Tues Feb 23

I was glad to see that all four teacher trainees made a good effort to read the final Brown article even though I know they all have a lot of work at the moment. They are still working hard and doing what I ask them to do, which I appreciate. As I said, we worked through the Brown article "The present - an informed approach", making good progress before the 5pm class.

The best laid plans ... I tried to get everything organised before class began - managed to get the remote control for the DVD player, got the movie ready, etc. etc., only to find halfway through the class that the CD I'd brought for the listening strategies exercise was not the right one. For some reason there is always some risk when dealing with technology. Fortunately I was able to use a text from "consolidation of modules 5-8" which may even have worked better. The first text was rather quick and had a number of vocabulary items (lorry, pushcart, toddler). They were only able to glean a very small amount of information from the first listening, and some of the information was wrong - which at least shows they were trying to make guesses. I waited a while for someone to ask to hear the recording again, but no-one did! Finally I asked if they'd like to hear it again, and they all said yes ... On the second listening they got more key information, although still not everything.

I gave them the strategies handout, and they filled it out (and I forgot to ask them for them at the end of class) and shared a little of the more commonly-used strategies; and I asked them to use some strategies for listening to the next recording. This time I also gave them some pre-listening information: it's a news report, it's on a shark attack, it's by the same newsreader as the previous one. This time, after listening, they got a whole lot more from the first time; and the second time they got practically all the necessary information. So I'm happy that the recording worked even though it's not the one I normally use. It was shorter and the first was definitely more difficult; but at least this time and with the time available it was just right.

This time to watch the beginning of Stardust (after much pondering whether we should watch Bend it like Beckham and deciding against it) I put English subtitles on . I think this was very useful for allowing them to understand better the initial relationships and early plot. I do plan to show the rest of the movie tomorrow without subtitles; but I think I'll do as some TTs suggested today and play the first 30 minutes tomorrow without subtitles, then do a comprehension check and decide on that basis whether to continue without or put them back on. 90 minutes is a long time without subtitles; but again, the idea is for them to use different strategies than just reading what they hear.

Thurs Feb 18

We did the freewriting differently today - I brought different types of music and they had to write whatever came into their head as they heard it. I used the same music as last year, but this time we did them one by one. This worked better as, effectively, sts came in a bit late but were able to join in as we went. It did take a long time though - about 25 minutes. Many sts came up with memories of friends, cousins, grandparents etc. as they heard the music. They enjoyed it a lot. I think it's useful to have them connect music to memory, thoughts etc., and I think it's a memorable way of using music.

As not everyone had done the homework (one exercise from the handouts of yesterday) I asked them to hand it in on Tuesday.

We did a quick review of gerunds and infinitives using the summary at the back of the book, then did another exercise from the handout. They seemed to get the hang of them more, but I still feel that they are very controlled exercises.

To break up the action between the review and going on to different types of Gs and Is, we did the song that we couldn't do yesterday: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It's the first time I've used this song although I've often thought about using it. I blanked out the words which contained Gs and Is although there aren't that many; and a couple of other content words. The song proved to be a bigger challenge than I'd expected. The lyrics are sung quite fast and not so clearly as other songs. Still, they got most of the words. The trickiest ones were "walking", "rob", and "to pay". They enjoyed talking about the song too and finding out about some of the references.

We went on to "Different types of Gs and Is" and this seemed to go well. We only had about 40 minutes to finish the class, so we only did one exercise to practise (which seemed to be enough this time, actually), and then in SGs they created a small poster on coloured paper of either "5 things to worry about if you're a CELE student" or "5 things to be happy about if you're a CELE student". This was done well (and just in time!). I had to remind them that with lists, we often start them with gerunds rather than with infinitives. So this was a good practice, at least, on choosing one over the other. There were very few mistakes on the final product. I had to take them down in the end as I was afraid they'd be removed by a cleaner, and wanted to save them for the next class to put up again.

The TTs noted a couple of new things. E didn't come today as she was sick.

C observed "checking learning"; V observed "the learner as doer", and M observed "grammar as content". I was surprised that the trainees didn't observe the final creative activity as "the learner doing" or a way of "checking learning". They didn't make the link between that activity and the previous learning.

M noticed that throughout the entire grammar presentation, I didn't write on the board, which is very different to the way he is used to presenting grammar.

I get the feeling the trainees are at a "tired" stage of the semester as I would have expected more observations than this by now. Should I be pushing them a little more??

Wed Feb 17

We were back in our "old" classroom today. I think that although it may be confusing as to which classroom they're supposed to be in each day, it's actually interesting to be in different places and use the space given in different ways. The 206-A room is much smaller and slightly stuffier (which was good today as it was so cold outside), but the sts sit opposite each other, which gives them a chance to hear and see their classmates a lot more easily. I walk down the middle of the room and they're mostly on either side of me. The 205-B room is larger, lighter and airier, but it's also wider so the sts sit in long rows facing the front. This does change the dynamics somewhat as there's not so much a sense of being all together in that room. Then there's the lab, which is even wider and more spread out and hardly conducive to conversation at all.

Today the freewriting topic was "Describe what you think it would be like to be rich and famous". Many sts gave both positive and negative aspects, and some highlighted how being rich might be good, but being famous would not be so good.

We've begun Module 8 now and so we began with the reading "How to be a celebrity". I would like to find a different text for next time I teach this class as it is just a little bit too superficial for most of the sts. I gave the sts 7 minutes to read the text, which had 7 sections. This was perhaps too long and they would've only needed 6 minutes. I also need to think about the way I explain how to find the correct phrase to fit the one in exercise 5, as many of them still tend to locate the wrong phrase.

The rest of the class was basically focuses on gerunds and infinitives. I have two sets of handouts which I gave them and we went through them. Some of them need to have extra examples added as they're in the exercise afterwards but not mentioned in the list. This took basically the entire class and we didn't have time to do the song. I get the feeling it was a long class for them. Gerunds and infinitives are so difficult to teach, I feel I still could improve on how to get the point across, or use different activities or something. How do you get students to use "gerunds and infinitives" in their natural speech? I don't want to say "Make a sentence using two gerunds" which is utterly absurd. But I find it hard to give them opportunities to practice without forcing it.

PS. I learned the word for "to bid" today, it's "pujar".

Tues 16th Feb

I was very satisfied with today's class for a number of reasons. First, the freewriting went well - "Awkward social situations". I think it's essential that if the teacher wants the students to share a situation they've gotten themselves into, that the teacher also be willing to do so. So I gave two examples - one was ordering "mollejas" instead of "molletes" and the other was saying "con permiso" after having stepped on someone's toe in the subway. Making the sts laugh allowed them to feel better about their silliness and a number shared the situation they'd written about.

We then looked at the Bella situations from the book. This time I got them to discuss their opinions in small groups, rather than as a TC. This worked a lot better too as it was less teacher-centred and everyone got a chance to talk more. They agreed that politely refusing an invitation from family is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do without offending.

They acted out similar situations in pairs, and this time I gave them a few more ideas, and also allowed them to make up one of their own:

• you forgot an important birthday
• your friend got a hair cut and it's awful, and they ask you what you think of it
• someone you don't like much asks you out on a date
• you start talking to somebody you think you know, only to find out you're mistaken
• you ask a female friend when the baby's due ... but she's not pregnant

They all liked these ones and enjoyed acting out and creating dialogues for at least one situation. Some of them took the easy way out and lied, rather than find polite ways to say 'no' or 'I don't like it/you'. One pair created their own situation - your girlfriend is wearing something horrible and asks you what you think of it. I was impressed to see the confidence with which many of them got up and actually acted (as opposed to just saying the words) and did a great job.

We went on to the Wordspot "Take" and rather than listen to the questions (which seem to me redundant because the sts have answered them in other occasions) I gave them an elllo.org conversation which involved the use of two other ways of using 'take'. This was helpful in that they had to listen for specific information, and it also introduced them to the website. Since then, at least one student has visited the site.

We ended by doing a game of 20 questions. I only managed to do the first part where they think of their own famous person. It worked well and they had to use the questions "Is he" "Does she" "Did he" "Has she" etc.

The trainees (E arrived on time today) had been observing various factors of the class. C studied "Classroom Management-Interaction". I think her observations are getting more detailed, but I still hope she'll be able to look for more details as time goes on. Her conclusion was that, especially in SG, position (of the student/chair) creates efficiency - those sitting further away are less likely to participate. This was particularly her observation of the group closest to her, which was probably the least participative as well.

E studied Classroom Power. She observed that there was a program to be followed, but the T decides many things in the class. Constructivist learning taking place by students; Ss self correct by listening to peers; Ss encouraged to participate. Both Ss and T gave meanings for words. I had also hoped she would pick up on the "choice" for some activities such as the creating of your own awkward social situation, but I don't think she did; still, most of the activities were planned by me. Observing "classroom power" is a potentially unnerving type of task especially if the teacher is aware that this is being observed. Suddenly everything the teacher does becomes one step further away from student autonomy, which could easily be criticized.

V observed The Learning Environment - Physical Factors. He made mention of the positive classroom situation and lighting, music during freewriting, all have the book etc., and also that the hour is a little difficult and some students look tired. He observed one student in particular and noticed that she was always involved in the class.

M observed the Giving of Instructions. He noticed that it matches the paradigm given in the book; although I usually give the instructions before putting them into groups/pairs etc. I get the sts to read instructions, which allows sts to concentrate. I check understanding by paraphrasing the instructions and didn't lower my level of English to give the instructions.

All TTs read and prepared their "methodologies" handouts which was good and they were asked to make three copies of their handout so that each one had all the copies.

Feb 11 (Thursday)

There seems to be a problem with one of my trainees arriving late. She has not arrived on time to a single class of mine yet - not even in Writing. I spoke to her on Friday about it again, so I hope she will finally begin arriving at 4pm and not 4:40 or 4:50.

For OPP, then, two trainees discussed the Observation readings they'd been given. C summarized the information and gave us handouts; M talked about it but without a lot of direction - he had gotten confused with a reading from a different module - and E, not having turned up on time, was not able to give hers at all, so I did it in her absence. The main points of these observation readings are the purpose behind them, the ways of recording information, and the ethics behind observation. I think they all came out well from each reading. Next Tuesday we're going to begin methodologies - perhaps a little early, but as M comes from Interlingua training he is having difficulty working through his own teaching style compared to the way I teach, so hopefully having a better understanding of the different methodologies will help him. It's important for them to see the "principled eclecticism" that prevails these days.

The 612 class went well. I gave them a follow-up activity on quantifiers and countable/uncountable nouns. The actual reading text was probably too easy for them so I should modify it to make it more "level 6" standard. One of my students asks a lot of questions; they are good questions and show that she's working hard to understand the logic of the grammar, which obviously is not always logical nor consistent. Her question for two weeks was "why 'their mother' when there is more than one mother, and then in another text it's 'their lives' when there is more than one life?" I had to answer that both can be considered correct, both are British texts so it's not a matter of regional differences.

The rest of the class was basically spent on working on reading with more speed, and the reading comprehension text in the book. Some of the students have good strategies in place for reading, and were also able to give websites of interest to help with vocabulary questions. I'm also encouraged by the use of the blog by a number of students. The last entries have not only been helpful and interesting, but show their openness to share of themselves and what they know to help others.

The trainees were asked to observe something specific of the class, using Wajnryb's observation tasks. I don't think they had enough time to prepare a specific format or diagram based on the reading, though; although V was able to create a diagram of the class and hear/learn some of the sts' names. M had some difficulty with "language of feedback to error" - I think he was looking for the way he would correct errors, which I hardly did; although I know I corrected other errors, particularly as I was monitoring the sts' talk in small groups. C's observation with "questions" was that I ask most of the questions and sts don't ask so many. Again, I know that a number of sts did ask questions throughout the class - of vocabulary, of "why is it like this" and of each other when they were discussing the questions. E observed "motivation" and noticed a high motivation of sts in small groups and one st whom she considered to be possibly insecure. V observed "attending to the learner" and noticed the same things he had mentioned the week before - that I smile, nod, and use eye contact, and call on sts by name. I hope that as they go on they'll "see" more and notice more. Perhaps because it is such a large class it can be difficult to see what I see from the front of the class. I can't say I'm omniscient but at least I can see their eyes, facial expressions etc. This may make a difference.

Feb 9 (Tuesday)

Two trainees arrived late to the first hour. One had lost track of the time and the other was stuck in the subway. I appreciated the extra time spent with the other two, though, as we got to talk a lot more personally about the nature of the course and becoming a CELE teacher. I was very encouraged today to see one of my favourite ex-trainees downstairs and to hear that he had been invited to join the CELE crew.

Before beginning the 5-7 class, I let the trainees know what I would be giving so that they weren't coming completely blind to the class. It will be easier when we start actually doing lesson plans. I so like teaching that I hope I won't feel too jealous when they are teaching and not me!! It's a hard thing to give a class to others to teach.

The free writing today was "Who is the person who has most influenced you?" I didn't point it out to them, but it was using the language point we were going to examine later. Some sts shared and it was nice to hear two males talking about the positive influence their fathers have been on them.

We also worked a little on collocations, particularly as the Tunoumi pages had revealed some rather interesting misuses of common phrases. I had four or five to give, but in the end only dealt with two: Have a happy day (and its variations) as compared to Have a funny day; and To have a heavy burden lifted off your back (and its variations) as compared to To have a heavy package fall off your back. The trainees later commented on the way I wrote them on the board. I don't think the teaching of collocations is very well-known despite much investigation into corpus studies and the positive results of teaching popular chunks.

I need to be aware too that just because I've taught level 6 before, I still need to make sure I check what is being taught beforehand, particularly when it's a grammar lesson; as there were just a few times when I wasn't sure of what was coming up next or how I was going to explain it best. I'm not sure if it noted - the trainees didn't mention it.

The game that we did at the end of the lesson in order to practice Relative Clauses was a very useful one and it showed that they had captured well the concept. There were just a very few mistakes, but they were corrected by the sts.

After the class, the trainees talked about specific aspects they had chosen to observe. They were: error correction; use of materials; students' questions; and giving feedback to students. It became clear that they need more in order to flesh out the true issues in observing these aspects, as their observations were fairly basic; for example, that I used various materials. But there could have been deeper analysis such as Why I used a particular material at a particular time; how effective they were; what else could have been used instead; how authentic were they etc.

I will be photocopying more tasks from Wajnryb's book for Thursday which hopefully will help them "indagar más".

M expressed some angst about the teaching methods he's been employed in and how they don't seem to be adequate for the CELE group. I assured him we'll do some microteaching beforehand in order to see each trainee's style and help them. The aim is always to help ... I hope this becomes clear to each one in time.

New year, new people ...

This was the first week of "2010-2" or "2010-1", depending on whether we're talking about the English group 612 or Formación de Profesores. My 612 group meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I have OPP obviously on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I already feel happy with 612 because there is a nice rapport between them and a sense of cooperation among most of them. On Wednesday two new students came to "see the group" but neither of them returned on Thursday. I'm not sure if they're planning to and I actually don't know if they can, as there aren't enough chairs for more than 28 students. One of them was, in my opinion, rather disagreeable in character and this made me feel frustrated and a little uneasy by the end of the class, because in my heart I hoped he wouldn't return. If he does it will be for a reason ... but the class dynamics will change, and the way I deal with him will also have to alter somewhat, as I don't think I can simply allow him to participate in the way he did that first day.

We did two cultural activities in the first two days - on Tuesday I brought the Aussie books and they had a chance to look at them in small groups. I think the SG on the first day was very helpful to allow them to get to know just a few people a little better without feeling intimidated in front of the whole group. They did very well in their observations and communication with each other. The second day a number of them had brought coins and notes from other currencies (on my petition the day before) and we compared them and the current Mexican coins/notes with the Australian ones. They also expressed enjoyment in doing this activity and learning more about Australia. I don't know when the next cultural segment will be, probably not for another few weeks.

Thursday was the beginning of OPP; I had four, maybe five students. The fifth was a "runaway" from her own group because it didn't fit with her schedule; but when the students began arriving in the classroom it became obvious that there weren't enough seats, and so I had to ask her to leave. I believe she's been re-allocated in another group and my hope is that she doesn't feel I threw her out; although it was unlikely she would have stayed with us anyway.

I felt a lot like hf did when she was being observed - What makes a teacher a teacher? What makes me able to help others become better teachers? What are they going to see in me that they will want to emulate?

All four of my trainees (TT) have experience in teaching and two are still currently teaching. One has taught at Interlingua, another there also as well as Harmon Hall. What struck them the most after the first day of observation was the following:

• I hardly taught any grammar at all.
• I didn't correct all the errors the students made.
• There was a lot of free speaking throughout the class.
• There was a clear sequence of activities.
• I spoke in Spanish a small amount in order to clear up a difference between the two languages.
• My body language was relaxed.
• The students felt comfortable, participated and listened to my instructions carefully.
• I put on interesting cool music for the free writing - why did I do that? [The truth is, I simply put it to the second song on the CD, but it happened to be "That's no way to say goodbye" which was just perfect for the "Favourite place" free writing.]
• It was obvious I was both a leader but also a coordinator for them, not always needing them to be looking at me at the front to tell them everything.

It surprised me a little that they had observed all of this as it seemed like a lot for the first day, but I guess they were comparing their own methods and practices as teachers and were challenged by differences in what I was doing. I hope that if they see something they don't agree with or don't understand, that they'll have the confidence to also share those things and not just the 'good things'.

I felt happy after the OPP class had finished, and am looking forward to this semester - but I don't want it to turn into a "feel good" class whereby I seek my own reassurance or reaffirmation as a teacher. I hope to learn from my TTs as well as them from me.