MODALS (MY THIRD CLASS)

I AM SO HAPPY TODAY AND I THANK GOD  BECAUSE TIME FLIES AND I TAUGHT THE LAST WITH THIS GROUP. 

I DID NOT EXPLAIN GRAMMAR IN THIS CLASS BECAUSE SARA DID IT, SO FOR THE WARM UP I PASTED FOUR SMALL CHARTS WITH THE CLASSIFICATION OF MODALS: PERMISSION, PROHIBITON, OBLIGATION, AND NO OBLIGATION. THEY HAD TO CLASSIFY EIGHT SENTENCES THAT I BROUGHT, SO THEY HAD TO PASTE THEM IN THE CORRECT COLUMN OF THE MODAL.

FOR THE PRESENTATION, I PASTED A CHART WITH THE RULES IN A HOTEL. THEY HAD TO COMPLETE SOME FILLING IN THE BLANKS SENTENCES THAT WERE WRITTEN IN ANOTHER CHART USING A MODAL.

THIS CLASS WAS TO PRACTICE WHAT THEY HAD UNDERSTOOD IN THE PREVIOUS ONE, SO FOR THAT REASON, I BROUGHT THREE ACTIVITIES.

THE FIRST ACTIVITY WAS A FILLING IN THE BLANKS PRACTICE. THEY HAD TO FILL IN THE BLANKS USING HAVE TO, HAS TO, DON´T HAVE TO, OR DOESN´T HAVE TO. I COULD SEE THAT UNDERSTOOD BECAUSE MOST OF THEM DID NOT HAVE ANY MISTAKE.

IT WAS TIME FOR PAIR GROUP, I GAVE THEM A SHEET OF PAPER SOME SIGNALS THAT INDICATES PROHIBITION, SO THEY HAD TO WRITE WHAT THE SIGNAL INDICATES, FOR EXAMPLE:

YOU CAN'T USE CELL PHONES IN THIS CLASS

THEN, THEY CONTINUE WORKING IN PAIRS, I GAVE THEM A WORKSHEET WHICH WAS DIVIDED INTO TWO COLUMNS: THINGS THAT I HAVE TO DO ON SATURDAY, AND THIGS THAT I DON'T HAVE TO DO. FINALLY, THEY SHARED WHAT THEY HAD WRITTEN.

FOR THE WRAP UP, I DIVIDED THE CLASS INTO TWO GROUPS. I PASTED A BOND PAPER AND THEY HAD TO WRITE THREE THING THAT ARE PROHIBED IN "THEIR PERFECT TOWN". THEY ENJOYED THIS ACTIVITY BECAUSE THEY COULD WRITE WHATEVER THEY WANT.

TO SUM UP, IT WAS A NICE EXPERIENCE BECAUSE IT WAS A LARGER GROUP, SO YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WITH THE ACTIVITIES THAT YOU BRING TO THE CLASS.

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!!

GOD BLESS YOU!!!!

PHRASAL VERBS (SECOND CLASS)

HELLO DEAR CLASSMATES! I TAUGHT PHRASAL VERBS IN MY SECOND CLASS IN INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH I. IT IS A LITTLE BIT COMPLICATING TO TEACH BECAUSE STUDENTS ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH SOME PREPOSITIONS OR ADVERBS THAT YOU USED TO FORM A PHRASAL VERB.

FOR THE WARM UP, I PLAYED "THE TEACHER SAYS". I DID IT USING SOME PHRASAL VERBS SUCH US: TURN THE LIGHT OFF, PUT YOUR CELL PHONE AWAY, STAND UP, SIT DOWN, ETC. STUDENTS ENJOYED THIS ACTIVITY BECAUSE IT WAS A TPR, SO THEY DO NOT GET BORED.

THIS TIME, I HAD TO TEACH GRAMMAR. I KNEW THAT IT WAS NOT EASY, SO I MADE A CHART WITH EIGHT PHRASAL VERBS. IN ONE COLUMN WAS THE VERB, NEXT THE MEANING, FINALLY, THERE WAS AN EXAMPLE USING THAT PHRASAL VERB. I COULD SEE THAT IT FUNCTIONED BECAUSE STUDENTS UNDERSTOOD MY EXPLANATION.

THEN, I DID A FILLING IN THE BLANKS PRACTICE. STUDENTS HAD TO WRITE THE CORRECT PHRASAL VERB, AND AS GUIDE, I GAVE THEM A GLOSSARY WITH THE PHRASAL VERBS THAT THEY COULD USE AND THE CORRESPONDING MEANING.

THE LAST ACTIVITY THAT I DID WAS TO ASK THEM TO MAKE GROUPS OF FIVE, AND THEY HAD TO SHARE SOME QUESTIONS USING THE PHRASAL VERBS THAT I GAVE THEM. FINALLY, I ASKED THEM TO SHARE THE QUESTIONS WITH THE WHOLE GROUP.

WELL, AS YOU COULD SEE, IT WAS AN INTRODUCTION OF A NEW TOPIC, SO IT WAS A HARD CLASS TO ME. HOWEVER, I AM HAPPY BECAUSE STUDENTS ARE LEARNING MORE DAY BY DAY.

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS!

My First Class, Second Period

Hello class! let me tell you that I feel so glad to share my experience on this class with you because I put all my effort to teach a good class. I think this time my grade is not important to me because I just love teaching and I really liked and enjoyed the class that I taught today in Intermediate English I in the morning.

But, How was my class?

Well, this group is kind of hard because they don't pay attention most of the time and they are doing other things while the teacher is explaining. However, what Sara and I did was to establish the rules in our class at the very beginning. We pasted some flashcards on the door with the rules, such as an image that showed that cellphones were not allowed in our class, repect the class, and the teacher, be in class on time, etc

The topic was Comparative Adjectives, so for the Warm up, I pasted a chart with an advertisement about two digital cameras with the price of each of them and the characteristics that they offer. The main point was to make comparisons between the advantages of the cameras, as you can see in the following picture:

In the presentation, I showed them two leave, one big and the other one bigger than the other one. What I did was to compare the leaves like this:

"This leaf is big, but this leaf is bigger than the other one". I repeated the same procedure with two small leaves, then I asked for two volunteers to make the comparisons.

It is difficult when you have to teach grammar, but I tried to do it in a way to catch their attention. I did charts with the rules for comparatives. I thought that it was better to do it in colorful paper, and it funtioned because they paid attention and they cooperated giving examples.

Then, it was time to practice. I asked them to make pairs and they worked in a filling in the blanks practice. It is a really large group, so for this activity I divided them in groups of 5. I gave them a piece of paper with two things to compare and an adjective, they had to make a sentence using those words and share the sentence with their classmates.

For the wrap up, I asked for five volunteers to come to the front. They had an adjective written in a part of the piece of paper that we gave them at the beginnig, so those volunteers had to write a sentence using the adjective that they had (in the comparative form)

It was my class in general, I am so glad because I enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments!

THIRD ENTRY

Hello my dear classmates! I feel so happy because I finished my labor as a practitioner in this level.

In the last class, I taught the difference between Simple Past and Past Progressive. However, my partner has taught grammar part, and I just made a review.

For the warm up, I divided the class into two groups because the name of the activity was: The broken telephone. I did it beacause I wanted to check if they had understood the topic, and include sentences like: I was taking a shower when the telephone rang, in other words, I included sentences using both structures.

The teacher asked to bring written practices. That's why I brought some fill in the blanks practice, and a Reading Comprehension. The Reading Comprehension took me arond 20 minutes, so that's why I cannot tell more about my class. Nevertheless, I felt so happy because all the students did it well.

At the end, I would like to say that I am so happy because I finished these practices in this level. I mus say that I did not like the group because they are a little bit lazy, but it was a great experience to me!!!

MY SECOND CLASS

Hello Dear classmates! In this class, I had to teach "Quantifiers", but I was just a review because Sara had taught the Grammar Part. Let me tell you that I don't like this group because they don't like to participate and they aren't in class on time. This is the group that I think, It is worse group that I have had since I started to teach at the University as a practitioner.

Well, thi class, the teacher asked to develop the free practice from the lesson plan because he wanted to finish the lesson plan that day. 

The first activity that I developed as a Warm up was "The hot onion ball". I asked students to come to the front and make a circle. When music stopped the one who had the "onion" took a piece of paper from it and answer the question that the piece of paper had.

The second activity was "Rotating task". Students went to different pictures of big cities and the countrysides that were pasted around the classroom. They had to disccuss what they could observe and answer the following question: Where do you prefer to live, in the countryside or in the city?

At the end of the class, I developed a Debate on the topic: "Living in a countryside is better than in a big city". I divided the class into two groups and a group was against and the other in favor.

To sum up, I want to be so sincere with you, I don't like this group because they are not responsible. However, I am sure that I have learned a lot from this experience. 

First Class - Intermediate English I

Hello everybody! Time goes fast and I am so glad that we already started the Teaching Practicum for this semester because this is the last one at the University. Well, I taught my first class today. I am teaching an Intermediate Level in the morning.

But, how was my class?

In order to practice the Present Perfect; I prepared a PDP on a movie segment. I think it was funny for students because the video was taken from the movie: Flushed Away.

First, I made the warm- up and a review on the topic, and then I developed the PDP.

For the Pre Activity, I showed them a flashcard with the title and characters of the movie, and I asked them: Have you ever watched this movie? Then, I gave them a worksheet, and they had to write five activities they have done today (Using Present Perfect), for example: I have taken breakfast, I have driven my car, etc.

For the During Activity, I played this video:

I asked them to make pairs. I played the video the first time and then, they discussed what they could observed by answering the question: What has he done today?

In the last activity (Post Activity) they made a list of five activities that the main character of the movie has done, but they haven’t done yet.

At the end it is important to let you know how the group is because as teachers we have to know how our students are or will be if you will teach this group in the future. Well, most of them don’t like to participate, and a boy desperate me because he was asking me really stupid questions during the all class, also he said a really bad vocabulary (nasty words) in my class. Let me tell you that I didn’t listen to what he said, and I think that it was better because I could feel so angry. However, I am going to establish the rules in the class the next time.

Ok class, now you know how my class was, and the problems that I had during the class. Nevertheless, teaching is what I love J Thanks for your comments!!! Take care!!!