Busy days

From 19th to 23rd November 2007. I usually write my practicum experiences day by day because it will help me develop my project when I finish my practicum. However, I don't have so much time now. Last week I started creating my teaching unit and I am still working on it. It is really tough work and my problem is time, like the rest of CAP students who must combine their job with the lessons at university and the practicum at secondary schools. It is very hard and I promise I am doing my best. I don't know if I am doing what our CAP teachers really want us to do. I suppose so, but I sometimes have a few doubts that I hope to solve in the forum about Lesson Planning. Anyway, on Thursday I showed my tutor some material I would like to include in the unit we have to implement and she told me she was very impressed . She liked the subject I had chosen and the variety of activities I am going to use. Moreover, my 3rd-ESO students will have to base their "Crèdit de síntesi" on the same subject I thought of. Sheer coincidence, isn't it? It will be good for them because when they begin this credit in January, they will have learnt so many things about this topic and they will have useful information. I am really enthusiatic about the unit although I don't know if the students will appreciate my work. My tutor commented me that they often notice when the teacher enjoys teaching. According to her, if I present a good project full of different activities that satisfy every student's necessities, I will succeed. However, most important is to show enthusiasm and to encourage and motivate pupils so that they can learn as many things as possible and they enjoy themselves. I wish they were very receptive and got engaged!!
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.