The document describes the practicum experiences of a trainee teacher, Naiman Lorena, during observations of various English lessons at Colegio Provincial Kloketen in Ushuaia. The lessons focused on the communicative approach, emphasizing interaction and comprehensible input, though challenges like students arriving late and distractions were noted. Suggestions for improvements include better lesson organization, increased use of visuals, and fostering greater student cooperation and engagement.

1. Trainee’s name: Naiman Lorena
Practicum level: Secondary
Group: 5th year ESO
Date: 29/10/15
Lesson number: 1 (40’ observation)
The school where I’ll be doing the secondary practicum is Colegio Provincial Kloketen,
located in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. The school offers an integrated education based on
the ESO, by which students transit from 1st to 6th ESO (Educaciòn Secundaria Obligatoria)
years.
The group I’ll be working with is 5th “C”. It is a group of 20 students who are about 16 and 17
years old.
I’ve been talking to the headteacher and to the teacher of the group and they explained
that the school is relatively new, it doesn't have a PEI or a PCI and that many students
couldn't choose between this school or others as it is the one that covers their jurisdiction.
The teacher was open to my questions, doubts and suggestions; and she gave the
lesson with a last minute change and some problems with the resources she wanted to use.
The pedagogical principle that supported the planning and delivery of the lesson is the
communicative approach organized through the PPP procedure. There was a presentation
of the vocabulary students had to focus on and there was controlled practice with the
vocabulary; students couldn`t get to the end of the lesson (the production stage) because of
a lack of time. some characteristics of the lesson that directly relate to the communicative
approach are the contextualization of the vocabulary in a meaningful way as the use of IT for
students to watch a video, trial and error was accepted, and comprehensible pronunciation
was reinforced. All these aspects of the lesson gave place to communication as the main
goal of the lesson.
One of the strategies that the teacher of the group used was providing students with
comprehensible input. The teacher presented the topic that the lesson was going to be
about, in this case revision of the past participle of the verbs; and showed students a video
that was meaningful and appropriate for the students’ level. Another strategy was to make
the lesson visual, as the sentences that the students had to complete were supported by
images that contextualized them in the video. Cooperative work was also highlighted as
students had to get to a conclusion in groups, they had to choose the correct verb that
matched the sentence and it’s meaning in groups and write them down so that to collect as
many correct verbs as possible. The teacher monitored students production and enhanced
students’ work through positive feedback and a the possibility of a future reward for the
following lesson if they participated in the activity. After the lesson the teacher took notes of
the students that didn’t work during the lesson so that to keep track of their progress.

2. I think that all these strategies were useful as the teacher was always encouraging
students to participate, making sure that they enjoy the lesson and also profit from it at the
same time.
However, students arrived late to the lesson as it is the first subject they have in the
morning and there were some troubles with the smart TV the teacher wanted to use.
Therefore, the lesson was very short and students could only work for some minutes.
The students were surprised. They got to the school and were told to move to the library.
There, the teacher was preparing a video for them; it was something new, as the teacher
only works with the coursebook. They got really interested in the activity and participated
very well. Nevertheless, there were some students who didn’t work, they’d been listening to
music or playing games with their cellphones during the whole lesson. They were not
interested at all.
Although the lesson took only around 20 minutes, most of the students worked on the
activities offered by the teacher.
I think that the main aspect of the lesson was the moment in which the students had to
participate orally matching the correct verbs to the sentences, and at the same time
discussing its meaning helped by the pictures the video offered. In this moment of the lesson
students were really immersed in the activity.
Another positive aspect of the lesson was that the teacher kept a good rapport with the
students, she seemed to know them very well, she knew their names and also made jokes
with them. In general, there was a positive atmosphere and the group seemed used to
working with the teacher and they were really attracted to the possibilities that the teacher
offered them in her lesson.
Some aspects of the lesson that require improvement could be the organization of the
lesson, maybe the teacher could arrive earlier than the students so that to prepare the IT
tools necessary to give the lesson. Perhaps if she told students about the video and the
activities they were going to work with they would be more interested and get early to the
lesson.
I think that the teacher could work with extra activities, or could present the topics with
greater variety taking advantage from IT tools or even real life material that works as
meaningful input for the students, apart from using the coursebook. I have to reinforce the
fact that the teacher doesn`t work with extra material, and that this was the first time she
showed students a video.
The classroom organization could also work better if students had more time to organize
the groups so that to participate in the activities, to collaborate and cooperate among them
and with the rest of the groups. The teacher could think about the group organization and
include extroverted students with introverted ones, separate chatty students or enhance
students who do not usually work through activities that ask for cooperation.
What I like from this lesson is that I could try different ways to call students’ attention and
that I could offer them a variety of activities that complement the coursebook work. The main
idea would be to create a positive atmosphere so that they feel at ease with me in the
classroom. Nevertheless, the first impression is what counts, I hope to get on well with the
group and work as much as we can.

3. Trainee’s name: Naiman Lorena
Practicum level: Secondary
Group: 4”E” ESO
Date: 13/11/15
Lesson number: 4 (80’) Observation
This is a new group I had to observe.Students are at 4th form from the ESO and they are
around 15 or 16 years
The pedagogical principle that supported the delivery of the lesson was the communicative
approach organized through the PPP procedure. Through this approach students are
encouraged to learn the language in interaction; that is to say, they use the language to
share meaningful information. Some of the main characteristics of this approach are based
on the use of comprehensible input, the use of visuals and the need for negotiation of
information.
The lesson was delivered through the PPP procedure. The main aspect of the lesson was
the presentation stage in which attention was given to the main items to learn during the
lesson.
The teacher of the group used some strategies that helped students work with the activities
she delivered. One of the strategies was to monitor students while they were working on the
book’s activities. She gave positive rewards to those students who worked on the activities
or answered to her questions. Another strategy was to give clear examples about the uses of
“a lot of”, “much” and “many” on the board, using drawings and sentences which was a great
strategy as students could realize the uses of each case .
The teacher worked most of the time with those students who were eager to participate and
to complete the activities. At least seven or eight students arrived late or didn´t want to work.
But the teacher didn´t give them time to copy or to ask about the activity. They just worked if
they wanted to or just didn’t work. However, the teacher asked them to take a photo of the
activities from the book, so that at least students completed it at home.
The students used the book “Champions” level 2, Oxford; and the teacher focused the
classroom work only on it. They completed three activities during the lesson, and checked
the answers on the board which was helpful as they could check altogether.

4. I think that students were used to working this way as they just followed the teacher
instructions. They were also used to arrive late at school, to use the cellphone during the
whole lesson and to take a photo to the activities they have to complete at home.
Nevertheless, there were at least ten students that were eager to work and had fun working
making questions to the teacher and asking their doubts among them. They are also used to
working with the book
I think that the presentation of the items students had to learn was the most important stage
of the lesson. Students were presented the items through the use of examples that helped
them identify the uses of those new items. Moreover, the student’s – teacher rapport was
very good. They felt comfortable with her and some of them were enthusiastic completing
the activities.
I think that making the lesson visual could help students get a clear idea of the teacher
explanations. Maybe the teacher could work with more presentations or videos to help
students contextualized the activities.
Apart from that, the teacher could review the lesson when late students arrive to the lesson
so that to include them in the group.
I think that I could bring several contextualized activities to the class so that to give them the
chance to work with the language in different contexts. Besides, I could bring students
activities more related to real life situations so that to engage the group in role plays or even
performances by which they share information and develop communicative skills that help
them use the language for specific situations.
Trainee’s name: Naiman Lorena
Practicum level: Secondary
Group: 4th year “E” ESO
Date: 17/11/15
Lesson number: 5 (40’ observation)
1.
The pedagogical approach that supported the lesson was the communicative
approach organized through the PPP. Through this approach, teachers are
encouraged to present a lesson in which the main goal is to use the language for
communication. Through this type of lesson the teacher should be able to deliver
comprehensible input to the students. Besides, contextualization is a must and
visuals or any type of device that helps learners are useful to contextualize. There is
a strong focus on meaning more than on structure and contextualization gives place

5. for meaning to be understood. The teacher complies with several roles as for
example a resource, a guide and even a monitor. Their main purpose is to help
learners construct their own use of the language. Learners’ role is to become
autonomous through the teacher’s help and guidance.
2.
I have to clarify that the lesson was a short one as students were a little bit lost as
they haven`t seen the teacher for a while because of several teachers’ strike.
This was a very noisy lesson as there were several students who did not care about
English homework. The rest of the group made it clear that they only want to pass
the last semester.
The teacher presented the topic of the lesson on the board but she didn`t use
visuals, posters, or anything that could help students understand. She only wrote the
numbers of the pages they have to work with. I assumed that the teacher didn’t pay
special attention to contextualization as the topic of the lesson had already been
presented in past lessons. Students also have the book`s visuals that can help them
assimilate the meaning of a word or phrase with its use.
The teacher monitored all the students’ work as they were completing the activities
from the book. She went desk by desk asking students if they had any doubts, and
encouraging those who were working well to continue. She even encouraged
students to keep on trying if they were having difficulties to solve any exercise. The
teacher also guided those students who haven’t come to school for a long period to
catch up with the group activities.
I think that students are used to working this way as they just opened the book on the
selected page and started working.
Some students expressed that they were lost and called the teacher several times to
make her questions about what they had to do and how.
I think that monitoring the students’ activity was a good strategy as students could
find out if they were working as expected. However, the teacher could not cover all
the doubts and some students were lost during the lesson.
Another good strategy was to let students work in pairs or in groups. Only one group
was able to finish with the homework, but they succeeded in it. Therefore, I think that
if the teacher established pair or group work as a must to complete the activities, and
not only as a choice for students, the group would have got better results.
3.
Students were very chatty throughout the whole lesson. Some of them were using
the cellphone, others were drinking mate, and others were laughing out loud. Just a
few were really interested in the activities.
I think that students are used to working with the book and they just complete the
activities.
There seems to be a good teacher – students’ rapport and the group welcomes the
teacher suggestions positively.
The lesson was short and it seemed to me that students were only interested in the
last exam and in knowing if the passed the subject or not.

6. 4.
The most important aspects of the lesson were when the teacher monitored the
students’ work and when some students decided to complete the activity in group.
These two aspects were successful as at least some students showed interest in the
subject. Besides, they give some clues for my future planning: considering
monitoring as a core role and enhancing students to work in pairs or groups so that
they feel involved in the activity.
5.
I think that there could be some adjustments to the way the group works. However, I
also believe that this group has been working this way since the beginning of the
year, so adjustments could not benefit the group at this moment of the year. They
only want to know if they pass the subject or not. Therefore, I think that maybe the
teacher adapts her lessons to the students pace of work so that to avoid conflicts or
because of the fact that students miss lessons every week since October and they
feel lost when they come back to school.
6.
This lesson was really useful because it gave me an idea about the group, how it is
conformed, how they work, what their interests are and how I can work with them. I
think that I should plan a simple and clear lesson in which group or pair work could
be required.
A final thought: When I came into the classroom students said
Ss “Quièn sos vos?”
Me “Yo soy practicante y vengo a observar la clase”
Ss “Yo te diría que te vayas ya! Estàs en el peor grupo”
I’ll try to find out how to work with this group.