The document reflects on Flavia Mozetich's teaching practicum experience in a 1st grade primary school classroom. She was initially nervous but found the students to be kind. She tried various techniques like using authentic materials and games. The experience taught her that being courageous and doing your best is possible. Going forward, she would have preferred to do her practicum in kindergarten to work with younger children. She felt she better understands how to connect with younger students now and will apply techniques from her studies.

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Thinking Back
Afterfinishingmy practicum period, therearea lot ofthingsto
thinkabout andanalyse.
I believethattheaimof thisperiod istoallowus toconnect all
thematerial thatwehave beenworking during thecareer with
thepracticum. It isimportant to know how torelatethepractice
with thetheoryandhow to put intopractice.
To begin withthisperiod, I searchedon thesubjects such aschild
psychology and childliteraturetokeep inmind alittlemore
informationhow children workand howtheydeveloptheir
needsand skills.
I did my practicum period in 1st
yearof primary school because
thereisn’t anykindergarten, which allowme to givelessons
there.
The group was fantastic,a bit noisy, but theywere so kind tome
thatI wasshocked.
It wasmy 3rd
time working withyoung children (I havereplaced
some teacherin a privateinstitute).However,thiswasthe
longest periodworking with them.At first,I wasvery nervous.I

2. TPD-MOZETICH FLAVIA- REFLEXION-2017
did not whatto expect, howto act and whatto do. It was
everythingnew forme.
Duringthisperiod,I triedto use asmany techniquesandtoolsas
possible.I used authenticmaterialandI did it by myself. I
prepared differentgames with bottles,cushions, music and
flashcards.
I thinkthatstudentsreallyenjoyed thelesson because theywere
anxiousto start,theyask me when wasthefollowinglesson.
Thus, theywere veryreceptive to whatI said.
What I learnedfrom thisexperience isthat, everythingis
possible ifyou wantedanddreamed it. No matterhow scary and
nervousyou are,you haveto be courageous andtry todo the
best.
Thinking Forward
If Ihad theopportunity to change some thingsfrom my
practicum period,I would travel120km tolookfora
kindergarten, which allowme to do practicum period in Bahia
Blanca.I believethatdoing thepracticum period in1st
grade, did
not allowtome toimplement thecorrect techniquesandenjoy
thelessons better. IfeelthatI missed theopportunity tointeract
with youngchildren, withtheirinnocence andso on.

3. TPD-MOZETICH FLAVIA- REFLEXION-2017
When I startedtostudy thiscareer,I used tothinkthatchildren
shouldnot start English lessonbefore theyknow how to read
andwrite in theirnativelanguage.I believethatnew knowledge
could influencetheirnativelanguageand thatchildren wouldn’t
be able to recognise anduse the language.Then, during the
careerandafterreadingthedifferent theoriesandapproaches to
teach,I realizedthatitis betterto teachEnglish when students
are younger.Finally, thisexperience showedme thatchildren are
veryintelligentandI haveunderestimatedthemformany time.
They areable to receiveany kindof informationand to storagein
in theirbrain,teachershouldonlybe ableto recognize every
student need’sandstyle of learningto get good results.
Now I feelmore prepared to teachyounger studentsandeven
enjoyit more.Although,theexperiences I havehadwiththe
children were veryfew,theywere stressfulbecause I did not
know how to connect with them.
From now on, I willbe more sure of myself and willtry toapply
allthetechniquesand suggestionsthatwe haveworked through
alltheseyears.
Thinking Inward

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Regards tothisperiod, I can say thatkindergarten experience
wasbetterthanI expected, I learnedmany thingsand I feelmore
secure with my lessons.However,I can identifywiththingsare
betterforeach student and fortheirlevels.
Despite thattherearesome things thatI wouldlike tochange
such asthegroup andthe time withthestudents, I am satisfied
with my workin thispart of thepracticum.
Thinking Outward
When I wentto speak with theheadmistress to askfor
permission fordoing my practicum period, shewarned me that
theteacheronlyhas 6th
Seniordegree. She also tellsme thatthe
teacheris goingto retiresoon andshe does notteach many
thingsto children.However,they agreed togive a lesson intheir
classroom andto evaluatemywork.
Despite,thatthe teacherworked with some books thatare old,
she waskind toallowme to introduce thedifferent kindof
planningand thedifferenttechniquesandapproaches to teach
studentsnow a day.