Observations at School Nº4

1. PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT and Practicum Primary School level.
Adjunto Regular a/c Prof. Estela N. Braun (2017).
Teacher Assistants: Prof. Vanesa Cabral and Prof. Maria Lis Luján Ramos.
ETA MA John Brakke.
REGISTRO:
ALUMNA RESIDENTE: Ana Valentina Monge.
COLEGIO: Escuela 4.
DOCENTE CO-FORMADORA: Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga.
First observations at School Nº4
Sat. 6/3/2017
627 words
Shared by Ana Valentina Monge
On the first week at School Nº4 I could experience a lot of feelings. To be honest, I was
not nervous at all but rather anxious about how the group would be and how they
would receive us. To my surprise the students seemed to be truly charming all the time
and since the first moment they made us feel really comfortable. As soon as we reached
the institution, the teacher showed us the school and its parts in order to know it. After
the break, we got into the classroom together with the teacher, who immediately
explained the students what we were doing there. Some of them approached us to greet
us personally and even with a kiss. It was very nice and it made me feel totally
welcomed.
After some minutes my pedagogical partner and I decided to sit at the back of the
classroom so as to observe the class. The lesson started by making a revision of what
they had done in the previous class and after this the teacher explained a new activity
in which the students must use a photocopy already given to them, which contained a
number of wishes and needs children commonly have. They should write five sentences
using the vocabulary in the photocopy, expressing what they considered to be their
rights. All the time the teacher tried to help the students with their doubts and even
some of them helped each other. It was a really nice activity and all the students seemed
to be engaged with it.

2. Question 1:
Can you indicate:
a) The topic of the lesson.
Expressing opinions, describing positive and negative actions related to human
relationships, in relation to the topic: children’s rights.
b) How it refers to the spiral curriculum? Theory back up.
As the annual planning is based on Children’s rights, with the passing of the time
children are able to acquire more complex structures to express their rights in English.
Moreover, as the school has its own school project related to that topic, everything
(activities, tasks, projects, etc) is designed according to it.
c) Specify the linguistic ouput in the sentences.
With the concepts they’ve learned from previous classes they would have to write
sentences using the concepts they considered to be the most important ones, so here we
can perceive their understanding and comprehension of meanings as well as
grammatical structures such as the one the teacher has given to them (‘I have the right
to...’). In that way, they would be able to create a ‘product’ using the comprehensible
input provided by the teacher.
- Support from the theory your statement: It was a really nice activity and all the
students seemed to be engaged with it.
Students seemed to understand what they had to do probably because they also
understood the concepts involved in the activity. This was possible due to the fact that
the teacher had carefully provided them with such concepts during previous classes and
activities, so then, in a way, they felt ‘prepared’ to do the following activity, the
following step, which was not only challenging (as it had to be done independently) but
also familiar because it included concepts previously seen.
- By the end of the class the teacher assigned them to write those sentences in the blog
of the subject and in case that any of them would not be able to do it, she said that they
should not be worried about that because the activity would be done in the classroom
the following class as well.
d. Interview the teacher about the use of technology in her class.
The teacher told us about the use of technology in her classes and said that she always
tries that children are able to use technological devices with a specific purpose. For

3. example, the fact that they’re using a blog that can be seen and visited worldwide allows
the children to work collaboratively and respectfully because as everything they post
there can be seen by any person, they may offend other persons’ opinions, beliefs, etc. It
also has to do with the idea of expression own ideas and thoughts. Mainly, the use of
technology is based on adding capacities as regards technological uses that can intersect
with future activities.
Finally the students left the classroom saying goodbye in a very lovely way.
The following class the students seemed to be very excited to see us again and some of
them greeted us personally with a kiss (again!). The lesson started after bringing the
netbooks into the classrooms so as to give them one to each pair of students. The
activity the teacher explained consisted of doing what they should have done as
homework: writing five sentences expressing their rights.
The teacher gave them the first part of the sentence ('I have the right to...') and they had
to complete it. An important aspect in this group activity was that both students were
capable to help and monitor each other. Another interesting thing was that the teacher
was all the time highlighting the importance of 'Identity' while they were doing the
activity, and in the same way she asked them to name their publications by writing their
names in the title. As the time passed the students seemed to be very committed with the
activity (especially with the use of computers) and even calmed down.
e. Support from the point of view of theory why the teacher focuses on this aspect:
Identity.
The teacher is all the time making particular emphasis on Identity issues and everything
related to it. It resembles the importance of respecting every child’s individuality and
uniqueness. In that way the teacher is continually trying to adapt and adjust the
activities to things that are related to the children everyday reality, and so, she offer
them the opportunity to learn English by using everyday situations that are related with
our own culture.
The teacher constantly gave them encouraging feedback when they asked for doubts or
corrections. One thing that called my attention was that before giving them the
computers, the teacher explained that the software had been made in Argentina and that
it has as name a word used by the natives of our country. While she was talking about
this she also tried to link this issue with the idea of identity and in my opinion, it was an
amazing tool the teacher provided the students with. Finally, the students had to turn

4. the computers off very carefully so as we could collect them and return them to the
library.
f. How does this last activity (underlined_) link to educating the whole child?
The teacher is not only offering input about the subject or English concepts, she also
teaches them about cohabitation rules, respecting each other, responsibilities and a big
list of values that are important for children in and outside the school, and that will help
them to develop their lives in a properly way.
Lastly, we said goodbye to each other and I left the school with a big smile on my face.