It is a cycle-three group consisting of nine students from 15 to 40 years old. Most of them have been with me for two cycles, so they all know each other. The classes are taught every Saturday afternoon from two to six. Last class was mainly addressed to have students give directions and use prepositions. Finally, we had the last quiz of the cycle where the oral and written skills were evaluated.
Directions were mainly taught by using maps where they had to place a guy and guide him to the place he wanted to get. Body language was applied to convey meanings and translations were also used when the meaning was complex to represent or when there were some distinctions to make. This activity helped them so much to understand and assimilate most of the directions they were expected to learn. Then we decided to make two groups where one of them had to choose one participant from the other and guide him/her. The goal was to check if the student could understand the directions and instructions given by the other contestant. There was a great interaction among them because they were constantly checking what they already knew with his classmates before they were chosen to perform; however, they did not use English to ask their partners, but only when they were in charge of guiding the other participant. After that, they were asked to do some written exercises on the book individually and answers were subsequently checked by asking them to read their versions aloud.
To conclude this topic, I asked them to tell me how to get to the places I mentioned taking Praxis as the departure point. I did not address any questions to someone specifically, but to the whole group, so that they did not feel in the spot light and could interact with each other when trying to express what they meant. Most of them did it very well what showed me that they had really understood the topic and that they were already able to use it in a real context. Prepositions were implicitly taught and reviewed as the activities took place.
There are some students who do very well in the written part, but they just cannot do it in the same way when speaking. It is really hard for me as their teacher to grade them in the oral performance because they do not even try. They are quite active when they are asked to work in groups and they even speak if the activity requires so, but the oral evaluation comes into play, they just go blank and keep silence. I have tried many ways to help them, but no one seems to work. Firstly, I tried to do it individually so that they did not feel ashamed of their classmates; then I tried in pairs, but they felt uncomfortable with their partners even though they were the one who chose them. This last oral quiz was carried out as a short debate where they were expected to give their opinions about certain topics and share experiences or comments as much as they could. During the debate, there was one student who spoke much more than the others. I must say that their level of English is not the required for this level, even though most of them are really good at writing. At the moment of the debate, some of them did really good to which I was quite surprised because they hardly ever take part in the oral exercises.
To finish the class, I asked them to show me their workbooks to check if they were working at home. Only three of them took their workbooks to the classroom and two of them had the books with the exercises done. That fact showed me that they are not working enough on the program and that they are not getting enough practice at home. The only time they spend on English is Saturday afternoons and it seems that as soon as the class finishes, they completely forget about it.
As aspects to improve, I would say that there must be some more focus on the distinction between present simple and continuous. I should spend some more time working on that for them to know that it is not possible to use verb to be together with present simple. That is the biggest mistake they usually make. I also think that they should be more often exposed to speaking activities so that they can get used to them and make the oral presentations easier for them.
As a reflection, I would say that teaching should not be always linked to a time curriculum where they just limit the lessons to the activities already arranged in a plan because there are a lot of students who need much more time to assimilate all the aspects of a language. There should be some more time left for some extra activities that will help them to enrich and strengthen the topics being taught.
I would also say that there should be a deeper commitment from them since they do not help themselves. They are leaving all the responsibility to me because they expect me to give them everything.
In conclusion, the group is very attentive to all my instructions and very cooperative with each other. As every group, there are some aspects to be improved. If there were some more time for this cycle, it would be easier for them to assimilate all the topics and for me to carry out extra activities. I hope that their next teacher have them talk more in class so that they can overcome that fear of being in the spot light.
domingo, 25 de julio de 2010
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domingo, 25 de julio de 2010
My Class' Observation
It is a cycle-three group consisting of nine students from 15 to 40 years old. Most of them have been with me for two cycles, so they all know each other. The classes are taught every Saturday afternoon from two to six. Last class was mainly addressed to have students give directions and use prepositions. Finally, we had the last quiz of the cycle where the oral and written skills were evaluated.
Directions were mainly taught by using maps where they had to place a guy and guide him to the place he wanted to get. Body language was applied to convey meanings and translations were also used when the meaning was complex to represent or when there were some distinctions to make. This activity helped them so much to understand and assimilate most of the directions they were expected to learn. Then we decided to make two groups where one of them had to choose one participant from the other and guide him/her. The goal was to check if the student could understand the directions and instructions given by the other contestant. There was a great interaction among them because they were constantly checking what they already knew with his classmates before they were chosen to perform; however, they did not use English to ask their partners, but only when they were in charge of guiding the other participant. After that, they were asked to do some written exercises on the book individually and answers were subsequently checked by asking them to read their versions aloud.
To conclude this topic, I asked them to tell me how to get to the places I mentioned taking Praxis as the departure point. I did not address any questions to someone specifically, but to the whole group, so that they did not feel in the spot light and could interact with each other when trying to express what they meant. Most of them did it very well what showed me that they had really understood the topic and that they were already able to use it in a real context. Prepositions were implicitly taught and reviewed as the activities took place.
There are some students who do very well in the written part, but they just cannot do it in the same way when speaking. It is really hard for me as their teacher to grade them in the oral performance because they do not even try. They are quite active when they are asked to work in groups and they even speak if the activity requires so, but the oral evaluation comes into play, they just go blank and keep silence. I have tried many ways to help them, but no one seems to work. Firstly, I tried to do it individually so that they did not feel ashamed of their classmates; then I tried in pairs, but they felt uncomfortable with their partners even though they were the one who chose them. This last oral quiz was carried out as a short debate where they were expected to give their opinions about certain topics and share experiences or comments as much as they could. During the debate, there was one student who spoke much more than the others. I must say that their level of English is not the required for this level, even though most of them are really good at writing. At the moment of the debate, some of them did really good to which I was quite surprised because they hardly ever take part in the oral exercises.
To finish the class, I asked them to show me their workbooks to check if they were working at home. Only three of them took their workbooks to the classroom and two of them had the books with the exercises done. That fact showed me that they are not working enough on the program and that they are not getting enough practice at home. The only time they spend on English is Saturday afternoons and it seems that as soon as the class finishes, they completely forget about it.
As aspects to improve, I would say that there must be some more focus on the distinction between present simple and continuous. I should spend some more time working on that for them to know that it is not possible to use verb to be together with present simple. That is the biggest mistake they usually make. I also think that they should be more often exposed to speaking activities so that they can get used to them and make the oral presentations easier for them.
As a reflection, I would say that teaching should not be always linked to a time curriculum where they just limit the lessons to the activities already arranged in a plan because there are a lot of students who need much more time to assimilate all the aspects of a language. There should be some more time left for some extra activities that will help them to enrich and strengthen the topics being taught.
I would also say that there should be a deeper commitment from them since they do not help themselves. They are leaving all the responsibility to me because they expect me to give them everything.
In conclusion, the group is very attentive to all my instructions and very cooperative with each other. As every group, there are some aspects to be improved. If there were some more time for this cycle, it would be easier for them to assimilate all the topics and for me to carry out extra activities. I hope that their next teacher have them talk more in class so that they can overcome that fear of being in the spot light.
Directions were mainly taught by using maps where they had to place a guy and guide him to the place he wanted to get. Body language was applied to convey meanings and translations were also used when the meaning was complex to represent or when there were some distinctions to make. This activity helped them so much to understand and assimilate most of the directions they were expected to learn. Then we decided to make two groups where one of them had to choose one participant from the other and guide him/her. The goal was to check if the student could understand the directions and instructions given by the other contestant. There was a great interaction among them because they were constantly checking what they already knew with his classmates before they were chosen to perform; however, they did not use English to ask their partners, but only when they were in charge of guiding the other participant. After that, they were asked to do some written exercises on the book individually and answers were subsequently checked by asking them to read their versions aloud.
To conclude this topic, I asked them to tell me how to get to the places I mentioned taking Praxis as the departure point. I did not address any questions to someone specifically, but to the whole group, so that they did not feel in the spot light and could interact with each other when trying to express what they meant. Most of them did it very well what showed me that they had really understood the topic and that they were already able to use it in a real context. Prepositions were implicitly taught and reviewed as the activities took place.
There are some students who do very well in the written part, but they just cannot do it in the same way when speaking. It is really hard for me as their teacher to grade them in the oral performance because they do not even try. They are quite active when they are asked to work in groups and they even speak if the activity requires so, but the oral evaluation comes into play, they just go blank and keep silence. I have tried many ways to help them, but no one seems to work. Firstly, I tried to do it individually so that they did not feel ashamed of their classmates; then I tried in pairs, but they felt uncomfortable with their partners even though they were the one who chose them. This last oral quiz was carried out as a short debate where they were expected to give their opinions about certain topics and share experiences or comments as much as they could. During the debate, there was one student who spoke much more than the others. I must say that their level of English is not the required for this level, even though most of them are really good at writing. At the moment of the debate, some of them did really good to which I was quite surprised because they hardly ever take part in the oral exercises.
To finish the class, I asked them to show me their workbooks to check if they were working at home. Only three of them took their workbooks to the classroom and two of them had the books with the exercises done. That fact showed me that they are not working enough on the program and that they are not getting enough practice at home. The only time they spend on English is Saturday afternoons and it seems that as soon as the class finishes, they completely forget about it.
As aspects to improve, I would say that there must be some more focus on the distinction between present simple and continuous. I should spend some more time working on that for them to know that it is not possible to use verb to be together with present simple. That is the biggest mistake they usually make. I also think that they should be more often exposed to speaking activities so that they can get used to them and make the oral presentations easier for them.
As a reflection, I would say that teaching should not be always linked to a time curriculum where they just limit the lessons to the activities already arranged in a plan because there are a lot of students who need much more time to assimilate all the aspects of a language. There should be some more time left for some extra activities that will help them to enrich and strengthen the topics being taught.
I would also say that there should be a deeper commitment from them since they do not help themselves. They are leaving all the responsibility to me because they expect me to give them everything.
In conclusion, the group is very attentive to all my instructions and very cooperative with each other. As every group, there are some aspects to be improved. If there were some more time for this cycle, it would be easier for them to assimilate all the topics and for me to carry out extra activities. I hope that their next teacher have them talk more in class so that they can overcome that fear of being in the spot light.
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