Finally, the last practice arrived. For this class my tutor was not present, but another teacher was a substitute for the day. In the warm-up, the "lady in red" (song) was used to recall the present perfect tense. To make it different, I created a worksheet, so they would fill in the spaces of missing lyrics (we checked answers later).
I focused on practice because students had been studying present perfect simple & progressive for some days. The second activity was about having speaking practice with the question "have you ever + present perfect". They got pictures and 6 different cases. They were to interview a couple of classmates, write down their names and answers. In the end, I asked some students to provide some of their answers, and they got the target structure right.
I only developed one more activity for the substitute teacher told me I only had 5 more minutes (when I had only taken half an hour). I think the problem was that the class started at 9:10, but that's because students arrived late (I got 15 minutes earlier, 8:45). Anyway, I was able to develop activities that involved the 4 macro-skills, so it was a well-rounded class.
The last activity consisted of students working on a worksheet that contained matching, fill in the blanks, forming present perfect sentences using some fragments, making questions, and "since" & for" exercises. I checked their answers and they did alright. This final experience was not as good as the prior class, but overall, not bad either. It's been a challenging and meaningful time for me in the practicum II, thanks for your comments.
In this third experience, the activities were developed without any trouble. For the warm-up, I handed out lyrics and students sang one song that contained target conjunctions for the class. I did it following a suggestion from my tutor, because last class, the group liked the song but did not get a chance to sing.
For the presentation, I used a "holidays" listening from the student's book that was suitable. There were a couple of questions and students were asked to select the most adequate conjunction for each case.
Then, for the grammar focus, I pasted a chart on the board. It served to contrast the differences, uses and examples of "since" and "for", as well as present perfect simple vs continuous. I also gave definitions and explanation of new terms from the vocabulary section.
Afterwards, students worked on exercises from a "since" or "for" worksheet. When the time limit was over, they helped me to check the answers. They only got one wrong answer, which showed their understanding.
In the final activity, students got in pairs and I gave them "places" flashcards. They were to use "since" and "for" in the present perfect tense. They had some speaking practice, came up with a couple of sentences, wrote them down and shared them with the rest of the class.
I was able to include activities for 3 macro-skills and the students' performance was decent, so I felt satisfied with results. In addition, students felt comfortable asking me questions about new words and grammar. I hope my last class turns out fine too, thanks for reading.
I got early to the University. However, students from a prior class were still there and I couldn't start doing anything in advance (they left until it was past 9, I don't know why). Anyway, I handed out copies of song lyrics to students and they identified a couple of modals there while they listened to the song.
I liked the presentation activity as it was a reading and a listening at the same time. The audio was a narration of a passage found in the book. Afterwards there were questions including "could" and "have to". Furthermore, they discussed how much life has changed in their families, generation-wise, like in the reading.
The grammar focus aimed to explain the common uses of modals for advice (should, must), obligation (have to, must) and permission (could). I wrote down some example sentences. I clarified the structure of sentences using modals and the third person form. Introduction of new vocabulary was also a part of the class that I developed as new words came up from the practice and their inquiring.
In the following activity, students worked on a worksheet in which there were exercises that included a list of possible modals to write in each item. So, students selected the most fitting one for each case. I checked the answers with students and they got most of them right. They grasped both the affirmative and negative forms.
For the last activity, they worked in pairs. I handed out actors' photos that had a situation pasted in the back. Students pretended to be the manager of one celebrity. They were to give pieces of advice regarding the actor's training for a movie role. I prompted them to use "should" or "must" and to write down their ideas. In the end, they shared one of their advices with the rest of their classmates. The group seemed to be pleased with the class.
My first practice went well enough. It was a lot of work, but it turned out better than expected. The warmup consisted of having them read in an auxiliary language that does not need to be studied to be understood. Students were able to read it and found it amusing.
For the presentation, I played a song that had quantifiers and afterwards, I formulated questions from it. The song had a fun rhythm, so they seemed to like it. Subsequently, they read one passage aloud. There were questions and underlined quantifiers. They participated and identified the key elements.
The grammar focus followed. I got to the classroom before time and made a chart on the board. I included a definition of quantifiers, examples, and a percentage scale to organize them. I also added a vocabulary section for the new words found in the practice.
I handed out copies of a worksheet consisting of a "fill in the blanks" activity. They worked on selecting a proper quantifier for each sentence, and I monitored their progress. Then, when their time to answer was over, I had them check along the exercise with me. They got most answers right, so I was pleased.
To wrap up the class, I guided a speaking activity. They were to get in pairs and answer some questions that were meant for discussion and usage of quantifiers. Students engaged in the task and shared some of their ideas with the rest of the group, which was nice. So, I hope the remaining practices work out as well.
My last practice with Intermediate I went well. I expected it to turn out fine because I prepared more material than in previous classes. The class was to be a general review focused on practice. The warmup was a song that had comparative and superlative adjectives.
Once again I used flashcards, this time as suggested by my tutor, so students could form sentences comparing the landmarks in the pictures. They even learned the name of some famous places they did not know about before. I wrote the spelling on the board and pasted the flashcards there too. I asked them to give me some example sentences, and they did.
I handed out over 20 celebrity posters. Students got in pairs, but everyone got one picture. I asked them to make comparisons between the celebrities. In addition, they came up with sentences using superlatives. The group liked the activity, as the visual aids made it more appealing. Each couple shared one sentence of theirs.
Finally, the class worked on a worksheet about the topic. There were two pages and not much time. So, I had them solve the first page of exercises along with me. They worked on the second one by themselves. In the end, we checked the answers.
A few new words were also introduced for the vocabulary section. Again I did some drawings on the board, provided definitions, example sentences in common context and had them repeat for pronunciation. I must say that because it was the last class, people were quite eager to ask questions and there was a very comfortable environment, just like it often happens in the last classes. This was a rich experience for my teaching practicum.
My third practice with the group was satisfactory, as I developed lots of activities. In order to engage students and diagnose whether they knew about simple present & present continuous, I used daily routines flashcards, asking what the people were doing and then to turn that answer into a simple present statement. They quickly got a general idea, answered chorally when I asked and the warm-up served its purpose effectively.
I gave a concise grammar explanation, contrasting both tenses for the class. I talked about their most common uses, and converted sentences from one tense to another, so the difference would be clarified. I also gave them tips for them to differentiate gerunds from present progressive.
Students worked on a multiple-choice reading activity, in which they were to circle the right option, choosing between simple present or present continuous according to the context. They got most answers right, and I explained those cases that were more troublesome.
I combined a TPR activity: "miming" with "guessing". The class got in pairs and got one strip of paper containing a prompt like "to walk". Then one of them would mimic and the partner had to guess the action by using the present progressive: "you are walking". Furthermore, they wrote a sentence using the same prompt, but in simple present tense.
Then, I wrote two possible discussion topics on the board, and they were to discuss using the two tenses from the class. I tried to relate the topic to national context: "What is happening at the Coatepeque lake?", and the other question was: "What are your parents doing right now/what to they do on their daily routine?".
Some new vocabulary was introduced as usual, using synonyms, providing definition, explanation of meaning, writing example sentences on the board, etc. In conclusion, the teaching dynamic is alright with this group, and I intend the last class with them to be a meaningful experience as well.
Fortunately, this second class went better than last time. The rapport improved and everybody seemed to be more comfortable. They were more eager to ask me questions, expressing their doubts on meaning of words, etc. The warm-up was simply listening to a song containing gerunds, and they were to focus on listening. I did not provide them with lyrics, so they had to pay attention and write down gerunds as they listened to the track.
I made a quick review from last class and reminded some new concepts regarding gerunds/infinitives and the verbs they follow. After re-connecting to prior knowledge, they worked on a worksheet I gave them. Most of them grasped the topic because they got almost all the answers right.
In this class, I had some vocabulary that was difficult to explain using plain words. Therefore, I did a couple of drawings on the board to complement the definitions, which worked effectively by showing them a clearer picture of the meanings.
Afterwards, they had some reading practice that included a "fill in the blanks" activity. Once again, they succeeded in the completion of the task and when they did not, I would provide further explanation on why they needed to consider the case and the context to decide whether to use an infinitive or a gerund, based on factors like probability, certainty (or lack of), and what verbs only accept either gerunds or infinitives.
To finish the class, I developed a listening activity. Before playing the audio, they tried to solve the exercise based on context and what option in parentheses was the most fitting one. Then, they listened and checked if their answers were correct. There were some new words and I took some time to introduce them, sometimes relating the vocabulary from the same lesson and talking about their opposites or synonyms.
My first class with this group was OK, but I hope the experience improves for the upcoming week. I introduced the topic in the warm-up by playing a popular song and handing them the lyrics. They were to underline new words and infinitives/gerunds in the text. I played it twice, partially because of latecomers.
What caused some confusion is that I didn't know they supposedly hadn't studied before gerunds and infinitives, yet the topic was one to be studied afterwards: "Verbs followed by gerunds/infinitives". However, when I realized that was the case, I took some extra time to provide them with a simple explanation. In addition, I had students help me to complete a "fill in the blanks" activity on the board, using either gerunds or infinitives.
I also gave them copies containing 3 columns of verbs, one of verbs followed only by infinitives, another one of verbs followed by gerunds and one of verbs followed by both. Because of their level, many of those seemed to be new for them, and I gave them meanings and examples of their usage in common contexts.
I felt this class was quite demanding as it involved introducing an utterly new topic, having written practice, explaining grammar points and presenting new verbs to the group. So, the lesson for me was to remember asking students whether they already knew about certain topics that are required to teach others.
I was pleased with the results from the final class with this advanced group. For the warm-up they had get in pairs and guess from clues & context what celebrity his/her partner was. They had fun talking about their favorite famous people.
The topic was rituals (as an introduction to "habits"). They chorally read an article by taking turns, group by group, one paragraph for each. Before doing so, I asked them to underline any new words or expressions they found as they listened to their classmates reading along. The exercise worked out well as I paused after each paragraph and they would tell me which new vocabulary was found. The key was to check the context and draw information from the glossary section, although many others that were not covered there came up. Fortunately all doubts were cleared through examples on the board, synonyms, and oral explanation/pronunciation.
Afterwards, they worked on an exercise connected to the reading, so they were to select multiple answers instead of just one, thus, it demanded more time. They succeeded on it, as they gave me all the right answers. The follow-up was a matching vocabulary activity of compound words in which they would relate the new terms they had learned with a logical complement from another column.
To finish up, I had them to talk about their own rituals and/or strings of bad luck, so they had some speaking practice on the topic. They shared their experiences on the matter. I felt comfortable with this group and the feeling seemed to be mutual, as they kept asking me questions, approaching me and trusting me to solve their doubts. Sometimes some of them would help me explain, so they had more participation. I wish this kind of rapport can be acquired with the next group too, thanks for your comments.
My third teaching practice of the period was perhaps the most fluid class with the advanced group, so far. I used flashcards in the warm-up. Students got in groups and thought of 4 vital items to take in a trip to certain cities from the pictures. They had speaking practice about daunting personal challenges.
Students were able to relate to the material, as they enjoyed and unanimously agreed on the most daunting challenge being "meeting your boyfriend/girlfriend's parents". They shared some of the challenges they had experienced themselves.
The same topic continued in the article for the class. They worked on a fill in the blanks activity, and the reading contained quite a few new words. I liked that students seemed more comfortable asking me questions, as I answered many this time.
Regarding vocabulary, I was even able to connect different new words or expressions to explain other new meanings by relating them or using them in descriptions. Examples:
Raising money - investment
afterwards - subsequently
challenger mission (nasa) - challenge - exploit
stamina - energy
Also, to save up time, I would ask them to help me answer some exercises by telling me the right option to underline in a multiple choice activity (intended to be done by underlining). So, basically I converted it into a choral activity that was more dynamic and more interactive, which worked out pretty well. I hope my last practice with the group turns out to be positive too.
My second practice with the group was another positive experience. This time, I started off with some non-biblical proverbs as a warm-up. They even learned a new word from one of those. A student shared her opinion on one of the proverbs.
I continued the class by having listening activities. I liked one that I had not tried before. Students underlined the best option out of 2 possible before listening to the right answer. Students got all answers right but one, which was also a new term for them. I thought it was nice the exercise contained some informal words like "loaded", meaning having plenty of money.
The main part of the class was a grammar introduction to real and unreal conditionals. I provided "formula" structures to support the explanations. I included some example sentences on the board. I would ask them to help me complete some of them. The most common contexts to use those conditionals were shown.
I was able to answer or clarify their doubts and questions. When I was done teaching the topic, they found common patterns in conditional clauses. Students then worked on a few exercises and more new words were added to the vocabulary section. Pronunciation, examples, synonyms and possible uses in common speech were taught. It felt good when I noticed that they did remember the meaning of "splash out", which had been seen in the previous class, and came up again in one text.
My first practice with the advanced group went fairly well. As a warm-up, I had them puzzle over a few riddles. They seemed to be interested in guessing the answers. The idea worked as expected. The class focus was on "reported speech". I wrote some example sentences on the board, and explained the difference it had in relation to direct speech. Underlining the structure and tense changes was helpful. I also answered their questions.
Then, the main activity was a reading exercise. They got in pairs and read an article. I gave them some time, and before moving on to the exercise, I asked if they had spotted any new words from the reading. They did told me about a couple of new terms. So, I wrote the meaning on the board, gave the pronunciation and provided examples.
In an effort to engage them actively in solving the exercise, I prompted them to work with a partner and asked them for help by giving me oral responses. They worked and participated effectively in the activity. In addition, I added a vocabulary section on the board to write some key terms from the lesson. The words were related and they even told me which were the similarities among the words.
To finish up the class, I asked some trivia questions related to the reading. Some of them gave their opinions to the rest of the group and some answers were even humorous, so the class ended in a lightened mood.
I planned my last class 3 days in advance, ironically it was not as good as the previous one. The objective was learning more technology vocabulary. The warmup did work and students discovered something new. I introduced them to an auditory illusion (it only works with headphones). It was a 3D sound recording called "Virtual Barbershop". I edited a 1 minute excerpt. I used different audio ouputs and 3 sets of earphones. They said it was entertaining.
Here's the link in case you want to check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IXm6SuUigI
Unfortunately, the following did not go very well. I carried out a listening activity, but it didn't work right for the audio wasn't very clear. The main reason was low volume. My mistake was assuming the teacher would have a player available like in all the previous classes. So, it was wrong to assume that as a certainty. Since this was the last week of classes, the teacher was in evaluations and didn't need to use the cd player. I should have asked in advance.
Afterwards, I moved on with the class. What I did was to focus on the new words from the book, the listening, the ones asked by students and a few from a list I made. I used pictures and provided examples, meanings, and synonyms. I was able to clarify their doubts.
In the end, they had 2 quick speaking activities about technological customs and writing skills during the digital era. They discussed in groups named with words from the lesson: The wi-fis, the iphones, the pcs, and the laptops.
Other than the listening incident, the class was not the best, but not the worst either. I've faced many unexpected situations during the practices, and I must say that they constitute an experience and knowledge that cannot be acquired through theory. Thus, I consider them to be truly valuable for me to grow as a teacher, just like I know all of you have felt towards your instructional memories of the term. Thanks for your comments, shared tips and support.
This week's experience was the best so far, with the advanced group. I felt more acquainted with students and the feeling appeared to be mutual. They liked the warmup, consisting of listening to a song, but not reading the lyrics. It was just meant to make them remember animals, nature, or ecology. The track was "In The Jungle (Ace Ventura OST)".
In addition, I handed out some National Geographic magazines about wildlife and nature. The purpose was to have students connect ideas and recall their prior knowledge. For example, one of them said the music reminded him of a movie, The Lion King, and of Africa.
The topic was about being eco-friendly. Following advice from my tutor, I didn't use the activity from the book, as it was too long and dull. Instead, I opted to use an article called "Top 5 Eco-Friend Celebrities". Clearly, it was more appealing for the class. I even pasted big pictures of those famous people, so they could relate the info to the images.
This time the reading worked better. Instead of students reading aloud one by one, I decided to ask them to read in groups. The process was faster and their voices were louder. During the reading, some new vocabulary came up, and I explained their meaning and usage through examples in a common context.
Afterwards, students worked on written practice, pair discussion and on a chart from the book, which seemed to be interesting for its environmentalist awareness message. I will make the last effort, and attempt to succeed in the final practice of this semester too.
My second practice with this group differed in its development from the first one. Many more students attended, therefore, it was their first time, with me as a practitioneer. I was lucky enough to have found a song that has the same title, as a reading I used during the class (with PDP framework).
The lyrics also described the phenomenon, which was "northern lights/aurora borealis". So, my warm-up consisted of playing the song, checking for new vocabulary and to connect it to the target article. Students seemed to like it, as the song wasn't old, but actually part of the popular twilight series soundtrack. They read the text, and new words were added, and explained in the vocabulary section of the board, using examples and drawings. The rest of the class went well too, and time wasn't enough to cover everything my tutor had assigned. However, she told me it was ok, for the pace was alright.
This time, I decided to have them check a few questions about the article, before reading it. They had a short discussion about them. Then, I gave directions and the purpose was to have all of the students, one by one, read aloud one part of the text. At the same time, there were some pauses for their questions and addition of new vocabulary to their glossary. Everybody participated, and in the end, they answered the questions, and shared them as well.
In this opportunity, they had more confidence, and they also were more numerous. That's why they made more questions, and the class felt like an almost non-stop process. The flow was more dynamic, which his more demanding, but it is also pretty good to have a more responsive group. Hopefully, improvement will continue during the remaining practices.
I was anxious about this new group, in spite of that, things went fairly well. I arrived on time, but only the teacher was already in the classroom. Some students arrived late and others just didn't show up, so the class was quite small. I noticed there wasn't much space, but the seats seemed a lot more comfortable than the ones I'm used to. I guess they took a "vacation bridge" and enjoyed a double weekend...
It was weird that they asked very few any questions, I made sure to give them the chance to do so, but they weren't as responsive as the previous groups. I assume that due to their level, doubts decrease. Also, my tutor commented that they are always like that, it wasn't because of me.
Most of the activities were in pairs and dealt with speaking practice. One of them was having presentations, or role plays. They had 5 minutes to prepare for a short conversation, using "nor", "neither", "such", and "so." All of them participated and they appeared to have fun while being in the front, for some lines were humorous.
When they had to write a short article, in tabloid style, I drew on the board a logo with a catchy phrase, and informal writing below, using figurative meaning to exemplify how to do it, which students enjoyed.
During the feedback, the teacher told me that my warm-up was nice. Even though I didn't use a TPR activity, she said it was interesting, as it dealt with linguistics, and it was something students had never heard about. Overall, the class was positively reviewed, and I will keep on preparing well for the next practices, with the hope that results will remain positive all the way through the end.
Fortunately, just like some of my other classmates, the last class with the group was better.
For the warmup, I related the previously studied content. I used a song, "She will be loved" (Maroon 5) for having students convert a couple of verses from the lyrics into passive/active voice. It worked out well. They liked the song, and sang along with the copies of the text I gave them.
What satisfied me the most about the class is that I was able to fulfill a larger objective, having reading, writing and oral practice for the class. Another challenge was conducting the "Passive Voice Race Game". As it was a TPR activity, at first I was dubious about whether I could pull it off. Students participated, and the dynamic was nice. They worked in groups, getting a sentene strip (active voice) for each round, in which they would convert the sentence to passive voice. In the end, I corrected mistakes, with help from students and choral repetiton.
The last activity consisted in students creating a piece of "news" (writing) and later broadcast (oral) to the class group. They took their time to finish. Since the class was being filmed, they felt insecure, but when some of them participated, everybody else decided to share their news.
There was new vocabulary in the class, from the song, from the book activity, and some words the students brought up. I was able to provide examples on the board, synonyms, write proper spelling, use gestures, and suggest possible uses in different contexts.
I got a good grade this time. In general, the practice was an even more fruitful experience with the Intermediate group than with Basic. Thanks for your comments and support, let's hope we do better next period.
My last practice was perhaps the most unusual. The time was limited for students had evalations afterwards. I only developed two activities. I used a guessing game that my tutor prompted me to include. The funny thing is that the game wasn't kinesthetic, nor entertaining, it was about composition and guessing answers of a partner. I don't think teens enjoy that much, but at least, they did work on it, so that's positive.
Finally, the activity involving famous people got better results, as the group liked the pictures I brought, and were eager to make up news about the lives of celebrities. They were paired to get ideas more quickly, and they shared their creations verbally in the end.
The practice was OK, but I think I did better in the past two times. I haven't gotten the feedback yet, but I will make an effort to do my best on the last practice with this group. What did please me was correcting students' writing, which is part of my focus, following my tutor's advice.
Today's practice was more tiresome than last time, as I checked the students' homework, and some of them hadn't worked on it, like they were supposed to. They still have problems with the variations of using the third person in simple present sentences (adding the "s" to verbs), the use of auxiliars for making questions and changing "have" to "has", also with the third person. The class wasn't about that, but I had to take some time to explain those doubts.
The topic was "modals". Most of the students were able to use them correctly, the problem is that there were cases in which they could use more than one modal, but in general, they managed to deal with the possibilities, and which modal was more suitable, according to each sentence.
Unexpectedly, I got a better grade, I think it was because I followed the teacher's suggestion, to put more effort in monitoring the students while they were working. This group is more responsive and talkative when working. They like free practice.
The only con is that some of them still don't have their books or don't bring them to class, which is unfortunate. Because of this reason, one girl spent some time on her blackberry. Since the homework was from the book, she remained passive during the time I was checking that. However, she did take part in the speaking practice, and paired up for one book activity, despite not being very active...
Obviously, there is always a small group of people who seem a little careless, but I focused on the ones who were asking questions, developing the activities, the ones interested in learning.
In the end, the teacher commented that it is important to correct their pronunciation, which I will take into account. I suppose it feels kind of awkward correcting students, as one probably doesn't feel with enough or as much authority, as the tutor, who's in charge of the group. Anyway, I'll do my best to effectively correct, in a proper manner next time I teach for my practice.
As I had already been warned, students tried to test me, fortunately, and thanks to taking into account teacher Alex's wise advices, I was able to respond satisfactorily. It felt easier than the basic group, because I didn't have to take so much time explaining directions.
I haven't gotten the feedback page yet, but I guess I didn't do so bad. Students liked the warmup, despite having decided not to go with either from the lesson plan, as they were all kinesthetic activities.
The group had written, oral and listening practice. Luckily, I mainly had free activities, as the grammar part had been covered. However, as I referred to, in the beginning, I was put on the spot, as a girl started asking "Why?", even though I had already explained verbally (and my tutor too, in prior classes). Thus, I also used the board to give a more detailed explanation on why there are cases in which "used to" & "would" cannot be used.
I was surprised to see that there was an uncommon verb in a sentence from the book: "When I was a child, I used to cycle to school every morning". So, in that particular case, I had never seen that verb used that way before. I inferred that it was related to biking (bicycle). I'm not sure if it's partially informal or just not widely used.
The whole class worked on all of the activities and participated when checking the answers from the exercises. In conclusion, the first experience went better than expected, and was rather positive. I felt as though the group accepted me faster than the previous one. Hopefully, it'll continue to be that way...
Today I had my last practice with the Basic group. The whole experience was different each time. Partially, it's a shame that just when you start getting accostumed to a group, then it's over.
Anyway, my main focus for the class was on making students have more speaking practice. The warm-up did not work as effectively as expected, because I didn't adapt it to what they had been focusing on.
Other than that, students liked talking about celebrities, as they knew pop culture facts. The key is getting pictures from people who are currently popular, especially with teenagers. It was satisfying to see that even students who don't usually participate much, took part in the activity. A couple of them actually did more than what I asked for, so that shows their eagerness to express themselves.
Pair activities worked better than individual practice. Students came up with questions, original sentences and descriptions. It was nice to have more teacher-student & student/student interaction. I did not have to teach grammar this week, which was certainly an advantage.
I hope I'll be able to improve and continue to get acceptable results, in future practices. I got plenty of advice from my tutor, classmates (including teacher Alex), so thanks for your comments and attention.
My third teaching experience was today, and a couple of unexpected things happened. Surprisingly, but purposedfully, I was able to use the popular flashcards again, and that worked even better than last time. I also played a song related to "wh" questions.
This class was the one in which I added more vocabulary than any other time. Either because students asked for meaning of new words or for flascard/topic content, there were many new words. In order not to give students the Spanish translation, I would give them synonyms, examples or explanations. In some cases, I would mention a synonym that was more similar to a Spanish equivalent (meaning an English word that was adopted from Latin, or romance languages). Example: Advertisement - Publicity (from French - publicité) Ad. So, it's important to take advantage of the influence English has received from lexicon we are familiar with.
I tried out a new way of making students participate, going line by line. I would ask only one line of students to come up with "wh" questions related to the picture they were seeing, giving them cues like "place", "object", "subject", etc.
The grammar explanation was not so simple, as I had to explain when to use the list of questions I wrote on the board, but fortunately there were no inconveniences, and they got the idea. There was improvement on my grade, and that motivates me to keep it up, although I know it won't be easy. In fact, I know it's very likely that it decreases from time to time. However, maybe you should consider my life philosophy of "It will pass", it works like a charm for me, it never fails (just kidding). I have taken some of your advice into account, so thank you all! I'm eager to hear everybody's anecdotes next wednesday.
My second practice with the Basic English group went without any surprises. I added more things to my class, and developed more activities, time was barely enough. The grade was almost the same. It was nice that students already knew why I was there. I used a lot of listening practice and they participated. I finally got the chance to use the famous flashcards I made last semester. It was clear that some students had a wider vocabulary, as they participated more often, but adding a vocabulary section on the board worked out nicely.
The grammar explanation was about the "simple present tense", which is a topic that is usually developed over several classes. However, students seemed to get it, as they were able to work properly on the written exercises. Once again, enthusiasm was singled out as the aspect to be improved. I guess it's hard to exhibit it when playing an audio or writing grammatical structures on the board.
Hopefully I'll get the chance to have more free practice on the upcoming practices. Eye contact was also mentioned, and I agree with my tutor teacher, although it's not so easy to look at all students in the eye when writing on the board or playing a cd track (for I had to be near the cd player). Despite not making eye contact during the entire class, I did observe everybody when making sure they were working on the written practice and while having choral repetition and asking for participation with "routine/actions" flashcards, for simple present examples. I personally don't even like when teachers look at me in the eye, it feels like they are trying to test you in a tense way, so that's probably the reason I unconciously don't do it myself, but in order to get a better grade, I'll have to pretend apparently, so it's just one of those things about teaching I must keep in mind.
Today, I had my first teaching practice at the University, in Basic English. It was a very rich experience in terms of getting feedback on my teaching skills, which was new at this level. In general, it went better than expected. I am satisfied with the results, as it was my starting point. Students participated, but not as much as it would be ideal. However, I think it's normal because I hadn't been their teacher before. In addition, some basic students tend to participate less, for they're insecure.
As I predicted from before I started my universitary studies, the teacher said I was kind of serious, but that's a personality trait that I hope won't stop me from teaching properly and graduating (fingers crossed). I had a similar experience to Alex, in the sense that the first 5 minutes were the hardest. I think it's because you feel everyone's eyes heavily looking at you. Fortunately, the group collaborated and carried out all of the activities. Not all of the students had the book & handout, but I was able to rely on the board, and oral practice. They seemed to like the examples I used, so that was nice.
I was able to control nervousness, which was great for me. As time went by, everything felt better and time was almost not enough, it felt like 20 minutes. I am also grateful that they actually worked on the written exercise, since last year I wasn't so lucky on a class. Nevertheless, this time, I checked everybody's work, and most people had done it right. I'm looking forward to improve in the next practices, and I hope you do well on your classes, so we can share our experiences.
