Journal of my primary period praticum

1. Taller de Práctica Docente 2016
Journal
Alumno residente: Gómez Antonella Belén
Tutores: Zemborain Cecilia y Velazquez Aurelia
Nivel Primario

2. Institución educativa: Instituto María Auxiliadora
Autoridades: Clara Polverg
Docente a cargo: Gallardo Graciela
Curso: 6to ‘B’
Turno: Tarde
Nivel lingüístico del curso: Beginner
Clase de observación N°1
Fecha: 21/06/2016
To begin with, the teacher entered the class with the children quite restless. She said
hello and started to sing a song.
‘Hello, hello. How are you today?
I’m fine, I’m fine. And you? How are you?’
Some of the students sang, and others were on their own businesses. The teacher
didn’t really bother about this and she continued normally.
Following this she made students do a ‘relaxing exercise’ in which they had to inhale
and exhale slowly and then with their eyes closed they had to keep balance in one
leg. I didn’t see this wrong but I found it quite strange. I think that her idea was to
catch their attention and calm them down. But once they finished everyone started
talking loudly again.
Then, she made them play hangman to revise vocabulary and the alphabet. There
were only two words and only some students participated.
Next, she ask them to open the book (They are using Today- starter) on pages 18 and
19. She copied the date on the board and she proceeded to connect her CD player and
immediately, without any introduction and/or directions, she started to play the
audio from a dialogue on page 18.
When it finished, she asked them about the questions that were used during the
dialogue. They were personal questions (name, spelling, address and telephone
number). After that, she started to ask some of these questions to students
randomly. Some of them answered and others didn’t. She didn’t bothered to ask for
a complete structure.
Then, orally and all together completed exercise 2, in which they had to match some
pictures with the correct part of the day (morning, afternoon and evening). On the
same way they completed exercise 3, in which they had to match some questions
and answers.
Comentario [1]: Why did she do so?
What would you do if you were teaching
them?
Comentario [2]: What strategy would
you apply to settle them?
Comentario [3]: How can you
engage all of them?

3. She decided to skip exercise 4, so they did number 5. They had to complete two
charts with information about batman and iron man. During this activity in which
students worked alone, she started delivering some assignments they had
previously done and she also asked for their activity books.
Finally students left for the break, but without any type of closure of the class.
I consider that this class was quite disorganized. The teacher didn’t bother to give
any instructions to students and there were some students that didn’t work during
the whole class. They were very restless, and the teacher didn’t try to calm them
down at any moment. Only some students paid attention and/or participated. In the
end, she didn’t even say goodbye to students.
I hope next class is more productive. But I did learn something today; not to be like
this teacher.
Clase de observación N°2
Fecha: 28/06/2016
Today’s lesson was a bit more productive than the last one. First, when the teacher
entered the room she said hello to students and some of them answered as students
were very excited from the break. As the previous class, she made them do one of
those relaxing exercises. She insists they are for concentration. Next, as a kind of
warm-up they played chinese whispers in groups. The teacher said a phrase and
students passed the message.
As a start for the lesson they began with a listening exercise. The thing that I find
most weird about this teacher is that she barely gives instructions on what to do. So
the majority of students don’t do the exercises. I consider that instructions are of
vital importance when starting a new activity. Anyway, students had to just listen
to the CD and try to understand the words related to favourite things. Meanwhile,
the teacher copied the date on the board. When the listening finished, the teacher
asked students about those words, and on a second listening, in which they could
read the script that was in the book, she asked about the kids’ names and ages. Then
she asked what their favourite things were.
What I observed is that she does not care about complete answers. Students only
give the information she is asking. But I think this is an important thing and very
useful to practice structures, because otherwise students do not have much
practice.
Comentario [4]: Ohhh!!! Well, good
that you see the positive side of it! :)
Anyway, take this as a two-way
experience. Maybe your own practicum
will help this teacher as well.
Start planning the strategies you will
apply as regards classroom
management.
Best wishes

4. Following this, she asked students to do exercises 2 and 3 from the book on page 21.
In exercise 2 they had to read sentences and write the name of the kid it corresponds
to. In exercise 3 they had to answer some questions about the text. Once they
finished, they corrected orally. Again, not all students did the exercises. Some of
them were doing absolutely nothing. I think that students get bored about her way
of teaching and that is why they do not work. I think she should try to engage all of
them with other types of activities.
To continue, they did exercise 4 which was a listening in which they had to choose
the correct picture. Again she started the listening and didn’t explained students
what to do. They corrected orally, but some of them didn’t do the exercise.
Finally, the teacher made them play a game called ‘knock knock’ that is played with
the hands (something similar to ‘mesu’ that we play in Spanish). This didn’t have
anything to do with the lesson, but it was just to end a class in a good way. Students
certainly enjoyed it. Then she gave them the homework and said goodbye to them.
So after this, I think that students are bored of the way the teacher teaches them.
They are still kids, they need to vary on the activities and the way of doing them.
They can play games, make posters, work in groups, etc. She has to employ other
ways to motivate students.
Clase de observación N°3
Fecha: 30/06/2016
Well, as for this lesson I have to say that I thought the teacher had gone through a
good way. But in the end I was disappointed again.
To start the lesson, she asked the students about the reading from the previous
class. She read the text with mistakes, and while she was reading students had to
recognize the mistakes and correct them.
Following, she took to the classroom two students from another class. She asked
them to role play a dialogue that was in the student’s book they use. The dialogue
was about favourite things. When the students finished, they asked about their
favourite things to some students. This activity was really engaging for students,
they attentively listened to all the conversation, but they were a bit reluctant to
answer the questions.
Then she asked them to open the book and all the motivation was lost again. She
asked them to look at the dialogue on the book and she instructed them to do
something similar as a homework project.
Comentario [5]: How would you
engage all of them? What would you do
if you see that some students are just
wasting their time in one of your
lessons?
Comentario [6]: grammar
Comentario [7]: checked
Comentario [8]: It´s great that you
started thinking of different activities to
include in your practicum.
Comentario [9]: Which kind of
mistakes? What do you think the aim
was?
Comentario [10]: Why do you think
she did this?

5. After this, she asked to take their copies of the activity book and they did a listening
activity in which they had to tick or write the correct answer. Following, they had to
continue working individually with pages 20 and 21 from the copies, in which they
had different activities, such as write questions and answers, complete a dialogue,
look at some pictures and answer the questions and talk about the items they had in
their schoolbags. All these activities were given at once to them when there were 10
minutes left of class. So, as they were not going to finish, obviously, they had to do
them as homework.
I thought that taking those students to role play the dialogue was an excellent idea.
But I think that she could have exploited it more. For example, the project could
have been done in class instead of doing it as homework. They would have kept the
motivation and would have been willing to do it. Or she could have designed some
other activities to give continuity to the activity. So, I consider that if it was a
disappointment for me, as I was expecting an excellent development from this class,
students’ motivation must have been blown up.
Clase de práctica N°1
Fecha: 01/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
Well, as it was planned, I started the lesson with the game of the paper ball to
introduce each other. This gave students confidence to talk to me for the rest
of the class. So I can say I started off on the right foot.
Next, the class continued with the questions of the warm-up phase. They
answered very good to this exercise. At first they answered just with the
information but I asked to provide complete sentences and they did it very
well. For this stage I did the poster with pictures of real people as you
suggested in the correction of the planning.
Then I introduced the vocabulary with the flashcards. They said the ones
they knew and they repeated after me the ones they didn’t.
The activities from the development worked well, but they did them faster
than I had planned and I had a lot of time left. So, I asked them to take their
activity books and I told them to do two activities from there.
Finally, we played memory game with the animal vocabulary. They really
Comentario [11]: What about
transitions? Were they clear/coherent?

6. liked it and were very enthusiastic all the time.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
Well, as I mentioned previously I ran out of activities as students did
activities faster that I had thought. So, I took this as a learning point for me. I
have to plan extra activities in case this happens again.
What I liked from the lesson is that students seem to like me. They worked
and listen and they enjoyed the games a lot. So, apart from the activities
issue I think that the lesson went pretty well and I left the classroom feeling
confident and happy. I had never worked with so many students before and I
was a bit nervous, but then I felt comfortable with myself and the students.
★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images
I’m feeling confident, and I know I’m going to succeed and be a teacher very
soon! :)
Clase de práctica N°2
Fecha: 07/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
Well, to start, the warm-up part worked well. They were very engaged with
the game.
When introducing pluralization they responded very well. They, as it was
expected, pluralized all words with ‘-s’, but they understood very quickly the

7. rule.
The listening activity was well done by the majority. It was quite easy for
them, and I think this gave them confidence.
As for the poster activity, they were a bit reluctant to pass to the front, but
tried to assure them that it did not matter if they made a mistake, that they
were there to learn. In the end they took a bit of courage and passed. Some of
them made mistakes, and again, this was expected.
When we finished, as you suggested, we worked out the rule together to make
the poster and I left it on the wall.
As for the activity concerning ‘our’ and ‘their’, I think that I should have
planned the introduction a bit differently. Since my examples were not clear
enough and they kept a lot of doubts and the exercise was a bit hard to
complete.
Differently from the previous class, I ran out of time for the last activity. So,
we didn’t do it.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
I felt more comfortable this time. They paid attention almost all the time. And
this made me feel confident. We didn’t have an excellent class, I still have a lot
to polish, but it was quite good.
Students are beginning to feel more comfortable with me.
★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images

8. I know I have a lot to learn, but I know I can improve.
Clase de práctica N°3
Fecha: 08/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
Well, this time I think student felt way too comfortable with me around. This
was quite a messy class. You’ll see it on the video once I upload it.
As it was planned, we played jeopardy. I think that they liked it, but they
didn’t feel like being in the class at all. They weren’t very motivated.
The presentation exercise worked well. Competitions are always very
motivating among teens. They were desperate to make sentences. They made
some mistakes but sentences were okay in general.
As for the reading activity I think I should have worked out a bit of
vocabulary before starting with the reading. But they did well the activity.
The chart was completed well by them. But they were a bit reluctant to write
the text. I wasn’t handed out the productions of all the students.
As for homework, I gave them only page 32 to do.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
All the confidence I had the previous two classes was a bit blown up. Students
were very hard to dealt with.
This is very clear in the video I’ll upload of the lesson.
I think I have to work on some strategies to calm them down. The teacher told
me to tell them off, but I don’t feel like doing so.
The ironic thing is that with my students I have some strategies that work
very well, but these students were so distracted that I blocked out.
At a part of the lesson I was so frustrated that I ended up speaking Spanish. I
know it is not the idea, but they consumed me. It is very difficult to work with
so many students, and this is my first time with such a large group.
Comentario [12]: Why?
Comentario [13]: have worked
Comentario [14]: Preteaching
vocabulary is really useful!
Comentario [15]: Paraphrase, please
Comentario [16]: Why? Did you
explain what they had to do?
Comentario [17]: ?
Comentario [18]: Language:
I don´t feel like doing so.
Comentario [19]: You are in control
of discipline. you should find the way.
You must be firm and consistent.
Comentario [20]: You should really
work on this issue.
Comentario [21]: You will learn to
cope with this - large groups are so
common in Argentinian classrooms!

9. ★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images
I should start planning and working in my teaching strategies, so as to have
a better lesson development.
Clase de práctica N°4
Fecha: 14/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
To begin with, the class started with the correction of the homework. They
found the clapping idea quite entertaining.
Then we continued with the arrangement of the tangled sentences, which
worked very well. Students also responded very well to the exercise about
animals and countries.
Then, the exercise about completing the dialogues with the verb to be was
quite easy for them, and they did it very quickly.
Following this, we continued with the description of animals. They were a bit
reluctant to do it, but in the end I convinced them and they started working.
At this part we ran out of time, since the starting of the lesson was a bit
delayed because of break time, so not all of them finished and I gave them
this activity for homework and we couldn’t do the last two activities.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
Today I think I managed the group a bit better. There are a few students that
disturb the class all the time, but in general compared to the previous class it
was better.
Comentario [22]: It´s great to set our
own professional goals! :)
Comentario [23]: Word order.
They found the clapping idea quite
entertaining.
Comentario [24]: tense
Comentario [25]: spelling
Comentario [26]: How? Which
strategies did you use?
Comentario [27]: finished

10. It is quite hard to manage such a large group, but it’s all about practice I
think.
★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images Comentario [28]: Great quote!
Inspirational!

11. Clase de práctica N°5
Fecha: 15/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
As planned we did the dialogue lines rearrangement. They found it easy and
entertaining, they show themselves very willing to come to the front and
participate.
The next part was talking about famous people and their countries of origin.
They also liked this activity, they were pretty engaged and paying attention.
(I wish I had recorded this class).
The class followed with the two exercises in which they had to make
sentences and answer them were well done by the majority. Only some of
them had minor mistakes. When we corrected orally, they started clapping
as the previous class when we checked homework (I didn’t propose this, so I
think they liked the idea.)
Sadly, we ran out of time. So, I gave them the reading exercise as homework
and the last exercise was not done.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
At the end of the class the teacher came and told me she noted me more
confident this time, and that students payed more attention to me. So, this
was a relief.
There are some students that disturb all the time, but the rest was quite
engaged.
I’ll plan something a little bit more entertaining for the last class.

12. ★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images
Clase de práctica N°6
Fecha: 21/09/2016
★ Section 1: Describing the lesson as it unfolds
To begin with, the warm-up phase didn’t work out as I had planned. Students
started the game before I said to, and there were a lot more missing students
than I had planned. So, it wasn’t as entertaining as I thought it was going to
be.
Then, the poster to label worked out pretty well. Students were able to to
label every animal body part and every adjective.

13. Next to this followed the oral description of animals. They felt a bit
embarrassed but they did it very well.
Finally, we proceeded to invent an animal and describe it. Sadly, as we
started the class a little bit later because of the break, we ran out of time and
they couldn’t finished, but they really liked the idea. They found it very
entertaining and they were very engaged with it. They promised to finish it
the following class with their teacher and to send me a picture via facebook
or instagram.
★ Section 2: Making sense of the lesson through relevant lived experiences.
I felt really happy with the last activity. They were so engaged with it that
they didn’t want to leave it incomplete. I’m so sorry we ran out of time since I
wanted to see their productions.
I felt very good with myself because I accomplished something their teacher
couldn’t do during my observation classes, and it was to engage everyone in
an activity. They were all motivated to do it and that made me very happy.
★ Section 3: Interpreting the lesson in words and images
This what I think right now. I’ll never be a perfect teacher, but I’m going to get
better and better.