Hello everybody, today was my first day in the practice period. Rosario, the English teacher,has introduced me to three groups of students. Two of them belonging to the 3rd grade of Secondary Education and the other one from 4th grade. The first class has been with 3rd ESO. During this class, I have introduced the topic of the unit and then we have done a reading regarding with two imaginary cities of the future and the places we could find in them. To continue, we have checked the reading exercises with the whole class. We also have done two listening exercises and we have pointed in some pronunciation aspects. After that, all the class has remembered some grammatical parts, like there is/ there are… the places we can find in our cities… and I have asked the students for doing a funny exercise by drawing a map on a paper and writing a little text using the contents previously reviewed. Then they have exchanged their notebooks with his/her partner to complete the activity. Later, I have had class with the other group related to 3rd ESO grade and I have done the same activities I did with the other class. In this class, there are four people from diversification. Finally, I have finished my day at school with one group of the 4th ESO grade. This group has a very good level in the English language. Here I have introduced the new topic, a topic about modern art. To continue we have argued about what we understand by modern art. Then we have done a reading and after that, the students have answered some questions related to the text. Following, the students have done a listening and when they have finished we have checked this exercise together. At the beginning I was really nervous but, then, when I have started to talk to the students I have felt more self-confident. Sorry for the hour! But I have not had too much time today.
Hello! Today I have met another group of students from 4th grade. I have done the same activities I did with the other group yesterday. At the end of the day I have had two more classes with two 3rd grade groups. In these classes we have checked the homework and, after that, I have explained some grammatical aspects of the future tenses. Then they have done some exercises about future and we have checked some of them.
Hi everybody. Today I had had classes with the two 3rd degrees and the two 4th degrees. At the beginning of the day, I have had classes with the two 3rd degrees. In this class I have checked the exercises made the day before by the students regarding with the future tense. As well, we have read a text and together, the whole class, have answered the questions according to the text. After that, they have argued between them about what could be a better title for the text according to its content. At the end I have asked students to do five sentences by using will or be going to, using five words from the text. To continue I have had class with the other group and we have had the same activities. Afterwards, I have had two more classes with the two 4th grades. In these classes I have explained the use of the prefixes and some of their meanings. Then, I have introduced students the past perfect simple tense and then we have practiced this grammatical aspects by means of a game. I have given students a card with two different verbs. They had to create a sentence by using these verbs; one of them had to be in the past time and the other one in past perfect simple. Finally, they have listened to a text for recording it in a cassette.
Hello! Today I have had my two first classes in the bilingual program. I had explained science in the two sixth degrees of Primary Education. The topic was about electricity. In these classes I have explained to the students what the electricity is and the different kinds of electricity we can find in the real life. Finally I have taught them the electrical circuits. Following, we have done some exercises related to the topic and then we have checked them. At the end of the day I have had two more classes with the two 4th degrees. We have checked the exercises done the day before and then, the students have read a text. Later, they have answered some questions regarding with the text and after that, together, we have checked the reading exercises.
Hello, today the group of students from 4th grade has read a text about an experience which happened to them when they were younger. It was very funny because there were a lot of different stories. Then, the students have done some exercises relative to past perfect simple and, after that, we have checked them. Later, in the 3rd grade, I have explained the first conditional and the students have done four exercises relative to it. At the end of the class, the pupils have reviewed the future tense by doing some exercises in pairs. For homework, I have to check the exercises that the students have done in class
Hi Javier! Mainly I am following the text book because there is a great amount of listening activities which I consider very useful for the student’s learning but according to this topic I am supporting my explanations through the use of slides, posters and pictures for getting a better understanding in it.
Hello! Since this day is known as the peace day, most of the activities the students have done during the whole day have had a relation with this topic. After the break time, the students have gone to the playground where they have danced a song related to the peace. Then, a teacher has called a student of each grade who has been chosen by their class partners as the most peaceable student. Afterwards, these students have thrown some doves up in the air as a peace symbol. Moreover, during the day, all the students have hanged up some of the pictures they have been doing in the art lessons. All of them are fantastic and very colorful. In the class, students from 3rd and 4th grades have worked with a peace song. The song is called ‘where is the love’ by Black eyes peas. The 4th grade students have completed the gaps of the song with a group of words inside a box. The students had to listen to the song and then choose the most appropriate word. The 3rd grade students have worked with this song too but instead of gaps, they had the phonological translation. After this activity some students have read a text about an important person who has a connection with peace. I have enjoyed this day a lot.
Good afternoon, Today has been the last day of my practice period. It has been a brief period of time and it has spent so fast. My two first classes have taken place with the two 6th grades of primary education in the bilingual programme. We have continued with the electricity topic but today, we have focused on conductors and isolators as well as the magnetism process. At the beginning I have explained to the students what is the meaning of a conductor and isolator material and after that, we have practiced this new knowledge by doing some exercises through listening activities. To continue the students have worked in pairs and they have created two lists, one of them with material known as isolators and the other one with conductor materials. After that, we have checked them and later I have showed to the students how the magnetism is produced. Following, the students have done some exercises in order to interiorize their knowledge and we have checked them. In the two last classes, students from 4th grade have done a review about the contents we have been working during these two weeks to check if they have been understood. These practices have been amazing!!
On this date was my first day at school "La Piedad". I was speaking with my coordinator at school; his name is Javier, he explained me the classes and the school, so I know now more or less what I´m going to do during my practice time.
9th January 2013
I went to the school with my partner, Maria, we met with our coordinator, Javier, he come with us around the school to show us it and we met some teachers too. He told us that he is going to send us an email in few days with teacher´s emails and we can start to talk with them about our timetable and functions.
24th of January. Our last meeting in the school to know the last details.
29th January That day was my first day in the practice period. Auxi, my teacher of that day, has introduced me to 1º and 2º of primary education, that class is science (class in the bilingual program) they are now learning the animals and plants, they read and copy the text. Later, I went with the teacher to prepare the next class that I will give on tuesday.
31st January I went to 6º with the English teacher and I just observed the class.
1st February. Today I went with Manoli, English teacher in the school, to 1st and 2nd ESO,we have read a text and together, later they have answered the questions according to the text. They have passed an exam in few minutes about irregular verbs. I´m going to prepare a lesson for next friday.
Carmen, I'm afraid this was not the intended way of doing it; anyway it seems your experience is ok, however I cannot see any CLIL in it, and La Piedad is the first CLIL private school in Andalucía. I wonder why!!
8th of February I was at 8:30 with Manoli,in 2nd ESO, she did a control irregular verbs and taught me some sample tests. Our next class was with 1st ESO A, they spent it time, to rehearsing for a theatre of Andalusia´s day,in Spanish, about poets. In 1st ESO B, the teacher let me make a review with the students of the units 4 and 5, we did many activities and the class had a very good rhythm.
11st February: The teacher asked me to give this day to review with the class to items 4 and 5 while she prepared other things, now I have to prepare a test to assess their knowledge, which will this Friday.
12nd february: I prepared a science class for 1st and 2nd of primary education, about plants, the group read the slides with me, when I asked they repeated too, and then we drew a picture conveying what we learned that day.
11th December 2012 On this date was my first day at school "Nuestra Señora De La Piedad". I was speaking about the teachers of this school with Javier, my coordinator. Besides he explained me what I am going to do during my period at school.
9th January 2013. I went to the school with my classmate Carmen. We met with Javier and he Showed us the classes,library.. Moreover, we met also some teachers. He sent us the emails of our teachers during the practice time.
24th January 2013. My classmate and me went to the school to get the last details before starting.
28th January 2013. This was the first day I participated in the class. I spent the first hour with Auxi, the teacher of 1º and 2º of primary education, in science class with pupils of 2º.We were reviewing the topic "the plants". Then, I was with Carolina, teacher of 4 and 5 years old. I talked with her about my timetable.
30th January. I was preparing some materials for bilingual education with Auxi. Then I was with two more teachers talking about what I am going to do. Finally I went with all the teachers and pupils to celebrate "El Día de la Paz".
31st January This has been my first day with children of 3 years old. I have participated in their English lesson with the habitual teacher and the new "auxiliar de conversación".
6th February Today I have been one hour with Auxi ( teacher of 6º) preparing some bilingual resources of ciences for children with 6 years old. Then, I went with José Luis to practice oral skill Finally, I prepared at home some games of vocabulary for children of 3, 4 and 5 years old, so, today I have been "the teacher" witn pupils of 5 years old and we have been revising toys vocabulary.
7th February Today I have been observing how the "auxiliar de conversación" has explained the contents to children of pre-school. She has been revising the numbers, colours and the body. Then, they have done some exercises of the book and I have correcetd them .
8th February I have been in the school for ona hour. I have been with 4 years old children. I have been "the teacher" again and We have been learning "the toys" with some games I prepared.
I am pleased with some teachers because I`m allowed to participate a lot although with some of them I do nothing in class, only preparing resources.Besides, I think that the process of integrating CLIC is not the best one.
today was my first day in Alauda College. It was my first time in a private school, so I didn't quite know what to expect(I have spent all my practices periods from my career in public schools). I was like a sponge, trying to watch, listen and learn everything. To summarize, the childer behave more "properly" than in my last school, are all wearing white shirts and ties (both girls and boys), are not allowed to speak during the classroom without raising their hands (no spontaneous remarks, no jokes and hardly smiling) The teacher, very young, but with 5 years of experience, was a filologist, having studied en "Filosofia y Letras" some years ago. She has a very good English, good pronounciation and a fluent communication in the class. I have seen Primary classes and 1º ESO classes. All of them have digital boards, (no blackboard, no chalk, no dust, almoust no writing), different spacial situation (tables and chairs).
Good to remember: she is asking the students to follow with their finger the text while they listen to the audio. This way they can hear how every word sounds (their reading and speaking were very good).
Not to do thing: when a teacher assesses reading (intonation, pronounciation...) s/he can't take away one point just because the student isn't paying attention. We can't mix formal assessement with attitudes.
Tomorrow i'm going to change the teacher and see another classes. Keep in touch!
Yesterday I published in the wrong place, so now I coppied what I have wrote. Today is my second day in the school. I changed the teacher, the classes and the methodology. The first 2 classes were in 6th of EPO where they had an exam, a reading aloud test, where the teacher assesses the pronunciation and asks question for reading comprehension. Then we had half an hour spare time in the library, where there were a lot of punished student, reading and studying.
Then, the class in 1º EPO, where they worked with flash cards, toys with and without wheels, counting and colouring, repeating the whole hour the same structures.
The 4th hour was in 2ºof EPO, where they did a revision of the structure: in front of, next to, near the, under, above etc...
Things that I liked: first, the teacher asked the whole class to do the actions, (put your book under the table); then she did the actions and asked the Ss to answer to the quiestion "Where is the glass? - The Ss asked: The glass is in on the chair." Then, she asked one of the student to place the glass under his table. When the student did the action, she asked another one to answer where was the glass. PLenty of forms of teaching the same thing, involve the Ss in the process and not being boring.
They start all the days with a reading from the "Evangelia según..." and pray. They are very strict with silence in the classroom and the proper behaviour. I have just had my lunch time and another hour of spare time in the library. I have 2 more classes, 2º and 1º of EPO, again.
It was my third day today, and I’ve spend it with Martina. I started the day with 2ºESO and I was quite surprised when i entered the class and saw one of the students making a Power Point Presentation about drinks and foods in USA. That was a change!!! 3ºESO started with another presentation about Galway, an Irish city where this boy has studied in an Jesuit College. The teacher said that the parent use to pay their children this type of experiences in order to improve their English and that the college will do not oppose the idea. Actually, Martina asked him to do this presentation instead of the English exam.
Then I entered a 4ºESO classroom. Martina teaches communicative skills in both 3º and 4º of ESO and the other teacher, Angélica, teacher reading and writing. They use the manual “Voices” from McMillan. These books have a “dialogue builder” part, where students are doing different types of exercises: ask &answer, wh-questions, useful expressions, prepare a new dialogue, practice your dialogue. Before that, they have been doing a “for and against essay”. IN 4ºESo they did some T/F exercises for listening comprehension and more dialogue builder exercises. In 2º Bachillerato Angélica presented to the class how to write an Application Form, a formal letter with its fixed structure and typical phrases. Unlike the little ones, these students were very noisy and rude sometimes. What most impressed me was the general idea from all these classes: they are more independent and they feel part of the teaching process. They are taught how to act in public (they have some class rules about how to speak in public, sticked on the walls), how to move, speak and articulate each word. They are allowed and taught to use the interactive board, and they can/must use personal PC in order to do their homework. They are taught to cope with different types of situations, their communication skills are quite good and they are conscious that they must learn a lot. They are almost grownups and some of them already know what University is going to enroll. Tomorrow I’ll teach my first class, in 6ºEPO. Keep in touch!
Today was a boring day: because of the rain, because of the review classes that started to bore me and because I had a lot of spare time and I couldn't do my best of it.
I have seen again lots of oral presentations, then more grammar review in 1º Bach. This teacher is so good!!! Angélica knows how to manage this students, which have such a difficult age, with such a difficult behaviour. She gets serious when talking about grammar, but she gives them a little time to joke and laugh when she thinks they need it.
I also talked with the headmaster and asked him some questions that i'll introduce in my final essay.
I finally did half an hour of my review class (because of the "interview"). I wasn't nervous at all, I prepared very well my class and revision classes are always easier than the first ones.
Sorry to be late! But since Friday I left school i didn't have the time to write here.
Friday was amazing! I had my first class teaching in 3º ESO, without preparation, without knowing it before, without materials, anything!!! So the teacher coulnd't make it for the second hour and the replacement teacher didn't know much English. So I took the book,I had a glance at the 2 pages and started the class!!! I was so unexpected!!! But I wasn't nervous at all, I just followed the same steps that the teacher did the day before with another group, same type of class (mine was how to write a webpage review). The students were collaborative, payed attention (although I didn't expect that) and worked very well.
There is something I learnt from the last class : 1º Bach. They were very noisy, talking all the time, laughing, disturbing the class. This is unconceivable in this school: order and silence must be above all. But this teacher, in this class allowed this to the students. After class, I asked her why did she do that. The answer was that they are almoust 18 years old, it's Friday at 3 o´clock, they had a 2 hours phylosophy exam; in addition, they are a very good group: even if they were talking and laughing, they were doing the exercises, were paying attention to the teacher, too; the students are hardworking, they always do their homework on time and never are disrespectful with the teacher. She also said that she never allows this type of behaviour with another class because of the same reasons.
In general, I enjoyed the experience, not only learning ways of teaching, methodology and types of activities, but also how to treat the students, taking into account not only my subject, but all the others from the curricula. I learnt that these teachers not only teach their subject, but also that they are a key factor in the education of the students. And above all, that a teacher must be a teacher in and outside the classroom(specially when you teach primary education :-).
14th February This day I was with 6º of primary, initially I thought to review the hours with them, but when I arrived the teacher told me: they had to do a drawing for a contest on peace, so really, I do not know why I went this day...
15th February First thing this day was with the class of 2nd secundary, and every Friday I'm going with this group, they made an examination of irregular verbs when we arrived and then returned to make a picture which gathers tenses, according to the professor, is the only way they would learn, make a test every Friday of it, is not productive this class, only examines again and again the same thing, I do not see any progress.
After that we were with 1st secunday I did a test on the unit 5, which is about animals, the test was very simple five questions and a listening exercirse. The other group of first will make the test on Monday, the day took the exam of irregular verbs, like every Friday, and the teacher told them to do activities on unit 6, meanwhile, I corrected the tests of the previous group.
I do not want to criticize the teacher, as she is responsible for the course and has to be so years, but I think the methodology is following: I give exam every Friday 20 verbs and so on, not having very good results among students, most of them know about the past tenses that most will not ever use, but then not know how to work or perform simple sentences using these verbs, they just have learned systematically to approve examining every Friday.
That day, I had a class with students of 3rd secundary of Physics and Chemistry in English, because the school is `` bilingual'' and is immersed in CLIL , they perform a didactic unit in English per year, I worked with the teacher of the subject, which she said to me I would read the texts function in English about some activities they would do, the group worked very well and I left pretty happy.
18th February This day I had to deliver a didactic unit of music (in English) to the teacher in charge of the subject, which will be taught at the end of the quarter, but for me, just wanted to undertake not to be present or take place, he gave me the material, and I follow his request.
In 1st secundary test we correct the previous Friday between all solved questions etc.
In the other first, they did the same test.
6th primary: the teacher told me I left with two performing pupils in the English class and review with them the basics, I did not like that let me know I was going to do that, if I had known, I had prepared activities at home and I had prepared myself, at least, looking at his book, but I arrived at the class and then told me I had no occasion to do that ...
19th February I was in the kind of science in 1st and 2nd primary, at first was about the weather and seasons, at second on the earth, the water cycle, etc., this is the only kind of CLIL in which I am really, and is the I like most
22nd February this was my last day at school. At 2nd secundary I corrected sentences with the students
At 1st secundary I conducted an exercise, which was:I gave them a song where missing words, we listened it 2 times and they filled the gaps, then I gave them to all the dictionaries and we translated and interpreted the song together, with the first group, this exercise it was chaotic and I felt that the group did not respect me, I gave up shame not to shut them up, but it is a very large group and where there are 3 or 4 students uncontrollable, the other group worked very well and I left satisfied.
The day finally came and I´ve started my practice period today. I was so excited! It was my first time in a Bilingual School. Well, I´ve been in an International School in Finland, but there the spoken language was English all the time, so it is not exactly the same.
I arrived to the school and the teachers of the English Department welcomed me very warmly. That fact has given me more confidence to start working with them. They are truly nice!
First of all, my supervisor teacher and I have been establishing the agreement in reference to the timetable and the subjects to coordinate ourselves and then we have started:
> English Lesson with the 6º Graders: The Reported Speech (Carmen)
First part of the lesson has been based on reading and listening comprehension. The teacher has read a text from the book and then she has asked some comprehension questions to the students, who had to reply aloud for the rest of the class.
The second part of the lesson has concentrated on Grammar. Today lesson was about the Reported Speech. The teacher has explained a couple of examples from the book about Reporting another person´ speech and then some students has written examples on the whiteboard.
Notes: I liked how they learn grammar by creating their own examples and by practicing themselves rather than by reading and making written exercises from the book.
> Sciences Lesson with the 6º Graders (Rosa)
The lesson has started with an ice-breaking exercise. Some students has been hiking and skiing at Sierra Nevada. The teacher asked them different routine questions about the trip, which they replied in very good English.
Then she has written some questions on the whiteboard and they had to reply quietly in their notebooks. In the meantime, she was taking students for an oral control. I´ve been helping students with their doubts and the questions aroused. It´s been fun!
Finally we´ve been debating on the questions in English. Later on, I´ve chosen a random student for bringing a film to watch in OV with English subtitles in class (they do once a semester). End of the lesson.
Notes: It was amazing to me the good level in English of the students, in general. They are very willing to talk and they do it quite naturally and fluently. That´s great imo!
...and tomorrow again! I´ll be writing the experiences by replying myself to this entry for having all the entries in one. Bye bye!
It is being a stressfull and complicated day today in the lessons. I´ve been in quite many: English 2º Middle School Graders (English & Cambridge) & 2º High School graders (English); 3º Middle School graders (Business Studies)
Mostly I´ve spent the day with the teachers Jº María and Rosa. As students are concentrated on their semester examinations, the lessons are quite focused on reviewing the contents of the units.
I like the way both teachers have to make it, because instead or repeating exercises and exercises, they just interact with students by practicing and asking them questions.
Note of the Day: I liked really much the fact they have a subject as an Introduction to Business World. That´s quite useful and motivating for them
I also liked really much they have Cambridge Preparation for the level examinations. They mostly review in class all those aspects that will be performing in the Cambridge exam. Today was a chapter from the Sherlock´s book (by A.C.Doyle)
Today has been a day of hard work at school. Students are starting the semester exams so the lessons have been going through them basically.
1º Middle-School English Lesson (Rosa). Irregular verbs exam consisting on a random list of about 13 irregular verbs and a past sentence to turn into negative and interrogative forms: "Our school won a prize last month"
Once all students finished the exam, the teacher and I have been reviewing their homeworks and they have been checked aloud in the classroom by the students. End of the lesson.
After that, I have been correcting the irregular verb exams. Marks are quite irregular among the students, but a great part of the students have past the exam with middle-high marks. The fail exams had quite lower marks.
Teacher has explained me that students who failed the exam are not taking very seriously the lessons. She told me even all effort in repeating and explaining the lessons is far from fruitful if students do not study at the end of the day.
2º Middle-school English lesson (Rosa). With the 2nd middle-school graders we have been correcting the exercises in the workbook about furniture and music styles and about quantifiers (a/ few, a/littel, a lot of, much, many, some, any, many, etc). Each students read aloud an exercise and then we were commenting them all together.
Rosa was making clarifitions in order to make easier and understandable the contents for the exam that will be next week. Students were quite nervous and reckless today.
Note. A method to calm students that the teacher uses is to, first to warn, if they continue disturbing then she notes them on a list and finally if they show really reckless she notify the faults to the tutor of that specific group of students. Normally the punishment is to send them to make an extra work to the library.
Then I have been helping Rosa to correct exams for "First" which were based on listening and reading comprehension and also general vocabulary and grammatical expresions. While I was correcting those, she were having oral exams with the graders.
Note. When any student needs extra help, teachers are used to take him or her to the English Department and to spend some time there by emphasizing the aspects the student needs to improve.
That´s all for today. Next day will be on Wednesday. Bye Bye!! xx
This is the last week for the final exams of the semester. Students are quite nervous and stressful so teachers try to maintain the calm into the classrooms by being more flexible with them and some of them let student part of the sessions for studying.
English, 2º Middle-School graders (Rosa)
The 2º graders were having their final English exam today so I was correcting some 5th Grade Primary Ed. exams while the teacher watcher the classroom over.
The exams I was correcting were squematic and basic English activities concentrated in visual understanding of images related to the unit vocabulary. There was two exercises of filling the gaps and one last one about replying personal questions.
Students showed weaker in this last part of the exam in general. The problem seemed to be the understanding of the interrogative pronouns. They didn´t match very well the answer with the question. Some of them just only. For example. In:
When did you go for holidays? --> *In Cádiz.
That was the most common mistake, but in general, the exams where pretty well.
Business Studies - 3º Middle-School graders (Jose Mª).
Students asked the teacher for letting them to study for their next Biology exams. The teacher and I were correcting together exams of High School students. That was nice because he was explaining me the points to take into consideration when you correct. That it is not only if the answer to be correct or not, bu the intention and the effort students make on their expression of the target language.
The questions were more related to reading comprehension and answering related questions to express themselves. 1º High School students have a very good level of English in written expression.
Cambridge - 2º Middle-School Graders -PET (Rosa).
This has been my first practical lesson. I´ve been taking care of the lesson the whole hour.
The task today consisted of Speaking practice. I´ve been giving the instruction to students (in English) about the PET test and then I´ve been interviewing one by one asking basic questions about:
-Daily routines -Plans for holidays -Habits & Hobbies. -Student context, etc.
I was surprised because of the great understanding of students when I formulated them the questions and their quick time for answering. Their interaction ability is really good in this grade and I´ve felt very comfortable teaching there.
Note. Every year students make a cultural exchange with british students coming to Córdoba and then they will visit UK this "Semana Santa" holidays. For now, they are getting excited with the trip about learning about british culture, food, monuments, traditions, folks and chatting via internet with their correspondant partners. That´s a nice idea to foster intercultural education and communication :)
We have been reviewing the main characteristics of the 3 periods of Prehistory: Paleolithic, Neolithic & Metal Age. For students to add positive points to their semester final marks, the teacher has been asking them questions out loud to those students which marks are on the edge of failing. The questions were: -Characteristics of Paleolithic. -Characteristics of Nelolithic. -Main facts or each age. -How did society live in those periods? -Characteristics of Metal Age. -What were the changes in society in that Era. -Vocabulary questions about agriculture & picking.
>> English, 1º ESO (Rosa)
Students have been doing listening activities about Home furniture, householding, prepositions and adjectives.
Then the teacher has been formulating comprehension questions about the listening and book activities correction.
Notes. 1. To reward good behaviours of students, teachers until 2º ESO grade they use the British system of "Housing" which consist on a chart on the wall with a house drawn in four colours. Each colour represent a group of students and they add points according to their behaviour. Teacher has explained me that they use those groups for meetings, gincanas, jaunts, etc.
>> Arts & Crafts, 2º EP (Claudia) -SPRING IS COMING
I´ve been for the first time in the subject of Arts & Crafts with the teacher Claudia. The second primary education graders and such a big group, about 25 students.
The contents of the book are in English but the teacher uses Spanish in her explanations for helping to the understanding. Students have a good level of L2 in general.
Today they have been drawing floral motifs related to spring season. Then the teacher has being selecting the drawins about "Semana Santa" that she will be using as a cover of the students activity notebook.
>> Sciences, 2º EP (Claudia) (Clase Práctica II) -MACHINES- Today we continued with the units of Technology, we´ve been reviewing last session contents: Computer and its parts.
Then I´ve explained the session of "Machines" to them. We have started by reading a shrt text accompained with images and charts about different simple and complex machines. Then I´ve been asking to the students about theri characteristics and what are they used for. I have given short explanations in English emphasizing the keywords in Spanish. I´ve got surprised about their good level of comprehension in English and in their disposition to participate actively in the lesson.
We have done an excersice of matching contents with their corresponding pictures. End of the lesson.
Note. 2. Teacher Claudia explained me the way they organize the lessons according to the Content teacher and the Language Teacher. They coordinate each other in order to teach in both lessons (the specific in Spanish & the English, for example Sciences) the exact contents and then to fuse units to make sense for students.
3. There is an Asperger´s synthoms student at the 2º EP classroom. Teacher explained me she search for different changing motivating methods to engage him in the learning and to have a good behaviour (he sometimes gets agresssive or anxious). Now she is using a system of rewarding in which each 3 points for good behaviour, she gives him a card of its favourite cartoons -- Previously agreement with his mother.
>> English, 1º EP (Mª Paz) 1º EP graders are a big group 28 students/class. First of all the teacher has introduced myself to children and then they have presented themselves with a song. We have been singing altogether a song about "Body Parts and adjectives". Then the teacher has written in the whiteboard 2 short texts about describing people with the helping of students. They had to copy the text and draw the corresponding person to the description. I´ve been helpin them to straight the writing lines.
Then the teacher and I have been distributing their dining uniforms, they have washed their hands with disinfectant and making rows, we have gone to the dining room.
The menu today was: -Mix of vegetables and eggs. -Steak. -Sugar Peach. -Chocolate milkshake.
I´ve been for the second time with the 6º Primary school graders. Honestly they are the classroom with the higher level of English I have attended, even better than some of the High School students.
I was surprised of the lesson they were taking. It was Assembly. The teacher was giving them some guidelines for starting next semester and giving advice about how to make a more organized agenda, to better employ their time with all activities they have to do either within and out of the school and to plan their hourse of daily study.
The suggestion of the teacher was creating a chart where they can write their daily activities. The lesson was carried out completely in English all the time and the students explained their questions and doubts in a very good English. (Those students really participate actively in trying their best by practicing spoken English in the classroom).
At the end of the lesson the teacher asked how many students would start the plan. Some of them shared their ideas about how to make it and to adapt to themselves.
The teacher told them she would reward those students who would take part of the activity by giving an extra point in the group "House" (it´s the hourse reward system I explained in the last entry)
>> English 3º ESO - José Mª
As some of the students were doubtful about some of the exercises of the past exam and a high number of them failed partially of the exercises, the teacher agreed in correcting those "weaker" examination activities today.
We re-corrected three tasks: 1º Filling the gaps with modal verbs (must, have to, might, should, etc). 2º In a text, choosing from the 3 options which verb tense fits better with the sentence. The teacher emphasized again the main aspects to take into account before choosing the correct answer. 3º Filling the gaps with gerunds.
Note. The teacher uses the ipad and the proyector to facilitate the comprehension by proyecting the activities in the whiteboard. In this sense, the students get engaged to the task and can adapt it to their visual necessities.
2. The teacher told me that they have efforted very much for the exam, but there are some aspects they have not mature to finally comprehend to make the exercises properly. He told me the level of the class is quite good in general, so when they behave well he reward them by proyecting a film in English to motivate them. Then they have to work after the film in a comprehension activity or a summary.
We have been doing pretty the same with 2º Bach. The exercises were obviously more complex.
1º Complete with defining and non defining sentences.
2º Write sentences in formal and non formal style.
3º Reported Speech sentences.
Again we have been using ipad to correct the exercises.
I like the lessons of Chema, his English is great and he transmits really good vibes to students, so it is quite easy for them to follow his explanations. He knows what students like and how to motivate them so he uses technological resources to make the lessons easier and uses real and close examples for them to comprehend what he means.
Note. He has created his own interactive book for the subject "English Literature". Through the ipad, he can jump from one unit to other easily according to the interest of the students. In his book he uses current information about films, pictures, authors related to literature (p.e. He showed me the unit about Lewis Carroll and his "Alice in Wonderland" by making references not only to Carroll, but also relating the topic to Tim Burton and its cinematographic adaptation, Disney, etc)
>> Cambridge 2º ESO (Rosa)
Today we have dedicated the lesson to reading a chapter of the adaptation book Sherlock Holmes for their next exam. Each student read a part of the chapter, correcting pronuntiation and meaning of some words and the mmaking some comprehension activities (filling the gaps & finding mistakes in a text). Then we have established the date of the exams for English & Sherlock´s book.
Students were really reckless and revolutionated at the beginning of the lesson (we even had to write some names on the library list*)
We have been reviewing the "Past Continous" by doing oral exercises. The teacher has asked some questions of the kind: -What were you doing this morning? -Were you sleeping two hours ago? -What was Mary doing last weekend? -ETC.
Then we have reforced the understanding of the tense by making a listening about the "White House & USA´s President Barack Obama". We have been answering comprehension questions to the text and doing activities of filling the gaps of the past continuous related to text and vocabulary.
Note. *The library list is a paper where students punctually behaving badly during the lessons are writen there and sent to the library to do some extra work or to reflect.
>> Arts & Crafts 2º EP (Claudia)
Spring came! We have been working in two different activities:Drawing a poppy and a rose following a pattern and a free style drawing about spring flowers. Students were working in those drawings they did not finish in the last sesión.
In the meantime, the teacher and I were preparing the materials for the following craft: making a coloured cardboard snail.
We have given the students a paper stick of green and yellow cardboard and then we have been helping them to make the shape of the snail Shell, the antennas, etc. We have decorated the classroom with the final snails. They have done a really lovely work!
>> Sciences 2º EP (Claudia) - (III Practical Lesson)
I taught the sciences lesson today. We have started a new unit: Transports.
I wanted to concentrate the first part of the lesson on spoken abilities through discussion, interaction and answering of questions. So the first we have done has been describing the picture of a port with different means of transports and people there.
I have ask them to describe the transport they could see, to tell what they are used for and how they travel, to think about the transports in their city, etc.
The second part of the lesson we have been Reading some information about means of transport, we have been highlighting the important terms and solving doubts about vocabulary and pronuntiation (specially with the Word “bus”).
I´ve felt really amazed of how well students, such Young-aged, are able to understand and interact in English without the necessity of recurring to Spanish during the main part of the explanations.
>> History 2º ESO (Rosa) - (IV Practical lesson)
Middle Age: Religious hierarchy; peasants: serfs & freemen; Trade in the Middle Age.
We have been Reading the content texts about different aspects related to the Middle Age. The expression and vocabulary were complex and very specific so we have been Reading carefully and explaining the main ideas, solving doubts and translating the difficult vocabulary.
After that, we have been completing one oral exercise about serfs and freemen and I have aroused some questions about the contents learnt about the unit. Finally, we have been discussing about life nowadays and back in the Middle Age, and they have been reflecting about the improvements in living aspects so far.
This sadly has been my last day in the school and the day has been truly complete and stressful.
>> English 2º ESO (Rosa) (V Practical Lesson)
I have been taking control of the class today. Students are really excited with their English exchange partners that came last Monday to spend the week here.
I have been using this matter to discuss a little bit with students and to practice some oral skills. Some of the students show more shy when it comes to talk, but other are quite willing to interact and to tell the others about their experiences.
The level of English of the 2º ESO classroom is, in general, quite good. The average among them is a B1 so we can carry the lessons is a fluid English without much problem.
After discussing, we have been practicing the vocabulary and expression of the units by working in some exercises that we have corrected aloud. It´s been fun! :)
>> Business Studies 3º ESO (José María) (VI Practical lesson)
At the beginning of the lesson the teacher and I have been highlighting some principal terms to remember for the students to be able to understand the lesson of today: Revenue, profits, sales, average costs, overheads.
I´ve taken care of the lesson. We have been Reading carefully the information given in the book and the students have been participating by explaining with their own words the contents, then we have translated the text and clarifying the doubts about formulas, expressions and vocabulary.
>> English 2º Bach. (José Mª) (VII practical lesson)
TYPES OF CONDITIONAL
We have been reviewing the different types of expressing conditional sentences in English. We have been writing the formula of the four types on the whiteboard and them practising with exercises in the book. Then we have corrected them aloud.
The level of fluency in English of the Upper-Secondary graders is quite lower to the younger students. The background of these students is different to the other students because while the Young students have grown in this bilingual environment, they have acquired the level at school whereas the older students have incorporated to the bilingual school recently, so their adaptation to the English environment is slower.
>> Cambridge 2º ESO (Rosa)
Students are preparing the KET and PET examinations, so the teacher has broadcasted from youtube some videos showing examples about how to face the test. The videos were about, in case of KET students reply easy questions about day-to-day experiences whereas PET assessment is based on communication and interaction talking about normal speech talking about their daily lives.
After the videos, some questions about differences between the Trinity and Cambridge examinations have been aroused by the students and the teacher has been clarifying them.
I think it is fundamental for them to get ready for those exams and to have a previous complete information about what kind of test they have to face and how they need to approach the contents and their abilities for doing their best in the exams.
...and that was all. I really enjoyed the practice period. I have felt very comfortable and happy in this school and the treatment of the teachers and students has helped me to get motivated in the lessons, so the experience has been just great! :)
Today was my first day in Salvador Vinuesa. It is a huge public school because it has three different classes per course. I had been there some days ago to keep in contact with them, specifically with the deputy head and eventually, she accepted me in the school pleasantly. They have the bilingual program in the first, second and third courses of the Primary Education and I will be doing my internship in two different classes of the first course of Primary. I will be with a teacher called “Teresa”, she is at the same time the content teacher in “Science” subject and language teacher in “English” subject of her class. In addition, she teaches “Science” in another class of first course of Primary. Teresa introduced me to the pupils as the “new” teacher. The children were quite excited and they liked the idea of having a new teacher. Teresa had prepared some activities to introduce a new unit in Science: “The seasons and the months of the year”, so she explained to me all the activities and I taught my first lesson. I used a cardboard where the four seasons where drawn and I said the name in Spanish and then in English, the pupils repeated with me. Besides, they said in Spanish some characteristics of each season. We have to bare in mind that in some cases in a CLIL context we have to respect their mother tongue. Then, I had some labels with the name of the season in English and they had to stick them with blue tag under every season. I chose the children at random but I told them before that they had to raise their hand to participate. We repeated this at least four times that the most of the children participated and they had a clear idea of the contents. Another activity that I taught was the months of the year. First of all, they said in Spanish and then I put it on the blackboard in English. They repeated with me several times. Then, we matched each month of the year with its season. This activity was a bit hard for them but when I said some characteristics of them it was easier. For instance, Teacher: In August, it is very, very hot. We go to the beach or swimming pool. What season is? Pupils: Summer. In some cases I did the main actions like “hot” or “cold” to represent the main seasons and months. I ended up the lesson doing some listening exercises of the book. I taught the same lesson in another class of the first course of Primary. Children in both classes gave me some pictures of mine. I felt extremely happy because at the beginning of the class I was a bit nervous but then, they left. I was becoming more and more self-confident. Today was brilliant and was only the first day! I’m quite glad to be there and I’d like to continue teaching more lessons like today.
Today I was in Science but the class wasn’t in the bilingual program, it was in Spanish. Teresa was teaching the pupils some characteristics and peculiarities of the water and air in the first course of Primary, but it wasn’t in her tutorial class, it was in the other class of first course where she normally teaches Science in Spanish and also in the bilingual program. After the explanation of the contents, the pupils did some activities related with the unit. Today I didn’t teach anything, however, I was helping the students with their homeworks, if they didn’t understand the concepts I explained again what the teacher said and finally I corrected their activities. In another session, we did an unexpected activity with the children. Two of them with special needs had to go with the specialist teacher and she had prepared “Tadeo Jones” film for them. Teresa and the specialist teacher decided that all the children from the class could watch the film together if they had a good behaviour in class. So, they were really excited and they loved it.
Javier, in this day I wasn't in any bilingual class. I was in Science but in Spanish. However, the day before I was teaching Science in the bilingual program. I think I didn't mention that the 5th of March I taught Science in the bilingual program. Sorry I forgot.
Today I’ve learnt a lot because an American auxiliary teacher, Laura was teaching Science in the bilingual program. She taught the same in two different classes of the first course of Primary “places where we can find water”. She showed some flashcards with pictures and she insisted in the pronunciation of some of them that appeared for instance; “snow” or “ice” and the children had to repeat too. Then she explained the three states of water; “solid”, “liquid” and “gas”. She wrote them in the blackboard and drew an example of one of them. After that, she chose some children at random if they raised their hand. They drew more examples of the three states. Finally, they did a worksheet. I didn’t participate today I just observed. However, I was paying attention at Laura’s pronunciation of the words and the way she taught the lesson to the pupils. From my point of view, to have an auxiliary teacher helps the children a lot in their pronunciation they receive a good input of the language and they are completely immersed.
Today the children did a Science exam but not from the bilingual program. It was in Spanish and it was related to water. In another class of first course of Primary, Teresa taught what was a landscape in Science. They said what they thought and in some cases I laughed a lot. They had too much creativity. They also were taught the difference between a natural an artificial landscape. They said some examples of each one. Then, they did some activities related to what they had learnt. I helped them in some activities and I felt they were getting more confidence with the lesson. In the English class, Teresa showed them some animals with flashcards, they had to repeat their name. After that, they had to draw them, colour and put the animal’s names. In addition, Teresa taught the structure “I can see a…” and they had to complete in their notebook with all the animals they had learnt. I was also helping the children in this class. Every day, at the end of all the classes and before they go home. Teresa gives three different medals (gold, silver and bronze) according to their attitude in class. They are extremely excited at this moment and everyone wants a medal. It is a reward of their effort and they are quite glad when they get one of them. It is a good way to raise their motivation and to improve their behaviour in class.
14th March In this day, the children were taught in Science but in Spanish the difference between a natural landscape and a man-made landscape. Teresa showed some examples of each ones and they had to say if there were natural or man-made. In addition, the students said more examples of each one. Finally, they did an activity from the book about this. In the English lesson, the pupils did an English exam, it was about animals. I wasn’t exposed to CLIL in this day. However, Teresa said to me that if I would like to prepare a lesson about the same she explained in Science class but in English. I totally agreed with her. So I had to prepare the next session for the bilingual program.
19th March In this day, I felt really useful in class due to I taught the Science lesson for the bilingual program. I prepared some flashcards with some features of the natural landscape and the man-made landscape. I began the lesson introducing the word “landscape” and they had to copy in their notebooks and write their meaning that I also said. Later, I divided the blackboard in two parts. On the right, I wrote man-made landscape and on the left natural landscape. I translated the new terminology in Spanish and they had to tell me some features of each one in English. After that, I showed them some flashcards and they had to tell me if it was a natural or a man-made landscape and some features that appeared in it. I chose some pupils at random and they had to put the flashcard in the correct place of the blackboard. Then, I also chose some students at random and they had to draw in the blackboard some features of the natural or man-made landscape. The class ended up with an activity, in this one they had to copy and draw in their notebook what we had been seeing in the blackboard. I also repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary.
20th March In this day, the students of first course of Primary were in the theatre. They saw a musical so when they returned they were quite excited and restless. In the rest of the classes Teresa taught them Maths in Spanish. The concepts of “outside” Vs “inside”, “near” Vs “far”. They were doing some activities from their book and they also did some sums. I didn’t teach anything in these classes but I was helping the students in their exercises and correcting their activities so I wasn’t bored at all.
21st March In this day, the “auxiliary teacher”, Laura came to first course of Primary, she taught Science of the bilingual program specifically the “coastal landscapes”. She showed through flashcads some new vocabulary such as “cliffs”, “harbour”, “island”, “beach”. She repeated a lot these new words and the children too. In addition, she paid so much attention in the pronunciation of them. The activity that she prepared was a “bingo”. She gave each pupil a card with some new names that we’ve seen during the lesson and others that we saw in other lessons. At the beginning they were quite motivated. However, Laura repeated this activity three times and they got bored because some of the words were pretty difficult for them. The lesson finished with an interactive activity called “Simon says”. The students had to do only when Laura said “Simon says…”. They were more motivated with this activity because they almost understood the vocabulary and they had to do movements. I didn’t teach in this lesson because it was Laura’s time to teach. She only came once a week but I think it’s quite good for improving pupils’ pronunciation due to she is American. I was just listening to her. In my opinión, it was useful for me too. Laura repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary and I was there too.
Dear all, Today has been my first training day. From 9:00 to 10:00 I translated to the headmistress an email from an American citizen who wants to enroll in my training school next year. Initially, I was said that I was going to attend an English class in 3º de la ESO but, given that most of the students had to re-sit a Math exam, the English teacher asked me to do some translation stuff for the headmistress. From 10:00 till 10:30 I joined the 5º de primaria class. Here the students were taking an oral exam in which they have to translate some irregular verbs (just present and past forms) and some expressions already seen on the unit. Students were quite bored since they spent most of the class listening to their peers’ answers. From 10:30 until 11:30 I attended a 6º de primaria English class. There were a bunch of boys who were quite disruptive and annoying. But on the whole students behaved themselves. The English class was quite good. First of all, they started with an ice-breaker to later continue with some grammar explanations (control practice) and to finally end with an oral free practice. Students’ level of English is great. I would say: awesome! From 12:00 till 12:30 I was with these kids too. They had what is called “communication skills”. This is a preparatory class for taking Cambridge exams (This class is mandatory for all students whether or not they want to take the Cambridge exam or not). Unfortunately, the teacher was attending a group of British students who were visiting the school facilities. Therefore, these 6º de primaria students continued watching a film (‘Pirates of Caribbean’) in English with subtitles. Finally from 12:00 till 13:20 I was in a 2º de bachillerato class. Contrary to 6 de primaria, these students’ level of English is too poor. The reason why it is this way is because they all come from different schools. Finally I would like to say that the three teachers with whom I spent the morning are highly qualified, not to mention their level of English.
Dear all, Today it wasn’t as exciting as other days because I didn’t teach any lesson. I was just observing and helping the children in their activities. In Science class in Spanish (not of the bilingual program) Teresa was explaining the coastal landscapes and reviewing other types of landscapes such as mountainous or flat for the following day because the children will have an exam. The Science exam will consist on some Spanish questions about the contents and the last activity will be in English. They will have to draw some examples of natural or man-made landscapes that I had already taught and then write their names. This will be the only activity in English. I think that’s good for them because they’re getting used to daily routine words. In English class Teresa introduced new members of the family through the cassette listening to a song. It was rhythmical and catchy so they learnt the vocabulary quite fast singing the song several times.
9:00 to 10:00. English, 3º de ESO. The very best I can say of this class is the book they use. Please, if you have the chance, have a look at this book: "Advanced Real English" by Charlotte Addison and Ryan Norcott (Burlington Books). There are four levels which correspond to each ESO level. These books contain a lot of cultural stuff, CLIL activities, idioms, pronunciation activities, photo discussions... you name it!
10:00 to 11:00. English, 1º de ESO. It was all about reading a book; in fact, two chapters. Students took turns to read and as they read they asked the teacher for clarification of some terms or expressions. I would like to point out that the book was an abridge version for B1 students!!
11:00 to 12:20. Science, 4º de EP. In pairs students explained their peers the PowerPoint presentation they did at home. Good stuff, mostly it was written in English and because it included feedback activities, but still too much reading on the students' side.
12:20 to 13:20. Communication Skills, 2º ESO. Students watch a video on youtube about the oral part on Cambridge and Trinity exams. The teacher reassured them and gave them a piece of advice.
Hi again! I've just realised that my name on each entry is "what a nice day!". Well, I think I have sorted it out but, in any case, I'm Pilar Rodríguez. Cheerio!
Today most of the students were at the theatre. Therefore, there wasn't much to do there so I have spent most of the morning looking through some books, trying to find some CLIL activities for the didactic unit.
I have also been in a Science class in 2º de EP. I must admit that students’ English level is great. The teacher allowed me to teach half of the lesson for what I’m really grateful to her.
I would also like to say that, to me, in this school students are very talkative!
The others days I published in the wrong place, so I copied what I have written. In addition, I have written my last days in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I apologize for the mistake.
Hello everybody!
The Tuesday, 5th March was my first day in Sto.Trinitarios School, which is a concerted school where the students wear uniforms. It was a very enjoyable day. I arrived there at 9:00 o’clock and I met the English teacher, Carmen, and she showed me the classes and the lessons I was going to teach. I was going to teach English in 1st and 2nd of Primary Education. I worked with children of six, seven and eight years old. In class they speak Spanish and English; it depends according to the level and the students. This first day was an introductory day and I just met the students. I helped them supervising their work, and improving their English. In 1st of Primary Education they have worked with the activity book. In the 2nd course is the same method but with a different unit and more complex vocabulary. We’ve listened to songs in English, while the students did exercises. The teacher is a good person, she has a very good English pronunciation and she has a good organization of the class. The behavior of the children is good. The level of English of these children is amazing. I worked with them in the didactic unit about toys. They used rich vocabulary like marbles, doll, plane, computer-games... using it in several funny activities. To finish the class and make it more fun we did a game where we worked with the vocabulary of the unit and we also reviewed pronunciation. It was a very special day. Next week I'm going to see other classes.
Bye!
Hello everybody!
The Monday, 11th of March 2013 was my second day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I accompanied the English teacher of Primary Education from 9:00 to 12:00 in their respective classes. Today I was in the 1st and 2nd grade of primary education. I've been in 2nd grade B and A. We had class of knowledge of the environment, which is taught in English. They studied plants reproduction. They have learnt vocabulary such as shrubs, trees and lawns. To liven the class up we did an experiment with glasses of water, celeries and colors such as red, yellow and blue. The purpose was to see if the celery was colored or not. In this week they have also seen their plants have grown lentils. Their enthusiasm was reflected in their faces. In 1st A I’ve worked a new teaching unit: parts of the house and possible dangers (plugs, fire, etc.). We have also reviewed prepositions through exercises of the activity book. We worked vocabulary such as: kitchen, plug, fire pot, bedroom, etc.. Other routines remain the same as always, for example, singing a song in English at the beginning and at the end of the class. The teacher name a leader of the class that changes every day who says the date of the day and what the weather is like, always in English. At the end of the class and in order to make it more entertaining we usually play games with which we work the vocabulary of the unit and review pronunciation.
The Tuesday, 12th March was my third day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I accompanied the English teacher in the classes of 1st and 2nd grade of primary education. The first two hours were in 2nd grade A and B. Today, in both classes, while the teacher was remembering some concepts of the unit seen in previous classes, such as prepositions and toys, and asking them to do some exercises from the work book, I've been explaining to two children who were missing the previous days the review of the unit. It is also true that these children had more difficulties than the rest of the class in all subjects, but especially in English. I worked with them the numbers, colors and the food. Once again I have proven that with hard work anything can be achieved, since they first seemed not to have learnt anything in class, but when they performed the exercises they did very well. I loved helping them and seeing how they progressed. At the third hour I've been in 1st grade A, where we reviewed several concepts such as prepositions and numbers from 1 to 20, among others, by some exercises from the workbook. At the end of the class we played a game using the vocabulary and numbers studied.
That's all for today. Good day!
Hello everybody!
The Monday and Tuesday, 18th and 19th of March, were my fourth and fifth day of practices in the school Sto. Trinitarians. Both days I helped the teacher to evaluate the students speaking skill. I was two days evaluating the students since it was the last week before Easter and they did not have yet the speaking mark. The students came individually to the teacher’s desk and I explained them the questions they had to answer. I assessed their answers giving them one point, half a point or zero points. I paid attention to the vocabulary they used related to the units studied during the second term. In the second cycle I evaluated the rules and the parts of the house, I asked them whether they lived in a flat or in a house and we worked the prepositions from questions I asked them such as “Where is the book” and they had to say “The book is on the table”. In the 1st grade I used the same method, but this time the evaluation was different. I looked at basic prepositions (on/under/behind), vocabulary about toys (marbles, doll, train, ball, etc.), vehicles with wheels and numbers from 1 to 20. It was a great experience since the level of the students was quite good and, although some of them got distracted easily, they succeeded answering my questions. The most difficult part for most of them was the use of the correct preposition and the caution rules we must have at home. Definitely, both the teacher and I ended really happy with the knowledge adquired by the students this term.
Hello everybody! The Tuesday, 2th April, was my sixth day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians. In the first class in 2nd grade A, I worked with a student who could not do the dictation the previous day. I evaluated him through a listening activity where I described several pictures and he had to put them in order. The vocabulary used was according to the studied units: clothes, toys, food, parts of the body, colours, etc. In addition, in both classes we studied the parts of a school: playground, teachers’ room, computers’ room, library… In 1st grade we worked with the first unit planned for the third term: the family. In the three classes I explained several activities they had to do in their activity book and the teacher wrote all the new vocabulary on the blackboard so that the students could copy it in their notebooks.
That's all for today. Next week more and better news. Thank you! Have a good day!
In this day, I was helping the children in some activities of Maths and correcting their mistakes. In addition, Laura (the American auxiliary teacher) came to a first course of Primary and she taught some parts of the face like “mouth”, “ears”, “eyes” or “nose”. She gave a worksheet with a face and they had to draw the parts of the face that Laura said. For instance, “you have to draw one yellow eye”. At the end of the class, they played the game “Simon says…” with the parts of the face that they had been working. In my opinion, it is good to finish the class with a game because they feel more tired and with this activity they are playing and at the same time they are learning.
Last Friday I completly forgot to post in the blog. Anyway, there isn't much to say really. Most of the students had an exam and others went to the theatre.
I spent most of the time having a look at the wide range of teaching resources this school has. Honestly, I have never seen a school with so many books, posters, films, interactive DVDs... you name it!
As for today, I have been in class in which students have taken a Science exam. Most of the questions were easy. I mean those which say... Choose the correct answer... Label the picture... and that kind of stuff. But others were complex like: What is a tributary? What is a river? We are talking about 3º de primary. Moreover, fast finishers had to write a summary about the unit or simply draw something related to the unit and write the name of each particular drawing. Isn't it great?
The rest of the day was much of what I have already posted so I think we can call it day.
Dear classmates, The last Wednesday 3rd March was my first day in El Carmen school. I have to say that due to personal reasons I will go to school from Wednesday to Friday every weeks. I arrived the school at 9 o’clock and looked for my tutor, Miriam, who received me gratefully. The children of second course were entering the classroom and all of them were happy to see a new teacher in their classroom. After 5 minutes, Miriam introduced me to another teacher called Juan with whom I will be every Wednesday for 2 hours in the Science lessons in first course of Primary Education. So I was in this class for the first two hours of the morning where I could observe how Juan carried out the lesson. Then, he told me that I would give the class the next Wednesday. For it, he borrowed me some books: two books about Science and another two books of contents of Maths, Science and Language. I was two more hours with Miriam giving English lessons in two groups of second course of Primary Education. I introduced the fourth unit called "The house" using some home-made flashcards to introduce the new vocabulary. For the last hour of the morning I was in another English class of third course of Primary in this case, with another teacher called Inma. It was a class about animals and I could notice some methodological differences between the way of teaching of both teachers Miriam and Inma. And that was all! Thanks!
Hello everybody! I'm going to continue narrating you the course of my second and third days in El Carmen school:
Thursday 4th March
According to my schedule, on Thursdays I enter the school at 10 o'clock. The first class of the day was in a class of 3rd course of Primary with Inma. It was quite similar to the last class of the previous day (animals). The teacher gave a big input of vocabulary to the students and some of the words were unknown to them. She asked me to read all the words aloud to the students so that they know how these words are pronounced, and after have repeated each word with me, the students copied the new vocabulary in their notebooks. They also wrote the meaning of each word next to it. I could make some reflections about the different methodologies that I can observe from different teachers, for example, in Miriam's class the students never copy the new vocabulary the first day that it is introduced. Maybe the methodology that Inma applies would be more appropriate in higher courses. The second class that I attended was in Pre-school Education, where I only observed the performance of the lesson. Children didn't use to pay much attention because of their ages. And the last lesson of the morning was in second course. I met a girl with special educative needs, in fact, I have known some students with this kind of needs in the different classes that I attend and it is gratifying for me helping them. The students were doing exercises about parts of the house.
Friday 5th March On Fridays, I enter the school on 12 o'clock so I can only attend two English classes in second course. I had prepared the next session and I gave the lesson on my own. I added three words more after have reviewed the vocabulary orally. Then, I introduced the grammar structure of "Where is...?" and the prepositions: in, on, under, next to and in front of. We practised the vocabulary, the grammar structure and the prepositions using the poster of the unit. Finally, the students copied from the blackboard all what they had learnt in the lesson.
Firstly, I have to say that I was wrong when I wrote the date of the three days that I have written until now, because I wrote March instead of APRIL.
Today, I have given the science lesson that I had prepared before. It was in first course of Primary Education in the bilingual program. I'm happy with the result because everything was how I expected: at the beginning we did some mental calculus orally, then we did two listening activities about Coastal Landscapes, then we made differences between Coastal and mountainous landscapes (they had learnt the mountainous landscapes in the previous session) and then they copied what they had learnt in this session in their notebooks. The next class was in third course of Primary, where I had to take the control of the class because the teacher, Miriam, couldn't come with me due to she had to stay in another classroom where there wasn't a teacher for Religion. To be alone in a class would have been stressful for me some days ago, but now I realise that it is not a problem for me. And that's all because today I had to leave the school earlier.
I have been in a English class in 3º EPO for the first hour, where I've been observing how the teacher gave the lesson. The second class of the day was in pre-school. The teacher has told me that she carries out the method "Jolly Phonics" and she has explained to me in which this method consists. During the class I have been analysing the way in which she gives the class taking into account what the teacher had just explained to me about the method. And to close the morning I have been in one of the classes of second course of Primary, where I am teaching the unit 4: "the house". Today the students weren't so attentive as other days so I had to do an extra-effort to maintain the order in class.
there isn't much to say about the last Friday 12th April because according to my schedule I only had to attend two classes and in addition,last Friday some teachers from CLC went to school to give an animation in class. So while I was doing a listening in second course, a teacher entered the classroom and taught some vocabulary about animals in an active way. In the second and last class of the morning, we reviewed orally all what I have taught in the unit until now: vocabulary of the house, prepositions and grammar structures and then we played the famous game "I spy" to practice the vocabulary. Miriam, the teacher, needed half an hour of the class time to work on a comic with the children, so that was all.
This morning has been my first day in Seneca school. I began at 8 a.m with Charo, one of the English teachers, in a 3rd ESO class and later in a 2nd ESO class. Even we have been working in differents degrees the methodology was similar; first she did a little reminder of what they have been working the previous session. In 3rd A, she explained the first conditional and then we checked the homework which was about phrasal verbs. The students behaviour in this classroom was quite fine, all of them were attentive and show interest, but they didn´t speak in english, all the doubts and sugestion were made using Spanish. In the 2nd A, they have been reviewed the future (Will, going to and present continuous), then I checked the homework.The behaviour of the pupils wasn´t good, they were talking all the time, without paying attention and almost half of them had forgotten the book at home.
The next hour was very exciting for me, because it was in a 1st EPO class and I have never been working with students of primary. The subject was Conocimiento del medio and it was teaching following CLIL methodology. Juan, the teacher, uses english all the time as well as the children and this impress me because they are really communicative and they use more english than pupils older. The topic of the unit is the town and the city; first they have done some excercise in the book, after we have played to a mime game in which they have to represent the words that Juan and me said (for example: traffic policeman, fisherman...)To finish, Juan take a tennis ball and they have to throw it one another and say a word related with the unit.
To finish the day, I assisted to a 1st ESO class with my supervisor teacher, Juan. Juan has explained the difference between there is/there are/ there was/ there were.Then we have done a reading and after that, the students have answered some questions related to the text. To finish we have checked some homework. The students are not allowed to speak in Spanish so all was in English, and the level in general was good.
11th April 2013. Hello everyone! Today it has been my first day at school : “Trinitarios”. I wasn´t very nervous because I have worked with children however I wanted to start because I have never been working in a private school and that was new to me. I have met my practicum´s tutor, Carmen. She is very friendly and hard-working and she has explained to me the school system, the classes organization… I am going to be with her in all my practices period so I am going to teach English and Science (the only subject of the bilingual program). The groups which Carmen teaches are 1sta a, 1st b and 2nd a, 2nd b of Primary Education. Today I have met three of the four groups. Children are very hard-working and polite. Their level of English is quite good. Their pronunciation is excellent. I get amazed because in the other schools in which I have been teaching the level was worse. Today I have been observing the classes but I have participated in the plays. The three groups have been very participative and most of them aren´t afraid of speaking English. I like it! It has been wonderful to observe how children are able to understand English explanations. It has been a wonderful experience .Tomorrow I will come back to the school!
12th April 2013. Hi!! Today it has been my second day at school. I have been working together my tutor, Carmen. The first class starts with the routine dialogue: “It´s English time so let´s sing the Hello song: hello, hello, hello, hi, hi, hi, hello, hello, hello, hi, hi, hiiiiiiii! Everyday Carmen choose a pupil who is the responsible of the day. Carmen asks to the responsible:” Who is missing today?” and “what´s the weather like today?”. Later the students continue with the routine dialogue and sing the following song: “There are seven days in a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday and suuuuuuuuuuuuuunday”. Pupils enjoy with the routine dialogue, they sing and answer to the teacher´s question in all the situations. Carmen asks me to do a warning up, I do a sumarize from the last class. In 1º A, in Science they are learning the different types of plants. I work with flashcards of images and words. We do a lot of plays because learning and playing is compatible. In both classes we do the same, when we start the English lesson I perceive that the structure is the same, the teacher works with flashcards and she is very communicative. Children continue participating and their pronunciation is perfect. In the English class children is learning the parts of the house: living room, dining room, bathroom… Working in this school is wonderful because children are hard working and polite. However en 2º A there is a children who doesn’t pay attention and disturb the class all the time although he is hard working too. Next Monday I will back to the school!
Last Friday was different than any other day because I was said to take control of the class in 1º de la ESO. As soon as the class began a boy hit a girl's eye with his jersey. Consequently, it really inflamed. The teacher left with this girl and came back when the class was finished just to get her stuff. I simply did what the teacher told me to do. I corrected the activities. They had to correct 4 pages!
Then I continued in 2º de bachillerato. They finished the book last week and now it is all about correcting selectividad samples.
Next hour I was in 5º de primaria. Here the students had a list of irregular verbs, just present and past, and they had to write sentences with this verbs in affirmative, negative and interrogative form; both in present and past tense and using different personal pronouns.
Finally, I had a little break and went back into 5º de primaria class. This time they had Science. Here students were asked to do a mind map about the unit to later continue with some activities they corrrected at the end of the class.
After attending all these school lessons, I would say that the implementation of the bilingual program in this school is all about changing the language since there is nothing new on the way lessons are taught and neither on the content. There is just a difference in the content but it is in the Cambridge preparation course that takes place in this school.
Hello everyone! Today it has been my first class in bilingual education. In the Salvador Vinuesa C.E.I.P. bilingualism is implanted in the first, second and third grade and each of the lines of each course (there are three lines in first, in second there are four and third there are three). The teacher that I have been assigned to , Mª José, is tutor of 1st B and teacher of Science at 2 ° A and 2 ° D. As in all bilingual school there is a native teacher, Laura, who teaches an hour weekly to each of the bilingual lines. At the beginning of the morning we have done the daily routine in which I have asked them how they were, what was the weather like, the alphabet and today's date. Then we have read the text in the book (I first and then some volunteers) related to the mountainous landscapes and, following the teacher's methodology, I have asked them to translate aloud and to copy the vocabulary in the notebook in order to study at home (Mountainous landscapes, valley, lake an mountain range). I then,have asked them to do the first exercise which was to write the order (number) in which I was reading the words river, valley, lake, forests and mountain range. Finally, I have asked them to do the exercise number two, which was a drawing which should be coloured but before coloring I have asked them to point in the picture what I was saying.
Today it has been my second day in the school. The first two hours I have been working with my supervisor teacher in a 1st ESO and a 2nd ESO course. To begin with in the class of 1st A we have been reviewing what we taught yesterday (there is, there are...), then we gave a sheet to the pupils which they had to complete immediatly. While the students completed the sheet, we were correcting some exams and the results were quite bad. To finish, we corrected the sheet.
The next hour it was in 2nd ESO, we have given the students a sheet with questions like fill the gap,put sentences in the right order, choose the correct word, explain pictures... This questions were related with the song Hall of Fame, sung by The script. We put the youtube video of the song twice, but we realized that it was necessary to listening to a couple of times more. Then we corrected the questions.
To finish the day I have assisted to a 1st EPO science class. As in the other class, they were learning a unit related with the town and the city. First they completed a sheet, then the teacher showed them some flashcards which follow a story, the kids told me the story like it was a tale. The last ten minutes were employed in learning new food vocabulary, so the pupils were asked to say what were their favourite food and what food they dont like it at all.
15th April, 2013 Today is my third day at school. I know how the teacher organizes the classes so I have collaborated in the four lessons of the day. Pupils have to pass four tests: Speaking, writing, listening and reading. Today I have helped Carmen to do the speaking test of science. Pupils have to do the speaking test of the plants. In 1º A children answered all the questions perfectly however in 1ºb some pupils have got some problems for speaking in English. Carmen asks me to help children when they have got problems with speaking in English and they can do it in Spanish because the test is of Science and it is most important that children know the contents that the use of English in the subject. I have never done speaking tests to children of 6-7 years old and I am really interesting in doing it in my future so this day has been very positive for my future experiences. Bye bye !!
This is my penultimate day at the school and I must admit that, after having attended most of the classes from primary level to bachillerato, CLIL program works. However, in mi opinion, there is still a long way to go. Honestly, this program requires a lot of changes which can only be achieved in a long period of time, step by step.
The classes have run as the others days, nothing new has happened.
16th April, 2013 Dear all!! Today with the sun shining children have been very active but however they have been very hard working. Today in English class, the groups of 2º are learning the subjects: maths, science, music… I have collaborated with Carmen. Everyday I search the children´s work and I teach when is possible. I am very happy with Carmen because I like the way in which she teaches. She is very communicative and pupils participate using English. In Science class we do an experiment with plants and colored inks. We teach and children learn with real examples. I love it! Bye!
In my third day I have been teaching in three differents grades. To begin with, I have been in a 3rd ESO class where we have corrected some homework and we have explained the use of the present continuous for express future actions. Then we have been explaining an interesting activity that the students have to prepare for the next week. In pairs, they have to do a little representation of one of this situations: a conversation about the wheater, a conversation about the future imagining that one of them is a fortune teller or a converation in a travel agency. They have to record themselves and upload the file to the blog that they have in the Internet.
In the second hour, I have corrected some excercises in a 1st ESO class.
The last class of the day was in 2nd ESO. The corrected exam was given to the students and we have been reviewing the common mistakes. Then we did little introduction of the new unit to see what they are going to study the following days.
Today I have finished my training at the school. It's been a worthwhile experience although I think it would have been better if it would have lasted longer. Moreover, I reckon we should have no more than two teachers at the school since it allows you to get to know them in depth and build enough confidence so as to ask about whatever you are interested in.
What I love the most about this school is the teacher's skills and the method they follow.
Hope you too have a great experience at your schools
Dear all!! I have prepared the English classes for today. Children are learning the vocabulary of the family members so I have done flashcards of an English family. Besides the family members in this unit they are learning to describe the physical appearance. With the flashcards created for me I have told to them a funny story about an English family. They have enjoyed with the story because children loved the pictures after that we did some activities about the story. I think that this has been a good election for today. They had to describe the characters in this way: “her name is … and she has got black eyes and brown hair”. In 2º we had been doing activities for children remember all they are learning, the subjects vocabulary. That was all for wednesday!! Bye!
Hello! Today I have been all the morning in the school because We have two classes in spanish between the english ones and I have done what the teacher have asked me to do. I have started the morning in first course B as the teacher does normally (writing the date in english and in spanish, asking about the weather and singing the alphabet). Then I have started remembering what we did the last session. To reinforce the knowledge about mountainous ladscapes I did two extra-activities. In the first activity the children have to read a text (that I first had writen in the blackboard)about the parts of a mountain, then they have copied in their notebook and finally they have translated into spanish. In the second task I asked them to draw a mountain and write the names of each part differentiating with an arrow. At the end of the class we have done a small crossword in which the children had to search four words they had already known. In the classes of second course A and D (I have done the same in both classes)I have done two dictations in english the first one related to farming and the second about fishing, then the children had to translate the texts into spanish.
Today was my last day in the school and I was quite sad because I really had a good time with the pupils and my tutor, Teresa. I have learnt too many things and resources in the class and also I have learnt what CLIL is and how it is used in a bilingual school. I taught the last lesson of Science of the bilingual program in a first course of Primary. I explained the students different jobs such as mechanic, hairdresser, doctor, dentist and waiter. I asked them what these people did in their daily routine. The pupils were raising their hands and saying some activities. In addition, they did an activity from the book where they had to find different jobs for some people who appeared. Finally, they had to copy the new words in their Science notebook and translate the words in Spanish. The students who finished earlier than others drew and coloured some jobs. Besides, I repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary due to Teresa taught Science of the bilingual program in two classes.
Hello everybody! Today it has been a very busy day. The next week it going to be the cultural week about Europe so Mª Jose and I have been all the morning preparing the things we will need. I have been doing a proyect of the country of Malta for first course B the first two hours. Then we have though what could we do with the children in the science class (that is to say, in English) for 1º B, 2º A and 2º D and we have decided making a poster with the most important information of the country chosen that the student will build tomorrow because the homework today was to find information about each country related to the location, flag, embleme, coin, typical food, monuments... I have decided also to write one question in the poster related to the country as a trivial game that the rest of the students will think (the posters are going to be exposed in a wall) and the teacher love my idea. Once we have decided what to do we went to talk with the headmaster in order to save one wall for this purpose and also to explain her what we have thought. At the end of the day we have met the rest of the teachers of first course Teresa and Emilio because each one have to write with his/her class a book of the country in question and so we needed to reach an agreement about what we are going to write in the book and in which order.
Yesterday it was my fourth day at Seneca school. My first class was in a third of ESO where we corrected some exercises of the workbook. The next class was a first of ESO, here it was explained the regular verbs and how to use them in the past simple, in the affirmative, negative and interrogative form. Then the students did some exercises about this.
Before the break I assisted in the Science class of the bilingual program in a first course of Primary, definetly this is the course I enjoy most, not only because is the only course in which is used CLIL methodology, but also because the children are completely involved in the english language, they are participative and are speaking all the time in english. Here we began a new unit which was about the transport; with the help of flashcards, the children learned the difference between collective and individual transport, and were able to classified different transport depending on it was a sea, land or air transport.
After the break, I have been in the other first of ESO, where it was explained the regular verbs in the past form, and it was done a dictation.
I'm going to continue narrating my experiences at school during this last week.
Wednesday 17th April.
It was a day of small exams. At first hour, I was in the science class of 1st course of Primary and the students did a brief exam where they were asked about the contents that they had worked on until then. They will work on a project about jobs, tools and machines for the next weeks. The teacher and my classmate, MªJesús, who was in the same class, showed me the project. Teacher Miriam and I also did a small exam in two classes of second course to check that the students were consolidating the contents. I wrote the two activities of that small exam in the blackboard and the students copied them in a blank sheet. After the exam, we did two listenings of the Student's book. We did the same in the two classes. There isn't much more to say about this day because as I've just said, the day was about exams.
Sorry but I had wroten my comments on other year, so I write them here again.
Hello classmates!
Today (15th of April) was my first day of practice in Virgen del Carmen school. When I arrived at the school I went to look for my tutor who is he teacher of a group of the first year of primary education. My tutor teaches the subject of Science in the three clases of the first year that are in this school. Today I taught a Science class to one of these classes. Students were watching the unit number 9 which is about landscapes and today we have finished two pages that weren't done. One of them included a listening, which only repeated the vocabulary words in the same order they are placed in the book, so students get lost and they do not pay attention because they do not have to do anything just listen, which find quite boring. The second activity was also a listening activity but it was more atractive. The audio said the colour in which students have to color some coastal landscapes that appeared in the picture. After finishing this page, we have worked in the following one the differences between natural non-made and man-made features. After that, we made the presentation, together the three first courses, of the next unit, which will be worked as a project. The teacher has put the children some videos in which we have seen ideas from the three branches of the proyect: jobs, tools and machines
And that's all today. Tomorrow more and better! See you soon
Hello everybody! Today (16th of April) was my second day of practice I gave class to a first grade grou. As they have exam next Friday, we have been reviewing key concepts and expressions. We have reviewed them with a game using flashcards: first with the help of the children I have sung a song that is: shuffle, shuffle, one, two, three, shuffle, shuffle, one, two, three.Then I say the name of one of the children and he/she told me a number and I count the flashcards until I get to that number. My tutor told me that the class in which we have been today is very good and children study a lot and it was true because they were most of the time paying attention and they all knew the vocabulary of the unit. When we reviewed all the flashcards, we have developed the same activity that I did yesterday with the other class. I've also been helping my tutor to develop the material related to the project that we will carry out from tomorrow. Bye! Have a nice day!
I started the morning with a class of 3rd course of Primary Education, where I gave a class which consisted in reading a story and doing some activities about it such as reading it aloud and translating it in the notebooks. We also did a pair of activities of the activity book. In these activities they had to answer some questions related with the story and it was necessary to explain how "why" and "because" are used to ask and answer as well as the differences between them. After this class I went to the pre-school education class that I assist every weeks. There I continued observing the performance of the class. The teacher explained me some important things about the method she uses in class and told me some things about the students with specific needs that she has in class, which are relevant for my TFM study. I continued giving the unit 4 with the children of second course during the rest of the day.
Friday 19th April
As every Fridays, I entered the school at 12 in the morning. Children and teachers had been enjoying of an assembly. Miriam, the teacher of second course, asked me to give on my own the two classes of the day due to she had to be with a child who had hurt his leg. So I reviewed the vocabulary and prepositions and taught the song of the unit. Then we did two different activities of the activity book, one of them was a listening. I gave the same class in the two groups but in one of them we sang the song in a more actively way using a small microphone that Miriam has in the classroom.
Monday 22th April Today we have started the cultural week, called Europe. During this week the subjects are not going to follow the natural schedule. Do to this situation the students of first course B have been the first three hours making a composition ending as follows: " Yesterday I had a dream." The compositions were put in an envelope because the best of all the first courses will be awared. After the brake the children started to do some language activities but the teacher of fifth came to the class with some of his pupils who are going to be godfathers/godmothers of the first course children the following Wednesday when the will read some stories to the litle children. The last hour of the week the teacher and I went to second course A where tha native teacher explained the jobs. She made emphasis in perfect pronunciation.
- Friday 19th April - I started the day in the 2nd ESO class, there we did a review of the unit because the next day it will be the exam. Furthermore, they had to write a composition of more or less 50 words about their plans for the weekend. Then I have been in a 1st ESO class where we spent the all time checking some exercises about the past simple. To finish the day, my tutor gave me the opportunity to see how they are working with the 4 years kids. There they are carrying out a phonologic method based in songs,each day they learn a new sound, the last friday the sound was [I]. First, they sing a song which have a lot of words with the sound [I], then the teacher tell a story which is repeat later by a child and to finish, they complete a sheet with the vocabulary seen in the song. I was totally impressed because all the time both students and teachers are speaking in english and I have seen how clil methodology really works.
- Monday 22nd April - The early morning was quite boring because the first two hours (3rd and 2nd ESO)the students have been doing an exam. Before the break, I have had class with 1st EPO class, where we continuing talking about transport. As the next day it will be "Book day", students of 3rd EPO visited the class to tell fairy tales in english the last half hour. The kids didn´t understand much of what they were listening although they were concentrated. Finally, I have finished my day at school with one group of the 1th ESO grade. There, we have been explaining the pronunciation of the regular verbs in the past form.
Today it has been my seventh day at school. I began the day in the 1st ESO class, where I have checked the homework of the past day about the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past form. Then the teacher explained how to write correctly the regular verbs in the past form.
Later, I assisted to a 2nd EPO class, that was a class in Spanish but it was interesting see how other younger children did a performance to the older ones. They told four tales, three in spanish and one in english: - El solidario - Los ciegos y el elefante - No hay que pegar - Hansel and Grettel
The last hour I attended to the 1st EPO science class. There it have been taught the land transport and students of 5th EPO came there to tell five tales.
Today, the first class I attended was 3rd ESO, where we have started the new unit called "Film and Fiction". The students have done some vocabulary exercises which will be corrected the next day. After that, we have been listening and watching the works which students have done in order to practise the future forms. They have done amazing performances, because not only did they record themselves talking about the future, but also they have done little stories, like little movies.
The next hour I went to the 1st ESO class, there the students have done a sheet about the regular verbs in the past form, and then it was corrected. My supervisor teacher explained me that to finish every unit the students have to done an investigating work, in this unit it will be a written production about an important past person who the student must choose.
The last class it was in 2nd ESO where we have done a sheet to work with conditionals, using the topic of superstition. The homework for tomorrow is to write spanish superstions using conditionals, for example: if you see a black cat you will have bad luck.
Today I have started the morning in the 3rd ESO class. Here we have been listening the students recordings related with the future. Then the teacher explained what verbs are following of -ing or infinitive form and we have done some activities in the Internet about that (we have used the web page called English Grammar). To finish the class we have introduced the second conditional.
After that, I have been in the 1st ESO A class where we have seen a video about the Roman Britain. The video has been repeated three times and while the students watched it, they had to complete a sheet with questions about the video. In the next class (1st ESO B), we have done the same.
To finish the morning, I have attended to science class in 1st EPO; here I have explained the air transport and the children have done some activities as draw a collective transport and an individual transport, colour it and cut it to paste in a cardboard.
Tomorrow it will be my last day and it´s a bit sad because I have felt really good working there.
hello everybody! This week the children in the Salvador vinuesa school are not having normal lessons,but today I have explain one page during half an hour. The teacher told me to do so and I explained the coastal landscape. First I have asked them to tell me in spanish what can they see in a coastal landscape and once they said all the vocabulary I have asked them to translate into english by looking at the exercise. At the end they have done a draw following the code I have told them The rest of the day the children have been in the yard playing a gymkana..
Hello everybody! Today I have started the day as usually, that is to say asking about the weather, singing the alphabet and writing the date. I've been teaching flat landscapes, the last part of the unit 9. But before that we have played a game called cross the river to revise all the vocabulary of that unit. After that, I have explained the children what are flat landscapes and the differences between fields and plains (they have copied the differences in their notebooks). Finally, we have been coloring in a landscape the man-made features. As it is the last lesson of the unit I have asked the teacher if they will do an exam to prepare some activities but she have told me they are not aware and prepared to do exams in english yet. In the next hour they have been doing spanish language activities.
I'm going to do a brief comment about my last days in El Carmen school, on Wednesday 25th April and Thursday 26th because there is no much to say due to I had completed my practice hours the previous week so that only had to go to finish the unit that I started in second course of Primary Education. And this is what I did during the two days: On Wednesday I finished the unit in two classes and on Thursday I did the same in the other class. We couldn't do the final exam of the unit because Miriam couldn't prepare it due to all the teachers were finalizing details to the sample fair which took place in the school during the last Monday and Tuesday, where all the inventions created by children were shown. So we did the last activities of the unit, and once we reviewed all what they had learnt, we played some consolidation games using the vocabulary and structures learnt. And that was all! I am very happy with my experience in the school!
Today was my third day of practice We have continued with our project and, today, we have read the introduction text to our students. The first time, I have read it to them but after this, we were playing some games with the text. While I was reading the text, students were following it with their fingers. After we have read it totally, I said single words and students had to locate them in the text. When we have finished the reading, we copied the text on the next page of our notebook. It was amazing to discover how students were reading the text while they were writing it. After that, students have colour some flashcard with different jobs that we have give them. Next day we are going to use them to play a game. It’s incredible how they understand thing that they didn’t know before. I am fascinating with them. Tomorrow more! Good night
Hello everybody! Today was my fourth day of practice. Today it has been a special day, because we have had some presentation in our science class. The three classes of the first course of primary education have gone to the assembly hall, where four parents were waiting us. They were there to tell us things about their jobs and occupations. It has been so interesting because there were different jobs: doctor, soldier, engineer and commercial agent. Children were very interested with all what their parents were saying and they were learning a lot. Parents have made a big effort because they have done their presentations in English and it isn’t easy with the nerves. It has been a really good experience to see how parents make an effort to show the children that learning English is important and that their jobs are these and they love them and that they try to do their best on it. Have a good weekend
Hello everybody! Today I have finished my practical sessions! Due to that fact I have been teaching science during one and a half hour. First of all we have been playing a game called cross the river which is very useful to revise vocabulary. To play I have explain one by one the vocabulary of the unit before and the children, divided into two teams, have to find out the word in question (I have done this twelve times each one to put a stone in the river in order to cross it). After that, I have told the children to copy a text (related to a lesson they have already seen), which I had written before in the blackboard, and then to write the text translated. At the end of this activity the children have to draw what the text describes. Once we have revised the unit before, we have followed the current unit called jobs. Today we have been talking about factories, we have done then an exercise in which the children have to circle the things they can find in a factory. At the end of the session we have been talking about the genre of the jobs such as ‘farmer, waiter, doctor, dentist and policemen’ and we have write the masculine and feminine of the words which have different spelling. I must say I don't want to leave the school yet, now that I know all the children! In my opinion it have been a very short period of time.
Hello! Today was my fifth day of practice. We have watched a film: Ratatouille, because it is related with jobs. After that, we have made a worksheet about the film. We have also taugh students some jobs. They didn't know most of them so we have been saying them the name of the job and saying a description about what people do on these jobs.
We have also explained children that they have to do an investigation about something related with jobs, tools and machines. During the next days, they are going to explain their investigations to their classmates and we are going to evaluate them. I have to say that I am very happy with my practice and that I am learning a lot, because I am teaching three different classes and I have had the opportunity to observe that what is good for a class is bad for other and that classes are very very different although all of them are the first course of primary education.
Hello!! Today was my sixth day of practice. I’m learning a lot in this period but, tomorrow will be my last day! I’m really sad about it because the boys and girls are lovely and they are making me feel so good. Today we have been doing a listening and writing activity, but it has been really funny. It was a listening and writing activity at the same time because we have watched some videos of Handy Manny (Manny Manitas) about tools and after watching them, they had to do a description of the tools. For doing the descriptions, they have learn that they have to start it saying: It’s… or It has… They have described the colour, the shape and the size of the tools. After that, I have explained the children the meaning of some machines and their use. I was surprised because many children of the three classes knew the words. In my opinion they are learning a lot, and the most important is that they are practicing listening and speaking everyday that are, in my opinion, the most important skills. Tomorrow I will tell you things about my last day. Good night!
Today was my last day of practice and it also was the last day of the project. For this reason, we have finished it thinking in the question what have I learnt? I was surprised to see everything what they have learned about jobs, tools and machines. Besides, they have exposed the researches that they have been doing throughout the project. They have prepared some beautiful jobs with their parent’s help. After that, we have been singing the song When I grow up! that we learnt the other day and they love it. To complete the project we have done a mind map. A mind map is a graphic expression of the ideas we have about a particular subject. In the center of the paper they're doing it gets a picture that reminds us to the topic we are discussing and, from there, are being pulled a number of "branches" which are elements of this theme being treated . Every time it goes deeper and of each of the branches are being pulled others to complete everything we know about this topic. I am childhood education teacher, and despite I have given private tuition to primary school students, I had never worked in a primary education classroom and I must say that I loved the experience and I've learned a lot both from my tutor and from each and every one of my students.
Hello everybody,
ResponderEliminartoday was my first day in the practice period. Rosario, the English teacher,has introduced me to three groups of students. Two of them belonging to the 3rd grade of Secondary Education and the other one from 4th grade.
The first class has been with 3rd ESO. During this class, I have introduced the topic of the unit and then we have done a reading regarding with two imaginary cities of the future and the places we could find in them. To continue, we have checked the reading exercises with the whole class. We also have done two listening exercises and we have pointed in some pronunciation aspects.
After that, all the class has remembered some grammatical parts, like there is/ there are… the places we can find in our cities… and I have asked the students for doing a funny exercise by drawing a map on a paper and writing a little text using the contents previously reviewed. Then they have exchanged their notebooks with his/her partner to complete the activity.
Later, I have had class with the other group related to 3rd ESO grade and I have done the same activities I did with the other class. In this class, there are four people from diversification.
Finally, I have finished my day at school with one group of the 4th ESO grade. This group has a very good level in the English language. Here I have introduced the new topic, a topic about modern art. To continue we have argued about what we understand by modern art. Then we have done a reading and after that, the students have answered some questions related to the text. Following, the students have done a listening and when they have finished we have checked this exercise together.
At the beginning I was really nervous but, then, when I have started to talk to the students I have felt more self-confident.
Sorry for the hour! But I have not had too much time today.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday I have met another group of students from 4th grade. I have done the same activities I did with the other group yesterday.
At the end of the day I have had two more classes with two 3rd grade groups.
In these classes we have checked the homework and, after that, I have explained some grammatical aspects of the future tenses. Then they have done some exercises about future and we have checked some of them.
OK Ana, I was wondering where the bilingual thing was; have checked below and ok.
EliminarWell done!!
Hi everybody.
ResponderEliminarToday I had had classes with the two 3rd degrees and the two 4th degrees.
At the beginning of the day, I have had classes with the two 3rd degrees. In this class I have checked the exercises made the day before by the students regarding with the future tense. As well, we have read a text and together, the whole class, have answered the questions according to the text. After that, they have argued between them about what could be a better title for the text according to its content. At the end I have asked students to do five sentences by using will or be going to, using five words from the text. To continue I have had class with the other group and we have had the same activities.
Afterwards, I have had two more classes with the two 4th grades. In these classes I have explained the use of the prefixes and some of their meanings. Then, I have introduced students the past perfect simple tense and then we have practiced this grammatical aspects by means of a game. I have given students a card with two different verbs. They had to create a sentence by using these verbs; one of them had to be in the past time and the other one in past perfect simple. Finally, they have listened to a text for recording it in a cassette.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday I have had my two first classes in the bilingual program. I had explained science in the two sixth degrees of Primary Education. The topic was about electricity. In these classes I have explained to the students what the electricity is and the different kinds of electricity we can find in the real life. Finally I have taught them the electrical circuits. Following, we have done some exercises related to the topic and then we have checked them.
At the end of the day I have had two more classes with the two 4th degrees. We have checked the exercises done the day before and then, the students have read a text. Later, they have answered some questions regarding with the text and after that, together, we have checked the reading exercises.
OK Ana, we seem to be on the right track.
EliminarHello, today the group of students from 4th grade has read a text about an experience which happened to them when they were younger. It was very funny because there were a lot of different stories. Then, the students have done some exercises relative to past perfect simple and, after that, we have checked them.
ResponderEliminarLater, in the 3rd grade, I have explained the first conditional and the students have done four exercises relative to it. At the end of the class, the pupils have reviewed the future tense by doing some exercises in pairs.
For homework, I have to check the exercises that the students have done in class
Hi Ana,
Eliminarare you helping in the development and preparation of materials for the bilingual programme??
Hi Javier!
EliminarMainly I am following the text book because there is a great amount of listening activities which I consider very useful for the student’s learning but according to this topic I am supporting my explanations through the use of slides, posters and pictures for getting a better understanding in it.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarSince this day is known as the peace day, most of the activities the students have done during the whole day have had a relation with this topic.
After the break time, the students have gone to the playground where they have danced a song related to the peace. Then, a teacher has called a student of each grade who has been chosen by their class partners as the most peaceable student. Afterwards, these students have thrown some doves up in the air as a peace symbol.
Moreover, during the day, all the students have hanged up some of the pictures they have been doing in the art lessons. All of them are fantastic and very colorful.
In the class, students from 3rd and 4th grades have worked with a peace song. The song is called ‘where is the love’ by Black eyes peas. The 4th grade students have completed the gaps of the song with a group of words inside a box. The students had to listen to the song and then choose the most appropriate word. The 3rd grade students have worked with this song too but instead of gaps, they had the phonological translation. After this activity some students have read a text about an important person who has a connection with peace.
I have enjoyed this day a lot.
Good afternoon,
ResponderEliminarToday has been the last day of my practice period. It has been a brief period of time and it has spent so fast.
My two first classes have taken place with the two 6th grades of primary education in the bilingual programme. We have continued with the electricity topic but today, we have focused on conductors and isolators as well as the magnetism process. At the beginning I have explained to the students what is the meaning of a conductor and isolator material and after that, we have practiced this new knowledge by doing some exercises through listening activities. To continue the students have worked in pairs and they have created two lists, one of them with material known as isolators and the other one with conductor materials. After that, we have checked them and later I have showed to the students how the magnetism is produced. Following, the students have done some exercises in order to interiorize their knowledge and we have checked them.
In the two last classes, students from 4th grade have done a review about the contents we have been working during these two weeks to check if they have been understood.
These practices have been amazing!!
Ana, you have done great!! Good job.
EliminarContratulations!!!
20th December 2012
ResponderEliminarOn this date was my first day at school "La Piedad". I was speaking with my coordinator at school; his name is Javier, he explained me the classes and the school, so I know now more or less what I´m going to do during my practice time.
9th January 2013
I went to the school with my partner, Maria, we met with our coordinator, Javier, he come with us around the school to show us it and we met some teachers too.
He told us that he is going to send us an email in few days with teacher´s emails and we can start to talk with them about our timetable and functions.
24th of January.
Our last meeting in the school to know the last details.
29th January
That day was my first day in the practice period. Auxi, my teacher of that day, has introduced me to 1º and 2º of primary education, that class is science (class in the bilingual program) they are now learning the animals and plants, they read and copy the text.
Later, I went with the teacher to prepare the next class that I will give on tuesday.
31st January
I went to 6º with the English teacher and I just observed the class.
1st February.
Today I went with Manoli, English teacher in the school, to 1st and 2nd ESO,we have read a text and together, later they have answered the questions according to the text.
They have passed an exam in few minutes about irregular verbs.
I´m going to prepare a lesson for next friday.
Carmen,
EliminarI'm afraid this was not the intended way of doing it; anyway it seems your experience is ok, however I cannot see any CLIL in it, and La Piedad is the first CLIL private school in Andalucía. I wonder why!!
8th of February
EliminarI was at 8:30 with Manoli,in 2nd ESO, she did a control irregular verbs and taught me some sample tests.
Our next class was with 1st ESO A, they spent it time, to rehearsing for a theatre of Andalusia´s day,in Spanish, about poets.
In 1st ESO B, the teacher let me make a review with the students of the units 4 and 5, we did many activities and the class had a very good rhythm.
11st February:
The teacher asked me to give this day to review with the class to items 4 and 5 while she prepared other things, now I have to prepare a test to assess their knowledge, which will this Friday.
12nd february:
I prepared a science class for 1st and 2nd of primary education, about plants, the group read the slides with me, when I asked they repeated too, and then we drew a picture conveying what we learned that day.
Well, either the Theatre and the science lessons seem a good practice on CLIL, could you develop them a bit? at least do it in your report.
EliminarWell done
11th December 2012
ResponderEliminarOn this date was my first day at school "Nuestra Señora De La Piedad". I was speaking about the teachers of this school with Javier, my coordinator. Besides he explained me what I am going to do during my period at school.
9th January 2013.
I went to the school with my classmate Carmen. We met with Javier and he Showed us the classes,library.. Moreover, we met also some teachers. He sent us the emails of our teachers during the practice time.
24th January 2013.
My classmate and me went to the school to get the last details before starting.
28th January 2013.
This was the first day I participated in the class.
I spent the first hour with Auxi, the teacher of 1º and 2º of primary education, in science class with pupils of 2º.We were reviewing the topic "the plants".
Then, I was with Carolina, teacher of 4 and 5 years old. I talked with her about my timetable.
30th January.
I was preparing some materials for bilingual education with Auxi.
Then I was with two more teachers talking about what I am going to do.
Finally I went with all the teachers and pupils to celebrate "El Día de la Paz".
31st January
This has been my first day with children of 3 years old. I have participated in their English lesson with the habitual teacher and the new "auxiliar de conversación".
OK, you seem to be doing some of the intended CLIL experience, well done, but you were supposed to write every single day you go to school.
EliminarGo ahead!!
6th February
ResponderEliminarToday I have been one hour with Auxi ( teacher of 6º) preparing some bilingual resources of ciences for children with 6 years old.
Then, I went with José Luis to practice oral skill
Finally, I prepared at home some games of vocabulary for children of 3, 4 and 5 years old, so, today I have been "the teacher" witn pupils of 5 years old and we have been revising toys vocabulary.
OK, it gets better here!!!
Eliminar7th February
ResponderEliminarToday I have been observing how the "auxiliar de conversación" has explained the contents to children of pre-school. She has been revising the numbers, colours and the body. Then, they have done some exercises of the book and I have correcetd them .
8th February
ResponderEliminarI have been in the school for ona hour. I have been with 4 years old children. I have been "the teacher" again and We have been learning "the toys" with some games I prepared.
OK, well done!!! Can you please sort of share your feelings in the process??
ResponderEliminarATB
I am pleased with some teachers because I`m allowed to participate a lot although with some of them I do nothing in class, only preparing resources.Besides, I think that the process of integrating CLIC is not the best one.
ResponderEliminarOana Tiron18 de febrero de 2013 09:18
ResponderEliminarDear all,
today was my first day in Alauda College. It was my first time in a private school, so I didn't quite know what to expect(I have spent all my practices periods from my career in public schools). I was like a sponge, trying to watch, listen and learn everything. To summarize, the childer behave more "properly" than in my last school, are all wearing white shirts and ties (both girls and boys), are not allowed to speak during the classroom without raising their hands (no spontaneous remarks, no jokes and hardly smiling) The teacher, very young, but with 5 years of experience, was a filologist, having studied en "Filosofia y Letras" some years ago. She has a very good English, good pronounciation and a fluent communication in the class. I have seen Primary classes and 1º ESO classes. All of them have digital boards, (no blackboard, no chalk, no dust, almoust no writing), different spacial situation (tables and chairs).
Good to remember: she is asking the students to follow with their finger the text while they listen to the audio. This way they can hear how every word sounds (their reading and speaking were very good).
Not to do thing: when a teacher assesses reading (intonation, pronounciation...) s/he can't take away one point just because the student isn't paying attention. We can't mix formal assessement with attitudes.
Tomorrow i'm going to change the teacher and see another classes. Keep in touch!
Dear all:
ResponderEliminarYesterday I published in the wrong place, so now I coppied what I have wrote. Today is my second day in the school. I changed the teacher, the classes and the methodology. The first 2 classes were in 6th of EPO where they had an exam, a reading aloud test, where the teacher assesses the pronunciation and asks question for reading comprehension. Then we had half an hour spare time in the library, where there were a lot of punished student, reading and studying.
Then, the class in 1º EPO, where they worked with flash cards, toys with and without wheels, counting and colouring, repeating the whole hour the same structures.
The 4th hour was in 2ºof EPO, where they did a revision of the structure: in front of, next to, near the, under, above etc...
Things that I liked: first, the teacher asked the whole class to do the actions, (put your book under the table); then she did the actions and asked the Ss to answer to the quiestion "Where is the glass? - The Ss asked: The glass is in on the chair." Then, she asked one of the student to place the glass under his table. When the student did the action, she asked another one to answer where was the glass. PLenty of forms of teaching the same thing, involve the Ss in the process and not being boring.
They start all the days with a reading from the "Evangelia según..." and pray. They are very strict with silence in the classroom and the proper behaviour. I have just had my lunch time and another hour of spare time in the library. I have 2 more classes, 2º and 1º of EPO, again.
See you tomorrow!
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarIt was my third day today, and I’ve spend it with Martina. I started the day with 2ºESO and I was quite surprised when i entered the class and saw one of the students making a Power Point Presentation about drinks and foods in USA. That was a change!!!
3ºESO started with another presentation about Galway, an Irish city where this boy has studied in an Jesuit College. The teacher said that the parent use to pay their children this type of experiences in order to improve their English and that the college will do not oppose the idea. Actually, Martina asked him to do this presentation instead of the English exam.
Then I entered a 4ºESO classroom. Martina teaches communicative skills in both 3º and 4º of ESO and the other teacher, Angélica, teacher reading and writing. They use the manual “Voices” from McMillan. These books have a “dialogue builder” part, where students are doing different types of exercises: ask &answer, wh-questions, useful expressions, prepare a new dialogue, practice your dialogue. Before that, they have been doing a “for and against essay”.
IN 4ºESo they did some T/F exercises for listening comprehension and more dialogue builder exercises.
In 2º Bachillerato Angélica presented to the class how to write an Application Form, a formal letter with its fixed structure and typical phrases. Unlike the little ones, these students were very noisy and rude sometimes.
What most impressed me was the general idea from all these classes: they are more independent and they feel part of the teaching process. They are taught how to act in public (they have some class rules about how to speak in public, sticked on the walls), how to move, speak and articulate each word. They are allowed and taught to use the interactive board, and they can/must use personal PC in order to do their homework. They are taught to cope with different types of situations, their communication skills are quite good and they are conscious that they must learn a lot. They are almost grownups and some of them already know what University is going to enroll.
Tomorrow I’ll teach my first class, in 6ºEPO. Keep in touch!
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday was a boring day: because of the rain, because of the review classes that started to bore me and because I had a lot of spare time and I couldn't do my best of it.
I have seen again lots of oral presentations, then more grammar review in 1º Bach. This teacher is so good!!! Angélica knows how to manage this students, which have such a difficult age, with such a difficult behaviour. She gets serious when talking about grammar, but she gives them a little time to joke and laugh when she thinks they need it.
I also talked with the headmaster and asked him some questions that i'll introduce in my final essay.
I finally did half an hour of my review class (because of the "interview"). I wasn't nervous at all, I prepared very well my class and revision classes are always easier than the first ones.
Tomorrow it will be my last day! What a pitty!
Hello again!
ResponderEliminarSorry to be late! But since Friday I left school i didn't have the time to write here.
Friday was amazing! I had my first class teaching in 3º ESO, without preparation, without knowing it before, without materials, anything!!! So the teacher coulnd't make it for the second hour and the replacement teacher didn't know much English. So I took the book,I had a glance at the 2 pages and started the class!!! I was so unexpected!!! But I wasn't nervous at all, I just followed the same steps that the teacher did the day before with another group, same type of class (mine was how to write a webpage review). The students were collaborative, payed attention (although I didn't expect that) and worked very well.
There is something I learnt from the last class : 1º Bach. They were very noisy, talking all the time, laughing, disturbing the class. This is unconceivable in this school: order and silence must be above all. But this teacher, in this class allowed this to the students. After class, I asked her why did she do that. The answer was that they are almoust 18 years old, it's Friday at 3 o´clock, they had a 2 hours phylosophy exam; in addition, they are a very good group: even if they were talking and laughing, they were doing the exercises, were paying attention to the teacher, too; the students are hardworking, they always do their homework on time and never are disrespectful with the teacher. She also said that she never allows this type of behaviour with another class because of the same reasons.
In general, I enjoyed the experience, not only learning ways of teaching, methodology and types of activities, but also how to treat the students, taking into account not only my subject, but all the others from the curricula. I learnt that these teachers not only teach their subject, but also that they are a key factor in the education of the students. And above all, that a teacher must be a teacher in and outside the classroom(specially when you teach primary education :-).
14th February
ResponderEliminarThis day I was with 6º of primary, initially I thought to review the hours with them, but when I arrived the teacher told me: they had to do a drawing for a contest on peace, so really, I do not know why I went this day...
15th February
First thing this day was with the class of 2nd secundary, and every Friday I'm going with this group, they made an examination of irregular verbs when we arrived and then returned to make a picture which gathers tenses, according to the professor, is the only way they would learn, make a test every Friday of it, is not productive this class, only examines again and again the same thing, I do not see any progress.
After that we were with 1st secunday I did a test on the unit 5, which is about animals, the test was very simple five questions and a listening exercirse.
The other group of first will make the test on Monday, the day took the exam of irregular verbs, like every Friday, and the teacher told them to do activities on unit 6, meanwhile, I corrected the tests of the previous group.
I do not want to criticize the teacher, as she is responsible for the course and has to be so years, but I think the methodology is following: I give exam every Friday 20 verbs and so on, not having very good results among students, most of them know about the past tenses that most will not ever use, but then not know how to work or perform simple sentences using these verbs, they just have learned systematically to approve examining every Friday.
That day, I had a class with students of 3rd secundary of Physics and Chemistry in English, because the school is `` bilingual'' and is immersed in CLIL , they perform a didactic unit in English per year, I worked with the teacher of the subject, which she said to me I would read the texts function in English about some activities they would do, the group worked very well and I left pretty happy.
18th February
ResponderEliminarThis day I had to deliver a didactic unit of music (in English) to the teacher in charge of the subject, which will be taught at the end of the quarter, but for me, just wanted to undertake not to be present or take place, he gave me the material, and I follow his request.
In 1st secundary test we correct the previous Friday between all solved questions etc.
In the other first, they did the same test.
6th primary: the teacher told me I left with two performing pupils in the English class and review with them the basics, I did not like that let me know I was going to do that, if I had known, I had prepared activities at home and I had prepared myself, at least, looking at his book, but I arrived at the class and then told me I had no occasion to do that ...
19th February
I was in the kind of science in 1st and 2nd primary, at first was about the weather and seasons, at second on the earth, the water cycle, etc., this is the only kind of CLIL in which I am really, and is the I like most
22nd February
this was my last day at school.
At 2nd secundary I corrected sentences with the students
At 1st secundary I conducted an exercise, which was:I gave them a song where missing words, we listened it 2 times and they filled the gaps, then I gave them to all the dictionaries and we translated and interpreted the song together, with the first group, this exercise it was chaotic and I felt that the group did not respect me, I gave up shame not to shut them up, but it is a very large group and where there are 3 or 4 students uncontrollable, the other group worked very well and I left satisfied.
Carmen Cubero - Tuesday, 5th March 2013
ResponderEliminarHello everyone!
The day finally came and I´ve started my practice period today. I was so excited! It was my first time in a Bilingual School. Well, I´ve been in an International School in Finland, but there the spoken language was English all the time, so it is not exactly the same.
I arrived to the school and the teachers of the English Department welcomed me very warmly. That fact has given me more confidence to start working with them. They are truly nice!
First of all, my supervisor teacher and I have been establishing the agreement in reference to the timetable and the subjects to coordinate ourselves and then we have started:
> English Lesson with the 6º Graders: The Reported Speech (Carmen)
First part of the lesson has been based on reading and listening comprehension. The teacher has read a text from the book and then she has asked some comprehension questions to the students, who had to reply aloud for the rest of the class.
The second part of the lesson has concentrated on Grammar. Today lesson was about the Reported Speech. The teacher has explained a couple of examples from the book about Reporting another person´ speech and then some students has written examples on the whiteboard.
Notes: I liked how they learn grammar by creating their own examples and by practicing themselves rather than by reading and making written exercises from the book.
> Sciences Lesson with the 6º Graders (Rosa)
The lesson has started with an ice-breaking exercise. Some students has been hiking and skiing at Sierra Nevada. The teacher asked them different routine questions about the trip, which they replied in very good English.
Then she has written some questions on the whiteboard and they had to reply quietly in their notebooks. In the meantime, she was taking students for an oral control. I´ve been helping students with their doubts and the questions aroused. It´s been fun!
Finally we´ve been debating on the questions in English. Later on, I´ve chosen a random student for bringing a film to watch in OV with English subtitles in class (they do once a semester). End of the lesson.
Notes: It was amazing to me the good level in English of the students, in general. They are very willing to talk and they do it quite naturally and fluently. That´s great imo!
...and tomorrow again! I´ll be writing the experiences by replying myself to this entry for having all the entries in one. Bye bye!
Carmen Cubero, Wednesday 6th March 2013
EliminarDear all,
It is being a stressfull and complicated day today in the lessons. I´ve been in quite many: English 2º Middle School Graders (English & Cambridge) & 2º High School graders (English); 3º Middle School graders (Business Studies)
Mostly I´ve spent the day with the teachers Jº María and Rosa. As students are concentrated on their semester examinations, the lessons are quite focused on reviewing the contents of the units.
I like the way both teachers have to make it, because instead or repeating exercises and exercises, they just interact with students by practicing and asking them questions.
Note of the Day: I liked really much the fact they have a subject as an Introduction to Business World. That´s quite useful and motivating for them
I also liked really much they have Cambridge Preparation for the level examinations. They mostly review in class all those aspects that will be performing in the Cambridge exam. Today was a chapter from the Sherlock´s book (by A.C.Doyle)
Bye bye! ^^
Carmen Cubero - Monday, 11st March 2013
EliminarHello again,
Today has been a day of hard work at school. Students are starting the semester exams so the lessons have been going through them basically.
1º Middle-School English Lesson (Rosa). Irregular verbs exam consisting on a random list of about 13 irregular verbs and a past sentence to turn into negative and interrogative forms: "Our school won a prize last month"
Once all students finished the exam, the teacher and I have been reviewing their homeworks and they have been checked aloud in the classroom by the students. End of the lesson.
After that, I have been correcting the irregular verb exams. Marks are quite irregular among the students, but a great part of the students have past the exam with middle-high marks. The fail exams had quite lower marks.
Teacher has explained me that students who failed the exam are not taking very seriously the lessons. She told me even all effort in repeating and explaining the lessons is far from fruitful if students do not study at the end of the day.
2º Middle-school English lesson (Rosa). With the 2nd middle-school graders we have been correcting the exercises in the workbook about furniture and music styles and about quantifiers (a/ few, a/littel, a lot of, much, many, some, any, many, etc). Each students read aloud an exercise and then we were commenting them all together.
Rosa was making clarifitions in order to make easier and understandable the contents for the exam that will be next week. Students were quite nervous and reckless today.
Note. A method to calm students that the teacher uses is to, first to warn, if they continue disturbing then she notes them on a list and finally if they show really reckless she notify the faults to the tutor of that specific group of students. Normally the punishment is to send them to make an extra work to the library.
Then I have been helping Rosa to correct exams for "First" which were based on listening and reading comprehension and also general vocabulary and grammatical expresions. While I was correcting those, she were having oral exams with the graders.
Note. When any student needs extra help, teachers are used to take him or her to the English Department and to spend some time there by emphasizing the aspects the student needs to improve.
That´s all for today. Next day will be on Wednesday. Bye Bye!! xx
Carmen Cubero - Wednesday 13rd March, 2013
EliminarThis is the last week for the final exams of the semester. Students are quite nervous and stressful so teachers try to maintain the calm into the classrooms by being more flexible with them and some of them let student part of the sessions for studying.
English, 2º Middle-School graders (Rosa)
The 2º graders were having their final English exam today so I was correcting some 5th Grade Primary Ed. exams while the teacher watcher the classroom over.
The exams I was correcting were squematic and basic English activities concentrated in visual understanding of images related to the unit vocabulary. There was two exercises of filling the gaps and one last one about replying personal questions.
Students showed weaker in this last part of the exam in general. The problem seemed to be the understanding of the interrogative pronouns. They didn´t match very well the answer with the question. Some of them just only. For example. In:
When did you go for holidays? --> *In Cádiz.
That was the most common mistake, but in general, the exams where pretty well.
Business Studies - 3º Middle-School graders (Jose Mª).
Students asked the teacher for letting them to study for their next Biology exams. The teacher and I were correcting together exams of High School students. That was nice because he was explaining me the points to take into consideration when you correct. That it is not only if the answer to be correct or not, bu the intention and the effort students make on their expression of the target language.
The questions were more related to reading comprehension and answering related questions to express themselves. 1º High School students have a very good level of English in written expression.
Cambridge - 2º Middle-School Graders -PET (Rosa).
This has been my first practical lesson. I´ve been taking care of the lesson the whole hour.
The task today consisted of Speaking practice. I´ve been giving the instruction to students (in English) about the PET test and then I´ve been interviewing one by one asking basic questions about:
-Daily routines
-Plans for holidays
-Habits & Hobbies.
-Student context, etc.
I was surprised because of the great understanding of students when I formulated them the questions and their quick time for answering. Their interaction ability is really good in this grade and I´ve felt very comfortable teaching there.
Note. Every year students make a cultural exchange with british students coming to Córdoba and then they will visit UK this "Semana Santa" holidays. For now, they are getting excited with the trip about learning about british culture, food, monuments, traditions, folks and chatting via internet with their correspondant partners. That´s a nice idea to foster intercultural education and communication :)
That´s all for now... bye bye! xx
Carmen Cubero - Monday, 18th March 2013
Eliminar>> History, 1º ESO (Rosa) - UNIT: Prehistory
We have been reviewing the main characteristics of the 3 periods of Prehistory: Paleolithic, Neolithic & Metal Age.
For students to add positive points to their semester final marks, the teacher has been asking them questions out loud to those students which marks are on the edge of failing.
The questions were:
-Characteristics of Paleolithic.
-Characteristics of Nelolithic.
-Main facts or each age.
-How did society live in those periods?
-Characteristics of Metal Age.
-What were the changes in society in that Era.
-Vocabulary questions about agriculture & picking.
>> English, 1º ESO (Rosa)
Students have been doing listening activities about Home furniture, householding, prepositions and adjectives.
Then the teacher has been formulating comprehension questions about the listening and book activities correction.
Notes.
1. To reward good behaviours of students, teachers until 2º ESO grade they use the British system of "Housing" which consist on a chart on the wall with a house drawn in four colours. Each colour represent a group of students and they add points according to their behaviour. Teacher has explained me that they use those groups for meetings, gincanas, jaunts, etc.
>> Arts & Crafts, 2º EP (Claudia) -SPRING IS COMING
I´ve been for the first time in the subject of Arts & Crafts with the teacher Claudia. The second primary education graders and such a big group, about 25 students.
The contents of the book are in English but the teacher uses Spanish in her explanations for helping to the understanding. Students have a good level of L2 in general.
Today they have been drawing floral motifs related to spring season. Then the teacher has being selecting the drawins about "Semana Santa" that she will be using as a cover of the students activity notebook.
(follows in a next comment below)
(Continuation of the comment about 18th March.
Eliminar>> Sciences, 2º EP (Claudia) (Clase Práctica II)
-MACHINES-
Today we continued with the units of Technology, we´ve been reviewing last session contents: Computer and its parts.
Then I´ve explained the session of "Machines" to them. We have started by reading a shrt text accompained with images and charts about different simple and complex machines. Then I´ve been asking to the students about theri characteristics and what are they used for. I have given short explanations in English emphasizing the keywords in Spanish. I´ve got surprised about their good level of comprehension in English and in their disposition to participate actively in the lesson.
We have done an excersice of matching contents with their corresponding pictures. End of the lesson.
Note.
2. Teacher Claudia explained me the way they organize the lessons according to the Content teacher and the Language Teacher. They coordinate each other in order to teach in both lessons (the specific in Spanish & the English, for example Sciences) the exact contents and then to fuse units to make sense for students.
3. There is an Asperger´s synthoms student at the 2º EP classroom. Teacher explained me she search for different changing motivating methods to engage him in the learning and to have a good behaviour (he sometimes gets agresssive or anxious). Now she is using a system of rewarding in which each 3 points for good behaviour, she gives him a card of its favourite cartoons -- Previously agreement with his mother.
>> English, 1º EP (Mª Paz)
1º EP graders are a big group 28 students/class.
First of all the teacher has introduced myself to children and then they have presented themselves with a song. We have been singing altogether a song about "Body Parts and adjectives".
Then the teacher has written in the whiteboard 2 short texts about describing people with the helping of students. They had to copy the text and draw the corresponding person to the description. I´ve been helpin them to straight the writing lines.
Then the teacher and I have been distributing their dining uniforms, they have washed their hands with disinfectant and making rows, we have gone to the dining room.
The menu today was:
-Mix of vegetables and eggs.
-Steak.
-Sugar Peach.
-Chocolate milkshake.
I´ve really enjoyed today! Bye bye! xx
Carmen Cubero, 20th March 2013
Eliminar>> ASSEMBLY - 6º EP (Carmen)
I´ve been for the second time with the 6º Primary school graders. Honestly they are the classroom with the higher level of English I have attended, even better than some of the High School students.
I was surprised of the lesson they were taking. It was Assembly. The teacher was giving them some guidelines for starting next semester and giving advice about how to make a more organized agenda, to better employ their time with all activities they have to do either within and out of the school and to plan their hourse of daily study.
The suggestion of the teacher was creating a chart where they can write their daily activities. The lesson was carried out completely in English all the time and the students explained their questions and doubts in a very good English. (Those students really participate actively in trying their best by practicing spoken English in the classroom).
At the end of the lesson the teacher asked how many students would start the plan. Some of them shared their ideas about how to make it and to adapt to themselves.
The teacher told them she would reward those students who would take part of the activity by giving an extra point in the group "House" (it´s the hourse reward system I explained in the last entry)
>> English 3º ESO - José Mª
As some of the students were doubtful about some of the exercises of the past exam and a high number of them failed partially of the exercises, the teacher agreed in correcting those "weaker" examination activities today.
We re-corrected three tasks:
1º Filling the gaps with modal verbs (must, have to, might, should, etc).
2º In a text, choosing from the 3 options which verb tense fits better with the sentence. The teacher emphasized again the main aspects to take into account before choosing the correct answer.
3º Filling the gaps with gerunds.
Note. The teacher uses the ipad and the proyector to facilitate the comprehension by proyecting the activities in the whiteboard. In this sense, the students get engaged to the task and can adapt it to their visual necessities.
2. The teacher told me that they have efforted very much for the exam, but there are some aspects they have not mature to finally comprehend to make the exercises properly. He told me the level of the class is quite good in general, so when they behave well he reward them by proyecting a film in English to motivate them. Then they have to work after the film in a comprehension activity or a summary.
(follows in the next entry)
Carmen Cubero, 20th March 2013 (continuation)
Eliminar>> English 2º Bachiller, José Mª
We have been doing pretty the same with 2º Bach. The exercises were obviously more complex.
1º Complete with defining and non defining sentences.
2º Write sentences in formal and non formal style.
3º Reported Speech sentences.
Again we have been using ipad to correct the exercises.
I like the lessons of Chema, his English is great and he transmits really good vibes to students, so it is quite easy for them to follow his explanations. He knows what students like and how to motivate them so he uses technological resources to make the lessons easier and uses real and close examples for them to comprehend what he means.
Note. He has created his own interactive book for the subject "English Literature". Through the ipad, he can jump from one unit to other easily according to the interest of the students. In his book he uses current information about films, pictures, authors related to literature (p.e. He showed me the unit about Lewis Carroll and his "Alice in Wonderland" by making references not only to Carroll, but also relating the topic to Tim Burton and its cinematographic adaptation, Disney, etc)
>> Cambridge 2º ESO (Rosa)
Today we have dedicated the lesson to reading a chapter of the adaptation book Sherlock Holmes for their next exam. Each student read a part of the chapter, correcting pronuntiation and meaning of some words and the mmaking some comprehension activities (filling the gaps & finding mistakes in a text). Then we have established the date of the exams for English & Sherlock´s book.
End of the day. Bye bye & Happy Easter!! xx
Carmen Cubero - 1st April, 2013
Eliminar>> English 1º ESO (Rosa)
Students were really reckless and revolutionated at the beginning of the lesson (we even had to write some names on the library list*)
We have been reviewing the "Past Continous" by doing oral exercises. The teacher has asked some questions of the kind:
-What were you doing this morning?
-Were you sleeping two hours ago?
-What was Mary doing last weekend?
-ETC.
Then we have reforced the understanding of the tense by making a listening about the "White House & USA´s President Barack Obama". We have been answering comprehension questions to the text and doing activities of filling the gaps of the past continuous related to text and vocabulary.
Note. *The library list is a paper where students punctually behaving badly during the lessons are writen there and sent to the library to do some extra work or to reflect.
>> Arts & Crafts 2º EP (Claudia)
Spring came! We have been working in two different activities:Drawing a poppy and a rose following a pattern and a free style drawing about spring flowers. Students were working in those drawings they did not finish in the last sesión.
In the meantime, the teacher and I were preparing the materials for the following craft: making a coloured cardboard snail.
We have given the students a paper stick of green and yellow cardboard and then we have been helping them to make the shape of the snail Shell, the antennas, etc. We have decorated the classroom with the final snails. They have done a really lovely work!
>> Sciences 2º EP (Claudia) - (III Practical Lesson)
I taught the sciences lesson today. We have started a new unit: Transports.
I wanted to concentrate the first part of the lesson on spoken abilities through discussion, interaction and answering of questions. So the first we have done has been describing the picture of a port with different means of transports and people there.
I have ask them to describe the transport they could see, to tell what they are used for and how they travel, to think about the transports in their city, etc.
The second part of the lesson we have been Reading some information about means of transport, we have been highlighting the important terms and solving doubts about vocabulary and pronuntiation (specially with the Word “bus”).
I´ve felt really amazed of how well students, such Young-aged, are able to understand and interact in English without the necessity of recurring to Spanish during the main part of the explanations.
>> History 2º ESO (Rosa) - (IV Practical lesson)
Middle Age: Religious hierarchy; peasants: serfs & freemen; Trade in the Middle Age.
We have been Reading the content texts about different aspects related to the Middle Age. The expression and vocabulary were complex and very specific so we have been Reading carefully and explaining the main ideas, solving doubts and translating the difficult vocabulary.
After that, we have been completing one oral exercise about serfs and freemen and I have aroused some questions about the contents learnt about the unit. Finally, we have been discussing about life nowadays and back in the Middle Age, and they have been reflecting about the improvements in living aspects so far.
Bye bye xx
Carmen Cubero - 3rd April, 2013.
EliminarThis sadly has been my last day in the school and the day has been truly complete and stressful.
>> English 2º ESO (Rosa) (V Practical Lesson)
I have been taking control of the class today. Students are really excited with their English exchange partners that came last Monday to spend the week here.
I have been using this matter to discuss a little bit with students and to practice some oral skills. Some of the students show more shy when it comes to talk, but other are quite willing to interact and to tell the others about their experiences.
The level of English of the 2º ESO classroom is, in general, quite good. The average among them is a B1 so we can carry the lessons is a fluid English without much problem.
After discussing, we have been practicing the vocabulary and expression of the units by working in some exercises that we have corrected aloud. It´s been fun! :)
>> Business Studies 3º ESO (José María) (VI Practical lesson)
At the beginning of the lesson the teacher and I have been highlighting some principal terms to remember for the students to be able to understand the lesson of today: Revenue, profits, sales, average costs, overheads.
I´ve taken care of the lesson. We have been Reading carefully the information given in the book and the students have been participating by explaining with their own words the contents, then we have translated the text and clarifying the doubts about formulas, expressions and vocabulary.
>> English 2º Bach. (José Mª) (VII practical lesson)
TYPES OF CONDITIONAL
We have been reviewing the different types of expressing conditional sentences in English. We have been writing the formula of the four types on the whiteboard and them practising with exercises in the book. Then we have corrected them aloud.
The level of fluency in English of the Upper-Secondary graders is quite lower to the younger students. The background of these students is different to the other students because while the Young students have grown in this bilingual environment, they have acquired the level at school whereas the older students have incorporated to the bilingual school recently, so their adaptation to the English environment is slower.
>> Cambridge 2º ESO (Rosa)
Students are preparing the KET and PET examinations, so the teacher has broadcasted from youtube some videos showing examples about how to face the test. The videos were about, in case of KET students reply easy questions about day-to-day experiences whereas PET assessment is based on communication and interaction talking about normal speech talking about their daily lives.
After the videos, some questions about differences between the Trinity and Cambridge examinations have been aroused by the students and the teacher has been clarifying them.
I think it is fundamental for them to get ready for those exams and to have a previous complete information about what kind of test they have to face and how they need to approach the contents and their abilities for doing their best in the exams.
...and that was all. I really enjoyed the practice period. I have felt very comfortable and happy in this school and the treatment of the teachers and students has helped me to get motivated in the lessons, so the experience has been just great! :)
Bye bye xx
Hi everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday was my first day in Salvador Vinuesa. It is a huge public school because it has three different classes per course. I had been there some days ago to keep in contact with them, specifically with the deputy head and eventually, she accepted me in the school pleasantly. They have the bilingual program in the first, second and third courses of the Primary Education and I will be doing my internship in two different classes of the first course of Primary. I will be with a teacher called “Teresa”, she is at the same time the content teacher in “Science” subject and language teacher in “English” subject of her class. In addition, she teaches “Science” in another class of first course of Primary. Teresa introduced me to the pupils as the “new” teacher. The children were quite excited and they liked the idea of having a new teacher.
Teresa had prepared some activities to introduce a new unit in Science: “The seasons and the months of the year”, so she explained to me all the activities and I taught my first lesson. I used a cardboard where the four seasons where drawn and I said the name in Spanish and then in English, the pupils repeated with me. Besides, they said in Spanish some characteristics of each season. We have to bare in mind that in some cases in a CLIL context we have to respect their mother tongue. Then, I had some labels with the name of the season in English and they had to stick them with blue tag under every season. I chose the children at random but I told them before that they had to raise their hand to participate. We repeated this at least four times that the most of the children participated and they had a clear idea of the contents.
Another activity that I taught was the months of the year. First of all, they said in Spanish and then I put it on the blackboard in English. They repeated with me several times. Then, we matched each month of the year with its season. This activity was a bit hard for them but when I said some characteristics of them it was easier. For instance,
Teacher: In August, it is very, very hot. We go to the beach or swimming pool. What season is?
Pupils: Summer.
In some cases I did the main actions like “hot” or “cold” to represent the main seasons and months.
I ended up the lesson doing some listening exercises of the book.
I taught the same lesson in another class of the first course of Primary. Children in both classes gave me some pictures of mine. I felt extremely happy because at the beginning of the class I was a bit nervous but then, they left. I was becoming more and more self-confident. Today was brilliant and was only the first day! I’m quite glad to be there and I’d like to continue teaching more lessons like today.
ok, well done. Just primary isn't it?
EliminarJavier, I just teach in two different classes of first course of Primary Education.
EliminarDear all,
ResponderEliminarToday I was in Science but the class wasn’t in the bilingual program, it was in Spanish. Teresa was teaching the pupils some characteristics and peculiarities of the water and air in the first course of Primary, but it wasn’t in her tutorial class, it was in the other class of first course where she normally teaches Science in Spanish and also in the bilingual program. After the explanation of the contents, the pupils did some activities related with the unit. Today I didn’t teach anything, however, I was helping the students with their homeworks, if they didn’t understand the concepts I explained again what the teacher said and finally I corrected their activities.
In another session, we did an unexpected activity with the children. Two of them with special needs had to go with the specialist teacher and she had prepared “Tadeo Jones” film for them. Teresa and the specialist teacher decided that all the children from the class could watch the film together if they had a good behaviour in class. So, they were really excited and they loved it.
Marta, it sounds good. Well done!!! How was the Science lesson in the bilingual??
EliminarJavier, in this day I wasn't in any bilingual class. I was in Science but in Spanish. However, the day before I was teaching Science in the bilingual program. I think I didn't mention that the 5th of March I taught Science in the bilingual program. Sorry I forgot.
EliminarHi everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday I’ve learnt a lot because an American auxiliary teacher, Laura was teaching Science in the bilingual program. She taught the same in two different classes of the first course of Primary “places where we can find water”. She showed some flashcards with pictures and she insisted in the pronunciation of some of them that appeared for instance; “snow” or “ice” and the children had to repeat too. Then she explained the three states of water; “solid”, “liquid” and “gas”. She wrote them in the blackboard and drew an example of one of them. After that, she chose some children at random if they raised their hand. They drew more examples of the three states. Finally, they did a worksheet.
I didn’t participate today I just observed. However, I was paying attention at Laura’s pronunciation of the words and the way she taught the lesson to the pupils.
From my point of view, to have an auxiliary teacher helps the children a lot in their pronunciation they receive a good input of the language and they are completely immersed.
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarToday the children did a Science exam but not from the bilingual program. It was in Spanish and it was related to water. In another class of first course of Primary, Teresa taught what was a landscape in Science. They said what they thought and in some cases I laughed a lot. They had too much creativity. They also were taught the difference between a natural an artificial landscape. They said some examples of each one. Then, they did some activities related to what they had learnt. I helped them in some activities and I felt they were getting more confidence with the lesson.
In the English class, Teresa showed them some animals with flashcards, they had to repeat their name. After that, they had to draw them, colour and put the animal’s names. In addition, Teresa taught the structure “I can see a…” and they had to complete in their notebook with all the animals they had learnt. I was also helping the children in this class.
Every day, at the end of all the classes and before they go home. Teresa gives three different medals (gold, silver and bronze) according to their attitude in class. They are extremely excited at this moment and everyone wants a medal. It is a reward of their effort and they are quite glad when they get one of them. It is a good way to raise their motivation and to improve their behaviour in class.
14th March
ResponderEliminarIn this day, the children were taught in Science but in Spanish the difference between a natural landscape and a man-made landscape. Teresa showed some examples of each ones and they had to say if there were natural or man-made. In addition, the students said more examples of each one. Finally, they did an activity from the book about this.
In the English lesson, the pupils did an English exam, it was about animals.
I wasn’t exposed to CLIL in this day. However, Teresa said to me that if I would like to prepare a lesson about the same she explained in Science class but in English. I totally agreed with her. So I had to prepare the next session for the bilingual program.
19th March
In this day, I felt really useful in class due to I taught the Science lesson for the bilingual program. I prepared some flashcards with some features of the natural landscape and the man-made landscape. I began the lesson introducing the word “landscape” and they had to copy in their notebooks and write their meaning that I also said. Later, I divided the blackboard in two parts. On the right, I wrote man-made landscape and on the left natural landscape. I translated the new terminology in Spanish and they had to tell me some features of each one in English. After that, I showed them some flashcards and they had to tell me if it was a natural or a man-made landscape and some features that appeared in it. I chose some pupils at random and they had to put the flashcard in the correct place of the blackboard. Then, I also chose some students at random and they had to draw in the blackboard some features of the natural or man-made landscape. The class ended up with an activity, in this one they had to copy and draw in their notebook what we had been seeing in the blackboard.
I also repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary.
20th March
In this day, the students of first course of Primary were in the theatre. They saw a musical so when they returned they were quite excited and restless. In the rest of the classes Teresa taught them Maths in Spanish. The concepts of “outside” Vs “inside”, “near” Vs “far”. They were doing some activities from their book and they also did some sums.
I didn’t teach anything in these classes but I was helping the students in their exercises and correcting their activities so I wasn’t bored at all.
21st March
In this day, the “auxiliary teacher”, Laura came to first course of Primary, she taught Science of the bilingual program specifically the “coastal landscapes”. She showed through flashcads some new vocabulary such as “cliffs”, “harbour”, “island”, “beach”. She repeated a lot these new words and the children too. In addition, she paid so much attention in the pronunciation of them.
The activity that she prepared was a “bingo”. She gave each pupil a card with some new names that we’ve seen during the lesson and others that we saw in other lessons. At the beginning they were quite motivated. However, Laura repeated this activity three times and they got bored because some of the words were pretty difficult for them.
The lesson finished with an interactive activity called “Simon says”. The students had to do only when Laura said “Simon says…”. They were more motivated with this activity because they almost understood the vocabulary and they had to do movements.
I didn’t teach in this lesson because it was Laura’s time to teach. She only came once a week but I think it’s quite good for improving pupils’ pronunciation due to she is American. I was just listening to her. In my opinión, it was useful for me too.
Laura repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary and I was there too.
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarToday has been my first training day.
From 9:00 to 10:00 I translated to the headmistress an email from an American citizen who wants to enroll in my training school next year. Initially, I was said that I was going to attend an English class in 3º de la ESO but, given that most of the students had to re-sit a Math exam, the English teacher asked me to do some translation stuff for the headmistress.
From 10:00 till 10:30 I joined the 5º de primaria class. Here the students were taking an oral exam in which they have to translate some irregular verbs (just present and past forms) and some expressions already seen on the unit. Students were quite bored since they spent most of the class listening to their peers’ answers.
From 10:30 until 11:30 I attended a 6º de primaria English class. There were a bunch of boys who were quite disruptive and annoying. But on the whole students behaved themselves. The English class was quite good. First of all, they started with an ice-breaker to later continue with some grammar explanations (control practice) and to finally end with an oral free practice. Students’ level of English is great. I would say: awesome!
From 12:00 till 12:30 I was with these kids too. They had what is called “communication skills”. This is a preparatory class for taking Cambridge exams (This class is mandatory for all students whether or not they want to take the Cambridge exam or not). Unfortunately, the teacher was attending a group of British students who were visiting the school facilities. Therefore, these 6º de primaria students continued watching a film (‘Pirates of Caribbean’) in English with subtitles.
Finally from 12:00 till 13:20 I was in a 2º de bachillerato class. Contrary to 6 de primaria, these students’ level of English is too poor. The reason why it is this way is because they all come from different schools.
Finally I would like to say that the three teachers with whom I spent the morning are highly qualified, not to mention their level of English.
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarToday it wasn’t as exciting as other days because I didn’t teach any lesson. I was just observing and helping the children in their activities.
In Science class in Spanish (not of the bilingual program) Teresa was explaining the coastal landscapes and reviewing other types of landscapes such as mountainous or flat for the following day because the children will have an exam.
The Science exam will consist on some Spanish questions about the contents and the last activity will be in English. They will have to draw some examples of natural or man-made landscapes that I had already taught and then write their names. This will be the only activity in English. I think that’s good for them because they’re getting used to daily routine words.
In English class Teresa introduced new members of the family through the cassette listening to a song. It was rhythmical and catchy so they learnt the vocabulary quite fast singing the song several times.
Here I am again! 2nd day!
ResponderEliminar9:00 to 10:00. English, 3º de ESO. The very best I can say of this class is the book they use. Please, if you have the chance, have a look at this book: "Advanced Real English" by Charlotte Addison and Ryan Norcott (Burlington Books). There are four levels which correspond to each ESO level. These books contain a lot of cultural stuff, CLIL activities, idioms, pronunciation activities, photo discussions... you name it!
10:00 to 11:00. English, 1º de ESO. It was all about reading a book; in fact, two chapters. Students took turns to read and as they read they asked the teacher for clarification of some terms or expressions. I would like to point out that the book was an abridge version for B1 students!!
11:00 to 12:20. Science, 4º de EP. In pairs students explained their peers the PowerPoint presentation they did at home. Good stuff, mostly it was written in English and because it included feedback activities, but still too much reading on the students' side.
12:20 to 13:20. Communication Skills, 2º ESO. Students watch a video on youtube about the oral part on Cambridge and Trinity exams. The teacher reassured them and gave them a piece of advice.
Hi again! I've just realised that my name on each entry is "what a nice day!". Well, I think I have sorted it out but, in any case, I'm Pilar Rodríguez. Cheerio!
ResponderEliminar3rd training day!
ResponderEliminarToday most of the students were at the theatre. Therefore, there wasn't much to do there so I have spent most of the morning looking through some books, trying to find some CLIL activities for the didactic unit.
I have also been in a Science class in 2º de EP. I must admit that students’ English level is great. The teacher allowed me to teach half of the lesson for what I’m really grateful to her.
I would also like to say that, to me, in this school students are very talkative!
The others days I published in the wrong place, so I copied what I have written. In addition, I have written my last days in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I apologize for the mistake.
ResponderEliminarHello everybody!
The Tuesday, 5th March was my first day in Sto.Trinitarios School, which is a concerted school where the students wear uniforms. It was a very enjoyable day.
I arrived there at 9:00 o’clock and I met the English teacher, Carmen, and she showed me the classes and the lessons I was going to teach. I was going to teach English in 1st and 2nd of Primary Education. I worked with children of six, seven and eight years old. In class they speak Spanish and English; it depends according to the level and the students. This first day was an introductory day and I just met the students. I helped them supervising their work, and improving their English. In 1st of Primary Education they have worked with the activity book. In the 2nd course is the same method but with a different unit and more complex vocabulary. We’ve listened to songs in English, while the students did exercises.
The teacher is a good person, she has a very good English pronunciation and she has a good organization of the class. The behavior of the children is good. The level of English of these children is amazing.
I worked with them in the didactic unit about toys. They used rich vocabulary like marbles, doll, plane, computer-games... using it in several funny activities. To finish the class and make it more fun we did a game where we worked with the vocabulary of the unit and we also reviewed pronunciation.
It was a very special day. Next week I'm going to see other classes.
Bye!
Hello everybody!
The Monday, 11th of March 2013 was my second day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I accompanied the English teacher of Primary Education from 9:00 to 12:00 in their respective classes. Today I was in the 1st and 2nd grade of primary education.
I've been in 2nd grade B and A. We had class of knowledge of the environment, which is taught in English. They studied plants reproduction. They have learnt vocabulary such as shrubs, trees and lawns. To liven the class up we did an experiment with glasses of water, celeries and colors such as red, yellow and blue. The purpose was to see if the celery was colored or not. In this week they have also seen their plants have grown lentils. Their enthusiasm was reflected in their faces.
In 1st A I’ve worked a new teaching unit: parts of the house and possible dangers (plugs, fire, etc.). We have also reviewed prepositions through exercises of the activity book. We worked vocabulary such as: kitchen, plug, fire pot, bedroom, etc..
Other routines remain the same as always, for example, singing a song in English at the beginning and at the end of the class. The teacher name a leader of the class that changes every day who says the date of the day and what the weather is like, always in English.
At the end of the class and in order to make it more entertaining we usually play games with which we work the vocabulary of the unit and review pronunciation.
Bye!
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarThe Tuesday, 12th March was my third day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians. I accompanied the English teacher in the classes of 1st and 2nd grade of primary education.
The first two hours were in 2nd grade A and B.
Today, in both classes, while the teacher was remembering some concepts of the unit seen in previous classes, such as prepositions and toys, and asking them to do some exercises from the work book, I've been explaining to two children who were missing the previous days the review of the unit. It is also true that these children had more difficulties than the rest of the class in all subjects, but especially in English. I worked with them the numbers, colors and the food. Once again I have proven that with hard work anything can be achieved, since they first seemed not to have learnt anything in class, but when they performed the exercises they did very well. I loved helping them and seeing how they progressed.
At the third hour I've been in 1st grade A, where we reviewed several concepts such as prepositions and numbers from 1 to 20, among others, by some exercises from the workbook. At the end of the class we played a game using the vocabulary and numbers studied.
That's all for today.
Good day!
Hello everybody!
The Monday and Tuesday, 18th and 19th of March, were my fourth and fifth day of practices in the school Sto. Trinitarians.
Both days I helped the teacher to evaluate the students speaking skill. I was two days evaluating the students since it was the last week before Easter and they did not have yet the speaking mark. The students came individually to the teacher’s desk and I explained them the questions they had to answer. I assessed their answers giving them one point, half a point or zero points.
I paid attention to the vocabulary they used related to the units studied during the second term. In the second cycle I evaluated the rules and the parts of the house, I asked them whether they lived in a flat or in a house and we worked the prepositions from questions I asked them such as “Where is the book” and they had to say “The book is on the table”.
In the 1st grade I used the same method, but this time the evaluation was different. I looked at basic prepositions (on/under/behind), vocabulary about toys (marbles, doll, train, ball, etc.), vehicles with wheels and numbers from 1 to 20.
It was a great experience since the level of the students was quite good and, although some of them got distracted easily, they succeeded answering my questions. The most difficult part for most of them was the use of the correct preposition and the caution rules we must have at home. Definitely, both the teacher and I ended really happy with the knowledge adquired by the students this term.
That's all for today.
Bye!
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarThe Tuesday, 2th April, was my sixth day of practice in the school Sto. Trinitarians.
In the first class in 2nd grade A, I worked with a student who could not do the dictation the previous day. I evaluated him through a listening activity where I described several pictures and he had to put them in order. The vocabulary used was according to the studied units: clothes, toys, food, parts of the body, colours, etc. In addition, in both classes we studied the parts of a school: playground, teachers’ room, computers’ room, library… In 1st grade we worked with the first unit planned for the third term: the family. In the three classes I explained several activities they had to do in their activity book and the teacher wrote all the new vocabulary on the blackboard so that the students could copy it in their notebooks.
That's all for today.
Next week more and better news. Thank you!
Have a good day!
4th April
ResponderEliminarDear students,
In this day, I was helping the children in some activities of Maths and correcting their mistakes. In addition, Laura (the American auxiliary teacher) came to a first course of Primary and she taught some parts of the face like “mouth”, “ears”, “eyes” or “nose”. She gave a worksheet with a face and they had to draw the parts of the face that Laura said. For instance, “you have to draw one yellow eye”. At the end of the class, they played the game “Simon says…” with the parts of the face that they had been working.
In my opinion, it is good to finish the class with a game because they feel more tired and with this activity they are playing and at the same time they are learning.
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarLast Friday I completly forgot to post in the blog. Anyway, there isn't much to say really. Most of the students had an exam and others went to the theatre.
I spent most of the time having a look at the wide range of teaching resources this school has. Honestly, I have never seen a school with so many books, posters, films, interactive DVDs... you name it!
As for today, I have been in class in which students have taken a Science exam. Most of the questions were easy. I mean those which say... Choose the correct answer... Label the picture... and that kind of stuff. But others were complex like: What is a tributary? What is a river? We are talking about 3º de primary. Moreover, fast finishers had to write a summary about the unit or simply draw something related to the unit and write the name of each particular drawing. Isn't it great?
ResponderEliminarThe rest of the day was much of what I have already posted so I think we can call it day.
c ya
Dear classmates,
ResponderEliminarThe last Wednesday 3rd March was my first day in El Carmen school. I have to say that due to personal reasons I will go to school from Wednesday to Friday every weeks.
I arrived the school at 9 o’clock and looked for my tutor, Miriam, who received me gratefully. The children of second course were entering the classroom and all of them were happy to see a new teacher in their classroom. After 5 minutes, Miriam introduced me to another teacher called Juan with whom I will be every Wednesday for 2 hours in the Science lessons in first course of Primary Education. So I was in this class for the first two hours of the morning where I could observe how Juan carried out the lesson. Then, he told me that I would give the class the next Wednesday. For it, he borrowed me some books: two books about Science and another two books of contents of Maths, Science and Language.
I was two more hours with Miriam giving English lessons in two groups of second course of Primary Education. I introduced the fourth unit called "The house" using some home-made flashcards to introduce the new vocabulary.
For the last hour of the morning I was in another English class of third course of Primary in this case, with another teacher called Inma. It was a class about animals and I could notice some methodological differences between the way of teaching of both teachers Miriam and Inma.
And that was all! Thanks!
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarI'm going to continue narrating you the course of my second and third days in El Carmen school:
Thursday 4th March
According to my schedule, on Thursdays I enter the school at 10 o'clock. The first class of the day was in a class of 3rd course of Primary with Inma. It was quite similar to the last class of the previous day (animals). The teacher gave a big input of vocabulary to the students and some of the words were unknown to them. She asked me to read all the words aloud to the students so that they know how these words are pronounced, and after have repeated each word with me, the students copied the new vocabulary in their notebooks. They also wrote the meaning of each word next to it. I could make some reflections about the different methodologies that I can observe from different teachers, for example, in Miriam's class the students never copy the new vocabulary the first day that it is introduced. Maybe the methodology that Inma applies would be more appropriate in higher courses.
The second class that I attended was in Pre-school Education, where I only observed the performance of the lesson. Children didn't use to pay much attention because of their ages.
And the last lesson of the morning was in second course. I met a girl with special educative needs, in fact, I have known some students with this kind of needs in the different classes that I attend and it is gratifying for me helping them. The students were doing exercises about parts of the house.
Friday 5th March
On Fridays, I enter the school on 12 o'clock so I can only attend two English classes in second course. I had prepared the next session and I gave the lesson on my own. I added three words more after have reviewed the vocabulary orally. Then, I introduced the grammar structure of "Where is...?" and the prepositions: in, on, under, next to and in front of. We practised the vocabulary, the grammar structure and the prepositions using the poster of the unit. Finally, the students copied from the blackboard all what they had learnt in the lesson.
Good nights!
10th April
ResponderEliminarFirstly, I have to say that I was wrong when I wrote the date of the three days that I have written until now, because I wrote March instead of APRIL.
Today, I have given the science lesson that I had prepared before. It was in first course of Primary Education in the bilingual program. I'm happy with the result because everything was how I expected: at the beginning we did some mental calculus orally, then we did two listening activities about Coastal Landscapes, then we made differences between Coastal and mountainous landscapes (they had learnt the mountainous landscapes in the previous session) and then they copied what they had learnt in this session in their notebooks.
The next class was in third course of Primary, where I had to take the control of the class because the teacher, Miriam, couldn't come with me due to she had to stay in another classroom where there wasn't a teacher for Religion. To be alone in a class would have been stressful for me some days ago, but now I realise that it is not a problem for me.
And that's all because today I had to leave the school earlier.
11th April
ResponderEliminarI have been in a English class in 3º EPO for the first hour, where I've been observing how the teacher gave the lesson.
The second class of the day was in pre-school. The teacher has told me that she carries out the method "Jolly Phonics" and she has explained to me in which this method consists. During the class I have been analysing the way in which she gives the class taking into account what the teacher had just explained to me about the method.
And to close the morning I have been in one of the classes of second course of Primary, where I am teaching the unit 4: "the house". Today the students weren't so attentive as other days so I had to do an extra-effort to maintain the order in class.
12th April
ResponderEliminarDear all,
there isn't much to say about the last Friday 12th April because according to my schedule I only had to attend two classes and in addition,last Friday some teachers from CLC went to school to give an animation in class. So while I was doing a listening in second course, a teacher entered the classroom and taught some vocabulary about animals in an active way.
In the second and last class of the morning, we reviewed orally all what I have taught in the unit until now: vocabulary of the house, prepositions and grammar structures and then we played the famous game "I spy" to practice the vocabulary. Miriam, the teacher, needed half an hour of the class time to work on a comic with the children, so that was all.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarThis morning has been my first day in Seneca school. I began at 8 a.m with Charo, one of the English teachers, in a 3rd ESO class and later in a 2nd ESO class.
Even we have been working in differents degrees the methodology was similar; first she did a little reminder of what they have been working the previous session. In 3rd A, she explained the first conditional and then we checked the homework which was about phrasal verbs. The students behaviour in this classroom was quite fine, all of them were attentive and show interest, but they didn´t speak in english, all the doubts and sugestion were made using Spanish.
In the 2nd A, they have been reviewed the future (Will, going to and present continuous), then I checked the homework.The behaviour of the pupils wasn´t good, they were talking all the time, without paying attention and almost half of them had forgotten the book at home.
The next hour was very exciting for me, because it was in a 1st EPO class and I have never been working with students of primary. The subject was Conocimiento del medio and it was teaching following CLIL methodology. Juan, the teacher, uses english all the time as well as the children and this impress me because they are really communicative and they use more english than pupils older. The topic of the unit is the town and the city; first they have done some excercise in the book, after we have played to a mime game in which they have to represent the words that Juan and me said (for example: traffic policeman, fisherman...)To finish, Juan take a tennis ball and they have to throw it one another and say a word related with the unit.
To finish the day, I assisted to a 1st ESO class with my supervisor teacher, Juan. Juan has explained the difference between there is/there are/ there was/ there were.Then we have done a reading and after that, the students have answered some questions related to the text. To finish we have checked some homework. The students are not allowed to speak in Spanish so all was in English, and the level in general was good.
11th April 2013.
ResponderEliminarHello everyone!
Today it has been my first day at school : “Trinitarios”. I wasn´t very nervous because I have worked with children however I wanted to start because I have never been working in a private school and that was new to me. I have met my practicum´s tutor, Carmen. She is very friendly and hard-working and she has explained to me the school system, the classes organization… I am going to be with her in all my practices period so I am going to teach English and Science (the only subject of the bilingual program). The groups which Carmen teaches are 1sta a, 1st b and 2nd a, 2nd b of Primary Education. Today I have met three of the four groups. Children are very hard-working and polite. Their level of English is quite good. Their pronunciation is excellent. I get amazed because in the other schools in which I have been teaching the level was worse. Today I have been observing the classes but I have participated in the plays. The three groups have been very participative and most of them aren´t afraid of speaking English. I like it! It has been wonderful to observe how children are able to understand English explanations. It has been a wonderful experience .Tomorrow I will come back to the school!
12th April 2013.
EliminarHi!!
Today it has been my second day at school. I have been working together my tutor, Carmen. The first class starts with the routine dialogue: “It´s English time so let´s sing the Hello song: hello, hello, hello, hi, hi, hi, hello, hello, hello, hi, hi, hiiiiiiii! Everyday Carmen choose a pupil who is the responsible of the day. Carmen asks to the responsible:” Who is missing today?” and “what´s the weather like today?”. Later the students continue with the routine dialogue and sing the following song: “There are seven days in a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday and suuuuuuuuuuuuuunday”. Pupils enjoy with the routine dialogue, they sing and answer to the teacher´s question in all the situations. Carmen asks me to do a warning up, I do a sumarize from the last class. In 1º A, in Science they are learning the different types of plants. I work with flashcards of images and words. We do a lot of plays because learning and playing is compatible. In both classes we do the same, when we start the English lesson I perceive that the structure is the same, the teacher works with flashcards and she is very communicative. Children continue participating and their pronunciation is perfect. In the English class children is learning the parts of the house: living room, dining room, bathroom… Working in this school is wonderful because children are hard working and polite. However en 2º A there is a children who doesn’t pay attention and disturb the class all the time although he is hard working too. Next Monday I will back to the school!
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarLast Friday was different than any other day because I was said to take control of the class in 1º de la ESO. As soon as the class began a boy hit a girl's eye with his jersey. Consequently, it really inflamed.
The teacher left with this girl and came back when the class was finished just to get her stuff.
I simply did what the teacher told me to do. I corrected the activities. They had to correct 4 pages!
Then I continued in 2º de bachillerato. They finished the book last week and now it is all about correcting selectividad samples.
Next hour I was in 5º de primaria. Here the students had a list of irregular verbs, just present and past, and they had to write sentences with this verbs in affirmative, negative and interrogative form; both in present and past tense and using different personal pronouns.
Finally, I had a little break and went back into 5º de primaria class. This time they had Science. Here students were asked to do a mind map about the unit to later continue with some activities they corrrected at the end of the class.
After attending all these school lessons, I would say that the implementation of the bilingual program in this school is all about changing the language since there is nothing new on the way lessons are taught and neither on the content.
There is just a difference in the content but it is in the Cambridge preparation course that takes place in this school.
that was all for Friday!
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarToday it has been my first class in bilingual education.
In the Salvador Vinuesa C.E.I.P. bilingualism is implanted in the first, second and third grade and each of the lines of each course (there are three lines in first, in second there are four and third there are three).
The teacher that I have been assigned to , Mª José, is tutor of 1st B and teacher of Science at 2 ° A and 2 ° D.
As in all bilingual school there is a native teacher, Laura, who teaches an hour weekly to each of the bilingual lines.
At the beginning of the morning we have done the daily routine in which I have asked them how they were, what was the weather like, the alphabet and today's date. Then we have read the text in the book (I first and then some volunteers) related to the mountainous landscapes and, following the teacher's methodology, I have asked them to translate aloud and to copy the vocabulary in the notebook in order to study at home (Mountainous landscapes, valley, lake an mountain range). I then,have asked them to do the first exercise which was to write the order (number) in which I was reading the words river, valley, lake, forests and mountain range.
Finally, I have asked them to do the exercise number two, which was a drawing which should be coloured but before coloring I have asked them to point in the picture what I was saying.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday it has been my second day in the school. The first two hours I have been working with my supervisor teacher in a 1st ESO and a 2nd ESO course. To begin with in the class of 1st A we have been reviewing what we taught yesterday (there is, there are...), then we gave a sheet to the pupils which they had to complete immediatly. While the students completed the sheet, we were correcting some exams and the results were quite bad. To finish, we corrected the sheet.
The next hour it was in 2nd ESO, we have given the students a sheet with questions like fill the gap,put sentences in the right order, choose the correct word, explain pictures... This questions were related with the song Hall of Fame, sung by The script. We put the youtube video of the song twice, but we realized that it was necessary to listening to a couple of times more. Then we corrected the questions.
To finish the day I have assisted to a 1st EPO science class. As in the other class, they were learning a unit related with the town and the city. First they completed a sheet, then the teacher showed them some flashcards which follow a story, the kids told me the story like it was a tale.
The last ten minutes were employed in learning new food vocabulary, so the pupils were asked to say what were their favourite food and what food they dont like it at all.
15th April, 2013
ResponderEliminarToday is my third day at school. I know how the teacher organizes the classes so I have collaborated in the four lessons of the day. Pupils have to pass four tests: Speaking, writing, listening and reading. Today I have helped Carmen to do the speaking test of science. Pupils have to do the speaking test of the plants. In 1º A children answered all the questions perfectly however in 1ºb some pupils have got some problems for speaking in English. Carmen asks me to help children when they have got problems with speaking in English and they can do it in Spanish because the test is of Science and it is most important that children know the contents that the use of English in the subject. I have never done speaking tests to children of 6-7 years old and I am really interesting in doing it in my future so this day has been very positive for my future experiences. Bye bye !!
Hi again!
ResponderEliminarThis is my penultimate day at the school and I must admit that, after having attended most of the classes from primary level to bachillerato, CLIL program works. However, in mi opinion, there is still a long way to go. Honestly, this program requires a lot of changes which can only be achieved in a long period of time, step by step.
The classes have run as the others days, nothing new has happened.
Hope you have a good day too!
c ya
16th April, 2013
ResponderEliminarDear all!!
Today with the sun shining children have been very active but however they have been very hard working. Today in English class, the groups of 2º are learning the subjects: maths, science, music… I have collaborated with Carmen. Everyday I search the children´s work and I teach when is possible. I am very happy with Carmen because I like the way in which she teaches. She is very communicative and pupils participate using English. In Science class we do an experiment with plants and colored inks. We teach and children learn with real examples. I love it!
Bye!
Hello!!
ResponderEliminarIn my third day I have been teaching in three differents grades. To begin with, I have been in a 3rd ESO class where we have corrected some homework and we have explained the use of the present continuous for express future actions. Then we have been explaining an interesting activity that the students have to prepare for the next week. In pairs, they have to do a little representation of one of this situations: a conversation about the wheater, a conversation about the future imagining that one of them is a fortune teller or a converation in a travel agency. They have to record themselves and upload the file to the blog that they have in the Internet.
In the second hour, I have corrected some excercises in a 1st ESO class.
The last class of the day was in 2nd ESO. The corrected exam was given to the students and we have been reviewing the common mistakes. Then we did little introduction of the new unit to see what they are going to study the following days.
That´s all for today!
Today I have finished my training at the school. It's been a worthwhile experience although I think it would have been better if it would have lasted longer. Moreover, I reckon we should have no more than two teachers at the school since it allows you to get to know them in depth and build enough confidence so as to ask about whatever you are interested in.
ResponderEliminarWhat I love the most about this school is the teacher's skills and the method they follow.
Hope you too have a great experience at your schools
cheerio!
Dear all!!
ResponderEliminarI have prepared the English classes for today. Children are learning the vocabulary of the family members so I have done flashcards of an English family. Besides the family members in this unit they are learning to describe the physical appearance. With the flashcards created for me I have told to them a funny story about an English family. They have enjoyed with the story because children loved the pictures after that we did some activities about the story. I think that this has been a good election for today. They had to describe the characters in this way: “her name is … and she has got black eyes and brown hair”. In 2º we had been doing activities for children remember all they are learning, the subjects vocabulary.
That was all for wednesday!!
Bye!
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday I have been all the morning in the school because We have two classes in spanish between the english ones and I have done what the teacher have asked me to do.
I have started the morning in first course B as the teacher does normally (writing the date in english and in spanish, asking about the weather and singing the alphabet). Then I have started remembering what we did the last session. To reinforce the knowledge about mountainous ladscapes I did two extra-activities. In the first activity the children have to read a text (that I first had writen in the blackboard)about the parts of a mountain, then they have copied in their notebook and finally they have translated into spanish. In the second task I asked them to draw a mountain and write the names of each part differentiating with an arrow.
At the end of the class we have done a small crossword in which the children had to search four words they had already known.
In the classes of second course A and D (I have done the same in both classes)I have done two dictations in english the first one related to farming and the second about fishing, then the children had to translate the texts into spanish.
Dear all,
ResponderEliminarToday was my last day in the school and I was quite sad because I really had a good time with the pupils and my tutor, Teresa. I have learnt too many things and resources in the class and also I have learnt what CLIL is and how it is used in a bilingual school.
I taught the last lesson of Science of the bilingual program in a first course of Primary. I explained the students different jobs such as mechanic, hairdresser, doctor, dentist and waiter. I asked them what these people did in their daily routine. The pupils were raising their hands and saying some activities.
In addition, they did an activity from the book where they had to find different jobs for some people who appeared. Finally, they had to copy the new words in their Science notebook and translate the words in Spanish. The students who finished earlier than others drew and coloured some jobs.
Besides, I repeated this same lesson in another class of first course of Primary due to Teresa taught Science of the bilingual program in two classes.
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday it has been a very busy day. The next week it going to be the cultural week about Europe so Mª Jose and I have been all the morning preparing the things we will need. I have been doing a proyect of the country of Malta for first course B the first two hours. Then we have though what could we do with the children in the science class (that is to say, in English) for 1º B, 2º A and 2º D and we have decided making a poster with the most important information of the country chosen that the student will build tomorrow because the homework today was to find information about each country related to the location, flag, embleme, coin, typical food, monuments...
I have decided also to write one question in the poster related to the country as a trivial game that the rest of the students will think (the posters are going to be exposed in a wall) and the teacher love my idea. Once we have decided what to do we went to talk with the headmaster in order to save one wall for this purpose and also to explain her what we have thought.
At the end of the day we have met the rest of the teachers of first course Teresa and Emilio because each one have to write with his/her class a book of the country in question and so we needed to reach an agreement about what we are going to write in the book and in which order.
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ResponderEliminarHello!!
ResponderEliminarYesterday it was my fourth day at Seneca school. My first class was in a third of ESO where we corrected some exercises of the workbook. The next class was a first of ESO, here it was explained the regular verbs and how to use them in the past simple, in the affirmative, negative and interrogative form. Then the students did some exercises about this.
Before the break I assisted in the Science class of the bilingual program in a first course of Primary, definetly this is the course I enjoy most, not only because is the only course in which is used CLIL methodology, but also because the children are completely involved in the english language, they are participative and are speaking all the time in english. Here we began a new unit which was about the transport; with the help of flashcards, the children learned the difference between collective and individual transport, and were able to classified different transport depending on it was a sea, land or air transport.
After the break, I have been in the other first of ESO, where it was explained the regular verbs in the past form, and it was done a dictation.
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarI'm going to continue narrating my experiences at school during this last week.
Wednesday 17th April.
It was a day of small exams. At first hour, I was in the science class of 1st course of Primary and the students did a brief exam where they were asked about the contents that they had worked on until then. They will work on a project about jobs, tools and machines for the next weeks. The teacher and my classmate, MªJesús, who was in the same class, showed me the project.
Teacher Miriam and I also did a small exam in two classes of second course to check that the students were consolidating the contents. I wrote the two activities of that small exam in the blackboard and the students copied them in a blank sheet. After the exam, we did two listenings of the Student's book. We did the same in the two classes. There isn't much more to say about this day because as I've just said, the day was about exams.
Bye!!
Sorry but I had wroten my comments on other year, so I write them here again.
ResponderEliminarHello classmates!
Today (15th of April) was my first day of practice in Virgen del Carmen school. When I arrived at the school I went to look for my tutor who is he teacher of a group of the first year of primary education. My tutor teaches the subject of Science in the three clases of the first year that are in this school.
Today I taught a Science class to one of these classes. Students were watching the unit number 9 which is about landscapes and today we have finished two pages that weren't done. One of them included a listening, which only repeated the vocabulary words in the same order they are placed in the book, so students get lost and they do not pay attention because they do not have to do anything just listen, which find quite boring. The second activity was also a listening activity but it was more atractive. The audio said the colour in which students have to color some coastal landscapes that appeared in the picture.
After finishing this page, we have worked in the following one the differences between natural non-made and man-made features.
After that, we made the presentation, together the three first courses, of the next unit, which will be worked as a project. The teacher has put the children some videos in which we have seen ideas from the three branches of the proyect: jobs, tools and machines
And that's all today. Tomorrow more and better!
See you soon
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday (16th of April) was my second day of practice
I gave class to a first grade grou. As they have exam next Friday, we have been reviewing key concepts and expressions. We have reviewed them with a game using flashcards: first with the help of the children I have sung a song that is: shuffle, shuffle, one, two, three, shuffle, shuffle, one, two, three.Then I say the name of one of the children and he/she told me a number and I count the flashcards until I get to that number.
My tutor told me that the class in which we have been today is very good and children study a lot and it was true because they were most of the time paying attention and they all knew the vocabulary of the unit. When we reviewed all the flashcards, we have developed the same activity that I did yesterday with the other class.
I've also been helping my tutor to develop the material related to the project that we will carry out from tomorrow.
Bye! Have a nice day!
Thursday 18th April
ResponderEliminarI started the morning with a class of 3rd course of Primary Education, where I gave a class which consisted in reading a story and doing some activities about it such as reading it aloud and translating it in the notebooks. We also did a pair of activities of the activity book. In these activities they had to answer some questions related with the story and it was necessary to explain how "why" and "because" are used to ask and answer as well as the differences between them.
After this class I went to the pre-school education class that I assist every weeks. There I continued observing the performance of the class. The teacher explained me some important things about the method she uses in class and told me some things about the students with specific needs that she has in class, which are relevant for my TFM study.
I continued giving the unit 4 with the children of second course during the rest of the day.
Friday 19th April
As every Fridays, I entered the school at 12 in the morning. Children and teachers had been enjoying of an assembly. Miriam, the teacher of second course, asked me to give on my own the two classes of the day due to she had to be with a child who had hurt his leg. So I reviewed the vocabulary and prepositions and taught the song of the unit. Then we did two different activities of the activity book, one of them was a listening. I gave the same class in the two groups but in one of them we sang the song in a more actively way using a small microphone that Miriam has in the classroom.
That's all! Have a good day!
Monday 22th April
ResponderEliminarToday we have started the cultural week, called Europe. During this week the subjects are not going to follow the natural schedule. Do to this situation the students of first course B have been the first three hours making a composition ending as follows: " Yesterday I had a dream." The compositions were put in an envelope because the best of all the first courses will be awared. After the brake the children started to do some language activities but the teacher of fifth came to the class with some of his pupils who are going to be godfathers/godmothers of the first course children the following Wednesday when the will read some stories to the litle children. The last hour of the week the teacher and I went to second course A where tha native teacher explained the jobs. She made emphasis in perfect pronunciation.
- Friday 19th April -
ResponderEliminarI started the day in the 2nd ESO class, there we did a review of the unit because the next day it will be the exam. Furthermore, they had to write a composition of more or less 50 words about their plans for the weekend.
Then I have been in a 1st ESO class where we spent the all time checking some exercises about the past simple.
To finish the day, my tutor gave me the opportunity to see how they are working with the 4 years kids. There they are carrying out a phonologic method based in songs,each day they learn a new sound, the last friday the sound was [I]. First, they sing a song which have a lot of words with the sound [I], then the teacher tell a story which is repeat later by a child and to finish, they complete a sheet with the vocabulary seen in the song. I was totally impressed because all the time both students and teachers are speaking in english and I have seen how clil methodology really works.
- Monday 22nd April -
The early morning was quite boring because the first two hours (3rd and 2nd ESO)the students have been doing an exam.
Before the break, I have had class with 1st EPO class, where we continuing talking about transport. As the next day it will be "Book day", students of 3rd EPO visited the class to tell fairy tales in english the last half hour. The kids didn´t understand much of what they were listening although they were concentrated.
Finally, I have finished my day at school with one group of the 1th ESO grade. There, we have been explaining the pronunciation of the regular verbs in the past form.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday it has been my seventh day at school. I began the day in the 1st ESO class, where I have checked the homework of the past day about the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past form. Then the teacher explained how to write correctly the regular verbs in the past form.
Later, I assisted to a 2nd EPO class, that was a class in Spanish but it was interesting see how other younger children did a performance to the older ones. They told four tales, three in spanish and one in english:
- El solidario
- Los ciegos y el elefante
- No hay que pegar
- Hansel and Grettel
The last hour I attended to the 1st EPO science class. There it have been taught the land transport and students of 5th EPO came there to tell five tales.
Hello!!
ResponderEliminarToday, the first class I attended was 3rd ESO, where we have started the new unit called "Film and Fiction". The students have done some vocabulary exercises which will be corrected the next day. After that, we have been listening and watching the works which students have done in order to practise the future forms. They have done amazing performances, because not only did they record themselves talking about the future, but also they have done little stories, like little movies.
The next hour I went to the 1st ESO class, there the students have done a sheet about the regular verbs in the past form, and then it was corrected. My supervisor teacher explained me that to finish every unit the students have to done an investigating work, in this unit it will be a written production about an important past person who the student must choose.
The last class it was in 2nd ESO where we have done a sheet to work with conditionals, using the topic of superstition. The homework for tomorrow is to write spanish superstions using conditionals, for example: if you see a black cat you will have bad luck.
Hello!!
ResponderEliminarToday I have started the morning in the 3rd ESO class. Here we have been listening the students recordings related with the future. Then the teacher explained what verbs are following of -ing or infinitive form and we have done some activities in the Internet about that (we have used the web page called English Grammar). To finish the class we have introduced the second conditional.
After that, I have been in the 1st ESO A class where we have seen a video about the Roman Britain. The video has been repeated three times and while the students watched it, they had to complete a sheet with questions about the video. In the next class (1st ESO B), we have done the same.
To finish the morning, I have attended to science class in 1st EPO; here I have explained the air transport and the children have done some activities as draw a collective transport and an individual transport, colour it and cut it to paste in a cardboard.
Tomorrow it will be my last day and it´s a bit sad because I have felt really good working there.
hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarThis week the children in the Salvador vinuesa school are not having normal lessons,but today I have explain one page during half an hour. The teacher told me to do so and I explained the coastal landscape. First I have asked them to tell me in spanish what can they see in a coastal landscape and once they said all the vocabulary I have asked them to translate into english by looking at the exercise. At the end they have done a draw following the code I have told them
The rest of the day the children have been in the yard playing a gymkana..
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday I have started the day as usually, that is to say asking about the weather, singing the alphabet and writing the date. I've been teaching flat landscapes, the last part of the unit 9. But before that we have played a game called cross the river to revise all the vocabulary of that unit. After that, I have explained the children what are flat landscapes and the differences between fields and plains (they have copied the differences in their notebooks). Finally, we have been coloring in a landscape the man-made features.
As it is the last lesson of the unit I have asked the teacher if they will do an exam to prepare some activities but she have told me they are not aware and prepared to do exams in english yet.
In the next hour they have been doing spanish language activities.
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarI'm going to do a brief comment about my last days in El Carmen school, on Wednesday 25th April and Thursday 26th because there is no much to say due to I had completed my practice hours the previous week so that only had to go to finish the unit that I started in second course of Primary Education. And this is what I did during the two days: On Wednesday I finished the unit in two classes and on Thursday I did the same in the other class. We couldn't do the final exam of the unit because Miriam couldn't prepare it due to all the teachers were finalizing details to the sample fair which took place in the school during the last Monday and Tuesday, where all the inventions created by children were shown. So we did the last activities of the unit, and once we reviewed all what they had learnt, we played some consolidation games using the vocabulary and structures learnt.
And that was all! I am very happy with my experience in the school!
Today was my third day of practice
ResponderEliminarWe have continued with our project and, today, we have read the introduction text to our students. The first time, I have read it to them but after this, we were playing some games with the text. While I was reading the text, students were following it with their fingers. After we have read it totally, I said single words and students had to locate them in the text.
When we have finished the reading, we copied the text on the next page of our notebook. It was amazing to discover how students were reading the text while they were writing it.
After that, students have colour some flashcard with different jobs that we have give them. Next day we are going to use them to play a game.
It’s incredible how they understand thing that they didn’t know before. I am fascinating with them.
Tomorrow more! Good night
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday was my fourth day of practice. Today it has been a special day, because we have had some presentation in our science class. The three classes of the first course of primary education have gone to the assembly hall, where four parents were waiting us. They were there to tell us things about their jobs and occupations. It has been so interesting because there were different jobs: doctor, soldier, engineer and commercial agent.
Children were very interested with all what their parents were saying and they were learning a lot. Parents have made a big effort because they have done their presentations in English and it isn’t easy with the nerves. It has been a really good experience to see how parents make an effort to show the children that learning English is important and that their jobs are these and they love them and that they try to do their best on it.
Have a good weekend
Hello everybody!
ResponderEliminarToday I have finished my practical sessions! Due to that fact I have been teaching science during one and a half hour. First of all we have been playing a game called cross the river which is very useful to revise vocabulary. To play I have explain one by one the vocabulary of the unit before and the children, divided into two teams, have to find out the word in question (I have done this twelve times each one to put a stone in the river in order to cross it).
After that, I have told the children to copy a text (related to a lesson they have already seen), which I had written before in the blackboard, and then to write the text translated. At the end of this activity the children have to draw what the text describes.
Once we have revised the unit before, we have followed the current unit called jobs. Today we have been talking about factories, we have done then an exercise in which the children have to circle the things they can find in a factory.
At the end of the session we have been talking about the genre of the jobs such as ‘farmer, waiter, doctor, dentist and policemen’ and we have write the masculine and feminine of the words which have different spelling.
I must say I don't want to leave the school yet, now that I know all the children! In my opinion it have been a very short period of time.
Hello!
ResponderEliminarToday was my fifth day of practice. We have watched a film: Ratatouille, because it is related with jobs. After that, we have made a worksheet about the film.
We have also taugh students some jobs. They didn't know most of them so we have been saying them the name of the job and saying a description about what people do on these jobs.
We have also explained children that they have to do an investigation about something related with jobs, tools and machines. During the next days, they are going to explain their investigations to their classmates and we are going to evaluate them.
I have to say that I am very happy with my practice and that I am learning a lot, because I am teaching three different classes and I have had the opportunity to observe that what is good for a class is bad for other and that classes are very very different although all of them are the first course of primary education.
Tomorrow more and better.
Hello!!
ResponderEliminarToday was my sixth day of practice. I’m learning a lot in this period but, tomorrow will be my last day! I’m really sad about it because the boys and girls are lovely and they are making me feel so good.
Today we have been doing a listening and writing activity, but it has been really funny. It was a listening and writing activity at the same time because we have watched some videos of Handy Manny (Manny Manitas) about tools and after watching them, they had to do a description of the tools.
For doing the descriptions, they have learn that they have to start it saying: It’s… or It has… They have described the colour, the shape and the size of the tools.
After that, I have explained the children the meaning of some machines and their use. I was surprised because many children of the three classes knew the words.
In my opinion they are learning a lot, and the most important is that they are practicing listening and speaking everyday that are, in my opinion, the most important skills.
Tomorrow I will tell you things about my last day.
Good night!
Today was my last day of practice and it also was the last day of the project.
ResponderEliminarFor this reason, we have finished it thinking in the question what have I learnt? I was surprised to see everything what they have learned about jobs, tools and machines.
Besides, they have exposed the researches that they have been doing throughout the project. They have prepared some beautiful jobs with their parent’s help.
After that, we have been singing the song When I grow up! that we learnt the other day and they love it.
To complete the project we have done a mind map. A mind map is a graphic expression of the ideas we have about a particular subject. In the center of the paper they're doing it gets a picture that reminds us to the topic we are discussing and, from there, are being pulled a number of "branches" which are elements of this theme being treated . Every time it goes deeper and of each of the branches are being pulled others to complete everything we know about this topic.
I am childhood education teacher, and despite I have given private tuition to primary school students, I had never worked in a primary education classroom and I must say that I loved the experience and I've learned a lot both from my tutor and from each and every one of my students.