Fifth week in the school

First week second period

Having finished the first period of my practicum and observed how the teacher
worked with children in kindergarten and primary school, I was ready to do my
assistantship during this week. I tried to follow the methods that the teacher had in
order to carry out activities or control them when they start too much. The teacher
used songs and soft commands where they had to complete a phrase they had
already know (this was used to call the attention of the students). When they heard
this phrase they instantly started to pay attention and say what they had to say. In
my opinion it was a very good technique for little children, because they like to
chant and follow rhymes (or complete).
When I was in the kindergarten, the little children were very enthusiastic; they
wanted to do things like singing or draw and paint. The teacher started the class
with a hello song. They sang while the different color tables (red, yellow and blue)
went to pick up their things (notebook, activity book, folder and pencil case) which
were at the back of the class. They sometimes dedicated all the class (45 min) to
do one activity like drawing and identifying vocabulary). I had to help them when
they need it.
The rest of the classes (third, fourth) had a similar way of carry out activities. The
teacher started the class with a quiz (scheduled) and then gave some vocabulary
words that they had to cut and paint (4th grade), after that, they played a bingo style
game where they had to listen to the teacher and flip the cards they had. They had
5 rounds and the winner was awarded with a rubber. I think this method is good for
little children because they get interested in the words and eventually learn the
vocabulary related to that topic. In 3rd grade they did some activities related to
school supplies, they received a handout where they had to create sentences
using the I Have_____ structure.
As a teacher assistant I was able to notice how the students worked and this will
help my classes next week. I will know who will work and who is going to be talking
all the class, so I will be able to pay more attention to them.

Rodrigo Mansilla

Sixth week in the school

The first week I had to teach was good, even though they had a test at the start of
the class (in every level). I planned for a class of 45 min (the class last 90 minutes)
because my guide teacher told me that the maximum time they could use in a test
is like 45 minutes (approximately). On Monday they used more time than they had
to, they used like 70 minutes, leaving me like 20 minutes to do the class. I had to
think how to shrink the class, and I avoided some things that in that case were not
very relevant (all the beginning of the class). I focused the class in the
development and the closing because they had to draw some things that next
week I am going to use. I taught them some clothing patterns and then to end the
class I asked to draw clothing using patterns which were indicated at the top of the
sheet. On Thursday with the same grade but different letter they used only 50
minutes in the test and I could do my class without any problem. I noticed this class
was very fast at learning, they paid a lot of attention to what I was learning, and
they took fewer minutes I had planned. This gave more time to the assessment
which was drawing clothing. They drew and painted calmly without any trouble or
hurry. This class was successfully fulfilled.
The rest of the week was dedicated to the assistantship. The remaining classes I
tried to help the teacher with all the things she had planned for them, helping with
the class management and explaining things.
I can say that I learnt a lot of my classes, because they were different to the
classes of the older ones. They were more focused in learning than the 7 th graders
and more attentive. They did not chat a lot when I was teaching so I can say they
wanted to learn, I mean they liked English and took this subject as an important
thing they had to learn. I really liked that attitude they showed to me.

Rodrigo Mansilla

Seventh week in the school

During this week, I started to do classes to first year students, which showed me
the variety of behavior that little children can demonstrate depending on the
teacher they had in front. I was in charge of a new teacher (different from the other,
which was Miss Ema Villanueva). She was very different to my guide teacher in
terms of how she taught them. Miss Isabel tended to be very cheerful and always
in movement. She loved to being in movement and using their hands to explain
everything she said. My class was not very motivating due to the reason that I had
to cover some contents that were going to be evaluated in some weeks. So, for
this, I made a booklet where we worked together. Some students had problems
with the contents, because they did not understand all the words in English, so our
task during the whole class was guide them, in order the get the study guide
which was the booklet, done. The class was focused on this, basically.
In the classes with the 4th grades, I had to teach clothing. For this, I brought some
clothes to teach them through the realia method. The students were very motivated
with this, because they were able to touch it and give personal opinions about it.
The classes were very peaceful, because all of the students respected each other
and the planning happened with the corresponding times.
During this week, I was in charge of the first grade, which was a new experience
for me. I felt very happy to be with them, because they presented some challenges
for me, and this put me in a new situation, where I had to apply new methods that I
learnt in university (kinesthetic movement, demonstrate things with hands, drawing,
etc.).

Eight week in the school

I have to do the final classes with 4th grade and 1st grade, for this, I prepared some
things that were interesting for kids, as for example the idea of bringing the clothing
again and make them design their own pieces of clothing using some patterns that
they learnt during the past classes. I tried to make them play with the kind of
clothing and at the same time; teach them the Im wearing structure. Most of
the students learnt how to structure a good sentence showing to the class what
they draw (they were able to cut paper and paint in order to create their own
designs and sentences). I think that, with this, they showed to me that they were an
excellent class because of they were fast learners and were always motivated to
learn more and more, even though sometimes the contents were based on drilling
most of the time (when I wanted that they learn some vocabulary words as for
example: skirt, blouse, socks, etc. which at the end of every class, they were
assessed with oral questions, as for example, what is she/he wearing?, and they
were supposed to answer: She/he is wearing a blouse/sandals/etc.). I tried to finish
my classes with this kind of assessment. The last class with 4 th graders was merely
focused in those contents (clothing) because next week they have a test about
that.
In the case of first graders, I had to check the studying material which was the
booklet, but in order to make the contents clearer, I brought some things and
prepared some games related to them (the contents). I brought some shapes, toys,
long things, short things, small and big things, etc. the game I prepared consisted
in a scene representation (about a birthday party), where I used the help of miss
Isabel and miss Ema, where we used party hats, and a plastic cake. I think the
students learnt more with this, because they tend to use a lot of repetition and
kinesthetic movements with the hands. In my opinion, they learnt more and faster
using those ways.
I learnt a lot of things from little students, because the way they learn is completely
different from young adults and teenagers. When I was with teenagers (7 th and 8th
grades) I noticed that they learnt more with drillings things on paper rather than
moving, and this will be very important in my future classes.