Journals ens1 2016

JOURNAL – September 14th 2016

TRAINEE´S NAME: PEDRAZZANI CAROLINA

PRACTICUM LEVEL: Upper Intermediate

GROUP: 3o 2a MORNING SHIFT

DATE: September 14th 2016

LESSON NUMBER 1

Lesson: Introducing Yourself

Section 1: Describing the Lesson as it unfolds

This class was based on a CLT approach as it focused on knowing each other and making

learners talk about themselves. The aim was to create a communicative environment in a

relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. I really wanted to create a good rapport with learners

as I am a stranger in their class, so I believe that knowing about each other was a good idea

to break the ice.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: This lesson was thought to make the learning real, in which

learners were able to see the relevance of their learning to the world beyond school, i.e. they

were able to use their schemata to talk about their home and family. Learners were also

engaged as they could sense a real purpose for communicating.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: This class was meant to make students participate and talk. i.e

the aim was for them to communicate freely in a relaxed environment. I started talking about

my hometown and then I asked learners questions about their own hometown. Then I talked

about my family and asked them to talk about their families, and so forth so every student

was able to talk. Finally, they performed a written assignment that included information about

themselves – name/age, family, hometown, free time activities, etc.

In this class, some learners participated and some others were reluctant to participate (I had

noticed this during my observations and the teacher in charge told me that too). However, I

asked each learner the same question to make sure everyone participated. They did!, which

made me feel really happy. They talked about themselves and they also asked me some

questions.

I was really delighted when students asked me questions and shared because that made the

class more relaxed and exciting. When I was returning home, I was thinking about

everything that had happened in class (I always reflect on the class when I am travelling

home) and I thought I could have asked them more questions but, to be honest, I was

nervous. However, this helped me think about including activities to promote more students´

talking time next class.

Section 2: Making sense of the lesson though relevant lived experiences

Comentado [1]: the

Comentado [2]: getting to know

Comentado [3]: Yes!

Comentado [4]: Great!

Comentado [5]: thought

Comentado [6]: =)

Although these learners are usually reluctant to participate, they answered my questions and

some of them actively participated.

When I said I was from Quilmes, one of the girls immediately said she knew Quilmes and

talked about her hometown which is near mine. When I showed a picture of my fiancée, they

reacted to the photograph and asked me about our relationship. A couple of girls told me

they were in love and they also told me about their parents´ restrictions concerning their

boyfriend´s visits.

It was great to see that they were interested in knowing me, they wanted to learn more about

me and most of them wanted to share their own experiences. It was rewarding.

Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images.

I think that the best metaphor will be ´La unión hace la fuerza ´.

I believe that learners thought that I was just like them – a student. They asked me about the

teaching training and in which stage of the career I was in. This school is a Language school

so they were very interested in my training and realized we were all students.

In the picture below, we could see learners working on their written assignments. They

worked in silence and asked me some questions.

NOTE: We weren´t able to film this class because my camera is broken (it fell in the snow

and went down the mountain), I was using my Ipad to show learners photographs and

Carina couldn’t film me with my cell phone because she was busy.

JOURNAL

Comentado [7]: What does this imply from the point of view of learning?

Comentado [8]: course (check meaning of 'career')

Comentado [9]: ;)

Comentado [10]: What can you interpret from this photo?

Comentado [11]: can

Comentado [12]: Interesting start, Caro! Looking forward to your next lessons.


PRACTICUM LEVEL: UPPER INTERMEDIATE

GROUP: 3° 2° MORNING SHIFT


LESSON NUMBER 2

Lesson: Shocking Moments – 9/11 attacks


This class was based on the CLT approach in which learners were encouraged to talk about

what they knew of the 9/11 attacks. Then, they read an article taken from the History

Channel website (authentic material) and finally the learners performed a reading

comprehension worksheet based on the readings.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In this lesson, there was a chat at first to brainstorm and

activate students´ previous knowledge about the 9/11 attacks. Then, they read the first

paragraph of the article and we discussed new/different information about the issue.

Learners worked alone when they had to read the article and then in pairs to be able to

complete the tasks given.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Cooperative learning and interaction was used in this class.

Students worked in pairs or in groups to accomplish the tasks given. It was excellent to see

them working, to see them analysing the text and debating facts.

Learners in this class were eager to participate. You can see this in my face (in the video), I

was smiling because I was really glad to see them willing to participate and to give their

opinion.

When I got into the classroom, it was empty! There were no chairs or tables so learners had

to go to other rooms to get the tables and chairs, this made us lose some time.

When I began speaking about the topic, students began to talk spontaneously.

I realized that there wouldn’t be enough time to finish all the worksheets so I decided to

postpone Worksheet 3 for the following lesson.

As there was an exercise where learners had to perform a schedule of the 9/11 events (time

of event and what happened), I decided to write the times on the board and, as soon as we

corrected each time orally, I made them go to the front and complete it. Picture 1 below.

When the first student came to the front, the others couldn’t wait to answer so as to come to

the board. That made me think about their likes, i.e. they really enjoy being active

participants which I will use as much as possible.

I also believe that they love talking about their own experiences and everyday issues.

Comentado [13]: =)

Comentado [14]: did / completed

Comentado [15]: These are the activities students did. What about the pedagogical principles behind your planning?

Comentado [16]: Here leraners were engaged to use their schemata to talk about a real life situation. They were able to express themselves and discuss issues related to the topic.

Comentado [17]: smiled throughtout the lesson. :)

Comentado [18]: waste

Comentado [19]: in which

Comentado [20]: Wise decision!


I believe these learners have enjoyed this lesson, they were eager to participate and most of

them told me things like ´May I answer the following question, please?´. I was happy and

delighted.

There was also a great discussion and debate about two of the 9/11 events (a hijacked

plane and a crash in Pennsylvania). I was pleased and delighted to see them talking and

trying to explain their point of view.


I think that the best metaphor will be: ´Toqué el cielo con las manos´. As I was very worried

these children wouldn’t be willing to participate.

They really wanted to participate and I was glad to see they were interested in the topic as

well. I was also able to learn that they enjoy being active participants – something I will

include in my future plans – as they feel comfortable giving their opinions in a relaxed

atmosphere.

Comentado [21]: Great that the topic was of their interest!

Comentado [22]: You could also use this and future topics as a starting point for the development of their critical thinking skills. Way to go, Caro! Your tutors

JOURNAL





LESSON NUMBER 3

Lesson: Narrative Tenses.



dangerous past experiences and to predict facts about an accident based on an article

heading.

Learners also finished a task from the previous class (9/11 attacks) based on vocabulary.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In this lesson, there was a chat to brainstorm facts and lexis

about the 9/11 attacks. Then they completed a task based on vocabulary from the article

read.

Learners worked in groups to perform this task so as to help each other. Debates arouse

during the completion of the task in which learners discussed the meaning of words in

context.

Next, learners discussed and predicted facts about an accident based on a given title “Man

survives 60 days stuck in snow”. They were given a piece of paper with a fact printed and

they had to predict what happened placing the facts on a true or false column.

As classes are based on a communicative approach, I always think of a theme that

encourages students to talk, to give their opinion in a relaxed atmosphere. These

learners have the tools and language needed to talk fluently and I want to take

advantage of that.

This way, learners use lexis and structures needed to communicate and express their

feelings, emotions and beliefs.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Learners worked in groups to complete the vocabulary task –

Cooperative learning – and they exchanged ideas using L2 most of the time.

When it was time for the ´Guessing facts´ I asked learners to come to the front and stick a

piece of paper on the True or False column based on their beliefs.

There was one paper/fact for each learner so all of them came to the front and everyone was

able to participate. We then discussed the facts orally and cleared doubts.

Picture 1 below shows the board with the students´ choices.

As we can see. I made a mistake with the title and one of the students asked me what tuck

meant, I realized there was a mistake, apologised and just added an “s” to it. My fault

Feelings and emotions engage students in the learning process, these engage the

entire body in the learning. The incorporation of feelings and emotions not only

enable learners to express themselves but these also help them remember, as they

provide a contextualized memory. i.e. these help students remember because they are

able to express themselves freely and can use the language in a meanigful way.


I think learners enjoyed this lesson and they were eager to participate. What is more, one of

the boys wanted to talk about his own experience and everybody payed attention to him. He

is very shy and speaks in a very low voice, so I elicited some things he said (as if I was

making sense of the story, and without interrupting him) to let his partners followed his story.

Later, when we talked about the True/False facts, I was delighted to see them talking and

trying to explain their own point of view.


I think that the best metaphor will be: “Para clavar clavos existen martillos”. This means that

a good plan and the use of the right tools will make learners, in this case, become active and

motivated.

I spend days thinking of topics learners may be interested in, and planning classes in which

learners become active participants and use the target language to communicate, so when

this effort is valued and works I feel immensely happy.

Although I had a terrible headache and very bad things occurred that same morning, I was

glad to be with these teens who gave me the pleasure to see them working hard and in a

relaxed atmosphere.

Picture 1 – Prediction.

JOURNAL




DATE: October 5th 2016

LESSON NUMBER 4




dangerous past experiences and they read an article in which they had to find out if their

predictions were right or wrong.

Finally, learners wrote a 100 words guided composition in which they had to pretend to be

Mr. Skyllberg and they had to talk about his life.


about a man´s accident. Then they read a short article and decided if their predictions were

right or wrong. Here, they discussed the facts orally and everyone had the opportunity to

speak and express their beliefs.

Learners worked in pairs to perform this task so as to help each other.

Finally, I showed students real pictures of the car taken from the press (authentic material) in

which they were again able to talk and discuss the things they saw inside the car.

This lesson aimed to develop learner´s engagement with the topic. When they

predicted facts and experiment with ideas and resources given. They also predicted

what could have happened and made use of their imagination.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Learners worked in pairs to complete the True/False task –

Cooperative learning – and they exchanged ideas using L2 most of the time.

They also performed silent reading and asked me for clarification when in doubt. They also

asked me for vocabulary they didn’t understand. I asked them to find the meaning of these

words in context and they were able to do it so. I always encouraged learners to take context

into account and emphasise on the fact that they don’t need to understand every single

word, but just the main idea of the text.


I think learners enjoyed this lesson and, again, they were eager to participate.

Girls usually want to talk but the boys wanted to participate too. I also enjoyed this class as

we all shared ideas and experiences.

Learners are not very fond of writing, however, they enjoyed making fantastic and creative

stories about Mr. Skyllberg. I loved it!

In Picture 1 you can see a couple of learner´s work.


Comentado [23]: Make sure you develop awareness of the pedagogical principles that support your lessons and the activities you plan.

Comentado [24]: What I mean here is that I ALWAYS do this, in all my classes, not in this particular one.

Comentado [25]: Good!

Comentado [26]: ;)

I think that the best metaphor will be: “Se pusieron las pilas”.

I don´t know if they are helping me with my practices, if they have changed and become

more independent learners or they are really motivated (Which I would obviously prefer!), but

they are working hard and they seem to enjoy my classes.

As I have said before, I spend long hours and even days thinking about interesting topics to

let them talk and participate in a relaxed atmosphere. I believe they are working hard and

they are giving me their best and I can see that.

I hope this lasts forever as they are young and very smart learners and this will surely help

them become great professionals in the futu

re.

Picture 1 – Learner´s works.

Comentado [27]: I always try to find interesting topics so that learners get involved in the class and in their own learning. Debates, chats and informal conversations - free speech - (although important to develop ss´ communicative abilities), they all contribute to communicating within a context, in the real world.

Comentado [28]: I always try to find interesting topics so that learners get involved in the class and in their own learning. Debates, chats and informal conversations - free speech - (although important to develop ss´ communicative abilities), they all contribute to communicating within a context, in the real world.

Comentado [29]: How will / does this experience contribute to your teaching in your own school?

Comentado [30]: _Marcar como resuelto_

Comentado [31]: _Reabierto_

Comentado [32]: Could you expand on this question?

Comentado [33]: I believe that rapport is a key word here. As I have said, I always try to find interesting topics for my learners; but this is useless if we, as teachers, don´t understand and mind about our ´children´. In my own experience working with adults I realised that they are very anxious and they carry a huge and heavy backpack to class, so it´s our job to help them relax and to guide them throughout this journey. This way they will succeed and believe in themselves and their capacity to grow. If we all enjoy learning, the learning experience, then, becomes a positive one.

JOURNAL





LESSON NUMBER 5




their birthdays and how they celebrate.

They also read an authentic article in which they had to find out if their predictions from the

previous class (the man who was stuck in snow) were right or wrong.

Finally, I told them about my birthday and introduced four sentences (Picture 1) in which

learners had to state the differences in meaning between them.


about a man´s accident. Then they read an authentic text taken from the newspaper

(simplified by me) in which they had to perform a comprehension exercise from their class

book.

Learners worked in pairs to perform these tasks so as to help each other.

We talked about birthday celebrations and learners said how they usually celebrate and how

they celebrated their last birthday. The talk lead to a very nice chat about how they would

like to spend their birthdays instead of being with their parents. They were comfortable

talking about them, their preferences and their likes and dislikes.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Learners worked alone when reading and in pairs to complete

the book task given – Cooperative learning –, they also exchanged ideas using L2 most of

the time.

As in the previous class, learners tried to guess (and did!) the meaning of words within

context. They read the text with no problems at all and we talked about it in a brief chat after

the reading.

When I talked about my birthday and asked them to about theirs, they were eager to talk and

were very participative which was great because they have the tools and vocabulary needed

to do it so.


I think learners enjoyed this lesson and, again, they were eager to participate.

I may sound redundant but knowing and seeing them unwilling to participate at first, now I

am proud of them because they want to be part of the class, responsible for their own

learning and independent. They say what they want no matter if they make mistakes which

is fantastic.


Comentado [34]: Revise

Comentado [35]: Here learners were encouraged to build their comprehension abilities through the use of authentic material simplified to their level of expertise. Learners also performed cooperative learning to problem solving, plus ´learning by doing´ in which learners were engaged in a free speech activity by talking about their own experiences.

Comentado [36]: What has contributed to their attitudinal change?

Comentado [37]: I believe they feel more comfortable now.

I think that the best metaphor will be: “Fué música para mis oídos”.

When I see these children talking, participating and telling me personal things as how they

celebrate birthdays or how they would like to celebrate it, I feel I have won, I feel that my

mission is going well and I am glad to be part of this.

They talked and shared and I felt blessed. This is one of the things I love about being a

teacher.

Picture 1 – Difference in meaning.

JOURNAL


Comentado [38]: =)




LESSON NUMBER 6

Lesson: Narrative Tenses


This class was based on tenses and their differences in meaning.

Learners had to read pairs of sentences and state the difference in meaning (not form)

between them. The first part of this practice was made using an exercise from the book

which was completed in pairs and corrected orally. Then I delivered a worksheet with similar

sentences and learners, again, worked in pairs to state when things happened in each

sentence.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In this critical and creative lesson, learners critically

evaluated the information and connected it to the situations involved in the sentences. They

developed a deep conceptual understanding to solve complex problems. They also engaged

in cooperative learning (acting out some of the examples) to solve these problems.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: This lesson was aimed to build grammatical knowledge through

demonstration of its use, within a context that allowed students to infer meaning.

These exercises also allowed learners to notice the grammar tenses and to make

judgements to understand the real meaning of each sentence.

This class was a challenging one as learners were able to use all their previous knowledge

and learning strategies to solve the problems they were faced to.


I will choose a moment in which one of the girls wasn’t able to fully understand the difference

between these two sentences:

When the first guests arrived, I opened the champagne.

When the first guests arrived, I had opened the champagne.

Her mates were eager to explain the difference and they did it using only L2. It was one of

those magic moments in which they used the target language to clarify and help each other

and, again, learn by doing.


I think that the best metaphor will be ´Climbing a mountain´. Students here invested a lot of

effort in a very challenging task.

Learners worked together to achieve a goal and made use of their metacognitive strategies

in which learners had to think about the process, evaluate their choices and monitor their

own learning.

JOURNAL



Comentado [39]: Why was it critical and why creative?

Comentado [40]: with

Comentado [41]: Great! They were motivated. :)

Comentado [42]: Really descriptive!

Comentado [43]: they



LESSON NUMBER 7



In this class we corrected, orally, the worksheet on tenses from the previous class. Here, all

learners participated and they all talked when stating the differences and when something

was not clear.

Then, we performed an oral task. I first showed them some pictures of the characters

involved to provide a realistic context and to get learners engaged in the task. Finally, we did

the exercises from their core book.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In the first part of the lesson (talking about the differences in

meaning between pairs of sentences), learners worked together in cooperation to clarify the

differences. A couple of the sentences were acted out by learners to make them clearer to

their mates (kinaesthetic activity).

In the second part of the lesson, learners worked alone to complete a True or False

exercise. Then, they worked with their partner to make questions (cooperative learning).

Finally, we corrected the T/F statements and answered the questions orally.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Learners here were active participants of their own learning

process because they were able to find out how language works to convey meaning.

They showed, explained and demonstrated the differences as a strategy to help their mates

understand.

Students were also engaged to use their previous knowledge and their listening strategies to

focus their attention on key words and prominence in speech (signalling words) that helped

them solve the exercises given.


I will choose a moment in which a girl couldn’t understand the difference between:

I left when he arrived

I had left when he arrived

I was leaving when he arrived

So, I invited a couple of students who had understood it clearly to act it out. This was great

because they helped each other and the girl who was confused could clearly see the

differences.


I think that the best metaphor will be ´Doing the shopping´. Because the emphasis was on

efficiency and completion of tasks. Learners were able to complete most tasks as a team

with a great investment of effort.

Comentado [44]: :) Were they shy to do so?

Comentado [45]: ;)

This derived into a conversation about their own experiences on robberies which was great

as they could express freely and made use of the language in a real-world situation.

Comentado [46]: Congrats!!! Remember you may also choose other tasks from each section.

JOURNAL





LESSON NUMBER 8



This class was based on a written test.

Learners performed a paper and pen exam in which they had to complete a text using

narrative tenses; then they had to perform a reading comprehension task reordering facts in

chronological order and finally they had to write a letter.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In this lesson, learners had to build their reading

comprehension abilities by evaluating and making connections to complete the given task.

They had to use their background knowledge to write a letter of apology.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Although learners had to write a letter, I provided them with a

pre-reading activity (reading comprehension task) to help students build a background for

their writing. Teenagers are very creative and their letters are a clear evidence of this.

Picture 1


Learners were quiet and worked in silence. Some asked me a couple of questions about

vocabulary which I clarified by giving a synonym or a sentence example using L2. They

understood it clearly.

All learners were very concentrated on their test and took it very seriously as tests should.


I think that the best metaphor will be ´La fabricación de tornillos´ ´Screw manufacturing´.

This shows and represents the flow of learning ending in an exam. Things are learnt – the

flow of input and its process – and finally comes out. The screw – or learner – is tested to

see if the final result is good or not – here learners are tested to see if they have understood

or not.

Comentado [47]: Are abilities built? Do you mean developed? Assessed?

Comentado [48]: See below

Picture one. A Japanese boy´s writing.

This picture shows how creative teens are and how their background affects their

writing.

JOURNAL




DATE: October 21st 2016

LESSON NUMBER 9



In this lesson, we had a short chat about cheating. Then, learners gathered into three groups

of +/- 5 and each group read a short article about cheating moments in sports, each group

then made questions to ask the other group´s members to gather information and learn

about their peers´ cheating readings.

Finally, they prepared a short speech in which they had to talk about their own experience

on cheating. This was such a fun experience that learners were eager to participate and to

talk about their own anecdotes.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES: In this lesson, learners built their reading comprehension

abilities to understand the articles and words within context. They had to use their

background knowledge to talk about their own experiences.

In this lesson, students integrated the four skills by reading a short text, working in

collaboration within team members to make and ask questions, by listening to their partner´s

answers and by talking about their own experiences in a free and relaxed atmosphere.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Learners here were able to use their background knowledge in a

contextualized class in which they had the opportunity to use the language, to communicate

with the language learnt. As the topic was of their interest, I was able to ´humanise the

classroom´ giving learners the opportunity to speak freely and for a reason; i.e. tell their own

anecdotes, use the language learnt in the real world.


I told learners a very funny anecdote of my own and we laughed out loud which was the

trigger that made learners eager to share and talk about their experiences. They were

relaxed and, although the class became a little noisy because of their desire to share their

own anecdotes, I was glad and happy to be there, to listen to them talking about themselves

and sharing their stories with me. That was another magical moment which I would treasure

forever.


I think that the best metaphor will be ´A menu´ (Penny Ur, 2007). Because a menu involves

choice, options and flexibility. In this class, learners were free to talk, in a real context and in

an informal social event. Communication was the main goal and I was just a facilitator.

Comentado [49]: The topic was of their interest!

Comentado [50]: Any teacher who loves their profession would...:)

Comentado [51]: Congratulations on your achievements throughout this second period, Caro!!! You may now upload the journal to your portfolio. Best Your tutors

Journals ens1 2016

Education

Transcript of Journals ens1 2016