The Body Lesson, Group 3

First part: Marleny Campos and Isaac Rodriguez

It is important to mention that despite of the fact that in the first lesson most of the activities were kinesthetic the mood of the students was so dawn that children did not want to participate in none of the activities. Besides, the nervousness of the teachers in charge was evident, however; when they saw that some activities did not go well, they changed them which was something good. Maybe the way in how the class started determined the flow of it. Finally, it was evident that the students have really understood because in the production part when children were making a body with the modeling clay, they pointed at the part of the body that teacher told them to point or touch.

Second part: Konny Martinez and Orlando Gomez

Regarding the second class, the songs worked very well because children try to assimilate the movement that teachers were doing and the fact of moving their bodies awake them a little bit. The rhythm of the songs were very catching that even the classmates, who were in charge of watching the class, were singing it. The idea of telling them a story was good because children had been too much time standing up and they were already tired and that was a moment in which they could sit down. In conclusion both classes had their strengths and weaknesses; however, at the end of both classes children showed their understanding of the body parts which was something great. 

Marleny´s own experience

Regarding my experience in the lesson I was part of, I can say that this time I had more time to teach than the last time, which was something good; however, many parts of my lesson did not accomplish the objective. While my time teaching I could not control my nerves, which is a shame, however I am still learning how to control myself when I am in front of people, and probably that was one of the reasons why some parts of the lesson did not go well. Apart from that, I felt frustrated when I was trying children to do something I demanded and they did not even move from their position. Besides, I felt happy in the production part when I saw that children were more active and they were performing the tasks we assigned to them. The part I enjoy the most was the moment in which they were creating a body with modeling clay because in that moment I could really notice that, despite of the fact that some of the activities seemed to be a failure, children learned something; and that was the  moment in which they let it show. I cannot describe the happiness I felt because when I was asking them to point to a specific part of the body, they pointed it correctly. In conclusion, both classes have represented a challenge for me, because I am not used to teach, but I am willing to keep on trying because I know that by practicing and learning of my past mistakes I will learn how to do it well.

Konny´s own experience

This was the second time that I taught to children. I was really excited to see if the songs I had prepared for the class were going to work and in fact, they did work very well. I know that I could have sung a little bit more and have students singing too, but I decided not to do it because I saw that one of the children was getting a little bored , so it was in that moment when I decided to stop singing.  I felt really nervous because I knew that I finished the warm up  before time and I was running out of ideas too. However, I was glad to see that for the first time, songs really worked and most of the children really liked it and they were following me. I have to say that I really enjoy working with children, but in this class children weren´t that active so it was really difficult for me to make them participate.

Moreover, during the second song they really enjoyed it too, but they got a little bit confused because they hadn´t understood the parts of the body very well. I can´t deny that some of them had learned the parts of the body already, but some others didn´t , so It was difficult for me to make them participate all, but at the end of my class most of them had understood and I was happy to see that they were not as bored as they were at the beginning of the first part of our lesson. I´m really happy because I´m becoming a more experienced teacher. Every time I have the opportunity to teach I get some new ideas, and I get to know what things Ss like and what things they don´t like at all.  

Family & Friends´ Class Group 2

The family

Part 1 (fatima, lyli tobar)

To start with we want to congratulate you because of your participation, it was noticed that you put a lot of interest in the materials you prepared for the class and the activities were completely different to the ones we have being using. The idea of giving students a start for their participation was very helpful in the way of motivating them; we believe that no matter how difficult a task is, but if students are motivated for doing it, they will try their best in performing it and that is exactly what happened with Maylin who is hardly always serious; however, for this lesson she was participating very happy and active. Something else which is important to mention is the fact that; although, the class was very calm in the way that there was not too much physical movement as in other times in which children are to run from one place to another, they keep on performing every task and doing it very well.

Besides, we would like to mention that more repetitions of the vocabulary presented should have been included in order for the students to internalize it.

Part 2 (pilar magaña, karla)

Despite of the fact that children were tired because this was their second class, Pilar managed it very well by making all students participate in the questions she was making, such as; what animal is this?, is this a dog?, etc.  after pilar’s participation, karla gave each student a sheet of paper with the drawing of an animal and students were to paste little pieces of paper inside of the drawing; after that, karla asked them what animal is that? During this part of the lesson some students were out of control because they were not obeying karla’s instructions, but that was because they were really bored and they needed an activity that made them move or at least do something different. Something to learn from this situation was that we were able to see how the students’ mood changed from being tired and bored to be very energetic and happy when the activity changed.

Generally, both lessons were interesting; it was evident that we have improved a lot since the first class. One more time, congratulations for all you guys!!!

Teaching Practicum Period 3- Group 1

Class 1

Date: September 7th, 2012

Group Members: Carlos, Magaly, Iris, Mauricio

Topic:  School

Part  1

Grammar:  Question:  What’s this? (What’s) Answer:  This is (It’s)

Vocabulary to present - School items: bag, pencil, book, ruler, pen.

 Part 2

Grammar:  Question: What’s that? Answer:  It’s a/an

Vocabulary to present:  desk, chair, computer, eraser, window.

We know that being the first group is not always easy, because you have less time than the other groups, and you have to like “brake the ice” in terms of teaching, but despite all that, you as a group did a very nice job.  The classroom was very well decorated,  and activities like the hot potato were really appealing for children .  Also, during the first part of the lesson, the first thing we liked was that students did and activity about drawing school items on the board. We liked that activity because it was the first time that students did it in class, and at the beginning we thought that it wasn´t going to work, but actually Ss did a very good job. Also, we liked the activity with the roulette , children really liked it , and we could confirm that Ss like everything that implies movements or activeness. Moreover, you had Ss running a little bit and working in groups , and we really loved the way you group them by counting from 1 to 2. At the beginning they seemed not to understand, but at the end they got it and everything was fine.  Finally,  for the first part of the lesson everything went very well, except for some little details like, some pronunciation problems with the word “pencil” and instructions were not that clear. We think that with clearer and shorter instructions your activities could have worked even better.

Talking about the second part of the lesson, we really liked how Magaly improvised an activity that you, as a group, hadn´t prepared. What we learned from that, is that if an activity doesn´t seem to work we, as teachers, can change the activity at the moment, and it´s not bad at all, but it does require to have a second plan with you all the time. Moreover, we were really happy to see the improvements in the way  you teach. Now you have more experience, and the most important thing is that you used all the things we have learned in class and all of you have improved a lot , and are becoming more experienced teachers.

VERY NICE JOB GUYS! CONGRATULATIONS!