PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL

FALE - FACULDADE DE LETRAS

METODOLOGIA E PRÁTICA DE ENSINO EM INGLÊS
Professor: Anamaria Kurtz de Souza Welp

Class Reports
- Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama
- Wizard Idiomas

Luis Thiago do Nascimento Charme

Porto Alegre
2010

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Summary

Presentation .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Characterization of the Schools .......................................................................................................... 4

Contextualization of the observations at the Institute Paulo da Gama ............................................ 5

Interviews.............................................................................................................................................. 6

Class Reports ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 14

2
 Presentation

The process of observation of English classes in high school shows the need for
practical experience to better understand the application of the content studied in class.

The classroom observations were conducted in a class of second grade at the

Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama, located at Avenida Silvado, 555,
Partenon District, Porto Alegre, Brasil between September 22th and October 6th 2010,
on Wednesdays, according to a schedule of 6h/class.

Were also observed a language course in Wizard Idiomas, located at Avenida

Cristóvão Colombo, 2543, Higienópolis District, Porto Alegre, Brasil between October
6th and October 27th 2010.

This report aims to provide the contact with reality in high school of information
and identification of problem situations during the process of teaching and learning, as
envisaged in the plan of the discipline.

This report is on recognition of the school environment as well as the analyzes

of the pedagogical practice of the teachers observed and informal interviews with
students and the classroom teacher.

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 Characterization of the Schools

The Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama was founded in 1955. The
school had the best rate notes in 2006 and is among the top seven public education
institutions in Brazil. The school runs from kindergarten to high school. There is still a
group in the normal course, the Magisterium.

The courtyard has three sports facilities in a large space. The school has four
buildings where classrooms were divided according to stage of education (kindergarten,
elementary and high school). The rooms are spacious and well ventilated; tables and
chairs are not conserved. It has cafeteria. It has an auditorium for lectures and meetings
for teachers and students. The library has very few books. It has a room with four
computers for internet access, but only one is working, for the use only student
members of the library, where students are granted access to social networks. This still
causes controversy among parents and teachers. The school also has spaces where tasks
are performed in physical education, especially on rainy days.

Laboratories and Computer Sciences are not operating because of the lack of
material.

The room of the department, the principal office and teachers’ room are in
separate places.

Because of interruptions of the night shift, this year has only one class of high
school at this time. Security has two guards who are awake during the day and another
guard and a resident of the school that do the night security. The school has two entries,
but the leaders decided that the institution would open only one day and another
overnight.The school consists of over a thousand students, most low-income families
living in neighborhoods adjacent to the institution.

Led by businessman Carlos Wizard Martins, Wizard Idiomas was inaugurated,

in Campinas in 1987. Currently there are 1221 units. Now Wizard also has schools in
the United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan and China. The network generates over
15,000 jobs and serves about half a million students a year.

The classes were not observed on the street mentioned above, because this
school has a project for students of Colégio Santa Ines, Petrópolis District, Porto
Alegre, where only students from the school can participate.

Although I had no permission to make drawings of the Wizard, I was able to

observe the classroom where there were lessons in the back of the school Santa Inês in a
small environment. The classrooms were very small. The class observed was six
students in class but I noticed there were only four students. The rooms occupied by the
coordinators of Wizard were improvised.

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 Contextualization of the observations at Instituto Estadual de
Educação Paulo da Gama

The impoverishment of the library is a remarkable factor for both teachers, who
need the books for a better development of their classes, and for students who need
these readings. Nevertheless, space is a favorite among most students interviewed,
perhaps because it contains computers with internet access.

Despite the income in some periods of the school year no being the best, there is
a strong relationship between teacher and student. Just as there is a great interaction
among teacher / school, student / student, teacher / teacher.

Parents also are present in many moments. There are complaints from of them
when the student arrives home without writing activities in the notebook.

The school has two years with the Youth of the Future Project by Unibanco
Institute. This project contributed greatly to the development of activities for high
school students. Teachers had several features to enhance their lessons: projector,
internet, tours and travel etc.

According to Professor Marcelo Mansilha, there is much material for high

school, but students are not interested. According to the professor, it would be great if
there was textbook to assist them in teaching.

“Classes are in small numbers of students and this

helps a little in the implementation of activities, especially
English Language. My work is focused on vestibular since
the first grade.”

Prof. Marcelo Mansilha (2010)

5
 Interviews

For the interview, a tape recorder was used so that the responses were well
reported.

Teacher:

The teacher Marcelo Mansilha, from Instituto Paulo da Gama, does not want to
be interviewed initially, but later he accepted. However, he clarified that he would not
talk too much.

According to the teacher, high school students have more advantages for
participating in the project bank. This project aims to improve the way students receive
information and prevent truancy. With the project teachers receive guidance by the
coordinators and they hold meetings for them interdisciplinary lessons. He said the
school has several important features that facilitate learning. However, few students
finish high school.

Students:

To interview the students I decided to talk to everyone in the classroom, because

there were few students in the classroom.

Most students say they do not think of staying in school, they prefer to make a
supplementary. Students have between 17 and 24 years old. They consider the school an
organized place and hard to study.

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 Classroom Reports
Institution: Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama
Class: First and Second Date: September 22th Shift: Afternoon
Teacher: Marcelo Mansilha Level: 2nd High School

Main Goal: Practice exercise

Step Start Final Specific Goal Procedures/Comments

1 1.30 p.m. 2.05 p.m. Verb Tenses  The teacher does the roll
Practice call.
 He distributed two sheets
with practice activities to
students.
 Before they started, he gave
a brief explanation and
allowed them to work in
pairs.

2 2.05 p.m. 2.40 p.m. Verb Tenses  The teacher helped students
Practice to perform tasks. He gave
clearer explanations about
the exercises.
 Some students ask questions
about what was given.
 The teacher takes notes on
the board regarding Verb
Tenses: simple past, present
continuous and present
perfect.
3 2.40 p.m. 2.50 p.m. Collecting the  Some students deliver the
tasks activity, even without
finishing it.
4 2.50 p.m. 3.08 p.m Closing  The teacher asks students
what music they want to
work in the following class.
 There are varied tastes.
Some mentioned Justin
Bieber, other Lady Gaga,
U2, Coldplay, Amy
Winehouse, Michael
Jackson

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Observations:

 Although the class had 19 students, there was much talk and dispersion, which
seemed to be beyond the control of the teacher.

 The teacher talks in Portuguese only because of the difficulty that students have
and the rejection of the class.

 Two students asked the teacher what the word "bitch" and the conversation
continues with other words: cock (referring to the penis), "she dog" (in the
pejorative sense to woman-dog)

Institution: Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama

Class: Third and Fourth Date: September 29th Shift: Afternoon
Teacher: Marcelo Mansilha Level: 2nd High School

Main Goal: Developing the skill of listening comprehension in English from the
activities of understanding of music Bad Romance by Lady Gaga.

Step Start Final Specific Goal Procedures/Comments

1
1.30 p.m. 2.30 p.m. Motivation  The teacher asks the students if
they have a good relationship
outside the school. He asks,
also, if they live more good or
bad times with their boyfriends
or girlfriends.
 After these questions, the
teacher asks the class to go to
the lab.
 In the lab, the teacher shows
some pictures in slides (the
world's ugliest dog, a red rose,
Bart Simpson in bed with a
thermometer in his mouth and
his depressed face, a woman
running in the street, a man
with his hands tied by
handcuffs, a white dove with a
white flag in its beak and a

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 man wearing a straitjacket.
 The teacher write on the board:
1. Good Thing; 2. Bad Thing
 Students associated the
pictures with the two topics.
 During the combination of
pictures and topics, the teacher
asks some questions in
Portuguese to specific students:
a) Do you consider peace a
good thing? Why?; b) Why is a
psycho a bad thing?; c) Would
you have a love affair with a
criminal?; d) It is important to
be healthy?; e) What would
you do if you knew someone
you love has contracted a
disease?; f) Is it important to
be beautiful to find a boyfriend
or girlfriend?
 Students are very participatory
in this first part of the lesson,
however, just a little
disturbing.
 The teacher presents the words
that give meaning to the
pictures of the slide and write
them on the board (ugly,
beautiful, disease, healthy,
criminal, peace, psycho).
 The teacher shows the video
2 2.30 p.m. 3.00 p.m. Activity 1 of the song Bad Romance.
Listening  After, the teacher asks a few
questions in Portuguese for
students and then write
them on the board in
English. For example,
“What type of romance does
she want?”, “What are the
characteristics does the
person she wants for a
romance have?”.

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3  The teacher tells students
3.00 p.m. 3.05 p.m. Closing that they will continue with
the content the following
class.

Observations:

 In the beginning some students were interested in the subject, but over time they
were disturbing the class making it a joke that had to be interrupted by the
teacher.

Institution: Instituto Estadual de Educação Paulo da Gama

Class: Fifth and Sexth Date: October 6th Shift: Afternoon
Teacher: Marcelo Mansilha Level: 2nd High School

Main Goal: Discuss the theme of "relationships today" analyzing the lyrics
Bad Romance, Lady Gaga.

Step Start Final Specific Goal Procedures/Comments

1
1.30 p.m. 2.00 p.m. Discussing  The teacher continues the
about lesson before asking several
relationships
questions about
today
relationships today always
relating with the song Bad
Romance, Lady Gaga. Do
you believe that true love
exists? Why?; Is romance
dead in the modern world of
today? Why?; What things
does a successful
relationship require? Why?

10
2 2.00 p.m. 2.30 p.m. Grammar –  The teacher gives a brief
Question explanation of the use of
words and question words and
auxiliary verb
auxiliary verbs using the
questions that were written
on the board regarding
music.

3 2.30 p.m. 2.55 p.m. Writing  The teacher proposes the

production of a short essay
about the theme “Is
romance dead today?”
4 2.55 p.m. 3.05 p.m Closing  There was a student who
was dancing and singing the
Lady Gaga’s songs during
class and the teacher
suggested that he dance the
choreography of "Bad
Romance."

Observations:

 The teacher makes several interactions with the class to provide a good
discussion of issues.

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 Classroom Reports
Institution: Wizard Idiomas
Date: October 6th – October 27th Shift: Afternoon
Teacher: Rafael Santos Pinto Level: Basic 2

Class Start Final Specific Goals Procedures/Comments

1 4.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.  Grammar –  The teacher gives a brief

Verb To Be; explanation about verb to be
Auxiliary
and auxiliary verbs.
Verbs.
The teacher distributed
 Listening
a sheet with some
words missing
dialogues and asked
them to listen and try to
complete.

2 4.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.  Speaking Using the book, the teacher
reviewed the contents of the
previous lecture and guided
the students for them to
create a short dialogue in
which each chose a different
question to another
classmate.

3 4.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.  Grammar –  The teacher explains what

Reported speech the reported speeches are
(direct and
and when to use them. He
indirect speech)
proposes an exercise of a
 Listening
book page that requires the
help of audio.

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  With the help of the book,
4 4.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.  Speaking students create sentences
 Reading and and then asked them to
Comprehension classmates what was
 Listening
learned in the previous
class: Reported Speech.
 The teacher distributes a
sheet with the lyrics of the
song Message in a Bottle
by The Police.
 First, students read then
identify unknown words
and then they interpret it.
Finally, they hear the song
and they follow it with the
lyrics.

Observations:

 No teacher has agreed to be interviewed. Only the main teacher accepted to talk
about classes and he even suggested that I attended if I wished.

 The class consisted of six students, but with the exception of the 3rd class, there
were always four students.

 There is conversation in every class. The classes are organized as follows: Week
1, grammar and Week 2, only conversation.

 Another interesting observation is that students themselves create the phrases

that will be part of the dialogue in the conversation classes.

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 Conclusion

The classroom observation allows us to examine different contexts of those who

learned and gives us the basis to make inferences.

It was noted that there is the possibility of unite theory to practice. Surely it must
be very carefully prepared. The Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais are very important to
develop an effective pedagogical practice.

The theory shows the practice, so we cannot appreciate a detriment to another.

The theory shows the practice, so we cannot forget enjoy one without the other. The
teacher must make adaptations to school for it; he will need the theory and preparation.
Both the teacher and student are the "main characters" of the teaching-learning process.

During the observations differences between the schools observed were noticed.
From structure to methodology.

In the first school several tools were used to facilitate the understanding of
students, always bringing the classroom to their reality. According to Referencial
Curricular “Diante de qualquer texto oral ou escrito ou de qualquer situação, as pessoas
tentam fazer relações com o que já conhecem para assim atribuir sentido ao que estão
lendo, ouvindo, vivendo. Isso significa que a compreensão é uma construção a partir de
um ponto de vista e com determinado objetivo, que pode (ou não) coincidir com o
propósito original do texto [...]”,ie, if the teacher used a material like Lady Gaga was
because he realized the world of his students what they were experiencing.

“[...] imitar um cantor preferido, para que a música que se está cantando seja reconhecida como
tal, pode ser uma porta de entrada para fazer parte de um determinado grupo e, nesse sentido, pode se
tornar relevante para a inserção desejada.” (Referencial Curricular, p.146)

In the second school, the tools were limited because the goal is different. In this
school structure, while in the first school gives greater attention to the grammar-oriented
college entrance examination.

“Assim, é fundamental que desde o início da aprendizagem de Língua Estrangeira o

professor desenvolva, com os alunos, um trabalho que lhes possibilite confiar na própria
capacidade de aprender, em torno de temas de interesse e interagir de forma cooperativa
com os colegas. As atividades em grupo podem contribuir significativamente no
desenvolvimento desse trabalho, à medida que, com a mediação do professor, os alunos
aprenderão a compreender e respeitar atitudes, opiniões, conhecimentos e ritmos
diferenciados de aprendizagem.” (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, p. 54)

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