ENGLISH PEDAGOGY

STUDENT TEACHING PRACTICE

OBSERVATION STAGE

Task 1:
The School and Learning Environment

Name of student : Lysette Figueroa Gonzalez

Name of School : Colegio Adventista

Number of students : 40

Date : 10th September 2010

Class : 8vo Basico and 2do Medio

Briefly describe the following aspects:

1. The school
Describe the general background of the school including the physical
location, organization, student population, philosophy and educational
and behavioural policies.

In terms of context, the Adventist School is located 10 minutes far from the
center area of Quilpue.
The school environment has a main building which is a 3-floor one and 2
smaller ones besides of the field, a kiosk, a scenario and 2 computer labs.
Next to the main building is found the “Mision”. Where the Jefes UTP and the
school principal are.
In relation to students’ population, every classroom has 40 students as average
but every single student is treating in a particular way depending on their
needs and limitations. For special students there is a special team of
professionals for example one of them is a psychologist.
On the subject of the philosophy, this school has a Christian viewpoint.
Adventist´s beliefs are based on respect and love between students, teachers,
families and Jesus Christ.
Students arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning and the classes begin with worship;
songs, petitions for God and a pray start each morning in all the levels.
Concerning to behavioural policies, if students arrive
late or if women use make up or jewellery (which is not
allowed) there will be 3 warnings before their parents are called to the principal
of the school.
2. The classroom

Describe the atmosphere of the room and the levels of engagement in

the room. Make notes on seating, sight lines, space, air, light,
whiteboard, equipment, etc

The classrooms are big for courses of 45 students; the students

are seated in couples.
In every classroom there is a teacher-centered seating
arrangement. There are 2 aisles to walk through and 3 rows of
13-15 students each.
There are 3 big windows which can be opened at one side of the room,
curtains, a TV set, the whiteboard and a shelf to keep some students books or
materials from the art class, this shelf does not block sight in the classroom
because it is in the corner of the classroom.

3. The activities & resources

a) Make notes on …
The kind of activities used.
I am going to give an example of each class. On the one hand 8th primary
grade, they are learning about present perfect: the grammar form and use.
On the other hand 2nd secondary grade, they are learning vocabulary from
a text that describes a tour from Valparaiso to the south of Chile.
8vo-
1. Teacher makes a briefly explanation about the topic of the day and write
examples on the board
These 2 weeks the topic was PRESENT PERFECT. The teacher describes the
grammatical form of this tense and the use of it on the whiteboard.
2. Students make sentences using pattern and words given.
3. Students receive feedback from the teacher and check their answers to
get points for doing the activity
4. Homework: learn and memorize part of the list of the irregular verbs from
the list of their books.
2do-
1. Teacher create a brainstorming using words that are related to CHILOE
on the whiteboard
2. Teacher makes the link between the brainstorming and the text of the
students’ book.
3. Teacher starts reading and the student repeat after him.
4. Students fill in the blanks of the text using the clues below
5. Students receive feedback from the teacher and
check their answers to get points for doing the
activity

During the activity both groups show 3 kinds of students. Whose do all the
activity alone, other group do not do the activity because it does not
matter, it is not important this subject to them, and the other group of
students make the activity just because they copy the answers from the
first ones in order to get the points.
 b) Describe the resources used and the
materials available within the school. How are the resources used
in the classroom?
The resources available within the school are: Library, computer labs with
23 computers each one, slide projector in every computer lab and 4 extra
for teachers too. There are Notebook computers also for teachers. Besides
every classroom have a TV set and a DVD player.
Until now the teacher has not used any of them in any class.

Task 2: Student´s learning

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

1. The learners
How motivated are the learners? Why? To what extent are they
taking part in their own learning? To what extent are they
expecting the teacher to do the work for them?
I cannot see real motivation in any class. There are exceptions, just one
or two in every level, but most of the students do not catch up the
subject they do not take part actively because the activities are not
stimulating or catching for them, the teacher does only what the book
want to do: the book says READING and he does it, he does not make
the difference creating new activities.
As a consequence, the students do not really learn, they expect the
teacher writes all the answers on the board or just copy it from the
classmate to get a positive point.

2. Behaviour during classroom activities

Describe the ways students are encouraged to participate in
activities. Are there any particular strategies for managing
issues and motivating students?
The teacher has a point system. If you do the homework or the class
activity, you will get a positive point. This system works perfectly with
the kind of student who wants to learn, some of them even compete to
see which one complete all the activity first.
Of course, this system does not catch the attention of all the students,
but most of them do the activity anyway just to get the point.
Are there any students with special needs?
The 2grade of secondary class has a student with special needs. He has
to learn in a different way compare to the classmates.
This student has a kind of syndrome that makes him focus on just 2
types of subject: music and religion. His mind only processes these 2
categories of knowledge.
3. Discuss the learning styles and levels of English in the
classroom.

There are different types of learning styles* in both classrooms:

*competitive this kind of student enjoys being competitive because

he/she loves being the first. He/she wants to be the first in all the activities
and always is asking “how can I do it better?”
Good level of English.
In 8th primary grade there are 2 students with this quality and in the 2nd
secondary grade too.

*collaborative this kind of student prefers sharing ideas with his

partners before going to the teacher to ask for clues. He/she choose the
group work to do activities in the classroom.
Intermediate level of English.
In 8th primary grade there are 4 groups of students with this quality and in
the 2nd secondary grade too.

*evasive student this kind of student avoid every activity in the

classroom, because they are no really interested in learning a new
language.
Basic level in English.
In 8th primary grade there are 3 students with this quality and in the 2nd
secondary grade 5.

*dependent this kind of student learns only what he/she

thinks is necessary for a special purpose. For example the students that are
always asking “teacher, how do you say ….?” Because of a song.
Basic level of English.
In 8th primary grade there are 2 students with this quality and in the 2nd
secondary grade only 1.

*independent this kind of student learns by his own. He/she brings

dictionary and the students book every class, generally it is the first in doing
the activity for the reason that he/she has all the material needed.
Intermediate or upper English level.
In 8th primary grade there are 3 students with this quality and in the 2nd
secondary grade none.
Learning styles* based on
“Grasha y Riechmann clasifican en seis los estilos de
aprendizaje:”
http://educacion.upla.cl/patricio/estilosaprendizaje.htm