My believes

1. Taller de Práctica Docente2018
Tutora:Aurelia Velázquez
Assignment1: Didactics Diagnostic Questionnaire
Deadline: March 19, 2018
Please submit your file with the following name:
Pilotti – TPD –Didactics Diagnostic Questionnaire
Answer the following questions in about 75 words each.
1. From the previous Didactic courses you did, what teaching and learning theories, and what
approaches or methods support or will support your teaching? Why? What authors will you consult
during your practicum?
 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Communicative Approach (CA), CLIL (Content
language integrated learning by Krashen) will support my teaching because I consider that
learners will learn better if they participate in meaningful communication. I think teachers
shouldn´t influence students ´choices, on the contrary, teachers should take advantage
from the students ‘interests to create motivating activities. Larsen-Freeman talks about the
idea of making communicative competence the goal of language teaching. Working with
prediction is something relevant in this method as well as the process of negotiation. Some
authors that I find interesting are Vigotsky that talks about the Social Constructivism
Theory, Davies and Pearse as well as David Nunan talk about how to create context and
how to teach grammar in context. Moreover, Howard Gardner sets the MI (Multiple
Intelligences) theory, which is important to take into account.
2. What is your perspective of lesson planning? From past experiences in Didactics, what are your
strengths and what are the aspects to improve?
 In my opinion, a lesson plan helps teachers to organize the contents, to avoid repetition in
the activities and to cover all the abilities the students need to acquire. Moreover, each
moment is respected allowing them to follow the lesson easier. I am good at creating
communicative activities but sometimes I have to improve the way I use technology. There
are many things I need to learn and to manage in order to work fluently.
3. What is your view of children and teenagers learning English at school?
 I consider learning English at school as one of the most important subjects to deal with.
Some students have the opportunity to go to an institute to learn the language but working
at school, I realized that most of the students can´t pay private lessons. So, it is a great
advantage to incorporate English as a subject from early age. The advances in the world

2. pretend to have knowledge in technology and languages and schools should offer the
possibility to learn them.
4. How much exposure to the L2 do you think it is necessary to include in your classes? What are the
sources of this exposure? Do you favour an English-only perspective? Why?
 It is an important question for me since I would like to know the “ideal” answer and I feel a
contradiction! I think we can find different situations, different contexts, different level of
English and it is not always easy to follow an English-only perspective. In a previous answer
I said that I like negotiating meaning in class, it is a good resource. Another could be using
pictures, flashcards, drawings, mime, gestures, etc. Working in private institutes or at home
giving private lessons I find easy to use only English but the reality at public schools don´t
allow me to speak in English all the time without translating the tasks or the explanations in
specific grammar aspects.
5. What is the ultimate goal of teaching an L2 for you? What do we teach the language for? What do
learners need?
 In my opinion, the ultimate goal of teaching English is concerned with the ability to use the
language in communicative situations, to help students to be able to be understood and to
understand others. The purpose is to have native-like competence, improve all the skills
and manipulate the language. This ability will open opportunities like a good job, self-
development, a means of communication with other countries, etc. Nowadays, with the
advances that occur, learners need to be prepared to face the modern world. It involves
changes in technology and in the way we speak and communicate.
6. What are teaching strategies? How acquainted are you with them? Which ones do you usually or
would you apply?
 Teaching strategies are a way of making decisions about a group of students. The key here
is to find variables. We have to bear in mind the different learning styles and the different
resources we need to make the lessons motivating and funny. I think effective teaching
requires flexibility, creativity and responsibility in order to respond to the learners´
individual needs. I usually use cooperative learning in my lessons including group
interactions and group tasks. Other strategies are modeling how to do something, checking
for understanding, using graphics such us mind maps, charts and diagrams to summarize
the topics and I always take the time for feedback.

3. 7. What are classroom management strategies? How acquainted are you with them? Which ones do
you usually or would you apply? Does the seating arrangement contribute to effective classroom
management?
 We need to plan and state strategies and techniques carefully balanced. A well-managed
classroom will be the one where routines are established, the opportunities are equal for
all the learners and arrangements are planned. When I meet a new group, I like doing an
agreement between the students, they are called “normas de convivencia”. They help us to
organize the classroom, to create a nice and comfortable atmosphere and to respect each
other. As regards the seating arrangement I don´t agree with the idea of appropriating a
chair and stay there the whole year, I like forming rounds, changing the seats, standing up
or sitting on the floor. I like using different sites like the playground, the computer room or
the corridors at schools, so I use to change and move!
8. From a motivational perspective, how innovative should your lessons be? Why? What do you think
about the pedagogical use of ICT in and outside the classroom?
 We should use as much as possible all the resources to create a motivating atmosphere.
Children and adolescents have access to the applications, devices and systems that
technology offers. Anyway, they don´t take advantage from them or perhaps they use them
in an inappropriate way. We can guide them with different ideas, activities and projects
that involve using them appropriately. They will be interested in the proposals and it is
infinite the possibilities we have to make a creative lesson using ICT.
9. Do you have any experience teaching EFL? In what context? To what ages?
 I have experience teaching EFL in primary and secondary schools and in private institutes
with children, adolescents and adults. I had been “tallerista” in primary school for 7 years in
4th
, 5th
and 6th
grade. That was the best experience ever! Anyway, I didn´t like the way it
was planned but we had to respect the headmaster ideas. I don´t have experience with kids
and it is a challenge this year!
10. What is your opinion as regards observation? How can you benefit from it? Have you ever been
observed while teaching?
 In my opinion I would like to observe someone teaching because it could be positive and
enriching for me. We always learn from our colleges, we can get some ideas, strategies and
methods. I would love to teach with other teacher in a classroom, it could be a great
experience! I have never been observed while teaching but I had a bad experience once. I
was teaching in an institute when the headmaster sold it, another woman appeared and all
went wrong! One day, she was the whole class standing up next to the door. When it

4. finished she cleaned all the drawings on the board violently and asked me: who did you
learn with? That´s not the appropriate way of giving vocabulary!!! I wanted to cry because
the other headmaster always motivated me to teach and she said me very sweet words.
Good and bad experiences…