MY CLASS DIARY

This is going to be my class diary, which I will fill in with our daily class activities.

Week of 12-18 September

On 12, 13 and 14 September we were informed about this new module, called "Recursos didácticos del inglés en la educación infantil". I was quite afraid of it, but now that I know what we will be working on during the year and the good point of not having exams, has helped a lot to make me feel more comfortable with it.

During the same week we studied part A of Unit 1.

For me one of the most interesting parts of this Unit 1 has been the pedagogical principles of English in early childhood education. I would stand out:

• To pay attention to diversity
• To take into account the different speeds of work
• To promote communicative activities

But all of them are, of course, important.

Week of 19-25 September

On 19, 20 and 21 of September we have studied part B of Unit 1, starting with the general theories. I consider that the one we will be using the most is the one named “Total physical response” and the one I consider the most difficult one is “the Monitor Model”, because it is based on 5 hypotheses and it is the largest one.

Week of 3-9 October

Monday October 3rd, we started Unit 2, one of the topics we spoke about was bilingualism.  Our teacher explained that being bilingual means that you say something in another language that is not yours, without thinking about it.
Someone can speak in a foreign language very well and fluently, but being bilingual is when you speak and think in this foreign language, without making differences between both languages. In the end none of them are foreign at all.

On the 5th., we worked on the Qualities and Characteristics of Good Teachers. We discussed about what is a good idea or not while being a teacher, for example, having long nails is of course not a good idea, etc. This is something understandable, although I love wearing them!

Week of 17-23 October

On the 19th. we learned about Teacher's Role. One of the aspects that I liked more was that the teacher observes all students making sure they are on tasks,, as a task among the role of Teacher as involver.

We also studied aspects about Teaching. I and II.

With this part Unit 2 finishes and we started that same October 19th. the Unit 3 (The theory of multiple intelligences).

Week of 31 October-6 November

We kept on with the same Unit. I think that the most difficult intelligencies are the Interpersonal and the Intrapersonal ones.

Week of 7-13 November

On the 7th. we have started with Unit 4 (Nursery Rhymes and Storytelling), more specifically: How to teach independence to children and Promotiong appropiate hygiene practices.

During the class of Nov. 9th., we learned about "Toileting and Toilet training" and "Providing opporunities for rest". Regarding the first item, we pointed out how important is to work towards consistency between home and the centre. Educators and family have to work together. And related to the second item, the carers have to provide enough periods of time for the children to relax and sleep. I consider that it is also very important to have them resting during their stay at the centre, so that they can be active for all other activities.

During that week we also learned about "Changing Habits and "Hand washing". Again these two actions have to be very closely worked between the families and the school. Adults have to provide instructions to the children, guide them through the action and let them do it by themselves if possible, waiting for the kids to react and adjust.

Week of 21-27 November

During these days, the teacher explained what the new concept, Storytelling, means. We had to prepare an activity, choosing a tale for children and explaining how we would read/tell the tale to them. This activity helped me a lot to know the correct way of storytelling. Nowadays, all the advanced technologies help us a lot to perform storytelling in an enjoyful way.

We also learned about setting transitions during our working day in a Nursery School. The children need routines in their life to feel comfortable and secure. The transitions are part of these routines, they help children to anticipate the activity to be done and also help them to be more autonomous.

Significant for me is to develop the routines as children expect them to happened, with no changes.

Week of 9-15 January

On the first day after our Christmas holdidays, our teacher was very nice and understanding with us, because spent the two  hours watching the Spanich movie "Diecisiete", we finished watching it on the 10th.. After we were asked to write a commment about it as a task which we had to upload to the "Class Activities" part of our blogs. That same day we started with the lesson called "Games" and finished with it next day of the week, on the 11th.   The teacher spoke about the reason to use games as a tool  in preschool education. We have already studied the importance of using games in our profession last year in "El juego infantil y su metodología".

I think that the  instructions on how to effectively use games are very useful for us, as preschool educators. 

Week of 16-22 January

On Wednesday 18th. we started with Unit 6, Songs and Poems. This is something that I like a lot, because I am very expressive when I perform a character, or when I am telling stories, etc. 

Week of 23-29 January

January 25th., we continued with Unit 6, learning the importance of specific arts and crafts project for developing the creativity of children  and for learning a new language. Arts and crafts activity is a very helful tool for us to work with our pupils, they can plan while they are learning or learn while they are playing.

Week of 30 January-5 February

During the class of February 1st., we deal on the subject of getting children to achieve reading habit. I think this habit is something they have to start getting since they are very small, as reading provides not only moments of fun, but also helps children to learn and to form their personality.  The children will algo get familiar with a second language if they start reading and listening to it since this preschool educacition period.

Week of 6-12 February

Again on Wednesday  of this week, the 8th.,  we learned about Music and Body Expression in Second Language Teaching.

I completely agree with the idea that music is relaxing and favours mental activity.  I was very shy when I was small and singing or performing a song, was one of my favourite activities, I was not the only one speaking or acting, I could sing with my class, and I was very happy doing it. This is a very good way of getting shy little children involved with the rest of their classmates. And, I think it is easier for children to understand or learn a second language with songs than with tales or books. 

Week of 13-19 February

On Feburary 15th. we finished the lessons about Songs and Poems.  And what we studied reinforced what I was already explaining. The importances of Music, Songs and Poems for preschoolers to learn a second language and to enjoy these activities. 

After these two courses I have learned many songs in English for children, and I have even be able to used them at work, singing them with my 5 to 6 years old pupils. 

The same day we finished the Unit 6  and we started with our last Unit of the course, Unit 8, Assessment.

We learned about how to evaluate our children regarding the learning of a second language.  We have studied also in other subjects, how useful evaluating after having developed tasks or activities is. And, of course, doing the same action to get to know how our pupils have understood or if they have enjoyed the activities and if they have been useful for our goal, This kind of assessment will help me to reorganize or to improve  my way of teaching a second language.