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.