MDD 1: Contextual Factors

Name: Pamela Aazco Hermosilla.

Guide Teacher: Theresa St. John
Level: Teaching Experience IV
Due date: April, 22nd 2016

Introduction

Within the educational framework, any educational approach to teaching must be conceived in
close relationship with the context that surrounds it. Particularly, since there is a continuous
interaction between various factors/agents such as the educational institution, students
socioeconomic background among other relevant factors and the process of teaching learning.
Notwithstanding, novice or trainee teachers tend to overlook the importance of being acquainted
with the context in which they are teaching. The context and the factors surround it play an
important role in the instruction process. That is why it is highly valuable for pre-service teachers
to know as much as possible about the school context, students background, and special
needs.
Thus, the main objective of this teacher work sample will be to describe the diverse contextual
factors and students characteristics that will influence the process of teaching and learning
during my 12-weeks teaching practicum, which will contribute to have a thorough understanding
about how to maximize students learning potential, especially when learning a foreign language.

Pgina 2

MDD Standard
General Contextual Factors:
Teaching Experience IV (Prctica Progresiva IV) is taking place at Colegio Santsima
Trinidad located in Avenida Andalu # 2290, San Pedro de la Paz. According to their official
website, Colegio Santsima Trinidad is denominational Catholic private school, which belongs to
the network of prestigious schools under the educational management of Pentecostal
Foundation. Consequently, its educational project is rooted in Catholic values as stated in the
Mission and Vision1
Establishment Description:
The school attends children from Pre-school age to High school.

According

Level
Medio menor

Age
2 years old

to

Medio mayor
Pre- K

3 years old
4 years old

Kindergarten
Elementary /Middle school

5 years old
6- 13 years old

information
through

interview with
Director,
Santsima

st

th

(1 to 8 grade)
High school

14 years old -

( Freshman- Senior)

the
gathered
personal
the Academic
Colegio
Trinidad has a

total enrollment of 385 students, averaging 22 students per level.

As stated in their website, the admission process is open all year around as long as there is
vacancy for the level. The process consists of four stages: application, entrance exam, formal
interview (parents), and enrollment.
Monthly tuition payment amount, as published in the MINEDUC website, is over $ 100.000.
The school counts with a team of learning support professionals such as psychologists and
educational psychologist, counselors and priests that offer support in all education levels.
In addition to the regular curriculum, the institution imparts several extra-curricular activities such
as soccer, track, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, tennis and table tennis, as well as cooking
1 See appendix for Misin and Visin.

Pgina 3

and arts workshop. Besides, it also has several specific programs such as a counseling
program, school values, drug and alcohol prevention, sexuality education, environmental care
education, healthy living, social activities, pastoral activities, missions and apostolate and selfmanagement program.
Colegio Santsima Trinidad is equipped with a fully- stocked library, science laboratory, computer
room with internet access, multimedia room, sport field, gymnasium and a chapel.
The school has an English Department consisting of four English teachers: the head of the
department and three teachers who cover all levels from Pre-k to High school. Students have six
pedagogical hours of English a week. However, senior year high school students hours are
reduced to only one hour a week, due to the preparation to PSU exam.
According to the information gathered from a personal interview with the guide teacher, the
department has developed and follow their own curricular program for English, thus students
from 5th grade forward are classified and divided in two levels: beginners and advanced learners
for each level. Therefore, beginners stay in one classroom, while advanced students go to the
English room, each with their assigned teacher.
Description of the classrooms physical aspect
The English room is medium-size room with about 25 desks and chairs. The seating
arrangement is set facing the board as most of classrooms in the Chilean school contexts.
It is equipped with a white-board, data and audio system, and a small in-room library containing
books and dictionaries. Although a computer is not available in the room, an outlet is installed to
connect personal devices and project using data system.

How These Factors May Impact My Lessons

The school possesses several assets that will affect my lessons and performance in a very
positive way. For instance, having well equipped multimedia room can be an aid and a
complement for my lessons to practice and reinforce contents in a very interactive way, which is
always appealing to students and helps keep them motivated. Using technology is fun option for
learning in a different setting other than the classroom. Furthermore, having computers with

Pgina 4

internet access will facilitate the learning process by using them to show videos about real life
situations in English speaking countries or work in projects that require gathering information
online.
Undoubtedly, the socioeconomic context in which this school is immersed may influence my
professional performance greatly, not only because the resources and infrastructure benefit the
learning process but also because their background and prior knowledge of the subject.
Another important factor that will affect my performance and instruction positively is the size of
the class. As previously mentioned, classes (that average 22 students per level) are divided in
two sections, which translates into having a group of approximately 11 or 15 students per class.
Consequently, teaching instruction is practically personalized.
Overall, school facilities and equipment is highly beneficial for teaching and implementing my
lessons.

Student characteristics and their instructional implications

During PPIV, I was assigned 5th ( beginner level), 8th ( advanced level) and 9th ( advanced level
students); however, this teacher sample is focused on 8th students.
The entire class consist of 28 students. 16 of them are assigned to the advanced students
group, which 6 are women, 10 are men. Students age average 13 years old. All the students
have been attending school from Pre-K.
According to the information gathered, besides a single case of myopia, there are no other
Special Educational Need students in this class.
As for the knowledge of English/ level of proficiency, based on the evidence of observation and
school records from the previous year (7th grade), students demonstrate a high level of
competence in the language in the four skills. Students show ability to communicate using
advanced vocabulary and complex sentences.
Although the official curriculum for this 8th

grade

class is based on the activities (contents,

vocabulary, grammar structures, etc.) from the Engage Book from Oxford University Press,
curricular differentiation is performed to adapt and fit their level of proficiency focused mainly on

Pgina 5

communicative approach activities such as discussions and mini-debates. The guide teacher
also supplements her lessons by preparing students for the Preliminary English Test (PET).
Regarding students attitude toward the subject, students show a very positive attitude. They are
willing to participate by giving their opinion in all the activities carried out by the teacher. They
are constantly interacting with each other using English. Undoubtedly, students like English.
The group appear to be a close-knit group, which creates a relaxed atmosphere.
Aside from their high level of competence in the language, students also seem to have a wide
cultural knowledge.
How these characteristics will influence my lessons
Personally, the fact that for the first time in my pre-service experience, I have a class with high
proficiency level students will influence not only my lesson plans and the way I am going to
implement my lessons but also will be a personal challenge. This means that I will have to take
into consideration this specific student characteristic in order to make my lesson into a
challenging experience for the students, thus they do not get bored. It will be a relevant aspect
to keep my students engage and interested.
Several researches have established that interest is one of the strongest motivations for learning
English (Gardner, 1985). With this in mind, I believe that students interest toward learning
English may have a positive impact in order to achieve the aim of the lessons.
Finally, because of teachers have to be able to manage the classroom, it is very important to
take into account students interests, because we can aid the process of learning and creating a
positive atmosphere.

Aspects to take into consideration to provide quality teaching

As previously stated, it is highly relevant for the teaching-learning process to know the context
and the characteristics of the students we are teaching, hence improving the learning
experience by selecting and using the best methodologies and strategies according to the
available resources and students strengths.

Pgina 6

Hence, three relevant aspect I will consider to design quality-teaching experience are:

Students interest. One of the most important aspect to have in consideration to provide
a meaningful learning experience is to be aware of the students interest (likes and
dislikes); especially if there is the need to develop a lesson, which is appealing to them.
Due to the importance of this aspect, I applied an interest survey 2 in order to get an

idea of their interests.

Language proficiency of the students. The group of students possess a high level of
proficiency, which allows the opportunity to explore different teaching methods and a
variety of activities in which students can be challenged. According to Jensen, as cited in
Celce-Murcia (2001), when planning a lesson, there should be a variety of activities, in
order to engage students in the activities, so then they can participate more. To maximize
their potential, it will be of the utmost importance to keep the lessons with interesting

topics and challenging enough for their level.

Class size/ small student group. Another important aspect to bear in mind is the class
size. The number of students (16) allows to provide one on one assistance to students,
and also design customized lessons to meet the needs and interests of most ( if not all)
of the class members. Furthermore, having a small group will be favorable for
participation in class, since more students will get an opportunity to speak and express
their opinions.

Although these aspects are advantageous, they could also present challenges in order to
achieve meaningful learning. Some of the drawbacks could be:

Adapting the contents of the unit to a level that is appropriate for the students, while
considering and following the objectives and contents stated on the course book. The
course book is the guide for the class; however, the topics and activities are somewhat
below of what they can do. Hence, activities need to be adapted or modified in order to
make them challenging, which also presents an ordeal for me. Consequently, I need to
invest time to develop a unit based on what is stated on the book, yet customizing it to fit

their learning needs.

The class size as well as the level of proficiency of students can also present a
challenge, because students can get bored easily. Activities will be done, reviewed and

2 See appendix for Interest survey

Pgina 7

checked promptly, which will require to prepare extra lesson material and have plenty of

fillers on hand for times when lessons or activities are completed quickly.
There is also the possibility that adapting the material can result on activities that are
either too easy or difficult for them to carry out. However, the observation process has
provided me with a comprehensive insight about their capabilities, strengths and
weaknesses.

Nevertheless, a partnership and good communication with the guide teacher is essential in order
to resolve these difficulties since it is she, who knows the students the best, and can guide and
provide comments on the activities to be done by the students.
Overall, the school, class context (facilities and technology equipment) and students
characteristics (individual and group) provide a positive environment to achieve the learning
objectives for the unit. It is highly relevant to prepare the lessons/unit considering the positive
and disadvantageous aspects. Lesson plans can always be changed and improved.

Reflection on the importance of knowing about students and the context to provide
quality teaching
From my personal stance, it is essential to be acquainted with the students and their interests as
well as to consider different aspects of the context, in which I am going to teach to provide a
meaningful learning experience for my students. Acknowledging the importance of the context
and students characteristic will give us, future teachers, a better understanding of the decision to
make in order to ensure our students are achieving the ultimate goal: meaningful learning
experience. For that reason, I turned to different sources and used a variety of methods to obtain
information as reliable as possible.
Interest survey, which provided a general idea of the students preferences, so they can
be included in the lesson plans.
Personal conversation with the students. This allowed me to get to know few students in
a more personal level and get information directly from the source.
Interview with the Head teacher and Academic director of the school. They provided the
official information about the school and students. Besides, they provided information
about the English curriculum developed in the school.

Pgina 8

 Observation. It was key asset during the process of collecting information about the
students. However, two weeks of observation did not offer the quality information
desired, it helped to prepare for the implementing of the lessons.
Even though, these methods of collecting information provide an overview of the students
characteristics and their background. I acknowledge the importance of time to get to know
students in a holistic way, their abilities: strengths and weaknesses. Because it is only through
the interaction teacher-student, during the process of teaching, that grant the opportunity to get
to know each student abilities and their potential.

Pgina 9

References

Colegio Santsima Trinidad. (n.d.). Colegio Santsima trinidad. http://www.ccst.cl/

Ministerio de Educacin. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.mineduc.cl/

Gardner, R. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and
motivation. London: Edward Arnold Publishers.
Jensen, L. (2001). Planning lessons. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or
Foreign Language (pp. 403-413). Boston: Heinle & Heinle

Pgina 10

Appendix
Visin
El Colegio de la Santsima Trinidad, es una comunidad de educacin que, por su constante
aspiracin a la excelencia acadmica, valrica y humana, conduce a cada alumno -en unin
con su familia- a ser protagonista de su proceso de enseanza aprendizaje para dar un aporte
decisivo en la sociedad actual. Educamos personalidades ntegras, recias, interiormente libres,
con capacidad y voluntad de decisin, que viven conscientes de los grandes desafos del
tiempo y responden a ellos con un compromiso cristiano.

Misin
El Colegio como establecimiento catlico, entrega una formacin integral que desarrolla las
destrezas y habilidades originales de cada alumno, potenciando sus capacidades: intelectuales,
espirituales, deportivas, artsticas, sociales.
Ofrecemos una educacin mariana que forja verdaderas personas, que desde su originalidad
desarrollen al mximo sus talentos, cultivando la vinculacin con Dios, con el prjimo,
acogiendo su diversidad, consigo mismo y con el mundo, logrando un espritu familiar y
comunitario.

Pgina 11

INTEREST SURVEY!

Name:_____________________________________________
Please answer these questions about you.

How old are you?

Do you like English?

What are your favorite TV shows/movies?

What is your favorite kind of music?

Name 3 things you like doing

Describe yourself in 3 words

Do you have a special talent?

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Pgina 12

Pgina 13