3rd Journal entry

September 8th

Rivera-Huila

Professional Development program

Colombus American School

This was the third session, the second face to face interaction, as usual, the setting was the Science lab. In our plan we have thought that the restaurant was a good place to develop the activity but due to institutional activities, it was not possible to do it in this place. To start with, we were very concerned about the amount of teachers presented on the class, there were only two participants, on time. The rest were having breakfast and doing thing from the school. We were very worried because it is not possible to have a class with only two participants. We decided to wait until 9:00 am. By that time we have four participants, and the teacher started the class.

He presented the topic and the objectives for the lesson. In this time the participants were participating more, it was an appealing topic for them. Teacher Sergio present a PPT presentation with the vocabulary about food and drinks. The participants were very concerned about the pronunciation of the words. Then after taking into account some suggestions that the same participants asked us after the first session, we decided to involve the teaches in the development of the class. First of all we have an activity with some flashcards in which they have to label the name of some food. It was interesting to see how the learning strategies of the participants increased from one class to another, some of them started associating pictures with words, others prefer the use of dictionaries, and also peer correction is one of the most used by them.

After reviewing the vocabulary with this activity, the second part of the activity was even more interesting. The instructor, had to cover the eyes of the participants with a piece of clothing. Then some food (realia) was in a desk, the participants had to touch and smell the food in order to guess the name of each object. The participants enjoyed the class, and it was easy for them to remember the name of most of the food. At the end of the class, the instructor present a video with a sample conversation for a restaurant situation. They took into account most of the expressions and they video tape their own videos to be uploaded to Edmodo.

From the participant’s perspectives, this was a remarkable experience because we head comments such as : “if my English teacher had used strategies like this I would had learned English easily”. Those words enrich our project and also motivate us to develop more interesting activities for them. For the next class it is necessary to bring more TPR activities in order to make them more active during the classes. In this opportunity teacher decided to organize the couples for the dialogue exercise in order to get familiar with the different voices of the classmates.

2nd Journal Entry

September 2^nd

Rivera- Huila

Professional Development program

Colombus American School

This was the first Skype session for the teachers’ development program, most of the teachers were on time to start the class. In this occasion, a native speaker was helping us with the development of the class. The purpose or objective for the intervention was that the students practice the structures and vocabulary learned during the first session, and also that they could have a real interaction with a native person in order to let them know more pronunciation patterns.

The class started at 9:10 pm, all the student were joined to the video call, my role in this case was to record the session, and to clarify some vocabulary. The native person start the class by greeting the participants. At the beginning they were ashamed because it is not usual to interact with a native person unless you are in another country. The instructor helped as a moderator for the questions, and also he provides feedback in terms of vocabulary and sentences.

After a few minutes the participants started answering the questions that Garvin proposed, I was surprised because they started to ask questions that were not in the worksheet, they asked about his hobbies, his experiences in Neiva, and also about his parents.

It was interesting to see, how the participants felt confident after some minutes talking with Garvin and the teacher. Also it was important the role of the teacher as a guide for the conversation. The only thing that could be improved for the next session, is to assign turns in order to have a more organized dialogue, sometimes they were confused because they did not identify who was asking the question. Some technical problems were also perceived because it was not possible for one of the participants to interact fluently during the exercise.

For the next class, students are going to learn vocabulary about food. All the exercises were uploaded to Edmodo.

1st journal entry

Rivera – Huila

September 1st

Professional development program

Colombus American School

Class observation

As part of our research proposal, at school, we decided to implement a teacher development program for teachers from different subjects in order to identify what efl oral skills are promoted in the different sessions that we are going to have during the intervention.

Due to the fact that this research is focused on a blended learning approach, this is the first face to face session that we had. The class started at 8:45 am at the science lab. Six teachers from different subjects were selected to be part of the project. The teacher, in this case my research partner Sergio had already prepared for the class, the slide projector, the photocopies and the rest of the material needed for the class. The first participant arrived and he expressed that he was feeling afraid because it was a long time since he, an arts teacher had had contact with the English language. The rest of the participants arrived late due to the different duties they had in the school. The class started at 9:00 pm, teacher Sergio gave a short introduction to the participants in English, he explained the objectives and topics for the class, those were to ask and answer for personal information. After finishing the introduction, he decided to speak in Spanish in order to clarify some doubts; surprisingly, even the participants had not had contact with the English language, they were able to recall previous knowledge and they reported in Spanish what they had understood from the explanation. I think that the tone and the good pronunciation of the teacher helped a lot in the understanding of the participants.

A worksheet was given to the teachers in order to fulfill some personal information for an exercise. After that, the instructor started to present the vocabulary needed to give information. A video was presented and the participants had to identify vocabulary related to numbers, colors, cities and nationalities and they had to use the alphabet in order to spell their names. Some of them were absolutely concentrated on the activity, however due to the fact that during the session computers are required to enter to a virtual platform, some others were sending mails or completing duties from the school. This is an understandable situation because this project is not mandatory in the school, they decided to took this course because they have the desire to reinforce their abilities in the foreign language. The bell rang, some teachers were needed by the coordinator and they had to leave the classroom for a while. The instructor started to feel frustrated because that type of constraints. However he decided to continue the class with three teachers. The most beautiful part of this class was when the teachers started producing short sentences in order to be understood. From my point of view, the fact of being in the same level pf proficiency in the language, helped them to feel comfortable to express in English, and also the support of the teacher with pronunciation patterns was a good tool for them.

When the other participants came back, the class was even more wonderful, teachers were participating all the time. They asked many questions regarding to the topic or clarification. At the end of the class, students were asked to record a video in which they practiced the vocabulary presented in the class. All completed the task, and those videos were uploaded to the Virtual platform.

The role of the teacher in this session was absolutely important for the participants, his disposition to answer questions or to clarify information, helped them to feel comfortable in the English class. Even the participants are all adult, they understand their role as students and some of them have a specific notebook for the class. I think that even the teachers felt frustrated because of the different interruptions that we have during the class, he decided to continue and to reinforce the content when all the participants were completed. For the next class, due to the fact that this project involves a blended learning approach, there are some technological issues to take into account to develop the class. For the next face to face session it would be interesting to involve more the participants into individual task, or more challenging activities in order to help them to increase their English proficiency.

In general words, this first attempt was a success, and it can be perceived in the participants’ faces and comments during the class, some of them also asked for individual feedback after the classes. 

Autobiography

Autobiography

To introduce you into my idea of teaching and my experiences in this field, it is important to clarify that it was only until I entered the university program that I realized and understand how wonderful this profession is. When I was a child a used to dream with the day in which I became a doctor. That idea of my dreamed profession started to grow and my mind began to focus on an specific branch of medicine, it was clear, I wanted to be a pediatrician.

However, it was not until 2007 in my last school year, in which my English teacher started to identify special features in my English proficiency. She told me that by that time I had a beautiful pronunciation, and also that I had a special talent for memorizing new words. In that sense she send me to participate in different contest around the city. To be honest, I never won one of this contests, but this was the most remarkable experience in which I had contact with the English language. One day, during an English class, she said to me : “you are going to be the next English teacher of this school” and I just smiled, because in my plan for the future, being a teacher was not an option.

Nevertheless I continued studying hard in order to get a high score in the national exams. But in a science class, I realized that I am a very fragile person, and that I never would be ready to face with difficult situations in a hospital or even to be in contact with blood.  In that moment, my idea of becoming a doctor started to change. So, when I finished my school and after obtaining amazing result on the national exam, I have to face the most difficult situation ever: Now, what am I going to study? My father said, “Why do not you try to become a teacher that is a wonderful profession”. So, that day started my journey through this amazing adventure of becoming a teacher.

In theory, all seemed to be perfect. I wanted to be the best teacher ever, in my mind I had lots of wonderful ideas to apply in the classroom. However when I had to face a real educational context, those ideas started to change. My students were not motivated, the fact of being a young teacher was not an advantage, because sometimes they treated like a classmate. Even I feel frustrated when the principal or coordinators, said no to my teaching plans. My first job, was as my teacher said in my school. It was amazing because by that time my role had changed, I was not the student any more, I became the teacher. This experience helped me a lot to build up my strengths as a primary teacher. I realized that kids are the most thankful students you will have. However the payment was an obstacle to continue there. Then I had the experience to work with adults, it was kind of strange, when those people called me teacher because I was younger than them. However the owner of the institute never pay me the salary. Nowadays I am working in a private school. For three years a have had the opportunity to work with first graders, children from 5 to 7 years old. This experience has enrich my role as teacher, now I understand that being a teacher goes beyond merely theory, being a teacher involvers students likes, dislikes, desires, strengths and weaknesses. It also implies time, patience, effort, and passion. As a said in my teaching metaphor, for me a teacher is like and artist, that takes a blank canvas and creates amazing painting to show the students. This painting can help the learner to be more interested on the topic, it can generate new inquires and motivation started to grow in the students’ minds.

The reflection upon my teaching practice, has helped me a lot, in order to change or redirect my role, my activities and also it has helped me to shape my strengths and overcome my weaknesses. Now, I want to keep learning more from my students and colleagues. I love my profession and I my desire is to help teachers to reflect upon their practices and to improve the quality of education in our country. 

My teaching metaphor

My Teaching Metaphor

The process of becoming a teacher has had different perspectives. At the beginning of my university program, a teacher for me was that person that enters to a classroom and iluminates the students with amazing knowledge. However, when I have the opportunity to have real contact with studetns, that view started to change. In that sense, theory and practice was not connected with my teaching role.

Nowadays, after having some years of experience, specially with yourn learners, I have realized that teaching is an art. It is a process that involves experience, passion, love, and also patience. I associate my approach of teaching with the life of an artist, a painter. For a painter, all begins with a blank canvas, and his love for this art, pushes him to start analyzing his life, environment and the world in order to put some of this in his painting.  In this sense a teacher for me is not the one who takes "knowledge" from a book. As an artist, I have to take into account what I have to face everyday, what my students expect and what I feel can help my  students to improve.

when the paiting is ready, the painter show it in a gallery. Many people go there in order to enrich their life with new experiences and new feelings. the same happens in a classroom, when we show the learners all that we have prepared for them, they can learn more, they are able to question the world. Some others, simply do not enjoy the lesson, or missunderstand the meaning of the class.

After analyzing the reactions of the viewers, the artist re-start the process, now, with more ideas, inquires, but always with the desire of satisfying visitors with more wonderful paintings. That is our never ending role of teachers. Even the learner are not commited ir the educational context do not offet enough resourses. the motivation is in our hearts, and we start building up new lessons to enrich our life and the hearts of the learners.