Week 1

My experience while time is running.

Living in a foreign country is a special experience that makes you feeling either exited or
sad, it depends on how you want to live it. For example the culture shock is the reaction
we have when we live in a new place and we have to face some cultural differences that
cause us discomfort, especially for newcomers. Normally, when many things are different
from our culture, we can feel tired, sad, angry, or even lose sleep or get sick.

Here in Costa Rica, my experience is going on very well because I am meeting many
people who have different culture and different values, I am very excited because I am in a
new country, it is a very interesting challenge. Since the very beginning, on Sunday night I
was very anxious to start with the know job. A comment that I really like was when Roger
said that we do not teach, we share the knowledge. It made me reflect and think what am I
really doing.

One of my goals at this course is to improve my English level, and also I want to learn new
strategies to teach English, I consider that we as English teachers need to refresh ideas
everyday about how to teach and this is what we are doing with Roger, Emma and
Amanda, they have really nice activities and also they have a lot of knowledge and
experience of how to teach english.

Mary told us that we all have needs, but we do not use the correct strategies to cover
those needs, for me this was very significant because it is true, every single person has
needs, the point is that we should explore about what is the best way to reach and satisfy
our needs. From this experience I consider that the impact to my students would be that I
will apply new ideas, new strategies; that I learned during this time.

One really amazing joment so far was the korean lesson. It is incredible how Roger could
give the class by no using any other language than korean. And we understood everything
just by interpreting body language. So, it is possible to teach english with not speaking any
spanish, this is a difficult challenge, but if we try to use gestures and body language, we
will get it.

Everyday we have community builders in order to warm the lesson up. This kind of
activities for me, have been so interesting because I am a kinesthetic learner, so I like
moving, interacting and this is what we have done. As in this kind of activities, I have tried
to do kinesthetic activities with my group during these two days that we worked with them,
I saw those guys very excited about dancing, singing and moving. As Jeremy Harmer
(1988) said, music is a powerful stimulus for students engagement precisely because it
speaks directly to our emotions while still allowing as us to use our brings to analyze it and
its effects if we so wish. And this is what I tried, to engage students in order to feel self
confident and to relax.


Otherwise, we as teachers have a range experience in giving and receiving feedback, as
Amanda says, we have to think about the way we are doing this, are we doing an effective
feedback?. I was thinking about this quote. Professional development or professional
bulling, it depends on what aspects we take into account when doing the feedback. During
this time I have received some comments from other teachers who have observed my


work and of course those comments are important to improve my development in front of
the group, it is very different our own point of view that if somebody critiques things that we
do at the moment of teaching English; after receiving feedback we will have the chance to
take the comments or just say thank you and put them in the green zone.

Tell me I will forget, show me I may remember, involve I will understand. This Chinese
quote is awesome, we as teachers should center the attention in our students, we need to
engage them, they are the main focus of our classes. From my opinion, the most important
aspect that I consider we should have in a classroom is a good rapport, because if we
have a good relation with students it would permit you to share the knowledge, even if this
is a difficult topic students would feel self confident to ask about their doubts. Apart from
that it is very important that we motivate students to learn English, that`s why I want to
learn some new motivating techniques and finally students do better when they believe
their teachers expect them to do well and create a supportive academic climate. By
contrast, students who think their teacher does not have high expectations of them, are
caught in a self fulfilling prophecy and tend do less well.

Finally, I would like to add that living in another country gives you the chance to learn
about a different culture, to see the ability that you have to adapt to another context. The
cultural shock depends on how you decide to live and on how you face the new things. I
consider, from my personal opinion, that if we try to enjoy and learn about all what we
have, it doesnt matter if there are things that we dont like; we can have a good stay
wherever we are living.

Teaching game
DESCRIPTION
This was the third day, on Tuesday I was giving my lesson at the rancho classroom, it was really hot
and I was just in the front of the class. My students were sitting in this order Emma first, then Lorena,
Karol, Meche and Angel. I was teaching how to make a heart with a sheet of paper. But in that
moment I was explaining how to fold the paper almost to finish the heart because it was a complicated
part, just while I was doing that, Meche was talking with Karol, suddenly Angel called me to help him
with that part because it was hard for him while Lorena was helping to Emma because Lorena has
already go over two steps. Angel told me come here Ricardo help me because I cannot do it, I did it
and we continued with the activity.

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION


Something that hindered
me was that the time that I
had to finish the activity
was not enough to explain
each student, because I had
only 7 minutes.

I see how this could
hinder your learning.
However, I do not see
how this interpretation
comes from the
description above. Your
description is not about
the time nor does it
mention the end of your
teaching game.
Its convenient to plan
extra time in each
lesson to take care in
this kind of activity,
because we took more
than I had planned.

Yes. This would help
fort sure!
I will design more time to
this kind of activities to
have the opportunity to
explain all the doubts that
students have.

But what will you do if
you are only given 7
minutes again?
I was also hindered by the
fact that students were
trying to do something
different when I was giving
instructions.

Good interpretation. This
one does come directly
from your description.
Its important to have
everyones attention
before starting to give
instructions in order to
do the activity at the
same time.

100% true and
necessary!
I will be sure to that all the
students are paying
attention to me and that
they are not doing
something else.

I am sure this will help
your students to be more
successful in completing
the tasks.
Something that helped me
was that Lorena helped
Emma, because I was
helping Angel.

Its great when students
start helping each other. I
wish we all had students
like Lorena!
Students that are
advanced can help
teacher during the
lesson with other
students

Yes. I think its also
important to set it up
in a way that the
more advanced
students sees how
this will help him/her
as well.
I will Pay attention in
students in order to select
the advanced ones to use
them as tutors to help their
classmates.

Will you do this all the
time? Will there be
moments for advanced
students to work
together?


Another thing that helped
me in this class to
accomplish my objective
(the heart) was that in each
instruction that gave i was
walking around to see if
students were doing it
correctly.

Great! Im glad to see that
you are aware of the
importance of
monitoring and
supporting your
students.
Its important to
monitor students to
check if they really are
doing the activity or
even to see if they have
doubts about what we
are doing.

Yes!
I will walk trough the rows
when we are in order to
monitor students and be
sure that they are in the
activity.

Good action plan. This
will makes students feel
more comfortable asking
you questions and getting
help from you when
needed.



























Korean class
DESCRIPTION
This was the Korean class. The part when Roger gave us the vocabulary and the instruction was that
we had go out to practice and learn it. At the beginning we were a little bit confused because we did
not know the real meaning of the expressions and we were guessing. We were sitting on the table near
the kitchen. In one side were Lorena and Karol, Karen and I were just in front of them. The first that
we did was to relate the meaning of the expressions with the image of the flash card. The expressions
were "cheek chin, urunjok, winjok, yugijo, anya yo and ania"
Karen was saying that it will be very difficult to learn the expressions, meanwhile Lorena said lets
start repeating the expressions to learn them. We repeated them around 5 times; After that I took the
flashcards and I told them the expressions in english and they had to tell me them in Korean. Finally


we decided to take a pencil and a notebook, as there were 4 expressions about directions, Lorena Told
them and we had to follow instructions with the pencil making a line.

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION
Something that hindered
me was that I did not know
the meaning of the
expressions and I was
confused about the
pronunciation.

In what way specifically
do you feel that this
hindered your learning?
Please say more here.
Its convenient to
clarify the meaning and
the pronunciation of
the vocabulary in order
to make students feel
more confident.

I agree with you.
Specially when you
are actually teaching
a lesson.
I will try to be sure that
students already
understood the vocabulary
and they got the correct
meaning and pronunciation
to be able to practice and
lean it.

This is a great start, but it
needs to be more specific
and measurable. What
will you do exactly to be
sure that they have
understood?
I was also hindered by the
fact that I am not a Visual
learner, so apart from just
see the pictures I had to do
a kinesthetic activity to
learn them.

Im glad to hear that you
had the initiative to do
something that would
help your learning.
Its important to take
into account all the
learning styles to make
sure that all the
students really learn.

100% true!
I will include different kind
of activities according to
the learning styles when
planning.

How many will you
include of each? How will
you measure achieving
this plan?
Something that helped me
was that we repeated many
times the expressions in
different ways.

What did this repetition
do for you? How did it
help?
Repetition has always
been a good method to
learn vocabulary if and
when we apply it.

I understand what you
are saying and need to
hear more. In what
way do you think it
helps learning?
I will Promote repetition in
my activities during my
classes to clarify,
internalize and improve
pronunciation

Do you think repetition is
equally helpful for clarify
and internalize stages?


Another thing that helped
me in this class to learn the
vocabulary was that we did
a kinesthetic activity and I
could apply it to follow the
directions.

Its great when you know
what type of learner you
are and what helps you
learn.
I consider that specially
when we use
kinesthetic activities,
we involve students
and turn the class
funnier.

I agree with you
Ricardo.
I will include all kind of
learning styles activities
during my plan, but
specially at least one
kinesthetic.

Good! This is a good
action plan because you
made it measurable by
saying how many
activities.




Ricardo,

It has been a pleasure reading and commenting on your extended reflection for
this week. Thank you for all you hard work, passion and dedication.
From your essay, I really enjoyed reading about the amount of learning and
greater sense of awareness that you have gained throughout the first week of the
course. I really enjoyed learning more about you as a human being and as a
teacher. Im glad to know more about why you like using music in your teaching.
I am excited about learning more about you as a learner and as a teacher the
next coming weeks!

In terms of your DAPAs, I noticed that you did a good job choosing meaningful
activities to describe and providing descriptions that were objective and focused
on the facts. I want to encourage you to think about adding more details in
terms of why you think what you are thinking in your interpretations and
generalizations. Please read my comments above in the DAPA charts for more
details, examples and feedback.

This extended reflection has met the requirements and is a pass.

Once again thank you for all your hard work and for putting so much love and
effort into everything you do.

With gratitude,

Roger







Week 2

My experience while time is running.


Teaching is the process through which knowledge is shared from the teacher to the
students. While teaching, is where students are usually taken through the learning
process. As such, the two processes are supposed to proceed concurrently for
education to take place. During my stage of student, I could see that I really liked
when a teacher did some dynamics activities. For that reason I consider that when
we are planning, we should to take into account the activities that we liked when we
were students.

During this week, we were talking about the framework ECRIF and its implications
and the main purpose that is a fluency activity. We were trying it during our two
classes. It is very interesting because we started by activating schema and the
objective is centered on students. I was remembering my classes before I came
here, my objectives were too general and usually they were focused to what I
taught. I main, The problem was that I did not make me sure that my students really
learned. In Mexico I am working with NEPBE National English Program for Basic
Education, in this program we try yo use the socio-cultural approach which
demands us to work by projects using social practices of the language. So we try to
land the topics into real context that students live daily in order to make the topics
useful for students to motivate them.

However, our objectives are not focused in how students are going to apply the
knowledge, if not in what we are teaching. Some days ago we were required to use
the ECRIF framework and until now I consider that I have many tools to continue
applying it even when I come back to my country. The key to the ECRIF framework
is the focus on the learning process that students go through as they work with the
target language rather than what the teacher is doing during the lesson. In this way,
the teacher plans activities and thinks about the content to service learning in a
principled way.

This was my second lesson, this was planned with the ECRIF framework, it was about
how to crate recipes, the aim for this class was: SWBAT use the verbs in order to create a


recipe of their favorite food in a role play using the target language. I worked with 6
students, they are low intermediate; nevertheless, they have a lot of vocabulary. The target
language that I taught were some verbs like chop, broil, peel, pour, stir and grate.

In order to get an interesting class I decided to plan one activity where students had
to dance music from different countries around some papers that I left on the floor,
when I stopped the music they had to stand up over the papers, the person who did
not find a space on the papers had to answer one question. This activity was really
nice because students enjoyed it, they were dancing and they were laughing, so I
felt really good because I could engage students and also they were motivated.The
questions that they had to answer were related to something relevant that they
knew about some countries

This activity was motivating for students and in this way the class turned into a
more dynamic class; nevertheless, it is important that students see the function of
the contents of the lesson in order to have an intrinsic motivation that motivate
them to have the wish of learn. As Jeremy Harmer (1998) says: Intrinsic motivation,
by contrast, comes from within the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by
the enjoyment of the learning process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel
better.

After this activity, I tried to speak about cuisines from some countries, it was
effective because students were very interested on that topic and really want to
participate. To start presenting my target language I showed them a easy recipe
about how to prepare a lemonade, as it was very easy they already knew the
vocabulary and it was good because that was the purpose that they could guess the
steps using their schema.

Consequently, I presented the new vocabulary, I showed them some flashcards in
order to understand the meaning of the new words. We were repeating the
vocabulary. Before this point I was a little bit nervous because at the beginning I
had some problems with technology and with the material. However, after I
presented the easy recipe I felt more comfortable. The next activity was an
unscramble sentences where they had to orders the steps to form the recipe of how
to prepare Chilaquiles. In this activity we had some troubles because it was difficult


for students and it took too much time. After this activity I started to feel a bit
frustrated because time was running and I had to more activities, actually I did not have
enough time to develop the last two activities.

The last activities that we did were by pairs they had to create a recipe using the target
language and after that they had to present it to rest of the class. While they were creating
the activity I was monitoring and what was successful for me was that I noticed they were
using the vocabulary and they were doing a fluent activity. They error that I did was that
Interrupted the activity to asked them to present, they stopped doing the fluency activity
and when they were in front they did not use the target language. As I could see in the
previous activity it was comfortable that I got my purpose because students were using the
language in a correct way. They internalized it and they were able to apply it in a real
context.
During the other classes I have observed that these students really like doing dynamics
activities and they really like to participate, so What I try in my classes is to include
different material like videos, audio, music to motivate them and to turn a funnier class.

Something that I leaned was that if I see that students are doing an activity and they do
not finish it but it is related to the purpose that we have, we need to let them keep doing
that activity because they are motivated and they are engaged practicing the new
vocabulary.

Comparatives
DESCRIPTION
Tuesday, April 29th, this was officially my first class with these students. I want to focus the
moment where students had to create some some sentences using the target language.
Students were working on their notebook. They were sat in this order; first Jonhy, Selly,
Donay, Randall, Jefferson, Nataly and Daniel. When they started to present their examples,
Jonhy was the first and he said My cousin is more taller than me, immediately Donay said,
"it is incorrect, don't use more", I said a little review of that rule and we continued, then was
the turn for Selly. And she said Randall is more taller than me, the same mistake. However, in
this case the person who corrected her was Jefferson, he said, "no Selly don't say more, it is a
short adjectives". In this case it was not necessary to repeat the rule because Randall said
"long adjectives more and short adjectives. Finally, the rest of the class said their examples
and they did it very well.


INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION
Something that hindered
students learning was that I
did not do enough exercises
with them before I asked them
to do a production.
This isnt in your description.
What might be something that
hindered from your
description above? For
example: Sometimes students
can hear and repeat incorrect
information from their peers
which will hinder their
learning of the correct
structure.
Its convenient to practice
a little bit more in order to
prepare students to make
productions using the
target language
appropriately.
I will try to do more mingle
work with my students after
the explanation of the new
language or topic, at least three
examples to be sure that they
understood. Ricardo, its also
important to give them
controlled visual work. They
need to be able to see the
structure and practice it in a
safe way.
I also observed that something
that hindered was that I gave
the rules of the comparatives
structure very fast, so they got
confused a little and mixed
some rules.
You dont mention this above.
How could you amplify your
description in order to include
this detail?
Its important, in this case,
not to give all the rules
together, we should teach
each rule with their
exercises.
I will try to give at least one
example or one exercise after
each rule, just to make sure
that they understand the rules.
Something that helped
students was that I gave a little
review at the moment and
they corrected the mistake In
your description, the peers
correct their classmates.
It is important to clarify
doubts, but also when
they have mistakes we
need to find the best way
to correct them.
I will Try to monitor students
when they are working by
their own in order to identify if
they have mistakes and if so,
correct the mistakes







Recipe
DESCRIPTION
Thursday, May 1st. This was my second class with these students, they are low intermediate.
However, they have a really good lEnglish level. The language for this class was some verbs to
prepare recipes (pour, peel, broil, stir, grate, chop). I want to focus the moment where
students were required to create their own recipe using the target language. Since in the last
activity they took much time, we did not have enough time for the last one. The idea was that
individually they created the recipe, but because of the time they did it by pairs.
Oscar was working with Jefferson, Donay with Daniel and Jonhy with Selly. At the beginning
they were not clear who they were going to work with, but I told them again and I repeated
the instruction. While I was monitoring through the groups, I observed and listened that they
were using the target language. However because of time I had to interrupt the activity to
present the recipe to the class. Donay and Daniel said, "Good evening. The chef Armando is
going to prepare chicken food. I take special chicken and fries. Prepare it in the house. Chop
some vegetables and onions. Fry and prepare soup for the evening boiling the meat and
chicken and add salt as you wish. Then we wait for at least half an hour" Selly and Johnny
"Cut the tomato and pork and put in the plate and add rice, beans, a little tortillas and enjoy
with a beer. Jefferson used the verbs grate, boil, stir. He presented it alone because Oscar
went out of the classroom.

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION
Another thing that helped was
that Jefferson, Donay and
Randall corrected their
classmates and they explained
what was the mistake
Its important to give
students the chance to do
peer correction, it makes
students feel more
confident.
When I identify that students
are making some mistakes I
will try to ask to another
student to correct the mistake
and explain it.


Something that hindered was
that they did not understand
the instruction about the
activity and they did not do
what to do.
It is absolutely important
for teachers to give clear
instructions so that
students can get involved
in activities.
I will try to repeat the
instructions at least twice and
also use at least 1 CCQ after
each instruction.
I also identified that something
that hindered was that I
stopped the activity to move
on the other activity. However
they were doing a good fluency
and when they presented the
recipe they felt a little nervous
and they did not use at all the
target language.
It is important that if you
see that your students are
involved with the activity
and they are doing
correctly. Let them to
continue practicing,
because the objective was
a fluency activity.
I will manage the time to have
enough time for the activities.
Also I will try not to stop so
quickly an activity, letting them
to keep doing the activity if it
accomplish the objective.
Something that helped during
this lesson was the work by
pairs, because they were
interacting using the target
language
Working by groups or
pairs give students, not
only the opportunity to
share information, but
also make them feel more
confident.
I will try to promote in my
class minimum one activity by
pairs or groups in order to give
them the chance to practice
TPS
Another thing that I could see
that helped was that the
context where we were
practicing was motivating for
them and the topic they
already knew, so the
vocabulary was relevant for
them.
For students is going to be
more relevant if we use
contexts that they can see
in real life, in order to see
how useful is the new
vocabulary.
I will try to ask students about
their favorite topics in order to
know the contexts that I should
plan for my classes to motivate
students and engage them with
the topic.

Dear Ricardo,
Thanks for sharing this weeks experiences with me. Its insightful for me to read what has
meant the most to you and what might be going on in your heart and mind. One thing that I
noticed from your essay is your commitment to fun in the classroom. You want your students
to enjoy the learning process so you try to create dynamic activities that allow them to relax
and have fun. I also noticed that you highlight many essential elements of learning in your
essay, but only superficially. Id love to see you develop your ideas more. For example: The
students were doing recipe fluency activity well until you asked them to present it. What does
that mean for learning? What are the levels of comfort in your class? How can you handle this
in the future?



Wow Ricardo! You have an eye for detail in the descriptions of your DAPAs. You are able to
mention exact things that your students said or did. This attention to detail shows a
heightened for learning. You are also able to take an interpretation and bring it through the
generalization and plan action, which are concrete and SMARTA. One thing I noticed in your
first DAPA chart was that in your analysis and plan action, you mention things that were not
described in your moment. Its important to take the interpretations directly from the
description in order to be able to zoom in on learning, where its happening or not, and why?
Ricardo, youve met the requirements for this assignment. Good luck!
Pura vida,
Amanda















































Week 3

Lesson well learned is never yearned


Nowadays, English has become the most important language around the world; for that
reason exist an increasing necessity to learn it in order to stand out in this competitive
world, where the best will survive. During this time at CEM I realized that English is useful
not only in my country, but also in many places, because once we have shared our
experiences with teachers and students, we agree that if a person knows how to speak
english will have better opportunities to get a job or even to be in a different country.

I would like to say that something very relevant that I have learnt was that English
pronunciation is based on stress. Otherwise, spanish is based on syllables; so I could
understand a little why we, as English learners, have many problems with pronunciation,
because we try to chunk the words by syllables and we try to pronounce like in spanish.

Furthermore, during this weeks I have practiced to frameworks, the first is ECRIF which is
very interesting, because it focus in what students are going to do with the knowledge they
are getting from classes. Before this experience I used to focus my purposes in what we
were teaching and how, but I did not really pay attention in how useful is what I am
teaching and if students really are learning or even if that is useful for them.

The purpose of teaching language in my country is that students gain ownership of diverse
social practices of the language and participate effectively in their life in and out of school.
So, now with ECRIF I can engage students to apply what they leaned in the social
practices of the language. In addition, it is necessary that students acknowledge the role of
language in the construction of knowledge and cultural values, and develop an analytical
and responsible attitude towards the problems of the world. So I consider that the
importance of studying English is to make students participate in certain social practices of
language, both oral and written, in their own or in a foreign country in contact with native
and non-native speakers of English.



Trough the experience in workshops, peer's experiences and comments from the
feedback I consider that teachers need to be very specific about the students
achievements in order to satisfy their needs. Moreover, we, as teachers, should know the
students learning styles, have the purposes of the class very well organized, and know
how to achieve them. It is essential that the teacher looks the way to introduce the
students to learn a new word in a correct way, and foster students to use the English as
much as possible. English teachers need the responsibility to develop not only the four
basic skills namely: reading, writing, listening and speaking. But also, they have to develop
grammar structures, pronunciation, vocabulary, punctuation and all the skill that can help
students to learn English.


The second is the PDP framework, I also consider it very useful yet before I used to spend
more time in the Pre stage because I tried to engage students and to catch students
attention, but when I wanted to start doing the during activities I realized that I did not have
enough time to develop the rest of the activities. And I could also perceived it here during
my first lesson using this framework and Emma told that I should spend less time in pre
because the main point in this framework is the during or even the post, but the first stage
should be shorter.

In the pre-listening we help the learners understand the text. It should not be expected that
students understand every word. Furthermore, the teacher should help his learners
understand rather than testing their understanding the whole time. Some activities to do
during the listening are identify the exact topic, or an aspect of it, note two to four pieces of
information, answer questions, complete sentences or a table, map, or a picture.

Finally we have post-listening in which we help learners to connect what they have heard
with their own ideas and experience, just as we often do in real life. It also allows the
teacher to move easily from listening to another language skill. For instance, the learners
may practice speaking by role-playing, or interviews similar to the one they have heard. As
post-listening activities students could give opinions, relate similar experiences, role-play a
similar interaction, and write a brief report, write a similar text, and debate the topic.

Teaching English is not an easy task, because students have different interests and
necessities; so it is important that when we are planning lessons take into account those


aspects and also it is important to show students the importance on learning a foreign
language. Nevertheless, one important factor that I could reinforce during this period of
time was that when we use technology we can have a different class because students
can see a different kind of materials.

As we know, for teachers it is very important to have students attention in order to have
more interesting classes; along my stay in CEM giving some classes I could see that
technology is very interesting for the majority of students, because they feel more
motivated. And they are interested doing the activities.

Using media; for example, radio, could be an effective way to develop students listening
skills and build up student confidence in listening since they did not have enough access
to native speakers. In addition, students should consider the knowledge they receive as
useful, while we as teachers have to respond to the exigencies of the students. Apart from
that using technology is a motivating way for students because they can listen to different
accents and not only to the teacher, also they can watch videos that are not very common
in their classes.

An important instrument that we discussed with our trainers was the plan, how do we
plan? How effective is our plan? According to the ideas and experiences that we shared I
have some conclusions.

The lesson plan is the instrument to identify step by step each activity to put into practice
during a class. The teacher has to plan each class with materials and taking into account
not only the objectives for each lesson, but also students needs and interests; according
to Jeremy Harmer (1998), A plan gives the lesson a framework, an overall shape, Of
course, good teachers are flexible and respond creatively to what happens in the
classroom, but they also need to have thought ahead, have a destination they want their
students to reach, and know how they are going to get there. Planning helps, because it
allows teachers to think about where theyre going and gives them time to have ideas for
tomorrows and next weeks lessons.
.


From my point of view the plan gives security at the moment of doing the activities, and
also gives time to think in other activities to develop. With the plan we can also think about
the time we are using, the materials, and the resources we need to apply in our class.

The plan could be flexible, because it permits to the teachers know the needs of their
students and analyze each activity; then we can improve the sequence and follow just the
order of the activities. Nevertheless, in ordinary teaching there are many reasons why we
may need to modify our proposal and our activities.

One of my strengths that I could identify in this time and that trainers could observe was
that I really like working with technology and with funny activities, and this is because I
want to have a different environment in my classes, my intention is to motivate students to
have the wish of having english classes. It is easy for me to create a good rapport with ,y
students and I enjoy doing kinesthetic activities.

One of my challenge during this time was that I do not like working with few students,
because as I already mention, I like doing kinesthetic activities and if I have 3 or 4
students, it will be difficult to develop them. However, I need to adapt my activities to all
different number of students since we do not really have an concrete number of students
that we are going to work with.

Recommendations
DESCRIPTION
Monday, May 5th. Today it was a challenging class because I started using the PDP
framework. In this case I worked with a listening activity where we were reviewing
the use of should and shouldn't giving some advices and recommendations.
The activity where I am going to focus this description is the last one, the fluency
activity around 8:20 pm. It was a little bit difficult for me and I was frustrated
because I had planned those activities for at least six students and just had four and
also because I did nit have enough time to do it. They were in this order from right
side to left, Daniel Jefferson, Daver and Carlos. The activity consisted on pass to
the front and take one small paper in which there was a situation that they had to


act and the rest of the class had to give him some advices or recommendations
according to the situation they were acting.
After giving the instruction they were confused, but before starting the activity I did
one example. I acted that I had a toothache and they suggested Jefferson "you
should go to the dentist" and Daniel "you should take a pill". I want to mention that
I tried to write funny situations in order to make the activity more enjoyable. The
first person was Daniel, he acted a terrible headache, Jefferson said "you should go
to the doctor" Carlos "you should drink a tea". Then Daver was next, his situation
was a hangover. It was a little bit embarrassed for me because he is 14 years old
and it is not an adequate topic for him, but until that moment I realized.
Even though, we continued and the suggestions were. Jefferson "you shouldn't do
again" carlos "you should eat a soup". After the next was Carlos, here there was a
little trouble because he is from a lower level and he doesn't have enough
vocabulary, so when he read the paper he did not understand the situation, but I
explained him using mimic. The situation was that he was going to have his first
romantic date. Specially in this situation students were laughing a lot, even Emma
who was observing and also Lizandro, Fanny, Karen and Karol. I told them, come on
guys you are experts in this aspect, give him suggestions. Daver said "you should
take a shower" Jefferson "you should wear good clothes" Daniel "you should have
money in your wallet" Daver. "You should be a gentleman" Jefferson. "You should
go to a nice restaurant". I consider that my students enjoyed the activity because it
was a fun one and we reinforced the topic.

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION


Something that hindered my
teaching was that I was
nervous because I had planned
the activity to work in pairs in
order to make students speak,
because as we did it some of
them I did not speak in each
situation. Ok, so did your
nervousness hinder Ss'
learning or was it your
planning for TPS and only one
S showing up? This is a little
confusing.
Its convenient to have an
extra option that I can use
to adapt my activities even
I do not have enough
students
Ok I am thinking from
reading this generalization
that TPS s not possible
when there are not
enough students to learn
in community. I hope this
makes sense to you.
In my next class where I plan a
TPS activity, I will try to think
another option to do the same
activity but with less students
and with all of them at the
same time but without loosing
the objective. (Just in case)
Great!
So, I hear you saying that for
the next class the students or
student will reach the student
learning objective even if there
are not enough students to do
TPS.
I am wondering what you
would do?
I also observed that something
that hindered my teaching was
that I took too much time
explaining twice slowly the
instructions to Carlos
Ricardo, what hindered Carlos'
learning was that he decided
to "try out" a higher level and
that was not working. He told
me at the end that he is a
student in the "low beginners,"
class and just wanted to try
out this level.
Its important, in this case,
using more specific CCQs
in order to make sure that
all the students know
what they have to do. Ok,
this generalization is
directly tied into the
interpretation and what
hindered learning!
In my next classes I will try to
use at least one specific CCQ of
the activity in each
instructions.
This is specific and measurable!
Congrats!
Something that helped was
that the situations were funny
and students enjoy the activity.
It is important to adapt
the activities to topics that
are familiar with students
to engage and motivate
them to do the activity
In my next plan, When I give
examples of the activities or when
I give them material I will try to
take into account topics that are
familiar and relevant for them
Yes, I can see how you are trying
to connect what you have selected
to the "why" and relevancy of
what you offer to Ss' learning.


Another thing that helped
learners me was I did the first
example and they could see
how was going to be the
activity, because after the
instructions they were a little
bit confused.
So, I hear you saying that
modeling helped Ss clarify the
task.
Its important to give
examples in order to
model how is going to be
the activity
The generalization here is
directly connected to your
description!
I will try to include at least one
example in every task that I
ask students to do.
Great!


Dear Ricardo,
I feel so grateful to have been the one to respond to your extended reflection this week!
Your enthusiasm, courage, energy and ideas about what you have been learning all serve as
an inspiration to me. I enjoyed reading about your experience in what the focus has been
in teaching English in Mexico and the role of the participatory approach to allow the
learner to construct knowledge and be "socially responsible."
Ricardo, it is interesting how you have taken what you have learned here about the ECRIF
framework and are thinking about implementing it as part of your teaching practice in
Mexico and how this will help to achieve this purpose. I am sure that by using this tool as a
basis for constructing that knowledge and being able to use it in a real live context, ECRIF
will maximize your students learning and use of the language and social constructs in
English even more. Please do remember to take this one step at a time. I find that this is
key to being able to make realistic and achievable changes. You also mention how learning
about the differences in pronunciation between Spanish and English "language rhythms"
helped you to understand why sometimes students speak English through the syllabication
of Spanish as opposed to the stress that brings accuracy to the English pronunciation of
words in sentences. You have also mentioned how effective your students were in making
meaning from the listening text and the importance of staging, the purpose of each stage
and the right distribution of timing among the tasks and the rationale for each. Finally,
Ricardo I can see how important it is to you to use technology in the classroom. I have seen
you use technology without sacrificing the interaction between students and their making
meaning process. Congratulations Ricardo because I can see from your essay that you have
changed, deepened and shifted your beliefs and practices about teaching while being here
in the TESOL course in Costa Rica!


In terms of your DAPAs, you did a good job choosing meaningful and relevant moments to
describe. I do suggest working on adding more specific details in terms of what your
students both said and did during the moment you are describing. This will allow for
making more meaningful and founded interpretations. Please see my comment on the
DAPA charts above for more details.
Ricardo, this paper has met the requirements for this assignment and is a pass. If you have
any questions, please do look for me.
May you continue to learn and enjoy the rest of your last week here!
With Respect and Admiration,
Emma Torres Cordero