The end

Finally, the Practicum has finished. It has been a great experience and I think I have learnt through reality. In my opinion that’s the best part: learning through experience. Indeed, theory is really important and necessary; however, the feeling that something has been acquired (or not), or that something is interesting (or not) must be learnt through real facts. And actually, I am really motivated and encouraged to teach English in my future in a Secondary School or in an ‘EOI’.

Well, to summarise my last experiences throughout the Practicum, I must start by saying that the ASSESSMENT part of my didactic unit was something new and doubtful for me. I had always thought that the assessment method I should apply was a typical exam; however, in this case I did something really different. I divided the students into different teams of at maximum four people (in this case I didn’t apply the teams that had been working throughout the didactic unit). Then, I stuck in a part of the blackboard all the characters that we had learnt during the didactic unit; next to them, some crosses and ticks; next to it names of shops; and finally, a map with shops and specific places drawn in it. I gave each student a number (1, 2, 3, 4) and we did a dictation race. The aim was to pick up a sticker of each place, go to the map and look at the information provided and finally write sentences with the team such as: ‘Hermione didn’t use to go to the chemist’s, which was next to the factory’. After this activity, I asked them to give me back the sheets of paper with the answers.
Then, we did an individual activity, in which I told them a story; however, I asked them questions in the middle of it and they had to invent and continue (slightly) the story itself. Finally, we did an oral quiz from the whole didactic unit and I asked them to write their personal impression of it, such as a personal revision on how it worked.
To sum up, I am happy with the results as I have seen some things I did well, and some things I must improve. It is a process of learning, and I’m really sure it’s been worthy.

Secondly, I’d like to tell you that I have been in a ‘Claustre’ session and in a ‘Avaluació final’ session.
According to the ‘Claustre’, I must say that it was impressing and I found it really interesting. All the teachers from the Secondary School were there and the Head teacher was placed in front of everybody with a secretary next to him writing down the most important things said in the session.
The first thing they did was an election for the representatives of the ‘Consell Escolar’. Then, they talked about different points that were necessary to be dealt with. For example, they talked about the organization of the new buildings that are nowadays being built for the Secondary School. Afterwards, they talked about the final assessments. Indeed, in this part I was somehow upset because a teacher claimed that she wasn’t happy with the fact that students had the right to do an exam another day in case they were ill or had any problem the actual day of the exam. They had a short argument/discussion dealing with it, and finally, they agreed (by a hands-up voting) that if students had an official document saying that there was something important; they had the right to do the exam another day.
Finally, they talked about some prizes that were won by some teachers from the institution, and which was really encouraging for them. And they provided an open-turn discussion in which teachers could expose their own thoughts or proposals. In fact, someone said that it would be great to have proper speakers in every classroom; or that there had to be improvements according to the computer labs. In the very end, there was a talk about new technological advancements that teachers could (or should) use.
In my opinion it was an important meeting. The fact of having so many teachers involved in the education of so many students requires a good organization and a proper politeness and competence in order to deal with anything that could fortunately or unfortunately happen.

Thirdly, we went to the ‘final evaluation’ which was related to ‘our’ students. There were all the teachers involved in 3rd B of ESO in the meeting and the main tutor of the group started by exposing a brief summary of the statistics of the ones who passed and the ones who failed. Thus, he asked for a quick checking of the marks of the students, in case there had been any computerised mistakes.
Afterwards, they started talking about each student (one by one); firstly checking the marks and then commenting on the important things that had to be agreed, disagreed or discussed as a team work.
The things that impressed me most were that some students had many ‘faltes d’assistència’, and unluckily, most of these had some familiar or integration problems. Furthermore, I thought that there were really huge differences according to the whole class-group. Some (the minimum part of the students) passed all the subjects with good marks; however, more than half of the students had failed different subjects. There were many problematic cases in which teachers had to talk for more than three minutes, and the final decision was somehow hard to take, because in spite of having to assess and put a mark in a piece of paper, I think I am aware that each student is an individual world. It might not be easy to judge and establish a FAIL or a PASS mark just with an exam or some marks from participation and so on…
To sum up, as a team work, cooperation and respect must be involved in it; and I thought that it is not always easy… In some cases there were different points of view, and in spite of trying to be properly objective, some teachers subjectively had a point or another. I do agree it is a hard work, but I am sure it is really satisfying too.

Finally, I must say that I attended a special lesson from an English assistant which works in the Secondary School for a period of time. It is really important and useful because due to an innovative project that the Secondary School is involved in, there is the opportunity to have an English native in the classroom in order to deal with some activities. The lesson which I attended was interesting because after correcting some exercises they did a communicative activity in which students had to write a biography, and they used the teacher as their objective. Indeed, as he is from another country and he can expose many different things from there, I do believe it is an interesting way to learn the identity and culture of the English speakers. In this way, students learn that a language is something real and alive.

To sum up, both me and my CAP mate have finished our Practicum. I think we have been really lucky due to our supportive and helpful tutor; due to our own cooperation and union; due to our Secondary School; and due to the fact that we have been faced up with reality. In my opinion it has been a really positive and encouraging experience. I must say that I am looking forward to teaching as a real teacher in a Secondary School and leave apart the private language schools or private lessons that nowadays I am dealing with. It has been an intense trip, with many things, many moments, and many thoughts. Just a great teaching experience.

Literary didactic unit!

I have almost finished the implementation of my didactic unit! I cannot believe that! It seems impossible and I feel I’ll miss teaching these students! Nevertheless, I will continue in the Secondary School for some more days and I’ll finish it at all in the end of December.

I’ll start by summarising a bit the different sessions we did according to my didactic unit:

Second session: FRANKENSTEIN Last Tuesday we worked on Frankenstein. It was interesting because the monster is a character that is usually known by everybody; however, I feel that my students were able to know much more things about this work and could enter into it in a different way.
Firstly, the team that was in charge of ‘Frankenstein’ went to the blackboard and exposed the brief summary that I had given them the very first day, to the rest of the classroom. Then, we read a letter that Victor Frankenstein had supposedly sent to Elizabeth. I showed them how to write a proper letter, and having the students divided into groups, they wrote a letter following some funny instructions they were given. Indeed, there were four main letters to write that were related to each other, however students didn’t know that. In the end, I asked them to give me back the letters or to finish them at home for homework.
Actually, there was something special in this very first implementation of my didactic unit. I went to the Secondary School both in the morning and in the afternoon, because the students were divided and had ‘hora b’. As a consequence, I applied the same activity in the afternoon with the other half of the class and I did the same; however, I changed some things that I thought that could be improved. In fact, I think it was positive, because the experience in the morning allowed me to think about it and modify some things that could be applied differently, and maybe better.

Third session: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Last Wednesday we dealt with ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Indeed, I was a bit afraid of this novel because it is about love and there are some prejudices about these kinds of books. Nevertheless, I tried to do my best and I tried to show them that it is not just a love story, however, there are many other cultural things implied in it.
The first ten minutes, the team which was responsible of it appeared in front of the classroom and told to the others the brief summary of the story. Afterwards, I explained them that it was a novel which was published throughout the Victorian era. Therefore, in order to make it accessible and participative, I gave each student a picture and while I was following a poster I had in the blackboard about the Victorian era, they had to come to the blackboard and stick the picture if it was something that people ‘used to do’ in that period or something that people ‘didn’t use to do’. In fact, the activity was related to love, marriage and appearance/clothing issues.
Afterwards, we did an activity using ‘shopping’ vocabulary and discussing whether people in the eighteenth century used or didn’t use to do specific things or buy in specific shops. In the end, we listened to a love song, and having the whole students divided into the four established teams, they had to order the pieces of paper that the song was cut in.
To sum up, I was really impressed and happy this day. It was an hour in which all students were there and I think it was a successful lesson. Actually, my tutor said that students were really nice and she was surprised and happy for the collaboration of everybody and due to the effort that was put into it.

Fourth session: OLIVER TWIST
On Monday it was Oliver Twist’s time. Most of the students knew the main character; however not all of them knew the story. Therefore, the first ten minutes of the classroom the team in charge of it went in front of everybody and exposed the brief summary of the whole novel. Indeed, we had a discussion on how was London perceived in the eighteenth century and how people and children lived in that period. It was interesting and I really enjoyed being able to have, at least, five minutes of open discussion in which some of the students were not embarrassed at all and exposed their own experiences of travelling to London; and who agreed or disagreed on some things I explained them (such as the fact that children had to work as adults or live in workhouses).
Then, the main activity this day was a listening. To start with, I gave each student an orange card in case they were lost. Therefore, I could see whether they were following or not my instructions, the listening or the lesson in general. We agreed that they would be bringing the orange cards every day from now on.
I asked them to listen carefully and complete the missing places that were provided in a map. In fact, the listening was a conversation between Oliver and a woman in the middle of the street of London talking about directions, as Oliver was lost. Afterwards, there was another listening in which Oliver told his own experience after having arrived to his destination: the market. He said some things about his life in London, his feelings and a problem he faced up with and which was solved successfully. Then, students had to answer some clear and short questions with a partner.
For the last ten minutes, we did a speaking activity using expressions such as ‘I agree’ or ‘I don’t agree’ through the using of the orange cards (if they agreed they raised the card; if they didn’t agree they didn’t do anything) while I exposed some questionable affirmations. Then, students gave their opinion such as: ‘I agree because…’ or ‘I don’t agree…’

Fifth session: HARRY POTTER Finally, we dealt with Harry Potter and the series of books of J.K Rowling. It was really interesting because students had almost all read a novel or seen a film of Harry Potter. Therefore, they felt much more involved within the activities.
Indeed, we started the lesson by having the Harry Potter team in front of the classroom telling a brief summary of the story. Then, we did an ICT activity which was related to Harry Potter. Students were in ‘hora b’, so consequently, there were just half of them. Thus, I asked them to work in pairs and they worked on a treasure hunt I did in the computers lab.
I really enjoyed this lesson despite being at the beginning a bit afraid of it. I didn’t really know how it would work because I had some doubts according to the material I put in the treasure hunt, the level and so on. Nevertheless, I think it was successful and both me and the students enjoyed the activity a lot.


That’s it! My didactic unit has almost been implemented and done and I’m up to the end of this trip!

My first week teaching the didactic unit!

The truth is that I am really happy and satisfied with the going on of my experience!!
I must say that during last weekend I was really nervous thinking of the way that my didactic unit would work. Nevertheless, I was really excited while creating the materials for the implementation of my unit. Maybe, first of all, because I am working with literature and I really love this topic. And secondly, because I noticed that I really enjoy designing and creating the activities (in spite of the amount of hours I have been thinking and working with it!).

The first thing I did was to think about the objectives I wanted to reach at the end of it. My first idea was a ‘Trip through Literature’; however, I needed to find something accessible for the students I was going to teach. They are young teenagers who may feel (or not) interest for literature, and who may think (or not) that English is important in their lives. To start with, I thought that the main objectives to transmit during the implementation of the didactic unit were:

- to speak about literature
- to be able to tell a story
- to value or appreciate the activity of reading
- to understand the language as a key for the own cultural identity

Afterwards, I kind of planned the six different sessions I had in order to implement the didactic unit, by establishing each day for a specific and different purpose. Moreover, each day was going to approach a different literary work that I thought that was adequate. In addition, I set up the basic competences including them through the different content I was going to teach, which was: the past continuous tense; some new vocabulary related to shops; the discourse of giving directions; and the structure of letters.
I planned some classroom rules I wanted to apply within the days I would be working with students and I made a clear and practical outline of the variety of formats and strategies I would apply in every session. Furthermore, I set up a proper and similar timing for each day, so that students could feel that we were doing something such as a project, in which each day had a clear relationship with the following one; and that lessons were organized not by chance, unless due to a specific purpose.
Finally, I decided on the different materials I was going to need and I started working on the creation of the didactic unit. Just to summarize the whole didactic unit, I was going to work with my students dealing with ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Harry Potter’.

On the very first day, I introduced my students the PROJECT we were going to deal with altogether. I brought some books into the classroom and I asked them whether they liked or not literature, and which their initial thoughts about it were. Then, I showed them an oral presentation which exposed the rules and the working that I would be implementing on those days. Afterwards, I divided them into four different TEAMS (each group would be dealing with a specific literary work) and each team would be responsible to tell and deal with that work in a deeper way.

Consequently, I gave each team summaries of the books they were going to work with, and they had to order the pieces of paper that were disorganized. In the end, we made a ‘Quiz’ altogether which stressed the main elements of each book and which gave to the whole classroom some basic ideas of the four literary works we were going study.
I finally thought that they really enjoyed it. At the beginning, I was somehow nervous and afraid of their reaction, but at the precise moment I was in the ‘stage’ of the classroom, being the teacher, I really felt comfortable and I started working on the whole things I had already prepared.

I must say I was really happy at the end, and the motivation and cooperation of the students helped me a lot!

Many things, many thoughts!

This week has been a bit special because, due to personal matters, our tutor has not been able to come to the Secondary School for two days, therefore, we could just deal with our Practicum for one day. Nevertheless, I have worked (and I am still working) a lot with my Didactic Unit which will start next Monday! I am a bit nervous but I am really excited as I am enjoying while working in it. I will deal with literature with some specific literary works. The truth is that I really enjoy this topic (I am studying it right now!) and I hope that my students feel motivation and interest towards the huge and sometimes boring word of LITERATURE. I will try to make them feel that reading is something great and that there are many different approaches to it… It is not just about boring staff… There’s a huge world of wonderful things within it!

As I was saying, we went to the Secondary School for one day: Wednesday. As we couldn’t implement our ‘prepared’ activities on the previous days, our tutor asked us to do the whole Wednesday 3rd of ESO lesson. It was eight o’clock in the morning and students were really quiet. Me and my CAP mate started by checking a translation exercise that students had for homework. Afterwards, we did some exercises that the teacher asked us to do and finally we could work on the activities we had prepared. To begin with, we did an oral activity, in which we revised some vocabulary related to feelings: we exposed some unfinished sentences showing a specific feeling and students had to guess the adjective we were referring to. Then, we divided them into different groups and we gave them a cut short story (using past simple tense). They had to order it and think of a possible ending. I think that students enjoyed it and the class was successfully finished.

Afterwards, we attended a ‘Comissió de Disciplina’ meeting. I was shocked because I wasn’t aware of the importance it has and the huge amount of work it requires. Indeed, I also thought that it is really important to have a proper team and to be able to work cooperatively with colleagues. Being a teacher is not just about teaching and working in front of students. There is an enormous world of ‘extra’ organizational issues that must be dealt with. Our tutor told us that the centre had divided teachers into different ‘commissions’ and we could go to the ‘discipline’ one.
They met to an appropriate small room as they were five different people. There was the head teacher, the head of studies, a technician of social integration and two teachers. In this case, the commission was in charge of all ESO ‘Incidence sheets’ (Fulls d’Incidència). They had almost sixty papers and they had to take different decisions according to each specific situation and student. One of the teachers was in charge of ordering and organizing the sheets that were already computerized, while the others had to read each paper and consider the consequences on each case. Then, the head of studies signed each sheet and the head teacher introduced all the information in a computer in order to have everything organized.
They talked about every single case, and I was surprised for some things that were said in there. There were different levels of problems. For example, there were some behavioural problems, such as a student who hit another one due to racial differences; or some drugs problems, such as a student who took something and had to go to the hospital; or much more soft ones, such as students who arrived late at lessons or who just didn’t attend them.
I somehow panicked because in my opinion it is really difficult to judge an action and consider a proper consequence. Every single student is a person with a specific background, family, life, attitude… and I am sure it is not easy to label each problem into a specific box. Each case is singular, and it makes the work difficult and serious. As a consequence, I think that the commission is a great organizational team which must be taken seriously and which has an important function into the educational system of the Secondary School.

Finally, we went to a tutorial session with a 4th of ESO class, with another teacher due to the fact that our tutor wasn’t a tutor this year. I really wanted to see how it would work, because my memories from tutorial sessions when I studied in the Secondary School were good. However, I was so impressed and surprised according to the behaviour of the students and the strategies that the teacher used. First of all, there was a student, the representative of the class, who started shouting at her classmates. I was shocked because I thought she was being so rude and impolite. Moreover, the rest of the class was speaking and nobody listened to her. After some minutes, she said that there were going to be some special events for Christmas and she talked about the ‘Parlament Verd’ (It is a kind of movement involved within the Secondary School which promotes some ecological activities, such as the use of the same books for students one year and another year. In the sense that they don’t write in the books, so consequently, next year, new students are able to work with those used books).
Some time later, the teacher announced two different activities that she wanted to do with the class. Indeed, she told them a story about people who just shouted each other, therefore, their ‘hearts’ were separated. It was a nice and reflexive story; however, most of the students didn’t pay attention and were absolutely ‘out’ of it. Afterwards, the teacher asked them to write down in a sheet of paper things that made them angry, such as: ‘I don’t like when my mother complains because of my clothes…’ Nevertheless, I think that among those students and the teacher there was no respect and the activity was somehow lost... I felt so sad and I really thought that if I had been there being the teacher, I would have had a real frustration and disappointment.

To sum up, in spite of the fact that we have just been one day in the Secondary School this week, it has been a really intense one. Furthermore, I am looking forward to starting my didactic unit next week… Let’s see…!

Time is running, running, running!

Well, this week has been pretty different… because we started participating in the classroom! We moved from being at the end of the classroom, sitting, observing and writing (being the AUDIENCE), to the ‘teacher’s stage’. Perspectives have changed, so maybe now I feel much more involved within teaching. Actually, I am really happy, because I didn’t know how would I feel, and the surprise is that I really enjoyed being in front of the students dealing with activities that me and my CAP mate had already prepared.

To start with, during this week we have gone to IES Lluis de Peguera for three days. On Tuesday, we had a 4th of ESO lesson and a 3rd of ESO one. We began with students from 4th of ESO and we (me and my CAP mate) had to do some exercises from the student’s book related to ‘housework’. Indeed, we did so; however, we created an extra communicative activity that we implemented which was related to the unit’s vocabulary. In fact it was great, as students cooperated and participated with us with no problems and showing great interest.
Afterwards, we had a short break and we dealt with 3rd of ESO students. They were from ‘our’ group, the one that would be taught by us, and we were really excited. In fact, in that hour we only had half of the students (it was ‘b hour’). We started checking a dialogue they had already done with the teacher on a previous session, and afterwards, it was OUR moment to approach the situation and start a communicative activity we had prepared. It was an activity related to holidays, and we wrote in the blackboard three different columns with names of countries, capitals and attractions. Then, they firstly had to discuss in pairs what they thought about the relationships between those names. And finally, after some minutes, we matched the different names with their own correspondent. We also showed them some pictures, and they were really amazed and interested in that. It helped us to know a bit more about the students of the class: we could listen to them; see how they worked in groups and in pairs; and finally, see that they were really nice and motivated to participate in our activities. We finally asked them to create their own dialogue about holidays with one of the places exposed in the blackboard and perform it on the following day. It was a great day and I felt I was really motivated to work with that group.

On Wednesday, we went to the Secondary School in order to be with the whole 3rd of ESO (B) class, which was OUR WHOLE classroom. All the 28 students were in the classroom waiting for the results of the exams… They were somehow nervous and really conscious on what they were supposed to do. It was the first exam and it was important for them, so they were all quiet and listening to the teacher. She finally gave the exams and they were half of the classroom correcting and checking the mistakes. Some of the students were really quiet and paying attention; some were talking quietly with their partner asking for things related to the exam; and some of them were bored. I think that depending on their understanding of the contents assessed in the exam, they acquired a different attitude.
An important thing I noticed was that the classroom was organized in a nice way, having the tables and chairs ordered; with no papers in the floor; and with a cleaned blackboard. I think that the whole space influenced on their behaviour, apart from the fact that it was eight o’clock in the morning.
Afterwards, we had a tutorial session with our tutor and she exposed us some important issues. Firstly, she assessed our participation in the lessons: it was really useful and important. She commented on some ‘problems’ we couldn’t notice, such as a behavioural one in which a student was whistling and we didn’t even notice that; however, she also pointed out the ‘positive things’. She said she was really happy and that the learning process was bilateral, in the sense that both of us (me and my CAP mate) were learning, and that she was also learning from us.
Moreover, she explained us some important information about the didactic unit, putting emphasis on the objectives, the timing, the material needed and the grouping. And finally, she gave us the ‘Memòria del Centre’ and the ‘Curricular Project’. She asked us to look it carefully and she said that we should pay attention to the different commissions that were working on the centre, which is something new and optional, that this particular centre has implemented, and in which teachers are divided into commissions in order to work cooperatively with the different members of the team. Furthermore, she also talked about the PELE (Pla Experimental de Llengües Estrangeres).

On Friday, we had two more classes ‘to teach’ and participate with. First of all, we went to a 1st of Batxillerat group and we dealt with the present perfect. It was somehow complicated, because me and my CAP mate hadn’t had much time in order to prepare it… however, in the end it worked and we did a good activity. Finally, we went to a 4th of ESO class and that was it!

Another week over! Time is running, running, running!

My second week!!

Things are running quickly and we are already at the beginning of our ‘teaching trip’. It impresses me how perceptions change when we enter into classrooms. I feel it is really important to observe, and I am learning a lot with my tutor, who seems so confident and well-prepared when exposing her lessons.
I have been a bit frustrated according to the distribution of tables and chairs within the whole classroom. I really think that it is important to maintain some visual order in order to let lessons be much more ‘understanding’. At least for me it is much easier to have a clear idea in my mind when my surrounding is also clear and tidy.

Well, to start with, this week has been full of different and new experiences.
On Monday, we had an observation class with 4rth of ESO students (4rth C). It was ‘b hour’ so there were only half of the students in it. Esperança firstly introduced us so that students could know why we were there.
The lesson was divided into three main parts. At the beginning they corrected a listening activity that they had previously done. Students went to the blackboard and answered the questions. It was really interesting because everybody helped each other: there was real cooperation between students and it was useful for the correction of the exercises.
Afterwards, the teacher gave them some photocopies and explained us that this particular group was a bit lost with the level being provided in the book. Therefore, she and another teacher decided to do photocopies apart (from other sources) for two months, in order to review all the concepts and be able to start properly with the student’s book that was theoretically provided for that group. Finally, they did a communicative activity in which the teacher orally provided some situations and they had to guess the feeling or adjective that matched.
To sum up, I think that this was a really respectful group and which cooperated a lot. Nevertheless, there was a problem with one of the students who was speaking all the time and who was finally moved into another table. Apart from that, the organization and climate of the classroom were really positive and successful.

Secondly, we went to OUR class. We knew the students that would be involved with our learning experience: 3rd B ESO students. The truth is that they all were really nice and the first impression was absolutely positive.
This was a really enjoyable and new class. Students watched a video and had to deal with it. The video was related to an expedition; therefore, there was an excursion exposed where some students told their own experiences according to it. It was interesting and they liked it.
Then, after the ten minutes’ video, the teacher asked them to go to the blackboard and copy there some ‘complex’ or ‘curious’ vocabulary words from the video. Afterwards, they translated these words into Catalan and they did some exercises from the student’s book, which were specifically related to the video.
I found great the fact that every activity had a beginning and an ending, and I think that it is really important for students. As Esperança told us, it is really important to finish things, as then activities acquire much more sense.
Moreover, there was a lot of interaction and it was a different kind of class, far apart from the ones we had seen before. Later on, we went to another class, to a 3rd C lesson, in which there were not many students and they had to prepare a dialogue and perform it in front of the other students. It was a pair work activity, so they helped each other. Indeed, if they had any misunderstanding, after having exposed the whole dialogue, they would translate it into Catalan with the teacher’s help.

On Wednesday we had a tutorial session with Esperança, and it was really helpful because we could ask her our doubts or feelings and she exposed us some important things that needed to be reminded. She talked about our didactic units; the importance of timing and she also gave us information about the ‘Equips docents’or ‘guàrdies’. Moreover, we went to ‘Aula d’acollida’ and they explained us its functioning. I was really impressed for many different things. Firstly, they explained us that they did Social Science, Catalan and Natural Science in there, all in Catalan and in order to learn the language. They had different resources such as computers or different materials like communicative activities and so on. The teacher said that there are only students from 1st to 4th of ESO and the one who is in charge of it told us that as students begin to learn the language, they are moved into their ‘real’ classes. I was amazed because she was not a specialist, in the sense that if I finally work in a Secondary School, maybe I have to teach those lessons, and I think that dealing with students with no linguistic approach to Catalan culture and reality, might be really difficult and I really think that there should be a professional dealing with that. Nevertheless, I thought that she was really involved into everything and that she was living that experience as something great.

Finally, on Friday we had our last lesson and we could participate in it! It was great because we didn’t expect it and the final feeling was of real joy. In fact, we were in a 1st of ‘Batxillerat’ lesson, in which students were performing some dialogues in front of the classroom, according to an activity called ‘Getting to know you’. It was an interactive and communicative activity, in which students, who were divided in pairs, asked each other questions and answered them. Finally, me and my CAP mate listened and assessed a group, while the teacher was assessing other groups. And I really enjoyed it because we were much closer to the students and we could figure out the beginning of our teaching lessons!
In the end of the class, all the students sat down and the teacher and both of us sat in front of the students in order to discuss some topics, such as boys and girls’ different behaviour and attitude towards life in general. It was funny and, in spite of being a bit nervous, I enjoyed it a lot.

That’s all for now!

THE BEGINNING: My first week

My first week

The very first day was a bit scary… but at the same time I was really happy because the High School in which I would be doing my Practicum was from my city, so I wouldn’t have any problems with transport or the timetable.

I firstly met my CAP mate, Júlia Prat, and after talking for a while we went directly to the English Department where our tutor, Esperança, was waiting for us. In fact, I had never been to IES Lluis de Peguera before, so the building was a labyrinth for me…

After meeting our tutor and seeing the English Department, we went to the teacher’s room where we had our first tutorial and in which I was much more relaxed due to the information that our tutor gave us and to the organization of the whole Practicum. Luckily, our timetable was perfectly compatible with the one of our tutor; therefore, we didn’t have any problems.

Afterwards, our tutor showed us the distribution of the High School and we went directly to an ‘Equip Docent’ meeting of 3rd of ESO as we would be dealing with class 3B. My first thoughts in that precise moment were: ‘Oh! An Equip Docent meeting! Oh my god!’. I was really frightened and even though I just had to listen to it, I was really nervous. Nevertheless, as the decision was really quick, we just had time to sit down and realise we were in a room next to twelve teachers dealing with our ‘future’ group… (I have to say that both Júlia and Esperança seemed really nice and it helped a lot!).

Within that meeting I noticed many different things. First of all, there were all the teachers involved in 3rd of ESO and the ‘Head of Studies’ as a representative of the ‘Equip Directiu’. They talked about different issues. Firstly, they exposed some projects and programmes that the ‘Ajuntament’ was dealing altogether with High Schools; they talked about some meetings they had for the next week; and they talked about ‘La Castanyada’. Furthermore, I knew for the first time that there was a ‘Discipline Commission’ which had to control and revise the behaviour of the different students of ESO (in their case) and they were the ones that checked student’s records. In addition, they used a ‘card’ which worked with points (each card ten points) and depending on the ‘punishment’ the student lost more or less points.
Afterwards, they began to speak specifically about the three different courses within 3rd of ESO (A, B and C) and I paid much more attention to the things related to group B. They said that there was a substitute as tutor and they complained about the fact that some students believed that they had much more authority than the teachers themselves. Moreover, they talked about a specific case in which a student was doing ‘nothing’ and that there was a need to do something. Finally, they talked a bit about the whole working of the class and the different problems brought up by students in tutorial sessions.

The whole meeting was new for me, and the thing that impressed me most was the fact that there had to be a good and competent work team among the different teachers. I thought that organization was a really important issue and that all of them had to know perfectly their own role and contribute in order to create a successful team work. Dialogue was needed, and even though there were some teachers sitting in a sofa a bit apart and talking softly in order not to be heard, most of them maintained a responsible and serious attitude.


24th October: ‘1st Batxillerat’ Class Observation

At last we had our first class observation! I was really excited and that class was justly before the break (from 10 to 11) so the students were active and participative, which made the class easier.
The first thing they did was to check whether the students were at class or not. Then, Esperança introduced as to the students and explained them that for some days we were going to be there doing different things. Then, they corrected some exams they had done in order to see problems and improve the mistakes they had done.
In fact, a method that Esperança used was that if any student had a problem with any word, she or the students translated it into Catalan in order to make it clearer.
The blackboard was perfectly organized and I thought it was a really important visual element, because it helped them to organize their minds as well.
In the second part of the lesson, they did a communicative activity in which they had to go in pairs in front of the classroom and tell the others which things they liked and which things they didn’t like about life in general. This interactive activity was really successful and all the students enjoyed it loads.

The truth is that I enjoyed it a lot.

24th October: 4th ESO Class Observation

Later on, after the break we had our second observation class, in this case with students from 4th of ESO.
It was a special beginning because we were in a class and we had to change into another one due to logistics problems. Moreover, the students were divided into two groups according to their level, and in fact it was ‘b hour’ in which classes are always divided into two.
I was impressed because the behaviour of the students of this class was really different from the one we had seen before. They were really noisy and they didn’t pay much attention. In addition, there were some students who tried to be the main ‘characters’ of the class; and some of them were really impolite, asking questions to the teacher such as: ‘Why do you always asks me this question?’.
The feeling I had with these students was somehow different from the one I had with the previous class. Nevertheless, I think that it is important to find out different groups in different moments in order to learn the reality of the classes.

To sum up, I am really excited according to the Practicum. I am happy because both my CAP mate and my tutor make me feel really comfortable and I am sure that we will all learn a lot with this experience.

I hope you are also enjoying and facing up with new situations!

Irene

Starting point

Let's start.
Let's begin and discover.
Learning to teach may be a really interesting experience.
It may sound a bit paradoxical according to the simultaneous act of both teaching and learning. Nevertheless, I do think that the first step is based on the acquisition of proper strategies, methods, clues and an 'attitude' in order to achieve the goal of teaching and educating successfully, as it is in our case to 'Secondary school' students.

I have already started my Practicum and I have just been faced up to some teenagers and their English lessons. Some words in order to express my feelings towards that situation could be: shocking, encouraging, motivating and surprising.

I'll deal with it. Maybe I like it, maybe I don't. However, I am sure I will get some benefit from these practices and I will be involved in a new and different situation, which is always interesting and useful.

(such as in Friedrich's painting, a sublime experience)

Irene