Critical Incidents

1. Description:
Critical Incident 1: In my second class this week at room 0202, I started by
proposing an Android game called Bomb Taboo. I borrowed an HD Videobeam and proper wires; I brought my Smartphone with the game installed
and all prepared. The video beam I borrowed for the class did not work as I
expected, it did not recognize the image from the Smartphone; the
projection showed a Green screen and nothing else. After lots of struggle I
was not able to make it work. Consequently, I started doing the game in a
manual way with papers and pen, the old style. The students were asking
what was happening at the beginning, they were waiting for a projection.
Instead they had to wait for me to cut papers and do the cards myself. They
were not happy about it. Others did not seem to care. Pupils were talking
and using their cell-phones in the meanwhile.
Critical Incident 2: I had the Didactics IT classroom booked for the class with
the students of English 3. My class was prepared. I was about to conduct a
class in English where pupils would use the computers to practice
pronunciation, Reading and listening online. Connection to Internet is not
effective at University, pages did not open after lots of minutes waiting and
when they opened they were too slow and not complete. Anyhow I always
try to have an undersleeve trick, like using a video beam, the board, my pc,
etc so I can continue with the class. My students get bored and start as
always chatting on their phones or joking around while they wait for the
pages to open. It has happens manby times. I dont know exactly how to
solve this problem.

Incident 3: Another critical incident happened at classroom 02 02 las Friday.

There is the lack of naturality and constancy of students at the time of
speaking English. They do not use English in the classroom or outside.
Therefore, I have to call their attention at all times telling them to practice
English and telling them the importance of taking advantage of the
classroom for speaking a foreing language. They always laugh nervously as
showing they know it is a fault. They try and speak in English again, but
then, after some minutes they speak they persisto n spanish.
2. Analysis
Critical Incident 1.
The idea of the game Bomb Taboo is enhancing vocabulary of students by
means of guessing, miming and repetition as a group. It is a contest game.
This situation led me to a bit of stress, as the activity planned was very
important for me and for students, but it did not go as planned. Perhaps,
students minds were made up to play a game, something fun for them. The
pupils and the teacher felt some frustration because the game could not be
accomplish in the digital way.
I wasted a lot of time trying to make the warm activity work.
The activity had to be done manually, but it was not the same and pupils,
although eager to work and participate, were not perceived as being totally
engaged by me and the alternative activity.
Critical Incident 2.
Technological resources are a big weakness at university, mostly Internet.
We have computers at university, IT classrooms and the like, but the
connection to Internet is so deadly awful and slow that not all the classes

can progress in a fluently technological way. Al classes that have been

thought and aimed for using computers and Internet lose greatness due to
this issue. Stress is one of the consequences for this class. Students and the
teacher experiment it. Even when the activities are changed for alternative
ones, students expect more technological assistance.

Critical Incident 3.
My sudents obviously speak spanish naturally, the problem comes when it is
time for them to take advantage of the English class, and they do not take
it. That day they spoke Spanish in class unconsciously (code-switching), and
just after I told them to practice their English, they felt the need to go back
to it. I want them to progress as they only have one opportunity a day to
speak the foreign language in question. I also would like them to practice
outside the classroom. But nothing I did seemed to make them think of it.
3. Solutions
Critical Incident 1. The solution for this incident is to be prepared with a
back up plan. So, video beams and games are a good option, but in case it
they dont work, a second plan should be applied. My second plan is to have
flash cards ready at all times in my bag. I mean, the paper vesions of games
in case of need. That way the warm up game can continue with no problema
and still be able to complete the objectives.
Critical Incident 2. For solving the problem with the Internet in the class
there can be some options. One of them is to report the incidents to the IT
office at university. It will take a long time, but it also will give the institution
the opportunity to know more about what is happening. Another option is to

bring the computer materials saved on the Usb drives or cds, so the Internet
is not dependable anymore. It will be slower and it will demand more work,
but it is a good solution, however, not the best.
Critical Incident 3. For my students to speak English in class I need to make
up a strategy to motivate them to speak at all times. One of them is to help
students crate stronger bonds between each other, so they feel confidence
at the time to speak. Another good idea is to congratulate them and give
them rewards, say points, when they speak English, without paying too
much attention to small mistakes. Sometimes it is ideal to create contest
games with English as the first element. This would encourage them to use
it more and achieve their objectives.