Barth journal writing-kindergarten (1)

1. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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“Journal Writing
Kindergarten”
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Wednesday 15th, April 2015.
Lesson Number: 1

2. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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Today it has been my first day as an observer. It was my first experience in Kindergarten so I
was a bit nervous. The main purpose of observing the class was to get to know the students,
their daily routines and their language level, I mean to be familiarized with the group.
I got into the classroom with Miss Nadia, their English teacher who introduced me. She
explained that I‟m Miss Pía and that I‟ll work some classes with them.
The teacher started the class performing a meaningful routine, as we know routines and
procedures allows teachers to spend more time in meaningful instruction, however they have to
be carefully taught and established in the classroom. Then she continued the lesson by
introducing ideas that were familiar to students (previously taught in a story called “The Three
Little Pigs), I think that she did that in order to motivate them, and awaken their interest and
activate previous knowledge.
During the class, she created a good atmosphere using some strategies such as her tone of
voice, the way she behaved in the class, eye contact, the routines that she created, etc. I also
realized that she was aware of the importance of instructions. I mean that she checked
comprehension of the instructions, they were suited to the learners‟ level. In many instances she
had to use the mother tongue as a strategy to help them to understand better the instructions
and vocabulary, however, students spoke Spanish almost all the time. Moreover, she used
transitions between the different activities, she used some songs to create the transitions.
It was not necessary in all the cases, but in many times yes. In my opinion she could use some
flashcards or visual aids to clarify instructions instead of using L1. She encouraged them to
speak L2, she asked them to repeat some instructions or phrases, for example, there was one
student who wanted to go to the toilet, and he asked her in Spanish, but she said this in English
and asked the student to repeat. I think that repetition and visual aids are good strategies to
apply in order to encourage them to use and understand L2.
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Friday 17th, April 2015.
Lesson Number: 2
Comentario [1]: Was this necessary
in all cases? What strategies could be
used to foster the use of L2 and
comprehension in class?
Comentario [2]: _Marcado como
resuelto_
Comentario [3]: _Reabierto_
Comentario [4]: Did she encourage
learners to speak L2? Wha strategies
could be applied for that?
Comentario [5]: _Marcado como
resuelto_
Comentario [6]: _Reabierto_
Comentario [7]: Pía, please do not
erase (resolve) the comments.

3. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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Today it has been my second day as an observer teacher. I was more relaxed since now I know
the students, and I feel more familiarized with them and the classroom.
As usually the teacher started her class performing a routine which included different songs and
procedures. Then she continued with a memory game using colour flashcards. I noticed that
she provided students with positive feedback, praising them. As we know, giving feedback
means giving information to the learners about their learning in order to motivate them and help
them to understand how to improve. The teacher did that during the activities, and in my opinion
it was very important for them, I think that she helped them to feel more confident and
comfortable while performing the activities.Another thing aspect that called my attention was
that she did not have to raise her tone of voice up to have control of the class. In my opinion she
managed the classroom effectively using her voice.
The only negative aspect that I found during the class was that she continued using plenty of
time the mother tongue to give instructions, I think that she could improve this by using some
visual aids or gestures to clarify the instructions instead of L1.
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Wednesday 22nd, April 2015.
Lesson Number: 3
Well, today was the big day! I‟m exhausted. It was my first class as a teacher in kinder 5. I was
very nervous and worried about this. Anyway it went much better than I had thought...
I started my lesson performing a routine, using some flashcards and songs. Students were very
nice and a bit excited because of my presence there, I was a new teacher for them. They
understood almost everything, so I think the strategies I applied to avoid Spanish in the class
worked good well. I used flashcards and gestures to avoid the use of Spanish and they
understood everything very well.
The class was enriching for me, I could take advantage of this experience and learn a lot. I think
that as teachers we also learn something new everyday, and we have to take advantage of it.
For example I‟ve learnt some new strategies related to classroom management. When I
received my teacher‟s feedback I realised that we have to “ignore” students when they‟re trying
to call others attention, doing this we are avoiding that the student continues bothering are trying
to catch others attention.
The activities that I‟ve designed were based on the Communicative approach since in my
opinion it‟s very important that students could use the language in a communicative way. I‟ve
prepared my material very carefully, however, I could have encouraged more interaction among
“my friend Lobster” and the kids. The games that I‟ve prepared were appealing for the class,
students seemed to enjoy the games and activities proposed.
Comentario [8]: What procedures?
What were the songs for?
Make sure you include further
information in your lesson plans.
Comentario [9]: How? In what ways?
What did she do? How will these
strategies help you during your
practicum?
Comentario [10]: Yes!!!
The constant use of L1 hinders the
development of L2 acquisition, so think
of the strategies you will apply in order
to avoid this.
Comentario [11]: What strategies did
you apply?
Comentario [12]: What did you
learn?

4. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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In general students established a good rapport with me, they were kind and polite. There was
only one student who wanted to call our attention, but it was not a significant problem for the
class. I hope next class he can work properly with us, it‟s known that some students “need” to
call our attention since they might have some emotional troubles. I will try to talk about him with
her teacher to understand him better.
As regards the activities, I could realize that students enjoyed them. However, for next class I
will have to plan some extra activities in case we have some mishaps.
In a few words I could say that : I‟m happy...really happy with my first experience in Kinder!!!
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Wednesday 29th, April 2015.
Lesson Number: 4
Today it was my second class as a teacher in Kinder 5. I felt more relaxed and comfortable with
the class and students. When I decided to start my lesson planning for today, I decided that I
should use the language to communicate, that‟s why I based my whole lesson planning on the
Communicative Approach.
The activities were interesting for the students, they seemed to be motivated since they showed
enthusiasm and they participated in an active way. For this class, I‟ve „d prepared a big and
shiny monster… very colourful since students need “shocking and attractive” materials.
Students loved my monster!... they enjoyed the game in which I played some music on and they
had to take a card from a box full of coloured papers. Young learners need movement in the
activities since I‟ve learnt in a “neuroscience course” that they lose their attention after a period
of 5 minutes, so it‟s necessary to vary the activities to catch their attention back and we don‟t
have to ask them to be sitting down in silence and quiet the whole lesson.
The students were very nice, they behaved awesomely. Last Wednesday one student, Joaquin
did not want to participate and he was trying tried to catch others‟ attention. However, today he
was very nice too, and he behaved properly, it was not necessary to call his attention. In
general students were very kind. In some instances I had to used some strategies to manage
the class successfully. For example, I had to change some students‟ places since they were
talking or playing with others, but it was not a problem...I asked them to change their places. On
other times I had to sing some songs or rhymes to ask them for silence, but they behaved very
well.
Something that I would like to improve is more activities in which students can produce their
own things, maybe I should add more activities to create something, activities in which they can
be involved, for example designing their own monster.
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Comentario [13]: Dear Pía
Please, expand on this entry by
answering the questions provided in the
guidelines for journal writing.
E-mail me when you complete this task.
Comentario [14]: I don't think you
mean this. Check the meaning of
shocking. Engaging you mean.
Comentario [15]: bring him back to
the lesson.
Comentario [16]: Very nice idea!
Careful planing is required, so that the
activity is successful pedagogically and
linguistically. :)

5. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Wednesday 6th, May 2015.
Lesson Number: 5
Today it was my third class as a teacher in Kinder 5. I based my planning on the
Communicative Approach through the use of engaging and communicative activities as games
and a rhyme. I started the lesson with a game as warm up, but when students were performing
the activity I realised that they were not acquainted with this game, and they may did not
understand it all. Then, I used a video with a rhyme to encourage repetition and present some
new items. Students loved the rhyme, they also wanted to watch it and mime it again. So, next
class I‟ll encourage students to memorize this rhyme since they are in a period in which they
need repetition and it‟s a successful strategy to work with young learners. After watching the
video, I organised the students at the tables, trying to choose their places very carefully since
today they were a bit noisy. When they were sitting down, I provided them with templates to
create their own monster, students enjoyed the activity. It was an activity in which the language
was used in a communicative way because they also had to describe their monsters. We
couldn‟t finish the activity but we‟ll finish next class in about five minutes for them to describe the
monsters.
As I previously said, students did not behave as I expected. I tried plenty of strategies such as
singing songs, repeating rhymes but they did not work either as I expected. In my opinion, one
good strategy would be explaining the rules and code of conduct using L1 for them to
understand better and bring them back to their usual behaviour.
I really like singing the rhyme and performing makingthe monsters with students since I
observed that they really like the activities and the activities were successful pedagogically and
linguistically. However for next class I think that they‟ll need more repetition and drills.
Trainee´s name: Barth María Pía
Practicum Level: Nivel Inicial
Group: Sala de 5 años
Date: Wednesday 13th, May 2015.
Lesson Number: 6
It has been my last class as a teacher in Kinder 5! It was an awesome experience! I‟m a bit sad
since I grew fond of the students, they were very nice to me and a lovely group.
Comentario [17]: and warning them
about cancelling games or videos in L2
Comentario [18]: and your tutor's
Comentario [19]: What evidence can
you mention to support this
observation?
Comentario [20]: Try to go further
and deeper into your reflections Pía.
Great job!

6. Taller Práctica Docente - Journal Writing - Barth María Pía
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For this class, I‟d planned all the activities based on the Communicative Approach, and I also
included some activities to encourage repetition in order to have a constant use of L2 in the
classroom, and to promote interaction among the students. The material was colourful,
attractive and engaging for my young learners.
In order to motivate them and awaken their interest and activate their prior knowledge, I started
the class with an activity which students were familiar with. I reminded them about “our friend”
Frankie encouraging them to describe it, then I showed them their monsters and I helped them
to describe them. I helped students to feel at ease with the activity and me by establishing a
good rapport with them, changing my tone of voice, singing songs, and talking to them without
raising my voice.
After that, we continued with the presentation of the activity, I made two new colourful monsters
to present the new language items, during the activity I also encouraged repetition. When, we
finished with this activity, I invited learners to play BINGO. I prepared some templates with
different body parts to play the game. Before of giving out the templates I demonstrate the
activity very carefully to make the instructions clearer. During the game I used many flashcards
to remind them the body parts, and I also kept eye contact with students to assess their process
of learning.
We also danced again the song “One little finger” since last class they loved it, and I sent a note
to their parents to watch this video at home in order to include ICTS in our lesson.
During this class, the practice stage, in my opinion, was balanced, I included controlled and less
controlled activities and students seemed to be at ease with the lesson.
There were not discipline problems despite their teacher was ill and they had a supply teacher I
used songs and rhymes to bring students back to the activities.