Developing a digital portfolio

AN UNFORGETTABLE PEDAGOGICAL EXPERIENCE IN TEACHING ENGLISH ONLINE

My name is Claudia; I am twenty-five years old. I live with my son in Ipiales city and I study in the Cead of Pasto, bachelor in English as foreign language, I am finishing my last semester in the Open and Distance National University; in this occasion I did my practice with teaching english speaking online, I have experience with teaching English but this practice with teaching online was unforgotten, so here we can teach without matter the place where we are, for this reason I consider that this English practice was the better and I gave the better of me for my students, I tried to contact them and said them that they participate in the english class, so almost everybody participated in these encounters, so I believe that the english students enjoyed this experience too.   

In this portfolio I will talk about my experience in teaching English with the use of Information technology and communication, I will also mention the most interesting experiences and my weaknesses in the management of an online class. I know that a person as a teacher should be prepared for any challenge and obviously for me this has not been the exception.

Who I am as a teacher?

I am a person who believes that everything can be better and that through teaching we can have a world full of knowledge, where we can share our knowledge and this way, getting people to have more opportunities. I consider that the teaching is my passion, so since when I was a child I liked to share my knowledge and I liked to explain the task to my classmates, above all English task. On the other hand I believe that in our country the coverage is insufficient and, in general the quality is low, which makes the process of education cannot develop as it should be with reference to the demands of the globalized world in which we live. I would like to work in the solution of this problem, and this way I consider that the distance education contributes to improve and mitigating the problem, so with the education focus on the Information technology and communication is a big helping.

My teaching philosophy

I consider  important to look for ways that students like what they do and what they learn therefore the material used should be striking and meaningful, the classes must be dynamic and participative because we are no longer in the era in which the teacher was the only one who knows, nowadays we have the information available to everyone, so the technology is a very important in this process, so the technology engage to students in the classroom and create real word  connections is to utilize technology and maintain one’s current knowledge as a  teacher. Nowadays the students are constantly enveloped in technology.  Using technology in the classroom spawns student interest and connects lessons to their everyday lives. Incorporating technology in the classroom is a must, not only to engage students but to prepare them for the rapidly growing and changing world. Technology should be used in the classrooms. In order to maintain this goal, it is important to continue one’s education as a teacher this way the teachers need to stay informed and current in their knowledge of technology. So I consider that the best teachers are those that never stop learning and continue striving to improve.

My beliefs about my teaching

I believe that the main reason for why I want to be a teacher is because through of teaching I can help to others people, and for this reason I agree with this affirmation “Do not give fish but teach fishing” I want to make a difference in student’s lifes. I hope that my students to become respectful to other children, themselves, and all other people, no matter their race or age. I would like that my students to have fun in my class so this will help them remember what they have learned as well as build interpersonal skills with other students. The students need encouragement, love, and attention. I will show them respect, trust, and make them feel welcome in my English class. I know that some students don’t like the English and for this reason I want to look for the way how teach them and the way that these students like and they learn English, for example with use if technology teaching English with songs and movies.

I believe that a good English teacher should choose very well a method with he or she is going to work, because of this depends his/her class, in my case I like to work with   the natural approach because in this approach the language is viewed as a vehicle for communicating meanings and messages; and the students need to learn though of communication skill, because so as they learned a first language the same way they will learn a second language in this case the english, so our english classes were focus on speaking skill, other characteristic important of this natural Approach is based on observation and interpretation of how the students acquire a language of natural form. In this case the learners need practicing the English speaking, this way the Natural Approach is primarily “designed to develop basic communication skills both oral and written” (1983: 67). In the Natural Approach, a focus on comprehension and meaningful communication as well as the provision of the right kinds of comprehensible input provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for successful classroom second and foreign language acquisition. The most important this approach is the vary according to the needs of the students and their particular interests” (Krashen and Terrell (1983: 65):  according to the English students they are studying their first semester of bachelor in english as foreign language, therefore they need to learn other language as is the english, so this method give the opportunity of that the students begin talking in the new language, the teacher provides comprehensible language and simple response opportunities, this way the teacher talks slowly and distinctly, asking questions and eliciting one word answers. There is a gradual progression from Yes/No questions, through either or questions, to questions that students can answer using words they have heard used by the teacher. Students are not expected to use a word actively until they have heard it many times. Also the a teacher can use charts, pictures, advertisements, and other serve as the focal point for questions, and when the students’ competence permits, talk moves to class members. Also the techniques recommended by Krashen and Terrell are often borrowed from other methods and adapted to meet the requirements of Natural Approach theory. These include command based activities from Total Physical Response; Direct Method activities in which mime, gesture, and contexts are used to elicit questions and answers; and even situation based practice of structures and patterns.

What I learned about teaching speaking skills

I learned to lead a group in a virtual environment and the importance of focus on speaking skill, so I consider that it is fundamental to human communication, generally on our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, I can say that many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. but I believe that the speaking is the goal of english because we learned spanish firstly speaking and after we learned to write it, this way I learned more in these English classes to listening to my students and to look for the way how they communicate and expressing their ideas so from now on the speaking will be the most important in my english classes.

What I learned about teaching in online environments

Teaching in virtual environments has many advantages, but also some disadvantages, online learning offers a variety of educational opportunities this way I learned to do an English class using a virtual environment, I learned that I have new challenges for facing the teaching, so the teaching through online environments is differents to traditional teaching, so it has a lot advantages but also disadvantages my only disadvantage was the connection to the internet and sometimes that the hangouts did not function very well, so I send the invitation but the students said me that it does not arrive them, however we use skype and the English classes were very interesting I consider that it was an experience very enrich, so as english teacher also I can have online class so I think to create a platform for I can teach English using online environments and I can do it since whichever place, this way the internet does not have limits and the English can be taught in all places of the world. 

My principles about teaching speaking online

English classes dynamics, participative, funny and flexibles

Materials meaning and easy management

Analysis and dialogues, talking about topics of interest

Reflection and conclusions about the topics taught

Structure and conversational strategies

Summarizing to show understanding of the topics

My learners

CARLOS ANDRES CARVAJAL SANCHEZ

JOSE MANUEL RESTREPO PATIÑO

JULIÁN AUGUSTO CENTENO MILQUES

MONICA RODRIGUEZ

 

CLAUDIA FLÓREZ OCAMPO

GILBERTO VARGAS HERRERA

 

student's characterization

In this link you can check the link about student’s characterization; here we can see dates like: student’s age, occupation, English level, interest, expectations about these encounters, number group and final grade: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofQjdHdlQ3VlhVbEE/view?usp=sharing



Achievements

During the different classes of English the objectives of each lesson were achieved, the students also achieved to have a basic conversation using the rules and structures of the verb to be and progressive present tense and simple future, this way they   do not afraid when they wanted to express their ideas in English. Unfortunately due to internet problems and hangouts malfunctioning was not possible to make the recordings of each encounter, but the objective of each lesson were achieved, so the final exam showed that learning was good, being that the students can ask and give information about their lives. equally the purpose of the course pedagogical experience II were achieved “to provide suitable means for training teachers to develop their pedagogical practice on virtual settings emphasizing in their students’ speaking skills fostering”  so the teacher training received a capacitation for using the hangouts. I consider that it was an excellent experience so much the English students as the training teacher learned in these online environments.

Testimonials

jose manuel restrepo patiño
para mí

En las clases de inglés me sentí muy a gusto, ya que el trato con la tutora y demás compañeros fue muy agradable, las fortalezas de las clases es que pude reforzar y practicar mi conocimiento en el idioma inglés y las debilidades fueron no todos los compañeros tienen el mismo tiempo disponible por lo tanto no pude interactuar con todos.

​

Dear teacher: Claudia Vallejo.

                         You have the potential to teach us English and fulfill our dreams.

 

                           Thank you.

 

 

 

       

      With love Monica Rodriguez (group A)

Artifacts supporting evidence

My teaching journal

My teaching journal contents all the observations and experiences of group A and group B, of what happened with each encounter also perform 28 encounters of almost 2 hours each and some links of the English classes. The format of teaching journal moreover contents: class number, date, number of the students, topic, link of YouTube video (In my case I do not manage to make some recordings due to hangouts problems but I attach some screenshots), length of lesson and reflections about the lesson and observations. this way you can check in this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofNThicDdyQ0V4em8/view?usp=sharing

Two sample lesson plans that I liked and why

I liked all lesson plans however I want to focus on lesson plan Review to be verb, this lesson I liked because this topics we made a reviewing and obviously the students this topic already we had seen it before, so that here we were making a review, and the students participated more and they used very well the structures and the questions were all answered and this way they achieved to keep a basic conversation using "to be verb". The other lesson that I liked is: Present progressive and past progressive tense, this lesson I liked because the students understood very well the topics and carried out the objectives of the lesson, so the students showed a better command of the topic and the most I liked in this lesson was the comparison that was made of the present progressive and past tense tense, because the students mixed these two tenses and they achieved a greater interaction in the English class. in this link you can check the lessons: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofYnVOZVJkeHZ6RUE/view?usp=sharing

Two sample lesson plans that were particularly difficult and why

Really almost I did not have lesson difficult however I want to mention two of them: first “giving personal information” this lesson was a little difficult because the students felt shy for their information, I believe that they had shame. The second lesson that was difficult was “future plans” this lesson was difficult because the students had that say their projects of life they felt confused because some of them did not know their projects and they needed more time for thinking in their answer. inthis link you can check the sample lesson plans: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofSGZWeVpWdWk5cGc/view?usp=sharing

Samples of didactic teaching material designed by me

In this link included some examples of material with explaining of the structures of differents tenses,  and it is easy of management:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofSWZoZVM0UE1id28/view?usp=sharing

The lesson reports submitted in Stage 3 with their video

In these charts I report the two lesson plans and the link of the videos, here I answered the questions. here you can check the document complet:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofM3Q5bnBRb1VmeDA/view?usp=sharing

Two videos of my classes that were particularly meaningful for me and why (can be for positive or for negative reasons)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzJ7jtlZJrs This english class was about Past tense of verb to be, I consider that all the english classes were meaning but I want to focus on “Past tense of verb to be” in this class the students participated actively and they felt differents to others classes because they were with more cheer up of the participate and they understood very well the topic, so they made question to their classmates and they felt more in confiance I consider that in this class the students were happies because they smiled a lot of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLjOZEYBD4Y

this class we had problems with the recording was not complete, however the students and me continue the English class without recording, likewise this class was meaning because  despite the internet fell down many times we continued trying until we finished the review verb to be class considered that this class was meaning because the students were concerned about continuing with the classes and they were interested in practicing English and learning more. Even when we finish classes they say that we meet again and continue with more classes.

Lesson plans

These are my lesson plans, I used  in my  pedagogical experience, so The importance of designing a lesson plan lies in the planning of each class, because the lesson helps us to plan our class and not to improvise, but to measure the time of teaching and learning, and obviously we know the technology too Is included in a lesson plan since the relationship between technology and education is undoubted. The importance as a teacher of using information technology in teaching English as a foreign language is what motivates me to take my first steps in the field of technology. In this incredible pedagogical experience. in this link you can check my lesson plans:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofMGN3eEw2aXNFMzQ/view?usp=sharing

Proposal final exam

This examen was realized to each student, focus on speaking  skill, i consider that all objectives were achieved, so the students were very well in the exam, in this link you can check the final exam: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nv1xEBJGofVG1mMUtGVl9Ebzg/view?usp=sharing

Anecdotal

I have two anecdotes in this encounters, the first one is when we start the first English class, the students got nervous because they did not want to talk, some retired from the class, however this was eventually lost and little soon they felt more confident.

The second anecdotal is that a student said it would be good that we all meet and meet in Bogota so our goal is to meet us in December of this year.

 

Conclusion: A reflective essay on how I think I have developed since I began teaching and advice for future online student teachers

The learning and teaching of English is the theme that I spend the most hours studying in my profession, and in my daily life, to read books of English regularly and the beautiful experience that I perform during this pedagogical practice in virtual environments. In this essay I want to share my experiences and reflections that I acquired during English classes in virtual environments.

I remember our first class 2 students attended, the internet was slow and the voice was heard choppy, we introduced ourselves and we heard the presentations of the other classmates, the students were nervous my first virtual class (with the concept of virtuality it seems that a social representation of all communication mediated by electronic networks or specialized software is being constructed) I felt strange because I had never done a virtual class I say this for the role I was playing as an English Teacher, so I have experience with teaching English but I do not have online; I believe that English is a language that needs a lot of practice and I know that through virtual environments is a great tool where we can reach every corner of the earth with teaching and practice because only thinking about the language we speak fluently therefore if we want an English student to have some fluency in the future, we should associate the image and the concept with the correct word and this way in each english class during this practice the speaking skill was strengthened , where all the lessons were focused on developing dialogues and conversations so that the students lose the fear of speaking English and express their ideas, because when more we talk, more we learn to talk. During this experience I grow up as English teacher so the opportunity is good, since over time the experience was enriching my profession as an English teacher and now I consider that this helped me to grow in my profession and as a person, because it is another way of teaching from the place where you are. As we had more encounters the students felt more confident and I as a teacher had more experience and looked for a way to interact and that the students speak and communicate using the language of learning.

To conclude this wonderful teaching learning experience I consider that the best thing was done in this process although there were things that got out of hand, because the only problem was with the bad connection to the internet; however everything was done to recover the classes that were lost when the Internet communication was cut. I finally consider that this was a long but very good experience for us as future teachers and obviously for the students who participated actively.

My advices for future online student teachers:

Spend more time preparing a class than learning its content, so it very important the preparing of the class, so you cannot arrive to improvise insomuch as the design the lessons plan with the different activities and carry them out and if there is spare time that was planned use it to practice and strengthen the weaknesses of the subject, so the lesson plans are your guide in the teaching.

Participate actively and have good internet connection.

Design attractive and easy-to-handle material that is to say virtual environments and have a second option if the system fails, this way Don’t forget always have an alternative class prepared in case of an unforeseen event so the good improvisation always requires a lot of experience.

Be cheerful and fun and do not forget to put humor to your online classes, so remember that the English is also learned through playing.

Always be punctual. Punctuality is a quality that the human being should practice a lot of so it is a positively value in our students.

Invest as much time as you need to get to know your students. The more you know them, the more strategies you will have to teach them what interests them.

Greet your students when you come in, call them by their name and say bye at the end of the session.

To encourage thinking open-ended questions. Avoid closed questions.

Finally do not forget to carry the portfolio at the end of each English class, so that you keep track of your classes as well as observations and suggestions.

References

Jack C. Richards, Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge Books Online.