My teaching journal- Kindergarten period

My journal
Practicum period: Kindergarten
Trainee’s name: Regina Moure
Tutors: Cecilia Zemborain - Eugenia Carrión Cantón
INSTITUTO DE FORMACIÓN DOCENTE CONTÍNUA “LENGUAS VIVAS” – BARILOCHE
PROFESORADO DE INGLÉS A DISTANCIA
2015
Date: May 11th, 2015
1st Observation- K5 group- Morning shift. Jardín de Infantes “Cardenal Spínola”
Today, from 10:00 to 10:30, I met one of the groups I’m going to work with for the first time.
Since I was a little bit anxious about this, I arrived almost at the same time the teachers and
the headmistress did.
It is great to know that they are very excited at the idea of offering their learners the chance
to learn English. That was one of reasons (if not the main) to make the decision of working
with both K5 groups, the one in the morning and the other, in the afternoon. After all,
according to what I read in the file “Trabajos de Regularización”, I should provide a service
to the school that agreed to my request of doing my practicum there, and I think this is the
best way to do it. Moreover, it’ll allow me to perceive the main differences between these two
groups.
As regards the differences, the headmistress provided me with the “Diagnóstico Inicial”
carried out by the teachers during March and April, on which they based the whole-year
curriculum. I read both files last week, and this morning I came back to the one focused on
the group I was going to observe. Let me tell you that everything was exactly as it was
depicted there! The group behaved really well: they listened to each other as they moved to
the board and wrote their names during an activity in which T aimed to integrate numbers
and literacy.
Next Wednesday I’ll be visiting this group again to see how they work on a very specific
activity, other than the starting routine I witnessed this morning..
Date: May 13th
2nd Observation- K5 group- Morning shift. Jardín de Infantes “Cardenal Spínola”.
This morning I met this group for the second time. I came to their room right after they had
breakfast.
While I was waiting for the teachers and the children to clean up their tables, I took a look at
the place. I visited the video-room, big enough so as to gather the 27 children there. The
headmistress had already told me that I could use it anytime, only that I should tell her two or
three days before, of course. It all has to do with the proper organization of this institution.
As soon as I entered the room, the teacher in charge today, Silvia, provided me with the
details on the activity they were about to carry out. The whole day would be devoted to
literacy, from the very beginning of the lesson. During the “good morning” routine (circle-
time), children had been working on their names, identifying the initial letters and sorting out
their name tags by the alphabet (written on the white-board).That was quite a hint since,
besides numbers, that is a topic (or should I say “skill”?) both teachers asked me to reinforce
during my interventions in the first weeks of June (I hope!).

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As regards the activity itself, Ss developed their fine-motor skills by working with plasticine,
modelling their names with it. By asking Ss to do that, the teacher connected the first task of
the morning with this one.
The most exciting moment was when Miss Silvia asked me to help her distribute the name-
tags. It was a great chance to start interacting with the children! I couldn’t help it and I started
using the target language. Children were amazed, surprised at the oral exchange started
and, even though they couldn’t reply to my “here you are!” when they received their name
cards, some of them said “Gracias!”.
Needless to say, Chomsky, the need of contextualised teaching and the connection between
meaning and intonation came to my mind.
Next Thursday, that is tomorrow, I’m visiting the other group…. It’s time to go over their
Diagnosis report again.
Date: May 14th
1st Observation- K5 group- Afternoon shift. Jardín de Infantes “Cardenal Spínola”.
This afternoon I met the second K5 group. Since I had already read the regular teacher’s
diagnostic report I really expected to find a very noisy group, but that was not exactly what
happened.
Among the 25 children (although today there were only 24) there are four special cases: two
of them dealing with disruptive behaviour, a third one with a sort of cognitive disorder
(they’re all followed by a pedagogue), and finally there’s Benjamin, a boy diagnosed with
Autism. I had the chance to talk with his companion teacher, Fernanda, who gave me an
insight into Benji’s current situation and the improvements he made in the last year.
To tell the truth, having a student with this kind of features is challenging and scary at the
same time. I’ve started searching for more information in order to know more about this
disorder as well as the possibility for these individuals to learn/acquire a foreign language,
considering that they’re still struggling to communicate in their mother tongue.
So far, my research led me to the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/sp_12/archive/2014/09/23/is-bilingualism-a-good-
thing-for-children-with-asd.aspx
https://2languages2worlds.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/bilingualism-and-autism/
I must keep on reading because, contrary to my initial assumptions, these articles/ papers do
not discourage L2 learning. What is more, Fernanda herself told me that Benji could name

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the primary colours in English, which he learned by watching Doki in Discovery Kids.
Something to bear in mind at the time of selecting videos!
Returning to the big group and their starting routine, it was quite similar to the one carried
out by the morning group, only that these children required more support from the teachers
and resorted to their name-tags to write their names on the board. But, they still seemed to
have problems to recognise number figures.
You have provided insightful reflections upon the groups you are about to teach. It will be a
challenging and thus enriching teaching experience, which may help you develop personally
and professionally.
V. Good work!
Date: May 18th
2nd Observation- K5 group- Afternoon shift. Jardín de Infantes “Cardenal Spínola”.
This afternoon was very quiet since five Ss were absent, among those there were Benji and
Franco, two of the most complicated cases so to speak.
Maybe it was for that reason that the topic lesson designed for today went so well. It was all
devoted to national history, focusing mainly on this “Semana de mayo”which started today,
May 18th celebrating “Día de la escarapela”.
Miss Silvia drew on storytelling to tell her Ss about the situation back in 1810 “when the
Spanish King’s very very good friend lived in a very very big house (with many many
windows) and never let anyone do what they wanted to do. People were very very sad
and decided to get together to tell this man, the Spanish King’s very very good friend
(whose name was Virrey Cisneros), that they didn’t want to follow his orders anymore.
So these people gathered at the city’s main square and, to help others know they
were part of a group, they wore light-blue and white ribbon. That was the very first
time people wore an “escarapela”.
Miss Silvia made use of all the strategies we have been taught about storytelling here at
Lenguas: She made eye-contact with her Ss. The seating arrangement she employed
consisted in having children sit in front of her, not in a circle (as she usually does when
working on the carpet). She also promoted eliciting by starting a phrase and waiting for Ss to
finish it. Gestures were also very important.
As soon as the story ended, she asked Ss for their help to make the invitations for next
Friday’s festival. She showed Ss an “escarapela” blank template and told them they would
have to paint it (they used tempera). After Ss agreed both on the colours and the pattern for
colouring the template, they were told to move to their work stations where two assistant
teachers had placed everything they might need on the tables.
Ss worked on their own. Since the activity took less time than expected, children were
allowed to play with the toys and games available for them in the room.

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Date: June 15th
1st Lesson: K-5. Morning Shift
Jardín de infantes “Cardenal Spínola”
Well, I had my first lesson with this 27-children group and, although some of them were
absent, 22 is a good number to start, isn’t it?
On the overall, I had to introduce small changes as the lesson moved on. For instance, it
was my original idea to work with a chant in order to help Ss arrange themselves on the floor
following the boy-girl-boy pattern the main teachers had suggested doing. It seems (actually,
I’m sure) I didn’t take into consideration that these Ss are used to being asked to re-arrange
themselves when they work in the Circle-Time spot. Therefore, singing the chant wasn’t
necessary, at least not today. I may try to teach it/use it next Monday, since it is the only day
of the week when I’m the first teacher to work with them.
How did they know they should have to exchange positions? I used two images, one for Boy
and another one for girl (you have both at the end of this entry. They are cute!) and making
use of a lot of gestures, I mentioned that Miss Regi and Miss Silvia had told me to ask them
to sit in a specific way. They knew exactly what I was talking about as soon as I took out the
pictures from my pocket, heheh! As we all were checking that everybody was sitting in the
right way, I engaged them in some sort of chant: I touched one child and asked the rest to
tell me whether that mate was a boy or a girl! It was fantastic, really!!
It also was great when I had to check attendance (one of the mandatory duties for the T who
starts the day). I took advantage of the situation to introduce and work with questions such
“Who’s…?”. The main teachers were of great help here! They helped me to model the oral
exchange:
Me: -Who’s Regi?
Regina Arroyo:-I am!
Me: Hey, Hello, Miss Regi!
Then I started the practice with the children. Some of them answered in the requested way,
some didn’t, but it was ok anyway because they were all taking part, paying attention to what
was going on in front of them.
When the lesson was almost over, I taught them the goodbye song. They liked it! not all of
them sang it but they made all the gestures.
Again, I feel it was a nice start!
Oh! I forgot! The other teachers (k-4) asked me to teach them and the children a song for the
routine in the main hall, right after “they say hello to the flag”. Since it has to be a song for
the moment they’re entering their rooms, I thought about the following one:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoSq-yZcJ-4
I’ll be working on it this week!
Date: June 16th
1st Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift
Well, this lesson was not as wonderful as the one I delivered yesterday. I somehow knew it
wasn’t to be the same for several reasons:
a. Groups are different. What the morning group seemed to enjoy wasn’t exactly what
this group would rather do. These children, for instance, were not very eager to
engage themselves in oral exchanges. Even though I had taken this into
consideration at the time of planning my lesson, I didn’t do it properly. I think this
group, this K-5 group, requires me to go easy on them and provide them with
activities that allow them to move a bit more.
b. The contextual aspect: This lesson was delivered from 3:30 to 4:00 PM, their P.E.
teacher was absent today and, besides that, they knew that, as soon as the English
lesson was over, they will have some time to play with dough (one of the girls asked
me “Cuánto falta para jugar con la masa?”. I really felt like killing myself…)
Date: June 17th
2nd Lesson: K-5. Morning Shift
I forgot to write down my reflections about this 2nd lesson with the group of early-birds
kindergarteners...Thanks God, it is everything recorded in my purple notebook.
Well, it seems that using a puppet as a teaching resource is not so easy after all… Even
though I watched a few videos on youtube, I need to keep on practising...maybe attending a
workshop or something like that, so I can learn some tips and techniques…
As regards the plan in itself, Eugenia told me the lesson was rather short, but I considered it
would be ok for this group of 27 students. But what I didn’t bear in mind was the fact that that
day, June 17th, teachers took the first hour of the day to comply with a few administrative

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requirements (Reports would be delivered on the next day). Therefore, children arrived at
half past ten, exactly the time I was supposed to start my lesson and, instead of having my
lesson, they started the day with the snack (breakfast, as they call it)
However, that was not the worst part. This group usually arrive late (especially on Monday
mornings), sometimes after their mates have come into the classroom and started with the
morning routine (taking attendance, for instance). That was what happened that morning:
Not only there was latecomers, but many children were absent!
My activity, designed to be carried out with 27 children, only had 18 participants. Summing
up, I had a lot of extra time which I would have to fill up with something. And I did!
The previous class, I had taught this group the “Goodbye song”, a capella, without any audio
accompanying me. Since they hadn’t engaged too much with my singing performance, I took
my portable speaker and my cell phone with the song loaded as an mp3.
This time not only did they enjoy the song, but also sang it!! That was a relief!
Even though my second lesson wasn’t as good as I would have wished; I’m fully aware that
it could have been worse.
What did I learn with this experience? Well…
I) Consider each and every aspect of your group of Ss. Many a time, you get so in love with
an activity, that you forget if it would cater for your Ss’s needs and work as you like it. This is
something any teacher should know and put into practice.
II) Among your group’s features, pay attention to those related to the context. The only way
to know exactly what the day has to offer you and your Ss is by keeping up with the latest
news in your institution. Do not wait for others to tell you what is going on, reach them and
ask yourself!
III) Always have an ace under your sleeve. In this case, an extra activity for your Ss to carry
out in case one of the main tasks you’ve designed does not appeal to them that day.
Date: June 19th
2nd Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift
Today I took the children to the video room to watch a video I created to teach them the
different parts in a kindergarten.
My original idea was to make it using pictures of their kindergarten I had taken right before I
started my practicum, but I couldn’t do that.I Am not good at taking photographs.

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The first part of the lesson was, as usual, devoted to greeting the children and getting to
know how many of them were in the room that day. In spite of a few absences, the class
developed smoothly, it seems to flow...at least to my eyes.
This time I didn’t take the puppet with me, I used a picture of Tiggy instead. I took advantage
of the weather (it was very cold!) and I told children he had stayed at home, yet he had
prepared something for them: A video!! so they could see his kindergarten.
Then I pre-taught the word “Kindergarten” and showed kids a picture.
I finally took the kids to the video-room, which is right in front of our classroom (I didn’t do
this on my own! Miss Silvia and Miss Sole were with me all the time!). There we watched the
video together.
It is a video without sound, since my idea was to tell the story myself, pausing it from time to
time to allow children to repeat phrases, ask and answer questions on each scene.
Image retrieved from
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/17/2e/65/172e6599b347b4ef283f6b07d813c073.jpg
You can watch the video as a presentation here:
http://www.slideshare.net/reginamoure/tiggy-goes-to-the-kindergarten
During the ten minutes (or less) the video lasted, two children somehow misbehaved: Darian
and Franco. While Darian followed my suggestion and joined the rest of his mates, Franco
didn’t. Miss Sole took him out of the video room. Later she told me that they usually do that
with him since he is constantly demanding attention. Teachers ask him to help them to lay
the tables for the snack or to arrange the materials for him and his mates to work later.
Benjamín, the boy diagnosed with Autism, stayed with us only for a few minutes...His
teacher, Miss Fernanda, also took him away for a walk. I knew this could happen because
she (Fernanda) had already told me about that during our first interviews.
The rest of the group enjoyed and engaged very well with both the video and the flashcards
activity designed to practice the vocabulary by means of Choral Drilling. During this stage, I

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called up individual Ss to stick the pictures on the board. Then, we played a game,
“Disappearing Pictures” .
By that moment, time was almost over, so I did as usual: I glanced at my watch and, without
having to say anything else, Children exclaimed: Good bye! Te tenés que ir...cantemos la
canción. I took out my portable speaker, plugged it into my cell phone and then we all started
singing and dancing the “Good bye song”.
The only aspect I don’t like about my lessons is that there are times I need to turn to L1 to
avoid losing momentum. Perhaps I’m too anxious, and I don’t want to take more minutes
than those that were originally given...I don’t know. Anyway, when I use L1 to clarify
something, I make use of the sandwich technique, you know, English-Spanish-English.
I hope this gets better as I advance with my practicum here.
Next Monday, the morning group will watch the video.
Date: June 22nd
3rd Lesson: K-5. Morning Shift
These children also enjoyed the video. But, unlike the other group, their participation was
more homogenous, that is to say...the Ss taking part in the oral exchanges I started were not
always the same; children who barely say “hello” when we met in the main hall, felt like
playing the flashcards game or taking part into the drilling activity when I introduced the
language items. That was very encouraging, not only for them but for myself also.
It seems that I finally was able to design activities for Ss this age. Besides, one of my biggest
concerns has always been the timing of the tasks. In this opportunity, everything seemed to
flow.
As regards behaviour, there was not any incident. Maybe that had to do with the fact that
there were only 18 children ( 10 minutes after the lesson started, arrived a 19th kid).
Let’s see how things work next Wednesday!
Date: June 23rd
3rd Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift
Lesson not delivered since children were attending an event organised by Escuela Especial
n° 2, aimed at integrating ss from regular kindergartens and that school.
The headmistress also informed me that this group wouldn’t be available on Friday 26th:
They’ll be attending a play: Las aventuras de Pepa, la cerdita. Therefore, my practicum here
will extend for another week…

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Date: June 24th
4th Lesson: K-5. Morning Shift
This lesson was delivered on my birthday!! Let me tell you that the children and their
teachers were so sweet with me that day! They sang “Feliz cumpleaños” to me and also took
the time to count up to 41 as they pulled my earlobes…
Then we moved to the classroom and the lesson started as planned:
● New circle - time song: ✔
● TPR activity:
Well, it didn’t work as I expected. I thought it would be some fun for the children but I
don’t think like that now. Maybe I was too ambitious at trying to get all the Ss to participate in
it, I don’t know. What I know now, thanks to the commentaries made by the main teachers, is
that I shouldn’t distribute the flashcards (signalling the place where Ss should have to go) so
far from the circle time area where we were all together and from which they moved.

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I had somehow foreseen something of this could happen but the strategies I applied weren’t
as effective as I wished.
Language was an issue as well.. I had to make use of L1 and I felt very bad about it.
Actually, I feel like I did something terrible. Then I remember what two Teachers of English
told me in March, when I sat for the Suitability Test. They asked the candidates to write a
short essay giving our opinion about the use of L1 in the English classroom. In my essay, I
wrote about the importance of the teacher speaking English as much as possible since s/he
is, most of the times, the only source of exposure to the language for Ss.
During the feedback stage, right after having a short interview, these teachers told me that,
even though speaking English is one of the ways we teachers and prospective teachers
have at hand to provide our learners with the exposure they need, we also have to think
about how our Ss feel when they’re not able to grasp anything we say. I remember I told
them that “we are supposed to make use of other strategies (such as making gestures, using
our body language) to help our Ss get our message”. Although that was correct, they were
more of the idea of considering our target students’ prior experience to the language and
avoid making them feel uneasy about their performance. So if they need us to use L1 to
reassure them that they’re doing just fine as they get the learning strategies required, then
L1 use in the language classroom is not a crime (We read a paper or an article with that
phrase as its title).
The kids’ teachers told me something similar when I shared my concern about speaking in
our mother tongue from time to time. They told me to bear in mind that these children had
never been exposed to English before, not in a formal environment as a classroom, and they
(the teachers) were amazed at the way the children follow my instructions and take part in
the activities.
“Not so bad, then” I said to myself….so far.
● Puzzle:
The idea was brilliant, but the way I cut the pictures….mmmmm!
“Try to make them simpler” said Miss Silvia as soon as the lesson ended, “especially if you
want to use this activity with the other group next week”. I’ll take her advice….

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● Timing:
The activities took longer than expected, precisely because they were a bit complex
for Ss. Another aspect to reflect upon.
I’ll make those adjustment and see how it works next Tuesday.
Date: June 29th
5th Lesson: K-5. Morning Shift
Topic of the lesson: School objects
It was my last encounter with these kids today and they did really well!! I’m so glad to see
that children who, at the very beginning of my practicum, barely smiled at me now are able
to greet me in English. It’s amazing how, even though they may not understand every single
word I say, they manage to get the gist of my message and react in consequence. After all,
that is our aim as teachers of English, isn’t it? To help our learners to communicate...I love it!
But, let’s go over my lesson plan for this 5th lesson.
My tutor, Cecilia Z., made some suggestions on one of the activities I had designed for the
controlled practice stage and I took her advice. Believe me, it worked perfectly.
In my original lesson plan, I had thought of an activity (vanishing flashcards) in which Ss
chant the names of the school items. As they do so, the last card from the series is removed
from the board. Therefore, every time they start the chant over, they have to remember not
only the order in which the cards were placed, but also the items.
So far, there were no problem at all with a task like that. But my initial idea consisted in
handing out the removed flashcards to a different kid each time; all with a further purpose to
be fulfilled during the following stage (a listening discrimination activity). In her commentary,
Cecilia pointed out the fact that a procedure like that might make Ss feel bad: only eight
cards...only eight chosen ones. In fact, not receiving one of the cards would have made kids
feel discouraged. Children this age are very sensitive and not being chosen, nominated to
perform something special, may affect their self-esteem seriously. After all, they are building
their self-image, so we must be careful with what we do and say, also with the way we
proceed.
To make a long story short, no feelings were harmed during the development of this task.
Everybody enjoyed it, and it was easy for them to recall the items. One reason for that to
happen was the inclusion of a sort of “memory peg” plus a “kinaesthetic reinforcement” aid. I
took the idea from Celce-Murcia’s “Teaching pronunciation - a course book and reference
guide” (2010). In the ninth chapter of her book, this author explains several techniques to

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help learners remember sounds. Although in my case I was not working with sounds but
words, I still made use of the technique, making hand movement as I introduced each
school object.
For instance (here I copy from the lesson plan):
Controlled practice: (10’)
Aim: To help Ss develop their listening comprehension by means of a TPR activity.
Activity 1: Vanishing flashcards (drilling + memory enhancement)
This activity has the purpose of having Ss naming and remembering the school items in
a pre-set order.
Ss’ memory will be helped by adding a gesture to each item, for instance:
Pencil: T moves her hand as if she is writing.
School-bag: T makes a movement as if she is putting on her school-bag on her back.
Rubber: T simulates erasing something out.
Pencil-case: T makes a movement as if she is unzipping a pencil-case (the pencil-case
from the image has a zip)
Book: T moves her hands as if she is holding a book and proceeds to open it and read.
Crayon: T colours something in the air.
Sharpener: sharpening a pencil movement.
That way, if Ss happened to forget the name of one of the items, they could easily remember
it thanks to the association made with the movement.
Apart from that, there is more I should have considered and modified, and that is the number
of objects to teach. Eight is (as Cecilia also told me) too many items for kids to retain. Miss
Silvia, the teacher in charge of the afternoon group pointed that out too. She asked me to
limit the items to no more than five. Thus, I’ll have to change that part of the lesson and edit
the school word rap to better suit the afternoon-group needs and features.
Date: July 3rd
3rd Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift
This was my 3rd lesson with this group of Ss. I should have already finished my practicum
with them, but due to some events (teachers on strike, Children taking part in activities
organised by other schools and plays) my schedule will extend over a week or more ( 4th
lesson will be on Friday 10th and the last one on Tuesday 14th).
Today’s lesson was aimed at helping Ss recall the different places in the kindergarten which
they had learned two weeks ago with the help of a video.

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Even though this lesson was similar to the one I gave on June 24th in the morning, I had to
introduce some changes. On the one hand, I followed Miss Silvia’s suggestions as regards
the size of the flashcards (the original ones were printed on A4 paper, the ones I used this
afternoon were A3) and the cardboard paper for Ss to solve and stick the puzzles and, on
the other hand, considering there had been a while since our last encounter, children could
benefit from a little revision.
When it comes to the puzzles, this time I cut the images in no more than four pieces,
employing straight lines:

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(Those are two of the puzzles kids received)
This modification of the original puzzles made the task of arranging the pieces much easier
for Ss.
Look at the puzzles children from the morning group solved and notice the differences:

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Anyway, although the new version of the puzzles made them easier to solve, it didn’t prevent
children from struggling as they decided who was in charge of doing what.
My intervention was required at that moment, assigning roles and giving instructions, to the
whole group first (modelling the activity in front of them as I taught them how to use the glue-
stick since they usually employ regular glue), and later within the groups.
“Giving instructions” was also one of the aims of the lesson today. Children were expected to
take part in a TPR activity in which they should go to one of the places in Tiggy’s
kindergarten (you can watch the video as a presentation on
http://www.slideshare.net/reginamoure/tiggy-goes-to-the-kindergarten ).
During the first stage of the activity, I was in charge of telling individual Ss where they should
go. Later, it was expected that Ss ask one of their mates to move to a particular place of
their choice (the child giving the command would have to choose a place for his/her mate to
go).
For instance:

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Darian, go to the toilet!
The language wasn’t a problem at all, but the fact to choose a place made the task almost
impossible. Miss Silvia told me that I should remember that children this age (and particularly
THIS group) need controlled activities all the time. Even when they are allowed to play in the
playing -area, T should remind them about the proper behaviour as well as the importance of
taking care of the materials, toys in this case.
An aspect of this lesson that Miss Silvia considered interesting was related to cooperative
work. According to her, this group of learners had never worked this way before and she was
pleased to see that they had done quite well.
All in all, I dare say that the activities that better suited both morning and afternoon groups
so far were those involving music, body movement and image (they loved watching Tiggy on
TV, even more than having him live as a puppet!)
I have two more lessons to deliver to this group: Friday 10th and Tuesday 14th. That final
lesson should be entirely musical..
Here, some notes I took right after finishing my lesson, based on Miss Sylvia’s feedback:

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Date: July 14th
4th Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift
I finally was able to deliver my fourth lesson. And even though I followed the same lesson
plan I used with the morning group (as regards contents and skills), I had to make some
adjustments in order to cater for these Ss’ features and needs.
This group is markedly heterogeneous and there are 3 kids who require special attention,
either from the affective aspect and the pedagogical one. Thus, during this class I focused
my attention on them: Darian, Dylan and Franco. As Cecilia Z. had told me, these children
are attention-seekers, and they’re used to being told to behave. Instead of doing that, I
encouraged them to take part in the activities or to help me to do something.
Apart from that, I also followed the course teachers’ advice of reducing the number of lexical
items to introduce to five, as well as modifying the activities for Ss to carry out. Therefore, we
did a lot of oral practice in a sort of contextualized choral- drilling.
T: Tiggy is going to visit Mr. Brown’s classroom and needs our help to get his
school-bag ready. Let’s check….
Does he need this?

My journal
2015
Ss: yes!
T: What’s this?
Ss: (School-bag)
(T elicited the answer by means of the same gestures she employed during the
presentation stage)
T: Ok, (Franco), come here please, and put this into Tiggy’s school-bag
(T had previously drawn an empty school-bag on the board)
T: Now, look at this/these…
Does Tiggy need (a frog/a pair of shorts/ a sandwich)?
Shall we put (these shorts) into his school-bag?
Ss: no!
T: No, of course.
T continued that way with the remaining items: pencil, crayon, book, rubber, as well as the
distractors: frog, shorts, sandwich.
After that, and once all the school items Tiggy needed were displayed on the board, we
played a game Ss enjoyed a lot during their 2nd lesson: Vanishing flashcards.
Finally, a memory game integrating numbers provided Ss with more oral practice.
What aspects of this lesson do I consider successful?
Well, the group is not an easy one, but I can say that, in spite of the noise they made and
their short span of attention, they learned the lexical items, they made their best effort to
pronounce and recall the names as well as to follow the story I created to teach them the
new vocabulary.

My journal
2015
However that, what I treasure the most is the fact that, during the goodbye song stage, Benji
(the kid diagnosed with autism) joined us. You can listen to him singing in the third video of
this lesson.
All the same, I checked if what I thought was right with Fernanda, his personal teacher. She
confirmed my suspicion! There was something familiar in the song that caught Benji’s
attention.
It’s really a pity that I’ll be delivering my last lesson next Friday, but the good thing is that I’m
going to meet these kids next year, when they start their primary education.
Date: July 17th
5th Lesson: K-5. Afternoon Shift

My teaching journal- Kindergarten period

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