STANDARD I: CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE TEACHING PROCESS
The following task corresponds to an assignment given in the course Professional
Practicum. This work refers to different aspects of the educational institution and
of the students where the Professional Practicum is taken place. These assignments
consider the standard I from the instrument Muestras de Desempeño Docente.
Subsector: EFL (English as a foreign language)
Grade: third grade (Administration)
Task 1
Select and describe the institution and classroom‘s characteristics that are
considered relevant in order to contextualize the planning of the chosen unit.
School description
The educational institution is located in Almirante Neff # 270 Talcahuano,
Chile. Its full name is Liceo Comercial Profesor Sergio Moraga Arcil B-22. It is a
public and technical high school. It offers four fields, all of them related to business. It
attends people from different social and economic context.
As a public school no extra requirement is needed in order to be accepted.
Liceo Comercial de Talcahuano, as a technical school wants to offer a higher
quality of education to its students, particularly in the technical area. The school
community wants to be a referent within the community. The main aim of this technical
school is to help the students to develop their skills; moreover, to give them the basic
tools in order to be inserted into the labor force. The school also promotes their personal
growth and their social progress.
The organization of the school is organized as follow:
The principal is M.R Hugo Becerra Becerra
The head of the UTP department is Miss Claudia
The teachers are organized according to their sectors; for instance, the math,
science, foreign language, art department, etc.
And the people who assist the teaching-learning process, the janitors, secretaries
and school supervisor who maintain the discipline and an adequate atmosphere
Here is relevant to know for at least four reasons who is in charge of the
different department. First, when the EFL teacher design any test, evaluation or quiz.
They must be checked by the EFL department and then by the UTP coordinator.
Second, if the EFL teacher wants extra materials (such as; folders, photocopies, papers,
markers, etc.) he or she should talk with the secretary, who in most cases acts a second
principal. Third, when the EFL teacher plans his/her lessons and she/he wants to use a
projector data or a radio, you as a teacher needs to know that the librarian is in charge of
this stuff. Fourth, the class-books are administrated by “inspectores de pasillo” who
helps teachers in any situation they may have during their classes.
The school has various resources available for the students and teachers. It has
four computer labs; these (two of them) are mainly use by the students who are studying
“contabilidad”
The access to it is not free; the Ss use these devices under teacher supervision.
There is a computer per five (5) students. The classrooms allow approximately between
35 and 40 students per classroom. There is sufficient space to move around the
classroom in order to monitor the learning process. All the classrooms have a
whiteboard and the school administrator (s) are now installing projector data in each
classroom, but first year students’ classroom already has a data, which makes the
teaching process more appealing for the students.
The computer labs belong to a particular field. The school also divides its
academic management into two main areas, the general subjects (English, Spanish,
Science, technology, art, and physical education) and the technical subjects
(administracon, contabilidad, ventas, secretariado). There is a library with sufficient
books, newspapers, magazines related to the different areas of knowledge. This place is
well known as CRA (centro de recursos de aprendizajes
The labs (two out of the four) can be used by the EFL teacher, especially when
he/she needs to develop students’ listening and writing skill.
Classes at the school begin at 8:30 am and it ends at 16:10. Usually in the
afternoons, free workshops are offered such as sports, art, foreign language, etc.
Students choose according to their personal interest. This is relevant to know, because if
the English class starts at 8.30 the kind of activities will be different if the class is in the
afternoon. In the morning more fun activities are required in order to engage and
maintain students’ attention. In addition, the class in the morning is interrupted very
often by the students who are late. The teacher have to manage that movement of
people.
The school has a special educational program. Students who are in first grade
and second grade have a similar educational program compared to others school.
However, from third grade the educational process is different from other schools. In
general, the hours of basic science are reduced and the hours of the subjects of the
specialty are increased. In addition, third-year students need to attend pre centers of
practice (they call it dual). So they expend two days in the pre-practice center, from
Monday to Tuesday and from Wednesday to Friday they attend school classes.
This school primarily prepares students for the workplace. That why, the English
department has two areas. One is a called “ingles instrumental” in this course students
learn technical English related to the area of studying. And the other one is called
“ingles general” its main objective is to exposed students to general English language.
As a form of social integration, the school has several specialists or professionals
in psychology, social work, educational psychologists, and speech therapists among
others. All of them are responsible for attending students with special educational
needs. They all work together with teachers in designing and implementing the
appropriate methodology for these students with different skills. At this school in the
EFL classroom there are two students with different skills. They have to be integrated
during each class, so the EFL teacher talks regularly with the professionals mentioned
above about the progress of these students. How to treat these students is always explain
by these people (this team at the school is called “equipo de integracion”)
In relation to the English language teaching students are exposed to the
traditional way of teaching-learning. That is, the students are receptive / passive agent
of the educational process. Most of the time teachers have a more active role within the
classroom. The Teaching process at the school is focused more on learning-teaching
grammar rules and their proper use. Therefore the productive skills are not developed at
all. Also the students are not forced to speak or write in English. The listening skill is
not developing because the teacher does not use the language in her classes.
English classes follow the format given by the MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
through the English text. However some modifications are made by teachers according
to their students’ reality. Each student at the beginning of the academic year gets her/his
own book, which must be returned at the end of the year. All English books used in the
school are provided by the Ministry of Education. No other material that comes from
elsewhere is used.
The atmosphere in the classroom is diverse. While there are very interested
students in learning, there are others who are speaking and putting make up .Most
students do not pay attention while the teacher explains an activity and if the teacher
uses English for a few minutes students complain about it. Then the teacher is forced to
explain in Spanish; otherwise, students do not perform the activities and get lost during
the classes. So from an external viewpoint English classes are literally carried out in
Spanish. The classes are like Spanish classes.
The typical organizational structure of the class is pointed as follows.
-Students wait for the teacher out of the classroom.
-The teacher enters into the classroom, and waits for the students be quiet.
-After that the teacher says hello, this can take between 5-10 minutes.
Then, she writes the objective (s) and the activities on the board that the students
have to do, after that she calls out the roll. Then she delivers the worksheets.
Throughout the classes she must ensure the order and the student behavior.
Task 2
Select and describe the group of students as individuals and as a group. This
information corresponds to relevant factors for the class planning which allow
quality learning.
The guide teacher is the head teacher in third grader A “administration”.
Therefore, this grade was selected to be described individually and collectively. This
course consists of 30 students in total, 2 of them were removed in mid-March. The age
of the students varies between 16 and 17 years. They are all Chileans. During midMarch a female student came from Philippines, where she had lived for four years. It is
really relevant to mentioned that, because she is really good at English. Maybe the EFL
teacher can consider her as a leader in her team work. She can teach her classmates who
sometimes feel afraid of asking questions to the teacher. This course has two student
with special educational needs, who are also exempted in English. This means that they
can participate during each class, but they are not allowed to take any evaluation. The
course is organized like any political institution. The grade has a president and
secretary, who are in charge of representing their classmate in any situation at school. It
is important to know who the president and secretary are, because sometimes they are
asked to go to reunion. They lose some classes, so the teacher should consider that
mainly when an evaluation takes place or when they have to do a work in groups
The English third medium program is organized according to different themes. It
has 5 units and each unit has 2 lessons. The lessons are structured to enable students to
develop the 4 skills. The themes vary in each unit and linguistic complexity increases as
you progress through the book. The book also comes with a book with extra exercises
for the students. At the end of each unit the book provides some activities in order to
reflect about the learning process; in addition, the book also provides personal
assessment, evaluation of content and a brief summary of the unit.
What can be said about the students’ knowledge is that they all are in the same
level of proficiency. Their knowledge about English is very limited and they all just
manage isolated words/ phrases. Students are not able to understand short sentences or
daily expressions. This happens because they have not been exposed to the language
regularly. Students are not challenged in the language. When the students are asked if
they like the language, the answer is always negative. Most students expressed that
learning English is boring, tedious and useless. The challenge for teacher would be to
show students that English is a very useful tool in the era of technology and
communication. In addition, making students active agents in the educational process
give them a sense of importance. Motivating students is a big challenge in the XXI
century.
Task 3
Analyze the gathered information with the purpose of determining what factors of
the context and of the students will influence the design of teaching methods for
the chosen group of students.
Factors that should be considered to develop a better educational process would
be; Firstly, it is necessary to consider the specific needs of the students and their
interests. Obviously the students’ interests are not the same as teachers’ interests.
Furthermore, the use of technology in the classroom should play a more important role.
The implementation of technologies not only facilitates the learning process but it also
transforms the traditional school structure. The classroom should be a place of
interaction and active participation of all participants. Another important factor to
consider when designing a teaching-learning process is the correct choices of materials.
Materials should be adopted and adapted taking into consideration the interests of
students as it was mention previously and the context of the student group; in addition,
to economic resources.
In this particular context the use of technology is a pending task, especially in
English classes. Using the technology tools into the classroom can be a great resource
not only for students but also for the teacher. Technologies are like windows to the
world if they are used creatively. Students of English language could develop their
listening skill by hearing dialogues, watching movies/trailers and by investigating on
their own about the English-speaking cultures.
Task 4
Reflect about the possibility of counting with the appropriate knowledge about the
students considering the practicum context.
It is important to know the educational context and knowing the students
background is going to help a lot in order to plan a class and when designing materials.
In addition, knowing the students and the context helps teachers to select the most
appropriate teaching methodology.
This information was obtained during a pre-practice at the school (practice 7)
and also some information was provided by teachers, throughout direct observations
and through direct communication with the students.
There are personal information about the students that the teacher needs to know
in order to face and resolve some difficulties when they learning. Most of the students
in this school face many problems within their families that somehow impact the
student learning process. Throughout this professional practicum more information
about the students will be collected. The teacher should generate more instances of
dialogue with the students in order to create an environment of trustiness.
Name: Cristian Diaz Ancaten
Course: Professional practicum