Final Reflection-Kindergarten

1. INSTITUTO DE FORMACIÓN DOCENTE CONTINUA
LENGUAS VIVAS BARILOCHE (A-052)
TALLER DE PRACTICA DOCENTE
STUDENT’S NAME: NATALIA VARESIO
TUTOR’S NAME: AURELIA VELAZQUEZ
FINAL REFLEXION ON KINDERGARTEN PRACTICUM
Introduction
I developedmy kindergarten practicum period at I.C.E.B.L.E. School and worked with a group
of five-years-oldstudents. They are 23 children and have two stimuli of 30 minutes per week.
Regardingtheirknowledge about English Language, students can produce only some isolated
words referred to numbers, colors and weather conditions. In addition, they can only follow
limited instructions or commands.
Based on the Learning Cycle theory developed by David Kolb, I will reflect on my teaching
experience on Kindergarten level.
Concrete Experience
The main aimsof my lessonswere toexpose studentsto new language items( My clothes and
bodyparts) in contextandhelpthemtoproduce some short chunksof language. In doing so, I
developedavariety of appealingactivitiesandresourcessuchasaudiovisualmaterials,games,
songs, realia, etc. that cater for different learning styles. Since the students very often work
with an activity book and they are not used to perform many different activities, at the
beginning of my practicum period it was a bit difficult to change their routine, but then
childrenstartengagingwiththe activitiesandenjoyedthemalot. WhenI startedteaching the
lessons,Ifeltextremely nervous due to my lack of experience with little kids but fortunately
after my second lesson I was more relaxed and felt confident so I could enjoy the activities
along with the children.

2. Personally, I felt extremely happy that children could follow my instructions, perform the
activities verywell,andabove all that we established a nice rapport. Furthermore, at the end
of my lessons, children could acquire new vocabulary and revise previous language items.
Finally, the teacherof English really liked the activities and games used in my lessons, so she
will use them in her future lessons.
Reflective Observation
Regarding my teaching strategies, I used visual aids, gestures, prompting , modelling so that
students could understand the activities. Moreover, I encouraged children to produce the
target language byaskingquestions,elicitinganswersandpointingtodifferent visual material
so as students could name and identify them. Since they are very kinesthetic, they really
enjoyedsinginganddancingthe songs.Theylovedthem! Whatismore,theyfoundpleasurein
making monsters with paper bags, playing with a big dice and other games. They were very
excited! Most of the time, students were very enthusiastic and eager to learn new things.
Thinking about my performance in class, there are some aspects about my teaching to take
intoaccount inthe future. For instance, I need to work on transitions between activities and
classroommanagementstrategies in order to control discipline and keep the organization of
the classroom.However, youngchildrenhave shortattentionspansotheyare easilydistracted
from the activity. Therefore, I have to use more transition songs or chants to draw students’
attention and also be firm when they are misbehaving. Another important aspect to bear in
mindisto have some extra activities at hand, just in case the ones planned are not attractive
for the groupof children. Moreover,extraactivitiesare usefulwhenyouendthe lessonearlier
than expected.
Abstract Conceptualization
AlthoughIwas verynervousinsome lessons,I feel satisfied with my performance taking into
account my inexperience with young children. They enjoyed my lessons and were very
affectionate withme.Ihave learnedthatchildrenare verydynamic,curiousand have different
learning styles. In addition, I have to take into account that children learn a language at their
own pace, so I have to be patient with them and do not expect that everyone have acquired
the target language inthe same way. Apart fromthis,the tutor and teachers’comments were
veryuseful for my futures lessons. I know that I have to be more relaxed because it will help
me to developmylessons withmore confidence. Besides, I need to trust in my capacities and
what I have learned in this teacher training course.
Active Experimentation

3. Thinkingaboutmyfuture lessonplans,Iwouldfollow other teachers’ suggestions to improve
my performance. In addition, I would look for different strategies and transition songs that
help me to organize the classroom better and get the students’ attention.
Thisexperience wasmeaningfulforme since Ihave changedmy mindregarding teaching little
kids.I alwaysthoughtthatworkingwithchildrenwasverydifficultbut now, I feel that I can do
it. Children gave me their love and they filled me with positive energy. It was an enjoyable
experience!