WEEK 10 Vocabulary (Let´s Celebrate)

Teachers: Lidia, Saraí, Paola

Hi Guys! Here I am again and this time I had the fortune to be in a vocabulary class with the teachers: Lidia, Saraí, and Paola, this was their last class the third one and well I really liked it. there were over 9 or 8 students. I will explain the things which I noted while they were teaching so let’s begin… 

The things I liked from the class: Lidia started the class, she looked confident in what she was doing. I came late to the class but I was able to see a great part of her performance. She did the warm up and the presentation of the new words if I am not bad. I could note that she had the control of the class, the activities were amusing for kids, they were thrilled with them, I liked her attitude, the tone of voice, the interaction with children was awesome, and she was so calm while teaching and that was great. Saraí was the second one developing the other stages. At the beginning in the first practise she gave out some little paper where it was the name of some students, they were supposed to move and change of desk, at first they did not want to, but I was impressed when Saraí pull herself together and had them move and work with the person she had asked them to work with. Honestly at first she seemed pretty worried when they did not want to move, but she dealt quite awesome with the situation after this she had such an astonishing performance, she was perfect, I can see a great potential in her as a future teacher. Being honest I feel fairly inspired when she performances a class. Paola was the last one in give the last stages. It just that these girls are awesome all of them, Paola had a great attitude, she controlled the class, called the attention of students and I want to highly something regarding when calling the attention of children all of them had this special way doing it. What I mean is that the three of them called the attention but in a kind manner, not in a rude way and we have to recognise that. It is hard to do it, it might seem simply when you are in front is another thing, and they did it incredible. 

Things I did not like: Honestly I did not see anything that can be written in this section, they were completely awesome, kids were enjoying themselves while girls were doing the activities, there were no problems, none inconvenience of course the objective now it to look forward and improve more, it is not time to stop, no yet. They only have to keep up like this and it is undoubtedly sure they will become in great teachers.

Things I would like to do: For my future classes I would like to use their decoration, I was stunned by the decoration it was not such a great amount of materials but with the few they used was enough and it was really creative, it was colourful; I think that it caught the attention of students and it was related to the topic which they were giving the class. All in all, I am pleased to have been in their class, I enjoyed the activities, they were funny, appealing and creative as well and I am completely children enjoyed as I did, they were talking having fun when developing the activities and the most important is that they were learning and the team accomplished many aims but they attained with the most essential which was make students learn.

Week 9 listening ( Food )

Hi everyone! Here i am again, in this week we learnt splendid things. I had the pleasure to be in the class of Rebeca and Federico, they were teaching the listening skill and the topic was about food. This is the second group which has only two members unlikely Arianna was not for personal issues even though they gave the class as usual. 

What I like from the class: there were quite a few points which I would like to mention. First, the attitude of each of them was pretty cool. Rebeca started the class she looked calm, relaxed, she had the control of the class I could notice that. Children were amused with the activities, they used 6 new words (Orange juice, apples, bananas, chocolate cake, ice cream) and something which even the teacher noted that Rebeca did and was that it was the first time that a warm up begin with a background of a grammar topic and not vocabulary, that was completely splendid and we have to recognize that she knew how to do it. I liked one part when Rebeca was asking for repetition, she corrected the children when did not pronounce it properly. She modeled all the time, she gave time to copy the new words and she asked them to do it within three minutes also she did something which I really liked when the children were doing one activity I think was the first during, she asked one by one if they had understood the activity, she helped each of them to solve any problem. Moreover, at the end of the class, I was like impressed by something she did, and was that she stood in the door checking if the parents of the children were there, she took care for the safety of the children basically she did an awesome job. In the case of Federico, he gave the during two forward.  He seemed more serious than usual but he completed the activities, he monitored the children and was helping each of them while doing the other worksheets activities. Besides, the audio was quite good for the class. It was not complicating to understand neither the activities to complete them.

What I did not like: at the beginning of the class when Rebeca finished explaining the new word, it was pre-listening stage. She was supposed to put in practice the new word in a pre-listening 2, but she did not. Nonetheless, from her performance was only that, Federico was a little nervous when he began his performance, he forgot to give the worksheet in the During 2 stage, he lost a great deal of time in the same during 2 that is why they were not able to finish until the wrap up. In the post listening he asked the kids to speak and I think we all know that when it is about a PDP lesson we have to finish; writing, drawing or surveying. Nevertheless, children were thrilled and were producing something that surprised me because they were asking each other about food

Something to Improve: I think that the class good they taught all the durings and even the post listening, the management of time was not their great strength but I think that it is not something tough to solve, my own advice for them is to practice at home, before performing the real class, and know that we got our own issues but it does not take to much time, it is only necessary over 30 minutes. Performing as if you are giving the class and take the time of each activity, take the time to see how much time requires to do each of them and you will see the great benefits of doing this when teaching. It completely worked for me in the last class which I gave with my partner Abigail. We finally could finish a class until the warp up. The last advice is to have confidence in what you are doing, if you face unexpected issues pull yourself together and take the control of it. do not let the issue or unexpected situation take over you. All in all the class was pretty cool I enjoyed it and I am completely sure children did it as well.

WEEK 8- Grammar (Food)

Daniel, cenia, Astrid 

Hi everyone this week was amusing, we learn new things from the teams and this week was the time for Daniel, Xenia, and Astrid team, they were teaching Grammar and the topic was Food despite there were not too many children the class was given as usual.

What I like from the class: First, Daniel´s performance he was confident, he did not have problems to start the class, he had a well control of the time, gave clear instructions. In spite that the presentation was pretty difficult for children and something striking was that I thought It had not been so clear but there was no problem in the other stages so it means children understood the explanation and the uses of is it and are

they. The other thing was the time to copy; he gave them time to take some notes about the grammar class. The second person to give the following stages was Xenia, something I want to highly is the attitude of her, she had the smile that make students feel comfortable, she looked excited giving the class and doing all the activities. I think that the activities were appealing for students, they were in movement and that is vital when teaching children, they need to be active, the materials they used were interesting, and they decorated the classroom according to the topic they finished the class on time, there were no delaying. The last person to pass was Astrid, she gave the production if I am not bad. She had a good attitude and develop each stage quite good, she looked enough confident and had a good control of the class.

What I did not like: well there were certain things which I noted when the group developed the grammar class first the problem with the tape, Astrid was looking at the teacher quite a few time when she was giving her part. She seemed as if she was expecting the approval of the teacher with her eyes or maybe with gestures, she seemed at first like a little anxious or concerned about something, she had one of the hardest part and I am not talking about teaching a tough topic but facing an unwilling kid to pass in front to do the activity, at the end she took the decision of replacing the kid and did it by herself with the other girl. This is the first time I saw this awkward situation, but I think she handled it well.

Things to improve: in this section, I would say that there a few things which they have to improve. They are not the big deal but I know they will improve them. First the explanation of grammar was little confusing, it could have been done more simple, the other thing is related to grammar using the question ( is it) Astrid ask in her part of the class this little mistake she said to the children (it is cheese )
in form of question and the correct had to be (Is it chees?) furthermore, she had problems with the masking tape, I think that we can use other type of tape, one more resistant to avoid this kind of inconvenience.

In conclusion: the group was good at giving the grammar class, I consider they showed us a well way to teach this skill, in my opinion I think that this skill is the toughest to teach but they did it well of course we have to learn from this class and the team have to keep on working and trying to get a better level than today, up to now I believe that we all in the class have learned from each other and that is completely magnificent this is the purpose of the class and it is being attained. 

Week 7 - Listening (Profession)

Teachers: Daniela, Alexandra, Johanna

Hi everyone! I am glad to be here again, this week was another one with great apprenticeship the focused skill was listening and the teachers were Daniela, Alexandra and Johanna. This was the second time for them presenting a class; it was not the same as other classes due to inconvenience of the raining weather and the lack of children despite that the class was given as usual.

What I like from the class: First the materials which was used was appropriated for the topic colorful attractive with balloons and great worksheets with a well level of difficulty for children to complete them. Even though there were no children, we were the students who received the class from the three girls; we were closer than usual to see the development of the three teachers. I love Daniela´s performance she gave the class disregarding that we were her classmates, she took the control over us and she was confident, perfect tone of voice, awesome attitude kind of serious but at the same time kind and tender. I am quite sure kids will love her when she becomes in a complete teacher, she was in charge to open the class, gave the warm up, and taught us new words related to professions.  I want to highlight one thing that I liked which was the poster pasted on the board, if I am not bad the first activity matching the professions with the correct name, she asked us to past in front to solve them; she took the time to monitor us when we were working in the worksheet as well. The second person to give the other stages was Johanna, she gave the first during activity that

is getting the general idea, this time about the audio, she introduce herself with us and she acted as if we were real children I liked that. She had the confidence, she monitored us and used a well tone of voice I could understand her. The explanation of all the girls were clear and short and that was one more point in favor for them, the energy was excellent performing of her own style calm but taking the control of us. The worksheet she used was great because it was not so easy to solve, I think that making children think, it is an astonishing idea. The last girl was Alexandra she did something that impressed me, she behave completely as if we were children and I mean she even kept quiet while she was teaching, I could note the great confidence that she had in herself, the energy was
appropriated to give a class for children. Her attitude was serious but I did not feel frightened by her even I felt really amused when she ask us to complete the last activities with the puzzle. I think the class would have been a complete success if children had come,
 they would have enjoyed it.

What I did not like: well I got not too much to say in this section, just some little details they have to work on. First the audio was a little difficult regarding about kids, they would probably had problems with it. There some words that they did not explain and the audio contained the past tense as well and we have not taught that tense yet; we only have to be careful with that. The other thing was almost at the end of the class the post stage, we were required to ask the professions of the other classmates and the problems in here was that we did not have an example a model to follow, children would have struggled a little bit with this activity.

Suggestions and possible solutions: for the issues, I can recommend you to write the script of the audio and check it before to record it; we have to bear in mind the structure of it either in grammar, new words and the tenses. What we can do in here is to write it and ask to the teacher to check it. if it would be a suitable audio for children to understand, In the activities we can try to explain and model as much as possible, it does not matter how simply might be the activity but children have to have a clear example of what there are supposed to do. I know that there may be some things we can improve all the time but this is aim of being in this class, make mistakes as fast as we can so that we can learn, improve and advance faster.
I take myself into the improvements because I know how is to prepare an audio for a listening class and it is not as simply as you think; it requires time to prepare it.

Conclusion: All in all, the three girls were awesome in can see that they are finding their own style for teaching. They are shaping themselves from their own mistakes and from the others, now it is time to look forward and improve more, Keep on working at the same pace if you can more, well let’s get into the next level.

WEEK 6 – Grammar (Professions)

Teachers: Claudia, Michelle, Sonia

Hi everyone, today i am pleased to talk about the class of this week the teachers were Sonia, Michelle and Claudia. The topic was Professions and they were teaching the Grammar skill though I was not able to be in the whole class, the little while that I could see gave me a good impression from these girls.

What I like from the class:

First the materials they used was catching the attention of students, the decoration of the classroom was related to the topic, the dedicated time to make up them.  And that is something that we have to note. The activities were appealing for children and I am quite sure they enjoyed the class; they seemed to be enthusiast at the moment of doing the activities in all the stages. From the team, I like Claudia´s performance she started with the warm up and present the topics, she explain well the new grammar which was about using (He is a/ She is a)  I can assure that children understood the explanation even though there was a boy who I think is the youngest in the class and he was kind of confused at the moment of doing some worksheets activities, but the other thing I want highlight is that Michelle took some time explaining the exercises to that kid. She made a while to these children and that is something we have to

acknowledge, it was awesome from her part, she showed us how teaching works not only give the information to children and continue the activity that is in the lesson plan but take time to make clear the information given to children who has more troubles understanding them. The three girls were cool when teaching they used good voice projection, Sonia had some problems to speak I could note that she had sore throat or the flu and therefore she had problems with her tone of voice but despite that she performed a good class. All of them were monitoring at the moment of the activities, they were helping children with any doubt and it was incredible the management of time, they were on time in each stage and that is something absolutely incredible. That tells me that they practised before presenting the class.

What I did not like from this class:  well this is not related to the group but as I mentioned before I was not able to observe part of the class because I had to help them take children to the bathroom, but getting back to the class. I could note that the voice projection of Sonia was not as good or motivating for children to get completely engage in the activities but it was due to her flu so it is not her fault. Besides, there was the other girl Claudia who I just could watch for a little while and at the end the teacher mention that her tone of voice was not so well and I think she just can try to open more when speaking and also i was not at the moment when happened this but she mentioned that at some points she was talking looking at the floor and not towards children. I think that she was only nervous and the most important is that I am sure she and the others will learn from this experience teaching.

What they have to improve: is only the tone of voice, the attention to children, and I got to mention which I think is the most important ask student before the class if they want to go to the bathroom so that we can avoid children lose parts from the explanation, the other one is to take attention to the whole group not only one side but all of them. It is kind of difficult because sometimes there are certain students who need more help than others. The last one is not to give long explanations teacher told us at the end in the feedback that one of the team had talked too much and we know that it is not something good and less for kids but besides that they did it great. 

In Conclusion: I consider this group one of the most capable to give a class, the girls are getting the confidence each time they pass in front, I think that they learn from their mistakes and it is reflected at the moment of being the teacher, besides this group gave an excellent class of grammar one of the skills which I consider it is not easy to teach and did it great. All in all, I liked the class.