1. Dario Bressan
Kindergarden
Sala de 5 Años
12/08/2015
Class: 4
1. Taking into account the age of these students, I always try to think how to motivate them in order to get their
attention and the way in which they may get into the process of learning. Presentation and Activities stages are
very important when planning, in this particular case using animated movies' characters is a good starting point
to obtain students' attention.
2. I tried to use comprehensible input for students, so they feel they understand what the teacher shared with
them. It is quite important learners feel comfortable with the topic dealt in order to obtain results. I tried to
support this idea by using visual activities where they may participate as well. I think they were effective, I
could see it when asking individually about the parts of the body.
3. Students in general have different stages during the lesson. In this case, they started paying attention to the
Presentation, which did not happen other times. They interacted fluently, participated and felt comfortable with
the topic. After some minutes, they get bored and I realized I had to change some ideas I had planned, like
skipping the songs so they could focus on the main topic and easily go through the class until the last part of it.
4. Using Mr. Potato Head as the starting point to catch their attention was a good idea and it had good results.
Students engaged with the topic quite well and they participated fluently. Using a real instrument when singing
the welcome song is most of times a good way of starting the Routine since students enjoy a lot when they
listen to new things.
5. In my opinion, I should improve my lesson planning moment. I expend a lot of time preparing the class and
when I am in situ I realize most of times I have prepared a lot of material and activities for that class. So I
decide to left some things outside or change them. Besides, I should use more English in the class even
though I always try to use it more and more.
6. I think a teacher always looks for things to improve or re use in other classes, in this particular case the use
of a well known and dear character is a very good starting point for them. Story telling is quite effective, even
better when a famous and up-to-date plot or character is chosen.
7. I decided to change the initial idea I presented in the planning, because I realized it was going to be difficult
to carry out the class with my original scheme. Children had been singing most of the previous time and they
were tired of doing it. I could realize this because I was early that afternoon and I saw them working with their
every-day teacher with the same song for a long period of time. It was not an easy decision, but I think it was a
good one.
Dario Bressan
2. Kindergarden
Sala de 5 Años
26/08/2015
Class: 5
1. Classes and activities are always directed to motivate children in their learning process. Every time it
constitutes a double challenge, the first one is to create a lesson plan where activities and the whole
frame are in context and closely related to the aims of the class, the second one is the class itself
where everything you planned changes or is not the same you thought it may be. Taking into account
the age of the students I try to encourage communication and lead them to do the required activities.
2. I tried to use short activities so children could understand them quickly and I also chose visual ones to
revise vocabulary and to help students to find those words in a specific context. I used miming and
gestures to avoid the use of L1 in the class. I think all this was effective in some point of the class but
some other parts needed to be reinforced with management strategies, mainly when they did not pay
attention to the central work of the class.
3. In general students reacted positively and they enjoyed the work done on the class. This class in
particular was complicated because of external factors, but they were quite strong in a moment where I
felt I was losing control over the class. Fortunately it was just a moment and then children "hooked" with
the class and activities again.
4. In my opinion, using videos is most of times a very useful tool to get students' attention. They all like
watching videos and mime at the same time, for instance, as it was in this specific case. Using scissors
to cut the paper and then glue it over another one calls children's attention and help them to focus on
the activities.
5. Based on this specific class I would improve the order in the video stage. It is true using videos is a
very good tool for the class, but it is also true that it may lead in a very messy class because every
children wants to be in front the screen to watch "better". So, it is quite important to explain to them very
clearly before going on with the activity.
6. I find useful the implementation of videos in the class as I said before. It let's students the possibility of
working inside a determined context and enjoying the tasks. The use of a sing to say hello is also a
good tool for the class management.
7. It is known that every class is different from another, but this one was in particular was quiet different
regarding the concentration the group had towards the main activity proposed. I felt children quite
disconnected with the class and it was difficult to me to go back to the main idea which was to revise
vocabulary through a song and miming. I think it was because of two main factors, on the one hand,
their teacher was absent that day which meant they had certain "freedom" they are not used to (we all
know how student behave with a substitute) and on the other one the presence of a beautiful girl with
ADD (attention deficit disorder) who is not used to this classes' dynamic. She wanted to be in the center
and that complicated their mates' visual. At this school you can see many children with different
problems, but in some classes like this one they do not participate because they cannot work in groups
or pay attention in a global way. I know this kind of things may happen all the time, but I did not know
how to keep on with the class since she always performs other activities in the English time. I hope you
do not misunderstand this, but it quite real nowadays.
