My last class at Intermediate English I!!

This class was really interesting because the students were learning adverbs of manner. What I liked about this class was that the students were paying attention when I was explaining grammar, and they were also asking questions. I folded small pieces of paper and in one side I wrote an adjective and in the other side I wrote the adverb of manner corresponding to the adjective. I brought a cord and I pasted it on the wall. I showed the adjective to the students and they were saying the adverb. Then, I turned the piece of paper to show the adverb and I was putting the pieces of paper in the cord. The students were very motivated to participate! I can say that this was the part of the class I liked the most. At the same time, students were having fun because I gave the students an example of an adjective with its adverb of manner and I pasted on the wall all the rules to form the adverbs. The students were looking for the rule corresponding to the adverb they had. They did it in pairs because there were 9 rules pasted in different walls of the classroom.

I brought three different short conversations and I divided the class into 3 groups. I gave a conversation to each group and I asked the groups to practice the conversation assigned in pairs. Then, from every group I chose two students to present it in front of the class, and they did a great job because some of them were trying to remember the conversation without reading it!!

Unfortunately, I could not develop one activity because I took too much time explaining the adverbs of manner because I was also giving examples using the adverbs in sentences, but my tutor teacher told me that it was ok to take that time to explain grammar because he noticed that the students understood very well.

Fortunately, I don´t have an activity that hadn´t gone not so well. I just had problems with time as I explained before.

If I teach that lesson again, I will teach grammar in the same way I did it in this class because I observed that the students´ attention was on what I was doing. They were very focused observing the adjectives in one side of a piece of paper and the adverb in the other side. They were also looking at the different rules that were pasted around them (in the walls) in order to classify each adjective I was showing. I liked this class!

3rd Class at Intermediate English I

Today´s class was much better than the previous one because students were using the structure in different speaking and writing activities I developed.

The activity that went well was a television interview in which I asked the students to practice a conversation between a TV presenter and a doctor. It was about a new flu shot people were getting. It was very nice because I asked for volunteers to perform it in front of the class....and guess what....I had volunteers!!! At the end, the other students who did not participate in front of the class, chose the best group by giving claps to the best presentation. I liked that they were developing the roles (TV presenter and doctor) very well.

The activity that did not go so well was the warm-up activity because once again, it was interrupted by the late comers. Fortunately, I knew that it is not their fault to come late. I asked some students why they were coming late and they said that they have classes in the same building and that their professor finishes the class too late. I did not believe, but my tutor teacher went upstairs to see if that was true, and he saw that most of the students were still attending the class!! . Again, it took too much time because the ones that were just coming wanted to do the activity.

I noticed that the activity in which the students spoke more was when I asked them to discuss 10 questions I brought to the class. Some of the questions were:

-What has been your biggest fear?
-Who has been the person you have admired the most?
-Have you ever loved somebody forbidden?

I asked them to discuss these questions with a classmate and then, I asked them to share their answers. Something good is that they were giving reasons. For example, one student said that the person he has admired the most is his mother because she has played many roles in his life. She has been his mother and his best friend. He also said that because of the good relation they have, she has been everything for him.

I had planned to develop 4 activities and the warm-up (5 in total) but unfortunately, I just could develop 4 activities because I lost time in the warm-up. I thought that my tutor teacher was going to tell me something about it, but he told me that it is better to do few well developed activities in which students are going to learn and use the structure at the end of the class, than developing many activities in which students will do the things in a hurry and won´t be able to use the structure.

If I teach that lesson again, I will bring different activities in which the students will use the structure in different ways because in this class, they were practicing just speaking and writing. I noticed that they need to practice the other skills, too!

Second Class at Intermediate English I.

In this class, the students were studying the modals of probability.
In the warm-up activity, the students were using the structure really well. The activity was “class secrets”. I asked them to write a sentence about a classmate. They were saying funny things like:
-He/She will marry a famous person.
- This person may keep a serious secret.

The problem was that it took too long for being a warm-up activity. Later, I couldn´t develop an activity I had planned. As you can see, I still have the same problem with time!!

The activity that didn´t go so well was a song I brought. I asked them to share some ideas based on the name of the song (A harvest for the world). I played the song and I asked them to pay attention to the lyrics. I wanted the shy students to participate but unfortunately, they were not able to understand the message of it even when I brought the lyric in a big chart for them to read it while they were listening it. At the end, I wanted the students to sing the song, but they took it as a joke!! Even the tutor teacher asked them to participate, but it did not work.

For my next class, I am planning to separate them from their friends because they speak too much Spanish and most of the time they don´t know what to do in the activities because they don´t pay attention. I guess that this is the hardest experience I´ve had.

If I teach that lesson again, I will bring a short activity as warm-up because the one I did in this class took too much time. I will also include only the students that arrive on time because I lose time giving directions to the students that come late.

My First Class at Intermediate English I

This class was really interesting for me because I knew almost all the students; that is why I just had to memorize like six new names but it was very easy.
I noticed that the students liked the warm up activity. It was a TPR activity called “class secrets” in which they needed to be as quickly as possible because it was a competence between two groups. I gave them some troubles and the first group to pass them had the opportunity to take one piece of paper containing a question. This group had to answer the question by giving a complete sentence.
Example: Who may secretly be in love?
The group said a name of someone they thought may be in love. If the group made a mistake structuring the answer, they lost the point.

At the end the group with more points was the winner.

Then, the activity that went well was one in which the students were sharing some ideas and they were using the required structure (may, will, might, won´t). I brought a chart in which there were some incomplete sentences, the students were adding information according to them.
Example: In five years…………..
Students: In five years I will be a professional.
In five years I may buy a car.
All their answers were really good and what I liked is that the prompts I brought made them think about the things they may, might, will or won´t do.

The activity that did not go so well was a competence activity. I brought a chart that had incomplete sentences. The sentences did not have the modals (may, might, will, won´t) so, I asked them to make three groups and I gave to each group the modals that were missing (in small pieces of paper in different colors). Each group had a different color. I read the sentences and they had to paste the correct modal I mentioned. The group that pasted it first was going to get a point. I did not like so much this activity because the students were making a kind of mess and the activity did not work as I had planned it. Also, the room was kind of small and I did not have the space I needed for the activity.

Fortunately, time was not a problem for me in this class. I know that it has been a challenge for me in every class, but this time it wasn´t.

If I teach that lesson again I will develop activities according to the way the students work. I will also think about the space I have in the classroom and if I know that it is too small, I won´t bring activities in which the students need enough space. Finally, I will take into account if the activity I plan to develop can create a problem, especially if it can create a mess in the class.

My last class at Advanced English I!!!!

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D.

My last class was really interesting because the students were studying discoveries and inventions. It helped me a lot to remember some discoveries I studied when I took this subject. In other words, I learned more about it in order to teach it to the students!

The part of the lesson that went very well was a short debate I developed at the end of my class. I divided the class into two groups and I gave each group an invention or discovery. They had to say the advantages and whatever information to prove that the invention/discovery they had was better than the one the opposite group had. They also said the disadvantages of the opposite group´s topic. Some of the shy students were participating, but not all of them!! I did not want to push them to participate because they had done a great job in other activities.

The part of the class that did not go so well was the warm-up activity because I had some problems establishing the rules of the game.

In the grammar phase, as always, the students were participating asking questions and giving examples. I presented the structure (past perfect tense) and almost all the work was done by the students. I just gave them some examples and then I gave them the beginning of sentences and they began adding ideas to complete it (orally).
Some examples of the prompts I gave are:
I did not have any money because...
Students´answers:
I had spent too much.
I had lost it.
I hadn´t worked.

They felt bad about selling the house because....
They had spent a lot of money on it.
They had lived there for a long time.
It works very well for advanced students!

Unfortunately, I had problems with the time I was going to give to each activity. I could not develop the final activity I had in my plan. My tutor teacher told me that this is the challenge I have in almost every class. I have noticed that I spend too much time when I am developing speaking activities, but it happens because I like when students are motivated to participate that is why I prefer that they continue speaking instead of stopping the activity when I know that what they are sharing is really important to reach my objective, and at the same time they are improving in different skills.

If I teach that lesson again or whatever other class I will try to be careful with the time I spend in the activities because as one of my classmates says, we have to distribute time according to the level of difficulty the activities have!

I learned a lot from this group and I liked to work with them because as I have said in other journal entries, they are a good group of students that like to participate and they give really nice ideas!
I also learned many things from my tutor teacher. He shared some ideas with me in order to help me develop my classes. He showed me how to turn a boring activity into something interesting for the students. He has a great ability to make students participate.

I would work with this group without thinking twice!!

My third class at Advanced English!!

I liked this class because most of the students were speaking English in all the activities I developed. In this class, I did not use very controlled activities because my tutor teacher wants the student to develop fluency and to improve their pronunciation. That is why, in most of the classes, I develop different speaking activities in which the students are sharing their ideas. This is one of the reasons I have when I say that I like to work with this group. As you know, they are advanced students and when there is something interesting to talk about, they give their best!

The students were studying the conditional clauses, so I brought to the class the song “If I were a boy”. The students really liked this song because I created a discussing. In this discussion, girls were sharing some ideas about what they would/wouldn`t do if they were boys. On the other hand, boys were sharing the things they would/wouldn`t do if they were girls. As you can imagine, they were saying funny things, but what I like is that they shared their ideas.

These are some of the things they were saying:
BOYS: If I were a girl …
I would wear sexy clothes.
I would have a lot of boyfriends.
I would go out at night with my boyfriend.

GIRLS: If I were a boy….
I would be faithful.
I wouldn`t use drugs or drink beers.
I would go to parties at night.
Well, they were saying many other things, but I can`t write all of them. For me, this was the part of the class in which the students were more motivated to participate.

I also, pasted on the board some charts with some strophes from the song. In this case, girls were saying if what the song said about boys was true. Then, boys had the opportunity to explain the reasons why they do those things, and some other students said that they are not like that.
I think that the part of the class that was not so well was the warm-up activity because the students were cheating. I asked them to make two teams, and I gave them an object. They had to pass this object to the student that was behind them, but before passing the object, they had to do something else like: touch a desk that was in the center of the classroom, jump two times, etc. The last student was going to run to a desk I put in front of the class, and this student had the opportunity to take one piece of paper that had an incomplete sentence (If I were rich…….). If this person gave the complete sentence, his/her group had 1 point. I lost too much time because as I said before, they were cheating. Some students were not doing what I asked them to do before passing the object.

There was one activity that I noticed students liked a lot. I gave to each student a picture with a famous person (Hittler, Einstein, Brad pitt, JLo, etc). I asked them to write a question they would ask to this person if he/she were alive or if they could talk to this person. They were saying great ideas about what they would ask, and what I liked is that they were using the conditionals very well. In this way, I noticed that my directions were clear and that I had reached my objective.

If I teach that lesson again, I will assign more rules in order to play the game I developed in the warm-up activity. I just told them that they had two opportunities to say a correct sentence without help from their classmates in order to get the point. Now, I am thinking that if I use it again I will add some penalties to the people that do not do the troubles they have to do in order to pass the object. Another thing I would do is to give the group that was not cheating one point.

My Second Class at Advanced English I!

(This should be my third class, but you know that I could not teach one class because of the problem you already know!!)

In this class, the students did a great job working on a warm-up activity that I prepared to review the future tense. In this activity, the students played the role of fortune tellers. I wrote their names in small pieces of paper and I asked them to put them in a bag. Then, they took one name from the bag and I asked them to make a prediction for that person. They were predicting funny things.

Some predictions were:
-That they were going to be great teacher.
-That they were going to marry a wealthy person.
-That they were going to have 5 children.
-That they were going to have a relation with a married person.

I think that the part that did not go so well was the grammar explanation stage. My tutor teacher told me that I had talked too much in that part. He suggested me to teach that stage in a more communicative way in order to give students the opportunity to discover the new structure by themselves. I would like to know some ways in which I can teach grammar using a communicative strategy!!!

I asked the students to work in pairs to develop the warm-up activity. Then, they worked individually in order to read a paragraph about predictions related with technology that experts have done. The students liked this reading because it had many things that called their attention. There is a prediction that says that malls will disappear because people will shop at electronic virtual reality stores. Experts also said that in the future, people will plant “knowledge chips” in their brains. These chips will enable people to speak French, to repair the TV, to play any sport, etc. These fortune tellers describe some other things that could happen. Finally, the students worked in groups because I asked them to talk about some other things that will change in the future. They were discussing advantages and disadvantages of the changes the world could have.

I think that I reached my objective because the students were using the future tense and they were giving nice predictions. They were also shaing some plans and goals they have. I just can say that they used the structure very well!!

If I teach that lesson again, I will take into account my tutor`s suggestion about how to teach the grammar stage. I will try to give students as many opportunities as possible to speak because some of them really need to practice this skill.

My First Class at Advanced English I!

The part of the lesson that went well was the Grammar explanation phase because I explained the present perfect tense. It was easy for me because I have a lot of activities related with that structure and I also have experience teaching it. Something really important is that the students already know this tense because they studied it when they were taking Intermediate English II. This means that I was just making a review of the tense.

My class was much better that what I expected that is why, I do not have exactly a part of the lesson that had gone not so well. I developed a reading activity which let me tell you that its content is really interesting because it describes some questions that scientists can´t answer; just look at the title “The Questions That Stump the Scientists”. I used this reading to introduce the grammar structure because it has many sentences in the present perfect tense. My tutor teacher gave me a new idea that I can use in the post-reading stage. He told me that after asking the students to underline all the sentences that have the structure to be studied, I can ask them to write the sentences on the board in that way, the students get more involved in the activity.
I don´t have problems giving directions to the students because their level of English permits them understand perfectly what I say.
I noticed that the activity in which they were very involved was in some sentence strips I asked them to order and to write them in their notebooks. I made four groups and I gave each group an envelope which contained two long sentences cut into pieces.
This time, I had no problems with the timing because this group of students worked very well and they do it as fast as they can. That is something I love from advanced English students.
I liked the warm-up activity and I observed that the students enjoyed it a lot. I asked them to make two lines, one in front of the other so that, they had to have one classmate in front of them. I asked them to look carefully at the student that was in front of them. Then, they had to turn in order to be back to back. At this time, I asked them to change two things (an earring, ring, wallet, etc). When they said “ready” they turned again to be face to face in order to guess what the classmate had changed. The students were using the present perfect tense without noticing it, and they were having fun because later, I asked them to change more things, at the end, they were kind of worried because they did not know what to change.
In conclusion, I just can say that I liked this class and that my first experience at Advanced English was really nice!!!
(Sorry if I made you read a lot. It was for you to remember when you were taking literature!).

My fifth class! The last one!

This class was really interesting because the students were giving suggestions using the modal "should" in order to talk about health problems. I noticed that they liked a lot the warm -up (as always) activity because they were making a drawing of the parts of the body I was saying. This game is called visual consequences and let me tell you that it is a nice game because the students draw one part and they fold the part of the page they used. Then, they pass the folded page to the student standing on their right side. This student continues the drawing with the part that the teacher says. At the end, all of them have a funny drawing in which many students have worked on.

The activity of the class that went well was a listening activity because the students were practicing their listening skills. This activity helped them a lot because after my class, they were going to have a listening comprehension test. The students were working a lot on this listening activity because they knew that this was a good opportunity for them to get a good grade in the exam.



Fortunately, I do not have a part of the lesson that had not been well because the students already know how to give pieces of advice using the modal "should". This class helped them remember what they learned at Basic English, and they knew about health problems because they were studying about it last class.

The students were working in pairs and in groups. I asked them to change partners for every activity because it is a problem when they work with the same classmates.
I am sure that I reached my objective because at the end of my class, the students were able to give suggestions using the health problems I had in my flashcards. In pairs, they took a flashcard and they created a sentence using "should" and another sentence using "shouldn´t" taking into account the flashcard I had given to them.

If I teach that lesson again, I will give more examples using different personal pronouns because I forgot to use plural pronouns in the examples I gave. Fortunately, it did not affect my class.



This is a really nice group and I liked the way we worked during this period. I wish I could have another group like them because they are a group of friendly students who made a good job while I was there. Thanks to them I had a good experience sharing some knowledge with them and at the same time I was learning from them and from my own experience.

My fourth class!!

Here I am again!!
My fourth class was really interesting because the students were participating a lot. I was teaching the different uses of the apostrophe. It was really easy for me to explain it because they studied it when they were at Basis English. They understood very well all what I explained about it, and they were able of giving examples just after I had explained it.
I think that the part that engaged the students the most was the very controlled practice because the students were using the apostrophe in some written activities I brought to the class.
I was really happy because all the students were participating in different activities. I just had one problem with the warm-up activity because there were two students that did not have the chance of participating. The problem was that I did not notice they were not in the game. I assigned them a group and I asked them to make a line per group, but these two students did not stand in the line. Another problem is that the room was too small that is why, I did not see that they were out of the line. I think that it would have been better to change the activity because the space was not enough to make the lines I needed. Another option could be to look for another classroom or place.
The students were working in teams in the warm-up activity and they were also working in pairs in order to discuss the uses of the apostrophe. There were also some activities in which they had to work individually because those were very controlled activities.
I do not have a part of the lesson in which students had not been very involved. I tried to make them work as much as possible in every activity because I have noticed that they need to interact with different classmates through some speaking games and activities. I brought charts, photocopies and pictures in order to make students participate in different ways (written and speaking form). Unfortunately, as always I took some minutes from my tutor´s class. I needed to finish the last speaking activity in which I gave the students a picture and a subject. They had to create a sentence (orally) using the apostrophe in the correct place. It was really nice because they created the sentences without making mistakes. In that case, this activity permitted me demonstrate that the students had understood the structures and that my objective had been reached.
If I teach that lesson again, I will check if all the students are participating in the warm-up activity (well, in all the activities) in order to give them an equal chance of participation. I will also, check the time because this is a problem I have in every class!!

My third class!!

This class was very interesting because the students were studying the use of countable and uncountable nouns that is why, the part of the lesson that went well was the grammar explanation. This was like a review for the students because they already studied something about countable and uncountable when they were at Basic English. I just tried to include more vocabulary in order to use this grammar because when the students studied it, the context was about food. Now, I tried to include different things that can be counted or that cannot be.

Fortunately, I do not have a part of the lesson that did not go well. For me, this was a very good class because the students were participating a lot and I did not spend too much time in the grammar stage (It was not needed). I would like you to give me some ideas to explain grammar because as you know, it is a really boring part for the students and we can´t spend too much time there.

I think that the part that engaged the students the most was the very controlled stage because the students were using the grammar I had just explained. They were asking different questions, and it was really nice because they showed me that they were interested in learning something more from my class.

I had some problems with the time. I had prepared a game for the end of my class, but I could not develop it because as some of you know, teachers hate when we take time from their class. Anyways, it was my fault because I was not checking the time for each activity.

If I teach that lesson again, I think that I will look for different ways to teach the countable and uncountable nouns because the students get bored when they are studying a part of grammar that they already know.

CLASS 2 OF THE FIRST PERDIOD.

Hello everybody, as you can see this is my second class at the Intermediate English I. I want to share with you that the very controlled activities work very well in this group, but most of the students have problems while doing less controlled or free activities. The problem is not that they do not have enough controlled practice. I think that the problem here is that they were not pushed to use the target language when they were at Basic English. Now, they want to pass almost all the class speaking Spanish. My tutor teacher has made them change the places where they like to sit with their friends. Unfortunately, they continue speaking to much Spanish. I would like you to give me some tips for this problem because the tutor teacher wrote in my evaluation sheet that I was permitting students to use Spanish in the class!! I really do not know what to do...

Then, I had another problem. I wanted the students to write a short conversation about a friend that was coming to their country (They had an example in their books). They had to tell this friend the places he/she can visit in the country. I asked a group to present their conversation in front of the class, and they did not want to pass even when I was pushing them a little. I noticed that they did not know how to structure a simple question!! Even when it was a review of the there is/are structure that they studied at Basic English! Fortunately, two volunteers presented the one they had done and let me tell you that they did a great job. They passed to the front of the class without their notebooks and they begun talking, and describing a lot places of our country. I congratulate them because I was surprised of the work they had done.

I think that the part of the lesson that engaged them the most was a Fill in the blank activity. I brought a chart with some sentences in which they had to complete them by writing: there is/there are/there isn´t/there aren´t/ are there/ is there. First, I asked them to read the sentence and then, to tell me the complete sentence with the part that was missing. Everybody was sating the sentences at the same time. Then, I gave them some time to copy them (the complete sentences) on their notebooks.

Well as I mentioned before, I had some problems in this class; that is why you know that they were not using the language the way they were supposed to do it (of course that not all the students). Even when they were working in groups in some activities, they did not show the level of English they are supposed to have.

If I teach that lesson again, I will include more speaking activities even if the students have problems developing them. I think that step by step, they will be able to do it.










speak too much spanish

TEACHING PRACTICUM AT INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH I.

The part of the lesson that I liked was the grammar explanation phase because the students were studying the use of "there is" and "there are". It was very nice because the students had studied this when they were taking Basic English. This helped them to reinforce what they are already knew about the topic. I was just presenting the grammar and they could remember most of it that is why they were even making sentences orally.

I think that the part that did not go so well was the presentation stage because just five students had the books, and they were suppossed to read a short paragraph in order to answer some questions. I think that in this case, we can ask them to make copies from the part of the book we are going to use (but be careful because it is the student´s responsibility to buy the books!).
Fortunately, as I explained before,they did not have problems with the grammar phase because that was something they already could work with.

I brought different pictures in order to help the students understand the content which was about the different kinds of houses (ville, cottage, mansion, ranch, etc.)and the things we find there.

The part that engaged them the most was the grammar phase because they were sharing all what they knew about the grammar being studied, and they were also providing examples about their homes.

The students were working in pairs because I asked to talk about the different homes, and they were also working in groups because as I said before few students had the books so, they were sharing them.

If I teach that lesson again, I will try to be sure if they already have the books in order to find a way to make them work on it because today, I had to make big groups.

This was my first class at the Intermediate English I, and I liked it!

Sharing games!! Another way of having fun in the classroom!!

REASONS FOR USING GAMES IN THE CLASSROOM:

1.Games motivate students to learn.
2. They are useful for making reviews on different topics.
3. Students have fun, and it permits them to work a lot while because they are enjoying the class.
4. Word, matching and memory games foster language development and literacy.
5. Games provide a forum for initiative and leadership, reasoning, and problem-solving.
6. Different types of games develop small and large motor skills and hand/eye coordination.
7. If students learn with games,have fun,feel happy and free, it means that you have reached your goals. Games strengthen language skills,besides, learners develop social skills and good relationships while they interact with each others.

Tongue twisters as a way of having fun in the classroom!!

Tongue twisters are really useful if you want your students to practice some sounds. In this way, you are helping your students to improve their pronunciation and fluency, and at the same time, they are having fun!!!

Check out the following tongue twister!!

"I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won´t wish the wish the wish you want to wish"

There, you can see that students can practice the /w/ and the /S/(long "s") sounds.

HAVING FUN IN THE CLASSROOM!!

Why is it important to have fun in the classroom??


Did you know that by having fun in the classroom, you create a nice environment??





Of course it is a fact!!






It is difficult to create this kind of environment in the classroom, but it is possible if you are willing to change those boring classes in which students are not interested in.



Most of the cases, children are the ones that have lot of fun in the classroom; but, it does not mean that teens and adult learners can´t have it. Of course they can!!! But we have to be careful with the kind of activities we will use to have fun with these students because they can get embarrassed if you aks them to do something they think is for children.



In this way, students will walk into a classroom with a possitive learning attitude that will motivate them to continue, and to be concentrated in the lessons. The nice point is that they will not be saying excuses when you ask them to work!




Remember that in the classroom you have different intelligences, and a sense of humos can help you a lot to give each student the opportunity to use their learning skills according to the learning style they have.

This was my point of view, Now tell me how important is for you as a teacher to have fun in the classroom?...