This document provides a self-assessment of the author's first teaching practicum period teaching English at a kindergarten in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The summary is: [1] The author completed their first teaching practicum teaching English to 14 students ages 4-5 at a private kindergarten. [2] Through reflecting on their experience, the author learned strategies for engaging young students, adapting lessons, and using various resources. They gained confidence in their teaching abilities. [3] Looking ahead, the author plans to apply what they learned to future teaching levels and practicums, with a focus on lesson planning, resource use, and maintaining student enthusiasm.

1. Taller de Práctica Docente III
Final self-assessment
Primer Periodo Nivel Inicial
Jardín de Infantes
Antón Pirulero
Año 2014
INDEX

2. Introduction…...3
Development
Thinking Back....................................................................................4
Thinking Forward..............................................................................5
Thinking Inward................................................................................5
Thinking outward.............................................................................6
Conclusion….....................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION

3. To begin with the first period of my teaching practicum I decided to ask permission to do
my practicum in the kindergarten Anton Pirulero because it is a kindergarten in which
many young children from different parts of the city learn the English language as a part of
the curriculum. This kindergarten is in the centre of the Bahia Blanca city. It is a private
institution and the head master of the kindergarten Mrs Viviana Rocha, assigned me
towork with children between 5 and 4 years old .The headmaster introduced me to the
teacher in charge of the group called Sabrina. The teacher and the headmaster were very
kind to me and they wanted to help me all the time in order to give me information about
the institution and the group of students. The kindergarten course was formed by 14
students .One of the students has a psychologicalproblem, she is a little girl of 5 years old
and she does not speak.The teachers are working with her with the purpose of reaching
the integration with her partners.
The group is small because they are ten or 11 each class.It was my first pedagogical
experience as I had never given a class of English language in a kindergarten before. I
focused on the students’ characteristics ,for instance to help students to go on working
and learning with a lot encouragement and enthusiasm which they manifested in each
class ,and also Icould apply the theories I had worked and learnt during this course.
I did the observation during three classes, I was surprised to see how the children were
very happy in the English class. They always knew what to do in each part of the class.
They enjoyed learning English because they were enthusiastic all the time.
The teaching practicum period in the kindergarten helped me to develop many strategies
that I have learnt in the course .In addition English lessons did not present great
difficulties to me because children did not have problem to work with me in each class with
the same enthusiasm and happiness like the first day that I met them. .
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4. THINKING BACK
The day I started my first teaching practicum period I had a lot of expectations and I felt
very nervous and anxious about it, mainly to think about working with kindergarten children
and I had no teaching experience in kindergarten children. The theories were very useful
in the books but thereality was very different in each class in order to teach English.
I enjoyed a lot working with little children,so I felt very comfortable and happy with young
children but this experience as an English teacher made me to feel anxious and nervous
before the class. But, during the class I feltvery good and they respondedvery wellto each
stimulus all the time.
I learnt a lot from these experiences in the kindergarten .I think that each work that we
worked in class was very important for both, children and me, because they incorporated
new vocabulary in in an interesting context such as a jungle where Buba ,a little pet of the
children, and his family live. They loved their pet and they imagined each part of the story.
In this way, they enjoyed and understand the story.
I learnt a lot from theses experiences such as how to work with different resources in the
same context .I learnt how to adapt different topics and resource according to the children
and his context .And also I used different strategies that allowed me to learn how to apply
them in the future as a teacher. Forinstance,when I worked with them how to learn new
lexis in a natural context. They were interested in the story, songs, videos and written
activities where they had to complete or match column A to column B. The results were
positive all the time.
I have chosen different activities according to this group, age, and they responded that I
had learnt in my observation as a student .The activities were significant for them because
they were very interested in each activity. And also in the review they worked a lot and
they were very happy to practice new lexis in the class..
I learnt a lot in this experience, for instance I learnt how to use different resources such as
visual aids and others according to them .I worked with songs, videos and other resourcein
specific stages of the lessons such as, “Hello sun” at the beginning of each class ,
pictures with monkey’s family during the class. I also used audio-visual materials such as
video stories and I engaged students in meaningful activities with flashcards,
cards,pictures, a black bag with objects that they had to guess, plasticine, a big brown
cardboard where they stuck their works of wild animals among other materials. I really
think that I achieved and experienced many important moments teaching and sharing with
children that helped me a lot to do aself-reflexion about how to work now and in the future
as a teacher.
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THINKING FORWARD

5. At the moment I am finishing my practicum I think that I have a lot of aspects to learn and
improve in the future as a teacher. The lessons I gave at initial level gave me experience
on teaching in kindergarten and I am sure that they will help me to improve my future
teaching experiences each levels. I think that certain aspects of teaching are very
important to apply in class according to the level of the students. For instance, the use of
different recourses such as audio-visual material,videos, Cds, drawings, plasticine and
others that are very effective in kinder as it is in primary and secondary level. Also, the
enthusiasm and environment are also very important to build and maintain at any level, as
well as the enjoyment of the teacher in order to stimulate students to learn and respond
positively to each new instruction in the class.
I think that the next period at primary level, I can apply many important strategies that I
learn from the observations .It will be very useful to practice in the following group, as
these were in kindergarten. Also, I asked for help to my tutors’ guidance during this
period,because they have experience to train me to be more confident in each class.
I felt very happy in the kindergarten,I believe that the resources and the pedagogic
perspective were very successful andeffective to face the teaching and learning process in
each class. Although planning a lesson plan is hard work, I think that it is the main point to
take account in order to be successfully and have positive results. For this reason now and
in the future I will be willing to devote a lot of time to planning each lesson and preparing
all the materials and resources to create and develop an effective lesson in order to reach
my goals as a teacher. All this points will help me to take effective pedagogical decisions
now and in the future.
THINKING INWARD
In this period of practice I felt satisfied with my work and it reached my own expectations
such as enjoy working with boys and girls.. I had no idea of my own abilities as a teacher
of kindergarten because I thought that they were little children to develop many activities
but this point of view changed from my teaching practicum class because children learnt a
lot and they worked a lot with positive answers. For this reason my personal beliefs are
that children can learn and engage in each class if we applydifferent pedagogical
resources. The teacher of the class always stimulated me all the time and also she was
glad with each class that I gave the children. She congratulatedme in each moment of the
class and she encouraged me to go on working with the same enthusiasm I had
manifested in each class...
Each class we started with the song “hello sun”, at the beginning it was difficult to me,
because I felt hard my body to jump and dance with them, but when we danced al
together. I felt happy with them working and giving instructions.Then they always paid
attention to each detail of the class. In addition they asked questions about the instructions
and they wanted to follow each instruction very quickly. For this reason I felt very satisfied
and very comfortable with my practicum. After these teaching practicum I felt more
confident and secure with each lesson, and also I have no problem to work in other
kindergarten of the city spite of the different challenges that I could face in the future as a
teacher.
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THINKING OUTWARD

6. Regarding the feedback of each lesson plan from the tutor and peer correction
assessment help me a lot to understand how to work and also how to apply the theory in
the practice, I recognize that it is very difficult to me to correct many common mistakes,
but in spite of this challenge I can improve each lesson plan and the teaching
practicum.The feedback thatI’ve received during my teaching practicum from my tutor
helped me to improve a lot and to know how to use different pedagogical resource in the
lesson plan and then in the teaching practicum. At the beginning of the year I felt lost and
frustrated because I did not know how to organize the subject, but now I can understand
how to follow the instructions about how to work according to the guidelines. The forum
presented by my tutors and my partners helped me a lot to go on with the subject.Then, I
began to feel more confident and be able to improve my works. I share many similar
situationswith my peers because they faced problems and situations that I may face in the
future, so it was an enriching source to use now and in the future.
In the kindergarten, the teacher of the course observed my classes and gave me many
suggestion about how I could organize my lessons plan and how the children could work in
the class according their answers and their behaviour . Iasked herfor suggestions in order
to be successful in my teaching practice. I felt grateful with the teacher of the course and
the headmaster because they supported me in each class, they were very kind to me all
the time and also they were made all the activities with enthusiasm such as recognize the
member f the family and many other ,they wanted to do activities in each moment of the
class and they incorporated the new words very quickly and glad.
I think that I faced many challenges in each class because the teacher of the course and
the children were working very well all the time ,and for this reason I can say that we
formed a good equipment in order to work with different topics and didactic strategies ,
such as speaking sin the class that we have learnt in the course. In addition,it took me
time to adapt to all the technical requirements, among other aspects involved in this
period,but I realized that all of them were part of a complex process. I recognize that all the
requirements of the kindergartner helped me to learn how to work in the future with others
and different institutions with similar characteristics. And also Cecilia’s feedback have
helped me to learn how to follow the instructions of each institution and goals in a clear
way. Besides,the teaching practicum wasan enriching experience that helped me to
improve in many aspect of training as a future teacher such as prepare many different .
Finally, I think that the teaching practicum had a lot positive aspects in my life as a future
teacher. And also the tutor’s help had stimulated me to go on working with a good and
positive attitude toward the future.
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CONCLUSION

7. In conclusion, my opinion about the first period of my teaching practicum is that I’m
satisfied and happy with the results. I’ve been able to obey the institutional requirements
and I’ve enjoyed giving these English classes. I think we can reach the enjoyment which is
very important to be successful in this area.
I’ve learnt a lot about my straightness and weakness. I get the positive aspects that I want
to apply them in the following levels. And also I recognize that I have to improve those
weak aspects of my performances now and in the future as an efficient English teacher.
This is my main goal toward the future.
I think each lesson plan implies to me a challenging and hard task to design and practice
in class because there were so many aspects to take into account. However, I really
believe that this is fundamental to give successful lesson and a meaningful context as the
most important point of each class. Then, it is also very important to integrate
contextualized activities and include detailed information about them, so as to be detailed
and explained by our tutors in each resource from the platform.
To sum up, the first teaching practicum period has been an unforgettable and an
increased experience to me as a future teacher and a person as well. For this reason I
want to go on working and learning how to improve my teaching practicum in each period
in order to apply it now and in the future. My goal to be a successful teacher is always in
my mind.
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