My third Teaching Class

Hello Guys!!...Today was my last class on the basic level of the major, and I have to say that I am glad for the experience I had with those kids. I have nothing bad to say about the group. There were no problems at all. The only thing I had to overcome today was that I was not feeling 100% ok, so I was feeling kind of nervous (something that didn’t happen to me the previous two classes.

But any way, the show must go on.

The topic to be developed was daily activities. As always, I start the class with the greeting, some sort of questions to get in the same page with the students. The warm up activity I did this time was to make students stand in a circle and close their eyes. Meanwhile I was going to touch someone’s back, and that person was to stand outside the classroom. Later, the students opened their eyes and guessed who was missing.

 The presentation of the topic was next, and I pasted the clock we did in audiovisuals. I started to talk about my daily routine, and I asked students to give me theirs. I listed it and it was pretty funny because we were joking about the strange routine we establish.

Then, I gave them a sheet of paper with some questions; for doing so, they needed to stand up and ask the rest of the classmates. At the end, this activity was checked together with the students. The way of asking them was kind of different, so I brought a ball and asked students randomly. They were very focused in answering the questions because they didn’t know who their same classmates were going to call.

Then, we worked with some exercises from the book.

And since I was lacking time, I did the last activity, which consisted of asking students to past to the front and throw a dice which contained the different pronouns. I had also some strips of paper with some verbs in each one. So, they were to throw the dice, pick a verb, and made a simple present sentence. They enjoy this activity because the sentence the made by themselves were hilarious, and once again they were the ones picking the next volunteer.

At the end, I thanked students for the opportunity and I gave them some gum as a gift from my part.

To sum up, it was a nice experience to work with the basic group, and hopefully they learn something from me as I did from them.

Teaching my Second Class

Another Friday passed, and my second teaching opportunity arrived as well.

The same level, the same students, the same classroom, helped me somehow to feel more confident in my second class development.

The topic this time were various which made me feel kind of stressed since I didn’t know how to join them all. Some of them were like a review, and the other ones were topics not clear for the students.

I taught about how to make questions in the simple present (which means the usage of “Do” and “Does”), the family, and possessives.

The difference with my first class is that I arrived even earlier because I had plenty of material to be organized.

Before starting the class, I like to establish some kind of confidence with the students, so I started by greeting and asking them about their valentine’s day. Besides making them feel more comfortable, they started to practice the target language without notice it.

Later, I began with the warm up activity which I called “LET’S MAKE SENTENCES”. I don’t know if it exists, but I made it.

What I did is to cut several strips of paper which contains different word patterns (AM, NEIGHBOR, I, A, TEACHER, HE, SHE, IS, ARE,?,Etc.). What the students needed to do was to paste those strips of paper on the whiteboard and try to make as many sentences as possible. Students like competitions, so the idea of dividing the class was perfect one; besides, it adds some sort of challenge between the students.

The activity worked really well because all of the students could participate, and there was no problem of making any sentence.

At the end together with the students, the sentences were checked, and they even correct themselves which was rewarding to me because in those little moments you realize if they have understood what you have been teaching or not.

The topics I decided to join were the possessives and the family topic. Since this was a little review, I explained to them with some examples and I made them worked with a crossword related to the family.

The grammar part arrived, and I needed to explain to them how they can make questions in the simple present. I started making a sentence in the simple present, and I showed them the changes that occur when transforming them into questions. This was the base to make them familiar with the topic because, at the beginning, I asked them for some examples of sentences and I wrote them on the board, showing to them the changes on those examples. Later, I asked to some students to stand up and make some sentences by themselves.

At the end, I gave them the patter for the structure (Aux (Do/Does) +Subject + verb + c +question mark + .

I did this at the end because you can let yourself understood better if you start form the general things to the abstract things.

What I consider important is that we shouldn’t forget to let them copy the information you present to them; for that reason, I gave them some minutes to copy the same examples they provided to the class.

As a wrap up, I brought 3 dices of different colors. They were used in a game in which the student who got any of this dices needed to say a sentence depending on the color of the dice.

·         The pink dice was for family (they needed to include words like father, son, aunt, etc. in the sentence they will provide)

·         The blue dice was for question (they needed to come up with a question according to the topics seen in class)

·         The green dice was for possessive (they needed to say a sentence where the possessive case was shown.

Everything was done as it was planned to. Students had no problem answering each of the tasks.

What I could see in this class is that they were kind of talkative which made me call their attention, but somehow I took advantage of it and made those students participate.

The tips I can share today are:

·         Let you students construct their own knowledge. I guess is more significant to them to see the examples they provide, and work base on those.

·         Have them participate as much as they can because they need to develop that feeling of speaking English in a natural way.

·         Correct pronunciation every time you can, your students will appreciate it.

·         Don’t be afraid of adding new vocabulary in each topic you develop. This will increase your students vocabulary (remember that you can be understood through mimics, examples, etc.)

Teaching my first class!!!!!

Hello here!!!

This Friday, 8th, 2013 will be one of those memorable dates in my life as a student because I had the chance to teach my first and official class at university level.

The group I was teaching is Basic English of our same major, Bachelor of Arts, option English.

Since I was going to observe classes, I realize it was a big group of students. They are 25 students to be exact. I guess most of us have really big groups, which make us to some point be nervous and wonder“how am I going to do if they are so many?” “Are they going to collaborate with me?” “Is my lesson plan good enough to make a good job?” those where some of my initials thoughts before teaching my class.

Believe me, I have never been so nervous to teach a class, knowing that I like to do things in the most organized way and only had few hours to do it make me even more nervous.

On Thursday morning, I was given the part of the lesson plan I was supposed to develop, “QUESTIONS USING THE VERB TO BE FORM”;in other words, YES/NO QUESTIONS.

It was to some extend a review for them because they were practicing the same topic some days before.

In my lesson planning, I wanted to include also the “PROFESSIONS” topic so those were the topics I taught.

In general, my lesson planning was based on one of the most efficient methods (to my point of view), and it is ECRIF. You not only have your activities, but also you can organized them and present them in a more and well executed way. You can include the materials, time, and even the multiple intelligences you will address, something I consider really important to us to take into consideration if we want to be secure of our performance.

GREETING

I started the class by making a general greeting, asking them some questions, and giving them some small sheets of colored paper for them to write their names. (The idea was to call them by their names, which is really important if we want to make a good relationship with your students and since it was colored paper, they were supposed to make groups matching the same color, something I couldn’t do because of the time).

WARM UP

For the warm up, I did the activity we used to play with teacher Aida, Earthquake. This activity consists of 3 actions. But the first instructions are to get in trios, two members hold hands up (making the house shape), while the other is between them (playing the human role). The actions are address with three words, fire, flood, and earthquake.

· When the teacher says fire, houses move and humans stay; meanwhile, the houses look for another human.

· When the teacher says flood, humans move and houses stay; meanwhile, the humans go for another house.

· When the teacher says earthquake, everybody moves and make another house with another human in it.

 

Indeed, it seems a really challenging activity to explain with a basic group, but it wasn’t difficult at all. The key I consider to be the solution for us to be understood is mimics. I showed them rather than tell, and it really worked because I could see they were enjoying the game.

This activity makes them feel more comfortable with me since I was playing next to them. My advice to you is to always do a warm up activity, whether it is a review or a game, use it because it releases tension, and make students awake.

VOCABULARY CHECK

Here I wanted to see the vocabulary acquired about professions, so this is what I did.

LETTER SOUP

• Pasted a chart of a letter soup which contains 10 names of some professions.

• I gave the general instructions of how the game was to be played (this is important to be done clearly, so they do what you want them to do)

• Asked the students to divide the class into two.

• Gave each group a marker and tell them they had to run and mark the profession.

• Later, they had to give the marker to another member of their groups, and so on

• The point is to make more points than the other group.

• At the end of the game, I had them repeating the names of the occupations so I could check their pronunciation.

Here, I could hear some boys talking in Spanish (about the lesson, but still in Spanish), so I asked them politely not to do it because this was our only time to practice it. After that attention called, the problem disappeared.

INTRODUCTION OF THE TOPIC

Here was where the grammar part appeared. This is what I did.

• Using the chart with the explanation, I explained the uses and the changes it occurs when making questions, using the verb to be.
• I used some flashcards of some professions to make some sentences with them; besides, I used them to check their pronunciation.
• At the end of the explanation, I asked students to give some examples (so the class turns more interactive). The same examples they gave to me where used to make like a repetition drill.

 READING

I consider this as an important part of the lesson, because they need to develop fluency in their speech. That’s why I picked a reading as a tool. Of course the reading had included the target vocabulary (sentences using the verb be, that later with the help of the students will be transformed in questions.)

· I pasted the chart with the reading named Ben’s life

• First I read it so they could see the pronunciation. Later, I asked them read it together with me, and at the end they did it by themselves.
• I took some parts of the reading, and make some simple questions like “where is he from?”” is he from Australia?” “Is his girlfriend’s name Ana?”, etc
• Later, I underlined some sentences like “I am a volunteer” “our families are happy for us”,etc so they transformed them into interrogative form.

 

DICTATION

This part was based on some sentences that were in the teacher’s lesson planning.

· What I basically did was to dictate those sentences, and asked the students to copy them and to transform them into questions.

· By this time, the end of the class was coming, so I gave a couple of minutes and we checked the sentences together.

HOMEWORK

· To finish my lesson, I asked them to write five more sentences in the affirmative form, and also those same sentences in the interrogative form.

Over all this experience, I could say it was refreshing to see myself not only calm but in charge of the group without having a serious problem. It made me feel confident and secure of everything I have learned.

It was my first try and I really enjoyed it….

Hope you had a great experience as well.
The most significant pieces of advice I can give to you are:


· Use mimics when talking. It is better to show them rather than tell.
· Make your explanations simple and clear.
· Have them interacting with the lesson, so they don’t fall asleep.
· Have a positive attitude.

Hope this helps you and I am open to any suggestion you have for me.