Jimena Benito reflects on her kindergarten teaching practicum experience. She believes the activities aligned with the Natural Approach and engaged students. While she felt the lesson plans were good, she was only 50% satisfied because she struggled with classroom management at times. Going forward, she would change the seating arrangement and be better prepared with organized materials. The experience helped her understand how to teach young learners and establish routines and discipline. She feels more prepared now after receiving helpful feedback and support from her tutors, cooperating teacher, and school administrators during the process.

1. INSTITUTO DE FORMACIÓN DOCENTE CONTINUA
LENGUAS VIVAS BARILOCHE (A-052)
Profesorado de Inglés – Opción pedagógica a distancia
Subject: Taller de Práctica Docente
Students: Jimena Benito
Tutor: Aurelia Velazquez
Date: June, 10th
Dimensions of Reflective Learning
“Reflecting back on my practicum experiences in kindergarten”
Thinking Back
The aim of this experience was to put into practice the knowledge
learnt during the years of my teacher training course throughout
the different subjects, as well as to face the challenge of dealing
with a numerous group of little kids.
I think that the objectives, activities and the use of resources were
coherent with the Natural Approach, which according to Terrel
and Krashen (1978) aims to foster natural language acquisition in
the classroom and it also emphasizes communication in a
environment as stress-free as possible. Therefore, I believe that the
activities and materials were significant for learners because they

2. responded to the lesson positively and they were engaged not only
with the topic but also with the activities, songs and visual
materials that the lesson included.
I think that to develop this teaching experience was necessary to
know several strategies to deal with very young learners, like songs
and rhymes to organize the students and ask for silence.
After this enriching experience, I completely understood the
importance of building rapport with our students, especially with
little kids, since the relationship that the teacher and the students
share facilitates the teaching and learning process. Besides, this
relationship promotes a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. Of
course, other important thing that I learnt was how different
learning at this age is. Little kids learn in a different way, they are
more visual and respond positively to songs and rhymes rather
than commands. Teaching in kinder was really lovely since the
learners are very affectionate and they responded to the activities
enthusiastically.
Thinking Forward
Reflecting on how to act differently in the future for sure will help
me to improve my teaching practices. Therefore, bearing this in
mind, if I had the chance to develop this practice again, first I
would change the seating arrangement so I would be able to use the
board to display the pictures and flashcards. Also I would be able
to do some games on the board, like matching pets and their objects.
I think the kids would have enjoyed it a lot.
I believe that this experience has influenced my strategies to
establish discipline in the classroom. I feel more confident about
how to deal with little kids and also, after this experience, I know
that the lesson organizing is of paramount importance, so in my
future lesson I will have all the materials ready and organized.

3. This will help me to keep the order in the classroom; free-time
spaces are dangerous!
This experience has also affected my future pedagogical decisions
since I feel I understood a bit more about the dynamic in the
classroom with little children. It is known that every group is
different but I know that little learners share some characteristics,
so they are not any more an unknown quantity.
Thinking Inward
Introspective reflections help me undergo meaningful teaching
experiences.
My kinder practicum was meaningful to me since I could
understand the dynamic in the kindergarten classroom. The
learners had a routine and this is something really important to
them since they knew in advance what was next. At this age
knowing what they are going to do next is vital since they feel
more confident and secure, especially if they are with a new
teacher as in this case. Moreover, the routine helped me to create a
safe and relaxed classroom environment.
I developed this practice in kindergarten doing my best, but, of
course as I am super self-demanding, I think once and again
several things that I should have done in another way. I may say
that I am satisfied 50 percent because I think that the lesson plans
were very good since the children enjoyed them a lot. But the other
50 percent I did not like it because I failed giving some instructions
and establishing the order in the classroom.
I believe that every experience allows me to learn and grow and
this practicum experience in kinder was not the exception. After it,
I feel more prepare to deal with little kids since this experience
was enriching and showed me how different kids are from elder

4. students, I knew not only more about strategies to teach in kinder
but also I came back home full of affection and happiness because
they really motivated me to be a better teacher each and every day.
I must admit that at the beginning of this experience I felt very
stressed and nervous but when the lesson started I was more relaxed
and I could also enjoyed the experience.
Thinking Outward
Thinking about my tutors´ advice have helped me a lot to
understand how to enrich my teaching practice, especially in this
first level of practicum since I felt pretty lost at the beginning with
the procedures and understanding the steps to accomplish the
subject´s goals.
Regarding the feedback of each lesson plan from my tutors, it has
not only helped me to correct some mistakes but also to enrich
them since planning was a difficult task. At the beginning,
planning took me several days because I was not sure about the
activities and the materials for little kids in spite of having read a
lot about teaching in kinder, but then, I felt more confident about
planning. This was my first formal experience in kindergarten so I
was full of doubts, but I could succeed with my tutors´ help and
support. Moreover, the forums were an excellent tool where we
could find guidance.
In the classroom, the teacher of the class, Miss Silvina gave me
many suggestions about how I could organize the lesson and what
strategies worked best with the group. The observation period was
also really helpful since there I could know the group and how the
institution worked.

5. I have to say that both the teacher and the headmistress were
really supportive and they were always available to help me. I felt
at ease not only in the classroom but also in the institution.
My Journal – Padlet
https://padlet.com/jimenabenito2/c510tsy2wkgy