The Institution
I did my Primary school teaching practice in "Escuela Primaria "Manuel Belgrano" nº 8 in the city of Punta Alta, province of Buenos Aires. It is a State school under the guidance of the headmasters Mrs. Graciela Ligorria and a very large group of teachers, the "EOE" group and the janitors, who work really hard for the students´well-being.
There are fifteen classrooms for students between 6 and 12 years old, an indoors and and outdoors playground, a library and a stage. There students study Science, Maths, Language, Social Studies, music art and P.E. Students from the 4th to 6th grade have English lessons. Their projects are connected to art and the community.
I taught in 5th "C"and my students were about 10. There were 9 boys and 13 girls under the care of teacher Fabiana and the English teacher Natalia.
I was delighted working withthis energetic group of kids, even though I needed to have special attention to a boy with personal issues and emotional breakdowns.
A unforgetable experience!!
I did my Primary school teaching practice in "Escuela Primaria "Manuel Belgrano" nº 8 in the city of Punta Alta, province of Buenos Aires. It is a State school under the guidance of the headmasters Mrs. Graciela Ligorria and a very large group of teachers, the "EOE" group and the janitors, who work really hard for the students´well-being.
There are fifteen classrooms for students between 6 and 12 years old, an indoors and and outdoors playground, a library and a stage. There students study Science, Maths, Language, Social Studies, music art and P.E. Students from the 4th to 6th grade have English lessons. Their projects are connected to art and the community.
I taught in 5th "C"and my students were about 10. There were 9 boys and 13 girls under the care of teacher Fabiana and the English teacher Natalia.
I was delighted working withthis energetic group of kids, even though I needed to have special attention to a boy with personal issues and emotional breakdowns.
A unforgetable experience!!
The Observation Period
Practicum level: Primary School
Group: 22 students (13 girls and 9 boys), 10 years old
Date: Monday 4th August
Lesson number: Observation class nº1
On my first day observing, I was welcomed by the teacher and we walked together towards the classroom. Students were at a break and came into the classroom with us. Before we came in, the teacher advised me on one student called Franco. He sits next to the teacher because sometimes, due to personal issues, he has emotional breakdowns, often, violently. He feels angry when things do not go as he expects and insults classmates.We stepped into the classroom, the teacher explained to students why I was there and that, in a near future, I will be conducting some classes for them. I was amazed and flattered that all students began to sing “le damos la bienvenida..”. It was spontaneous on the part of the students and made me feel comfortable and welcomed.I sat at the back of the classroom and the teacher began with the class.The class started almost 15 minutes later because it took too long for students to come into the classroom and sit on their desks.
The teacher began the class by writing the date and the weather on the board.She asked students to present a project that they have worked before winter holidays. They designed a model house and others a poster on the same topic. One of the students collected her classmates´projects and handed them to the teacher.The teacher wrote the pages she wanted students to go on their classbooks and asked them to open their books. This is the only verbal instruction in English, the rest of the class is conducted in Spanish. They orally revise the vocabulary dealt on previous classes connected to “food”. They checked an exercise on the book. Then, they moved to the following page. The teacher explained in Spanish a matching exercise that it is on the book. While students were working the teacher walked along the desks and acted as a facilitator and monitor. This activity lasted 15 minutes.Next, she explains another exercise from the book that it is connected to food and drinks, but she copied it on the board. In Spanish, they revised vocabulary orally.Students copied and did the exercise on their folders. Again, the teacher acted as facilitator and monitor.The class finished when the teacher reminded students to bring their books the following class. The teacher organized two lines, one for girls and one for boys, in order to go for their second break in an organized way.
Overall, students are very noisy and naughty. They speak a lot among them, even when the teacher is explaining. They stand up and move around the classroom without asking permission. They bother each other, especially those who are sitting at the back of the classroom. When the teacher works with students who are sitting at the front, the ones at the back do not work and the other way round.
The teacher tells me that classes cannot be conducted in English because students do not pay attention, leading to disruptive behaviour.
Practicum level: Primary School
Group: 22 students (13 girls and 9 boys), 10 years old
Date: Monday 6th August
Lesson number: Observation class nº2
On day two of the observation period, I noticed the following aspects of the lesson. The teacher began the class by asking what day was it and what the weather was like that day. She wrote it on the board.She wrote on the board “LIKES” (and draw a smiling face next to the word) and “DISLIKES” (a sad face was drawn next to the word). Orally, she reviewed what those words mean. Then, she gave examples of the use of “I like” and “I don´t like” orally and wrote them on the board. Finally, she asked students to copy everything that was written on the board. The explanations are mainly in Spanish. Transitions from one activity to another cause students chatting in Spanish among them. They are really noisy.
When students are copying the explanations from the board, the teacher wrote an exercise for students to put sentence elements in order. Again, she asked students to copy them on their folders. Students did the exercise on their own. The teacher walked along the desks, acting as monitor and facilitator.
The class was interrupted by the janitor because she brought a tray with bread for students to have a snack. The teacher received the tray and one of the students went through the desks, serving the bread to her classmates.
The teacher gave the following instruction in English “open your books on page 52”. Students took the books out of their bags. The teacher explains the exercise in Spanish, explaining how to circle the correct word. Next, she read the sentences eliciting the correct answer from students, so they did the exercise and checked it as a whole group activity. When the activity was over, the teacher asked students to go to page 54. This section of the book is a kind of integrated workbook. The exercise consisted on completing a crossword puzzle connected to food vocabulary by looking at the picture they had as reference. The teacher revised the vocabulary orally and then, she explained what students were expected to do. During the oral revision, I noticed that only those students who apparently attend private English classes answered or participated, the rest remained silent. On their own, students solved exercise a,b and c from the same page. The class finished when the bell ranged and the teacher reminded the students to bring their books the following class.
At the end of the lesson, the teacher offered me her help and materials as she explained to me that there is no ICT resources available, teachers are not supposed to give homework and the seating arrangement must be kept. I thanked her helped and we left the classroom.
The Classes
I taught from August 10th to the 20th to a group of 22 students. There were 9 boys and 13 girls of 4, who have had English the previous year. Students sat in pairs. The English teacher´s name is Natalia, who helped and assessed me during this time.
This lessons were designed under the Communicative approach and I used the PPP method to organize the activities. Even though I tried to stick as much as possible to the use of English as a primary communicative vehicle, I mimed, demonstrate and use another´ students progress.
As regards teaching strategies, I tried to use English for instructions as much as I could miming, showing and beginning the word so they could discover it and finished it. Singing, role-playing, doing gap-fill tasks and TPR activities were used to practice the new content and we played flashcard games to revise it. Classes were students-centered, only in instances where students did not understood what to do I resorted to teacher-centered interaction.
I worked with songs, videos, games , TPR activities and flashcards were always a success. They were engaging and fostered students responses in English. even though the activity might result a bit noisy, the communicative outcome and students´answers were a success through the use of these materials.
I left the institution with a sense of achievement as I believe that students learnt the content in context, with motivating activities that produced elementary communicative outcomes.
I am delighted with this experience and encourages me to keep on learning and doing research on how to teach students undergoing hard personal issues affecting their learning skills
Lesson Plan nº1
Tpd estebo-primary schoolpracticum from Cynthiaestebo
Final Assessment Report Primary School Practicum
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