Cynthia Estebo observed her first class at a secondary school in Argentina. She observed 26 students aged 17, with 22 girls and 4 boys. During the class, the teacher introduced Cynthia and explained her role. Students asked Cynthia questions about distance learning for teaching. The class involved the teacher writing on the board while students commented on upcoming events. There were several interruptions, including students arriving late and a preceptora asking for notebooks. Students worked in pairs from their booklets and the class ended with the bell ringing. Cynthia observed students drinking mate and frequently asking to use the bathroom during class.

1. Trainee’s name: Cynthia Estebo
Practicum level:Secondary School
Group: 26 students (22 girls and 4 boys), 17 years old
Date: Friday 9th October
Lesson number: Observation class nº1
On my first day observing, I was welcomed by the teacher Virginia and we walked
together towards the classroom. Students were at a break and came into the classroom with
us. When the class began, the teacher introduced me to the students and explained to them
what I was doing there. We alloted some time for students´questions as they were interested
in how a teaching career could be done by distance learning. Then, I sat at the end of the
classroom and the class started. The teacher called the role and, after that, she wrote the
date on the board. While she was doing so, the students commented her about some
upcoming school events. They devoted some minutes to it. She drew a chart on the board
about “So and Such” with different colour markers. Students copied on their folders. As they
are doing so, the teacher explains in both English and Spanish. She gave examples eliciting
students participation. Someone knocked at the door, it was a students from another course
bringing some material to a girl from this course.Some students arrived late into class and
the “preceptora” (I could not find this word in English) came into class to ask for
students´notebooks.
The teacher re-started the class by copying exercises on the board for students to
identify the structures on some sentences. As students do not understand what they have to
do, they asked the teacher to approach to their desks and clarify their doubts. Some group of
students interrupted the class to comment on a project for the subject “Proyecto de
investigación”, they told the rest of the class what it was about.
The teacher tries to regain the class's attention by checking the exercises orally. She
explains difference between adjectives, nouns and adverbs.She added two more sentences
for them to copy and reflect upon them. The “preceptora” came again to hand in the
notebooks, while the teacher walked around the class acting as a facilitator.
At 11.14, a very late student arrived while the class was checking the exercises
orally.
They opened their booklets at page 20 and work in pairs with two exercises. People
from the “Centro de estudiantes” interrupted the class to invite the students to a meeting the
following week. They checked the exercises and the bell rang.
I observed that besides the many interruptions, students drink “mate” in class and
they constantly ask to permission to go to the toilet. In general, the group works well.
Trainee’s name: Cynthia Estebo
Practicum level:SecondarySchool
Group: 26 students, 17 years old
Date: Friday 23rd October.
Lesson number:1
1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and deliveryof this lesson?
I designed my lesson plan under the Communicative Approach and I used the PPP method.I
tried to follow as much as possible the class routine students had with their teacher, in order
not to make students feel lost and help them with the comprehension of the class
management and provide a relaxed atmosphere.

2. 2. What teaching strategies did you use? Which ones were effective? Why / why not?
I started the class by greeting the students. Then, I have chosen an ice-breaker game where
students had to ask questions based on few information I provided them about myself. In this
way, I tried them to know me a bit better and establish a relaxed atmosphere. Next, I did an
oral revision on the topic “personality Adjectives” with the visual support of a poster where
students used the vocabulary to describe themselves. We played the “papers game” where
students took slips of papers from a pile provided. They selected the amount of papers they
wanted. Then, I explained to them that they had to write a personality adjective in each of
the papers they have picked. They used those adjectives to describe a partner. Afterwards, I
wrote on the board the title of the story we were about to read and I activated prior
knowledge and created expectations by eliciting what the story would be about.I pre-taught
vocabulary as well. Once, students were interested on the topic, I handed them copies of the
story and they read in turns aloud. We stopped after some parts for clarification and to check
comprehension.In pairs, they solved some comprehension questions and I acted as monitor
and facilitator. When they finished, we checked them on the board as a whole class
activity.We took advantage of the text to provide the context to introduce the grammatical
topic “gerunds and infinitives”. I had highlighted some phrases from the text in bold with
instances of gerunds and infinitives, so I asked students to reflect upon them and try to
guess whether they were verbs or nouns. Together we constructed meaning jointly. I used
this fertile ground to explain the topic. Then, they classified the phrases in a chart .When I
was certain that they have understood, they copied the explanation in their folders. We
moved to their booklet ( a selection of copies made by the teacher) and we practiced
grammar personalizing the topic. A writing activity was proposed to them where , in small
groups, they had to create a fantasy story. I acted as a monitor and facilitator. There was no
time left for the closure game since there were interruptions during the class. As regards
behaviour, I tried to be supportive as they are getting used to having classes with me.
3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the materials?
How did they react to the lesson?
In all students were active and reacted positively to the activities. They seemed to like the
materials as they apparently do not work with other materials rather than the booklet. They
worked enthusiastically.
4. What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?
Overall, I believe the class was successful. Students participated actively and responded
effectively to most of the activities.
5. What aspects of the lesson require change / improvement?
This first class proved successful. They lack of linguistic resources to comply with some
activities, but they made an effort to be able to cope with the activities.Maybe, I should
consider activities for the boys that do not seem to enjoy English classes.
6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?
When I finished the lesson, I watched the video and I saw myself, which gives me a
perspective on what things have resulted. I believe that the class was communicative and
that they enjoyed working in groups, so I believe I will use these aspects for forward lessons.

3. 7. Any comments or observations you would like to share may be added here
I experienced many interruptions during the class, which made it a bit difficult to maintain
attention and comply with the time allotted for the activities.
Trainee’s name: Cynthia Estebo
Practicum level:SecondarySchool
Group: 26 students, 17 years old
Date: Friday 29th October.
Lesson number:2
1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and deliveryof this lesson?
I designed my lesson plan under the Communicative Approach and I used the PPP method.
I conducted the class with a similar routine to the previous one.
2. What teaching strategies did you use? Which ones were effective? Why / why not?
I began the class by using students´ writings so as to provide a link between prior and new
knowledge. I explained them intonational helps with comprehension, so they read their
stories using changes in pitch.This offered them a physical involvement with the language. I
used collaborative learning strategies to revise stylistic elements from their
classmates´productions. Ipre-taught vocabulary from the song as a jointly construction of
knowledge. As students loved the song, it offered a low-stress environment for language
performance. Listening skills were used to understand the lyrics semantically as well as to
set a contextualized context to discuss a grammatical structure.As I have provided
comprehensible imput, we put grammar into practice.Iin context, we rationalized the rules
to complete the activities in the booklet.Finally, we discussed the difference between fantasy
and fictional stories based on what we have worked the class before on fantasy stories. I
presented them cards with information to create a fictional story so they could have a visual
support where to refer to and constructed the story. Fictional story writing offered
opportunities to demonstrate language comprehension and provided them with large
amounts of interactions with other students.
3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the materials?
How did they react to the lesson?
Students loved the song I have selected for them to revise gerunds and infinitives!! I
understood their interests in the correct way, so they really enjoyed working with the lyrics
and they sang along as well. It served the grammatical and semantical purpose and, at the
same time, they practiced their listening skills in an amusing way.
4. What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?
I believe that the correct pre teaching of the activities presented forster their speaking skills.
Students showed interest in participating orally so far.
5. What aspects of the lesson require change / improvement?
For the song, I took an mp3 player but I did not take into account that sound was lost in such
a big classroom!! Even though, I walked around the classroom to offer all students the

4. possibility of listening, sound was a bit low. In the second and third listening, I played the
song from my laptop but anyway the volume was not the adequate one.
6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?
I realized that enjoyed working in small groups and good results are shown after they
perform tasks in this way. I will continue using this a resource to keep developing speaking
skills and maintain their affective filter lowered.
7. Any comments or observations you would like to share may be added here
In all the class was a success but I noticed that students get tired as the class lasts two
hours in run and they asked for a break. Maybe I should plan a game in the middle of the
class to maintain motivation.
Trainee’s name: Cynthia Estebo
Practicum level:SecondarySchool
Group: 26 students, 17 years old
Date: Friday 6th November
Lesson number:3
1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and deliveryof this lesson?
I designed my lesson plan under the Communicative Approach and I used the PPP method.
I conducted the class with a similar routine to the previous one.
2. What teaching strategies did you use? Which ones were effective? Why / why not?
I began the class by using students´ writings so as to provide a link between prior and new
knowledge. I explained them intonational helps with comprehension, so they read their
stories using changes in pitch.This offered them a physical involvement with the language. I
used a video extract to present new structures, so in this way, content was introduced the
language authentically and in context. I pre-taught vocabulary from the video as a jointly
construction of knowledge and set the scene by using questions to present context.I elicited
vocabulary As students found the film funny, it offered a low-stress environment for language
performance. Listening skills were used to understand the lyrics semantically as well as to
set a contextualized context to discuss a grammatical structure. Also, it fostered visual
learning. As I have provided comprehensible input, we put grammar into practice.In context,
we rationalized the rules through the video itself and from the booklet.By solving and
acquiring the structure orally, they proved language comprehension.
3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the materials?
How did they react to the lesson?
Bringing a video into the class proved successful, as students loved having something new
into the classroom and engaged in the activity.Also, it was a useful tool to introduce the topic
reported speech in a way it was graphic enough for them to understand what the topic was
about.
4. What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?

5. I believe that working deeply with the topic and giving lots of opportunities for them to
practice was successful.
5. What aspects of the lesson require change / improvement?
They are not used to explanations in English and even though I modelled, elicited and drew
on the board, I needed to resort to Spanish once or twice. I need to improve these skills in
order to avoid our mother tongue.
6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?
I realized that enjoyed working with grammatical structures as a whole class activity results
efficiently as they work out meaning in a collaborative way.
7. Any comments or observations you would like to share may be added here
As students are attending their last secondary school year, they are engaged in many
activities. That is why, I experienced many interruptions and I find it difficult to finish the
whole plan. In this class in particular, there was a message from the “Centro de Estudiantes”
at the beginning of the class, then the headmistress came with a message for the students
and, finally, authorities from the “Instituto de formación docente y técnica” gave a speech on
career offers that took at least 25 minutes of the class. Also, the teacher asked me to
prepare a test for the following class, so I need to change everything I have planned for
lesson 4.
Dear Cynthia
I am glad to read that you are engaging this group, and that you are able to perceive their
needs and plan your classes accordingly. As the next one will be your last journal entry, it
seems a good opportunity to reflect upon your learning process. Could you please answer
the following questions?
● To what extent has this experience helped you in your teaching development?
● What have you learnt about this age group?
● What do you think you still need to learn about students this age?
● Did you do some research on this age group before you started teaching these
students?
● How did your previous knowledge help you plan your lessons and teach your
classes?
● What new pedagogical knowledge did you acquire?
● What relevance did you give to pedagogical decisions while planning and teaching
your
lessons and when reflecting upon them?
● To what extent and in what ways has keeping a teaching journal deepened your
knowledge and improved your teaching practice?
These questions are meant to foster further reflection. =)
Best
Cecilia

6. Doing this last period of my teaching practice gave me the opportunity to be in contact with
teenagers and experience how they feel and think. As we have read in the theory, when
working with adolescents we need to bear in mind that they are in a transition period
between childhood and adulthood, so many psychological and emotional changes are
undergoing in their bodies and minds.As regards my teaching development, secondary
school students offered me the chance of putting into practice my teaching skills, especially
how to maintain motivation and fostering creativity. I still need to learn how to deal with
disruptive behaviour at this age group, because I noticed that unmotivated or uninterested
students at this age can be difficult to be engaged once they have decided not to participate
in school subjects and in the English class as well. As I have done some research about this
age group before going into class, I designed activities that involved group work as I learnt
they feel more confident when working with their peers as they do not feel exposed. Also,
feedback sessions aid in speaking about their feelings and needs in a safe
environment.Thanks to what I have studied during the career in Psychology and
Methodology, I prepared lessons based on the Communicative approach that developed the
four skills integrated within context. I believe that my pedagogical knowledge was improved
under the constructivist approach on teaching and learning, where I learnt to integrate the
skills in my lesson plans, understanding their social, political, cultural and physical
environments in which students learn. As I had no previous experience delivering classes to
teens, I based my pedagogical decisions on what I have learnt , being the base for planning
and teaching. Furthermore, I revisited these practice afterwards by watching the video of the
lessons and analysing my strong and weak points.Finally, this journal offered me the
possibility to reflect upon what happened in class, analyse what this went right and which
ones when wrong, and evaluate my teaching performance. Moreover, journal writing gave
me the opportunity of generating new teaching ideas, work out pedagogical problems reflect
on my successes and struggles in the classroom, and use my conclusions to work in
planning future courses.
Trainee’s name: Cynthia Estebo
Practicum level:SecondarySchool
Group: 26 students, 17 years old
Date: Friday 6th November
Lesson number:4
1. What pedagogical principles supported the planning and deliveryof this lesson?
I designed my lesson plan under the Communicative Approach and I used the PPP method.
I conducted the class with a similar routine to the previous one.
2. What teaching strategies did you use? Which ones were effective? Why / why not?
We played two games in two big teams in order to revise vocabulary and structures seen in
previous classes. For this, they needed to resort to their prior knowledge and resort to them
to solve the puzzle sentences I presented to them. We worked with personality adjectives.
They solved the sentences collaboratively, as they had to consult it within the groups before
giving the right answer. Within these contextualized games, students recycled and reused
previous knowledge. I made the lesson kinaesthetic as they had to run to the board to stick
the right answer and, at the same time, visual by the use of cards. I used the input from the

7. game results to revise previously-seen concepts on a chart, so I determined key concepts
and define language and content objects. I used this game as a bridge to the following,
which was a bingo with gerunds and infinitives. The concepts were integrated and students
solved it collaboratively. Next, we moved to the written test. I explained and model examples
for them to understand instructions. I acted as monitor and facilitator for the whole time I
allotted for the test in case they needed individual clarifications. Finally, I used a poem to
give closure to the lesson and my time with them, where they expressed their feelings based
on the content of the poem.
3. How did the students react to your teaching, to the activities and the materials?
How did they react to the lesson?
I realized how competitive they are!! They worked hard in groups to win their opponent. The
cards helped them visualize the words.Of course, they did not want to do the test, but when I
explained to them that they were going to do it in pairs, they felt relaxed.
4. What aspects of the lesson do you consider successful?
I believe they enjoyed playing the game and, at the same time, it established a relaxed
atmosphere to revise content and do the test with their affective filters lowered.
5. What aspects of the lesson require change / improvement?
The Bingo game to revise gerunds and infinitives was not at all successful because they did
not remember the use of gerunds and infinitives. So, through the game sentences, we
revised structures and finally, they were able to do it, even though it took more time than I
expected.
6. What do you find useful of this lesson that will help you plan the next one?
When revising for a test, I will not take for granted that they have studied beforehand and I
will allot more time for reviewing.
7. Any comments or observations you would like to share may be added here
When I arrived at the school, the teacher asked me that students did the test in pairs
because she considered that it would be easier for them. So, I planned a kind of raffle.
Students wrote their names on slips of paper and , then, one volunteer took two papers. The
names that came out would work together. In this way, students worked heterogeneously
with a partner they were not used to sit or talk normally. Apparently, the result was positive,
even though I have not finished checking the tests.