5th hour as a teacher

On Friday, after I told the class off, things were kind of smooth. I told them to go to the Aula d’Idiomes because we were going to see a video. It was a video I made with my roommie in order to practice grammar: future “going to+ verb inf” vs “will+inf”. It was a five minuts video where my roommate and I were talking about the plans for the next two days and we decide to go to the cinema to see Star Trek. From there, we start to talk about sci-fi films and how they deal with irreal future, situations and places. We started to dream where will we be in 25 years, or what will happen to the mankind in a 100 years. We were superheroes, we became rabbits, we were rockstars, etc. And it’s all in the video. It is us using customes, musics and so on. I thought it was a cool and different way to practice what we learnt in class.

When they first saw the video they started to laugh. Afterwards, in the very first scene where we are wearing costumes they looked at me, trying to figure out what was all about and thinking that her CAP teacher was totally mad! It was so much fun!! Their face while seeing the video were of totally awe, mixed with some kind of embarrassing feeling.

Amyway, what is important is that they understood all what was said in the video, and I think they, more or less, have the difference between both future structures, clear in their minds. Some of them asked me for a copy of the video. And I gave the original to my tutor, who told me she was going to use it for other classes as well as for next years. I was really glad to hear this. It is really good when you feel your effort somehow pays off. If the class understood better the future because of the video, this is enough to compensate the extra hours working on it.

I also gave them a photocopy with 6 exercises related to what was on the video. They did it pretty good and participated the vast majority of the class.
It is funny. One class is never the same as another one. On Thursday I was totally mad at the class because of their lack of effort, next day I am laughing with them and they participate and enjoy the session. This is one of the things I like most about teaching: it is not a repetitive/monotonous work.

I am, somehow, sad because this is coming to an end. But I really need some time to write down the memory of the practicuum, plus to focus on my journalism exams.