1) The student teacher had a positive experience observing and teaching English lessons at the secondary level. They noticed the regular teacher stuck closely to the textbook, so they tried including more engaging activities. 2) For their first lesson, they included interactive activities about music to motivate students that went over well. However, strictly following the textbook for the second lesson on friendship seemed boring. 3) Subsequent lessons included humor, songs, videos and hands-on activities to keep students engaged. Presenting inventions and the past also helped introduce grammar points like passive voice and "used to" successfully. 4) Overall, the experience helped them learn about teaching adolescents and improved their lesson planning skills. They realized students prefer

1. FINAL REFLECTION ON SECONDARY EXPERIENCE
Student: María Fernanda Saboy
My experienceinsecondarylevel waslongoverdue andIhave to say thatit was veryenriching
and rewarding.DuringmyobservationperiodInoticedthatthe lessons were quite structured
and monotonous.The English teacher sticks to the book almost exclusively, so as to cover its
contentsbythe endof the year. She askedme to follow the bookasmuchas I could and I have
to say that it was hard work to articulate the contents and activities from the textbook with
what I was planning to do. However, I thought that I could include something different.
The first lesson revolved around the topic of music and we had to revise comparatives and
superlatives. I thought about taking advantage of the topic to devise an activity to catch
students’ attention and motivate them. At the beginning of the class, I showed the students
some pictures of singers and musicians and they had to match those with the names (which
were mixed up on the whiteboard.) Then, I proceeded to play parts of songs performed or
createdby the artists on the photographs and the pupils had to tell me who they were. After
that, they did a reading activity in which they had to match the musical genres with their
definitions. Finally, they did a written activity to compare the different genres. The students
liked the activities very much and participated a lot.
In the second lesson, the theme was friendship and social relationships and I had to include
the first conditional to talk about possible future situations. This time I chose to present the
topic using the activities from the textbook and, judging by the students’ attitude, I am not
sure if that was a good choice. The students were serious and somewhat bored. I think that
following strictly the course book can be tedious and not very motivating for teenagers. For
the following lesson I decided to include something more attractive and significant.
For Lesson3, I decidedtoinclude somethingfunnytopresentthe first conditional. I devised a
PowerPointpresentation with pictures and jokes, e.g. “If I become the president, I will close
downall the schools”(showingaveryyoungkidspeaking) or“If you fall, I’ll be there – signed:
The Floor.” Some students liked the jokes very much, others did not understand them, and
some of themeventhoughttheywere hackneyed;but,well,youcannotplease everybody,can
you?Afterthe presentation,the studentslistened to a dialogue which included the structure
inquestion,andthenIproceededto explain it on the whiteboard. I gave many examples and
thenthe childrenhadto dosome controlledpractice of the structure.Atthe endof the lesson,
theyhad to doa “conditional chain”,thatis,Igave them a conditional sentence, and they had
to make up a new one, using the previous result as a new condition, like this, “If I go out
tomorrow,I’ll goto the cinema”,thentheystarteda new sentence,forinstance, “If I go to the
cinema,I’ll eata lotof popcorn”,andtheycontinuedthe chainlike this. I was very happy after
this lesson, because the students participated a lot. Besides, they are very smart and have a
sound background knowledge.

2. In Lesson 4 I had to present the second conditional. I decided to use a video song to present
the topic: “If I were a boy” by Beyonce. The song deals with the issue of inequality between
boys and girls, and what would happen if the girl was a boy for a day. First, they watched the
video to notice what it was about. Secondly, I explained some difficult vocabulary and gave
them the lyrics of the song. They listened to it a second time in order to complete the blank
spaceswiththe wordsgiven. The studentslikedthe songverymuch,inspite of the difficulties
withthe vocabulary.Afterthat,Iproceededtomake themlistento a dialogue introducing the
secondconditional andtheyhadtocomplete agrammar explanationtable(intheirtextbooks.)
Then,theydidsome controlledpractice fromthe course book.Tofinishthe lesson,theyhadto
do an online grammaractivityinwhichtheyhad to complete some exercises with the second
conditional. Although some students have difficulties to understand the vocabulary and the
activities, I have to say that the lesson went very well and the students liked the activities.
Lesson5 had to do withpassive voice,soIdecided to introduce this structure by using a well-
knowntopic:Inventions.Tostart the lesson,I showed students pictures of inventions such as
the wheel,the ballpointpen,the automobile,the television, the electric light bulb, the radio,
etc.I also devisedtagswith the inventors’ names and the students had to match the pictures
withtheirinventors.Theylovedthisactivity and they did it very well. After that, I distributed
handoutsdescribingsome inventionsthatchangedthe world.Inthe different texts describing
inventions,the passivevoice structure wasunderlined, soasto helpthe pupilstocomplete the
next activity, which was a chart on the whiteboard stating the form and use of the passive
voice.Ialsogave thempairsof sentencesin the active voice andexplaininghow we turnit into
the passive,for example, “Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb” “The electric light
bulb was invented by Thomas Edison.” Then we did a listening activity related to gadgets. I
showed pictures of some new (and original) gadgets, and the students had to tell me what
they thought they were. After that, they listened to a podcast to check if they were right or
not, and they did a true/false activity related to the text. Finally, they had to do some
controlled exercises to consolidate the structure. Finally, to develop their speaking skills, in
small groups, they had to prepare a short speech about an invention or a gadget that they
considered important. I am glad because students liked the activities very much, they
participated a lot and their productions were very good indeed.
As regardsthe sixthandfinal lesson, Ihad to present the structure “used to”. I decided to use
the contextfromthe student’sbook:whatlife waslike inthe 19th
century. I presented various
images(whichIdownloadedfromthe Internet) of peopledoinghouseholdchores or everyday
activities, such as chopping wood, washing clothes, knitting, sewing, etc. We did a listening
activity, in which students had to listen to a short dialogue about how life was like two
hundredyearsago.Then,I proceededto draw a chart onthe whiteboard,whichIfilled in with
the help of the students, stating the form and use of “used to”. After that, I gave them some
controlledactivitiestodeveloptheir reading and writing skills. By the end of the lesson, they
did a speaking activity, to talk about their own lives in the past (when they were young
children.)
Reflecting on this experience, as I stated at the beginning, I have to say that it was very
enriching,asIlearneda lotaboutteaching adolescents and also about myself. I have realized

3. that teenagerslike challenges, learning new things and dynamic activities. They can be quite
boredwithroutinesanddoingthe same kindsof activities every single lesson. It was an asset
to include vividandcolourfulpicturesandactivitiestomake themreflectandparticipate.Ialso
had the possibility to recognize that one of my weakest points is managing a group of young
people, so from now on, I will have to work a lot to improve my management strategies.
Another positive aspect of this experience, is how (thanks to my teachers and tutor) I have
come to improve myplanningskills.Before this,Ithought that I would never be able to plan a
well-organised and sensible lesson, but now that I know that it is possible, I will continue
learning and improving.