Reflection

This is the last entry on this semester on my Practicum I class and I would like to say that I enjoyed a lot.
At the begning of the course I thought that woring with kids was going to be difficult because I had not worked with kids before and even though I had a son and I spend a lot of time with my cousin and niece, managing a big group was going to be difficult. Working with kids is a difficulty for teaching and I can tell that it is not since working with with kids is the most rewarding activity I have ever made.
That feeling that you got when you see those kids pronouncing words in english cannot be compare with anything.

When we started the first lesson I had some difficulties mostly with my attitude toward stidents, some flashcards that did not meet the size required and the organization of our group was not that good.

In our second performance we lacked organization and this was a bit problem at the time of performing since it affected us a lot because we had to skip the wrap due to lack of materials. 

In our third participation I feel that we did a great job and I overcame most of my problems since I showed a very good attitude toward students and as a group we were really organized; However, I still have to improve my voice projection.

Throughout the course, we have been getting ready for our kids by having some talks with an expert on coping with stage fright and how to speak in public and I believe that it was very helpful since Improvement was shown on the performancecs.

It has been an amazing experience since I learned a lot about kids which is something that is going to be very useful for me not only because I am a teacher but because I am a father of a beautiful 11th moths child. This is a learning experience for all my life and I hope to keep increasing my knowledge in order to be a leader in the classroom.

Lesson 10

This class took place on november 11th, 2015 and this gruop was assigned with a PPP framework since they were required to teach vocabulary and writing skills. Everybody noticed that this team took the time to prepare this class since they had a lot of materials to perform the class and kids apprecciated it!

I could notice that the group was tired and this affected a little bit their performance since I did not see a very good attitude toward students; however, their material offseted everything.

At the end, they enjoyed with the kids and kids were happy and even thougn explanation was not that good, kids understood since they practiced some professions last class.

On the one side, this group needs to improve their voice projection and they need to show a better attitude. On the side, their materials were amazing since they brought some sort of muppets and flashcards were big enough.

Lesson 9

This lesson took place on november 9th, 2015 and it was the time for our group to perform this class. we were assigned with a PDP framework in order to teach the topic "My dream job" for listening and speaking skills. this was the last opprtunity that we as a group were going to have and according that what we showed in prevous classes I think that we improved a lot, mostly in our organization since we had everything ready and even though the classroom was  a total mess because an University event took place a couple of hours before, we were able to overcome that uncomfortable situation.

Kids were ready to start so we started with the wellcome song and after that I was in charge to start with a wrap up activity called "find the place" in which students were playing with a ball a goal and the one who did not score was asked to find one of the places in the town that was taught in the provious class. 

After that, Eunice was in charge to perform the pre listening and the during listening and we decided to use "realia". We wore some customs in order to show the way that professionals dress and we used very attractive materials.Then professions were described by using realia and studenst were asked to complete a worksheet with the name of the professions.

Bryan was in charge of the post listening activity and kids were asked to play the musical chairs with the purpose of practcing the sentence "I wan to be a ____"

The wrap up was in charge of Willam and Eduardo who did a very good job by making students play the crazy hat. Students enjoyed this activity since they were dancing and running around the chairs.

At the end we sang the goodbye song and snacks were given to kids.

I would like to infer that in this class our improvement was shown since we were more organized than before, our flashcards were big enough for kids' eyes and our attitude toward students was good; however, we need to iprove in our voice projection a little bit more.

Lesson 6

This lesson took place on wednesday october, 26th and this group was assigned with a PDP framework in order to perform activities with the purpose of practicing listening and speaking skill. I would like to infer that this group was very organized and their materias were the best for the whole course, Although their materias proved that they took the time for the kids and they were willing to participate, their performance could have been better.

When they started the class, the sang the welcome song and what amazed me was the materials they used to perfomed the song since every single child had a muppet and they were doing mimics.

After that, on the presentation pat I would like to say that the way Yaneth performed was good and even though she lacked voce projection, she sat down in the floor and share her knowledge with the kids and again visual aids were great!
Then, the during stage took place and the idea they had was interesting since they recorded themselves in order to play the audio for our kids; however, I realized that there were some pronunciation mistakes that can make students confused later on. Then they played a game using some dades and that was catchy and interesting four our kids.
Class was about to finish and it was time for the wrap up activity and they did something that I loved which was an interesting game that every single salvadoran child knows, guess which one it is?, it is "mica" of course. I loved this activity since kids were running all around and enjoying as much as they could.

I think this group did a very good job since their performance was great and most of the activities were well planned.

Lesson 2

It was wednesday october 7th and our kids were ready to learn. Students were going to face a challenging topic that was: " There is /There are". The second group was asked to use a PPP framework since they were required to teache vocabulary and writing.

Even though people from this group were nervous, the group showed very good skills at the time of working and dealing with kids. the materials they used was very catchy and flashcards were big enough.

They started with a warm up activity in which kids were asked to play with a Hola Hoop in order to break the ice and I personally think that it was an amazing way to catch the students' attention from the very beginning since they were motivated by playing.

In the presentation stage, the use of there is and there are was taught by making groups in order to make some questions. In the practice stage, students were asked to do that same that they did in the presentation but this time they were working individually. In the production, students were required to ask and answer sentences by using flashcards.

The closed the lesson with a wrap up activity asking students to play the hot potato. After that, they sang the goodbye song and snacks were given to our kids.

I sincerally think that this class was very well designed; however, teachers could have shown more rapport with students and they also could have shown a very good attitude toward studets but again this was their first class and they did a very good job.

First Class

It was the time for our group, group number 1 to start with the course; Although people might say that being the first one is difficult, I can tell that being the first one this time was rewarding because it allowed us to learn a lot of positive things that can be corrected through feedbacks.

As a group we felt that we were ready to teach but nervous can be a weapon against us; However, we were willing to face any difficulties and to overcome them as well.
In the diagnostic class we decided that classes were going to start with one song and that song was going to be used dutring the complete course.

Our welcome song is called "Hello, Hello" and we choose this song because this is a very simple and useful song since kids will like it and their attentions was going to be in the class.

I was the one in charge to start with a warm up activity which was sharks are coming and in this activity students were asked to make groups in order to complete a word that was given in flashcards with some pictures.

After the warm up Eunice continued with the pre listening stage by presenting the present continuous structure with some pictures. After that, Bryan continued with the during listening stage in which the structure was reinforced by acting the verbs. Then, in the post listening stage, we played a game involving acting and guessing with students in order for students to perform the action on the verbs. to end we did a wrap up activity.

After all the stages in our lesson, students sang the goodbye song that we have chosen, that song is called "after a while crocodile" which is a catchy song with easy lyrics and vocabulary. Students loved it.

After singing the goodbye song, students were giving a snack and the were all set to go home.

By the end of the day we got our feedback and we realized that we needed to improve our voce projection and our attitude toward students.

Diagnostic Class!

A new experience was just begining a group of teacher that have been getting ready for this was going to be challenged by teaching a whole course with young learners. it was on september 30th, 2015 and everything was going to start, our kids were ready to be tested in order to see how much they know about english. this diagnostic class was made with the purpose of evaluating the student's development throughout the class in order to base the whole course on that previous knowledge.

Our surprise was that most of the kids performed really good in all the activities since the exercises and activities did not trouble them. Even though for most of us it was the firs experience teaching kids, a good interaction between teachers- students was shown throughout the whole class. kids were willing to participate and they seemed to be excited about this course.

This class was helpful, not only because we had the opportunity to evaluate students but because we got to know them and have an idea of the way that they behave and react. Also, when the class was over we discussed about how kids were in terms of english´s basic knowledge and we took a decition of the way that the course was going to be taught 

Coping with stage fright and speaking in public.

In the last two weeks we have attended to two training sessions about coping with stage fright and speaking in public and I can say that these two training sessions that we have had were and will be something rewarding that will help us not only in the teaching field but in our lives.

I would like to start by mentioning that I tend to get a little bit nervous when talking in public and before I took this training I did not know how to control my nerves at the moment of being the point of care among a considerable number of people; Moreover, I only knew that there are some exercises that we can apply before being in the point of care but I did not use any of them at all. Also, I would like to point out that in order to control my nerves at the time of talking in public I tend to walk a lot; as a result, I may be a distraction for my public and people can easily loose care on me; Also my voice tends to get kind of shaky.

Being afraid of talking in public can be something normal and I think that everybody may have had an experience in which they could not control their nerves. It is until you get to know the different exercises and techniques that you can apply in the scenario, when you start stopping those feelings and nerves that are stopping you from making a good presentation. Furthermore, the trainer showed us some exercises in which our nerves and feelings were exposed by being in the point of care presenting a story; thus, I shared a little story about a ball in which I had to practically perform the character of the ball when I was telling the story at the same time; moreover, the trainer was able to notice my weakness points at the time of talking in public and I realized that I tend to move a lot but in the same space and my voice projection was not as effective as it should have been. Then, in the second training session I did the same exercise again but this time with a different story and I was able to notice that I improved because my voice projection was perfectly fine but I kept making the same mistake when walking in the scenario which is basically moving in the same space. Also, we performed some other activities like the one we did with a balloon in which we were pretending that the balloon was our life, so we were taking care of the balloon and we started carrying in it with only one finger which was very difficult; then, we did it with two fingers and so on until we did it with the whole hand and of course that the more fingers we were using the most easy it was; thus, with this exercise we assume that the balloon was our life and that it is very difficult to keep our life in a steady point. Also, we performed another activity to improve our concentration and it was to play “mica” (a common Salvadoran game) in order to say the name of one of the classmates that was in the classroom but that name should not have been used before, al off these was done by touching somebody else’s.

To finish, I would like to infer that with this course I was able to notice all the mistakes that I make when talking in public, also I learned from my classmates’ mistakes as well. Although this course was very funny, we learned a lot from the trainer and from ourselves. Talking in public is something challenging but with the right guide we can control the situation.

Here you have some pictures of what we have been doing. Enjoy!

Songs and Chants

This week we have been talking about songs and chants and how to use them at the time of teaching a second language to kids. First of all, Let me share with you this link with the differences between sons and chants.
https://prezi.com/oq3calfgcsgu/songs-rhymes-chants-for-younger-pupils/s

Now that you know the differences between songs and chants let me share that activities that we have been performing throughout this week. we have been sharin songs in order to increase the number of activities that we can perform with kids at the time of teaching a second language. let me share you what my classmates and I did throughout this week.

On the first day, I was the one who started the activity by sharing the chant called "The finger family". The finger family is a chant that talks about the family members and we can use it at the time of teaching the family members, this activity is for students between the ages of 5-7 years old because it contains basic vocabulary and we can use it as a warm up activity, in the during or in the wrap up stage.

After that, Eunice shared the chant "Let's go to the zoo" which is about the animals and some movements that they do, I think this song is very dinamic and we can get students' attention with it; also, it is used for kids between the ages of 6-8 years old and we can use it as a warm up activity and in the during stage.

Then, Olmes shared the chant " If you are happy, happy, happy" that I think is very dinamic and that it is a suitable song to talk about feelings with students; moreover, this song can be used with kids between 5-6 years old and I think that we can use this soon as a warm up activity and in the during stage as well.

The song "I see something blue" was shared by Nancy and we inmediately realized that this is a very useful song to teach the colors, we can make some changes by switching the color blue for another one, blue, for example. this song can be used with kids between 5-7 years old and in the during stage and as a warm up or wrap up activity.

Then, Bryan shared the song "I have a pet " which is used to teach the common animals. we can use this song with kids between 6-8 years old.

Josue shared the song "Ten little airplanes" which is perfect to teach the numbers and we can use it with kids between 5-7 years old. It is perfect to be used as a warm up or wrap up activity or in the during stage.

Then, one of my classmates shared the song "What is your name" which is suitable to teach how to ask and answer the question "what is your name". this song is for kids between 5-7 and we can use it as a warm up or wrap up activity or in the during stage.

Afther that, the song "Head shoulders knees and toes" was shared, this is one of the songs that I leked the most because of its rhythm and dynamic. It is perfect to practice the parts of the body and we an use it as a warm up or wrap up activity or in the during stage with kids between I would say 5-10 years old because we can make some changes and adapt the song to the age and knowledge of the kids.

There was a chant about the day of the week which is suitable to teach the topic and also another one about greetings and clothing, all of them are perfect to teach the topic that they refer to.

One of the songs that I like was "The skeleton dance" Which is a very good song to practice the parts of the body but now at a more difficult level, including movements. I personally think that we can use this song as a warm up or wrap up activity or in the during stage because of its contents. it is a very good song with meaningful vocabulary and we can use it with kids between 9-12 years old.

I think that songs and chants are a very important tool at the time of teaching and we as teachers have to be aware that we can apply songs and chants in the second language classroom in order to have an entertaining class but with a meaning apprenticeship.




here you have some of the songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjFcrv6Lfx8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6XOpRgU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4WNrvVjiTw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z26DWJKwBHU

THANKS FOR READING!!!

Planning a Lesson (Before, during and after).

Today I want yo share my experience about planning a lesson. I was asked to do a lesson plan for a listening and speaking class with the topic "It's my birthday party" using the numbers from 0-15 with a PDP framework. Then, I was asked to do another lesson plan of vocabulary and writing about the same topic with a PPP framework.  Obviously, students were going to be required to ask and answer "how old are you" and here you have my little dilema.

Before: I thought that when planning a lesson I just had to write some activities to perform with students in the classroom and the objective of the activity as well. Kind of simple, right!

During: When I was doing my Lesson Plann I tried to look for some activities in which students were required to put in practice the numbers and the age. I was managing the the time correctly but in my first lesson instructions were not clear.

After: After I finished my first listening and speaking lesson plann with a PDP framework, mistakes were checked and I was provided with a checklist with the requirements and objectives that a lesson plan needs to achieved such as: " basic details of the heading, oriented objectives, actvities in accordance with objectives, framework, etc. Then, I started to do my second plan of vocabulary / writing about the same topic using a PPP framework in which I selected some activities oriented to my objective I also managed in accordance with the time required to perform the activity.

To conclude, I would like to infer that having a guideline to check the lesson plan really helps to get the desire class with the objective reached and I would like to share my two lesson plans. there you have:

Teaching Practicum I

Teacher: Tomas Antonio Liévano Lazo

Topic: It’s my birthday party

Objective: SWBAT ask and answer how old they are

Target Skill: Listening and Speaking (PDP)

Time	Stage	Activities/Procedure	Details
5 m	Warm up	Hot toy/ students will be passing a toy around the classroom while some music is being played, when the music stops the student who has the ball will be asked a question based on last lesson.	AIM: review las lesson Materials: a toy Type of learner: k Interaction: T-S
10 m	Presentation	How many letters do you see? / using pictures with different amount of letters students will learn the numbers from 0-15.	AIM: students will learn numbers from 0-15 Materials: Pictures Type of learner: V Interaction: T-S
5 m	Presentation	Roleplay (how old are you) / teacher will make a short conversation asking and answering the question “how old are you”.	AIM: students will learn how to ask and answer the question “how old are you”. Materials: nothing Type of learner: V Interaction: T-S
10 m	During	Listening / students will listen and sing a song about the numbers from 0-15.	AIM: students will practice the numbers. Materials: stereo. Type of learner: Auditory Interaction: T-S
10 m	During	Video / students will watch a video about how to ask the age.	AIM: Students will comprehend the proper way to ask the age. Materials: Computer, Projector. Type of learner: Visual Interaction: T-S
10 m	Post	Roleplay / students will play the game sharks are coming in order to get together in groups of two because they will be required to ask and answer the question “how old are you”.	AIM: Students will practice by asking and answering the question “how old are you”. Materials: None. Type of learner: K. Interaction: T-S, S-S
10 m	Post	Test / students will do a test about the numbers (0-15) and also about the age.	AIM: Students will apply what they have learned through the class. Materials: Test task. Type of learner: Interaction: T-S

 and this is the second one:

Teaching Practicum I

Institution: Universidad Don Bosco

Date: 08/31/2015

Teacher: Tomas Antonio Liévano Lazo

Topic: It’s my birthday party

Objective: By the end of the lesson SWBAT ask and answer the question “how old are you?” and to identify the numbers from 0-15 in order to use them in real life situations.

Target Skill: Vocabulary and Writing (PPP)

Time	Stage	Activities/Procedure	Details
5 m	Warm up	Hot toy/ students will be passing a toy around the classroom while some music is being played, when the music stops the student who has the toy will be asked a question based on last lesson.	AIM: review last lesson Materials: a toy Type of learner: k Interaction: T-S
10 m	Presentation	Video of the numbers / a video showing the numbers from 0-15 will be projected twice and students will see the numbers and see the way that are written and pronounced as well.	AIM: students will learn numbers from 0-15 Materials: Computer, Projector. Type of learner: V, A Interaction: T-S
5 m	Presentation	Conversational Video / A video that shows a short conversation between two kindergarten classmates talking about their age (asking and answering how old they are) will be shown to students in order to get familiar with the question “how old are you?”	AIM: students will learn how to ask and answer the question “how old are you?” Materials: Computer, Projector. Type of learner: V, A Interaction: T-S
15 m	Practice	Sharks are coming / students will play the game sharks are coming in order to make groups of three. How old are you / Students will be required to ask “how old are you?” to the classmates in their group. How many students do you see? / Students will be asked to count the amount of students that are in the classroom.	AIM: Practice numbers from 0-15 and how to ask and answer the question “how old are you”. Materials: Nothing. Type of learner: K,A,V Interaction: T-S, S-S
10 m	Produce	Test How many……. Do you see? / Students will do a test in which they will be asked to write the amount of objects that they will see in a picture (balls and toys,).	AIM: Students will put in practice the numbers from 0-15. Materials: Computer, Projector. Type of learner: Visual Interaction: T-S
10 m	Produce	How old are you / Students will be asked to stand up and to ask “how old are you?”  to two students in order to get their age, then students will have to write the name of their classmates and their age.	AIM:  Practice how to get the ask and answer “how old are you?”. Materials: pen or pencil, notebook Type of learner: K, V Interaction: T-S, S-S
5 m	Wrap-up	Hot potato / Students will be sitting in a circle, a toy will be passed through the students and when teacher says “stops” the students who has the ball will be asked to answer the question “how old are you”.	AIM: Students will practice by asking the numbers and the age in order to see how much they have learned. Materials: None. Type of learner: K. Interaction: T-S, S-S

Case of Study

In this case we are going to see the way that a child behaves when he is doing some physical and mental activities in order to prove that Jean Piaget’s theory was correct. I chose a boy who is 4 years old and he performed some activities so we can see the results throughout this case is being developed.

Child’s Profile:

Name: Jefferson Steven Liévano Guardado.

Age: 4 years old.

School life: He has not gone to school yet; however, I am his uncle and I have been interacting with him since he was born and I have taught him the vowels, some colors, numbers, etc.

Family: He lives with his parents but when they are at work, his grandmother is the one who takes care of him.

Studying the child

Steven is 4 years old and according to Piaget’s theory he is in the pre-operational stage, this stage takes place between the ages of 2-7. Let me tell you a little bit about Steven, he is acquiring languages (Spanish as his native tongue and he is starting to learn English as a second language). Steven is sometimes kind of egocentric because he likes to show off when he is doing something; however, since he interacts almost all day with his little sister who is 4^th months and with his cousin who is 8^th months he cares about others; for example, he plays with his sister and cousin and he takes care of them by giving them toys, by distracting them, etc. I could say that Steven feels somehow responsible for the little ones. Steven is very curious, for example every time that I tell him to do something, he asks me “why” and when I give him the explanation he keeps asking me “why”; moreover, he likes to experience the world. He usually questions what I do. He also makes up explanations for the things that he has done; for instance, once he broke a lamp and he told his grandmother that his little sister did it. According to this description, Steven matches the Piaget’s pre-operational stage characteristics.

Experiment 1

Steven was asked to color a car that I had draw for him, when he was coloring he tried not to get out of the drawing; however, sometimes he did get out; he used some crayons and colors. He was very interested on what he was doing (curiosity) and he was telling me that he is very good at coloring and he loves to do it (egocentric). He used different colors such as yellow, brown, blue, black, green, red and a little bit of pink; and, when I asked him to use another color, he did not want to (he wanted to show that he has his own point of view).  Here you can see some pictures and a video of this experiment.

Drawing when it was not colored.

Steven in the Process of coloring.

Here you can see some videos of this activity

Final Result

Experiment 2

Steven was asked to climb some stairs, when he was doing it I was able to notice that he is still developing some operations because he needed a little bit of help from objects in order to climb the stairs. As we know he is in the pre-operational stage so in some activities he may need more time to perform perfectly. I can say that he is doing well according to Piaget’s theory and that he will reach the concrete operational stage and he will perform ideally on this stage. Here you have some pictures.

Steven Climbing Stairs

 He likes to be motivated  and at the end he got a prize

According to the way steven developed I can say that Mr. Piaget was correct and that Steven is performing accordingly to Piaget's theory.

Child Development Stages

A little bit about myself

My name is Tomas Antonio Liévano Lazo, I am 22 years old, I have a son who turned 8^th months this week, his name is Thomas, he loves to play and he also loves to listen to “The Beatles” and “Billy Joel”, actually he listens to me because I am the one singing for him, my son means everything to me. I like to talk about myself as a busy but a happy person and let me explain you why; First of all, my schedule is very challenging because I have to wake up at 2:20 am because I work from 4:00 am-11:30 am, after work I have to come to my house and have lunch (I have to do it very fast because I arrive at home by 12:20 and I have classes at from 1:15 pm – 5:20 pm); Now, you know my schedule so you are aware that I am really busy all the time; However, I like to work and study and to make friends, also I like to appreciate everything around me because that gives sense to my life. This is my fourth year at the University and I am studying English teaching, I decided to be a teacher because I like to teach and I think that our society deserves a better education; on top of that, Education seems to be the only way to stop violence, crime, and to start the journey to become a developed country.

Child Development Stages

As you already know, I am taking Teaching Practicum 1 this semester and it is about teaching to children and these first two weeks we have been talking about Child Development Stages and some theories that have been made about it. I would like to start by mentioning the different kind of stages that children have and the ages that each of them occurs:

-          Infant/Babies (0-2 years).

-          Toddlers/Preschoolers (3-8 years).

-          School Age (9-11 years).

Now let’s focus on each one:

Infant/Babies (0-2 years)

In this stage the Gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive and psychosocial skills start to be developed. The child development institute stated that “this is a time that will last for a lifetime providing the child with the inner resources to develop self-esteem and the ability to relate positively with others”. As we can see, this stage is very important because it will be along with the kid for all his/her life.

Toddlers/Preschoolers (3-8 years)

In this stage kids have better skills; for instance, when kids are coloring they are developing their fine motor skills. According with child development institute, in this stage “Children are now free to roam around the world. It is a time for active exploration of the environment”. Now we realize that in this stage exploration is the key for developing because kids have to discover the world around them and at the same time they are developing their skills.

School Age (9-11 years)

In this stage kids have mastered their gross motor skills and fine motor skills; for example, while toddlers and preschoolers need constant supervision, school age children become gradually ready for more independence.