Schulze 4 journals kinder checked

SCHULZE - Kinder – 4 Journals

Trainee´s name: Paula Schulze

Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial

Group: Kinder 5 “B”

Date: 13-05-15

Lesson Number: 1

1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and delivery of this

lesson?

I tried to focus myself on the Total Physical Response Method as well as the

Natural Approach: the first one because I wanted the children to coordinate

their speech with an activity so as to promote the learning of the target

language. The latter, because as Krashen suggested, it is better to learn the

target language understanding the message that is put through as the native

language is learnt.

2. What teaching strategies did you use? Which ones were effective?

Why/ why not?

Depending on the different aims I had in mind during the lesson, I used

different teaching strategies, for example, demonstration at the time of

explaining the game or giving the instructions for the students to do the

graphic activity. I also modelled the answer when students were doubtful

about how to say a word or phrase. Translation and repetition were other

techniques I had to use frequently as many of the students kept saying words

in Spanish. So, I translated them and repeated the new word or the chunk a

couple of times for the students to get used to the new word. Finally,

students were asked to play so as to hold the new lexis they were being

taught. I think that all of them were effective but I wouldn´t say that to all

the students equally, I mean for some students it was not necessary for me to

translate because he/she understood the word at once. For others, repetition,

as it was expected, was necessary to get the English word.

Comentario [R1]: Great!

Comentario [R2]: Catering for different needs and learning styles is necessary.

3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the

materials? How did they react to the lesson?

They were very enthusiastic at the time of reacting to my teaching but they

did most of the comments in Spanish and I did not expect it to be like that.

Even the attention span was so short that I found it difficult to finish what I

had in mind, so I jumped to the following stage of the lesson. They enjoyed

the material presented and I loved seeing their surprise faces when I was

taking some elements from my bag in an “captivating” way.

4. What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?

I could do all the stages I had planned and oin the following class I´m

eager to see if they remember some of the words I taught them today. I

was quite good as regards the time management but I felt the time flew.

I had planned to do an activity with the whole class while they were sat at

their tables but it turned out to be a mess because they did not pay

attention to the instructions. So I changed what I had planned on the spot

and I gave the instructions table by table, in this way then we could play. I

also think that it was very useful when I changed the tone of my voice to

call the learner´s attention

5. What aspects of your lesson require change / improvement?

I feel the discipline aspect was not that good. I think it was because of course

they had only seen me twice before, during the observations and at that time

I just spoke a little, although I said some words in English. Besides, students

are not used to being given instructions in English so when I asked them to sit

in a semi- circle, they didn´t do it. They just sat and it was difficult even in

Spanish to make them sit looking at me.

I´m used to teaching have autonomous learners so when some students came

to ask me if they could paint some objects with this or that colour I found it

surprising or shocking!

Finally, I found myself a bit silly making some strange sounds or jumping with

the kids, but of course I understand this really enjoys them and they are not

judging me or they won´t laugh at me because I´m sort of acting like a clown.

I will have to work on my self-esteem!!

Comentario [R3]: Naturally! They wanted to express themselves.

Comentario [R4]: Why not? Hadn’t you leanrt how they usually work during the observations?

Comentario [R5]: Sitting down – Perhaps a different seating arrangement for giving instructions was necessary.

Comentario [R6]: Good idea!

Comentario [R7]: Was this the way thet also reacted with their teacher?

Comentario [R8]: How acquainted were you with the way very Young children learn and behave?

Comentario [R9]:

6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next

one?

The experience of teaching young learners and specifically this group will

help me to plan more realistic classes, in a way more tailored-made lessons.

As always, one thing is to watch a class and another one is to stand at the

front teaching it.

7. Any comments or observations you would like to share may be added

here.

I was like dubious when the students asked me questions like: Can I drink

water from my bottle? Can I sharpen my pencil? Or I´m hungry, can I eat a

cookie? They were like unexpected questions and I did not know which the

steps to follow were, I mean, if they were allowed to drink or eat in class. If

they had a class- sharpener, if they had a pencil-box or if they have to do it

with the teacher´s help. Being recorded and observed by colleagues in a way

frozen me! I found it was not the usual me, the confident teacher, giving the

English class but hopefully it is a feeling I will overcome!




Date: 18-05-15

Lesson Number: 2

1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and delivery of

this lesson? ppp

As in the first class, I tried to focus myself on the Total Physical Response

Method as well as the Natural Approach: the first one because I wanted the

children to coordinate their speech with an activity so as to promote the

learning of the target language. The latter, because as Krashen suggested, it

is better to learn the target language understanding the message that is put

Comentario [R10]: Definitely!

Comentario [R11]: Yes!!

through as the native language is learnt. But this time it was also clear that I

used the PPP procedures since those stages in the class were very clear.


Why/ why not?

Depending on the different aims of this class, I used diverse teaching

strategies: demonstration when giving the instructions for the students to do

the graphic activity. I also modelled the answer or the word in the target

language when students used Spanish. Finally, I had to demonstrate how to

do the shapes with my hands at the time of doing the figures with their hands.

I think that all the strategies were effective but I wouldn´t say that to all

the students equally, I mean for some students it was not necessary for me to

translate because he/she understood the word at once. For others, repetition,

as it was expected, was necessary to make them produce the English word.

3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and

the materials? How did they react to the lesson?

As I was not very happy with the result of the previous class in relation to

the students’ behaviour, this time I decided to be stricter with that

aspect. Therefore they were more attentive at the time of listening and

following the instructions. They were even more responsive and they really

got involved at the time of doing the hand gestures to form shapes.


At the beginning of the class, the students were thrilled when their puppet

appeared in the hot-air balloon. They recognized the puppet and my

drawing of the balloon. In fact, I was a bit scared they did not know what

it was. Finally, the students really enjoyed and participated a lot when

doing the hand gestures.


This time, as I said before, their behaviour discipline was much better, I felt

I had the control of the group. In this opportunity, the Spanish teacher did

not call the students’ attention like in the previous class. In reference to the

Comentario [R12]: Good!

Comentario [R13]:

Comentario [R14]: How? In what way were stricter?

Comentario [R15]: Well, in the first class they were then testing your classroom management skills.

material used, there are two aspects to be improved: I forgot to have the glue

ready at the time the sts had to decorate their hot-air balloons sticking

shapes on it so the teacher had to help me and the teacher also advised me, a

few minutes before starting the lesson, to have the poster with the paper

scotch already stuck behind it so as to be quick at the time of placing it on the

board. Both aspects will be taken into account for the next class.

6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the

next one?

Well, I feel I had better time management and the activities were really

motivating, the sts wanted to participate. Before doing the last activity in

which they had to decorate the balloon, some sts even asked me if they

could draw Cookie, I felt that some of them really enjoyed the class!


here.

When the overhead projector and my computer were set and the sts were

ready to watch the video on shapes, we realized the internet service was out

of work and I had not downloaded it to aTube Catcher, for example. Those

were seconds, in which I felt like disoriented, but quickly I noticed the kids

were having fun with the light shown or projected from the projector. So, I

did not turn off the projector and instead I sang the shape song, modelling

the figures with my hands and at the same time doing sort of shadow plays

(sombras chinescas). The kids were delighted and they were eager to come to

the front to do the same I had done.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….




Date: 18-05-15

Lesson Number: 3

Comentario [R16]: Right!

Comentario [R17]:

Comentario [R18]: Wise decision Paula! However, make sure you always download videos to your computer.


this lesson?

Like in the previous classes, I tried to focus myself on the Total Physical

Response Method as well as the Natural Approach: the first one because I

wanted the children to coordinate their speech with an activity so as to

promote the learning of the target language. The latter, because as Krashen

suggested, it is better to learn the target language understanding the

message that is put through as the native language is learnt.


Why/ why not?

In this class, the instructions were given specially pointing to the different

family members which was the teaching point for this class. I had to use this

technique twice, at the presentation stage when sts were listening to the

story and the members of the family were mentioned and also in the 2nd

activity when they had to color the specific member. In this case, it was a

sort of dictation and sts had painted just the members I had mentioned. As

there were 6 members oin the worksheet, some sts wanted to color the whole

family, not only the ones mentioned.



In the first stage of the class, in which the sts had to make some

onomatopoeic sounds related to the weather conditions, some of them were

not as involved as I had expected. Then, at the time of introducing the

teaching point, they remained silent when I first read the short poem

pointing at the family members but the second time I tried to read most of

them were not willing to listen to it. However, aton the guided practice

stage, when we had to play STOP, in which somebody wasis pointing to a

picture but not lookings at it (with the family members) and somebody else

sayids STOP and the st hads to say whicho family member he wasis pointing

to, it was much more engaging.


In this opportunity, the time management was almost perfect as well as the

pace of the activities. Although in the last stage, in which sts only had to

colour the members of the family I had dictated, they did not want to

paint only those and instead they wanted to kept on colouring. The Spanish

teacher was already waiting with the morning snack, but sts did not want to

sing the goodbye song.


I still get nervous when sts do not look at me or ask me questions such as, Can

I use a crayon instead of the marker?, Can I go to the bathroom to drink

water? Or when they say Miss, X moved my chair, for example. I´m used to

teaching in secondary level and these things like in a way make me feel

overwhelmed at times. I know this is expected at this age, and I also saw

these aspects when I observed the classes, but it is still difficult for me to

manage.


next one?

When we were playing STOP, it wasis important to take to the front two or

three sts, one by one, as models, and once the other sawee what the

activity wais like they wereare more willing to participate.


here.

Once again when the classroom puppet is used, (in this case he “brought” the

picture of the family), sts get really involved, and they become curious as well.

This is so because at this stage they have great imagination and fantasies as

well.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..




Comentario [R19]: It is advisable to include only the items you will expect learners to colour. Otherwise, they will be willing to colour the whole worksheet.

Comentario [R20]: It is important to relax and enjoy the experience, even if you are not used to it.

Comentario [R21]: Beware of tense shifts.

Date: 29-05-15

Lesson Number: 4 (last one)


this lesson?

Like in the previous classes, I tried to support my planning and the delivery of

the lesson in with the Total Physical Response Method and the Natural

Approach: the first one because I wanted the children to coordinate their

speech while engaging in the activities so as to promote the learning of the

target language; learning through play. The latter, because as suggested by

Krashen, it is always more effective to learn the target language

understanding the message that is being put through. In both cases the idea

was to promote the second language acquisition.


Why/ why not?

In this class, the instructions were given specially pointing to the different

parts of the face (eyes, nose and mouth) which were the teaching points for

this class. I had to use this technique twice, at the presentation stage when

sts were listening to the orders provided by the puppet of the class “through

myself” such as “Touch your eyes” and also in the 2nd activity when students

had drawn the parts of the ugly monster´s face and I walked through the

tables pointing to and asking about the different parts of the face they had

drawn. Providing prompts was another useful tool, especially when sts were in

doubt when expressing themselves in the target language.



In the first stage of the class, sts were encouraged to make some

onomatopoeic sounds related to the weather conditions we had already

done in the previous class. But students did not remember any of the 4

sounds I had taught, so I focused on only one and expected them to

produce the sound of only that one (it´s a rainy day). After that, I was

supposed to teach a song using the 4 weather conditions we had seen. But

Comentario [R22]:

instead of teaching the four, I taught them only the part with the single

weather condition we had focused on in the previous activity and it really

work quite well. I asked the question What´s the weather like? And they

had to answer first only once ”it´s rainy”, but then I asked again and they

had to answer twice and then with the same procedure they had to answer

3 times.

After that, at the time of introducing the teaching point, the sts remained

silent when I displayed the poster with the outline of an ugly monster, it

was “brought” by the puppy Cookie the cat. However, aton the guided

practice stage, when students in turn had to come to the front to draw a

part of the face, as they take their time to draw, the other students

began to behave disruptively so I said that the ones who were not properly

sat could not go to the front to draw. This order helped me to engage them

and some of them participated more.


In this opportunity, the time management was again almost perfect as well

as the pace of the activities. I found that the scaffolding of the activities

was ok to support the learning of the new words. Besides, the thematic

chosen context, the monster´s face, was really appealing to the young

learners.


The group management was more or less the same as in the previous classes

but I was a bit more relaxed probably knowing that the students’ misbehaviour

was expected or that I could not get the attention from the whole group

during all the subsequent activities.

As regards space organization, I have noticed that when sts are sat on the

carpet they start playing and moving all around, especially boys who prefer

sort of play-fighting games. On the other hand, when they are given a

worksheet and are asked to go to their tables they remain sat for longer

periods and stand up only when they have finished with the task.

Comentario [R23]: Was it a cat or a dog?

Comentario [R24]: Good!


next one?

While walking around the tables, while the sts were drawing the monster´s

face, I kept on asking them questions about their drawings: number of

eyes, colour of the parts of the faces they have drawn, etc. that really

worked ok and they were willing to answer. As I mentioned before I had to

prompt the answers, such as: is this an eye or a nose? while pointing to my

eye or nose. But they understood and were ready to answer and show they

scary or ugly monster´s face.


here.

Once again when the classroom puppet is used, (in this case he “brought” the

poster of the monster’s face), sts get really involved, and they become curious

as well. This is so because at this stage they have great imagination and also

fantasies. During this class I also asked one of the most dynamic students to

help me collect the worksheets once his classmates had finished. It worked

really well because the boy was very responsible of at this task and because

he was not misbehaving or bothering his classmates. Besides, when we were

about to finish the class, I pretended I had forgotten the lyric of the

goodbye song. This was also engaging because the learners were eager to sing

it “to make me remember” the song.

Comentario [R25]: Were they able to use the L2?

Comentario [R26]: Very good strategy!!

Comentario [R27]: Excellent Paula! This experience has been really enriching for you. Keep it up!! Cecilia

Education

Schulze 4 journals kinder checked