn’t get angry, I just started laughing and I said: Come on! The people who ate the candies should come to the board to do some mimics. And some of the students stood up and did it.

While the mimics we all continued laughing with these boys…the words they mimicked were adjectives which were used in the final activity, which was a fill in the blanks.

All in all, every group I have taught at the University has been different, but any of those groups have behaved as this group; I hope you don’t misunderstand me because they are participative, friendly and respectful, but if you give them the opportunity to do a prank they will. So Warning with them! Ha-ha

  

First Class (Second Semester)

Hello my blogger’s friends, welcome to my site again!

On Thursday, August 8^th I taught my fist class of this semester and thanks God it was a pretty nice experience; I only got nervous the day before but not the main day neither during the class, I guess the previous experiences helped me to feel more confident and it was also a good day for me.

This period I’m teaching Intermediate II and they are a large group of students; most of them are boys and it seems they like to joke around, but they also like to work in class.

In regard with the lesson, I didn’t spend too much time creating it because I only added a song, “You’re beautiful” by James Blunt, as a warm-up and I took the rest of the activities from the teacher’s lesson; the activities were from the controlled practice and they were nice, easy and quick to develop.

At the beginning of the class, I thought that only a few students were going to be in class because only a few of them were there on time, the rest of them were late.

While I was introducing myself, some of the students were not paying attention to me and they were kind of noisy, that never happened to me before; it wasn’t that bad, but it was rare.

During the development of the first activity a few students were with their cellphones so I asked them to keep them, that either happened to me in the previous classes. Nevertheless, after checking the first activity, I felt they started changing their attitude; they were paying attention to me and to the activities, they behave and were participative. Thus, by the end of the class, I could feel the connection I usually feel with my students; something that can be described as mutual sympathy, and that was nice  :).