EXPLORING TEACHERS' BELIEFS

1. What beliefs or assumptions about language learning and 

language teaching have you held throughout your English language development and your teaching career?

LEARNING

English Learning has to be a learner-centered process.

I always act as If I was a learner too. For me it is more than necessary to put ourselves in our students' shoes to know their needs and desires. Undoubtedly it will contribute to engage learners to learn in a more enjoyable an easy way. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

When I was just a teacher student I use to teach separated lessons which were not learner centered. They were only focused on grammar aspects or vocabulary instead of integrating the four language skills. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

Creating a good learning atmosphere motivate students 

to learn and to grow in all the aspects

“Each student is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially.” Teaching metaphor

Interaction is a key process to construct knowledge.

TEACHING

Teaching activity is a never ending learning process 

Teaching is a never ending learning process of gaining knowledge from new philosophies and new strategies, learning from the parents and community, learning from colleagues, and especially learning from learners” Teaching metaphor

“Learners have taught me to open my mind and my heart to the joys, the innocence, and the diversity of ideas in the world.” Teaching metaphor

And the personal and experiential knowledge of teaching are derived from the experiences I have lived which have shaped my role. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

Reflective role should be adopted for all the teachers to make teaching more effective and to identify our potential. 

“To me, that cap is the reflective one, the one that all of us as teachers should have in our daily teaching practice. It helps us to think deeply about our role as teacher and the way in which we apply all the theory we know in order to make students learn easily and in an enjoyable way.” Teaching metaphor

 Then, after experiencing different problems and lack motivation from my students I starting to reflect upon the appropriateness of those not sequenced lessons and the implications for learners’ learning process. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

“I rely on the reflection process as a way to identify my weaknesses and strengths in my teaching rol, methods and strategies.” Teaching metaphor

“Teaching practice requires  unexpectedly decision 

making” 

Hence, teaching is a dynamic and complex process that requires a multitude of decisions to be made. Teaching metaphor

Teachers should be transformative intellectuals

I see myself very commited to my students’ significant learning in the sense of looking always for new materials and strategies taht can motivate them to learn in a more meaningful way. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

Our main role as teachers is to support and guide our 

students’ learning process

It is my prime role as a mentor to help and guide students to develop skills in the language learning area  by providing them a safe environment that supports  collaborative work as well as the development of child's natural curiosity. Learning methaphor

Teachers have to put themselves into their learners’ shoes

For me it is more than necessary to put ourselves in our 

students' shoes to know them. It means to know their needs 

and desires. Conceptualizing teaching Acts

Planning is a key duty teachers should do in advance. 

For teachers, a complex but essential duty to assume when teaching is planning.

Conceptualizing teaching Acts

From my teaching experience, I assert on the importance of establishing first the aims or goals of the lesson which are going to focus the purpose of teaching and learning English.

Conceptualizing teaching Acts

2. What sources have you derived those beliefs or assumptions from?

Most of those beliefs and assumptions are derived primarily from my experience  and all the reflections I have made deeply about them. Constantly, I wonder about the impact of my teaching role in order to identify the strenghts I have as a teacher and the weaknesses I need to concentrate on, too. As Richards and Farrell, 2005, claim "teachers learn a great deal about the reasons behind their teaching philosophies and practices by examining their experinces and asking and answering questions about them". In agreement with this I would say that reflecting on what I teach and How I do are the starting points to contrast the theory and practice, as well as my teaching experinces.

3. How would you challenge some of those beliefs?

From my personal experience I would challenge those assumptions or beliefs through a deep and ongoing reflective process about my  teaching practice and all what it involves: its current characteristics (strategies, materials, activities).I see myself as a transformative intellectual who goes beyond reflection process, to transform the educational panorama I am facing to, and to build a new understanding of my teaching.By doing this,"we can profoundly change the teaching and learning process in our schools."Sagor (1992,p.5)

Drawing on this idea, I strongly believe on the great impact Research has for my teacher development. It seems to me a creative way to start not only reflection on our educational issues but also to implement actions and solutions that can improve or mitigate those problems. Thus, I feel eager to implement a research process as it will contribute me to shape a clear awareness and qualification of my teachers’ role as to provide me actions and new strategies to have better results in my teaching practice.

MY BELIEFS

ENGLISH

Nowadays, English has been widely spread  as globlal universal language which has a great impact on every social, cultural and professional aspects. Hence, it influences people’s lives, 
educational and employment prospects, and on social

stability as it is considered an increasing need and an objective of current education. The impact of globalisation and economic development has made English the language of opportunity and a vital means of improving an individual’s prospects for well-paid employment.

From this perspective, I think that English is an essential and  indispensable communication tool regarding the importance it has as a world-wide phenomenon. Besides, there is a varied range of educational, social and professional opportunities the English learning offers to learners to deal with the demands of the globalized world. As clearly stated in the General Education Law: “The capacity to use and understand a foreign language would become another specific goal from elementary to secondary school” (Ministerio de Educación Nacional, 1994, article 21, 22, 23).

Broadly speaking,speaking English has been defined as a strength as it only benefits to those who learn it, mainly as the access to a modern world characterized by technology, wider communication, economic power, scientific knowledge, and the like (Maurais, 2003) (as cited in Truscott,.2010)” .

 

LEARNING

It is an interactional process in which we  co construct knowledge and gain experience from the context and the experience of sharing and exchange ideas with other people.Sometimes, we can say that learning comes from a training process or formal education which are taken at any school or university in orde to acquire skills and improve their lives. Finally, we can say that it helps to shapeour behavior and personality.


TEACHING

Is a process that involves instruction and guidance in order to acquire knowledge and to get new skills.It implies the development of a vocation or disposition to empower people to construct theior knowledge.Besides,the implemetation of effective strategies and materials that contribute to motivate learners and to make the process easier and more enjoyable.


LANGUAGE TEACHING

It refers to a dynamic process in which it is combined aspects like instruction and interaction in order to help learners to construct new knowledge that can be instrumentalized for their lives.Also, it requires the interrelation of theory and practice with the purpose of evaluating the methodologies, strategies, tools, materials and methods that contribute to a better language learning process, indeed.

"A teacher is a learner whose turn it is to speak." John Etheridge, writer, Uncharted Waters (2010) 

CONCEPTUALlZING TEACHING ACTS

1. What do you usually do as teacher? With what kind of rationale?

As a reflective and innovative teacher I always act as If I was a learner too. For me it is more than necessary to put ourselves in our students' shoes to know their needs and desires.Undoubtedly it will contribute to engage learners to learn in a more enjoyable an easy way. 

On the contrast, when I was just a teacher student I use to teach separated lessons which were not learner centered. They were only focused on grammar aspects or vocabulary instead of integrating the four language skills. Then, after experiencing different problems and lack motivation from my students I starting to reflect upon the appropriateness of those not sequenced lessons and the implications for learners’ learning process. In a rush for providing them input I was missing the chance to make of the classroom a pleasant environment for them to acquire the language naturally and by applying meaningful and more contextualized activities.

To my relief, an amount of pedagogical features have emerged to describe what a lesson should have. From my teaching experience, I assert on the importance of establishing first the aims or goals of the lesson which are going to focus the purpose of teaching and learning English. Besides, as stated Curtain and Dalberg (2004) (as cited in Shing, 2007) it is necessary to provide learners comprehensible as meaningful input that expand their opportunities to use the language from a communicative and interactive perspective.

2. What is your mind engagement like in  the professional exercise of teaching?

I see myself very commited to my students' significant learning in the sense of looking always for new materials and strategies taht can motivate them to learn in a more meaningful way. Besides, I rely on a humanistic education in which I can take advantages of my students interests and values in order to promote an integral education. By doing this students will be more reflective and sensitive about their potentialities.

 Moreover, to integrate the four language skills through a variety of topics and themes related to other subjects content. As Oxford (2001) (as cited in Shing, 2007) claims, the skills integration “exposes English Language learners to authentic language and challenges them to interact naturally in the language”. Undoubtedly, it enables a meaningful use of the language and involves learners in learning experiences that reflect somehow their real context.

3. How would you characterize your professional, personal and experiential knowledge of teaching ?


Teaching English to any level and population is the most inspiring and worthwhile experience a teacher can live and feel. For teachers, a complex but essential duty to assume when teaching is planning.  However, nowadays it has been considered optional as not all the teachers follow a plan when they developing a class. Sometimes, as Harmer (2012) emphasized, not developing a lesson plan can work or not, but it represents somehow a chance for failure in the learning process and denotes lack of professionalism, indeed. Personally, I totally disagree about it as I consider we as novice teacher need to think and reflect upon what we are going to do in our classes.

From my perspective, I conceive teaching as an ongoing process in which we as teachers learn too, not only form students but also from the circumstances and the problems we face in our dalily practice.In this way, my profesional teaching has been fed by all the theories and methods I have studied and applied throughout my teaching practice. And the personal and experiential knowledge of teaching are derived from the experiences I have lived which have shaped my role and essence as a reflective and transformative intellectual that trascends the educational panorama in order to get improvements for the learners and their processes.

4. How do you see the relationship between theory , research and practice?

There is a strong interrelationships among theory, research and practice because first of all the theory comes from a hyphotesis which is tested through a research process becoming then a theory.We as teachers rely on theory to aplly different strategies to make and learning process more meaningful to students.

Drawing on this idea, I strongly believe on the great impact Research has for my teacher development. It seems to me a creative way to start not only reflection on our educational issues but also to implement actions and solutions that can improve or mitigate those problems. Thus, I feel eager to implement a research process as it will contribute me to shape a clear awareness and qualification of my teachers’ role as to provide me actions and new strategies to have better results in my teaching practice.

5. To what extent is there a cause-effect relationship between teaching and learning?

Undoubtedly,there is a close cause -effect relationship between those constructs as they are part of the cycle of educational process which has to be fed with the practice and experience of student-teacher interaction process. In this way, it is possible to construct knowledge and shape a personal identity as a social and  individual human being.

JOURNAL ENTRIES

JOURNAL 1

This week was kind of stressful and tense because students were very distracted and almost nothing caught their attention. They did not want to work; it was so difficult for me to encourage them and to make them interested in my class. Sometimes I got upset, tired and sort of desperate because actually I did not know exactly what was going on with my students. I could not use the video beam, so children could not see any video about the wonders of the world, it discouraged them, and maybe they thought I was a liar, I had promised students to show them some videos but I could not. And it was not my fault, it was institutional issues. Well, after all they published their informational writing. They were highly motivated with the wonder they were writing about. They draw the places and I played music while they were working.

Now I believe how important the promises are for students. Teachers have talked about it, like do not promise anything you cannot do. Students were a bit disappointed, and me as well. Fortunately we could work, and the aims of the lesson were achieved after all. I brought to class some pictures of the wonders of the world instead of the videos. And they liked it. Then they work in pairs and made a short composition about certain wonder. I also think the music made them more relaxed and it helped them to work quietly. It seems to me that the indiscipline was caused by the fact that they did not see any video and they were waiting for it along the week.

I think it is important to bear in mind any anticipated problem in order to avoid this kind of situations in class. If I had thought about it before, I mean that the video beam was unavailable; I would plan any other activity. I insist students like listening to music while they are working, and it decreases the misbehavior at all.

JOURNAL 2

Well, this week was a very good one. I really enjoy these sessions. Students liked the new topic Vacation Time so much. They did not misbehave. As we were talking about trips some students share their own experiences and told the class how interesting is traveling around. I show guys some videos about the different activities people perform on vacation. We practice the pronunciation and spelling of the new vocabulary, I do the first dictate to students and they did it well. The session’s time was enough to reach the aims of each lesson.

I think students were so focused on the topic because they are familiar with this; most of my students had already been on vacation, so they associated what we were learning with their own experiences and actually it causes a curiosity in students. They were very excited because they were learning in English many things they know in Spanish. I have to bring up what once I said before, students love sharing experiences and telling anecdotes, and it catches the rest of the group’s attention. When they are encouraged and motivated with something the class flows spontaneously.

Now, I will take into consideration how significant is to learn about any familiar issue for students. It makes them more participative, actives, and competent. Sometimes it is good to tell students a story or an anecdote we have experienced before in order to increase the students’ self confidence. 

JOURNAL 3

This week was sort of an outstanding one. First, I showed students the vocabulary and some key phrases for doing a picture frame, they got it easily. Then children create their own picture frame following the instructions I gave them, it was step by step. The whole activity, I mean, the pre and the while took the three classes we had this week. One of the steps was to measure by the ruler to get a margin of 2 cm. it was a bit difficult to advance in the procedure because most of did not know how to use the ruler, so I had to explain them how to do it; students neither knew what a centimeter was. But, okay it finally worked. They brought to class all the material required and did the picture frame. They were so excited and expected to have excellent results; it means that every student wanted to have the best picture frame. Even though, everyone was quite cooperative, they helped each other and share the materials as well.

After having worked with a handy craft activity I think this is incredibly attractive for students’ attention. For instance, in my case, the activity also decreased the indiscipline, and in contrast raised the cooperation and participation at all despite the fact that students worked individually. Besides with his kind of activities there is a high use of English, the instruction are given in English, and if students do not get what they have to do next, they just ask for an explanation in English, well although it is not well formed (grammatically) they try to, and they let teacher know what they mean.

I will bring to class other different handy craft activities, first because students really like it, and also because they work well, children get involve with this, they are so interested in what they are doing, and something important is that they improve their relationship among each other.

   

JOURNAL 4

Well, this week was interesting and stressful at the same time, I had let students their first homework and they did it. They wanted to participate because they had the whole answers and it was very motivating. We also reviewed some grammatical structures, and new vocabulary. Students got all the new information and did it well. Maybe some students misbehaved, so I played a game with them in order not to get them bored. It actually worked. I felt a bit tired and stressed because I could not spend every class playing as they wanted. I also took students out the classroom and we did an activity related to the topic we were working with. Maybe what I had planned was not an appropriate option according to what was happening in class (misbehavior) so this almost kind of disappointed me.

It took me a bit time to choose an appropriate activity for making an interesting review of several topics at the same time. Now I think I got it, and students enjoyed the class. Students asked me to bring games to class more often and by the way I will. I think the discipline problem could be caused by the class time; English class is the last one most of the days. So students are tired, they want to finish classes quickly and go home.

Now, I it seems to me that take students outside the classroom; give them curious and atypical materials make them to get involved along the class. I was thinking students like too much this kind of activities but one disadvantage could be that it makes them noisy and anxious, and it might affect the class discipline. So it is prudent to manage these sessions carefully, patiently and bliss. I will look for any other game for bring it to class. I agree with teachers that think games are significant because they are meaningful learning, and also students interact each other using the language.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

My name is Angela Rocio Jaramillo. I was born on January 5th , 1990  in the town of Neiva famous for its San Peter Festival, folktales and friendly people, several important scenes,locations, and many delicious dishes. There are five members in my family, including my son, my younger brother, my parents and I. My father is an independent worker who works building houses, painting and fixing infrastructure . My mother is a housewife, she takes care of my baby and loves us deeply.I am a graduated student at the Department of Foreign Languages, Universidad Surcolombiana.

I have become confident at the language since I got the

toppest score in the exam of Cambridge Tests for Young

Learners of English in 2007.

MY TEACHING METAPHOR

My English teaching and learning metaphor is based on a particular drawing of a teacher with a huge cap . To me, that cap is the reflective one, the one that all of us as teachers should have in our daily teaching practice. It helps us to think deeply about our role as teacher and the way in which we apply all the theory we know in order to make students learn more easily and in a more enjoyable way.

On the other hand ,the landscape surrounding the teacher is constituted by a tree in which I put the resources and tools I have to work, which can be many depending on how creative and innovative we are. Also, the grass is divided into three sections organized chronologically: On the left, it starts with the current reality which is the one we as teachers face  when we go to the classrooms. In most of the cases, that panorama is not a relieving one. 

Then, in the middle, we find two complementary educational concepts which are the obstacles and the steps to follow in order to cope with difficulties found in our daily teaching practice.Finally, on the right we find the desired reality which undoubtedly is the result of a hard work and the improvements got by doing our job as better as possible and putting all our effort on every single step we follow.

Hence, teaching is a dynamic and complex process that requires a multitude of decisions to be made. However, the advance planning required in creating language objectives allows teachers to better anticipate the children needs thus increasing the comprehensibility of the lessons.

   From this perspective, to meet my objectives I rely on the reflection process as a way to identify my weaknesses and strenghts in my teaching role,methods and strategies .

Teaching is a never ending learning process of gaining knowledge from new philosophies and new strategies, learning from the parents and community, learning from colleagues, and especially learning from learners. Learners have taught me to open my mind and my heart to the joys, the innocence, and the diversity of ideas in the world. Because of this, I can never forget how to smile and laugh with the learners to make teaching and learning and enjoyable experience for them and for me too.

Undoubtedly, I strongly agree that each student is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my prime role as a mentor to help  and guide students to develop skills in the language learning area  by providing them a safe environment that supports  collaborative work as well as the development of child's natural curiosity.

Hence, when I teach them I can train students and contribute to their intellectual growth, as well as to gain new perspectives as reflective  teacher on  teaching and learning english. Also at examining the key ideas and assumptions that shape the production of knowledge in this field.