Students:

A2. Why is the teacher standing if front of the whiteboard I can’t see anything? This teacher really needs
a comb. He uses words I don’t understand, how can I learn something this way? He could lose some
weight if you ask me. This video about Barcelona was really interesting and he showed us some nice
pictures and brought us an interesting picture book about Antonio Gaudi. Sorry but I didn’t understand
anything. We came here to talk to him, why is he constantly talking to us.

B2. Yes, the teacher needs a comb, the A2 students were right. And he needs to lose some weight too. I
understand him but he still talks too fast sometimes and uses words I don’t understand. This reading
lesson was interesting I am definitely going to save this handout and reread the text when I get home.
Why does he ignore me? Does he think I am not as good as the others? The grammar was interesting
but this teacher really needs to learn to write better, what is he a doctor, is this a prescription for some
medication? I really don’t know if this is an n or a u.

Strengths:

I believe one of my greatest strengths is that I establish good rapport with my students quickly. I don’t
have to pretend that I am nice or good towards them, it just comes naturally. I enjoy coming into the
classroom with a smile. So far most of my Ss have responded the same way and I believe that my lessons
have been enjoyable for them just as mush as they have been for me. I have also tried to choose
enjoyable topics as much as possible. I also quickly learned that the aims of the lesson must be
achievable and have to correspond to the needs of the Ss and not my personal interests. I have also
tried to use as wide a range of materials as possible – coursebooks, grammar books, reliable internet
sources etc.

Weaknesses:

One of my weaknesses is that I always want things to be perfect which often leads to dissatisfaction
after the lesson. I do believe that I have put a fair amount of effort into each lesson but my immediate
thought after each one so far has been: “It could have been better”. Thus, I don’t believe that I have
been able to relax into any of my lessons so far and feel really comfortable in my role as a teacher. I also
constantly feel anxious that I might make a mistake in front of my Ss and lose their respect and faith in
my abilities.
I have experienced some problems following my plans closely, doing the paperwork as correctly as it as
to be done etc. I believe this is something I will have to work on in the future.

Particular weaknesses or rather things I still have problems with is adjusting my language, reducing my
talking time and making my instructions and CCQs as simple and effective as possible. I suppose this is
something to be learned and mastered rather than a weakness and I hope that with time and practice
things will look better. Making my lessons more student-centered has also been a recurring problem for
me during my TP.

Lessons learned:

I’ve had the pleasure to meet some fine people. Both my tutors and the other trainees are wonderful
people. Our tutors have shown the necessary patience and understanding towards us and have always
been there for us so far. I really like the group I was put in and I believe I have made some lasting
friendships and I hope that we will stay in touch in the future and support each other in our teaching
careers. We solved many problems as a group which I believe has been very helpful for dealing with the
stress that has accumulated during this really intensive course. I don’t want to forget to mention our
students who have been very patient toward us and didn’t criticize us for any of our shortcomings as
beginner teachers. The atmosphere at Avo was very good and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
Evelina has been a great help throughout the course and deserves to be mentioned as well.

I have some immediate goals on my action plan:

I intend to further improve my knowledge of grammar and the ability to analyze and present it as a
practical tool for the use of my future students.

Familiarize myself better with the existing and most popular coursebooks and reference materials
Continue working on improving my lesson planning skills, creating better and more efficient CCQs and
ICQs

And last but not least I hope that I will soon be able to embark on a new career path as an ELT.