I.

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
MDD Standard 1

The teacher candidate collects data regarding the institutional and classroom
contexts, the characteristics of the pupils as a group and its diversity, using this
information to plan and deliver instruction.

1. Community in which the school is located and/or serves, municipality

or owner and school factors:
The school is located in Chiguayante, a slightly middle sized county near Concepcin,
the capital city of the VIII Region of Chile. The neighborhood in which the school
serves the community belongs to a middle-upper class socioeconomic status area of
the county. A high percentage of students live in the same county near the school;
however, some students come from Hualqui, which is located about 15km from
Chiguayante.
The institution is called The Pacific School, and from Primary, Secondary to High
School, has a total enrollment of 635 students. The school is a semi-private institution
as it receives a grant per capita from the state of Chile, and it is held by a private
owner.
The socioeconomic profile of the students families, according to SIMCE 2014, is middle
class with incomes that vary from $420.001 to $700.000, and a 32,01% to 52% rate
of students in vulnerability status.
The ethnical minorities rate is very low (0,47%) , represented only by 3 foreigner
students.
1.1.

How These Factors May Impact My Lessons:

On the whole, as it is a quite small school, I think it is not going to be a very big
challenge to teach there because students in this type of schools tend to be more
respectful to teachers. In my opinion, I will have the chance to practice and help them
with their language development in a smoother way as there are fewer students in
class than in the public system. Additionally, I may find students that have been
studying together from about 10 years or less, and that may have an impact on my
presence there as they are going to be with not very common figure in their lessons.
This point might make them be reluctant to talk to me while I stay in the classroom as
I will be a complete foreigner for them. However, I think this is an advantage because
they do not know my attitudes or class behavior methodologies, which counts in my
favor as I can try with them several methodologies, and they will not be able to notice.
For instance, I can plan a PPP lesson first, and then a TBL lesson and they will not be
able to find the difference on the focus of each lesson, so they might not find my
lessons repetitive.
From the TEFL point of view, I may be able to recognize advanced level students in the
class and use them as a support for my activities; especially productive skills based
activities (Speaking and Writing). Also, they might be using different materials from
the ones that the Government provides, particularly the book - this can also be a good
point to consider as they will provide a guideline for the development of my lessons
and also, the topics I will have to cover.

To sum up, I think I may need to be prepared each class as the course has 4 hours of
English per week and they are taught by two teachers, each one specializing in
different skills of the language.
As a consequence of what is stated above, I will have to plan my lessons according to
the book organization or teachers already planned units. Furthermore, I may have to
imitate teachers class management strategies in order to keep the focus of the class
while teaching my lessons.
2. Student Characteristics and Their Instructional Implications:
2.1 Description of First Characteristic of Student(s) in this Class:
This student is a 17 years old girl that demonstrates a higher level of proficiency than
her classmates. Through the development of each class, she tends to show off her
level by participating and showing interest towards the English class and the topic
concerning the unit. Despite the showing off characteristic, this student is very open
the help her classmates while performing some of the tasks and explain to them the
meaning of sentences and words. She seems to be very organized having also
outstanding results in all the subjects.
2.1.1 How This Characteristic Will Impact my Lesson:
Helping out other classmates will be a great support for my lesson, as there are some
groups that may not have the level of proficiency to understand and develop the tasks,
this student will be my linguistic connection to students. Moreover, confidence in my
opinion is a key element for students to speak out their minds while trying to produce
in English, and with her it will not be an obstacle, but an additional assistance for my
lesson.
2.2 Description of Second Characteristic of Students in this Class:
This student is an 18 years old boy whose level of proficiency is quite low compared to
his classmates. During class, he seems to be distracted by factors like talking, drawing
or just not being interested in the English lesson. As I observed, when he tries to pay
attention to an activity, his results do not represent the amount of effort that he puts
into it - something that frustrates him and makes him feel that no matter what he
does, he will always fail.
2.2.1 How This Characteristic Will Impact my Lesson
As this student depends on his emotional status, I will have to be careful at the
moment of planning and encouraging him to perform a task. In this particular point,
the level of difficulty is crucial, as it has to match students level of English, motivation
and provide actual good results for the student. Also, I will have to monitor him in
order to give him support and identify his weakness in order to promote his strengths,
so I may have the chance to omit his frustration. For a lesson plan, I think I should
start with a basic and easy activity to engage this student and enhance his learning
process to my lesson aim.
3. Physical Aspects of the Classroom and Their Instructional Implications:
3.1 Description of First Physical Aspect:

The classroom is placed on the second floor of the school, and it is composed of three
rows, each one with a two-students-designed table.
3.1.1 How This Aspect Will Impact My Lesson
As there are tables for two students each, I will be able to set students groups of 4
more easily, so I will have to chance to implement group work tasks.
3.2 Description of Second Physical Aspect:
A large whiteboard and two bulletin boards on each side.
3.2.1How This Aspect Will Impact My Lesson
It will help my written explanations more easy to be seen from the back, something
that I consider very important for students learning. I can even use the different
sections of the whiteboard for classroom management, dates learning, vocabulary
boxes and be productive with use of this tool.
4. Reflects on the importance of knowing about students and the
context to provide quality teaching
Knowing about the students and the context to provide quality teaching are two
important factors that a teacher of English in training must consider at the moment of
learning how to develop teaching strategies.
The importance of knowing about the students: from my perspective, this is a
critical aspect of the teaching and learning process. Students are all different, so do
their learning styles as not everyone learn in the same way. Adapting my lessons to
each student might sound impossible, but encouraging students to use strategies like
Personalization, could make an impact on their learning and enhance language learning
in this context. Furthermore, emotions are also important. My mentor teacher told me
once that their disposition to learn depends on their mood. As a teacher, I should be
prepared for difficult lessons with students paying no attention. In this case, I must not
blame myself, but think on new strategies to turn these hard lessons into a success for
learning. Knowing their moods, personalities, likes and dislikes to name but few, can
help me to develop interesting and meaningful lessons. Conversely, I think also that we
cannot always match students interest, so moving their focus of attention to important
topics might also serve as a good strategy.
The importance of knowing about the context: apart from knowing about the
students, their context is also an important issue to consider when providing quality
teaching. Students socio cultural and economic contexts differ from each other; as a
result, for a teacher is also a mean of significance to know their previous knowledge
what they bring from their experiences. Teaching can be totally related to this and set
a context of synchronization between the content, learning and students motivation.
To conclude, teaching not only is knowing what to teach and how to teach, but also
who to teach and what to do when the content is not enough to solve classroom
issues, but most importantly, the way teachers provide a quality content, values and
emotional delivery.