LICEO LATINOAMERICANO

SANTA ANA

ENGLISH EXTENSION PROGRAM

SATURDAY PROGRAM

INDEX

* Introduction

* Objectives

* Challenges faced in the levels already taught during this year

* Explanation about how the challenges were changed into strengths

* Pictures that show the activities carried out in classes

* Extra material used in classes

* My best class

* Assessment of my performance during the year in the academy

* My reflection regarding my teaching performance in the year

* Things I would change in my performance

INTRODUCTION

I think that this is more than my Effective Teaching E-folio as part of the teaching-learning process of the English language. For me, this is my Chaotically Beautiful Teaching-learning World because it does not only show the difficulties faced in classes but also the gotten accomplishments and growth that my students and I had during the last two months.

This E-folio reflects not only my teaching process but also my student’s learning process, the improvement, and all the work already done inside and outside the classroom. Nevertheless, my E-folio contains different insights in order to show the most important tools, strategies, or methods used for a meaningful, an unforgettable, and a fruitful experience.

On the other hand, this E-folio contains some of the activities carried out in the entry 4 – 2016 at the English Academy of the English Extension Program of Liceo Latinoamericano, some pictures of the teaching-learning process, and some extra material used in the level I taught which was 4-B. 

OBJECTIVES OF THE E-FOLIO

        

       GENERAL OBJECTIVE:

- To show the various methods and strategies used in the level already taught.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

- To reflect my English teaching-learning performance in the level already taught. 

 

- To show the different challenges faced in the taught level.

- To explain the strengths and weaknesses showed in the English learning process during the last two months. 

CHALLENGES FACED IN THE LEVELS ALREADY TAUGHT DURING THIS YEAR

To begin talking about the challenges I faced in the level already taught, I want to say that in this two last months I realized even more that teaching is not as simple as some people see it because it requires not only subject knowledge, effort, and time but also patience, creativity, self-confidence, and some other aspects that sometimes we teachers don’t pay much attention to.

Besides, I established norms or expectations at the very beginning and I used some strategies in order to maintain a good environment inside the classroom. However, there were big challenges I had to deal with in the level I taught, and these were the following:

- USAGE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE: Since my students are non-native English speakers, they tended to use Spanish while they were in their English classes. However, as an ESL teacher, I encouraged them all the time for them to avoid it. This was a big challenge because they were still getting accustomed to listen, speak, read, and write in the English language.

- LATE ARRIVALS: My students used to arrive late to classes, and it was almost a headache for me because I needed to start classes. Most of the time, I began classes with few students, so I told them that late arrivals were going to affect their formative grade; little by little they  showed a small change. At the end of the course, it was no longer the big challenge it used to be at the beginning.

- NON-ACTIVE PARTICIPATION: Since I was a new teacher, my students were kind of afraid to participate in classes and to make mistakes in front of the whole class. Nevertheless, I used some strategies in order to make them participate in the different activities and classes I had planned for them to learn.

- LIMITED RANGE OF VOCABULARY: When students have a limited vocabulary, they cannot express their ideas because they do not have the enough vocabulary to do it; therefore, it may be difficult for them to find the words to communicate using the second language. Moreover, this can become one of the biggest challenges that a teacher faces through the teaching-learning process, and in fact it was a challenge I had to deal with in level 4-B.

- LACK OF THE REQUIRED ENGLISH LEVEL: It was such a big challenge to teach some students who did not have the required English proficiency level for being in the level I taught. In the first class, I felt disappointed to see that my students did not cope with the structures they had studied in the previous levels. From that moment, I realized I had to make an extra effort in order to succeed in the teaching-learning process. 

EXPLANATION ABOUT HOW THE CHALLENGES WERE CHANGED INTO STRENGTHS

     Sometimes, we teachers get afraid when facing different challenges in the teaching-learning process for two reasons: we think we won’t be able to overcome them and we refuse to new changes. However, it is important to know that limits are only in our minds and that most of the time, changes lead us to success. On the other hand, teaching demands teachers to be prepared for any unexpected event inside the classroom, and that’s what I tried to do over the last two months.

To change the challenges into strengths is not easy, but I think the gold key is how well we are able to cope with teaching-learning process' situations. In that way, there is something called teacher's resilience which is the capacity to adjust to changes and challenges in teaching life. Basically, I took into account some aspects to build it, and these were: to accept that change is a part of teaching life, to move toward my goals and my students' growth, to look for opportunities to grow professionally, to maintain a hopeful outlook, and to take decisive actions that contribute positively in the teaching-learning process.

      I think I achieved my  principal goal because I knew how to deal with the given situations in the process. Besides, I got in to know my students, their necessities, weaknesses, and strengths; according those things, I planned my classes, activities, and some homework I assigned them.

PICTURES THAT SHOW THE ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN CLASSES

Students were putting into practice some structures learned in the previous class.

I was explaining to my students one of the topics that were carried out in level 4-B during the last two months. The topic was the "Present Progressive".

Students were doing one of the journals they were assigned to do during the whole course. It was assigned with the main purpose to develop their writing skill.

My students and I after a morning full of knowledge.

EXTRA MATERIAL USED IN CLASSES

MY BEST CLASS

The best class in level 4-B was the day my students had to review some vocabulary through a warm-up called "Flyswatter Vocabulary". 

Students had to make two groups according some numbers the teacher gave them. Then, she gave them some definitions and they had to look and match them with the correct word. After all, they got excited and were participating during the whole class. This class was outstanding, interesting, meaningful, and rewarding since my students got fun, learned, and developed even more their skills.

ASSESSMENT OF MY PERFORMANCE DURING THE YEAR IN THE ACADEMY

This year I had the chance to teach level 4-B students at the English Extension Program at Liceo Latinoamericano, and it was not very easy. At the beginning my students were very shy and they didn't like to participate, so I got worried about it. I tried to do my best and make my students feel that nowadays English is a gold key that opens a lot of great opportunities in life. Likewise, I changed my methology and the results came very fast because my students started to have a different attitude towards the English language. Moreover, I know the work I did was not perfect, but at least I made my students feel comfortable in their English classes when speaking, writing, reading, and listening. I achieved all those things through reviewing topics, vocabulary, structures, and assigning different writing and speaking activities such as presentations and role plays. At the end of the course, they showed that their English level was different, and obviously that made me feel proud of them and myself. As a conclusion, I can say the learning was reciprocal; my students learned from me as I learned from them.

MY REFLECTION REGARDING MY TEACHING PERFORMANCE IN THE YEAR

My teaching experience in the English Extension Program at Liceo Latinoamericano was really helpful, interesting, and pleasant even though it is sometimes difficult and compromising to be a good teacher. During my teaching performance, I learned more things about the teenagers' behavior, and I discovered the way in which I as a teacher have to solve some of the most common troubles with teenagers. Also, in my teaching experience in level 4-B, I could realize about my strengths and weaknesses in teaching. For instance, some of my strengths in teaching are the creativity and variety of the classes being that my teaching-learning world can succeed if I work with different activities. In addition to this, working in small groups, in pairs, individual, solving tasks, and motivating teenagers to participate in different activities helped me to get better results.

THINGS I WOULD CHANGE IN MY PERFORMANCE

  

        I am sure I would not change anything in my performance since I learned many things about teaching life. It was a complete big challenge to teach a group like the one I had because of the deficiencies it had, but thank God I not only dealt with every unexpected situation but I also learned from each single circumstance. I overcame the challenges, I changed them into strengths, I found out a "new myself", I learned a lot from my students, and I confirmed one more time I enjoy and love teaching.