my class reflections

Hello everyone!
Last saturday I met with my 17 students once again at the Language Institute. I work with children, and as you already know, we, as teachers, must implement a lot of useful an effective activities for them to be really involved in their learning process. My students are usually active and engaged with the lessons. I have observed them during the classes and I have come to the conclusion that there are some leader students; the majority of them are positive leaders, but there is one student who influence a lot her peers in a negative way. This girl boasts about having money, phones and good clothes. She is only 9 years!. Students are constantly delighted by her anecdotes about her parents´ trips to other countries and she is really happy to recieve attention from them. Her comments and stories usually interrupt an important explanation or activity. I have talked to her, but she does not seem interested on what I said. I have scolded her, but this has not worked either. She is a focus of distraction and of lackc of organization in my classroom.

1. How do you define learning?
Learning is an endless process of acquisition of knowledge, skills and experiences.

2. How do you define teaching?
Teaching is an art, not everyone can do it. It involves a process and it also deals with some special qualities that the teacher must have.

3. How do you define language?
Language is a faculty that only human beings own. It is the result of a process and it has the function of communicating ideas and expressing thoughts.

4. What roles are students expected to assume in your classroom?
I deeply believe in a student-centered learning. I think they must be the focus and the directions of the classroom. the teacher is working as a guide, but the students are the ones who must be really involved with the activities and the explanations for them to learn more effectively.

5. How do you see your role in the classroom?
My principal role in the classroom is to function as a complement. Students must not be alone in the learning process. We, as teachers, have to give to them the opportunity of getting and developing an inner autonomy for them to be able to assume the responsibility of their own acquisition of knowledge, but we as teachers, also must guide them to that way so that they can continue working on it.

6. What are the qualities of a good teacher?
A good teacher must be creative, must give confidence to her or his students, must be patient, must understand and have a good communication with the students in order to get a better classroom environment, a good teacher must know what motivates his/her students, but the most important thing; a good teacher MUST love what he/she teaches passionately.

7. What kinds of interactions occur in your classroom?
In my classroom, I have tried to observe my students and to know them better; for that reason, I sometimes create discussions or implement questionnaire in order to get a better personal communication with them.

8. What is the most rewarding aspect of teaching for you?
I think that the experience of sharing your knowledge to others can make you feel an important person. I am a very fundamental part in their formation process; I am the one who guide them. The most rewarding aspect is when after trying many things, you finally find that it resulted very well and that you were part of it.

9. What kind of students do best in your classroom?
Surprisingly, the students that are more active, disorganized, and hard-to-threat are the ones that do it best. They are the most participative students and it happens frequently in every class that I have taught.

10. What kind of training do you think English language teachers in our context need?
I think that we, as teachers, need to be trained more in topics like intercultural sensivity, the language of the learner and in how to make your classes more interesting and appealing for getting the motivation needed from you students.

11. What king of support for professional development is there at the place you work or you are familiar with?
My work place gives the possibility to teachers to attend to some conferences in order to improve and develop our professionalism

12. What are the best ways to learn a language?
The first needed ingredient is motivation and the best way is by having all the input that you can get. Songs, television programs, radio shows, performances. The most important for a learner is to be exposed to the language.

13. What dialect of English do you think should be taught (American, British, other)?
On one hand, American dialect is easier for the students to pronounce, although it has many variations depending on the state you are, but on the other hand, British is taken as a more formal dialect, it is seemed to give you more elegance and authority. At the moment of teaching, I think that we must follow a Standard English dialect and the one that approximates the most is the American one.

14. What changes would you like to make in your own practice?
I would like to have more knowledge about classroom management and engagement, I think that appropriate changes would improve my English lessons and therefore, would improve the English learning process.