Lesson 11 – (09/09/2014)

PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

• Time: during the day
  
• Place: -
  
• Participants: People, children
  
• Topic: weather, seasons and clothes
  

REVISION:

• Notion: Days of the week
  
• Function: talking about the days of the week
  
• Exponents: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc
  

TEACHING POINT:

• Notion: weathers
  
• Function: talking about the weather
  
• Exponents: it's a cool and windy day – it's a cold and snowy day– it's a wet and rainy day– it's a hot and sunny day
  

About my teaching

When I entered the classroom there were students from another class. I suppose it's because I arrived late (it was raining like crazy and the transport was very slow) and the teacher thought I wasn't coming. Or perhaps their teacher was absent, anyway nobody explained why. There were some students absent on the day of the exam and the teacher wanted them to do the exam. So three boys were working on the exam, half of the students were from another division and the rest were the ones that I had to teach. This lesson was a mess. I started a new unit with new theme and it was so hard to deal with the teaching point. I think I might re-do this lesson because I don't think they learnt anything at all. It could have been a wonderful lesson but it was a disaster. I got really angry with them.

About the students

Only two students were paying attention, the rest were chatting with students from the other course. I had to stop the lesson many times. I was about to give up.

They were very distracted today and they were hardly listening to me. We did some activities but it felt like they were on a completely different place.

Lesson 1, again

About my teaching

This lesson was an introduction. I presented myself to the students and there wasn't much teaching. I recycled vocabulary from the previous units and introduced some animals like "whale" and "shark" to link them to the unit we are about to star that is about wild animals.

I felt comfortable with this group. I might have to look for a way to attract their attention when I want to check an activity or explain something because they get distracter easily and talk a lot.

About the students

The students are highly participative and they really enjoyed the activities we did today. They are not used to the teacher speaking in English all the time but there are plenty of translators and when they don't know the words they grasp the meaning really quickly.

The only problem I noticed today was that they stand up a lot. When they finish an activity and they come to the front to ask if it's ok. Since there are 32 students, that could create a big mess.

Lesson 2

About my teaching

The timing I estimated for the activities was right. I did the revision, the teaching point and the correction of the drills with no problems. There are some students that I think attend private English lessons and they were of great help when presenting the new topic.

There were some students who had to sit for a math test so they weren´t paying attention at first but then their main teacher told them to stop and go on with the English lesson. Again they were all standing asking if things were ok. I should probably explain some key points about discipline, for example, that we are going to check all the activities either on the board or orally so they shouldn't stand up.

About the students

They don't enjoy songs very much, at least not the songs from the book. They didn't sing or dance, they were just looking or me or reading from the book. I think on Tuesdays they are a bit more distracted because the lesson is near lunch time and they are hungry.

Some students kept asking if we were going to make more origami. I suppose they liked it, so perhaps I'll include some other activity like that in the future.

They are great and willing to participate in every activity but they get so desperate they jump about the classroom like monkeys.

Lesson 2 – 27/06/2013

  

·         REVISION:

Notion: parts of the body

Function: Creating a monster

Exponents: legs / head / arms / foot-fee t/ toes / hands /eyes /body

·         TEACHING POINT:

Notion: actions which involve the body

Function: Moving your body

Exponents: shake your body / move your leg / nod your head / wave your arms / stamp your feet / point your finger / touch your toes / clap your hand

About my teaching

I was able to do everything in the lesson plan but at one point I though we wouldn’t have enough time to do the song. However the students grasped the meaning of the new vocabulary really fast, so I was able to do the song. They knew the song so I didn’t need to write the lyrics on the blackboard. This allowed us to sing it again.

I didn’t use Spanish during the lesson this time.

The students remembered the parts of the body quite easily. At first I had to help them with feet and toe, but I made a drawing on the blackboard and they got it immediately.

The flashcards were really effective. They liked the pictures I made and they recognized the movements right away.

The listening activity was very good. I might include a dictation or some other listening activity next time.

About the students

The activity where they had to draw a monster was a bit challenging for some of the students. They took longer than I expected. Some of the students get really upset if what they do is not “perfect”. When I told them monsters are supposed to be ugly and scary they relaxed and were able to finish their drawing.

The students have a very well trained listening skill. They like dictations and they don’t get nervous at all.

Once I introduced the new words they automatically repeated after me. I had to mime the movement in the card at first for them to recognize it. When I showed them the cards the second time, the students said it without me asking “what’s this?” They enjoyed the song “if you’re happy and you know it” very much; they wanted to keep doing it. The one they liked best was shake your body, so I repeated it at the end of the lesson.

Thiago (the boy who has difficulties with his writing-reading skills) had no problems with this type of activities, he responds really well to TPR exercises (the song).

Lesson 1 – 25/06/2013

REVISION:Notion: Family membersFunction: Talking about my familyExponents: mother / father / sisters / brothers / grandpa /grandma

About my teaching

Today was the first class so I got to know the students a little. I used a stuffed lion from one of Disney’s movies to introduce the individual presentations and the children loved it.

Since the aim of the class was getting to know each other, there was no teaching point.

When we did the activity which involved talking about my family, the students got really engaged and they asked me about my parents. Some of the students who didn’t have brothers or sisters requested to put the name of their pets, which I allowed them to do. During the time they employed to do this activity I interacted with them individually.

Although at first I was a bit nervous, once I started the lesson I felt comfortable and I did everything according to the plan. The students liked the class and they were eager to meet me again on Thursday.

I’m going to start including extra activities in case they finish sooner than I expected.

About the students

They are a very dynamic group and they are faster than I thought. They like to participate. Some of them may be a little chatty but I don’t mind as long as they are working.

While I was interacting with students during the “family tree” activity, I realized there was a boy (Thiago) who was having trouble with it. So, I went to help him but then I noticed he couldn’t write the name of his parents properly. Later on, I asked the teacher about him and she explained that has some psychological issues. He was perfectly fine last year but this year he’s going to the psychologist because he has learning disabilities that affect his writing and reading skills. I think I might have to be really patient with him. His partners were really supportive and they helped him when I was assisting other students.

All the students enjoyed the family tree exercise, but what they like the most was, as a matter of fact, the stuffed lion. Not all of them liked the oral activity though. Some girls were shy at first and didn’t want to participate, but eventually they did.

All in all I think they responded well.

So it beggins

So I'm starting my residence as an English trainee teacher. One part of the things I have to do is writing a personal diary where I express thing that happened in each lesson. I am going to make them public because I think it's nice to find someone sharing their first experience in a classroom. Since there aren't many.

So... I'm going to be teaching 2° year primary students, twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Twenty-seven lovely 7-year-old students.

Let's hope it's not a bumpy road

crear una lampara de lava- wikiHow

Mi próximo proyecto es crear una lampara de lava- wikiHow

Cómo crear una lampara de lava

¿Alguna vez has estado hipnotizado por una de esas lámparas de lava? esas en las que ves como esos colores se mueven de arriba a bajo, tan lentamente...tan especialmente. Pues aquí esta la manera de hacerla, con materiales simples, que encontraras en tu casa. Además, como si fuera poco, podrás aprender un poco de química divirtiéndote.

Pasos

1. Prepara la mezcla. Llena ¾ de una botella con aceite vegetal, luego añádele agua, hasta llenar la botella.

Agrégale diez gotas de colorante para comida de tu color favorito

Corta una tableta de Alka-Seltzer en ocho pedazos(en el caso de redoxon parte dos pastillas en cuatro pedazos). Introduce uno de los pedazos en la mezcla (ahora va a empezar a burbujear)

Espera que termine de burbujear, añade otro pedazo de Alka-Seltzer(o Redoxon...). Continua, hasta que acabes con todos los pedazos y hasta que deje de burbujear completamente.

Sella la botella. Balancéala adelante y atrás para ver como aparecen ondas. Ahora ya se empezara a notar un mayor parecido con una lámpara de lava

Ya para terminar, colócala sobre una luz fuerte, esto es lo único que le falta para crear esa combinación de colores tan especial

Consejos

• Este pequeño experimento demuestra algo que posiblemente ya sabes, el agua y el aceite nunca se mezcla. Hagas lo que hagas, así muevas bruscamente la botella, el aceite únicamente se romperá en pequeñas piezas, pero nunca se mezclara. Otro detalle importante, es que al introducir el Alka-Seltzer, este reacciona con el agua, creando pequeñas burbujas de dióxido de carbono y estas a su vez son las causantes del movimiento dentro de la botella, pues las burbujas de dióxido de carbono se pegan al agua, lo que la hace flotar a la superficie de la botella, y al subir, las burbujas estallan y así vuelve a bajar el agua.

Advertencias

• No ingieras la mezcla, esto puede ser peligroso

Evita exponer esta botella al calor de la luz, como con una lámpara de lava normal

Cosas que necesitarás

• Una botella. (procura que este bastante limpia)

Aceite vegetal

Agua

Colorante de comida

Una tableta de Alka-Seltzer o Redoxon

foco

Referencias

• SteveSpanglerScience.com - Más instrucciones relacionado con este experimento y el origen de este articulo.

OozingGoo.com - Instrucciones en como crear diferentes tipos de "groovies" lamparas de lavas.

formspring.me

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