Week - April 1rst, 2nd and 3rd
During this days, the students took the pre-stage questionnaire by clicking the following link: http://www.encuestafacil.com/RespWeb/Qn.aspx?EID=454403 Also, the rest of the participant group had the first “Skype chat session” with the teacher. It is important to say that the teacher e-mailed the students the rubric for chatting and writing and the list of conventions via “Skype chat” using the “send file” option. From now on students will know how their performance will be monitored. Unfortunately, just a few of the students came on line so there are still missing some questionnaires to fill in.
The teacher e-mailed the group to remind them about the questionnaire and the first session (the main goal was to get this e-communication before the next face to face class April 18th). On the face to face class, the teacher talked to the students and invited to participate by signing out a schedule list taking into account their availability and convenience to get online.
Moreover, the teacher explain how useful are the chat sessions in their writing and learning process, so the students response was positive and they agreed that the chat sessions will be part of their class work during the course. Next, students decided to come online twice a week at night time. During this class students were asked to analyzed some writing samples by taking into account the list of conventions that the teacher designed, they work a sample in class and the other was left as homework to be e-mailed to the teacher at ibonethbeltran@hotmail.com Finally, students had to read a short fairy tale and work the comprehension questions and get ready for the discussion online during the week via Skype.
Week - April - 18th to 24th
The students and teacher have been having the weekly Skype chat sessions as planned. It is important to mention that not all the students have come online but there are at least three of the eight that are really committed to the project and the learning improvement process thy will have. Fortunately, the meetings have been carried out on time to discuss and analyze the reading, the main objective of the discussion activity is to let students go beyond and reflect how the reading can be identified in our daily life situation, if there is the case. Finally, students’ response to this type of meetings has been very positive, they enjoyed the practice and want to continue in the process.
April 25th and 27th
Students and teacher had a reflecting session about “the Skype chat room experience”, so students shared their “personal opinions”. Also, the students had their second activity assigned via Skype chat, so they started carrying it out by the guidance of the teacher.
May 4th - 9th
(As on May the 2nd there was not class, the rhythm of work was not the same. Some of the students went out; some others could not get online. Besides, the final “written partials were assigned for May the 9th, so the tasks that were assigned to this time are a bit behind. Also, it is important to mention that “My ICELT Teaching Practice 4 will take place on May 16th. For all those, reasons, I must rethink and redesign the final stage of my project schedule. In other words, I will continue working with the students, and taking their samples until the end of their academic semester.
During May 4th session, the teacher talked to her students about the inconvenient of time and the lack of online participation during that week. So the whole group agreed with contacting that week. Finally the teacher and the students decided to continue working to cover the missing activities. (The activity No. 3 was e-mailed that day)
May 11th - 16th
Students e-mailed some missing papers this week. However, the Skype chat weekly meetings were not possible. Most of them had trouble on getting online, so they e-mailed me. This May 16th session was about my ICELT TP4 so we couldn’t socialized about the peer correction papers they e-mailed me. As homework, students will finish the reading comprehension of the “Reading No.3” and e-mail their final reflections. Also, we will get online by the end of the week.
May 18th – 23rd
Students have been working on Reading No.3 and on the May 23rd face to face class they will write a “reflection essay” about the experience of working with Skype chat as part of their regular English class. After that they will work in groups to get to the final conclusion of our weekly reading and share it with the class. The teacher will e-mail an activity to be worked in pair during the week, so their online meetings will take place more often.