My last lesson at IES Lluís Vives

Yesterday was my last day at the high school and therefore, their last chance to give me the final project “the script project”. I must say that I was disappointed because just 3 groups (2 of 4 people and 1 of 2- the classroom has 30 students) gave me the CD with the project…

Well, after telling them my feelings about this, I started the lesson explaining them that it was the last day of my unit plan and therefore, they were going to be assessed (even though I have already assessed them through other activities). I was interested in what they have been learning during these 6 hours, that’s why I came up with a “mass media” crossword, with 10 questions related to what we have worked throughout these lessons.

The thing is that right before starting this activity, I asked them to complete a “can-do” list (14 can-do statements + 1 question (most preferred activity)). Each of the 14 statements described an activity done throughout these 6 hours in one of the five communicative domains: reading, writing, speaking, listening and interactive skills. These can-do statements were arranged in four categories: not at all, a little, quite a lot and a lot.

Afterwards, they did the crossword and we all corrected it, I must day that they did a pretty good job. Then, I gave them a photocopy related to “movies”. We first talked about them for a while, and then they started doing the exercises which were about using the following structures “Where/When is the film set?/ It’s set in L.A or 1950/ Who is in it? It stars George Clooney”. The thing is that it was funny, because one of the activity was about thinking of a film they like (using these expressions) and then the rest of the class had to guess the movie title.

The clock kept ticking… and when I realise that I had just 5 minutes left, I told them to pay me attention. I basically wanted to ask them if they’ve had fun, if they’ve liked the lessons and if they had learned, and of course, if I had given good explanations and helped them. I wanted to know their opinion about me as a teacher. I was quite happy because they all said that they had fun, and that they have learned… but I don’t know, I’m not sure about this last one statement, I hope so, though!

I would like to add that as the days were passing by, I got more confident when teaching in the classroom and I also got to know the students better. Therefore, it's a bit of a pitty that we finish the practicum now that we are totally familiar with the students, both individually and as a whole, but well, I guess we'll have the chance to do that when we get a job as a teacher in a high school.

Well… this is it! I have experienced a lot of feelings during these nearly 2 months, good and bad ones, and I have also learned a lot of strategies, tools and activities in order to face secondary students, now I definitely feel more prepared to teach. The CAP practicum has given me the chance to get familiar with the education world, and now that I know it quite well, I must say that there is still a lot of work to do. All that leaves me to say is that this experience was certainly worth it!

Week 9. The last lessons

Well, I'm about to finish my practicum.

During these days I've been doing a wide range of activities with my students, and I think they had fun, especially with the treasure hunt because it was something new for them. I really can't wait to see their "Script Project" the last assessed activity I told them to do which is about writing a script and then recording their voices while performing it, with the "Audacity programme". I think thay they are going to do a great job!

Week 9. The result was certainly worth it

They did a really good job!
(Mass Media communicative activity)

Week 8. Unit plan

The first day of my unit plan: The Mass Media.

The first thing I did was to talk to them about what we were going to do during these 6 days. Afterwards, I made them watch 2 videos in order to introduce the topic. I first put the video about a famous actress who appeared in different media (magazines, TV shows and commercials) and then I asked them what they had seen. The video’s aim was to show them some of the different ways in which we get information. They began naming some of the media; they almost forgot the most used: Internet! Then, I put them the other one which was about a “Dove” commercial which showed them how we get manipulated by the media. So after watching it, I also asked them about what they had seen and what have they understood and if we do get manipulated by media, most of them gave their opinion.

Afterwards, I made them put into groups of 3 or 4 people and handed out one coloured card for each group. Then, I put them a power point about the activity they had to do, that’s to say, about what they had to do with the card. They had to choose one media, draw it and then answer some questions like why they had chosen it or to give examples of manipulation with this media, among others. It was great because I saw them working and having fun, and they were all participating in the group and they wrote a lot of information in the cards. The thing is that maybe there was some noise, but I mean that’s normal if people work in groups. Time passed by really quickly and without noticing it I only had 1 quarter of an hour to do another activity I had prepared. So, I made them stop and then they had to choose a speaker and share the information with the entire classroom, it should have been more orally, but some of them read it, but anyway it was ok.

Then I had prepared them an explanation about the present perfect and a short exercise, but the thing is that I didn’t have time to explain them all the present perfect, so I told them to have at look at the grammar little box of the photocopy and do exercise number 1 for homework. I don’t know if they are going to do it because, as I’ve said I barely could explain them the first 2 points of the box. So, I’ll have to explain them the grammar this Friday.

Important things to be taken into account: The truth is that time goes by really quickly when you are teaching and that’s a problem, because then you can’t control the timing, and that’s what happened to me the first day. I devoted a lot of time in the first activity because I saw that they were having fun while working, and that’s really important, but grammar is also important… so I hope that next time I'll be able to control it.