Tues 2 Mar

Today we began by looking at some readings: My text on Objectives, then Bloom's Taxonomy. As usual, E was late and only made it to the Taxonomies reading. I was planning to also read "Competencies and Objectives" beforehand but we ran out of time. But I did give them my lesson plan (it took a long time to write! And, as usual, the objectives were the hardest to write. Remember that.) and we went through that before I gave my class today.

During the class today, the sts wrote their "coherent story" about their sister buying a lottery ticket and if only she still had her coat ... This time I got them to share their stories in pairs. I think this was a good way of making it a little more communicative and they seemed to enjoy it.

We then went on to the differences between "big" and "great". I wrote them on the board with their respective aspects, according to the book; we thought of some examples of each (eg. a great birthday, a big star etc.); and then in pairs they tried to find one more example of each. There were some mistakes but I think this was helpful for distinguishing certain phrases that are from L1 interference.

We then did exercises 2, 3, and 4 from p. 93. These went fairly well; the students got into pairs for the last activity and discussed the questions well.

After briefly reviewing the purpose of linking words, I then gave them the writing task: they had to choose one of two topics (either music or cinema), comparing the music/cinema of today with what is considered the classic period of the 60s-80s of music or the "golden age" of the 30s-60s of film. They began by choosing one, writing their opinion on it, and listing their reasons for their preferences. Unfortunately, some were unable to choose during the time; and others were unsure of their opinions. However, others were able to write down both their opinion and the reasons for it in this time. Although my lesson plan said to get into pairs, I decided they'd done enough pair work and changed it to small groups, where they had a good chance to discuss their opinions on the two topics. Still, since collecting up their essays, I also noted that a good number of sts were unable to write an opinion but simply said "both are good, who am I to say which is better? You decide." How decidedly postmodern!! I wonder if the giving of opinions is something that is no longer valid?

In the final 30 minutes, the sts got out their news article (almost everyone brought it) and began to prepare exactly what they were going to say. Most were able to practice with a partner. Some were not ready or hadn't brought an article, but I asked them to give feedback to someone who had brought it. There is a st in the group who seems remarkable slow in handing in homework and beginning a task that requires thinking and planning. He has asked me on a few occasions if he can hand in the homework late as he has a lot of exams and homework from other courses too. He does, in the end, hand it in, and it's generally quite good. But it's almost always late.

After the class, I don't remember a lot of what we talked about - I think just comparing times and changes I made to the lesson plan; we discussed the use of incentives in certain tasks (in this case, the winning essays will be published on the blog and they'll get a chocolate!). It's the first time I've done this so we'll see how it works.

Thurs Feb 25

For OPP, I had planned to ask them the question to discuss in pairs, who the 'best' teacher was they'd ever had, and why, then to list their ideas on the board.

Unfortunately only two people turned up until almost 4:30; and as I also wanted to do other activities with them, it was cancelled.

We looked at El Plan de Clase by Ann Hildreth (it has errors still! Must change them!!) and we also went through the lesson plan format. V and C are used to doing lesson plans of some form, while M was given his lesson plans to give at Interlingua, and I'm not sure about E as she still arrives late; but I think she has less experience with them.

I asked the TTs to do free observation on the class today rather than focus on one particular aspect, but to focus on either the teacher or the students.

The 613 class freewrote first on mobile phones - good and bad aspects of them. We checked some of the questions on the Stardust homework, and also played the video again for certain answers for the vocabulary. Even then, some of their answers were vague or not quite right!

Most of the class today was on connectors. I wrote some sentences on the board, and they suggested possible ways of linking them; then we looked at the worksheet, sts filling in the blanks as we went along and suggesting other connectors. While it was a lot of work I think it helped sts conceptualize the words more, that they probably are familiar with but using incorrectly while writing or speaking. Finally they went through the "mobile phones" activity in the book. There was still some uncertainty about some answers, but in general they were able to apply the rules they'd just studied. It was, however, a long time going through each of the types of connectors; and if I give this class in the future it would be useful to find other ways of giving them the information in a more dynamic way - perhaps discovering a rule, then doing an activity, then another rule, another activity etc. just to break it up a little more. One st commented on this in the blog, and I agree that it was not the usual student-centred, dynamic activity they prefer.

There was no time for summarizing an article with a partner as I had planned; so I just gave them the homework task of bringing to class next week an interesting news article to work on for creating an oral report of it.

The TTs' comments following the class were as follows:

C said that the students had a very high level of concentration and self-confidence (ie. they're not afraid or embarrassed to make mistakes).

V noted that the planning of this class was evident. [A lot of what I do and teach, I hope that it helps the TTs too in their English!!]

M observed how the sts discovered the information together with the T, filling in the blanks and then working in pairs and speaking.

E noted that the attention was not centred on the T!! [I had considered it a T-centred class!] but I had asked for many volunteers and that all questions were redirected to the students.

We also noted that two students who are sisters, B and Z, are down the lower end of abilities in the level 6 class.

I suspect that once the trainees begin teaching themselves, they will also pick up other things. Or perhaps I'm not taking advantage of all the learning opportunities in the class?

I'm currently trying to design the midterm exam for level 6, and finding it beyond my capacities; plus all the homework I have to mark is starting to pile up!!

Wed Feb 24 - LAB

I do get so stressed when I have to use some sort of technology in the language lab, especially this new one which is unfamiliar to me (well, it's an old lab, but new to me). Thankfully putting on the DVD was okay, although I couldn't hear the sound through my own headphones, and couldn't get it on the room speakers, so everyone had to watch it "individually" on their own headphones, with me sitting in one of the rows as well. Doing it this way gives me the impression that each person is watching it "all by themselves" and there's not that sense of community watching which comes when everyone is watching the movie together. Thankfully they all laughed at the right parts!

In the end I decided to show certain parts of the movie with subtitles, and others without them. This seemed to work well. It appears to me, though, in hindsight, that the section in the worksheet on Captain Shakespeare is too difficult; very few people were able to pick up why he called himself that and what his crew understood - even with subtitles. I think I'll need to change those questions if I show this movie again.

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.