Notes from the teaching practice

source: https://blog.schoolspecialty.com/tips-refocus-circle-time/ Yesterday, me and other GPTE students attended a webinar with Ms Marta Arkuszyńska called ‘A teacher in a Canadian kindergarten - everyday work and challenges of a foreign language institution’. The presenter is a GPTE graduate and fellow Faculty of Education student. She works in a Canadian kindergarten with a group of 3-4 year olds. The presenter started the webinar by introducing herself and talking a bit about her teaching experience. She also described her workplace, focusing on the pupils and the organisation of the kindergarten. Then, Ms Arkuszyńska explained some methods and elements of the curriculum: jolly phonics, TPR, the specificity of circle time. As for the curriculum, the inquiry of subjects and their content was described. Another part of the webinar included challenges and possible difficulties of foreign language institutions. To end with, she also made the distinction between teaching English and tea...

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3x4HcbyRg This week, inspired by the debate from the bilingual class, I’ve decided to explore sight words. I came across a website dedicated to introducing and teaching sight words, as well as building students’ phonemic awareness. Then, I watched a video about the differences between two methods of teaching reading (sight words and phonics) and one about introducing sight words to young learners. This website covers a lot about the topic - there are different techniques to use while teaching sight words, flashcards and different games (e.g. bingo, memory, domino). Apart from the materials attached, there are videos explaining how to use them. The first video explains differences between two methods of teaching reading skills - phonics and sight words. It shows examples of different activities enhancing those skills, as well as both advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods. She finishes the video with an important message - there’s...

  source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXyWwirLfcg To start with my self study about English phonetics, I’ve chosen a topic close to my heart - accents in movies. I’ve seen two videos with dialect coach Erik Singer about actors doing accents from all over the world: Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors' Accents and Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 28 More Actors' Accents . I think it’s very important to explore this area, because of the impact television and movies have on our knowledge about the language. Both we, as teachers, and our students draw inspiration from those sources. The difference between those two groups is the awareness - children and teenagers have less tools and less critical views. Therefore, they can try to imitate an accent heard in a movie. Sometimes, it’s quite close to the original, while the other times it can be simply misleading. For that reason, I think it’s rather useful to be aware of the fact that, similarly to songs, movies and series ar...

source: https://www.wise-geek.com/how-do-i-put-on-a-shadow-puppet-play.htm   On 11th of March, me and other GPTE students took part in a webinar called ‘How props and Arts & Crafts make students talk’. The presenter, Joanna Pokora used to be a Faculty of Education student. Now, she’s the owner of a language school called KILT. Ms Pokora started the webinar with a brief introduction of both herself and the planned webinar. Then, she tried to engage the participants by asking them for their definition of props and the examples of props used by them. After commenting on people’s ideas, she started presenting hers. With each props, she suggested at least a few uses. Ms Pokora was also interested in participants’ suggestions and with each prop, she asked us to share. Alongside the short description of each prop, she presented it and photos or videos from its use during the lesson. At the end of the webinar, there was a brief moment to ask questions or comment on the presentation. Si...

source: https://fleafix.in/most-common-types-of-errors-in-php/   The seventh and last topic I would like to write about is classroom management. I observed the class on 24.02.2022 (1st lesson) and 26.02.2022 (1st lesson). First, I will briefly describe the class and the lessons observed. Then, I will share some observations of mistakes made by students and reactions from the teacher. At the end, I will share my reflections about the strategies used by her and their effectiveness (based on what I observed). Information about the class I observed the 2nd grade (students are 7-8 years old). There are 26 students in the class. Students have English lessons 2 hours each day of the week. The topics of observed lessons were: Winter Olympics - learning the names of chosen disciplines Winter Olympics - the history of the Olympic Games The aims of the lessons were: introducing and practising new vocabulary ( bobsleigh, speed skating, ski jumping, snowboarding, curling, figure skating, luge, ...

source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-principles-outstanding-classroom-management The sixth topic I would like to write about is classroom management. I observed the class on 17.01.2022 (during the first two lessons) and 19.01.2022 (during the first two lessons). First, I will briefly describe the class and the lessons observed. Then, I will share some observations of different stages of those lessons. At the end, I will share my reflections about disciplinary responses and how they affect the students. Information about the class I observed the 2nd grade (students are 7-8 years old). There are 26 students in the class. Students have English lessons 2 hours each day of the week. The topics of observed lessons were: Reading comprehension - analysing the structure of the informational text Reading comprehension - describing the picture, grammar points Animals and their homes - introducing new vocabulary Grammar lesson - plural forms of nouns, exercises from the workbook The aims of ...

source: https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-homework-154056   The fifth topic I would like to write about is classroom routines. I observed the class on 13.01.2022 (during the first two lessons). First, I will write the most important information about the class (as it’s the same class as before) and the lessons observed. Then, I will share some observations of routines and homework policy applied here. At the end, I will share my reflections about them, with my opinion on the effectiveness of homework policy and the meaning of classroom routines. Information about the class I observed the 2nd grade (students are 7-8 years old). There are 26 students in the class. Students have English lessons 2 hours each day of the week. The topics of observed lessons were: Where do animals live? - names of animals and their homes Where do you see animals? - reading comprehension The aims of the lessons were: revising the names of animals, introducing and practising new vocabulary ( th...

source: https://blog.schoolspecialty.com/four-key-features-of-early-learning-environments/ The next topic I would like to write about is classroom environment. I observed the class on 12.01.2022 (during the first two lessons). First, I will write the most important information about the class (as it’s the same class as before) and the lessons observed. Then, I will answer the most important questions from the observation sheet. At the end, I will share my reflections about the classroom environment I observed and some possible difficulties students and teacher may come across.   Information about the class I observed the 2nd grade (students are 7-8 years old). There are 26 students in the class. Students have English lessons 2 hours each day of the week.  The topics of observed lessons were: Sea life - introducing new vocabulary, practising description of objects Clothes - revision of the vocabulary and using the words in sentences The aims of the lessons were: introducing new...