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.
