class 10

8:09 the class starts. the teacher checks if the students have brought homework done. half of them have it incomplete or do not have it. the teacher is upset and asks them how they are going to do the test if they do not have the homework. she advices them to pay more attention to the subject , otherwise they are going to fail.

8:12 they begin checking homework. the ones who have it incomplete start doing it at that moment. 

8:14 the class is interrupted because there is one person who is bringing news from outside. these are news for the students. 

8:15 the class continues checking. the task is about descriptions of symptoms where they have to match them with the names of illnesses. the students who have it participate willingly.

 as they check the activity, the teacher refreshes some vocabulary they have seen in the unit. she then chooses one by one to compelte the task orally. 

8:23 the teacher gives them a task where they have to complete with the present perfect plus "yet", "already" and "just". some of the stundents do not remember how to form questions with the present perfect but the teacher together with the rest of the students help remember the structure. 

8:32 the teacher check homework from the workbook. some students are making noises. the teadcher does not pay attention to them  because the noises are almost imperceptible. 

8:42 the teacher check the last excercises where they have adjectives plus prepositions. noticing there are some doubts, the teacher explains the uses of these adjectives in the blackboard. she first explains it in English and then in Spanish. 

8:47 there are soe interruptions and the teacher asks the students to keep quiet and pay attention to the sharing of the excercises in order for them to check if they have some doubts. but these students do not pay attention and the teacher grows angrily.then she tries to calm down.

8:50 the class finishes. the following day they are going to have a test based on the whole unit  about "health". they will be having a written short test which will be one sheet of paper taken from the teacher`s book.   

class 9

8:06 the class starts. the teacher makes the students sit in circles and take out the activity book in order to check homework. almost all the students do not have it. the teacher is upset. after this she sits in her desk and asks everybody to be quiet. she checks attendance.
8:11 the teacher checks homework from the student`s and work book and the writing activities they had to bring to class . almost all the students have their homework incomplete. but there are two girls who always work and they do have everything complete. after this episode the teacher tells them that this lack of commitment will be shown in their notes. she tells them that she is going to check everything again the following day.
8:20 the teacher begins with the class. the students have to do a listening activity. first the teacher reads the extract and then they are going to listen to the pronunciation aferwards.
8:24 the teacher plays the tape recorder and the students listen. then they read the text for themselves in order to get the words whose meanign they do not know. then the teacher gives them the meaning.
8:28 the teacher asks the students if there are any word they do not understand. there is one student who asks for the meanining of a cosntruction. the teacher first explains in English and then in Spanish.
8:30 the teacher writes a list of new words. she then starts asking each one of them the meaning of these words. all the student more or less know the meanings.
8:36 the teacher starts with the questions to check comprehension from a text read in the previous class. if there is one student who does not know the answer, then the teacher chooses another student to help him/her with the answer.
8:42 the students have to do a play role where they have to pretend they are doctors without borders and tell their classmates about their experiences. this is a pair work and they have to use the present perfect. all the students are willingly working together. from time to time some f the groups start talking about something else, such as the last film they`ve seen on TV, another pair is talking in Spanish. then one of them stands up and asks form permission to go to the bathroom. then the teacher asks them to be commited to the task.
8:50 the teacher asks them to share with the rest of the class the dialogues they have created in the role play. most of them have made interesting mini dialogues and the ones who have had some problems were helped by the teacher.
8:55 the class finishes

class 8

8:10 the class stars. the teacher enters the classroom giving a very loud "hello" to the class. this time the class is sitting in small groups and there is one group who is sat next to the blackboard so the teacher takes her place at the bottom of the classroom, near me. this is the first time she sits there.
8:13 the teacher began checking the students`homework. in the excercise, there are three options and you have to decide which is the best one. the teacher chooses students at random in order for them to read the answers.
8:15 after they finish doing this, the teacher asks everyone to give her the meanings of the words from the excercise in their own language.
8:18 the teacher goes on with the topic of "health". she asks them if they know or have heard of any disease/illness in the news. some of them mention the problem of the mosquitoes here in Tucuman (Dengue), and others mention the bronquitis. the teacher explains a little about this last illness and the problem it produces in children.    
8:23 the students have to do an excercise where they have to look at the pictures and tell the teacher what they are about. some of the students began to give some possible answers while at the same time there is a group of students who are talking louder and louder. after the last student finishes reading the teacher calls the attention of the naughty group telling them to stop talking. the teacher seems a little angry. then she chooses one student of that group and ask him to read the instruction of the following excercise.
8:28 the teacher begins reading a text  and the students follow her silently. there is one group of studetns who is talking aloud and the teacher stops reading in order to call their attention. the she re-starts from the very beginning.
8:30 the teacher asks the students to match the headings with the paragraphs. she asks one student who has not been paying attention and he cannot answer. then another student is willing to answer. there is one student who does not understand the instructions of the activity and the teacher asks another student to explain it.
8:38 the students do the following excercise where they have to read a sentence and rephrase it. they do it in pairs.
8:41 the teacher tells them that they are going to do the following activity, which is the listenign section, the following day because she forgot to bring the tape recorder.
8:42 the students seem to feel sleepy so the teacher imrpovises some physical excercise. the whole class starts jumping in order to wake up. there are some students who are resting on a table so the teacher asks them to go to the classroom and wash their faces. meanwhile the teacher does some speaking related to the topic of the unit wiht the students.
8:46 the students get involved in speaking about blood groups and the advantages and disadvantages of having positive or negative.
8:49 the students read a text about donating blood and the teacher explains new vocabulary and new expressions related to the text. there are some expressions who are explained in Spanish in order for the students to recognize or fell familiar with them. the teacher explains the main ideas of the text and gives some details about the donation of blood.
8:56 the teacher gives them homework in which they have to make a questionnaire about lifestyles, illnesses, and the like. this is a sort of research they are going to do within their family.
8:58 the class finishes.

class 7

8:13 the class starts. the teacher advances through the book. she gives them an excercise where thay have to complete with the adjectives "ashamed of", "nervous about", "scared of", "proud of".
8:19 the teacher asks the student to share with the rest of the class their answers. as each student reads his/her answer, most of the other do not pay much attention and some of them are talking about their own life. some of them are laughing. the teacher interrupts the class to silence everybody. the students who share their answers are the ones who always do their homeworks
8:26 the teacher begins checking another excercise wich they had to bring to class as homework. this activity is based on mini dialogues about common experiences in life where the students have to answer questions with expressions of agreeing/disagreeing. the teacher asks each student to read aloud so that everyone can hear. they read it in pairs taking turns to ask and answer. the teacher encourages the shy ones to participate. all the student participate, then the teacher asks if there is any student who is willing to give another example. then she gives some extra examples of their own.
8:31 the teacher explains some examples she nas noticed have not been clearly assimilated. some students like the activity so they give examples related to what the teacher says.
there is one student who seems to be boring with this activity and answers whatever it comes to his mind. the teacher realizes that and asks him to think properly when giving the examples. this time, both the teacher and that student make up a short example.
8:34 the teacher explains an excercise where they have to practice the different vowel sounds of "a" in irregular verbs. then she uses the blackboard to go on explaining she explains the three conjugations of the verb "begin" in infinitive, past, and perfect. she does so in order to explain the different sounds of the same word when conjugated. she gives writes 5 other verbs in the blackboard and their respective conjugations and asks them to repeat them. 
8:38 the teacher goes to the project section of the book where they have to do a portfolio. the teacher asks the student to explain to me (as an observer of the class) what is a portfolio. then they all number the portfolios they have been doing. the teacher tells them they have to qrite an article for the second term about the topic of the unit which is based on "health".
8:43 the students now have to read a text. the teacher chooses a naughty student who is bothering the class to read the instructions. then she asks each student to read a paragraph of the text. there are some students who are interrupting the class. the teacher stops everything in order to asks them to respect their classmates when they are reading. then asks one student to throw the chewing gum. she does this in Spanish.
8:48 she continues making the students read one paragraph each. after each student has finished reading each paragraph, the teacher corrects some mispronunciations.
8:51 the teacher again interrupts the class to ask a naughty student to stop making fun of certain words that are pronounced differently from what is written.
8:53 the teacher asks the students to give her the meanings of some words from the text.
8:55 the students do some excercises with "although", even though", "however". then the teacher explains in the blackboard the uses of them.
8:57 the teacher gives them homework related to the above expressions.
8:58 the class finishes.
  

class 6

8:10 the class starts. they do some speaking aobut a famous person, in this case, Lance Armstrong. the students share some experiences about doing some sports, leisure activities.
8.20 the students do excercises related to leisure activities. in order to check the answers, the teacher interacts with the whole class. all the answers are more or less correct
8.27 the students have to create a dialogue based on their own experience in real life and using the present perfect. the activity has to be donde in pairs. each pair is talking in English. the teacher gives them a few minutes and then asks them to share the dialogues with the rest of the class.
8: 37 the student do the listenign and reading section of the book. it`s a dialogue about where each member of the group is going to spend their vacations.the activity is about the expression of agreeing/disagreeing.
8:39  the teacher does some speaking based on the holiday plans for summer vacations. she interacts with the class allowing each student speak aobut their family plans for holidays.
8:43 the teacher revises the expressions of agreeing/disagreeing giving them the meanings of "so did I", "me too", "neither did I".
8:48 the students go to the grammar section where they read and the teacher explains once more the uses of the expressions of agreeing/disagreeing. there are one or two students who do not undertands this so the teacher explains it in Spanish.
8: 50 the students do the speaking activity where the teacher reads them a sentence and they have to answer with "so did I", "neither did I".
8:55 the class finishes.

class 5

8:00 – the teacher begins the class with a listening activity but she immediately has to interrupt the it because there is a group of students who are engaged in conversation. She tells them to stop talking and then she continues with the activity again.

8:05 – the teacher asks the students to sum up what they have listened. Different students participate. Then they listen to the second part of the listening activity. This activity is the same given the class before so the teacher is doing a warming up.

The teacher writes on the blackboard new vocabulary connected to the listening activity. Then they do some speaking as a way of summarizing what has been previously seen.

8:15 - There are some interruptions coming from the naughty students so she asks them to explain what they are doing. First he wants to do it in english but the teacher asks them to do it in English.

8:22 -  the students have to read the instructions for the present perfect. Again, there are interruptions from the same students at the bottom of the room.

8:30 – the teacher explains the uses of the present perfect and gives examples. One of the students hasn`t got the book  and the teacher tells her that is no excuse because she can take photocopies. Then she suggests sharing the book with aother student.

8:40 – there are again some interruptions and the teacher stands up from her desk and shouts at the noughty students asking them to be quiet.

8:42 – the teacher tries to go on with the activities.

8:45 – there are some interruptions coming from the same students. The teacher interrupts everything that she is doing and goes to the palce where those students are sitting. She ask them to explain to her what they have to do as an activity. They do not know how to answer. The class turns into a unstable mood and the rest of the students are looking at the scene a little frightened.

8:50 – the class finishes.    

It seems that it is natural for certain students in the class to get easily distracted in something else, to get naoughty and in some instances disrespectful. I think the teacher does wrong when she takes too personally the problem of misbehaviour in a determine group of students. I think she sould keep some distance and tackle the problem from a different perspective. It is better if she avoids shouting and instead she could promote certain related-to-the-topic-activities in small groups so as to keep monitoring them. Perhaps if she mixes all the students, there colud be another result.  

class 4

8:05 – the class starts. The teacher controls the activities the students were supposed to bring to class that day. The activity consists of putting in order the words so as to make sentences. She explains the uses of “gone” and “been” and how they can build the structures. Each of the students takes turns t oread the sentences.

8:12 – the teacher controls the following activity in which they have to make statements and questions with the present perfect and yet or already. All the student are willing t oread what they have made. It is seen that the instructions for homework were understood

8:20 – the teacher explains what they have to do in the following exercises since they have to move on across the unit. She chooses one student to read the gramar section where they will fin dan explanation of the uses of for and since with the present perfect. The she explains it using the blackboard and making sure that everybody had undesrtood, she began making questions related to what she had explained.

In her explanation, she uses examples. First she explains everything in English and then she does so in Spanish, repeating everything what she has said. She also gives examples in Spanish so as to go on guiding them.

There are some interruptions coming from the noaughty students so the teacher asks them to tell the class what she has just explained. They cannot do so and the teacher tells them top ay attention otherwise they are not going to know what to do when doing the excercises. She asks them to stop distracting themselves and the whole class.

8:30 – the teacher explains once more the uses of fopr and since with the present perfect and then asks the students to give examples of their own. All the students participate and they all give examples that are more or less correct. The class is perfectly paying attenion. Then they have to do orally and excercise in which they have to complete with for and since and themajority do it correctly. Each on of the students is willing to participate. Today there is not much of group work and they seem to handle the activities well. There is one student who does not know what to do in the excercise so the teacher explains the instructions in her own words, in Spanish. She asks the student to do at least one example but he finds some difficulties. So the teacher asks another student to help with it.

8:40 – the students go on doing the following excercises while the teacher is writing down some notes on a sheet of paper, checking the attendance while watching at everyone`s faces. After she finishes doing so she checks the activity. She makes them participate orally so that the whole class can listen. If there are any corrections, the teacher will ask the students what is the correct option. They all participate as a whole big group.

8:45 – the teacher plays a CD in order to do a listening activity. Before sh does so, she gives them some clues about what they are going to listen.

8:47 – the teacher interrupts the listening because there are some students at the bottom of the room who are talking aloud about something else. She tells them to be quite and then she goes on with the CD playing. She highlights the fact that she has to interrupt listening activity in order to tell them to be quite. she asks them to give her the answers for the activities but they cannot do so because they haven`t been paying attention.

8:50 – the class finishes and she asks them to complete the whole unit from the activity book.

    

The teacher seems to be too much sticked to the book, but the thing is that in a way it is ok because I have had the opportunity to take a look at the whole unit and I can say that it is really long. It contains extra material involving different sections: vocabulary, Reading comprehension, and grammar section. They have the student book, the activity book and other sections which are not common in other books. So they have a lot of material to make emphasis on the theme they are studing.

The problem today was the fact that the teacher had to interrupt the listening activity in order to ask the naughty students to be quiet. That was really shocking and the worst of all was that those students did not take it seriously. They continued somehow making fun of the situation. Perhaps the teacher should divide that group or mix them with other students so that the link between them is not that strong.