On october 19th, I taught my 3rd lesson. It was a grammar lesson. I think that grammar is the hardest skill to teach,it is even harder that listening and reading. I really had problems with the acitivities. I used just one grammar activity, but it was too easy for the kids. Besides that, I did not find any other activity.
My classmate taught the first part of the class, he taught the vocabulary and practiced a little. I practiced the vocabulary too and the grammar, but as I said before the activity was too easy for the kids.
The kids were kind of hyperactive during this lesson and I tried to keep the control of the class. At the end I could not do it, I needed to raise the volume of my voice. Also, I had a hard time trying to make students speak using the grammar in a short roleplay.
However, this was not a bad experience, it was just a chance to learn more.
Now I will share with you a link. If you are going to teach a grammar lesson, and you do not have activities for the class, I recommend you to visit the page. There you will find a lot of activities that you can do.
https://sites.google.com/site/easygrammar4kids/to-be-present/to-be-present
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Diego & Kim
On monday 17th, I went to observe the class that Diego and Kim taught. It was a listening. Listening and Reading are very hard to teach, specially if you lack of experience. It is necessary for our students to know the vocabulary that will appear in the listening. Thus, we have to introduce and practice such vocabulary before going through the listening. If our students do not know such vocabulary, they might get confused. Chants and songs are part of the listening skill too, and can be used as a listening in the class.
How to teach listening/reading?
In Listening/Reading you will have to follow the Pre-During, During, and Post-During pattern.
+In the Pre-During, the teacher has to present the vocabulary that the students are going to listen in the during part. Also, teachers have to practice the vocabulary so that they can make sure that students are able to identify such vocabulary.
+In the During, teachers must play the listening and afterwards they have to ask things about the listening. There are 3 durings. In during 1, teacher always have to ask what the listening is about, but not just that, as teachers you have to present some options, something like "Is it about animals? Or about food?". It is easier for students to answer if teachers do that. In the during 2, in this teachers have to ask students to order events in the listening. This part tends to be pretty hard as students might not understand if they are told to order the events. So, teachers have to model the instructions and to find ways to make the explanation easier. In during 3, teachers have to ask students information questions like "What is the color of the shirt?". This part is not as hard as the 2nd during, but it does not mean that it will be easy because sometimes students might not get the answer or will simply ignore the listening.
+In the Post-During, teachers must try to make his or her students speak because that is the goal of the listening (In the reading, the goal is to make students write). This part tends to be hard because kids are shy and cannot establish a conversation. Also, teachers have to figure out how to make students confident. Writting in the board what they have to say is a good idea. Teaching a listening is pretty hard, but as you gain experience it will get easy.
+In the Pre-During, the teacher has to present the vocabulary that the students are going to listen in the during part. Also, teachers have to practice the vocabulary so that they can make sure that students are able to identify such vocabulary.
+In the During, teachers must play the listening and afterwards they have to ask things about the listening. There are 3 durings. In during 1, teacher always have to ask what the listening is about, but not just that, as teachers you have to present some options, something like "Is it about animals? Or about food?". It is easier for students to answer if teachers do that. In the during 2, in this teachers have to ask students to order events in the listening. This part tends to be pretty hard as students might not understand if they are told to order the events. So, teachers have to model the instructions and to find ways to make the explanation easier. In during 3, teachers have to ask students information questions like "What is the color of the shirt?". This part is not as hard as the 2nd during, but it does not mean that it will be easy because sometimes students might not get the answer or will simply ignore the listening.
+In the Post-During, teachers must try to make his or her students speak because that is the goal of the listening (In the reading, the goal is to make students write). This part tends to be hard because kids are shy and cannot establish a conversation. Also, teachers have to figure out how to make students confident. Writting in the board what they have to say is a good idea. Teaching a listening is pretty hard, but as you gain experience it will get easy.
My classmates taught a good listening class, but there are always some little details like things that can be improved. For example, Kim was speaking too much during his lesson and students might feel frustrated if the teacher talks too much. Also, Diego used an actity that he had already used in the last lesson, and teachers must have a great amount of different activities so that they do not repeat them. However, as I said before, these are just little details, generally, the class was good.
In the next link you can find several listenings for different topics. If you have to teach a listening class and you have not found the listening, you might find it there.
http://www.123listening.com
In the next link you can find several listenings for different topics. If you have to teach a listening class and you have not found the listening, you might find it there.
http://www.123listening.com
Sunday, October 2, 2016
2nd Teaching Experience
I taught my second class on September 28th. Compared to my first class, I had a huge improvement. This time, just half of the class attended, like 8, and we taught school objects with a listening about that.
I was the first one who was going to present this time and I did not feel nervous at all. In the warm-up, I spinned a bottle and the student which was pointing at was going to say the name of the school object. I was using flashcards to ask the names of such school objects, but the flashcards already had their names on them so I had to cover the names with my hand.
In the presentation, I introduced new school objects (Sharpener, Colored Pencils, Pencil Case, Tape, and Crayons) and some colors (Black, White, Grey, Pink, and Brown). I had to introduce the colors because there were some colors that the students did not know, and that were part of the listening.
In the first practice, students were given worksheets in which they had to match the color to its name. In this part, some students had trouble matching because they did not know the spelling. Also, I had to check individually because I did not have a method to check. To avoid this, we should have a column with numbers, and the other column with letters.
Then, in the second practice, I gave students worksheets in which they were going to match the picture of a school object to its name. Here, students also had problems while matching. They confused crayons with colored pencils, and Pencil Case with Colored Pencils. Also, I had to check individually, I had the same problem like before.
Finally, in the third practice, students played scramble in the board. I wrote the words of the vocabulary that was presented. Students really liked this activity, they are kind of competitive. I should have written the words while they were busy with the worksheets, but everything went good.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
2nd Observation Class
On September 26th, I went to observe the class that was taught by my classmates. Compared to the last time, both had a very slightly improvement since the last time. This time, very few students attended to class.
Seriously, I think that both teachers need to improve a lot their pronunciations, or at least the pronunciation of the vocabulary that is going to be presented. It is recommended that we check the pronunciations, in dictionaries, of the vocabulary that is going to be presented.
The volume of the voices of both teachers was low, but it increased during the class. The volume of the voice of the teachers need to be high so that all the students in the classroom can hear.
The first teacher forgot to present the spelling of the vocabulary. When presenting vocabulary we MUST present the spelling; otherwise, the class will not be useful for the kids.
Finally, both had trouble with the time. The class started at 3:34 PM and finished at 4:20 PM. The first teacher presented just for 20 minutes. The class was supposed to last one hour.
Seriously, I think that both teachers need to improve a lot their pronunciations, or at least the pronunciation of the vocabulary that is going to be presented. It is recommended that we check the pronunciations, in dictionaries, of the vocabulary that is going to be presented.
The volume of the voices of both teachers was low, but it increased during the class. The volume of the voice of the teachers need to be high so that all the students in the classroom can hear.
The first teacher forgot to present the spelling of the vocabulary. When presenting vocabulary we MUST present the spelling; otherwise, the class will not be useful for the kids.
Finally, both had trouble with the time. The class started at 3:34 PM and finished at 4:20 PM. The first teacher presented just for 20 minutes. The class was supposed to last one hour.
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