The Faculty of Philology

The English Department

TEACHING PRACTICUM PORTFOLIO

Student: VojaCveji

Mentor: Ana Vlaisavljevi

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Reflection paper from the Teaching Grammar course: Previous L2 Learning

Experience (1-2 pages)
Practicum journal
Lesson plans and additional materials for every lesson or part of the lesson you
taught
Lesson analysis
Final paper
Student evaluation (completed and signed by the host teacher)
Self-chosen section

My L2 grammar learning experience

For me the experience of learning English is quite vague. I remember sitting in front of
the TV all the time, watching cartoons, news, and movies which were in English. Apart from
my older brother, no one knew how to speak English. And somewhere around the age of 5 or
6 I began to understand English really good. My parents couldnt believe the progress Ive
made just by paying attention to spoken English. In third grade they introduced us to the
subject, but by that time I had already acquired a comprehensible vocabulary, and an
understanding of the English grammar. I was a bit above the level they taught us at school but
I was nowhere near an advanced level. I felt like I couldnt possibly move beyond that level,
because the lessons started getting more and more dull, and I kept getting the highest marks.
Ive come to a so called plateau in language acquisition as linguistic researchers call it.
But as time passed by, a started forgetting certain words and rules, and the teachers
started demanding more, and somewhere in high school I noticed that there are indeed
grammar rules I have not acquired properly and that I need to work on them more. My high
school English teacher made an effort to persuade me to learn more, so she started giving me
somewhat lower marks although I knew that I was doing a good job. In my last year at high
school she confessed to me her idea how she personally thinks that I should study English as
my major at College. I accepted her idea and immediately began preparing for my entrance
exam.
Today I study English and I can say that I am satisfied with the way things work out.
As for my grammar at has progressed quite a lot since I began learning English. Acquiring
grammar rules can be a difficult task, and it requires a lot of attention, and hard work. The
English Language is a dynamic phenomenon, it changes constantly even for the native
speakers it can get difficult to follow sometimes, and for the people who study it as a second
language it gets even harder to follow. In high school we were taught Latin, English and
Russian.
Having grammar lessons was just as important as reading literature master pieces from
Dostoevsky and Tolstoy for example, and all the other literary works of art, because it helped
us understand how one can apply the language into something truly meaningful and great. I
always knew that learning languages was primarily all about learning to communicate, then
achieving that first step, a second goal appears which basically requires from the learner to
create something from this learning experience. Applying the newly discovered rules into
something of great artistic value is probably the real challenge. Ive writing poems since my
first year in high school, and I wrote songs which were mainly created to be performed
alongside an instrument. Using the language in this fashion is not only fun, but it also helps
the learner discover the obstacles and solutions to many problems in writing so its kind of a
fun exercise.
In the end I can say that Ive had quite an interesting learning experience. It continues
to push me more and more, always requiring grammar and vocabulary updates.

PRACTICUM JOURNAL

Date, Grade, Materials Used

Lesson
Objectives

9.11.2015. English Class; 3rd

Revision:

Year; Upstream Upperintermediate B2+ students

book and teachers book,
blackboard

Vocabulary

2.

9.11.2015. French Class; 2nd

year; New Headway Upperintermediate

Students
Presentations

3.

16.11.2015. French Class; 2nd

year; New Headway Upperintermediate

Revision:
Listening and
Speaking

4.

16.11.2015. English Class; 3rd

New Lesson;
Vocabulary
practice

1.

Year; Upstream Upperintermediate B2+ students

book and teachers book,
blackboard
5.

18.11.2015. English Class; 3rd

Year; Upstream Upperintermediate B2+ students
book and teachers book,
blackboard, BoomBox- CD/
Cassette player

6.

18.11.2015.. English Class;

3rd
Year; Upstream Upperintermediate B2+ students
book and teachers book,
blackboard

7.

27.11.2015. English Class;

3rd
Year; Upstream Upperintermediate B2+ students
book and teachers book,
blackboard

8.

27.11.2015. English Class; 3rd

Year; Correction of the
second written paper,
blackboard

9.

4.12.2015.. English Class; 3rd

Year; Correction of the first
written paper, blackboard

10
.

4.12.2015. French Class; 2nd

year; New Headway Upper-

Revision:
Vocabulary
practice;
Listening and
Speaking
exercises
New lesson;
Speaking and
Reading
exercises;
Vocabulary
exercise

Key moments in Questions that I

the lesson,
have about the
things I learned lesson, things I
would like to
explore further

Student name: Voja Cveji

Host school: Filoloka gimnazija
Host Teacher: Katarina epanovi

Lesson Plan (Exam lesson)

Date: 11.12.2015.
Duration: 45 min
Class level: Upper-intermediate B2+
Class profile: 12 students
Lesson objectives: The main objectives are the text and reading comprehension exercises,
learning new vocabulary related to television, practicing vocabulary, and discussion related to
the topic of the lesson.
Time

Procedures

Possible
problems and
solutions

Interaction

Materials

5-10 min

I will be
introducing the
class to the topic
of todays lesson
by showing them
images of people
who have
become famous
by starring in
various reality
shows, (exercise
1 a, b).

The students may

not know the
people shown on
the pictures.

I will ask some

of the students to
tell the class
what they think
who these people
shown are, and
why would they
be important for
our lesson.

Multimedia aids,
Students Book
Upstream upperintermediate B2+
(page 84-85).

I will give the

students some
time to silently
read the whole
text (a-f).

If the students
attention
somehow sways
from the text, I
will divert their
focus back to it.

Student read the

text silently.

Students book

I will do exercise
3, I will ask the
questions related
to the text, the
students will
search for the
answers within
the text and give
me their
answers.

If a student
cannot solve the
questions on their
own, I will invite
the whole class to
participate.

I will ask them

Students book
the questions 115 each and
check the results.

Introduction,
and preparation
for the topic

5 min
Reading

5-10 min
Text
comprehension

5-7 minutes
Vocabulary
practice

I will explain
some unfamiliar
words from the
text and write
them on the
board;

Students pick the Students book,

setting,
Blackboard,
characters and an
marker, sheets of
action
paper
And then write a
short narrative
(ten sentences
together) using
some vocabulary
from the text.

Additionally I
will divide the
class into 3-4
groups and let
them chose from
three piles, one
will be a setting,
one will be a list
of characters,
and one will be.
5 min max
I finish the class
and assign the
homework for
next week.

The exercise 5,6

will be given for
homework

The students may

not hear the
instructions so I
check for
comprehension
by asking the
students whether
they understood
everything.

Students receive
the instructions
to do their
homework.

Students book
page 85

Lesson Analysis
After teaching my second lesson, the teacher told me that I performed quite
satisfactory as a teacher. But during the conversation she kept reminding me of the mistakes I
made during my practice lesson which could have turned into major weaknesses. She
reminded me of some mistakes and concluded that i had fixed them all congratulated me, and
advised me that the teaching profession could be really good for me.
I began my exam lesson the same way I did with my practice lesson, because I chose
to teach the same reading exercise, by utilizing the classroom projector to show the students
some photographs of famous Serbian celebrities. I included Serbian reality show celebrities in
order to arouse the curiosity of the students and to get them to speak about the topic of reality
shows which was the main topic of my lesson. I included photographs of Miroslav Djurii,
Ava Karabati. The first person became famous by winning in the Big Brother reality show
and was not particularly interesting for the students but they reacted more strongly when I
showed them a photograph of the controversial Ava Karabati. The teacher and I agreed that it
was a mistake not showing them more controversial figures, but I was more concerned with
not appearing indecent or rude. I realize now that if I want to begin a speaking exercise i
should always choose controversial topics or topics which could easy get the students, even
the most quiet and shy among them, to voice their opinions and minds. More than half of the
students gave their feedback for Milutin, and by the end of this activity I acquired feedback,
in the shape of their opinion towards the reality show industry and people involved in the
creation and realisation of reality shows, from all the students.
The next activity was the reading part. I gave the class some time to read the whole
text silently thus giving myself time to look at the text once again for myself and regroup my
thoughts as to not jump over some parts of my plan by accident.