CAP Practicum diary

Didactic Sequence (1)

Today I started my Didactic Sequence in 2nd ESO C. It is not my first time I teach a whole class, so maybe for this reason I was not so nervous (I am always nervous for everything, so this is a good think, today!). I have also all the support of my tutor, Eve, and the good climate in class that helps a lot in the teaching practice.

I had an hour for myself, to start implementing my didactic sequence. It is about seasons and cultures. Today we have worked on the introduction of seasons and then on autumn, the season we are now. Students have collaborated a lot, they have behaved very well and they were motivated and attentive all the hour.

We have done some games, brainstorming of ideas, we have learnt a poem and they have invented another! I did not think the responses would be so good! I am very pleased and this encourages me to continue working and implementing the unit with happiness!

Nevertheless all these, I can say that the first moment of the class has not been so good, as I forgot asking the teacher for the project and the laptop (for a presentation) until we were on the point of starting the lesson.

After the class, my tutor and I had spoken about my intervention. She was happy about it and she criticized me ("criticize" as 'give an opinion, reflexions, etc.'!) a little bit in order to improve my teaching practise. She said me a lot of resources and complementary activities for the activities I did, and I found all these ideas and observations very interesting and useful to know! I thank her a lot for this. As I said her, it is better to know a second opinion, an external one, positive and negative aspects the other person can say, in order to improve, to know how you teach, what are your key points and the weakest ones...

In conclusion, it has been a good start for the implementation of my didactic sequence. I am happy about it, the results, the participation, the students, the review, my feelings, my confidence... It seems it is not me the person I am talking about!

Representing a dialogue (2)

Students in this school can speak English quite well. Apart from oral activities like the dialogues and the moment with the language assistant, they also try to speak English in class with the teacher (they may start in Spanish or Catalan, but sure they know to say a lot of that things in English, we have tried!) and sometimes with their classmates.

I speak English to them in class and it seems they understand me very well, so I feel happy about it. I also speak English to my tutor, their teacher, so we are coherent with the rules of that class (it is an English class, try to speak in English) and this helps students to be more immersive in the course and the language.

Representing a dialogue

"In the home"

This is an example of resource in order to introduce vocabulary. It's a Power Point with explanation and an exercise. That is completed with other activities in class.

Language assistant

Kiaron is a native speaker. He is from Ireland, and he came to Spain only a few weeks ago. He works in IES de Sales as a language assistant. He is in the Languages Department and works with pairs of students doing oral activities: dialogues, conversations...

He only speaks in English, so some students don't understand him, but this is a good thing because students have to make an effort to understand what he wants to tell them, to ask them. The language assistant and the students talk about hobbies, hours, days of the week, etc.

Claustre

We have worked vocabulary and grammar in 2nd ESO, from 9:10 to 10:20h. Eve has presented some parts of the house and the present continuous with a presentation Power Point in the laptop.

From 10:10 to 13:45h I have remained at the school helping Eve, talking with her about my didactic sequence and preparing it.

At 13:45h and for an hour, I have attended the claustre. The principal (directora) has explained some points: students and teacher punctuality, discipline, cleanness... The direction had some aspects to comment to all the teachers. We were thirteen or more people in the teachers' room! They have also talked about the new 'junta de direcció'.

Mind maps

Today we have continued with reader's reports and exercises on the computer, about grammar and vocabulary, in both 1st and 2nd ESO.

Mind maps are used to summarize all reading activities and to organize vocabulary. Students do it with colours and marking the structure of the sentences (subject - verb - object). This task helps them organize their ideas, the new concepts they learn, etc. It is also a guide for an oral presentation, an exam...

Computer laboratory

Today I've been in the computer laboratory with 2nd and 1st ESO. They were doing their reader's report exam and they started the exercises in the computer, about unit 2 (by now, grammar: the present continuous tense).

Students love this room, they are excited in the computers, and this allows them to learn more efficiently, I think: they are motivated and they amused themselves.

 

Apart from these two classes, I have gone to a 3rd ESO aula oberta. In that class there are students who found difficult their level (3rd ESO, in this case) and they are in another class doing fewer subjects that the normal course (they don't do, for example, music; they have only two hours of English instead of three; but they have more hours of technology and they also do tallers, for instance). Their courses are adapted, so they can follow their pace.

I found that class an interesting one. However, I didn't like the image they have of themselves: almost all think they are inferior. The teacher works a lot for their self-esteem, but I saw it difficult because it seems that they believe that by heart.

Listening

Students do their listening tasks autonomously, when they have "free" time to do their pathway. They go in pairs, normally, to the cassette player. In the pathway learning they have all exercises they have to do, separated by kind of learning (speaking, listening, reading, writing, games, computer) and with the number and level, so they know which number of cassette and exercises they have to look for.

These listening exercises can be about true or false affirmations, completing sentences or choosing a, b, c, d. Students normally like the listening activities.

Different methodologies

The other day I was in 1st Batxillerat. It was a different methodology as the one used in 1st and 2nd ESO. Batxillerat is a post-compulsory education and courses are more for the entrance at university.

I have observed the traditional way to teach: the teacher explains and students listen to her and do their work. That day they followed their Students Book. They were doing the future tense (will - going to) and they did some exercises about it.

It is a very different way to teach, it is the traditional one, which is implemented in almost every school. However, I find interesting the "novelty" of the ESO teachers (only two of them) to change this methodology and teach in a more constructive way.

My first (little) activity

Picture: some work about hobbies in front of the Language Department.

Last week I did my first intervention in class. I had helped my teacher in other classes, but that day was my first original contribution, I did an activity in 2nd ESO C.

They were learning vocabulary about hobbies and interests, and I did a warming-up activity about this topic. I was a game: a mimic game. First of all, I gave them a piece of paper and each student wrote a hobby or interest they want. I collected all pieces of paper later and we played mime. I asked for a volunteer and a boy came in front of the class; I gave him a piece of paper with a hobby or interest and he represented it. It was funny and interesting. A lot of students participated very actively, but all students amused and were interested and attentive!

When the activity finished, I asked my tutor about that intervention. It could have been better with more collaboration in teams (for instance, writing the hobby and interest in teams, or/and thinking about the activity done in mimic in groups...) and she also made me realize that they wrote "typical" hobbies and interests, only few new ones, so I could have reinforced that point, making them think about the new words they have learnt in this unit.

Starting Pathway Learning 2

Today we have started Pathway Learning 2 in the three courses I have been: 2 ESO C, 1 ESO A and 1 ESO D.

In 2nd ESO C we have worked in the present continuous tense, like yesterday. Students had to write sentences in present continuous about the actions of different people in a building (a block of flats). They have participated a lot and they were very motivated!

After reviewing that tense, in groups and in the whole class with the teacher, they have worked individually doing grammar exercises.

Members of the family (1st ESO D)

In this course we have also started pathway learning 2 today. We have introduced the vocabulary of the unit (members of the family) and the grammar review (present simple affirmative).

In order to do it, Eve has explained the contents with a Power Point presentation (as we can see in the picture on the top). It was a family tree with pictures and names, for the explanation, and then students had to say with member of the family was seeing only the picture. They knew all answers, I think they found it easy.

The grammar has been presented like the vocabulary, with a Power Point presentation for the explanation and they have copied the example (verb to live) on their notebooks. Some of them had remembered the "-s" in third person singular before reviewing it, so this is very good!

We dedicated the end of the class to explain them a contract they have to complete and sign in each unit in order to promise themselves and the teacher the work they are going to do in that unit (there is a minimum, compulsory, and a maximum, compulsory and optional exercises).

Presenting the present continuous (2nd ESO C)

As students have finished pathway 1 (unit 1), Eve has given them a self-assessment profile. It is well-detailed and students have answered it about their work in each section (reading, writing...) and their attitude in class. The teacher has explained point by point this self-assessment profile with a transparency, because it is the first this course (they used it last academic year).

Afterwards, we have started lesson 2 (pathway learning 2). Eve has presented the present continuous tense in a motivating and amusing way:

Students are sitting in groups of three, four or five, in this class. The activity has started with the instruction that each group had to have a pen on the table (nothing else on it). Eve has put a transparency about some members of a family doing different things. Students, in groups, have written in a piece of paper all activities they saw or they knew (vocabulary). After five minutes, Eve has asked all groups how many actions they have: two groups have found 9 actions (excellent!); one group, 7; one, 5, and the last one, 4 (not bad). They have started to say all actions they have: watching TV, dancing/cooking, running, sleeping/relaxing, etc. Some of the students, not many, have used the present continuous (very good!). They have participated actively and they have said different verbs, more that twelve! Eve and I have counted nine, but she has accepted all verbs students have thought about (all responses were good, even though they were not what we thought before doing the activity! This is a good methodology).

The next activity, very related to the previous one, has been a drawing of each group (in a transparency) about an action. Each group have decided who drew, but they have decided collectively the action. When they had all the pictures, a representative of each group presented their picture to the rest of the class, showing the drawing in the projector and saying the action represented. Nice pictures, and good vocabulary. Moreover, they have been attentive and motivated all the hour. They have learnt and they have spent a good time. A perfect activity!

Dialogues

Here there are two girls practising the dialogue about hobbies and interests. They do it in pairs, of the same level (starters, beginners and lower intermediate).

They are motivated and they cooperate and participate in all these activities. It is rewarding to see them.

Speaking: a dialogue

Today, as every day, I left home at 6 in order to arrive on time at the school. I went to 2nd ESO C at 09:10 and then at 1st ESO D at 11:40. All that students have finished their pathway learning and they have also done the speaking task: a dialogue about hobbies and interests.

This is another kind of self-learning activity. Students have to copy this dialogue (with more questions when higher the level is: starter, beginner and lower intermediate) and then study it in order to represent it in pairs in front of the class.

Today, moreover, we had two sessions with the language assistant, so students have gone to the English Department to speak with him, saying the dialogues.

I have recorded a dialogue in 2nd ESO C, but I cannot upload it here or in Youtube because of the restriction of image. I will show you those recordings in the oral presentation at the end of the practicum. I hope this is not a big problem.

In the picture you can see the worksheets of the dialogue. Starters and beginners did only questions 3 to 7, and lower intermediate did all the worksheet. They have learnt them by heart and they were successful in it.

Reader's Report

"Reader's Report" is one of the self-learning activities, done in 1st and 2nd ESO (the two courses I go more regularly).

Students choose a book of their level, they showed to the teacher (who recommend them, explains them if that book chosen is so easy for him/her, too difficult for a particular person...) and they bring it home. During a week or two weeks (sometimes more, depending on their work) they have that book at home and they have to read it and then complete a reader's report with a mind map of the book (an example is shown in the picture) and some vocabulary with the translation.

When students have all the work done, they show the reader's report to the teacher in class in order to correct it, and then they can study it for the oral test about it. They study at home and sometimes also in class, when they have finished other tasks, before their speaking examination about it...

The examination is based on that book, on the points students have written in the reader's report: "The book title is... The author of the book is... The story is... The main characters are... The story takes place in... At the end..." and there are some questions about the vocabulary, too. These points are written in a mid map, where all sentences are divided into parts, in other to show the structure: subject - verb - object.

The evaluation is done individually with the teacher, who takes into account both fluency and accuracy. She listens to each student and when he or she finishes, she corrects them (accuracy, vocabulary...). She always says them the mark, too, and encourages them at all times.

 

I have seen this task almost every day in these two weeks of practicum, but today I have been able to participate more, listening to them with Eve and saying my opinion about the evaluation.

I agree with Eve, my tutor, that this kind of activity lets the students learn reading and speaking skills, but also grammar. Moreover, this activity develops their reading habits, their responsibility and autonomy, fluency and accuracy in speaking, and students have to be organised (doing the mind map). On the other hand, students can choose the book they want to read, so they are more motivated; and they have time to do this task at home, they don't have a close deadline (although they are asked not to extend a lot one reading).

Self-learning: an autonomous way to learn

Students have some time in their course hour for self-learning. They all have a pathway divided into three levels: starters, beginners and lower intermediate. Each student has their level assigned from the beginning of the course (they can change level if they progress or they don't follow the pace...) and they have to do exercises and activities for the unit as assigned by the teacher in a pathway learning (handed in at the beginning of the unit). In this pathway learning students have all different tasks they have to do (grammar, listening, speaking, vocabulary, reading; from the Student's book, workbook, other resources, videos...), some of them compulsory and some of them voluntary, so students can choose. When it is time for self-learning, students do their pathway tasks autonomously and with self-correction in class. Some of these exercises (the one's in their books) are for homework, at home, and they have to do it for the end of the unit, they can do it whenever they want with that deadline.

In this picture I have taken a picture about two girls doing a video task: they have to see a video of about ten minutes long and then they answer some questions about the video as true or false. In the same document with the questions, they have the answers behind, for self-evaluation.

In all these tasks I noticed they are all fair and honest. I liked it, because they gain autonomy and responsibility, and they learn at their own learning pace, at their level, in cooperation with their classmates. But the teacher is not absent in these times! She is always there, helping them, encouraging them; she is a guide for their apprenticeship.

Self-access room

This secondary school has two specialized language classrooms: a language laboratory and a self-access room.

The language laboratory consists of ten computers communicated between them, with headphones and a machine like an scanner, which is used for the teacher in order to show students papers, pages of a book she is reading, etc. This language laboratory is part of a language project of the school, and teachers have formation about it and they also train other secondary school teachers.

The self-access room is composed by individual tables composed in groups of four or five in the middle of the classroom and the teacher's table. All around these tables there are a lot of material and didactic resources: six audiocassettes, a television, videos, posters, books, magazines, dictionaries, (offered by editorials), encyclopaedias, and a lot of pigeon holes with all types of material (listening exercices and cassettes, reading exercices (true/false), grammar, cloze, writing, speaking/communication tasks, dialogues, partial dictation, pictures, games, puzzles, songs, etc.

Language courses have another important resource, a personal resource: the secondary school has contracted a language assistant (an Irish man), who will offer conversational classes in all courses.

First contact

Picture: Language Department. 

On Tuesday the 30th October I had my first contact with the secondary school where I will be until Christmas doing the practicum. It is far from Terrassa, where I live, and for this reason I went out home three hours before the meeting hour. My tutor from the school had explained me the way to arrive there, so I knew how to go there and this facilitated me the journey.

Arriving at the school wasn't difficult. I was a little bit excited and nervous, because I knew anything about that school. However, all staff of the school welcomed me and I felt comfortable and well-received.

I had to wait a little bit for my tutor (Eve) because she was in class; and when she came she showed me the secondary school and presented me other teachers and all the staff working there. I was grateful for that, because this made me feel another teacher, not only a 'visitor' or a teacher trainee like many others can be.

After speaking a little bit about the school, my practicum, the methodology, what I was supposed to do..., she invited me to go a class, 1st ESO D. She presented me and I observed the classroom, the course, students... There was a lot to look at!

I left the school with a good taste in my mouth. My first day at the secondary school encouraged me to make my best there these two months I will be there.