PRACTICE REPORT

PRACTICE REPORT

(VILNIAUS VIRŠULIŠKIŲ SECONDARY SCHOOL)

1. BASIC ARRANGEMENT.

Members of practice group:

1. Agnė Verikaitė
2. Vaida Maigytė
3. Egidija Balkutė
4. Julija Polikarpova

Practice teacher and classe(s):

1. Agnė Verikaitė – 11c class, Engish teacher (tutor) – Nijolė Gušča, 11c the head of the class – Violeta Bruzgienė
2. Vaida Maigytė – 5 a, b, c classes, English teacher (tutor)– Marina Soblis, 5a the head of the class – Ina Žemaitaitienė
3. Egidija Balkutė – 10a, 5c, 6c classes, English teachers (tutors) – Ramutė Mečkauskienė, Daiva Sabulytė, Reda Kontrimaitė, 10a the head of the class – Aušra Leikauskienė
4. Julija Polikarpova – 7c, 7b, 8c classes, English teacher (tutor) – Ilona Černiauskaitė, 7c the head of the class – Ilona Černiauskaitė

Textbooks and major aids:

• Enterprise Beginner,
• Enterprise Elementary,
• Enterprise Intermediate,
• Mission 2,
• Workbooks,
• Grammar books,
• handouts,
• blackboards,
• dictionaries,
• posters,
• exercise books,
• CD records,
• CD records player.

Timetable and distribution of duties:

1. Agnė Verikaitė:

I had 4 lessons per week with 11c class:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
12:00-12:45 English	8:55-9:40 English	_____________	12:55-13:40 English	12:00-12:45 English

2. Vaida Maigytė

I had 10 lessons per week with 5c, 5b, 5a classes:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00–8:45 12:00-12:45 12: 55–13:40 English	12:00–12:45 12:55–13:40 English	10:55–12:50 English	9:50-10:35 12:00–12:45 12:55–13:40 English	8:55–9:40 English

3. Egidija Balkutė

I had 9 lessons per week with 5c, 6c, 10a classes:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00-8:45 9:50-10:35 12:55-13:40 English	_____________	8:00-8:45 8:55-9:40 10:55-11:40 English	9:50-10:35 12:00-12:45 English	12:00-12:45 English

4. Julija Polikarpova

I had 9 lessons per week with 7c, 7b, 8c classes:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00-8:45 8:55-9:40 English	_____________	9:50-10:35 12:55-13:40 English	9:50-10:35 12:00-12:45 English	8:55-9:40 12:55-13:40 13:50-14:35 English

2.      CLASS(ES).

1. Agnė Verikaitė.

-          Proficiency level and general character of my students. My students were of 11^th form. Their proficiency level was not that high as I thought it will be. They have a lot of gaps. It wasn’t that difficult for them to study from Enterprise Intermediate books because their level is alike. However, for some students it was difficult to understand the tasks or read the texts, also do listening exercises. That’s why sometimes we had a few misunderstandings. Later on, we started a new book called “Mission 2”. I think, this book is quite difficult for these students because the material given in the books is for advanced students. Nevertheless these students were hard working and quite motivated. They tried to do all the tasks which I gave them. When something was not clear they were asking for help. But all in all, I was quite happy about my students.

-          Didactic consequences of this. As I said, Enterprise Intermediate books were quite ok for my students. But sometimes it lead to misunderstandings and it was pretty difficult to explain every word for the students which they don‘t know at all. Other books called “Mission 2” were too difficult for my students because they are between pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. Advanced texts were quite complicated and confusing. I think, mismatch of books students’ level is a big problem at the lessons.

2. Vaida Maigytė.

-          Proficiency level and general character of my students. I was teaching fifth grade students. The level of students was really different. I had three classes. I noticed that the level of the 5^th c class students was better than the level of 5^th a and b classes.

-          Didactic consequences of this. The consequences of this was that with the 5^th c class I was able to do everything that I planned and the 5^th a and b classes were always out of step. So I was giving more homework to 5^th a and b classes.

3. Egidija Balkutė.

5c – level of language knowledge was high. Some students participated in a competition of the English language. However, there were some learners whose level of the language was pretty low because they did not have any motivation to learn the language.

6c – the level of the language of the whole class was average. It was possible to divide the class into two parts – those who have strong motivation and those who lost it. Those students who have strong motivation showed their interest in the language, it was easier for them. For those who lost their motivation I had to prepare additional tasks (crosswords, creating the sentences according to the picture, etc.) so they would be interested in the language learning.

10a – the level of the language was high. The whole class was interested in the language learning. They always tried to speak in English, always came prepared for the lesson. Most of the learners of this class have already been thinking about their future studies. So, they understood that English is important to learn.

4. Julija Polikarpova.

-          Proficiency level and general character of my students. Though I had two 7^th forms, the proficiency level of language was different. One class did everything quicker and successfully than another. In 7^th forms majority of the class had problems with grammar, in the 8^th form also the grammar was an obstacle for the students but they struggled with speaking, too.

-          Didactic consequences of this. While preparing for the lesson, for one class I had to find more exercises on some grammar rules to make them clear, for another – more complicated exercises, additional exercises as the class works quicker.

3.      TEACHING.

Linguistic aims: teaching vocabulary, grammar, spelling, speaking, writing, listening, reading.

Approaches to these linguistic aims:

• teaching vocabulary – games, crosswords, various texts, role plays, exercises, practice exercises, production exercises, homework, presentations, brainstorming, tests, quizzes;
• teaching grammar – drilling, exercises, giving basic rules, schemes, production exercises, practice exercises, homework, tests, quizzes;
• teaching spelling – games (hangman), listening CD records with some sounds, dictation, production exercises, practice exercises, homework;
• teaching speaking – dialogues, role plays, work in pairs, retelling the story, books and films reviews, job descriptions, questions, production exercises, practice exercises, homework;
• teaching writing – creating a story, writing postcards, letter writing, essay writing, writing mind-maps, production exercises, practice exercises, homework;
• teaching listening – listening to CD records, listening texts, listening dialogues, listening to each other while giving role plays, listening for details and specific information, production exercises, practice exercises, homework;
• teaching reading – reading texts, reading with pauses, matching headings of the paragraphs, scan reading, reading for specific information, production exercises, practice exercises, homework.

Degree of success:

1.      Agnė Verikaitė. I think the most successful in my teaching was speaking, reading and grammar. First of all, we learnt some grammar topics very well because after I gave my students a test from these grammar topics which we learnt, they did very well. Most of them got very good marks and I was very happy about it. Also, speaking was very successful too. I was asking many questions to my students to get the answers and make them talk in the target language. We were having little chats at the beginning of the lesson and at the end of the lesson. Also, we were making some discussions before reading the texts and after reading the texts. Moreover, reading was successful too. I was bringing some handouts with various texts for my students to read. They were really interested in reading because texts were quite interesting. This way, they learnt the correct pronunciation of words, vocabulary. Also, they were able to find specific information in these texts. The least achieved aim was listening. It was quite difficult to achieve this aim because there is no highly qualified equipment in the classroom. I tried to listen to the CD records which belong to Enterprise Intermediate books but it was rather boring for students. They didn’t like listening at all. I think if I would be a teacher I would search for some interesting material on internet. But first of all school should get suitable listening equipment for the classroom.

2.      Vaida Maigytė. Reading was the most successful part in my classes. Almost all of the students had quite good pronunciation, and they were able to translate English texts to Lithuanian language. I think that students are good at reading because reading skills were being developed everyday in my classes.

I think that I paid quite less attention to the writing tasks. Almost in all of the own lessons students did reading, listening, speaking but not writing tasks. I think it was because the book “Enterprise” does not provide many writing tasks, only in the end of the topic students are supposed to write some letters or summarize the story.

3.      Egidija Balkutė. The most successful thing in my teaching in all classes was bringing to the class some new, additional materials or tasks not from their textbooks. When there is a new material in the class, students show big interest in learning the language. Sometimes they even do not manage to see that they are learning the language or the vocabulary through story making, role playing or some discussion. The most successful method was work in groups because it encourages students to compete with each other; also, stronger learners help weaker ones.

4.      Julija Polikarpova. I think teaching vocabulary was the most successful as I tried to do it in not traditional way through games (Hangman, crosswords, role plays, guessing from descriptions), reading and writing exercises. The vocabulary was somehow connected with other linguistic aims and the students were encouraged to use new vocabulary using their other skills. And the results of quizzes were quite good.

4.      COURSEBOOK ASSESSMENT.

Assessment of the part we worked with in these coursebooks:

1.      Agnė Verikaitė. The coursebook was very well designed for reading and writing. The texts were quite interesting and writing tasks were creative. Students enjoyed reading the texts even though they had some problems with understanding it. Writing tasks were not that difficult but catchy. We learned how to write reports and some other creative essays on particular topics. Also, there were activating tasks to the new topic. Those tasks had to raise students’ interest. Then students had to acquire their new abilities by reading the rules and doing some practice exercises. Finally, there were some short tests for deepening what was learnt. Even though coursebook had very well designed reading and writing it failed with listening and speaking tasks. Those skills were not achieved at all because tasks were too short or there were simply too little tasks in the book for these skills. At listening or speaking lessons we were spending only about 10-15 minutes for doing these exercises. I think it is not enough for the students to learn how to speak in the target language. That’s why I had to think of new exercises or topics to speak about or listen to. From the students’ reaction I understood that they are shy to talk because they had very little practice. Therefore we were speaking more and more every lesson in order to learn how to speak in the target language and students seemed to like it. Also, they liked reading a lot. They were enjoying these texts which were given in the books as well as the texts which I brought on my own.

2.      Vaida Maigytė. Reading skill – I paid enough attention to reading part, students were reading texts every lesson.

Listening skill – students were doing listening tasks almost in all of the lessons, but it was quite difficult to them to fill the gaps after listening the same task twice.

Speaking skills – I encouraged students to speak in every lesson. I asked them to translate sentences, or to do role plays.

Writing skill – there were not so many writing tasks during my lessons.

Students liked speaking activities, and role plays very much, because they had opportunity to talk about themselves, to express their opinion, and to share their ideas with other group mates.

3.      Egidija Balkutė.

The practice for all the four skills in coursebook Enterprise is more than enough. However, it could be more balanced. For example, there could be less listening tasks and more practice for grammar. The same is with other skills.

It is possible to work out three stages of teaching with this coursebook. It provides pre- and post- activities.

What is more, there is number of practice activities which students can do themselves or together with the class. So, students seem to be quite busy while working with the textbook.

However, there is a negative point about this book – students themselves did not like this book because a) the themes seem not interesting; b) they do not match the real situation in our country; c) too many listening tasks; d) sometimes tasks for the students seem pointless.

4.      Julija Polikarpova.

7^th and 8^th forms were studying from Enterprise 2 Elementary that, according to me, is not appropriate for the students’ level of language and their interests.

The textbook includes reading, writing, speaking and listening skills but reading and speaking are prevailing. However, not all topics meet the requirements of FTL national curriculum and syllabus. Also, vocabulary on some topics is “scattered” in the whole coursebook that causes a chaos while teaching. Moreover, most writing exercises don’t suit the topics, and it was hard to connect them with the topic and everything what had been taught from it.

The students seemed not to like this coursebook as it didn’t match their teenager interests and they seemed bored when we had to work with this textbook.

5.      PERSONAL ASSESSMENT.

1.      Agnė Verikaitė. As I said, I think I managed to cope with all four skills. But there were problems with material which we had and which we didn’t have in the classroom. Even though I didn’t have many problems I think I should strengthen my grammar skills. Some topics I forgot so I had to look through the books before my classes. Grammar is very important in language teaching. That’s why I should strengthen my knowledge of it.

2.      Vaida Maigytė. I think that I have to be stricter during the classes. Because normally I’m good and indulgent. There happens to be students who think they are free to do what they want. I only warn them that I will write some marks, but I never do. I think that I should be stricter and start to write marks in their mark books, in that way students would be afraid of me, and don’t act rebellious.

3.      Egidija Balkutė. In my opinion, the personal qualities for teacher that are very important sound as follows: responsibility, mutual understanding (honest communication with students), creativity and competence. I need to develop personal qualities such as empathy (it is very important to understand the other and try to imagine myself in his place). Also confidence (believe in learners and in the information they tell). What is more, I can mention such personal quality as honesty (only promise what we can do).

4.      Julija Polikarpova. I think I should work on explanation, especially grammar. Most of the things are clear for me without any rules but the students always require them, always asking “why”. That causes some misunderstandings between me and the students.

6.      ADVICE ON FUTURE PRACTICE ORGANIZATION.

1.      Agnė Verikaitė.

To the mentor. I would like to advice to my mentor to do more speaking and listening tasks with her students because these tasks can be both creative and helpful in langauge learning process. As these students are afraid of speaking they should practice on it much more. Also, she could give them more extra tasks which are taken not from the books. She could search some material on internet or in other sources. But all in all, I think she is a great teacher and students should be happy about being taught by her.

To the English Department. First of all, I think the practice at school should be divided in some periods because it is too late to go for the practice at school in the final year. It is very challenging for some of the students who are afraid of speaking in front of the audience. That’s why there should be some observing lessons at school in first years as well. Moreover, university could organise some oratory lectures for the students. Also, the course of didactics, psychology and health education should be strengthened because the knowledge which we got at the lectures is not enough to use at the lessons.

2.      Vaida Maigytė.

To the mentor. There are students with different abilities. I noticed that my mentor ignores students with low abilities very often. If students do some tasks my mentor asks only those students who are able to say the answer. So the advice would be to pay more attention to those students with lower abilities and to help them to say the right answers.

To the English Department. I think that English department should have introduced us with practise much earlier. And I think they are responsible to make a separate lesson for that and to explain us what we are supposed to do during our practice, in order students will prepare for practice morally and not go to school without knowledge what they are going to do in practice time. Because we had separate lesson only for the explanation of all the tasks we were supposed to do during our practice. 

3.      Egidija Balkutė.

To the mentor – to be helpful for the students; give advices; lead the student by encouraging him/her to work more responsibly, etc.

To the English Department – decrease the number of tasks (or balance all the tasks during the whole years of studies, during different semesters); make the period of teaching practice longer – students could decide whether they want to be a teacher, or not; the observational practice could take place in earlier semesters; in the IV course students should do only the “practical” part of the teaching practice.

4.      Julija Polikarpova. First of all, I advice to strengthen the course of Didactics, I mean the students need more practical information of the teaching methods and classroom management, that leads to have more seminars not just once per two weeks. The students need more situations on some problems which could be solved together with the lecturer. Second, I advice to decrease the term of teaching practice or at least to divide it into smaller terms which would be scattered in three years of studies. That would also lead to smaller number of the evaluative lessons. Why should everything (practice, all the tasks from other subjects) be jumbled into these two months of practice?