Hot Reflection #3, Third period

Hot reflection paper #3 (My third class teaching adults in Diplomado at UNICAES)

Describe à It was Thursday 12, 2016 and I was ready to start the class. I have prepared great material for the class but I have to wait THIRTY minutes to start the class. I was so disappointed because I think that they do not appreciate the effort the practitioners do. At eleven thirty, I started the class with only two students; believe me that it was so hard and sad. After some minutes the third and last students entered to the class so I taught the class with only three students. The teacher was seating on his desk just observing my development. Furthermore, I liked the student's participation because they asked and gave their opinion about the topic. I used a chart, markers, worksheets and masking tape.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will try to use the same material or maybe to do it simpler.
Interpret I can say that it was a really good experience but I did not like the way they are that they assist to classes when they want to do it.	Generalize  Based on what I already know about teaching is that it is a big and serious problem when students do not assist to every class.
I can suggest to the students form this level that they have to be more responsible with the assistance.	Based on what I observed, I think students generally get lost when they do not assist to the preview classes.	In future lessons, I will try to encourage students to be more responsible.
I think that if a student wants to learn, he or she will do his-her best.	Based on what I observed, I think students generally arrived late. On the other hand, they worked but sometimes I did not see them motivated.	In future experiences I will also include more written practices because they do not like to stand up and do something different.

Hot Reflection #2, Third period

Hot reflection paper #2 (My second class teaching adults in Diplomado at UNICAES)

Describe à It was Monday May 02nd, and I was prepared to start my second 50-minutes class at UNICAES. This time two students arrived on time, but I had to wait some minutes in order to give students some extra time to arrive. I started the class at 11:15 a.m. with three students. This class was better than the previous class because the students were motivated, and I could see the desire of them to participate in the class. The teacher was sitting near the windows just evaluating the development of the class. I was relaxed when I started the class because the previous class I created a good rapport with my students. I started the class with a good activity about vocabulary so students had to stand up and choose a paper in order to paste it on the board next to the right definition of it. After, the students did a fill in the blanks activity, and I was so impressed because the three students were active and motivated developing the activities. At 11:30 a.m. another student arrived to the class. I tried to incorporate her in the activity in order to make her part of the class. I really liked this class because I could notice the students' understanding and the students' response in every activity. At the end of the class, the students were happy because they understood the topic. For this class, I used authentic material to present to the students the new vocabulary, and it helped them to understand in an easy way. For this class, I used sheets of paper, the board, markers, worksheets, eraser and masking tape. I really liked this particular class. J
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will try to improve the material that I used for this class because I noticed that this material was really useful for developing this topic.
Interpret This class was totally different from the previous one because the students were motivated participating in the activities.	Generalize Based on what I already know about teaching is that the teacher has to create a good rapport in the classroom with the students in order to bring confidence to them.
I can say that those three students that I had in the class were self-motivated to learn and put English into practice.	Based on what I observed, I think that students had the potential to learn English, but the problem is that just three of seven students attend to the classes.	In future lessons, I will try to encourage students to assist at all the classes.
I think that it is important to create a good rapport in the class because in that way students tend to produce better the language.	I think that the students produce better the language when they feel comfortable in the classroom.	In future experiences I will implement more speaking activities in order to see what students can produce.
This time I did not explain grammar. I just did a review of the topic in discourse in order to see the students understanding.	I noticed that students liked the class because they enjoyed every activity. Also, some students told me that they really liked how I designed the class.	In future experiences for sure that I will continue using authentic material and speaking activities in order to make the students part of the class.

Hot Reflection #1, Third period

Hot reflection paper #1 (My first class teaching adults in Diplomado at UNICAES)

Describe à It was Thursday around 11:00 a.m. when I was ready to start teaching my first 50-minutes class in diplomado at UNICAES, but there was a problem because no one was in the classroom so I had to wait some minutes for some of them to arrive. After fifteen minutes, three students arrived to the classroom, and I started the class with those three students. It was so different for me because it was the first time that I started a class with only three students. By the time was passing, the rest of the students arrived to the classroom. There are just seven students in that classroom. The teacher was sitting near the windows paying attention to the development of the class. When I started the class I was nervous because it was my first time teaching adults. The students seemed interested in the class. I had to teach the topic “causative verbs,” and I created an interesting and interactive chart in order to facilitate the students' learning. In this particular class, the students are very intelligent, and there is a guy who all the time is asking. It does not matter if the teacher gives him a very good answer; it is not enough for him. In my class, it was a real problem because I was explaining the topic, and he was asking a lot also when we as a class were checking the result of a worksheet he was asking a lot if he can use pass or present in the answers. I answered all his questions, but it did not help too much because he asked me the same question again. The rest of the students understood so quickly the new topic. On the other hand, the students were interested in every activity I developed because he took some picture of the material I used for the class. For this class, I used sheets of paper, the board, markers, worksheets, eraser, a chart and masking tape. Thus, I really liked to teach in this new level because I really know that it is a big challenge for me, but I will do my best.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will use the same material that I used this time but I will try to implement new and easy way to practice the topic in discourse.
Interpret This level is so different from the previous ones that I had to teach because in this level the students are Licenciados, and it is a challenge for the teacher to teach.	Generalize Based on what I already know about teaching is that adults learn in a slower way.
I can say that some students from this level do not like too much English and it is a big problem that affect the student’s motivation.	Based on what I observed, I think students are motivated but they are studying English because it is a requirement of the university.	In future lessons I will try to encourage students to feel the desire to learn English.
I think that it is important to establish a relationship between teachers – students to increase the confidence in the classroom.	I believe that when teachers and students establish a relationship, it increases the rapport in the classroom.	In future experiences I will take more time in order to know more things about my students and in that way I can adapt the activities according their likes.
The grammar part was so interesting in the way I developed it because I used an interactive chart which was very useful for the understanding of the students. here you can see the chart that I used.	I noticed that all the students understood the topic very easy because of the visual aids that I used. Also, I noticed that some students were taking picture because they like how the chart looked like.	In future experiences for sure that I will use interactive chart because I like the students response when they see all those kind of things.

Hot reflection #3, Second period.

Hot reflection paper #3 (My third time to teach English wit real students)

Describe à It was around 6:45 a.m. and I was ready to start my last 50 minutes-class for the second period. This class was so challenging for me because I had to work just with two readings, and it was kind of difficult for me. When I started the class, I noticed that all the students were in the classroom. When I started working with the first reading activity, I was a little nervous because the students were kind of bored, but as they were developing the activity they became in a different mood and the class was really nice. Also, as soon as they finished the first activity, I asked them to develop the second reading activity in which I planned a pre, during and post activity. I noticed the students were motivated, and they were working perfectly. The teacher was sitting next to the desk writing some comments about my performance of that day. I really liked the students´ attitude because they showed me their desire to participate in each activity. On the other hand, some students had some problems with the vocabulary of the readings because they found some unknown words, and it made the activity more interesting for the teacher and for the students. At the end I noticed that the class was really good because the students produce what they had already been taught during the class. In this class, I used sheet of paper, the students' book. In this class the rapport was really good because of the interaction between students and me, the teacher.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will try to present the same activities but with a different methodology for example; using technology.
Interpret I can say that the students are so intelligent because they learn so fast.	Generalize  Based on what I already know about teaching is that teachers have to adapt the activities according the kind of students in the classroom.
I know that at the beginning of the class I was a little nervous, but it is something normal.	Based on what I observed, students feel more comfortable when they are working on something of their interests. Also, students work better when the task in according to their level.	In future lessons, I will try to be more dynamic with the activities because in this class I could not be so dynamic because of the kind of the activities.
There are not perfect activities because in every activity will happen bad and good things.	According on what I know about teaching is that the teacher has to be preparing for unexpected things.	In future experiences I will be ready because in this class when a student asked me about an unknown word that he found in the reading, I was lost because even I did not know the meaning.

Hot Reflection #2, Second Period

Hot reflection paper #2 (My second time to teach English with real students )

Describe à It was around 6:45 a.m. and I was ready to start the second 50-minutes class at UNICAES. I was starting the class when I saw three new students entering to the classroom so they were students from the afternoon group, and they were asked to attend to that class that day because their tutor was not able to teach that day. I was totally relaxed because I already knew the group but when I saw the new students I got a little nervous because I did not know them. Also, I have not gotten extra practice for them, but I implemented another technique. The teacher was seating close to the door writing some aspects about the class. The students were on time seating on their desks, waiting to start the class. This class was interesting because the whole class was participating. I developed a reading activity where students had to read, analyzed and create some recommendations according what they have read. I thought that this activity could be a little boring for the students because of the different learning styles of each student, but it was not because the students were involved into the activity, and I noticed that they enjoyed it a lot. After they had read and analyzed the reading, they had to give recommendations in the orally way. They are good and intelligent students. This was an interesting activity not only for students but also for the teacher because in this way he can continue implementing this kind of activity. In this class, I used sheets of paper, the students' book and a chart. I had a good communication with my students because we interacted a lot so it increased the rapport creating a good environment of the class.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will try to make activities a little more interesting; creating material for them.
Interpret I can say that the students from this class are so amazing because they show their interest about the class and every activity.	Generalize Based in what I already know about teaching is that teachers have to plan and create interesting activities to develop during the class in order to motivate students to get involve into the class.
I know that I was nervous in a moment of the class when the three new students entered to the classroom because I did not have extra material for them.	Based on what I observed, I think that the teacher could tell me about that change they have made with the other teacher from the afternoon group in order to get prepare with the material.	In future lessons I will try to get extra material because in this class I had some problems at the moment to make students work.
The students' motivation is essential for every class because if the students are not motivated or even they do not feel the desire to work, the teacher will have some problem which ones will affect the development of the class.	Based on what I know about teaching is that teachers can make many things in order to get students motivated. Also, teachers have to try to avoid problems that can affect the class because those problems affect the students' learning.	The next time I teach this lesson, I will try to implement a very good activity at the beginning of the class in order to get students more active that usual.
In every class or activity can happens something unexpected, and in this class I was the lucky one with the material that I have prepared but I implemented another way to make students work.	I believe that the development of this activity helped my students to analyze and be critical at the moment to read.	In future experiences I will also include another kind of activities in order to let me make and deal with unexpected things.

Hot Reflection #1, Second Period

Hot reflection paper #1 (My second time to teach English with real students)

Describe à It was Friday 11th when I was ready to teach my first class for the second period. I had to teach just to ten advanced students so it was around 6:45 a.m. when I was ready to start the class at UNICAES but just two students were into the classroom, and I had to wait some minutes while the rest of the students arrived to the classroom. In this time, I had to develop the topic “Subjunctive Mood.” I was a little nervous when I started the class but I was confident in myself. I remembered that the teacher was sitting in his desk near to the door; writing about my performance while I was developing the class. The students were interested in the class while we were developing an interesting activity. I decided to introduce the topic using a video, and I noticed that the students enjoyed the way we did it. I started the activity and played the video, the students' response was very satisfactory for me because they showed me that they understood what the topic was about. This time I did not have any inconvenient with my new students. I arranged the seating using the horse shoe, and it helped me to increase the rapport between students and me. In this class, I used a computer, speakers, LCD projector, charts, and sheets of paper in order to involve my students in the activities and make the class more dynamic. In addition, the use of this material helped to guide the class and to know the different learning styles that my students had.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will try to implement new and similar techniques that the ones I used in this class because I noticed that it really worked with this group of students that I have. I will implement a different way of give direction in order to facilitate their learning.
Interpret I can say that my students are so intelligent, and they are focused on what they want to learn because I noticed their interest in the subject. They followed and understood all the direction that I gave them about the activities.	Generalize Based on what I already know about teaching I think that students understand and respond according the level of English they have, and I noticed that my group responded very well at all the activities that I assigned to them.
I know that I was nervous in a moment of the class; especially when I was starting it but while the time was passing I felt more comfortable because I could notice that my student understood and started participating.	Based on what I observed, I think students generally participate in the activities because they feel comfortable, and interested in developing them. In addition, I have to learn how to calm down when I get nervous in front of a class.	In the future lessons I will try to control myself when I get nervous in front of a class. Also, I will try to implement new techniques in order to motivate students to participate.
Follow students' likes and interests is very important for the development of the class because in that way students pay more attention to the class although not all the time it is possible to follow students' likes and interests.	Based on what I already know about make the class more interesting is that not all the time I as a teacher can follow the students' likes and interests because if I do it, the main objective of the class can be lost.	In future experiences I will try to implement different kind of activities in order to facilitate the learning process.
When I develop the activity using a video, I could notice that students were motivated because of the activity. I noticed that the vocabulary that appeared in the video help them to understand the following activity.	I believe that when the teacher tries to implement technology in his ∕ her classes, the result can be better that using the traditional way to teach; using just the board.	In future experiences I will also include some activities where the students can implement their knowledge about technology in order to get them familiar with it.

Hot Reflexion #3, First Period

Hot reflection paper #3 (My third class in English Access Program)

Describe à It was 3:00 p.m., and I was ready to start my 50-minutes class at UNICAES in the English Access Program. This was my third and last time teaching in this level. I had to do a review about the last topics studied before that were “there is and there are” also ”demonstratives (this, these, that, those).” In this class, I decided to give a different class from the last two classes that I have already given, and I think that my class and all my effort worked very well because as a teacher I achieved my objective. The teacher was seating taking notes about my performance, and it made me feel a little bit nervous. Then, I started the class with a good warm-up, and I noticed that my students enjoyed it a lot. Then, I explain the grammar part. The class before I have used very good materials, very good aids also seating arrangement but this time I decided to do it differently to vary the class. After the grammar part, I assigned practice to my students. I noticed that my students understood the review because they did the practice by themselves. I tried to make the activities a little bit more attractive for the students. I interacted with all my students, and I think we created a good environment.
Analyze à		Plan Actionà So, in the future, I will make some changes in order to facilitate students´ learning.
Interpret I can say that I am happy because I explain very well and the students understood.	Generalize  Based on what I already know about students´ learning is that students learn better when they are interested on the topic.
I know that on some moments of the lesson I was a little nervous, and I know that I have to regulate the TTT and let students talk more than me.	Based on what I observed, I think that I talked more than my students. My students participated in every activity, but they had to produce more.	In the future lesson I will implement more practice to encourage student to speak more and produce the language.
The students´ understanding is the most important fact that the teacher has to take into consideration at the moment to explain a topic or simple give directions.	Based on what I know about students´ learning is that the teacher has to carefully observe the students´ response. Also, At the moment of giving instructions the teacher has to make them as simple as possible.	The next time I teach this lesson, I will practice giving instructions because in that way students can understand easily and work better.
In every class happens good and bad things. I consider that my class was good, but I know that I made some mistakes for example, the use of the board. But, in general the students understood because they developed all the activities by themselves.	I believe that the development of all the activities that I already used in this class can help my students a lot because with those activities I could see how much my students have learned.	In future experiences I will also include more speaking activities in order to know how much the students can produce. Also, I will improve the visual aids because I already know that I all the students have different kind of learning.