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.
