A rewarding experience

A new experience added to my life, which certainly every time makes me think that the best decision was to have chosen this major. I am studying a degree with a specialization in teaching English at Don Bosco University, this is my fifth year so I am about to graduate. Teaching teenagers was something I might said was afraid of, but through this experience I can say I really enjoyed it.

                              

Not only teaching teens I was new at, but also start planning with ECRIF.  When I heard it,I didn't have an idea what it was about, or what it was. Hence, I can say that One of my first challenges in this course was to start planning with ECRIF. Being honest, it was really complicated for me to understand it, while planning I got confused, for example, one of my issues was to know what activity was going to fit perfectly in each stage. It was very overwhelming at that time. It was not easy for me to overcome it, I had to take my time, read about it, see examples of ECRIF activities, and  had to plan almost every day just to practice and to understand it. It was a good way for me to practice and to understand it. Finally when it was time to plan and design my own classes, it was much easier for me.

During the teaching practice, I felt very confident because I really took my time to plan my classes, to design my material and try to clear up my mind. I can say I improved  many things in my performance, for example: classroom management, it was very important for me to know that i had to monitor my students, but still i have to improve it because as I was told, I can help my students, but I can’t do their work or make other students feel they are not part of the class.

Another thing I improved was my tone of voice. My tone of voice is soft, but i was able to speak laud enough that all my students were able to listen what I was saying.

Also the use of the space, I think it was something really important and being able to use part of the room, it makes me  feel comfortable as a teacher.

Regarding the peer evaluation, I was so impressed to see how my colleague Eduardo developed his classes. Many times not having the experience of doing something makes us feel nervous and anxious, and I think Eduardo felt that, but it was really impressive to see how he grew up.

From the first to the last lesson he taught the changes were present, he felt comfortable teaching his lessons and that was something important because  it was shown in the way he developed his classes. Something I really liked about his classes is that he took his time to prepare catchy materials, it was very interesting to see how he used his creativity to prepare materials and activities, and I considered that is important to develop a good class. 

I am happy to see how he is growing with every experience he gain, and I really hope he took advantage of what he learned during this course.

On the other hand, my colleague Wanda did an excellent job. Since she had experience teaching I guess it was something not that difficult for her, but I am really happy that she improved her tone of voice and the use of gestures, and avoid the repetitions of some words. Her materials were always colorful and catchy, but what I like the most is the energy and enthusiasm she gives every single time she teach. And to be hones it is something I will like to have in my future classes.

I am happy because every day she learns and seeing how she improves makes me feel proud and happy.

As I said before this is a new experience added to my life, and I am proud of myself because i give my best to the students. Planning with ECRIF was tough at the beginning, but now I can say that I would definitely make my lesson plans with it. It is something really interesting to see how you can focus on your students and how effective you can teach them with ECRIF, besides that is student centered and in my case as teacher made me feel so comfortable being able to play with the time.

This experiences are the ones that makes me think that being teacher is something to be proud of, having the feeling that you helped and shared what you know is something that not only change your life, but it change someone else’s life.

Physical and psychosocial development on the adolescent student.

This week I have been learning about the physical and psychological development in the adolescents. But this time, I will  not talk about  changes in adolescents in general, I will share about the changes I presented during the adolescence.

I have some memories of my physical and psychosocial development.
First of all, I will share  my physical development. To be honest it was not a bad or shocking  transition to me, since I didn't change that much. Of course, I presented changes in my body, but they were not so evident  because I have always been thin and tall. When my breast started to develop it was uncomfortable, not because I care about what people thought, but  because I used to practice sports and started to wear bra, and it was something new for me.  The only shocking change for me was my period. It was shocking because  my parents never took their time to talk about it, so I never had those advice on what or how to do things regarding to my period.

My psychological changes are few as well. I grew up with my grandmother's advice. She installed in me some valuable values, and I can say that to this day those values still are my guide. During my adolescence I never paid attention on what other might thought  or said about me, because I dedicated a huge part of my life to sports, so I might say that I have always been a risk-taking person. I practiced soccer, basketball, skateboarding, rolling skate and even surf, and then I start to be engage into cars and speed.

Besides that, one thing that influence my life is that I traveled a lot, and being aware of how other countries and cultures are, made a difference on how I started to see things, and increased my expectations on what I want  in and for my life.

Now, with things I have been taught, I understand why teenagers act the way they do. It is really easy to point out attitudes that teens adopt without knowing the real factors and reasons behind that, but still some people attached it  to rebellious attitudes. Hence, it is really important to know theory and understand why are this changes occurring, because, we teachers are there not to judge  but to help them to overcome what they are struggling with.

And that is the reason why as a teacher, I would like to help my adolescent students by offering and giving them guidance, not as a friend, but as mentor, so they know that there will be someone they can count on and for advice whenever they need it.

Meeting and dealing with changes in the brain of a teenager.

I am starting a new experience. This time I will have the opportunity  to learn and practice how to teach teenagers, since this will be my very first time teaching teens it will be a very insightful and meaningful experience.

Adolescence  can be a confusing and hard time, because they go through some changes  that they are not aware and because of that some teenagers often know how to act or react to specific problems or situations that are presented in their life. And that is why my perspective  on teaching teenagers make me  feel challenge, because as teachers we always want to teach and give them our best, but teens often feel embarrassed to participate or refuse to do an specific activity, or even sometimes they don't feel that motivated to learn something new.

During this week, I have been studying about teens behavior, and it is quite interesting to learn how actually the brain works and  how the transition is from being a child into a teenager. 

There are many factors  that had influence in the life of a teenager, such as: family, friends, school, technology,  environment, but also their brain. Since our brain are in constant development, during the adolescence the greatest change occurs in the frontal lobe, it undergoes growth and a wave of reorganization. This changes in the frontal lobe are significant in their lives, it not only implies affective connections and maturity but also, it brings with it cognitive and behavioral functions such as: 

• Reasoning.
• Problem solving.
• Organization for multiple task.
• Judgement.
• Empathizing with others.
• Emotions.
• Impulse control.

It is important to remember that as teachers, we need to teach teenagers in manners that enables their brains to see that what they are learning is relevant for their lives, and that is why Ic consider that teachers need to take into consideration the environment, background information and abilities  when planning a lesson.

For instance, my expectations toward this course: "Teaching practicum II: Teaching English to teens." are high, because I really expect to learn a lot, not only about their behavior, but also some techniques on how to teach them, and everything that I require to know to give my best to my future students.

Reflection

This course ends, and I am happy, not because it ends, but because it taught me valuable things. I  may say that one of my favorites things I learn and study was the theories that we read from the first period, game me hints in order to know what and how to do things. One of the theory that help me a lot in this course was, the cognitive theory by Jean Piaget, it gave me clues to know  were my students were at and what they were able to do and perform.

During the first class we taught, I was nervous and shy, but since the students were very friendly and some of them talkative, they made me feel comfortable and I enjoyed the experience. From that first class, I learn how important is to connect and to establish a relationship with our students, because if we make them feel comfortable, they will transmit us the same energy.

The second class, I was more confident on what I was going to do, specially because I knew that students were  trusting in me, and they were enjoying what we were teaching them. And it was a good lesson for me, it taught me something really important, I have fought about it, but been there in the place living that experience made it more meaningful and remarkable. At the moment that we have our students and they are eager to participate, we need to let them feel free and continue, even if we ask them for a command and they want to say a complete statement, we need to let them express themselves, because that will make them feel they are doing great and they will feel proud, as I was that day, when I experience it.

The third lesson, it was the most challenging one, but I enjoyed it, it was very import an to have a challenge like this one, because if not, we might have thought that teaching children might have been easy, but since we had this experience, we know that there are going to be tough times, and there are going to be  peaceful times. This lesson in specific made me realize that when things are difficult and it seem theres no solution for it, make it simple will help us to know what to do, specially if we want the lesson be relevant and have great result for our students.

To end up with this reflection, I might say that one of the things I enjoyed the most was, being able to choose the activities and prepare the materials very catching. I feel very satisfied because even if we had hard times, they were paid at the end. Having our students remember and answering what we taught, when they were asked, was something really rewarding. Someone told me once that when a teacher love teaching, they teach children to love learning, and now I do believe it.

       "When words are both, true and kind, they change the world." -Buddha

Lesson 11

This was our third and final lesson. We had high expectations for it. We worked really hard because we wanted to end up with great result.

To star with our lesson, after singing our opening hello song, we had our warm up by teacher Yenifer, this time she  did two activities.

The first one was a song, it purpose was to students get familiar with the topic the song was about the time and it include vocabulary like: what time is it? 1 o'clock, 2'oclock and so on, students and teacher were doing some  mimics while the song was on.

The second activity was about to form a clock. Teacher Yenifer gave some number to the students so they, students and teacher, can form a clock.

After having that, teacher Wanda started to present the vocabulary that was some daily routines like: get up, eat lunch, do the homework, and go to bed. She made emphasis on the pronunciation of the words. She also made use of a big clock that was pasted on the wall, to present exact hours such as  7 o'clock, 11 o'clock. She present the question "What time is it?" and the answer: " It is 7:00 o'clock, time to get up." In order to student get the vocabulary, the pronunciation, and the structure, they were asked to repeat, question and answer. Teacher and students were taking turns to ask and answer.

During the listening time, teacher Deyanira did two activities.

The first activity was a lottery game, where students were asked to work individually, there worked in a worksheet. The teacher was saying some commands, and when the students listen to the command , they will have to put up a bean in the corresponding space, until get all the images with beans.

The second activity, students were working in pairs, each pair received some pieces of paper, one that has the question: "What time is it?", and two more that were daily routines. Students were asked to ask and answer with their classmate. They had some time to work by themselves, father that teacher Deyanira, pass each pair to the front and they were doing the exact same thing, the y were taking turns to ask and to answer.

It is time for the post listening, and this time Teacher Luis  did two activities.

The first was a memory game. Students worked individually and they were asked to take turns and pass to the front to find two equal images, when they found it, they were asked to say what they found, for example, "Get up".

For the second activity, Students were passing a toy and when they hear the word "stop" the one that has it, had to pass to the front. When they get there a daily routine was given and they had to put the hour in the big clock and then, he or she, was asked by the teacher and the rest of the classmates: "What time is it?" then he or she had to answer the daily routine he was given and the hour he marked .

For the wrap up, I played with the students, Simon says. I say commands like: Touch go to bed, or, touch 7 o'clock. The purpose of this activity was just to reinforce and make them remember al the hours and the daily routines. 

For me, this was the most challenging lesson we had to teach. We made up 3 times the lesson plan, because we were not convinced in some activities, and in some specific vocabulary. But at the end, we decided to make it simple but relevant for the student, and that is why we just present some four basic daily routines with exact hours. 

This taught me that even if the topic we had to develop seems the most difficult, when we make it simple, think like students, and make it relevant, we can end up with great results.

Lesson 8

During this lesson, I had high expectations because this group is very creative and very enthusiastic, and I've been learning from this group many things, such as enthusiasm, this is is one of the key factors to carry on one class, and so does positivism, because if you start  the class with a positive attitude you will transmit this to your students.

The class started with the hello song in a very unique way, they used some musical interments and make it more interesting to the students.

Teacher Kriscia  started the class with a hangman game activity.  The activity consist on having the students saying one letter of the alphabet at a time to form a sentence.
I could notice that students were struggling a little bit, but it was not because of the activity, I think that some visual aids to give them clues were missing, and those things would have made the activity work on perfectly.

After that, teacher Olmes started to review the vocabulary of last class, and presented some new vocabulary like:
-Library.
-Bank. 
-Park. 
-Hospital.
-School.

After he presented those new words of vocabulary, he teach at the interrogative question: “Is there a ______ in your town? with its answers.
 He did a great job pointing out the negative and affirmative answers,  it was an excellent explanation because the students really acquired it. 

Teacher Sussan  presented two activities, in order for students get to understand well the structures.

The first activity consisted on playing an audio while they worked i a worksheet. When they hears a place of the community they had to circle it. It was a good activity and they way she carry it out very professional. She repeated the audio twice so students had more opportunity to complete the worksheet. Then she repeated a third time, but this time she stop it and make students repeat. After they repeat, she asked 1 by 1 to check the answers they got.

­The second activity was very funny, it was a song, she sang a song acapella, so students were asked to walk around some circles that were pasted on the floor while she sang it, and when she stop singing, they had to stood in a circle. It was very dynamic, and every time she start singing again, she do it faster and faster.

I really like both activities, because students were really involved in what they were asked to do, and teacher Sussan was really aware of what they were doing, and she was enjoying it at the same time.

Teacher Josue started with a game, this game was really fun, it consist on  having two groups of students, each group had a dice, so they take turns to throw it, according to the number they got, there were spaces that has, some questions, or they had to mention places in the town, or they had to do anything at all. 

I really like this activity because it was very unique, fun and entertaining, and since it was somehow like a competition game, it was very catching for students.

To end up this lesson, teacher Xunaxi play “Sharks are coming.” She use this game to create some groups. After she created the groups. Students were asked team by team to pass, they created a town, so teacher Xunaxi make each couple interact with each other asking questions and walking to the place in the town they were asked to.

And as usual, they end up the class with the song.

I really like this lesson, it was a well developed class. I learn that having games its a way easier to make students learn and enjoy at the same time. Besides that I learn that we not always need a cd player to do an activity, but since we are learning how to be teachers, it took lot of courage to sing acapella like Teacher Sussan did, and actually I enjoyed that, and I think I could use that technique in the future.

Lesson 7

My expectation for this lesson were high, we create a lot of material so students can enjoy and can feel part of the class, eager to participate and to learn more. I can say that i fulfill my expectation, because I really enjoyed every stage of this class.

We started with the hello song, we sang it with the students, we were arrange making a circle as a whole group, we made the mimics and we played the song, since they already are  familiar with the rhythm. It worked perfectly and I felt that students enjoy it even more, because they already know the lyrics!

The class started with the game “ Snake follow”, and it consist on having students asked by the teacher to line up behind each other to form a line, simulating a snake. Then students were asked to say  “ Where do we want to go?” and them teacher Deyanira said sentences like : I want to go to the gas station. After that, teacher and students started to walk to a different part of the classroom until they get to the place in which the name of the place shouted before by the teacher is located at. When they get to that part, they repeated the name of the place 2 times.

I really think  that this was a great way to start the class since students were active and they were focusing and enjoying the game and the learning at the same time.

We were encharged to teach the structure “WANT TO + VERB”, but before teacher Luis start to present the key structure, he made a reinforcement the personal pronouns. ( I, She, He, They.) 
After that, the structure Want to + verb (go) was presented using flashcards. and students were asked to repeat the sentence.
I think this part was very insightful for us as teacher, because students get it really quickly and that made things a little bit easier for us.

Teacher Yeniffer came out with two activities. In the first activity, students were asked to work in pair to arrange in the correct order the structure of a sentence. When students finished  arranging the papers, teacher Yeniffer passed an object and when she said stop, the pair that has it was asked to read the sentence aloud.
 I really like this activity since cooperative learning is something really important, and we could notice that students really enjoy working in this way.

The second activity was with the spinning wheel, students were asked to spin the wheel, and  the space where it stops, it has an image of the places in the community and a pronoun. After that, when they already had it, they were asked to write it on the board and then read it aloud to check it with the classmates.
This was a really good practice because you could notice where students were having troubles.

But we wanted to see how much students were understating, and  teacher Wanda had two activities prepared as well.  A word search was carry on at first, and students were asked to work in pairs, they received a sheet of paper and they had to enclosed the words. When students finished, they had the same word search chart pasted in the wall and they were asked to pass in front and enclosed one word.
I saw how much students enjoy this activity, they were really engaged on it.

The second activity was a worksheet, this time was individual, the worksheet contains 5 pictures of the places in the community, and student were asked to choose 3 of them and write a sentence. When they were done with it, they were asked to pass in front and share one sentence.

Something i really like from this activity is that students were volunteering and they were eager to participate

When its almost time to go, it was my turn to conclude the lesson with a spider web game. In this game a ball of wool was passed to students, when the student had the wool they were asked to answer a question and then trow the wool to a different classmate to form an spider web.
This activity was fun, I had some inconvenience at first because of time issue, but then it was really fun and really excited to see how students were into the topic, because they wanted to form a sentence even if they were asked to say just a place of the community. And with this I learn that sometimes we need to let students participate and not stop them.

And now its time to say goodbye.

I enjoyed this experience, and having my colleagues make it more meaningful for me, of course at the end of the class we received some feedback, which will make us improve next class, and those things make us grow as teachers, and know that we receive that feedback, we know how we can improve for our next lessons. Personally, I learnt a lot in this lesson, specially what I just state before, its really important to let our students participate and not stop them when they are into it anad really eager ti participate.