Group 1: Lesson 1

October 5th, 2015. It was the first time our group had to direct a real class in front of our young students. Our topic was "In My Classroom".

First of all, we had to pick a welcome and a good bye song, these two songs were going to be sung by our students throughout the whole course. We decided to use the "Hello - Hello", and the "After a While, Crocodile" song, both of them were taken from the YouTube channel Super Simple Songs. It was amazing to see how much children enjoyed these two songs, it was clear that the songs had caused an impact in them, since they helped them feel more comfortable, and at the
end, they left the classroom with a positive attitude.

During our lesson, students showed a very nice attitude, some of them were being shy at the beginning, but they ended up participating and showing a clear engagement in our lesson. As a group, we prepared our lesson plan and our materials, as well as a warm up, and wrap up activities. Children paid attention during the whole class, and they had a very good behavior. Similarly to the previous week, when my time to participate had come, I felt nervous, but being in front of the classroom and seeing the positive attitude that my students had, helped me to feel more relaxed, and I really enjoyed what I was doing.

60 minutes later, it was time for students to go home, not before singing the second song we had prepared for them, and picking up a snack we gave them. Once they were gone, it was feedback time.

During feedback we received several observations that will be more than useful, not only during the rest of this Teaching Practicum, but during the rest of our career as English teachers. I found out that my classmates and teacher had noticed I was feeling nervous at the beginning, they said it was reflecting in my body language, and I needed to relax so that students can feel relaxed as well. We were also advised to improve our material, since our flashcards were not big enough for students to see from their spots. Furthermore, we were told it would be more convenient to post our material in the wall, instead of just holding it in our hands. By doing this, students will be able to take a look at the material at any time they need it, helping them remember the content studied.

I received all the feedback with a positive attitude, since I know we are still learning, and we need to know what thing we can improve to be better teachers.

(Hello - Hello song)

(After a While, Crocodile song)