Monday I was being observed by my professor and the vice principal of William Shakespeare. I wanted to select an activity that would show off my student's skills and my knowledge in ESL strategies. Therefore, I had the students create another smoosh book.
We were talking about different types of hobbies and I wanted students to pick hobbies they liked to put in their books. To begin we listened to a story on tape that described different types of hobbies. We then brainstormed other hobbies as a group and made a huge list of hobbies on the board. The students were instructed to pick hobbies they liked, draw a picture and label it on each page of their book.
The students really enjoyed making these small books, this was the second time we did it in class. My professor and vice principal were also impressed with the students work.
I apologize but I do not have any pictures to accompany this post!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Sunday June 2, 2013
Sunday morning after breakfast we made our way to another biological reserve where we went hiking to see waterfalls. It was beautiful! We had the opportunity to swim in the waterfalls but it was way too cold.
We literally hiked all day long. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it!
We literally hiked all day long. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it!
This little car took us across an open valley to the other side of the reserve.
Our view.
The path we hiked on.
Little did we know we would have to climb back up these steps later.
Hearts of palm grow around here.
Ecuador is known for having many different types of orchids. This is one type.
The group on our walk.
Our first waterfall.
Enjoying the views!
This was our tour guide. He owns the land and the hotel we were staying in. He went into every waterfall in his khakis and button down shirt.
Our guide showing us how the waterfall can be a natural neck massager.
We were able to swim here but the water was still freezing!
Saturday June 1, 2013
Saturday presented us with quite an adventure! We left Tumbaco at 7am and headed toward the beautiful town of Mindo. Mindo is where the cloud forests are. The cloud forests are different than rain forests because it barely rains! The clouds are critically important to helping the vegetation thrive in this environment. Many of the plants have other plants growing on top of them (for example moss growing on trees) and if it rained a lot those plants would not be able to stay attached. It is a very interesting concept.
When we got to Mindo the first thing we did was a zip line and suspension bridge canopy tour. Unfortunately we do not have many pictures because we were afraid to take our cameras with us. The zip lining was truly amazing. The lines were so long and our view was breathtaking! Once we completed three or four lines it was time to walk across the suspension bridges. I had never really done anything like this so I was not sure what to expect. The bridges were lower in the canopy and the view looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! I could not believe my eyes. However, the bridge was quite terrifying. It was about the width of my foot and very wobbly. The bridges were also long and we were instructed to walk slow, one foot in front of the other, so it took us a very long time to walk across. It was an interesting experience. I am not going to tell you it was my favorite, because I honestly was very scared, but it was beautiful and I am glad I did it.
After we left the zip line park, we went to our hotel where it rained for about an hour or so. Our hotel was.............interesting...............It was similar to a summer camp. We were in a cabin with 4 other rooms and each room had a bathroom, a full bed and two sets of bunk beds. It was not the cleanest place I have ever seen and spiders were EVERYWHERE. I did not mind the spiders that I saw at first, they were small and easy to kill with a shoe. However, I heard one girl screaming at the top of her lungs and when we went to go see what was wrong, we found a spider. Not just any kind of spider, but the biggest spider I have seen in my life. It was about the size of a tarantula and had orange spots all over it. We could not even begin to think about killing it ourselves so we asked the grounds keeper to kill it. He said yes and comes to our room with a giant knife...a knife...needless to say I did not sleep well Saturday night.
Later in the afternoon we went rafting on the river next to our hotel. I was not quite sure what to expect because the river was raging. I did not see any tubes, helmets or life jackets and for a minute I almost backed out. The company came to pick us up from our hotel and drive us up the river. Once we got to the beginning of the rafting tour I still did not see any equipment. I was nervous to say the least. Within the next couple of minutes our tubes, life jackets and helmets did show up along with guides who would ride down the river with us. The guide tied tubes together to make a giant raft. There were six of us on the raft, plus two guides. The guides did not wear any safety equipment at all - no helmet or life jacket. The craziest part about the whole experience? The guides literally ran us down the river. They were wearing jeans and boots, running through the river, guiding us to make sure we did not fall out or hit any rocks. It was stupid crazy. They could have easily hurt themselves but they seemed to know what they were doing. The river was running so quickly that our ride only last about ten minutes. But an intense ten minutes to say the least.
After our adventurous rafting experience, we went into town to have pizza and beer. We could not have been more excited. The pizza was delicious and hit the spot.
That night we all crammed into a small room and slept together because we were so scared of the spiders. I hardly got any sleep.
Here are some pictures from the day!
When we got to Mindo the first thing we did was a zip line and suspension bridge canopy tour. Unfortunately we do not have many pictures because we were afraid to take our cameras with us. The zip lining was truly amazing. The lines were so long and our view was breathtaking! Once we completed three or four lines it was time to walk across the suspension bridges. I had never really done anything like this so I was not sure what to expect. The bridges were lower in the canopy and the view looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! I could not believe my eyes. However, the bridge was quite terrifying. It was about the width of my foot and very wobbly. The bridges were also long and we were instructed to walk slow, one foot in front of the other, so it took us a very long time to walk across. It was an interesting experience. I am not going to tell you it was my favorite, because I honestly was very scared, but it was beautiful and I am glad I did it.
After we left the zip line park, we went to our hotel where it rained for about an hour or so. Our hotel was.............interesting...............It was similar to a summer camp. We were in a cabin with 4 other rooms and each room had a bathroom, a full bed and two sets of bunk beds. It was not the cleanest place I have ever seen and spiders were EVERYWHERE. I did not mind the spiders that I saw at first, they were small and easy to kill with a shoe. However, I heard one girl screaming at the top of her lungs and when we went to go see what was wrong, we found a spider. Not just any kind of spider, but the biggest spider I have seen in my life. It was about the size of a tarantula and had orange spots all over it. We could not even begin to think about killing it ourselves so we asked the grounds keeper to kill it. He said yes and comes to our room with a giant knife...a knife...needless to say I did not sleep well Saturday night.
Later in the afternoon we went rafting on the river next to our hotel. I was not quite sure what to expect because the river was raging. I did not see any tubes, helmets or life jackets and for a minute I almost backed out. The company came to pick us up from our hotel and drive us up the river. Once we got to the beginning of the rafting tour I still did not see any equipment. I was nervous to say the least. Within the next couple of minutes our tubes, life jackets and helmets did show up along with guides who would ride down the river with us. The guide tied tubes together to make a giant raft. There were six of us on the raft, plus two guides. The guides did not wear any safety equipment at all - no helmet or life jacket. The craziest part about the whole experience? The guides literally ran us down the river. They were wearing jeans and boots, running through the river, guiding us to make sure we did not fall out or hit any rocks. It was stupid crazy. They could have easily hurt themselves but they seemed to know what they were doing. The river was running so quickly that our ride only last about ten minutes. But an intense ten minutes to say the least.
After our adventurous rafting experience, we went into town to have pizza and beer. We could not have been more excited. The pizza was delicious and hit the spot.
That night we all crammed into a small room and slept together because we were so scared of the spiders. I hardly got any sleep.
Here are some pictures from the day!
Before getting in the river.
Truck ride to the river.
Almost ready!
The river looks calm...but it is extremely deceiving!
Lauren relaxing in a hammock.
The beautiful grounds at the zip lining park.
Lemonade after zip lining.
Zip lining group with our guides.
View at our hotel.
Thursday May 30, 2013
I was slightly nervous to teach on Thursday because I was giving my students foldables and I was not sure if they were going to understand what to do with them. Students here are trained to work out of workbooks and I was afraid that giving them this new, foreign object was going to send them over the edge.
However, my students proved me wrong. The students were so eager to complete the foldable that they listened intently to my directions. To begin, I had the students look at two different pictures in their book - one was a winter scene and one was a summer scene. We identified what the people were doing and what types of clothes they were wearing. As students were telling me what they observed in the picture, I wrote their ideas on the board to create a mind map. Once we were finished making observations, I gave them the foldable.
On the foldable we wrote the important clothing vocabulary words they needed to remember from this lesson. I would write the vocabulary word on the board and the students and I would think of three different sentences we could write about that word. For example: scarf - 1. I wear a scarf in the winter. 2. I wear a scarf around my neck. 3. I wear a scarf to keep warm. The students were then able to choose one sentence they wanted to write on their foldable.
However, my students proved me wrong. The students were so eager to complete the foldable that they listened intently to my directions. To begin, I had the students look at two different pictures in their book - one was a winter scene and one was a summer scene. We identified what the people were doing and what types of clothes they were wearing. As students were telling me what they observed in the picture, I wrote their ideas on the board to create a mind map. Once we were finished making observations, I gave them the foldable.
On the foldable we wrote the important clothing vocabulary words they needed to remember from this lesson. I would write the vocabulary word on the board and the students and I would think of three different sentences we could write about that word. For example: scarf - 1. I wear a scarf in the winter. 2. I wear a scarf around my neck. 3. I wear a scarf to keep warm. The students were then able to choose one sentence they wanted to write on their foldable.
The students like activities like this because they get to be creative and use their markers - it is a big deal!
I was so proud of my students for completing this activity in the short amount of time we had. I asked them if I could take their work back to the United States to show my friends and they thought that was pretty neat :)
Friday May 31, 2013
Friday was a VERY exciting day at school. The students were only in class until noon and the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to a Dia de los Ninos celebration. Dia de los Ninos is a holiday similar to mother's day or father's day but instead it is a day to celebrate kids!
One of my classes. The students were able to dress up because of the celebration. Hooray for no uniforms!
The school transformed into a giant playground. There was cotton candy, pizza, soda, moon bounces, music and face painting. The kids were in heaven.
The boys really got into dancing.
Here they are performing Gangnam Style in front of a large audience.
This is my cooperating teacher, Renata.
Lauren with some of her students.
3rd graders in my moon class.
More of my 3rd grade students posing for pictures.
3rd grade girls.
My classmates and I had so much fun on Friday! We think we need to bring this holiday to the United States!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Wednesday May 29th, 2013
I had trouble coming up with an ESL strategy for the students to do on Wednesday. Many of the ESL strategies are used to teach new content, not review. However, after talking with some peers, I decided to do a strategy called Quiz, Quiz, Trade. At the beginning of the hour I read a story that reviewed clothing, colors, and adjectives with the students (this is what they have been working on for the past two weeks). Afterwards I gave each student a notecard. The students were instructed to write a question they could ask their friends about the story and the write the answer under the question. Once students finished writing their questions, I asked them to line up facing a partner. This is when it got tricky.
Before I go into further detail, you should know that I teach two sections of third grade - the stars and the moons. The stars is a smaller class and they are very well-behaved. The moons are a larger class and are a little more rambunctious.
I first completed this activity with the stars. They had a little difficulty understanding what I was asking of them, but once I put them into two lines facing one another and explained to them that one line was going to ask their question first, then the other line would ask their question, and then they would trade question cards and partners, they were able to complete the activity perfectly. One thing I have learned is that English Language Learners need directions given in specific steps. For example, first do this, second do this, etc.
The second time I taught this lesson was with the moons and it was the last hour of the day. Like I said earlier, I have been trying to teach students to not talk when I am giving directions and raise their hand if they need help. Well, the moons were not following any of these expectations today. They completed their question and answer cards very well but once I had them line up, their behavior was out of this world. There was talking, shouting, laughing, and nobody was even pretending to pay attention to me. After asking the students to quiet down so I could give directions, I told them to go sit back at their seats and try to line up again, quieter this time. They did, for about a minute, and then everything went back to what they were doing before. I had had it with them. I told them that if they did not want to listen to my directions they could go sit back down in their seats for the rest of the hour. They did not seem to care and kept talking. So, I asked them to sit at their desk for the rest of the hour quietly (there was only five minutes left). When they were sitting at their desk I told them I was extremely disappointed that they were not able to complete this activity. They were apologizing and felt bad about being disrespectful. I told them that the next day I wanted their behavior to change so we could get everything done that we needed to. They understood that they disappointed me and were very apologetic.
It was a good experience for me to learn to be firm with my students. I have never had to worry about that too much in my classrooms in the states. So much time is lost here in this school asking students to be quiet and listen. It is important that they learn to respect the teachers and do what they are asked. My teacher is intrigued by my classroom management strategies and has begun to use them while she teaches! I really feel like I am making a difference here.
Below are pictures of the question and answer cards the students created.
Before I go into further detail, you should know that I teach two sections of third grade - the stars and the moons. The stars is a smaller class and they are very well-behaved. The moons are a larger class and are a little more rambunctious.
I first completed this activity with the stars. They had a little difficulty understanding what I was asking of them, but once I put them into two lines facing one another and explained to them that one line was going to ask their question first, then the other line would ask their question, and then they would trade question cards and partners, they were able to complete the activity perfectly. One thing I have learned is that English Language Learners need directions given in specific steps. For example, first do this, second do this, etc.
The second time I taught this lesson was with the moons and it was the last hour of the day. Like I said earlier, I have been trying to teach students to not talk when I am giving directions and raise their hand if they need help. Well, the moons were not following any of these expectations today. They completed their question and answer cards very well but once I had them line up, their behavior was out of this world. There was talking, shouting, laughing, and nobody was even pretending to pay attention to me. After asking the students to quiet down so I could give directions, I told them to go sit back at their seats and try to line up again, quieter this time. They did, for about a minute, and then everything went back to what they were doing before. I had had it with them. I told them that if they did not want to listen to my directions they could go sit back down in their seats for the rest of the hour. They did not seem to care and kept talking. So, I asked them to sit at their desk for the rest of the hour quietly (there was only five minutes left). When they were sitting at their desk I told them I was extremely disappointed that they were not able to complete this activity. They were apologizing and felt bad about being disrespectful. I told them that the next day I wanted their behavior to change so we could get everything done that we needed to. They understood that they disappointed me and were very apologetic.
It was a good experience for me to learn to be firm with my students. I have never had to worry about that too much in my classrooms in the states. So much time is lost here in this school asking students to be quiet and listen. It is important that they learn to respect the teachers and do what they are asked. My teacher is intrigued by my classroom management strategies and has begun to use them while she teaches! I really feel like I am making a difference here.
Below are pictures of the question and answer cards the students created.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Tuesday May 28th, 2013
I was excited about Tuesday knowing how Monday went. I was excited to see my students and they were also excited to see me! Tuesday I was responsible for introducing the phoneme /d3/ which is the "j" sound. However, like most of you know, this can be a tricky sound because "j" is not the only letter that makes this sound.
To introduce the sound to my students, I put the tongue twister "John’s jeans are orange. His giraffe’s jacket is green." on the board. The students and I repeated the tongue twister as fast as we could, over and over again. After identifying and underlining the words that have the /d3/ sound in it we played a game! I divided the students into three groups and gave them index cards with words on them. Some of the words had the /d3/ sound and some of them did not. As a group they had to decide whether the word belonged in the /d3/ pile or the not /d3/ pile. Once they finished sorting their cards, the students and I talked about why each word belonged in each pile. The students really enjoyed it and sorted the words correctly for the most part.
After the game, I gave students small, blank books. Students were instructed to pick words with the /d3/ sound from a list on the board and put them into their book. They were also asked to draw a picture to match the word. This is a very effective strategy for ESL students because it provides the student with a visual that matches the word.
Here are examples of student work.
My students LOVE to use bubble letters and it takes them forever to complete the assignment because of this.
Students were very excited to be authors!
Today was better than Monday. They are getting the hang of raising their hand when they want to talk and not shouting out, but we still need to work on that a bit more. Good thing we still have a whole week ahead!
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