"On hi ha educació no hi distinció de classes." Confuci (551aC-478aC)
"Diga-m'ho i ho oblidaré, ensenya-m'ho i ho recordaré, involucra'm i ho aprendré." Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"Les poques coses que he après no tenen valor comparades amb les que ignoro i no desespero a aprendre." René Descartes (1596-1650)
viernes, 28 de diciembre de 2007
domingo, 23 de diciembre de 2007
The end of my practicum has come!
viernes, 14 de diciembre de 2007
Implementing the lesson plan
On Wednesday, I had a lesson with half of the group, as usual. The class was devoted to speaking and listening skills. The fact of teaching only fourteen students on Wednesday mornings allows the teacher to concentrate on those abilities and skills which are more difficult to put into practice with the whole class. So I took advantage of this situation and I prepared, apart from some introductory oral activities and a listening -suitable for their level-, a role-play based on travelling. I divided the class into holiday makers and travel agents. Holiday makers had to decide where to go for a short holiday. In order to know what kind of holiday they were looking for, they had to fill in an individual questionnaire, which would be useful later on so as to choose a destination. Travel agents' job consisted of selling different holiday resorts around the world. Every travel agent -there were four travel agents with different stalls around the class and offering different destinations- had to convince the customers to buy their destination. I enjoyed this activity very much and kids seemed to have fun as well. When I finished the lesson, I felt satisfied with the result because apart from learning some vocabulary about travelling, they had been able to create a friendly atmosphere and they had enjoyed simulating a real situation that may be useful for them when travelling. In the afternoon I attended an 'assessment meeting'. It was interesting to know what teachers usually talk about at these meetings. They talked about strategies to carry out by teachers as a whole and they also made reference to the attitudes and aptitudes of some students.
On Thursday I had fun, too. I prepared for students a great variety of activities, all of which were involved with different countries around the world. After having looked up information about the population, the currency, the climate and the most important places of interest of a list of countries, they had to identify the country and the place of interest of a number of photographs. After this task, I showed them a powerpoint on a tribe who lives in Thailand, called the giraffe-women or the long-necked women. As I went to Thailand so many years ago and I had the opportunity of getting to know their lifestyle, their traditions and their village, I showed them different pictures about this tribe's daily life -I also included some beautiful photos of children at school. The lesson was a success because students took part in the speaking task actively. They were really engaged when they saw me among the giraffe-women. I also brought them different objects that this tribe tends to sell so that they could touch real things from this Asian culture. They enjoyed themselves a lot and some students even told me to repeat the experience with another different country.
On Friday, the lesson was a chaos. Students were out of control. In fact, the class started at half past eleven and they were tired after the recess. The lesson I had prepared was really interesting but I didn't manage to finish it because they were shouting and chatting all the time. Anyway, I have survived so far. Just two more sessions and I will have finished. Wow! I can't believe it.
domingo, 9 de diciembre de 2007
I took part in the assessment of an oral exam!!
Wednesday was a really more exciting day. My tutor had planned to do the oral exam in an hour just with a half of the students. I felt very glad when she asked me to take part in it. The class, which consisted of 14 students, was divided into groups of two people. Every couple had to prepare a dialogue where they had to include some information required by their teacher. They had half an hour to develop their dialogue and after this period of time, my tutor and I started the exam. I was given a sheet that I had to fill in with the following information about each student: fluency, clarity, pronunciation, use of vocabulary, grammar, etc. The sheet was actually very complete. The exam consisted of two different parts. The first one was the dialogue, which they had to learn by heart, and the second one was a list of questions we had to ask them in order to assess every student separately. So it was an exam where both cooperation and individual work were assessed.
domingo, 2 de diciembre de 2007
Solving doubts
English Seminar Meeting
Since the English department has decided to take part in this plan where the subject implemented in English will be Physical Education , the government has given them 2,000 Euros to invest in necessary materials. In fact, two teachers are in charge of this project and they have to attend weekly lessons in order to work on the curricular contents of this subject in the English language. It is a tough but rewarding task, though. The meeting took about an hour and fifteen minutes and we, the CAP students, felt really involved in the meeting because the rest of the teachers required our opinion as well. It was certainly a nice experience!
sábado, 1 de diciembre de 2007
'Guàrdies' and 'guàrdies'
After the recess, I wanted to stay for another hour and as my tutor had also prepared an exam for another group of 3rd ESO, I decided not to go to class. I remained in the teacher's room where I met another English CAP teacher who invited me to go with her during her 'guàrdia'. So I repeated the experience. Anyway, this time was a bit different because she showed me the school and I could take lots of photographs. I hope you will like them!
sábado, 24 de noviembre de 2007
Busy days
Regarding the classes at the secondary school, students are about to finish unit 2. They are enjoying themselves with this particular unit because it is about natural phenomena and catastrophes. And they love them! They are always asking questions about this topic. On Wednesday, they had to set a guide in order to make up a story about a fatal situation where they were survivors. They really had fun! Another activity that was a success in class was to make a dialogue, which took a 60-minute lesson. In fact, that lesson consisted of preparing students for the oral exam they must take on 5 December. The teacher asked them to read all the dialogues from the beginning of the coursebook to unit 2 and they had to make a dialogue in which they had to include some of the expressions they had learned so far. I must recognise that my tutor and I didn't have so much confidence, but we were really impressed by the results. Even a student who is a coach potato and doesn't like working too much changed three times the content of the dialogue because he was not very satisfied with it. Some dialogues were remarkably good. Now we will see what will happen to the speaking exam because, according to my tutor, this is the first year the school is going to assess students' oral skills.
sábado, 17 de noviembre de 2007
My first "tutoria"
My class on strike!
miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2007
Short of time!
Monday, 12 November 2007. When I got into the teacher’s room, my tutor told me to take part in the lesson. In fact, students are supposed to reach unit 3 at Christmas. Now they are about to finish unit 2. I think they will eventually achieve their teacher’s expectations. Anyway, I was told to carry on with the lesson and I promised I did my best. For me, the most important thing is to make concepts clear for children and I usually check for understanding. My tutor is very skilled at teaching but by now she is following all the student's book literally, exercise for exercise. According to the new law, this system is considered to be quite traditional and classical. Now teachers should be required to prepare a variety of activities using a wide range of resources apart from the student's book so that children enjoy learning English. The coursebook should be a guide for teachers but not their only tool. Furthermore, the organization of time is remarkable as well. I strongly think that when a teacher implements a lesson, he/she should have a series of expectations to accomplish and should inform students of what they are going to do. My tutor does it and she succeeds. Extra activities should be added to motivate them and they would be a good way of breaking with the routine. As students become aware of following the coursebook, they may get stressed just thinking about all the missing activities they are supposed to finish by the end of the term.
Where has my voice gone?
Friday, 9 November 2007. By the end of the class, my tutor brought me the opportunity to explain the Past Continuous. And I did it successfully as everybody seemed to understand its forms and its use. I had previously prepared the task at home because I didn’t want to fail to make a good impression. Later on, I contrasted the Past Continuous with the Past Simple by writing a simple but clear example on the blackboard. As my tutor told me that they had learnt the differences between both tenses last year, I preferred not to explain the theory but to encourage students to suggest the forms and use. It is a good way of making them think and reflect. In a word, everything went alright except for my voice. My tutor told me I needed to project my voice so students from the other side of the classroom could hear my instructions properly. And it is very difficult for me! It is really hard to be able to “impostar” your voice. According to my tutor, “impostar” is setting a higher tone without damaging your voice, which makes students understand better your commands or explanations. Anyway, it is a quiet class. Some of them often get disrupted but they are definitely adolescents. I recorded this short participation in my MP3 but as it was situated on the teacher’s desk and I was continuously going around the classroom while teaching, the quality of the recording is awful. By now we are not allowed to make use of our videocamera. We cannot even take photographs of students while they are on task. My tutor has to ask for permission but she thinks that it will be practically impossible to record our “practicum steps”. I don’t know how I will cope with it.
Panic!!!
Thursday, 8 November 2007. The lesson was going on properly when unexpectedly the bell rang. I looked at my watch but it was not time to leave yet. All at once all the students stood up in a hurry as if they were all in perfect harmony, put on their coats and left the classroom immediately. I didn’t know what was happening. Was the school on fire? Noooo, it was just a fire-practice! I was glad to hear it! Thank goodness! Everybody rushed towards the emergency exits. When we were all outside in the street, I could make out a couple of teachers I had when I was studying BUP and COU at another state secondary school located in Mataró as well. Was I suffering hallucinations? I was dumbfounded as it’s ages since I last saw them. And now they were in front of me as if by magic. Both of them were my Maths teachers, who had ended up teaching at IES Damià Campeny due to its discipline and its good reputation. We exchanged impressions for a while and they gave me some useful advice to “survive” the practicum. I believe they were as amazed as me. Sheer coincidence!
Enjoying the lesson!!
Wednesday, 7 November 2007. I could see with my own eyes how much students enjoyed themselves by carrying out a great variety of different activities, such as a dictation, a listening, vocabulary exercises and even a speaking task! And most amazing is they had plenty of time to deal with all of them! Wow!
First contact with the whole group: a nice group??
Monday, 5 November 2007. I attented a year-1-Batxillerat lesson to check how the classroom environment was and I couldn’t believe my eyes: it was worse than I had expected. I don’t know if it was Monday afternoon and everbody was wishing to leave. Despite being two years older than 3 ESO students, their behaviour was really inappropriate and inacceptable. They didn’t take notice of my tutor’s commands to keep them quiet. It was hard for her to cope with all of them.
The first day of my Practicum
Wednesday, 31 October 2007. I finally started my practicum, after having visited the centre for an hour together with my tutor, who gave me specific details so that I could get familiar with its organisation and its distribution as soon as possible. Honestly, I should have begun on Monday, 29 October but, unfortunately, the whole group was on a day excursion. On Wednesday –like all Wednesdays- there were only 14 students in the classroom so as to be able to improve their speaking abilities and their listening skills.
First impression: When I got into the class, everybody stopped talking at once and started whispering and giggling. I suppose they were wondering who I was and what I was doing there. They got relieved when their teacher introduced me as a CAP student whose aim was becoming a state secondary school teacher. I must confess that even though I was used to teaching teens, I felt really nervous and excited. I felt myself as an intruder, a stranger invading their privacy by observing their attitude, their behaviour and their English knowledges attentively. The lesson itself was truly amusing but brief since we stopped fifteen minutes earlier in order to celebrate “La Castanyada”. Anyway, it became intense and they managed to finish all te activities prepared for that day. After a short reference to the unit they were dealing with, my tutor gave them some instructions to do a new task, which consisted of identifying characters by asking a wide range of different questions regarding their physical appearance, personality, job and origin. My tutor gave me the chance of taking part in this activity by correcting their mistakes and checking if they were doing it properly. So I went around the classroom and I got in touch with the students for the first time. It was a nice experience which let me assess their knowledge about the language and their attitude as well. I could notice that it was tough work for most of them to speak English. Some pupils were a bit shy while others had difficulties in learning a language. Nevertheless, I must recognise that a small group was persistent and they tried to speak English in class. And they actually did it successfully!!
domingo, 11 de noviembre de 2007
Primer contacte amb el centre
.- Grup A, on els alumnes són de dictamen. En d'altres paraules, són immigrants que desconeixen la nostra llengua ja que acaben d'arribar o bé parlen català amb moltes dificultats o bé són problemàitcs o bé tenen alguna discapacitat mental.
.- Grup B, on hi ha els alumnes que han suspès més de cinc assignatures.
.- Grup C i D, on els alumnes tenen un rendiment adequat.
El nombre màxim d'estudiants permès per aula és de 33. En el meu cas, faré el seguiment del curs de 3r C d'ESO, grup que consta de 28 alumnes.
Una de les coses que em va cridar l'atenció és que des de 2n d'ESO fins a Batxillerat el professor/a d'anglès proporciona als alumnes un Classroom Language Phrasebook on s'inclou una sèrie d'expressions en anglès amb la seva corresponent traducció en català que els alumnes han d'aprendre des del principi de curs i no poden pronunciar en català. És una manera de forçar els alumnes a parlar l'anglès a classe. En realitat, quan algun deixa anar alguna frase en català, el professor té l'obligació de fer-li traduir en anglès i, si aquest no se'n surt, el professor li traduirà i li farà repetir a l'alumne. És una tàctica que apliquen tots els professors d'anglès del centre.
Un altre aspecte que també tenen en compte és que donen per assumida la gramàtica de 3r i de 4t d'ESO, tot i que a classe es revisa. Donen molta importància al Writing i al Reading. Totes les redaccions es fan a classe en mitja hora, ja que es trobaven que hi havia alumnes que portaven les redaccions corregides per altres persones amb coneixements d'anglès. Els professors tenen una Guide for Correcting Writing Errors i un Error Correction Sheet per als alumnes. El professor marca l'error i un codi, i els alumnes han de modificar l'error. Aquesta és una manera de fer-los reflexionar i que aprenguin a autocorregir-se.
Els alumnes de 3r C d'ESO fan quatre hores a la setmana d'anglès, tres de les quals es fan amb tot el grup (dilluns, dijous i divendres) i una quarta (dimecres) on hi ha la meitat i es treballa fonamentalment l'Speaking.
El meu centre de pràctiques
IES Damià Campeny, Mataró.
L'horari dels alumnes d'ESO és de 8 a 14:30 i de 15:30 a 17:30 excepte les tardes de dimecres i divendres. Els alumnes de Batxillerat realitzen el mateix horari, excepte les tardes.
En total hi ha 740 alumnes, dels quals aproximadament hi ha 620 de diürn i la resta pertany al Batxillerat nocturn. L'alumnat de l'institut procedeix principalment del centre de Mataró i una petita part de rodalies. Es calcula que un deu per cent dels alumnes són immigrants de procedència marroquina, sudamericana i xinesa. També existeix un petit percentatge d'alumnes amb discapacitats físiques, els quals disposen d'un acompanyant subvencionat per l'AMPA.
Com a tot centre de secundària de Catalunya, té la seva funció regulada per una sèrie de documents: el PEC (Projecte Educatiu de Centre), el PCC (Projecte Curricular de Centre), l'RRI (Reglament de Règim Intern), el PAT (Projecte d'Acció Tutorial) i la normativa d'inici de curs.
Per què ara el CAP?
Sempre havia tingut en ment treure'm aquest títol per poder exercir de professora en un institut de l'estat, però fins ara no havia tingut l'oportunitat. És ben cert que si la busques la trobes. Potser sí, però jo no l'he sabut trobar fins ara. Ja al segon any de Traducció i Interpretació, vaig trobar feina a una escola d'idiomes de Mataró, on aleshores vivia amb els meus pares. Mireu per on faria allò que sempre havia volgut: ensenyar. Hi tenia una autèntica dedicació, ja que després de passar no sé quantes hores amb diferents mitjans de transport fins arribar a l'acadèmia, impartia classe fins a les 10:30h de la nit. Resumint, cada dia arribava a casa a les tantes i a més a més m'havia de posar a fer feina per a la universitat. Em vaig passar així tres anys fins acabar la carrera. I va ser una experiència esgotadora, però també molt gratificant. Treballar em va servir per adquirir no només experiència en el món en el qual em volia dedicar professionalment, sinó que també em va aportar una sèrie de valors i em va permetre comunicar-me amb gent de totes les edats i de perfils ben diversos. Això sí, tots amb un únic objectiu: aprendre a expressar-se en anglès.
En acabar la carrera, em van oferir quedar-me indefinidament a l'acadèmia. Aleshores tenia 22 anys i tot un món per descobrir. Tanmateix, vaig acceptar i em vaig estancar. En aquell moment no vaig pensar en l'estabilitat d'un futur més segur, ja que gaudia moltíssim de la meva feina. Em sentia útil transmetent els meus coneixements als alumnes. Tant era així que van anar passant els anys i el meu objectiu principal va quedar en segon terme.
Ara les coses han canviat, són diferents. Fa tres mesos i mig, vaig tenir un nen preciós que fa que cada dia el vulgui viure amb més intensitat i il·lusió. Ha arribat l'hora de ser pràctica i continuar allò que vaig deixar anys enrera. Ara vull guanyar qualitat de vida fent el que sempre he somniat. Ha arribat l'hora de fer un cop de "CAP". Massa tard? Potser sí, però no em penedeixo del que he viscut aquests tretze darrers anys dedicats a l'ensenyament privat. Una de les coses que he après en aquest temps de docència és tenir psicologia. En moltes classes d'speaking em convertia de vegades en terapeuta: m'explicaven problemes personals i professionals que de tant en tant em posaven en situacions compromeses. En tots aquests anys he fet AMICS, amics de debó amb qui he creat uns vincles molt forts. Un munt de records que sempre tindré presents i que mai no oblidaré!!!