My last class (Basic English)

Well, this was my last class. I would like to say that I am happy, but it is not totally true. I finished my classes with this group, but I will miss the teacher and the students a lot.

Working with Basic groups is amazing because you discover the marvels of teaching. I always remember when I started my major, and that fact makes me remember how my teachers treated me. I had good teachers who helped me a lot when I didn’t get something, and now that I have the opportunity of teaching, I try to be very patient with students. In this last class, I realized that some students didn’t understand some vocabulary, so I gave them one example, but they didn’t get it neither. That’s why tried many things until they got it. At the end, my tutor told me that it was nice because I tried many different ways in order to get my goal. 

This experience gave me a lot of satisfaction because I am learning to work with my brain, my body and my heart. I say with my heart because I am learning to love what I do.
 Now, I don’t feel nervous. I feel anxious because I want to teach again. 

THANKS GOD!

My third class in Basic English

In my third class in Basic English I faced a new situation. I developed a warm up called "scrambled basket," but I had a little problem. The students had to choose a verb in past and memorize their partners' verbs too, but when we were playing the game most of them forgot their partners' verbs. The game turned kind of complicating, but at the end I explained again and all the students developed the activity.

I learned that sometimes I have to think in many possible ways to explain a single activity because maybe the one I am using is not as clear as I think. 

That day, the teacher told me to develop a dictation practice and I have to say that I don’t like those activities at all because I spend many hour looking for an article or important piece of writing. Fortunately, after 4 hours, I found an amazing article which gave students a Little fun. 

Something that happened to me is that I was teaching about the endings of the regular verbs in simple past. I said that we pronounce with /id/ when the verbs end with /k/ /d/. At the end, the teacher asked me “how do you pronounce the this “pronounced”?” In that moment I thought that she wanted to prove me, so I pronounced it with /id/ at the end. After that, I realized that I had made a mistake, but it was too late. She made me remember what I had said about that rule.

From that experience, I learned that I have to trust myself because sometimes people ask me just to see how sure I am about what I am saying.

My second class in Basic English

This time I had to explain the grammar part of the unit six. It was about Adverbs of Frequency. I prepared a lot of material for the class in order to get students attention because some of them are visual, tactile or kinesthetic students.

At the beginning of the class some students looked kind of tired because the class was on Thursday at 5:40, and at that time most of people want to rest. That fact worried me, but I tried to make them wake up by developing some activities in which they have to work in groups to win. After the activity, students were paying more attention and I could develop my class.

That day, I learned that sometimes students can be tired or exhausted because of their daily routines, but the teacher has the power of making them learn and enjoy at the same time.

I had a little problem with the time because I prepared many activities and the time was not enough, so I learned that it is important that we calculate the time.
Because time was not enough, I couldn`t develop the wrap up, so I had to use an activity as practice and as wrap up. At the end, students were enjoying the activity, and the teacher told me that it was good because students were learning and playing at the same time.

THANKS GOD!

“TIME IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY. YOU CAN GET MORE MONEY, BUT YOU CANNOT GET MORE TIME” By J.M

My first class in Basic English

Well, I started to teach last Monday, and I have many things to say about the class.

This time I was very comfortable because I said: “ If I could deal with Advanced students, I will do it with Basic English ones. ” That thought made me trust in myself, so I felt as if I was the teacher of the course.

At the beginning of the class, I developed the warm up activity, which was “sharks are coming.” Students were very excited when playing the game, and I started to play with them because I knew that it was going to help me to break the ice. Then, I gave them a little quote, which was pasted on the board, and students started to give their points of view about it.

The class was about daily routines and time, and I used the clock and the flash cards I had created in Visual Aids.Students enjoyed the activity because they created a daily routine with the given flashcards, and at the end they had to say the time they do every activity. The great part was that some of the students revealed their secrets, and some of they were saying the time they go to the bathroom, take a shower, brush their teeth, etc, and some of them said that they wake up at 11, go to the bathroom at 11:10 and took a shower at about 1:00 pm. 

During the whole class I tried to help students to understand knew vocabulary because it was essential for the activities. I learned that mimics and pictures are the best friends of teachers because when the students couldn`t  understand a word, I did mimics and showed pictures, so that they could understand. I think that it really worked because all of the students developed the activities in a correct way.

About the wrap up, I can say that I felt very happy because even the teacher was participating and trying to help students. That part was wonderful for me. Ahh, and about the teacher, I can say that she is amazing. She gave me confidence and that was fundamental for the development of my class.

The best part was the grade. I was very happy and eager to continue teaching.

MY LAST CLASS

Some days a go, I started this adventure of teaching in the University, and as I have said in other entries, it has been wonderful for me. This last class was not the exception. For me, this was my best class, and the one which gave me more satisfactions. I introduced the topic about famous cities around the world, and I used the material I had prepared in Audio-visual aids. I had nice flashcards about the topic and they were very useful for me. The teacher told me that the material was excellent, and I noticed that he really liked what I had prepared for the class. Also, I felt very happy because I realized about the importance of preparing material thinking that we are going to use it more than once.

In the class, students were giving their opinions, and they were talking about those famous places. We played and enjoyed the class a lot.
After I finished it, I started to think about the way how I finished my last class; It was totally different to the way I finished my first class. In this opportunity, I wanted more time, and I wanted to continue teaching and sharing with students because I felt part of the group. Then, the teacher congratulated me and told me a lot of good things. That fact motivated me a lot.

I think that the best way to learn is by practicing, and I am sure that at the end of this section I will be a better student and a better teacher.

THANKS GOD

My third class

This was my third class in Advanced English II, and I can say that it was wonderful for me. My first 2 classes were hard, but this time I felt as if I was flying in the classroom.

I always pray at the beginning of the class, and one student told me that they were learning that because they had never done it. That little thing motivated me to think that there are many things that I can do and I can teach them. Then, we shared a beautiful quote " the best way to succeed is to follow the advice we give to others," and students were sharing experiences in which they didn't practice this thought.

Later,  I developed a listening, and I did many activities with it. All the students participated and gave their points of view. We share many ideas, and they started to say interesting things about the topic. They were laughing and talking about the listening during the whole class.

At the end, the teacher congratulated me because he said that I am very creative. He told me that I was doing well there, and that motivated me a lot. He also gave me a wonderful Cd, which contains a lot of listening activities.

Ahhhhh and the most curious was that some students asked me for help. As I have been teaching the grammar sections, they told me that they would like me to teach them grammar. Well, it was strange for me, but I will try to help.   

 MY SECOND CLASS

My second class was kind of hard for me. First, because I had to teach the grammar part again, and I wanted something like the free practice. Well, I tried to be prepared for that class; especially because the topic was new for me. I dedicated a lot of time to be prepared for unexpected question, and I think that it really helped me.  Since I started the class some students were asking me about the topic, and I had to tell them to wait because I hadn’t introduced the topic yet. I started the class and developed an activity during the whole session. I told students that when they listened to the word “family,” they had to stand up, and the last person who did it had to take a piece of paper with a penalty. I really liked the activity because students were paying attention to my words, but at the end the teacher let me know that sometimes we have to look for the best moment to develop a TPR activity. He said that it was okay, but we cannot I include those kind of activities in the grammar presentation. So, I will consider his piece of advice. During the class I faced many circumstances because whereas I wanted to explain something, students were asking me for some little details. It is like to go in another road, but I tried to answer as suitable as I could.
To be honest it was hard for me because the group demands me a lot, but at the same time it makes it interesting and challenging for me. I think that this is the moment in which I am really learning how to be a real teacher. It is amazing