Teaching Practicum II Reflection.

Teaching Practicum II has been an amazing experience for me, because I really like to teach English to teenagers. In this final reflection I am going to describe the most important moments for me during the whole semester. The group of students that I have attended was energetic, talkative and special, I consider that was a challenge for me when I planned the classes, I thought in their cognitive characteristics and their interests. It is important to figure out and imagine how an activity will work with your class, and I think in my students’ tastes, behavior, likes, and interests in order they feel interested in my class and motivated to participate on it. 

It was wonderful for me when I taught them and the other teacher said: “Now, the teacher Iliana is going to continue with the class” and my students started to clap and they said: “Yeah, teacher Iliana”, and I saw their faces that reflected happiness. My students’ attitude motivated me in order to prepare my classes and materials, and design my class with activities that help them to learn and make the learning process significant. All the classes were interesting for me and I enjoyed all the activities that I performed with them, but I am going to describe the three most important moments.

 The first one was in the lesson with the topic “My Stuff”, I prepared a warm-up called “The fastest Hands” in which students formed groups of 3, and they sat down together. Then, students put their hands in their necks. I started to count from 1 to 3, and my students put their hands in the center over the desks. At the end, the student that had his/her hand in the top was the volunteer and he/she mentioned in the group what I asked, for example: The alphabet, numbers from 1 to 20, 6 colors, numbers from 20 to 1, 5 countries, 5 nationalities, 5 feelings, etc. My students really enjoyed the activity because they were motivated and all of them participated in the warm-up. I consider that my students had the opportunity of review the previous vocabulary and knowledge that they learned in the previous classes.

The second one was in the lesson “My family”, in the post part; the activity was focused on writing and speaking skills. Students wrote a short paragraph about their family and occupations.  Students described their names, ages, occupation, etc. l wrote in the board an example in order to model the exercise. I explained that they had to use vocabulary, names, possessives, ages, occupations, etc. Then, students worked in couples and read the short paragraph to a partner.  At the end, some volunteers passed in front and read the short paragraph that they had written. I like this activity because my students were able to write about their members of their family and their occupations using vocabulary and some basic grammar structures. My students passed in front and talked about themselves.

The third most important moment was in the class “My bedroom”. It was in the post part and it was focused in speaking skill. My students formed couples by numbering them. Then, students took a thing that they had for example: a pen, an eraser, a cell phone, a bag, a backpack, etc. Students had to describe their things by saying adjectives, possessives adjectives and colors. After that, students had to describe someone’s possession. I modeled the activity by describing my cell phone, and I describe someone else’s possession. At the end, volunteers will pass in front and describe someone’s possession. I consider that my students practice their speech in a real life situation because they described an object in the moment in which they had the object in their hands. I like it because it propitiates the learning process. I have described the three most important moments that I consider as successful activities during my teaching practicum II.

On the other hand, I received some comments from the observers about the things that I have to improve in the next classes. I am going to describe some aspects, for example: The observer suggested that I had to give to my students the opportunity of compare answers when they worked in the handout. He told me that students feel more comfortable when they share their answers with their partners. Also, the format of the handout, the observer told me that I had to include the number of pages in order students know in which page the exercise is. During the post activities I used to correct students’ mistakes, but he suggested me that in the production part students should feel free to talk English, and if they made mistakes it is ok. He told me that I have to correct mistakes during the practice activities or in the reviewing part. I consider that the observers told me those comments in order to improve myself and I accept my mistakes.

 According to the feedback that I have received from my observers, I had improved the things that they considered that was wrong. For example: When my students work in the handout, they compared their answers with their partners before to share it with the whole class. I consider that it is positive because they reinforced their knowledge and learn more from other people. Also, I checked the handout and the details before to print it. I think that it is important that the handout includes the page number in order students are oriented during the exercises development. I added the page numbers in the handout. And about correcting mistakes, I noticed that when I correct my students’ mistakes in the production part, I did not correct them, on the contrary I interrupt the post part and they did not develop their ideas in a freely way. So, I did not correct their mistakes in the moment, I did at the end or one of my colleagues did it at the beginning of the next class. All the comments that I have received have been positives for me because I have improved a lot as teacher. I have not noticed about those mistakes, and now I have grown as professional.

At the end of this practicum II, I analyze that I have learned a lot from my students, colleagues and observers. In my real life I work as English teacher and my students are teenagers, but the group that I had in the teaching practicum were different. So, it was a new experience for me, I have improved a lot, and I learned what types of activities are appropriate for teenagers. Also, I have grown as teacher because I am not the same teacher as when I started this semester. I feel successful as teacher because my students learn a lot from the classes that I gave them, they participated and feel motivated when they were in my English class. Also, now I know how to develop the English skills by applying teaching techniques, the appropriate activities and how to apply it. It was amazing!

  

Fourth week of classes.

As teacher we must know how to discipline our students when we are teaching any lesson. I want to show you a technique that is called “Direct Instructions” ” in order to have a better classroom discipline. First, this technique means that as teacher we need to start each class by telling the students exactly what will be happening.  Also, we can say what we and the students will be doing during the class in order to have a better classroom management. Therefore, we may set time limits for some tasks. Second, an effective way to deal with this technique is to include time at the end of the class for students to do activities of their choosing. The teacher may finish the class activities with: “I think we will have some time at the end of the class for you to go to the library and work for other classes.”  To conclude with this technique, we must be willing to wait for the class attention when we know there is extra time to meet our goals and objectives. So that, students soon realize that the more time the teacher waits for their attention, the less free time they have at the end of the hour.

Monday, March 17^th, 2014. 

First class.
I started the class with an unusual warm-up that I called “The fastest Hands”, this activity is related to total physical response and I consider that this is an effective activity because they practice the previous vocabulary and they got fun too. Also, I realized that students acquire the vocabulary and if someone made a mistake they corrected themselves.

I introduced the new vocabulary their stuff and some adjectives to describe it. I presented the new vocabulary with some pictures in the board and students repeated the new vocabulary in a choral repetition. Also, I asked for some volunteers to paste the name of the objects on the pictures that they saw on the board. Therefore, I introduced the adjectives to describe objects with some pictures too and finally they practices the vocabulary, I consider that when they practiced the pronunciation of the vocabulary helped then to internalize the meaning and they associate the word with the picture.

So that, students were ready to practice what they have learned in the previous part of the lesson. They were doing some fill in the blanks, check the correct adjective and they pasted some adjectives that represent the pictures that they had in the worksheet. Finally they share their answers with a pairs and then with the whole group.

In the last part of the class, students were practicing the new vocabulary and the adjectives, they had some pictures and they were asked to describe what they see on the picture, when they were ready, I asked to form two lines in order to share tier ideas with the information in the way that one student move one space in the line. After that, I asked for volunteers to share their description about the picture. They enjoy the activity and they did a good job. Also at the end you will see my lesson plan.

Second class.

I started the class with an unusual warm-up that I called “The crazy Alphabet”. In which students review he vocabulary from the previous class. They were ask to form some words, they enjoy this type of activities because are very competitive and I could see that during the whole course.

 
 Then, I explained how to use one of the reading sub-skills called scanning. Students look for specific information in an example exercise. (Mini chart) that contained a profile in which someone was describing their favorite stuff.

So that, students were ready to practice the reading sub-skill.  They did some exercises in which they read a profile and they underline the name of stuff and circle the adjectives. Also, they corrected some sentences that were taken from the profile.

As final activity, they will wrote a profile in which they described their favorite thing and they included their name and the name of the object, adjectives, colors, etc. after that, I asked for some volunteers that read their profiles.

To conclude the class, I did a wrap-up that I called “Burst a balloon”. Students burst a balloon that contains an adjective or vocabulary word inside. After that they read the piece of paper and they said a sentence using that word. I consider that the activity was interesting for the students and called their attention and all of them participated and they did a good job. At the end you will see my lesson plan.

 

Teacher’s name: Iliana Lissett Escobar Alberto               Date: March 17^th, 2014                                Group N° 4

Unit1: My Stuff           Lesson(s): My Stuff                                    Time: 2 hours

Vocabulary: computer, MP3, cell phone, skateboard, big, cheap, expensive, long, new, old, short, small.

Expressions: My computer is… My cell phone is… My notebook is …

Objectives of the lesson:  Students will be able to

- Describe objects by saying adjectives.

- Listen and recognize the adjectives that describe objects

-  Write a profile by describing one of their favorite stuff.

Time	Stage	Procedure	Details
10”	Warm-up “The fastest Hands”	Ss will form groups of 3, and they will sit down together. Then, Ss will put their hands in their necks. Teacher will count from 1 to 3, and ss will put their hands in the center over the desks. The Ss that has his/her hands in the top will be the volunteer. The Ss will mention what T ask: ·         The alphabet ·         Numbers from 1 to 20 ·          6 colors ·         Numbers from 20 to 1 ·         5 countries ·         5 nationalities ·          5 feelings ·         Vowels	Aim of the activity: to review the previous topics: The alphabet, numbers, colors, numbers, feelings countries and nationalities Type of learner: V – K – A Interaction: teacher- students. Ss-Ss Materials: Board and markers Responsible: Iliana Escobar
10”	Oral Presentation Feedback	The teacher will give oral presentation grades to Ss. The teacher will give feedback to Ss about mispronounce, grammar mistakes, etc	Aim of the activity: to give feedback to Ss in order they improve and correct their mistakes Interaction: teacher- students. Materials: Rubric and grades Responsible: Iliana Escobar
15”	Pre-Listening	The teacher will introduce the topic by presenting the vocabulary words and adjectives. I VOCABULARY WORDS: The teacher will present vocabulary words using pictures in the board, and then Ss will repeat the vocabulary.  Teacher will ask to Ss: Is it a Computer? Is it a Mp3? And, volunteers will pass in front and paste the name of the vocabulary. II ADJECTIVES: The teacher will introduce adjectives using pictures that represent the meaning. And, Ss will look under their desks, and then they will pass in front to paste the pictures and the name of the adjectives. Finally, Ss practice choral repetition.	Aim of the activity: to internalize vocabulary words and adjectives. Type of learner: V – A – K – T Interaction: T- Ss Materials: Pictures, pieces of paper that contain the names of the vocabulary words and adjectives. Responsible: Iliana Escobar
10”	During I	Students will listen to audio #11and they will work on the handout on page 1 exercise #1. Ss will look at the pictures and fill in the blanks with the adjectives below.   Then listen and check the answers together	Aim of the activity: to internalize the vocabulary words and adjectives. Type of learner: V  – A Interaction: teacher- students, Ss-Ss Materials: Handout, audio Cd, Cd player Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	During II	Students will listen to audio #12 and they will work on the handout on page 1 exercise #2. Students will listen 4 sentences; they will check the correct adjective.  Then listen and check the answers together	Aim of the activity: to encounter and practice adjectives. Type of learner: V – A – T Interaction: teacher- students. Ss-Ss Materials:  Handout, audio Cd, Cd player Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	During III	Teacher will give to students some pieces of paper with the names of adjectives. Then, they will work on page #2 exercise #3. Students will paste the adjectives in the blank space, matching the sentence and picture with the name of the adjective. After that,  the teacher and SS will check the answers together	Aim of the activity: to encounter the adjectives by matching sentences and pictures. Type of learner: V – K – A- T Interaction: teacher- students, Ss-Ss Materials: pieces if paper with names of the adjectives, handout, glue. Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	Post	The teacher will form couples by numbering Ss. Then, students will take pieces of paper that contain pictures. After that, Ss will describe the object by saying adjectives that describe them by mention colors and characteristics. And, volunteers will pass in front and describe the object.	Aim  of the activity:  to describe objects by saying adjectives Type of learner: V,A, K Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: pieces of paper with pictures, handout, etc. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
10”	Warm-up The crazy Alphabet	The teacher will organize students in 2 teams; they will form a line, and then put the pieces of paper with the letters of alphabet on the desk. The teacher will say a vocabulary word, and students will look for the letters of the alphabet in order to form the vocabulary word. The teams will compete, and the winners will be the team that form most vocabulary words WORDS: Big               Computer             Long         Skateboard Short             Cell phone           Cheap      Expensive	Aim of the activity: to review and internalize vocabulary words and adjectives. Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: pieces of paper with the letters of the alphabet. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar

Friday, March 21^st, 2014.

First class.

I started the class with an unusual warm-up that is called “Spin the wheel”, students turned the spinning wheel and according to the category of the words they took a paper and they formed one sentence. I consider that the activity is very useful when we try to review previous topics and students have fun. On my class students did a very good job because they were able to say all the sentences that the spinning wheel had.

I presented the new topic with a chart that contained the subject pronouns and the possessive adjectives. Also, I gave some examples about how to use it and students were practicing the pronunciation of the pronouns and the possessive adjectives in a choral repetition.

So that they were ready to practice, the first practice that I did was a memory game, in which students internalized the target grammar. Students were playing the game in pairs, students needed to match the subject pronoun with possessive pronouns that was in order to practice and internalize the target grammar. Something that I could see was that they were very competitive and they did not like to lose, so in my point of view this activity really helped them to practice the target grammar.

The other activities were oriented to the writing and reading parts. They were doing some fill in the blanks exercises in order to use the correct possessive adjective. After that they look some pictures and they read some descriptions about positions that was in order to see if they got the correct pronunciation of the target grammar.

The last part of the lesson was related to produce what they learned in the class. So that, students took a thing that they had like pen, bag, cellphone, backpack, etc. And they were asked to describe their things to a partner and they said the adjectives, possessives adjectives and colors. At the end I asked for volunteers to share their description. I consider that this activity helped students to remember what they have learned in previous lessons and in this class. I was very prove of them because they were able to complete the task. At the end you will see my lesson plan.

Second class.

I started the second class with a warm-up that I called “Shooting to the possessive pronoun”, in  which students passed in front and took a piece of paper that contains a sentence, they rear it loud and they decided thee correct possessive pronoun, they needed to shot the correct possessive pronoun according to the previous class. I could see that they enjoy the activity and they did a good job because they shot always the correct possessive pronoun.

I introduced the new vocabulary that was part of a reading called “Things in your bedroom” with some pictures. Those were game console, lamp, magazines, sneakers, TV, watch, bed, bedside table, bookcase, chair, closet and desk. So that, I gave them some pieces of paper that contain the vocabulary words and they passed in front in order to say the word and then they pasted it on the board. After that, they practiced the vocabulary words in a choral repetition. I consider that pictures and the words in colored papers really helped students to internalize the target vocabulary and also they have fun.

The activities for this lesson were: first, they were looking a picture about Juan’s bedroom and they needed to label the picture with the correct word. Also, they listened to an audio about Juan’s bedroom in order to see their answers, then they share their answers with a partner.

Second, students looked at the picture of Juan´s bedroom again, and fill in the blanks with the correct objects. After that they shared their answers with a partner and then with the whole group.

Then final activity was the post, in which students look at the picture of Juan’s bedroom again and they were ask to describe the objects that were on the picture and they need to say the position of the objects and the color of it. Finally, students were doing the activity in pairs and after that I asked for some volunteers to pass in front and said their object descriptions. I considered that they did a good job because they were able to complete the task. At the end you will see my lesson plan. 

Teacher’s name: Iliana Lissett Escobar Alberto                    Date: March 21^st, 2014                             Group N° 4

Unit1: My Stuff         Lesson(s): Things in your Bedroom                                      Time: 2 hours

Vocabulary:  Game console, lamp, magazines, sneakers, TV, watch, bed, beside table, bookcase, chair, closet, desk.

Expressions: Sentences using possessive pronouns, prepositions (on, in, under)

Objectives of the lesson:  Students will be able to

- Talk about someone’s possessions by describing objects using possessive adjectives, adjectives and colors

- Listen and recognize the vocabulary words related to objects and furniture.

-  Write possessives adjectives in sentences.

Time	Stage	Procedure	Details
10”	Warm-up “Spin the wheel”	Students will pass in front one by one. One Ss is going to spin the wheel. When the wheel stops in a category, Ss will take a piece of paper of the category and say a sentence using the word. The Ss will mention what T ask: ·         Numbers from 1 to 20 ·          Countries and Nationalities ·         Feelings ·         Adjectives ·         My stuff	Aim of the activity: to review the previous topics: numbers, countries and nationalities, feelings, adjectives, my stuff Type of learner: V – K – A Interaction: teacher- students. Ss-Ss Materials: wheel, pieces of paper that contain the vocabulary words. Responsible: Iliana Escobar
15”	Pre-Listening	The teacher will introduce the topic by presenting a chart that contains subject pronouns and possessive adjectives Finally, Ss practice choral repetition.	Aim of the activity: to internalize possessive adjectives. Type of learner: V – A – K – T Interaction: T- Ss Materials: Chart that contains subject pronouns and possessive pronouns. Responsible: Iliana Escobar
10”	During I “Memory Game”	Students will work in pairs. The teacher will model the activity. After that, the teacher is going to give to Ss a mini memory game per pair that contains pieces of paper with possessive pronouns. Then, Ss will play the memory game waiting for their turn. They will win points by matching the subject pronoun with possessive pronouns. Then Ss will play again.	Aim of the activity: to internalize and encounter possessive adjectives. Type of learner: V  – A – K Interaction: teacher- students, Ss-Ss Materials: Memory Game Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	During II	Students will work on the handout on page 1 exercise #1. Students will fill in the blanks with the correct possessive adjectives Ss will compare the answers with a classmate. Then, check the answers together	Aim of the activity: to encounter and practice possessive adjectives Type of learner: V – A – T Interaction: teacher- students. Ss-Ss Materials:  Handout. Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	During III	Students will work on the handout on page 2 exercise #2. They will look at the chart. They will read the description about possessions. Then, Ss will work in pairs and each one is going to read a description to each other. After that, the teacher is going to ask for 2 volunteers, Ss will read the description loud. Then, Ss will work on page 2 exercise # 3. They will look at the pictures in exercise 1 on page n°1. They will fill in the blanks. After that, Ss will compare the answers with a classmate, and   the teacher and SS will check the answers together	Aim of the activity: to encounter the possessive adjectives by filling in the blanks Type of learner: V  – A- T Interaction: teacher- students, Ss-Ss Materials: Handout. Responsible: Iliana Escobar.
10”	Post	The teacher will form couples by numbering Ss. Then, students will take a thing that they have (pen, eraser, cell phone, bag, backpack, etc) Students are going to describe their things by saying adjectives, possessives adjectives and colors. After that, Ss will say someone’s possession. For example: ·         Student A: Mario’s Backpack. His backpack is black and old. He likes his backpack because is big. ·         Student B: Roxana’s cell phone. Her cell phone is white and new. She likes her cell phone because is expensive. At the end, volunteers will pass in front and describe someone’s possession.	Aim  of the activity:  to describe objects by saying adjectives Type of learner: V,A, K, T Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: possessions. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
10”	Warm-up “Shooting to the possessive pronoun”	The teacher will model the activity. Students will pass in front and take a piece of paper that contains a sentence. Then, Ss will read the sentence and read it loud. After that, Ss will decide the correct possessive pronoun and using a toy gun, they will shot the possessive pronoun. Example: This is Mary’s book.  This is her book. This is __________ (Pedro) watch.  This is his watch.	Aim of the activity: to review and internalize possessive pronouns Type of learner: V,A, K, T Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: pieces of paper with sentences, toy gun, possessive pronouns, darts. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
15”	Pre-Reading	Students will work on the handout on page 3 exercise #4. The teacher will introduce the topic “Things in your bedroom”. They will look at the chart and read the vocabulary words: ·         Objects: Game console, lamp, magazines, sneakers, TV, watch. ·         Furniture: Bed, bedside table, bookcase, chair, closet, desk ·         Prepositions: On, In, Under Teacher will give to Ss pieces of paper that contain the vocabulary words. They will pass in front and say the word, and then they will paste it. Then, the teacher and Ss will practice the vocabulary words by choral repetition.	Aim of the activity: to internalize the vocabulary words Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: Handout Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
10”	During I	Students will work on the handout on page 4 exercise #4. Ss will look at the picture of Juan’s bedroom. Then, students will work on the handout on page 5 exercise #5. Ss will label the objects and furniture with the words below. Students will check the answers with a partner. Then, Ss will listen and repeat to the audio #14 twice. After that, teacher and students will check the answers together.	Aim of the activity: to recognize vocabulary and adjectives by reading and listening. Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: Handout, audio Cd, Cd player Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
5”	During II	Students will work on the handout on page 4, exercise #6. Ss will look at the picture of Juan´s bedroom again, and fill in the blanks with the correct objects. Then, Ss will compare their answers with a classmate. After that, the teacher and SS will check the answers together.	Aim of the activity: to identify the objects and colors. Type of learner: V,A Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: Handout. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
10”	Post	Students will work in pairs. They will look at the picture of Juan’s bedroom again. SS will describe objects by saying the position and the color of it. Objects: Cell phone, pencil case, books, computer, pillow, mp3 player, notebooks, skateboard. Example: ·         Juan´s notebooks are on his desk. His notebooks are green and white. Some volunteers will pass in front and say their object descriptions.	Aim of the activity: to talk about someone’s possessions by describing objects using possessive adjectives, adjectives and colors. Type of learner: V,A, T Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: Handout. Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
5”	Wrap-up	The teacher will ask to students about: ·         Possessive pronouns ·         Vocabulary words -Objects - Furniture ·         Adjectives	Aim of the activity: to say a sentence using adjectives, vocabulary words, colors, etc. Type of learner: V,A, K, T Interaction: T-S, S-S Materials: Re-use the previous materials Responsible: Iliana Lissett Escobar
Assignments  and  Announcements  : Bring your favorite object to the class and prepare to describe it in class.