UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES
DEPARTAMENTO DE LINGÜÍSTICA Y LITERATURA
Pedagogía en Inglés
Práctica Autónoma
Prof. Sylvia Veloso
Nicole Osorio Jeria

My experience as a trainee teacher

When my practicum began, I was really nervous about it. Last semester’s
experience had not been what I expected because I was observing 3 rd grade
students. After that I was told that this semester I was going to work with
secondary school students. I ended taking a 1 st and 3rd grade at Abdon Cifuentes
high school. This school is located in Santiago, near ‘Los Héroes’ metro station.
Even though the students I met were respectful to me, I never had a problem with
them, they were very chatty, especially 1st grade.

When you are studying at the English training program you are not prepared
for what you will find in real life experience at schools. We are taught to prepare
power point presentations, to use audios, to use texts, but teachers little say about
the real resources at educational establishments. In my case, I found that at my
school you needed to ask for a multimedia room if you wanted to use visual aids.
This means that you had to take the students out of the classroom and lose
valuable minutes in that endeavor. Also, if you wanted to bring them photocopies,
you had to pay it with your money and then present the receipt to the head teacher.
Only then, you had your money back. This is the reason why I preferred to use my
own printer and sheets to bring worksheets to students. I had to use what I had on
hand.

In the other hand, the bright side about not having the resources I expected
to have was that it allowed me to think about new ideas. If I wanted to tell them a
story, I printed images or pictures in color and then showed to them. If I wanted to
play a listening, I read the best I could to them. I learn to use more the board. I
believe I made a change in the way students knew how lessons worked. When I
was observing the English classes, the teacher used to write everything on the
board, the contents and the exercises. By doing this, I think he lost an important
amount of time. I only did this twice.

While I was teaching at Abdon Cifuentes high school, I tried to be an

empathic teacher, one that explains all the time students needed. Fortunately, I
realized that my efforts were fruitful when I announced that I was not going to teach
them anymore. There were several students that approached me to tell me that
they liked the way I was because I explained to them every time they asked, and
that I had the patience to do it even when they did it numerous times. I know I have
a lot to learn yet, but what they said to me shows me that I am in the right path to
become a successful teacher.

To sum up, even when I think I was a change for students, I could not be
freely me. I did not want to change greatly the way the teacher performed his
lessons because he asked me not to. He said to me that I should not use power
point presentations because students got ‘bored’, so I did what he told me. I have
to improve yet, to have more experience, but I feel confident about the future. I
know I will be able to be a good teacher.