Final Reflection

1. KINDERGARTEN’S PRACTICUM PERIOD FINAL
REFLECTION
When I met this great an unknown group of five-year old children I was
acquainted with the fact that the class did not have a starting and an
ending. So the students did not realize when the class started and when it
was over. After asking the teacher, she told me that they did not like to
sing a ‘Hello song’ much. The situation that I could see was that some
students kept on playing with their things when the class had already
started.
I considered that including a ‘Hello and Goodbye song’ to help students
know when the class started and ended, would be a relevant aim to achieve
during my practicum.
The topic to develop was TOYS. During the three classes, I had to present
different toys ( about three per class). I did so with different situations.
Every class started by making a circle to create a comfortable atmosphere
and easily make eye contact with all of them. The first class a friend of
mine called Tino ( a puppet) was presented to the children. It was nice to
see how enthusiastic the children seemed to be as they wanted to touch it!
Tino said ‘hello’ to all of them. A colourful envelope with photos of the
target toys were presented and later, on their books, they had to stick
them following a listening activity with the characters from the book.
The second class, real toys were presented, and the children got highly
motivated when during the warm up, somebody knocked at the door and I
asked some of them to see who was there. They found two boxes with toys.
Everyone wanted to touch and hold them. I persuaded them to leave the
toys in the boxes and that later they could hold them. In this class a story
from their book was presented.
In the last class envelopes with a puzzle to be solved were hidden all over
the classroom. The students had to look for them and then they had to

2. solve it. The puzzles were about the key words related to toys. Later, the
children cut and paste some images related to the story read the previous
class.
I consider that the objectives, the activities and the use of resources were
coherent with the pedagogical perspective. After the practicum period the
student could start and end the class by singing and making a circle ( this
aim was kept throughout all the classes), Then the target vocabulary
related to toys could be presented and practiced.
The topic itself was significant to the students, they love toys so, as a
consequence they showed interest in the activities presented, even for the
naughtiest ones.
Students at this age are characterized by having a short attention span, so
I believe that this is the first thing I should have in mind at the moment of
planning. Creativity in the selection of activities ( making them move from
being sat on the floor to sit on their chairs) , patience and having them
doing something all the time are the key to a successful class.
From this experience I learnt to be less anxious. When the students are
not making eye contact with you, it does not necessarily mean that they are
not paying attention. I could verify it when asking students for vocabulary
recognition.
In the future I would be more aware about timing. Some activities took
longer time than expected. However, each class is a mystery as regards
unpredictable situations of any type from starting the class later due to
external factors to interruptions because children need to go to the toilet.
Working with pre school students has been one of the most memorable
experiences to me. Children at this age are full of energy and they are so
plain and transparent that they directly can tell you that they don’t like the
activities you present to them or just the opposite! I love their honesty.
I feel a deep respect to them because I have always been a bit afraid of
them. I am used to working with older students so making them feel at ease
and motivated were my highest concerns.

3. The teacher recognized and concluded that it was necessary to include
and opening and closing activity to guide the students in which stage of the
class they were.
All in all, I could say that this practicum period was a moment of permanent
learning to me, from the use of technology ( a completely new world to
discover!), from my little students mainly and the warm bond that I could
establish with the teacher.