Assessment N° 1

MDD1

Gary Torres

Professional Practicum

Standard 1: Contextualisation of teaching

Subject: English

Group: 2-B (2 ° medio B)

Assignment 1: Select and describe the characteristics of the institution and

classroom that you consider relevant for contextualising the unit planning.

Institution Description:

Colegio Concepción Chiguayante is a private-subsidised college located in

Chiguayante, Bio-Bio region. The college is scientific-humanist and it includes pre-

school, primary and secondary education with full-time school day.

According to its PEI (Proyecto Educativo Institucional) the main goal of the

college is to enhance in students their living as active, responsible, autonomous,

constructive critic and entrepreneurial people inserted in a challenging society. In

addition to this, its vision and mission include providing students a lay, humanistic

and quality education and being an educational community of excellence, leader in

management and innovation, supported by values which are based on the Chilean

and universal Francmasonerie. Its curricular implementation is based on its own

library and computer and science laboratories.

The college is aware of the importance of English which is considered an

essential tool for students, this is why English teaching is fully enhanced, starting in

the pre-school level and intensifying as they through primary and secondary

education. A good sample of this strong concern is the study tour that some

secondary students had in New Zealand this year. Accompanied by one of the

college’s English teacher they were there for 23 days studying English and learning

about the culture. Moreover, it is important to mention that 3rd graders of secondary

level took the SIMCE test, reaching A2 and B1 levels, according to the

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Regarding infrastructure applied in the subject, the college is equipped with

computer labs for primary and secondary students (50 computers each lab), which

can be an essential learning resource for lessons in which the teacher needs

students to research, look for information or even prepare a presentation.

Furthermore, every classroom has its own computer, a digital-interactive whiteboard

and a data projector.

Classroom description:

In the classroom it is possible to notice that the computer, data projector and

digital-interactive whiteboard are useful resources that help the teacher throughout

the lesson. Here, it is important to mention that no book is used to register

attendance, update marks or write behaviour notes, instead the college has its own

software installed in the computer of the classroom, so teachers log in with their

name and password. Besides, for the subject of English students use a book called

Solutions, which includes a software with the book itself and all the activities and

exercises with his keys, so activities can be checked more easily all together

(teacher and students).

The seats are all arranged looking at the whiteboard, every seat has its own

table and there are two rows of 2 seats and one row of 3 seats in the middle. In this

way it is easier to rearrange them occasionally even if there is a class with an

overcrowded class. The classroom has windows with curtains and, most importantly,

it has a heater, which is essential in winter or autumn times.

Another point which is worth mentioning is that every English class after

calling attendance the students with better knowledge of English in 2-A (2 ° medio

A) go to the classroom 2-B, and students with lower level of English in this class go

to 2-A’s classroom so 2-B’s class becomes the advanced one, where contents are

a little bit more difficult.

English is used every time during the class, for giving instructions, asking

questions, checking activities, etc. The teacher does not allow Spanish since

students are more likely to learn if they are surrounded by the language. However

there are some exceptions, for example when a learner does not know a word or

expression in English.

As 2-B (2 ° medio B) is the advanced group the teacher tries to makes them

talk and express themselves as much as she can. This is done through constantly

asking them questions related to the topic of the lesson such as what their opinion

is, how does something work in their houses or by simply asking them how they are

or what they did during the weekend. This group is stands out not only because of

its good level of English but also because its good behaviour, respect for teachers

and classmates. Fortunately, no case of bullying has been seen in this group.

All this information was taken from what I have seen in class, what my guide

teacher has told me an also some documents from the college plus the college’s

web page.

Assignment 2: Select and describe the characteristics of learners in your

group, individually and as a whole, that are relevant factors for the planning of

lessons and for a quality learning in the unit.

2-B is a group of 41 students aged around 16- 17 years old. There are 19 girls

and 22 boys.

Regarding English and as explained before, this group stands out. According

to the ‘can do statements’ and the Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages (CEFR), this group should be reaching levels A1 since they are capable

of understanding spoken and written instructions with no difficulty, they are also

capable of retaining some pieces of information from audio and convey that

information afterwards (orally or written).

One drawback I have noticed is the fact that students rely a lot on their

mobiles, sometimes they use it just to check the time, which is acceptable, but other

times they get really distracted and they lose concentration because of this device.

In this cases the teacher make those distracted students look for the meaning of

certain words in their mobiles so they can actually use it for an educational purpose.

The teacher also likes to make these kid of students participate more than usual, to

keep them busy and focused.

To get to know students’ interests and likes I had a few weeks of observation,

where I had the chance to randomly ask learners what their favourite subject was

and what subject they did not like. From what they said, student’s favourite subject

is English and Physical Education, while Mathematics and chemistry are the ones

they do not like.

In terms of interaction inside the classroom, they are always collaborative

participating actively in all the activities during the lesson. It is remarkable to mention

that there are some small groups of learners (sometimes 2 students) that always

seat together. When they talk too much during the class the small group is simply

divided. However, these groups do not close to other students, for instance if they

are asked to work with other partners they show no significant problems with that.

During the break, the already mentioned small groups are more noticeable. On one

hand the usual thing is to see big groups of girls going around the college premises,

talking or using their mobiles. On the other hand, boys can be seen playing football

in small groups, talking or playing the guitar with other girls and boys.

Assignment 3: Analyse the received information for determining what factors

from context and students will affect your design of a quality education for

learners in this class.

For a quality process of learning, the following factors are considered:

- Firstly, it is important to note the importance given to the subject of English in

this college, which is highlighted in their educational project, which includes

English as part of the integral development of students This is reflected in

their good scores in SIMCE test, in the study tour made in New Zealand and,

most importantly, in students’ performance in the subject.

- Secondly, the learning resources that teachers are able to use in a classroom

show how aware people in this college are about the education of their

students. It is obvious that the key for a successful lesson is on the teacher

and not on the resources they have in favour, but as mentioned before, having

a computer, a data projector and an interactive whiteboard are letting teacher

make their lessons more engaging and interactive so students can learn

differently than if they were only using their book. Moreover, the heater

provides a nice temperature inside the classroom, so students are not

distracted by these kind of factors. Outside the classroom, students and

teachers are able to use the library and the computer labs in case they need

a specific book or some information to support the lessons.

- Thirdly, even though students in 2-B are a bit talkative and they use their

mobiles several times during the class, they have got a really good level of

English making it easier to express ideas thoughts or opinions about topics of

the lesson for both teachers and students.

- Fourthly, students in this group feel motivated about English, since most of

what they like is related to English in some way or another. For instance a

frequent topic is music, where most of the artists and music bands they like

are from U.S.A. or The United Kingdom. Travel is another point of interest,

since almost everyone wants to have a period in their life to travel and get to

know new places.

Assignment 4: Reflect about the possibility of having an adequate knowledge

of students in the context of practicum.

En cuanto a las potencialidades de los procedimientos y fuentes se puede

definir lo siguiente:

- The first weeks of observation helped me realise the general vision of the

group. What subjects they did not like, how they felt about English language

and culture, which is relevant for the process of learning.

- The PEI (Proyecto Educativo Institucional) provided me with important

information about the real goal of education in this college, which is essential

in case me or my guide teacher want to implement certain activities.

- Information from my guide teacher was essential since she has been working

there for about ten years and she knows how everything works, specifically,

how students behave, how they learn and how to act in some situations. In

addition to this, she gave me the total number of students in the group and

how many boys and girls there are. This information is totally truthful since

my guide teacher showed me documents to support this.