CHAPTER ONE

I - INTRODUCTION
In many professional schools in our nation and world wide, the
internship is an exercise which importance and necessity does not
need to be proven. Owning t o t h e f a c t t h a t H T T T C
(Higher Technical Teacher Training College) Bambili is one of the biggest
institutions in our country also because of the Educational program it
offers, all undergraduates students in the institution must carry out this
important exercise in other to be awarded their diploma at the end of their
training. Reason why I undertook my teaching practice internship in
G.T.H.S. Bamenda (Government Technical High School) Bmenda. This
school was created in 1983 and it is situated in North West region, in
the Mezam division, in Tubah sub division and in nkwen village
some

few meters away from G.T.H.S

Nkwen. It is divided into two

sections; commercial and technical. Its have only the second cycle and
made up of 3 levels (form 5 to seven) with 50 classes. Each cycle have
one vice principals,
3 s e n I o r d i s c i p l I n e m a s t e r s/mistresses. Every d I s c I p l I n e h a s a h e a d
o f d e p a r t m e n t a n d e a c h class has a class master or mistress.
This report intend to give an overview on how I experience my

teaching

practice internship in G.T.H.S. Bamenda, also to create awareness on the

difficulties I felt and suggestions on how to curd this problems.

II - PEDAGOGIC ACTIVITIES
Several pedagogic seminars were organized by ENSET authorities,
G.T.H.S. staff and pedagogic inspectors. The very first seminar took place
in ENSET main campus on Friday 20th January 2012.
We have had teaching practice seminar involving the administration of
the H.T.T.T.C. Bambili with the north west coordinating inspector of tertiary

sciences and technologies, coordinating inspector inspector of teacher

education, the north west regional pedagogic inspector of various
disciplines offered in H.T.T.T.C. Bambili, the principal of government
technical high school, the principal of government technical colleges, the
vice principals of government technical high schools, the chiefs of work of
government technical colleges of the various practicing schools and the 3 rd
year and 5th year student of H.T.T.T.C. Bambili . The aim o f t h e seminar
was to prepare psychologically the challenges student teachers shall face
during their internship. which was divided into three phases:
The teaching practice seminars / workshops based on revision of
pedagogic principles and orientation
Effective class teaching which entails drawing of
lesson plans
Participation in school activities that is invigilation of exams
and filling of school documents (report booklet, master sheet etc.
Many speeches were presented on DYNAMIC OF TEACHING AND THE
CHALLENGES OF EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGY IN CAMEROON.
We also have the projections on two them: the lesson plan and the
behavior of student teacher during the teaching practice; we a ls o ha ve
m a n y exposed on teaching practice progress.
Finally the Director of ENSET closes the ceremony by advising us to be
good ambassadors of HTTC.
FRIST WEEK
On Monday 30th January 2012, the vice principal of the two section of
G.T.H.S. Bamenda, chaired a meeting with some teacher staff of two
section and all student teachers posted in his institution. The objectives
of the meeting were to tell us how the school is organized, also on how
to fill school documents and on the norms and regulation of the school.
Tuesday 31th January, the first contact with the Head of Department of
G.T.H.S. Bamenda Mr. BIKIME took place in the air conditioning workshop
of the institution. The objectives were to welcome air conditioning
student

teachers

in

his

department

and

to

various classes with their respective cooperating

distribute

them

into

teachers. He ended the meeting by acknowledging the good work student

teachers preceding us did and hopefully that we shall do the same and
even better.
After the first contact with the HOD, I was given two classes form F5-5 and
F5-6 with BISIC REFRIGERATION I AND COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION as the
subject to be taught. My cooperating teacher as Mr. PENKA Joseph who
was equally the class teacher of these classes. It was a mixed class with
both boys and girls with an average age of 16+ years old. In form F5-5
the enrollment was 30 students with 30 boys and 0 girls while in form F5-6
the enrollment was 24 students; 01 girl and 23 boys. The behavior of
students in both classes was not too different even dough form F5-5 was
noted to be noisier than form F5-6 but in contrast the former had more
intelligent students. In a general point of view, students had a concrete
operational behavior that is could reason logically but due to some
external factors such as noise and distraction makes some not to recall or
reason when a question was asked. However I taught 04 lessons in total
and with the number of classes taught as 08.
EFFECTIVE CLASS TIME TABLE
DAY
Tuesday
Tuesday
Thursday

TIME
07 30 11h10
11h10 03h20
12h35 03h20
h

CLASS
Form F5-5
Form F5-6
Form F5-7

PRACTICAL TIME TABLE

DAY
Tuesday

TIME
11 10 03h20
h

SECOND WEEKS
LESSONS OBSERVED

CLASS
Form F5-6

My first lesson observed was in form F5-7 On T h u r s d a y 02th February

2012 from 12h35 to 03h20 and the topic treated by the teacher was
CLEANLINESS. I and one other student teachers were introduced by
my cooperating teacher to the students before the class started making
them to know that we have to work with them. The students were
astonish but happy to see us. Since that was my chosen class for the
internship, I was excited and anxious to start immediately but, I was
afraid and shivering.
Generally, the teaching style employed by the class teacher was
a

Socratic one, with highly democratic attitude during the teaching-

learning process. Being fair and firm, he had a motherly relationship with
the students. In fact, he had the skills of pedagogy. But beside all these
qualifications, he never makes use of a lab coat when teaching.
After each lesson taught, he encourages us and gave us some specificity
of each class, saying that form F5-5 and F5-6 were noted to be very noisy but
very intelligent.
I continue to observe my cooperating teacher for one week after
which I effectively started teaching. But it is important to note that I also
observed my other colleagues who were teaching other classes through
out the internship.
THIRD WEEK
METHODOLOGY OF TEACHING
Way back in 2004, Nsamenang, defined teaching in his book title;
teaching learning transaction, page 132 as a transaction process.
That is it involves community of learners in which the teacher itself is
a learner. Furthermore a c c o r d I n g to Fro e b e l,
1782-1852,

the

purpose

of

education

students than to put into them

is

to

bring

more

out

of

.After attaining seminars, observing

my cooperating teacher and from the above quotations, I employed an

eclectic method of teaching. This method is characterized by shifting
from teacher and subject centered method of teaching to students
centered method of teaching and also it should be varied. Teaching

should be contextualized and localized to render it more meaningful and

interesting Bame, 2004, page 156 that is why the eclectic method was
best suited to avoid monotony.
LESSON PREPARATION
After observation, I prepare my notes concerning commercial
refrigeration on the chapter 5 : THE DISPLAY CASES taught in form F56

and concerning basic refrigeration I on the chapter 6 : THE

EXPANSION DEVICES

by

using

various

text

books

such

as;

refrigeration and conditioning (4th editions), formulary of cold (12th

edition), media, modern refrigeration and many other text books
borrow from friends. I equally use teaching and learning aids.
After the lesson was produced, I will submit it to my cooperating
teacher for corrections and/or signature after which I could use that
lesson to teach. The duration of each lesson was 220 minutes. After
each

lesson,

gave

them

assignments

and

this

was

for

the

following reasons;
To occupy students at home.
To prepare them for the next lesson.
To help them to do the revision of their lesson.
FOURTH WEEK
This week, I continuous to teach my lesson on the DISPLAY CASES. The
duration of each lesson was 220 minutes. After each lesson, I gave
them assignments and this Was for the following reasons;
To occupy students at home.
To prepare them for the fourth sequence test.
It is important to note that, most of the students in both classes felt under
the category of imaginative

and

analytical

learners

that

is

they

perceive information completely and process it by reflecting. Most of

their questions were; why are this like this? Or what is this? Etc.
FIFTH WEEK

I prepare the lesson concerning the EXPANSION DEVICES taught in

form F5-5 was produced, I will submit it to my cooperating teacher for
corrections and/or signature after which I could use that lesson to
teach. The duration of each lesson was 220 minutes.

After

each

lesson, I gave them assignments and this was for the following
reasons;
To occupy students at home.
To prepare them for the next lesson.
To help them to do the revision of their lesson.
SIXTH WEEK
EVALUATION AND RESULT STATISTICS
I and other co-trainees teaching F5-5 classes had the prevail age to set
the fourth sequences exam in form F5-6, since on our arrival they had
already written the third sequence exams. The scope of the exam
covers all what we taught, since we were exactly at the level with our
notes in our different classes. Blooms Taxonomy helps us to bring out
the

format

of

the

questions .

After consulting our cooperating

teachers, the marks allocations, marking guide and

duration

of

the

exam were produced. The objective of the test was to test for
knowledge and comprehension. For the two classes I was teaching, I do
test only in form F5-6 the result statistics are as follows.
FORM F5-6
Number of students present
Number of student s absent
Percentage pass
Percentage fail
Highest mark
Lowest mark

SCORES
23
01
16/20
07.5/20

3.4-

PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

3.4.1-

INVIGILATION OF THE FIRST SEQUENCE EXAMS

The first sequence exams started on Monday10th 2011and ended

on Friday 14th

October 2011. But I was called by my cooperating teacher and the vice
principal of form
two to invigilate for two days that is Wednesday and Thursday in the
following classes ; form 2C, 2F, 3C ,and 5B. I and my cooperating teacher
invigilated food and nutrition test in form2C on Wednesday from 11:45
-12:15

that

is,

the

test

was

for

30

minutes.

The format of the

questions was multiple choice questions. On Thursday 13/10/2011, I was

called upon by the VP of form two Mr. Olivier Ewi to administer and
invigilate a Human Biology exam in form 5B, but this time around,
the exam was for one hour. The objectives of the exam were to test for
comprehension, analysis and synthesis.

From the above undertaken, it is important to note that as a whole,

every thing when on smoothly with no great incident, despite the fact that,
some students tried to copy from their neighbors especially in form 5B.
Never the less, I notice some negligence by some teachers who were
suppose to be in these classes mention above to carry out their
duties, but for one reason or the other, they could not make it. Besides,
I gain a lot of experience

especially

in

the

techniques

in

setting

questions, that is, by making use of Blooms Taxonomy of education.

According to Bloom, questions are categorized that is low standard in
lower classes like F1and F2 and high standard questions in higher
classes. In lower classes we test for knowledge and comprehension thus
the questions should be MCQ and /or structural. While in higher classes
the format of the questions should be essay type.

I also learn how to

come out with the time allocation when setting the exam by either pre
testing or answering the questions before administering them to the
students.
3.4.2-

FILLING OF SCHOOL DOCUMENTS

After marking the second sequence exam scripts of form 2A and 2B,
I entered the marks in both the master sheet and the report booklet of
respective classes. Actually the exercise was not difficult since it only
required simple mathematical operations. However, because of the vast
number of the students the exercise was tedious. Nonetheless, many
students did not have their names in the class list or did not have a mark
in the first sequence. But each time I faced difficulties,

as those

mention

any

above,

consult

my cooperating

teacher

or

vice

principal around to help me take a decision on such cases. Upon all

these rare cases, I learn how to calculate averages, rank students and on
which type of appreciation should be given for each score.
CHAPTER FOUR
SAMPLES OF INDIVIDUAL LESSON PLANS

CHAPTER FIVE
5.1-

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ADMINISTRATION

There was a mutual courtesy relationship between the school

administration and I. But especially to Mr. Olivier Ewi and many other
discipline masters. Toward the HOD of biology,
attitude

toward

student

teachers

due to

she
her

had

a motherly

kindness

and

understanding. The relationship toward my cooperating teacher was very

respectful and cordial. Throughout the internship, she always takes time
to go through my work, make comments and always attained my classes
for observation. She equally gave me moral and financial support; in fact
I remain very grateful to

her. To

other students

teachers mutual

respect and support was appreciated. With regard to students, they were
lovely, wonderful, very cooperating and understanding. In short, I will
remain affectionate to them.
5.2-

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

The very first problem faced was financial problem since I was
supposed to buy all my didactic materials used; I was supposed to type
all my lessons as instructed by my cooperating teacher and even for
exam questions. Also because I had to go to my cooperating teacher
every weekends to correct my lessons.

o Most students did not have prescribed text book thus making it
difficult for me to control assignments.
o The time keeper who was supposes to ring the bell after every 50
minutes, fails to respect

this,

thus

creating

confusion

on

the

duration of a lesson and among teachers.

o The time allocation for each lesson was too small making time
management a problem. Added to that, some student teacher did not
manage their time correctly causing the next teacher to bear the
consequences.
o Lack of communication between the RPI and the school authorities on
the school program, because this result in the RPI evaluating some
student teachers on a day students were not in school or when they
were writing exams.
o There was no restaurant or canteen in or around the school premises;
this made some teachers and student teachers who had classes
morning and afternoon to feel weak during the afternoon classes.

During exams, some teachers where not there to invigilate even

when their names were in the roster. Also most questions were not
typed, all these created a spirit of doubt in the credibility of the
exam results.

5.35.3.1-

RECOMMENDATIONS
PROPOSED SOLUTION TO CCAST AUTHORITES

o A canteen should be built in or around the school so that students

and teachers can energize themselves before teaching or learning.
But this should only open during break period.

o An electrical bell should be restored in school so that based on the

system put in, it will ring after certain duration and this will prevent
conflicts among teachers.
o

They should be a constant communication between the school

authorities and the RPI on the school time table; this will help the
students to maximize their chances during evaluation since their
classes will be full and active.

o The school should have a type writer to type all exam questions rather
than writing them

on

the

chalk

board.

Also

student

teachers

should be given incentives for invigilation so as to motivate them.

5.3.2-

PROPOSED SOLUTION TO ENS AUTHORITIES

o There

should be money allowance granted to the mentors or

student

teachers before teaching practice. This will help them to

endow any expenditure during the internship with more ease. In so

doing more time will be spend in preparing the lesson, with good
teaching aids thus will create a greater impact when teaching.

CONCLUSION

I have always

look

at

teaching

as

mysterious

exercise

which was meant for only a particular set of people but at the end of my
teaching practice internship, I realized that teaching is an intentional
activity which depends on self devotion. I am personally happy that, I
achieved the objectives of the teaching practice such as; teaching
skills, impregnation of professional ethics and a good knowledge in
school hierarchy. I will never forget these special moments spend in
CCAST Bambili. There is a saying that; any act of ingenuity is 1 %
inspiration but 99 % perspiration. Thus I wish

that

future

student

teachers will put in more effort than what I did for the prosperity of

our nation.