The first activity we were asked to do at the beginning of the year was an autobiography,

which allowed us to reflect on how we were taught and about the experiences and teacher
behaviour that had a significant impact on us.

When I started thinking about my school experiences, I notice that my memories about English
classes were in majority quite good. My classmates and me had more or less the same level, so
the classes were fluid. But I remember that some teachers put the focus mostly on grammar,
with hardly any speaking or listening. I consider that teaching grammar is necessary, but it
would have been fantastic if teachers had also asked us to do tasks that encourage students to
a higher grade of active participation). For example: one year we were divided into groups and
had to prepare a piece of theatre about some stories that we read. Another example was
when we had to made a video recording, acting some chapters of a book. These kind of
activities makes you feel more engaged and interested in the subject and are more
memorable. I can connect these examples with an observation task that I had complete called
‘’The learner as doer’’ (1.2). this task explains that active learning allows learning to be more
personal and more memorable, so it’s more effective and more likely to have an impact on the
learners.
Historically, teaching practice didn’t mean any reflective process. Today, teaching practise
with reflective thinking is central in teacher education, ensuring that future teachers can
apply the theory, reflect on their practice, and develop professional skills before leading a
classroom.

Reflective teaching is the main topic of the book we read during the year ‘’Reflective Teaching
In Second Language Classroom’’ by Jack Richards and Lockhart. The aims of the book is to
foment critical reflection, that involves asking questions such as:

• How can I collect information about my own teaching?

• What are my beliefs about teaching and learning?
• What kind of teacher am i?

The book is based on 5 assumptions:

I. An informed teacher has an extensive knowledge base about teaching →its better
prepared to make appropriate judgements and decisions in teaching.
II. Much can be learned about teaching through self-inquiry →while feedback from
others is helpful, teachers are best suited to evaluate and reflect on their own
teaching.
III. Much of what happens in teaching is unknown to the teacher→ teachers are often
unaware of many aspects of their own teaching, such as how they manage class time
or student engagement.
IV. Experience is insufficient as a basis for development→teachers may develop routines
that they use automatically without much thought or reflection.
V. Critical reflection can trigger a deeper understanding of teaching→Because it helps
teacher evaluate their teaching methods, consider alternatives, and understand their
teaching better. This ongoing process of reflection supports teachers in making
confident decisions about their practice.

So, how can we collect information about classroom teaching?

We learned different kind of procedures, each one for specific situations and by
integrating several of them, we can gain a much deeper understanding of our classes.
 ❖ Teaching journals: written or recorded accounts of teaching experiences. Ex
personal reactions to things that happen in the classroom or in the school,
descriptions of lessons and ideas for future action. Teachers can review their
journals regularly to evaluate their teaching and identify areas for
improvement.
❖ Lesson report: is a structures inventory or list for teachers to describe and
monitor lessons. Unlike a lesson plan, which contains intentions, a lesson
report reflects what actually happened in class. It helps teachers evaluate
lesson effectiveness and refine teaching methods. E.g. evaluate grammar in a
lesson.
❖ Surveys and questionnaires: consist of administering a questionnaire or
completing a survey, to collect a large amount of data quickly. Are useful ways
of gathering information about affective dimensions such as beliefs, attitudes,
motivation, preferences.
❖ Audio and video recording: recording of a lesson, or part of a lesson, with a
cassette recorder or a video camera. It allows choice of focus f.e. the teacher
or a particular group of students. It can be replayed and examined many times
and it can capture many details that cannot be observed by other means. It
offers an ‘’objective’’ view of what is going on in class. Limitations: recording
devices may be disruptive and have a limited range, also reviewing is time
consuming.
❖ Action research: consist of a classroom investigation to bring about change. It
involves a small-scale investigative project and consists of a Nr. Of phases
which often recur in cycles: Planning, action, observation, reflection.
❖ Observation: tasks completed by a student teacher observing a cooperating
teacher’s class o a peer’s class. The observer’s role is to gather information,
not to judge the teacher’s performance. This year, we had the chance to do
observations in 2 different schools. We use the material called ‘Classroom
observation tasks’ by wajnryb.R. it gave us the opportunity to analyse a real
primary lesson, as being student teachers.

For the observations, first we divided ourselves into groups of three and then we
had to choose some of the tasks of the material. We made a lesson planning, that
consist of a series of decision by the teacher about the elements of a lesson
(learners, materials, tasks) as we saw in task (4.1) ‘’lesson planning’’.

Planning a lesson is more than organizing content and ideas, you have to make
sure that your objectives are clear and achievable, the content you select is
relevant and engaging, and also the activities you present have to match both the
objectives and student’s needs. We saw a task related to this, (7.5) ‘’task design
and evaluation’’ that emphasize the importance of planning good learning tasks or
activities (in this case) for our students

Lesson planning is essential for effective teaching and learning because it provides Structure
and Organization and helps with effective time management, but too much detail may distract
the teacher and create unnecessary dependency on the plan or encourage a rigid approach
teaching.
I interviewed 2 teachers (Valentina Desch and Agustina D) and both agreed that that planning
and preparation are the most important elements and that teacher’s responsibility is to
prepare activities for students to learn important content
A key point is that teaching is DYNAMIC and plans are made to be change as the lesson
develop. For example, you can plan at home some activities for the lesson you will give
tomorrow, but when you arrive there, you change your mind because that day you want the
students to decide the kind of activities they want to do and in which way they want to work
(alone, in pair, in groups).

As we saw in task (6.5) ‘’Classroom power’’ When students have a voice in their learning, they
are more interested and actively involved, leading to a more dynamic and interactive class.
This can involve some risk because less of the lesson is predictable and is more spontaneous.

One of the teacher’s that I interviewed also mention: ‘’It's important to mix different
methods and techniques to suit the various learning styles of students’’. Every human
has different predispositions to particular ways of approaching learning and are
intimately related to personality types. They reflect the different ways people respond to
learning situations. They are:
➢ CONCRETE LEARNING STYLE: Learners with this style use active and direct
means of taking in and processing information, they are curious, spontaneous
and willing to take risks. They dislike routines and written work. Prefer verbal or
visual experiences and like to be physically involved in learning. (I like to learn
by games, by pictures, films, videos, by working in pairs).
➢ ANALYTICAL LEARNING STYLE: they are independent, like to solve problems.
Prefer a logical, systematic presentation of new learning material to follow up on
their own. Are serious, push themselves hard, and vulnerable to failure. (I like to
learn grammar by studying English books at home, I like the teachers to let me
find my mistakes).
➢ Communicative learning style: prefer a social approach to learning, they need
personal feedback and interaction, learn well from discussion and group
activities. (I like to learn by listening to Australians, by talking to friends in
English, by watching TV).
➢ AUTHORITY ORIENTED LEARNING STYLE: Learners are responsible and
dependable. They like and need structure and sequential progression. Prefer
the teacher as an authority figure. Like clear instructions and to know exactly
what they are doing. (I like the teacher to explain everything to us, I like to have
my own textbook)
Considering students' cognitive styles creates a more inclusive and effective learning
environment. The task (3.1) ‘’The Learning Environment’’, says that people learn best when
they are relaxed, unstressed and involved in what is going on. There is no definitive list of what
makes an environment suitable for learning, but if you ensure that no student is left behind by
adapting instructions to these differences, it can improve learning outcomes.

We also have LEARNING STRATEGIES, that are specific techniques that student use to complete
tasks and achieve learning goals. An important aspect of teaching is to promote effective ones
and discourage ineffective ones. There are six types:

✓ Memory: techniques to store and retrieve information. E.g.: to remember grammar

rules.
 ✓ Cognitive: methods for understanding and produce new language. E.g. summarize a
text with your own words.
✓ Compensation: allow learners to communicate despite deficiencies. E.g. Using
synonyms instead of translation.
✓ Metacognitive: allow learners to control their own learning through organizing,
planning and evaluating.
✓ Affective: strategies to manage emotions, values, attitudes and motivation. Ex.
breathing exercises.
✓ Social strategies: help learners to interact with other people.

For the structure of a lesson, we should focus on four key dimensions:

1) Opening: (how the lesson starts) it consists of procedures the teacher uses to focus the
student’s attention on the learning aims of the lesson. Effective lesson openings serve
for multiple purposes, including linking new content to previous lessons, assessing
prior knowledge and preparing students mentally and emotionally for the lesson.
2) Sequencing: teacher organize activities in a strategic order based on goals and the
content to be taught. Teachers should begin with simple tasks and move to more
complex ones, giving clear instructions trying to avoid using Spanish.
for effective instructions we take into account the observation task (5.4) ‘’Giving
Instructions’’.
-voice qualities
-attending behaviour like teacher’s position, eye contact and movement.
-visual support
-modelling: where a teacher demonstrates how to form a task or use specific skill.
3) Pacing: refers to how a teacher manages the timing of a lesson to maintain student
interest and engagement. Teacher can avoid this by avoiding long explanations, using a
variety of activities, setting the limits, and checking if students are following along.
4) Closure: signalling the end of the lesson. It should summarize key points and connect
the lesson to future learning.

in the observation task (4.2) ‘’openings and closures’’ we had to collect data about routines
that characterise the start and end of a lesson. I noticed that in my observation at Escuela 11,
the students really enjoy the opening routine, because it consisted of typical questions such as:
what’s the weather like? How are you today? What colour is this? And could answer most of
the question by memorizing them, not because they know the real meaning of the words they
were saying.
The students were about 7/8 years old and they didn’t have a good level of English, so they
committed a lot of errors. The teacher corrects very few of them, because as we saw in task
(5.5) ‘’Managing Error’’ if a teacher corrects every language error, too much time would be
given to correction and might reduce learner willingness to take risks. Specially if they are too
young, like the students of the observation.

Another influencing factor of teacher’s lessons are their BELIEFS. Teacher’s belief systems
explain much of the teacher’s decision making and action. Beliefs systems are delivered from
different sources (fuentes):

▪ Their own experience as language learners: their beliefs about teaching are often a
reflection of how they were taught.
▪ Experience of what works best: throughout experience, a teacher may have found that
some strategies work well and some do not.
▪ Established practice: in some schools or institutions, certain teaching styles and
practices are preferred.
▪ Personality factors: some teachers have preferences because they match their
personality.
▪ Educationally based or research-based principles: teacher may try to apply in the
classroom principles of psychology or education. For example, in the past, Educational
Institutions Didn’t Prioritize Emotional Control. Nowadays it’s considered that both
academic and emotional intelligence creates healthier, more successful students. In
the course, we had the opportunity to be part of a class about the importance of
emotional intelligence. The woman in charge of the class explained that There are
emotions that help with learning (curiosity, calmness, confidence) and others that
make it more difficult (fear, anxiety, stress, boredom, envy). Without motivation, there
is no learning, and to increase motivation, it is necessary to create safe emotional
environments.
▪ Principles derived from an approach or method: teachers may believe in the
effectiveness of certain teaching methods and try to implement them in the
classroom.

Some teacher’s beliefs…

Beliefs about English: English represents different things to different people, such
as the language of literature, the English speaking world, colonialism, and as a
mean of doing business and making money. For me it’s the language of
connection. You can be connected with other cultures, jobs from another part of
the world and the opportunity to understand things in another way.
Beliefs about learning: teachers and lerners bring different expectations about
how learning should be. For example a teacher may favor a ‘learner-centred view’
may consider that the teachers should provide access to the language data
through active listening, role play and interaction with native speakers. For the
other side, the learners may consider that teachers should impart their knowledge
through explanation, writing and example.
Beliefs about teaching: teaching is a very personal activity; teachers have different
beliefs about what constitutes effective teaching. For example, in my school the
teachers used to have a rule-based approach (focused on grammatical rules) while
in the academy the approach used to be more skills based (focused on skills of
listening, speaking, reading and writing).
Beliefs about the program and the curriculum: a teaching program reflects both
the values of the school and the decisions and beliefs of teachers. Teachers also
have specific beliefs about problems with the program they work in, which they
may pass on to the new teachers. For example: at the institute I heard for the first
time that English teachers were elitist and weren’t polite to each other.
Beliefs about language teaching as a profession: language teaching is not
universally regarded as a profession; some people see it as just a job. For me is an
important profession because it changes lives by giving students the tools to
communicate, connect, and grow.
Learners too bring to learning their own beliefs, goals and attitudes. Leaner belief
systems can influence learners’ motivation to learn, their expectations about learning
and their perceptions about what is easy or difficult about the language. Some of them
are…

 Beliefs about the nature of English: learners have perceptions about which
aspects of English they find difficult and about the status of English.
 Beliefs about speakers of English: views about native speakers based on
contacts with speakers and the media.
 Beliefs about the four language skills: for example, in the observation task 4.4
‘’grammar as lesson content’’ talks about the role of grammar in classroom
teaching. It says that are 2 approaches: some learners prefer the deductive
approach (teaching rules directly) while others may prefer the inductive
approach (learning grammar through communication)
 Beliefs about teaching: learners have different views about what constitutes
effective teaching. It’s very common with students from different cultures. For
example, an Australian may think that following the book is not effective,
while a Chinese believe the opposite.
 Beliefs about language learning: learners have different assumptions about
how to learn a language and what kind of activities they believe to be useful.
Also, they might value some strategies that the teacher may try to discourage
(memorization)
 Beliefs about appropriate classroom behaviour: different views about what
constitutes appropriate forms of classroom behaviour. For example, some
students might think it’s impolite to ask a question during the class.
 Beliefs about self: learners often have specific beliefs about their own abilities
as language learners. ‘’im not a good language learner’’ ‘’Im very bad at
listening’’.
 Beliefs about goals: learners may have different goals for language learning.
Some may consider important a native-like pronunciation while others may
not.