My Seventh Class

Today, I was teaching the simple past to my new group of Basic students in the morning. At the very beginning, I faced problems with technology, but I kept calm and started off my class naturally. In order to diagnose their proficiency level, I started by developing a filler, changing verbs, which was the activity that liked me the most. In this activity, I numbered students from one to three for having the class divided into three groups of seven people; also, I placed students in the following way: Group #1 at the cornerstone; Group #2 at the board; Group #3 at the door. Later, I provided a sheet of paper to each group, markets, and masking tape for them to paste the sheet of paper on the wall. When having the sheets of paper pasted on their place, I asked them to make a line in front of their sheet of paper for them not to cheat. After that, I said that I would say a verb the in present, and they had to write down on the sheet of paper the past form of that verb; however, they had to do it quickly and to pass the market to the person behind them for continuing the sequence. After all, I stopped the activity and asked for the markets, so my work was to count how many verb they had written down correctly. To finish, the group which got more hits was the winner.

In this filler, I not only wanted to recall the verbs in past from, but also I wanted to know how much they knew about the verbs in past from and to introduce new verbs that I used. Besides, I think that to let student write down verbs is a good chance for teacher to know whether or not students have been studied, or if they need reinforcement. Also, when correcting mistakes, students realize and improve what they have done wrong. In addition, I think that it is a good idea to include listening and writing skills in a simple activity like this one because students show if they can recognize the verb by hearing, and they proof if they have learned the spelling correctly. As a result, I can realize if they are going on well in their learning process.

To finish up, I will be more careful in regard to technology for not to have the same problems. Also, I have to admit that sometimes I lose students´ control, so I need to work on that next class I teach. Regarding to the activity, I will have the verbs that I will say in a sheet of paper for not to lose control and time and for not to complicate when revising the verbs students will get at the end of the activity.   

My Sixth Class

After having done the controlled and semi-controlled activities, I continued with the free practice. The grammar issue was relative clauses, and the topic was culture, but I decided to conclude the class with a free practice in which students could show me how they managed relative clauses, so the activity I include was “A Perfect Person”. To introduce the activity, I wrote down on the board that phrase and asked students to pay attention. As an example, I started to describe a perfect person for me, so I said “A perfect person for me is someone who has dreams and goals; also, this person should be someone who works or studies hard. Therefore, this person should be someone who wants to build a better future for us and enjoys life by traveling around the world.” Then, I asked them to discuss with the person next to them about their perfect or favorite people. After some minutes of discussion, I invited students to pass to the front and to talk about their perfect people. In order to make the activity funnier, I wrote down a number on a piece of paper and asked students for that number, so the student who guessed the number had to pass. In addition, everyone participated in this activity.

In this activity, I wanted to evaluate students´ understandings about relative clauses, so I could notice that they understood the grammar part correctly. Besides, I think that to describe a person they want or wish is a good idea when developing this grammar because they can use easily the relative clauses and also simple present as a practice. Also, I am sure that this activity helped me to increase rapport and self-confidence because students felt free of telling us what they really want and I believe that it was because I also let them know my wishes since the very beginning, so I transmitted motivation through my example. Also, as they are teenagers, they enjoyed the activity because most of them were talking about their girlfriend/boyfriend. For instances, they were telling things as:

“A perfect person for me is someone who gives me chocolate, loves me, and protects me.”

“A perfect person for me is someone who gives me money.”

“A perfect person for me is someone who respects me as I am; someone who wants to follow their dreams; a person who also loves me and threats me specially.”

            Regarding to my vision towards future classes, I would like to include more situation instead of having just one situation. Also, it will be a good idea to use this activity as a guessing because there are many situations in which this can be applied; for example:

1.      My favorite person is someone who kisses me, hugs me, loves me…

2.      My favorite instrument or thing is something that allows me to chat with…

3.      My favorite food is something that tastes spacy…

4.      Something that really makes me laugh is …

Next time I teach this lesson, I can also take into account this grammar for describing people; for instance:

1.      A real friend is someone who is always with me in bad and good situations…

2.      An honest person is someone who never…

3.      A good teacher is someone who…

4.      An excellent father/mother is someone who …

To finish up, I will include these new ideas in my future classes or the next time I teach this lesson because I have a new outlook of this grammar point, and these ideas can be better and useful for students to understand the matter.

My Fifth Class

To start off the class, I encouraged students to speak by asking them about activities, moments, trips, and things they did on their vacation; they were telling me all the things they did, and then I asked them if they cleaned their bedroom during their vacation, but the most of them said “No”, so I wrote down the word “MESS” on the board and asked them for some synonyms; they provided words as chaos, disturbance, disorder, and noise. After that, I asked them to get in pairs for them to work on a worksheet I passed. The worksheet contained a picture of an apartment that was a complete mess. I said to students that it was Jennifer´s apartment, and then I invited them to take a look to the picture and notice the mess. Later, I asked them to discuss about it with their partners and to talk about the things that Jennifer should have done or should not have done.  After some minutes of discussion, I asked one by one for them to contribute with some ideas they had about the picture. To finish up, I brought the class together and asked them if they had their bedroom like Jennifer´s.

 By developing the activity described above, my intentions were to recall previous knowledge and diagnose students´ proficiency level when talking about advisability in the past. I think that the activity was appropriate for the topic because students understood easily the point. When discussing about the things Jennifer should have done or should not have done, they found some hardships; however, as my intention was to diagnose how much they knew about the topic, I took advantage and explained to the students who faced hardships while the rest of them were talking. Also, I am sure that this activity made students warm their minds by thinking, formulating, and managing the grammar structure taught.

According to my tutor suggestions, I should have included colors and movements when developing the activity described above, so I will take into account these two observations. How? In my future classes, I will try to have the same picture in color or a better one in a big chart pasted on the board in order to make it visible to the whole class.  Besides, next time I teach this lesson, I will ask students to stand up and go around the class telling others what the girl, in the case, should have done or should not have done for them not to talk with the same mate and not to be sitting in the same place; also, I will try to use the Suggestiopidia approach in order to create a better environment.   

My Fourth Class

              Natural disaster was the topic of my first class at English Access. Because the speaking activities are the most relevant part for students from English Access, I presented the topic in a PPP and asked for some comments about it. Then, I showed some pictures of natural disasters (thunderstorm, landslide, earthquake, tsunami, tornado, flood, volcanic eruption, and hurricane) to the students for them to know the signifier and the significant; also, I applied the repetition drill in this part for them to pronounce the words correctly. Further, I asked them to make groups of five or four and to get together. When having all the groups together, I explained to them that they had to discuss about a natural disaster they had lived; also, I told them to choose a natural disaster for talking about it and for them to give recommendations for people to prevent, control, and avoid some of these phenomena. Besides, I told them that everyone in the group had to participate at least with an experience or idea. Also, I gave them the option of working outside because of the space; however, I was monitoring the activity and clarifying doubts about vocabulary. After several minutes of discussion, they had to past to the front and express their recommendations, experiences, and ideas with the whole class.  Unfortunately, I did not that the class finished at three fifty, so only a group could pass.

                When talking about fluency, I think this activity help students a lot because they can discuss freely and naturally what they think, or what they want to say about any issue. In this case, they were talking about natural disaster, so they could express their worries or thoughts about the catastrophes they have lived. Besides, to provide recommendations for people to prevent, control, and avoid was main objective in this activity, so it also helps students to think about what they are doing in the environment. Furthermore, my instructions were clear enough for students to understand and work well, but the classroom management was not so good because I need to improve a little bit and find out the way for working in a reduced space.

           

      In the future, I want to include some articles for students to read about the cause and effect of some natural disaster for them to work in groups and create a chart in which they can present the definitions, causes, preventions, and recommendations for each natural disaster. Also, I know that I have to contextualize the topics; however, if I have more time in future lessons, I would like to include more natural disaster for students to know about them because they will not go to another country, suffer a natural disaster, and do not know about what is happening or what to do.