Seventh Reflection Task

1) BELIEFS

v  We are not just teachers, we are Human Beings

I see myself as a person who is composed by many different aspects and that value what I have and what I am because each one of those things have made me being the woman I am. (Metaphor)

v  My family is a central part of my life.

I come from a loving and humble family that I value as my most precious blessing. (autobiography)

As part of a family I feel protected, loved and grateful for all the support and upbringing my parents and relatives have given me. (Metaphor)

v  Speak in a different language is a special ability that language teachers have.

When he started to greet us in English the first day of English class I felt astonished. It was for me really admirable to have the ability to communicate in another language, it was for me like a special skill that my math teacher had. (Autobiography)

v  The most memorable teachers are those who touch students’ hearts.

She was a really kind woman, I always remember her as a calm person. My classmates and I enjoyed English so much with her that we all behaved in a really good way. We respected and loved her, we paid attention, we did homework and we participated actively during her classes. (Autobiography)

v  Students learn better when they are involved during classes

Most of the students enjoyed and participated in the activity but some others didn't (Journal entries)

The students worked actively. It was easy for the majority of the students to write correctly big quantities, for some others it was somehow difficult. (Journal entries)

2) Those beliefs and assumptions come from my experience as both, as an English teacher and as a learner, because the learning-teaching process is a cyclical process, it hasn’t an end because knowledge is a non-ended issue; you learn something new every day, you as a teacher, transmit what you were taught, and get new information through experience.

3) May be demonstrating some other good ways of learning for students, different form learning through involvement. On the other hand, every teacher has a special skill that characterizes him or her, for example there are teachers with abilities for painting, math, poetry, dancing, sports, etc., and those   abilities are as valuable as speaking a different language.

4) An aspect that I need to improve in my teaching practice is to speak more in English in order to my students get familiar with the language so they can have a better dominance of it, because a key point in the learning-teaching process of a second or foreign language is that learners be able to use the language and to understand what other people is saying so interaction takes place.

Also, I think I need to improve the use of technological aids (web pages, videos, recordings, cellphones, etc.) in order to get my students more involved during lessons, and to make my classes more attractive for them because I consider myself kind traditional in that sense (marker and board classes).

Another aspect that I need to improve is to make my lessons more student-centered because they use to be teacher-centered lessons most of the time, so it is important for my students to have more opportunities to participate during classes, to use the language, to learn in a more effective and interactive way.

5) I could start by using more English in my classes, using different greetings, commands or expressions in order to my students start to be familiar with them and start using them too. Also, I could plan a class in the computers lab in order to use different sources of information such as videos or web pages, as a way to change the regular structure of English classes. Finally I think I could involve my students more during lessons, in order to they work more independently and appropriate more of their own learning process.