The experience of Being a Teacher

I must start by saying that this has been my first chance of teaching in a classroom and for me it was a difficult process at the beginning now that I was afraid of the results or the reaction of the students to the way I will be teaching the language. Of course, in the first weeks I felt overwhelmed by this situation, I could easily get it over as I started to create a bound with my students however.

When planning the lesson I will be teaching during the course I considered several aspects before starting to design the procedures and materials.

The first aspect I considered important for the design of the lesson plan was the objectives I wanted the students to achieve at the end of the class and the things they will be able to do when concluding a class session. It was not only to decide the aims of the class but to attempt that most of the students would learn successfully.

The second aspect I took into account was the specific needs these students had; it means their current knowledge about the language, their proficiency level, their strengths, weaknesses, and lacks. Hence, I decided how I would teach the topics, the content, and the level of difficulty.

Another aspect into consideration was the allotted time to develop the class, and then I would choose which activities will be developed in each class.

The last aspect I considered was the availability of didactical sources; in this sense, it was interesting the use of technologies in the English class, such as OHTs, computers, and audio devices in order to engage even more the students in the activities proposed during the classes.

One of the problems I faced when developing the class I had prepare beforehand was that in some cases the activities I wanted to proposed did not take place due to circumstances such as the lack of time after explaining a topic and the loss of control over the students. It was always so disappointing and I felt it was one of the issues I have to improve the most for my subsequent experiences.

                                              Rodrigo Peña Ruiz