Back to work

After the holidays we started working again, as I expected the children wanted to work, because they like to work in the class and more because they already know that their days to play are Thursdays and fridays, well those are the days I gave them to get relaxed after a hard week working. We have been working om Monday to Wednesday and on the other two days we work less time and we play. 

I think they are enjoying the classes and I see that they are learning step by step more vocabulary and structures that were difficult before. They like to work but they also like when they are going to play. Even when they go getting better, it is difficult to work with them the principal reason is why they are a mixed group, so  it is too complicated to work different activites at the same with children from 6 to 12 years. Some of them still have some problems on the subject even the oldest ones.

One day I was amazed, they worked an activity on dictation the same for all the group and when I was checking the notebooks one girl on 1st grade had from 11 sentences like " The house is orange" just 2 mistakes, she is so smart and on the other hand a boy on 5th grade had all of the sentences wrong. It is terrific to see so smart children like that girl, but it is too sad to see children with those learning problems. Now after years teaching english I have learnt and as a personal opinion I think that to learn english one of the most important things is that we like the language, on that way it will be easier to learn it. 

Nice weekend all!!

Working on bad habits

Hello everyone!!
I have been working this last week with the Students with learning problems. It has not been easy at all, first because the difference of ages they are very different. To give an example while students from 1st grade take a long time to finish the activity and they use to talk and laugh in class, on the other hand I have students on 6th they are children whon nedds more time to work and others finish faster. This last week we were working on speaking activities, where they rarely have to write. The aim of this is to make they like the language and they learn in a funny way,but when children see that they won´t write they say that they won´t work.When they say that I exaplain them how learning english is. So, last week we worked on activities using cards and after that when they already practice that vocabulary then they worked on dictation to parctice writing. It is good to see how students go developing their skills in the language, this step by step, what can I say Rome wasn´t made in one day. I think we will have good resultss whith this project.
Nice week all!!

New topics

This week now we started working on new topics. The toppic is to build sentences starting with one object simple sentences like (The table is brown, the houseis big) and so on. Here what I´m looking for is to make students recognize names of objects by writing, listening and saying them. The first acivity is that I write on thge whiteboard names of objects and I give one card to every student, so they go to the whiteboard and stick the picture. Then we say the names of the objects and we check pronunciation. After that they have to say one sentence using the same structure that I mentioned before. When we finish sayng sentences, then they go to the whiteboard and write one sentence to remember writing. 

This is just one of the activites, but the last ome of the class is that the take out their noteboook and I have to dictate some sentences to check writing. SS think that if they just do that kind of activites they are not working or they are doing nothing, so I try to explain that learning english is not just to write over and over they need to practice speaking, too.  

Work and help

Well, the next week where we worked they had exams, so I helped them to get prepare for them instead working with new topics. I used the books that we use to work in normal classes (in the morning) then, I wrote in the whiteboard different activities for the different groups to copy and then they have to solve them. When they finished copying the activities I  explained one by one and group by group each activity to help them understanding better each topic. We worked with review the whole week in order to prepare them as better as possible. Everyday when they fimished te activites we worked one game for about 20 minutes just to help the be relaxed. As soos as the exams finish we will start working on new topics. 

Starting to work

After deciding on how to work on my plan and after developing it, at least I have it. I was waiting to have correct to start writing about my experiences. Well, first I have to say I´m working with some students from the place where I work but in the afternoon. These students go in the afternoon because they have some learning problems, so they have some extra work. There is where I am, working with SS in one group but from different stages from 1st to 6th grade.I have to say it is not an easy group, but I´ll do my best to do a great job with them. The first day where we worked was kind of difficult because the different ages, but it was a goos day. First we introcud ourselve using sentences like (my name is... I´m ------years old) and we played one game. Then I asked them to write a text where they said why they´d like to learn well the language. It was a good but difficult day. 

DESICIONS FOR MAKING AN ACTION PLAN:

After thinking and seeing the behavior of SS in the class I decided to take some weaknesses from my SS and make them work on that. 

Statement of Goal(s) and Objectives:

In this project I´m going to work with students from the place where I work, but these children come 

in the afternoon to reinforce what they do in the morning with their teachers.  These SS will work

 the language two hours of classes five days a week.    

Goal: Students will improve their skills in the language which is a little difficult for them. Students will 

develop a better understanding on the topics.

Objectives: 1. Help SS with learning problems in the language. 2. SS will learn in a different environment 

than the one they usually work in. 3. SS will be more monitored than they usually are. 4. SS will have more 

opportunity to participate and will learn in a different way.

IMPLEMENTATION				EVALUATION
What needs to be done?	By whom?	When?	What resources (human and material) are needed?	What evidence indicates progress?	How and when will that evidence be collected?
These SS have problems on paying attention to the class, so we are going to work on activities that call their attention.	Teacher               Students	After every class SS will play a game related to the activity they worked on that day.	Teacher Notebook Pen Whiteboard         Games          Cards	Class by class Students will show how their attention is going and if they are improving their learning.	Teacher will check their work and their progress.
The next step is to make SS know what they will do in the following classes. When students are conscious that they have to take it seriously, they will write a text saying why they´d like to produce language in real situations and why they think it´s important to learn English. This will reinforce their idea to learn and practice english.	Teacher Students	Since the first moment when activities start.	Maybe some presents to give SS when they are showing interest like stickers for example to reinforce their interest on the class.	The same SS will indicate if they are interested or not. Even when they are not interested they will have to do it, too.	Next class T will check the texts where SS say why they want to learn to see their opinion and what they expect from the subject.
In every class we will see different topics using grammar and tenses. They will also work on topics that are the most difficult for each of them.	Teacher Students	Every day they will on the work topics at least one topic per week to reinforce it and work on different ways.	Teacher Students Whiteboard Notebooks Whiteboard Markers Pictures	The students will read the sentences they have seen to check pronunciation and understanding.	In each class notes will be taken to have a record of their advancing.
SS will choose at least five lectures to be read in the classroom. These readings will be task –based, so they will not just practice reading skills, they will expand their vocabulary and will learn about some topics.	Teacher Students	One day a week will be used to practice their reading skills. This will be useful because they will not just work on writing activities, they will find a variety of learning ways.	Teacher Students Notebook Reading	The way on how SS talk and they are able to work their reading skills. Also the speed and comprehension will be taken into account.	Every class a record will be written to see how SS are working are learning.
SS will present an exam in order to prepare themselves to future exams in their real school classes.	Teacher Students	Every month they will present the exam.	Teacher Students Whiteboard Exam	The results of every exam will show their progress.	The exams will be qualified to keep a record of their work.

Report on strengths and needs.

Well to be honest the place where I´m going to do my social service is the same place where I work. After time teaching at this school I have found some problems. In my opinion some of them can be: there is only one teacher for 206 students (me), some groups just have two classes per week, some parents don´t support their children and others don´t understand the language, also there is not enough time to practice reading and oral activities. On the following lines I´m going back up my opinions.

There is only one teacher for 206 students (me): Well, this can be a problem having in mind the fact that I´m the only one English teacher in the school. I have to teach to 11 groups and the problem here is that I only teach twice a week to some groups and just three of the eleven groups receive three classes per week, every class is 50 minutes long.

Some groups just have two classes per week: As I said before I only teach two classes per week to eight groups, this can be a problem because I don´t have to much time to work as I would like to. I only have to focus on the book and I rarely use the notebook.

Some parents don´t support their children and others don´t understand the language: There are parents who don´t support their children, I mean they almost never do the homework and there other parents who don´t speak English and even if they want to is more difficult for them to help their children.

 Also there is not enough time to practice reading and oral activities: Taking into account the fact that I just have some classes, I almost don´t have time to work activities that aren´t in the book.

These last reasons are the most important for me and are the ones I could considerate to use in my needs analysis.