Paula Pilotti completed a practicum teaching English to primary school students in Argentina. She observed that the students had varying English abilities but were accustomed to the teacher speaking English at all times. Paula developed lessons incorporating videos, songs, posters, and group/individual activities to engage different learning styles. The students enjoyed the motivating lessons and Paula received positive feedback from her observer. After each lesson, Paula reflected on ways to improve, gaining more confidence over time. Moving forward, she aims to design engaging activities that take full advantage of available resources.

1. • Taller de Práctica Docente – Aurelia Velázquez
• Mandatory Assignment –Reflective Cycle (by David Kolb)
• Student: Paula Pilotti
Personal reflection: Primary practicum
Living an experience in primary school as a trainee, taught me many
important things. From the observation period, I could meet the
group of students and realize about the context they were learning
in. I observed a quiet classroom, with some extroverted students
and some others who were quite introverted. The resources they
have in the school were important for my lessons since they have
got a projector and loudspeakers, necessary to arouse interest in
the group, planning motivating activities. Their level of English is
“beginner/starter” but as the teacher speaks English all the time,
they were acclimated when I taught. Also, they have concrete tasks
in order to follow a sequence in the lessons. So, it was easy to
include new tasks using gestures and body language. When they
were lost, helping them with gestures was useful. Some of the tasks
I used were “Let´s watch a video, let´s play a game, let´s start
working and let´s form groups”. After the first class, students were
able to respect and understand each one, some of them repeated
some words and others translate them into Spanish helping those
who didn´t understand the task. There are six students that go to
private institutes and they easily understand the tasks. As I said
before, they guide the rest of the group with their active participation.
My lessons were based on PPP and the Communicative Approach,
using specific sequences, trying to include all the skills and learning
styles, including videos, songs, posters, flashcards, group and
individual activities. They enjoyed the activities I planned since they
don´t usually work like this. I was happy to see the group motivated
with my lessons. The observer made me feel comfortable and free
to organize the material, she was enthusiastic with the way I
developed my lessons and I think she could take advantage from
them. She took some ideas from my practice since she found it

2. important the use of technology in the classroom. After each
meeting, I came home and I reflected on my practice in order to
improve my lesson plan for the next day taking into account the
suggestions the teacher wrote in the return. That was an essential
part in my practice since I could develop my lessons better little by
little. Taking into account those things, I had more confidence which
is a key factor when teaching. I organized all the material in
advance, checking each detail. That organization made me feel
relaxed and enjoy each moment with my students.
After having a great experience, it is necessary to reflect the positive
and negative aspects, or at least think about what I can do to
improve my lessons. I take many important aspects from my
practice like using L2 at all times. Anyway, I could consider some
new strategies to exploit videos or songs like working with more
questions or go deeper into them. Moreover, before getting students
to do individual activities, it is necessary to explain them thoroughly.
I think that those weak aspects can be improved with time.
In my next period that is secondary, I should apply specific purposes
in order to obtain as many advantages as possible from each activity
or resource I use. We don´t have to forget that teaching effectively
requires the designing of interesting and engaging activities taking
advantage from every single material.