I would like to share my experience of teaching practice that I underwent in September and October the last year at my university. During my teaching practice I needed to get to know the students of my group and I also needed to learn how to plan the English classes. The students of my group were major in physics and English was not the subject they would like to learn precisely, so I needed to use different methods of teaching, I explained English grammar to them in more or less understandable way; most of the time I used communicative method.
English classes included the following aspects: 1) speaking aspect (answersto the questions, discussions, dialogues, 2) grammar aspect (we revised English grammar that the students have already learnt at school, doing grammar exercises, learning new rules), 3) Writing aspect (writing compositions and essays), 4) reading aspect and vocabulary activities (work with various texts, doing creative tasks in order to enrich vocabulary), so I tried to find interesting material, grammar books, and topics for discussion which suited the level of the students. Well, I worked mainly with grammar book “Round Up 4” but I added the exercises from the following books as well, as I found them rather interesting and useful for my students: 1) FCE: Games and Activities, 2) Fun with Grammar: Communicative Activities, 3) Grammar: Games and Activities, 4) Solutions: student`s book – pre-intermediate level, 5) Total English: Teacher`s resource book – pre-intermediate level, 6) Have Fun with Vocabulary, 7) English Grammar in Use: Raymond Murphy – intermediate level. And sometimes I used the internet when I needed to find some pictures or crosswords or photos for linguistic games.
I made some creative assignments for students during the classes when they were tired of this or that grammar exercise and it was the best way out as the bright examples from life can illustrate this or that rule in English grammar.
In spite of the fact that students did various grammar exercises, they also worked in groups, in pairs, in teams making up stories and they participated in discussions on the topics which they were keen on. English grammar was explained to the students in Russian because I wanted them to understand it correctly.
Some students were rather active and participated in all discussions, dialogues, linguistic games and other creative activities. We (students and me) worked in positive atmosphere, I always explained the rules that were not clear to the students and I gave detailed answers to their questions. In order to check the progress of learning English I used tests, writing tasks and oral examination.
I think that teaching practice is one of the most important moments in the process of language learning because I helps you to see the seamy side of English and it helps you to improve your English, not to stop on this or that level but grow further. During my teaching practice I could view the education process not on behalf of the student but as the teacher. And I should admit that I liked this process, I like to work with students, pupils, with personalities and I like to help them to master the language!
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