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