IV. When things go wrong in class

Look at the list of things that can go wrong in a class.

·        There was an internal disturbance

·        There was an external disturbance

·        The class went out of control

·        An activity took too long

·        Extra time

·        An activity didn’t work as expected

·        An activity was too difficult

By Silvia Castillo

Personally, I had problems with the following things:

An activity didn’t work:

In one class, I was teaching about the animals. I had a video about it for my children, so, when I played de video, the laptop didn't work. I was very nervous, stressed and worried because I didn't have a plan B at that moment, and the students felt anxious to watch the video. I didn't have any idea of what to do. So, I changed the activity and I  did a game about our topic. In the next class, I borrowed another laptop, and I did the activity that I coudn't do before but with a different topic.

Extra time

One day, when I finished my class, the teacher told me to continue with the class because she had to do some things outside the classroom. That day I didn't have more activities to develop with the students since I had planned the class only for the time that I was supposed to teach. I didn't have many options, so I started to improvise. when the teacher left, we played a game based on the topic we were studying.  

Did you follow any of the tips presented on chapter 8? Do you think the tip(s) could have worked for you? Explain

I think that as future teachers, we have the responsibility of planning a good class for our students. In my case as you know, I had some problems in my teaching practicum, but it was my responsibility to solve the problems and tried to improvise when it was necessary and not to affect my student's learning. So, I followed some tips presented in the book “Teaching English to Children,” chapter 8. From my point of view, those tips worked successfully because all of us have to learn about what to do in unexpected situations and how to solve bad things that can happen in our classes. Also, we have to know what to do in order to create an interesting an dynamic class for the students. To read the book helped me a lot with that, and even though I didn't remember the tips exactly in those situations, I tried to do my best.

By Carlos Santamaria

My students were some of the naughtiest kids in all the school, so I had some problems with them. However, the worse situation was:

The class went out control: One time, some kids were running and screaming during my class, so I tried to talk with them; however, they did not want to follow my orders. For that reason, I decided to give a candy to the student who had the best behavior during the class, and that really worked because all students were quiet and working during the rest of the class. As a result, I decided to use that technique in every class. 

By Rafael Sintigo

Generally, at this stage, children are naughty and present different behaviors that can affect the relationship with the teacher. While I was teaching kids, I did not have serious problems that could not be solved; however, I would list some of the common problems that any teacher has to face.

·        The class went out control

·        An activity did not work

·        An activity was too difficult.

·        There was an internal disturbance.

- The class went out control: I remember that the first day that I taught kids, I was so nervous when I started the class. All the kids were looking at me when the teacher went out and I stayed alone with the kids. They started talking while I was explaining, and they were not paying attention. Many of them were playing with their toys. I tried to control them, but it was almost impossible. At the end, I spoke too loudly that they felt scared, and I told them that they had to pay attention because if they did not do it, I was going to punish them.  Then, I promised them to give a candy to every student who were paying attention, so they calmed down and started paying attention.

- An activity did not work: When I was teaching the numbers to the kids, I was showing them what they had to do, but they did not understand anything about it. I was red at that moment because the teacher was seeing me, and the kids were bothering each other. I did not know what to do, but I tried to relax and think carefully. Finally, I changed that activity to an easier one that they could develop.

          When these things happened to me, I thought about the solutions that I have already read in the book. It helped a lot because if I hadn't know those solutions, I would not have been able to solve those problems. Since I faced those kind of problems, I thought that I have to prevent those situations with a plan b, or c if possible.

By Franklin Guerrero 

As every English practitioner, I have had some problems in my teaching practicum; some of them were:

-There was an internal disturbance: sometimes my students had problems between them. They did not want to share their materials like colors, pencils, erasers, etc. The main discussion was the lack of confidence between them. They believed that others could steal those materials. It was very difficult to complete the activities like painting drawings for the students who did not have those materials.  It was difficult for me because I wanted to help them; I could not do many things, but sometimes I tried to convince my students to share their colors, and I told them that if something desappeared, I would buy new material to the owner. Fortunately, the objects never disappeared.

-My activities did not work; I prepared activities in order that my students were interested in the class, but sometimes they did not want to participate, especially in my first class; I felt frustrated, but at the same time I looked for solutions. I discovered that my students did not feel confident to participate because their classmates would laugh at them. I told them that if they made mistakes, it did not matter because they were learning yet. After that, one girl started to participate, and all her friends started to participate, too. Since the next class, all the students wanted to participate all the time.

Now, I know that we can have different problems when teaching, but if we stay feeling worried, we will never find a solution; we have to think about the problems and look for solutions as fast as possible.

 By Marcos Hernandez

Generally, I didn´t have many problems during my teaching practicum since all the pupils were really interested in learning more about the English Language. All of them appeared to be eager to know new vocabulary and some easy structures, and they used to pay careful attention every time that I was explaining a topic.

In my classes, they used to behave in the same way in which they used to do it with their guide teacher. They were very respectful with me as I was with them. When I asked them to make lines or groups, they used to follow my instructions easily, and they loved helping me carrying out the activities inside the classroom.

There were only a couple of boys who used to lose their control in the class after being sitting for a few minutes. They used to stand up when they got bored, and they usually went to their classmates` seats to bother them or to play with them.

In other times, there were some disturbances outside the classroom; for example, there were certain occasions in which some students of other grades approached the kindergarten classroom to see and listen to the class that I was developing. In these cases my pupils got disturbed by them, so I had to call their attention quickly by making them repeat some words or by changing to another activity.