My Last Practice Of The Semester

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.