REFLECTIVE JOURNAL #3

SEPTEMBER 23rd

This lesson was the third one trying to apply a differentiated instruction through a Virtual learning environment. This time I wanted to engage my students with an interesting topic for them. Based on their responses in a survey of interests taken previously, soccer was part or their appealing topics.  With this in mind, the entire lesson was created in relation to this sport connected to past events.

Since I wanted to know how much my students could report the past events, and as a way of introducing the topic, I showed them some pictures and they had to tell me what was happening in those images. I could notice they tried to communicate the message, but they didn’t remember the correct conjugation of the verbs in past simple, so I guided them through the right way to say the verbs. Also, they all were paying attention and focused on the activity which meant it was interesting for them.

Later, they started to work in the platform. Since it was a differentiated instruction I didn’t force my students to work individually or in pairs, so they decided who to work with. The only condition was to choose a person with the same color (level of proficiency). In the VLE they found first an introduction of the vocabulary related to soccer, a reading about the history of soccer, a video with an explanation of the past simple, activities to practice the verbs in past simple and vocabulary (crosswords, matching exercises) etc. During the development of these activities I could see my students were very engaged with the video and the crossword puzzle, also, the ones who worked in pairs negotiated meaning and answers between them which is a good strategy and others worked using the translator and online dictionaries. Nevertheless, some students got distracted by their peers and I had to persuade them to be concentrated on the task.

There was also one specific aspect I could see from a pair of students. They divided the activities to do between them, so each one was assigned to do one activity while the other was talking or listening to music. I am not sure how beneficial it could be for my students, but at that moment I suggested them to work together in all the tasks.

The classroom environment was very peaceful and quiet. This time I could notice they didn’t ask for clarification on the instructions as they used to do in previous classes. I guess this happened because I explained the activities at the beginning with an overhead projector and in this way they could understand better the instructions.

The last activity was a project in which my students had to create a mini story telling about a bad experience in a soccer match. From this task I wanted to know how much they had learnt in the lesson. In this part my students also used the online dictionary and translator to build the story.  Some of them were aware of the grammatical structures but some others just focused on the message.

I have to accept not everything was perfect. I had also technical problems with the platform and the activities created but fortunately I could make decisions and fix them quickly. The time planned for the class was enough for doing all the activities. However, there were some students who couldn’t finish the final project because of the time.

I can not expect all my students learn the grammar structures of the past simple and the vocabulary of soccer in a single class. I know they need more time to practice, real life situations, and a context in which they can practice what they have learnt. Consequently I’ll plan one more class to continue practicing until I see my students have a more clear idea of the content.