JOURNAL 1

JOURNAL No. 1

La Plata, Huila September 23th 2015

            I would like to share my experience with the class in tenth level. In 1004, there is a student who likes English a lot, his name is Alejandro. Alejandro dedicates most of his free time listening to English songs, watching films and chatting with friends that he has met in the social networks. In fact, he is a student who helps their partners during a lesson because he is the first one that finishes the activities.  Those previous conditions make me think of a different activity for him. After talking to Alejandro, one of the ideas was that he could prepare an oral presentation about any topic. I agree with him, but I recommended that the topic was suitable for all their partners, because when working with teenagers, teachers notice that there are many topics that are quite “complicated” to work. For example: topics related to drugs, racism, sex, ect.    

            During some weeks, Alejandro was reading a short story called “Lost in the cave” and he prepared a power point presentation. Unfortunately, when he was going to present their final work something happened with the equipment. The video beam did not work, the computer did not recognize the file or there was not a classroom for the presentation. Those previous problems teachers have to handle when working with technology. Finally the day arrives and Alejandro could present his topic.

            What I like the most about this presentation was their partners’ attitude and behavior. They were listening to him, paying attention and quite astonished. Alejandro talked about the experience of three friends who had lost in a cave. He used pictures and tries to explain the details of the story. At the end, the students could ask questions but anybody participate. I did not understand the meaning of that silence, but when Alejandro finished, I asked the students if they had understood what he described and many of them talked about general and main ideas, in fact, they use their first language to retell the story. For me, it was perfect! My students have got the message, maybe they do not know in that moment the expressions in English to express their ideas. What is more, Alejandro’s partners wanted to know the strategy that he used to speak English in the way he did. The answer of Alejandro was this: “If you want to learn English, you have to do an extra effort and think that you can learn it….” (English version).