“Teaching is only demonstrating that it is
possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.” ―Paulo Coelho,The Pilgrimage
Hello
everyone, in this opportunity I am going to introduce you to the last class of
this period. It is incredible how fast time passes by and our kids are learning
more and more.
This class
was conducted by Ileana and Juan who taught the topic: My body.
During the
class:
This class
started with a weird peculiarity. It was surprising for all of us that by the
time that the class should have started, just a few kids had already come to
the classroom. The teachers in charge
waited a little bit for them, however, it was getting late and the class had to
start, so the lesson started with just nine students. Nonetheless, as the time
passed by; one kid more joined the class, this means that just ten students
assisted to this class.
The
presentation stage:
As it is common in all our classes, there is always a
presentation stage in which the teachers introduce the topic of the lesson.
This class was not an exception to this rule, and as it was expected; the
lesson started with a good presentation stage that was conducted by Ileana.
This stage started with a very active task in which Ileana had the students
running across the classroom to get some balls that had some letters which had
to be put together to form some words as, father, mother, sister and the like.
This activity was a good instrument to make students remember the target
vocabulary of the last class. Then, an activity in which the kids had to name
the parts of the body was developed so that they could encounter the new target
vocabulary for this opportunity that was precisely the parts of the human body.
Finally this presentation stage ended up with a questions and answers task that
made the children practice the vocabulary taught.
There was a surprising fact in this class. It was astonishing
for me to realize that almost all the vocabulary that Ileana and JC had to
teach, was already known by the kids. Thus, it was not a difficult task for the
teachers to teach the target vocabulary corresponding this class due to the background
knowledge that the students already had, and adding the fact that there were
just ten students in the classroom.
The practice stage:
This stage of the class was carried out by JC. The practice phase was
very active. Kids were addressed with many interesting activities that kept
them with a high level of enthusiasm. Many tasks such as, Simon says, singing a
song and an activity with a dice were the tasks that cheered kids up.
As it was expected the practice stage did not represent a big challenge.
As I have already mentioned above the fact that kids already knew most of the
vocabulary helped Ileana and JC not to have problems when teaching, so the
practice stage was completely successful.
About my case of study !!!!
During this second period in which we started with the classes, I have
been analyzing Jefferson, and now I will present my final thoughts about him
for this second period.
As I have mentioned in some posts
before, Jefferson is a kid with learning problems and it has been proved here
in this English project. Jefferson always seems to distracted from the class,
he rarely pays attention and he is most of the time trying to get the attention
of his classmates by doing jokes or distracting the class because he knows that
is the only way in which he gets the class’s attention, taking into account
that he has difficulties learning and paying attention. In conclusion, all the
mentioned above does show that Jefferson has some problems in the learning
field.
This recently class was one of the worst for Jefferson. In this
opportunity Jefferson was very active, but in a negative way. He bothered a lot
during the class, making the teachers look for solutions to keep him
concentrated in the class.
This might be happening because Jefferson is getting more confident in
the class. As the time passes by, kids get more confident and comfortable with
the environment, the teachers, and the classes. However, this may bring with it
some problems as the one we are observing in Jefferson; kids start to
misbehave. Now, it is important that we as teachers start to make plans in
keeping the control of the class.
I would like to finish this entry with some Tips when dealing with
students with attention problems.
1- 1- REMEMBER THE
EMOTIONAL PART OF LEARNING. These children needspecial help in finding
enjoyment in the classroom, mastery instead offailure and frustration,
excitement instead of boredom or fear. It isessential to pay attention to the
emotions involved in the learningprocess.
2- . Post rules.
Have them written down and in full view. The childrenwill be reassured by
knowing what is expected of them.
3- Repeat directions. Write down directions.
Speak directions. Repeatdirections. People with ADD need to hear things more
than once.
4- . Make frequent
eye contact. You can "bring back" an ADD child witheye contact. Do it
often. A glance can retrieve a child from adaydream or give permission to ask a
question of just give silentreassurance.
5- Seat the ADD child
near your desk or wherever you are most of the time. This helps stave off the
drifting away that so bedevils these children.
“True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they
invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing,
joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.” ―Nikos Kazantzakis
It is necessary to inspire our students so that
learning can go from a boring moment to a fantastic instance, and this is what
we are precisely trying to do; thus, in this opportunity; it was Raul and Juan
chance to inspire the kids assisting to our practicum project.
During the
class:
The topic of
the class was “My Pet” in which kids were supposed to learn some animal nouns
plus the grammar structure which was “Do you like___? Yes, I do/ no, I do not”
accompanied by the spelling of the animal nouns.
The class
started having the kids going to the bathroom right at the beginning, so that
they would not ask for going to the restroom once the class had already
started. This was a good technique because no one asked for going to the
bathroom during the whole class, and they did not miss any moment of the
teaching.
The
presentation stage was covered by Juan. During this stage we could observe that
the animal nouns were introduced to the kids in a very creative way. A power
presentation and some big flashcards helped Juan to perfectly present the target
vocabulary. Here, most of the kids seemed already familiar with the vocabulary
that was being introduced to them; however, they were not aware of the accurate
pronunciation of the animal’s nouns. Juan worked on pronunciation and at the
same time the numbers and the colors were also rehearsed. This practice just
demonstrated that kids are becoming more and more familiar with the language
and that now, it is not a difficult challenge to achieve the goals of the
lessons we present every Friday. In conclusion, Juan’s work was on preparing
the ground, so that Raul could just rehearse the knowledge encountered by the
children during the presentation stage.
The practice
stage was conducted by Raul. During this stage kids demonstrated acquisition of
the target vocabulary. This practice moment stared with an activity about
having kids in a circle and making groups of certain numbers every time Raul
said one number. For example; Raul said, “Make groups of 4” and the kids were
supposed to make groups of four. This task was not really oriented to practice
the target vocabulary, but to practice numbers. The activity failed a little
bit because the instructions were too long for the kids to get them,
demonstrating with this; that kids can be only addressed with chunks and
commands and not with long directions. Then, a new activity was developed. In
this opportunity children were asked to sit on the floor and paste the picture
of the animal that the teacher was pronouncing on a notebook that was provided
by Raul. This activity worked well. Kids like pasting activities and being on
the floor all together. To sum up, Raul worked on practicing the knowledge that
Juan had already presented.
Finally, the
class finished too early and having some time left; Juan decided to come up
with some extra activities to fill the moment left. Although, the activities
that were implemented in the last minutes were not created with goals and
preplanned material; they did work well and were very useful to keep kids
practicing, taking into account that the practice stage was reduced to two
activities that did not encourage much production from the kids. Nevertheless,
with the Juan’s last participation, as a team; they could assure the kids’
acquisition of the target vocabulary.
Some findings:
This class
was a good opportunity to notice some advancements that the kids are having!!!!!
-kids are more familiar with the
language. There is no need to model commands such as, sit down or stand up
anymore; they already understand the meaning of these two words and quickly
obey to the command.
-kids are more familiar with one another. They have
already made groups of friends and they are not shy any longer.
-They have already started using expressions for
ridiculing their classmates.
-They tempt to be aggressive in activities that demand
too much action from them. Whenever they are asked to run or be fast at doing
something, kids may be a little aggressive, especially boys.
-kids get distracted easily when they are sitting down
next to their friends.
All these new aspects that characterize kids’ behavior
need to be considered when designing lesson plans and tasks, so special
attention will be paid to the next class to identify whether these problems
have been solved or not.
To conclude, it can be said that this class met the
expected goals which were, make students identify, pronounce and spell
accurately some animal nouns, expressing their preferences toward pets, and answering the question, “do you like__?, yes, I do/no, I do not.”
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ―William Arthur Ward
The project continues, Fridays are passing by and our
kids are becoming more familiar with the classes and with all the
teachers!!!!!!!
This week was the opportunity for Ingrid and Abigail
to show what they have learned throughout the first period of this semester.
During the class..!!!!
The first part of the class was conducted by Abigail.
During the first forty five minutes of the class, the students were first
refreshed with the hello song to identify whether they could remember this song
that was taught in a previous class. I could notice that the kids remembered
most of the lyrics of the song and were able to follow the teachers’ gestures
for the song. During this time kids were relaxed and enjoyed the song. Then,
the students were shown some pictures that were also part of the last class.
Here, the purpose was to discover how well the students are assimilating the
vocabulary and target grammar they are being taught every Friday, and as a
matter of fact, they did well at remembering the last class’s vocabulary. After
this refresh, the students were introduced to the new topic of this week which
was “My Family”. During this
presentation stage I could notice that the students were already familiar with
the topic. This maybe because of TV programs they see, or some English classes
they receive where they study or any other contact with the language that they
have had, but certainly; the good thing
was that they were already familiarized with the topic and it was not difficult
at all for my peers to introduce the vocabulary for this class.
Lic. Yanira de Canizales. Teacher in charge of this practicum project.
The last part of the class was conducted by Ingrid.
Ingrid worked on tasks to put into practice what Abigail had already presented.
At this point, activities such as, matching, getting in groups, reviewing what
they had done among other activities were developed. However, there was one
specific activity that really got my intention, and this was about making the
students design their own father, mother, brothers and sisters in some sticks
that they were given together with the items (caps, mustache, ties, hair, etc)
to paste on them. This activity got my attention because although it seemed
very easy, it took many time for the students to get the gist of the task. This
problem could have arisen because the children knew the vocabulary for the
members of the family, but they did not know the vocabulary for items that
people wear or parts of the body, so the instructions became unclear for the
students and there was a need to use Spanish. Finally, at the end of this
activity, after struggling to make the kids understand the task; some of them
could be able to design the members of their families while some others could
not. This gives us the lesson that although tasks may look easy to be developed
by kids, we have to think about the instructions that we will be giving and
think whether they are overwhelming or not for little kids. Lastly, to finish
with the class, the kids were refreshed with the good bye song that was also
taught the last class, and actually kids demonstrated that they remembered the
song, but they still need some reinforcement with it.
About my case
of study video!!!!!!!
This time I could observe that my case of study video
Jefferson was more relaxed and paid more attention to the activities that my
peers developed. However, there is always a problem with Jefferson when the
activities involve any reading or writing. In this opportunity, the class did
not engage any writing activity, but it did involve reading moments. During the
reading activities Jefferson stayed quite as usual, and refused to participate
volunteering in the reading activities. For example, there was a task in which
Abigail showed a presentation with some words and most of the kids read the
words and spoke them out loud, but he did not read any word and instead as I
said before, he stayed quite.
This time, Jefferson did not go the bathroom during
the whole class which really surprises me since he used to go to the bathroom
at least twice per class. Now, I am analyzing whether the going to the bathroom
is a habit that he has or just the way by which he releases stress.
Finally, I would like to say that Jefferson is
learning, although there are still some barriers in his learning process, but he
demonstrates understanding of the class in a less degree in comparison with his
classmates, but there is still always some vocabulary that remains in his mind.
This class was full of surprises, first of all because
it was the opportunity for me and my friends to really show everything we have
learned during all these years in the university. This means that Cristela,
Monica and I were the teachers in charge of this class.
This class was designed with plenty of time so that
every detail could be covered since the decoration, the materials, the tasks,
the objectives, the rewards, etc. Everything was planned under the supervision
of the Lic. Yanira de Canizales (teacher in charge of this practicum project).
ØPlanning
preparation
Together with my friends that I already mentioned
above, we started this task of preparing the lesson plan that we were asked to
submit before the day of the class, so we got together and we developed a class
of 90 minutes in which the target vocabulary were items that we have at home
such as, tables, chairs, teddy bears, balls, cars, and the like, and the target
grammar was the use of four prepositions “IN, ON, UNDER, AND, BEHIND”.
After preparing the planning, we submitted it to get
feedback from our teacher. The planning was sent back with some comments, so
that we could get a better version of it. Once all the tasks were redesigned,
we went to a meeting with our teacher to finally agree on every little detail
for the so expected class.
Consequently, with the planning already checked; we
proceeded to the creation of the materials and the decoration.
Names of the Teachers: Gisselt
Romero, Cristela Rubio and Monica Ponce _____Date:__september,
20th/2013_____
By the end of the lesson, SWBAT identify where some home objects are
such as, doll, car, teddy bear, bed, and table using four prepositions of
place (it’s on, under, in and behind) through many activities like: matching,
drawing, answering questions and guided games, by the end of a ninety-minute
lesson..
Time
Stage
Procedure
Notes
10 minutes
Warm up
The students
will be greeted and asked “how are you today”. After listening to the
students’ responses, they will be presented with a song called “how are you
today”. Kids will listen to it two or three times. Then they will be required
to sing the song without the music. Once the Sts show acquisition of the song
they will sing it with the music one last time.
Aim of the activity: to break
up the ice, and to clarify the question “how are you today” and how to answer
to it.
Type of learner: auditory.
Materials: projector,
computer, and speakers
Responsible: Gisselt
Romero
10 minutes
Presentation
The
students will be presented with a power presentation in which they will see
things that everyone has at home. For example, dolls, TVs, teddy bears, etc.
First, the teacher will point out to an specific object and will ask the
students whether they know the corresponding word in English for that item,
if they know it, the teacher will just correct some mispronunciations that
may occur, and if they do not know the word; the teacher will say the word
and will make the students repeat it. This repetition of words will be done
three or four times. Then, the teacher will just point out to the things
without saying the name so that the students can name the items without the
teacher’s help. Finally, the teacher will point out whether the items
presented are in, on, under or behind something. The teacher will make the
students repeat the prepositions three or four times.
Aim of the activity: to encounter the target vocabulary.
Type of learner: visual.
Materials: projector
and computer
Responsible: Gisselt
Romero
10 minutes
The
students will be presented with a chart in which the four prepositions will
be written, and also it will contain some draws that represent every preposition.
The teacher will explain the chart so that Sts can clarify the idea of
prepositions already presented in the previous activity. Then, the students
will be asked to stand up and take a pen or pencil and the teacher will
distribute a little box to each kid. Next, the Sts will be asked to do as the
teacher says. For example: the pen is on the box, and the students will have
to put the pen on their boxes, then the teacher may say; the pen is under the
box and the students will have to move the pen and put it under the boxes,
and so on. This game will be done two or three times per prepositions with
the chart still on on the board so that the Sts can be guided by it. Then,
once the students show domain of the prepositions, the chart will be removed
and they will have to perform the game without looking at the chart.
Aim of the activity: to clarify
the target vocabulary already presented.
Type of learner: visual and
kinesthetic.
Materials: chart, boxes,
pencils or pens.
Responsible: Gisselt
Romero
5 minutes
10 minutes
15
minutes
5 min
practice
Practice
practice
All the students will be asked
to stand up. They will be given a piece of folded paper with a picture of an
object studied in the class. The students will have to open the paper in
order to know which draw they have in it. The papers will have for example: a
pen, a teddy bear, etc. students will have to look for the classmates that
have the same pictures to make groups. This activity will make groups of
three.
Aim of the activity: To
internalize the four prepositions already presented and to practice the
colors.
Type of learner: tactile
Materials: worksheets,
little balls of color, and glue
Responsible: Cristela
Navarro
Each
student will be given a worksheet in which they will have some pictures
representing the four prepositions of place in matter, then, the teacher will
hand out some spitballs with specific colors. Next, the teacher will say for
example, fill the draw representing an object UNDER the box with the green
spitballs, and the student will use the spitballs of the same color to fill
that draw, then the teacher may say, use the red spitballs to fill the draw
with the object IN the box, and so on, until filling the four pictures. Every
picture should be filled with different spitballs colors.
Aim of the activity: to
practice the vocabulary studied, matching the objects and making groups.
Type of learner: visual
Materials: pictures
and scotch tape
Responsible: Cristela
Navarro
The
students will be asked to stand up and make a line. On the floor will be four
lines in which at the top will have a drawing of the four prepositions of place
studied during the class. The teacher will be standing up in front of the
students, and she will tell a story. Every time the students listen to a
sentence that has a preposition like: “THE CAT IS ON THE TABLE” each student
should move to the line that represents the preposition” on”, and so on in
this way, until the teacher finishes the story.
The
teacher has Ss stand up and make a circle. They will select a little card
that will be faced down. The cards will contain letters from the alphabet.
The students will have to move to the letters they got which will be pasted
on the floor. (five letters will pasted on the floor in a separately way from
each other) Then, T asks Ss to sit down in the corresponding letter to work
on the next task. This activity will create groups of three.
Aim of the activity: to
recognize the target vocabulary in context
Type of learner: auditory
and kinesthetic
Materials: a big
chart
Responsible: Cristela
Navarro
Aim of the activity:
To have students remember the letters of the alphabet seen in the previous
class.
Type of learner:
visual and kinesthetic
Materials:
Alphabet into cards, Alphabet on the floor Responsible: Mónica Ponce
10 minutes
T
provides a worksheet to look at it. First, they will look at the picture to
pay attention where the toys and classroom items are. Then, the teacher will
Invite one or two volunteers to name one of the objects that are presented in
the picture. Next, the T shows the initial question “Where is the…?” For
example, “the pen”. T will paste the picture of a pen on the board, and
repeats the question with a clear intonation: “Where is the pen?” to show
that it is a question and she is waiting for an answer, then the teacher will
ask to another student, “where is the book?” Notice that the student will
probably know but they do not know how to say the answer in English. Elicit
his/her answer (Use L1 if it is necessary). Let them know that we can say “It
is + the preposition of place+ table, bed, etc” by using a chart. Now, T
models that the book is (on, under, behind) the (bed). Finally, the teacher
will encourage many students to answer. Do the same above twice with a
different S from different groups. T monitors around them.
Aim of the activity:
To use at least three of the preposition of place to localize where the things
are.
Type of learner:
visual, and auditory
Materials:
worksheet, paper (in colors), board, cards Responsible: Mónica Ponce
10 min
T
asks Ss to stand up to select a number from 1 to 20 to discover what color is
at the back. They will quickly say to the teacher what color is in order to
select the correct circle to be pasted on the floor in line. They will stand
in two lines (the orange team and the green team). T will say a sentence,
for, example, the doll is on the bed, the first S that is in front of the
lines will be ready to take the doll and run to the correct place to place
it, in order to get points. In teams, they will take quickly a toy that will
be on the floor to put them in the correct places. After their participation
Ss will go to the back of their corresponding teams. T checks every work that
they have performed.
Aim of the activity:
To elicit whether the vocabulary and the target grammar has been acquired.
Type of learner:
kinesthetic
Materials:
cards. Toys on the floor.
Responsible:
Mónica Ponce
5 minutes
Invite
Ss to name the letters of the alphabet that will be shown by the teacher. T
shows them some cards which contains the alphabet to encourage them to call
the letter they see. T invites Ss to go through the letter that the Teacher
will mention. Have them stand in groups where the alphabet is to sing the
goodbye song..
Aim of the activity: To
wrap up the alphabet and recognize that it is time to say good bye.
Type of learner:
Auditory
Materials:
cards with the alphabet.
Responsible:
Mónica Ponce
Assignments
and announcements
ØTime
to teach
When the clock struck one fifteen, we began with the
class. The class was divided into a warm up, and presentation part in which I
was in charge, and a practice part that Cristela and Monika developed.
-The warm-up stage:
The warm-up was happily received by the kids. A
greeting video song was projected so that students could understand the meaning
of the question “How are you today”. This song gave us the opportunity to interact
with the kids and to clarify a question that we use with them all the time but
that they have never been able to answer. The students ended up smiling and
singing the song.
Here you are the song !!!
-The
presentation stage:
During this stage, I presented the vocabulary and
target grammar that was very well assimilated by the students. The kids were
presented with a power presentation in which all the vocabulary “AT home” was
presented. This presentation was very colorful and the kids looked interested
in it. Pronunciation was emphasized during this practice. Then, a final task
was done to prove whether the vocabulary and the grammar had been acquired.
This final task consisted on the use of a box per each student in which they
were asked to put a pencil in, on under, and behind the box. At the beginning,
some kids seemed a little confused, but with the practice they all got better,
and this final task gave us as a result, a green light in the assimilation of
the target language by the children.
The practice stage:
Here, the knowledge gotten was put into practice. Man
y activities were developed with the intention of practicing the vocabulary and
grammar taught. Activities such as, running from one part of the classroom to
another one where some posters with the prepositions were pasted on the floor,
moving real objects and putting them into different places, and guided
questions were some of the tasks that my friends used to evaluate the kid’s
comprehension of the class.
As it was expected, some tasks were easier understood
by the kids that other ones, however, at a certain point; all of them were gotten
by the children and there was never need for translations into Spanish. Most of
the time English teachers opt for using the students’ native language to
clarify any idea that seems impossible for the students to get without
translation; nevertheless, in this class, Spanish was not needed since all the
instructions and commands were clear and modeled.
Finally, the class was closed with a good bay song
that was taught and modeled with some movements so that the students could
identify that it was time to go home. here you are the good bye song!!!
Good
bye song!
Up, and down
Turn around
Touch the sky and touch
the ground
Paw your belly
Blind your eyes
Blow a kiss and say good
bye!
ØKeeping
an eye on my case of study
This class gave me the opportunity to continue
analyzing my case of study Jefferson Zelada. At the beginning of the class he
seemed a little distracted, and shy. Almost all the kids were paying attention
to the instructions, however, Jefferson was not paying attention, and he was
more interesting in showing some toys that he had brought to the class to other
kids. I called on him many times to get his attention, but he continued
distracted. After some calls; I told him to keep his toys to use them later and
focus on the class. He did what I told him to do, and he started to pay
attention; nevertheless, he still seemed confused, as if he was not able to
understand the class.
As the class progressed, I could notice that Jefferson
was not able to follow instructions as the other kids, he did not participate
unless he was asked to, and he got distracted very easily. The fact that
Jefferson gets distracted too easily or that his periods of attention are too
short, make of his understanding of the class or the commands a difficult task,
so as he does not pay attention to the instructions he feels lost in the class
and prefers not to participate or he becomes shyer.
This attention problem is completely affecting
Jefferson’s English learning. All the other kids are able to follow the classes
while Jefferson is still struggling with simple things that should have been
already acquired, this means that this attention problem is affecting his
English learning and are making him stay behind the other kids’ abilities.
As I have mentioned in some previous posts that
Jefferson has a dyslexia disorder, now, I changing my mind and I have thoughts
that the real problem that Jefferson has is ADD (attention deficit disorder). This
is because he meets some of the characteristics that a person with attention
deficit disorder has such as, not paying attention to little details, he has difficulty
focusing on instructions or games, he does not finish tasks, and he does not
like to do activities that involve mental skills, among others. All these
reasons make think that Jefferson’s problem goes beyond dyslexia.
To conclude, it is noticeable that Jefferson has some
learning problems, but I will continue studying him to realize whether his
problems can be overcome through the class or if he needs to go to the
psychologist. On the other hand, talking about the class itself, I can say that
all the goals were achieved and we have the satisfaction that kids not only
enjoyed the class, but also he learned new vocabulary and prepositions of
place.
This class
started with a weird peculiarity. It was surprising for all of us that by the
time that the class should have started, just a few kids had already come to
the classroom. The teachers in charge
waited a little bit for them, however, it was getting late and the class had to
start, so the lesson started with just nine students. Nonetheless, as the time
passed by; one kid more joined the class, this means that just ten students
assisted to this class. 
As it is common in all our classes, there is always a
presentation stage in which the teachers introduce the topic of the lesson.
This class was not an exception to this rule, and as it was expected; the
lesson started with a good presentation stage that was conducted by Ileana.
This stage started with a very active task in which Ileana had the students
running across the classroom to get some balls that had some letters which had
to be put together to form some words as, father, mother, sister and the like.
This activity was a good instrument to make students remember the target
vocabulary of the last class. Then, an activity in which the kids had to name
the parts of the body was developed so that they could encounter the new target
vocabulary for this opportunity that was precisely the parts of the human body.
Finally this presentation stage ended up with a questions and answers task that
made the children practice the vocabulary taught. 
As I have mentioned in some posts
before, Jefferson is a kid with learning problems and it has been proved here
in this English project. Jefferson always seems to distracted from the class,
he rarely pays attention and he is most of the time trying to get the attention
of his classmates by doing jokes or distracting the class because he knows that
is the only way in which he gets the class’s attention, taking into account
that he has difficulties learning and paying attention. In conclusion, all the
mentioned above does show that Jefferson has some problems in the learning
field. 
