INTERNSHIP AT PUBLIC INSTITUTION MARCELIANO POLO ...
Transcript of INTERNSHIP AT PUBLIC INSTITUTION MARCELIANO POLO ...
INTERNSHIP AT PUBLIC INSTITUTION MARCELIANO POLO
INTERNSHIP FINAL REPORT
ANDREA CAROLINA BARCENAS MERCADO
UNIVERSIDAD DE CÓRDOBA
FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN Y CIENCIAS HUMANAS
LICENCIATURA EN HUMANIDADES: INGLÉS
MONTERÍA-CÓRDOBA
2020
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INDEX
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter I: Pedagogies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter II: Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter III: Teaching experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter IV: Conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter V: Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
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ABSTRACT
This report details an internship executed at public institution Marceliano Polo in Cereté-
Córdoba. In this report I share how was my personal experience as a novice teacher and the things I
had to deal with during all this process, I also mentioned my experience with the implementation of
virtual classes, The current situation led us to take different measures to carry out our work as
teachers. In addition, this internship aimed to implement lessons that focus on CLT to improve
students’ oral skills. CLT lessons have proved to be an effective alternative to develop more dynamic
and fluent lessons. This approach has been used for the development of communicative skills. Hence,
the purpose of this internship was to identify the possible improvements in students’ oral skills after
the implementation of CLT lessons.
Key words: CLT, Oral Skills, CLT lessons, virtual classes.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, I want to thank God for allowing me to come this far and give me the blessing of having
unique beings around me, as this would not have been possible without their help either.
Thanks to all those people who were with me supporting me throughout this process.
thanks to the directors of the school where I was allowed to do my internship, infinite
thanks to my tutors and teachers who were there supporting me, guiding me, and giving me
their best advice throughout this time, as these are things that I will always keep with me.
With all my love I want to thank my mom and my sister, they have been a key part in all this; I
want to thank my partner for giving me encouragement when I need it most. Finally, I want to
thank my friends, who have made this whole adventure more enjoyable.
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INTRODUCTION
An internship is an opportunity for a novice teacher to demonstrate what she/he has
learned during his career, it is the possibility to experience first-hand what will be his
profession for the rest of his life, the chance to discover his vocation, and learn to love
teaching. Hence, this report describes the process of my professional internship, as the option
to complete all the requirements to finish my career. I chose to do this to put into practice
everything I had learned throughout my studies, furthermore to gain more experience in the
educational field. In this report, I expose the objectives, methods, goals, and difficulties I
faced during the development of this internship. Additionally, I present how the school
handled the virtualization and my experience with the implementation of virtual classes.
This apprenticeship was conducted at the Institution MARCELIANO POLO is an
academic educational institution that operates in the municipality of Cereté (Córdoba). It
offers education organized by cycles, including grades, from pre-school to eleventh grade.
With a population of 4789 pupils who are in socioeconomic strata between 3-1. It also has a
staff of 182 teachers, 6 coordinators and more than 35 classrooms. It also offers adult
education in the evening. The institution has five branches: Caracas, Corinto, El Edén, Prado
and the main branch (where my work was carried out). In addition, is one of the ancient
institutions in the municipality of Cereté with 55 years of service to the population of Cereté.
I started my training period in the third week of February, in the public institution
MARCELIANO POLO located in Cereté-Córdoba. I chose it because I was familiarize with
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the context, as I had done my teaching practice there. I felt the need to work further in this
institution. Additionally, I was committed to supporting the institution with the knowledge I
had acquired during my learning process, with the intention of being an expert in the field.
Having had the opportunity to work there before, allowed me to identify some of the
limitations that learners presented in terms of the English subject. The limited knowledge of
vocabulary, lack of interest, the focus on grammar "language rules" and the lack of oral
production, were some of the disabilities that became evident in this school. Consequently,
taking into account the evidence, I decided to emphasize my internship on the improvement
of oral production in the English classes, and alternately with this I would work on enriching
students' vocabulary, and motivation.
Therefore, I selected the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach to lead
the design of my lessons. For this reason, my general purpose was to integrate the use of
CLT lessons in an EFL classroom to improve the oral participation of tenth-graders of this
public institution, since it was some of the most notorious weaknesses. Despite that, students
were able to manage the grammar rules; their performance confirm the lack of management
they had when using those grammar structures into oral practice.
At the beginning of my internship I had to work with four classrooms, each one with
40 students, when this current situation regarding the pandemic began, I was in charge of
only two groups of 40 pupils who had to start their learning process at home. In the other
hand, since it is a public institution where a large percentage of the students do not have the
necessary resources to access a computer, tablet, or other electronic device or even access to
the internet, starting this process was significantly difficult. The institution decided to the
use printed guides.
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For that reason, as an intern, I had to develop and collaborate, with the help and
guidance of my tutors, the creation of some guides to support teachers of English area in the
process of virtualization and distance learning in the tenth grades. In addition to the guides,
I made activities to accompany the pupils during this process; also, I designed some material
for future use as provisions to the teachers in the implementation of virtual and distance
learning lessons. After surveying students, the analysis results showed that a great amount
of them had access to at least one cell phone at home; consequently, it was adopted the use
of Whatsapp groups to create more significant contact. Mainly, to provide learners with the
accompaniment they need in these circumstances and all necessary information to carry on
the activities.
In this report I will also mention, the strategies I used. My teaching methodology,
how I tried to integrate CLT approach to the lessons, which tools I used to carry out the
activities in a virtual way, how I prepared myself to face this classes (virtual ones), the
difficulties, and challenges I had to go through to finish my internship and the learning this
adventure gave me.
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1. PEDAGOGIES
This chapter shows the pedagogical support that was required to conduct the
development of the internship once the conditions and previous observations were carried
out. In the next section, the following concepts and related literature that were took into
account as basis of the practice of a training period process: CLT, Oral production, lessons
for oral production, Vocabulary learning, and distance education and virtuality.
2.1 Communicative learning teaching
According to Jack Richard, (2006) “Communicative language teaching can be
understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a
language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of
teachers and learners in the classroom”. In this sense, CLT can be seen as a mix of concepts,
strategies, basics, and ideas that focuses on finding the strategies that best ensures students’
learning. Now, it is necessary to mention that CLT goals are to teach communicative
competence, although it should be clarified that it does not necessarily focus on teaching
only speaking; but rather seek to enhance communication skills.
Furthermore, one more time, J. Richard (2006) claims that
“While grammatical competence is an important dimension of language learning, it
is not all that is involved in learning a language since one can master the rules of sentence
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formation in a language and still not be very successful at being able to use the language for
meaningful communication. It is the latter capacity which is understood by the term
communicative competence”
Many studies have been carried out where the importance of the use of the target
language (TL) in a communicative way has been mentioned, as one of the skills that are
required for a more significant appropriation of the English language.
Another text mentioned Wei (2011) that “Given the gap between the theories of
communicative competence and the task confronting EFL teaching and learning, most of the
previous research studies maintained that EFL countries should carefully study their English
teaching situations and decide how CLT can best serve their needs and interests." In others
words, the writer said that many researches suggests that before implementing the CLT
approach, it is necessary to analyze the context in which it is planned to be carried out, to
identify which strategies best fit the needs of the context. With this in mind, during this
internship the intention was to create lessons that would serve as the basis for future
implementation of CLT in this public institution.
2.2 Oral Production
Oral production is the ability to express ideas, share experiences, and participate
in conversations, presentations, among others. In addition, Hymes (1972) defines Oral
production as “the capacity to communicate effectively within a particular speech
community that wants to accomplish its purposes.” (p. 60). Similarly, Chastain (1998) also
defines Oral production as “…a productive skill and it involves many components. Speaking
is more than making the right sounds, choosing the right words or getting the constructions
grammatically correct.” (pp. 330). Consequently, oral production is more than correctly
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linking grammar patterns; it is a proficient skill involving many factors to be effective. For
instance, it involves making decision about what to say and how to say it. It involves body
language, stress and intonations depending on the message the speaker is trying to get across,
as Harmer (2007) explained “When speaking, we construct words and phrases with
individual sounds, and we also use pitch change, intonation, and stress to convey different
meanings” (p. 29).
Oral production is the skill that is affected the most in terms of classroom anxiety.
Feelings such as, nervousness, hesitation, increased heart rate and sweating influence
directly the learners’ productivity during activities. Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope (1986) stated
that “principally, counselors find that anxiety centers on the two basic task requirements of
foreign language learning: listening and speaking. Difficulty speaking in class is probably
the most frequently cited concern of the anxious foreign language student” (p. 126).
Similarly, Daly (1991) found that in some learners “fear of giving a speech in public
exceeded such phobias as fear of snakes, elevators, and heights” (p. 3). Anxiety during oral
activities has influenced negatively learners’ performance. Phillips (1992) found that
students who experienced anxiety spoke less, produced short communication units, and used
fewer structures and clause of the target language. Students who experience anxiety are
afraid of making mistakes, since mistakes are not seen as learning opportunities but as a
failure, that leads them to become silent, in other words, students refuse to participate in oral
production activities.
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2.3 Lessons for oral production
Speaking is one of the skills in which students are most at fault, due to the few
opportunities they have to use the language in the classroom and outside of it. In the EFL
classrooms, it is notorious the few opportunities students have to improve their
communicative competence in this kind of context, as very few lessons are focused on
improving this ability, as a result of this, students present some difficulty in speaking.
As “the role communication is usually given in classrooms, that of displaying
previously taught language items poses limitations on the value it might have for developing
EFL proficiency” (Herazo, Jerez, & Lorduy, 2009). For this reason, the modern teaching of
languages decided to take action on the matter, since students of the EFL classroom must
develop their communicative skills, using English in this case. Therefore, there is a need to
create lessons that will help students enhance their communicative competences and give
them more opportunities to have meaningful use of English in the classroom.
Some authors mentioned some factors or characteristics that are common for
successful speaking activities (Ur, 1996, Phipps, 1999, Lightbown, 2003) that are:
● The use of pair-work or small group works to avoid pupils’ anxiety, as much
research had shown that students feel more anxiety when they have to talk in front of a big
number of classmates. This strategy creates interaction opportunities for learners; it is a
convenient form to have students work, breaks the ice and builds confidence.
● There must be a purpose for all the activities included in the lesson, by this, we
mean that teachers need to set an end goal, to give students reasons to complete the task and
give students a significant use of the language during the activities.
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● Gives pupils clear instructions and appropriate levels of difficulty, one of the
reasons because students present difficulties when doing a task or activity is that they may
not understand the instructions or maybe the teacher was not clear enough of what they want
the pupils to do. Therefore, teachers need to have it clear when giving instructions, think
clearly of what they are going to say, engage students, modelling the instruction and always
check understanding. In addition, the teacher needs to encourage students to go further by
giving them enough difficulty to motivate them.
● Gives students opportunities to develop ownership of language, as we
mentioned before, teachers need to encourage pupils to go beyond and take the ownership
of their learning process, developing this can be challenging, but give students a sense of
personal growing, make them learn actively, promote in students the desire to improve and
get involve in their learning.
● Gives pupils Feedback, many researchers talk about the importance of feedback
in the teaching and learning process; its importance lies in the fact that students need
guidance throughout the learning process, they need to learn from their mistakes properly
and this is where the feedback they receive from their teachers takes on significance.
Moreover, teachers must be careful when giving feedback; they have to use the appropriate
ways to correct pupils’ mistakes since a good or bad feedback can make a significant
difference in students learning.
2.4 Vocabulary learning
“It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching
specific words but also aim at equipping learners with strategies necessary to expand their
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vocabulary knowledge” (Hulstjin, 1993, cited in Morin & Goebel, 2001). This means that
vocabulary learning is not only about memorizing new words, it is necessary to know their
meaning, to contextualize them; also to help the student to create his/her concepts; to enable
them to appropriate the new vocabulary. Another author said that “it is considered that
effective communication relies more upon possession of an adequate and appropriate
vocabulary than on the mastery of grammatical rules” (Vermeer, 1992). In other words,
managing grammatical structures does not necessarily mean mastering the language; also, it
is necessary to acquire enough vocabulary to be able to achieve general management of
communication skills. Therefore, Vocabulary-learning should include strategies for using as
well as for knowing a word (P. Yongqi Gu, 2003). It is necessary to mention that, during this
internship the intention was to enrich the students' vocabulary with the desire to nourish
students' previous knowledge with the new vocabulary. This vocabulary was focused on the
context to make it as real as possible. As the author mentioned later in the paper, “Skill-
oriented strategies involve the use of words in meaningful contexts and aim to develop
automaticity in retrieving and producing those words (e.g., reading extensively and
deliberately using a newly learned word in one's writing)” (p. 75)
“Language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners.
Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming responsibility
for their learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement, and proficiency” (Oxford,
1990). With that in mind, this internship used as one of the strategies of the planning lessons
the use of reading comprehension, not only to work on vocabulary but also to address it with
the CLT approach.
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2.5 Distance education and virtuality
The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the daily lives of students around the world: more
than 1.5 billion students have had to interrupt their classes as a measure to stop the spread of
the coronavirus. Almost 90% of the world's students had been affected. LAVANGUARDIA
(2020). Consequently, it was needed to use distance learning as a strategy to continue the
teaching process outside the classroom.
Garcia (1987). Defines distance education as “an educational process and system in
which all or a significant proportion of the teaching is carried out by someone or something
removed in space and time from the learner.” Therefore, as its name implies, distance
education involves a significant distance in space and time between teachers and students;
this contrast requires the use of tools that allow interaction and exchange of information
between students and teachers, such as printed and electronic material. Thinking about the
characteristics, Distance education is also a wide-ranging approach characterized by a high
degree of variation. Such variation includes the types of media or technology used (print,
radio, computer); the nature of the learning (workshop, seminar, degree program, a
supplement to the traditional classroom, levels of support); institutional settings; topics
addressed; and levels of interactivity support (face-to-face, online, blended, none) (Fillip,
2001). To develop this modality of distance learning it is necessary to take into account the
mentioned characteristics since its implementation requires structured planning, well-
designed courses, special didactic techniques, communication channels through electronic
resources and other technologies. Apart from that, after having studied and analyzed the
elements necessary to implement the distance learning classes, the next aspect that must be
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taken into account is the context in which this method is intended to be put into practice, to
know how to adapt it to the needs and limitations of this particular population.
Bearing in mind the current situation and the context in which the internship was
developed. Mobile technologies were chosen as the channel to be used to monitor the
teaching process in the virtuality. Pasnik said that “mobile technologies have many
advantages; they are ubiquitous, portable, and easy to use and can deliver audio, video,
multimedia, and text and the abundance of educational applications developed for these
platforms makes them a highly promising model of teacher professional development”
(2007: 8). For example, the facilities generated by the use of mobile technologies have
allowed direct contact with students despite the circumstances.
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2. METHODOLOGY
The methodology consists of the principles, procedures, assessment, and methods used by
the teachers to achieve the learning desired by the students. Hence, this section describes the
methodologies carried out during this internship, the participants, and the context where this
internship took place. Also, mentioned the importance of these in the personal growth process of a
pre-service teacher.
As a pre-service teacher, we know that not all students learn in the same way, just as
teachers do not have a single way of teaching since there is no "magic formula" for becoming an
excellent teacher. Stern declared that “several developments indicate a shift in language pedagogy
away from the single method concept as the main approach to language teaching” (1983, p. 477).
Bearing in mind this, I do not feel bound to a single method, on the contrary, I identify with several
methods, and I even prefer to work with a mixture of these. For instance, the first thing I do is
analyze the context and the population I am working with, before choosing a method.
Kumaravadivelu (1994) defines this kind of strategy as “the 'post method condition', a result of 'the
widespread dissatisfaction with the conventional concept of the method” (p. 43).
Since I started this process, I have always believed in the importance of analyzing and
taking into account students’ needs, and in this sense, the student-center approach allows me to
have the necessary communication and interaction with students to know their needs, expectations,
and interests. As it is, point out by Jacobs and Farrell (2003) “Focusing greater attention on the role
of learners rather than the external stimuli learners are receiving from their environment. Thus, the
center of attention shifts from the teacher to the student. This shift is generally known as the move
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from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered instruction” In this sense, it was important to
identify students’ views of English classes and their relevance to everyday life. in order of this, the
first thing I did was to have a conversation with the students, where I introduced myself and told
them my purpose and the reason why I was there, then I asked them about their perception of the
English class. The intention was to generate a relaxed atmosphere apart from the academic, I tried
to make the students feel confident to talk and express their thoughts I attempted to make it as
natural as possible because I did not want to get defensive with them and create some kind of
barrier between us.
The first week was a diagnostic, I intended to know how much domain of English the
students had, so I started with simple activities such as personal presentation, including, topics like,
greetings and farewells, likes and dislikes, and interests. I chose to work with cooperative rather
than individual activities, such as short conversations and readings. That is one of the
characteristics of CLT, as Richard mentioned (2006) that “The type of classroom activities
proposed in CLT also implied new roles in the classroom for teachers and learners. Learners now
had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than individualistic
approach to learning”. During these activities tried to be a guide, a facilitator, and a motivator. This
internship helped me to discover that I like to create a very dynamic atmosphere in a class by the
use of colorful material and the use of games.
In addition, I prefer to interact as much as possible with the students and for this reason
during this internship I was always open to negotiate with my students, I intended to generate
confidence and motivate them to try new things. On the other hand, because of the suspension of
the face-to-face classes, there was no opportunity to carry out many things that had been planned.
Since this, with Whatsapp groups, I have been in contact with the two groups I was assigned.
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Therefore, I became a facilitator, giving them my support and commitment. Hence, the WhatsApp
group was used as the medium for direct interaction between the students and the teacher, all
relevant information as well as the guides were sent to the students through this medium. Apart
from that, this medium served to give moral support to the pupils during the rest of the internship.
UNIT 1
Greetings and
farewells
Personal
information.
After making that little
introduction, the teacher will
introduce the vocabulary by
placing the words "greetings" and
“farewells" on the board. then
will pass to several students
sheets of paper with the words
related to the topic, then the
students will have to pronounce,
try to figure out what it means,
and place the words where they
correspond if they belong to
"greetings" or "farewells.
March
02/2020
-Sheet of paper
-Board
-Mechanical practice
( See appendix 1)
UNIT 2
Teen’ sports
hobbies and
interests
(review of
previous class)
2.The teacher is going to play
the game Hangman so as to
review of previous class
vocabulary
March
/9/2020
-Game “Hangman”
-Board
-Spelling activity
-Task-completion activity
(See appendix 2)
My favorite song
activity
In this activity, students will
choose a song of their choice,
using the whatsapp group
students will have to send two
audios.
May
14/2020
Strategy to promote oral
production
(See appendix 3)
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3. TEACHING EXPERIENCE
In this section, I describe my experience during this internship. Here I mention the
findings, results and evidence collected during the whole process; also, I explain how I deal
with the experiences I had to go through and all the circumstances I lived for the first time,
as a pre-service teacher.
At first sight, this internship was the perfect opportunity to learn many things, since
this whole process required the handling of certain knowledge and skills, which were
gradually developed as the process advanced. As a pre-service teacher I had to prepare
myself even more, I had to read, I had to research and acquire new skills, especially in the
field of virtuality. In order to acquire that knowledge I took virtual courses. That helped me
to develop my role as a teacher in a classroom, but also this course prepared me to continue
with the teaching process in the virtuality. (See appendix 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Even though, it was difficult, I took these situations as learning experiences that will
train me for future ones, as we never stop learning. That is why I saw this opportunity, as
something very enriching for me as a teacher. Thus, this helped me to be even more
responsible, to discover abilities and virtues I did not know about myself. On the other hand,
this experience led me to increase my security and to have more confidence in my skills.
During this internship, I worked with two groups of tenth graders, each with 40
students. Between the ages of 13 – 15. At the beginning of my internship, I ran into a group
of youths who did not feel very confident about using English, because it was not required
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for them to do it and there was a lack of work on this skill. Consequently, during the two
weeks that I could work with pupils inside the classroom, I needed to take this time to get to
know them; moreover, I try to build enough confidence with learners.
Therefore, during those two weeks, I focused on analyzing the type of learners I had
in the classroom, their likes, their interests, intending to change their perception of me. In
this institution, it is very common to have interns from different universities, so the tenth-
grade students already had the chance to deal with "interns", because of this the scholars
received me with a predisposition, in this sense, my presence did not generate enough
authority for them to see me as a possible tutor. To solve this, the tutor I was assigned at the
school played a very important role; together with my tutor, we had a conversation with the
students, making things clear from the beginning. He made it clear to the learners that I was
there as their teacher in charge and not as an intern who would follow his orders.
After this, I felt much safer, any insecurities I may have on my first day disappeared,
and I began to take the reins of my training, projecting even more security in front of the
class, which worked very well in the following days. As a result, the students gradually
changed their perception of me, they were much more open to participation and I came to
perceive a more collaborative environment.
This internship provided me with some strategies concerning classroom
management; which is very convenient when managing large classrooms. Additionally, this
experience helped me to discover my vocation as a teacher. It also guided me to understand
the kind of teacher I desire to be; although this will not be a simple task, I have all the
intention to follow this journey of teaching.
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Because of the pandemic and the government's determination to order a general
quarantine and the cessation of face-to-face activities, which took us all by surprise, this
caused the suspension of the internships until a decision was taken on the matter. After all
the shock and uncertainty, it was determined that the internship process will continue through
virtuality. With the continuation of the process came an even more demanding new situation.
Hence, the new challenge was to go into virtuality, something that completely changes the
context of my work.
As a result, At the institution, it was determined that a series of printed guides would
be used to keep going with the process, among other support resources (school page,
WhatsApp groups, mail) to have coverage of the entire student community. (See appendix
9, 10, 11, 12)
On the other hand, concerning the creation of the lessons, as I mentioned before the
purpose of this internship was to integrated CLT lessons to improve students’
communicative skills. To start the creation of my lessons, the first thing I did was to analyze
the context, to identify what resources I had at hand and which ones I did not have since it
would not have been a very good idea to start designing without taking into account the
population I was going to work with.
Therefore, I knew beforehand that I did not have access to audio-visual elements
(video beam, TV, computers, etc.) or that it would be difficult to access them. Therefore, I
chose to create my material to combine it with the resources I had available (laptop, speaker,
book, and board).
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Lesson design
In this part, I explain one of the lessons design, where I describe the activities that
appear in the lesson, and mention the strategies and pedagogies I used as a guide to design
the lesson. This lesson was design following the principles and strategies of CLT Approach.
In this lesson, (warm up) the first thing I did was a kind of reflection of the beginning of the
year, where I comment on the behavior that we must manage inside and outside the
classroom. Among the things that I mention it spoke of the courtesy and manners; next, I
give examples of courtesy like “to give the good morning every morning” or “say hello
when you arrive somewhere” This with the intention of introducing the subject in a way that
would be linked to their daily life. This kind of warm-up is used to activate the student's
previous knowledge, with the purpose of linking the previous knowledge with the new ones.
(See appendix 13)
The next step (Core activities) I used cardboard, which I cut into sections where I
printed vocabulary about "greetings" and “farewells" (I made this before the class). The aim
of this was that each student would take one of these papers containing a word referring to
the vocabulary, and then one by one they would read aloud the content of each paper. Then
the pupil would have to translate the word into Spanish; in case he or she knew the meaning.
If the student did not know the meaning, another student would have the opportunity to
respond. In CLT Approach this kind of activities are known as “Mechanical practice refers
to a controlled practice activity which students can successfully carry out without necessarily
understanding the language they are using. Examples of this kind of activity would be
repetition drills and substitution drills designed to practice use of particular grammatical or
other items” (J. Richard, 2003). (See appendix 13)
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After this, I place two posters on the board with the words "greetings" and
"farewells" where the students should place the words they picked, identifying first which
side they belonged. Through the activity, when it was each student's turn, I illustrated the
use of the word by using examples. After everyone had placed the word in its proper place,
several students volunteered went in front of it and using the words on the board created
sample sentences. In addition, pupils were asked to take notes in their notebook, as they
would use the vocabulary in the following activity. This part of the activity is known as,
“Meaningful practice that refers to an activity where language control is still provided but
where students are required to make meaningful choices when carrying out practice.” (J.
Richard, 2003). This means that, in those kind of activities, the student requires a bit more
analysis to find the answer.
For the next activity, I started by giving examples of real conversations that can take place
in the context we were in, For this, with my tutor’s help, we made a demonstration of an
everyday conversation between two people.
As we can observe in the following transcript:
Teacher: Good morning Andrea, how is your day?
P. teacher: Good morning teacher Santos, I’m great! And you?
Teacher: I’m fine, thanks, well I have to go, see you later Andrea
P. teacher: ahhh ok teacher, have a nice day!
Teacher: have a nice day too.
P. teacher: bye
In addition, using a speaker I put some audios of conversations between different
people, in different contexts as examples. After listening to the different examples, I asked
the students to pair up to work, as they would have to make a small conversation like the
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examples used in class, using the vocabulary learned to practice. After they were in pairs, I
explained the activity again and gave them 15 minutes to prepare the short conversation.
Moreover, during the course of the 15 minutes, I went through all the couples to monitor the
activity and resolve any doubt that the learners might have. Finally, student should go to the
front of the class and make the conversation.
In this case the activity used was based on, “Communicative practice that refers to
activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the focus,
where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally
predictable”(J. Richard, 2003). For this reason, in this activity although it is necessary to use
the vocabulary learned, it is also important to use real information to create a more authentic
context inside the classroom. (See appendix 14)
As a result, during this lesson it could be observed that students enjoy dynamic
activities where they are allowed to interact with each other and with the teacher. On the
other hand, when it was time for the role-play, pupils were not very sure about participating;
there was a lot of insecurity when they had to come in front of the classroom, thus I took the
role of motivator, encouraging the kids to try. However, they did not feel confident when
speaking in English, as they feel ashamed of making mistakes in front of their peers. As
consequence, this kind of concern makes students reluctant to speak out.
Because of the pandemic, I did not have time to work enough with the students in
order to bring a change in their attitude regarding oral production. However, even in the
distance I found a way to motivate them to use English. Because of that, after having to
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appeal to distance learning I created this activity with the intention of motivating my students
to use English in a more dynamic and entertaining way.
This activity was a strategy to motivate oral participation in tenth grade students by
using the whatsapp group. For this activity, learners had to choose a song in English, the one
they like the most, after choosing the song they had to think about the reasons why they liked
this song, after this, they had to send two audios to the whatsapp group. In one of the audios,
they would mention the name of the song, why they chose it, and describe how this song
made them feel (using the suggested vocabulary). On the other hand, in the second audio the
students would have to sing a part of the song they chose to share with their classmates. This
activity was focused on Fluency, which is developed by creating classroom activities in
which students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct
misunderstandings, and work to avoid communication breakdowns. (J. Richard, 2003). (See
appendix 3)
As a result, for this activity returned that feeling of shame to make mistakes in front of
colleagues. However, this time, through the chat of the whatsapp group I gave them a talk,
in which I motivated them to try, not to let the shame of making a mistake stop them and
that even I as a teacher was willing to participate in the activity to support them. After this
talk I decided to do the activity and sent my two audios to the group, this with the intention
of motivating them and serve as an example. To my surprise after this, the students started
to participate, which excited me, since they listened to me and followed my advice.
Moreover, this kind of moment in particular is what motivates me to keep working and
become the best teacher I can be.
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4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
As teachers, we face many struggles in teaching English as a foreign language, such
as dealing with a context where education has many deficiencies and a government that does
not provide the necessary resources for quality education. The Colombian education urgently
needs more investment by the state, because we must guarantee our children and young people
a high-quality education.
Furthermore, this internship allowed me to know first-hand the real context of
Colombian education, which showed me the real conditions in which a Colombian teacher
works. This made me understand that being a teacher is not a simple task and how demanding
it can be.
According to my experience, I conclude: First, the importance of knowing the context
in which we will be working, in this case allowed us to know the needs, interests and
expectations of our students, since this plays an important role when designing our classes;
which must be oriented to our students’ needs to generate an inclusive work environment.
Second, our students do not need someone to make things easy for them; they need
someone who is there to motivate them, to guide them, to understand them and not to judge
them. By this I mean that as teachers we should not put a barrier between the students and us,
they do not need an enemy; they need an example to follow. On the other hand, at a time as the
current situation caused by a pandemic or for possible futures situations, as teachers we must
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be there to accompany and support our students. Because this is when a student requires the
most support.
Third, Because of the current situation, we realized that schools and teachers were poorly
prepared to face the virtuality of classes; the lack of resources presented by many of the
institutions in our country was even more notorious. In spite of this situation, as teachers, we
started to prepare ourselves to face any situation that might arise, with the firm conviction of
continuing our teaching work even at a distance.
Fourth, lack of resources or the lack of knowledge should not be an excuse for not doing
your job, limitations are only in our heads and we must not let the problems to become a barrier
that prevents us from doing our best. This internship pushed me to use my creativity to try to
make my classes as varied as possible, to find new ways to motivate them, even in the distance.
On the other hand, I recommend future pre-service teacher to take the time to get to
know their students, also to take into account students’ needs when designing their lessons,
seeks to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels as comfortable as possible.
Apart from that, give your best in everything you do, show your students that you
really care about them and their needs, those are things that, they as scholars appreciate very
much. Also avoid creating fear in your students, you do not need a dominant attitude to gain
their respect, they do not need an enemy, they need guide.
Finally, this internship allowed me to realize, that in this work you must always be
prepared for the unexpected to happen and become a counselor, guide, motivator, etc. but the
most important thing is, to always be there for our students giving our best, even if we are not
having a good day.
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5. LIMITATIONS
During the internship, there were certain circumstances that came to hinder the pre-
service teacher process, preventing the intern from carrying out her teaching work.
As an English teacher in an EFL class, we have to face many challenges inside the
classroom; one of the most difficult things is to motivate students to use English orally inside
and outside of the classroom. This is something we constantly deal with; therefore, it is
necessary to find out strategies to guide students to use the language of study.
First, students’ attitude can be a determining factor when carrying out a class,
depending on their attitude, the class can be carried out in a satisfactory or on the contrary,
it can be a complete disaster. Therefore, the lack of communication between teacher and
pupils can make the situation worse.
Another limitation to consider is the lack of resources, as it complicates the teaching
process. For example, the lack of a video beam complicates the use of presentations, videos
and graphics. Therefore, the teacher has to employ another kind of strategy to teach the class.
Classrooms with a large number of students, can become a limitation, as it is difficult
for a teacher or in this case an intern, to guide many students at a time and makes it even
more difficult to control the class. On the other hand, sometimes the teacher avoids certain
activities, as this would complicate the control of the class.
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In addition, the lack of experience can work against you because you do not know
how to deal with certain situations that can occur within a classroom and this can cause
wasted time, distractions and disruptive behavior
The suspension of face-to-face classes, for reasons of the pandemic and consequently
the cessation of the internship, made it impossible to carry it out satisfactorily.
Finally. After starting this process again, it was necessary to move from teaching to
just designing guides, which drastically limited the planning of the lessons and the whole
process.
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APPENDICES
(Appendix 1)
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(Appendix 2)
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WhatsApp Audio 2020-05-13 at 1.08.54 PM (1).ogg
WhatsApp Audio 2020-05-13 at 1.08.54 PM (2).ogg
(Appendix 3)
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(Appendix 4)
(Appendix 5)
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(Appendix 6
Appendix 7)
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(Appendix 8)
(A ppendix 9 and 10)
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( Appendix 11 and 12)
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(Appendix 13)
(A ppendix 14)
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41
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43
44
45
46
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