Reflections on a Teaching Experience in Puerto Rico

Closing Remarks

2008-07-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

So classes are over now. It was really hard to say goodbye to the kids. I talked to them about the pictures and they said it was okay if you posted them on the website.

Sometimes it was hard to work in the library because the library's staff wasalso working in the same area and their talking and moving around distracted the kids. The last week there was also another camp for little children organized by the library staff and they would sometimes come into the library which made it hard to teach. The other main issue was that i had organized some
activities using the internet thinking that i had more computers, but only 4 were working. It worked out in the end since they did things in groups and taking turns. The staff was always willing to help if i needed it, which made things so much easier.

The things the kids liked the most were the field trips. They loved to leave the classroom setting and just explore what was out there. They also loved activities like jeopardy where it was more like a game than class. On the other hand they didn't like writing assignments or reading by themselves. They seemed to enjoy more reading as a class. I'm not going to be able to talk to Ana for another two weeks, but I will definitely ask her about future projects and different things that can be done for the school. Maybe we can get more people involved for next year. I was the only one helping out this year, but the school seems to be growing and there is still a lot that can be done. Some of the kids even expressed how they would love to come back next summer to learn more english. As for me, I'm currently in the Dominican Republic. I've been here a week and i'm leaving tomorrow. I came to observe different areas of the HOMS hospital
in a town called Santiago. I was mainly watching surgeries, but I was able to observe many other areas like the ER and the ICU. The hospital is new, very modern and has a lot of new technology. I was really impressed during my visit. I'm staying home the rest of the summer and I will be back at Duke around the 16th of august.

Update

2008-07-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm in my last week of class and things have been going great. I have had a couple of new students come in for the last 4 weeks and they've all been wonderful students. I am sad that the class is coming to an end but I hope the kids have learned a lot and that they keep improving their English skills.

Overview of what I have done as of week 2:

Week 3: Movie Week

- Make a presentation about your favorite movie

- Lesson on verbs

- Field Trip: Went to see the Chronicles of Narnia

- Write a movie review for Narnia

Week 4: Travel Week

- Project: Look up information about a country of your choice and present to

class

- Story: The Legend of the Zodiac

- Write your own story based about how the Zodiac came to be

- Search for different landmarks from around the world

Week 5: Puerto Rico Week

- Grammar worksheet

- Writing assignment: What is your favorite thing about PR?

- Field Trip: Walking Tour of Old San Juan

- Discussion and Assignment: The environment

Week 6

- Story: The Monsters are due on Maple Street by Rod Serling

- Games: Jeopardy (with questions on verbs, grammar, vocabulary, etc) and the

Game of Life

- Field trip: Beach Day

- Last day: reflection, movie and party

My Environment

2008-06-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

The kids are 13-14 years old going to 8th and 9th grade. There are 6 girls and 2 boys. They all attend the middle school where Ana works and most live in the community in which the school is located. Ana is amazing. She works so hard for these kids and their school. She has basically given me creative control of the program. She has been great as an adviser and has given me great ideas as well. Ana introduced me to an English teacher at the school who offered to help

and talk with me if i needed it.

I am working at the community library, which is about a minute from the school. The people there are great and they help me with things I need for the class. There are also some computers there that I am able to use for the class which have been very useful.

Most of the lessons I came up with myself. Ana had suggested doing a different theme each week, so I went of of that and started thinking about activities related to those subjects that would be interesting. Some lessons like the Nouns and Verbs, and Sentence Structure I found online. After the first activity we did I realized that the kids really needed help with sentences and verbs, so i looked online for something that would help since I haven't taught any of this before.

Teaching English, Getting Comfortable

2008-06-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

My first week teaching was both challenging and exciting. I have never taught more than one person at a time. Now I am in charge of teaching English to ten students. I have enjoyed my first week with them. They are all really nice and want to learn. The hardest part is that not everyone is at the same English level. I have a couple of students that are fluent and can write but on the other hand, I have students that can barely understand what I am saying.
The second week was much better. The students are starting to loosen up and I am getting more comfortable as their teacher. They really enjoyed the field trip this week. I wanted to show them that English isn't just for the classroom. We will definitely be taking another trip.

*The class is Monday to Thursday from 9:00am to 12:00pm

A brief overview of the past weeks (each week has a theme that I try to incorporate into the

lesson plans and field trips):

Week 1: Game Week

Monday

Overview of program

Icebreaker (get to know your classmates)

Games:

Picture, telephone?

Draw the Picture

Tuesday

Lesson on sentence structure, nouns, and verbs that I found online at http://www.instructorweb.com/languagearts.asp

Wednesday

Short Story: "Just Once" by Thomas J. Dygard
Read out loud and discuss with class

Thursday

Movie: The Game Plan

Week 2: Career Week

Monday

Talk about professions they are interested in

Activity: look up information about a profession you are interested in and share the results with the class.

Tuesday

Talk about elements of a story

Book report:

Choose a short book from the library

Read it and write a report

Share the results with the class

Wednesday

Watch Grey's Anatomy and House

Thursday

Field Trip: Visit a veterinary clinic