Last Narrative

1. PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT. Prof. Estela N. Braun. PRACTICALS
First term- 2017. Assistant Teachers: Vanesa Cabral, Luján Ramos, John
Brakke.
Reflection on my Practicum experience
 What was the greatest obstacle/challenge you had to overcome during
your practicum?
 Was there any critical incident? Can you describe it? How did you deal
with it?
 What areas did you have to improve?
 Which was the class you enjoyed most? Why?
 What instances of students’ learning/motivation could you observe?
 How do you assess team work with your partner? What was positive/
difficult about working with a partner? Would you recommend work with a
pedagogical partner? Why/not?
 What were your feelings when you started the practicum/ when you
finished it?
 How did you feel about being observed? Could you understand
comments in the feedback provided by teacher educators? What did you
think about the conference with teachers after the class?
 Were office hours any useful? Did you feel accompanied by teacher
trainers/ mentor teachers/ the school institution?
 Do you feel prepared to teach at primary school now?

2. Reflection on my Practicum Experience
During August, I had one of the most challenging experiences teaching
kids. However, I enjoyed this arduous but rewarding work in which I had
to face some difficulties such as nervous and anxiety at the beginning of
it.
One of the greatest challenges I had to overcome was to make pupils
calm down and get them involved with the lesson. Children were always
energetic and fidgety even though some of them, girls as well as boys,
were quiet and always willing to learn, listen and participate. There were
some students from both courses who misbehaved and it was too difficult
to keep them focused on the lesson. Additionally, another challenge was
the planning of lessons with creativity so my partner and I had to change
some activities so as to not follow much the textbook and make the
lessons monotonous.
As regards critical incidents, some students in 5 B showed disruptive
behavior. When my classmate and I presented the first activity in the first
class about a song, they showed a negative attitude towards it so I tried
to help them individually those who did not want to do it. In another class,
there were also 3 girls, who always sat down together and whom I asked
many times to calm down and sit down separated because they bothered.
They lied me saying that they had forgotten their books at home. So as
they misbehaved and did not work, I asked them to sit separated with
another classmate but they refused to do it. They continued bothering so
my solution was to tell the problem to Jorgelina who reprimanded them
because they had the books in their schoolbags. In course D, there was
another student who did not want to work so I approached him and tried
to pay special attention and help him do activities but he simply told me
he did not want to do it, however, they continue bothering telling insults to
classmates and throw paper planes. I spoke to him advising, giving help
and being kind but he did not understand. In a moment, Jorgelina
reprimanded him and another classmate as they did not obey us, but
there was no effect, they faced the teacher and responded her rudely. I
think that it was one of the most difficult days.
Therefore, I had to improve some techniques to ease the situation.
The boisterous class impeded me speak and my voice was not heard
over the noise so I tried to clap or raise my hands to draw their attention,
or approach them individually to sit down. I also tried to improve the voice
quality and speak a bit louder and clear, I also had to exercise patience

3. with those who disturbed the class and find ways to deal with this problem
as I mentioned before.
Children are quite energy-consuming so the class I enjoyed most was
about the literary project and the last one because the children who
disturbed classes before remained a bit quieter and got engaged with the
video about the different families. Most of them were willing to participate
and answer my questions. They also wanted to work with the dice I had
designed for an activity and liked them guessing about pictures.
Regarding motivation, I could notice instances of intrinsic motivation
in some students. As I mentioned above, they were always willing to learn
no matter the activity was. However, I can say that there were some who
had no interest probably because of the activities or the topic. One of the
disruptive students told me that the topic of family seemed rather boring
after some classes. Anyway, I had to teach it. So we tried all the best to
make them feel motivated.
I think that team work was positive because we exchanged ideas and
opinions and helped each other. The problem was that we had different
times so it was a bit difficult to meet but we always found the solution to it.
When I started my practicum I felt interested, nervous, and anxious to
know how it would be work with many children at a time. However, with
the passing of time I could establish a good rapport with students, they let
me integrate with them and I felt that they respected me as well as I did.
When I finished my practicum, on the one hand, a sense of relief and
happiness came to me because I had completed an important instance of
the subject. On the other hand, I felt a bit sad as I had to leave the course
and I knew I may not see children never again. All in all, I have learned a
lot with these courses and I have gorgeous memories kept in the bottom
of my heart.
When I was observed, I felt a bit nervous at the beginning of the
lessons because it was rather challenging having someone keeping an
eye on me. However, during the lesson I felt more comfortable and
nerves faded out. The feedbacks were quite useful as well as the
conference. Teacher educators suggested us some techniques to
improve classroom management and advised us how to deal with
students in such problems.
I felt accompanied by the teacher trainers/ mentor teachers/ the
school institution when giving advices, correcting lesson plans, observing

4. our classes, making suggestions and clearing out our doubts. I am
thankful for all of them who gave me the space and support to do my
practicum at school 25.
Finally, I think I have the tools to start teaching at primary school now
even though I consider that through experience is the way I will learn
mostly. Now, I have an insight about how teaching children is because I
have learned theory and concepts which will also help me manage the
classrooms. Thereby, it is time to put all I have learned into practice for
next lessons at schools and acquire more experience about teaching. I
believe that we are always in the process of learning that is why, I have
the bases to start but I will improve my teaching through experience.
Grecia Roldán.