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.
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 dear friend. As I read, you had some problems in this class, but let me tell you that there are some days in which the students misbehave.
ReplyDeleteThere are some activities that we think are going to be nice, but when doing them with the students, we realized that they were not as we thought.
Don't worry friend. It happens with all of the teachers. Continue doing the best of you as always and you will be successful!!!!!!
Lily something you should do is to separate them when working in some tasks. You shoul choose the pairs or trios instead of telling them to look for a partner. It is hard because they are a lot so it takes time to form the pairs, but anyways it`s better and even though they don`t like it they have to do it.
ReplyDeleteI definetely believe that your effort has been worthy and it is not the result of the group or the students. In my opinion is related to your development. It is easier to teach when students are willing to practice, but it is depending on the "teacher´s encouragement"and the kind of activities you have prepared. Congratulations lili! you are such as great teacher!
ReplyDeleteLili you are a nice teacher!I know that even when we face some troubles in the classrooms we have to continue working hard because this will help you to grow in teaching. Don't complicate youself with the students who come late. I consider that we only have to ask the students to join the groups and their reponsibility is to understand by asking their partners, otherwise we are wasting time that will be needed for other activites. Keep on working hard my friend!
ReplyDeleteWell, Lili i can see that you had some problems with this class, but don't worry not all the days are perfect and we have to think that sometimes we will have to deal with things that we don't expect.
ReplyDeleteNext time i suggest you to think in advance. I mean as Cory says, You must separate the students at the time they have to work on something.
I think that time is our enemy because we have to measure the time for each activity but we cannot measure the unexpected things. Don't worry, remember that we are improving ourselves every day.
Continue working hard as you do it, my friend!!