JOURNAL ENTRIESKINDERGARTEN LEVEL

I.F.D. N°13

Zapala, Neuquén.

GROUP: 1 A

STUDENT: Fernanda Emili E. López

Observations’ Journal:

Date: 2/09/14

Class: 1 ºA

Today was my first day with the group 1ºA. I had an amazing experience

surrounded by children who are surprised by anyone who speaks English. Their teacher

Silvina introduced me like that, “She is Emili, and you know what? She speaks

English!” and all their faced turned into surprise.

Of course they are beginners and have little command of the language. Silvina

explained to me in the previous interview that their aim is that they understand and

produce the words they teach them.

First the students receive the teacher with a “Hello, Teacher!” and they start

taking their notebooks and course books out. Many of them came to show me their

school objects. Others wanted to erase the board and they did it in parts. The group was

organized in a semi-circle around the teacher and looking at the board.

Little by little the class went on with all of them running to the teacher every

time they finished an activity. One of the students is called Chiara, she has got Down’s

Syndrome. Therefore, I paid careful attention to how she behaved during the class. She

only paints and works with what the teacher point out. The content she studies is the

same but the level of difficulty is much lower than her partners’. She is full of energy

and she is completely integrated to this group.

I am really encouraged to continue working with this group. This time was mere

observation of students’ behavior inside the classroom and of how they used the

language. My expectations are high and I hope I can contribute to their learning of

English.

López, Fernanda Emili E.

Observations’ Journal:

Dates: 2/09/14 – 09/09/14

Class: 1 ºA

After working for two weeks with the students of 1ºA and having done

interviews with both their class teacher and their English teacher, I have to say I’m quite

encouraged to start my practicum period with them.

The observations and interviews helped me organize my lesson plans and what I

needed to focus on. I think the group is quite demanding and it requires a great work

from the part of teachers. They need to be motivated all the time, and for this reason I

think activities should be organized in a way that they are working all the time. If there

is any time left, they will stand up and start focusing on something else. As anything

calls their attention, they remain focus on an activity for a short period of time.

After such little time working with them, whenever they see me at school, the

girls run towards me to hug me and say hello to me. That feeling is unique, and I hardly

experienced it since I’m used to working with older students who do not like to show

their feelings. At this age, students not only demand for attention from the part of their

teachers but also for contention.

Both observations demanded me standing up and looking at what they had done

in their notebooks since they wanted me to be included in the group too. I felt quite

pleased when this happened and that made me think about how I was going to do when

it was my turn of being in front of them.

I would be lying to myself if I didn’t admit how scared I felt in the beginning. It

was too much information to be dealt back at home. When I was thinking how to deal

with a group like this, similar to any group I had worked before, I completely panicked.

However, once I calmed down I just had many ideas as regards visual material but of

course I cannot work with everything. So hopefully, the classes I create will be

interesting and motivating.

López, Fernanda Emili E.

Class Journal 1

Date: 26/09/14

Class: 1º A

My experience as regards my first lesson with this group started being cancelled

due to strong winds which caused the suspension of classes in all the schools from

Zapala. This made me feel doubtful since I had everything prepared for Tuesday and the

English teacher from the group 1º A called me and told me that classes had been

suspended. I tried to be positive and thought that I had a few days to revise the

comments made by both teachers as regards working with young learners.

Before the class, I was excited and nervous at the same time. This was going to

be my first class of the practicum period so I wanted to start well. My expectations were

high since I knew the students were going to be helpful and would be motivated by

anything I carried to the class and which called their attention. My worries were mainly

about how to work with Chiara since I had never worked with a student who has

Down’s Syndrome. I just wanted the students to feel at ease by working with a new

teacher and be motivated to continue working with me.

As the class unfolded, I could feel comfortable when working with such an

encouraging group. They answered every question I made and were always asking for

more. As I was teaching, I could not help thinking about which strategies I had to

improve. First, students did not stand up so often as I had seen before in the observation

period; however, some questions and instructions had to be repeated several times. As I

noticed, the tone of my voice needs to be higher. I commented in the “Informe

Institucional” from the school that this had many problems as regards the noise since

many PE teachers worked outside the classroom and as the institution is shared with

other levels, the person in charge of developing a class in the classroom of 1ºA had to

use a high tone of voice. For this reason, I would have to improve this aspect when

developing the next classes in this school. Secondly, I lost some time with Chiara since

I had to make her the drawings students were asked to do in their notebooks. I’m

thinking of bringing the drawings made at home for the following classes.

My personal analysis of the class is mainly positive. I had to use more L1 than I

had expected. I also believe I would have to bring the lyrics of the song I will be

working with these students which refer to the weather since they are not used of

working with songs at class. Moreover, I had to use happy faces in many occasions for

students to complete their works in their notebooks. As I noted some were not finishing

the work I had asked them, I started drawing happy faces on their notebooks. When the

ones who did not finish their work saw that some mates were receiving the happy faces,

they understood they had to finish their work to get one. Once it was over, I was in a

good mood. I had finished my first experience working with young learners and this

made me realize some mistakes I had made when planning the lessons. I know I have to

encourage them to work with songs and in the presentation stage which really called

their attention. When I brought the bag to the class, students could not get their eyes off

it and wanted to guess more objects. They were enthusiastic and eager to participate all

the time.

Finally, I learnt a lot more about young learners and what they enjoy doing when

learning. I recognize that my strengths are related to the fact that I could work with all

of them and I praised their work every time I could. As for my weaknesses, I think I

have to encourage them to use English more often than they are used to. I need to resort

to different strategies for them to use English in different situations more than mere

repetitions and short answers. All in all, I am excited and looking forward to learning

more about them and to showing them a different aspect of using English in the

classroom.

López, Fernanda Emili E.

Class Journal 2

Date: 30/09/14

Class: 1º A

I was quite encouraged to teach my second class. I received a motivating

feedback from the English teacher and I had already had my first impression about

working with young learners. I revised the comments made by both teachers as regards

working with young learners and I tried to focus on improving the aspects which I

considered weak during the first class.

Before the class, I was tired since I had been giving term exams and working a

lot. This made me organize my class in a different way from my previous one. I had

prepared this class together with class 1 so I could make some adjustments after I gave

my first class and I knew where I should focus on. My worries were about the energy I

had after such tiring days and if I could cope with the students’ energy.

As the class unfolded, I could feel at ease with working again with them. They

were motivated about the pets’ pictures and they enjoyed working with real objects. I

think they were comfortable since they received me with a smile when I entered the

classroom. Again, they were concentrated on everything which was hidden. They

wanted to guess about which pets their mates have and enjoyed activities which made

them move around and show themselves.

My personal analysis of the class is positive. Afterwards, I received the teacher’s

feedback and she pointed out some issues I need to consider. First, I always have to

leave something written on the students’ notebook. She told me about some experiences

she had with students’ parents. Some of them can complain about the lack of writing

material in their notebooks. This made me realize on the fact that I had made a lot of

oral interaction and I asked them a lot of recognition since it was the first time they

heard the names of the pets in English. Once the class finished, I could recognize that

the presentation stage really called their attention and they were enthusiastic and eager

to participate all the time.

Finally, I think my strengths are connected to the fact that I could catch students’

attention once again with an activity which encouraged them to learn new vocabulary.

As for my weaknesses, I think I need to organize my time and the time during class in

an efficient way. I also believe consider important the fact that I have to use other

strategies like storytelling which may be a new way for students to learn English.

López, Fernanda Emili E.

Class Journal 3

Date: 10/10/14

Class: 1º A

My third class with class 1º A started with problems from the very beginning. I

had everything planned; however, there have been several strikes these weeks so

everything was postponed until today. I do not enjoy when things do not work as I plan,

I do not like surprises and these surprises were too stressful for me. I had a tough week

and I had decided this class to be filmed so I pressure was on.

Before the class, I was completely stressed out and as I do not enjoy being the

focus of anything, having myself filmed was not easy at all. Moreover, this time I had to

tell students a story so I wanted to do the animals’ voices well so they could easily

understand it. My worries were about getting their attention and keeping them focus on

what they had to do. As this group is easily motivated, I thought that creating some

masks could aid their comprehension of the adjectives happy and sad.

I went earlier to the school since they had a different teacher since their class

teacher was sick. I noticed their seats were not in the usual place so I doubted about how

I was going to check that everyone was working appropriately. As the class unfolded, I

could feel they were cooperating with me. They were motivated about the story even

when I said everything in English, they understood the story. They liked the happy and

sad faces. This time I needed them to have something written in their notebooks as their

English teacher had asked me the class before so I brought a poem to the class.

My personal analysis of the class is mainly positive. Their English teacher said it

was the best class I had given to them and that made me happy. However, I’m doubtful

about my classroom management and I think that I will provide myself a full analysis

once I watch the video. I enjoyed the class; however, I think the aspects I have to

improve have to do with the repetition of sentences and the signaling of beginning and

end of sentences. I tried everyone to feel at ease with me; however, I think I need to

clarify the fact that an activity has finished.

Finally, I think my strengths were related to the story performance and to the

fact I tried to use English all the time even when they asked me to go to the bathroom.

As for my weaknesses, I think I need to find a balance as regards the time I spend doing

each activity. Moreover, I think I should improve the way I give them explanations

about what has to be done. All in all, I’m looking forward to improving these aspects

for the next class.

López, Fernanda Emili E.

Class Journal 4

Date: 15/10/14

Class: 1º A

My fourth class with class 1º A started well and made me realize how important

is to check comprehension and to foster students’ repetition of vocabulary which has

been recently learnt. Moreover, I felt that I had made a lot of resources for students to

practice the names of animals and it did not work out as I expected.

Before the class, I was thinking on how the video would work and how I was

supposed to learn teach 8 different animals’ name to students. I think that with fewer

names it would have been easier for them and I tried to change this at a certain moment

when preparing the different pictures; however, I continued with the initial idea.

As the class unfolded, I could realize how impressed they were about the video

and the animals’ sounds. I also think happy and sad faces can change their attitudes

towards the learning process. In my opinion, they were enthusiastic about drawing too.

As the teacher had asked me to include written activities in the previous class, the

students wrote the names of the animals and some of them even asked me if they could

draw them on their notebooks. I know that it is important that they write the names of

everything new they learn; however, I think it is more important that they start making

use of the language they know before resorting to writing activities on the notebook.

My personal analysis of the class is positive. I think I need to work on my self-

confidence a lot more since in many instances I made mistakes because I was too

nervous and felt that students would not like me. I do not think that they do not enjoy

having classes with me; I think I need to relax and enjoy more of what I do. I planned

these classes with a lot of time and I put a lot of effort for a single mistake to occur and

it happened anyway.

Finally, I think my strengths were related to the variety of activities I proposed

each class and how I could resort to strategies like individual questioning to check

comprehension. As for my weakness, they are my lack of confidence and I have to

admit I do not work with young children so it was a completely new world I had to

immerse in.

López, Fernanda Emili E.