MY FIRST LESSONS

1st Batxillerat
Listening and Speaking
I've already done some activities with the students and I can say I really enjoyed it! I've spent four hours with my 1st of Batxillerat class and we have done plenty of activities (listening, reading comprehension, grammar and speaking). One of the listening activities I found more attractive was a conversation between people from different parts of the world (India, Spain, USA and Canada) with different accents. The situation was quite real and you could imagine some of our students having the same conversation in a future time. That was a useful exercise.

Today my coach let me carry on my own a listening activity. They had to answer true/false and multiple choice questions and most of the students were quite good at answering. I must admit there were only 9 students, as tuesday they split the group, and working in that conditions is a pleasure. Before starting the activity I asked them if there was any word they didn't understood but apparently they hadn't any doubt. Afterwards I realised I should have insisted on it or guess which words could cause them some problems because in fact they failed one of the questions because of a misunderstood word. Later on my coach asked me to follow on with a speaking activity. Maybe is in this kind of activity where you need to be more creative to encourage pupils participation. We were talking about Tanzania. 'Would you like to visit Tanzania?' The first answer we got was 'absolutely no because there are plenty of diseases in that country, nothing to visit, not any interesting building and furthermore it's not nice to see poverty'. At that point you must give positive elements so that the rest of the class gives positive opinions because otherwise the speaking activity is finished in less than one minute. 'But what about wildlife?' 'What about the countryside landscapes?' 'What about meeting new people with another lifestyle?' Hopefully some of them changed their mind and the activity went on.

Exam correction
Last week my coach corrected with their students an exam. Before giving them the results they revise altogether the exercises. Afterwards the teacher gives them the corrected exams with the marks. The students compare with their classmates the corrections and have the chance to ask their teacher if there's something they don't understand. In the case of some students which have failed she recommends them to take extra English lessons. One of the proposals I enjoy the most is that the high school offers to their pupils 1,5 free extra hours of English per week in the same centre with a native teacher. My coach tries to encourage all of them, above all those who have more difficulties, to benefit from this resource.

2nd ESO Observation
Halloween activities
Last Thursday another teacher invited me to see one of his 2nd of ESO classes. It was a split class and they exhibited the histories they made up for Halloween. Some of the presentations were quite good. They used the PC to explain their histories and they even used theatre skills while they were talking. That was a nice experience for everybody. In that case you could see high levels of English and creativity and poor levels of the language. The teacher talked with the kids which didn't create a good job. I guess he encouraged them to do a bigger effort next time.

1st ESO Observation
Learning the colours but also some habits
What a beautiful time we spent with a 1st of ESO class... Apparently they are the ones who have more difficulties in 1st of ESO but they were also the ones who needed more help and as they are only 12 years old they were very sweet. It was rather an 'Aula d'acollida' than an English class. The teacher shows them lots of habits (say hello when you enter the classroom, raise your hand for questions, wait your turn for talking...) and has the challenge to make them concentrate on what they are doing. That's one of the main problems, the lack of attention. She teaches them the colours with a song they find in Internet. As it is a sweet song they enjoy the activity and the lesson is quieter than the teacher expected.