Journal Colombo

On the sixth day of class I got to intervene again with both groups. With the kids the topic was "how many / there are / there is". I prepared a warm up that consisted of a game of tingo tingo tango and they seemed to have a lot of fun. In the section of the project activity though, I do feel like I can do better when giving instructions because the kids seemed a bit confused, so I'm working on improving that. Now, as for the class with the preteens, the topic was the weather and items of clothing. I really liked the activity I prepared for warm up, which included various places here in Colombia and the different types of weather there are. Aditionally, in the project activity section of the class, I asked them to write some sentences related to the project they're doing of their selected country. I've observed that my team teacher, Nidia, likes to integrate the project activity with some kind of written production. Because of this I decided to try it out and see ...

This saturday I did my first intervention in both classes by leading the warm up and the class preparation. I was looking forward to it but also couldn't help but feel a little nervous. We had the K class first and to be honest I felt very at ease with the kids. Maybe because I've had experience with children but I felt very confident. This might also be due to the fact that I've been observing their traits and behaviour up until now and I know all their names, which helps a lot when building rapport. The topic for the session was the parts of the house, and my warm up was a little game of guessing some parts. They seemed to understand both the game and the topic, and I could see that most of them were very engaged and having fun. After this class, we moved on with the preteens. It was definitely a different vibe. I also felt pretty comfortable with them but I was more nervous, maybe because I haven't had experience with this age in particular. They were a bit more seri...

On my fourth Saturday at the Colombo, I had very much in mind the topics discussed in the class we had on Wednesday with the supervisors, which focused on giving instructions. In the first class with the kids, the teacher, Nidia, began by stating the objectives. She usually asks one student to read each objective and then follows with an explanation. I’ve noticed that she selects students to give them opportunities to read, to manage behaviour, and to ensure they pay attention. As she always does this, I can say that she is very clear with her instructions. One thing I found interesting (because I don’t exactly agree with it) is that when I try to help students who seem to be struggling because they didn’t understand the task, she prefers that I don’t give further explanations, as she has already explained the task. According to her, if they didn’t understand, it was because they were not focused. Since it is her class, I did as she said, and eventually, the students figured it out. ...

This Saturday, the first class with the kids focused on prepositions of place. The teacher used a ball and a box to demonstrate the prepositions in a fun, visual way, which really captured the students' attention. They then worked with the book, which included activities and a song that kept them engaged. The class ended with short conversations using the prepositions and animal vocabulary. In the teens' class, the topic was clothing and school uniforms. The teacher organized a group activity using bags with slips of paper containing clothing items, and students had to write sentences about what they were wearing. Afterward, they discussed questions about school uniforms, which I found interesting as it gave insight into their opinions. The class wrapped up with a short writing activity using the present progressive, though there wasn’t enough time to complete it fully.