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Newsletter 10 6^th April 2002

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Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

Instituto Nacional Superior del Profesorado Técnico

Cátedra de Didáctica Especial del Primer y Segundo Ciclo de la EGB y Práctica de la Enseñanza –Segundo Año

Lecturers : Omar Villarreal & Andrea Coviella,

Practicum Supervisors : Marina Kirac, Claudia Alvarez, Marcela Russo, Marisa Caccia, Analía Figliola, Patricia Suárez Rotger and Florencia Raña.

Assistant Teachers: Romina Hirniak and Maria Laura Groppo.

Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Nro 41 - Adrogué

Lecturer: Omar Villarreal

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"The most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life: the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure"

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Already enjoying the weekend? Great!

Here we are with some news about our PRACTICUM and some allied matters.

All schools, classes and times for this first semester have already been assigned. We know it has been a tough process but somehow we managed to get through it and we are really happy that all trainee teachers have established contact with their supervisors and, in many cases, with their classes.

Many are also ready to start teaching next week. Our very best wishes to all.

In this issue you are going to find : (a) a form for your lesson plan (b) a “model” lesson plan (c) some suggestions to conduct the “Comprehension and Clarification” Stage (d) a form for your observation task “while your partner is teaching”. I hope you find all these useful.

There´s still a tiny bit of Saturday to enjoy and whole bright Sunday. Take due advantage of them,

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OUTLINE FOR A LESSON PLAN

Practicum Supervisor:

Communicative Goal/s :

Comprehension & Clarification:

Application: Activity Number:

Name of the Activity:

Focus of the Activity:

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A “MODEL” LESSON PLAN

School: Escuela 27 Distrito Escolar 30

Class: 4^th Grade “C”

Teacher: Mrs Adriana Gandolfi

Practicum Supervisor: Miss Gabriela Sanz

Trainee Teacher: Mr Gustavo Arévalo

Textbook/ Lesson “ School Friends” book 2 – Lesson 4

Communicative Goal/s : Talking about Age

Grammar Focus: subject + am/is/are + age – affirmative, interrogative and negative

Vocabulary Focus: Adjectives used to describe objects and people.

Recycled Language: Origin ( from) / Description.

Activation: I will revise the concept of “young” / “new” and “old” .

I will use five sets of pictures : new /old school, young / old actor, etc. I will try to elicit “the school is old / Matt Damond is young, etc.

Comprehension & Clarification:

(a) Listening and Reading. Lesson 4 “ School Friends” p. 14

(b) Listening and identifying details.

(d) Reconstruction of dialogue.

blackboard (sticker)

How old are you? I´m 12(years old).

he? He’s 17(years old).

How old is she? She’s 13 (years old).

it? It’s 4 (years old).

you? We’re 11(years old)

How old are they? They’re 15 (years old)

Name of the Activity: Comprehension Checkpoint

Focus of the Activity: Reading

Grouping Scheme: Pairs ===è whole class

Brief Description: Exercise 3 – “School Friends” p. 15

Name of the Activity: How old are they?

Focus of the Activity: Speaking

Grouping Scheme: Pairs ===è whole class

Brief Description: Exercise 5 – “School Friends” p. 15

Name of the Activity: Guess the Age (1)

Focus of the Activity: Speaking

Grouping Scheme: whole class

Brief Description: I will stick six pictures of celebrities on the board and I will challenge the students to tell me how old the celebrities are (two of them will be twins : “Mirtha and Silvia Legrand” and “ Gustavo and Guillermo Barros Schelotto”

Name of the Activity: Guess the Age (2)

Focus of the Activity: Writing

Grouping Scheme: Solo =è Whole class

Brief Description: They will write six sentences about the ages of the celebrities on the board. Then they will read their sentences to the whole class.

Name of the Activity: How old are they and where are they from?

Focus of the Activity: Speaking

Grouping Scheme: Pairs ===è whole class

Brief Description: Exercise 7 – “School Friends” p. 16

Activity 6 (optional)

Name of the Activity: Famous buildings

Focus of the Activity: Reading and writing =è speaking

Grouping Scheme: Pairs =è Whole class

Brief Description: from “ Happy Faces” book 2 p. 29

Please see photocopy below

Activity 7 (optional)

Name of the Activity: Get up and Do it!

Focus of the Activity: Reading è speaking

Grouping Scheme: Small Groups =è Whole class

Brief Description: They will rehearse reading Lesson 2 . Some groups will come

up front and act it out / read it.

Reflection: I will place a poster with four questions and their answers on the board. I will ask the to tell me which of these we can use to “Talk about Age”.

(only one question and its answer). I will ask them to copy the question and answer on their notebooks.

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Please note that both “School Friends” and “Happy Faces” are two fictional names for two fictional textbooks

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SUGGESTIONS FOR CONDUCTING

THE “COMPREHENSION AND CLARIFICATION” STAGE

Lesson 4 – “School friends” book 2

Martin Hi, it’s me, Martin!

I’m from Lomas de Zamora. I’m 12 years old.

Look girls! This is my friend, Nato.

Mechy He’s very tall and very good-looking. Look at his beautiful dark

hair and green eyes.

Nato Oh, stop it, Mechy!

Hi! I’m Nato. I’m from Temperley. I’m 13 years old.

Martin No! You’re not 13. You’re 12!

Nato But my birthday is next Friday!

And look! This is our school.

Nato How old is the school?

Martin 6 years? 10 years? I don´t know.

Nato Well, The EGB 3 section is new.

Martin Yes! We are in EGB 3. And… Nato’s thirteen. He´s a big boy!!

Nato Grrrrr, Martin!

Ø Ask the students to look at the picture and to say which characters

they can recognize (i.e. Martin, Mechy and Nato)

Ø Play the cassette and ask the students to listen to the dialogue and read it twice.

Ø Ask the students to close their books and to listen to the cassette again Tell them they should try to spot as many names of towns as they possibly can.

Ø Ask them to dictate the names to you and write them on the board . (Lomas de Zamora and Temperley)

Ø Ask them to listen to the cassette with their books closed again.

Ask them to tell you where the boys are from

Ø Ask the students to open their books and to listen to the cassette once again and to read.

Ø Ask the students if they can figure out what Mechy does when she says that “Nato is very tall and very good looking”. Copy this sentence on the board.

Ø Elicit from them that Mechy is describing Nato. Write the words “tall” and “ very good looking” on the board.

Ø Encourage them to try to remember other words used for descriptions (Lesson 2) and to dictate them to you. Help them with words they might need ( like young, thin, pretty, etc).

Ø Include a sentence with “they” if the students do not dictate one to you.

Ø Explain words like “good-looking”, “dark”, “green” or “hair” only if necessary.

Ø Ask if they know when Nato´s birthday is. (His birthday is next Friday). Help them with new language (i.e. Friday, next, etc) only if necessary.

Ø Write the word “Age” on the board tell them what it means.

Ø Ask the students to open their books and to listen to the cassette once again and to read. This time tell them to concentrate on expressions connected with “age”

Ø Ask them to give you one question connected with age. (i.e. How old is the school?”) Put it on the board..

Ø Ask them to tell you what expressions are used to answer a question about age. Put them on the board.

Ø Ask them to copy from the board the chart “Age” in their notebooks or give them a sticker with this chart to paste on their notebooks.

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“WHILE MY PARTNER TEACHES”

FEEDBACK FORM FOR MY PARTNER

This form is intended as a guide to help you organize your feedback. You can use it as it is, add sections to it or design your own form. Of course we would love to see your “own” adaptations or your “own” productions.

Remember you must write a report for every single class your partner teaches and that these reports should be pasted onto your partner´s Practicum Notebook immediately below the supervisors´comments when the supervisor visits the classroom or on their own if the supervisor has not sat in on the lesson.

Class:---------------------------------------------------------------

Date:---------------------------------------------------------------

Your organization of the lesson------------------------------------------------

Your students´ performance during the lesson---------------------------------

Your use of materials and resources--------------------------------------------

Your management of time (timing / pacing)-------------------------------------

Your attitude -------------------------------------------------------------------

Your use of language------------------------------------------------------------

(a) Use of English--------------------------------------------------------

(b) Use of Translation/ Spanish ----------------------------------------

(d) Provision of Comprehensible input----------------------------------

Your handling of the group-----------------------------------------------------

(a) organization of participation

(b) management of discipline

Your weakest point today was--------------------------------------------------

Your strongest point today was------------------------------------------------

An aspect you have clearly improved------------------------------------------

An aspect you are in the process of improving--------------------------------

An aspect you should consider improving/ work hard to improve-------------

A part of your lesson that I would change is----------------------------------

A part of your lesson that I particularly liked was---------------------------

Other comments /remarks-------------------------------------------------------