last class with advanced I

Today, I had my last class with the Advanced English I. Beforehand, I have to say that there was a very big inconvenient because yesterday, the teacher told me that he was going to send me the lesson at night, but he did not as he had problems with the internet conection. He sent it this morning, but as I work in the morning I could see it and start getting ready, so I started to get prepare at one p.m. It was a very stressful time for me because I had to be reading in a hurry what I was going to teach.

Fortunately, I was going to start the lesson plan, so I took ideas from the book to develop. The warm-up activity was to have students discuss what they think are factors that attract people to other ones. It was a nice activity as I could see all students sharing their ideas. The next activity was to have students either agree or disagree with some statements about beauty. They did awesome and next they wrote true or false to each statement based on the article they had in their books.

Even thought I had the inconvenient I mentioned, The class went well and students enjoyed it. Thanks to this experience, I learned a lot!!!!!!!

3rd class with Advanced I

Today, I taught my third class in the Advanced English I group. The warm-up activity was a kind of competition game. Students were supposed to work in group; each was going to be given a marker, and they were supposed to take turns to write words with the prefixes and suffixes I was going to say, but it did not work that way because when I started the class, there was just one student. I asked that student to write as many words as he could with the prefixes and suffixes I gave him. 
Fortunately, for the second activity another student got into the classroom, so I asked that student to join the other one and discuss some questions they have in their books. They were working on that when suddenly some other students got there, so I asked them to immediately start working in pairs and discuss the questions. 
The questions were regarding postcards. There were some articles about kind of postcards and what they reflect, so I asked students to read those articles and match the descriptions with the corresponding postcard, and they did it well. As a follow up activity, I asked them to share what kind of postcard they appeal the most and why. 
I gave a brief explanation on what prefixes and suffixes are and what they are used for. Students understood it very well because with the following exercise which was about writing adjectives with some prefixes and suffixes, they did it well.  They also  filled in a reading by using some adjectives, but before, they had to change the nouns into adjectives by adding either  a prefix or suffix, and they were to use those words to complete the reading I said before. 
In general terms, the class went well as the teacher told me in the feedback session. I made some mistakes regarding pronunciation but I think I will not committ them later. I hope so jeje.

second class with Advanced I

This Thursday 25^th, I had my second class with the Advanced English 1 group. It went pretty nice. I enjoyed it as my students did.  

The warm-up activity was a “hot potato” activity. Students were passing a ball to each other while I counted from one to ten. When I said ten, the student who got the ball had to choose an envelope from the ones I pasted on the wall before starting the class. They contained sentences in active voice, so what students had to do was to change that sentence into passive voice. There were also some envelopes that had the picture of a tornado, so the students who got those pictures had to choose another envelope and say the tongue twister it had. Students had fun; the enjoyed the activity.

I continued my class by having students doing some exercises from the handout they had. I was required to develop two exercises with them. And that is what I did. I could see that students know the topic very well. One of the exercises what to have students write wh-questions in passive voice. Some of those were very challenging even for me, so I gave them “enough time” let´s say but the teacher told me that it was too much time.

In general, I can say this class went better than the previous one. There are two missed classes, so I will try to do my best on them. 

Third period, firts class with advanced I

Yesterday, I had my first class with the advanced English I. I got on time and I was ready to teach my class. It was almost four and just one student was in the classroom, and the teacher told me to start. I felt it strange because just one student was there. My original warm-up activity was the one called "broken phone" but how was I suppose to do something like that with one student. Fortunately, I had another activity, and it was about giving students pieces of paper with words, so they could form sentences with them. I gave that student the papers, so he could do what I asked him to do. He was about to start working on it when the other students got into the classroom. I asked them to make trios then and explained the activity again. I had to do the presentation of the topic by using a short reading. There students were to find out some sentences that were in passive voice which was the topic I had to teach. They did it by underlining the sentences. Then I continued with the grammar points. I had to explain on how to change an active voice sentence into passive one; it was a little bit hard because I had to include all the tense, so I was explaining each of them by using a chart I created in Audio Visual Aids. While explaining, I also involved students by giving more examples and have them change the sentences into passive voice. It was great because when I said the sentences almost everybody was giving me the answer. There some moments in which I asked them individually. Evething was going ok until a student asked a question regarding the future perfect, and it was about the position of the word "not" in the passive voice. I was sure of the answer I provided, but then I was analysing the sentence and now I know I made a mistake. I hope the teacher in charge explained it because I left after I finished my class. The feedback has not been given and I am sure the teacher will tell me about the mistake I made. In general I can say the class went well just the fact of the mistake I made. 

Last class (English Access course)

Yesterday, I had my last class with the English access course. First of all, I have to say that there were some inconvenients because the three classmates are not suppose to teach at the same hour; just two can do it at the same hour. I got to the room on time and I was getting prepare with everything but any teacher was there to evaluate my class. I talked with teacher Ovidio who is one of the teachers who evaluate those classes, and he told me that I had to wait to the second hour because nobody was able to evaluate the class. Later on, he contacted another teacher, so I was able to teach my class. I started a little bit late because of the situation I said.  The warm up activity was to be done in groups. Each group was given a piece of paper with sentences that students were to phantomine and the representative of each group had to guess those sentences.  It was a nice activity as I could see students having fun on trying to transmit the ideas. I gave a little review on the topic which was the use of going to (the teacher started the topic last class), so then I wento to the practice. 
I had students working on some appendixes I provided. One appendix was to complete the sentences using the verbs given in brackets. Another one was to complete sentences with the verb that best matches them. 
I had them also say sentences with patten given. This activity was great because I had the pattern written on pieces of paper and they were in some kind of envelops. I was clapping while students were passing a tape to each other, so when I stopped clapping the one who got the tape last, had to choose an envelop and say the sentence using the pattern. There were also other phrases such as "candy" or "good luck," so students who got those phrases were given a candy. The last activity I provided was about given students a piece of paper with pictures and some words they had to use to write sentences.  I was also supposed to have students read their sentences but time was not enough to do it. 

THIRD CLASS ENGLISH ACCESS COURSE

Yesterday, I had my third class with the English access course group, and it was  the most wonderful experience I had ever had. 
When planning my class, I did not know what to do because I just had to focus on the topic telling a story. I had a hardful time planning my class but the satisfaction I got at the end of the class was awesome. 

The warm-up activity was about giving students a page where they had some pictures of very famous stories, so I asked do you know the name of the story for picture "a" for example, so students were trying to say the names of those stories in English. as second, I asked them to write the names of the stories under each picture. I helped them of course. In the same page, there were some descriptions about each story, so students were to write the tittle of the book next to each statement and they did well. I have them repeat the statements and then I asked which was the story, and they provided the name correcttly.
I gave an introduction by narrating the story about Cinderella, so base on this I develop the next activity which was to have students working in groups so they could help to order the stripes I gave them in a envelop. Those stripes had the story of Cinderella on them. One group formed the story first, so then I had them read the story. 
My next activity  and the most successful one was when I pasted the names of some stories around the classroom.  I asked students to go to the story they knew. There I asked them to talk with the students who got in each story anything they knew about the story.  At last, I elicit for information of the stories, I mean, I asked each group to narrate their story. This was great. I got surprised to see on how students did this activity.  They narrated the story in a wonderful way. 
I made some mistakes of course, but the fact on having students producing the language in the last activity was the most rewarding part for me. It was not just me who got surprised  but also the teacher who was evaluating my class and a friend of mine who was recording it. 

Englis access course 2nd class

On Monday, I had my second class with these special students from the English access course. I said special because they are wonderfull on carrying out the activities. I got a little late because I had classes before and then I had to run to the rooms that are in the court, but I got there to do my job. I had planned a warm-up activity which at the last moment I did not do.. I change it and the new one worked really nice as students  were eager and enthusiactics carrying out the activity.I developed some activities by using  a song called "because you loved me" which was very useful for me as my topic was irregular verbs and it contains mane of them. While doing a fill in activity, I could notice some students were singing the song, so at the end I had them sing the song. I divided them into two groups, each of them were to sing a stanza each, and it worked nice. They really liked it. The only problem was that I took   too much time on this, and it was marked in the feedback part. The activities I developed were to have students practice in an oral and written form the irregular verbs in the simple past form, so I planned activities for them to write the verbs, and then I had them say the verbs. There was another activity in which students were to say a sentences by using the verb I provided. They actually did it but in the feedback I was suggested to do it in a different way which I consider can be more benefitial for the teacher and for the students as well.  This suggestion was to give students a verb, given them time to think and write the sentence, and at last to have them say their sentences.. 

ENGLISH ACCESS COURSE 1st CLASS

Well, we have just started the second period and by now we are working with the new groups assigned. Today, I had my first contact with the students of the English access course. To start, I have to say that I got a little late to the classroom so that I could not have everything prepared as I always do. I could not write the date and the objective on the board, and it was mentioned in the feedback I was given by teacher Ovidio. 

The warm-up activity was about to form the past form of the regular verbs I mentioned with the pieces of paper I gave students in a bag. They worked in groups and the activity worked very nice; students liked it at all. Then, I continued with another activity based on the previous exercise. Students were to write sentences with the verbs they formed previously. It was nice because from each  group all students wrote at least one sentence or two in the paper I provided. 
I carried out a conversation too. There was repetition before students practice it in pairs. Then when I asked them to practice it in pairs, they did it well. At the very beginning I though about having them practice the conversation by the onion ring way, but as the space is not that enough I had to do something else and it worked. 
Generally, the group is very nice and they work in every single activity you ask them to work. It is great because you are not pussing or let´s say forcing students to do what they are supposed to. These students do it immediately.  
There is just one thing more to say.  As they are adolescents, they sometimes use a lot of the mother tongue (Spanish), so I was asked to push them to use more English.  

My 4th class of this first period

This Tuesday the 21st, I had my last class with the Intermediate English I. As always I got there early so that I could have everything I was going to use prepared.  I started the class with a warm-up activity in which students were to work in groups. It was an activity called "hidden pictures." Students were to find some images provided in the same appendix in which they had a big picture and it was there where they had to find the hidden pictures. It was nice to see them working and trying to find the images. 
I continued with the class by explaining some grammar points regarding adverbs of manner. I was explaining each of the rules to get an adverbs from an adjective and at the same time I was asking students to help me saying examples. It was great because they were putting into practice what I was teaching. 
I gave students an appendix in which they were to complete the statements with the adverbs provided and all of them did well. 
At last, I asked students to make groups and work on the exercise I was to provide. I gave them some pieces of paper with words. What they were to do was to form logical sentences by using those papers  and applying the rules of the adverbs of manner I explained. Each group could form the sentences but one of course finished first. 
This has been a great experiences for me, and I hope it has been the same for all of you guys.... 

3 class... 2 semester

On Tuesday 14th, I had my third class with the intermediate English I. This time I was to have more students´ involvement in the class, so the tutor teacher asked me to bring more speaking activities rather than the ones that were in the lesson plan which were more for writing. 

I got on time to the classroom and got everything prepare. Well, I though I did not have enough activities to develop, but when the time to teach came, I could realize that time was not enough and I just could carry out 3 activities from the 5 I planned to do. 

I gave students a dialogue in which they were going to complete the sentences with one of the options provided. This was a nice activity because whenever students had doubts, they asked for clarification and I could do it. I could clarified doubts. This same dialogue was useful for the next activity which was to have students practice the conversation with different classmates. To do this, I used the common activity called "the onion ring." I could notice that students liked the activity as well because when they were practicing it, they were excited. 

Let me tell you that in this group there is a student who uses  crutches, so whenever a teacher wants to involve him in the activities that require move around that students is like not taken into account, so what I did was to take a students from the " onion ring activity" to go and practice the conversation with him; then, I sent another student to practice with him and so on.

second class with intermediate English I

Yesterday, I had my second class with the intermediate group. The class went well as I got the same grade as the previous class. 

This time, I was kind of nervous because it was supposed that the teacher in charge of the group was not going to be on time, and I was supposed to start the class without her, but fortunately, she got on time. I was kind of nervous because it was almost time to start the class, and students were not in the classroom but they were outside. I did not imagine myself calling them to get inside that´s why I was not comfortable knowing that the teacher was not going to be there when the class was to start. 

I developed my activities as normal as always. I think students liked them because they were happy when carrying out them.  

I introduced the new lesson plan teachers have, but I gotta say that I made some changes in the activities I was to carry out. I think they worked really well because in the feedback session I was congratulated again because of my performance.
I explained some grammar points regarding the use of so and such which students understood very well because when the time to practice the theory came, they did it well. 

2012 SECOND SEMESTER (1ST CLASS)

Hi my friends, today I had my first touch with the new group I am working in the teaching practicum. It is intermediate English I. 

Let me tell you that I know most of the students as they were my students last semester in the Basic English groups, so I feel comfortable teaching them.

I was on time in the classroom, so I was able to arrange desks in a semi-circle way. I started my class with an activity in which students worked in groups. They were given a bag with letters and students were to form the antonym or synomyn of the adjective I was to say. I could see that they enjoyed the activity. 

I was to explain the use of the pattern look + adjective and look like + noun. I could not find exercises about this on the web, but I tried to plan some activities in which students could practice this grammar points.

I also developed a listening from the book which helped me to create another activity in which students were to talk about someone important to them with different partners. 

I think the activity which students liked the most was the last one. I gave them a piece of paper with spots of drawing which they were supposed to guess. I liked the activity as well because students were to practice the grammar point studied this day which was "It looks like," so the activity really matched with the target grammar. 

In the feedback part I was given good comments about my performance in this class. I was recommended to continue doing good in next classes.  

THIRD PERIOD (LAST CLASS)

Today, I had my last practice with this Basic group. I got early at the classroom, and I got prepare with everything I was going to use. I started my class with the warm-up which students liked it at all. At the very beginning, there were some girls who did not want to stand up, but then when they were doing the activity, they were having fun. 
I was to make a review of the topic which is QUANTIFIERS. This is not something easy to be taught, and I tried to do my best, so that students could understand it. To start, as I said, I did the review by using a chart where some students were to paste some papers with words about quantifiers. It was nice as I could see that those students were helping each other to paste the papers where they should go. I made some corrections of course with some words that were not in the correct space.
Later on, I gave students an appendix with some sentences that must be completed with quantifiers as well, and it was the moment in which many questions came up. Students were asking me why and how can they know which quantifier to use in the sentences, so I tried to explain it to them in an easy way. It was kind of hard because there were like two students who did not get the idea at the beginning, so I had to explain it almost like three times, but it was benefitial because the rest of the students got a clearer idea as well.

I feel happy because I think that during the whole course, I have learned something new in each of the classes I was to teach. This has been a very fruitful experience for me, and I guess it has been for all of you guys.  

Third period (third class)

Today was my third experience with the third group, and let me tell you that I was kind of nervous because I knew that my class was going to be recorded. I did not know how students were going to behave, and fornutanely, most of them did behave well. 

The warm-up was simple and the teacher told me that it was nice because a warm-up is not just a game, so he liked that I did something different. I also took advantage of it because as a follow-up activity, I used it to review what students started last class.

I was to give a little bit about the grammar point of the usage of there is and there are in all forms (affirmative, negative, and question form). I think it was simple and I did not have to much to read about it. Then, the rest of the activities were to practice what I had just taught. 
 

Sometimes I do not know what kind of activities to do, and then when I start planning, I consider that time is enough but when the time to carry out the activities come, I can notice that it is not enough so then I do not have time to do all the activities that I plan, so I have to learn more on how to control the time.  

third period... second class

Hi again. Today, I had my second experience with this new group. I feel very happy because even though when I was planning my class (yesterday), I did not what to do because it was just free practice and the activities that were in the lesson plan the teacher gave were not that long to last for the whole hour I had to teach, so then, I decided to design my owns. It took me some time and I was like running because unfortunately my printer is not working, so I had to work fast and go to a ciber cafe as I was going to use printed material. Hopefully, the activities worked well, and students enjoyed them. 

This time, I took into consideration the advices I was given last class, and it was marked in the feedback session. The teacher told me: "it is nice that you took into account the recommendations."

Something I want to share with you is this: we have studied something regarding on correcting students´ mistakes. We discussed about which is the best moment of doing that. In my last class, I was suggested to correct students at the moment they make the mistakes, and I did it today, so the teacher thanked me for doing that because he consideres that this is the best way to do it because later onwe can forget about it. SO I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT. 

This class was better than the previous one, and I think I will be doing better class to class. I hope so heehhehe 

THIRD PERIOD.. FIRST PRACTICE WITH BASIC ENGLISH

On Tuesday the 8th, I had my first practice with the new and last group of this term. It was Basic English and let me tell you that everything went better than I expected it to be. The first thing I have to say is that since the very beginning I felt very comfortable because when students were getting into the classroom, they said "good morning" to me, and it was nice because even though we were not introduced when I went to observe the class, they were very respectful in this class. The warm-up activity worked nicely. Students enjoyed it at all, and even the teacher. Something that I have to say is that last period, I develped this activity, and I was given some advices so that this can work better, so I took into consideration those advices and they really worked.

I was to teach about describing people, so all the activities I prepared were related to that. 

Students are very collaborative, and this is awesome because when you have to develop any activity, there are some of them that voluntary offer themselves to do it.   

At the end of the class, students were very happy, and I heard some comments from them that said: "I liked the class. He is a very nice person." This made me feel happy and proud of the job I did and thisnwas reflected in the feedback session because I was given congrats of what I did. I just was told to push students to use English at any moment they speak Spanish. I think, I will get a good grade this time.

Last class (Basic group)

Today, I had my last class with the Basic group. It was nice. I developed a warm-up I learned yesterday, and it worked nicely with the group. At the beginning, there were some students who didn´t understand at all the directions, so then I had to repeat directions in a different way and they got it. They really enjoyed the activity, and which is better is that it was related with what I was required to review.
Today´s class was specifically on reading activities, so I didn´t know what to do when I was given the material, but after thinking a lot on this, I got some ideas on how to make students feel comfortable with the exercises even though they were just two readings.
The class went well, and at the end I felt satisfied with what I developed. This was the first class in which I was given advices or observations on less aspects, so I think that at the end of my practicum with this tutor, I improved a lot jejeje.
This has been a great experience as I have learned a lot regarded with this field of teaching. I think there are many others aspects that I have to improve or learn more about, so I am wating for the next chance of improvement jejje!!!!!!!!!!! wish you the best guys......

3rd class

Yesterday was the third time I was to teach Basic English students. Let´s say that it was ok but not as I hoped it was going to be.
The first thing is that it was already 7:00 a.m. and the teacher was not in the classroom, so I did not know what to do (if to start the class or wait for him to get there)
The class went well, I developed the activities I was supposed to do. I liked the warm-up because even though I didn´t think to do it the way I developed it in the class, it was great because I related it with the target structure.
Something that I like about the group is that they participate a lot in the activities, and most of the time when I give directions, they understand them at the very beginning. This is great because it means that they are doing well on this subject.
I think I have been improving on my teaching, but I just know the grade of the first class, that´s why I am not sure at all if I have improved.
If you have worked with this tutor, you might know how demanded he is or your practicum. I think it is nice because you learn more regarded with your teaching style.

2nd class

Today, I had my second class with the basic group, and I think I did better because this time in the feedback session I was corrected or given advices let´s say on less aspects that in the last class.
I enjoyed the warm-up activity, and students liked it as well. The teacher told me that he also liked it, and told me that it was nice on how I used it to review what students are learning.

Well, last time I said that the teacher gave me what to teach very late, so that I could not get well prepared with the class, but this time, he gave me the topic on time, so I could get prepared. I was just going to develop some exercises from a handout the teacher has, so it was going to be my creativity to do those exercises in different ways, so that students did not feel it as something monotonous.

Something that I did not like is that supposedly, we are to teach 50 minutes, but this time I just had worked 40 minutes when the teacher told me to stop, and I didn´t like that because I felt it as if he did not want me to teach. I do not know, but that´s the way I felt.

In general terms, I will state that this was a better class regarding with the aspect we are being evaluated even though the situation I said before.

first class (Basic English)

well, it was supposed that to teach Basic students was going to be easier than to teach advanced ones, but let me tell you that there were some disadvantages for me. The first one was that I didn´t get the copy of the unit because the teacher did not give it to me. I mean, he didn´t have the book so that I could get the copy of the unit. He just asked me for the e-mail, so that he was going to send me what to teach at night. He did it, but the problem was that he sent it almost at 8 p.m., so time was not enough for me to get prepared with the class.

The topic was easy, but even though it was easy, I was to study so that I could accomplish what I was required to, but anyways I hope to get what I have to teach on time next time.

I have to be honest. I did realize the mistakes I made when pronouncing some words, so they were told in the feedback sesion. As I said before, I thought this was going to be easier but it was not, but I hope to do better next class.

LAST CLASS (ADVANCED GROUP)

well, this Friday was my last class with the advanced group, and it was great. The warm up was great; students liked it, and I did like it too heheh..

Students participated in all the activities, and it was great. Time was not enough because I missed some activities.

At the feedbak sesion I was thanked because of my job, and I was also given some advices for one of the activites I develop. I have to say that I did not have too many problems at this last class. I feel satisfied with what I have done, but I think there is more that I have to learn.

I want to thank to all you guys because of your comments. they are great. I hope that at the end of this course, we can say "we did it" blessings to all of you!!!!!!!

3rd CLASS

well, I have to say that it was kind of hard for me because I was to introduce the grammar part and it was hard. I did understand the structure, but when I was explaining someone asked a question and I doubted on the answer I gave. Time went on, and then the teacher took her time by doing a listening test, so during that time I reflected on the question that student made, and I got a most suitable answer for his question, so after he finished the test, I approached him and clarified his doubt. The tutor teacher saw me and in the feedback she told me that it was nice that I approached that student and the answer I gave him.

Some of you have said that teaching grammar is not easy even for simpler that it may seem, now imagine teaching grammar to advanced students where the grammar points are more complex!! that´s even more difficult.

The feedback sesion was very helful for me because I was given some advices on how I can do to explain some grammar points when students do not get that at the first time.

The rest of the activities I develop were nice as students enjoyed them, and they worked very nice.

Hello again guys. Well, today I had my second class with the advanced group. Let me tell you that this week was very hard for me because the charger of my computer got broken, and yesterday I was sick and I had to prepare the material I was going to use today.

well, as I said, I got sick yesterday and today I did not feel that comfortable, but I had to teach my class. The activities I developed were very nice and just the warm up had to be interupted because a student from the next room came to my room I told me to lower the voices or do something else because they were having a quiz.

I have to be honest. I was to teach part of the grammar part, and I was affraid of it because the topic was not well known for me, but fortunately students understood what I explained, and when they came the time for practicing, they did very well. I felt proud of myself because there was a student that does not like to work, but today he approached me and show me what he did, and he felt proud because what he did was ok.

In the feedback part, I was congratulated because of the activities I developed as they are very useful to get involved all students of the group. I was also told about my energy, my enthusiasm. The tutor teacher told me that she saw a lower energy compared with the first day I taught. I think it was obviuos because as I said, I was still kind of sick.

First class (Advanced Group)

hello guys. Today, I had my firts experience on teaching the advanced group, and let me tell you that I feel so happy because it was great. Students participated in all the activities I had planned, and it was nice because I felt very comfortable teaching them.
I have to be honest. The first five minutes, I was kind of nervous, but then I felt comfortable and I succeed on what I was supposed to do.

This group is very special; as they like to talk a lot, I prepared more activities that required them to speak and it was great. They did the activities. They did more than I was expecting.
they also develop some roleplays, and believe me it was nice to see them performing those situations. I think that they really like roleplaying because when I gave them the situation, they immediately started to think about what they were going to do, how to do it and they even asked me for ideas on what they could include in the performance.

The only disadvantage I saw is that just 5 or 6 students have the books, so that whenever you want to do any exercise on the book, it is gonna be kind of hard to get all students involved.
So, this group is nice, and I am sure that when you get to teach them, you are gonna feel comfortable my friends.