Journal 8

Journal 8

During this week, there were almost no activities as a professor because at the beginning of the week there was an activity regarding the election of the Queen of the faculty for some cultural aspects. Therefore, the class with English two was “canceled” in terms of attendance. Additionally, I did not plan anything in advance due to the confidence I had because that week was supposed to be for tests. Consequently, with Pre-intermediate English class, I did not have the chance of teaching any lesson on Wednesday. On the contrary, I did have a lesson with Basic English ll with professor Jairo at Ileusco. I had planned for the week before a lesson plan with infinitives. Therefore, I asked the professor if that was accurate to be implemented in his class. He agreed and I taught my class that day, June 5 from 11 to noon. I had an exercise with powerpoint presentation with some grammar exercise in order to reinforce a little bit the use of the infinitives.

The class went forward smoothly because students were willing to participate. There was a reading exercise planned for the while activity and they were expected to answer some questions about a “terrific cook”. By the way, that was a fun exercise because they got a little bit confused about the meaning of terrific so, I reminded them that it has a negative meaning.

Overall, the only class I had was good, I felt comfortable with my students owing to their willingness to participate and learn every day more about English. I guess that is one of the aspects to improve and that educational institutions have nowadays, lack of motivation, is not it?

Journal 7

Journal 7

During this week, I had the chance to teach only the Basic English ll group because on Wednesday there was an advisory activity from the English Language Teaching program. Therefore, I planned some activities regarding the use of the infinitive for the class.

The class started with a grammar-focused exercise in which students had to answer some questions in a powerpoint presentation. They had to choose one of the options and identify the use of the infinitive. The exercise was pretty well developed because they knew already the rules regarding the infinitives. However, there were some students who were not aware of the functions that infinitives have, thus the exercise was helpful to remind them of the use of this grammar feature.

I taught the lesson in the way I had planned it. The only thing I would change would be the part of developing the answers for the reading exercise about a “Terrific cook” because maybe the way, in which the answers were checked was somewhat messy since some of them were talking, others were reading the answers…

The next day I did not have the chance to teach classes with the other two groups so I saved the lesson plan that I had designed for them for the next week. However, I think next week is the 10^th week of the semester, which means “Tests”.  I do not know if there is going to be class normally.

On Friday, I had the chance to do my first intervention regarding my innovation plan. I did a questionnaire regarding writing skills. My intention was to provide my mini-investigation with the rationale for my project. In that sense, students filled out a format with some questions in which they must answer with yes, no, or sometimes. Then, there were some open questions and they must write what they thought about writing, their feelings, and their strategies, among others. 

Journal 6

Journal 6

During this week, some interesting events happened regarding the classes I had already planned. Firstly, I had the class with Basic English two with Professor John Jairo. I had planned some activities regarding the comparatives. I always try to make the class interesting for students to feel good when they learn or practice, so I did the “would you rather…?” game and they all loved it. I guided the activity in order to get the expected answers I wanted. They must answer with the comparatives in order to give the reason why they chose either option. It was funny to see them all excited to play the game and the hardness of the decisions. I made sure of it. Then some reading and speaking activities took place. I felt good overall because they did what they were expected to do, report what they were asked to, and enjoyed the activities as I wanted them to do.

Regarding the other classes, with pre intermediate English I actually saved the lesson plan for the week before for this one due to the absence of class the previous week. Although the lesson plan was good, the coordinator professor told me to do something in the lab. I freaked out, like literally lost my mind because that was a different setting for me as a student teacher. Therefore, I told him that, he understood and asked me to do some outdoors activity. I agreed since that was somewhat easier for me. I planned something that was expected to last at least one hour. It was about doing some interviews in groups and some other complementary activities. However, students finished it surprisingly quickly. I again died for a moment because I had some time left of my class. I asked myself “What should I do?” Then I planned like instantly an activity regarding writing in which they must gather the information found and put it into a report text, in that case was an article. They must use the computers to do so and I saved my day. I gave them the deadline until midnight of that day. That was tough. I did not enjoy that situation really. It was stressful. In fact, I had to take some pills for headache afterwards. However, it taught me that you must be creative whether you do like it or not. Thus, being a professor is a challenge. I am not that willing to take the challenge, but since I started this path, I must assume it.  

 

With Basic English ll from professor Jairo’s group I had a difficult time too (It seems that I do not have good experiences being a teacher). I planned to do the same activities as I did with the other Basic English ll group. To my surprise, they had already done the reading exercise they were expected to do with me that day. Therefore, I turned it into a speaking exercise where they must tell their partners about the reading. Afterwards, they needed to report what their partners had told them about the reading. It was good overall since they understood and did the exercise I asked them to do.

Journal 5

Journal 5

During this week of classes, I had the opportunity to teach most of my lessons. I taught the lessons I had planned for my dear students in the courses of Basic English ll and Pre-Intermediate English. On one hand, on Tuesday, I taught the Basic English course from Professor John Jairo. It was a good lesson, my activities were easy to follow and fun to solve. They spoke English, discussed some topics, and practiced the present perfect tense. Nevertheless, I would change my prominent nervous attitude in the class. I do not know what it is about it happens unintentionally. Aside from that, I felt good in the class because Students are always willing to participate and work in order to improve their language proficiency.

On the other hand, I did not have classes on Wednesday due to some activities in Agoras. There was academic permission from administrators and coordinators. However, some students from Basic English ll were willing to have the lesson with me. I was glad I had the chance to teach them. I planned the same activities for the other Basic English ll group. They wanted to stay in the class so that made me comfortable with them. I like to be spontaneous and easy going so I always try to make a conversation with them. Therefore, we talked about different things regarding the present simple. Maybe I would change the way of concluding the topics since I perceive that they get bored and tired easily at the end of the class.

I felt good during this week because I had tutoring sessions too. The tutoring session was on Wednesday from 8 to 10 in the morning. We did some fun activities regarding listening and verbal tenses. Somehow, I felt less nervous than in the classes with the cooperators because I felt the control over the students was mine and they were there because they wanted to. Many students from Professor John Jairo’s group were there and only two students from professor Jairo’s group were there. I always try to make questions and ask them to speak. I would change the way I end classes since I feel it is weak in terms of concluding the topic.