My Great Experience in Teaching Practicum II

The Teaching Practicum II with teens has been a great experience for me since I learned so many things from different people; things that I am sure will be totally helpful to my profession as an English teacher. At the beginning, my friend Ingrid and I were in charge of a group of students which started with the presence of 9 students. Then, it decreased to 8 students because one of them only arrived one day. It was during the first five weeks of classes.  As in the groups the number of students went down, it was decided to have the groups joined; therefore, our group was joined to Gisselt, Monica, and Cristela’s  group which only had around 5 students. However, by that time some of our students did not arrive anymore, so the joined group ended up with only 9 students in total. As a matter of fact, it was the same quantity of students that we had at the mere beginning of the classes, but with different students. We taught lessons during ten weeks and throughout the ten weeks that we had to teach, I had the opportunity to teach around 11 hours; thus, I will describe some of the most important moments that occurred during my teaching hours.

One of the most important moments to me was the first day in which I had to teach since I did not how the students were going to react at the moment in which I said something, I was so nervous. Nevertheless, I started the class so relaxed that my nervousness was not noted. This moment was important because I realized that I was able to do a good and that my students even though it was not easy for them to understand me, after some repetitions and modeling they were able to do it. I felt really happy when I saw that they were doing as it was expected. I not only felt happy because of the results that I got, but also I learned to trust myself in every single moment of my life because I can reach as many things as I want because I have the capability to do it.   

Another important moment of this experience was the time in which the observer teacher arrived to my class. I never imagined how helpful it would be, I just thought that it was neither necessary nor helpful to have someone there when this person could make us to be even more nervous as we used to be in every class. However, when this class was over, I completely changed my mind since I noticed that she started pointing out exactly in the good aspects and in the ones in which I had to improve. I really liked her help because without any doubt her comments were what I needed to hear in order to improve or keep what I had done in that class. Thus, the following class I tried to be focused in all aspects I was been told previously. As a result, I reached my expectations to improve them because when I met the observer, she told me that I had improved, and of course told me new comments and suggestions.  In this way, I improved and I changed some of the things that were not good in my teachings since every comment that I heard from the different observers I had, I kept them on my mind until as I was able to overcome them. Now, I can say that I am really thankful with them because they were who made those moments significant and meaningful to me.  

Finally, other moment that was most important to me was every time that the production part of a lesson finished. It was very important to me because in there I could see the result of my effort during the class. In that part, it was said if the objectives were achieved or not, and every time that they were achieved, I felt so happy because I could know whether I had done a good job or not.  Also, it made me feel motivated because I knew that my effort was not in vane and that I could

continue doing it if a proposed it in that way. As a result, it was only one time which my objective was not reached; however, it made me to work harder for the next times, so every time that I plan a lesson my main goal is to reach my objective. Therefore, I had to think in the most accurate activities which can be interesting and helpful for having the students to produce something.

To sum up, this teaching practicum has been one of the best and most significant experiences of my student’s life because I learned so many meaningful things that without any doubt will be such a great help when teaching any kind of students. During these ten weeks, I could grow up as a teacher, and for that I am really thankful not only with those observer teachers who helped me a lot, but also with my teacher Yanira Peña, who has been not only an ideal help in my whole major but also she has been an inspirer who, in a way, made my way to go in order to be who, so far, I am.

 In addition, if I had to choose who I want to teach without thinking that much, I will choose teens because of this experience and because I really enjoyed teaching to them. They are great!!!!!