Journal Writing Secondary Lesson 1

Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino

Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 25/sept/2017
Lesson Number 1

My experience in this group has been really nice. We had to work very hard but we, fortunately,
succeeded in creating a wonderful atmosphere to work.
They didnt use to speak in English in class or to work in an organized way and this was something that
really took us time but we could make it. The first classes were really hard because whenever I talked to them
in English, they didnt understand so much and I had to repeat instructions many times or asked one of the
students to translate. Apart from that, they were not interested in the English class and they preferred using
their mobile phones. I didnt feel comfortable at all when I tried to make them work and they did not pay much
attention so I had to change some teaching techniques to change this reality little by little. Planning took me a
lot of time the beginning but I was prepared to call their attention during the class.
I did this practicum in Roberto Arlt Institute where I was offered this course by the end of April. So I
was not observed by any partner but by the Coordinator of the English Department. This was a complete
challenge for me, everybody told me in advanced that this was a real difficult group.
When I first met them, I was introduced by the Head of Director to the students and I started working
that particular day. I thought it would be different but I was wrong.
Fortunately, technology is something that students love so to introduce the topic I have used an online
puzzle to introduce the topic. They loved playing this game. As I said before, they love technology and
games!!! Thats why after guessing the topic of the lesson, I prepared a game to present the vocabulary and to
work with it. I understood that turning activities into games is something beneficial for me, I make them work
while playing and they learn almost unconsciously.
Of course, only few students were reluctant to participate but when they saw that they could do it, they
felt relaxed and willing to take part. I divided the class into 2 big groups and gave them some time to work in
pairs or small groups, as they pleased. My objective was to have them involved and working in the activity to
introduce vocabulary connected to school subjects.
It has been a really a nice class where most of the students participated and I could involve the ones
that were shier and needed a little more help. It wasnt that easy because I have 2 integrated students and 1
integrated teacher inside the class.
 Journal Writing Secondary Lesson 2
Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino
Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 27/sept/2017
Lesson Number 2

Time has passed and I felt more sure about the management of the class each time. In this particular
lesson, we needed to make a revision on Present Simple: habits & adverbs of frequency so I have planned to do
it while playing a TIC TAC TOE. I have discovered that this simple game makes them think, especially when
they know that if they make a mistake and this is spotted by the opponent group, the opponent group will be
the ones that place the cross or the dot to continue playing the game. So unconsciously, they are thinking in
grammar carefully in order to play and win the game. Of course, they are very competitive and I dont let the
same student talk all the time, they need to make the effort to participate in the different games.

The class was interesting because it didnt have so many new items to learn but to practise. We did
different listening activities that are always difficult for the class and they did it very well. We discussed and
compared the different menus that we can find in fast food restaurants and they even created their own one.

By the end of the class, they had to role play a similar situation to the one heard in the listening activity.
So I gave them the instructions but we run out of time and only 3 pairs of students could come to the front of
the class and role play this conversation. Since assessment is very important at school, I took advantage of this
activity and asked them to role play this situation at home, record it using their mobile phones and upload it in
the school platform to correct. The result of this activity was great, they did very creative dialogues and all of
them except 1 did the homework.
 Journal Writing Secondary Lesson 3
Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino
Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 2/Oct/2017
Lesson Number 3

This lesson was very productive. I could show on the big screen the great productions of my students
and they told me that they had fun while doing the homework. They realized that they could use their mobile
phones to do homework and it was nice.

In this lesson the main goal was to describe their typical day at school. It was not that simple but by
using a video to present and compare the different days at school, we could start working. After certain games
and activities that I had prepared in order to lead them to write, they could produce a nice draft in the class.
We corrected 2 or 3 of them and while comparing their works, they realized that there were phrases or
expressions that they didnt use and wanted to include in their writings. This is something to highlight in this
class, at the beginning they were not willing to work at all and now they are trying to improve their writings.

Writings is something very important for me because it is not only their piece of work but also their
own creation in English.
 Journal Writing Seconday Lesson 4
Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino
Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 4/Oct/2017
Lesson Number 4

In this lesson students worked with the Present Simple and its use expressing facts. It hasnt been easy
to show them that what we were expressing are facts or events that happen all the time but I could succeed.

We started the lesson by making a revision on linkers, a topic that we couldnt finish last class because
we run out of time. So I explained, I made sure that everybody was involved in the explanation to play a
competition afterwards. They did a great job and I realized that they understood the use and meaning of the
different linkers.

Then it was time to make a draft of their written production, I gave them instructions to work, they paid
attention and starting building up a common piece of writing. They brainstormed on the bb the different
sentences and even made some of them by using linkers. In order to make them work in the activity, I chose
different students to answer my questions and provide examples. When it took more time than usual, I started
counting down in order to make them hurry up.

Finally, we worked with a listening that helped them collect more information about cyclists and their
facts. This was a very useful activity because gave them more information to write their own article about a
typical day in the life of a cyclist.
 Journal Writing Seconday Lesson 5
Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino
Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 9/Oct/2017
Lesson Number 5

Many of the students have done their homework and this was great. I had plenty pieces of writing to
correct about they cyclists.

A new topic was introduced The Weather and we had great fun learning how to describe the weather
conditions in different parts of the world. First, for teaching the vocabulary connected to weather items, I used
different visual aids. Then, to reinforce the meaning of the words, we played different games, eg. Pictionary
game. And finally, to produce the weather, we used a weather website to describe the weather in different
cities.

It was a nice class where students could check how much they know about the different cities and it
was funny to know what cities they would like to visit in the future. It was also quite difficult for some of them
to understand the church of the weather conditions but they could succeed at the end and work perfectly well.

Finally, we discussed and talked about the extreme weather conditions that we could find. They
mentioned the latest hurricanes and the tornado that had affected Central America. They expressed
themselves quite well and make clear that they were happy to live in BA in order not to suffer from this kind of
weather.
 Journal Writing Seconday Lesson 6
Trainees name. Patricia Palavecino
Practicum level. Secondary
Group 1st Year C TM (13/14 years old group)
Date 11/Oct/2017
Lesson Number 6

We started the lesson by making a revision on weather conditions, I prepared a chart where they could
see the different weather conditions and they needed to ask and answer questions about the weather while
playing a competition. G1 had to choose a city and asked the question about the weather in that city. Then G2
answered the question. Then they swapped roles.

Then students were introduced to the new vocabulary and asked some questions to answer by just
looking at the pictures. After this, they worked with the jigsaw listening which is usually very difficult task for
them. Again, I called students who are reluctant to participate in order to make them work and understand the
teaching point.

Present Continuous was introduced to students with the meaning of actions happening now. We
systematized the tense, they provided examples and understood the difference. Finally, we play a game to
guess the sentence. One student comes to the front, have a look at the picture and mime it. It was amazing
seeing them all working.

All the students were involved in the different activities and understood the teaching points.