II. Class Management and Atmosphere

The kids were sitting around little tables in groups of five or six students, and they really like to paint drawings; they were eager to learn and to participate. They were asking question when they did not understand some things of the topic and when they wanted to know some things related to the topic that I was not taking into account. The kids were behaving better every time I went to teach. The rapport was better, and the kids were more comfortable learning new words in a different language that was not their mother tongue.

I think that the way to teach young learners depends on the age they have; also, the kids pay more attention if the teachers teach in an entertaining way without being so funny. The teacher has to be entertaining but not so much because if he or she plays with the kids when it is time to play, or it is the way they are teaching is okay, but if it is time to work the teacher has to have the authority to make the students work. The teacher has to be an authority for the kids but has to have a good rapport with them. As a practitioner I have to improve my teaching style because I have so many new things to learn in order to become a better teacher.

My short and long term goals as an elt practitioner are related to getting more knowledge for teaching, for I can do my teaching practices better every time. I will try to fix the mistakes I make in the previous classes and try to use new techniques and methodologies in order to make a good and entertain class.

I would love to have a good rapport with every student and to make them learn something more about English.

Besides, I will put in practice the things that I learn in the classroom in order to become a good English teacher.

By: Karen Albanés

First, as I knew that I had to deal with children, I decided to write and bring material for the students. I drew many pictures about the things we were going to study; i drew in sheets of paper the things we were going to discuss in the class, so I decided to bring the correct material for them. For instance, when I went to teach about the colors, I brought and gave sheets of paper about different things or drawings that contain variety of the colors. For example, I brought to the school for the children drawings, and the students were able to learn the colors and to repeat and know about the things we studied there.

The rapport was the best I ever have. They loved me, and I loved them as well. When I asked them to participate with the class, they always did it. So, I was so glad with them when they learned and when they answered the questions or activities I gave to them.

I put into practice many things, and as everybody knows, a teacher comes in different shapes and size. So, I tried to help the children to do dinamics and to draw; for instance, I tought them many songs even when I am not good at singing.

I tried to make jokes according the students´s level, so they enjoyed when I was teaching them. I treated everybody in the same level because for me, they were in the same level, and I know that they were learning a new language, so it was going to be difficult, so when they made mistakes, I didn’t push them to fix them because they could get frustrated because it’s a bad recourse to tell what errors they had every moment.

To have a good classroom atmosphere is really important to have a good rapport with the children because in that way the students are going to feel encouraged to do everything a teacher asks to do it. I would encourage the students to do whatever they want to accomplish.

My point of view is that an ELT practioner must be confidence in what he or she is doing; the practioners must have a huge and deep knowledge about the things they are teaching. So, to get ready for this, I have heard many podcast that I have got in wich tells you how to manage a classroom, how to manage a classroom activity, how to deal with young and adult learners, and how to use your sense of humour to make a funny and interting class.

By: Gabriel Valencia

The classroom was kind of big; we had enough space for everybody. The kids were sat in small groups of five and sometimes six students. I think that this is in order to the children can shred experiences with their classmates. The classroom was divided in different zones.

During the class, the children were paying pretty much attention because they were and they are interesting on learning a new language, and this case English; the children are so curious. They ask about almost everything. They are like a little sponged acquiring knowledge.

When I was teaching kindergarten students, I was so worried at the very beginning, but then I began to feel comfortable with the students. They were attending my classes, and they were participating a lot. I am pretty glad about that because I know that they were interesting in learn new words in English.

I gave to my students different kind of activities to do it during the lass, as we know they are still children, so they have to develop different activities during the whole class. Children like painting and drawing, and they enjoy that; also they like singing and dancing, and I taught them some songs.

I think that the rapport that I had with my students was so good because they were following the instructions that I gave them during each activity; and also they learned the topics that I develop with them.

The way to teach depend on the teacher and also the age of the students, but I think that it is more crucial teach kindergarten students than students in other high level. The teacher has to be so creative and dynamic, the teachers cannot leave their students alone in any time because they lose the attention.

By: Eduardo Marroquín

The ability to develop a class is something hard, but I tried to do my best effort when I was giving classes. I developed some activities with the children also I played some games with them because in the classroom there were toys, balloons and others objects that I could use to create a good atmosphere. For example the teacher had a mascot called Ramiro. The children asked everything they want to Ramiro and the teacher answered through the mascot.

I felt comfortable speaking with the children and understand the needs they had. Sometimes children acted like frustrated when they couldn´t do something but I tried to developed that activities in an easily way with funny games in which they could learn while they are playing. Most of the time when the activity was in the whole classroom they formed a train with passengers from different countries.

Children have different needs but I consider I have to explore how they think, for example, I noticed if one of them if shy or talkative. I tried to play with the shy children and assign him responsibility to play what they want but with all the students because it helped him to communicate with others. I noticed if some of them could draw and he/she can communicate through pictures and ask: ¿what´s this? Or ¿what color is this? Because they looked the picture and relate it with the correct word.

I began giving classes and my first goal was my children can compare words with pictures also communicate with basic words and some phrases as: “Good morning teacher”, “bye teacher”

Nobody are similar with other. They have different ways to learn a new language and the different needs they have.

By; Julio Aguilar

A young language learner must be a willing person; learners must have their level of anxiety low. I will describe the students that I had in my experience. I really loved them because…

Certainly, a young language learner must always be willing to learn. When students are willing to learn, they are more likely to achieve communicative competence in a foreign language. Good language learners are always looking for the ways to enhance their performance in the classroom. The problem with young language learners is that they are sometimes very messy. They are always trying to discover new things. That is why it is essential that teachers let students discover things by themselves because by doing so, they are going to be able to learn more effectively. Besides, in order for learning to take place, students must have their level of anxiety low. That is, they must feel comfortable in the class. That’s why teachers must create a positive learning atmosphere for students to learn as much as possible. Although it is somewhat hard to catch children’s attention, we, teachers, have to look for the ways to have them learn as much as possible and most importantly develop skills. In my recent practicum experience, I encountered many students who at first seemed to be reluctant to learn. Particularly, my students were very nice to me. I can say that they somehow liked me. I just loved being with my students. Sometimes, I felt lost because I could not have control of the class. I sometimes felt I had chosen the wrong profession. But later, I began thinking that becoming successful requires a good attitude. It was absolutely difficult for me to have students pay attention in class mainly because they always wanted to play. I remember in my first class, I wanted to teach a very personalized class; that is, I planned a class for teenagers rather than for children. So, when I got to the classroom and saw my students, I had to change everything. I started to teach without following a lesson plan, so since that moment, I am more self-confident. Now, I am not afraid of being in front of a group of people. Furthermore, I always tried to create a positive classroom atmosphere in order that my students could feel confident enough to develop skills. After going over this teaching practicum, I can say that I am getting ready to become an effective teacher.

SNAPSHOT OF YOUR CURRENT TEACHING PRACTICE

I have just finished my teaching practicum, and I admit that is something amazing. I have worked with children, and I have learned many things from them. At the beginning of the course, we noticed that we had to teach for two months. I was really afraid of doing that because I have always been afraid of talking in front of a group of people. Besides, I thought that was going to be an amazing challenge for me, but I had to face this situation and I did it. I remember that the first day, it was really difficult for me because I was not accustomed to teaching; it was a little stressing for me. I taught my first class and I noticed that it was not that bad. At some point, it was good because I learned many things from my students. I love children and I know that they have certain attitudes that we, as adults, do not have. I really liked to be with my children. I really had a very good relationship with them; they saw me not only as a teacher but also as a friend. I can say that they did love me. I felt it. I remember they hugged me every time they saw me. 

Children are different; some of them are very smart, others seem to be reluctant to learning, and others simply do not want to learn anything. The teacher has to know how to manage the class on order to make learning effective. The teacher also has to be aware of what his or her students’ needs so that he or she will know whether his or her students are learning or not. A very important aspect teachers should not forget is that when a child is trying to tell you something, you have to accept whatever he or she wants to say, so he or she will feel that is part of the class.

Teaching is not only a profession but it is a way of life. We, as teachers, have to face many things when teaching: learning problems, familiar problems, and personal problems. The teacher has to know how to face this kind of situations. If the teacher knows how to manage the class, he or she will know how to face problems more easily creating a very good atmosphere of learning. When I was doing my teaching practicum, I remember that there were some children who do not want to work with others, so it was difficult for me because I had to use some strategies in order to make them learn together. I told them to work with whomever they wanted, and it really worked with some children, but others did not want to work with anyone so I decided to let them work individually because I could not do anything. Children are like that.

Once, I started the class playing a song about animals. I told them to make a circle and we all sang together. It was uncomfortable for me because I am not used to singing in front of people, but anyway I had to step out of my comfort zone. It was a very good moment; we were singing together putting into practice the use of grouping.

This experience has shaped my life. “My children” taught me many things that I will never forget. They taught me how to be happy and how to smile at life without any worries.

 

Moreover, since everybody is different, every person has his or her own style of teaching which we have discovered during our current teaching practicum at kindergarten level. I love teaching; it is one of the most important aspects of my life. I love seeing children working together. I also love talking to them because everyone has his or her own story of life. If you talk to any children, you realized that they say something to you with many details.

They explain a problem to you very carefully. It is something that we, as adults, do not do because we think that if we tell everyone our problems, all the world will know them. But, they do it; no matter what happens. I did love being with children; it was an amazing experience. I have just discovered my own style of teaching. When teaching, I try to focus mainly on my students´ learning. I try to focus on their needs, fears, problems, dreams and some other aspects that are very important in the learning process.

I think I have an amazing ability to understand children and to help them overcome any problem easily. I can say that my own style of teaching can help children develop skills because I have many qualities that may help children learn as much as possible. As a very good practitioner, I have learned that motivation is a very good aspect that every teacher must take into account. Some people think that they can motivate children by giving rewards or prices, but it is not like that. A good teacher knows that motivation includes not only prices or rewards, but also attitudes in the class, behavior and some other things that make learning effective. When I was teaching children, I tried to make my students feel motivated when learning.

When I realized that I had to teach for two months, I thought I was not prepared to teach. But, anyway I taught children and I really enjoyed that experience. While teaching, I remember that there were some days that I did not want to go to teach because I was really tired. I had a lot of work in the university; I also had to study for exams; And Imagine I had to prepare my class. I remember that when I saw my little students every single day at school, I got motivated to start working with them no matter if I was tired. I can say that “my children” (as I called them) were the main motivation to continue teaching. That was great.

In short, becoming a teacher is difficult; you have to go through the learning process in order to get it. My goals as an ELT practitioner are very important because I need to overcome some situations that are still uncomfortable for me. I need to get used to talking in front of a lot of people. I need to be more patient in order to understand students better. I also need to be more organized in order to make learning take place and to make my classes more interesting. To prepare better my classes, I need to know some basic issues about classroom management. In fact, I have learned a lot about it through this great experience, but I do need to learn more in order to become a better teacher. And, I know I will do it by practicing and learning about teaching issues.

  

Some of my observations while I was teaching were:

While you’re teaching or developing an activity you might observe that there are different kinds of talents or abilities in every single student, some students can read really fast, there are some that learn quickly as a teacher is a good idea to take advantage of this abilities, if the children can read faster, read for them or with them, if they learn better by playing use your imagination, play with them in an interactive but at the same time an educative way, the objective of this is take advantage of their abilities and use them for a better learning process.

One thing that I’ve learn at the moment of teaching is that not only the attitude of the students affects at the moment of learning but also teacher’s attitude, how come?

The teacher must create an entertaining and interesting atmosphere if the students are kids, little kids’ attitude is funny, restless and energetic, that means that the teacher that teaches kids must in the same way but in a mature way, he or she must be a person who likes to move, an energetic person who’s ready for anything.

My advice based on my experience

People must know that after the teacher began the classes, he or she must do an analyze of the group of students he or she has, if they are shy, if they are interesting in the class, if they are very talkative, etc.

How is the teacher gong to define what kind of students does he has?

Follow the steps bellow:

First step: Begin with any interactive activity.

Try to make the children move, play or sing by the use of an activity as The hot potato, sing a song or maybe play with toys, play with them if it’s nesesary, after you apply an activity with them move to the next step.

Second step:  Observation, observate how the children react during the activity.

See carefully every single children’s reaction, according to the reaction you can recognize some details in order to understand better they behavior.

Third step: Based on what you saw, draw your own conclutions.

After you saw the behaviorism of the students during the activity, think about what do you need to improve or change in the way you teach them, analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of your teaching classes.

Fourth step: Try to do the classes more interesting.

After you recognize all the different behaviorisms, needs, advantages and flaws of the students search information according to the necessities and interests of the children, according to their educational level, to make the classes more meaningful an interesting for them.

Fourth step: Adapt the way you teach to the way the students learn.

Every student has his or her own way of learn, adapt the way you teach and the way you act while you’re teaching to make them feel more comfortable in your classes, in that way the students will learn more and they will make bonds with the teacher.

By: Raúl Barrera