LEARNING STATEMENT

Mirror mirror on the wall Why do I look at myself on a mirror? I guess there are two reasons: one
when I feel good and want to see the best part of me reflected on the mirror or two when I do not feel
very well and want to find out what is wrong in a reflection, staring into my own eyes. During this
month CEM has been a large mirror where I could see everything I did reflected in every step I made. It
means I had the chance to look at myself as a learner and as a teacher from all angles. It has been very
enriching to go through so many learning moments. My main goal to come here was to rediscover who
I am as a teacher and I ended up discovering many things about who I am as a learner too. I have
learned about a new framework for me where students are the center of the process. ECRIF has
reminded me of the PPP teaching approach; however this new framework encourages the learner to
produce since the very beginning of the process. How effective the learner was in achieving the
objective can be seen in a shorter period of time. The stages are very well distributed and allow
teachers to scaffold their learning process. Besides, I found the language analysis very useful for it
makes the teacher to go deep into the lesson and extract its essence in a few words.
Another important element I learned about has to do with PDP. This is something I had to relearn. I
realized I was so wrong about the during stage by pretending my students to get most of the
information from a listening exercise by listening to it once or twice. I also learned the main purpose
of the pre stage. Being a learner and experiencing this process again has made me realized of the
mistakes I unconsciously made with my own students. I needed to experience it again to be aware of
the implications that a receptive process may have on the learners. I definitely made sad faces when I
looked at myself on the mirror during this experience.
Feedback as a gift is another interesting reflection. Being exposed to puzzles and positives from
different perspectives made me reflect on how vulnerable some people may feel. However, the way
trainers guided us to approach everyday feedback was just great. I learned so much from the feedback
provided by the trainers and team members without feeling uncomfortable or criticized. I will use this
approach with my students who want to become teachers. I found this a growing experience.
Finally, I would say that the overall balance for this months reflection has been very positive. I could
only think about nice experiences, ideas I am eager to put into practice. I am thinking about taking a
break from being the one who does most of the talk in class and give my students more space to think,
pair and share. I want to become a real facilitator. I know I still have a lot seeds to plant and grow, but
the harvest will be bountiful.