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Date of Class:
Day of Class:
MC:
DJ:
Assistants:
Module:
How Many Learners:
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):Date of Class: 1/28/14
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants N/A:
Module: Small Talk
How Many Learners: 12
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):Whew! Got there on time today, which is a plus from yesterday. Nice big class; a few new faces, but mostly returning ones. Knowing most of the class was a huge help in figuring out how to position people so that newer, lower level learners got the support they needed. We still struggled a little bit (could have done a slightly better job scaffolding), but I think we got through okay.
This was a chance for me to use my recent injury as a talking point for the class. Not only do I get to address it with the students, but asking someone what happened when they are obviously injured is a pretty common way of making small talk, so it served a dual purpose. Hooray!
Date of Class: 2/4/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Robert
Module: Small Talk
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
I’m having a bit of a difficult time with Small Talk. I know there are activities I could be using to change things up, but today I just did a lot of dictation, words, phrases, and a lot of dialogues that we did round robin. However, there was quite a bit of laughter, I got Robert involved, and overall, it went pretty well!I look forward to working with Robert in the future, for sure, if he shows more interest.
Date of Class: 2/11/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Robert
Module: Small Talk
How Many Learners: 5
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Pretty good class. Low attendance, likely due to the 2 hour late arrival announcement and the snow, but we had one new student, and all was well.I actually had a lesson plan designed to talk about the recently snowstorm we had, but I didn’t have enough for a full class, and I knew I was probably going to have to improvise a little. Fortunately, I was lent a hand by an announcement over the intercom that the children were having all recesses inside today, and so they were going to be in the gym, and that teachers should not send students with their coats. So I stopped what I was doing and have everyone write this down and then say it out loud. This, plus the plan I already had, ended us at exactly 11:30. What providence!
I’m still very much enjoying Robert’s company, and I look forward to his dress rehearsal soon!
Date of Class: 2/13/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking With The Boss
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):Oh boy, I was not prepared for this class. I forgot my folder that had all my spare alphabet sheets, and there were none on site, couldn’t get any printed in time… had to have some people share. Only one person showed up on time, the rest trickled in up to 15 minutes after class started.
I did have a lesson plan, and I executed it well… very well, in fact. I had them write the phrase “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry about that!” and I wanted to model an instance where it would be used… so I very carefully selected one student, had her stand in a spot, and bumped into her as I was looking at my phone, and modeled the phrase in a very hammed up way. The laughter was intense. I made sure to follow up after class, check in, thank her, apologize for real, all of that.
But after that, I was having people write another sentence, and one of my students… I don’t even remember how exactly this unfolded. What I remember is hearing my name, looking at B, and her saying (paraphrased): “Me gusta, me ENCANTA, me encanta… you are a great teacher, and you help me with my English a lot. Thank you.” So, as a joke, I said “Well, Valentine’s Day is…”
I didn’t even get to finish that before the class exploded into the most raucous laughter I’ve ever heard. I lost my composure… everyone was done writing and I wanted to model the sentence for them, but for what felt like several minutes (probably only one or two), I would look at my notes, look at a student and start laughing again. I finally managed to get the sentence out and everyone calmed down.
Class went as usual after that. I think it was good that I mixed things up a little bit, because there was definitely a period or two where the energy was a lot lower than usual. Phew.
Date of Class: 02/18/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Emily, Robert
Module: Small Talk
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
I think I “leveled up” today. It was a pretty hectic class, for many reasons. One, we had a new assistant, Emily, who was a big help; two, we had two noisy kids in the class; and three, I was fairly tired! I didn’t sleep well, but I made that part of the class, and people seemed to enjoy that.One learner, A, had her son (probably 4 or 5) in the class with her, and so I got some colored pencils and paper for him to scribble with. A did her best to keep him occupied (with help from myself and other learners), but sometimes he would shout, and once he hit A’s arm with the pencils, to which leaner P and I both said “no, por favor, no.” Later, he threw a pencil across the room, which I felt needed a pause of the class and a slightly more stern “no,” which was followed up a bit by A and also P.
Being in a classroom with mostly stay at home moms, the students are pretty good about looking after each other’s children. C brings her infant to the class and gets help holding him and feeding if he’s fussy. Since we have child care, it’s fairly rare for any other children to be in the class… I was fine with A’s son being there, and did my best to handle the class accordingly.
Where I did something I’ve never done before, however, was to absolutely make sure I followed up with A after the class. I fumbled through my Spanish to say that I’m sorry about what I had said, but that he really needs to not do that. I could tell that she understood and was telling him the same thing (specifically about not throwing pencils). I told him that it was fine if he wanted to be here, and she followed that up by saying he needs to behave.
The rest of the class went well, lots of laughter as usual, and I followed up with Emily and Robert after class and had a nice discussion with them.
Date of Class: 02/20/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking with the Boss
How Many Learners: 8
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Fun class today! I came prepared with a theme – clarification – and added in a few activities that I hadn’t tried yet in the class. There’s an activity where ask if someone can do something – “Can you fly?” and they say “Yes I can!” and everyone says “No you can’t!’ I added in some physical emphasis by having people do a sort of fist pump (reverse fist pump?) for the yes, and a finger wag for the no. There was lots of laughter, so I think the class was well received.B, again, like last week, told me that I’m a good teacher. I’m not entirely sure how I should receive that. It definitely feels good, but then, I don’t want things like that to inflate my ego. So I just sort of stay neutral. But having repeat attendance from multiple students tells me I’m doing something right… I think more so than one person’s voice. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I’m really not sure.
Date of Class: 02/25/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Small Talk
How Many Learners: 11
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Boy, I was feeling tapped out this week, having gone five weeks with the same subject. But then, it hit me, that I could talk a little bit about what’s going on in the world, because that’s what we sometimes use as small talk ourselves! So I named a few countries, and then brought up what was going on in Ukraine and Venezuela.I was very careful to make my phrases neutral, but I did mention that there are protests going on in both countries. I showed people pictures of protesters (“this is a Ukranian protester!”) and then I had people do TPR, which produced a pretty amusing thing. I had people “raise their fist” and “hold up a sign,” and L started saying “No More Homework!” while holding her sign… so I ran with that. I already had “shout” on my list, so I just had them repeat what she was saying. This definitely helped raise the energy level in a class where it was a bit low, due to sickness and lack of sleep.
Date of Class: 02/27/14
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking with the Boss
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Fun class today. I don’t know why I haven’t been making more use of my new laptop in my classes… I did do it one last term, but it’s just never occurred to me to use it this term. Today was the perfect day, though, because I was feeling a little strung out on this particular topic, but I remembered that the curriculum guide suggested a few songs to use in the class, and that’s exactly what I did.I played the first couple of verses of “Anything you can do I can do better” and had people write those down, and after practicing all the “no you can’ts” and “yes I cans,” I had the students say the first part and everyone else say “no you can’t!” with the sole student responding “yes I can!” This worked out really well.
This actually took up a lot of time, so I ended with “You can’t always get what you want,” having people write down the chorus, practicing that part, and then ending by asking people what they wanted. I had a really nice transition for this, but I actually went two minutes over the end of class! Oops!
Date of Class: 03/04/14
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Robert
DJ: Jacob
Assistants: N/A
Module: Nutrition
How Many Learners: 11
Score: 45
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Really awesome class! Robert showed up about 9:30 (before I did!) and looked very poised and ready for his first class. I feel like he executed well, and held control of the class… even though I would occasionally insert a joke or two and derail things a little bit, he did a very good job with that.I did suggest a few things for him to do; when L came in late, I had him direct the class to greet her (which is what I usually do whenever someone comes in late), and I suggested a few tweaks to some of the dictations he had us write. But the majority of the class was executed very well, and I’m very proud of Robert! I look forward to discussing his future in the program with him soon.
Date of Class: 01/30/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking With The Boss
How Many Learners: 13
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Wow! 13 people today. Lots of new faces, and lots of returning ones… today I kept it simple, I had people practice “can” and “can’t,” then dictated a very curt request (give me that pencil) and a much nicer one (may I please have a pencil?).After that, I dictated a time off request to see the doctor, and then I did some TPR asking if people could or couldn’t do thing like raise their shoulders, bend their knees, touch their toes, etc.
Date of Class: 02/06/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: N/A
Module: Talking With The Boss
How Many Learners: 15
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Wow! I think this was the biggest class of the whole term… I wish more of these people had kept coming!I forgot to post this initially because I was sick, and I was told that my class that night was cancelled… this was right as the snow was beginning to fall. When I was told my class was sick, I immediately went home and went to sleep, and forgot all about this! Oops!
Looking at my lesson plan, it’s kind of funny, because there’s stuff written here that I remember doing (constructing “have you” and “can you” sentences) and things I don’t remember doing at all (a dialogue where I’m asking if someone can trade shifts with me). I do remember doing some TPR involving hand waving, shaking and bowing, though,
Date of Class: 03/11/2014
Day of Class: Tuesday
MC: Jacob
DJ: Robert
Assistants: Graham
Module: Nutrition
How Many Learners: 11
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Um, wow. Does this count as a 10? Most of you reading this already saw it on Facebook, but after class today, my students made me wait a few minutes before going down to our coordinator’s office, where they had prepared a feast in my honor. Tons of Mexican food and drink in honor of the second-to-last class of the term (and of my teaching there, for now).What a nice class for Graham to have his second observation during! (Is that a proper sentence?)
Date of Class: 03/13/2014
Day of Class: Thursday
MC: Jacob
DJ: N/A
Assistants: Graham
Module: Mr Fix-It
How Many Learners: 9
Score:
What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific):
Great last class. We did lots of dictation and TPR, lots of laughter, and Graham was a huge help. I’m really going to miss this class.
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