Autobiography

My name is Jonathan Zabala Muñoz, and I will tell you the most relevant aspects about my life.

XXI years ago I was born in Bogotá. My mother, Maria Esther Muñoz, and my Father Albeiro Zabala were absolutely happy because of my arrival. I was surrounded by a really warm family environment. When I was two years old, we moved to Huila, but my father remained there in the Capital city.

Most of my life I grew up with my mother, and my little brother who was born when I was just five years old. We were a small family, but leaded by the bravest, and the strongest woman I know, my mother. She always wanted me to study and to be a professional. As a kid I imagined myself as a doctor, as a singer, and as an international businessman. However, as the time went by I noticed I would not be able to accomplish my childhood dreams. My voice was not that beautiful to be a singer so I dismissed it, and to be a businessman it was really boring to me. Being a doctor was the most appealing to me. Nevertheless, I wanted to learn languages, and it was absolutely clear to me. 

When I graduated from my high school, my dream to be a doctor faded away. I could not afford it, and my father was going through a real tough economic situation. Thus I decided to study something that I could afford, and I could take advantage of. I started my major in an English Language Teaching Education Program at Universidad Surcolombiana. I had never considered myself as a teacher, and I never expected to be in that path, but it would be worth it to learn another language.

Despite the fact that I have had some teaching influences, I could not imagine myself teaching a class. I was very impatient, but according to many people I was in the right track because of my kindness, and charisma.  During my high school I did not like English, or that was what I thought, later I discover that it was my teachers’ fault. She was absolutely boring, and the classes were not dynamic, it was only a translation process in every single lesson. It was noticeable I had some aptitudes to languages and I received many prizes because of that, nonetheless, when my previous teacher was fired, and  a new one arrived, I realized I was good at speaking English, and it was kind of easy for me, I was motivated, so I kept on learning by songs, and watching a lot of series in English.

In second semester, I received a call from a friend who asked me to teach a class. I said yes, but I was so scared that I hesitated it a lot. I was very young, I was 17 years old, and I had never taught a class. I think in some extent I was dared, but totally freaked out. The first class I taught was memorable, I was nervous, but I controlled myself in order to seem calmed. My students called me teacher, and it melted me. They were kids and they were very cute. An advantage I have is that I look older than I am. My beard has a good effect on my age, and I think they really take me as a teacher, not as a student.

From that moment on, I tried to never say my real age. I let them guess and figure out about it. I think I have tried to apply all the theory that I have learnt from my classes at the university in my lessons, and they have partially worked. It is required to adapt it to our context, and maybe to mix some of those theories in order to get a good teaching- learning process.

Sometimes I felt like crying, and not doing anything. Being a teacher produces a big load of stress. Our mind is sometimes too tired that is even worse that being physically exhausted. I really admire all my teachers, and all the teachers around the world. They are the ones who shape our minds, and give us many tools to be implemented in the future. Being a teacher is synonym of braveness, courage, intelligence, and a lot of patience.

Currently, I work as a teacher, and I really like my job. I am not sure if I want to continue doing it for the rest of my life because there is another major waiting for me, but meanwhile I am pleased to be a teacher, and I do it as good as I can.

Metaphor

Teaching is a tough job that implies being strong, not only physically, but mentally. Being a teacher is one of the most remarkable professions since it is the one who shapes the others. Therefore, it is easy to associate teachers with a pencil. That because a pencil is really useful to write things, but if you notice it has an eraser, it is to delete those little mistakes that are made during the process of writing. Similar to what a teacher does. A teacher gives their knowledge that in this case could be the lead, and with every stroke it becomes smaller. A teacher shares his knowledge, as a part of himself for us to build us up. The eraser is to change the students’ mistakes. Teachers are the one who modify our behavior and make us go to the right path.

Let’s be the pencil in our teaching- learning process. The future professionals depend on us. 

Journal entry IX

On July 12^th, the eleventh class was taught. The topics I was expected to teach were adverbs and adjectives. At the very start I did not have any idea what to plan, but as I have noticed all along the classes that they love competing. I prepared an activity in groups, and they were going to work as a team.

At the beginning of the class I took them some lyrics of a very famous song. They had to listen to the song, and then fill in the gaps. Additionally, they had to order a paragraph which was mixed in order to make it a little challenging. That was one of my favorite songs, it was the reason why I took it for them to listen.

Then, I just made my students talk about their hometowns. They had to describe it, and talk about the positive and also the negative situations around some specific topics. They were divided into 5 groups of 3 people. Every group had a topic to discus, it could be: Driving, people style, food, celebrations… This activity aimed at making them use their languages to describe real situations, and to give opinions.

As a second part of the activity, every group had to select one leader who was in charge of going to the other groups in order to spread the word about what they had been talked. The activity was called The World Café, and it seemed everyone enjoyed it. In the way I see it, when the communicative activities are kind of contextualized it is easy for students to get motivated, and to have a good time which is absolutely ideal.

I really feel the class was good, even though there were some issues when giving instructions. Maybe it was my fault they did not get what to do at the start, but I just found another way to make myself understood. I have learned a lot of my students, and I am pretty sure they have leant from me.

Journal entry VIII

On June 21^st, the tenth class was taught. This time the class was about comparatives and superlatives. I planned all the activities and my advisor just checked them in order to give me some feedback on them. As usual he advised me to continue with the communicative activities, and every time to make them more meaningful.

That Friday when the lesson was taught, I greeted all of them, and I just made them talk to the person next to them about how life was at school and how it is at University. They were very talkative, and it was noticeable they wanted to talk a lot about the topic. When they were done, I just played a video that summarized all what they had talked of. Life at university changes drastically, and that was exactly what I wanted them to compare.

As they really liked the topic I made them talk in pairs. They had to something similar to what they did at the very start, but then there were some categories’ for them to focus on, such as: Love, free time, social life, friends, money… It was easy for them to use all along the conversation some comparative forms. When they had some questions I just stopped for a moment the activity and I gave them a general feedback about how the correspondent grammar rules work. That activity was shared later and everyone had very similar answers.

Finally, it was carried out a communicative activity in order for them to practice the superlative form. That was very fun. They were standing up, and talking to different partners. They were supposed to administer a survey. They had to find “The Most” from the classroom, the most intelligent, the cutest, the laziest… That activity was at the start aimed to make them talk, and to have a good time. They really liked it, and they were absolutely attentive.

That was a very good class. I felt very comfortable and I was glad because the mood of the class was positive all the time. Maybe in future lessons I could take care of the organization of the classroom, perhaps there were some issues with the space, but I guess it was masked right away by the lot of fun they were having.

Jounal Entry VII

On June 14^th, the ninth class was taught. This time the class was about future. I planned all the activities and my advisor just checked them in order to give some feedback on them. As usual he advised me to continue with the communicative activities, and every time to make them more meaningful.

That Friday when the lesson was taught, I started with a warm greeting among them. They had to greet the person next to them. Right after that, they had to ask them about the future and what they think it will be like. It was aimed at introducing the topic and the activities in a very smooth way. When they were done I just played a video to relate it with what they have talked before. The video was about the technology in 2050, and they liked it a lot.

Next, I just numbered them in order to make them work in groups. Then I gave them some questions to discuss. They were expected to talk about plans so the questions were focused on that. I went around them in case they had some questions or doubts about the usage of the structures. They were absolutely focused on the activity. I always use the strategy of associating the topics with some aspects of their lives. As I know a little about their lives, and many other things so I can include part of the information I know in order for them to feel identified.

Finally we started an activity to talk about predictions for the future. As it is very exciting I made them read their hands, and they had to continue working in pairs. To have a very close example I took one of my students’ hand and I did the exercise with her as a way of modeling.

I also included some categories in order for them to be guided. The activity was very fun, and they really enjoyed it. They were surprised and smiling because of the terrible predictions made by their classmates, but anyway they had a great time.

I keep working on controlling time because I know that is one of my weaknesses, and I always try every time harder to make my lessons meaningful, and unforgettable for my students.

Journal entry VI

On June 6^th, the eighth class was taught. This time I did not teach all my students but the ones who wanted to take an extra help. This time the class was focused on the development of the writing skills of the first semester’ students.

Firstly, I greeted all my students and I tried to set the mood in order to create a nice environment. Next, I just explained them a good activity to be done. They had to say one word, but following the grammar rules of the language (Noun + verb + complement). It was a similar process as if they were writing, but in that moment they did not have a piece of paper not even a pen, just their voices, and their ability to follow the words in order to make sense of an oral activity. I really liked that because they can notice that writing is a very complex process, and they really need to focus on it. They learnt that grammar is very important, and that writing is a relevant exercise of linking isolated words to create a general meaning.

As we have already been in a process of improving writing, we are following some steps in order to achieve that. By now the students are in the drafting process, but they need to see some samples to be guided. That is why I showed them some essays samples I have collected. For that activity the students were in charge of rectifying their peers’ compositions. However, their names were not revealed, it was an anonymous error correction, as a matter of general feedback in case some others require it.

The students really liked rectifying themselves. They are able to analyze, and to understand what the mistake was, and try not to make it again. There were many volunteers to solve the mistakes they had in their papers, so I am convinced they are every single time more involved in their academic process.

Finally, they continued writing their essays. They were drafting, and making some corrections. This was aimed not at obtaining a perfect writing, but to make them aware about the seriousness of the writing process itself. Wring is absolutely different from speaking, and they need to know that, and think twice before writing something. In the way I see it creating consciousness is the most rewarding in the teaching action.

As far as I am concerned the lesson was good, fun, and students liked it. Nevertheless, I know there were some mistakes I made, and I regret not to rectify them at the moment, but it gives me more determination to do it later. I am shaping myself as a teacher, and I consider that taking into account my mistakes is a very good way to start, and not to repeat them anymore.

Journal entry V

On May 31^th, the seventh class was taught.  The lesson was planned as usual, and my advisor gave me some important recommendations in terms of the sequence of my activities, and what the main focus should be. This time I was going to take some vocabulary related to the parts of the house, and how to describe them.

My advisor has always told me that the most important about a class is the communicative style, and how significant it is for our lives. Fortunately, that is something that I always consider when planning a lesson. I am really convinced that it is the right path to teach a language. During the taught class I started greetings my students, and then I just showed them a video about a haunted house which is based on a real life story. As they are talking about ghosts and other entities, the new topic fitted perfectly. I could notice they were very curious about that house.

The previous video was aimed at highlighting some important elements that can be described with there is / are respectively. They seemed to have understood the topic, so it was time for them to practice it. They worked in pairs. They had to answer some questions about Camilo’s house. Each of the students had a part of the description of the house that is why it was required to have them all asking up. They looked very excited at participating, and I controlled the time in a better way this occasion.

Finally I just made them describe a part of a house or an object. They played Pictionary, so they had to work in teams, groups of four people. They were very attentive trying to make themselves understood about the object they meant. In my opinion, the time I just destined for the activity was exact, and the students wanted to continue playing. I felt it was a very productive class, and I would like continue innovating every single lesson. I want to make them progress, and get better as the time goes by, step by step.

Journal entry IV

On May 24^th, the sixth class was taught. As always all my lessons have a communicative focus. That is why I wanted to implement something fun and catchy to make my students talk. For that lesson I was expected to work on simple past. I really loved teaching that topic because there are many things to be done about it.

At the beginning I showed all my students a video. That was about four characters who did not know each other. However, they gave their opinions about each other, just analyzing a picture of them. In the way I see it, the video was really nice, even the teacher in charge of the group was entertained with it.  The video was expected to introduce the topic, and after it was played, many comments were out.

Next, I had prepared a presentation about some common stereotypes or prejudices people have around Colombian people, and many other ones all over the world. They were very attentive, especially because it was about something that they knew very well. Once the presentation was over, they received some cards with some questions about prejudices. Those were trigging questions in order to make them react and give their opinions. They did the exercise, but some of them tended to use a lot of Spanish, so it was necessary to tell them that English was compulsory when speaking.

In every single lesson I have implemented real opportunities for students to use their language, and some others for them to interact which is a relevant factor. In the final part of the class I wanted to look at them stand up, so I organized them in a circle, and they had to use their speaking abilities to make their classmates know what their first impression was about them at the beginning of the major.

Finally, they had to express what they felt at the very start, and use the simple past without having a previous grammatical relationship with the activities. The activities were aimed at making them use their language, and making it every time better through real and meaningful tasks. Something that maybe I would like to get better is my time management. Sometimes the activities are longer than expected, and when the class is going on, it is the time to analyze better and control how long the activities are, but during the actual action.

Journal entry III

On May 17^th, the fifth class was taught. For this class I was expected to work on possessive pronouns. To introduce the topic I started playing a song absolutely popular that they knew, Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. They had to complete the gaps, and then identify some words that were not part of the lyrics. I always want my class to be very meaningful, and that they enjoy it as much as possible that is why I try to take them activities they like.

After the song was played they had completed most of the gaps. We answered all together, and the topic was guessed from this exercise. As they did not have many concerns around the topic, it was easy to cover it. Later I just ask them about their likes in terms of music. Their musical genres likes were very diverse. As a result I decided to use the information provided from them and do a brainstorming.

Once they knew the vocabulary, they had to work in pairs in order to know their general opinions about music. I really liked that activity because they were really attentive, and they were led towards the L2 usage. Minutes later the activity was discussed in general.

As a final activity they had to make a presentation about a musical genre the want. They had to work in groups of 4 people. The aimed at concluding all the activities with their reactions and a simple report about how they feel about a determined music style, and to improvise. They were only given 5 minutes to plan what they were going to say. Surprisingly they did it very well. They talked about many aspects and everyone helped to look for information.

In brief, I think the class was good, but I would like to continue improving specially the communicative part. I want them to use different structures without realizing it, and just that they can speak with no fear. I would change some aspects related to time, because some activities took so much time that arranged.

Journal entry II

On may 10^th, the fourth class was taught. This time the topic to be taught was about shopping and I really liked it because there are a lot of things to do in order to teach this topic.

To start the class I always greet all my students and ask them general questions to create a warm environment. They were very attentive, and what I always notice is that they always want to participate and learn new things which is really motivating.

I took a video to the class in order to introduce the topic. It was about shopping in a movie context. The fragment of the movie is really popular. It is called “White Chicks”. As I expected they really loved the video, and they laughed at it. From the video I think I took advantage of it because I asked additional information, and they guessed faster what the topic was about.

Later I decided to take some pictures in a power point presentation to show my students. The idea was to make them aware about different aspects around shopping, and how the linking or relationship with a specific gender has changed over the years. The showed pictures were pretty clear in terms of evidencing real situations. They tried to describe every single picture, and what they did was to associate it with their life, so it works also to be internalized.

From the previous they were asking different questions in order to create the need of using ING after some verbs. The activity was aimed at creating some habits and better association patrons that avoid forgetting valuable information. 

Finally, in pairs they answered a test to know whether they were shopaholic or not. They were very curious about the results. Most of them are not shopaholic, and at the end of the class those results were shared and they looked really happy and enthusiastic.

What makes a good teacher?

     A good teacher is the one who provides the students with many tools for their lives. A good teacher may be strict, may be funny, may be serious, but what makes him great, is the ability to make their students reflect on what they know. A teacher who guides the students towards looking for meaning, asking questions, who teaches to give their opinions. That is a real good teacher. Generally they are not appreciated a lot, however, if they really left a positive mark in students’ lives, they will remain in the story, and in that way they will gain immortality.

Journal Entry I

On April 26^th, the third class was taught. I wanted to do something really different because I think monotony is a key factor to fall into things boredom. This time I wanted to focus on writing, and I prepared many activities to do something fun and meaningful.

At the very start I greeted all my students and asked them some questions in order to create a warm environment, not only the cold relationship teacher- students. I consider the beginning of a class as a really important stage because it can tell us how motivated or enthusiastic students are, and depending on the results, it is up to us to control the situation.

Later I decided to take some pictures in a power point presentation to show my students. The idea was to make them aware about how the adjectives work in a sentence. The showed pictures were really famous, and as it was expected they were attentive, and entertained. In the way I see it, I took advantage as much as I could of those elements. I tried to make them give their opinions and so on. They are very clever so they understood all the given instructions.

After, I decided to make them use their vocabulary and some expressions already seen. They received a paper in which everyone had to write the same starting point. They were going to write a kind of collective story.  They were timed, so they had to be careful and think quickly. Additionally, they couldn’t read what the first person wrote, so they had to make up something alike to what the last person wrote. That activity was at the start kind of confusing because they did not understand how to fold the paper, and other aspects. However, after the first round, the instructions were internalized and followed.

The activity was entertained, and they were under pressure which is very good especially when they are in areal situation to know how to react, and cope with it. When everyone had their own paper they had to read the collective story and to come up with some conclusions from the exercise.

In my original lesson plan I had another activity which included a work in pairs. They had to modify their stories in order to make sense. However, they could choose just one of those stories or use them both. As a result I could notice how well they used the adjectives and how their writing was going on. Nevertheless, I ran out of time and I could not do that activity, but I believe the activity was enough, and maybe for future lesson plans, I will try to adjust the time, and control it better.