TPD 2015/ Journal Writing, 1st Practicum Period Student: Mariana Canellas

1. TPD 2015
JOURNAL WRITING
WITH COMMENTS

2. Observations
Journal Writing:
School: Colegio Nº 738
Teacher: Analìa Perez
Student: Mariana Canellas
Observations: 1st lesson. June 3rd
1) The teacher created a comfortable atmosphere for the students to participate actively, being polite and
paying attention to the whole group respectfully. The Approach that underlies the lesson is the
Communicative Approach, students are not taught grammar rules, they are invited to listen to short
conversations and to act them out in pairs, they are also asked to read and write by completing with missing
information, so I would say that skills are integrated. (1)
2) The teaching strategies that were applied were: exemplifying, pointing out, translating (2) the teacher
speaks in Spanish a lot), demonstrating, making the students repeat and monitoring their work in pairs. The
teacher points out relevant information in the photocopies they have, and let the students listen to the short
conversations more than once to get the information they need and she gets good results.
3) Students behaviour was excellent. They remained in their places during the whole lesson, they paid
attention any time the teacher asked them to do so. So I would say their reaction to the object of study and
the way in which it was presented was positive, they are interested in learning English and they manifest
curiosity. (3)
4) I think the lesson was successfull (4) as a whole, but perhaps it can be pointed out as more relevant as a
strenght the interaction of students in pairs. It was not easy for them to listen to different types of
information, but they worked in pairs actively taking into account the had almost no previous knowledge of
the subject. (5)
5) If I had to suggest changes or improvements that may be introduced in the observed lesson I would say
that images or pictures on the board of people introducing themselves may be motivating, anyway I don’t
think it is necessary. Some pairs of students may be also invited to perform the interactions in front of the
class. (6)
6) I find this observation useful to plan my lesson because I became acquainted with the students’ level of
performance, the materials they are used to working with and the teacher also informed me about the
following topics to be presented. Besides, I could get the necessary information to complete the Diagnosing
Report. (7)

3. Comments
(1) Good!
(2) In fact this is not regarded as a teaching strategy – What strategies could you apply in order to avoid
translation? E.g.: simple instructions, visual aids, mimes
(3) A great advantage for them and for you…!
(4) One “l”
(5) Did they use the L2 to communicate?
(6) Why not? Wouldn’t this cater for visual learners?
(7) Good idea!
Did you get acquainted with their likes and preferences? Good start, reflect on the comments above…

4. Journal Writing:
School: Colegio Nª 738
Teacher : Analìa Perez
Student: Mariana Canellas
Observation: 2nd lesson June 10th
The teacher had to talk with some students’ parents, and there was a ceremony (Dìa de la Malvinas) she was in
charge of. After that, there was a break and students went to the classroom again, I delivered some copies (1)
with questions about their preferences to add to the Diagnosing Report, and time was up. Netbooks were
delivered to students early that day, they say they usually use the Internet, but apparently they haven't used it
at school, yet. (2)

5. Comments
(1) Excellent!
(2) An interesting opportunity to explore

6. Journal Writing:
School:Nº 738
Teacher: Analia Perez
Student: Mariana Canellas
Date: June 17th
There were no classes at school today because there was no water available. I have already worked on the
Diagnosing Report, but I think I need to observe one more lesson in order to revise it, as well as to introduce
changes in the lesson plan I have worked on. Do you agree? (1)
Comments
Hi Mariana, as long as your lessons are not delayed for too long, that may be so. You must
teach three lessons to comply with the 360 minutes.

7. Journal Writing:
Trainee’s name: Mariana Canellas
Practicum level: 1st period, basic level
Group:1st year secondary school
Date: July 1st
Lesson number: 1
1)Pedagogical Principles:
I wrote in the lesson plan that the Approach that underlies it, is the Communicative Approach, because I was thinking about the fact that grammar
rules are not taught in isolation; learners are given new vocabulary and they are guided to become aware of the forms without mentioning : “This
is the verb to be”. Learners are expected to acquire the second language in the same way as they acquired their first language, without overt
grammar instruction. However, the drills are closer to Audiolingual Method as you said , where the substitution drilling is often decontextualized
manipulation of structures, and it is very intensive and extensive. (1)
2) Teaching Strategies:
The teaching strategies that were applied were exemplifying, pointing, modelling, making the students repeat and monitoring their work in
groups. While doing the listening activities, students were invited to listen to the track more than once to get the information they needed and the
teacher got good results. (2)
3) Reaction:
Students’ behaviour was excellent. They remained in their places , and did what the teacher asked them to do. So, I would say their reaction to the
materials and the way in which they were presented was positive. However, I should think of strategies to diminish the affective filter.. (3)
4) Successful Aspects:
The recognition of the vocabulary was a strength. They were new words in class, and learners presented a positive attitude and good performance
manipulating them. I think a good rapport between the teachers and the learners was built, perhaps mainly because they knew the teacher from the
previous lessons she observed. (4)
5) Changes:
The teacher shouldn’t speak so much, but it is difficult to think of more opportunities for the students to work by themselves, while they are
learning new items. (5)
6) Comments:
As I said at the beginning drillings were closer to the Audiolingual Method, but I think students were given the opportunity to develop their
language awareness , they were guided to internalise and gain understanding of the target language. As we read, effective contexts may be:
“Football World Cup”, “Olympic Games”, or “Oscar Awards”; I tried to use new vocabulary as a context, and it is not what creates real
communication situations. Can you suggest me effective contexts for this level of performance? (6)

8. Comments
(1) Were you able to see this difference? Have you revisited CLT and communicative tasks before planning the
lesson?
(2) and the students
(3) Why do you think so? Were they worried anxious? What did you perceive? How will you work on this?
(4) Good !
(5) What strategies will you apply?
(6) If you have to teach jobs and professions you can choose a TV program, a film they like, the American
football cup, a TV commercial, a comic and others. What you should take into account is that this context is
closer to their reality. Keep it up!

9. Journal Writing:
School: N° 738
Teacher: Analía Perez
Student: Mariana Canellas
1st Practicum period: 2nd lesson July 29th
1) Pedagogical principles:
Half of the students was absent (there was a strike), and this contributed to creating a comfortable atmosphere because the teacher had more time
to pay attention to the students, while they work in pairs for example. The Communicative Approach underlies the lesson, students are not taught
grammar rules explicitly and they are expected to use language throughout the lesson developing different skills. (1)
2) Teaching strategies:
The teaching strategies that were applied were exemplifying, pointing out, demonstrating, making the students repeat and monitoring their work
in pairs; they were also expected to match words with pictures and the teacher said sentences or mimed meanings to guide them. Good results
were obtained perhaps because they are used to working this way. (2)
3) Reaction:
I would say students reaction was positive, they paid attention and participated any time they were asked to do so; however none of them did the
homework.They are probably not used to working at home or they needed a clearer explanation; homework was given again, trying to be clearer
in order to obtain better results next class. (3)
4) Successful aspects:
Excellent behaviour, good rapport, positive attitude, and interest in learning English combined to get good results. However improvements may
be introduced, students find it difficult to produce stretches of language; suggestions are made in the following section.
5) Changes:
I think students need to be exposed to more meaningful input. They are learning new words and structures, so they need to listen to more
examples of language in use before they are ready to produce similar exchanges. Listening activities that contain the target structures and
vocabulary may be more effective than listening to the teacher most of the class. The video activity was not successful, it might be, if students had
a handout to complete, for example. (4)
6) Comments: the changes above may represent improvements for the next lesson to be taken into account while planning. (5)

10. Comments
(1) Was the lesson teacher - centered , student-centered ir a combination of both ?
(2) Great!
(3) Good decisions!
(4) Wise observations!
(5) You are aware of your planning strengths and aspects to improve. Keep it up!

11. Journal Writing
School: Nª 738
Teacher: Analia Perez
Student: Mariana Canellas
1st practicum period: August 5th
Pedagogical principles:
Students are invited to use the language for communicative purposes within a context, as an example of the Communicative Approach put into
action. Vocabulary is presented as isolated (1) words , but there is a given context; maps on the board and questions in the warm up point to the
context where the words will be used.
2) Teaching strategies:
The teacher pointed to visual aids, mimed meanings, gave definitions, made the students repeat, and she helped learners to carry out their
interactions in pairs. During the listening activity the teacher pointed to the map to which the directions belong to and let the students listen to it
more than once.
3) Reaction: Students’ behaviour was excellent as in the previous lessons. I think a relaxed atmosphere was created and the seating arrangement
contributed to this strength of the lesson. Students did what the teacher asked them to do and they participated actively, so I would say they were
motivated. (2)
4) Successful aspects: Students walking around the classroom in order to find the others who had the pictures or the words that matched to his or
hers, was effective. Most of the words were new for them, and they recognised the meanings by associating the words in Spanish (3) which are
similar to many, or paying attention to the teacher’s related ideas.
5) Changes: Timing was not carefully planned, we did up to activity four and the class ended. I thought they would be fewer students because of
the teachers’ strike, and all of them was (4) present; therefore, activities took much longer than expected.
6) Comments: I think it was a very meaningful lesson, but the topic should be studied during a whole unit to make the most of it. The teacher let
me choose any topic according to the students’ level of performance, and this is a very interesting one (Directions). At the beginning of the period
I was told I should introduce the verb “to be”, that is why I chose “occupations”, it could have been a better idea to work with “Directions” during
the three lessons. (5)

12. Comments
(1) Why?
(2) Were they able to use the L2 to communicate?
(3) Do you mean transparent words?
(4) Were
(5) Indeed, please take this into account for you next practicum period. Working on one thematic unit is
advisable. You could even devise a final task or unit for the students to do. Congratulations on your work. A
hug . Cecilia.