Teachers: Heinar, Josué, Andrés, and Ronald

Topic: Toys and Games

Part 1

Grammar part: I have / I don’t have

Vocabulary to present:  bike, teddy bear, plane, car, doll

The first part of the class was taught by Heinar and Josué. They presented to children some vocabulary words related to toys such as bike, plane, car, doll, and teddy bear. The way that Heinar started the class was very interesting and it motivated children to participate in it since the activity consisted on having children making a puzzle (see picture one). One of the activities we liked from the fourth class (the first part) was one in which the teacher asked children to make a circle and to walk around an arrow and next to the arrow; there was a box which contained some flashcards of a doll, a bike, a plane, a car, and a teddy bear. Then, the teacher counted from 1 to 10 and the child who was pointed by the arrow had to take out of the box one flashcard in order to say the name of the toy he/she took as you can see in picture two. It was very interesting to see that every child wanted to participate, and some of them were stopping in front of the arrow because they wanted to take the flashcard.

 

Picture one. Children making the puzzle.

 

In our opinion children had a great improvement, we could see it in this class because all children were participating in all activities and also almost all of them acquired the new vocabulary.  Teachers did a very nice job.

 

Picture two. Children walking around the arrow. 

Part 2

Grammar: Question Do you have?   Answer: Yes, I do. No, I don’t

Vocabulary to present: ball, train, robot, kite

The second part of the class was taught by Andrés and Ronald. They presented some other new words related to toys and games like ball, train, robot, and kite. Even though there were some difficulties when giving instructions, teacher made a very good job. One of the activity we liked and enjoyed more was one in which children had to say one of the grammar words and then they had to throw a ball into a hoop (like basketball). All children wanted to participate, and there were some of them who participated more than once. It was evident that children enjoyed this activity because they were laughing all the time, as you can see in picture three. Besides, the teacher’s performance was good because children felt comfortable playing and participating all the time.

 

Picture three. Children throwing the ball into a hoop. 

This class was one of our favorite since children not only participated in all the activities but also they did it with a great pleasure. Moreover, teachers did a very nice job; they had some mistakes like all of us like for example in some parts of the class it seemed as if they (teachers) were losing the class control due to the fact that some children were not paying attention (especially in the second part of the class). However, at the end teachers solved this problem, so they had a good result of the class.

Very nice job guys!!!!

 

 

Lesson 3: The body

First Part

Teachers: Marlene and Isaac

In the first part of the lesson teachers had to presents six new vocabulary words related to the body such as head, hands, legs, arm (short and long). The grammar part was “has.”  At the beginning of the lesson the students were not participating, they were like shy. They were just listening and touching their body parts as the teachers did, but they were not producing what the teacher wanted.  One of the most interesting and funny activities was in the production stage. Children got some pieces of modeling clay in order to make a body. It was very interesting to see that students made each part (head, hands, legs, and arms) as the teacher modeled it. Children were having fun because they like to play with modeling clay, also they were laughing when they saw the body of each other as you can see in picture 1.

Picture 1. Children doing bodies with modeling clay

 

The job teachers did was very good even though they had some mistakes regarding to instructions. Also, the speech speed was too fast considering that children are beginner second learners of English. In some activities children did not understand what they had to do; as a result, they got confused.  Despite of the fact that there were some mistakes, at the end of the lesson its objective was achieved because children could touch the body part they were asked to by themselves.

 

Second Part

Teachers: Konny and Orlando

 

The second part of the lesson teacher consisted on teachers presenting the new vocabulary words which were fingers, teeth, toes, feet, and tail. Besides, teachers had to present a grammar part of the simple present which was she doesn’t have, he doesn’t have, and it doesn’t have.  One of the activities we liked was a story teachers created. It was about a poor dog that got lost and found a ugly girl, and then bit her toes. It was really awesome to see that children were fascinated, and it seemed that they were imagining the story because of the material teacher used as shown in picture 2.

Picture 2. Children listening the story

Something that really called our attention was the fact that according to the schedule used to see what topics we had to teach, in the second part of the lesson, teachers had to present  the following vocabulary words fingers, teeth, toes, feet, and tail; also, she doesn’t have, he doesn’t have, and it doesn’t have. In our opinion teachers presented the new words in a good way using excellent activities; however, because they introduce other words such as shoulders, ears, mouth, etc (which was something good), they neglected the main words. Also, in our opinion children needed more practice time because they were only doing what teacher did, for example, one activity in which the teacher sang a song children had to touch the body part she mentioned (as you can see in picture 3), and children did it because they saw the body part the teacher was touching. Therefore, we would have liked to see children doing it by themselves. We think that the teacher could have sung  without touching her body  parts, so that children would have shown what they really had acquired (if they made a mistake, it meant that they had not internalized the new words yet).

Picture 3. Children touching the body parts teacher touched

 

  Finally, teachers did a good performance regarding to time management, instructions, and classroom management; however, we could see that children did not produce as they were expected to do it because we saw that in the production stage not all children were able to raise the flashcard they were asked to. As a result, we come up with a question, as teachers, what is the most important thing, to have a good performance or to see that children acquire and are able to produce what teachers have taught? It is evident that there must be a balance in both of them but what really matters is the improvement children have in the foreign language. In general, we liked the songs, the production activity the teachers developed, and their performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson 2: Family and Friends (Pets)

First Part: Family and Friends

Teachers: Fátima and Lily

The objective of the first part of the class was children being able to use the vocabulary words me, grandma, grandpa, teacher, and friend and then they had to answer the question “Who’s that?” by using the new vocabulary words. During this lesson we saw that the use of a flipchart to present the new vocabulary could be very useful to children because they can not only to listen to the words from the teacher but also to see a picture which represents the new word (see picture 1).  One of the activities we like the most is one called “Self Portrait.”  There were some covered pictures of children on the wall, and the teacher asked each child to pass in front of the class and to uncovered one of the pictures. Then the teacher asked “Who’s that?”  When children watched their own they answered “It’s me” (see picture 2). Children were surprised to see their own pictures, and some of them were asking, “Cúando nos tomaron las fotos?”  Also, they like to have their own portrait. This lesson was quite similar to the first one due to the fact that teachers had to teach not only vocabulary ( which was new) but also a part of grammar concerning to the question “Who’s that?” children were able to learn the new vocabulary as well as to answer the question. Even though children had difficulties to remember the word “friend”, we think that the objective was achieved because children internalized the rest of the vocabulary words, and they understood the question.

Picture 1. Here it is the flipchart used in the presentation of the lesson.

 

 

Picture 2. Children watching their own pictures.

 

Second Part: Pets

Teachers: Pilar and Karla

In this second part, children were exposed to some vocabulary words about pets such as “rabbit, dog, cat, turtle, fish, and bird.” Children had already been exposed to some vocabulary words; however, they did not remember some of them. One of the most interesting activities was one in which children had to make the sound of some animals and their movements. For example, children had to walk slowly as a turtle, they had to fly as a bird, also children had to make bubble sounds in order to imitate a fish, etc. We like this activity because children were having fun and they seem to be happy performing not only the animal sounds but also their movements (as we can see in the picture 3). Another activity was called “Pet Shop” in which children got fake money in order to buy the animal they wanted (stuffed animals).  Children were excited to get their turn to choose the animal they liked (see picture 4). Teacher asked, “Is that a…?” and children had to say yes, it is or no, it isn’t. Also, the teacher asked to give her some fake money for her to sell the animals.

 

Picture 3. Children imitating the movement of a turtle.

 

 

Picture 4. Pets shop.

 

 

Analysis

These two lessons were very different from the first one due to the fact that the oldest children did not attend the class; however, it was very surprising to see that the youngest children did an excellent job. They were able not only to acquire the new vocabulary but also to respond when teachers asked them. Therefore, we can see that their development is increasing and they as well as the oldest children are learning and acquiring the language. Throughout these course we have seen that children are tended to do what the “smartest” (all of them are smart, but they have realized that two of them have more English knowledge) children do, for example, when they do not know the answer of a question, they wait until Genesis or Saul give their answer, then they repeat what they say, but in this last lesson neither Genesis nor Saul attended the class; however, they identified a new “leader.” We were surprised because one of the shyest girls was participating. In one of the activities they had to circle what they listen to, for example, if the teacher said, “it’s my grandma,” they had to look for the picture which belonged to the grandma. We realized that Allison was the first one to circle each picture and the child next to her copied what she did, and then the other ones like in a chain.  Another important point is that children are getting used to see each other. Now they trust in each other and they talk as if they were close friends.  Regarding to participation, it was grateful to see that in the two lessons children were participating all the time, ant they enjoyed a lot.

Lily: In my own experience when we started the class I tried not to feel nervous, and at the beginning I felt a quiet relax, but I started to feel nervous when I was using the puppet (with one hand) and at the same time I had to do other things only with one of my hands. This was in the first activity when I presented the vocabulary of the lesson. At that moment I felt proud of children because they were able to internalize and repeat the new vocabulary, only one of the word was quiet difficult for them to remember (it was the word “friend”). Even though I was a little nervous I enjoyed the activities and I think that children did too. Despite of the fact that at the beginning of the class I was concerned that it would be a very difficult lesson because the older children were not present, only the youngest attended the class; however, the children did a very nice job; they participated in all the activities and were able to acquire the new vocabulary. At the end of the class, despite of some mistakes we made (because we don’t have too much experience) when developing the lesson, I think we achieved our objective of the lesson. Moreover, I have realized that even though teaching English to children could be quite difficult I like it because I enjoy doing it. I really love it because I like children and I feel that I like them too. I think that for all my classmates it is grateful to see that children (in all the lessons) are acquiring the vocabulary by developing different activities we prepared for them.  

 

 

Karla: My experience while teaching English to young children was very interesting. In the lesson about the family and pets, I had to develop three activities (which were part of the practice stage of the lesson). I was very nervous (but not as in the first practice I did). I was very disturbed when one of the activities did not work as I was thought it, and I realized that time was passing to quickly and children were not finishing the activity. However, in the second activity I felt that I enjoyed it, for example, the activity in which children had to make the sound of some animals and imitate their movements  I really enjoyed that part of the lesson when I saw that children were not only making the animal sounds but also they were smiling a lot. After teaching the lesson, the teacher gave us feedback, and asked us if we would like to work with children, and I said, “No,” but after some thinking time, I changed my mind, and I realized that maybe I did not want to teach children because I had not practice enough time with them   Now, I think that I would like to teach children, and I feel happy to see that children are acquiring English knowledge, and I am part of their learning process I think that is the best rewarding I could get.

 

Third Period

Lesson 1: School

 

 First Part
Teachers’ names: Iris and Mauricio.

Date: September 7^th 2012

 

 The first part of the lesson teachers had to present some new vocabulary words related to school items which were pencil, pen, ruler, book, eraser, and bag. Also, teachers had to take into account a point of grammar in which teachers asked "What’s this?" And children had to answer "This is a ruler," for example. At the beginning of the lesson we thought that children were not going to produce the grammar point due to the fact that when teachers asked the question, they just repeated the name of the item, and sometimes teachers were like forcing children to answer the whole sentence (it’s an eraser). However, after enough practice, children got used to the grammar part and started to use “it’s…” in order to say the name of the item. We thought that because they did not attend the class two weeks. All the activities were appealing and interesting for children, but the one we prefer the most was “The Magic Roulette” since in that activity student were expected in which item the roulette would be stopped and which student would have to answer the question according to the item showed on the roulette (as shown in picture 1). We could see that children were happy developing this activity due to the fact that they wanted to participate to spin the roulette. “The Magic Roulette” is a very nice activity not only for children but also for adults because all students like and enjoy it. We could say that this lesson at the end was a successful one even with all the difficulties that children presented at the beginning. In our opinion, teachers need to improve their instructions in order to have them short and effective. Also, teachers need to be careful with time management (established time to each activity). However, they did a good job because children started to use grammar points and new vocabulary. Also, they used appealing materials and very nice activities.

Picture 1. Children spining the roulette. 

Second Part
Teachers’ names: Magaly and Carlos.

Date: September 7^th 2012

 The second part of the same lesson was a little bit different because the grammar point and the vocabulary words changed. Teachers had to ask “What’s that? (Vocabulary words: desk, chair, window, computer, and eraser) and children had to answer “It’s a/an…”teachers had a better result in this lesson because children were already familiar with the grammar point because of the practice they had in the first part of the lesson. We could notice that children were not forced to say “It is a…” due to the fact that they have already acquired it.   One of the activities that was interesting for us is “The Bottle.” This activity consisted on spinning a bottle which was on the floor and it had to point a child who had to answer the teacher’s question. It was really funny to see that children were excited and making gestures about who the bottle would point due to the fact that sometimes the bottle was moving pointing one child or another before stopping (as you can see in picture 2).  According to what we could see, teachers improve the way in which they interacted with children also the instructions were better. One of the things we want to point out is the fact that one of the teachers while watching the reactions of children had to improvised a new activity because children got confused with her body movements, and the activity worked as if it were planned (before this activity were a little bored as you can see in picture 3), and children enjoyed it because they have to run and everybody wanted to be the first one to touch the items.

 At this point of classes, children and teachers have had a big improvement. Teachers are giving better instructions and children are developing each activity in a very successful way. Also, grammar points are included, so that children are not only learning new vocabulary (single words) but also short sentences (chunks). The progress children show is very impressive and interesting for us as teachers. Besides, throughout the classes we have seen that not only older children are acquiring the language but also the youngest ones like Hector who repeats everything the teachers say, so that when he is asked directly, he can produce what he is supposed to, and that is just rewarding for teachers because they are part of that process.

 

Picture 2. Bottle Activity

 

 

Picture 3. Children were bored.

   

 

Lesson 6: The Family

Teacher’s name: Juan Campos.

Date: August 17^th 2012.

The fifth class was about the family. This class was one of the more challenges because here the teacher was not only teaching simple vocabulary but also little sentences using the new vocabulary. At the beginning of the class the teacher, who performed it, taught children the main members of a family like father, mother, brother, and sister. Then the teacher started to teach some grammar structures such as my name is….; he is my father; she is my mother; he is my brother, and so on. This class was shorter than the previous ones. In it children performed like 5 different activities which were very nice; however, we liked more the one in which children had to point out the picture which was being described. On the board some little pictures about sisters and brothers, wearing cloth of different colors, were pasted. For example, if teacher asked to a child to touch or point out the sister who was wearing green dress, children had to look for it and touch it as we can see in the picture 1 and 2. Another activity we liked was one in which the teacher wrote on the board the new vocabulary learned, but one letter of each word was missing. Then, teacher asked children to pass one by one and to fill or write the missed letter. For example, _ather, in here children wrote the missing letter which was “f”. We could notice that even the youngest child could develop this activity. In addition, we could say that even though at the beginning of the of the lesson, the teacher was not getting good results from children because they were exposed to a very new phase of learning English which was from learning vocabulary to practice it in little sentences, but after some practice children started to give good results. Also we could say that it was a successful lesson due to the fact that in the production stage children showed that they had acquired the new vocabulary and we could say that they were able to remember the little sentences taught. 

                            Picture 1. Children pointing out what they were asked to.

                     

 

 

 

Picture 2

 

TEACHING PRACTICUM

 

 

The acquisition of a second language, sometimes, not only depends of the learner but also on the methodology, techniques, activities, and materials the teacher uses. Regarding to the learning process of a child, who is learning a second language, most of the time is different from one to another. That is the reason why in the Teaching Practicum I, during five classes (one per week), and the topics were about the numbers, the colors, the fruits, the animals, and cloth and accessories in which we tried to involve children by designing appealing materials, different types of activities and techniques taking into account the different types of learners we have in class. There are around thirteen children attending an English class whose age is between 4 and 8 years, and among these children, there are some of them who are auditory learners (they learn by listening), some others are visual learners (they learn by watching things). Also, some children are tactile learners (they learn by touching), and other children are kinesthetic (they learn by performing physical activities). As a result, the purpose of this blog is to share the analysis of the experiences observed in every class, and to point out the progress and improvement children had in each class.
 

 Lesson 1: The Numbers

Teachers’ name: Magaly Pacheco, Carlos Melara, and Mauricio López.                                                                        

 Date: July 13^th 2012                                                         

In this lesson twelve children were participating on the activities. Children started to learn the numbers from 1 to 10. In this class, English and Spanish were mixed since the teachers did not know children’s background knowledge. Moreover, some children already knew those numbers; therefore, it was easy to develop the activities. Regarding to participation, almost every child was involved on the activities; however, there was a child named Hector (he is four years old) who did not want to participate. According to Jean Piaget’s theory, at Hector’s age, it is normal that children behave in a shy way in front of unknown people because they are used to spend time mostly with their family members. On the other hand, one of the activities that called our attention was the "Hot Hat" due to the fact that this activity would show if the objective of the class was arranged by the children’s response or performance (it was developed at the production section). This activity consisted on playing music while children have to pass one hat (as shown in picture 1). Then, when teacher stopped the music, the child who had the hat was asked to see a flashcard and to say the number on it. In fact, the response of every child was positive since they could say the number they were expected to say. So, we could say that this lesson was successful since all children acquired the vocabulary taught.

 

Picture 1. Children passing the hat



 

 

 

 

Lesson 2: The Colors             

Teachers’ name: Iris Erroa, Juan Campos, and Gabriel Cubias.

Date: July 20^th 2012

In the second lesson, teachers taught (to children) some of the colors such as red, yellow, green, orange, purple, black, and white. Also, in this lesson children reviewed the numbers which was part of the previous lesson, and they still remembered them. Moreover, in this class, teachers tried not to talk in Spanish. At the beginning children were concerned about what they had to do in the activities, but at the end, they just did them. One of the activities that really struck us was called “Raising Little Hands” in which children got little hands made of foamy (they were of different colors), and they had to raise the hand according to the color the teacher asked them to show (as you can see in picture 2). We liked this activity because it showed us that children were happy while they were developing it. This means that they were having fun and at the same time they were learning the different colors (in English). Another activity that we liked was called “Memory Game: Flash-Cards” which consisted on guessing the color of the flashcard the teacher took away from the board. This activity showed very nice results due to the fact that children most of the time guessed which the missed color was (see picture 3). Furthermore, in this lesson, we could see that all the students were participating in the activities even the ones who did not participate a lot in the lesson of the numbers. There were some children who already knew the colors, however, they mispronounced them, but at the end of the lesson they were able to say them in a correct way.

Picture 2. Children raising the little hands

 

 

 Picture 3. Children guessing the missed color

 

 

 

 

Lesson 3: The Fruits

Teachers’ names: Lilian Lara, Pilar Magaña, Fátima González, and Karla Vásquez.

Date: July 27^th 2012

The third lesson was a little bit difficult than the previous ones because teachers were asked to speak just in English. At that point, they had to review not only the numbers but also the colors, and at the same time, they had to introduce the topic of the fruits which were apple, pineapple, watermelon, lemon, strawberry, grapes, and banana. The fact that children had already studied the colors and the numbers, gave to the teachers the advantage to have more effective results when working on the activities. The progress of children was evident because most of them mastered what teachers taught them before.  Likewise, a remarkable progress was done through the activities when teacher used negotiation questions, for example, the teacher said: “Are the strawberries red?” and they said: “Yes.” Why is this important? It is important because they are not only getting used to the language but also acquiring it in an unconscious way. In other words, they already started to internalize the foreign language, and to think how to answer that kind of questions. The activity we liked the most was part of the production stage; it was called “Guessing the Fruit.” In this activity the children’s tactile sense was required in order to guess the name of the fruit. Some children (one by one) were asked to pass in front of the class, take a seat, and cover their eyes with a piece of cloth for them not see the fruits. As a result, the other children were asked to be quite while their classmates tried to guess which fruit they had on their hands (see pictire 4). It was awesome to see the reaction children had. They were excited expecting not only the correct answer of their classmates but also to have the chance to pass and guess the fruit. At the end of the lesson we could see that children had acquired almost all the fruits (its names), had internalized the numbers, and had memorized the colors.

Picture 4. Children guessing the fruits

 

Picture 5.

Lesson 4: The Animals                                                      Teachers’ name: Marleny Campos, Konny Martínez, Orlando Gómez, and Isaac  Rodriguez.

Date: August 10^th 2012
 

The purpose of this lesson was to teach children the name of some animals such as rabbit, horse, parrot, turtle, cat, dog, chicken, and fish. Also, children had to review what they learned in the previous classes. This was a very interesting class in which children could practice the new vocabulary and have fun. We enjoyed observing all the activities, but there was one that really got our attention because every child had the opportunity to participate. In this activity, teachers gave to the children some shapes of animals. Then, a big drawing was pasted on the board; it contained the silhouette of different animals that children had to look and decide whether their shapes belong to one or other animals (one child at a time), and they had to post the shape they got. The progress children demonstrated in this task was very notable, especially the improvement Hector showed. When it was his opportunity to pass, he was directly asked to name one of the animals and its color (the animal was a yellow cat) as you can see in picture 6. He accurately named and said the color of the animal. This lesson was successful due to the performance every teacher had, and the response every child presented.

 

Picture 6. Saul pasting the shapes he got.

 

Lesson 5: Cloth and Accessories

Teachers’ name: Heinar Pineda, Andres López, Josue Roque, and Ronald Alcides.

Date: August 17^th 2012

Finally, we observed the lesson about cloth and accessories such as dress, blouse, sweater, pants, tie, socks, shoes, hat, cap, sunglasses, bracelet, and necklace. This lesson was completely different due to the absence of many children. At the very beginning of the lesson, there were only two children Genesis (the girl who has more English knowledge) and Hector (the child we have being discussing about). In here, we discovered that Hector works better if there are not too many children participating in the activities. Additionally, in this lesson we could see how those children really behave due to the fact that they were laughing and sometimes did not pay attention to their teachers. Both Genesis and Hector were excited developing each of the activities. For example, in the presentation stage, teacher made the sound of animals children had studied, so that they had to guess by saying the name and its color. At that moment, Hector waited to Genesis to say the animal, and if Genesis did not know, Hector just stared at her and did not say anything until Genesis pronounced the words. Probably, in this lesson was where Hector could show more his cognitive development. There was an activity called “Bingo” and teacher just said the words without showing them any picture or real cloth. It was wonderful to see that Hector was able to identify the word he listened by crossing out the picture he was supposed to (as seen in picture 7). All the activities were really funny and interesting; however, the one that called our attention was “Let’s Dress Those People!” children were asked to take real cloth and accessories (mentioned above) in order to dress two teachers (see picture 8). Watching this was really funny because Hector was so fascinated that he even fought with Genesis to get the things faster than her. Even though they did not acquire all the new vocabulary words, we could realize the progress those children had.

 

Picture 7. Playing BINGO

 

Picture 8. Dressing teachers

 

 

Conclusion

Throughout these five classes, we have been able to analyze the behavior and progress children showed pointing out that some children response better if the group is no too large. Sometimes, we analyzed children in a general way, but there were some cases in which we have to be specific due the improvement some of them had as in Hector’s case.  Our teaching experience was really exciting because it was the first time we have worked with children; consequently, it was a big challenge for us. Maybe, that is the reason why we were nervous because we had never practiced with real students, and we were afraid of making mistakes or not to get the students’ response. In fact, even though we did not make an excellent performance, the way in which we leveled the activities helped us to get student’s attention and response. At the production stage we witnessed that children learned the name of the fruits by guessing what fruit the teacher gave them. We think that we succeed since children were reviewing the vocabulary taught in previous lessons. Also, this experience has been helpful due to the different activities every teacher developed in order to have a variety them. This may help us as teacher by the time we have to work with real students. It is very pleasant to teach a lesson and to be able to see how successful the activities were. As future teacher, it is very important to learn all about children in order to know which methodology should be used in a class to get excellent results. Additionally, we could say that the experience we have getting from the teaching practicum is not only interesting but also helpful to know how to teach to children.