1º Observation Report
- 1. Práctica Educativa II. Residencia en Escuela Primaria Facultad de Ciencias Humanas. Depto. Lenguas Extranjeras. Unlpam Docente Regular a Cargo: Prof. Adjunto E.N.Braun. Ayudantes Interinas: Prof. Vanesa Cabral. Prof. Lis María Luján Ramos. EAT: M.A. John Brakke Año Académico / Ciclo Lectivo: 2017 Observation Report Trainees: Rocio Belén Villoría – Amneris Denis Pereira School: Escuela Nº 6 Docente Co – Formadora: Prof. Ana Class observed by: Prof. Lis María Luján Ramos Number of class: Class number 5, ( lesson plan 5) Class delivered by : Rocío Villoría Trainee assistedby: Amneris Pereira Date: August, Fri.11th. Timetable: Wed. From 13.15 pm till 14.05/10 pm (trainees normally deliver one class in each division of 4th. grade. But since that day was a rainy one, teachers at school decided to gather both grades and that made a class of fifteen students, and the class was extended some more minutes till the next teacher arrived. Trainees, though, could handle this especial situation successfully.) Grade: 4th. grade ( 1st. Year of English for the student )
- 2. Number of Students: 15 (fifteen, belonging to both divisions) Firstly, I would like to point out the “teacher´s stance” of both trainees; since I believe that both of them displayed a good teacher´s stance throughout the whole class. Trainees were authoritative, towards the students, without being authoritarian towards them. In spite of this, I think that they could have been a little more imposing on certain occasions. The class atmosphere that they were able to create was a comfort one. However, you should try to get students engaged during the whole class: some of them were easily distracted chatting or performing other activities. There was no a relevant case of misbehaviour among students. And you two were able to solve the disruption that eventually occurred. The team work that the trainees performed showed a proper interaction among them and a willing attitude of cooperation and solidarity between them. The mentor teacher, also provided her help when it was needed and the class had a sense of balance and harmony. Few students were poorly engaged in the class and their activities and all of them were engaged at some point of the class. Regarding the number of activities in the class, I would personally suggested to pace them more, in order to give time to students to process information. I would also suggest to avoid including and relating so many topics in only one class. We should try to consider that students of that age have not fully acquired the abstract thinking processes that allow them to relate abstract notions easily. Therefore, they may need more time to understand certain notions and more importantly, they might need some extra time to get concepts in a foreign language that they are learning for the first time.
- 3. Concerning the stages of “Warm – Up” and “Revision” of the class, I think they were properly handled. But I would suggest to enlarge explanation of instructions and to provide them in English. I could notice that instructions were not totally clear to some students and though the trainees provided explanation to those students that required it, it would be advisable to repeat explanations to the whole class, when noticing that they were not understood to some of the students. In relation to the type of activities, I would suggest variation regarding the skills they involve and creativity concerning the tasks students are supposed to perform. Taking into account the age of the students, I would suggest including games and more challenging activities that might involve less passive tasks. Normally, students that age are willing to participate in much more kinaesthetic activities, and they are unlikely to get bored or not interested in passive activities that do not require movement or challenge. For instance, since you worked with a rap ( nice activity and a god idea), you could have made them make a competition and choose “ the best rap group”, or you could have tried to create a whole new rap, using the words and expressions they have just learned. Concerning the teaching of lexis and grammar, I think that you should try to simplify lexico – grammatical structures or to pace the teaching of them. It is unlikely that they are going to get the structures of questions and answers of several topics, together with the new vocabulary, by a single short explanation of one class, and without having the possibility of practising or working with the structures any longer. It would be advisable to deliver one class to the topic of “the time”, (that most of them do not handle even in their L1), and revising numbers, as you did, and then, in
- 4. the next lesson plan to include, more gradually, the rest of the topics related to the time present in the material. It was a good point that some students had the possibility to participate orally, in several instances of the class but it would be advisable to let them all participate whenever they are willing to do it. I could notice that some of them had no possibility of speaking or answering in English, when they clearly wanted to do it, and this might create a resentful feeling that may prevent them from attempting to participate some other time. It is my opinion that the feedback you provided to students was a very positive one. One of you, even gently corrected the students pronunciation by repeating the word he/she has mispronounced. Concerning pronunciation of words, chunks and intonation, you might want to monitor yourself by checking beforehand the proper use of phonetics and phonology. It should be remembered that the teacher is the main (and many times the only) model students have, so our model should be optimised as much as possible. Regarding the role of the trainee not delivering the class, I think that it is a good idea to provide assistance mainly to the students and not to the other trainee. The first part of the class, the assistant trainee was mainly concerned with providing assistance and help to her partner, disregarding the monitor of students. The second half of the class, I could notice a proper assistance to students. Concerning the role of the mentor teacher, I think it is really positive that she can help in the class by avoiding misbehaviour, disruption and so on, but it would be advisable for the trainees to get confidence so as to be able to handle the class by
- 5. themselves, making unnecessary external interventions, even the ones performed by the mentor teacher. I think that it would be advisable to avoid grammatical mistakes when speaking to students in English, whether providing instructions, giving explanations or saying orders or instructions. I believe that a nice suggestion could be to change grouping in certain occasions. They should be asked to take some time to work in pairs, or to check with their partners before checking with the teacher. Another idea that they usually like is to make them write their answers in the board. Avoid translation into Spanish, as much as possible, and try to point to a picture or flashcard, whenever they ask the meaning of a concrete noun. When speaking to them in English, try to be as intelligible as possible, because they are not likely to get meaning from other clues rather than her teacher´s words. The use of the board was a good one, though you may try to include other more attractive devices to your classes. As the teacher delivering that class, you might want to vary your physical position by going round the class more, rather than staying at front most of the class. Regarding closure of the class, I think that the rap song provided a good closure. Therefore, I would have not included a second last activity. Besides it is not advisable to include another activity when they are obviously tired and you have already announced a previous activity as the last one. Finally, I think you two have prepared and delivered a lovely class, I would just suggest to try to pace and grade activities and contents more; and to include more creative activities that cover the four macro skills and that take into account the
- 6. different types of intelligences. It would be advisable to reduce monitoring on part of the teacher, so as to give students room to think by themselves and to make mistakes. It would also be advisable when correcting or providing explanation to them, to avoid certain expressions in Spanish that be a bit frightening to them such as : “ ¿que es lo que no entendes?”Besides you might want to include more creative tasks for your activities in class, so as to enrich student´s productions. But I think that you are doing a very nice work and that you have great possibilities to improve it even more.