Teachers school

Nos artigos em questão, Ana Maria Ialago e Marilia Claret Geraes Duran apresentam reflexões sobre a situação do processo de formação de professores de língua inglesa no Brasil e sua visão sobre a profissão. No segundo artigo, Telma Gimenez discute assuntos que permeiam a relação do professor de línguas estrangeiras com a formação do cidadão, considerando as transformações existentes sobre o conceito de cidadania ao longo dos séculos e como este pode ser transmitido pela ação do professor em sala de aula.

Ialago e Duran iniciam seu artigo trazendo uma distinção de Bourdoncle (1991, p. 92-94) entre os termos profissionalidade, profissionismo e profissionalismo. O primeiro está associado às instabilidades e ambigüidades que envolvem o trabalho em tempos neoliberais e geralmente vem colocado como uma evolução da idéia de qualificação, o segundo é um neologismo que está ligado a estratégias e retóricas coletivas que tentam transformar uma atividade em profissão, e o terceiro é marcado pela adesão individual à retórica e às normas da corporação. Para o autor, é nesse estágio que realmente começa a socialização profissional.

A partir destes conceitos chega-se a duas questões que são discutidas no artigo: a questão da descaracterização e desvalorização social da educação e do professor refletidas pela diminuição de matrículas em cursos de licenciatura; e a insatisfação de egressos dos cursos de licenciatura que relatam a falta de aprofundamento nas questões de ensino-aprendizagem relacionadas com a realidade educacional brasileira.

Com base nestas questões, as autoras levantam algumas lacunas na formação destes profissionais: ausência de um perfil profissional do docente a ser formado; falta de integração entre áreas de conteúdo e disciplinas pedagógicas e formação dos formadores. Ainda nos cursos de Letras ainda há a questão da dupla licenciatura, português e uma língua estrangeira, que por vezes apresenta incoerências referentes à quantidade de disciplinas dedicadas a cada uma das áreas do curso, sendo a parte da licenciatura em português a “privilegiada”.

Além destes problemas diretamente relacionados à formação do professor de línguas, há também questões que interferem no valor da imagem deste profissional. Ou seja, a matéria em si, Inglês nas escolas, perde o valor por não possuir a mesma carga horária que outras ditas importantes, como Língua Portuguesa ou Matemática, ficando assim com os horários mais complicados, que por vezes é tomado por outras atividades como reuniões ou eventos esportivos. Tudo isso colabora para a desvalorização do professor de línguas.

Outra questão interessante sobre a formação dos professores de inglês no Brasil diz respeito às razões pelas quais estas pessoas decidiram seguir esta profissão e suas visões sobre o processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Em um questionário aplicado a professores de inglês de uma rede de idiomas da Grande ABC, São Paulo, as autoras procuraram observar como estes profissionais estão situados socialmente e como, enquanto “teorias socialmente criadas e operantes”, relacionam-se com as condições da realidade cotidiana, surgindo a partir das condutas e comunicações realizadas por uma determinada comunidade e influenciando as expressões e práticas dos grupos sociais no seio dos quais são elaboradas e para os quais retornam. Em geral, os entrevistados relataram que o gosto pela profissão está relacionado à “paixão” pela língua, ou vocação para o ensino. Relataram também que o papel da universidade é mais ‘mercadológico’ do que de ‘transmissor de conhecimento’, visto que a experiência e a prática já são suficientes para se alcançar o conhecimento necessário para o ensino. Há uma estigmatização da docência ao tratá-la como um ‘dom’.

Notamos então que, no processo de formação de professores de línguas inglesa, existem muitos ‘problemas’ a serem refletidos e trabalhados. A realidade social brasileira colabora na triste conclusão de milhares de egressos dos cursos de licenciatura, baseada em uma denegrida visão sobre a educação e o aprendizado de inglês nas escolas públicas. Os cursos de Letras – Inglês  realmente precisam estar alertas sobre estes pré-conceitos e providenciar um trabalho de reflexão sobre estas questões afim de alterar gradativamente esta ideologia que paira sobre a classe e a sociedade.

Ainda relacionado sobre a formação dos professores e a visão dos mesmos sobre sua atuação e seu trabalho, devemos lembrar que os próprios profissionais detêm parte do poder para alterar a situação social, visto que a sociedade que teremos no futuro está na mão dos professores de hoje. Sobre esta questão, Gimenez discute o papel do professor no trabalho com alunos sobre o esclarecimento da cidadania. Gimenez partilha com Roberto Alejandro (1998) da visão de que é preciso ver cidadania não como uma categoria jurídica ou conjunto de atitudes cívicas, mas como horizonte, como prática, como um elemento importante da condição humana.

Em seu artigo, a autora nos apresenta o conceito de cidadania apresentado pelo MEC nos documentos dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Sobre este, afirma que embora sem especificar como deve acontecer essa participação, parece que a perspectiva é de que a função da educação é garantir os meios necessários para uma cidadania “consciente e ativa”, ou seja, possibilitar o acesso à totalidade dos recursos culturais relevantes para a intervenção e a participação responsável na vida social”.

Sobre o a finalidade do ensino de línguas estrangeiras, Gimenez defende que ela é educacional na medida em que favorece a participação no processo discursivo. Assim, aprender sobre linguagem, seja ela estrangeira ou materna, possibilitaria aos indivíduos se constituírem enquanto cidadãos – interagindo com outros e dando assim existência à cidadania, que, na definição de Habermas, só acontece quando se dialoga sobre o que é o bem comum, ou seja, questões públicas.

Ambos os artigos nos revelam a complexa rede de questões vinculadas ao professor de línguas, desde sua formação até o que pode ser produzido por ele que refletirá na formação dos cidadãos. Visto o tamanho desta missão, é triste notar o quanto ainda é pouco estimado o valor social deste profissional e como isso tem refletido diretamente no desempenho do mesmo com relação a sua atuação. Estes artigos ganham muita importância ao nos fazer refletir sobre estas questões e perceber como um enorme leque de ideologias e deficiências estão diretamente relacionadas as questões de ensino de línguas e formação de professores.

Universidade Federal de Goiás

Faculdade de Letras

Departamento de Línguas e Literaturas Estrangeiras

Área de Inglês

Atividades de prática oral:

que papéis um professor deve desempenhar?

Orientadora: Prof. Dra. Maria Cristina Faria Dalacorte Ferrera.

Orientando: Alex de Andrade Medeiros.

Goiânia, junho de 2010.

Introdução

A grande maioria dos aprendizes de língua estrangeira, em geral, conforme pude verificar durante minha experiência como aprendiz de L2, desejam desenvolver mais rapidamente a habilidade de se comunicar através da fala (RICHRADS & RENANDYA, 2002), ficando em segundo momento a habilidade de compreensão oral, seguida da habilidade de ler e da habilidade de produzir textos na língua alvo. Felizmente, os cursos de línguas estrangeiras em instituições que dedicam-se exclusivamente ao ensino delas propiciam situações onde é possível desenvolver todas as habilidades sem detrimento de umas com relação a outras.

Entretanto, nas escolas públicas brasileiras a situação é um ‘pouco’ diferente. Pudemos perceber através de visitas e observações em escolas estaduais durante o estágio 1 do curso de Letras – licenciatura em Inglês, muitas deficiências no processo de ensino de L2 na rede pública. Deficiências que vão da precariedade e escassez de material até a formação e conhecimento defasados dos professores sobre a língua que ensinam. Neste meio pude constatar a dificuldade que existe em trabalhar as quatro habilidades necessárias para formação de um falante de L2, nesse caso a língua inglesa, sendo que a fala é uma das mais prejudicadas.

A respeito das atividades relacionadas ao trabalho da comunicação oral, comecei a me indagar qual seria o papel que o professor de L2 deveria estar realizando naquele momento, considerando as limitações do meio e a disposição dos alunos ao se submeterem à prática da oralidade, tantas vezes desconsiderada nas aulas de língua estrangeira na rede pública.

Visando esclarecer esta questão, o presente pré-projeto apresenta a seguir seus objetivos, metodologia e cronograma para o trabalho que será desenvolvido no decorrer do próximo semestre.

Objetivos

Objetivo Geral: observar e analisar o papel que os professores de escola pública desempenham durante as atividades de prática oral, considerando estudos e pesquisas sobre ensino de línguas, voltados para atividades de comunicação oral.

Objetivos Específicos:

• Definir o perfil dos alunos (faixa etária, tempo que estuda a língua etc) no que diz respeito a afinidade com a língua estudada;

• Observar quais as dificuldades mais frequentes na turma observada durante o aprendizado de L2 no que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento da fala;

• Definir quais são os papéis que o professor deve estar exercendo durante a aplicação de atividades que trabalhem a oralidade e relatar o que pode ser mais eficiente em determinada situação na tentativa de solucionar as possíveis dificuldades enfrentadas pelo(s) aluno(s).

Metodologia

A pesquisa que será realizada classifica-se como qualitativa, visto que o objeto dela deverá ser a realidade da sala de aula e seus constituintes, em especial o professor, em determinado contexto que é o momento das atividades orais. Serão feitos relatos do que for vivenciado e sobre eles serão feitas reflexões que procurarão verificar qual o(s) papel(eis) que um professor de inglês desempenha durante as práticas orais.

Antes de tudo, pretende-se fazer a leitura e fichamento de artigos que trabalhem a noção do que é a habilidade da comunicação oral e os processos envolvidos em seu desenvolvimento. Entre estes textos pode-se citar Factors to Consider: Developing Adult EFL Students’ Speaking Abilities, de Kang Shumin (2002), Teaching Oral Communication Skills, de H. Douglas Brown (1994), A Course in Language Teaching, de Penny Ur (1991) e The teacher’s role in the oral lesson – a reminder, de David Cranmer (1991). Os PCNs – Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, que definem o processo de ensino de língua estrangeira de uma maneira genérica, também serão utilizados em nossa pesquisa (BRASIL, ****). É certo que à medida que a pesquisa se desenvolver, talvez haja necessidade de outras leituras e talvez até mesmo algumas modificações em nossa abordagem.

Simultaneamente ao processo de leitura e fichamento de textos, serão realizadas as observações em escola campo. A escola ainda não foi definida, mas possivelmente as observações e coleta de dados serão feitos no CEPAE – Centro de Ensino e Pesquisa Aplicada à Educação, instituição pública e federal de ensino fundamental, médio e superior com cursos de especialização em lactu senso. Esta unidade faz parte da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Umas das razões da escolha do CEPAE é o ambiente propício a pesquisa, que traz o apoio de professores e também disponibiliza horários que contribuem ao andamento da mesma.

Após a coleta de dados e produção de relatórios do que foi observado, especificamente durante as atividades de prática oral, será feita uma análise deste material com base nas teorias estudadas e nos artigos citados anteriormente. Desta maneira pretende-se ajudar professores de inglês a refletir sobre os papéis que desempenham ou deverão desempenhar durante as atividades de prática oral, de maneira que suas ações possam contribuir ao desenvolvimento de seus alunos.

Na próxima parte deste pré-projeto apresentamos o cronograma do que será realizado no próximo semestre.

Cronograma

Primeira etapa (de 02 de agosto a 30 de setembro):

• Leitura e fichamento de artigos;

• Observação de aulas na escola campo e realização de atividades que forneçam dados para posterior análise;

Segunda etapa (de 30 de setembro a 30 de outubro):

• Análise do material (teoria e problemas levantados no decorrer do estágio);

Terceira etapa (de 1o de novembro a 1o de dezembro):

• Elaboração do Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso – TCC.

Referências

BROWN, H. D. Teaching by Principles: an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. San Francisco, Longman, 2001.

CRANMER, D. The teacher’s role in the oral lesson – a reminder. In: MATTHEUS A.; SPRATT M. & DANGERFIELD L. P. At The Chalkface: Practical Techniques in Language Teaching. UK: Nelson, 1991.

SHUMIN, K. Factors to Consider: Developing Adult EFL Students’ Speaking Abilities. In: RICHARDS, J. C. & RENANDYA, W. A. Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. New York: Cambridge, 2002.

UR, P. A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory. Editora Cambridge.1991.

This year my goal is make a research about the roles of teacher in a oral activity, thus I decided make to this class an activity where I could put students to speak and produce something by themselves.

Below is my plan for the activity of semi-conducting:

Time	Steps
7′	To present a little video, a short animation called “Tin toy”. It’s a Pixar production about a toy that runs from its owner, a baby buster.
7′	To read some sentences about things that happens on the movie. Students should say if the sentences are true or false.
7′	To show the use of simple present and present continuous in that sentences.
10′	To ask students to make one sentence about the movie using simple present and present continuous. After read the sentence to their colleagues, these ones should say if the sentence was true or false.

My intention in this class was make students talk, produce something by themselves. In this way, they could show how were their pronunciation and their understanding about the subjects that we should revise, simple present and present continuous.

Although my goal to be check how a teacher react during the situations in a oral activity, I could do not too much about it in that moment because I was not observing myself, but how students would act in my activity.

After the class, I could think a little more about my role in that class and according my lectures of the text The teacher’s role in the oral lesson – a reminder, by David Cranmer (1991), I think I was just a conductor because my mean function was explain things and give instructions about what I wanted to do with them. The other roles of a teacher were performed by the real teacher of the class were we could make our semi-conducting. But I intend mature my ideas about it as my research progresses in the next semester when I will certainly develop strategies to make my research and improve the process that is only in the beginning.

1 – Introduction

In this part, the authors present the subjects of this chapter of the book. They will discuss how learner’s motivation affects their learning in important ways. They consider ways in which learners draw upon their existing skills and knowledge, and use their personal attributes in the process of learning.

Before, the notion of learning strategies has been relatively neglected, but in recent years, psychologists have had a growing interest in works with cognitive strategies. They quote researches developed in several universities in the USA as The Somerset Thinking Skills programme (Blagg et al. 1988), The Oxfordshire Skills programme (Hanson, 1991), and Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (Lipman 1988; Whalley 1991). They quote too the books Learning strategies, by Nisbet and Shuksmith (1991), and a collection of papers entitled Teaching Thinking, by Coles and Robinson.

2 – Learning strategies

According these authors, learners are actively involved in making sense of the tasks or problems with which they are involved. Learners use more than cognitive strategies. There is a variety of others processes to help learners to learn something. Among these other processes, they quote repeating of words over and over again; trying out hypotheses to see if they work; asking a speaker to repeat something; etc.

Some of these processes are used consciously and other are used unconsciously. Strategies used unconsciously are those who works inside our head (involve processing language, social questions, etc), and for this reason, cannot be observed to study. It is very problematic make a research in this area.

3 – Skills and strategies

Authors said that is difficult to define and classify learning strategies because terms such as skills, strategies, executive processes, micro-strategies and macro-strategies are used differently by different people.

About the difference between skill and strategy, Williams and Burden cite the Nisbet and Shucksmith’s explanation (1991) where they do an analogy of a football team. According to them, a player possesses a range of skills, such as how to pass the ball to another player; however, to succeed in a football match he has to know when to use these skills and how to put them together. Thus, strategies can be seen as the executive processes which manage and co-ordinate the skills (p.145).

Between other explanations, Williams and Burden ask some questions: “why we should be interested in learning strategies”?; “Why are some people more effective at learning than others”? (p.146). To answer theses question, first, we can observe what makes learners successful at learning something. The IQ is not related to it, what is important is the learners’ ability to respond to the particular learning situation and to manage their leaning in a appropriate way (p. 146).

4 – Learning to learn

In this part, the authors discuss the main aims in education to teachers that is “helping individuals to develop the attitudes that learning is a lifelong process and to acquire the skills of self-directed learning” (Knowles, 1976).

Another question is: how do teachers do it? Teachers have not many opportunities to teach in schools how to learn, because they need work a curricula that tend to concentrate on imparting knowledge and skills. Thus, children learn how to learn from their experience.

Williams and Burden also cite an example of student called Bill (Nisbet and Shucksmith, 1991), very common in language classes. Bill is a good student and teachers does not realize that this student can have difficulties to study by himself.

5 – Metacognitive strategies

The question of students as Bill is related to cognitive and metacognitive strategies. According the authors, cognitive strategies are seen as mental processes directly concerned with the processing of information in order to learn, that is for obtaining, storage, retrieval or use of information (p.148). Metacognitive strategies are a different level of cognitive strategy because they include an awareness of what one is doing and the strategies one is employing; an ability to manage and regulate consciously the use of appropriate learning strategies for different situation; and an awareness of one’s own mental processes and ability to reflect on how one learns, in other words, knowing about one’s knowing (p.148).

The term metacognition was introduced by John Flavell (1970, 1976, 1981).

6 – Summary

In summary, the main points presented by the authors until this moment are:

• Strategies can be of a higher or a lower order.

• They may be used consciously or unconsciously, and they are amenable to change, in other words, they can be learned.

• Strategies can be cognitive, that is, they can involve mental processing, or they can be more social in nature, and their effective use is enhanced by metacognitive awareness (p. 148-149).

7 – Language learning strategies

At this moment, the authors present informations about the study of language learning strategies that started in the 1960s and have been influenced by developments in cognitive psychology. They cite some important theorists such as Wenden and Rubin (1987), O’Malley and Chamot (1990), Ellis (1994) and Oxford (1990).

Between those theorists, Williams and Burden highlights some of them and their works:

• Rubin (1981, 1987) – there are three major types of strategies used by learners that can contribute directly or indirectly to language learning: learning strategies (these contribute directly to the development of the language system which the learner constructs); metacognitive strategies (they involve such processes as planning, prioritising, setting goals and self-management); and social strategies (these refer to the activities that learners use in an attempt to increase their exposure to the language).

• Rebecca Oxford (1990) – according to this author, the aim of language learning strategies as being oriented towards the development of communicative competence [...] involve interaction among learners (p.151). This author work six types of strategies: Memory, Cognitive strategies, and Compensation strategies (as direct strategies); Metacognitive strategies, Affective strategies, and Social strategies (as indirect strategies).

8 – Strategy training

About this subject, the authors discuss the following question: One of the debates of this area centres upon the issue of whether thinking strategies are best thought independently as lessons in their own right, or whether, by a process of ‘infusion’, they are better taught as part of a specific subject (p156).

According to the text, the most universally employed programme that work strategies and language is Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment (IE), used in more of 40 countries. Instrumental Enrichment is a highly structured series of tasks directly related to identified aspects of thinking such as making comparisons, categorising, organising one’s thoughts and drawing inferences (p. 157).

Others programmes cited by them are the Somerset Thinking Skills Programme (Blagg et al. 1988), the CORT programme (Bono, 1977, 1979, 1993), and Philosophy for Children (Lipman1988; Whalley 1991).

8.1 – The Strategic Teaching Model

In this sort of model of Jones et al. (1987), the teacher action is emphasized. Essentially, the teacher is required to assess the type and level of current strategy use, to select and describe an alternative strategy, if this is felt likely to be more helpful, to model the new strategy, and finally to support the learners use of that strategy by a process of scaffolding (p. 158).

8.2 – Process-based instruction

This model of Ashman and Conway (1989, 1993) has its origins in the work of the Russian cognitive psychologist Luria, later taken up by Das et al. (1979). This model involves five phases: assessment, orientation, strategy development, intra-task transfer, consolidation and generalization. The process-based instruction takes an information-processing approach to learning and views cognition as an interaction between input, storage and retrieval activities and planning.

9 – Learner training in foreign language teaching

In this part, the authors present some questions about how teach strategies in a foreign language class considering the individual differences among learners and the necessity of adaptation of this teaching according each situation.

To think about these questions it is necessary to consider cultural groups, gender differences, age, personal learning style and teacher’s attitudes and beliefs.

10 – Procedures for strategy training in foreign and second language teaching

Some procedures are concerned with teaching strategies separately and others with integrating strategy instruction with language tasks. O’Malley and Chamot (1990) summarise some of the different procedures for teaching strategies. They involve, in general, a sequence of first helping students to identify or become aware of strategies that they are already using, then presenting and explaining a new strategy, with a rationale for using it.

11- Conclusion

This article is a panoramic presentation of what and how learning strategies occurs in a foreign language class. We realize that there are many researches in this area, and these works are related to other areas such as psychology and sociology. Studies about teaching and learning strategies are very hard because demands many observations of how people deal with their difficulties during the learning, and a part of it happens in a mental level and makes impossible to observe all these processes. The authors make many reflections about these studies and how each process of learning can affect learners and teacher’s way of work. To conclude the article, Williams and Burden presents some final considerations about the process of learning and teaching strategies: to learners, it is necessary to emphasize the personal relevance or personal authenticity because it is difficult work strategies without consider their differences; to teachers, it is necessary that they be the mediators, working to facilitate the process and paying attention in their attitudes in class; about tasks, it is necessary starts with simple tasks with more control and little by little work complex activities requiring learners to select their own strategies to achieve their goals; and about context, teachers should create a co-operative environment considering the classroom culture and ethos.

References:

Williams, M & Burden R. L. Psychology for Language Teachers: a social Constructivist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.143-166, 1997.

7h30 – 16 students – time: two classes of 45 minutes each one.

This time, me and my colleagues observed another group, with another teacher, because the first one advised us to follow an effective teacher. She was a substitute teacher. We went to the other group, we talked to the ‘new’ teacher and she accepted our presence as observers.

Teacher started the class handing an activity that students made last week. After, she asked to her students if they remember the parts of the body. They answered that they do, but the teacher needed help them to remember. Using the vocabulary that they said, the teacher presented “health problems” writing it on the blackboard:

Teacher made a lot of mimes and play to explain things without say things in portuguese. After, she clears the blackboard and proposes a game: they pass a ball and who gets the ball should say the following sentence using an word that she wrote on the blackboard, but they should not repeat anything already said.

What’s the matter? I’ve got a … Oh, you should … Thank you. That’s ok.

toothache / go to the dentist / drink water / take shower / spread some ointement lotion / take an aspirin

In the second class, they worked oraly, in pairs, the dialogue wrote on the blackboard. After it, teacher asked them to make three variations of that dialogue. When the students finished the activity, teacher checked what each one did.

The next activity was about a text of the book. Initially, everybody listen an audio about skateboarders, and one of them brokes his arm. Oraly, they answer some question of the book.

To conclude the class, teacher asked them to create 5 dialogues using the followning structure from page 17 (Must 2):

What’s the matter with you? / her? / him? He’s … / I’ve got a … / She’s … Oh, you … / he … / she …

Some notes:

The class was very dynamic, and we could notice that the teacher really was the center of the attentions. She refused what she could to do not speak in portuguese, however students do not showed great difficulties in understand her. There was a good connexion and respect between the teacher and the students.

7h30 – 19 students – time: two classes of 45 minutes each one.

The first thing that the teacher did was the explanation about of how will be the oral evaluation and which will be the subjects of the write test:

English exam: 14/04 Presente simples “There is” e “There are” p.8 Occupations . p.9 Family – p. 7 Descriptions.

To the oral test, teacher explained that she will show a picture and students should make descriptions.

After, teacher made the call-roll and checked the activities that she asked them to make. The next part of the class was about the vocabulary saw in the last class. She also revised the use of “do” and “does” to make questions and answer them.

These classes was only about revision. In the next class, the subjects saw were vocabulary about professions and family. To revise the first subject students make an activity to complete. To revise “family”, the teacher asked them to make a family tree of their family.

To conclude the class, teacher made an activity about descriptions. First, students made descriptions of some pictures of people and after they made descriptions of their colleagues.

Some notes:

Teacher is aways clear is her explanations. The activities were clear and appropriate to make the revision. Nevertheless, students spent much time to make them. There were not oral practice between them, but students answered teacher in English according to the activity.

7h30 – 16 students – time: two classes of 45 minutes each one.

The third class that we observed started with a call-roll. Then, teacher made some corrections of the exercices that she asked last class.

After that moment, the teacher explained the Present Perfect Tense, and asked to her students that they have to pay attention in the “s” of the third person of singular. Soon after the explanations, the teacher showed a book’s picture of a boy and a girl. She made some questions:

• “Where is the boy?”

• “Where is the girl?”

Students answered according to the picture. In another moment, the teacher presented the listening, and students read their books with it. After each student made a lecture of a sentence. They are very shy, therefore we almost cannot hear their voices. They read slowly. Before the works with that text, teacher asked which words from the text are very similar to what we have in Portuguese. Students said:

Mexico	Temples	MSN
Family	Center	Toronto
Interesting	Pyramids	Scientific
Museum	Different	Canada
Visit	Ruins	Important

In the second class of the day, students explained what they read. Teacher helped them to understand the text making some questions. After they made an exercice about true or false. After they corrected the exercice with the teacher and they write a new sentence to the false ones.

The next activity was about another picture. There was a half pipe to skateboards. They learned a new vocabulary:

• half pipe (pista)

• knee pad (joelheira)

• skateboard (skate)

• helmet (capacete)

• pains: headache, toothache, backache…

To work this vocabulary, students made an activity to complete sentences according the book’s pictures. They corrected.

To conclude, the class was divided in two groups: “Sky” and “Hot group”. Each student from the each group should pick up a paper and make a mime; his group should make a sentence that explain what his colleague was doing. The actions was related to the vocabulary learned.

Some notes:

The teacher is very clear in her explanations. I am not sure about if all the students understood everything that the teacher says, but I am sure that at least half of the class understands what she says in English. The teacher asked always if students understood what she said, but someones say anything. There is a little group of students that disturb the class and the concentration of their colleagues. Teacher ask silence and their participation, but sometimes she was not listened. It is easy identify students that are not interested by the classes of English; they were obligated in to be there.

The Audio-Lingual Method

• Is based on oral approach emphasizing the vocabulary acquisition through exposure used in invented situations.
• The students drill grammatical sentence patterns through this method.
• Is based on linguistics and psychology.
• Charles Fries of the University of Michigan applied and developed this method, that is why is also called ‘Michigan Method’.
• The students acquire the sentence patterns through conditioning, responding correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement.
• Is focused first on listening, after on repetition and finally on understanding.

Some basic principles of the method:

• Teachers who use the Audio-Lingual Method want their students be able to use the target language communicatively, automatically without stopping to think.
• Teacher commands the main acts in the class, directing, controlling the language behavior of the students. The students are imitators.
• The teacher way of speaking is the model to the students repeat. Repetition is used almost every time.
• The new vocabulary and structural patterns is presented by dialogs. Grammar patterns are implicit.
• The interaction in the class is between the teacher and students and it is initiated by the teacher.
• The order of skills are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Pronunciation is also important.

Some basic techniques of the method:

• Dialog memorization: the students memorize the dialog through mimicry and they usually work in pairs. Some sentence patterns and grammar are included within the dialog.
• Repetition drill: students must repeat the teacher’s model as accurately and as quickly as possible.
• Chain drill: is used to the chain conversation. The chain drill allows controlled communication and also gives the teacher chances to check the student’s speeches.
• Substitution drill;
• Transformation drill;
• Complete dialog;
• Grammar game.

Reference:

LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, p. 35-51, 2000.

The class started with a call-roll and the teacher check in the same time the students who made the homework. We noticed that the book used by students is Must 2. After that first moment, the teacher made a hangman as a warmer. The words were about professions. The teacher wrote car driver, actor, decorator, and tour guide. After, students opened their books on the page 13. On that page there was an activity about professions. The teacher explained what they should do. We noticed that the teacher used English and Portuguese in class. All the students made the activity and after some minutes they made the correction. The activity had some sentences about professions and should be completed with some verbs in simple present tense. The sentences were:

1. He competes in car races and drives fast.

2. He teaches drama classes and performs and plays.

3. She paints house and wallpapers rooms.

4. He gives them informations about places and takes people sightseeing.

To make the correction, the teacher asked them to read the sentences in high voice. To the next activity, the teacher hand over some little pictures. These pictures were related to a story that the teacher would read. According to that story, students, in pairs, should put those pictures in order. She read the text three times. After, to check if the students were correct, she gave them the text and they read it together. With that text, there were some activities about the vocabulary. They made some activities and correct them. The class finished.

Some notes:

We noticed that the teacher was very organized about the parts of the class. Students were very interested and there was a positive atmosphere. Students read very well, just someones had some difficulties. Everything that the teacher talked in English was understood by students. Sometimes, the teacher used Portuguese to explain something that could be hard to students understand.

Last semesters we had studied many things about methods of teaching, identity of speakers of English and learners of this language, questions about second language acquisition and learning etc. We carried out our practice in public schools (first semester) and in Centro de Línguas (second semester), at UFG.

We made many lectures; including Larsen-Freeman, Yule (First language Acquisition), Freeman and Freeman (What do we acquire when we acquire a language?), Lightbown and Spada (How Languages are Learned), and Moita Lopez. With those materials, we could discuss in class what we understood and how their ideas were related on the reality that we knew in schools. In my opinion, those materials and discussions made us more critical about we could find in schools and the action of teachers of English and people who work to education. The main objective of our professors was to make us become teachers-researchers.

I enjoy our moments into class, but the practicals ones was also very interesting and productive. In Estágio 1, we carried out our practice in public schools. There, we could see (again, to them who have studied all their lives in public schools), but in a different point of view and with more experienced eyes, a little of how is to teach English in those environment and what a Brazilian teacher expect from their students and their reality. We saw many problems and difficulties that a English teacher faces to do his/her job, but there was also many good things. We found many professionals who give their best to make the school a good place to develop and help to improve the reality of many children, adolescents and adults.

The second semester we made our practice in Centro de Línguas. The objective was to notice the differences between English teaching in a public school and in an environment where teachers has more support and has a direct orientation from their professors.

We observed that there are many aspects to notice about these different realities. In general, teachers in public schools do not “know” the language target like teachers in language schools. Students in CL are more interested in learn than students of public schools. There are a great difficulty with materials and the discipline does not receive the same attention from coordinators and students like Mathematics and Portuguese.

This is a few of what we did during Estágio 1 and 2. If it is possible summarize in few words what we learned with our later experiences, I can affirm that we should be more than teachers, but teachers and researchers. It is not possible make a good work and change everything alone. Another important thing is: nothing that we do can be done without reflection. Reflection should come always with before action. A good professional should have knowledge about teaching, language and the ideas related to it. Only in this way, we can try change and improve the hard reality about our mission: teaching English and to educate critical citizens aware of their rights and duties.