TASK 2

A brief introduction to this task: this task consists of observing 2 videos of infant English classes and answer a series of questions related to the videos.

Answer each of the questions below in as much detail as you can:

Observer the classroom environment

• How is the classroom arranged and how does this influence teaching and learning?

In both videos the classroom is organized in several corners, those that have been seen more in the videos are the assembly and the tables put in groups of 4 or 5 children and this influences in the teaching and the learning of positive form since to the being so organized the classroom, having a corner for each activity the children know where everything is and where the activities are made according to what is going to be done.

• What kind of rapport (connection/interaction) exists between teacher and students and between students?

In both videos the type of relationship (connection/interaction) that exists between the teacher and the students is an almost mother-child relationship since the students see the teacher as a super important figure and one that they appreciate and love very much since they have been seen giving her kisses, hugs… . And the relationship between the students is also very good because for many children they are the first friends they have, and they treat each other very well.

Observe the teacher’s techniques

• How does the teacher use verbal and non-verbal communication?

In both videos, the teacher uses verbal and non-verbal communication often and these complement each other almost all the time. For example, when they sing songs and explain activities, they always make gestures to help better understand what to do while

• What types of questions does the teacher ask, and when?

In both videos the kind of questions the teacher asks are the following: what’s the weather like? what’s the day like? how do you feel? have you understood what needs to be done? what color is the ball? etc

• What teaching strategies seem to be the most effective?

In both videos the teaching strategies that seem to be most effective are those in which children actively participate in the assembly. For example, when they sing songs and explain activities, they always make gestures to help better understand what to do while explaining something or singing.

• How does the teacher use classroom media (boards, slides, video, music, etc.)?

The teacher uses classroom media in the following way:

In the first video, in the DAILY ROUTINE they all sing the good morning song together in the assembly, “the engineer” takes roll call by drawing sticks with the names of the classmates.

In PRONUNCIATION LAB AND HOME SCHOOLING, the children sitting in the assembly and the teacher in the middle with a chair take out flashcards and the children when they see the picture say the name of the object that appears on them. Then the teacher hangs the flashcards on a string and holds them with a clip and the driver has to hit the flashcard he hears in the audio with a palette

In LANGUAGE SKILLS, the teacher puts on a glove with drawn letters on each finger and all together sing the song twice in the assembly. Then they sing another interactive song related to the movement of the hands. To give them a new booklet the teacher makes it more fun by putting it inside a big red box in which the children have to press the green button so that the booklet falls out.

In PRE-MATH, in the booklet, the children have to join two elements that are related in this case an apple with the tree and a sheet of paper with the paint. When they finish, he puts a little face on them. In the standing assembly, the teacher takes out colored balls and the children have to say what color each ball is. When everyone has a ball, the teacher says up and down and the children have to do that with the ball and then the same thing individually. Then they do this activity in the booklet

In ACTIVITIES, a dog, a cat and a cow appear in the booklet and they have to put the corresponding sticker.

In the second video, the teacher puts a card on her T-shirt and when she puts it on all the children know that you can only speak in English. The class is divided into different sections and each one has a different color.

In the RED SECTION:

The teacher shows cards where different words and pictures appear, they sing the good morning song, they say what time it is, they say the numbers up to 10, the colors, the shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle and diamond). He also puts a song about the days of the week and projects it on the digital blackboard.

In the DARK GREEN SECTION, they do the PRONUNCIATION LAB, which that day has to do with body parts and colors: first they listen alone and then they are told to go over it at home.

In the YELLOW SECTION, with the booklet they make an exercise that has to do with the parts of the face, then the teacher projects in the digital blackboard the parts of the face and they are repeating it, later they touch between them the hair, the eyes, nose, mouth, ears.

In BLUE SECTION, the teacher projects the shapes on the digital blackboard, and they repeat them and put stickers on them when they get it right.

• How does the teacher motivate students, and how do they respond?

The teacher motivates the students by doing many activities of short duration each, when they do it well she calls them excellent or very good and when they are doing an activity in the booklet she puts a stamp with a smiley face and with this she makes the children respond in a happy way and they feel like doing more activities to get more smiley faces.

Observe the students

• What are the students doing to contribute towards the learning process?

What students are doing to contribute to the learning process is to learn many things either through songs, games or the booklet.

• How active or passive are the students? Are they engaged?

Students are generally quite active as they get involved and committed to the various activities as it is all fun and learning for them.

• Map the interaction patterns. Is it student to student, students to students, teacher to students, student to teacher, the same students again and again?

The interaction that takes place is of different types, there is student to student interaction, for example when the child takes out the sticks with the name of another partner to pass the list, students to students, when they are sitting in groups at the tables, teacher to student when the teacher asks a child what the weather is like today and student to teacher when the child needs or does not understand something and asks the teacher.

• Does student behaviour change during the class? How and when?

In general, students’ behavior does not change much during class but there are always times when children are more talkative than others and there are always some children who behave a little worse than the rest.

• Compare and contrast both videos. What is good about each class? What could be improved in both classes?

The good thing about each class is that the children in both classes are learning and having fun and that both teachers do different activities so that the children do not get tired of doing only one activity all the time.

And what can be improved in both classes from my point of view is that I would use the digital blackboard more to put songs and interactive stories for them to have a better time, but otherwise I think everything is pretty good, the only thing that the teacher of the second video could be a little more smiling and close to the students but in general both classes are good.