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.