Last Journal Third Period

“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.” 

Teaching has been a challenge for me every single day during this semester even when there are many things related to grammar structures or classroom management that as a student and as a former teacher I already know. Teaching will always be a challenge for me because one never knows when the students are going to be in the mood to learn. However, as a teacher is important to remember that we have to be ready to face whatever thing that may occur during the class and of course a teacher must do his/her best always.

This was my last class teaching at Intermediate English I, and I can say that there were many things that I learned from this level. One of the important things that I learned during this period was that it is important to establish a good relationship with the students because one never knows if one is going to meet with the same group again. I learned that is very important to establish a good rapport because when students feel confidence to ask and clarify their doubts they learn more.

I consider that I was a lucky girl because I had to teach grammar since my first class until the last one. I learned something really important. We don’t have to complain about teaching grammar, we have to look new ways to teach it. This last class I tried to teach grammar in a new different way. This time I had to teach adverbs of manner. There were about 10 rules, so I decided to prepare the rules with their examples. I prepared some cards with numbers from 1 to 8; the students had to explain the rule corresponding to the number of card they had chosen. I gave the students 5 minutes to read and understand the rule and to create their own example using the adverbs of manner of their rule. After the 5 minutes, the students passed to the front. They explained the rules, made the changes to the adverbs, and finally they wrote their own example. It was a nice experience because they were very focused on their task. They considered this activity very interesting and they said that they understood better.

I thank God because even when teaching to groups that come late to class, or groups that don’t like to participate is very hard, I have had good experience and I have gotten good results.

After a whole year of teaching practicum, I feel very satisfied with the work I have done and I feel happy to know that teaching is a process that never stops and that I will never do things perfectly; however, I know that every class I teach is a new chance to improve all those things that I have done wrong. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to learn new things trough this teaching experience.

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”