OBSERVACIN Y PRCTICA DE LA ENSEANZA II

INITIAL REFLECTION

Student: Juan Pablo Mura

In this report I am going to reflect upon my goals, strengths and weaknesses as a

teacher of English and one aspect I need to further improve.
There are some goals I have set to fulfill all throughout the year. First of all, I
want to learn a lot from the subject, since both TYL and ESP are interesting areas and
some I may further develop in the future. One of my goals is to observe how different
teachers deal with many of the aspects that are key in TYL and ESP. They are different
because their purpose and focus are different, and I am very interested in learning them
because I have little experience in these areas. I have neither taught to children nor ESP
students nor even read much about it, that is why I expect to get the most of profits from
observations. I want to see how the teachers give explanations, what do they do in
certain situations, for example, in TYL when children misbehave or how teachers
correct mistakes, and in ESP whether teachers use the L2 and in which situations,
whether they make a balance between areas of language, that is, vocabulary, grammar,
etc. and how. Other goal is to enjoy the subject and make the most of it by keeping the
reading up to date so as not to fall behind with theory. I have realized that we are going
to analyze several well-known authors and their stands, so it would be wise to apply
some of their concepts in our everyday practice.
With regard to the perceived strengths as a teacher, I could mention some I
remember I was told by the teachers I observed last year in my practicum experience at
Departamento Cultural. One is group management. Of course this did not happen
overnight; actually, at the very beginning I felt very nervous and it was quite hard to
gain students attention. But class after class, I realized that I could improve on my selfconfidence and I could stand firm in front of a class. Other strength may be voice
projection. I know the importance of speaking clear and loud so that students can
understand instructions and explanations and, in that way, avoid misunderstandings. I
also care about my students, I truly want them to learn, so I have no problem if I have to
give further explanations on a topic or stay a bit longer after class in case they need it.
Of course I have to keep on improving on many aspects. One of my weaknesses
is generally time management. Sometimes I spend more time than needed to carry out
activities or in checking them. I had that problem last year in my practicum but I could
improve it little by little. Sometimes, I forgot to check comprehension instructions,
which I realized it was key for a successful achievement of the activities I designed.

Other weakness may be the fact that I have little experience in teaching. Last year was
the first time I had to design activities and plan classes, but I think this makes me more
enthusiastic to learn from the experts and carry out the practicum this year, so I am truly
motivated.
One of the solutions to the problem of time management may be not to design
too many activities. I will take into account the students needs and their level, so it
would be wise to design activities taking into account those aspects. Comprehension of
instructions also needs to be carefully taken into consideration. It is important to make
sure students have understood what they have to do so as to avoid mistakes or
misunderstandings. I hope and I am sure I will succeed in the goals I have set. Of
course, effort is demanded but if I commit to fulfilling them I am sure I will appreciate
the results at the end of the year.