UNIVERSIDAD DE PLAYA ANCHA

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES
EARLY ENGLISH TEACHING PRACTICE
2009

OBSERVATION STAGE

Name of student teacher: Elvira Saa Espinoza

Name of School: Colegio Patmos

Number of students: 33

Date: 20 de Junio Class: 1º medio

Task Nº1: The school

Refer to the general background of the school in a clear and brief way.
Describe:

• physical location,

• organisation,

• student population,

• School rules.

The school is located on a hill in Viña del Mar, and it’s a number of old
buildings together that form the school. Its organization is very relaxed,
people who work there usually do activities they’re not supposed to or
more activities than what they’re supposed to do, like in a really relaxed
and familiar atmosphere. It’s a very small school and its population is of
about 300 students, which allows a small number of children in each
class. The rules are usually related to moral aspects and values without
being too strict in superficial aspects with students and teachers and not
related to religion.

Task Nº2: The classroom

Comment about:

• The atmosphere of the room

• The levels of engagement in the room.

• Students seating.

• Space

• Whiteboard location

• Classroom equipment.

The classrooms in the school are pretty poor equipped; they don’t have
the resources that should have for what parents are paying. The
atmosphere in the classrooms is very relaxed, familiar and sometimes
chaotic because of children’s destructive behaviour but the levels of
engagement are very high in terms of human relation ships. Students
are very close to each other and even to their teachers and other people
who work at the school. The students usually seat wherever they want,
but when there is a test, or some kind of behaviour problem, teachers
usually change their seating. The space is not a problem because of
being a school with a small number of students per class they have
plenty of space for each person. The location of the whiteboard is in the
 front of the classroom and they don’t have special equipment (like
computers, data shows, TVs) inside the classroom but they have
specially equipped rooms for activities or lessons that require them.

Task Nº3: The teacher

Describe the following:

• Classroom routine.

• Motivation activities performed.

• Learning activities conducted.

• Material resourced used.

• Stages of the lesson.

The teachers have a very good relation with the students, the students
usually suggest the teachers what they want to do, if they want to play a
game from the work book or if they want to watch a movie and
sometimes teachers pay attention. The resources my teachers usually
use are the work book, computers and films and children seem very
motivated to watch films so the teachers use that resource as a price
when they work in a good way. The lesson usually starts with a relaxed
conversation about a topic, the students answer and ask questions
related to the topic and then do some exercises. After they’ve learnt how
to do the activities, the teacher gives them more and similar activities to
do.

Task Nº4: The learners

In this observation task, focus on the things that help to create conditions for
effective learning and on the aspects that play a part in preventing
learning.

• How motivated are the learners? Why?

• Are they taking part in their own learning? How?

• Are they expecting the teacher to do the work for them?

• Do they like to participate in group work? If so, how do they behave?

• What kinds of learning activities do the students like the most? What do
they like the least?

They are not completely unmotivated because they show a lot of interest
in answering the questions and talking about the topics the teacher
gives and they usually take part of their own learning process by
critizacing or eulogizing the activity when they like it or not. Some
students are very independent; they like to start working on their own,
sometimes missing the instructions. But some students don’t like any of
the activities, they claim they don’t understand anything and want the
teachers to do the work for them. Some of them love working in groups
because they can choose their best friends, but some don’t like it
because nobody wants to work with them or because they take
advantage of their knowledge. They love the activities that implies
working with art or drawing and watching videos, they love creative
activities and dislike tests and activities that look like tests or quizzes.
AIVV/RAGS
Teaching Practice Team
2009