Hello!
This is the first post of the series "My teaching practice 2021" in which I will tell you more about my teaching practice experiences.
In April 2021 I have had an amazing opportunity to complete my teaching English practice in Gaudeamus Non-public Primary School in Warsaw. Classes there were held fully remotely. Generally, the school follows the Content and Language Integrated Learning approach and of course Polish National Curriculum for English lessons.
I could observe lessons conducted in 1st (bilingual) and 3rd (not bilingual) grades. Both of them have around 16 students. For the English classes, children were divided into smaller groups (7/8 students) according to the list of their names. There are no differences in their levels between the groups. For a few classes in a week they are divided and a few they have all together.
Unfortunately because of the remote learning, I did not have a chance to observe the seating arrangement in the classroom and comment on it. Everyone could sit comfortably at home. Kids were not required to use webcams (only if they wanted to) which I think made them feel more relaxed during classes. The teacher was using it.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, the teacher decided to work mostly using the coursebook "Starkids". This way it was easier for the parents to help their children and they did not have to print any additional materials. Everything was provided by the teacher, students had their coursebooks and notebooks.
In my opinion, remote teaching and learning are difficult. I could see that it is as hard for the students as it is for the teacher. My mentor teacher had to organize the lesson properly to make it more interesting and involving for students by using different materials and interactive tasks. Lesson time also had to be changed from 45min to 30min to reduce the amount of time spend in front of the computer and to keep kids' attention.
What are your experiences with remote learning and teaching? Is it difficult for you as well?
Zuzanna
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