Third class – English Access Program

Class 3 – Wednesday, August 19^th, 2015

Description

My last class in this period was in another group because I had some problems with the schedule, so I had to teach there with intermediate students in the English access program as well. The classroom was a little bigger than where I taught my previous classes: in addition, the seating arrangement was different; they were seating in a semi-circle, and it was nice because I had a better sight of the group. I started the class with a warm-up where the students had to unscramble some sentences in present perfect tense, and they worked in groups of four. After that, I taught the present perfect tense in interrogative form by writing on the board the structure of the questions. As a surprise, I noticed that they understood very fast, so I did not spend time in the grammar explanation; then, I develop a fill in the blanks activity where they worked individual. In addition, I developed a very nice activity called FIND SOMEONE WHO; the students had to stand up and ask some question to their classmate, and I finished the class with a wrap-up where they had to make some questions.

Interpret

I noticed that grammar phase is very important to establish the bases of a topic; moreover, I could see that the attitude of the teacher influences a lot in the students because they perceive when the teacher enjoys teaching, and it motivates them to learn.

Generalize

Body language is very important to communicate when the words do not work. In this class, it helped me too much because I used it for giving directions; moreover, students liked to guess what I wanted to say. In addition, this group liked to participate and ask as much as possible because they wanted to clarify all their doubts, and I liked that because the duty of all teachers is to clarify their doubts.

Plan action

For future classes, I will try to use more funny and significant activities because students like to learn while they are playing; moreover, I will use more visual aids and any other resources as magazines, newspapers, and I will try to be more enthusiastic in my classes.

My second class

Second class – English Access Program

Class 2 – Monday, August 10^th, 2015

Description

This is my second class in the English Access Program and I had good expectations about the class. I started the class with a kinesthetic warm up; therefore, I developed it in the soccer field, and students enjoyed being outside running and making sentences using adjectives in the superlative form. After the warm-up, we came back to the classroom, and the seating arrangement was as the first class in rows in front to the board. I developed the first semi-controlled activity; the students had to answer some questions using the superlative form of the adjectives that were in the questions; in addition, I checked the activity by asking to some students. For this second class I used more visual aids; for example, I prepared a matching activity where the students had to match an adjective with a picture and make a sentence using both things. I could notice that they enjoyed that activity because many people wanted to participate. Moreover, I developed a wrap-up as last activity. As the first class, students participated in all the activities and the rapport was better than the first class because I perceived more confidence to each other. In addition, I managed the time perfectly because I finish all the activities at 5:00 pm and felt less nervousness than the first class. As last point, the students asked me a lot of questions in order to clarify their doubts, and I really liked the interest that they showed for learning.

Interpret

In this second class, I could notice that students really enjoy the warm-up because it demanded a lot of movements, but I spent a little more time; in addition, I realized that visual aids are a very good methodology in order to encourage students to learn; however, it was necessary to support them with examples and body language, so it means that we as teachers have to use all the resources that we have in order to improve the learning process.

Generalize 

To give clear directions to students is really important because it makes the teachers’ life easier. Some advantages of giving clear directions are students ask less, work faster and save time. In addition, if students do not understand the directions orally, teacher can write them on the board or he can use body language for supporting the explanation, but the best way is to show them some examples about the activity.

Plan action

For future classes, I ‘m going to provide some examples for every activity; moreover, I am going to use more visual aids in order to increase the students’ learning, and I am going to write some rules on the board before starting the class; it will help me to control them better.

FIRST CLASS

Firs class – English Acces Program.

Class 1 – Monday, July 27^th, 2015

Description

This is my first class of the semester and my first experience in English Access Program. I could notice the pretty short classroom, the warm weather and 21 students waiting for the class; however, I saw the students with a good attitude toward the class; in addition, they were seating in rows in front of the board because the space did not allow other seating arrangement; I prepared some identifications for every students in order to know their names; moreover, it helped me to create a good rapport with them, and I developed a warm up activity about thing that they should do for living a healthy life. After that, I also did some semi-controlled activities based on the modals should and could.

They participated in all the activities that I developed and did a really good job; I think that I could fulfill my objective because they wanted to learn more about English. In addition, I could manage the time perfectly because I finished at 5 o’clock; also, I finished with all the activities that I prepared for them.

In summary, I felt a little nervous at the beginning of the class; after that, I really enjoyed the class because they asked many things in order to fill all the doubts, and it is the way that students should be in all the classes.

Interpret

The most common problems practitioners face as new teachers is that they have to keep the group of students’ attention in the lesson because of their age they can easily distract themselves by speaking with other students. Another problem that practitioners face is how to manage the time; it is sometimes common because something that they don’t expect can happen; for example, students do not understand the topic very well and the teacher has to reinforce the topic. It demands time that is out of their plan.  

Generalize

Based on what I already know about teaching, teachers must prepare material related to the topic, and that material has to fulfill the students’ needs; on the other hand, the material has to make the learning process easier for the students in order to they clarify all the doubts about the topic. Furthermore, based on what I observer, the students in English Access are always ready for learning new things about English, and they show their interest by asking, working, participating. As last point, I am sure that visual aids and active activities help students to learn better.

Plan actions

In future lessons, I will develop more interactive activities, and group activities: moreover, for the next class, I am going to develop a warm-up activity outside the classroom; I will make more visual aids because the learning is better when students work their senses; for example,  the sight, the hearing and touch. In addition, I will try to make the passive students participate more frequently.