Don Bosco University
TEACHING
PRACTICUM I :TEACHING CHILDREN ENGLISH
Carlos’ and
Orlando’s Blog
Instructor:
Yanira Peña
Introduction
In these four years that we have been studying our major,
we have been taught theory about education. As future teachers, we have to know
that there are several kinds of learners in the classroom, for example,
auditory, visual and tactile learners among many more. It is in this course –
Teaching Practicum I – where we are going to put into practice all the
resources, methods and techniques that may help us address all the kinds of
learners in order to make learning effective. Since this course is focused on
children, this blog will summarize the performance of five lessons imparted by
different groups to students aged between 5 to 8 years old.
Date: Friday, August 13th 2012
Members of the group: Magaly Pacheco, Mauricio López,
Carlos Melara,
Topic: Greetings: hi, hello and the numbers:
0-10
The first class was successful. The class was
led in Spanish and English. It was a great surprise that the children already
knew the numbers. Therefore, the assimilation of the content was so easy for
them. For that reason we decided to modify a little bit the class and to turn it
into practice class and production with less presentation that we expected. The
class number one determines the rhythm that teachers could apply to the rest of
the course. The teacher is able to modify the plan for the class in minutes
just with observing the students response regarding the activities. One of the
activities to highlight was rolling dice and the “magic-box”. Regarding the
magic-box the children felt curious about the content of the box. Regarding
rolling the dice was kinesthetic and so appealing for children eyes. Some activities
were more attractive for children than others but all of the activities were
created with the aim get involved in each type of learner. Therefore the effect
that the first class had was positive.
Lesson 2
Date: Friday, July 20th 2012
Members of the group: Juan Campos, Iris Luna Erroa, Gabriel Cubías
Topic: The colors: red, yellow, green, orange, purple, black,
white. Saying good bye: bye, good bye.
Feedback: Greetings: hi, hello, numbers,
0-10.
This
lesson started at 2:12 pm with a review of the previous class. This group
linked the numbers with the colors by doing a kind of memory game. They posted
some cards of pool balls containing the numbers on the board. Kids were
supposed to say one numbers, they counted along wih the teachers, and then they
discovered what color was under that number. John also used a roulette to
choose the numbers. Kids were asked “what color is under card number two?” It
was really good that teachers modeled the pronunciation of both numbers and
colors. The next activity consisted of posting some cards of the colors on the
board, with this cards they introduced a new color –sky blue -. In this
activity the teachers helped kids to pronounce each color, then kids were asked
to turn around while the teachers put aside one card. When kids looked at the
board again they were asked “what color is missing?” some kids could guess the
missing color.
Lesson 3
Date: Friday, July 27th 2012
Members of the group: Pilar, Karla, Lily and Fatima’s.
Topic: The colors: red, yellow, green, orange, purple, black,
white.
Feedback: Saying good bye: bye, good bye, numbers 0-10.
The third class the children
felt more confident regarding the two previous classes. It occurred because
they were felt more comfortable not only among their interaction but also with
the university class environment that could make them feel strange of
overwhelmed. The teachers established the rapport with students in a practical
way. This lesson presented the fruits and the pronunciation of each one. They
also had a chart for they recognize the fruit. Teachers also brought some
realia to the classroom in order to make even more appealing the lesson.
Students had to develop the “blind hen” in terms to identify some fruits saying
the name and the colour of each one. It was an outstanding effect caused on the
students despite of the fact that it was a tactile oriented activity. They all
learnt getting involved on the class.
Lesson 4
Date: Friday, August, 10th 2012
Members of the group: Marleny, Konny, Isaack and Orlando.
Topic: Animals: horse, dog, chicken,
cat, parrot, fish, turtle, rabbit.
Feedback: The colors: red, yellow, green, orange, purple, black,
white.
Saying good bye: bye, good
bye, numbers 0-10.
Fruits: banana, lemon, apple, grapes,
strawberry, watermelon, pineapple
The fourth lesson had some variations and plus that
one teacher dressed like an animal. Teacher arranged the class without desks in
order to provide students a different perspective of the class. Not only the
way that they used the decoration for supporting the class but also a more
relaxing environment for the children having the students sitting on the floor.
Students seem to be interested on what the way that the teachers developed the
class. The activities and the lesson as well were so creative and innovated
having the attention spot of the students on the right place. In other words
with an entertaining way the teacher put the students in “learning mode”. The adaptation that teachers presented in
this lesson provided an amusing and acceptable effect way to get students
attention and to break the monotony of the class with unexpected but successful
variations.
Lesson 5
Date: Friday, August, 17th 2012
Members of the group: Andres, Heinar, Josue and Ronald’s
Topic: Clothes and acessories: shoes, socks, dress, pants,
blouse, shorts, sweater,
sunglasses, hat, cap,
bracelet, necklace, tie.
.
Feedback: The colors: red, yellow, green, orange, purple, black,
white.
Saying good bye: bye, good
bye, numbers 0-10.
Fruits: banana, lemon, apple, grapes, strawberry, watermelon, pineapple.
Animals: horse, dog,
chicken, cat, parrot, fish, turtle, rabbit
This class was a compilation of all the lessons plus
the clothing. Teachers were in the situation to mix all of the topics
previously studied in all of the activities. They worked with only three students. This was a not
a problem because the teacher were able to lead a more personal teaching lesson
paying more attention on the students performance and necessities. The activity
that really we all enjoyed the most was the one in which students helped the
teacher to dress the models. Because it had the facilitates to get involved the
all type of learners plus a little bit of comedy at the time we all looked at
the models wearing this amount of clothes. Pretty much the all lesson and
activities had a positive and amusing effect not only because all of the
previous activities opened the schema to encourage students to internalize the
information but also because all of the activities were very good designed and
oriented the students to learn.
Conclusion
All
of the lesson fulfilled their objective. Teaching the topics was accompanied
with very good activities designed and adapted in order to achieve the students
learning. Applying eclectic method and techniques to lead and develop each
stages of the class. Both students and teacher made the effort to do a good job.
Teachers promoted interaction and learning among students properly which was
reflected on students performance. The
participation on the activities was more evident class by class. It is more
than clear that not only the protagonist of the learning process who is the
student but also teachers learnt with this stunning experience. It was a give a
take situation in which we all participated. To have the opportunity to observe
encouraged us to provide our portion to enrich the teaching class experience.
We all in the roll of teachers and as observers realized the effect of some
activities and how improve our results. Finally this experience taught that for
teaching children we have to present appealing and colorful materials and to be
aware and reduce the time that teachers take to talk.
