Reflection unit 1

After days and months of holidays the schools starts and by the beginning of the course  and looking forward to have a nice work class, it’s necessary to establish several thing like for example: rules, routines, relationships, responsibilities, respect, rewards… because when it starts a course students see that suddenly they stay in a class with 30 people more and a teacher, and each one has a way of been, of behave… so the start is like the first impression, we need to make a nice impression and give a nice beginning, so it has to be a great start for great year, giving and scheduling at the fists days the base of the convenience, spectates, habits...

If we look at our classes or at today’s classes we can see that there are around 30 children where each one has her live, maybe with her or his nationality (intercultural classes), with their own ways of been, preferences, intelligences… is because of that, that schools have to develop, try to make an education for students, not an school or an education that students have to adapt themselves, that is what happens in many schools, were the one that is horrible in math’s, literacy, sciences… sometimes are classified like the ones that have a problem to learn, or are not very intelligence, when maybe the problem is that, that kid is good at music or at physical education, and is that what teachers have to investigate, to discover which is the strong point of each student and try to take advantage of that to make the children succeed, while try to teach the other ones; like Howard Gardner try saw as with many other things.

It’s true that is not an easy way of work, but teaching neither, but the ones that really loves her job and teach, I think that is not an extra effort or a workload, because any effort as big at it apparently seems, isn’t anything in compere of the satisfaction of doing well your job or seeing who children learn happy and with great results.

There are lots of ways of teaching but when we remember who was the teacher that we most like, or the classes that we remember satisfactorily are the ones that we participate, the ones that we were involucrate in the learning. This is why we have to try that children came to school happy and with interest of learning new thing; and a great way of doing it is with different resources, playing with their interests, emotions, expectations, and very important: being an active teacher, being  flexible and resourceful.

Some people maybe think that with the curriculum it’s impossible, or that is important to have a book. But the thing is that I’m not saying is that we have to throw  the curriculum, or not working with books, with I pretend to say is that in the frame of the curriculum and with the book adding extra activities, and an active teacher we will have almost the perfect convinacion to make a good learning.

In the following graphic taken from 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom by Carol Read (Macmillan), we can see in an easy way how it has to be the conditions to get great learning results:

And which I would like to focalize in this graphic is that the child is the center of all, and the other things spin around them, one simple thing that not every schools have in considerer. And when with this and the others conditions are considered, it doesn’t matter the age to start learning a new language (a typical discussion in teachers world) because like some studies and authors children have more ability of learning new things in special new languages, making a base of theirs futures knowledge.

Continuing with the teaching skills I’m going to talk about teaching listening and speaking, and I would like to say that teachers have to be a model for them, he or she has to be the first that speaks correctly, and ALWAYS in english in this case (they for many english teachers isn’t an important thing…) so that they get familiar with the language, and also in the near future they will communicate with you in that language. With this and making an parenthesis I would like to comment that by what I have seen and my experience in several schools it’s a good trick to make student thing that you can only can speak that language, because if not they don’t effort to talk it.

Returning to the skills it’s important to create opportunities for them to talk and listen, at the beginning it will be repetitive and very slow but they will use this new language for them naturally, and thinking that the most they listen and starts imitating the sooner they will start speaking, but in their level, not jumping levels children will learn more and faster.

The good thing of teaching children is that one they have more facilities if you teach well, and secondly that they are spontaneous and they like to talk and relate with their partners, and that are grate thing practice speaking, although in occasions when it’s a new thing in special a new language it cost them, but we have to help them, show them how to do it and to get advantage of the ability of participate they have sometimes; always without pressing them to participate or to talk.

Finally I would say that sometimes teaching how to speak or teaching listening is a bit hard but we have to be patient and empathy with them, and congratulate them with any small advance they make because a little learn for you it’s a big one for them. And also I would like to remember that we as teachers or future teachers are models for students, so we have to work had to be the best ones for them and learn with them new thing every day.

Mobbing on I would like to finish talking about the reading and the writing. For some teacher this is the thing most difficult to teach, because they argue that for speaking for example or listening with the continue talking of every day they start to copy, but what they don’t realize is that with the reading and the writing happens the same. The thing is that as the same time children always listen for example’ ’sit down on the chair’’ and we put on that chair a card with the word ‘’chair’’ s/he will finally learn that that thing is ‘’chair’’, and how to write it and read it, because both thing goes by hand.

And know imagine what can happen if we put several cards around the class, in the places dedicates to an especial thing or job, for example the doctors place… and this is for the habitual thing, so to this we have to add specials classes and vocabulary and phonics, or with that’s great books that they love, with big words and lots of pictures, that books that without the knowing it or with your excellent work they learn and get familiar with the writing and reading.

The thing is not if it’s more or less difficult, the thing is if you want to work hard or teach by the ‘’easy’’ way. And when you teach remember that when they write something they have made a lot of effort and with grate intentions, so remember that first listen to them and later and without being rude or inappropriate try to correct, but you have to know how and when.

To conclude I would like to say that we work or are going to work with children, we are going to be part them like future citizens, students and persons, so please work hard and enjoy that work that one day you chose. The principal’s English skills are not easy to teach by first, but are essential, are the base of their children, so don’t make them think in the future that they don’t have a good base skills because their teacher didn’t teach them well.