Teaching is the way we learn

Teaching is the way we learn

By: Juan Guanouiza & Romina Guevara

The learning and teaching are related to each other so throughout this pre-professional internship we can mention several relevant aspects which helped us to better understand and learn about this environment as well as we could notice specific patterns in the classroom which affect and benefit certain students from our personal experiences.

Practicum try to involve the students in the realization of good practice with the knowledge acquired during the course, translating it into what would be real life, so it was very beneficial for us as future teachers
since this was the opportunity to obtain even more knowledge and, above all, experience, by the students as well as the knowledge of our tutor teacher at the Juan Bautista Vazquez School.

During this time, we observed that the focus of the class is mostly on the traditional as well as the fact that the teacher talks most of the time (TTT), so many times the students feel tired, stressed, and tend to get bored while the teacher focuses on explaining the topic throughout the class but not teaching the topic. This results in problems for most of the students since they do not understand the subject and therefore cannot solve the exercises given by the teacher. On the other hand, the level of English among each student is different, so generally speaking, only 4 or 3 students participate in class, making this a frustrating environment for the students who do not understand.

So we as future teachers noticed these aspects to then implement activities where students have fun, feel comfortable, and above all, learn. This is why we tried several activities such as games, contests, and riddles, among others. At the beginning, the students did not understand because they were not used to it, but despite some problems with the instructions, we could learn and better apply the same for each class since adolescents and children learn differently.

We finally understood that the way we teach is often the way we realize our personal and professional weaknesses and strengths during the class so we can improve it and, more importantly, be aware of the classroom environment so we can share our knowledge with the students and learn from them.