Knowing the School, Knowing other Ways II

This week has been very intense in all senses. Not only I have gone through my first teaching experience, but I have also participated in some other projects taking place in IES Bernat el Ferrer. The objective: improving my knowledge of the educational project of this school and knowing other strategies and teaching dynamics from other teachers.
A couple of the projects I have attended have a lot to do with the Foreign Languages Department. In the subjects Arts and Crafts in ESO and English in Computer Education in Professional Cicles Formatius, the language of communication and interaction is English. But there is an important different between these two subjects: Arts and Crafts in ESO is in English, whereas the content in the English class in Computer Education in Professional Cicles Formatius is about computers. In the first case, this cross-content education means a further exposure of the students to the English language. When they interact in class, English becomes a means of communication about and around the content of the Arts and Crafts. They are learning English and making use of their listening, speaking and interaction skills in a natural way, indirectly, through learning other contents. In the Cicles Formatius English class, on the other hand, it seems that the only way to keep the students interest in the English language is focusing the class on the content they are there to learn about: computer systems. No English grammar, no other contents.
In the Arts and Craft class, most of my students in groups B2 and D2 were there. So I have felt confident in the observation of this class, moving here and there with the teacher listening to her conversations with the students and having a look to what they had been drawing. I have not been able to participate much in the class, as my knowledge about Arts and Crafts is in fact very low. I must confess, anyway, I have thought it is admirable and brave of both the teacher and the students to carry out this subject in English. Despite some tries of a couple of students to make themselves clear in Catalan, what the teacher has refused, the class and its interaction was completely in English (excepting the interaction student-student). The structure in the class has been very similar to my tutor’s: first, she has checked attendance and homework delivery. Afterwards, she has proceeded to present the drawing activity they had to work on during the class and she has taken note of who had brought the right tools to carry on this activity. The dynamic of the class, on the other hand, was different to my tutor’s: instead of theory and exercises, the students of Arts and Crafts have been on task during the whole class. When the students are on task with my tutor, the work is usually silent and individual. In the Arts and Crafts class, despite working individually too, the working environment has been generally loud (some students were even wearing earphones, what I could personally never tolerate in a class of mine). But each teacher has his/her own ways, and they are all equally respectable. On the wall, a very interesting drawing with four instructions calling for discipline: I will not interrupt someone else’s speech, I will follow the instructions of my teacher, I will cooperate with my counterparts and I will respect the others. This could summarize the discipline I would expect in a class.
The English class in Cicles Formatius has been all of an experience too. According to the teacher, most of these students haven’t passed the ESO examinations and some of them have registered in Computer Education because they simply like computers, without any other firm vocation. As she had warned me, both the dynamic and the climate in the class have been very different to what I had seen so far in ESO: excepting four of five quiet students sitting at the front of the class and some others who were trying to follow the teachers’ explanations, four students have been loud all the time, interrupting the teacher and the others when they were speaking. They were not listening and one of them was even chatting on his computer or designing new desktops all through the class... What I would call an absolute lack of respect and discipline and an unsuitable learning and working environment. The teacher has made several calls for discipline and tried to keep the boys calm. She has asked them to turn off their monitors, to be silent and to be respectful with their other colleagues, all without losing his temper. But they have ignored her and continued their own way. After the class, the teacher has confessed me she is not there to be a policewoman. She is there to teach those students who want to learn and it wouldn’t be fare for the other students to waste her and their time paying attention or focusing on those students. They might be there, according to the teacher’s words, because they are obliged by their parents to continue with their studies. Analyzing this experience, I have realized how important it is to set up and negotiate with the students a series of disciplinary rules at the beginning of the course. Afterwards, fighting has no sense and your only solution is to carry on the best possible way.
Another project in which I have participated is the Newcomers’ class. The teacher has been very gentle to sit with me for about 20 minutes before the class started. He has explained me when and how this project was born both in Catalonia and in IES Bernat el Ferrer. The Newcomers’ Project is part of the LICS programme (Plan for Language, Interculturization and Social Cohesion), whose main objective is addressing diversity. Through the Newcomers’ class, the schools try to guarantee a quick integration of the foreign students in the school for their educational success. This information is all new to me. When I was a student of Secondary School fifteen years ago, these projects did not exist. We did not have the immigration levels we have nowadays in our country. Those schools which have this programme accepted by the Catalan Government receive an economical aid and they are assigned an additional teacher. The maximum time a student can take part in the Newcomers’ class is 24 months. After this time, it is understood the student can attend the classes in a normal way. This teacher I have interviewed is the coordinator of the Newcomers’ class in IES Bernat el Ferrer. To be a coordinator of such a project you must have a fix post in the corresponding school. The class I have attended was with only two students, one from Cuba in 3rd of ESO and the other one from Moldavia in 4th of ESO. The dynamic of the class has been a real working environment. The teacher has firstly explained some Catalan grammar issues which are going to be assessed in an exam they both will have to pass in short. The teachers taking part in the Newcomer’s project must be in complete coordination with all the teachers of the students attending this class. After this grammar point, the teacher had prepared a couple of activities in order to improve their vocabulary in Catalan. It has been nice to see how both students made the effort to speak Catalan all through the class, though sometimes they had the need to resort to the Spanish language. Furthermore, it has been curious to see, independently of their levels, how the students had difficulties in learning different words, particularly those which were not similar in their mother tongue. The experience has been very enriching as a whole and it has made me realize of the importance of addressing diversity: not only at a school level, but also in our classrooms. What would be the role of these students in the schools without a newcomers’ class? Better to prevent from conflicts, they come already on their own!

First Steps

Thought and done. The week started as I expected. When we went to class with group B2, my tutor had forgotten her textbook in the department, so she asked me if I could start the class alone while she was going to look for it. Myself in front of 16 students for the first time, deep breath, a rush of energy coming up from my stomach and go! My tutor was out of the class for around 15 minutes, during which we started to do some new exercises all together in class. What a dynamic! The kids were very motivated and willing to participate all the time, even those girls who always speak non-stop were trying to answer their best. Loud voice, high intonation and very clear pronunciation, this all came by itself. Expression and non-verbal language came out from inside naturally too. The experience was extraordinary, as if I had been doing it all my life. When my tutor came in the class, my mouth was totally dry from the excitement and the unexpected circumstances I had been gone through. At the end of the class, my tutor suggested me to prepare the following class if I had enjoyed this experience. More than welcome, how could I refuse such an invitation!
And so it has been. I have been one whole lesson in front of 16 students on my own, while my tutor was observing me, taking some recordings of the experience and enjoying my class sitting at the back of the classroom. I have started with an introductory presentation, as it was my first full class. In this presentation I have asked them for their participation whenever they had any question, insisting on putting up their hands anytime they wanted to speak. I have tried to humanize me too, as it was my first class as a teacher ever, just in case they observed I was nervous: because I was. And my mouth, it was dry again. But it has only been during the first five minutes. After that, all has gone smoothly. The objective of the class was the students learnt the difference between the past simple and the past continuous, so I have started presenting this grammar point together view a review of the present simple and the present continuous too. As in the previous class, loud voice, high intonation, clear pronunciation and corporal expression have come out alone in a natural way, I have not had to worry much about this. I was confident with the issue I as teaching too, so this all has been very positive to be able to focus more on the students needs than in my own teaching procedures and strategies: In the middle of my explanations, among grammar and examples I have been writing in the blackboard, all of a sudden, when I have turned around, I have seen they were all very serious. I got a thrill coming out form the inside. Being such a social and dynamic class, I have thought I was boring them. But, then, I have realized their eyes were wide open looking at the blackboard, with complete concentration analyzing all what I had just written on the blackboard. The students were paying attention to me! The dynamic of the class was working. Therefore, I have decided to concentrate on the objective of the lesson and making sure all the students were understanding my explanations. I have approached to them and asked them if they had any doubts while they were doing some exercises (especially to those I know they have a lower level of English and have more difficulties to follow the classes). When we have corrected them, asking one by one and in sitting order, I have noticed all of them had understood this grammar point correctly: objective achieved!
At the end of the class, my tutor has informed she was very satisfied with the development of the class. The only thing to mention was about how to keep the girls at the back of the class quiet and silent during the exercises. All the rest had run perfect.
After the experiences of this week with group B2, my tutor and I have had a meeting to speak about the didactic unit I will have to implement with group D2. Their next unit will be about the present perfect and the difference with the past simple, as well as the use of related words such as already, since, for, during, ever, just, yet, etc. She has made some suggestions to me. Then, I have come out with the idea of using Jules Verne’s character Willy Fog and a power point with photographs of different countries of the world as the starting point for my lesson plan. I still have to organize it all, but at least I know where to start from. And I must admit it has not been easy. On the other hand, my tutor has suggested carrying out an activity, which would be very useful for both me and our D2 students: doing a presentation of both my student and professional life in the next class would let me feel more confident with group D2 before implementing my didactic unit. At the same time, it could be very encouraging for them to keep on working hard and to make them understand the importance of learning languages nowadays. It has been in fact an excellent suggestion, so no doubt I will be implementing this next week!