My last class

Well, this was my last class of the year. I was really excited because I was about to finish my Teaching Practicum II, but at the same time, I felt sad because every class means an opportunity to learn.

I started the class with “the freeze game.” I used it with the purpose of having fun and reviewing the topic. The students had been studying the use of “have to, should, could and must,” so I tried to review a little bit because there were some doubts about the grammar. After that review, we were about to practice. The first activity was a fill in the blanks. Then, the students created their own English school with their own rules. The activity was amazing because some of them said things like these ones: “In our school, students have to have boyfriend or girlfriend,” “In our school, students mustn’t have notebooks,” etc. The activity was suitable to practice the grammar into discussion.

The last activity was “find the partner.” In that activity, the students had to find the pictures that were the same and create sentences with them. It was  like a little competence that helped the students to practice the studied topics and to work as a group.

This experience has been fruitful for me because there are things that can be learnt just through practice. Thanks Lord!

My third class

My third class started with a TPR activity in which the students had to work in groups to write a word per each letter of “Childhood.” The activity was challenging because they were thinking about words that were related, and it was kind of difficult. After that, we started talking about the things that kids do in order to get what they want. All the students shared their techniques to manipulate their parents. For example some of them used to throw a tantrum when they wanted a toy (That part was meaningful for me. I learned a lot).

I introduced the grammar part “Have to” and “should” by asking some questions about their childhood. After explaining the grammar, I gave the students some flashcards about famous places, and they had to describe the place by using “have to” and “should,” and the rest of students had to guess the name of the place. The activity worked well because all the students practiced the grammar in discoursed, and they could learn new vocabulary as well.

My favorite part was the last one. I called it “penalties.” I gave each student a piece of paper to write a penalty for one of their classmates. They could assign whatever thing, but they didn’t have to write the name of the transmitter just the name of the receiver. All the students were laughing at the moment of writing the penalties because they said that their classmates were going to pay for everything. When I received the papers, I controlled who had given me each paper, so that I could know who had written each penalty. I started reading the penalties, but I explained that the person who had written each penalty, had to perform it. They were laughing and telling me not to do so, but I did it. Some students had to dance like Michael Jackson and others do pushups.

The activity was wonderful because they learned how to use “have to,” and also that they don’t have to desire others do what they wouldn’t like to do.  

Thanks Lord!

My second class (Intermediate English I)

I started my second class by greeting and telling the students that we were going to continue playing `the highest price.´

I also played the `hot potato` to review the last studied topic, and I could reinforce the topic because we were going to continue practicing on that. 

That time, I developed the free practice, and I mainly did it by using visual aids. The first activity was a `chained nonsensical story, ` and the results were amazing because students came up with spectacular stories. It was an oral activity, and it helped us to have some fun. 

After that, I had the students work in groups of 4, and I gave them a poster with different cartoons. The students had to create subject and object questions to ask them to their classmates. The activity helped the students to practice not only the questions but also the answers. 

At the end, I had a little problem because I promised to reward the winner of the highest price. I just had one gift, but there were 3 winners. I never thought about that, so I couldn`t give them the gift. I learned that I have to be prepared for unexpected situations, but at the same time, I felt happy because the students were more motivated to speak in English during the class. I congratulated the students because of their effort. 

Thanks Lord!

My first class (Intermediate English I)

Two Days before my first class, I went to observe the class to see how the students were. That observation let me know that they liked to speak in Spanish a lot. I noticed that most of them spoke in Spanish even when the teacher told them not to do so. In order to avoid that, I prepared an action plan. I played the activity `the highest price.` The results were amazing because nobody wanted to speak in Spanish during the class. The most incredible was that the student, who used to speak a lot in Spanish during the classes, was the winner. My tutor told me that the activity was great, and that he wanted to use it, too.

During the class, the students worked well on the activities related to ´subject and object questions.´ I developed the grammar explanation and the very and semi controlled activities.

At the end, I developed a TPR activity in which the students had to form two rows to work one by one. I told the students that I was going to read a question, and they had to write on the board if it was a subject or an object question. The group that got more points was the winner.

Thanks God everything was ok, and the teacher gave me good comments.

My last class (Access program)

Well, I had to teach my last class at the Access program. I started the class with an activity called “mimics.” I could see that the students enjoyed it because they were laughing a lot. We were about to practice the use of “be going to,” so the activity was about some actions that students were going to use in next activities. 

The presentation was in groups. In that activity, students had to form the sentences that I was dictating. They really got excited, and they wanted to continue, but I had to stop because of the time. 

During the practice, students worked with some sentences that I gave them, and I could see that they understood the topic because they did well. Almost at the end of the practice, I developed an activity in which students had to sit back to back to describe a picture. The end of the activity was great, but I had to face a problem, and it is that I didn’t consider that the space was not suitable for the number of students. When I saw that it was not enough to sit them in the same column, I had to change the methodology and put some students in one side and others in another one. It was more difficult for me because I had to move, and there was no space.

 

At the end, I talked to the students to encourage them to take advantage of the program because that is an amazing opportunity.  Most of them told me beautiful things such as “we are going to miss you teacher,” “please, come and visit us, “and I felt very happy. I think I will miss that group mmmmmmm.

Thanks Lord!