My granny!

Today’s activity was prepared for working on reading abilities. Related to families again, I explained them the story –a fictitious one, but at first I told them it was real- about my grandma. I tried to invent it as more bizarre and extravagant I could, to get their attention. And it worked! At first they were asking me questions about my grandma, trying to discover if it was the real story about my grandma or not. When they saw my cousin was Rafa Nadal, they laughed a lot at me, telling me that was a strange story.

When I finished explaining the story –miming a lot for them to understand-, I gave them the different sentences of the PowerPoint –one for each- because I wanted them to work in groups to put sentences in order. I realized that some of them were following the instructions of the sudden leaders that appeared immediately after telling them what to do, but others weren’t paying attention –at least the attention I want them to put on the activity-, so I decided to give them the role of judges, to motivate them. Then, when the complete text was in order, they had to take one sentence again –a different one from what they had at the beginning-. I showed them different questions and they had to answer the questions –working with the whole group-. They had to answer with what they remembered and using the sentence they had –that’s why they had only one sentence, to cooperate with the others: “I don’t know what your sentence is, but I can tell you what mine says”-

I realized that maybe it could be better to work with smaller groups, because it’s difficult for them to coordinate to work altogether if they are thirteen.

Running Competition

Today I started the class with an activity I had prepared according to what my coach had told me a couple of days before. She had told me to prepare a dynamic activity, a game to play in class related to families. So I prepared a game I named “Running Competition”.

They divided in two groups. I looked for an original technique to make the groups, and finally I decided to separate them according to the color of their knickers and underpants –they were surprised when I was telling them to divide according to that strange criterion-. Then they had to choose a name for the groups. One group was named “black and whites”, and the others were “the brothers”. The right part of the blackboard was for “the brothers”. “Black and whites” had the left one. I told them I needed a volunteer of each group. So when I had the volunteers in front of me, I told them a sentence, as for example: My grandma’s name is Caroline. They had to run to the blackboard and write the complete sentence as fast as they could and, of course, without any mistake.

They enjoyed the game a lot but I realized that sometimes they criticized what the others did, shouting at them that they couldn’t do that in that way, so I thought about letting one member of each group to help the volunteer. It was a good solution at first but, anyway, those who had a better level of English were constantly telling the others what to write. Despite everything I considered it as a positive thing, maybe to introduce them to help the others (they never do it!). I realized also that in some ways competition is a good resource to motivate them a lot.

How to prepare the curricular unit

I think I haven’t explained how my pupils are yet. I have thirteen students, and they usually participate a lot in class. Maybe it is due to the use of Information and Comunication Tecnologies and also because all the activities are done by the whole class at the same time. I think that’s the better way to work with them, otherwise they will probably get bored and it would be more difficult for them to learn. As I have said, the vast majority of them are absolutely beginners in English.

They are coming from the Taking in or acceptance classrooms (I don’t know the real name in English but in Catalan it is named “aules d’acollida”) of first of ESO. They attend the acceptance classrooms because most of them are immigrants, others have family problems, others are repeating a year… and it is thought that it will be easier for them to pass and to integrate into classes if they are in these sort of special classes. Depending on their performances, they can have their class changed for the 2nd of ESO year, or they can continue in the same class.

From now on, I will be participating in class with activities related to family. Last day I was helping them in the computer rooms while they were doing a PowerPoint presentation with their family trees –they perfectly know how to use the PowerPoint! J-. I realized how different their families could be. Most of them said: “I don’t know who my grandma is”, “I don’t know the name of my uncle”, which surprised me a lot.
So in this context that more or less I’ve drown, I have to think about my curricular unit, what topic I have to choose that could interest them, how I will cope with the racial issues in class, how I can make them think that they are equal in class, how I can teach them the best… let’s see how it goes with all this issues I have to deal with this week.

Homework and exams are the big problem of students

After studying nationalities for nearly three weeks, my pupils are working now on families. Through families, they are supposed to learn how to use the genitive form and they have to be able to explain how their family is and what the names of the members are.

Related to the past topic, I have to say that it is easy to demonstrate that, after spending more than three weeks working on families, they haven’t learned how to say: I’m from Spain, so I’m Spanish. They are always confusing the terms, saying I’m from Spanish instead of I’m from Spain. The results of the exam were, for almost all of them, really bad, but I think that the main problem is they never do their homework, so it is not difficult to imagine that they don’t study so much for the exams.

I spoke with my coach about it, and she told me that their levels are really low, and sometimes it is difficult for them to learn everything you explain in English. So when you are in a class like this it is really important to put yourself in their places and think: Ok, how can I do it, how can I manage with this topic if I want them to learn. But the most important thing you have to believe in is that they can do it. Because maybe they have a potential that you cannot see and you, the teacher, are the one who have the duty to develop this potential to the full.

The world of journalism -in English-

I have been today with a 4th ESO ICT class in English, and they now focused on journalism and the world of communication. They have prepared for today’s class a powerpoint presentation in which they had to explain which are their favourite programmes, who is their favourite TV presenter… They have done it in groups of five or six people, and by listening and looking it was easy to identify who had prepared it a lot and who hadn’t. But although most of them hadn’t rehearsed the presentation, all of them have done it very well, explaining the contents of the presentation one by one in really fluent English - which proves clearly how used they are to speaking English in front of the rest of the class.

Maths through English!

Today I attended a Maths class in English, and I enjoyed it a lot. My first impression was fantastic. I would have liked to have maths classes like these ones! I enjoyed a lot the way Oriol and Carlota –the maths teacher- gave the class, it was like if they were acting all the time and it was so funny!
They have their 4th ESO pupils organized in seven groups of four or five people, so they can work together and help each other. It is amazing to see the big amount of materials they have to prepare in order to teach these classes. They have a specific dossier with all the materials, and in the class you can realize all lessons are really well-prepared. To form the classes, teachers ask students at the beginning of the course if they would like to be in the maths class in English. According to their level of English and their levels of achievement, they decide whether if they can join the group or not. But it is a really interesting option for those who want to improve their level of English at the same time that they study Maths.

ICT to get the attention of the class

My first visit created a sense of great expectancy. All of them were observing me, looking me up and down while the coach was explaining who I was and what I was going to do in their class. The relaxed atmosphere lasted only for a short time (lucky me!) and they started to ask me questions about what I am studying, why do I want to be teacher... and some funny things about my private life.
This week I have been observing how classes go, I have been sitting with the pupils and taking notes about my first feelings and impressions… The first thing I have noticed is that all of them have always a participative attitude. Using powerpoints and different ICTs, and doing almost all the activities with all the group at the same time, my coach gets the attention of almost all the class. So in my class, although the English level is really low, you cannot find the typical pupil who is always sleeping or doing other things in class, commonly known as a “lost case”.

So one of the first things I have learned is that the classic techniques to teach (the ones our teachers used when we were young) are no longer working. Those old techniques were a way of working through magisterial grammar classes, but they didn’t promote the interest of those who did not have a base of knowledge and therefore were previously considered as a "lost case". Apart from being more entertaining, these new techniques are better to encourage participation of students (who try to speak more in class with more dynamic proposals), rather than giving master classes in grammar, which is confirmed as not useful to prepare pupils to develop communication skills in English.

Along these lines, all classes at the university and with my tutor are helping me a lot. At the university, because we are learning the basic things of using ICT; when I am in class, because my coach gets a lot out of them, so she introduces me to the practical uses (by using her del.icio.us, for example).

Variety is the spice of life

I have been assigned to a 2nd year of ESO class. There are only thirteen pupils in my class, and the thing that surprised me the most was that almost all of them have different nationalities.

As far as this question is concerned, I think that, as teachers, and considering that nowadays it is usual to have an increased amount of immigration in our schools, we should be taught to cope with issues of race, class and gender to get a lot out of this variety. Because, as it is said, variety is the spice of life, and we should be able to make a profit of that and teach them how to learn from the others.

Beginning of the practicum

I have been assigned to IES Salvador Espriu, in Plaça les Glòries in Barcelona. At first I was afraid of the place I was going to be assigned to because I currently live in Barcelona and I don’t have any mean of transport apart from the public one. So I feared to be assigned to a secondary school in Santa Margarida i els Monjos –which is a nice place, but a little bit far from Barcelona-.

I think that this secondary school is one of the best ones I could have never been assigned to. It is relatively new (it was built ten years ago) so it is technologically well-prepared, with one computer and one projector for each class and a lot of computer rooms, which is really interesting –it is essential in fact- to prepare and work with ICT activities.
After having our first meeting with the coaches and the rest of the CAP students, I have realized that I have been lucky with my coach and with my class group as well.

First prospects

As I said in the introduction, the experience I am starting now is new for me. When I started my degree in journalism I had never thought about being a teacher, otherwise I would have studied another thing. Despite that, I have been working with kids for a long time, usually in the way of non-formal education but also giving remedial classes to kids from seven to eighteen. I have worked as an English teacher in summer camps, giving classes and talking in English 24/7 with five year-old kids that didn’t understand a word in English (it was quite exasperating because it was impossible to calm them down when they were homesick –most of the night times-). Consequently, I cannot consider myself as totally inexperienced in working with kids. However, I am sure that being in front of a class –this is what formal education means- with more than twenty teenagers observing you has to be totally different. We will see what happens.