First Week

On Thursday I started my last period of practices in the school. It was a little bit strange because my tutor doesn’t go to the school on Thursday, so I had to go to another classes to see how English is teaching there and I didn’t know how to do. Moreover, they didn’t know exactly my timetable, so they gave me a paper written by hand with the classes that I’ll be during all the day, and then I could see classes in year 6 and in year 1 and 2. But I didn’t felt as best as I can.

Luckily, the second day was very different. My tutor was at school, and I followed her in all the classes that she did, in Medium Cycle. So, I could see English and ICT lessons.

Little by little I’m getting to know the teachers, who are very nice, so I feel more comfortable. Also I’m getting to know the pupils and the methodology that the school uses.

Regarding to the methodology, I noticed that they follow the book, so they do all the exercises that appears on it, without changing almost anything.  Another thing that attract my attention is that they don’t speak in English all the class, I mean; they only say some words in English but they speak Catalan or Spanish. Also they always translate all the instructions that they do, so pupils don’t think or try to guess the meaning of the sentences, because they know that if they wait a little, the teacher is going to translate it. Consequently, children make no effort to speak in English.

On the other hand, they try to work all the skills in English, that means that teachers assess students to have a good pronunciation with the words that they’re studying, to speak with other students practicing the verb tenses, to understand a text that they are reading, to listening and understand a cassette and to do all the exercises that are in the Activity book.

Furthermore, in ICT classes, they have a file in English but all the class is in Catalan or Spanish and the teacher translates all the instructions into their mother tongue, so they don’t learn English at all.