JOURNALS

Journal 1

August 05 2015

San Antonio School

8^th grade

The class started at 1:00 pm. Despite I knew the classroom did not have electricity and I asked the librarian to make my class in the library previously, I had to rush in order to set the classroom because she came late. I had already proved the devices but there was one single thing I did not take into account, I needed an (extension cable), because the one that was there did not work in that moment. I was very worried in spite of the fact I had a second plan, but I wanted to do something different with my new students. Fortunately, one of them was so skillful that took the cable and fixed it immediately. Due to this, I realized my students were talented, collaborative and smart people who are able to solve problem in and out of the classroom.

When I began the class, I attempted to speak in English but my students got shocked. They told me they had never heard a teacher communicating with them in that foreign language. Because the other teacher taught them only grammar. I told them to not worry about that because the learning of a foreign language was a process. Therefore, I made a deal with them, sometimes I spoke in English and when it was necessary I spoke in Spanish. Besides, I had already taught them some expressions for interacting in the classroom such as “how do you say/can I borrow/what’s up/how are you doing/ awesome/great etc. so I asked them to use them all the time.

In brief, students seemed to be enthusiastic and willing to learn new things. To begin with, my purpose for that class was to make my students identify and describe two places: the city and the country. As they live in a rural area, I wanted to know their beliefs and thoughts about each one of these places. In fact, some students tended to use the vocabulary learned in the previous class and others still were afraid of using the target language. 

Next, I told them we were going to play a game but they had to work in groups and I assigned the people for each team. At the beginning they did not like the idea to be separated from their friends but I think they enjoyed with their new partners.

The game was based on charades, where one student per group by turns was in charge to communicate with body gestures a comparison between the city and the countryside. And the others had to guess the words in English. Besides, I raised their motivation by giving them some extra points. After all, I was impressed that 20 minutes later they learned new vocabulary and started using it.

All in all, this was a nice class, my students and I had fun, nonetheless, there are many things we need to improve and as a teacher, I have to do my best in order to change negative attitudes and behaviors towards learning this beautiful language.

Journal 2

October 15^th

^{San Antonio School}

8th  grade

After some classes where the students learnt how to compare people, things, animals and places, I decided to challenge my students to create a debate. Of course, I did not want to traumatize them with the idea to be graded but I encouraged them to record them and then show them how good they looked speaking in a foreign language. Accordingly, I used some exercises to increase their confidence when talking.

First, I split the group in a half. Each group was in charge of reflecting about the advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside and the city. Therefore, they had to discuss and take notes of their opinions and ideas. My role was to guide, scaffold and support the students in the pronunciation of the words.

When I was observing the students I realized some of them participated more than others, they were leaders and provided many positive things in the group. In fact, they cooperated and supported other students with lower levels. I also noticed there were students who expressed frustration because they did not understand what they had to do.  They said they were not in previous classes, therefore they did not know how to express their ideas in the target language. So, I talked to them and tried to explain but there were many questions and I needed to pay attention to the whole class. Hence, I told them to ask the leaders meanwhile I was assisting the other group.

The debate started, everyone was ashamed because they were not confident with the pronunciation of some words. So, I asked one of the leaders to begin and the debate began having flow. Some minutes later, the debate was repetitive, thus I encouraged students to defend their ideas. Nevertheless, they felt more motivated when I told them I was going to give them more points if they did it with passion. Everyone was active and their participation was fruitful.

If I had the opportunity to repeat this class, I would talk to the students who missed the previous classes and give them a kind of tutorial before the debate. Moreover, I would use other tools to exemplify a debate such as videos of other students in other schools. I think this would motivate more my students without getting used to gaining extra points for a grade. 

Journal 3

March 18^th 2016

San Antonio School

6^th grade

The class started at 10 am. The previous class I asked my students to work in a circle because the classroom was too small for them and for me, so there was not room to move or do activities such as playing a video, or play a game. The next day, when I was going to get into the classroom all the students arranged the chairs in a circle by themselves. So I was surprised they took that decision, but at the same time was happy because it seemed they felt more comfortable studying in such way. Therefore in such moment I decided to keep working in that way.

Well, at the beginning of the class, one of my students asked me if she could help me with the attendance list, as I saw her with great enthusiasm, I allowed her to do it. I noticed she felt she had the control of the class and imitated certain words I used to say when I did it.  It was funny but also it was fantastic to see my students are taking active roles in the classroom.

Sixth graders are very noisy and talkative, that is why, I prepared a song called “baby shark” to catch their attention and manage the class since the beginning of the class. Assuming that they did not know the words of the song, I taught it with gestures, so that any word was written on the board or notebook. My students told me I was a clown and had a lot of fun indeed. They imitated the same gestures and understood the message correctly.

Afterward, I told my students the main purpose of the class and the activities we were going to follow. As well as the challenges they had to tackle, they had to use the foreign language to talk about the activities that were part of their daily routine. In fact, most of the students were afraid of failing, nevertheless there were some of them who were willing to learn from their mistakes.

When I saw my students ‘attitudes, I told them I understood it was not easy due to the lack of chances they had to interact in English, but also I mentioned it was not impossible and that I was not a “punisher” but I would provide guide and support in their learning. With attention to that, I decided to show as an example my routine, hence, I modeled a way to tell a routine with gestures as well. Later, I asked my students if they had understood but most of them answer “so, so”. Due to this, I changed the example with one of my students, she told her routine with my help.

 In that moment another student became the translator of the class. I liked it because I knew he understood everything but also I was concerned because the other students were quiet. So, I told Sebastian these words: “Sebastian, te felicito porque sé que eres muy listo y entiendes casi todo, pero no crees que le estás haciendo el trabajo a los demás? No se lo dejemos tan fácil, no crees? He answered: uy si profe es verdad. Despite he agreed with me, sometimes he could not bear being calmed and translated again to his partners. He saw some of my gestures and he understood I needed his help.

After that, I asked the students to communicate their daily routines but in a creative way. Thus, I displayed some options such as an explanation through a drawing, a song, a guessing game, a role play, in a written form etc. I thought it was a good start to work with different learning styles. Moreover students were excited and eager to learn.

During that exercise, I noticed that students who chose music, changed their mind because they believed it was too challenging for them, therefore, I said to not worry about that and proposed other ways that could fit their learning style and preferences.

Unfortunately, the time was over and we could not finish the exercise, so the students were committed to show their works next class. Finally, when I was leaving the classroom, Sebastian gave a note that said: “teacher, you are the more pretty and the more intelligent, good teacher, thank you”

In that moment I felt grateful and proud of my job, Sebastian told me he had looked up the words in the dictionary and tried to write the message in English. Accordingly, he felt proud too. It was truly nice to receive those words from a student. Definitely, that note made my day!

Journal 4

September 20^th 2016

San Antonio School

Tenth grade

The class started at 10 am. When I got into the classroom, most of the students were doing their math homework. I greeted them with a lot of enthusiasm, so I caught their attention and kept their homework away. Then, I told them about the objectives and the activities planned for this class.

Most of the tenth graders are characterized as “lazy or uncommitted” but I hoped to obtain their active participation in class.

First of all, I wanted to activate their background knowledge through a guessing game. In the plan it was supposed to be done in the classroom, but when I realized the school basketball court was empty, I decided to work with the students there. They showed interest and were keen to carry out the activity in English. Personally, I love charades, so they had to work in groups to guess some words related to the topic they learned the previous class, “habits and life styles”. All of them participated and when I asked them to go back to the classroom, they expressed their disagreement but I told them I needed the white board to explain part of the topic, and I promised to do more activities out of the classroom.

 When we were in the classroom I taught them how to express their preferences in terms of music, sports and hobbies as well as how to ask questions to get that information from others. After that brief explanation, I said “without practice no knowledge” So it’s time to use this!

Consequently, I called the next activity “cycling dates”.  Students had 4 minutes to interview and be interviewed by one of the classmates. When they heard an alarm they had to switch partners or “dates”. At the beginning of this exercise for some students it was difficult because they had never been told how to pronounce in English, and some questions were not clear for them. But when they switched turns and continue interviewing other classmates, they learnt the pronunciation, and the questions and answers where more fluid.

Some minutes later, I realized when students are motivated they are capable and eager to do many things in order to learn this foreign language. For this reason I passed to listen to them and felt the necessity to reward then with some extra positive points. Of course, they felt more committed and earnest in English class.

At the end of the class, student said they felt satisfied because they practiced and used the things they were taught in theory. With this in mind, I think this was a nice experience for the enhancement of my professional and personal development.