Blog 16 Listening at the KTP

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will write about one aspect of teaching English at the KTP program that is constantly practiced during class, but requires more attention to be implemented: Listening. First, I will provide a definition of what teaching listening means and its importance when learning English. Then, I will mention some activities and interventions I made to practice listening in my classes at the CCA. Finally, I will give my opinion regarding the importance of teaching listening at the KTP.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

How did you approach listening in today's sessions? 

Did you include any of the tips/strategies we worked on in our last session? If not, which ones did you include?

Listening:

Listening is one most crucial skills when learning English. It involves both comprehension and constant responses in the form of written or oral productions. Listening is not just a matter of being able to hear what is said, but to comprehending the message. That is why it is sometimes considered one of the most difficult skills because people need to adjust their listening to a variety of accents and pronunciations that can sometimes divert the message.

When it comes to teaching speaking, there are different ways to approach it. Normally, it is expected to do the process of listening in 3 phases: pre-listening, during-listening, and post-listening. Students can have a scaffolded process to start working on their listening skills. Pre-listening serves to invite the student to practice their predicting skills. Guiding questions like What do you think the video will be about? Fosters the students' imagination and helps them to have prior knowledge. During listening, students focus on the listening in can be to a macro level. like the global message of the audio, or to find specific information, a word, or mini ideas of the video. It is recommended to invite the student to take notes so they can grasp information more easily. In the post-listening, students can contrast ideas and make their own interpretations of what they heard. 

Some final recommendations include choosing an audio that students can understand, depending on their level. American variation is suggested, but it is good to include variations from time to time. Include moments of communication so students can share and have a more meaningful learning experience. Finally, mix it with speaking or writing so you can check that students did indeed understand the task.

Taken from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/planning-lessons-and-courses/framework-planning-listening-skills

Listening in my classes:

Listening is a skill that I regularly practice in my classes. I usually include it as part of the global skills moment or the exposure in the language cycle. For listening, I try to follow the three moments so my students can make the most of the videos I show them. First, I give them reflective questions to discuss in pairs to activate prior knowledge and invite them to infer what the main message of the video is. During listening, I ask them to make groups and give a specific aspect of the video to focus on. Sometimes I tell them to make notes, although I also want to challenge them to only use their memory. In the post, students share their findings, and I guide the communication between groups.

In the class this Saturday, we worked on the quiz review. I didn't make a specific activity that focuses on listening. Nonetheless, while giving the instructions for the listening in the quiz, I gave them some tips to have the best score possible in the quiz. In both groups, I told them that the listening would consist of two repetitions of the same audio. I told them the first listening was to find as many answers as possible and see how the video is organized. I gave them the time to read the questions and predict the moments they must pay attention to find the correct answers. In this case, it was true or false in both classes. Then, for the second listening, I told them it was the moment to confirm answers and answer the ones they didn't find in the first listening. 

I feel these tips were useful as I could see good results in some exams I observed.

Personal reflection:

I feel that listening is a really interesting skill, because it involves both understanding and producing to confirm if the student understood. In my case, I could say I have good listening skills, as I was graded a C1 in the IELTS I took. However, sometimes I still have problems understanding some accents or specific language. For example, with minimal pairs or non-literal language. I will continue to include listening in my classes as I want my students to be able to communicate and be able to use the language affectible in authentic contexts.

Blog 15 pronunciation at the KTP

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will write about one aspect of teaching English at the KTP program that is sometimes overlooked, but necessary for students learning: pronunciation. First, I will write a short definition of what teaching pronunciation means and why it is important when learning English. Then, I will mention some activities and interventions I made to practice pronunciation in my classes at the CCA. Finally, I will give my opinion regarding the importance of teaching pronunciation and how it should be addressed in an English classroom.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

How did you approach pronunciation in today's sessions? 

Did you include any of the tips/strategies we worked on in our last session? If not, which ones did you include?

Pronunciation:

Taken from: https://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/chapter1.html

Although pronunciation is not one of the 4 main skills of English (listening, speaking, writing, and reading), it is still a crucial element when learning this language. Pronunciation focuses on the production of phonemes and the sounds of English. It is normally addressed at a segmental level, which focuses on individual words, or at a suprasegmental level, which includes other features like word stress, intonation, and fluency in longer productions such as phrases or sentences. 

To produce sounds, we use the phonatory apparatus. As air is expelled from our lungs, it is stopped by different organs in our mouth. Depending on how the mouth is articulated, a specific sound is produced. To give an idea of how many phonemes we can pronounce, in English, there are about 44 individual phonemes, without mentioning extra accents and phones. In Spanish, there are only 24 phonemes, which means there are about 20 individual sounds that are not commonly used or easily transferable for Spanish native speakers to English.

Taken from: https://www.cde.state.co.us/coloradoliteracy/phonemesimilaritiesinenglishandspanish

This doesn't mean that you have to be able to accurately pronounce all sounds to be considered a native speaker. Nonetheless, it is important to be aware of the specific moments in which pronunciation can significantly vary the meaning of what you are trying to say. This is the case of the minimal pairs, which are words that are only differentiated by one phoneme when pronounced. For example, Bat and Pat, Beat and bit, or cheat and shit.

Pronunciation in my classes:

Generally, pronunciation is not a current topic in my classes as, for the most part of the time, we need students to produce freely while they become aware of what they are saying and develop their self-correction skills. Nonetheless, from time to time, it is necessary to make this kind of intervention to ensure that errors don't fossilize in future levels. For example, in my class of TB1 1.1, many students incorrectly pronounced the word"since" and said it like science. These are the phenomena that I can't find a definition for, although it could be an overgeneralization of the /ai/ sound of i.

To make students aware of the issue, I guided them to make shadowing, so I would pronounce the word and I would make them repeat it until everyone pronounced it right. 

When addressing errors, I use the "taxonomy of errors" of Carl James, as I'm aware that there are errors that shouldn't be corrected right away to avoid overcorrection. For example, if a student commits a slip or an attempt type of error, there is no need to correct because the student can be able of self-correct or is just exploring their interlanguage. However, if a student continues to make the same mistake and is connected to the lesson, which is a "mistake" type of error, there is a need to correct it. Likewise, when correcting, I like to use the recast technique to allow them to correct themselves. For example, in TB1 1.3, when a student is talking and I notice a mistake, I would repeat what they say and make a subtle emphasis on the error so they can correct it. If the student is not aware, I give the correct pronunciation.

Personal opinion:

I believe that pronunciation is key to achieving a higher level of proficiency in the language. It minimizes the misunderstandings, and you will gain a higher respect for academic English contexts. Nevertheless, it is important to be consistent and avoid overcorrection, because it can be demotivating and tiring for students. There are variations of English that sometimes people mistake for an error, but it's equally valid. For example, when I say label, the most common pronunciation is /laibel/, but I tend to say /label/, which is common in some American English variations.

In my case, in French, I suffered a lot with my teacher because they wouldn't even let me finish a sentence without stepping in and saying everything that went wrong. Thanks to it, I didn't want to participate because I felt that I was saying everything wrong. I personally don't want my students to feel scared of committing mistakes, so that's why I'm lenient with errors that I know students are aware of or that they will be able to cover in future classes, but if it's an error that clearly needs attention, I won't hesitate to make the student aware of it.

Finally, it is important to understand that the speaker's native language would intervene in the pronunciation of some words. However, as long as the person can communicate, it might not represent a major issue. If you want to practice your English pronunciation, I recommend that you read the Please call Stella prompt, as it has all the American English phonemes in a short sentence, so it could be a useful tool to see what phonemes you might need to work on.

You can find the sentence here:

https://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=145

Blog 14 Flip learning at CCA

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will reflect on one of the most important requierments when it comes to teaching at the KTP program: flip learning. For this entry, first, I will write a short definition of what flip learning is and why its a crucial part of the CCA curriculum. Then, I will mention some activities and stretagies I made based on Flip learning in my classes at the CCA. Finally, I will reflect on the importance that flip learning has in modern English Teaching Methodologies and how I plan to improve my approach with this metodology that is new for me.

The guiding question for this entry is:

Select one of the activities you have planned for today’s class and reflect: How would you apply flipped learning to this activity? Describe what students would do before, during, and after class.

Flip learning

Flip learning is pretty recent teaching methodology that aims to rethink and change the traditional roles of the teacher and students in a classroom. Normally, it is expected for teachers to be the ones who gives the information and the students just recive it. In flip learning, students become the teachers and teachers become the students. In the area of English Language Learning, Flip learning has very similirities with the constructivist approach of vigostky, interactional learning and communicative language learning, as its expect for students to build knowledge in community and reinforce it throughtout learning habits and constant trial and error.

In this case, students are the main center of the classroom and the teacher is in charge of guiding students to learn inductivly the rules and key aspects of the lesson they are learning. To achieve this goal, students need to have a good exposition to the target language, be able to infer information and explain it to their classmates. Also, students need to practice, both in and out-class and recieve support of the teacher so errors or interferations can be addressed properly.

In my classes:

Although the main idea of this entry is to try to rethink an activity I did in my class as how it could had been applied using flip learning, I want to highilight an activity that reflects how flip learning can be done to teach a grammar topic, I didn't even realize it was flip learning until my team teacher told me.

This case happened in my TB1 1.3 class, the grammar topic was reported speech for command suggestions and offers. Before the class, students did a class preparation in which they would see a video about the topic and would create 3 sentences using what they understood. In class, I asked students to retrace what they did in the class preparation and I gave them a PowerPoint presentation in case they needed to refresh knowledge or didn't do the class preparation. Then, each group would explain how to do the reported speech for their assigned communicative purpose. In my case, I acted as an student and I asked questions to my teachers to help me fix errors and clarify information. After class, students have an action plan in which they practice the topic to reinforced what they learning and optional resources to wide their understanding.

Reflection:

Flip learning is a pretty new approach for me when it comes to my teaching techniques. I'm more used to to teacher center sessions and I didn't know all the preparation that flip learning has. It has been a really enriching process as I can see the benefits that flip learning has for my students as it helps them to reflect, think, express ideas and maintain a constant process of learning that not only happens in the classroom, but outside too. I will continue to work hard to make this new technique part of my teaching repertoire. After all, the role of teachers is not longer the center of the knowledge, but the facilitaitor for students to build their own knowledge.

Blog 13 Gamification in my classes

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will reflect about the role that gamified elements have in my classes at the CCA for the motivation of my students and my creativity as an English Teacher. For this entry, first I will write a short definition of what gamification is and what are its adavantages when teaching kids and teens. Then, I mention some activities and stretagies I made based on gamification in my classes at the CCA. Finally, I will reflect on the importance that gamification has at the CCA and how could I implemented in future class escenarios.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

How has the use of gamified elements (such as points, challenges, or badges) influenced your students’ motivation and engagement during lessons?

What aspects of your current teaching practice could be further enhanced through gamification to promote deeper learning and participation?

Gamification

In simple words, gamification referes to the implementation of elements of video games, such as progression, challenges or rewards, in the development of non-game contexts, like classes in this case. Its main purpose, in the area of teaching, its to make lessons more attractive and engaging by catching the attention of students and motivate them to participate for a reward. This definition is important as it differs from game-based learning, which refers to the use of actual games as part of the learning process to teach specific content or skills.

Some integrations of gamification in a class include the use of points when a student complets a task or the creation of challenges to make classes more engaging. One example, can be the use of apps, like ClassDojo, in which students are given points when following instructions or completing specific task, like participating or being the first ones to finish an activity.

In my classes:

In the case of my classes, I normally tend to implement more game-based learning as I like students to be activtive and play. I like to make role plays, play with flascards and use some games like pictionary or Taboo to teach vocabulary and/or grammar. Nonetheless, from time to time, I like to implement stategies like giving points to groups when their finish fast or when evaluating an activity. However, I must be careful as there can be students who are really competitive or that can be upset when implementing gamification.

For example, in TB1 1.1 for the free practice, students created their stores and tryed to sell and buy products. While participating the students would gather points for each thing the buy and the money they earned. When the activity finished, the groups with the most sells and most adquisitions would win.

Reflection:

Gamification is a pretty interesting strategy when trying to grab students attention by making classes more challenging and competitive. By nature, us humans, we like competing and, as I have been able to see, teachers could really profit from this to make classes interesting and motivating for students. I plan to continue implementing this strategies as the can be really helpful for students. For example, I could create a progression bar during the semester and if a student complets the bar they will win a prize. Gamification can be a good ally when done correctly. As our supervisors let us knew, gamification is a must have at the CCA if we want to improve or profesional development.

Blog 12 first class experience

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will reflect about my first day experience teaching two courses at the CCA. For this entry, I will describe what happened, how I felt and what were my first impressions. On one hand, I will write about what I think went well in my classes and why. On the other hand, I will depict what I could improve for future classes and how I plan to do it. Finally, I will reflect on what I learned from this experience.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

What is one thing you feel went well in your first class?

What is one thing you would like to improve for next time?

First day experience

I think that, for being my first time teaching at the CCA, I performed pretty we well in both classes. I arrived early at the CCA and I picked the materials I ordered at the library. The first class I had was TB1 1.3 at 7:00am. In this class I was being observed by my supervisor, so I was a little nervous but with all the energy, excited to see how my class wil develop. Likewise, I planned everything very thoroughly and made my best effort to include all the expected parts for the class: warm up, learning moment, language cycle, project work, communicative moments and closure. 

I think one thing that went pretty well in this first class was my time management. I was able to finish the class on time and I did all the activities I prepared. Also, I think my energy and interaction with students was really catchy and engaging. They participated and I was constantly receptive to any questions. I even was given a round of applause at the end of the class.

Nonetheless, one thing I still need to improve is my teaching approach. I know that the CCA stands out from other English academies for its inductive and student center approach. I consider I still need to adjust my teaching to a more student center approach. I recognize that I talked to much, specially in the language cycle, and the idea is that the students need to be the ones who participate the most. Likewise, I feel I could improve the way I deliver instructions. Sometimes, I forgot some important information when delivering instructions, so I had to recast my instructions in order to make sure all students understood.

Regarding, the second class, TB1 1.1, I feel that I did a better job in comparison to TB1 1.3. One thing that I did pretty well was to keep my students attention and participation during the whole class. They were really atentive and participated constatly in the communicative moments. Likewise, I feel that I managed better the student centrer approach as I talked less than in TB1 1.3 and students were the ones who participated most. 

However, one thing that I think I could improve is, again, the way I give instructions. I feel that this time the instructions were clearer and students easily understood, but maybe I could improve my wording and the delivery.

Reflection:

I feel that, for being my first class, I think I really did a good job. I didn't have problems with the time and I was able to do all the activities I proposed in both classes. I feel that students are really empathic and patience towards me and they understand that I'm new in this area of teaching at the CCA. For now, I'll be just be waiting for the feedback of my supervisor, so I can start working on how to improve my teaching practice in this last track of my practicum experience at the CCA.

Blog 11 Teaching kids at KTP

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will discuss about what I consider one of the most challenging parts at teaching at the CCA teaching kids. For this entry, first, I will explain what it means to teaching kids at the CCA. Second, I will describe some activities and recommendations when teaching kids at the CCA. Third, I will give some insights about how I would teach teens, having in mind kids activities and what I could do in case I taught kids. Finally, I will reflect on what I consider to be the challenges for my to teach kids and if I consider myself ready to overcome them in order to fulfill the minimun requirements of the CCA KTP program for kids.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

What strategies, techniques, or ideas from the session on teaching kids could be adapted to your own classes with teens or pre-teens? Give one specific example.

What challenges or differences do you notice between teaching kids and teaching teens/pre-teens, and how can the insights from the session help you address those differences?

Teaching kids at the CCA

Kids are one of the main targets of the CCA. This population, which ranges ages from 5/6 to 9 and starts at the level A1, represents one of the most difficult challenges when it comes to teaching at the KTP program. As being kids, they are not only developing their basic English skills, but adquiring their L1 and other fine motor skills, such as controling their hands for writing. Likewise, children's brain is in pretty "absorbing", yet primitive state. They can easily learn, but they are still developing attention and responsive skills, so keep their attention to class can be a real challenge.

Recommendations:

Some recomendations when giving class to children include: use activities that involve movement to make transitions and grab attention. For example, you can make then dance, repeat hand gestures and use attention grabers. Likewise, it is important to keep them entertained. Use movement, pitch changes and tone variations. They can be real lifesavers when regaining the attention of children. Another important recommendation is to avoid use metalanguage when explaining grammar or vocabulary topics. For instance, instead fo saying the verb to be for the third person is "is". The teacher could use a marionette and practice verb to by acting: Hi, I'm marionette, you are Petito and she is? Finally, it is important for teachers to master the art of patience, resilience and creativity. Children are pretty reactive to how you interact with them. It is important to have a calm, yet contagious voice, to know how recast instructions, and to make activities that appeal to children's imagination and limits.

Is it diferent to teach kids to teach teens?

Yes. It all parts from the fact that Children's and teen's brain function differently. On one hand, teens tend catch instructions more easily. They don't require a high dose of stimulation and they have more control of their motor skills. Nonetheless, they are more reactive to emotions and want to start to be more independent to make their own choices. On the other hand, kids are more reactive as their primary functions are developing and their pre-frontal cortex, which is in charge of self-regulation, is slowy starting to develop. Moreover, they need to receive simple, yet easy to understand, instructions. They can also easily frustrate and manifestate strong emotions. Finally, they are almost all the time active and need constant attention and approvation from teachers.

After this you could say that the teaching kids and teens is complety different, but in reality there are some strategies that can be adapted to teach English to teens. For example, activities that come from the Total Phisycal Response (TPR) method, like the ones kids use movement to learn verbs or vocabulary, can be adapted to teaching teens. In my case, I could teach vocabulary by making students mimic the actions. If the vocabulary is related to apologize, I can make them act as if they were apologizing.

Another posible connection can be the use of pairing and grouping strategies. In the midweek training, we were paired by making animal sounds. I personally consider that it could be reused for my students to practice pronunciation. I could make them say minimal pairs and they will have to find the student that says the same word. 

Reflection: Do I feel ready to teach kids?

Being compelty honest, not to really. I like kids and I really enjoy seeing them be happy while learning. Nevertheless, I conder it to be pretty challenging task for me, specially because it requieres a lot of performative skills that use a lot of energy and movement. I personally like to be more relaxed and assertive when communicating. Likewise, I feel that it could limit what I want my students to do. I'm a real fan of interaction, creation and debating. I feel that teens like debate a lot and it bring a lot of fresh and intersting perspectives to the class. Also, teens are easier to control to make them follow instructions, and with the right they will for sure participate. Its, true that they may act from time to time like not willing to do anything, but with the correct words and assertiveness you can make them participate.

For now, teaching teens is my cup of tea and I really want to continue to do it next semmester as an official teacher at the CCA. However, I understand that if the program requieres me to teach kids, I will give all my effort to try to adapt my style of teaching to them.

Blog 10 Language cycle and communicative moments

Hello, everyone ✌

For this new entry, I will discuss about two of the most crucial moments during the development of a class at the CCA: the language cycle, as the process of guiding students to learn/reinforce inductively a new grammar/vocabulary topic, and the communicative moments, as the spaces for students to produce language for developing their speaking skills. First, I will explain what is the language cycle and its function during a class. Second, I will describe how comunicative moments work throughout the class and their key aspects. Third, I will describe how both of these processes were seen during my classes. Finally, I will reflect on the importance of these two moments for the students' learning process, as part of the inductive approach of language learning at the CCA.

The guiding questions for this entry are:

How did I guide my learners through the stages of the language cycle (exposure, noticing, practice, and production), and which stage might need more support next time?”

During the class, when did genuine communication happen, and how can I create more opportunities for learners to use the language meaningfully?

What is the language cycle?

The language cycle is process in which new grammar and/or new vocabulary contents are introduced as part of the class content. The language cycle aims for students to learn inductively throughout a series of 4 steps that guide students thourgh their learning process. The language cycle is divided in exposure, noticing, practicing and production. 

1. Exposure: in this stage the new topic is introduced to students. It intends to be the first input in which students will start to see the grammar topic in context. Some posibilities include videos, songs, listenings or readings, but they have to be both authentic and comprehensible for students.
2. Noticing: in this stage students start to analyze and build their own rules. This step is the most important step as students are infering from the input they recieve to create their own rules and patterns. Teachers have to ensure understanding by strategies like deduction, comparison, and grammar charts. This step has to be student-centered and teachers most avoid being the ones who give the rules.
3. Practice: In this stage occurs the process of correction and confirmation that the student has adquire and can properly use the new grammar/vocabulary topic. This phase is directly connected to the production stage as they both share 3 moments when students are continually practicing: controlled, semi-controlled and free practice.
4. Controlled practice: it focuses on the linguistic criteria to check the full understanding of the student. These exercises include filling the blanks or fixed sentences. For example, teachers can use exercises from the textbooks or use a Kahoot activity.
5. Semi-controlled practice: its focus is still on the lingistic criteria, but its a little bit freer. For instance, students can be given prompts or already make sentences for a conversation and then they continue. This step is meant to function as a bridge between the controlled practice and the free practice.
6. Free practice: it is related to the production stage and its intended for students to use language freely focusing more on fluency, rather than accuracy. This part can be used as a communicative moment, but students need to be given a clear instruction and criteria, have a meaningful outcome and the activities must be interactive and fun. Some free practice strategies include impromptu conversations, debates and role plays.

What are the communicative moments?

The communicative moments are moments, at least 3 per class, in which students interact for developing their speaking and communicative skills. These are directly related to the communicative goal of the class. It is important to have clear criteria, clear instructions, and enough input for students to interact with each other. Teachers can use conversation models, prompts, conversation expressions and questions. This moments con occur in any moment of the class: warm up, global skills, learning moment, free practice or even for the project.

A good communication exercise has into account 3 core aspects: complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF). Complexity has to do with how challenging the activity is for the students. For example, the teacher could ask for using a specific tense, use a specific vocab, or invite students to debate a position they don't fully agree with. Accuracy is when the communication activity aims to work on a specific grammar topic in a suprasegmental level. These include filling the blanks or follow conversations models. Finally, fluency is related to the delivery of the student. It is not focus on how fast or appropietly speaks, but how can communicate and interact with occasional interferences that don't affect mutual intelligibility. 

Some other recommendations and tips are:

• Help students find the balance between accuracy and fluency.​
• Have students recycle the language they have learned. ​
• Be mindful about your students’ population.​
• Give them enough opportunities to speak and vary students.​
• Vary the patterns of interaction.​
• Use the resources we have (platform, videos, and other tech tools). ​
• Provide conversation models (upgraded, challenging, with room to personalize and expand)​

How are both language cycle and communicative moments seen at the CCA?

Communicative moments:

This saturday, I was in charge of the communicative moments, so I decided that I will do all 3 in 3 different moments of the class: warm up, global skills (in TB1 1.3), free practice, and project (in TB1 1.1).

In the case of TB1 1.3, the topic was: around the world, so, for the communication activities, I wanted my students to practice not only communication but also their critical thinking on culture. The first activity was a game of What Am I? country edition. Each student had to ask questions using vocabulary related to countries like is my country in Europe? or Is my country wealthy? And they had 1 minute to guess. The next activity was a discussion in pairs to define culture and stereotypes, they also saw a video about stereotypes and shared their insights with the class. Finally, for the free practice, they debated in pairs. I showed them 2 videos and randomly they had to defend video 1, which was a video to attract tourists to Colombia made by the government, or video 2, which was a comical video about some of the most common stereotypes/problems in regions around Colombia. 

In the case of TB1 1.1, the topic was movies. For the first activity the played find someone who, and they had to ask questions using past simple and past continous, which was the new grammar topic of the class. Then, the free practice and project were combine into one activity in which students in groups had to create their own movie as a insume for the next part of the project. They had to discuss, reach agreements and then present the plot of the movie using simple past and past continous.

I think that both courses enjoyed the activities and even my team teacher congratulated for my activities.

Language cycle:

Although this week I wasn't in charge of the language cycle, I was given an oustanding display of it by my team teacher.

I want to concentrate in TB1 1.1, because in TB1 1.3 there was no new grammar topic, just vocabulary.

In TB1 1.1, for the exposure, the teacher presented a text with some sentences highlighted in different colors and then she invited the students to think and answer: what where those sentences?, what would the mean?, what each color mean?. Then, the teacher used a flipped learning strategy and the student form two groups. Each group had to explain what was simple past and the other what was past continuos. The teacher acted like she was a student and asked questions for students to answer. The controlled practice was with a kahoot. The semi-controlled practice was done with some exercises of the book and, finally, I was in charge of the free practice.

Honestly, I want to really highlight the performance of my team teacher as it helped to understand how can I make student-centered activities for them to start infer the rules of a new grammar topic. I remember the previous class she told me that my language cycle in the analyze was teacher centered and I really didn't know how to do it, as all my life I have been taught that way.

Reflection:

I believe that both language cycle and communicative moments are crucial in the CCA's curriculum. Not only because they are both of the most complex and biggest activities inside the class, but they are the heart of the distintic way colombo teaches to students: make students the center of learning. I know that I still have many aspects to improve in the area of the language cycle, but thanks to my team teacher, I see things more clearly. Likewise, I'm pretty comfortable with my performance on the communicative moments and I feel they are one of my strongest points in my teaching practice. Both of this experiences where really meaningful for me and I hope to keep improving them in future moments of my practicum in this last track of the semester.