Practicum Reflections

Week 1-2: (April 5th, April 10th, April 12th)

This first visit to the school was to meet the tutor and to "assign me a group", but unfortunately this year the school changed its coordination and rectory and the students did not have an established schedule yet and the tutor was a little lost. So, in order not to lose these days, the tutor showed me the guides with which they work and gave me the topic to work with my classmate Maria Fernanda Yepes (definite and undefinite articles) together we made the guide and received advice to know what to change and what not to change. 

Week 3: (April 16th)

This week the students were still without an established schedule, then the teacher told us that we both had to teach only one grade together (701) so this day they had only one hour of class, we had planned to do the needs analysis but the teacher did not let us, the classes last 45 minutes, then we started with a game to know the animals that was the vocabulary to start the guide of the articles, then we did a match game on the board and the time was over. This class was a little confusing because we didn't know the students and the time was very short and being both in one room was a little tedious, we didn't know what to do. 

Throughout this week, the teacher told us that we had no more classes. 

Week 4: (April 23th - 26th) 

Day 1: April 23th (Día del Idioma) 

This day was language day and a few days before my classmates and I had to make this frame to decorate our tutor's classroom. The whole celebration lasted about two hours, where the students presented stories, poems, flag raising, songs and dances. 

At the end of the day, all classrooms had to present a reading plan, all classrooms had the same reading plan and exercises to do. Our tutor put four of us as interns in eighth grade and we had to be alert and explain and socialize the activity to be done. We tried to do it in a more dynamic way that was not only reading and answering, but also that they were more participative and competitive.

And to end our day, the teacher finally gave us an established schedule for each of us and a grade for each of us. In this case, I was assigned to grade 702, where I have two hours of class on Mondays and one hour on Wednesdays. 

Day 2: April 26th (First class 702)

Well, as the week was ending, on the last day, the school teachers had a trip and only two teachers were left at the school and they both had to teach, among them was my tutor, so it was a provisional class of two hours, because my schedule started on Monday. 

This class helped me to get to know the kids and it was a good first meeting because the school was alone and they had no distractions outside of class. 

I started my class by introducing myself, showing the poster of the class rules that I had made and we played a game to get to know their names. The game consisted of each one saying their name and an animal that started with the initial of their name, for example, my name is Lizeth and I am a Lion, in order to introduce the vocabulary of the animals and start with the guide. 

After this, I was lucky enough to have video beam in the classroom, so I showed them a video of animals for animal vocabulary and also to introduce the articles.       

     To watch video click here 

Then the students did the individual vocabulary match activity.   

We socialized the activity on the board where I called on each student to make the correct match. 

Afterwards, I made a brief explanation of the definite and indefinite articles, with presentation and I solved doubts and explained to them. 

The students understood and were participatory, but at this point they were yelling a lot, so I played them an attention getter which is “one, two, three, eyes on me. one, two, three, eyes on you” they repeated it twice. And we continued with the next activity which was in pairs, it was socialized on the board as well, the students wrote their answers on the board.

To end the day's activities, we played a group game. 

To see the game click here

One student from each row had to stop and place the article corresponding to the sentence, then feedback was given and the students wrote the sentences in the notebook. 

Finally, in the last minutes of class, I gave them the need analysis and they all answered it and handed it in to me. 

Here some student's answers:

Week 5: (April 29th)

Day 1: April 29th

The day started by taking the list of all the students (it is mandatory), then I started the class with a line game, there were six lines in the room, then I made six cards with the same sentences so they would remember the articles we saw in the previous class. The card had to go from the first to the last and the last one had to write the articles on the board, each one had a corresponding marker and it was fun, the winners got a sticker of a happy face in the notebook (which will be collected for extra points in the final grades). 

Afterwards we did a brief review of the articles again, I wrote the articles on the board and each one participated in what they remembered, there was a mistake on my part not to follow the rules of the class and remember the discipline and order and also the little use of the attention getter that I had taught them, they were talking a lot and the tutor called their attention every time a lot of noise was heard.

Afterwards we did the reading activity, I read the text aloud and told them the words that they did not understand so that they would not be lost when it came to answering the questions.

The activity was finished, it was socialized, some students participated and wrote in their notebooks.

The final activity consisted of explaining the final project of the guide, which consisted of making a "pet album", each person had to draw their pet, name it and write a short paragraph describing the pet using the articles. To familiarize the children, I wrote down some adjectives and an example on the board. At the end of the class time was up, so they were left with the task of bringing a picture of their pet to the next class and reviewing the articles. 

The class is over and one of the reflections of this day is to learn to control my nerves a little, at the moment when the students were talking a lot I felt that the teacher was looking at me a lot and strangely and I was calling their attention in an aggressive way.

Day 2: (May 1st) HOLIDAY 

Week 6: (May 6th - 8th)

Day 1: May 6th

The class started with a vocabulary game by rows, each row had its marker and they had to pass one by one to the board and write all the animals they knew (spelling counted) they had three minutes, at the end the winning row won again smiley faces (remember that they count for extra points). 

Afterwards, I asked them about what we did the previous class and some of them remembered. I explained to them what we would be doing this class, they were to start working on their final project and they were to bring a picture of their pets and review the articles. 

I showed them the example and adjectives again and they started working because they had to participate in the second hour and talk about their pets. 

The activity was finished and everyone was passing through in a participative way, some of them were shy about the pronunciation, but in the end it ended super well and they had fun.

Day 2: (May 8th)

This day there were no classes due to the lack of water in Ibagué, the children had no classroom or virtual classes. 

Week 7: (May 13th - 15th)

Day 1: (May 13th)

Holiday. 

Day 2: (May 15th)

This day, the main teacher started the class scolding the students and threatening them because some of them did not bring their parents and were rude, she scolded them in a bad way and that affected the beginning of the class and consumed a great part of the class (it was only one hour). 

When it was finally over, I started my teacher's day activity as follows: The students were to write something they wanted for the teachers (the main one and me). 

And to end the class, I again reviewed the definite and indefinite articles because we no longer had enough time to do the evaluation. 

Week 8: (May 20th - 22th)

Day 1: (May 20th)

This day started with a game like Simon Says, to get the students awake and animated in class before the exam. After this, the students took distance from each other and separated to perform the exam in a better way. The exam took about 1:15min and at the end all the exam papers were collected and distributed to different students. The main teacher said that it was better for them to look at each other's mistakes and do the feedback themselves while I corrected and put the answers on the board. 

At the end of the class, since there was not enough time to finish grading all the exams, I collected them all and graded them during the break. 

Day 2: (May 22th)

After grading all the exams the previous class together with the teacher, she told me that the best thing to do was to review (again) the subject so that they would understand it better and there would be no doubts. As the Wednesday class only lasts 1 hour and it takes a little while to start because the students are very active and eager to leave for the break. So, what I did was to play some relaxation music and close their eyes to do a small meditation of 3 minutes (the teacher did not let me take pictures), however, the students liked the activity and managed to calm down. 

After this activity, I took flashcards where I put vocabulary for them to place on their corresponding line on the board (A or An) and divided them into two groups, each student had to come to the front and take a card and place it in its correct place and thus they would earn points, the group that won got their smiley face and so there was more participation. The class ended a little earlier than usual because there was a volleyball game in the school yard. 

Week 9: (May 27th - May 29th)

Day 1: (May 27th) 

I had a work meeting and gave notice the week before that I could not attend, I sent the requested permission from work. 

Day 2: (May 29th) 

This day there was no class at school. 

Week 10: (Jun 3th - 5th) 

Day 1: (Jun 3th) 

Holiday. 

Day 2: (Jun 5th) 

World Enviroment Day. 

The teacher asked me to bring materials for the students to make an environmental day decoration, I brought bottles, cans, cardboard, newspaper and other recyclable materials for them. Together with some students, we made a frame for the classroom door and then we watched the presentations of that day. 

Reflection on my whole practice

I think it was a challenging practicum, both for the course, the tutor and with myself. I was challenged in my skills as a teacher and I discovered flaws that I should improve. On the other hand, it was a bit tiring to be with a tutor who was so rude when it came to getting the students' attention and that made the classes more overwhelming for them as well as for me. However, I think it helped me to connect a little more with them and with what I really want to teach when I am in front of them.