My 5th practice!

I had my first experience with Intermediate English I. it is important to mention that I did my teaching practice with another group of intermediate English I and some of the things I noticed are the class environment is very different among the two groups. I really like the way those students are. They really respect the effort we do to teach. They are humble and that fact lets the practitioners develop our teaching skills. I was given the book and the topic I was going to teach, one day before, so I had to work at night in order to prepare a good class. The students welcomed me and I was really cheerful and enthusiastic and I tried to transmit that to the students. I had observed the class one day before and I had an insight about what it would be like to teach them.

The warm up was an activity in which they were divided into two groups and then they had a competition writing items they get when they go shopping. They were writing at a great speed but the only constrain I had was that since the group is large, they were concentrated near the board; I tried to have them all participate in the activity but they are 27 students and I could not have control of all of them. I tried to order them in a line but the class is not that big. Aver all, the activity was nice and they liked it. After that, introduced unit four; I had them discuss a couple of questions about the gifts they buy for their friends and they gave their opinion. I asked individual questions to the quieter students in order to make them speak.

I explain some grammar points in which I spend about six minutes; the time was meaningful because I solved many doubts about adverbs collocation. When I finished the grammar explanation, I involved them in oral practice. They were very enthusiastic and attentive to my class development. It was a great experience.

Last class with Intermediate I!

This group is very nice and I enjoyed all the classes. In this last class I had them a TPR activity which they enjoyed a lot. There were 2 teams. One of them turned back as the other performed an activity I showed through a flash card. I asked them to freeze and the other team then could turn back and guess the activity they were doing. They practiced past progressive by guessing what their classmates were doing. I prepared a series of speaking activities in order to have them solidify the grammar explanation I gave them. They were attentive and enthusiastic. And they asked questions regarding the topic. The class went so well but the only flaw was that I misspelled three words and the students corrected me. The teacher told me that I turned nervous but personally, I think I managed it. I tell the tutor teacher that I don’t feel confident at all because they are not my students. I don’t feel really committed to them. In the Saturday morning program, it is so different because all the students trust in me completely and I get to know them well.

I like them a lot because they work and understand better, but I need to be their teacher full time so I can do many amazing things with them. I would try many approaches, techniques and ideas to teach them in an exceptional way. This practice experience is really good for my learning! 

third class with Intermediate I

My third class with Intermediate English I was quite hard.  I had to read a lot in order to master the topic; one of the advantages this practice has is that we teach topics that maybe when we were students, we could not master. When we are in charge of teaching, we have to know a lot about the content. I prepared a series of activities for them to practice after the grammar explanation I gave; they really need speaking activities so they can practice their language. When I started the class which was about count and non-count nouns, quantifiers and units of measurement, several questions arose from the students. They found controversial why chicken and broccoli is uncountable; to this I gave a proper explanation telling them that it chicken is not the same when it is an animal and when we refer to it as food.

I also taught few and a few. I told them that few has negative connotation whereas a few has positive connotation. These words dragged them into confusion because they didn’t understand why it was either negative or positive. I gave them a couple of examples: Paul has few friends. It is not good for him because we must have lots of friends. David has a few apples in his bag. When nobody has fruits, David has some; it is good!

Well, students asked and I tried to answer as correct as I could. All I had read and the background I had helped me to answer their questions. At the end of the class, the tutor told me that I was not so confident, but personally, I think I was. She also told me that it is so good that I make them all participate in the class. Overall, it was a great experience.

Second class with Intermediate I

I was really eager to start my second practice with this group because i feel really enthusiastic when i have to teach them. They look really motivated when I come to teach them. in my first class with them, I saw some students that were sort of shy and not willing to participate. I tried to inquire into why they behave in that way and I found out that they are afraid of using what they know due to their lack of confidence. I tried to move the shy students but before the class I approached one humble student that told me he felt fear of using his language; I told him that I used to have the same problem but I looked for a way to help myself. I started to talk a lot and to participate as much as I could. I sat in the first desk to avoid distraction. After all I told him, he felt confident and started to participate. I feel really committed to this group because they respect my work and I respect them as learners. They are really polite and thank me every class I teach.

In this class I prepared a listening and some speaking activities because I saw the necessity they have for using their language. They did it in a fun way and I encourage them to ask for vocabulary they don’t know. This class was more special because I arranged the desks in a U-shape and all the students participate. It was a great experience.

My first class with Intermediate I

I thought I had lost track because a large period of vacations has slowed down I little my teaching techniques; however, when the teaching time came, I felt ready to do it again. Something I have notice is that all of the practice we have been through has already shaped our lives. We are grown teachers that are eager and confident when teaching. I was really keen to teach this Intermediate group because they look really devoted to learn and they have that thirst of learning. After I observed the group, I knew I was going to do something special with them. I felt somehow committed to them because I am also their teacher.

I was given the material to teach and I tried to find some interactive activities for them to practice. I was quite nervous but I planned properly so my class could be great. I arrived to the classroom and some of them were really surprised because I was about to make my debut with them. I greeted them and asked how they felt and tried to make them release their energy with a couple of questions they had to answer in a way that they teased their brains.

My impression was that they wanted to know me and what a showed was a great satisfaction of being teaching them. I had them do a review of the tenses they have being studying. They all participated and felt confident when making questions and sentences in many tenses. They all received me well and clapped their hands accepting the development of my work. They are great students.

My teacher was polite when making some suggestions. She told me that I have to show more confidence when teaching; however, I consider that I have enough confidence but I will continue improving. I really want one more chance to teach and put into practice what my tutor suggested me.

My last practice with Advanced English II

This week was not good for me. I was sick when it started, so I waited for the last two days to develop my practice. It was a flop because I didn’t know Mr. Blanco had planned to finish classes before the week ended. I could not do anything because there was nothing to teach to them. I was really willing to teach my last class to Advanced English students but I think three classes gave me the chance to deal with really challenging classes; all the experience I got with them really satisfies me and leads me to the right techniques and proper way to teach Advanced English Students. 

THIRD CLASS WITH ADVANCED II

In my third practice with Advanced English II, I was kind more confident; I prepared material and meaningful activities so the students could motivate and better understand the class. There were of course some grammar points I didn’t understand properly so I asked Mr. Blanco, my tutor, to clarify the grammar content. I was ready to teach, I started my class teaching Participle clauses when they are used to substitute adverb clauses; students had previous learning about adverb clauses which helped me to explain the Participle clauses easily.

The topic was not fun, but it was quite long; it took half of my class to explain grammar, so I had them to solve a brain teaser after the grammar explanation. They really enjoyed the brain teaser; after this activity, I had them practice the Participle clauses; they had a better understanding of these clauses and whenever they had doubts or difficulties, I helped them to solve the exercises.

When my tutor gave me feedback, he told me about the “momentum” where the students reach an state in which they are ready to practice; the grammar explanation sets the momentum, but he told me that I instead of having them practice, I developed the brain teaser, so they lost the momentum. I keep learning and getting the advantages of this practice, however all the feedback, my experience and the observations I do, help me to build my own style.