The last day, Friday 15th

Today has been my last day in the school. I have finished my teaching unit and I think I did a good job; at least I tried my best. This experience has been really positives for me because I could see and learn a lot of learning approach, different methodologies, how to manage a classroom, and different tools and resources which I can use as a teacher in a future.

Furthermore I have learnt how develops the daily life in the school, the home-school connection and the community-school connection. Finally, with this trainning we have the opportunity to get in the role of a real teacher and plan a teaching unit of English. I considered that it was essential that all the activities were student centered, multisensory and covered different learning styles because this way we could reach all the students and connect with them I have tried to plan activities that have these requirements that I consider indispensable

Thursday 14th

Today I have seen how to introduce new vocabulary. First of all, Núria showed the flashcards and said the words (mustache, wig, mask, glasses, earring and hat). After that, everybody repeat at the same time the word, first Núria and after the group. Then, each student said the word so that made Núria make sure that all of them were listening how to pronounce correctly. They spent more than 20 minutes doing this. So it’s really important to spend time with this vocabulary other way, student would forget it. So after the new vocabulary, they learned, sang and chanted a song with the same vocabulary and then they made some activities related.  

They will work this vocabulary for all the month and that will be great because the students will consolidate all the knowledge.

Wednesday 13rd

Today I have realized the importance to make a meaningful checking or correcting. During these weeks I have seen how some teachers correct the activities. The most successful way is to correct and explain why is correct and why is not correct, because sometimes teachers don’t have enough time to correct and they just say the correct answer and they don’t care if children have any problem or if they have understood the answer.

I think by correcting be can create a space to learn, students can learn from the checks and corrects. If a student did wrong the homework, it’s essential that the student can understand why is wrong, and how to do the best answer.

Therefore, when we are checking activities we have to give opportunities to learn to those students that haven’t understood it or for those who have done it wrong. 

Tuesday, 12nd

Today I had my fourth intervention. I have change different things after reflect about my last intervention.

Firstly I did a game with the routine song.  Every time they start the class, they don’t sing the routine song and there isn’t sense if the teacher puts the song but no one sing. So to motivate the students to sing I propose a game.

I distribute the class in two groups, once is called right and the other left so, when I raise my right hand, group right had to sing and the same with the left hand.  Sincerely, it works. They were motivated and it was the first time I have listen them singing the routine song. I was really surprised and glad to see the difference.

Also, to start with the class I ask them how they were and I ask 5 students how they were to create a good atmosphere and to create visual contact with them. 

5th-8th February

This week has been special for the reason that it was Carnival so we haven’t done English at all. We have done different things related with Carnival. Trini and I helped some groups (3^rd and 4^th grade) doing their fancy dresses.

When it’s Carnival, the school says a different order every day.  It’s a typical game to prepare children for Carnival. So, on Tuesday everybody had to come to school with a painted face. On Wednesday everybody had to come with pajamas. On Thursday everybody had to come with a funny hairstyle. Finally, on Friday everybody had to come with the clothes inside out.

Despite we didn’t do English, it was a funny week.    

Friday 1st, February

Today was my third intervention of my teaching unit. My teacher from the University was there.  We have discussed a long list of things I have to improve. I have talked with my peer Trini and we have reflected about it.

The most important think that I have realized is that being a teacher is more difficult and laborious than do nice activities. We have to plan the activities taking into account different things: the level of the students, their prior knowledge, all the activities have to be age and stage appropriate to the students. Also, we have to plan lesson being aware the objectives, the competences, not only nice and funny activities.

In addition, it’s important to make sure that our students understand what I am teaching, so I would be great if I had had a power point to support my students, for the reason that the structure there is and there are is quite difficult. Students need to have clear ideas about what they are learning, so with a visual support it could be easier for children to understand and consolidate the knowledge. 

Thrusday 31st

During these days I’m learning a lot of things. One interesting is how to play with flashcards. I have seen different ways to remember vocabulary using the flashcards.

-         Mimics

-         Memory game

-         Asking what is this? ( by pairs)

-         Asking what is he doing? (by pairs)

-         Showing a piece of the flashcard

-         Showing the flashcard for 1 second

-         Hiding  the flashcards around the class

Before  I arrive to the school I only know three ways to play with flashcards and currently I have different variations to catch and motivate my students.

 

Wednesday 30th

Yesterday was my second intervention of my teaching unit.  After one day, I have though more things I have to improve.  I think I have to be a little bit severe because the group is very noisy, I mean they like to talk and play all the time and they hardly listen. In some moments I had difficulties to make them listen to me and the teacher had to interfere.  

Also, at the end of the class they did all the work, but I was not sure if they really understand the differences between there is and there are and if they have questions, because any time I say: Do you have any question? All the students answer NO. So I have to make questions to the students to be aware which students have understand the structure and which don’t.

Moreover, another thing I have to improve is the repetition.  When I observe the other teachers, I always see that they are repeating what they are saying all the time.  So, for the next lessons I will repeat everything I say in order to all the students hear me.

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Also, today we have done the lip dub, all the school have done a part of a video because we are celebrating the 25th birthday of the school.  We have done the posters for the English class with some students; they have painted typical things from London. So, I let the link so you can see the video.

Lip dub ESCOLA PONENT

Tuesday 29th

Today I have planned the whole  teaching unit with Imma. We have chosen the aims that the students have to achieve and then the appropriate activities to get the goals.

It’s important to realize that we use English to communicate, so the main goal is use English language for communication and interaction. For this reason, we have to create real context were students can use English to communicate. It is essential to understand that students are going to learn English if they really want it, so we have to catch them by things that are real for them, things that they find common. We have to promote real tasks and meaningful activities. So, collections are a common thing for children, they like badges, cards, posters…  So it is meaningful for them to learn this kind of things.

Friday 25th

Today I have done my first teaching intervention of my teaching unit. According to Imma, I had to follow her planning for the week, so I follow the book activities. Fortunately, the activities of the book are interesting and I think they are appropriate for the students.

We are working with the collections issues and with there is and there are structures.

First of all I have done the song routine. Next, they have done a short reading, it was a description and they have to guess what picture was the correct.  After this, they have done different activities to practice the structure in question form.

Finally they have done a game. One student had to choose one picture and the other had to guess by asking with the structure that they have studied. The best activity was the last one. It was a speaking activity and all the students were doing it. They were practicing by pairs:

-          Are there any badges in the stall?

-          Yes, there are/No, there aren’t

-          Is there a figure in the stall?

-          Yes, there is/ No, there isn’t

The teaching lesson went well, but there are a lot of things that I have to improve. For example my attitude in front the students, I think I have to be more expressive and more confident. I will achieve that with experience so I will work hard to achieve it.

Thursday 24th

Today I have seen a really interesting activity. It is called the funny man. We did this activity in both 3^rd grades. They had to paint a man with different clothes. During the week they were studying the clothes and the structure: What is he wearing? He is wearing a …. So, it was the moment to put in practice what they had learned. It was gratifying see how students did the activity autonomously.  They were working by pairs, asking:  What is the funny man wearing?  The other student was answering: The funny man is wearing a red jacket…

At the end of the class, all the students were distributed in pairs. Núria explained the activity one time at the beginning of the lesson and the students work all the time by themselves.

I think that if we want to change the approach of the school and foster child-centered education, we have to try to develop different activities that foster the autonomous and independent work for the reason to develop children’s personality and competences. That kind of activity promotes this teaching approach that we all would like to do in our class.

Wednesday 23rd

Today in class I have seen the first intervention of my peer Trini. I have helped her to control the behavior of some noisy students.  The lesson went really good, she has done it perfectly.

This week is getting better than the previous for the reason that we are observing English lessons of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grade and it is quite interesting to observe the differences between these grades.  I love how Núria does the lessons. She is severe but at the same time is lovely with the students, she is well-balanced.

Every day she does the same routines. First of all, she says:

Good morning everybody!! How are you today? How do you feel today? After she puts the song routine and encourages every student to sing and dance. Next, she says: Okay, What is the day today? And she asks: What’s the weather like today? She uses a different student every day. Also, to finalize the routine she play a little time with the flashcards to refresh and remember the vocabulary they are working with.

Actually I think it is essential that pupils have a routine because that helps them. They are focus on the lesson and they don’t spend time talking and playing. Also, it is a good way to manage the classroom.

Tuesday 22nd

Today has been the first day of Núria, our new English teacher. She is the English teacher substitute (p4 to 4^th grade). She is really nice and lovely and I think we are going to learn lots of things from her.  

Also, today I have done my first intervention. I have done it during the English class in 4^th grade after the break time. It isn’t one of my 5 interventions from my teaching unit, but Núria brought me the opportunity to participate in class.

First of all, I have presented the daily song “What’s the weather like, today?”, they have sung and chanted.  After that, we played with different flashcards (actions flashcards like: climbing, throwing the ball, catching the ball, running, swimming, walking, jumping…) I have started asking: What is this? And the students have answered quickly. They enjoy playing with flashcards. Probabbly we have spent 35 minutes doing this activity.

Then we have begun the main activity. We did a reading. The students have read the story 4 times in different ways. It's important to make students understand what they are reading, no matter how many times they have to read, because the main objective is the comprehension of the text. 

The class went well; little by little I’m feeling more comfortable and confident teaching.  I think pupils have enjoyed the lesson. This group of students is motivated with English, they pay attention all the time and you can see they are learning and having fun.

Friday 18th

Today it's the last day of the week.  We have observed different groups, but specially the English in 5^th grade. This group is a little bit messy and noisy than the other ones, but all they are nice students. Also, I have seen a lots ways to teach because I have been with all the teachers for the reason that there isn’t a substitute for the English teacher, so there were different ways to teach that I liked.

I have talked with Imma and I have started to plan different activities to begin with my teaching unit. I would be in 5^th grade and the topic will be" The collections". Finally the structure they will learn will be there is/there are, in affirmative, negative and interrogative. 

Thursday 17th

Today we have been in different groups; we have been observing maths, Catalan and English as well.

In English we have been with Imma, in 6th grade doing different activities about the weekend and using the past simple structure.

In Catalan with grade 4th, we have played to SCRABLE with the students that have difficulties. First we tried to do it in English language, but it was too difficult for the student so we have done it in Catalan.

It have been a good day, we are ready to start next week with the new English teacher (the substitute).

Wednesday 16th

During this week, we are going to be in the English class with 5th and 6th grade. The other groups will be doing different activities with the tutor until the substitute will arrive, but anyway we will be with the other groups even they don't do English.

Today it has happened something interesting in class.

The teacher was correcting different activities. Apparently all the students were listening and correcting it. They were correcting close questions and everything went fine. But when they arrived to activity 3 some students were confuse. The activity consisted to make sentences about what they do last weekend. Every student had different solutions but the teacher didn’t contemplate.  I was walking around the tables and I saw different students that didn’t correct the activity, they mark a good, but the answer was wrong.

Sometimes teacher can’t reach all the students because it is a difficult task, but in my opinion we have to take into account that every student is different and there are students that need more attention.  I think I would have corrected by a different way like writing the solutions on the blackboard, correcting by peers or by groups to be sure that all the students understand and correct properly the activity.

First day , Tuesday 15th

Tuesday 15^th was my first day on the school. I was a little bit nervous, but everything went really well. I have to work with Trini because one of the English teachers was in a medical operation and she won’t be at the school during our practices. However, I’m really glad to work with her, so we will learn from each other. 

I hope we are going to do a great job!

Our specialist teacher is called Imma. She is teaching English in 5th and 6 th grade, also she is the tutor of 5 grade. For this reason we will do our teaching sequence in these grades.