Following my CAP teacher’s instructions, I contacted via email the tutor I have been assigned for the CAP practicum experience and we arranged to meet today at 12pm. Just arriving, it has not taken me long to realize things have changed considerably since my old times at Secondary School: the school was locked, obviously for safety reasons. I had heard a lot about this on the news some years ago, but I had never had the chance to check if this was certain. So, I have had to ring a bell and after a short while waiting for the door to be opened, they let me in. I have parked my motorbike in the parking area, then, I have started to look for the main entrance. Wrong all the time. I would have imagined it would be located next the parking area, but the school has two totally different access roads: the one I used for vehicles, up the hill, at the back side of the school, and then the pedestrian access too, facing Molins de Rei and the Llobregat valley.
When I have arrived to the main entrance thanks to the indications of one of the teachers I have found on my way, the door was locked again. I have had to ring another bell and the concierge has opened it for me. I have informed him I had a meeting with my tutor and, while he was calling her, I made my way to the toilette. They were locked too. I have had to go back to the concierge to ask for the key without making any making any comment or question and then I have headed for my tutor´s department, on the first corridor to left. There I have met my tutor. She was waiting for me, working on the department's computer.
We have had a meeting for around one hour more or less, we have introduced ourselves and then we have started speaking about the Foreign Languages Department, about IES Bernat el Ferrer, the curriculum and the courses and levels of her students.
The Foreign Language Department is located inside the Language Department, together with other language teachers such as Spanish and Catalan. They are in total 18 teachers there. In the Foreign Language Department there are five teachers: four of them are teaching English and one of them is teaching French. The Head of the Department rotates every year between my tutor and a colleague of her. She is not the Head of the Department this year.
Oh yes, things have changed a lot since I was a Secondary School student, back in year 1993! When my tutor has started explaining me the different courses and levels of her students, we have both soon noticed there was a piece of missing information there for me. I had heard about the LOGSE and the LOE and the introduction of the compulsory Secondary School education until the age of 16. But I didn’t know the old division of the students into Arts and Science from the age of 14, as it was in the times I was a secondary school student, had disappeared. My tutor has explained me there are now what they call “instrumental subjects” such as Spanish, Catalan, Mathematics and English, which are taught in flexible groups organized by the different existing levels in each course of ESO. Therefore, there are not only classified per year of ESO (groups 11, 12, 13 for 1st of ESO, 21, 22, 23 for 2nd of ESO, 31, 32, 33 for 3rd of ESO and 41, 42, 43 for 4th of ESO), but they are also organized in flexible groups for these “instrumental subjects” according to their level. This is B1, B2, D1, D2, where B1 has the lowest level and D2 the highest level of English. They all have 3 hours of English per week. My tutor is basically teaching in 3rd year of ESO this year: she teaches the four above mentioned levels in 3rd of ESO and only group D2 in 1st of ESO. She has also explained me this first semester finishes on the 5th of December. The assessment meeting will take place on the 11th and 12th of December, then my tutor has to leave on an inspection trip. Therefore, as we have only 6 weeks to carry out the practicum, we have agreed I will first attend, observe and assist in one class of each of her groups and afterwards I will follow two groups instead of one: B2 and D2 of 3rd of ESO. Then, I will attend to the assessment meetings of these two groups too. As the tutor of group 31, I will attend a tutorship classes. Then, a department’s meeting, a tutors’ meeting and a teachers’ meeting too. Half of group D2 goes once per week with an English speaking teacher too. She is an Erasmus student and she is studying Spanish and Catalan in England. My tutor has introduced her to me and we have arranged to attend to one of her classes. She has introduced me a couple more of colleagues of the Foreign Languages’ Department. So, I have been able to arrange to be present in a couple of their Batxillerat classes too. IES Bernat el Ferrer has a Newcomers Welcome Program too, has my tutor explained me. I will try to do my best to attend to one of these meetings too.
To finish our meeting today, my tutor has informed me she is using two didactic units in 3rd of ESO. Oxford Spotlight 3 for the B2 group and English Alive 3 for group D2, both by the Oxford University Press. My tutor has provided me with a copy of each of them to check at home and have arranged to meet next Thursday the 30th for the first observation class. This has been my first approach to my CAP Practicum and I am very satisfied. My tutor seems to be very active and dynamic, a great professional, always a smile on her face…. I am sure I will be able to learn a lot from her. I must admit I have been lucky with this assignment.
When I have arrived to the main entrance thanks to the indications of one of the teachers I have found on my way, the door was locked again. I have had to ring another bell and the concierge has opened it for me. I have informed him I had a meeting with my tutor and, while he was calling her, I made my way to the toilette. They were locked too. I have had to go back to the concierge to ask for the key without making any making any comment or question and then I have headed for my tutor´s department, on the first corridor to left. There I have met my tutor. She was waiting for me, working on the department's computer.
We have had a meeting for around one hour more or less, we have introduced ourselves and then we have started speaking about the Foreign Languages Department, about IES Bernat el Ferrer, the curriculum and the courses and levels of her students.
The Foreign Language Department is located inside the Language Department, together with other language teachers such as Spanish and Catalan. They are in total 18 teachers there. In the Foreign Language Department there are five teachers: four of them are teaching English and one of them is teaching French. The Head of the Department rotates every year between my tutor and a colleague of her. She is not the Head of the Department this year.
Oh yes, things have changed a lot since I was a Secondary School student, back in year 1993! When my tutor has started explaining me the different courses and levels of her students, we have both soon noticed there was a piece of missing information there for me. I had heard about the LOGSE and the LOE and the introduction of the compulsory Secondary School education until the age of 16. But I didn’t know the old division of the students into Arts and Science from the age of 14, as it was in the times I was a secondary school student, had disappeared. My tutor has explained me there are now what they call “instrumental subjects” such as Spanish, Catalan, Mathematics and English, which are taught in flexible groups organized by the different existing levels in each course of ESO. Therefore, there are not only classified per year of ESO (groups 11, 12, 13 for 1st of ESO, 21, 22, 23 for 2nd of ESO, 31, 32, 33 for 3rd of ESO and 41, 42, 43 for 4th of ESO), but they are also organized in flexible groups for these “instrumental subjects” according to their level. This is B1, B2, D1, D2, where B1 has the lowest level and D2 the highest level of English. They all have 3 hours of English per week. My tutor is basically teaching in 3rd year of ESO this year: she teaches the four above mentioned levels in 3rd of ESO and only group D2 in 1st of ESO. She has also explained me this first semester finishes on the 5th of December. The assessment meeting will take place on the 11th and 12th of December, then my tutor has to leave on an inspection trip. Therefore, as we have only 6 weeks to carry out the practicum, we have agreed I will first attend, observe and assist in one class of each of her groups and afterwards I will follow two groups instead of one: B2 and D2 of 3rd of ESO. Then, I will attend to the assessment meetings of these two groups too. As the tutor of group 31, I will attend a tutorship classes. Then, a department’s meeting, a tutors’ meeting and a teachers’ meeting too. Half of group D2 goes once per week with an English speaking teacher too. She is an Erasmus student and she is studying Spanish and Catalan in England. My tutor has introduced her to me and we have arranged to attend to one of her classes. She has introduced me a couple more of colleagues of the Foreign Languages’ Department. So, I have been able to arrange to be present in a couple of their Batxillerat classes too. IES Bernat el Ferrer has a Newcomers Welcome Program too, has my tutor explained me. I will try to do my best to attend to one of these meetings too.
To finish our meeting today, my tutor has informed me she is using two didactic units in 3rd of ESO. Oxford Spotlight 3 for the B2 group and English Alive 3 for group D2, both by the Oxford University Press. My tutor has provided me with a copy of each of them to check at home and have arranged to meet next Thursday the 30th for the first observation class. This has been my first approach to my CAP Practicum and I am very satisfied. My tutor seems to be very active and dynamic, a great professional, always a smile on her face…. I am sure I will be able to learn a lot from her. I must admit I have been lucky with this assignment.
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