The purpose of this Teaching Project is to describe the characteristics of the teaching practices I carry out in the school assigned (TAES). Additionally, its purpose is also to develop a tentative plan of the activities I will present to the students during the semester, activities which will help me to reach the objectives of the Teaching Practice III course. Finally, at the end of the semester, this project will help me to reflect on the teaching/learning process I went through while practicing in a real context and to analyze whether my objectives were successfully reached or not.
The structure of the Teaching Project is as follows:
* Information about the school and the groups I was assigned.
* General and specific objectives to be accomplished during the teaching practices as well as objectives that I personally want to achieve.
* Description and chronogram of the activities I will do for the following 2/3 weeks approximately.
* Resources, materials, and bibliography I will use to carry out the activities.
Information of the School
The school Thomas Alva Edison (TAES) is located in Paseo de la Paz y Paseo Valle Grande, Colonia Valle Grande, Hermosillo, Sonora. This school is only junior high-school. It has four groups (A, B, C, D) for each of the levels (first, second, and third grade).
TAES philosophy is constructivist with a focus on collaborative learning. The school has a bilingual program and teaches under the Content-Based Instruction approach. However, students also take one hour of English as a Foreign Language from Monday through Friday in which they practice grammar and writing.
I was assigned to the EFL class with three groups of first grade to do my teaching practices. I will work on Monday with 1 “B”; on Tuesday and Thursday with 1“D”; and on Wednesday with 1“C”. The English teacher I will be working with is Miss Elda Preciado. First grade uses the textbook Armstrong, J. & Wilson, E. (2001). Writing and Grammar: Communication in Action (Bronze Level) for the EFL class.
The teacher does not have a specific methodology, she teaches according to the textbook. Miss Preciado always starts the class with a warm-up activity that usually is not related to the topic she will cover during the class and gives a sticker to the team that performs correctly. The students are expected to get as many stickers as possible in order to get extra points at the end of the school year. The teacher does not leave a great deal of homework since class work is more important for her. In order to present the content she almost always uses visual aids such as power point presentations.
General Objectives
The objectives of going out of the classroom context to teach in a school where English is taught in an EFL context are:
*To develop teaching skills and strategies that will enable me to widen my teaching repertoire.
* To put into practice theoretical background knowledge learned at school
* To gain teaching experience in a real context as well as to learn more about the issues around the students
* To fulfill the requirements for the Teaching Practice III course and the Professional Practices which are a complement of my training as English teacher.
Specific Objectives
One of the objectives I want to accomplish with the groups I will be working with is to encourage them to take responsibility of their own learning. I wish that my teaching methodology serves as a tool to increase their motivation towards the learning of this language beyond the classroom setting.
The improvement of students’ speaking skill is another objective I would like to achieve. Students have already a good proficiency level of English; however, I am interested in providing them with more opportunities to practice speaking in order to improve their communicative competence.
One last but not least objective I want to reach with the three groups is to increase their vocabulary in the target language. I would like to provide the students with activities that involve acquiring and using more vocabulary.
The teacher and I decided that I will begin presenting the warm-up activities for 2/3 weeks approximately. After those weeks, I will present activities for the presentation and practice of content. Moreover, I will decide when and what exercises I will do with the students. Another task I will perform at TAES is helping the teacher with the preparation of material for the English class.
Description and Chronogram of the Activities
The school divides the school year into periods. Each of them lasts 6 to 7 weeks approximately. When I start participating with activities in the class the first period will have about 2 weeks left. The following tentative chronogram includes the activities for those 2 weeks. After those weeks the teacher will assign me activities for the presentation and practice of content.
1st Chronogram
2nd Chronogram
Final Reflection
I am glad that I had the opportunity to put into practice the theory that I have learned during the B.A. I am also happy because I could experience teaching teenagers. I was successful in this experience because I gained more knowledge on all what is involved in planning a lesson and teaching it such as taking into account students’ needs, interests and level, thinking of possible problems, preparation of materials, and many other things. In addition, I developed teaching strategies that allowed me to be more prepared to face issues concerning teaching. For instance, I learned that I should always time students when they are doing activities, I should always provide the students with an example of what they are expected to do, among other things.
However, I was not successful in achieving the specific objectives I had established for the groups I was going to work with. Unfortunately, I was not given the freedom to do enough activities. Furthermore, I was not given the opportunity to teach whole lessons to the students. My participation with the students was merely doing short activities such as warm-ups and introductory activities. Even though I had a good time with the students and I learned more about the teaching world, I feel sad because this opportunity was not what I expected.
Resources and Materials
The resources and materials I will use so far for the following two weeks are:
*Flashcards
* Ball
Bibliography
Armstrong, J. & Wilson, E. (2001). Writing and Grammar: Communication in Action (Bronze Level). NY: USA. Prentice Hall.
http://www.icebreakers.ws/
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