A special day in my life: My Graduation

Today has been one of the most important days of my life, because after 4 years studding Teaching at the University of Valencia, I’ve graduated. It means that all efforts have been worthwhile and that I’m already prepared to be a teacher.

First of all, I would like to thank my family for supporting and encouraging me to go after my dream, and my classmates to teach me that nothing unites more people than fighting for the same objective. And, of course,  I would also like to thank all the teachers for leading by example, to make us love, respect and value our job, to make us understand how important it is for the future society, and to make us believe in ourselves.  I’m sure that, in some years, the Education in our country will be much better thanks to the new generation of teachers, but you are the ones that are planting the seed and that are fighting for a necessary change. 

So, another stage of our life ends, and now, an uncertain but exciting future is waiting for us! 

With my grandparents

With my friends

The next generation of English teachers

The Teacher’s poem

Educating is like putting an engine on a boat:

You have to measure, weight, balance,

and set it all in motion.

But to do that,

one has to have in his soul

a bit of a sailor,

a bit of a pirate.

a bit of a poet,

and 3 pounds of concentrated patience.

But it’s comforting to dream

while you are working,

that that boat, that child

will go far away by the water.

To dream that that boat

will take our load of words

to distant ports,

to distant islands.

To dream that when, one day,

our own boat will be sleeping,

in new boats will continue

our peaked flag.

(Gabriel Celaya)

Final assessment of the activities

Today, in my last lesson with the 4rth grade students, I’ve given to the 18 of them a list of 6 questions to answer anonymously, so that they could assess and give their opinion about the activities that I‘ve carried out in class. These questions are:

1. What do you think about the activities we have done in class (Game, Bingo and Story)?

Everybody (18/18) has answered that they have liked them a lot, basically because they were funny and entertaining. Here we can see some of the answers that summarize this general point of view:

"Very cool"

"Very funny"

"I liked them a lot because they are very funny, and I've had a great time"

"I found them very funny and entretaining, and what I've liked the most is that they are to learn"

2. Which one do you liked the most? Why?

Here, we find different opinions. The Bingo has been the most voted (7/18), and here are some of the reasons they have given:

"The Bingo, because I can learn English"

"The Bingo, because is very funny"

"The Bingo because most of us like it"

5 students prefer the Story-Writing activity, and their arguments are:

"The tale because we are in YouTube. We will be famous!"

"The tale because it teach us to read better in English"

"The tale because all of we have participated in it"

2 out of 18 prefer the Game in groups because…

"I liked the game with the cards and the dice because  we played it in teams"

"The game because I've learned a lot and it's funny"

Finally, 2 students have answered that they've liked all the activities, and another 2 haven’t understood the question.

"I like them all: the game, the bingo and the tale because they are very funny"

3. Which do you like least? Why?

Here, 5 have answered that the activity they like least is the Game.

"The game because I was embarrassed to go out in public"

"The game because we played it in teams"

"The game because it was a little bit difficult for me"

Also 5 don’t like a lot the Bingo.

"The Bingo because I like more the game, as we play it in groups, we do activities..."

"The Bingo, because we already knew the words"

Only 2 of them don’t like the Story-Writing activity, but they haven’t given reasons.

Finally, 5 students have answered that they have liked all the activities, and one student hasn’t understood the question.

4. Do you prefer doing the textbook activities or this kind of activities?

13 out of 18 prefer the activities that I have organized.

Only two students prefer textbook activities.

"I like more the textbook activities"

3 students haven’t understood the question.

5. Do you think that you can learn English doing this kind of activities?

All the students think that it's possible to learn English this way.

"Yes. A lot"

"Yes. The truth is that I've learned more this way"

6. What words have you learned doing these activities?

The previous questions were mainly focused on knowing students’ motivation and opinions about theactivities, while this last one is for me to know to what extent they have learned new English vocabulary. I can say that I’m very happy with the results, because they have learned a lot. 

Language BINGO!

For my last week in the school, I’ve prepared a Language Bingo to play with the 3^rd and 4^th grade of Primary School students, to review the vocabulary of the Didactic Unit topic they are studying at this moment, and to introduce more words related to these topics. 

The Language bingo is a great activity to learn a new language, since children are discovering new vocabulary in a fun way. At the same time, as they are continuously hearing and repeating these new words, they are also learning how to pronounce them correctly. Moreover, through this activity, children also learn impulse control as they have to wait for their turn, and to improve their hand eye-coordination as they have to put a token on their bingo cards to note that one of the words has been said.

Preparing a Language Bingo is quite simple. First, we have to make a list of the words we want to introduce, and make as many cards as we need, taking into account that no one can be like another because, this way, there could be more than one winner. Each card can have as many words as we want, depending on the level of difficulty. For example, the one I’ve created has eight words. The way of introducing the vocabulary also depends on what we want to focus. If we want to develop the oral skills (as in my case) we can put just a picture or a drawing, but if we want to emphasize the spelling and orthography, we can write the names under the pictures, or even put just the word without any picture. To make the bingo cards more resistant for future uses we can laminate them.

The general evaluation of this activity is very positive. Students have been really motivated as this is a game that gets easily their attention, and concentrated not only on the game, but also on the language since they need to remember the words to win. Moreover, this is a game for all levels of development, so no one is discriminated or undervalued. Everyone can play regardless of their difficulties to learn or to any other circumstances. So, I’ve checked how students that normally follow different materials to those of their mates, were very involved and happy to see that they could do the same as the rest of the class. In the end, the topics of the English books only contain eight or ten words of vocabulary and some grammatical structures, so as I’ve seen how these students are able to learn new words through a game… Why have they to do different things? Shouldn’t we adapt the materials to the students instead of adapting the students to the materials? I really think so and, in this case, I’ve verified that a more inclusive way of teaching was possible.

After the good results in the 3^rd and 4^th grade of Primary School, I’ve tried this same activity in the 1^st and 2^nd grade, and even with the three, four and five years-old kids. I’ve been surprised by the acceptance of this game in all these courses, as all of them have been able to follow the game, of course, adapting the amount of support provided by me. Therefore, I think that this activity can be very useful in terms of learning new vocabulary in a different and funny way, and for many other purposes depending on the approach that we want to give. For instance, we can also encourage the oral communication asking questions related to the cards. For example, if a kid has the “dog” picture on his card,  we can ask him/her to describe his/her family dog.

Something that some of the older students have criticized of this activity in their evaluation is that they already knew most of the vocabulary. This is a very sensible review, and I think they are totally right. It's very important to adapt the activities to students’ knowledge because, otherwise, they will probably get bored soon.  

Anyway, doing this game has been a great experience and I’m sure that I will use it often in my lessons.  

Breaking preconceptions

In this post I just want to share something that has happened today, and that has changed some preconceptions that I had when I started the internship period with the English teacher.

To do this, I have to admit that when I knew that I had to go to the three, four and five years-old classrooms, I was a little bit disappointed as it was something new for me, and I had never studied nothing related to the Pre-school Education. So, the first lessons I was very negative and unmotivated. It seemed very boring to me, as each class was the same. First, the assembly, in which children repeated always the same things: “Good morning, how are you today”, “I’m happy”, “Today is sunny”, “Today is 21”…  I knew that with children of these ages is very important to work daily routines, but it was a kind of a torture for me.  After the assembly, it was the time for the songs: “The good morning song”, “The days of the week song”, “The colors song”… day after day the same songs… I dreamed about them.

Everything changed when the English teacher went on sick leave. Then, I had the opportunity to do things my way. So, I started to do the assembly more dynamic, asking children about their favorite color, season, day of the week, food… or to ask them what had they done during the weekend, etc. I started to enjoy these times, and to hear them. I also started to sing and to dance the songs with them, so they were much more motivated. I went happy to these lessons, and I think that they perceived how much I enjoy them.

So, today, when I have finished the lesson with the 5 years-old children, they have given me a big hug. It has been very special for me because, although Teaching is a very rewarding job and children always thank you somehow, this hug has been probably the most emotive moment that I have lived in these four years. It has taught me that it doesn’t matter if children are three, four, five, six, seven or fourteen years. Each group is different, and in each one we have an infinity of opportunities to enjoy and to make them enjoy too. It all depends on our attitude. It’s essential not having preconceptions about a group or an age rang, because teaching is like a circle. We receive what we give. So, if we love children and we enjoy with them, surely they will love us and enjoy our lessons.  

Conflict Resolution

This morning, I was disposed to finish the session of Story-Writing with the 3^rd grade students, but it has been impossible because of a big conflict between two of them. They have started insulting each other, and almost have come to blows. I was alone in the class as the teacher had to attend another group, so I didn’t know what to do. I’ve tried to speak with both kids, but only one of them has listened to me, and has stopped insulting the other. But, the other kind was very nervous and has continued threatening him.  Some of the classmates were also encouraging him to continue with this attitude. Finally, I’ve managed to stop the insults, but it was obvious that the conflict had not disappeared.

After this incident, I really think that we should have at least a subject during the degree about conflict resolution, as I’ve been unable to do absolutely nothing. We are working with kids who are coexisting more than with their families, so it’s totally normal that conflicts like this emerge, but we have to be prepared to take advantage of them to teach students respect and tolerance values, as schools are the perfect scenario of life. Teachers are too much focused and worried about meeting the objectives and finishing the contents, and they forget one of the main aims of schools: SOCIALIZATION.

I’ve been in three different schools during the Practicum experiences of my degree, and in any of them the conflicts were treated properly, but just avoided. So, I haven’t had the opportunity to learn how teachers treat real conflicts at school. For this reason, I decided to search information on the Internet about some effective strategies, and I’ve found 4 very interesting ones that I want to share:

• Role playing

Role playing can bring a level of levity to conflict resolution. When students are placed in opposing roles than what they may play in a real life situation, it teaches them empathy and forces them to look at actions from another point of view.

Role playing may also provide insights into just where the conflicts are arising from. Rather than having conflicts rise with statements like “Well, how would you like it if I did this to you?” Conflicts can be looked at from more objective, role playing standpoints.

• Tracking

As an assignment, have students observe and track various conflicts that they either witness or are involved with over a period of time. These can be tracked in a journal, and should be written without the specific identities of the participants. In this case, the identities are not as important as the activity they witness and the reaction of those involved. Let students know to be on the outlook for situations where conflict resolution would help. This will also set a baseline for just how severe the problem may be.

At some point students should voluntarily share their observations in their journals and students can discuss the positives and negatives of the involved student’s reactions. This allows students to discuss specific incidents, without “outing” offenders.

Over the course of the school year, this assignment may be done several times, and teachers can make observations as to the progress their students are making in effective conflict resolution.

• Listening

Many conflicts start because of misunderstandings and miscommunication. Teaching students good listening habits can be an important tool.

You can start with a classroom discussion about conflicts that may have occurred to students recently. You are likely to hear things like “He wouldn’t listen” or “They didn’t understand what I was saying.”

This is a good opportunity to let students realize the power of listening. It also lends itself to teach “how” to listen.

Teach them to:

• Look directly at the speaker and make eye contact.
• Let the speaker talk without interruption.
• Ask questions.
• Don't give advice or offer suggestions.
• Give the speaker positive reinforcement by nodding or smiling.
• Repeat what you have heard in your own words.

Teach students the power of careful listening.

• Writing about the conflict

If there are conflicts in the classroom, having the involved students sit down to write about it serves a couple of purposes. First, it serves as a time-out or a cooling off period. It also makes them reflect on the incident in an academic, learning way.

When you have students write about the conflict, have them include how it made them feel, and what other, better choices they may have made during the conflict. Offer them suggestions like “list 3 things that you would do differently now that you’ve had a chance to think about better options.”

Try to get your students to understand that conflicts are also a learning opportunity, and use the incident to do just that.

I hope it can be helpful! 

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