jueves, 27 de diciembre de 2007
miércoles, 26 de diciembre de 2007
SESSION 4
My first lesson after my cold....and my last lesson before Christmas....
It was not as good as I expected....
The video did not work....so I could not play the DVD.....Thus, I had to explain myself what I wanted them to see in the video..... -not that interesting of course-
Then the activities did not work as well as I planned and I felt a bit disappointed, since I had worked on it quite a lot...
I think that day I tried to do too much.
At least, they seemed quite interested....that was nice!!
It was not as good as I expected....
The video did not work....so I could not play the DVD.....Thus, I had to explain myself what I wanted them to see in the video..... -not that interesting of course-
Then the activities did not work as well as I planned and I felt a bit disappointed, since I had worked on it quite a lot...
I think that day I tried to do too much.
At least, they seemed quite interested....that was nice!!
oh no...problems...
Gosh!!!
The practicum was going TOO well to be true..... The flu has come and my throat is sooooooooo sore that I'm gonna miss my lessons for a whole week!!!!
Now I'm not going to be able to finish my unit before Christmas......this is awful....
Besides, I can't start straight away from the 8th of January since my tutor is away....I have to wait till the 15th.....
I hope they remember something of what we did....
...
I planned a game in order to be carried out by the teacher, since I could not talk at all...
It did not work as well as I expected but they had fun and enjoyed it a lot. Not everything is bad news at least...
SESSION 3
I uploaded this blurred picture because it represents somehow how this third session went.
The first part went really great!! But again, I didn't leave much time for the speaking activity, planned for the end....so it didnt go as well as I expected...
It's a pitty, I guess I still have to learn how to work properly with speaking activities.... It's hard to have them talkin at the same time....and to control everyone is talking in English and not chatting about other stuff....
But, anyway....that's why we are here....to learn.....and to improve!!!
Perhaps I'm too demanding with myself......not everything can be perfect ^^
The first part went really great!! But again, I didn't leave much time for the speaking activity, planned for the end....so it didnt go as well as I expected...
It's a pitty, I guess I still have to learn how to work properly with speaking activities.... It's hard to have them talkin at the same time....and to control everyone is talking in English and not chatting about other stuff....
But, anyway....that's why we are here....to learn.....and to improve!!!
Perhaps I'm too demanding with myself......not everything can be perfect ^^
SESSION 2
Session 2 was really great too!!! I showed them a short clip from youtube -Monty Python and the Holy Grail- and although it was really difficult it worked very well!!! We did some activities around the topic of the Grail and these also worked really good!! We did a little game which they enjoyed a lot!! I was so happy!! 
SESSION 1
WHAT A SUCCESS!!!!
Once I planned my unit, I showed my first lesson to a couple of mates from my degree.
I got really afraid when I received their feedback. "Too difficult for 1st of ESO students" they said. "Are you expecting to have them working on this?" they stated.
What could I do?? I was not able to change it!! I was implementing it that day!!
I thought it was the first day...so why not expecting the most from my students? If I fail, it was not a big deal, since unless you try it, you never know what they are able to do or not to do. I still had 5 more lessons to carry out and I could adapt them a bit according to the results of the first one.
...
I arrived to the class really nervous....Was it really very difficult? I was starting to believe it was...
However...it ended up being a really awesome and successful activity!! Even the teacher was surprised at the results!! The students reacted really well and tried to make the most from the exercise!! They were really motivated and no one complained or said it was difficult!!
This taught me a lesson... Students can do everything and they can understand everything. Level is important, but it is not crucial. They just need to be motivated and to be given a well-developed and thought activity that fits their needs and aptitudes.
I was really really happy, and despite the fact that not all the activities worked as well as I had planned, I was already glad at seeing they were able to do something I had believed to be really difficult for them.
What a lesson to be learnt!!
Implementing MY OWN lesson unit
The time had come...
I must say I would have really appreciated if our CAP teachers had given us the lecture on how to develop our lesson unit quite before....since I just had but a couple of days to develop my unit after we were given the instructions on how to do it.
However, I came up with a topic quite soon:
King Arthur's legend!!
I was going to use this subject to:
1) teach some of the aspects I should cover from the unit book
2) increase their vocabulary and teach them new things they were not expected to learn yet.
I must admit I was quite in a hurry, since I just had 4 days between the time we were explained how to do it and the day I should start implementing it...but developing my unit was quite fun too!!
The only difficult part was that at some points, it was hard for me to:
1) develop certain excercies or come up with funny ones
2) develop speaking controlled exercices
Nonetheless, I think I was a bit lucky in the sense that, many times, teachers have to work on their units before knowing the students, but I already knew them so I could plan a lesson according more or less to their needs and taking into account everything I had learnt till that moment.
...
Let's see how it works!!
domingo, 23 de diciembre de 2007
Observing 4th of ESO and Batxillerat students
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
Before starting implementing our lessons, my mate and I asked our tutor whether we could observe other classes -since we had only observed 1st of ESO and we were interested on seeing how other courses worked.
After our tutor talked to other teachers, we were allowed to observe a group from 4th of ESO and another from 2nd of Batxillerat.
2nd of Batxillerat meant a great difference regarding 1st of ESO. The teacher hardly had to pay attention to the class management since the students paid attention all the time -they rarely spoke-, and thus she could focus on other aspects. As a consequence, the class was entirely carried out in English, even explanations of unknown words. The students also tried to talk in English with the teacher and their level of understanding was really good.
However, I must admit that it was a bit awkward at the beginning since several students were retaking the course and were 19 years old -I was 20 when I went to the observation!!- and many of them thought I was an exchange student...
4th of ESO observation was also really good. Although students had a lower level of English, the teacher also carried out the whole class in English. She just used Catalan at explaining some grammar. The students were also better behaved than 1st of ESO ones and they tried to talk in English as much as possible.
It was a really nice experience to see how other levels and teachers work, and it helped us to broaden our knowledge and experience.
Before starting implementing our lessons, my mate and I asked our tutor whether we could observe other classes -since we had only observed 1st of ESO and we were interested on seeing how other courses worked.
After our tutor talked to other teachers, we were allowed to observe a group from 4th of ESO and another from 2nd of Batxillerat.
2nd of Batxillerat meant a great difference regarding 1st of ESO. The teacher hardly had to pay attention to the class management since the students paid attention all the time -they rarely spoke-, and thus she could focus on other aspects. As a consequence, the class was entirely carried out in English, even explanations of unknown words. The students also tried to talk in English with the teacher and their level of understanding was really good.
However, I must admit that it was a bit awkward at the beginning since several students were retaking the course and were 19 years old -I was 20 when I went to the observation!!- and many of them thought I was an exchange student...
4th of ESO observation was also really good. Although students had a lower level of English, the teacher also carried out the whole class in English. She just used Catalan at explaining some grammar. The students were also better behaved than 1st of ESO ones and they tried to talk in English as much as possible.
It was a really nice experience to see how other levels and teachers work, and it helped us to broaden our knowledge and experience.
Implementing our own activities!!
The time to implement our lesson unit was approaching and teaching our own activities was a nice step to see how we should work on our unit.
These exercices we developed helped us to see and realise what works and what does not work with our students. It also helped us to see how relative is "time" and how we should manage it.
Despite our exercices worked better in some groups than in others, this activity really helped US to realise how we should face our teaching in the following weeks.
...
My mate and I -as we were going to work the same way we had worked witht he book, that is, teaching together different activities in the three groups- got together to design the lesson.
Since the exam was approaching, we found it interesting to do a kind of summary or some excersices that were useful for them to review what they had previously done with us and with the teacher.
However...
1st) we designed quite a lot of excercises
2nd) the most interesting ones -a song-, as well as the ones that involved speaking, were planned for the end of the lesson and thus, when we had to carry them out we were such in a hurry that the students could not enjoy them as much as we would have wanted them to.
3rd) We realised our exercices involved too much writing and not that much speaking or interaction with each other.
It is not that the students complained about this, of course. Nonetheless, we were not so happy as we were when we worked with the book. We expected it to end up being more successful and we were a bit disappointed.
Nevertheless, in a way and as I said at the beginning, it was not all bad news since I think it helped us a lot -perhaps even more than it helped our students!! However, this is the aim of the practicum, isn't it??
Besides, we were told that almost all of them scored nice grades, so... "we killed two birds with one stone"
- I'll upload our activities soon. However, since my internet is still not workin -yes, still not working- I'm not on my computer, but on a public one. Thus, I have to save everything in a pen drive...which I hope I can do it as soon as possible. Sorry about the inconveniences.-
These exercices we developed helped us to see and realise what works and what does not work with our students. It also helped us to see how relative is "time" and how we should manage it.
Despite our exercices worked better in some groups than in others, this activity really helped US to realise how we should face our teaching in the following weeks.
...
My mate and I -as we were going to work the same way we had worked witht he book, that is, teaching together different activities in the three groups- got together to design the lesson.
Since the exam was approaching, we found it interesting to do a kind of summary or some excersices that were useful for them to review what they had previously done with us and with the teacher.
However...
1st) we designed quite a lot of excercises
2nd) the most interesting ones -a song-, as well as the ones that involved speaking, were planned for the end of the lesson and thus, when we had to carry them out we were such in a hurry that the students could not enjoy them as much as we would have wanted them to.
3rd) We realised our exercices involved too much writing and not that much speaking or interaction with each other.
It is not that the students complained about this, of course. Nonetheless, we were not so happy as we were when we worked with the book. We expected it to end up being more successful and we were a bit disappointed.
Nevertheless, in a way and as I said at the beginning, it was not all bad news since I think it helped us a lot -perhaps even more than it helped our students!! However, this is the aim of the practicum, isn't it??
Besides, we were told that almost all of them scored nice grades, so... "we killed two birds with one stone"
- I'll upload our activities soon. However, since my internet is still not workin -yes, still not working- I'm not on my computer, but on a public one. Thus, I have to save everything in a pen drive...which I hope I can do it as soon as possible. Sorry about the inconveniences.-
Using the book
Hi everyone!!
After observing some classes, the next step in my practicum was to present some activities using the book.
I must say it is a really nice material, with lots of colours and pictures. However, to my mind and after my experience implementing my unit, I must say -of course as many other books do- that it somehow underestimates the students' abilities.
The topic of the exercies we had to work with was HAS GOT, and we also had to introduce some adjectives related to the descriptions such as "blond", "tall", "friendly", "thin" and so on.
We worked with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the students had to link the adjectives given with the characters making sentences like: "Dr.Jekyll is tall", "Mr.Hyde has got black hair" and so on.
It was a nice way of introducing these adjectives and besides, the students could compare both images and thus, the adjectives were -to my mind- better acquired.
After that, we worked on a couple of exercices more, all related to has got and these adjectives and at the end, a listening was also carried out.
My mate and I implemented these exercices in the three groups of ESO and we took it in turns. That is, we prepared at home all the excercies and explanations, and once in class, some were taught by her and some others by me. Thus, the three classes had us both implementing the exercices at the same time and we taught all of them.
The students reacted very well and although some groups talked more than the others, since the teacher was there they tried to behave.
Our tutor helped us a lot with the class management that day and we were really happy with the results.
It was a really nice experience and we enjoyed it a lot.
sábado, 1 de diciembre de 2007
Halloween
Wow! It's been a long time since my last entry.... I'm sorry to say it's been a month since I lost my internet connection, and I find it very difficult to get access from other places...
Well...let's focus on the topic, HALLOWEEN!!
After observing a couple of lessons, this great holiday already arrived!!
The teacher had prepared nice activities and a game in order to introduce the students to the American way of celebrating it.
She first of all implemented her lesson in group C. And what a surprise when, the following day, out of the blue, she asked us to implement it in groups A and B too!!!!
I must admit it worked really great!! The kids were really happy and participated a lot. Of course the groups in which we implemented it were far behaved than group C, but....it was our first lesson anyway!! So yeah, we were a bit nervous, even more taking into account we hadn't prepared it before. But... I love improvising ^^!!!!
Our students were constantly making questions and trying to answer ours.
We had a really nice time and they too.
To start with, I must admit it was a really nice experience.
Outside the classroom : CLAUSTRE
Wow!!!! our high school has got loads of projects!!!!
Amazing!!!
They all work together!! It was a nice -longggggggg- meeting!!
lunes, 26 de noviembre de 2007
First class observations
As if my lack of time weren't enough....now I have to suffer the "lack" of internet connection too!!
Yeah, I've been at least more than a week by now without internet, so that's one of the main reasons why I haven't commented again on this blog.
However, I thought it convenient to, at least, write a couple of lines about how my practicum is going.
I must admit that this blog is quite behind regarding to what I'm doing right now, since tomorrow I start implementing my lesson unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, since I have to follow an order, this entry is meant to discuss a little bit about my first days observing 1st of ESO.
The group my mate and I were meant to observe was 1st of ESO C. However, we also thought it convenient to, at least, observe one class of the A and B groups in order to compare them.
Our first day in class was really...mhh...quite impresive.
When we arrived to the class, almost none of the students was sat. They were running and shouting and even a couple of them were throwing their pencil cases at each other.
Given that situation, the teacher's reaction was pretty obvious. She had no alternative but to shout. And of course, they were told off in Spanish. After quite a long time dealing with them, and once they were all sat properly, she introduced us to the class, who already knew who we were. They were all very excited and since we spoke English all the time they even thought we were from England!!
Though the teacher had been very clear at the beginning of the class, most of the students didn't stop speaking throughout the whole lesson. She had it difficult to speak in English since she had to tell them off constantly. Despite that, they seem to work properly and she told us that they are the group who scores best grades.
In spite of their behaviour, I leave the class very happy and pleased.
The other two groups are nothing compared with C. Though they speak- cmon! they are kids, we should understand that-, they behave incredibly well and listen to the teacher all the time. In these groups the teacher has it easier to talk in English and students seem far motivated. Almost all of them pay attention. They participate much more and try to speak in English. The teacher can go further on the lesson with them.
These groups also welcomed us very cheerfully. They seemed very pleased of having us there and since they also thought we were English, the tried all the time to speak with us in English. It was awesome to see how they know more than they think. They have got plenty of skills. These just need to be triggered and they must be thought how to use them.
To sum up.... ^^ though -and obviously I expected that- they were not at all in silence, most of them -except group C- seem to be very motivated and interested in learning more.
I was really happy and felt really encouraged to work with them.
I really love to see them smiling and I feel very pleased to see how their inquisitive and curious faces look at me and my mate looking for answers and tips ^^ .
It has been a great beginning indeed....
Yeah, I've been at least more than a week by now without internet, so that's one of the main reasons why I haven't commented again on this blog.
However, I thought it convenient to, at least, write a couple of lines about how my practicum is going.
I must admit that this blog is quite behind regarding to what I'm doing right now, since tomorrow I start implementing my lesson unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, since I have to follow an order, this entry is meant to discuss a little bit about my first days observing 1st of ESO.
The group my mate and I were meant to observe was 1st of ESO C. However, we also thought it convenient to, at least, observe one class of the A and B groups in order to compare them.
Our first day in class was really...mhh...quite impresive.
When we arrived to the class, almost none of the students was sat. They were running and shouting and even a couple of them were throwing their pencil cases at each other.
Given that situation, the teacher's reaction was pretty obvious. She had no alternative but to shout. And of course, they were told off in Spanish. After quite a long time dealing with them, and once they were all sat properly, she introduced us to the class, who already knew who we were. They were all very excited and since we spoke English all the time they even thought we were from England!!
Though the teacher had been very clear at the beginning of the class, most of the students didn't stop speaking throughout the whole lesson. She had it difficult to speak in English since she had to tell them off constantly. Despite that, they seem to work properly and she told us that they are the group who scores best grades.
In spite of their behaviour, I leave the class very happy and pleased.
The other two groups are nothing compared with C. Though they speak- cmon! they are kids, we should understand that-, they behave incredibly well and listen to the teacher all the time. In these groups the teacher has it easier to talk in English and students seem far motivated. Almost all of them pay attention. They participate much more and try to speak in English. The teacher can go further on the lesson with them.
These groups also welcomed us very cheerfully. They seemed very pleased of having us there and since they also thought we were English, the tried all the time to speak with us in English. It was awesome to see how they know more than they think. They have got plenty of skills. These just need to be triggered and they must be thought how to use them.
To sum up.... ^^ though -and obviously I expected that- they were not at all in silence, most of them -except group C- seem to be very motivated and interested in learning more.
I was really happy and felt really encouraged to work with them.
I really love to see them smiling and I feel very pleased to see how their inquisitive and curious faces look at me and my mate looking for answers and tips ^^ .
It has been a great beginning indeed....
lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2007
The high school and our first meeting with the tutor
Hello again ^^
Well, as you can see in the first picture, this is my high school !!
It's really very new, it was built just seven years ago!! However, and though it seems very big to me, it's already going under building work in order to expand it. It does not only hold ESO and Batxillerat students but also a huge variety of "mòduls", which to my mind makes it even more interesting.
It's really very new, it was built just seven years ago!! However, and though it seems very big to me, it's already going under building work in order to expand it. It does not only hold ESO and Batxillerat students but also a huge variety of "mòduls", which to my mind makes it even more interesting.
Our first meeting with our tutor, Isabel Muriana, was held on the 18th of October. I was really nervous and upset, because as I'm taking loads of subjects, I was afraid we couldn't fix a proper schedule. I really didn't want to miss my lectures, so this worried me a lot. However, I was very lucky since, Isabel was not only very understanding but she also had an ideal schedule which fitted my needs and hers perfectly. So this made me very happy ^^
Me and my mate Montse -http://blackboardofenglish.blogspot.com/-, were assigned 1st of ESO students and though at the beginning I felt relieved, soon I realised that it is a huge responsability and not as easy as I thought to handle. But I guess this is another story which I should leave for another entry.
Have a nice day!!
miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2007
We learn by teaching
Going through my mates' blogs I came to find one which claimed "I don't feel like blogging".
Well, it is not that I don't feel like blogging at all, but rather that I don't really know where I'm going to find the time to post here ^^
Besides, while thinking about my blog, I came up with the following "dilemma". The thing is, this is a blog, so I guess I should be allowed to use slang and write more or less informally. However, at the same time, it is a task! so, yeah, I was wondering how could I manage to solve this gap. I hope the teachers could give us some guidelines about it, since I guess that, as long as I write in English, it shouldn't really matter whether it is highly formal or not.
Oh, by the way!! ^^ hello everyone!!
As you may know, I'm Lidia and I'm studying English Philology. Hopefully, this is going to be my last year and I'm really busy since I'm taking 8 subjects!!
As the title for this entry points out, I think this is going to be the motto for my practicum, since, though I've just been but two weeks in the high school, I've already learnt a lot!! So happy about that ^^
Well, if time allows me to do so, I hope to write soon again. See you tomorrow at 3 p.m!!
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