GRUPO A3

Silvia Gabn Vzquez

Javier Galindo Infante
Brais Garca Fernndez
M del Roco Garca Pedreira

Introduction
This portfolio is a collection of all interactive classes which we had on this
subject. In each one, we describe the activities which we did and which of them can be
used when we are teachers in our opinion.

Thursday 7th March, 2013

In our first interactive English class, the teacher
began with a game: Hangman, to bring us the issue
which was going to be worked. It was a good way to
start the class because she got to capture our attention
and resources like this could increase the interest of
our students when we became teachers. We think that
this could be a good idea. In our opinion, is very
important

that

the

children take

classes

with

motivation.
The class was about teaching tips, which will
help us in the future when we will face to face with a
class with students and the tips will be very useful to improve their English. In
particular, our group worked with Dealing with Vocabulary Queries, something
which appears constantly. We mustnt explain the meaning when students ask, but we
should find other ways for that they knew the meaning and they got a significant
learning. We think that is important students try to guess the meaning of the words with
the context. As teachers, we have to prepare our students so that when they have got a
doubt, they are able to solve the problem without our help.
Tips like these are examples which we worked in this class which will be very
useful in the future. We were in the place of students and we knew what our old
teachers did wrong with us and what we will need to improve in the way of teaching
English.
After this, we played a role game called "How should we spend 100.000 ?".
Students have to form small groups and each student receives a role card. Each role card
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represents a family's member: father, mother, son, daughter... For example, this might
be the father role card:

THE FATHER
I'm working all days very hard. I think that now it is
the moment when I deserve to receive a gift: I want
a new car! In addition to this, I think that the garden
needs a reform, which would be a good investment.

They have to do a discussion

and each one of them supported his
proposal for spend 100.000. Finally,
they have to decide what to do with
the money. This activity is about the
speaking skill. It was very funny
because each one can make up his
own arguments and the rest refute
him. It is a very complete exercise,
which help us to learn English of an entertaining way. In our opinion, the role games
like this are the best way to practice speaking skill. Students have autonomy to say that
they want but in a specific context and role games help them to speak English with ease
and fluency.

Tuesday 12th March, 2013

In the second interactive class, we started with a quest, in which we had to answer
twenty questions in small groups. In our opinion, this kind of activities is very suitable
to put in practice with the students because in this way they show their knowledge while
they are doing a fun activity.

We consider that warming up activities like this are very useful in primary school
lessons because they get increase their motivation and it suppose to start the class in a
funny way breaking with the style of a traditional class. It is something different for
them.
After this, teacher gave us an envelope with some phrases related with I want my
learners to achieve the following aims and we had to put them in order of priority:

Support my learners' thinking about their language learning.

Help my learners to understand the central aim of language learning.

Teach my learners how to assess themselves.

Increase my learners' motivation.

Help my learners to understand what they can already do and decide for
themselves what they want to achieve.

Help my learners to take their own initiatives.

Use European standards of proficiency (the Council of Europe's common

reference levels).

Explore different ways of evaluating my learners' progress.

Help my learners to overcome their fear of speaking in a foreign language.

Show my learners how they can collect and display evidence of what they have
learnt.

Support the development of my learners' autonomy.

Learn something new and increase his/her professional skills.

We had to consider which of them are more important in our opinion. We chose

these:
understand the importance of learning a foreign language
increase their motivation
take their own initiatives.

Thursday 21th March, 2013

The teacher began the session with a warming up activity: You can sit down
if As the teacher told us, this activity is extremely flexible. Also, we think that the

best way to get that our students start the class with motivation is through an funny
activity, different to the usual activities. This is a perfect example of them.
In the last part of the class, we had to choose a topic in small groups. For example,
we chose this topic: Summer is the best season of the year. Then we had to discuss
the advantages and disadvantages. We think that this kind of activities are perfect to
lose fear to talk in English.
We started this subject thinking that our level of English was really bad, in
special, the skill of the speaking. However, through activities like this, in which we had
to give our opinion about something, we get develop our vocabulary and we improve
this ability. In fact, this was reflected when we presented our unit to the class.

Thursday 4th April, 2013

In this interactive class, the teacher talked us about hand-working materials or
tools, reinforcement materials and resources for consultation, and teaching-learning
materials. Then we worked about all this in four ways: individual, in pairs, small group
and big group.
At the end of the class, we had to
talk

about

the

advantages

and

disadvantages about authentic and not

authentic materials. For example, we
think that one advantage of not authentic
material is that they are according with
the level of the students.

 Tuesday 9th April, 2013

In this interactive class, we played a role game. Each group created a simple
dialogue between a receptionist and a family. Each member of the group represent a
character. We took some ideas about the resource that teacher gave us:

Check In
Front Desk Receptionist

What name is the reservation under?

How long will you be staying?

Are you planning on checking out tomorrow?

I'm afraid you can't check in until after 4:00 pm.

What type of vehicle are you driving?

Do you know the license plate number of your vehicle?

Complimentary breakfast is served in the lobby between 8 and 10 am.

I'll give you two room keys.

The dining room is on the main floor at the end of the hall.

The weight room and sauna are on the top floor.

Just call the front desk if you need any extra towels or pillows.

Guest

We have a reservation under Jill McMann.

Do you have any vacancies?

Is the hotel booked, or can we get a room for tonight?

How do we get to our room from here?

Is it okay to park out front?

What time is the pool open until?

What time is breakfast served at?

Is it too early to check in?

Can we get a wake-up call?

When is check out time?

After to look it, this was the story

that we created:
RECEPTIONIST: Hi! Have you got a
reservation?
DAD: Yes I have.
RECEPTIONIST: What name is the
reservation under?
DAD: We have a reservation under
Javier Smith.
RECEPTIONIST: Its ok! So you are stating here for a week. What are you planning
for this week?
MUM: Oh! I want to see a lot of different places.
DAD: Yes, and I want to practice a lot of typical activities too.
RECEPTIONIST: We have a tourist officer in the hotel. She is on a second door.
Good luck! Bye!
MUM AND DAD: Lets go!
T.O: Hello! What you looking for?
MUM: We want to visit different important places in the island. What do you
recommend us?
T.O: Oh! This island has a lot of interested places to visit and a lot of things to do.
DAD: Its perfect! We are just married and we want to do everything together.
T.O: Wonderful! You can ride horses across the beach and finish the day with a
romantic dinner.
MUM: Are there any romantic restaurants?
T.O: Yes! You can look at these leaflets.

MUM: Perfect, thanks for your help!

Tuesday 16th April, 2013

In the first part of the session, teacher was explaining us how we had to do the
English TLU. It wasn't an interactive session, but it was necessary. But the second part
of the session was like the rest of interactive sessions.
The game which teacher did with us called "Going to Timbuktu". It is a typical
physical response game which is very suitable to do with small English students. They
have to relate a word with a gesture. For example, if the word is "elephant", students
have to imitate the movement of the
trunk of an elephant with his arm. They
have to do the gestures during a story.
The story which teacher chose was
"Going to Timbuktu". Topic

was

animals, and the game was directed to

first

cycle

students

for

practice

listening.
In our opinion, these types of
activities are very important because
they have a communicative approach perspective. They allow them practice listening in
a fun way because students can move all their body. In addition to this, the objectives
which we think that these activities have are very important: learn new vocabulary,
improve the comprehension of oral simple stories and increase the level of interest of
our students about learning a foreign language.

Monday 22nd April, 2013

In this interactive class, we work the skill of writing. The teacher put a short story
called My secret team. In there, the boy has got a secret. He supports Boxton Rovers
but the rest of his family supports Boxton Town. He has to celebrate in the bathroom

when his team scores a goal. The first time we watch the story only with sound and the
second time we watch it with subtitles. This is a
perfect form to practice the skill of listening and
preparing the students `ears. After, from the listening
we can work with our students the skill of the reading
and check if they understand the story.
On the other hand, we can practice listening
through music. We think that it is an excellent idea
because with songs, we can learn a lot of vocabulary
in a funny and entertaining way.

Thursday 2sd May, 2013

In this interactive class, we worked about reading skill. The teacher read us a book
about a woman and a spider: "The Kuia and the
spider", written by Patricia Grace. She did it slowly
with the aim of we understood the story. Also, we
think that emphasize the

story while we were

reading with gestures helped them. We should

explained them difficult words that going to appear
along the story at the beginning.
Then, we had to create:
-

Pre-

During

After

reading activities

For example:
Pre-reading activity:

What do you see in the picture books cover? Do you think that
they are the main characters? Write a short text about what you
think that is going to happen.
During reading activity:

During the reading, we go to make questions about our students

think that is going to happen in the story
After reading activity:

Write a new end to this story: What would happen if the spider
or the woman won?

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