ENHANCING READING AND WRITING SKILLS BY MEANS OF EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION OF COLLOCATIONS

VICTOR MANUEL AGUILERA LICANDEO 2012

DEPARTAMENTO DE HUMANIDADES Y ARTE. UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS LAGOS

INFORME FINAL DE INVESTIGACIN EN EL AULA PARA OPTAR AL TTULO DE PROFESOR DE EDUCACIN MEDIA EN INGLS Y LICENCIADO EN EDUCACIN

PROFESORES SUPERVISORES MG. HCTOR MATURANA

MA. EDUARDO SENZ Table of Contents

Abstract .... 1. Introduction . 2. Literature Review .... 2.1 The Four Language Skills .. 2.1.1 Reading Comprehension ..... 2.1.2 Written Production ..... 2.2 Collocation............................................................................. 2.3 Explicit Instruction of Collocations ........................... 3. Methodology......... 3.1 Triangulation... 3.2 The Survey...................... 3.3 The Test.. 3.4 Subjects... 3.5 Objectives .. 3.6 Materials. 3.7 Procedures... 3.8 Hypothesis.. 3.8.1 Variables . 3.9 Research Questions........ 4. Analysis and Interpretation of Data ..... 4.1 Analysis of quantitative data... 4.1.1 Survey Results... 4.1.2 Pre-test results... 4.1.3 Post test results.. 4.1.4 Pre- and post-test comparison... 4.2 Analysis of Attainment of the General Objective... 4.3 Analysis of Attainment of the Specific Objectives. 4.4 Verification of the Hypothesis.... 4.5 Categorization..... 5. Conclusion 6. References ....... 7. Appendices... 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 12 14 14 15 15 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 21 21 21 27 30 33 38 44 48 49 52 54 57

7.1 Teachers Ethnographic Notes 7.2 Student-teachers Ethnographic Notes... 7.3 Lesson Plans... 7.4 The Test.................. 7.5 Criteria to Asses Writing.... 7.6 Survey and Survey Results..... 7.7 Working Plan ..... 7.8 Students Samples...

58 90 138 153 159 160 164 167

Abstract This innovative project investigated the relationship that exists between the explicit instruction of collocations and the development of reading comprehension and written production. This study intends to demonstrate how collocation knowledge can help students improve their reading and writing skills in a more efficient and effective way. This research was carried out with 24 10th grade students from Colegio Ingls Purranque in a 24-week period. To measure the effectiveness of the intervention period, quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Regarding the quantitative methodology, pre and post tests were used, and also a survey was given to gather data. Concerning qualitative methodology, ethnographic notes were taken as supportive evidence for the attainment of the objectives. The pre-test results showed that the median for the reading section was 28,5 point and the mean was 28,04 points, whereas in the pos-test the median was 38,5 points and the mean was 38,8. In writing section of the pre-test the median was 26 point and the mean was 23.2 points, whereas in the pos-test the median was 44 points and the mean was 37.4. Moreover, the observed value for t in the reading (9.8248) and the written (5.1973) sections were greater than the critical value for t (1.6794). These results provided evidence of the significant improvements in the students average reading comprehension and written production achievements after the intervention period, which suggests that collocation knowledge can significantly influence the development of both abilities. Key words: Collocation, explicit instruction, reading and writing.

1. Introduction Since the beginning of the XX century English has become the main language of international communication and business around the world. Nowadays, we are immersed in a globalized context which has demanded every nation to adopt the instruction of the English language at the core of their curriculum due to its huge importance in the different fields of science, commerce, education and even entertainment. Chile is no exception to the rule. In our country only 4% of our work force speaks English (TOEIC, 2012) so, in the year 2003 the Chilean Ministry of Education started an ambitious plan to turn Chile into a bilingual country called English Open Doors. Nevertheless, this project did not produce the so desire effect of having a bilingual country as the recent result of the first English SIMCE in Chile (prepared by the Educational Testing Service) showed that only 11% of students comprehend everyday phrases and short texts and only 1 out of 10 students gets a certification. (LaTercera, 2011) Based on the facts already mentioned and the experience as student-teacher, it was possible for me to notice that students had many problems reading texts in English and also producing short sentences or phrases. These observations led me to identify that one of students main problems was poor lexical development, which they addressed as lack of vocabulary. It is already known that learners do not acquire vocabulary in isolation, but instead they learn family words and chunks of language at early stages of language acquisition. Following the previous idea, we have to keep in mind that whenever we read a text or plan to write anything, most of the time, a set of prefabricated words and phrases are triggered according to the theme or subject we are dealing with. We have the ideas and arguments to develop our texts and also we use these chunks of language to read or write. However, many times we are not conscious of the importance of those sets of words that are stored in our memories and the way in which they can help us organize our ideas and the lexicon to be used. Furthermore, the different sources of written texts that are available also provide us with a great variety of structures, patterns of organization, vocabulary and discourse markers. These are what, from now on, I will refer to as collocations: linguistic signals of semantic and discourse function that are very much concerned with the surface of the text (McCarthy, 1999). The analysis and study of these lexical elements can help students improve their reading comprehension and as a consequence the composing task. Based on this assumption and considering the difficulties students presented, it

was decided to approach reading and writing skills by making students aware of collocations in the different texts they read in an everyday basis. This innovative project was carried out from April to November in 2008 in a 10 th grade with 24 students in Colegio Ingls Purranque. It investigated the relationship that exists between the explicit instruction of collocations and the development of reading comprehension and written production. This study intended to demonstrate the importance of collocations in a more comprehensive sense, determining how this knowledge can help students improve their reading and writing skills in a more efficient and effective way, bringing a discourse dimension into teaching languages. For that purpose pre and post test were given and a survey was applied to gather quantitative data, and also field notes were taken to complement the statistical results with qualitative data to support this research. In the following sections a theoretical framework will be provided in which the rationale for this study is going to be reviewed. Also the methodology used in this research will be explained, and quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed focusing in the accomplishment of the premise that the explicit instruction of collocations can have a positive impact on students reading and writing skills.

2. Literature Review As the aim of this research is to enhance reading comprehension and written production by means of explicit instruction of collocations, it is important to define these skills and collocation as they have been considered for the purpose of this investigation. First, the four language skills will be briefly defined and it will be explained why reading and writing were chosen to be developed at the same time. Also, collocation will be described and defined according to the aim of this research, and a final connection between the two abilities and lexical development will be drawn while considering other investigations in the same area. I will present a review of literature where it will be stated what I mean for each term presented in this project from an English Language Teaching (ELT) perspective. 2.1 The Four Language Skills At the moment that we start learning a language there are four skills that we need for complete communication which are: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences to understand spoken speech (English Club, 2012). Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode, which includes face-to-face conversations, telephone calls, etc., in which we are alternately listening and speaking decoding spoken messages (Orwig, 1998). Reading is the process of making meaning from written texts, in which a reader has to identify the words in a print and construct from them decoding a message (Leipzig, 2001). Finally, writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form, utilizing symbols to represent the sounds of speech to be later recovered without the necessary intervention of the utterer (Omniglot, 2012) According to what has already been mentioned, any language has four skills, in which two are for producing output (speaking and writing) and two are for receiving input (reading and listening). Moreover, we can also reclassify them making a difference between those used for spoken communication (listening and speaking) and written communication (reading and writing) (Essberger, 2001). Based on the observations and analysis of needs and difficulties students had, it was decided to focus on the two abilities for written communication, as they have in common similar processes of development which can have a significant impact on students. Both of them require analysis of text and lexical development to be improved, and share in common that there are no time limits and plenty of room to correct any mistakes that might happen in the way. In addition, both skills allow resourcing to

learners which aids them in the process of self-developing the two abilities. In the following segments reading, writing and collocation will be described according to this innovative project, as well as an integration section in which it will be explained how the explicit instruction of collocation can be used to improve reading comprehension and written production achievements. 2.1.1 Reading Comprehension Reading, as it was described previously, is a receptive skill which involves responding to a text, rather than producing it. It involves making sense by understanding the language at word level, sentence level and whole-text level (Grabe & Stroller, 2002). Unfortunately, reading a text is a little more complex than this previous definition: we have to interpret links created by cohesive markers across sentence boundaries, pair and chain together items that are related and on top of that, make sense of them. Making sense is an act of interpretation that depends as much on what readers bring to a text as what the author puts on it (McCarthy, 1999). Reading comprehension is an interactive process in which many processes happen at the same time, such as recognizing words very rapidly, keeping them active in our working memories, analyzing the structure of sentences, building text comprehension in our minds, monitoring comprehension, etc. (Tindale, 2003, in Gonzalez, 2009). Good readers understand the processes involved in reading and consciously control them. This awareness and control of the reading processes is called metacognition, which means "knowing about knowing." (Smith, 2003) Readers also connect the message of a text to their knowledge of the world, in which linguistic information from a text interacts with information activated from the readers long-term memory, as background knowledge (Baez, 2011). In order to develop reading comprehension, learners need to develop background knowledge, extensive oral and print vocabularies, knowledge of various kinds of texts, the purposes for what they are reading and strategies for constructing meaning (Leipzig, 2001). As previously stated, reading is a complex process which demands the reader to activate a lot of mental structures and bring them to the act of decoding the information of a text. An important component of reading comprehension is the ability to recognize discourse organization. Students who recognize and follow a texts basic discourse organization recall more information from it. Differing discourse organizational schemes, or rhetorical frames, in texts can lead to different results in recall of information (National Education Association, 2007). In addition, when reading any authentic text of any type being it descriptive, narrative, argumentative or expository, the reader has to decode words presented in them that mark the discourse organization and also the text structure. Following the same idea, different expository texts can have different text structures such as listing, cause and effect,

comparison contrast, problem solution and time order (National Education Association 2007). These are aspects any reader has to bear in mind when approaching any text that could make the task of decoding a message a much fluent process. To sum up, reading is an interactive process which demands several processes to happen at the same time. It not only implies being able to recognize words, analyzing structures and making sense, but also it connects what is being read with our background knowledge. In the following section, writing will be defined from an ELT perspective. 2.1.2 Written Production Writing is a productive skill which means that it involves producing a text instead of decoding it. Writing is a process in which we put together a combination of letters to form words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, and put sentences together to make coherent text. (Lindsay and Knight, 2006). According to Hedge (1988) writing is a complex process with a number of operations going on simultaneously, which some writers know how to better work and produce more successful pieces of writing. Following this idea, the process can be guided and the teacher can help the student improve the processes of producing text by including analysis of written texts. We write for many different reasons, for instance to pass on information and opinions, to ask questions, to request for something, etc. Moreover, most of the times we write to communicate and the text we produce has to be effective in order to communicate our ideas and thoughts. According to Lindsay and Knight (2006) we write: to practice the language to reinforce the language we have learnt to help memorization as a way of recording language as part of being assessed.

The process of writing can be broken down into three stages: preparation, draft and editing and rewriting (Lindsay and Knight, 2006). These three stages can take place as many times as needed and the previous order is not necessarily fixed, because we have the chance to change our creation many times. It is more accurate to characterize writing as a recursive activity in which the writer moves backwards and forwards between drafting and revising, with stages of replanning in between (Hedge 1988).

The process of writing is often described as consisting of three major activities or groups of activities: pre-writing, writing and rewriting, and editing (Hedge 1988). In the following section, collocation will be defined and described for the purpose of this project. 2.2 Collocation For the purpose of this project, now I am going to define what a collocation is. One of the definitions of collocation that is available is that a collocation is a predictable combination of words (Hill, 2000, in Lewis, 2000, p 51) English, and any language, is full of collocations which are recurrent combinations of words that co-occur more often than expected by chance according to Lewis (2000, in Gonzalez 2009, p 11). These two previous definitions share in common the fact of establishing the basis to understand that collocation is the co-occurrence of words in any type of text. The challenge for the teacher is to make simple categories which will help their students see some order and organization in the lexicon (Hill, 2000, in Lewis, 2000, p 51) So Hill states the seven most common combinations of words that could be taught to students. Adjective + noun Noun + noun Verb + adjective + noun Verb + adverb Adverb + verb Adverb + adjective Verb + proposition + noun a huge profit a pocket calculator learn a foreign language live dangerously half understand completely soaked speak through an interpreter

Hill proposes the previous seven kinds of collocations because they can be very useful, as these categories can draw learners attention to collocations of different kinds and set the principles to study and analyze them. He also says that the term collocation should help bring all the chunks of language to students attention (Hill 2000, in Lewis 2000). On the other hand, it has to be noted that not all collocations are fixed. According to Thornbury (2007, p 6) we have seen that groups of more than one word, such as bits and pieces, do up, look for, can function as a meaningful unit with a fixed or semi-fixed form. Technically these are known as multi-word units, but they are often called simply lexical chunks. There are also some strong collocations that have the status of idioms; some may be so common that they hardly seem worth remarking upon, so the teacher should be aware of the different types of collocation as learners may tend to transfer from their mother tongue into the target language forming wrong collocations (Thornbury, 2007). This same researcher says that collocation is not as frozen a relationship as that of compounds or multi-word units, and two collocates may not even occur next to each other they may be separated by one or more other words (Thornbury, 2007, p 7)

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Here this author gives us a hint to other types of collocations to look for, because words are not always bound to appear next to each other, but they can be near. In addition, there also exist sentence frames, which are a set of semi-fixed multi-word units that provide a structure on which to produce a new sentence reducing planning time in rapid speech. An example of sentences frame is Its amazing how because based on this starting point we can have Its amazing how words can happen together and Its amazing how collocations behave in a text , an example of how a sentence frame can be used to produce two new sentences (Thornbury, 2007). Compiling what has already been stated, it can be said that collocations hunt in packs and two words are collocates if they occur together more than chance frequency, such that, when we see one, we can make a fairly safe bet that the other is in the neighborhood (Thornbury, 2007, p 7). The term collocation in this project considers the definition given by Lewis (2000) and Thornbury (2007), as well as the idea of collocation as any marker present in texts. In this sense collocation is a linguistic signal of semantic and discourse function, very much concerned with the surface of the text (McCarthy, 1999). Cohesive markers create links across boundaries and pair and chain together items that are related. According to the definition given by Lewis (2000), collocation is not a semantic relation between words and therefore it does not belong to the term lexical cohesion. On the other hand, lexical cohesion in this project means only exact repetition of words and the role played by certain semantic relations between words in creating textuality (McCarthy, 1999). Reiteration means either restraining an item in a later part of the discourse by direct repetition or else restraining its meaning by exploiting lexical reiterations. Lexical relations are the stable semantic relationships that exist between words (McCarthy, 1999). In the different types of texts text structures can often be identified by certain signal words, which in this project are also considered collocations.
Text structure Description/List Structure Description This section resembles an outline. Each section opens with its main idea, then elaborates on it, sometimes dividing into subsections Cause and Effect The reader is told the result if an event or Structure occurrence and the reason it happened. Comparison/Contrast These texts tell about the differences and Structure similarities of two or more objects, places, events or ideas by grouping their traits for comparison. Order/Sequence These texts tell the order in which steps in Structure a process or series of events occur. Figure 1 (National Education Association, 2007) Signal Words For example, specifically, in addition for instance, particular, in

Consequently, therefore, as a result, thereby, leads to However, unlike, like, by contrast, yet, in, comparison, although, whereas, similar to, different from Next, first, last, second, another, then, additionally

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The figure above (Figure 1) presents us with the different text types and the signal words that describe them. As it was stated previously, these words are also considered collocations because every time they appear in a text, they co-occur with others and behave as collocations, signaling text structure. That is to say, when we see one, the others are probably in the neighborhood (Thornbury, 2007). The notion of collocation, as it has been described so far, is present in any type of text. Not only expository texts have collocations but all the different text types that exist in English or in any other language. It often happens that two parts of a text are connected in meaning. For instance, in a story, the events described in one sentence often follow the events described in the previous one and they connect each other. Here it is when connectives such as then, nevertheless, but and in spite of help chain the story (Hudson, 1995). Because of the importance of these words in adding cohesion and their high probability to be present in texts, connective have also been considered collocations. Of course, collocations of the connective type can be found in any sort of text type. Examples of these are those presented by Hudson (1995) Addition connectives, example and Opposition connectives, example yet Cause connectives, example therefore Time connectives, example then, in In any kind of text or text structure, collocations are bound to be found as they organize the logic of any language. They are present and work in certain contexts and are accompanied with specific lexicon. According to the definitions already given, it can be said that collocation, then, is best seen as part of a continuum of strength of association (Thornbury, 2007). This latter definition gives as the sense that they are not only repetition of words, but real associations that happen in texts. After presenting some definitions of collocation and examples of other lexical chunks and signal words, it will be summarized what a collocation is. A collocation is any signal word that can often help identify text structures in descriptive texts (National Education Association, 2007), these words (e.g. for example, consequently, however, etc.) help identify text structure and they always happen in their corresponding text types. A collocation is any sentence frame present in texts, including prefabricated phrases such as its amazing how..., I would like to say... etc. (Thornbury, 2007). Also, it is any predictable combination of words, which can be found in any text type (Lewis, 2000). In addition, it is any key word or words that repeat in any text and help to make a text coherent (Hudson, 1995) because they not only carry meaning, but also trigger other words that are most likely to co-occur. Expanding the previous idea, it is any connective

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that is used to indicate a specific connection between different parts of a text, including conjunctions, adverbs and prepositional phrases (Hudson, 1995), as they add fluency and cohesion to texts. In the following section it will be stated how this project intends to aim at enhancing reading and writing by means of explicit instruction of collocation and also include what other researchers have found in the same area. 2.3 Explicit Instruction of Collocations Previously, reading, writing and collocation were defined. Now it is going to be explained what is meant for explicit instruction and why it was chosen to approach the teaching of collocations. There are three approaches for vocabulary instruction and learning which are: incidental learning, explicit instruction, and independent strategy development. For the aim of this investigation, it was decided that the explicit instruction of collocations was the most suitable considering students low understanding of the language and that in general, emphasizing explicit instruction is probably best for beginning and intermediate students who have limited vocabulary (Hunt & Beglar, in Richards & Renandya, 2002, p 258). Explicit instruction was chosen as the main approach as it involves diagnosing the words learners need to know, which provides room to decide what collocations are most appropriate to be taught. In addition, this model allows presenting words for the first time thus helping students elaborate collocation knowledge, and it also aims to develop fluency with known words (and collocations) which supports the enhancement of written production (Hunt & Beglar, in Richards & Renandya, 2002). Furthermore, explicit instruction is essential for beginning students whose lack of vocabulary limits their reading ability, as they may have a tendency to get frustrated when they do not understand a word. As it was noted during the observation process, students needed more lexical development, and this did not allow them to read texts fluently at times. Hunt and Beglar (in Richards & Renandya, 2002) also argue that fluency partly depends on developing vocabulary through reading and studying high-frequency words, supporting the premise that collocation instruction is important to develop fluent readers and composers, and that it can also help students who do not have much understanding of the language when they start learning it. As it was stated earlier, reading and writing are the abilities used for written communication, and they were chosen to be developed as they permit resourcing and analyzing of texts. These two skills can benefit from a lexical syllabus which explicitly instructs collocations, as a lot of early language learning takes the form of chunks (collocations) (Thornbury, 2007). When we consider the process of developing reading comprehension, it can be enhanced if students develop the capacity of identifying a text discourse organization and its signal words (National Education Association, 2007)

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which can also lead into better written production, as a process of analyzing texts and the collocations present in them can increment the amount of prefabricated phrases and collocations at disposal to write, thus developing fluency in students. In addition, explicitly teaching students to use prefabricated language, rather than using grammar rules to fabricate language from scratch, saves valuable processing time (Thornbury, 2007, p 114). The role of collocations is not only useful to develop the ability of decoding text, but it also can help producing texts as many sets of pre-fabricated phrases are available for learners to be used in their compositions. It can turn students into more fluent and lexically competent writers. Moreover, the process of explicitly teaching chunks serves two purposes in the development of language acquisition: it enables the student to have collocations of language available for immediate use (be it for decoding or producing a text) and also provides the learner with language patterns to hold in reserve for latter analysis and reutilization in compositions (Thornbury, 2007). Teaching signal words that help recognize text structure in expository texts can aid students in monitoring comprehension (National Association, 2007). This type of collocations are important in the analysis of written texts because students can incorporate those lexical items and, if the student has learned them well, later use them to create their own pieces of writing. In any kind of text or text structure collocations are bound to be found as they organize the logic of any language. They are present and work in certain contexts and are accompanied with specific lexicon. Applying this notion to the analysis of any text can set a new way in which students are going to prepare to read thus enhancing writing because students will have frames in which to build their compositions. For instance, when a student wants to write a letter, certain collocations such as best wishes, see you soon, sincerely yours, etc, can be used making her text more lexically accurate than a mere translation. Moreover, in related investigations in the field of lexical development to improve comprehension, some interesting experiences can be found. For instance, Gonzalez (2009) proposed in his research that the development of lexical knowledge, as well as strategies to learn vocabulary, could improve students average reading comprehension, concluding that the teaching of multi-word units can improve students average reading comprehension achievements, especially in less advantaged students. In addition, Baez (2010) in his research investigating the influence of vocabulary acquisition in the improvement of reading comprehension, suggested that it is necessary to continue developing students lexical competence and reading comprehension in order to acquire communicative competence, by focusing on lexical development as it had a significant impact in students with a low level of understanding of English. To end the literature review, the rationale for the study was presented. It was explained why reading and writing were considered to be enhanced during the intervention period. Collocation was

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defined and connected to the two abilities and explained how it is expected to help students improve their reading comprehension and written production, by means of explicit instruction of collocations. 3. Methodology In this section it will be described the triangulation of data used in this research, the instruments and methods used to collect data, who the subjects were in this investigation, which the objectives were, what procedures were used, and what the hypothesis and research questions in this study were. 3.1 Triangulation In this section of my project I will explain why I took into account the Pre- and Post-test results, the field notes and the lesson plans, and the survey for the triangulation of data.
Pre- and Post-Tests

Lesson Plans

Field Notes

Pre- and Post-test results The results of these tests can prove whether my intervention period was significant or not.

They indicate students reading comprehension, written production and collocation knowledge before and after the intervention period. The post-test indicated if there were any changes or improvements both in the reading and writing skills after the intervention period of 24 weeks. It also presented findings regarding acquisition of collocation knowledge that was the core of this innovative project. Moreover, the results verified the hypothesis which stated that: If 10th graders from Colegio Ingls Purranque are taught during a direct period of instruction based on the analysis, study and use of collocations present in texts, they will improve their reading comprehension and thus their written production significantly. Lesson Plans They can show how I planned my lessons, how I designed the activities, how I chose the contents that I included and the learning objectives that I decided students should attain in every lesson and activity. These lesson plans were chosen to reflect whether the work carried out was coherent with the objectives of the project. They also presented an overview of how my lessons were organized in

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general. Overall, these lesson plans are the evidence of how I performed in theory and hint how the classes may have been taught. Field Notes The field notes represent the performance of my students as well as my own work during the intervention period. I consider that they are very important because they indicate how I put the lesson plans into practice. These field notes can show directly whether what was planned and designed worked during regular classes. They can show the aspects my students were able to achieve and also the way I conducted myself as a teacher. They give a clear idea of my overall work as a teacher and at the same time they show the actions I did appropriately or not during a lesson. 3.2 The Survey A survey (see appendix 7.6) was carried out in order to determine learners beliefs and experiences towards their experience learning English in general. The instrument consisted of a set of eleven questions with three options each in which they had to select the answer that represented them the most. It was presented in printed form and in Spanish, so that students would not have problems understanding the questions and what they had to do. The survey investigated what were the difficulties learners had when reading a text, what they could understand from written and spoken messages. It also intended to know if students were able to understand instructions in English and what strategies and attitudes they had when they were asked to write a text. The survey gathered data related to students attitudes and beliefs towards English, the difficulties they had during the lesson, whether they had developed some reading skills, what were the attitudes and strategies they used when having written tasks and the frequency in which they were asked to write in English. 3.3 The Test The objective of my project was to determine to what extent a period of instruction focused on collocation knowledge development could improve reading comprehension and written production achievements. This way, I designed a test with two sections: one to measure reading and one to measure writing. They were intended to assess students skills as well as their lexical knowledge. The test (See appendix 7.4) was used to compare the reading comprehension and written production results before and after the direct instruction period. I gave the pre-test to 24 tenth-grade students at Colegio Ingls Purranque on April 24 th and the post-test on November 28th, 2008. The tests were the same and assessed the same aspects both times. The ideal score for the reading section

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was 55 and for the writing section was 50. First I will describe the reading section of the test and then I will present the writing part. Reading Section In this part of the test (See appendix 7.4) two short texts were used to check reading comprehension and lexical knowledge and three paragraphs were used only to assess lexical knowledge, which adds up to five pieces of reading. In the first item students had to read a text called Exotic Shopping in Paris. One important aspect about this text was the presence of collocations. It was a key factor when choosing the text that it contained collocations of different types to produce questions about the lexicon. In item I students had to choose the correct title for each paragraph from a given list of names. The objective was to evaluate what students understood from a paragraph. The ideal score for this item was 4 points. The second item was based on the same text. Here students had to read extracts from the passage and relate them to either [1] Paris or [2] Shops. The intention of this item was to evaluate students capacity of establishing a connection between what they read and a key concept. The ideal score for this item was 8 points.
II. Multiple Choice. Put the corresponding number if the information is related to [1]Paris and [2]Shops. (8 points) 1. 1 It is the best city for people who like to buy things. 2. 2 There you can find from furniture to clothes. 3. 2 They are located on Bonaparte and Jacob 4. 1 The river Seine is part of it. Streets. 5. 2 Woolen skirts, leather jackets and designer 6. 2 They are open from eight to ten in the morning till clothes can be bought in them. about seven in the evening. 7. 1 Dont miss the chance to go shopping. 8. 2 There is always something to suit everyones pocket and taste.

Extract 1 from the test (See appendix 7.4)

The third item intended to evaluate whether students were able to identify a collocation and see how it worked in a sentence. Some collocations were extracted from the text and others were made up. The ideal score for this item was 8 points. They had to decide whether the collocations presented in sentences corresponded to any of the kinds of collocations and if they were correctly used in the extracts. In the fourth item students were given a passage called The Terrible Twins: El Nio en la Nia. Students had to reorder this text. The aim was to evaluate students capability to discover the organization of a text. The ideal score of this item was 4 points. Item V was based on the same reading passage. Students had to answer true or false according to the text. The aim of this item was to check understanding of the text and students capacity to discern and to evaluate information. The ideal score for this task was 8 points.

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In item number six (extract 2), students had to analyze collocations taken from the text. They had to choose between meanings proposed for each preposition and identify what the purpose of that word was. The ideal score for this item was 4.
VI. For the possible meanings of the prepositions FOR, OF, FROM, identify which one is the most appropriate sense for each one in the extracts from the previous text. (4 points) FOR [1] used to indicate purpose or reason [2] used to compare one thing with others of the same type 9. 1 Meteorologists are studying these Terrible Twins so they can prepare for possible future disasters. OF

used to mention or introduce new elements [2] used to show origin or reason of something
[1] 10. 11. 1 2 During El Nio the distribution of dry and wet weather changes radically El Nio is the result of very warm water in the equatorial Pacific

FROM [1] used to show the place where someone or something starts [2] used 12. 2

to indicate or introduce a disease or problematic situation

Other regions suffer from abnormally dry conditions.

Extract 2 from the test (See appendix 7.4)

In item seven, students had to read three different paragraphs. Students had to identify the text markers and decide if they corresponded to: comparison contrast, cause and effect or chronological order. The ideal score was 3 points. In item number eight, students were proposed 10 signal words. They were required to discern based on their meanings and uses what text pattern they marked. The aim was to test students ability to identify and classify words based on their meaning and use in a sentence or phrase.
VIII. Look at the words and phrases below and classify them according to their meanings in the paragraphs above: [1] effect, [2] comparison, [3] contrast, [4] chronological order (10 points). 13. 1 Take away pain 14. 4 Three major stages 15. 2 Similarities 16. 3 However 17. 4 By 1920 18. 2 Both countries 19. 1 Stop a fever 20. 4 Finally 21. 3 But 22. 1 result in

Extract 3 from the test (See appendix 7.4)

In item nine students were proposed three collocations. They were required to decide whether these collocations were used correctly in six sentences. The aim was to test students skill to evaluate collocations. The ideal score for this item was 6 points. Writing Section In this part of the text students were also required to read two texts. One was a pen friend request and the other was a letter from one friend to another. Students had to answer in written form and also produce compositions of their own.

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In item number ten (extract 4) students were required to fulfill two tasks. The first part (X-I for the statistical analysis) was to complete a table with specific information and the second part (X-II for statistical analysis) was to complete the same chart with their own personal information. The aim was to evaluate students capacity to extract information and write fluently. The ideal score for this section of the item was 30 points assessing the two tasks separately.
X. Read the advertisement for pen-friends and complete the table with the information about Anna and yourself (15 points). Then write your own pen-friend advertisement (15 points) Hello. My names Pierre and Im seventeen years old. I live in Paris, France. I have got short straight dark hair and brown eyes. Im quite tall and slim. I love playing computer games and I can play tennis very well. I like reading too. Please email me today! Hi! My name is Anna and I am eleven years old. I live in Moscow, Russia. I have got long straight fair hair and green eyes. Im quite short and I like skiing. I can play the piano quite well. Please be my e-mail pen pal. Pierre Anna You Age 17 11 Lives in Paris, France Moscor, Russia Hair Short straight dark Long straight fair Eyes Brown Green Height Quite tall Quite short Build Slim --------------------------Likes/Loves Playing computer games, reading Skiing Can Play tennis very well Play the piano quite well

Extract 4 from the test See appendix 7.4. Here is item X showing the first task students had to fulfill.

In item number eleven students were given a text from which they had to extract certain information. The students had to list down information extracted from a letter. The aim was to evaluate students capacity to obtain specific information. The ideal score for this section was 5 points. In item number twelve students had to write a letter. Here the objective was to assess students capacity to organize information and replicate a model already seen. The ideal score for this item was 15 points. It is important to notice that students writing tasks (X-I and XII) were evaluated according to a rubric which was detailed in the aspects that were considered to assess the compositions (See appendix 7.5 Criteria to Asses Writing). 3.4 Subjects The subjects who participated in this research were 24 students: 12 boys and 12 girls from a school in Purranque, X Region, Chile. The group was a 10 th grade at Colegio Ingls Purranque, whose ages ranged from 15 to 20 years old. 3.5 Objectives

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General Objective To determine the influence of Collocation knowledge on the improvement of 10 th graders reading comprehension through the explicit instruction of collocations in different types of texts and how this knowledge can develop written production.

Specific Objectives To identify the strategies students use to write during the direct instruction period. To detect the effect of the collocation knowledge on the development of students reading comprehension and writing skill. To verify the level of proficiency that students can accomplish after a period of explicit instruction of collocations in their reading and writing development. 3.6 Materials In this innovation project various resources were used. These include: lesson plans, to show how classes were planned and how activities were designed; a pre and post test, to measure students achievements at the beginning and at the end of the instruction period; a survey, to identify students beliefs and problems when learning English; and field notes, to identify problems and virtues of the mentor teacher as well as the student-teacher. 3.7 Procedures Concerning quantitative methodology, a pre-test was given to assess students reading comprehension and written production at the beginning of the intervention period. After twenty four weeks of instruction, tenth grade students at Colegio Ingls Purranque were given a post-test which was the same instrument. The comparison between both tests proved that the intervention period improved students reading and writing skills. In addition, a survey was carried out in order to know the students interests in learning English, their needs and beliefs. The results shown by this survey helped me to decide how I should deal with the students and what other aspect I should consider when teaching the language.

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With respect to qualitative methodology, ethnographic notes were taken as a supporting evidence for the attainment or not attainment of the objectives. Also, extracts from students performances were taken to show the development of their written production, contrasting both the pre and post tests.

3.8 Hypothesis The hypothesis formulated was: H1: If 10th graders from Colegio Ingls Purranque are taught during a direct period of instruction based on the analysis, study and use of collocations present in texts, they will improve their reading comprehension and thus their written production significantly. ( 0,05) 3.8.1 Variables X (dependent): enhancement of reading comprehension and written production. Y (independent): the study, analysis and use of collocations in texts. 3.9 Research Questions What are the strategies students use to develop a writing task? What is the level of proficiency when reading and writing that students can accomplish after a period of explicit instruction of collocations? What are the difficulties students face when they read a text or start writing?

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4. Analysis and Interpretation of Data 4.1 Analysis of quantitative data In this section the quantitative data such as the survey and the pre- and post-test will be analyzed and the final results will be compared. First, I will start with the survey, showing the data gathered and analyzing the results. Then I will continue with the results obtained by students in the pre and post test as well as a comparison of both measurements.

4.1.1 Survey Results In this part of my final report I will show the results of a survey (See appendix 7.5) carried out in order to know the students weaknesses and strengths when learning English. The results helped me to know students understanding of the language, the aspects that I should consider when teaching English and how to reinforce their weaknesses. In general, they showed a direct reference to all aspects mentioned above. This survey was taken by 24 students almost at the middle of the intervention period. They were required to select only one correct answer per question. They were encouraged to be faithful to their own reality and answer all the items. The questions asked in the survey as well as their results are presented and commented as follows:

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1.Cuando usted lee cualquier texto en ingls es capaz de entender:

Solo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal; 8% Ideas generales y especficas; 25%

Ideas generales; 67%

Graph 1. Graphic representation of question 1 from the survey

In the first question the results suggest that 16 students were able to understand general ideas when they were required to read in English which represents 67% of the class. Only 6 students were able to understand specific and general ideas and just 2 students said that they were able to understand some words but not the content of the text which represent the 25% and 8% respectively. It indicates that most students by the time the questionnaire was taken were developing their reading skills and only a few were not making significant progress.
2.Cuando usted escucha algn texto en ingls, ya sea una cancin,
slo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal; 42%

ideas generales; 42%

ideas generales y especficas; 16%

Graph 2. Graphic representation of question 2 from the survey

In the second question when students were required to answer according to their experience when listening to texts, 10 students said that they were able to identify general ideas which is 42% of students, only 4 were able to understand general and specific ideas which amounts to 16% of students and 10 students were able only to identify some words but not the general content of the text. These results show that students had problems in general in developing their listening ability. These numbers, compared to the previous results of the question about reading comprehension, prove that listening comprehension was one the weaknesses of students.

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3.Cuando leo y/o escucho identifico de qu se trata el texto (tpico/tema)

si, generalmente lo identifico; 42%

me cuesta identificarlo; 8%

a veces, depende del texto; 50%

Graph 3. Graphic representation of question 3 from the survey

In general students showed that they were able to identify most of the times the topic of a reading or listening passage. It was proven in question 3 when 10 students said that they generally identify the topic and 12 of them pointed out that they sometimes were capable of understanding the topic depending on the text, which amounts to 42% and 50% of the students respectively. The 2 students left suggest that they are the students who have more problems when reading and listening to texts, as it was also pointed out in question number 1.
4.Cuando leo y/o escucho un texto en ingls se identificar el tipo de texto
siempre ; 17% nunca ; 17%

a veces ; 66%

Graph 4. Graphic representation of question 4 from the survey

In item number four students were required to answer if they were able to identify the type of text that they were presented. Here the results show that only 4 students were able to do it all the times, 16 students sometimes and 4 students were never able to do it, which amounts to 17%, 66% and 17% respectively. It is clear according to these results that students needed to develop expertise in recognizing the type of texts they were presented in the reading and listening lessons.

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5.Con respecto a las instrucciones que el (la) profesor le da en ingls:

no me las han enseado pero las deduzco; 33%

me las han enseado y las comprendo; 67%

Graph 5. Graphic representation of question 1 from the survey

In question number 5 it is clear that students had developed certain expertise in understanding the activities either because they had been taught the instructions or because they had the abilities to deduce and understand them. 16 students pointed out that they had been taught how to comprehend instructions and 8 students said that they were able to understand them without having been taught directions which amounts to a 67% and 33% respectively, which suggests a great level of knowledge of classroom vocabulary. It is clear that this was one of the strengths of students and that they were capable of comprehend what they were required to do.
6.Con respecto a mi conocimiento de la forma correcta de escribir
nunca me han enseado la forma correcta de escribirlos 8%

me han enseado solo las reglas pero no me han dado ejemplos claros; 33%

me los ensean y me dan ejemplos claros; 59%

Graph 6. Graphic representation of question 6 from the survey

In this item students were asked if they knew how to write appropriately a text. The intention of this question was to determine if students had certain understanding of grammar rules, organization and style. The results obtained showed that 14 students acknowledged that they had been taught and given clear examples on how to write appropriately which amounts to 58% of students. 8 students pointed out they knew the rules but did not have clear examples and only two students said that they had never had instruction of grammar rules, organization and style which amount to 33% and 9% of students respectively. Based on the results it can be noticed that students had some grammar knowledge and knew how to write a text.

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7.Antes de escribir diseo un plan para escribir una historia.

nunca; 8% siempre;17%

a veces; 75%

Graph 7. Graphic representation of question 7 from the survey

In this question the idea was to identify the strategies that students used to produce their compositions in English. It can be noticed that 4 students always designed a writing plan, 18 students sometimes designed a plan and only 2 students never prepared to write which amounts to 17%, 75% and 8% of the students. It is clear that most students had already developed the planning strategy and that most of the times they used it to produce their texts, which could clearly help them write in a more organized manner.
8.Trato de recordar la forma de escritura de alguna historia
nunca ; 8% siempre ; 21%

a veces ; 71%

Graph 8. Graphic representation of question 8 from the survey

In question 8 students were required to answer whether they were able to recall texts they had previously read to produce their own compositions. In this question it was intended to measure how often students were able to use previously seen or studied patterns to produce their own compositions. In this item 5 students said that they always recalled previously studied texts, 17 students said that they sometimes did it and only two said that they never recalled any previously seen composition which amounts to 21%, 71% and 8% respectively. These numbers suggest that most students had already developed the ability to reflect on the texts they studied and that they also could analyze them and use the patterns seen for their own pieces of writing.

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: 9.Cuando escribo en ingls escribo pero no me importa si me corrigen o no ; 33% escribo y chequeo mi trabajo chequeando si hay errores de forma ; 42%

escribo, reviso y pido la correccin del profesor(a) ; 25%

Graph 9. Graphic representation of question 9 from the survey

In question number 9, students were required to answer about the stages of their work when they had to write. Most of them said that they wrote and corrected or asked for corrections. 10 students said that they checked their works and 6 students said that they revised and asked the teacher for corrections which amounts to 42% and 25% of the total of students. Nevertheless 8 students recognized that they were careless of their work and did not ask for corrections or revised their own compositions. They amount to 33% of the total of students who do not pay attention to their written production.
10.Con respecto a su actitud haca una actividad donde se le pide escribir:
no s como hacerlo o me cuesta mucho; 29% s como hacerlo y no cometo errores (o cometo muy pocos); 33%

puedo hacerlo, pero con bastantes erroers; 38%

Graph 10. Graphic representation of question 10 from the survey

In this question students were asked what their attitudes or feelings were regarding activities in which they had to write. The results to this question were varied. 8 students said that they felt they were able to write and did not make mistakes or very few, whereas 9 students said that they could do it but making many mistakes which amounted to 33% and 38% of the total. 7 students pointed out the fact that they did not know how to write or that it was difficult for them. These students amounted to 29% of the total of students. In general 17 students recognized that they could write with little or many mistakes and 7 students feel that it was difficult for them which suggest a great variety in the levels of students regarding writing tasks.

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11.En la clase estn dadas las oportunidades para que usted pueda
Si, pero slo a veces se nos pode escribir ; 17%

Si, hay gran variedad de actividades donde se nos pide escribir; 83%

Graph 11. Graphic representation of question 11 from the survey

Regarding the amount of writing activities and possibilities they had to write in English during the lessons, students pointed out in general that there were plenty of writing tasks and that they were required to produce composition most of the times. 20 students said that there was a great variety of writing activities and 4 students said that they were only required some times to write which amounted to 83% and 17% of the total of students. No student chose the last alternative which suggests that students were given plenty of opportunities to write.

4.1.2 Pre-test results The following table shows the total score and scores per item that students obtained in the pretest as well as the mean, the standard deviation, the reliability, the mode(s) and the median.
Pre Test Scores 35 25 34 30 40 20 28 30 18 26 30 40 26 33 35 28 26 I 4 4 4 4 4 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 1 2 4 4 4 II 6 4 8 4 6 6 4 4 7 4 6 8 4 5 7 7 4 Score per item Reading III IV V VI VII VIII 4 2 6 4 1 5 4 0 4 1 1 6 4 1 5 2 1 6 6 1 5 3 1 3 2 4 6 4 3 6 4 0 6 0 3 1 6 0 6 4 1 2 6 1 5 3 1 3 0 1 3 3 0 0 3 2 4 2 3 4 3 2 6 0 1 3 5 2 5 1 3 8 5 1 3 2 1 6 5 2 6 4 1 5 5 4 3 2 3 4 4 2 6 2 1 2 6 1 5 1 1 1 IX 3 1 3 3 5 0 3 3 0 0 5 4 3 3 3 0 3 Pre Test Score per item Writing Scores X-I X-II XI XII 28 12 8 3 5 32 11 8 5 8 29 9 7 4 9 31 12 7 4 8 36 14 9 5 8 12 10 0 2 0 28 11 8 1 8 26 10 7 3 6 10 10 0 0 0 32 13 9 4 6 5 5 0 0 0 34 13 10 4 7 29 10 7 5 7 21 10 8 0 3 24 12 7 5 0 26 14 7 5 0 31 15 8 3 5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

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18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Sum Mean Stand. Dev. Reliability Max Score n= n-1= Pr= SD=

12 29 36 38 15 27 12 673 28.04 8.1 0.80 55 55 54 28.04 8.1 0.80

4 4 4 4 0 2 4

4 5 5 7 5 3 1

3 4 6 4 4 5 0

0 4 4 0 2 2 2

0 6 4 7 2 6 4

0 2 2 4 2 2 0

0 0 1 3 0 2 1

0 2 7 6 0 4 0

1 2 3 3 0 1 0

3.3 5.2 4.1 1.7 4.7 2.1 1.4 3.5 2.2

Mode(s) 26, 30 Median 28.5

19 22 23 27 3 23 5 556 23.2 9.5 0.88 50 50 49 23.2 9.5 0.88

12 10 15 11 3 12 5 10.8

5 7 8 6 0 8 0 6

2 5 0 3 0 3 0 2.8

0 0 0 7 0 0 0 3.6

Mode(s) 5, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32 Median 31.5

Table 1 shows students outcomes final scores, item per item achievements, the sum, mean and standard deviation, as well as the reliability and the mode(s) and median.

The ideal score of the pre-test in the reading sections was 55; the highest and the lowest scores reached were 40 and 12 points respectively. The ideal score for the writing section was 50; the highest and the lowest scores obtained by students were 36 and 3 respectively. These results immediately show a contrast: while the reading results are fair, the writing performances are not as good. These results in general show that this is a group with a fair level of comprehension in English. In addition, when I analyzed the test item per item, I could notice that in terms of comprehension results were good, but concerning collocation knowledge and writing results did not show clearly that students had developed that kind of abilities.
Score per item Ideal Score Students average score I II III IV V VI 4 8 8 4 8 4 3.3 5.2 4.1 1.7 4.7 2.1 VII 3 1.4 VIII 10 3.5 IX 6 2.2 X-I 15 10.8 X-II 15 6 XI 5 2.8 XII 15 3.6

Table 2 shows students average item per item in the two sections of the test.

The items concerning lexical knowledge were number III, VI, VIII and IX. These items showed the lowest averages compared to the comprehension activities. Also items X-II and XII showed the lowest performances in the writing section. These results suggest that there is an appropriate level of comprehension, a lack of collocation knowledge and a need to develop the writing skill.
Students below the median Students over the median Students who obtained the median Reading Writing 12 50% 11 46% 12 50% 11 46% 0 0% 2 8%

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24 100% 24 100%

Table 3 shows how many students were below and over the median.

In the reading section the median (28.5) and the two modes (26, 30) showed that the level of English of the group in general was good. It can be explained as learners had 5 hours of English per week and most of them had had English lessons for at least 9 years. Results were varied and helped the test reach a reliability of 0.80. The median indicates that in general students obtained 53% of correct answers. In the writing section the median (26) and the several modes (5, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, and 34) indicate that students written production is not appropriate and that they have some problems when they are required to write. They got the lowest scores in items number X-II and XII in which they were required to produce texts. The results in the written section were varied and helped the test reach a reliability of 0.88 which indicates a clear dispersion of scores obtained by students. The median shows that in general students obtained 52% of the total score. In the next page there are two graphs. The first (graph 12) one shows the students scores and the second one (graph 13) is a frequency polygon where one can see how many times a score value was obtained by the students in the reading and writing sections of the pre-test.
Pre-Test
Reading 55 Writing

45 40 35 35 32 28 Scores 25 25 20 15 12 10 5 12 34 29 31 30 36 30 26 32 26 30 40 34 29 26 21 18 24 35 31 28 26 26 29 23 36 38

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28 28

27

27 23

22 19

15 12

-5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 N of Students 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Graph 12 Bar graph with students outcomes in the Reading and Writing sections of the pre test. It clearly shows that reading is their strongest skill.

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Frequency Polygon
Reading 3,5 Writing

2,5

Frequency

1,5

0,5

0 0 1

0 2

0 3

0 4

0 5

0 6

0 7

0 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Scores

Graph 13 Shows a frequency polygon in which the scores that most students were able to get in the Reading and Writing sections of the pre test can be seen (Reading with a mode of 26 and 30 and Writing with a mode of 5, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32)

The previous graphic representation (Graph 12) shows that students outcomes were much better in the reading part of the test, whereas the writing results were not as good, which indicates that probably the main focus during students early instruction could have been reading comprehension and some vocabulary development. Also we can see a tendency that shows that students outcomes in general are good in the frequency polygon (Graph 13) in which many students obtain from 26 to 30 in the Reading section, which suggests that they had some previous development of that skill. On the other hand, the different modes in the writing section imply that students talents are diverse and not that homogenous with scores ranging from 3 to 36 points.

4.1.3 Post test results The following table shows the total score and the score per item that students obtained in the post-test as well as the mean, the standard deviation, the reliability, the mode(s) and the median.
Post Test Score per item - Reading Scores I II III IV V 43 4 6 4 3 8 45 4 5 7 4 5 35 4 6 4 0 5 35 2 7 3 2 4 41 4 5 3 1 8 45 4 5 7 4 5 34 4 2 6 4 6 33 2 7 2 2 4 46 4 6 4 4 8 25 4 6 3 0 6 VI 3 2 2 4 2 2 3 4 3 1 VII VIII 3 8 3 10 3 6 3 6 3 10 3 10 1 2 3 6 3 9 0 3 IX 4 5 5 4 5 5 6 3 5 2 Post Test Score per item - Writing Scores X-I X-II XI XII 40 15 13 5 7 39 15 12 5 7 39 15 14 5 5 46 15 14 5 12 49 14 15 5 15 43 14 14 4 11 34 12 12 5 5 32 8 10 4 10 44 14 14 4 12 25 13 12 0 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Sum Mean Stand. Dev. Reliability Max. Score n= n-1= Pr= SD=

45 49 40 33 40 35 35 45 34 38 45 36 35 39 931 38,8 5,7 0,67 55 55 54 38,8 5,7 0,67

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 4 4 4 4

5 6 6 5 7 6 6 4 3 7 8 6 3 8

7 8 4 2 5 3 3 8 4 8 8 3 5 5

4 0 4 3 4 2 2 4 4 1 0 2 4 2 2,5

5 8 5 5 7 4 4 6 8 5 8 4 5 5 5,8

2 4 4 2 2 4 4 2 2 4 1 4 4 4

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 3 3 3 1 1

10 10 7 4 3 6 6 10 5 5 7 6 5 6

5 6 3 5 5 3 3 5 5 3 6 4 4 4

3,7 5,6 4,8

2.9 2,5 6.7 4,4

Mode 35, 45 Median 38.5

32 49 44 36 34 45 32 37 44 43 44 12 30 25 898 37.4 8.8 0.90 50 50 49 37.4 8.8 0.90

13 15 15 12 15 15 13 14 15 15 15 12 11 11 13.6

10 15 14 11 14 15 10 12 14 14 14 0 5 9 12.0

4 5 5 5 5 5 0 5 5 5 5 0 5 5 4.2

5 14 10 8 0 10 9 6 10 9 10 0 9 0 7.7

Mode 44 Median 39

Table 4 shows students outcomes final scores, item per item achievements, the sum, mean and standard deviation, as well as the reliability and the mode(s) and median.

The reading and writing sections of the pre and post tests were the same. They had the same ideal score of 55 and 50 respectively. For the reading section the highest and lowest scores were 49 and 25, and for the writing section the highest and lowest scores were 49 and 12 respectively. The scores obtained by students in the post-test showed a great progress on their part. The outcomes of students improved considerably, especially in those students whose performance was not so good in the pre-test. These numbers suggest that the innovation project had a positive impact, considerably for students with the lowest performance at the beginning of the intervention period.

Score per item I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Ideal Score 4 8 8 4 8 4 3 10 6 Students average score 3.7 5.6 4.8 2.5 5.8 2.9 2.5 6.7 4.4

X-I X-II XI XII 15 15 5 15 13.6 12 4.2 7.7

Table 5 shows students average item per item in the two sections of the test.

The mean of the scores item per item also shows an improvement in students outcomes. It suggests that students comprehension and lexical knowledge increased during the 24-week

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intervention period as well as their written production. The median in the reading part of the post test was 38,5 and the modes were 35 and 45, and in the writing part they were 39 and 44 respectively which are higher considering the pre test. The median of the reading comprehension section shows that in general students got 70% of correct answers in the post test which made the reliability of the test decrease from 0.81 to 0.67. On the other hand, the median in the written production section indicates that in general students obtained 78% of the total score of the test. The reliability of the test was 0.90, proving the examination reliable both times.
Reading Writing 12 50% 11 46% 12 50% 11 46% 0 0% 2 8% 24 100% 24 100%

Students below the median Students over the median Students who obtained the median

Table 6 shows how many students were below and over the median

On the next page there are two charts (graph 14 and 15). The first one shows students scores and the second one is a frequency polygon where it can be seen how many times a score value was obtained by the students in the reading and writing sections of the post-test. They will be used to show students achievements in the post-test as well as to comment the results obtained by students.
Post-Test Results
Reading Writing

50 45 43 40 40 39 39 35 Scores 30 35 46

49 45 43 41 46 44 45

49 49 44 40 36 34 34 33 32 32 33 34 40 37 35 35 32 30 25 25 25 34 38 36 35 45 45 44 43 45 44 39

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12 10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 N of Students 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Graph 14 Bar graph with a depiction of students outcomes in the Reading and Writing sections of the post-test. As a tendency it shows that students maintained a better reading comprehension compared to their writing skill.

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Frequency Polygon
Reading 6 Writing

4 Frequency

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Scores

Graph 15 Shows a frequency polygon in which the scores that most students were able to get in the Reading and Writing sections of the pre test can be seen (Reading with a mode of 35 and 45 and Writing with a mode of 44)

Based on both graphic depictions of students outcomes in the post-test a general tendency can be drawn. First it can be noticed that students outcomes are much better in the reading than in the writing section of the test (Graph 14). It means that even though both skills have not been balanced, there has been a real progress and that reading is still their main ability. Also the frequency polygon (Graph 15) shows that the modes are located in the higher scores, being the highest mode 45 in the reading section. Furthermore, the two graphic representations show a clear increment in students outcomes.

4.1.4 Pre- and post-test comparison The table below shows the results the students obtained in the pre- and post-test, the points they gained when comparing both tests results and other statistical results which will be analyzed later.
Reading Pre-Test Post-Test Gain Scores Scores 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Writing Pre-Test Post-Test Scores Scores 28 40 32 39 29 39 31 46 36 49 12 43 28 34 26 32 10 44 32 25 Gain 12 7 10 15 13 31 6 6 34 -7

35 25 34 30 40 20 28 30 18 26

43 45 35 35 41 45 34 34 46 25

8 20 1 5 1 25 6 4 28 -1

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11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Sum Mean Stand. Dev Range T-Test

30 40 26 33 35 28 26 12 29 36 38 15 27 12
673 28.04 8.1 29

45 49 40 33 40 35 35 45 33 38 45 36 35 39
931 38,8 5,8 25

15 9 14 0 5 7 9 33 4 2 7 21 8 27
258

5 34 29 21 24 26 31 19 22 23 27 3 23 5 556 23.2 9.5 34

32 49 44 36 34 45 32 37 44 43 44 12 30 25 898 37.4 8.77 38 5,19728E-08

27 15 15 15 10 19 1 18 22 20 17 9 7 20 342

9,82482E-06

Table 7 shows a comparison of the final results obtained by students. The sums of the two tests and the gain obtained by learners by the end. Also the results of the T-test are presented at the bottom.

The column Gain indicates how many points the students gained in the post-test with respect to the pre-test. According to the table above 22 students obtained more points in the post-test and only one student obtained 1 less point and one did not gain any compared to the first measurement. The range of points gained goes from 1 to 33 points in the reading section and from 1 to 34 points in the writing part which are pretty good results. The mean indicates that students increased their scores from 11 to 14 points average in terms of reading comprehension and written production respectively. Another aspect to consider is the range because in the pre-test the difference between the lowest and the highest score was 29 and 24 points in the reading section, and 34 and 38 points in the writing section accordingly. I interpret these results the following way: most students improved their results, some of them improved less than others and some others improved quite a lot; therefore, there were more students that improved their scores significantly. The two students who were not able to increase their scores may be explained as they were already failing the year by the time the post test was given. Concerning the scores item by item, the table below shows how many points the students increased their average score in each item. Concerning the scores of the reading part, these were better than the first time they took the test, especially in the items that were focused on evaluating lexical

35

knowledge. I consider that some students did really well as in the case of the students number 2, 6, 9, 18, 22 and 24 who obtained low scores in the pre-tests and increased over 20 and even 33 points in the post-test. In terms of written production scores also improved quite a lot, especially students number 2, 6, 9, 18, 22 and 24 who obtained low scores in the pre-tests and increased over 20 and even 30 points in the post-test. In general all the scores improved but the exception of the student who was failing the year. Most of them increased at least one point what indicates that students did better in all the items of the test.
Score per item Ideal Score Pre-test students average score Post-test students average score I 4 II 8 III 8 IV 4 V 8 VI 4 VII VIII 3 10 IX 6 X-I 15 10.8 13.6 X-II 15 6 XI 5 XII 15

3.3 5.2 4.1 1.7 4.7 2.1 1.4 3.5 2.2 3.7 5.6 4.8 2.5 5.8 2.9 2.5 6.7 4.4

2.8 3.6

12 4.2 7.7

Table 8 shows students averages in the two sections of the test, as well as the averages obtained both times of the examination.

The table 9 on the next page shows a comparison between the percentage of students who obtained the median, the ones whose result were below and over the median. The table reflects that there is no great difference between the percentages in both tests but the difference is in the median itself. There were no significant differences between students who obtained the median which remained the same in both the pre and the post tests.

Reading Pre-test Post-Test Students below the median Students over the median Students who obtained the median 12 50% 12 50% 12 50% 12 50% 0 0% 0 0%

Writing Pre-test 1 1 46% 1 1 46% 2 2 4 8% Post-Test 11 46% 11 46% 2 8%

24 %

24 100%

100% 24 100%

Table 9 shows how many students were below and over the median in both sections of the test in the pre and post test.

Concerning the median, in the reading part of the pre-test it was 28,5 points and in the pos-test it was 38,5 points, whereas in the writing part it was 26 points and in the pos-test it was 39 points. That shows that in general students scores increased despite of the fact that there are extreme values that could influence the mean in general. Even though the results in the reading and writing sections of the pos-test were as low as 25 and 12 points respectively, and as high as 49 (reading) and 49 (writing) points, there was no great influence in the median.

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Another statistical result that gives an idea of how the students improved is the central tendency. Below is the central tendency table that shows the typical values of the data. Here it is shown that the mean increased in both sections of the post-test. Also the mode(s) and the median were higher than in the pre-test.
Reading Central Tendency Mode(s X ) Median 26, 30 35, 45 28.5 38.5 Writing Central Tendency X 23.2 37.4 Mode(s) 5, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32 44 Median 26 39

Group

Pre-test 28.04 Post-test 38.8

Table 10 Shows the average obtained by learners as well as the mode(s) and the median.

The dispersion table below shows a comparison between the results of both tests and summarizes the data presented in the previous tables. The results of the standard deviation in the post tests show that the groups became more homogenous, especially in the reading section.
Reading Dispersion Group Low Hig Range SD h Pre-test 12 40 29 8.1 Post-test 25 49 25 5.7 Writing Dispersion Low Hig Range SD h 3 36 34 9.5 12 49 38 8.8

Table 11 Shows the dispersion of the two examinations. It also presents the range and the standard deviation.

Concerning the t-test, the intervention period was statistically significant as the observed values for t were higher than the critical value for t and in that sense it ratifies the hypothesis as table 12 on the next page shows.

Reading Observed value for t 9,8248

Writing Observed value for t 5,1973

Degrees of freedom 46

0,05

Critical value for t 1,6794

Significance YES

Table 12 shows the T-test of both sections of the test proving that the intervention period was statistically significant.

To conclude the analysis there are four charts which compare the pre and post tests. The first two charts show the scores that students obtained in the reading section and the next two charts the writing section.

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Pre-Test vs Post-Test Results - Reading

Pre-Test 55 49 45 43 45 41 40 35 34 35 30 Scores 25 20 34 28 34 30 26 25 30 26 45 46 45 40 40 40 35 35 35 45 45 39 36 35 Post-Test

35

35

38 38 36 33 29

33 33

28 26

27

25

18 15 12 12

15

1 -5

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

N of Students

Graph 16 corresponds to a graph bar which shows the results obtained by students in the Reading section of the test in which the post test (in blue) clearly surpasses the pre-test (in red).
Frequency Polygon - Pre-Test vs Post Test - Reading
Pre-Test 6 Post-Test

4 Frequency

2 2 2

1 1

1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Scores

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Graph 17 is a frequency polygon which shows how students performed both times of the examination in terms of how many times the different scores were achieved.

It can be clearly seen in blue (Graph 16) that students in general achieved better scores in the post-test, suggesting a real development in their reading and collocation skills. In the other chart (Graph 17) it can be seen in red that most students scores were around the middle (from 25 to 25) in the pre test, whereas in the post test (presented in blue) they clearly made a progress towards the higher scores, implying that there also was an increment in their performance.

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Pre-Test vs Post-Test Results - Writing

Pre-Test 50 45 40 35 32 30 Scores 25 20 15 12 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 N of Students 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 10 5 3 5 12 28 29 31 28 26 25 21 19 40 39 39 36 34 32 32 32 29 26 24 22 23 27 25 23 34 36 34 32 31 30 37 46 43 44 44 49 Post-Test 49 45 44 44

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Graph 18 is a bar graph showing students outcomes in the Writing section of the examination. In blue the results of the post test present a clear improvement from part of the students.
Frequency Polygon - Pre-Test vs Post-Test Writing
Pre-Test 4,5 4 3,5 3 Frequency 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Scores 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 Post-Test

Graph 19 is a frequency polygon in which students scores summarized showing the general tendency of the group. In red pre test shows students results in the first examination around middle of the scores as the general tendency, whereas in blue, post test results show a general progress from part of the learners.

are the the the

Both graphic depictions show students progress in the post test. In the first chart (Graph 18) the blue color (post test) clearly surpasses the red bar (pre test) suggesting that students improved their writing skills by the end of the instruction period. Also, it shows that most students moved their scores from the middle to the higher scores (Graph 19) which implies that students had a significant increment in the development of their writing skills. Even though some learners did not improve much, they still obtained better results by the end of the instruction period. 4.2 Analysis of Attainment of the General Objective

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In this section I will explain the attainment of the general objective which was to determine the influence of Collocation knowledge on the improvement of 10 th graders reading comprehension through the explicit instruction of collocations in different types of texts and how this knowledge can develop written production. In order to verify the attainment of this objective a pre and post test were given to 24 10th grade students at Colegio Ingls Purranque. Both tests were exactly the same and they tested the students reading comprehension and written production achievements based on their knowledge about collocations (pre- and post-post test description pages 15-18). First the attainment of the general objective concerning reading comprehension will be analyzed and then explained from the perspective of the written production achievements. In the reading section students results which were shown and analyzed in the previous sections suggested that the explicit teaching of collocations can improve students average reading comprehension achievements. Moreover, the explicit instruction period of lexical units proved to be effective as most students enhanced and increased their knowledge of collocations with the increment of the average in items III, VI, VIII and IX in the post-test. These items were designed to measure their lexical knowledge and awareness. The pre-test showed a low level of understanding in that area whereas in the post-test the scores showed a considerable improvement (pre and post test description pages 15-18). These results can be explained by the variety of activities prepared by the studentteacher, such as vocabulary introduction by means of collocation activities (ex, matching or forming the correct collocation), collocation activities in which students analyzed the use of collocations and their meaning in context, and also analysis of collocations present in texts in which students extracted collocations and compared them and classified them according to the categories studied during the term, for example.
III VI 8 4 4. 2. Pre-test students average score 1 1 Post-test students average 4. 2. score 8 9 Table 13 Shows students outcomes in the items developed in the pre and post tests. Score per item Ideal Score VII I 10 3.5 IX 6 2.2

6.7 4.4 collocation

In table 13 we can see the four items already mentioned being compared. The improvement in those items was good considering that students gained from 0.8 to 3.2 points, which suggests that students were able to increase their collocation knowledge. In general these results show that there was collocation knowledge development in students which suggests that activities and instructions were effective for students.

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The scores that were obtained by students in the pre-test showed that their comprehension was fair as the mean suggests (28,04) but they had little collocation knowledge. The objective was to improve their lexical understanding and thus increase their reading comprehension achievements. In my opinion the results shown in Table 13 represent a poor previous knowledge in terms of collocations which could explain why the results of students in the pre-test were not better. In contrast with the pretest, the post-test results which mean was 38,8 points showed that there was a significant enhancement in students reading comprehension and collocation knowledge. The results obtained by students before the intervention period were fair, but after the intervention the scores were much higher.
St-T: Our objectives for today are to read a text comprehensibly and write a short text using collocations Fs: Teacher what are collocations? St-T: Ok, lets remember what collocations are. We have discussed this in previous lessons. Ms: Collocations son las combinaciones de palabras teacher St-T: Excellent Fernando, very good. So these are combinations of words. What type of combinations /The teacher takes notes on the board/ Ms: Combinaciones po teacher. As de esas que hay dos o ms palabras. St-T: Si Kevin, eso est bien pero me refiero a algunos de los tipos de combinaciones. Por ejemplo, verb plus preposition /He continues taking notes on the board/ Ms: Ah si teacher. El otro era adjective noun.

Extract 5 from Student-teachers Field Note 3. November 6th, 2008.

In extract 5 the student-teacher presents explicitly the objectives of a lesson. Students immediately ask for the term collocation. The teacher presents an example and students are able to explain on their own words what collocations are and even give an example of the types of collocation that exist. This shows that collocations were a central part during the intervention period and that most students understood and knew the different types of collocations and what they were.
Observed value for t 9.8248

Degrees of freedom 46

0,05

Critical value for t 1.6794

Significance YES

Table 14 shows the T-test of the reading section of the test. It proves that the results were statistically significant.

The statistical values also suggest that there was a significant increment in lexical knowledge as the observed value for t (9.8248) was greater than the critical value for t (1.6794). These values indicate that the presence of collocation knowledge could have influenced students improvement during the instruction period. In this sample of field note (Extract 6), students show that they were able to form the possible collocations for a word, in this case TV set. This demonstrates that students not only were able to identify collocations in a text but also they were able to form the correct collocations out of their knowledge of the world and what they had already studied.

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St-T: Ok, you seem ready now. Lets check the activity. Any volunteer to correct the activity on the board? Ms: Me teacher St-T: Very good Daniel. Complete the verbs column /The student writes the answers on the board/ St-T: Very good Daniel. Great work. Any other volunteer Fs: Me teacher St-T: Very good Karen. Complete the adjectives list /The students writes the answers on the board/

St-T: Fantastic work. Congratulations. ()

Extract 6 from Student-teachers Field Note 3. November 6th, 2008.

In the extract below (Extract 7) students show that they are capable not only to understand the meaning of a word but also they are able to classify it according to the function that serves in a given text. Here they demonstrate that they acquired lexical knowledge that helped them improve their reading comprehension. In this case they were able to understand and classify signal words. To conclude the analysis of the reading section, students were able to attain the general objective of developing reading comprehension after the explicit teaching of collocations in different types of texts.
St-T: Ok, you had enough time to complete the activity. I think it wasnt very difficult for some of you but I hope all of you did well. I want to listen to Kevin with the second one Ms: contrast teacher St-T: Very good Kevin Ms: Eso St: Ok, number three, two separate. Is it chronological order, contrast or other text pattern according to what you read? Fs: It is chronological order. St-T: Are you sure Monica? Ms: No teacher, contrast St-T: Very good Fernando, it is contrast because of the word separate. Now number 4, although. We have studied this word in class many times. What does it mean? Fs: Aunque teacher St-T: Very good Cristina. Now is it chronological order, contrast or other or no text patter? Fs: Contrast teacher St-T: Excellent Cristina. Number 5, to create

Extract 7 from Student-teachers Field Note 3. November 6th, 2008.

Now I am going to analyze the attainment of the general objective based on the written production achievements. In the writing section learners results, which were shown and explained in the analysis of quantitative data, suggested that the explicit teaching of collocations can improve students average written production achievements. By the start of the intervention period some students were able to write in English making many mistakes and/or producing very little text. It was proven in items X-II

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and XII that most students were not able to write extensively as the table below shows. In both items students were required to produce texts. Before the instruction period the scores obtained by learners in these items were very low, especially in item XII in which students were required to write a letter to a friend. By the end of the instruction period, and after the practice of the writing skill students were able to increase significantly their results.
Score per item X-II XII Ideal Score 15 15 Pre-test students average score 6 3,6 Post-test students average score 12,0 7,7 Table 15 Shows students outcomes in the writing section in which they had to use collocation knowledge to write.

These items were designed to tests students skill to write extensively using text patterns and collocations. The results obtained by them in the post test showed that students increased from 6 to 4 points an average in their writing skill when they were required to write extensively. Those final results (Table 15) suggest that most students were able to develop the writing skill, probably because of the explicit instruction of collocations which could have helped them improve in terms of fluency. Also, the activities allowed them to write as they did not have many chances to write before the instruction period. It can be concluded that students had more experiences in writing by the end of the instruction period than they had before.
St-T: It is time to check. I have seen some very good sentences. Please, any volunteers? Fs: Me teacher St-T: Very good Victoria /The student writes on the board a sentence/ St-T: Ok, lets see. I will destroy my old fashioned TV set. Will you? Ok, its very good Victoria, sit down please. Anyone else? Kevin, please. /The students goes to the board and writes his sentence/ St-T: I will buy a LCD TV set. Excellent Kevin very good (Two more students go to the board to write their sentences)

St-T: Excellent work. You wrote some very good sentences. ()

Extract 8 from Student-teachers Field Note 3. November 6th, 2008.

In extract 8 it is shown the kind of sentences that students were able to produce. As they were not fluent writers at the beginning and had some problems to carry out writing tasks, the student-

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teacher asked them to produce simple sentences in which they were able to use collocations they had already studied. The sample (Extract 8) shows that students were quite proficient in writing simple sentences and had incorporated the use of some collocations.
Katerine Mol. (Pre test) XII Thank you for your letter. I went to August for holidays. I slept in a tent and it rained every day. I couldnt swim because it was forbidden. I couldnt play tennis because my tennis racquet broke. I couldnt dance in the disco because it was closed. (sic) Katerine Mol. (Post test) XII Thank you for your letter. I went to Punta Arenas for holidays. I went in September. It wasnt great. I slept in a tent with my sister, but in the night started raining. It rained every day. I liked swim but I couldnt swim because it was forbidden. When I was played tennis my tennis racquet broke and I didnt win the game. Also when I went the disco it was closed. (sic) Extract 9 Students Sample 4. (See appendix 7.7)

In extract 9 it is shown a pre-post test comparison from one of the students. It can be seen that in the pre-test there are some clear mistakes in the use of collocations such as I went to August for holidays (sic). It can be compared with the post-test in which the student had incorporated the collocation go to indicating location. Also it can be seen that in the pre-test there is little use of connectors. It can only be found the use of and and because, whereas in the post test the student was able to use but, and, and also. In addition, in the second piece of writing, the student was able to include more information and organize it in a better way.
Karen Calfin (Pre test) X-II Hi! My name is Karen. Im 15 year old live on Purranque, Chile. I have got long dark hair I brown eyes. Im quite short, like basquetball. I can play tennis and football very well. (sic) X-II Hello! My name is Karen and Im sixteen years old. I live in Purranque, Chile. I have got long dark hair and brown eyes. Im quite short and slim. I love playing basquetball and I can play tennis. Please e-mail me today! (sic) Extract 10 Students Sample 2. (See appendix 7.7)

In extract number 10 there is also a comparison between pre and post test. In the pre-test some clear mistakes can be seen in the use of connectives and organization of ideas. We can see a wrong collocation live on which seems to be a literal translation. In contrast, in the post test in can be seen that this student not only got the right collocation, but also increased substantially her spelling and the amount of information that she was able to provide about herself, being able to describe her appearance and interests. Also it is quite remarkable that by the end she was able to use a pre-fabricated item (collocation) such as Please e-mail me today!. This suggests that the student was able to incorporate collocation knowledge to the production skill.
Observed value for t Degrees of freedom Critical value for t Significance

44

5.1973

46

0,05

1.6794

YES

Table 16 Shows the significance of the intervention period in the development of the writing skill.

The instruction period proved its significance in the writing section as most students were able to increase their results and develop the ability to write extensively as the observed value for t (5.1973) was higher than the critical value for t (1.6794). It implies that the level of students proficiency by the end of the instruction period was better, because most students were able to increase their achievements in the writing part of the evaluation. In conclusion, reading comprehension increased thanks to the explicit instruction of collocations. Thus the written production increased as students were able to read, understand and analyze texts as well as identify, form and extract collocations that they could use later to write a piece of text. Learners were required to write, check and analyze their outputs, as well as receiving feedback from the student-teacher. In some cases they had to re-write what was already corrected from their works. I think the type of activities and analysis carried out during the instruction period helped learners development of strategies to acquire vocabulary (collocation knowledge) so that by the end they had learned and incorporated different types of collocations and prefabricated sentences which aided them in developing fluency and lexical competence.

4.3 Analysis of Attainment of the Specific Objectives

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In this innovative project three specific objectives were stated. The first specific objective was to describe the strategies students use to write during the direct instruction period. In the following lines data that justifies the attainment of this specific objective will be presented.
4 18 2 7. Antes de escribir diseo un plan para escribir una historia. a) siempre b) a veces c) nunca

Figure 2 shows the results of question number 7 of the survey.

In this question of the survey, it was determined whether students planned their work before writing anything. The results showed that most students were using the planning strategy to develop their writing which may have influenced their final outcomes in a positive way.
8. Trato de recordar la forma de escritura de alguna historia que he ledo para poder escribir mi propia versin. 5 a) siempre 17 b) a veces 2 c) nunca

Figure 3 shows the results of question number 8 of the survey.

Question number 8 reflects that most students tried to remember a text pattern they had already studied to write their own tasks. It suggests that most students had already incorporated the strategies that were encouraged by the student-teacher at the beginning of the instruction period in terms of planning and resourcing for writing.
9. Cuando escribo en ingls: 10 a) escribo y despus reviso mi trabajo chequeando si hay errores de forma 6 b) escribo, reviso y pido la correccin del profesor(a) 8 c) escribo pero no me importa si me corrigen o no

Figure 4 shows the results of question number 9 of the survey.

Another strategy that I was able to identify doing qualitative analysis was revising. It was clear in this aspect that the majority of students checked their work or had it checked by the student-teacher. Nevertheless, there was an important number that did not care about the form of their work and would not have it corrected anyhow.
St-t: Now start to work. Im going to help you if you need anything. Remember that the activity will be graded. Also hand it in a different piece of paper () Acuerdense que es con nota y que tienen que entregar en hoja aparte. Fs: Teacher help please St-T: All right Mayo. Im comming. (During this time most student work and ask for the student-teacher help. They ask him for vocabulary and spelling of words.)

Extract 10 from Student-teachers Field Note 4. November 21st, 2008.

In extract 10, there is evidence that confirms what students answered in the questionnaire. Most of them would ask the teacher for help, especially resourcing vocabulary. Some of them presented their work for corrections and guidance on how to do it right. Concerning the first objective, the main strategies used by students were planning, resourcing and revising.

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Regarding the second objective which was to detect the effect of collocation knowledge on the development of students reading comprehension and writing skill, I consider that collocation knowledge was essential in the development of this project. There were many activities oriented to developing collocation knowledge. They were presented to teach vocabulary and to prepare writing mainly. The results of the post-test clearly show how the effect of collocation knowledge influenced students performance.
Score per item Ideal Score Pre-test students average score Post-test students average score I 4 II 8 III 8 IV 4 V 8 VI 4 VII 3 VIII 10 3.5 6.7 IX 6 2.2 4.4 X-I 15 10,8 13,6 X-II 15 6 12 XI 5 2,8 4,2 XII 15 3,6 7,7

3.3 5.2 4.1 1.7 4.7 2.1 1.4 3.7 5.6 4.8 2.5 5.8 2.9 2.5

Table 17 shows students results both in the pre and post tests in the reading (items I to IX) and writing (X-I to XII) sections of the instrument.

The table (17) above presents and increment in the average of most items, especially in those designed to assess collocation knowledge (items III, VI, VIII and IX). Although the results in the reading comprehension items were not considerably higher, it can be explained due to some students appropriate knowledge of English at the beginning of the instruction. By the end, the intervention period led to a more homogenous group in which least advantaged learners improved the most getting closer to most knowledgeable classmates. Also this table shows a positive increment in written production especially in extensive writing (items X-II and XII) where in general students increased from 6 to 4 points. It can be said that collocation knowledge did have a positive influence on the development of reading and writing skills of least advantaged students. The contrast between the two measurements shows that at first students reading comprehension was good but they were not skilled writers, whereas by the end they continued having good comprehension, improved their written production and developed some lexical competence. With respect to the third objective to verify the level of proficiency that students can accomplish after a period of explicit instruction of collocations in their reading and writing development it can be said that the results were positive as Graph 20 shows. Almost all students were able to improve their scores after the instruction period. Only one student was below her pre-test results and one remained the same. Students improved their scored from 1 to 33 points which is a huge increment concerning their proficiency in reading.

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Pre-Test vs Post-Test Results - Reading

Pre-Test
55 49 45 43 45 41 40 35 34 35 30 34 28 34 30 26 25 30 26 45 46 45 40 40 40 35 35 35 45 45 40 38 38 36 33 29 26 39 36 35 35 32 30 25 20 15 12 12 15 31 29 40 39 39

Pre-Test vs Post-Test Results - Writing

Pre-Test
50 45 46 43 44 44 49

Post-Test

Post-Test
49 45 44 43 44

36 34 32 28 26 25 32 32 29 28 34

36 34 32 31 26 24 21

37

35

35

33 33

30 27 25 22 19 23 23

Scores

28

25

25 20

27

18

15

Scores

12 10 10 5

12

5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5 3

-5

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

N of Students

N of Students

Graph 20 shows comparison between the two measurements (pre and post tests) both for the reading and writing skills. The results of the post test can be seen in blue which clearly surpass the results of the pre test in red.

The figure above (Graph 20) shows both skills being depicted in graph bars. For both skills the pre-test was presented in red bars and the post test in blue bars. The blue bars are a graphic representation of students improvements in the second examination. Based on that comparison, it can be said that the third objective was met and that it was possible to verify the level of proficiency that students gained by the end of the intervention period.
St-T: All right. Lets check the activity. The first sentence, number seventeen says Michael loves his wife. Which sentence or sentences from column A justify statement number seventeen Ms: Number one teacher St-T: Very good Fernando Fs: Teacher pero tambin puede ser la number three. St-T: Yes Katerine. Very good. You are right. Remember that for some statements there may be more than one possible answer. Now lets work number eighteen, Michael is sad Ms: Number one teacher St-T: Very good Rudy. Is there any other possibility? () All right, the following, Michael remembers his wife. Fs: Number 1

Extract 11 from Student-teachers Field Note 4. November 21st, 2008.

The extract 11 shows students performance when correcting tasks orally. They were able not only to give a correct answer but also to decide if there was more than one possible correct solution for a task. This shows that students improvement in terms of their reading proficiency was good. Regarding their written proficiency students results confirmed that while it was still their most difficult area to develop, their results were better than in the pre-test as the figure above (Graph 20) shows. Most students were able to write more fluently by the end of the instruction period using collocations, and text patterns from texts they had already studied. Their performances were better as they were given plenty of production tasks as they pointed it out in the survey in question number 11.
11. En la clase estn dadas las oportunidades para que usted pueda escribir en ingls ya sea oraciones, prrafos, cartas, cuentos, etc. 20 a) Si, hay gran variedad de actividades donde se nos pide escribir 4 b) Si, pero slo a veces se nos pide escribir 0 c) No, no se nos pide escribir o son muy pocas las veces.

Figure 5 shows the results of question number 11 of the survey.

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Here the 24 students who answered the survey said that they had plenty of chances to write during the lesson. In conclusion the analysis of the pre- and post test comparison, as well as the field notes and survey results represent the supporting evidence to validate the attainment of this third objective. While most students developed their collocation knowledge, they were also able to improve their reading comprehension achievements and write more fluently using collocations and texts patterns they had already analyzed.

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4.4 Verification of the Hypothesis The research carried out included a hypothesis which was: If 10th graders from Colegio Ingls Purranque are taught during a direct period of instruction based on the analysis, study and use of collocations present in texts, they will improve their reading comprehension and thus their written production significantly. ( 0.05). The t-test in the table below indicates that the intervention period was statistically significant considering that the reading (9.8248) and writing (5.1973) achievements were higher than the critical value for t (1.6794) and in that sense it verifies my hypothesis. This suggests that the intervention period was statistically significant concerning the development of collocation knowledge and its influence on reading comprehension and written production.
Reading Observed value for t 9.8248 Writing Observed value for t 5.1973

Degrees of freedom 46

0,05

Critical value for t 1.6794

Significance YES

To sum up, the three research questions What are the strategies students use to develop a writing task?, What is the level of proficiency when reading and writing that students can accomplish after a period of explicit instruction of collocations? and What are the difficulties students face when they read a text and begin writing? have been answered in the analysis of quantitative data and the attainment of objectives. The strategies students used to write were clearly identified. Students were able to use the strategies of planning and revising most of the times during the instruction period. The level of proficiency was tested using the pre and posts test comparison. It showed that most students improved their level of understanding of English considerably. Considering written production, students were able to write more in the post-test. The difficulties students faced were identified. They could understand general ideas most of the times and very few students were not able to understand a text. They could identify the theme of a reading passage depending on the text they were presented to read and sometimes they were able to identify the text type. In terms of their written production they had troubles checking their work and as some of them pointed out that they were careless and did not revise their outcomes. In conclusion the strategies that students used to write helped them improve their written production. Their level of proficiency, in terms of reading, was increased and they gained a lot of lexical knowledge. Considering their written production, they were able to write more extensively by the end of the instruction period though some of them were still not that accurate, thus proving that collocation knowledge can enhance fluency.

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4.4 Categorization The following tables categorize the qualitative data (field notes and lesson plans) I considered the most relevant for the purpose of my final report. The student-teachers role, the students role, the classroom interaction, the classroom resources and the teaching strategies are the aspects that I would like to analyze in the following table. Student-teachers Role The lessons prepared focused on the improvement of reading and writing. For this purpose, various activities aiming the acquisition of lexical knowledge were presented. Most of lessons were based on teaching collocations to student and Planner develop reading and writing. Lessons, tests, resources and assessments were prepared and designed in advanced, and even some texts were adapted. They were used during the instruction period to carry out the lessons. They were focused on developing the Provider and manager main objectives of this project. The student-teacher took both roles as the mentor took the role of observer. He became the provider of vocabulary and explanations and also the manager of the interaction in the classroom. He also was monitor of the activities and provided Vocabulary help to students when they required it. The lessons included vocabulary acquisition in the pre-stage (by explicit instruction of collocations) which also included brainstorming of ideas and lexicon. The acquisition of vocabulary was checked at the end of the lesson Stages of the lesson through students performances and in the writing assessments. Stages at the beginning of the instruction period were not very clearly marked and sometimes all activities of the lesson were not completed. As the teaching training continued the student-teacher was able to improve his command of the Use of English class and thus all the stages of the lesson could be attained. At the beginning the intervention started with an accommodation using English and Spanish most of the time. Gradually activities and exercises started to be taught entirely in English. The instruction period ended with the student-teacher Discipline speaking almost 90% of the lesson in English. Discipline was a problem for the mentor teacher and the student-teacher at the beginning of the intervention period. It gradually changed after the instruction started managing the group with meaningful activities. Students gained a sense of continuous work and only few students did not work or participated in the

Approach

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lesson. Timing Timing of the lesson failed at the beginning of the instruction period because I gave too much time to students to develop their tasks. It gradually started changing as the time assigned for each task was established so students had to finish all tasks during the time of the lesson. It was one of my weaknesses through the intervention period, because not all activities were finished and Monitor important tasks were left aside some times. The student-teacher continued the trend of the mentor teacher monitoring each activity. Nevertheless, the way to monitor the lesson changed as most students Continuous assessment were helped by the instructor with special attention to less advantaged students. There was a continuous assessment carried out by the student teacher. He in every class graded students performance as well as their attitude in the lesson in a rubric. Students Participation Some students participated while others expected to copy the answers on the board. This attitude was maintained for some students during the first term and was later changed almost by the end of the second term. Some students worked hard during lessons while others did not even participate. At the end of the intervention period most students changed this behavior and started to get more Level involved with the lessons. Students level before the instruction period was good but they lacked lexical development. However, a few students recognized English as a subject that was difficult for them and their expectations were very low about their possible results. In general most of them improved their comprehension and lexicon knowledge. By the end of the instruction period, students obtained pretty good English skills results. Students had problems with recognizing collocations and structures. They considered reading a tedious activity and they did not like it when they were asked to read articles or letters, for instance. As the instruction period was being carried out students improved their performance although some of them still Use of English found it difficult to express their thoughts in oral and written form. Students most of the times used Spanish to communicate. Activities that had been prepared to foster interaction and communication failed with some students because they insisted in speaking using their mother tongue. This aspect improved but there were still students who did not want to speak English in the

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classroom or that mixed English and Spanish. Materials Activities Activities were aimed at the development of comprehension at the beginning of the lesson, and in the second part it was dedicated to reinforce the written production. I planned and designed most activities that were used in the classroom. They were aimed to reach the desired objectives of the innovative Resources project. I prepared handouts, flashcards and pictures in advanced for the lessons. I also used Bristol boards in which scripts and explanations were presented for students. I prepared PowerPoint presentations to introduce vocabulary and Sources explanations. There was no use of dictionaries during the intervention period. Despite my project was based on developing reading and writing skills, I used other sources to develop the other skills. Even though I had to follow the contents presented in the course book, I also used authentic material and took advantage of the current affairs that occurred in our country to develop the activities. Teaching Strategies Lessons began by setting up the objectives of the activities to be developed. I also helped students understand the theme of the class by brainstorming ideas and helping them recall previous knowledge of the topic. Sometimes I used pictures and mimicry to be able to set the context of the lesson and it was Checking activities successful most of the times. Some students attempted to solve activities by guessing. To rule out that possibility I used to ask students to support their answers. In the same strategy, when a student made a mistake I asked one or two more students for the same questions so as to find the correct answer, trying to make the learner who made the mistake aware of her error by herself. 5. Conclusion Collocation-knowledge learning developed through this project intends to broaden a concept that has been brought up in recent years and prove that it can really influence students achievements when learning a language. Therefore the purpose of this innovative project was to determine how

Setting up a context

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lexical knowledge could enhance students average reading and writing. This study analyzed quantitative and qualitative data which allowed me to draw some conclusions. First, lexical knowledge is an important aspect to be taken into consideration when reading and writing in any language. In my personal opinion it cannot be excluded from any approach to teach or learn foreign languages. Furthermore, based on my findings, it can be clearly stated that it should be at the core of any language curriculum as it is a powerful tool to improve the four linguistic abilities in English, because it can help increase students reading comprehension though it may already be at an appropriate level. In addition, the quantitative data analyzed showed that the students results were statistically significant. I must say that students outcomes were good, especially for those learners whose reading and writing skills had not been highly developed at the beginning of the innovation project. They were the statistical proof that lexical knowledge can improve the results obtained by students. It verified the hypothesis that if someone can improve their collocation knowledge, they can also improve their reading comprehension and thus their written production, implying a direct relationship between the two skills. Also, the data gathered and analyzed helped me realize that students whose reading and writing skills were in an appropriate level were not the ones who increased the most, but they were able to improve their collocation knowledge considerably. It is important to notice that this project was highly successful among students whose first results were not as positive compared to the best students. By the end of the instruction period, the less advantaged students were the ones able to increase their achievements the most. This study suggests that most of the students developed lexical strategies that helped them enhance their collocation competence. Taking into account the results shown by this research, there were some factors that should be considered that might limit the scope of this project. One of the factors is the amount of years students had studied English before, and the hours a week they had English lessons. Because English was a important subject in the school, most of them had been part of an early development of the English starting from kindergarten which amounted to almost 11 years learning the language by the time of the intervention period. It may have benefited the results of this project in a positive way influencing students outcomes in terms of lexical development. Also, they had 5 hours of English a week, meaning they had one extra hour with another teacher besides the 4 hours of explicit instruction with the student-teacher. Although not related to the project, the extra hour of work could have influenced the results of the test. These two factors might have had some effect and they should be taken into consideration for anyone who wants to replicate this research.

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Besides the concerns already mentioned about the intervention period, this innovative project may have some implications for future researches. This study took into account the direct relationship of two skills and the acquisition of collocation knowledge by means of explicit instruction. A study that could be carried out in the future may include the development of collocation knowledge as well as vocabulary strategies to improve the other two skills such as listening or speaking. Since, in this case, the acquisition of collocation knowledge had a great impact on learners, it would be interesting to know how it could affect the other abilities. In this study, twenty four students showed that they were able to improve in their average reading comprehension and written production achievements; therefore, I think that using the same methodology in a research project with more students should have the same results. Also the core of this project which is enhancing reading and writing by means of explicit instruction of collocations may have helped students develop strategies to be better readers and writers and learn vocabulary (collocations) in a more efficient way, so this same concept could be used to improve any of the four skills. Finally, this research intended to offer a new perspective towards the development of reading and writing as two directly related skills by means of enhancing lexical development, which could influence others in approaching the development of the four language skills in the future.

References Baez, H. (2011). Improving Reading Comprehension by Means of Lexical Development. Unpublished dissertation to get the Teacher of English degree. Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile.

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English Club (2012). The 4 Language Skills. EnglishClub.com. Retrieved June, 6, 2012, from http://www.englishclub.com/learn-english/language-skills.htm English Language Centre. (2001). Collocation. English Language Centre. Retrieved March, 15, 2008, from http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/advdicts/collocation.htm Essberger, J. (2001). Speaking versus writing. EnglishClub.com. Retrieved June, 14, 2012, from http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/200108.htm Gonzalez, H. (2009). Improving Reading Comprehension by Means of Vocabulary Acquisition . Unpublished dissertation to get the Teacher of English degree. Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile. Grabe, W. and Stoller, F. (2002). Teaching and Researching Writing. Malaysia: Longman. Hedge, T. (1988). Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press Hudson, R. (1997). Text and Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge. La Tercera. (2011). Simce de ingls: El 11% de los alumnos comprende frases cotidianas y textos breves. La Tercera Edicin Online. Retrieved June, 6, 2012, from http://www.latercera.com/noticia/educacion/2011/03/657-353598-9-simce-de-ingles-el-11-de-losalumnos-comprende-frases-y-textos-breves.shtml Leipzig, D. (2001). What is reading? Reading Rockets. Retrieved June, 12, 2012, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/352/ Lewis, M. (Ed). (2000). Teaching Collocations. Further Developments in the Lexical Approach . London: Commercial Colour Press PLC. Lindsay, C. and Knight, P. (2006). Learning and Teaching English. Shanghai: Oxford University Press McCarthy, M. (1999). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Moras, S. (2001). Teaching Vocabulary to Advanced Students: A Lexical Approach. Karens Linguistics Issues. Retrieved May, 1, 2008, from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/teachingvocabulary.html National Education Association. (2007). Using Text-Structure. Retrieved April, 1, 2008, from http://www.nea.org/reading/usingtextstructure.html Omniglot. (2012). What is writing? Omniglot the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages. Retrieved on June, 14, 2012, from http://www.omniglot.com/writing/definition.htm Orwig, C. (1998). Speaking Skill. ingSkill.htm Richards, J. & Renandya, W. (2002) Methodology in Language Teaching. An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Oyarzn, F. (2008). Improvement of the Writing Skill by Developing Cognitive, Metacognitive and Social-Affective Strategies. Unpublished dissertation to get the Teacher of English degree. Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile. Smith, B. (2003, June). Understanding the Reading Process. Cuesta College. Retrieved June, 14, 2012, from http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/302.HTM Thornbury, S. (2007). How to Teach Vocabulary. Malaysia: Pearson Education Limited. TEOIC. (2012). Cmo est su ingls?. TOEIC Chile. Retrieved June, 6, 2012, from http://www.toeic.cl/2012/05/23/%C2%BFcomo-esta-su-ingles/ Torrealba, C. (2006). Improving Students Reading Comprehension by Means of High Frequency Words. Unpublished dissertation to get the Teacher of English degree. Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile. SIL International. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/otherresources/gudlnsfralnggandcltrlrnngprgrm/Speak

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7. Appendices

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7.1 Teachers Ethnographic Notes

FIELD NOTE 1

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

61

This lesson students start reviewing a concept that they had studied the previous lesson. The class is part of a unit review to prepare the test that was due for the following day. Students work individually most of the times developing 2 handouts with exercises, most of the activities consist on fill in the blanks.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their highschool (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School Teacher Subject Class Number of students

: : : : :

Colegio Ingls Purranque Liliana Aguilar English 10th grade A 25

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Time of the lesson : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : April 3rd, 2008 Ethnographer : Victor Aguilera Obando 14: 30 /The bell rings and students approach the classroom. Then, they enter the classroom and wait for the class to begin. They are a little noisy/ 14:33 (At the beginning of the lesson students are very messy. They take their time to order their seats. ) T: Good afternoon students Sts: Good afternoon miss T: Today we have a teacher who is coming from the Uni he comes from ULA and he will introduce himself. St-t: Hi, Im Victor Aguilera, Im from Purranque as most of you, I think. ()I will be with you this term and hopefully the whole year, so I hope we learn a lot. T: Ok, lets continue. Ms: No entend nada T: Do you have the handout? /students seem not to react to the question/ (The question from the teacher has little reaction from students because most of them seem not to understand) T: A ver, lets continue. Do you remember we studied the expression ago? Yes? What does it mean? Ago? (No answer or reaction is perceived. Students seem not to understand the concept ago) 14:40 Here, you have to complete the information and write sentences using the expression ago. What you have to do Camilo? Explain /Camilo does not answer/ T: From the handout I gave you yesterday Ms: de la gua que dio ayer, y cul era? /The teacher checks if the students have the handout/ (Camilo and other students were playing and 14:43 chatting and that is why the teacher asks him the activity) Ms: qu pgina es miss? T: You have to use the expression ago T: Daniel, please sit down (The teacher orders a student to sit down to maintain order) Ms: Miss, no entend. T: Explain to him () T: Here you have to complete sentences

The opening of the lesson starts with the teacher reviewing what had been studied the previous lesson. This activity pretends to determine what students recall from the previous lesson. It might help students to review contents from the previous lesson so as to activate their minds to receive new input. The teacher does not state the objectives of the lesson. I could have turned the lesson clearer for students if she had done so.

The teacher asks one student that was playing during the explanation of the activity, which might help maintain discipline in the classroom and demand students to concentrate on the activities and instructions given. In the pre-stage there is no vocabulary introduction or brainstorming which might difficult understanding of the activities. The teacher explains the activity giving examples which can help clarify doubts. The teacher does not write the examples on the board. It might difficult further recall of the activity. The while stage begins with students working and the

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14:48

14:57

using the expression ago. I have an example here /Some students at the back of the room are very noisy and chat while the teacher explains the activity/ T: Ana arrived in England fifteen years ago. Did you get it? () /Some students answer the question/ He arrived in England, how many days ago? Now you have to count the days () (No use of board to write the examples while she explains) /The teacher goes around the classroom. Some pupils chat/ (Durign this time the teacher helps students do the activity) Ms: No s de que se trata est cuestion T: Ok, Are you ready? Lets see Guillermo Ruiz. She () She went to Oxford () (The students answer in a very low voice that is inaudible in the back of the classroom) T: Very good /She calls a student/ Who has number two? She started English classes () T: Number three? Fernanda Alvarado. Karen? Do yo have number 3? (This time the teacher answers for the students) T: you have to answer adding ago Ms: Miss, qu significa had? /She goes to the board and writes have and had/

teacher immediately monitoring. The teacher monitoring might help students so they can ask her and clarify doubts. Comments of students prove that the explanations were not sufficient and that there was little understanding from part of the class. It might disrupt the lesson as students may not understand what to do. The low tone of voice of students and the teacher not writing the answers on the board may not provide an appropirate classroom environment to develop the activity. Explanatis seem rather simple. Probably some examples could have helped. The activity now is teachercentered. It might give the impression to some students that they do not need to work.

15:04

Some students tell the teacher that they do not understand the handout which also goes for the T: This is the past /She shows what she instruction. This probably is the wrote on the board/ cause that students who sit at T: When did you have breakfast? the back do not work. (A student answers in a very low voice/ T: Yes. Number three? Another activity began with no When did you go to the cinema further explanation. Timing has (Some students do not seem interested in the not been given to any activity activity. Only students who sit at the front are what which might create the asked the activity) feeling that students do not T: Number four, when did you have your first need to work. English class? () Corrections aloud seem not /Students now work on their own. The teacher effective because students monitors the activity/ speak with a very low voice and

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15:07

Fs: Miss, si yo entendiera su gua la hara /The teacher talks to the student/ /Some students work in the handout and others chat and play with their cellphones/ (During this time the teacher monitors the students from the front of the classroom. She talks to them and helps them. Unfortunately, the students at the back do not do anything and play with their mp3 players and cellphones) (Activities up to this point have been corrected orally) T: A ver, what is the past tense of havehad. Gowent

the teacher does not write the answers on the board. This activity may not reach most students. Now the teacher writes the past tense of verbs that students have to use. Maybe this activity would have been better at the beginning of the lesson so students know what are the correct forms of those verbs. The activities seem mechanical and out of context as questions are not related. A more contextualized activity could help students understand the activities and vocabulary. It has been seen as a problem that students do not understand the activities and the vocabulary. It may produce the effect of students not working in their tasks. The identification of the text type can help students to prepare to read. It should help comprehension of the text. When the first student reads the teacher helps with the pronunciation which is probably also modeling the rest of students. On the other hand corrections may discourage students from reading aloud. When the teacher asks the male student to read is a sort of punishment because she corrects him several times. This might not be set a good classroom environment as overcorrection may frighten other students.

15:15

15:24

T: veamos. Felipe Mendoza. When did you have breakfast? Ms: I had breakfast ten ours ago T: When did you go to the cinema? Ms: I went to the cinema one year ago T: When did you talk to your best friend Ms: Five minutes ago T: When did you have your first English class? (The activity goes on and the teacher checks the activity. During this time some students do not work and they say that they do not understand. The teacher has visited these students very few times and she has not helped them very much) /The teacher and a student hand in a new handout/ T: Do you all have this handout? T: What kind of text type is this Sts: letters T: Start reading Andrea. Felipe silencio atras /The student reads the letter. The teacher helps with the pronunciation/ (A noise of people dancing is heard during this time) T: The next letter, who wants to read it? Kevin (Kevin has been one of the noisiest students in the class. Kevin reads and some students laugh. He seems very nervous when he reads. The teacher corrects his pronunciation several times)

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15:31

15:38

T: Whats the first letter about? Ms: The importance of studying history. The person here says that it is important to look at the past so we can make the people thought for the future Why is he talking about () T: Does he agree with this thought or not? Sts: Yesno T: is he in agreement with this ()? T: Why does he mention the politician? He mentions the politician because() (the teacher answer herself the question explaining what was meant in the text) T: History is what? An important subject in school. What is subject? Fs: Materia T: Yes, ramo, materia. T: However, she thinks it is not so important. Why? Kevin? Ms: ella piensa que no es importante porque, porque, porque, porqueeee. (Some students answer the question but their voices are inaudible at the back) T: We need to think about the present and the future () T: In these two letters people are giving opinions. Lets see number four is telling why history is important. In number fourCamilo, number 4? Continue reading () (Camilo was playing with his classmates. He reads the instructions) T: in this activity you have to complete with expressions to express opinions. You have to complete with expression that appear in the letter. Expression to express opinion. Quickly, you have five minutes to complete. /The teacher monitors the activity/ T: Ready? The first expression is? Sts: For meI dont think that T: yes. These expressions you need a comma after them. Now put the words in the correct order. You have to order the sentences. Ms: Tens que ordenarlo (Activities are a little mechanical) /the teacher monitors students from the front of the classroom/ T: 2 more minutes T: Ya, ready? 1 more minute /Many students stand up and walk around the classroom/

Now the students read and the teacher asks questions. She did not give students a chance to reread and check comprehension what might difficult some students understanding of the ideas. The activity was not very dynamic probably because students did not have a second reading and they did not know what to answer. The teacher checks the word subject to see if students are paying attention. It might help her gain students attention again. The teacher again the male student a question for his misbehavior in class. Then she also asks another of the messy boys with the same intention. It might help her gain some discipline in the lesson. This time the teacher sets the time for the activity. She explains what they have to do but gives no example. Sampling might help improve her explanation. There has not been any sequencing of activities as reading comprehension does not match the following analysis of the text. This might affect the correct flow of the lesson.

Some students do not work and instead they stand up and get the answers with their classmates what proves that they are not interested in the class. This might be caused by the little understanding of the activities and that they are used to copy the work of others. Also

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15:46

15:52

15:56

(These students are getting the answers from their classmates as I notice) T: Lets see. Monica Hoffman. Listen to your classmate Camilo Fs: In my opinion the most important subject () (Another students gives a different version. The teacher paraphrases the answers because the students speak with a very low voice. This is one of the good students of the class) (I notice that students do not write anything on their handouts) /A student reads in a very low voice/ T: read again please /the student reads again/ Fs: I think history() T: yes, your sentence is correct. (When students read the teacher paraphrases the answers) T: For me pollution is an important problem T: A ver atrs, Camilo coloca atencin /another student reads her answer/ T: yes, very good. I dont think physics is an easy subject. (The activity changes) T: Now you have to write sentences that express your opinion. For instance I think you are very noisy today. Write it down /the teacher monitors the activity/ (The teacher doesnt give a limited time for each activity) /the teacher corrects some works given by the best students/ (During most of the activities students who sit at the back have chatted, played, sung and laughed while their other classmates worked. They dont seem interested because they say they dont understand anything) T: Who wants to read the first opinion. Kevin, Fernanda Alvarado, Fernando silence please. Fernando read aloud please T: in my opinion (trying that the student completes the sentence)choose from 1 to 4. T: Viviana Fs: I think love is important. T: I think love is important T: Read an opinion that you wrote /some students play with a bank note/ (students show no respect for the teacher as even some of them tell jokes during the class)

it might suggest little classroom management from the teacher. The teacher checks the answers but still does not write anything on the board. Corrections may fail because students do not complete their activities during the given time.

Only good students are able to answer the questions properly. It might be a solution if the teacher also speaks a little Spanish and asks for clarification of instructions to the students to see if they understand the activities. It also may suggest that activities have not been properly designed to suit all students. Most activities are similar and are developed in the same way. A change in the kind of tasks could help the class not to be so monotonous and engage students who do not work.

Again the teacher calls the attention of messy pupils. Mostly male students do not work during the class and they just play with their classmates this might be caused because they sit together at the back of the room. Disciplinary problems difficult the lesson as it also makes the room quite noisy. This might disturb concentration of other

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15:58

16:00

T: Diego Casas (the one playing with the bank note) (The teacher in several time has had to call the attention to some students) Ms: I think English is difficult T: You didnt work. We are in number 7 () Ms: I think that physics is an easy subject Ms: In my opinion football is a good sport T: Kevin Rivera Ms: Cul miss? T: Anyone Ms: In my opinion.no la tengo T: Daniel Rosas? Guillermo Ruiz Fs: I think that math is a boring subject Fs: I dont think English is a difficult subject T: Robinson Vargas, read your opinion (The student did not answer because of the bell) The bell rings and students leave T: Study for the test.

students. Correction happens in the same way as all the activities. Probably the teacher should find another way to correct tasks as the one she uses does not work. Timing of the lesson has shown to be another problem. When the bell rang the teacher was still correcting the activity. No closure of the lesson and revision of what was studied were seen at the end. This might difficult recalling of information of the lesson in another time.

FIELD NOTE 2

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

69

In this lesson students start a new unit which is called Love Life. This is a listening and reading class taken from the course book. Students work individually most of the times developing 2 handouts with exercises, answering questions to check comprehension.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School Teacher Subject

: Colegio Ingls Purranque : Liliana Aguilar : English

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Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 23 Time of the lesson : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : April 10th, 2008 Ethnographer : Victor Aguilera Obando 14: 32 /The bell went off and the students entered the classroom. It took them some time to get ready for the lesson/ T: Sit down please Ms: Hola miss /Students chat and walk around the classroom/ 14:36 T: Good Afternoon Silence please. Today we are going to start with a new unit. Love Life

At the beginning of the lesson students seem reluctant to work. This might create problems if the teacher does not engage them properly into working. The lesson starts immediately. The teacher might have set the mood first as students were not yet ready to start working. It could have helped her activate students who were not ready to work yet. Students who do not have their materials may cause problems in the lesson. Students are not reacting properly and wasting a lot of time. It probably could have been avoided if the teacher had set the mood first. Questions to introduce the topic might change the previous atmosphere as students start reacting to the lesson. Probably it could have been better to do some warm-up questions at the beginning. The teacher activates background knowledge to introduce the lesson. This might turn in activation of schemes to better comprehend the text students have to read. The teacher writes some words on the board. This can help students who are not good at listening or were not paying attention to get involved in the

Did you bring your books? Do you have your books? /The teacher moves around the classroom checking if students brought their books/ T: Open your books on page 13 You are going to make groups of four and one of you needs to have the book () You are lazy today Fs: Miss, las chicas que vengan pa ac T: Entonces vamos a trabajar, el que tiene libro bien What is the unit about? Are you in love? Have your ever been in love? /The teacher makes questions to introduce the topic of the lesson/

T: What are the typical presents we give when we are in love? Gifts, for instance in Valentines day?

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class. It might also help them learn some new vocabulary 14:42 Now the teacher is asking questions about the reading from the book. It might result counterproductive as not all the students have the textbook. Those students might create distracting situations in the classroom. Students do not answer probably because they dont like the topic or they did not work properly. There is a chance they did not the task as most of them were not paying attention. The teacher asks students who do not have the textbook questions. It might help her to get those students involved with the lesson. The vocabulary introduction of the lesson is carried out by means of an exercise in which students have to use the words. This might help students understand better the vocabulary. Many questions from the book are being answered only by some students. The rest tend to chat and play. Maybe students do not feel the need to work because they are not been requested to work. There is no correction on the board. This might not help students who do not understand much English because they will not be able to correct their answers. This activity has not shown to

14:50

14:55

T: Who is Taurus in here? What is the gift for Taurus? /The teacher is asking questions related to the reading passage of the book/ T: Who is Gemini? () /In this part there are no answers from the students and a lot of noise/ T: Who is Cancer? () Rings Cote, do you like rings? Leo likes aftershaves and perfumes () Virgo, who is Virgo? You are Virgo. What is your gift? What is your gift? () A romantic novel. /She continuous developing the same activity with the following zodiac signs/ T: Who is Sagittarius Kevin, are you Capricorn? Ms: Yes, yo Capricornio T: What is your gift? /No answer from the student/ T: Camilo, do you like romantic cards? Acuarius like love letters Do you agree with this gift? T: We are going to practice the vocabulary first /The teacher hands in a handout/ The first part it says who can read? () Read the text using the words () Without looking at your book answer this Answer this quickly. /Some students work and others chat. The teacher gives a short time to answer/ T: Did you finish? Sts: NO /The teacher monitors first and then corrects the activity/ T: () Number two, Carmen Gloria Fs: I bought my boyfriend a cinema ticket for the new James Bond movie () T: Felipe, number 4 Ms: I gave my girlfriend a romantic novel because she reads a lot

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15:00

15:03

15:06

/The activity continues the same way with the teacher asking questions from the book/ T: Number 7, lets seeMara Jos Fs: Someone sent me some beautiful flowers, they smell lovely /The teacher repeats the answer in a louder voice all the times/ T: Ok, someone sent me some beautiful flowers, they smell lovely T: Robinson number 8 Ms: Por descarte debe ser po Ms: My boybriend game me a beautiful chain, I wear it all the time. T: Ya, my boyfriend gave me a beautiful chain, I wear it all the time. /After the last exercise the activity changes/ T: Here we have seven expressions Going out () The first one is to go out withwhat is to go out with? Ms: What? T: What does it say? It says Im very happy that you come to the cinema with me. Going out. It is? Ms: Afuera T: Ellos estn saliendo. Going out is to meet someone () Kevin pon atencin, no te quiero llamar la atencin. /This student has shown in several classes to be naughty/ Number one says Hi, my name is Thomas. What are they doing? Fs: to meet T: Yes, thank you. To meet someone Did you get it Kevin? Can you explain number one and number twogoing out and meet someone. Ms: La uno o la dos. T: Both of them Ms: Cul tengo que responder miss, la uno? T: no, you have to explain. What is to explain? Ms: explicar T: Yes, what is to go out with someone /The student seems very confused and does not answer. He was playing and chatting during the explanation/ Ms: Read the question Ms: Aaaah. ()

engage all students. Perhaps students are getting used to do anything they want without being admonish.

The teacher is trying to introduce more vocabulary by making inferences out of context. This strategy can turn very useful for students during the lesson as they can learn to grasp meanings from context. The teacher gives some definitions. This might help students check understanding of the activity. Also it should force them to understand English. The teacher admonishes a student who is always chatting and playing. Perhaps rules have not been stated clearly in the lesson and that is why students misbehave. The teacher gives some extra work to the student. This might be one of the strategies the teacher uses to call students attention. The students see their misbehavior as normal. This is probably because there are not strict rules inside the classroom to force them work and pay attention.

The lesson is interrupted by a male student. Interruptions may

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/The student reads the question and explains in Spanish ideas not related to the vocabulary introduction/ Ms: eeeh, esta contento porque fue a ver la peliculaeeeh T: pero qu es to go out with someone? Ms: No s miss T: es salir con alguien. Pon atencin Kevin, no te quiero llamar la atencin de nuevo Ms: es que Camilo meme() /The teacher continues with her revision of vocabulary, asking questions from the book about the expressions just learnt./ () Ms: Miss, y las palabras que estn ah de donde las sacamos? (no answer from the teacher) T: what is to meet? Ms: Y eso no era carne? /the teacher writes on the board the two words/

disrupt the proper flow of the lesson.

The behavior of these students might suggest that activities have not reached them and need a different kind of task to get involved.

The teacher clarifies some confusing vocabulary. It might help students to not misunderstand words later.

The teacher asks some personal questions. It could help her recapture attention from students. Ms: Aah, esa era la diferencia, ese era con doble e. (Some students make jokes about the word and how confusing is English for them. They seem more interested in chatting than working.) (the teacher continues explaining the vocabulary and asking questions) T: Who is going out with someone? Are you going out with someone? No?

Now the teacher writes the vocabulary on the board. She might be trying to get students attention by writing on the board.

15:11

The activity has continued but little comprehension has been shown. This might because of the constant interruptions and noise from the students at the (The teacher asks students and some of them back. nod. The activity continues) T: Did you listen? To ask someone out? Ms: Invitar a salir a alguien T: I wasnt sure at first bur now I know I love you What is it? To fall in love with someone Now the teacher is working with another handout. This time all students will have their

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materials. It should solve some of the problems of the lesson. 15:13 Misbehavior in the lesson might T: Im sorry but I think we should end this be caused by the type of activities. Students are required relationship (students seem not to understand the activity to use their books and many of them did not bring them. Those or what the teacher is doing) We are going to leave this reading for you to who do not have it most of the discover. Now we are going to move to times do not solve their tasks. number six. Now you are husband and wife. To get married /The teacher hands in another handout/ T: Now we are going to read Broken Hearts (Kevin keeps on chatting with his classmates about anything but the lesson. He disturbs Now the teacher asks a male student to read aloud. This and interrupts to his classmates) /Students read. Meanwhile the teacher goes might be a sort of punishment. It around the classroom asking if students have might help regain certaing control of the classroom. the book/ (The students who dont have the book dont work and make noise. Its hard for the teacher Cell phones are troublesome for the teacher. Most of the times to control them) she has to seize one or two. T: Ready, did you finish? /The teacher writes something on her This might be another source of distractions which difficult their notebook/ lesson. T: What is the first paragraph? Letter? E Yes, so you will have to start with E The teacher is correcting the /Students keep on reading/ T: Volunteers. Read the first paragraph. activities but not writing them. (Kevin reads and the teacher corrects him More use of the board could help her gain students attention. while he reads.) /The teacher seized a cell phone from a students who was playing with it/ T: Which was the fourth paragraph? Interruptions continue. This Do you have the last paragraph Guillermo? (He reads in a very low voice that is inaudible) atmosphere might be the source of lack of attention and T: What happened in this paragraph? (There are no answers or students who speak disrespect towards the teacher. using a very low voice when they participate) T: What happened in this paragraph? Concentration has been broken Why did he buy the perfume? by the constant misbehavior. They went to () Perhaps this is the most Fifth paragraph letter D () important evidence to support Silence Camilo please (Camilo interrupts and disturbs the class students reluctance to work. several times during the lesson) () What happened here? Rob went to the shop () She was very angry

15:16

15:20 15:23 15:29

15:35

15:39

15:42 15:46

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The last paragraph letter D T: He felt that his heart was broken (there is no answer probably because students were not following the reading) T: Please answer the question /The teacher monitors the activity/ T: Im going to askLets see, today is 10, Monica. The first question Silence please! Why didnt he ask her out that day? /no answer from the student/ T: Claudia? Fs: Because she was with another boy T: Camilo, number 4. Who was the girl ()? () T: Number five. Why was Lina angry with Rob in the shop? (in this section the teacher asked those students who didnt work. She was taking notes in her class work rubric) /no answer from Robinson, a student from the front answered the question/ T: Robinson, did Lina speak to Rob in the shop? T: Felipe Mendoza? /no answer/ T: you dont have, you didnt work In five lines you will have to write a short story using the expressions.

Now the teacher is asking students who did not work. This might be a way to force them to get involved in the lesson. Unfortunately, they do not seem to care about it and is probable that their attitude will not change.

No closure is identified by the end of the lesson, only the final corrections of the work. Maybe the teacher did not set the appripriate time for a closure.

15:57 The bell goes off and students were still working. Timing was not appropriate for the final activity. It suggest either that there was a poor plannign or that students commanded lesson instead of the teacher.

16:00

/The teacher monitors the activity/ T: Tomorrow Im going to check this, so bring it tomorrow /the bell goes off/ Sts: Miss tocaron. T: Bye, bye.

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FIELD NOTE 3

SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

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Description of the Lesson: In this lesson students work in the unit called Love Life. This is an evaluated reading class taken from the course book. Students work individually developing a handout with exercises and present a late homework as part of their graded assignment.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School : Colegio Ingls Purranque Teacher : Liliana Aguilar Subject : English Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 25 Time of the lesson : 10:15 to 11:45 Date : April 11th, 2008 Ethnographer : Victor Aguilera Obando 10:15 /The bell goes off and students start to enter The lesson begins and students the classroom. It takes them some time to are very noisy. When the organize themselves in the classroom/ teacher starts to talk they do not T: Sit down please diminish their noise. It might (Students talk at a very loud tone of voice, suggest little class management they dont seem to pay attention to the from part of the teacher. She teacher) should not start her lesson until T: Sit down Camilo. all students are in their seats

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Ms: Es que me quitaron mi puesto T: Camilo please. Good morning students. Sts: Good morning Miss. T: How are you today? Sts: Fine T: Today we are going to have an evaluated activity. You will have to write your name () and you will have to answer these questions () Fs: Es con nota teacher T: Yes, it is. This will be evaluated. Fs: Es individual? T: Yes /The teacher hands in the handout/ T: Do you all have the handout? Yes? Do you all have it? Sts: Yes T: Today we have a reading which is called The Chains of Love. Yes? Alvarado, sit down. Ms: Ya miss T: Look at this name. What is a chain? (During the time the teacher is talking there is a lot of conversation. Probably she shouldnt continue until they are all paying attention) T: Please silence. What do you think this text will be about? Ms: Las cadenas del amorLas cadenas del amor T: What do you think the text will be about? Ms: Las cadenas del amor (The student insists probably because there is no answer from the teacher) T: Claudia, what do you think the text is going to be about? The Chains of Love Look at the picture How is he? /She points at the book/ T: Is this man angry? Ms. Angry. Because the eh eh.. T: Because of his face? Yes? What is he doing? Guillermo, What is he doing? (To most questions there is no answer. Probably students can not understand because there is too much noise) T: Have you ever done something crazy for love? () Have you ever done something crazy? (Again there is no answer to her questions) T: Ya, lets read together. Please, you start reading. /She points down to a girl at the front/

and ready to start the lesson.

The teacher presents the lesson but she does not introduce the topic, the name of the unit or the objectives for the lesson. It could have helped her lesson to clearly state what students were going to do before presenting the evaluated activity. The opening of the lesson seems poor. It may not set the appropriate mood for the class.

It is very difficult for the teacher to keep students quiet and paying attention. Perhaps this is a behavior she has not been able to control during the term.

Now the teacher tries to introduce a piece of reading. To most questions there is little response. Probably it is because there is too much noise and the there is little interest in the task.

This sort of misbehavior may suggest that the stages of the lesson were not correctly planned and that they were not successful in setting an appropriate classroom environment.

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(The student starts reading in a very low tone of voice. Its very difficult to follow her reading also because of the noise from students at the back) T: Louder please (She keeps reading. The teacher corrects some mistakes in the pronunciation made by the student.) T: Ok, good. Now Im going to continue reading () Silence please. () Kevin sit down: (The teacher continues reading the text aloud. She has to stop a few times to ask students to be quiet.) T: Now the third paragraph. Volunteers to read? You read it please. /She points to another student/ (A male student reads the third paragraph. His voice is louder but it is still incomprehensible because of the noise) T: Please students, be quiet. ()Ok. So he is always here shouting for Tracy. Now Camilo, read paragraph number four please Ms: Ok miss. (The male student reads aloud. He makes several mistakes and is corrected by the teacher) T: Camilo, it is daughter, that is the correct pronunciation. Ms: Daughter T: All right, Im going to continue reading the text. So Adam went out to () (The teacher finishes the text after several attempts made by the student to read the text) /The teacher writes on the board/

There is no vocabulary activity or introduction. They skip this part to the reading aloud task. There is a great chance that students may fail in understanding the text as there has not been a good topic or vocabulary introduction.

The students who read the text seem not to have much expertise in doing so. Probably it could have been to change the approach at reading the text as it might cause more problems than clarifications of doubts about the reading.

There is always a chance that constant corrections may discourage students future involvement in reading aloud tasks. Maybe she should have chosen a different way to correct pronunciation after the student had finished reading the text.

10:30

T: Tracy wanted to split up with Adam? Fs: Yes T: All right, Im going to continue reading the story. The couple was going through a rough time so () T: Now please Guillermo continue reading

There are questions after every paragraph read by the students. It might help the teacher check for comprehension. Unfortunately there are only a few students answering to those

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from the part where it says, Tracy was thinking things through, please Ms: So, she kept thinking that () a bad idea () T: All right Guillermo. So his demonstration was in vain. Now the activities you have to solve are the following. Item one. Which of the following sentences are true or false? Justify the false ones. Ms: T o F cierto miss T: Yes, thats it. No quiero V o F. In activity two you have to compete with the missing information from the text. Complete the blanks with the information that you read in the text. Ms: Completar las oraciones T: All right. In activity number three you have to find the vocabulary and then you have to write first the homework that was for yesterday in the back and a relationship with an argument. Ms: Qu hay que escribir? T: A story in which a couple has an argument. An argument? A fight? Just like the story we just have read. () Then you have to write your homework and also a short story of two people having an argument. If you need help you can ask me. (The teacher monitors the activity. She talks with two girls at the beginning of the front row) Fs: Miss, cmo se dice pelearon? T: They had a fight Fs: Cmo se escribe fight? T: F-I-G-H-T Fs: Thank you miss (The teacher goes back to her desk and takes the class book) T: Ok, pay attention, Im going to call the roll. Alvarado? Alvarez? Aravena? Bravo? () (The students answer as required by the teacher. Some students that are present didnt answer because they couldnt hear the teacher T: Mayorith, when I call you, you have to say present teacher Fs: Sorry miss, es que no la escuche por la bulla (The teacher goes back to her role as a monitor of the activity. She mainly helps five girls who sit at the front. It would be better if

questions what might suggest little involvement from most students in the task.

In this lesson there is little use of the board. Probably the teacher could write students comments and her questions so that students who are not able to listen or understand the reading passages can also comprehend the work that is being carried out.

Now she explains the activities by which students will be evaluated. Some students participate making clarifications about the tasks they are required to do. It could help other students comprehend the activities. Students start to work. Unfortunately only some students at the front seem involved in solving the evaluated activity. It might be that the other students did not understand the text and do not know what to do.

It is clear that there is an inappropriate environment when the teacher calls the roll. Too much noise does not let students listen to their names and they are not able to answer.

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she moved around the whole classroom) (The teacher talks to some students at the back. They seem to be the noisiest ones) T: Ustedes no trabajan y conversan toda la clase. La actividad es con nota () Ms: Ya miss si vamos a trabajar T: Kevin, turn off your cellphone (The teacher continues to monitor and help students. She moves mainly near the front seats of the classroom.) Ms: Ya miss. Fs: Miss, come here please T: All right Fs: cmo se dice se reconciliaron? T: They got back together Fs: Escribalo en la pizarra porfa. /The teacher writes on the borrad/

It could be that students are not interested in the lesson and prefer to talk to their classmates.

Monitoring might turn to be a good strategy to check students progress with the assigned tasks. Unfortunately the teacher only monitors in the front seats. The noisiest students are at the back. Probably if she could talk to them they would work and the noise at the classroom could diminish.

10:58 11:05

11:12

11:19

T: Robinson, come here please () Show me your assignment. Ms: No entiendo miss T: Your homework Ms: No la tengo miss. /Someone knocks at the door/ T: Monica y Fernando. Los necesitan (Only a few students work in the activity despite it is an evaluated one. Only the students at the front call the teacher for help. The teacher continues monitoring but she only walks around the front seats) Fs: Miss, come here please (It is the same female student who calls the teacher all the times. She and other three girls seem interested in developing the task. Probably the teacher should also care more about the other students who are working carelessly) T: Ok, now Im going to hand in your previous test. Katerine Moll, Karen Calfin, Fernando Alvarado () /She hands in the test to the students as she calls them/ T: Please count your points. Ms: Miss ac tengo una que no me cont T: All right, everybody count the points of your tests. Then we can check the grades

Monitoring only the front seats could create the sense that the teacher only cares for the good students. She should change his monitoring pattern so as to get everyone involved in solving the tasks.

Only few students seem interested in solving the assignment. Probably these are the only students who were able to understand the text and activities.

Probably handing in the test could turn into another distraction for the evaluations. Most students already seem not

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and scores (Few students approach the teacher to check their scores and grades. Others dont even bother to see the test.) T: Are you working in the activity? (The teacher stands up again and continues monitoring the activity) T: All right. Many students are asking about the word jealous. It is a feeling when you want what someone else has. When I want the cell phone that Kevin has and I dont have it, for instance. Ms: Celos, Miss T: Yes, very good. /she writes on the board/

compromised with their work and it could create a diversion in the efforts of students.

Students who ask about vocabulary proved that there was a need for a vocabulary introduction at the beginning of the lesson. Probably it could have helped students whose language knowledge is limited and do not understand texts well. The fact that some students have required for help from the ethnographer, especially the students at the back prove that they needed help and required for the teachers assistance. She probably should walk around the whole classroom so that students can ask their doubts.

11:40

11:45

T: Students, are you working. Im going to walk around the classroom to see how you are doing with your tasks. (Some students have asked the ethnographer for help. Especially students who sit at the back. They have asked him vocabulary and some phrases for their assignments. Probably they wouldnt have done this whether the teacher had walk around them in the first place) T: Hurry up. Its almost time for you to hand in your assignments. /The bell goes off. Students hand in their assignments and leave the classroom/ FIELD NOTE 4

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

84

In this lesson students work in the unit called Love Life. This is a listening and reading class taken from the course book. Students work individually most of the times developing 2 handouts with exercises, answering questions to check comprehension.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School Teacher

: :

: Colegio Ingls Purranque : Liliana Aguilar

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Subject : : English Class : : 10th grade A Number of students : : 23 Time of the lesson : : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : : April 17th, 2008 Ethnographer : : Victor Aguilera Obando 14: /The bell went off 5 minutes late. The Students at this time always are 38 students entered the classroom. It took them reluctant to work. This might some time to get ready for the lesson/ cause distractions and T: Good Afternoon misbehavior. Y usted, no se sienta ah? Andrea, sit down please. Felipe? () T: Open your book on page 14 The teacher starts the lesson Fs: Qu pgina miss? using the course book. Too much T: Fourteen dependence on the course book Ok, who has the book? You? You? (asking might cause problems as not all the students to see if they brought their the students have the text book to books) Do you have the books? () work. Ok, Im going to borrow this here (She lends her book to a group of students) A ver, quin se puede ir a conseguir libros Problems arise with the course al otro curso? books. Maybe this is spoiling most (The teacher asks students if they can go to of the lessons. It might turn difficult the other class and ask for books) for the teacher to control the T: OK, so you have to write. Ok, lets see. pacing of the class without having 14:42 Im going to write the questions and then you the materials. you will have to answer. Now the teacher has to write the questions. This might help the teacher force students to work. It also may take time to finish other tasks.

14:47 14:50

14:52

Students are not interested in what the teacher is doing and prefer to comment Chilean football. It suggests an (Meanwhile students comment the last results atmosphere which is relaxed for of Chilean football chatting and making jokes students in which they do not need about Colo-Colo and la U) to work. This might be causing /The teacher stops writing/ their lack of participation and T: Silence, we are not in the stadium. willingness to develop the T: You have four sentences. You will listen a activities. tape () Camilo, Im explaining! Ms: Yo tambien

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T: Camilo! You will have to answer these questions. (she reads aloud the questions she has written on the board) T: Here Im going to write the options.
Potions, Kisses, Marriage, Symbols

Students show disrespect towards the teacher. This might be caused because the teacher has lost control of the classroom interaction. Writing the activities on the board may have created the adverse atmosphere in the classroom. They seem to care less for the work they are supposed to develop. The teacher should not work while students chat and play. It might be the reason why students lose their concentration so easily. As the mood is not appropriate students feel free to do anything they please. The teacher is starting the lesson. She is trying to make general questions about the reading. She might be trying to catch students attention that was lost in the first 25 minutes of the lesson. The teacher explains the activity but most students are not paying attention. There are very little chances that students might produce good results in those conditions. Students do not seem to change their attitude towards the lesson. They are the same students who make noise and do what they want. Probably the teacher should have stopped them earlier so as to have a good classroom atmosphere

14:50

14:57

15:01

15:04

15:06

T: () It is connected to what?... potions. This is probably because there are stricter traditions. Do you think this is connected to ? Yes, keep that in mind (The teacher and some students are predicting the answers for the activity, Other students listen to music and play among themselves) T: Camilo, Andrea, please! (The teacher admonish the students because they have been making noise chatting and laughing) () T: Cupid is a symbol for lovers. Do you think it is connected to potions? (she repeats the sentence one more time) T: The soldier () It is connected to kisses because of lips () Please write it down. Im going to play the CD. You will have to listen and answer. () T: People who have the book please follow the reading. (The reading is played ) T: First you are going to listen to potions. /The teacher gets mad at some students and seized a cell phone/ T: Do you think love potions () (During this time the teacher reads aloud the questions written on the board) T: Camilo! (The teacher admonish Camilo for his misbehavior) (The teacher continues reading the passage and the questions) T: So what happened here with the potions? () They are made of animals () They are in danger of extinction. () Reading about Shadia? How old is she now? Continue reading T: Arrange Marriage. What is arrange marriage? (Camilo answers the questions and the teacher continues reading)

The teacher tries to make students brainstorm. It might help her get

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Ms: no entiendo Miss () T: Do you know any culture in which there are arrange marriages?

students involved in the tasks. Probably it could help her improve the classroom atmosphere and help students understand the passage.

15:13

15:15

Ms: India (some students brainstorm names of countries who they think have arrange marriages) /The tape is played/ T: 23 veces. A man married 28 times and the girl married 23 times. Listen they are very unusual. Would you like to marry a person which your parents choose for you? Ms: Con un pariente? /The tape is played/ () T: We are now going to listen to kisses Are you interested in love or money (The teacher reads) Ms: Quin es ese? (This student interrupted the lesson because he did not bring his book) T: Listen! (the teacher continues reading) T: If a woman kiss that statue, she will marry a rich man /The teacher writes on the board/

There is little comprehension from the students. Some of the possible reasons were already stated. Probably another reason is that students were not able to make any connection between the the topic of the reading and their lives.

The constant interruptions are present during the listening also. It presents as one the weaknesses in this class.

15:19

15:24

Students do not change their attitude towards the lesson. Whenever the teacher writes something on the board students take advantage of the situation (During this time the teacher has admonish and chat, play and laugh. several students because of their lack of attention to the lesson) Ms: Existen bodas de papel, de Madera, re pobre. T: No, thats not because of the money () (she explains the difference of the marriages There is some evidence of in terms of years in English) misunderstanding. This might be T: () Por ejemplo, heart is a symbol because of no proper setting of (she explains what is a symbol by means of context and because students did examples) not understand the instructions (she corrects the activity on the board)

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a) (Marriage) b) (Symbol) c) (Kisses) d) (Potions)

because of the noise. The teacher explains what is a symbol. She might be doing so to clarify some concepts that were not clearly understood because of the mess in the classroom.

15:30

15:38

15:47

Ms: Claudia, cierto que las mujeres se derriten por los soldados? Fs: Buena Camilo, te mereces que te de la mano /She gives her hand to Camilo/ (When the teacher asks students to work they chat and play, and sometimes laugh in loud voice) T: Hurry up, in five minutes Im going to check (During this time the teacher talks to a student. Meanwhile Camilo and Kevin chat and laugh) () T: Now we are going to check. Guillermo Ruiz, what is the connection between animals and love potions? Ms: Nemo! (Kevin is disturbing his classmates while the activity is being corrected) (Guillermo answers something in Spanish that is inaudible for the ethnographer) (The teacher monitors during this time. Kevin walks around the classroom talking with his classmates) T: ok, who has number 1 What is the ? (No answers) Love potions are made with exotic animals. () Shadia was fourteen years old. Ms1: Fourteen years old Ms2: Todo por que le est copiando a Rudy. Fs: Because a women kiss the statue. Probably because women kiss the statue. T: What does the word symbolize? Karen? (She speaks in a low tone of voice inaudible for the ethnographer) T: Why did roses become popular? BecauseLuis? Why did roses become popular? Ms: Because romanticRomans () (Inaudible speech) T: Im going to check on your notebook next time. Write it (some students put pencils on their hair) (During this time very few students work, the rest chat and play. The teacher only monitors students who sit at the front. The students at the back have not changed their attitude during this time)

Students make jokes aloud laughing in loud voice. Perhaps students feel there is nothing interesting in the lesson as they have not get involved with the class.

The teacher requries students to work. She might be trying to make them hurry and avoid other activities.

Students do not keep quiet while the teacher corrects the activity. This might cause other students to lose concentration also. Very few students work. Probably they were the only ones to get the context of the lesson.

Now there are some answers from students who sit at the front. Probably there is a chance that this are the only students who have understood the lesson. Probably the students at the back

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do not feel that the lesson is for them too.

The students feel no necessity to write or work as the teacher does not monitor them. Probably this create the feeling that they are not considerated in the lesson and that is another reason why they do not work. T: The peole who have the book, open the book on page 16 (Kevin and Camilo play and distract the rest of the class) T: Please hurry up, write it down! Listen and complete this part. /The teacher shows the previous board/ (Camilo talks to his friend during the listening making noise) T: Who is Andy, Monica? Fs: Andy is () T: Ya, they used to date () T: Mary or Kerry? Listen, Im going to read you the story (While the teacher reads, the students already mentioned as misbehaved play and do what as the please) T: Silencio! Camilo despus me va a repetir todo. Ms: Cholo, Cholo (Calling Camilo) T: What is to ask her out? () Ms: Yes (The teacher continues reading as the answer is not good enough) T: Camilo, a ver esta ah (Camilo tries to guess the answer but he cant) T: Kerry dice Yes, Andy and I are very different () T: Andy got a new girl. Mary is looking for Alex because she () Andy and Kerry split up

The teacher tries to develop the activity but there are students making noise. Lack of attention might be generalized at the back of the classroom. The stages of the lesson were not clear. The introduction of the topic failed at the beginning and no introduction of vocabulary was noticed. Activities have taken a lot of time and effort from the teacher as she had to write the exercises on the board. All these aspects apparently contribute to students lack of attention and misunderstanding of the reading and listening passage. The final activity is a fill in the missing information which has little reaction from students. This might be because no objectives were stated at the beginning. Also, as the classroom atmosphere was not appropriately set, students do not feel the need to work. This time the activity is corrected

15:49

15:53

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(the activity is corrected on the board) Ms: Alex is gay (students laugh) T: Qu pas con Alex y su polola? Who was the mystery girl? The mystery girl Ms: Son las 3 y 55 minutos () (the naughty students stand up and walk around the classroom as the teacher checks if students write the answers for the activities) /The teacher erases the board and the bell goes off/ 15:58 16:01

on the board. This might give a chance to students who lose concentration and did not understand the passage to comprehend the text. Students pay attention to the watch. Perhaps they feel that the lesson has not been appealing to them and they just want to leave the classroom. No closure at the end. This was affected by the time which was wasted at the beginning and middle of the lesson when the teacher wrote the activities on the board.

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7.2 Student-teachers Ethnographic Notes

FIELD NOTE 1

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

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This lesson is part of a unit called On Screen which is related to television. The name of lesson is Making Games in which students read a text about video games and how these are made. Students work individually and in pairs using their course book and a handout prepared by the student-teacher.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

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School : Colegio Ingls Purranque Teacher : Vctor Aguilera Subject : English Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 25 Time of the lesson : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : October 16th 2008 Ethnographer : Carolina Caucao 14: 32 /The bell went off late. The students entered the classroom. It took them some time to get ready for the lesson/ St-T: Good Afternoon students, how are you today? Sts: Fine Fs: Teacher cmo le ha ido St-T: Fine, and you? Fs: Ok St-T: Are you ready to work? Sts: No Ms: Teacher nos da tiempo para elegir a nuestro rey y reina? 14:39 St-T: Ok. Im going to give you 5 minutes at the most. Solo les voy a dar 5 minutos /the teacher sets his materials and hands in a handout/ (Students carried out an election. It took them about 7 minutes. During this time the teacher wrote the name of the lesson and the objective) St-T: Estamos listos con la votacin es hora de comenzar la clase. Rpido chicos, ya po Remember that our unit is called On Screen

At the beginning of the lessons students are concerned about choosing a queen and king for their anniversary week. This time may be needed to work all the activities.

The student-teacher used the time students took to elect their representatives to set the materials and write the objectives of the lesson. It might help him recover some time.

St-T: The name of the lesson is Making Games. And today we are going to read a text () and write () Pay attention now to what I am going to do /The student-teacher mimics a situation in which he is playing a computer game/ St-T: What am I doing? Fs: Est jugando St-T: Ok. In English please. Fs: Youre playing St-T: Very good. So, what is the lesson going to be about? Sts: Juegos St-T: In English please Ms: Games St-T: What kind of games? Ms: video games St-T: Very good. Video Games /he writes on the board and pastes 3 images/ St-T: What is in these images? 95 Ms: computer, Xbox y un game St-T: Good. A computer, a game console

The introduction of the lesson is carried out using mimicry. This might help students whose listening abilities are not fully developed understand what the lesson is about. Students understood what was performed by the studentteacher. They brainstormed in Spanish but were forced to speak English. This might be effective as students start using what they already know to participate in the lesson.

For the sake of reinforcing the introduction of the lesson the

FIELD NOTE 2

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

97

This lesson is part of a unit called On Screen which is related to television. The name of lesson is Pride and Prejudice in which students read an extract of a film review. Students work individually and in pairs using a text taken from internet and a handout prepared by the student-teacher.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School : Colegio Ingls Purranque Teacher : Victor Aguilera Subject : English Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 25 Time of the lesson : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : October 23rd,2008 Ethnographer : Carolina Caucao 14: 30 /The bell went off on time. The students entered the classroom. It took them some time to get ready for the lesson/ St-T: Good Afternoon students, how are you today? Sts: Good afternoon teacher St-T: Are you doing ok? Sts: Yes teacher (the student-teacher had already written on the board the name of the lesson and objectives)

The lesson starts normally. There is no time lost this time at the beginning of the lesson. The student-teacher has already done some work which might help with the timing of the lesson.

The lesson starts with activation of prior knowledge. Remembering the unit and its topic can help

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students relate the new lesson with what they have already learnt during the term.

14:34

St-T: Ok students please pay attention. Today we are going to continue our unit On Screen. What do you remember about it? Ms: Algo acerca de la televisin teacher St-T: Very well Fernando. Anything else you remember about the unit or the previous lesson? Fs: Yes teacher. Vimos algo acerca de games St-T: Very good Kati. Today our objectives are to read a text about a film and write a short text. Lo que vamos a hacer hoy es leer un texto acerca de una pelcula y escribir un comentario Fs: Teacher esa pelcula es Orgullo y Prejucio? St-T: Excellent. You read the title of the lesson () We are going to read a text based on Pride and Prejudice. Who has seen the movie? /Some students raise their hands/ St-T: Excellent. It means you will understand the text Ms: Teacher cul es esa pelcula? St-T: It is a film with Keira Knightley () About social classes in the old days in England () /the teacher writes something on the board/

Asking students what they have been working during the term proved to be useful as some students participate. It also might help others focus on the topic and activate their knowledge related to television.

Presenting the objectives to the student can help students prepare for what they are about to do in the class. It may be useful as they can anticipate the type of activities and how they are going to work.

Some students were able to anticipate what the lesson is about. It should help those students when reading the text to understand in a better way the extract about the film.

St-T: What do you know about marriage in the 19th century? Any ideas? Whatever you know is right Fs: Los matrimonios eran arreglados

There is a discussion about marriage in the 19th century. Activation of prior knowledge so far has proved effective for setting the topic of discussion. It might

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14:41

St-T: Very good Cristina. Any other ideas? /The teacher takes notes of what the students are saying/ Ms: la gente pagaba para poder casarse St-T: All right Felipe. Pero ms que pagar era un dinero que se entregaba para sustentar la familia de los recin casados. Eso se llamaba dote. In English it is called dowry. (The discussion continues. Some students participate with their ideas and others chat at the back)

help if students could relate the topic of the lesson with the unit as well, so as to have continuity to the work already done.

There was a very good response from students to the topic in discussion. It might indicate that students feel inclined to work in the lesson which should be helpful for the development of the activities.

/The student-teacher hands in two sheets of paper to the students. He also pastes two pictures on the board/

The use of images to finish setting the topic can be helpful for those students who are visual learners. This way they can relate the discussion to what they already know.

14:47

St-T: Look at the pictures and tell me, what do you see in them Sts: Ropa Antigua Traje militar Traje de baile St-T: Excellent. We have old clothing. One is womens outfit and the other is a militia outfit (). Ahora una pregunta. What is the relationship between this and the unit we are working on (There is no answer from students. Probably they did not make the connection between the lesson and the unit) St-T: Please pay attention to the activity sheet. In activity one you will have to find the correct collocation in the text for the words that are written in there (). And also you will have to match them with the correct Spanish. Explico en espaol. Tienen que buscar si la colocacin de las palabras esta correcta en el

In this section students have participated in Spanish. It would be best if the student-teacher forced them to produce their comments in English. Probably the vocabulary they need to make their comments is unknown. In this section the absence of an answer to the question of relating the unit to the lesson proved the previous analysis right. Despite the students relating ideas with what they know has been good; they did not make a connection with the unit. Probably it is because the film is about the 19th century and students have previously studied televison and

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ejercicio y unirlas con su espaol correcto. Hicimos algo parecido la clase pasada. Do you understand? Sts: Yes teacher /the teacher writes the words in Spanish on the board/

games. Students have to discover the correct collocations for words. It can be helpful if students can identify a collocation so that they later use them to read and write more fluently. Also as a means to develop vocabulary at all levels, Spanish translations can help students whose level of English is lower. Students working show that there is interest in the lesson. The few students who do not work might not be interested in the lesson or probably were not able to relate what they know with the issue in discussion. Corrections start and students are able to notice correct and incorrect collocations. They show that they have already understood what collocations are and how to identify them. They were able to form the correct collocation and relate it to their meaning in Spanish. It can be helpful for students to form the correct collocation and understand its meaning.

14:52

15:00

/The teacher monitors the activity. He walks around the classroom helping students/ (During this time students work collaboratively. A few students at the back do not work and chat with their friends) St-T: Ok. Im going to give you to more minutes to finish the activity. /Students continue working and the studentteacher monitors the students at the back/ St-T: Oiga, pero ustedes no han echo nada. Tienen que empezar a ponerse las pilas porque yo no regalo las notas. St-T: Ok, its time to check the activity. Number 1, is the collocation correct? Fs: No teacher, est mala. Lo correcto es OF. St-T: Excellent work Yocelyn. Very good. And the meaning in Spanish is? Ms: Al cierre de teacher St-T: Excellent work Camilo. Very good. Now number 2, is it correct the collocation, Carmen Gloria? Fs: Yes teacher, it is one St-T: Very good Carmen Gloria, and the meaning in Spanish is? Fs: Tener una tendencia /The teacher writes the answers on the borrad/ St-T: Excellent Carmen (The activity continues to be corrected this way. Teacher sometimes asks some students and sometimes leaves the question to be answered by any student.)

Corrections on the board may help students who are slower and the ones who do not work to complete their activity to have the vocabulary to read the text

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comprehensibly.

15:07 Another vocabulary activity may be redundant. While it is helpful for St-T: Ok students. Very well done. Now for students to learn new words and the following activity we are going to work collocations, there should be a with adjectives. () The instruction says: variety of activities. Also it is match the adjectives with their corresponding similar to the previous one as meanings. Also you will have to match it with students have to match the words with their definitions and meaning the meaning in Spanish on the board. /He writes the words in Spanish on the board/ in Spanish. Two vocabulary activities may be too much for students.

15:13 St-t: In this exercises you have to columns. In the first one you have the adjectives and in the second you have the definitions () /He shows in the handout the two columns/ St-T: You have to match the words from the left column with the definitions in the second column and the meaning in Spanish. Sts: Yes teacher /The teacher walks around the classroom and students start to work/ (During this time most students work individually. Probably a best way would be to encourage pair work. Also the teacher helps students. Most students work and call the teacher for help, but a few chat and laugh.) St-T: Are you ready with the activity? Fs: No todava teacher, hay palabras que no sabemos St-T: Ok, which ones? Fs: esa que dice abuzz no me la s St-T: Ok. Abuzz is when you are full of activity () /He mimics a lot of movements to explain the meaning/ Fs: eso es como desordenado

Explanations in English may reinforce students listening skill. Also it might help maintain class management as students need to be quiet to listen to instructions and understand what is being done.

Individual work seems to be the central tendency among students. Probably it could be best to plan activities in which collaborative work can arise, so that students can share and help each other. Mimicry and explanations in English can help students comprehension. It proves effective in this case. Probably this is a more effective way to teach or explain unknown vocabulary.

Timing seems to not have been

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15:20

15:30

St-T: eso, good ahora bscala en el listado St-T: One more minute to finish the activity (Students continue working on their own. Some of them have already finished the activity and now talk to their classmates) St-T: Its time to check. All right. In the first column we have the adjectives classconscious, spirited, () and encouraging. And in the other column we have seven definitions. Veamos. Robinson, the first adjective class-conscious, what is the correct meaning? Ms: No la tengo teacher St-T: All right, Rudy, what is the correct answer? Ms: esa es la twelve teacher St-T: Read it please Ms: Pero me cuesta leer ingls teacher St-T: No importa Rudy, haz tu mejor esfuerzo Ms: very aware of the differences between ()social class St-T: Very good Rudy. And what is the meaning in Spanish? Ms: fijado en la clase social St-T: Excellent work Rudy. Lets correct letter B now. Nicol, what is the correct answer for Spirited? Fs: thirteen teacher St-T: are you sure Nicol? Fs: si teacher. Esa significa enrgico. St-T: Great work Nicol. Excellent (The teacher continues correcting the activity with the students. Some of them make mistakes and the teacher makes corrections when necessary) St-T: Ok, Now in the third item we are going to work with three collocations. Number 1 is strive to which means to try very hard. Qu cosa es strive to entonces? Fs: Intentar con mucho esfuerzo St-T: Excellent work Viviana. Number 2 is poised to which means ready to do something at any moment. What does it mean? Ms: esa es como estar listo en todo momento St-T: Fantastic Daniel. Very good. Now the number three is inclined to which means to tend to feel something)

planned appropriately. Many students finish very quickly while others still work. It might create minor disturbances in the class and interruptions in the students work. Probably this activity could have worked better assigning it less time to be carried out.

Corrections seem to be more fluent this time. Probably as the activity is similar to the previous one, students can solve it with less effort. When the activity is clear for students they can have better results. On the contrary, if the activity is not clear and planned well, students may be confused and take more time than needed to solve the task.

In this activity students will work using three collocations. This time the explanation is done in English with feedback in Spanish by the students. Students ask for a modeling of the activity which might mean that they are interested in solving the task. It also might mean that the activity needs clarification.

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15:38

15:41

Fs: esa es inclinado St-T: very good Kati. Now what you have in here is ten different actions and you have to relate them to the collocations one, two and three. Se entiende la actividad? Ms: No teacher, de un ejemplo mejor St-T: All right. Lets read number sixteen. Overcome poverty. Esto lo vimos en clases atras. Qu era overcome poverty? (There is no answer from students) St-T: Acuerdense que esto es superar la pobreza. Now, which collocation is it related to? Strive to, poised to or inclined to Ms: One teacher Fs: Pero tambin podra ser two St-T: Ok, very good. This is what I want you to do, discuss with your classmates and later we will check the activity. (The teacher monitors the activity. Students work in pairs this time discussing the activity. The students at the front call the teacher to ask him for help.) Fs: teacher la twenty three puede ser strive to pero tambin poised to St-T: Ok, pero tu tienes que decidir cul es la mejor de las opciones (The activity seems time consuming as there is much discussion among students about many items in the activitu) St-T: Ok, now its time to check what you have done Ms: estuvo difcil teacher St-T: Yes I know. Lets check number seventeen. Katerine, do you have number seventeen? Fs: Yes teacher, it is number 2, poised to St-T: Excellent Katerine. Very good work. Now number eighteen Victoria. Fs: Number 2, poised to teacher St-T: Ok, anyone has something different Ms: Yo teacher, esa es number 3 inclined to porque uno puede estar inclinado a aceptar una propuesta St-T: Very good Kevin, but also Victorias answer is a very good possibility. Now lets check number nineteen attack an enemy. Anyone has it? Ms: Esa es one teacher St-T: Good Guillermo. Anyone has something different? Ms: Esa tambin puede ser two teacher,

In this activity discussion is encouraged by the teacher. It might be helpful for students to discuss the activity as they have to make choices without a clear context.

There seems to be a problem for students as they find more than one possible answer for some questions. Probably there was a problem in the planning of the activity as it should have been only one clear answer for each question. Nevertheless, this helped collaborative work to arise as students worked in the activity. The commentaries and the time taken for students to solve the task proved that the activity was not very well planned. If the activity is not correctly designed it is more time consuming than what is appropriate for a task to last.

Despite the problems in the design of the task it helped discussion to arise. When the activity was corrected students were able to explain their choices and the reasons they thought for their answers to be correct. It might be a good alternative to produce a similar with a better design so as to encourage discussion and reflection among students.

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porque se puede estar listo para atacar al enemigo St-T: very good Daniel, both are very good alternatives. (The activity continues to be corrected this way. A lot of discussion arises in every item as there seems to be more than one correct alternative for some exercises.)

So far activities have proven to be more time consuming as they were planned to be. It probably has to do with the fact that there is more than one task to do in each item and that some items were not appropriately designed.

15:44

15:49

15:55

St-T: Now, in the third activity you have to read the text I handed you in (). You have to read it and answer true or false to the items from twenty six to thirty seven. Pay attention that you must answer according to the sentence in the left. () Tiene una oracin en la izquierda para cada tres preguntas. De acuerdo a eso y lo que sale en el texto contestan el verdadero y falso. Ms: Teacher pero queda poco tiempo para terminar la actividad St-T: All right, Please answer only the first seven questions. Only from twenty six to thirty two (Students read and work during the las minutes of the class. The teacher help some students and continues walking around the classroom) St-T: ok students its time to check. Is number twenty six is true or false? Sts: True teacher /The teacher writes the answers on the board/ St-T: The next one, number 27. Is it true or false? Sts: True teacher St-T: OK, the following, The bennet sister were raised under the strict () father Mr Bennet Fs: False teacher, era la mam

Students point out the fact that there are few minutes left to work. There were too many vocabulary activities which also were time consuming and now there is little time to develop comprehension activities. Probably it has to do with an inappropriate planning or design of the lesson.

The student-teacher asks students to complete only the first seven questions in the item so as to have some comprehension activities in the lesson. Corrections are done but there is little time to check real comprehension. Probably the third item could have been skipped so as to give room for reading comprehension and writing.

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St-T: Very good Kati. Lets continue. Young Lizzie wants to obey her mother () true or false? Ms: False teacher, era al reves St-T: Excellente work Guillermo. Now activity number thirty one, is it true or false? Sts: True St-T: Are you sure students? Fs: No teacher, its false St-T: Excellent Katerine, very good. The last one we are going to check, number 32 is it true or false? Fs: False St-T: Very good Cristina. Remember the other activities are homework for next class.

In this lesson there was a clear problem with planning. There were too many vocabulary activities, they were not appropriately designed and they took more time than was needed to be solved.

16:01

/The bell goes and the students leave the classroom/ St-T: Good bye students Sts: Good bye teacher FIELD NOTE 3

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

107

This lesson is part of a unit called On Screen which is related to television. The name of lesson is The History of Television in which students read a text about the invention of the TV set. Students work individually and in pairs using a text taken from internet and a handout prepared by the studentteacher.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new building for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School : Colegio Ingls Purranque Teacher : Victor Aguilera Subject : English Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 25 Time of the lesson : 14:30 to 16:00 Date : November 6th, 2008 Ethnographer : Carolina Caucao 14: 30 /The bell goes off and students start to arrive at the classroom. Meanwhile the studentteacher writes on the board/ The lesson starts in a St-T: Come students, hurry up. Its time to conventional manner. The begin our lesson. student-teacher and the /The last students arrive at the classroom/ students greet and the lesson St-T: Good afternoon students. How are you and objectives are presented to doing today? the class. It can be helpful to Sts: Fine teacher start explaining students what St-T: Good to hear that. All right, today we they are going to do so that they

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are going to continue working in our unit can anticipate the kind of which is called On Screen. Our lesson today activities they are going to work. is called the History of Television.

Activation of prior knowledge concerning collocation might serve students to understand the St-T: Our objectives for today are to read a activity they are going to do and text comprehensibly and write a short text to be aware of collocations that using collocations are present in texts. I should Fs: Teacher what are collocations? help them read more fluently St-T: Ok, lets remember what collocations and fix them so that they can are. We have discussed this in previous write more accurately too. lessons. Ms: Collocations son las combinaciones de palabras teacher St-T: Excellent Fernando, very good. So these are combinations of words. What type of combinations /The teacher takes notes on the board/ Students are able to recall some Ms: Combinaciones po teacher. As de esas of the types of collocations they que hay dos o ms palabras. have already work in class. It St-T: Si Kevin, eso est bien pero me refiero may imply that some students a algunos de los tipos de combinaciones. Por already master how to identify or ejemplo, verb plus preposition discover a collocation in a text. It /He continues taking notes on the board/ also should be helpful for those Ms: Ah si teacher. El otro era adjective students whose understanding noun. of collocations is still not very St-T: Excellent work Guillermo. Adjective much accurate. plus noun. Other type of collocation is noun plus noun. All right, now that we remembered what collocations are lets start our lesson

The use of images to set the topic might aid learners activate their prior knowledge. It also can /The teacher pastes some pictures on the help students recall what they board. Meanwhile a student hands in a have studied during the unit. handout to his classmates. / St-T: Ok, I want you to pay attention to these pictures. What kind of pictures are these? Fs: La primera es una old TV Students are able to participate St-T: Great. It is and old fashioned TV set. in English. Probably the studentWhat about the second picture? teacher should require them to

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Ms: The second is modern St-T: Fantastic Camilo. And the third one? Fs: Plasma Ms: No, ese es un LCD St-T: Ok, very well both of you. But the last two TV sets are old or new? Sts: New St-T: Very good

produce more English so as to improve their speaking skill during the lesson.

14:35

This time the student-teacher is using mainly English to explain. Students seem to have developed a level of understanding of the teachers instructions and explanations in English. It might be good to use St: All right, pay attention to your handout. In more English, mimicry and activity one you have to form the correct explanations and less Spanish collocation for TV set. Vamos a aplicar lo que to develop lessons. repasamo recin. You have to form verb + noun collocations and adjective plus noun collocation. You have the noun TV set and you need to form its correct collocations. Fs: Teacher explain again please St-T: All right. In one column you put the Sampling for this task and adjectives from the list and in the other you recalling of previous knowledge put the verbs. This way you form collocations should help this activity be successful among students. for TV set. Is it clear now They might perform well also /He writes on the board the two columns/ St-T: The words we have already studied. because most words are known They are buy, new, () steal, (...) LCD and because of the topic. break. Now Im going to give an example. The word buy, is a verb or and adjective? Sts: verb St-T: Very good. So you put it in the verb plus noun column. Now the word new, is it a The activity is to form the correct verb or an adjective? type of collocation. It should Fs: Adjective St-T: Excellent Kati. So you write it on the improve students level of understanding and knowledge of adjectives column. Is is clear now? the different types of Sts: Yes teacher /The students works and the student-teacher collocations. starts to monitor the activity/ Students seem to have got the key to solve the activity. Probably because of the activation of prior knowledge and the level of difficulty of

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14:42

(The students seem to be very fast with this activity. Some of them start talking when they finish their activity) St-T: Ok, you seem ready now. Lets check the activity. Any volunteer to correct the activity on the board? Ms: Me teacher St-T: Very good Daniel. Complete the verbs column /The student writes the answers on the board/ St-T: Very good Daniel. Great work. Any other volunteer Fs: Me teacher St-T: Very good Karen. Complete the adjectives list /The students writes the answers on the board/

words. However, students worked efficiently and showed understanding of the activity.

The two students who completed the activity proved that they were able to form the correct collocations for TV set using what they already new. A challenge would be to increase the level of difficulty of words in this activity.

Praising students for their work may encourage other students to work harder and volunteer when they are asked to present their activities. St-T: Fantastic work. Congratulations. () Now lets work in activity two. Here you have to write sentences using the words we have already studied. Pay attention to the example I will buy the new TV set. You have to use one verb and one adjective and the word TV set /He writes on the board/ St-T: You have five minutes to finish the activity

This time students have to write. The sample given by the student-teacher may be useful for them to know how to produce their sentences. It also might help them that they already studied the possible collocations for TV set.

/The teacher monitors the activity. Some students call him to show their work/ St-T: It is time to check. I have seen some very good sentences. Please, any volunteers? Fs: Me teacher St-T: Very good Victoria /The student writes on the board a sentence/

Monitoring may be a good strategy taken by the studentteacher. It should work as a resource and also as an influence so that students work as required.

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St-T: Ok, lets see. I will destroy my old fashioned TV set. Will you? Ok, its very good Victoria, sit down please. Anyone else? Kevin, please. /The students goes to the board and writes his sentence/ St-T: I will buy a LCD TV set. Excellent Kevin very good (Two more students go to the board to write their sentences)

It seems that praising students had a positive effect on students as they now are willing to go to the board and present their work in front of the class.

The work exhibited by students might suggest that the two previous activities and the example were successful and allowed them continuity in their work.

14:50

St-T: Excellent work. You wrote some very good sentences. () Now we are going to develop activity three. It says Which words mark: number one chronological order or number two: contrast, and number three other or no text pattern. Fs: Teacher que es eso the text pattern? St-T: All right, rememeber that we have already worked with text patterns. These are words used to mark text structure. () Por ejemplo si se quiere indicar una consecuencia se puede decir por ejemplo Miguel no estudio por lo tanto le fue mal. Aqu la palabra por lo tanto indica la consecuencia, osea el text pattern. Fs: Ya teacher pero en la actividad como se hace St-T: Ok, we have chronological order. It means words that indicate time. And also contrast which means opposition of ideas and the third option no text pattern or other thing. /He writes on the board what he was explaining/

The next activity seems to present a different continuity to the work that was previously done. It might be more difficult as students are required to identify text patterns. They might have some problems because the two previous may have been less challenging than the third one. It also may encourage students to work harder if they understand the activity and feel inclined to work it out.

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St-T: What you have to do is look for the words in the text I gave you and identify the different text patterns. For instance, number one different experiments. Is it time? Is it contrast? Is it other or no text pattern? Fs: It is contrast St-T: Very good Carmen Gloria. Thats what you have to do. You have 12 minutes to complete the activity. /Students start to work and the studentteacher walks around the classroom monitoring and helping as required/ (Most students are working. Some of them are using their dictionaries to work. Students at the front call the student-teacher to ask him for help) St-T: Ok students, you have only five more minutes. Im worried that some of you are not working. /The teacher walks towards the students who are chatting and laughing/ (The teacher talks to the students. He explains the activity again and they start to work. Probably they didnt understand the activity when it was explained.) St-T: Ok, you had enough time to complete the activity. I think it wasnt very difficult for some of you but I hope all of you did well. I want to listen to Kevin with the second one Ms: contrast teacher St-T: Very good Kevin Ms: Eso St: Ok, number three, two separate. Is it chronological order, contrast or other text pattern according to what you read? Fs: It is chronological order? St-T: Are you sure Monica? Ms: No teacher, contrast St-T: Very good Fernando, it is contrast because of the word separate. Now number 4, although. We have studied this word in class many times. What does it mean? Fs: Aunque teacher St-T: Very good Cristina. Now is it chronological order, contrast or other or no text patter? Fs: Contrast teacher St-T: Excellent Cristina. Number 5, to create Fs: Teacher ese es un verbo St-T: So, does it mark chronological order, contrast o no text pattern?

Explanation in Spanish this time seems necessary as the level of the activity compared to the previous two seems to have risen. Students required for further explanation to understand the activity. Probably it would have been best to provide an example in English so that the sample would have reinforced that explanation.

Assigning a limited time to perform the activity should help students organize their work. It also should urge students who are slower or do not participate to work harder.

Monitoring proved effective as students who were not working changed their attitude as the student-teacher talked to them and explained them the activity again. Probably it means that other learners did not understand the task too and needed further explanations and sampling. Corrections showed that the activity was difficult to students. However they are able to correct themselves what might suggest that the task was hard only for some students. If the activity is not modeled appropriately there is a chance that students might fail in developing the task.

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Fs: Number three teacher. St-T: Very good Yocelyn. The next one () (The activity continues to be corrected in the same way. Minor mistakes are clarified by the teacher) Students seem able to separate words which mark text patterns from verbs. It might suggest that they have already mastered at some level the capacity to identify words according to their category.

15:09

Corrections on the board might help students who are slower St-T: Ok Students, now for activity four, you and did not complete all the have to read the text and order the following activities. On the contrary, it may events according to the dates in which they also produce the effect of students who do not work and happened. Is it clear? only complete their tasks with Sts: Yes teacher St-T: Pay special attention to dates and the word from others. It could words that we already studied as markers of help to find a different way to chronological order. () Pongan especial correct activities. atencin a las palabras que estudiamos en el item anterior. () Remember to put numbers from one to six to order the events. /Students start reading and completing the The activities now change to activity. Meanwhile the teacher walks around reading comprehension. They should now be able to perform the classroom/ St-T: I forgot to tell you that you only have 5 well as they have already minutes to complete the activity. Five minutes studied most of the vocabulary for the lesson. The outcome of only. this activity should be optimum /He writes on the board/ as it is a very well known activity. Also setting a limited time should encourage students work faster.

St-T: Ok students, hurry up. Its almost time to check the activity (Some students have already finished by this time. A few continue working in the activity) St-T: Ok students its time to check the activity. The first event Radiovisor Model 100 was sold as a mechanical television. What is its correct order? Anyone please? Ms: Number five teacher St-T: Very good Robinson. The next one,

Corrections start and students immediately show that they were able to perform well. This time they do not need to be asked personally to answer the task. It should mean that they understood the activity well and were able to read the text comprehensibly.

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Jenkins used the disk idea. What is its correct order? Fs: Number two teacher. St-T: Are you sure Cristina. Anyone else has it? Fs: It is number three teacher St-T: Very good Viviana. The next one. The cathode ray tube () television system. What number is it? Fs: Number two teacher St-T: Very good. Excellent Viviana. The following question () (The activitiy is corrected in the same way until they check all items) St-T: Ok students, very well done all of you. Now we are going to develop a new activity. Here we have three extracts from the text (). According to these extracts you must say if items from seventeen to twenty six share any relationship. Ms: cmo se hace teacher? St-T: Tenemos tres extractos del texto. De acuerdo a estos extractos tienen que ver si existe una relacin en lo que se propone. () For instante in the first one it says: People, Basic Technologies, invention of televisin. () Los extractos dicen que People, osea gente, llevaron al development of Basic Technologies, osea el desarrollo de las tecnologas bsicas y eso laid the foundation for the invention of televison, sentaron los cimientos para la invencin de la televisin. () La relacin entre las tres cosas est clara. Therefore the relationship is correct. Se entendi como hacerlo? Sts: Yes teacher /He writes on the board what he just explained/

Minor mistakes happen but students are able to correct themselves. It might mean that the sequence of activities so far has helped develop vocabulary and comprehension thus allowing students to successfully develop the task.

Now the student-teacher presents a new activity. He prefers to explain the activity in Spanish as it is a new type of task. The sequence of activities and its rising in difficult should require for better explanations from the student-teacher. It might help students to be explained in Spanish as it is a new kind of task they have not developed so far.

St-T: You have twelve minutes to develop the activity. I will monitor the activity so as to help you. Is that ok?

This activity seems stimulating for students. Many of them start

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(Students start to work. The teacher walks around the classroom and some students call him to clarify doubts. Most students seem interested in the activity as they call the teacher for help) St-T: Five minutes more (Students continue working during this time. They seem interested in the activity as many of them work with their partners and call the teacher for help) St-T: Ok students, its time to check the activity. Relationship number eighteen students, Germany and electronic system, is it correct or incorrect? Anyone can answer? Ms: Correct teacher Fs: No Daniel, no es electronic system es mechanical module of television St-T: Excellent Kati, very good answer. La relacin correcta era sudent, germany and mechanical module of television. Electronic system esta relacionado pero ms adelante en el proceso de invencin del televisor. Lets continue. Number nineteen, mechanical system and electronic system. Is it correct or incorrect? Ms: Correct teacher St-T: Very good work Guillermo. The next one, student, Germany and mechanical module Fs: Correct teacher St-T: Very good Kati. Excellent. The next relationship, people, mechanical module, electronical system. Is it right or wrong? Ms: Correct teacher. St-T: Very good Daniel. Can you explain me why? Lo puedes explicar Ms: A ver. La gente hizo el mechanical module y de ese se paso al electronical module. St-T: Fantastic work Daniel. Very good. (The activity continues to be corrected the same way. In some cases the studentteacher asks students to clarify their answers so as to check real comprehension of the activity. He clarifies the items that are no clear or confusing for students.) St-T: Great work students. Now in activity six you have 5 sets of sentences. I want you to compare them and tell me what they have in common. Tienen que comparar las oraciones y subrayar lo que tienen en comn. You have

to work and call the studentteacher for help. If the activity presents a challenge for students they feel inclined to work and ask the teacher how to solve a task. On the contrary, if the activity is too easy it is less stimulating and many students may not want to work.

When students are proposed problems and challenges they feel inclined to participate in the task. It might also encourage them to speak and correct what they feel is wrong.

Students seem to have understood the task. It is reflected in their capacity to correct their classmates using arguments for their choices. Also they are able to justify their answers so as to rule out chance.

If students are proposed a correct sequence of activities with an appropriate increase of difficulty they will adapt better to tasks and they will perform better in the activities.

In most tasks students ask for

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7 minutes to develop the activity Ms: Teacher podra explicar lo que hay que hacer St-T: All right. I will show you what you have to do /He writes on the board two sentences from the activity/ St-T: Ok, in this example we have two sentences. What words do they have in common. What words? Ms: Different teacher St-t: Very good Fernando. Entonces subrayamos different. Despus, qu ms tienen en comn estas oraciones? Ms: A no s como se pronuncia, pero es laid the foundation for St-T: Very good Guillermo. Entonces subrayamos. Ahora lo importante es ver que lo que tenemos subrayado sirvi para escribir dos oraciones distintas. Por lo tanto tambin se puede usar para escribir una tercera oracin. Eso es lo que quiero que hagan. /Students start to work and the studentteacher starts to walk across the classroom/ (Many students work in pairs comparing the sentences. Some students at the back dont seem very much interested in developing the task) St-T: Ok students, time to check the activity. Set of sentences number two. What do they have in common? Sts: succeeded in with the help of /The student-teacher writes on the board/ St-T: Very good. Ahora dganme, qu hay de este patron verbo ms ing ms sustantivo ms through ms sustantivo? /He writes on the board/ Ms: ah s, ese tambin St-T: The next one. What patterns did you identify? Sts: They usedin addition to.to create a new St-T: Excellent work. Lets continue checking. In the following set of sentences () (The activity continues to be corrected the same way. The patterns are revealed by the students and also by the teacher)

clarifications and examples. It might mean they do not understand at first the explanations or that they are interested in learn how to solve the tasks.

Some students participate in solving the activity. Probably these are the learners with the better level in the class.

It might be more useful for students to be able to solve the task with the teacher than being shown how to do it. This way they may learn by doing the task.

Students participate in solving the task. This might mean that answering the example together with the teacher was of great aid for them to later work on their own.

Students involvement in this lesson shows that most of them

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have been stimulated both by the topic and the activities. Also they show in their performance that they were able to successfully develop the tasks.

15:38

St-T: Excellent work students. Now you are going to write a short text about the invention of any device using the words and patterns we have studied today. Van a escribir un pequeo texto acerca de la invencin de cualquier aparato aplicando lo que aprendimos en el ejercicio anterior y el vocabulario de la clase. Fs: Es con nota teacher St-T: Si va a ser con nota. Los voy a evaluar de acuerdo a esta tabla /He writes on the board/

According to the development of the lesson and the outcomes from students the final assessment activity should be optimum.

Explaining or showing students the criteria by which they are going to be evaluated might help them set and focus on what aspects to be more careful and put more effort.

St-T: Ok se va a evaluar el contenido, el uso de las collocations aprendidas, ah tambin est el uso de lo del ejercicio 6, las ideas que entreguen y como organicen la informacin. Ahora rpidamente hagamos un repaso de lo aprendido. qu cosas aprendimos hoy? Sts: Collocations de TV palabras para marcar orden cronolgico y contraste comparacin de oraciones St-T: Ok, very good. Denme ejemplos de palabras para marcar chronological order Sts: by the time In the late 1800 Around 1908 St-T: Ahora palabras para marcar contrast Sts: different although but St-T: very good, ahora tienen hasta el final de la hora para trabajar su texto. Lo dejan en una hoja aparte sin espirales y con su nombre arriba en el encabezado. Recuerden que pueden escribir acerca de cualquier aparato tecnolgico que quieran. Si no lo saben todo por esta vez acepto que inventen.

The closure of the lesson serves as a review of the main collocations and the most important words students could use to develop the final writing task. It might help them organize their work so as to produce a good piece of writing.

If the closure is successful and students are able to participate,

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/Students start to work in their texts. The teacher sits down for a while and later starts walking around the classroom/ (During this time most students work on their writing assignment. A few students chat and laugh. The teacher scolded them and told them to work. A male student stood up and walked around the classroom interrupting his classmates) St-T: A ver Kevin, qu paso que anda de pie? Usted tiene que estar trabajando, la tarea es con nota Ms: Ya teacher /The student sits down and the teacher continues walking around the classroom/ Fs: Teacher, cmo se dice plancha? St-T: Iron Fs: teacher como se escribe St-T: ai, ar, ou, en Fs: Thank you teacher. (Students continue working. Some of them are already finishing their works. Some are still working.) St-T: Vayan entregando que ya est por terminar Sts: teacher pero nos falta tiempo todava St-T: Ok, como han trabajado los que terminen ahora tiene 3 dcimas de recompenza y los dems pueden entregar maana la actividad Sts: Ya teacher /The bell goes off. Some students hand in their activity and leave the classroom/ St-T: Good bye students Sts: Good bye teacher FIELD NOTE 4

it could anticipate a good outcome in their final task.

Most students are working hard in the task. Probably it is because the activity is graded and they want to test what they have learnt in the lesson.

As a way of praising students who were able to finish in time their task, the teacher awarded them with some extra credit. It might encourage other students to work harder so as to get the same recompense.

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SYMBOLS T: Teacher Ms: Male student Fs: Female Students Sts: Students St-T: Student-teacher ( ): Opinions or perceptions from the ethnographer : Direct Quotation : Paraphrasing of the dialogue / /: Nonverbal behavior : the idea continues (): Missing or incomplete information

SYMBOLS OF THE MAP CLASSROOM: Students tables

Teachers table Windows

Whiteboard

Door

Description of the Lesson:

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This lesson is the start of a new unit called Messages which is related to paranormal phenomena. The name of lesson is The Guardian in which students read a text about a guardian angel. Students work individually and in pairs using a text taken from the course book and a handout prepared by the student-teacher.

General Description of the Environment Colegio Ingls students social-economic background corresponds mainly to middle class families. This allows them to welcome access to good benefits being one of the best schools in Purranque. They have a relative new build for their high school (about two years old). As far as the facilities of the school are concerned, they are good. There are plenty of rooms available including an extra free room in case some class needs a room. There are about 25 students per class an average which is ideal to work. Classrooms have a great illumination with plenty of windows and their corresponding curtains. Outer noises sometimes are perceived during the class, but external factors do not interfere with the lesson. This make student-teachers tasks easier.

School : Colegio Ingls Purranque Teacher : Victor Aguilera Subject : English Class : 10th grade A Number of students : 25 Time of the lesson : 10:15 to 11:45 Date : November 21st, 2008 Ethnographer : Carolina Caucao 10:15 /The bell goes off and students start to arrive

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at the classroom. Meanwhile the studentteacher writes on the board/ St-T: Good morning students. How are you doing today Sts: Hello teacher. Fine St-T: Good, Im glad to hear that. Please hurry up and sit down.

The lesson starts normally. The student-teacher writes on the board the objectives of the lesson. It might help students prepare for the upcoming work.

St-T: Today we will start a new unit which is called messages. Do you know this word? It usually appears in cell phones /The teacher mimics as if he were texting on a phone/ Ms: Mensajes de texto St-T: Ok, good. Just mensajes. No mensajes de texto. Just mensajes. The name of our lesson is The Guardian. What is a guardian? Its very similar to Spanish. Ms: Un guardian po teacher St-T: Yes, thats right. Today we are going to learn some vocabulary. () We are going to read a text comprehensibly and we are going to study collocations. Just to remember, what are collocations? Ms: Combinations of words St-T: Ok, very good. What type of combination of words? Fs: Varias palabras, pueden ser hasta frases completas St-T: Excellent, very good. Now I want to ask you the following. What do you know about paranormal events? Do you believe in angels? Fs: Eso son los fantasmas y duendes St-T: Ok, it is related to that, what about angels? Ms: los angeles estn en el cielo St-T: Ok, very good /The student-teacher takes notes on the board. One students hands in handouts to his classmates/ Ms: Spirits teacher St-T: Very good Yocelyn.

The student-teacher presents the name of the unit by means of examples and mimicry. It can be helpful for students to understand the topic.

The lesson starts with the students remembering what collocations are. As it is part of the objectives of the lesson it should help students to remember the work they have already been doing.

The topic is presented by means of questions. It might be useful as students can brainstorm what they know about the issue in discussion. It should help activate prior knowledge to read the text comprehensibly. In this part of the lesson students should be asked to brainstorm in English. Probably they know more English words than they produce in the lesson.

A vocabulary introduction is carried out by means of

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St-T: Again I ask you. Do you believe in angels? Sts: yesno.maybe St-T: all right. Now Im going to teach you some vocabulary for the lesson. Lets pay Now for the explanations of attention to activity one. features of protections the /he pastes some pictures on the board/ student-teacher carries out an explanation in English. It should force students to concentrate more in the lesson and have a better understanding of the lesson.

pictures. There is no clear sequence at this point between the discussion and the words that are being presented. This change of activities might confuse students as it is not appropriately sequenced.

10:22

St-T: You have four types of guardian, and ten features of protection. You need to match the features with its corresponding type of guardian. The features are the following, people, you know this one () it means human () animal, like a cat or dog () spirit, we already saw that one, its similar to ghost () take care of means to protect something, to be in charge of something () protect things, that is very easy () protects people again very easy () this one legal faculty, legal means law and faculty is a capability, a possibility to do something, what is it in Spanish? Ms: Una facultad legal St-T: Excellent work. The following is prevents people to enter a place. It means to stop someone from entering. And the last one to keep a place means to look after, to take care, to be in charge of a place. Now that we have reviewed the characteristics you have to complete. Ms: Teacher de un ejemplo St-T: Ok, for instance Guardian Angel () You have to see what features apply to it. We have people. Is a guardian angel people? Sts: no St-T: Is it animal? Sts: no

Probably in this section the student-teacher should not take for granted all the features and explain them anyways. It might be troublesome for students with less knowledge of the language to understand all what is explained and they might need that sort of language explanation.

Students most of the times ask for sampling of the lesson. It might suggest that explanations should incorporate always a sampling and also that students are interested in solving the proposed tasks. It is also of great aid that students participate when they answer the sample task together.

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St-T: Is it spirit? Sts: Yes St-T: So you put letter C on its corresponding box meaning that guardian angel is a spirit. Is it clear? Sts: Yes teacher /Students start to work and the studentteacher sits down for a while/ St-T: You have eight minutes to complete the activity. /The student-teacher stands up and starts to walk around the classroom/ (During this time most students work. Some students at the back finish the activity very quickly and call the teacher to show him their answers) St-T: Ok students, very well done. St-T: All right, you had enough time. Most of you are already done so lets check the activity. Lets check guardian angel. What are its features? Sts: Spirit letter d protects people St-T: Very good. So we have letters C, D and F. Now for prison guard. What are its correct features? Sts: people letter D protects people gets money letter J. St-T: All right very good. Lets keep checking Guard dog () (The activity keeps to be corrected the same way. Most students participate at the same time. There are minor mistakes that are clarified and corrected by the studentteacher.) St-T: Be careful, someone said that the guard dog gets money. That is not correct. Probably the guard dog gets some food from its master but no money.

Setting a limited time should force students organize their time to work. It also should reinforce the idea that there is no waste of time in class and that students are required to work. It might help set a proper environment of work.

Most students are very quick at finishing their task. Probably there was a better sequencing between the vocabulary introduction and the activity that helped students perform well. It also might suggest that the example was successful and that the activity was clear for students.

Students who work may imply that the task was very well understood and that they were able to relate the vocabulary to the features that were studied. Clarifications made by the teacher should be useful to rule out any misunderstanding.

A student makes a joke out of a mistake made by a classmate. It might discourage some students to participate if classmates laugh at them when Ms: Sipos Monica, na que ver que el perro they are not right. gane plata

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St-T: A ver tampoco es tan grave, un error lo comete cualquiera. Now we are going to develop our activity number two. Lets read the instructions () Which words can you relate to birthday, guardian or none of them St-T: Pay attention. The activity is as follows. The word problem is related to birthday, guardian or none of them? Fs: number three teacher St-T: Yes, very good Kati. A problem is not directly related to birthday or guardian so it is alternative number three. Is it clear now Sts: Yes teacher. St-T: Ok, lets work, you have eight minutes to complete the activity /He writes on the board/ (Students work during this time. They are a little noisy but most of them seem to be working in the activity. Some students call the teacher to ask him for clarifications.) (Many students seem to be very fast with the activity. Some have already shown their work to the student-teacher.) St-T: You seem to be very fast today. Lets check already the activity. () Dog is it related to birthday, guardian or none of them? Sts: guardian teacher St-T: Very good everybody. Now the following word, Angel. What is it related to? Sts: guardian angel teacher. St-T: Excellent work students. Very good. The word disease. /The teacher takes notes of the answers on the board/ Ms: ningunaosea la three. St-T: very good Guillermo. Pero por qu no se relaciona a ninguna? Ms: a no s.porque es enfermedad y no tiene nada que ver con cumpleaos o guardian St-T: Ok very good Guillermo, great work. The next one, years old. (The activity is corrected the same way. The teacher asks for an item and students answer. He takes notes. When there some mistakes he makes the same question to other student so as to get the correct answer.) St-T: Watch. What is it related to? Ms: birthday

This activity is similar to the previous one. This time they have to relate words to either birthday or guardian. It might be a little redundant for student to have a similar activity. On the contrary it could help them understand better the activity and thus develop the activity accurately.

Probably the similarities between the last two activities helped students be prepared to answer the last activity. It also may suggest that there was a better sequencing that helped students develop the task.

There are students who show a great level of understanding of the activities. Probably the activities are well known for them or they adapt better to them.

Asking the same question again instead of correcting it might be less frustrating for students than correcting them. It also may encourage the same students to be able to monitor their work and be able to come up with

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St-T: Are you sure? Camilo what do you have? Ms: Eso es mirar, as que debera ser guardian St-T: All right, very good Camilo. Check your answer Felipe ()

correct answers by themselves.

10:49

The previous activities have served the purpose of introducing and practicing St-T: Now I want you to open your books on vocabulary. Probably these are too many vocabulary activities. page one hundred and two It could be best for the lesson to Ms: Jue, tanto hemos avanzado en el libro St-T: Si Rudy, tanto hemos avanzado. Open have more reading and writing your books on page one hundred and two tasks in which they use the and read the text called the guardian. Then vocabulary. you are going to complete activity three. It is a rather new activity so pay attention please () It says which arguments or ideas in column A justify those in column B. For some questions there may be more than one possible answer. Fs: Osea que las de la A son respuestas para la B St-T: Algo as. Las frases de la columna A son ideas tomadas del texto. Ustedes tienen que leer el texto y despus decir cuales frases de la columna B tienen que ver, estn This time the student-teacher relacionadas o son justificadas por las ideas presents a different kind of de la columna A. Lean el texto y de acuerdo activities. It could probably a eso vean las respuestas correctas. () For present a challenge and interest example seventeen says Michael loves his so that students work. It also wife, (). According to the text you have to may cause some confusion and say if: Michael misses his wife, Michaels distraction among students if it wife loves flowers or Michael is protected by fails in the explanation and angels is a justification or clarifies the idea sampling of the task. that Michael loves his wife. Are we clear? Sts: Yes teacher St-T: Ok, Im going to give you eight minutes If the modeling of the task fails there is a great chance that to complete the activity. /Students start to work. One student stands students outcome may not be appropriate. up to talk to his classmates/ St-T: Kevin, quin le dio permiso para

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pararse a conversar? Ms: Ah teacher que no traje mi libro St-T: Ven yo te voy a dar un texto /The student-teacher hands the student a sheet of paper/ St-T: Ya Kevin ahora a trabajar /The student sits down and starts to read the text/ (Most students read and develop their activities. Some call the student-teacher to ask him for clarifications) St-T: Hurry up students, last three minutes to complete the activity. /The teacher walks around the classroom monitoring the activity/ St-T: Ok students, lets check the activity. But before that I want you to tell me what you understood from the text. Ms: Se trata del cumpleaos de un viejito St-T: Ok, what else did you understand? Sts: Hay un ngel una fiesta de cumpleaos unas flores () (Some students make comments about the reading. The student-teacher takes notes of the ideas given by the students in English)

The student-teacher seems to be prepared in case students do not bring their course books. It should give students the sense that there are no excuses for not working.

This time before revising the task the student-teacher asks students to narrate him the story. It might help students whose comprehension was not the best to complete the picture about the reading. It should also help to check whether students worked appropriately and read the text.

St-T: All right. Lets check the activity. The first sentence, number seventeen says Michael loves his wife. Which sentence or sentences from column A justify statement number seventeen Ms: Number one teacher St-T: Very good Fernando Fs: Teacher pero tambin puede ser la number three. St-T: Yes Katerine. Very good. You are right. Remember that for some statements there may be more than one possible answer. Now lets work number eighteen, Michael is sad Ms: Number one teacher St-T: Very good Rudy. Is there any other possibility? () All right, the following,

This time in the task there may be more than one possible answer. It should encourage discussion among students at the moment of correcting the task.

Apparently the activity presented a certain challenge

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Michael remembers his wife. Fs: Number 1 St-T: Very good Katerine, excellent work. Lets check the following one () (The activity continues to be corrected the same way. There seemed to be great understanding of the text as many students participated giving the answers) /The student-teacher takes notes of the answers on the board/ St-T: The last one, number twenty three Ms: Number three Fs: Tambin number two St-T: Very good both of you. Excellent work 11:02

so as to find all the possible correct answers for each question. It might explain students participation in the solving the task.

Corrections on the board should provide a chance for students to check and complete their work. It should help them compare the correct answers with the work they were able to produce on their own. St-T: Ok students, congratulations on the good work. Now we will work on activity number four. Here you have extracts A, B and C. For each extract you have a set of inferences. Do you remember what an inference is? Ms: Eso es sacar conclusiones de algo. St-T: Ok, very good Camilo. Entonces por cada extracto tenemos un set de conclusiones o inferencias. You have to say if they are right or wrong. Is that clear? Sts: Yes teacher. St-T: You have eight minutes to complete this activity. Now start working. I will be walking around the classroom if you need any help. /The teacher walks around the classroom. Students start to wrok/ (During this time students seem to have lowered their noise. They seem more productive. Probably the activity is more challenging for them) (The teacher monitors the activity and some students call him to ask for help. Some ask him to give instructions again. Probably he

This time there is no sampling of the task. Probably the student-teacher considered that the task was very well known and it did not need an example. It might cause some troubles for those students whose level of understanding of the activity is no appropriate.

11:09

There is a chance that, as the activity has been done in other classes, students already know how to work it out and feel

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should have modeled the activity so as to clarify doubts.) St-T: Ok students, hurry up. Only three more minutes to finish your work. /Students continue working. One student stands up to talk to his friends/ St-T: A ver Kevin, termin su actividad? Ms: No teacher. St-T: Ya pues a trabajar Ms: Pero es que ingls teacher, aaaah St-T: Come on, go finish your task. St-T: Ok, time to check the activity. For the first extract, I was seventy years old last Thursday. I havent really celebrated much since my wife Elizabeth died three years ago. The first question, Michael has been sad since his wife died, is a correct or incorrect inference according to what you read? Ms: It is one teacher St-T: Ok Fernando. Very good. The next one, number twenty seven. Michael does not () anymore. Correct or incorrect? Fs: Number two teacher. Incorrect St-T: Very good Katerine. The last one in here, Michael is alone since his wife died. Correct or incorrect? Fs: Correct teacher St-T: Excellent Yocelyn. Now the second extract says I am Lydia, she said. I am a messenger. I am a guardian. Question number twenty nine, is it right or wrong? Ms: Incorrect teacher. Number two St-T: Are you sure Robinson Ms: No teacher. One entonces St-T: Pero ests seguro o ests inventando. Fernando, right or wrong? Ms: One teacher. Correct. St-T: Ests seguro Fernando? Ms: Yes teacher. Porque dice que es guardian. St-T: Ok, very good. Lets check number thrirty, it says () (The activity is checked in the same way. The student-teacher reads the question and students answer as required. Mistakes are corrected asking other student for the answers so as to check comprehension. Maybe it is a good way to keep everyones attention on the activity.)

inclined to develop the task.

Students who ask for further explanation prove that all activities should be modeled so that all students understand and can work without doubting about what they are doing.

Probably a better way to correct this task should be to ask students to give arguments or simple explanations for their choices. As the task presents only two options there is always the possibility that students can rely on chance to solve the task. It might also provide the chance for discussion among students if the student-teacher would question students answers.

It is proved that when students are questioned, it presents a problem for them. When students are presented with a challenge in their activities there is always the possibility that participation will arise.

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Students are presented with a St-T: All right, very good work. Now we are new activity. They immediately going to develop activity five. This is a new require for an explanation in collocation activity. Here you have sentences Spanish. It would be best if the A, B and C. You have to study them, look at student-teacher could find a the words in bold and see if the sentences in way to explain the task using Probably simpler column B are correctly written according to English. words, mimicry and examples in the models. English could work. Fs: Teacher, expliquela en espaol porfa. St-T: All right. Tenemos oraciones A, B y C. Cada una presenta palabras destacadas. Ustedes tienen que ver como se usan esas palabras en esos ejemplos. Ponga atencin a la informacin que va dentro de esas palabras destacadas. Despus en la otra columna tienen oraciones que usan esas palabras destacadas. Tienen que ver si estn bien usadas de acuerdo a los modelos de la columna A. Fs: A ya teacher. Osea que hay que As it is a new activity which is comparar las oraciones si estn bien hechas presented to the students, the St-T: Yes mam. All right, now everybody to student teacher should have work. You have eight minutes to complete the prepared a different example so as to explain how to solve the activity. task. Thus, he would have /He writes on the board/ avoided using Spanish in the lesson and students could have understood better the task.

/The teacher starts to walk around the classroom. He explains some students what

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they have to do/ (During this time student have worked in pairs without being told to do so. Collaborative work seems to be needed to develop this task, probably because it is difficult or challenging for students) St-T: Hurry up students. Three more minutes to finish your task. Fs: Teacher come here please St-T: All right lady (The student-teacher helps students who ask for his help clarifying doubts and also explaining some vocabulary) St-T: It is time to check the activity. Lets revise first the three sentences. The first one the important part is the verb come to. People come to a place for something. () In letter B someone started to do something. So started to goes with an action and the preposition to means that it is directed to someone. () Before goes with an action or event. Then you have that someone used to do an action. Now we are going to check. /The teacher writes his explanation on the board/

It seems that students feel collaborative work is helpful for them. It might be a better idea to present students with activities in which this kind of work is demanded so as to reinforce their capacities.

Students who ask for clarifications proved that there was a need for sampling of the activity. It should have been included in the planning of the lesson.

Before correcting the task the student-teacher explains the three phrases and the collocations that were used in each of them. Probably this explanation could have come before asking students to solve the task. It could have clarified all the doubts without having to explain in English the task.

St-T: Now according to this lets check the activity. Number thirty seven, My parents came to Chile for work. Is it correct or wrong according to what we just reviewed? Sts: Correct teacher St-T: Michael came to beautiful for country. Is it right or wrong Fs: Wrong teacher St-T: All right. Pay attention it says come to beautiful. Beautiful is not a place, it is an adjective. Then it says for country and I explained you that for goes with an action. Country is a place. So it is wrong. Very good Katerine. The third sentence says, My sister came to the restaurant I was in for a chat. Is it correct or wrong? Sts: Correct teacher St-T: Very good. Now letter B. Lets check

Corrections are conducted by the teacher. He explains some of the questions and students provide the answers. It probably could be more stimulating for students if he asks them to explain the wrong ones to the students.

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these sentences. I started to my house to my wife. Is it correct or wrong? Fs: Wrong teacher. House es lugar y debera ser action St-T: Very good Kati. Lets go with number forty one. () (The activity continues to be corrected the same way. Students point out the mistakes and the teacher clarifies some of the sentences.

Students proved that they were able to understand the task and explain the wrong ones. Maybe the teacher should have required students to do so in the first place so as to encourage interaction from the very beginning.

St-T: Great work everybody. Now for the final activity you have to write a short paragraph applying what the collocations we learnt in activity five. You have to use the patterns in the following order. C plus when which means cuando, plus A plus then which means entonces plus B. Look at the example to see how this pattern works. Then create your own composition. You until the end of the classroom to finish the activity. For the final activity the student/He writes on the board / teacher presented students with a writing task. The timing of the lesson seems to have left only 10 minutes to write the paragraph. Probably the student teacher should have taken some minutes from the easier or simpler tasks so as to have more time for the last activity. It St-T: Van a ser evaluados con el mismo also left no room for a closure criterio de siempre. () which could have helped /The student teacher writes on the board/ students clarify doubts for the final activity.

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11:45

11:50

St-t: Now start to work. Im going to help you if you need anything. Remember that the activity will be graded. Also hand it in a different piece of paper () Acuerdense que es con nota y que tienen que entregar en hoja aparte. Fs: Teacher help please St-T: All right Mayo. Im comming. (During this time most student work and ask for the student-teacher help. They ask him for vocabulary and spelling of words.) St-T: Es un prrafo corto. No tienen para que escribir tanto. /Students start to hand in their activities. Some of them continue working/ /The bell goes off / (Many students continue working despite the bell went off, probably they are motivated because of the mark) St-T: Voy a esperar a los que no hayan terminado cinco minutos ms St-T: Time students. Entreguen sus trabajos /Students hand in their works and leave the classroom/ Sts: Good bye teacher. St-T: Good bye students

Students work but they clearly needed more time to finish their task. Nevertheless students work on their writing assignment. It shows that students work when there are marks for their work. Probably if the task would not have been graded only few student would have developed the task.

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7.3 Lesson Plans

I.

LESSON PLAN 13 IDENTIFICATION OF THE LESSON Unit: On Screen Name: Making Games Class: 10th A grade School: Colegio Ingls Purranque Date: 16th October, 2008 (Thursday) Time: 14:30 16:00 90 minutes Student Teacher: Vctor Aguilera Teacher: Liliana Aguilar OBJECTIVES GENERAL OBJECTIVE.

II.

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III. IV. 1. 2. 3. 4. V. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. VI.

VII.

To read a text comprehensibly and produce a piece of writing using collocations SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To discover the possible collocations for a word in a text. To evaluate information taken from a text To understand the relation of lexical items. To produce a piece of writing using collocations CONTENTS Functions : Talking about games Vocabulary: Computer, games, programmers, composer, artist, console Collocations : Computer games, a lot of money, expert programmer, professional composer, compete to, great entertainment, millions of, film company Skills : Reading and Writing ACTIVITIES Students are introduced the lesson and objectives. The teacher will mimic a situation in which he is playing in front of a computer and he will ask students to guess what the lesson is about. They will be shown 3 pictures related to the topic. (10 minutes) In item I students predict the possible collocations for COMPUTER. Then they check their answers using the text. The activity is corrected orally and on the board. (10 minutes) In activity II students have to form collocations using the text and match them with their corresponding meaning. There are 6 distracters. The activity is modeled by the teacher. The activity is corrected orally with answers on the board. (15 minutes) In activity III students have to read the text and decide if the given sentences present information which is right or wrong according to the text. (15 minutes) In activity IV, students have to relate collocations with either computer or company according to the text. They check the meaning of the collocations with the teacher. Students compare their answer with their classmates. (15 minutes) A summary of the class is done by the students with a revision of the most important collocations studied in the lesson. ASSESSMENT. FORMATIVE In activity V students are assigned a set of collocations taken from the text. They have to produce a paragraph using the collocations studied in the lesson. Students hand in the activity by the end of the class. (20 minutes) RESOURCES: Wetz, B. and Gammidge, M. (2005). Adventures. Students Book. China: Oxford University Press. MATERIALS: Pictures Markers Whiteboard Handouts Dictionaries Making Games Radio 1 20:00 The companies that dominate the computer games market make a lot of money. They also spend a lot. The advertising to launch a game is expensive, and companies spend millions as they compete to design the best game with the best graphics.

VIII.

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Games companies use expert programmers and other specialists for every part of the games design and development. For example, for a new game, they have scenes drawn by artists and have the music written specially by professional composers. Another recent change has come from the cinema. The Matrix is not only a film; it has become a popular computer game too. As you read this, other film companies are having games made from their new films. You will see adverts for the games when you watch the films at the cinema. Computer games are great entertainment for millions of people. There are multigame consoles that allow you to explore the universe or be a competitor in a golf championship. But when and how did computer games start? What was the first game and who was it inventor? Who knows?

2 EM A 16th October, 2008. Making Games Name: _____________________________________

Handout N13

I. Which of the following words [1]collocate or [2]dont collocate with computer. Check your answers with the text. 1. 1 games 2. 2 Money 3. 1 company 4. 2 millions 5. 2 graphics 6. 1 To lunch 7. 2 Expert programmers 8. 1 Computer 9. 1 Console 10. 1 Popular II. First form the collocation with words from the second column. Then, match the collocation with its appropriate meaning in the third column. Put a [0]for the distracters. 1 Expert 11. 3 Composer A 1 A person who is skilful in producing computer programs

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2 3 4

Film Professional computer

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

0 0 2 4 0 1

music cinema Company Game competitor Programmer

B C D E F G

0 2 0 4 0 3

Music that is develop for a special device An organization which produces movies. An organizations which shows films An entertainment device played in a console Someone who participates in sports events. Some who writes music as a profession

III. Which of the following information is [1]right or [2]wrong according to the text. 18. 2 Computer games companies make a lot of 19. 1 Not all companies can compete in the game money industry. 20. 1 Companies invest in commercials as to sell 21. 2 The money paid in the design of graphics for more games. films is incredible 22. 2 The graphics, the design and the 23. 2 Specialist that develop games also develop commercials are develop for the same films and video clips. people that develop games. 24. 2 The cinema influenced the music industry. 25. 2 Game computers are only an entertainment for those who have a computer. 26. 1 No matter who created computer games, 27. 2 Games are sold at the same prize as films. they entertain people. IV. Which collocations are related to [1]companies or [2]computer games. 28. 1 a lot of money 29. 2 Great entertainment 30. 2 Music written 31. 1 Compete to 32. 1 Spend a lot of 33. 2 Allow to 34. 2 The best graphics 35. 1 Expert programmer 36. 1 millions of 37. 2 Be a competitor V. Given your assigned set collocations write a short paragraph about any company. 38. The companies that dominate the computer games market 39. The companies make a lot of money 40. companies spend millions 41. They also spend a lot. 42. as they compete TO DESIGN the best game WITH the best graphics 43. Games companies use expert programmers and other specialists FOR every part of the game 44. they have scenes drawn have the BY artists and specially music written BY professional composers 45. Another recent change has come FROM the cinema.

____________________________________________________________________________ LESSON PLAN 14 IDENTIFICATION OF THE LESSON Unit: On Screen Name: Pride and Prejudice Class: 10th A grade School: Colegio Ingls Purranque Date: 23rd October, 2008 (Thursday) Time: 14:30 16:00 90 minutes Student Teacher: Vctor Aguilera Teacher: Liliana Aguilar

I.

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II. III. IV. 1. 2. 3. 4. V. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. IX.

X.

XI.

OBJECTIVES GENERAL OBJECTIVE. To read a text comprehensibly and produce a piece of writing using collocations SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To discover the possible collocations for a word in a text. To infer the meaning of words in context To identify the context in which collocations are used To write a short commentary about a film CONTENTS Functions : Commenting a film Vocabulary: Snob, proposal, marriage, doting, wealthy, abuzz, serene, good-natured, encouraging, spirited Collocations : Set future, close of, aware of, fixation of, strive to, influx of, inclined to, circle of, shortage of, poised to, the close of. Skills : Reading and Writing ACTIVITIES Students are introduced the lesson and objectives. The teacher will show students pictures of the 19th century. They are going to be proposed a discussion about marriage in the old times. (10 minutes) In item I students have to check a set of given collocations in the text. They have to decide if the proposed collocations are right or wrong, correct when needed and also match the collocations with their meaning in Spanish. (15 minutes) In activity II students have to infer the meaning of seven adjectives in the contexts they are used. They have to match them with their correct definitions in English and match them with their translation in Spanish. (15 minutes) In activity III students have to decide in which situations the collocations strive to, poised to, and inclined to are correctly used. They work in pairs to complete the activity (15 minutes) In activity IV, students have to read a text and answer true or false according to a designed premise for each item. Students work in pairs to complete the activity. (15 minutes) A short summary of the lesson is carried out pointing out the most important collocations studied in the lesson and what students understood about the text. ASSESSMENT. FORMATIVE In activity V students have to read to film commentaries. They analise the words in bold and write a short commentary about any film they have seen recently. (20 minutes) RESOURCES: (1)Yahoo Movies, Pride & Prejudice (2005) <http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808657001/details> (2)Evans, V. & Dooley, J. (2002). Upstream Intermediate. Newbury: Express Publishing. MATERIALS: Pictures Markers Whiteboard Handouts Dictionaries

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

In class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century, the five

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Bennet sisters--Elizabeth, or Lizzie, Jane, Lydia, Mary, and Kitty--have been raised well aware of their mother's fixation on finding them husbands and securing set futures. The spirited and intelligent Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective, as encouraged by her doting father. When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley takes up residence in a nearby mansion, the Bennets are abuzz. Amongst the man's sophisticated circle of London friends and the influx of young militia officers, surely there will be no shortage of suitors for the Bennet sisters. Eldest daughter Jane, serene and beautiful, seems poised to win Mr. Bingley's heart. For her part, Lizzie meets with the handsome and--it would seem-snobbish Mr. Darcy, and the battle of the sexes is joined. Their encounters are frequent and spirited yet far from encouraging. Lizzie finds herself even less inclined to accept a marriage proposal from a distant cousin, Mr. Collins.

2 EM A 23rd October, 2008. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Name:_____________________________________

Handout N14

I. Which words go with the following collocations is [1]correct or [2]wrong. What is the correct preposition? 1. 2 The close in _____ OF Al cierre de 2. 1 Inclined to _____ tener una tendencia hacia 3. 1 Strive to _____ esforzarce para 4. 2 Circle for _____OF circulo de 5. 2 Influx on _____OF llegada de 6. 1 Shortage of _____ escases de 7. 2 Fixation to _____OF fijacin en 8. 2 Inclined for ____TO inclinado a II. Match the following adjectives (1-7)with their corresponding meanings A Class-conscious fijado en la clase 9. C Having a lot of money social B Spirited energico 10. E peaceful and calm; troubled by nothing

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C D E F G

Wealthy adinerado Abuzz alborotado Serene tranquilo, sereno Good-natured bien intencionado Encouraging alentador

11. F 12. A 13. B 14. G 15. D

pleasant or friendly very aware of the differences between the various social classes enthusiastic and determined making you feel more confidence or hope filled with noise and activity

III. Which of the following actions you: [1]strive to (try very hard) [2]are poised to (ready to do sth at any moment) or [3]are inclined to (tend to feel sth) 16. 1 overcome poverty 17. 2 Take action 18. 3 Accept a proposal 19. 2 Attack an enemy 20. 1 Be successful in life 21. 3 Do as you are told 22. 3 Give a second chance 23. 1 Earn a degree 24. 1 Achieve your goals 25. 2 Go to Osorno IV. Read the statements and put [1]True or [2]False according to the text. 26. 1 In a dysfunctional environment 1. The Bennet sister were 27. 1 Aware of their mothers desire o finding a husband for them raised 28. 2 Under the strict rule of their father Mr Bennet 29. 1 Longs to have another kind of life encouraged by her father 2. Young Lizzie 30. 2 Wants to obey her mother in everything she says 31. 2 Wants to get rid of her family 32. 2 Mr Bingley is going to sell his mansion 3. The Bennet family is excited 33. 1 Mr Bingley settles nearby the Bennet family because 34. 2 Mr Bingley wants to buy the Bennets mansion 35. 2 Worried about Lizzies future 4. Eldest daughter Jane seems to 36. 2 Sad because she doesnt have a boyfriend be 37. 1 Ready to make Mr Bingley fall in love with her
V. Look at the 2 commentaries below, and write a new one about any movie you have seen recently. (30 words)

Romeo and Juliet This film is a romantic tragedy based on the play written by William Shakespeare. This adaptation is well worth watching as it portrays Romeo and Juliets love in a contemporary scenery. I recommend you to go and watch this film. Youve got mail This is a romantic comedy with a happy ending. Despite of its predictable plot it is still enjoyable to watch. I suggest you to rent this DVD and have fun, you will not regret it. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

LESSON PLAN 15 I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE LESSON Unit: On Screen Name: The History of Television Class: 10th A grade School: Colegio Ingls Purranque Date: 6th November, 2008 (Thursday) Time: 14:30 16:00 90 minutes Student Teacher: Vctor Aguilera Teacher: Liliana Aguilar OBJECTIVES

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II. GENERAL OBJECTIVE. To read a text comprehensibly and produce a piece of writing using collocations III. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To form the correct collocations for a word To write short sentences using collocations To identify the text patterns of words To discover the correct relationship of ideas in a text To order events according to their chronological order IV. 1. 2. 3. To compare sentences and discover how collocations are used To write a paragraph using collocations studied in the lesson CONTENTS Functions : Commenting about the history of any device Vocabulary: module, wires, scanner, disk, kit, tube, Collocations : In the late, Beginning of, By the time, A brief look, The history of, Various people, The idea of, Succeed in, Electronic system, Television system 4. Skills : Reading and Writing V. ACTIVITIES 1. Students are introduced the lesson and objectives. The teacher will show students pictures of different types of TV sets. Students have to guess the topic of the lesson and brainstorm whatever they know about the history of TV. They are going to be taught some nouns by means of pictures. (10 minutes) 2. In item I students have to form the correct collocations for TV set. They are divided in verb+noun and adjective+noun collocations. They use their prior knowledge for this activity. The activity is checked orally and on the board.(15 minutes) 3. In activity II students have to write two short sentences in which they combine the two different types of collocations already studied. The activity is modeled by sampling. The activity is corrected on the board. (5 minutes) 4. In activity III students have to decide which text pattern corresponds to a given set of words. There are two patterns to be matched: chronological order and contrast. Also there are words that have a different or no text pattern as distracters. (15 minutes) 5. In activity IV students have to read the text and reorder six events as they find them in the text. The activity is corrected orally and on the board. (5 minutes) 6. In activity V, students have to read 3 statements taken from the text. Based on what they say they have to decide if the proposed relationships are right or wrong according to the extracts from the text. The activity is modeled by the teacher and corrected on the board. (15 minutes) 7. In activity VI students have to compare sentences taken from the text with some new sentences which use the same collocations and patterns. They have to discover what they have and common and how they are used. The activity is corrected on the board. (10 minutes) 8. A summary of the lesson is carried out. The most important collocations are reviewed and students brainstorm what they understood about the text. (5 minutes) XII. ASSESSMENT. SUMATIVE t In activity VII students have to write a text using collocations and text patterns already studied in the lesson and specifically those from activity VI. The activity will be graded according to the following criteria. (25 minutes)

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Content: 1-5 Total: 20 2 EM A Use of collocations: 1-7 points th 6 November, 2008.ideas: 1-5 The History Of Television Arguments and/or Name:_____________________________________ Organization of information 1-3

HandoutN15

I. Order the following words in their correct column to form collocations related to TV set. Buy, XIII.R ESOURCES: new, sell, modern, steal, plasma, steal, old fashioned, destroy, LCD, break. Jezek, G. (2006). The Adjective: History of Television. Retrieved from Verb: to_______a a(n)_______ http://www.thehistoryoftelevision.com/ on 12 October, 2008. Sell New XIV.M ATERIALS: Buy Old fashioned Pictures TV set Steal Plasma Markers Break LCD Whiteboard Destroy Modern Handouts Dictionaries II. Now write 2 sentences using the verbs and adjectives from the list above. Look at the The example. history of television The Itelevision as new we see and know it today was not always this way. Lets take a brief look will buy that TV it set. at the history of television and how it came into being. * ________________________________________________________ Timeline of TV History ** ________________________________________________________ Different experiments by various people, in the field of electricity and radio, led to the development basic technologies and ideas that laid the or foundation for the invention III. Which of words mark [1]chronological order, [2]contrast [3]other or no text pattern of television. 1. 2 Different experiments 2. 1 In the late 1800s In the Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student 4. in Germany, developed the first ever 3. late 2 1800s, Two separate 2 Although mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through 5. 3 To create 6. 1 Around 1908 wires with the help of a 7. rotating metal disk. This technology was called the telescope 1 By the time 8.electric 3 Two types ofthat had 18 lines of resolution. 9. 1 By 1931 10. 2 But Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system. From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems came into existence: mechanical television and electronic television. Mechanical Television History In 1923, an American inventor called Charles Jenkins used the disk idea of Nipkow to invent the first ever practical mechanical television system. By 1931, his Radiovisor Model 100 was being sold in a complete kit as a mechanical television. In 1926, just a little after Jenkins, a British inventor known as John Logie Baird, was the first person to have succeeded in transmitting moving pictures through the mechanical disk system started by Nipkow. He also started the first ever TV studio. From 1926 till 1931, the mechanical television system saw many innovations. Although the discoveries of these men in the department of mechanical television were very innovative, by 1934, all television systems had converted into the electronic system, which is what is being used even today. Electronic Television History

IV. Reorder the following events. Put numbers from 1-6. Pay attention to the dates in the text 1. 5 Radiovisor Model 100 was sold as a 2. 3 Jenkins used the disk idea mechanical television 3. 2 The cathode ray tube was used in 4. 4 John Logie succeeded in succeeded in order to create a new television transmitting moving pictures system 5. 6 Television systems converted into the 6. 1 Paul Gottlieb developed the first ever

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electronic system

mechanical module of television

IV. For the following statements from the text - Different experiments by various people (), led to the development of basic technologies and ideas that laid the foundation for the invention of television. - ()a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. - Although the discoveries () in the department of mechanical television were very innovative, by 1934, all television systems had converted into the electronic system () Identify which of the following relationships below are [1]correct or [2]incorrect 7. 1 People: basic technologies: invention 8. 2 Student: Germany: electronic system of television 9. 1 Mechanical system: electronic system 10. 1 Student: Germany: mechanical module 11. 1 People: mechanical module: 12. 1 Electronic system: People: electronical system experiments 13. 2 Electronic system: experiments: basic 14. 2 Discoveries: electronic system: basic technologies technologies 15. 1 Experiments: discoveries: foundation 16. 1 Basic technologies: mechanical for television television: electronic systems VI. Look at the following sentence frames 1 Different experiments, technologies and ideas laid the foundation for the invention of television Different equations, calculations and ideas laid the foundation for the atomic bomb. 2 He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk He succeeded in amplifying sound through speakers with the help of a microphone 3 They used wires in addition to tubes, to create a new television system. They used leather in addition to air, to create a new football. 4 From the experiments of Michael, two types of television systems came into existence: mechanical television and electronic television. From the experiments of Juanito, two types of candies came into existence: the chocolate and the ice cream. 5 By 1934, all writing systems had converted into visual systems, which is what is being used even today. By 1986, all aquatic sports had converted into Olympic sports, which is what is being used even today. What do they have in common? Underline the pattern which is repeated in the different sentences. VII. Write a paragraph in which you combine the different patterns discovered above to talk about the invention of any device. Hand it in by the end of the lesson. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

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I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE LESSON Unit: Name: Class: School: Date: Time: Student Teacher: Teacher:

LESSON PLAN 17 Messages The Guardian 10th grade A Colegio Ingls Purranque 21st November, 2008 10:15 11:45 Vctor Aguilera Liliana Aguilar

OBJECTIVES II. GENERAL OBJECTIVE. To read a text comprehensibly and study collocations III. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To determine the features of words related to a concept To predict which words can appear with certain key words To identify the arguments of T statements To identify which information is inferable from the text To infer the grammar of a collocation To write a paragraph connecting collocation already studied IV. CONTENTS 1. Collocations : Celebrated much, Have lunch, Used to, Nice meal, Miss terribly, Start to, Last week, Come to, Love parties, Hear correctly, Young woman, Beautiful flowers. Reading and Writing

2. Skills: V. ACTIVITIES 1. Students are introduced the topic of the unit by being asked questions. They are asked questions such as: What do you know about paranormal events? Do you believe in Angels? Then students brainstorm what they know about the field. (5 minutes)

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2. Students are presented vocabulary for the lesson. They are introduced by means of definitions and explanations. Also students deduce the meaning of words in examples provided by the teacher. Ex. She was a young and beautiful woman. What was the woman like? Was she ugly? Her age? (10 minutes) 3. In activity I students have to decide which of the proposed features of protection apply to different types of protectors. They have to discover the differences between the kinds of guards. (5 minutes) 4. In activity II students have to decide which of the proposed words can be predicted to appear when they have the words birthday and guardian. There are words that dont belong to any of those words. Then they have to confirm their predictions on the text. (10 minutes) 5. In activity III students are proposed arguments for several true statements about the text. They have to say to which of those true statements those arguments belong to. (10 minutes) 6. In activity IV students are given extracts from the texts. They are proposed pieces of information which has been inferred from those extracts in relation to the text. They have to decide which of the inferences are correct according to the extracts. (10 minutes) 7. In activity V students are given 3 collocations from the text. They have to infer the pattern of the collocation and decide if the examples given are correct according to the structure of the collocation or no. (10 minutes) VI ASSESSMENT. Summative Students have to write a paragraph connecting the collocations already studied in activity V. They have to hand in the activity at the end of the lesson. They are going to be evaluated according to the following criteria. Content: 1-5 Total: 20 Use of collocations: 1-7 points Arguments and/or ideas: 1-5 Organization of information 1-3 VII RESOURCES: Course book Whiteboard-Markers Handouts * Wetz, B. and Gammidge, M. (2005). Adventures. Students Book. China: Oxford University Press. The Guardian I was seventy years old last Thursday. I havent really celebrated much since my wife Elizabeth died three years ago, but last week I had lunch at my sisters, and later three good friends came to my house for dinner. It was a nice meal. We were talking and laughing, but suddenly I felt sad. I shouldnt have been sad on my birthday, but Id remembered my wife. She used to love parties. Before a party she used to buy flowers and put them in every room of the house. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted. Somebody was knocking at the door. I went to the hall and opened the door. A beautiful young woman was standing there. She may not have been twenty yet, but she was very confident for her age. Her face was pale and her skin was almost transparent. She had some beautiful flowers in her hands and

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she was smiling. She may have come to the wrong house, I thought. Is this Michaels party? She asked, Yes, it is. Im Michael, I answered. Do I know you? I am Lydia, she said. I am a messenger. I am a guardian. Her voice was soft and sweet, but her words were very strange. I thought I might not have heard her correctly. A messenger? I dont understand. Who sent you? A friend, she whispered, and she gave me the flowers. These are for you. You must have missed your wife terribly since she died. Life cant have been easy, Im sure. But you should be happy when you think about her. She is always near you, and we protect her. Well protect you too. I dont remember what happened next. I might have looked down at the flowers for a moment. They were roses, my wifes favourite. I started to say thank you to the woman, but when I looked up she wasnt there. My friend Anne came to the door. Who was that? She asked. You should have asked her name. She had the face of an angel. Yes I said, but it was difficult for me to speak,the face of an angel.

2 EM A 21ST November, 2008. The Guardian Name:_____________________________________

HandoutN15

I. For the following features of protection (A-J), which correspond to: A people (person) F protects people 1. Guardian angel B animal G gets money 2. (prison) Guard C spirit H has a legal faculty 3. Guard dog D takes care of I Prevents people to enter a place 4. Guardian E protects things J keeps a place II. Which words can you relate to [1]birthday [2]Guardian 5. 3 Problem 6. 2 7. 2 Angel 8. 3 9. 1 Years old 10. 1 11. 2 Security 12. 3 13. 1 Gift 14. 2 15. 2 Watch 16. 1 [3]none of them. Dog Disease Invite Fight Protection Celebrate

CDF ADFGJ BDEFIJ ADEFH

Read the text on page 102 and answer as required. III. Which arguments in column A justify those in column B. There may be more than one possible answer. A B 1 Michael misses his wife 17. 13 Michael loves his wife 18. 1 Michael is sad 19. 1 Michael remembers his wife 2 Michaels wife loves flowers 20. 23 The wife attended the party 21. 3 Michael is not alone 22. 23 Michael wife still loves him 3 Michael is protected by angels 23. 23 The woman is sent by Michaels wife

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IV. For the following extracts from the text, which inferences are [1]correct or [2]incorrect. A I was seventy years old last Thursday. I havent really celebrated much since my wife Elizabeth died three years ago () 26. 1 Michael has been sad since his wife died. 27. 2 Michael does not throw parties anymore because his wife died 28. 1 Michael is alone since his wife died. B I am Lydia, she said. I am a messenger. I am a guardian. 29. 1 Lydia is a person who protects Michael 30. 2 Lydia is a spirit who watches Michael 31. 2 Lydia works in the post office 32. 1 The woman has a message for Michael. C A friend, she whispered, and she gave me the flowers. These are for you. You must have missed your wife terribly since she died. 33. 1 The woman is a friend of Michaels wife 34. 1 There is an after life (heaven) 35. 2 The woman and Michael know each other 36. 1 The woman knows how Michael feels. V. Look at the sentences in column A, then say of sentences in column B are [1]right or [2]wrong. A B 37. 1 My parents came to Chile for work 38. 2 Michael came to beautiful for country A Three good friends came to my house 39. 1 My sister came to the restaurant I was in for a for dinner chat. 40. 2 I started to my house to my wife B I started to say thank you to the woman 41. 1 I started to apologize to my mom 42. 2 Gloria started to complain to Michael 43. 1 Before complaining she used to think her C Before a party she used to buy flowers arguments 44. 2 Before travelling she used to beautiful 45. 1 Before lunch I used to drink water VI. Write a paragraph using the following sequence C + When + A + then + B Look at the following example: Before entering this school I used to study in Corte Alto. When my parents came to Purranque for work then I started to go to Colegio Ingls. Hand it in a different sheet of paper! _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

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7.4 The Test Reading Compression and Written Production Test Name: ________________________ Class:______ Date: ______ Score: Reading: ___/55 Writing: ___/50 READING SECTION I. Read the article and match the headings to the correct paragraph. Put numbers from 1 to 4. (4 points) 1 Recommendation 2 Opening Hours 3 A Shoppers Paradise 4 Places to Go and Things to Buy Exotic Shopping In Paris 1. 4 Paris, the Capital of France, is a shoppers paradise, with plenty of large department stores as well as thousands of delightful smaller shops. 2. 2 Antique lovers can find fantastic furniture in the small antique shops on Bonaparte and Jacob Streets, and collectors can find rare books on the bookstalls lining the banks of the river Seine. There are also some great department stores which sell everything from perfume to furniture. Galleries Lafayette, Paris largest department store on Boulevard Haussmann, offers a great variety of high quality woolen skirts, leather jackets and designer clothes. The Marais is a group of little streets with some of the trendiest boutiques. There you can buy fashionable clothes, shoes and jewellery. For shoppers with big bank accounts, there is a wide range of jewellers and designer fashion houses along the Rue de Rivoli, such as Cartier, Chanel, Nina Ricci and Christian Dior. 3. 3 Shops in Paris are usually open from eight or ten in the morning till about seven in the evening, from Monday to Saturday. The big sales come after Christmas and before the autumn collections. 4. 1 Dont miss the chance to go shopping in Paris. There is always something to suit everyones pocket and taste.

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II. Multiple Choice. Put the corresponding number if the [2]Shops. (8 points) 5. 1 It is the best city for people who like 6. 2 to buy things. 7. 2 They are located on Bonaparte and 8. 1 Jacob Streets. 9. 2 Woolen skirts, leather jackets and 10. 2 designer clothes can be bought in them. 11. 1 Dont miss the chance to go 12. 2 shopping.

information is related to [1]Paris and There you can find from furniture to clothes. The river Seine is part of it. They are open from eight to ten in the morning till about seven in the evening. There is always something to suit everyones pocket and taste.

III. For the following sentences put [1] if the sentence is correct or [2] if it is wrong. Pay attention to the words in bold. (8 points) 13. 1 They've always had plenty of 14. 2 In Chile there are not many money. fashionable of clothes. 15. 2 Thank you for a delightful of 16. 2 I have some sticker that are rare evening with find 17. 1 The article was about the different 18. 2 Long hair is back from fashion for varieties of Spanish spoken in men South America 19. 1 High quality computers are 20. 1 I offered her a range of options available in department stores IV. Give the correct order of these paragraphs. Put numbers from 1 to 4. (4 points) The Terrible Twins: El Nio and La Nia 21. 4 Meteorologists are studying these Terrible Twins so they can prepare for possible future disasters. 22. 2 During El Nio the distribution of dry and wet weather changes radically, especially along the Pacific coasts of the American continent. It rains a lot in normally dry regions, and there are sometimes terrible floods. Other regions suffer from abnormally dry conditions. 23. 3 La Nia can produce severe Atlantic hurricanes. These are sometimes very destructive, like Hurricane Mitch in 1999. La Nia can also affect the weather in Australia, Indonesia and southern Africa, with extreme storms and floods. 24. 1 El Nio and La Nia both originate in the Pacific Ocean but they affect the global climate. El Nio is the result of very warm water in the equatorial Pacific. La Nia is a result of very cold water in the same region. These two conditions often alternate. V. Read the following affirmations and put [1] if it is TRUE from the text above and [2] if this is FALSE according to the text. (8 points) 25. 1 El Nio and La Nia are changes in 26. 2 El Nio is more dangerous than La the weather. Nia. 27. 1 El Nio and La Nia often alternate. 28. 1 During El Nio there are floods in some places and in others there are droughts. 29. 2 Hurricanes can be produced both by 30. 2 Both El Nio and la Nia can affect El Nio and La Nia. the weather in Australia, Indonesia

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31. 1

Meteorologists study the Terrible Twins so they can anticipate them.

32. 2

and southern Africa. La Nia can also create droughts in some places

VI. For the possible meanings of the prepositions FOR, OF, FROM, identify which one is the most appropriate sense for each one in the extracts from the previous text. (4 points) FOR [1] used to indicate purpose or reason [2] used to compare one thing with others of the same type 33. 1 Meteorologists are studying these Terrible Twins so they can prepare for possible future disasters. OF [1] used to mention or introduce new elements [2] used to show origin or reason of something 34. 1 During El Nio the distribution of dry and wet weather changes radically 35. 2 El Nio is the result of very warm water in the equatorial Pacific FROM [1] used to show the place where someone or something starts [2] used to indicate or introduce a disease or problematic situation 36. 2 Other regions suffer from abnormally dry conditions. VII. The organization of the paragraphs below can be identified with the following patterns: [1] comparison Contrast, [2] cause and effect or [3] chronological order. (3 points) 37. 2 Paragraph 1 Aspirin is a simple drug. It has many useful effects. It can stop a headache or an earache. It helps take away pain in the fingers or knees. Aspirin can stop a fever if you have the flue. Or it can make you feel better if you have a cold. Some doctors believe that aspirin also can result in a healthy heart. They say that some people should take an aspirin every day. For those people aspirin may stop heart disease. 38. 3 Paragraph 2 The rodeo has developed in three major stages. Rodeos began in the Old West as contests of skill among cowboys during cattle roundups. By 1920 rodeos had become a popular spectator sport for the general public. Today rodeos combine traditional western events with a circus like atmosphere and the marketing techniques of big business. 39. 1 Paragraph 3 Poland and Italy may seem like very different countries. And of course, they are different in some ways. Poland is in the north of Europe but Italy is the south. Poland has a communist government but Italy has a democratic government. However, there are also similarities. In both countries, the most important religion is Catholicism. In both Italy and Poland, history is very important to the people. And finally, both the Italian and the Polish are famous for their friendliness and good spirit. VIII. Look at the words and phrases below and classify them according to their meanings in the paragraphs above: [1] effect, [2] comparison, [3] contrast, [4] chronological order (10 points). 40. 1 Take away pain 41. 4 Three major stages 42. 2 similarities 43. 3 However 44. 4 By 1920 45. 2 Both countries 46. 1 Stop a fever 47. 4 Finally

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48. 3

But

49. 1

result in

IX. For the collocations result in, combine with and famous for from item VII, say if in the following sentences [1] they are correctly used [2] they are wrongly used according to their contexts.(6 points) 50. 1 Too much TV may result in academic 51. 1 It is possible to combine fruits failure. with vegetables on a diet. 52. 1 China is famous for its ancient culture 53. 2 Manifestations resulted in last year 54. 2 Sickness combined with ruined our trip. 55. 2 He was famous for 15 minutes

WRITING SECTION X. Read the advertisement for pen-friends and complete the table with the information about Anna and yourself (15 points). Then write your own pen-friend advertisement (15 points) Hello. My names Pierre and Im seventeen years old. I live in Paris, France. I have got short straight dark hair and brown eyes. Im quite tall and slim. I love playing computer games and I can play tennis very well. I like reading too. Please e-mail me today! Hi! My name is Anna and I am eleven years old. I live in Moscow, Russia. I have got long straight fair hair and green eyes. Im quite short and I like skiing. I can play the piano quite well. Please be my e-mail pen pal.

Pierre Anna You Age 17 11 Lives in Paris, France Moscor, Russia Hair Short straight dark Long straight fair Eyes Brown Green Height Quite tall Quite short Build Slim --------------------------Likes/Loves Playing computer games, Skiing reading Can Play tennis very well Play the piano quite well

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XI. Read the letter from Amanda to Steve. Then write the things Amanda did at shady Pines. (5 points) 14 September Dear Steve, Why dont you go to Shady Pines hotel for your holiday next year? I went in August. It was great. We swam in the sea every day. We also went fishing in the river near the hotel. There were lots of other things to do. We played tennis or went for walks in the woods. One day we hired bicycles and visited a lake. We had a picnic there. Then, in the evenings there was a disco. We danced all night! It wasnt expensive and we had a fantastic time! Did you have a good holiday too? See you soon, Amanda ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ XII. Write the letter from Steve to Amanda with the information provided about his holiday. (15 points) He slept in a tent It rained every day He couldnt swim because it was forbidden His tennis racquet broke The disco was closed 24 September Dear Amanda Thank you for you letter. I went to __________ for holidays.

Best wishes, Steve.

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Answer Sheet Name: __________________________ Class: ______ Date: ______ Score: Reading: ___/55 Reading Section Writing: ___/50 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. Writing Section X. Pierre Anna You Age 17 Lives in Paris, France Hair Short straight dark Eyes Brown Height Quite tall Build Slim ------------------------Likes/Loves Playing computer games, reading Can Play tennis very well __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

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__________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________ XI. ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ XII. 24 September Dear Amanda Thank you for you letter. I went to __________ for holidays. ____________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Best wishes, Steve.

7.5 Criteria to Asses Writing Criteria to evaluate writing Content Use of Markers (collocations) Arguments and/or ideas Spelling and grammar Organization of information 0 1 2 3

TOTAL: /15 0. Very poor Content: does not show knowledge of the subject, not enough to evaluate Use of Markers (collocations): essentially translation, little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, word form or not enough to evaluate. Arguments and/or ideas: no clear ideas and/or arguments not related to the topic, not enough to evaluate Spelling and grammar: virtually no mastery of sentence construction rules, dominated by errors,

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does not communicate, not enough to evaluate. Organization: ideas do not communicate anything, not enough to evaluate. 1. Poor to Fair Content: limited knowledge of subject, inadequate development of topic. Use of Markers (collocations): limited range of collocations, frequent errors of choice and usage of words, idioms and connectives. Arguments and/or ideas: poor arguments and ideas no connected with the content. Spelling and grammar: major problems in simple/complex constructions, frequent errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, pronouns and prepositions. Many spelling mistakes Organization: non-fluent, ideas confused or disconnected, lack logical sequence and development. 2. Average to Good Content: some knowledge of subject, mostly relevant to topic, but lacks detail. Use of Markers (collocations): occasional error in choosing of words, idioms and connectives Arguments and/or ideas: some good arguments and ideas related to the content. Spelling and grammar: effective but simple constructions, occasional errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, pronouns and prepositions. Some spelling mistakes Organization: somewhat choppy, loosely organized but main ideas stand out, logical but incomplete sequencing. 3. Very Good to Excellent Content: knowledgeable, relevant to assigned topic, substantive . Use of Markers (collocations): effective choice and usage of words, idioms and connectives. Arguments and/or ideas: good arguments and ideas pertinent to the content. Spelling and grammar: mastery of the language and/or few errors of agreement, tense, number, word order, pronouns and prepositions. No spelling mistakes Organization: fluent expression, well organized, logical sequence, cohesive

7.6 Survey and Survey Results Cuestionario Nombre: Marque la alternativa correcta. 1. Cuando usted lee cualquier texto en ingls es capaz de entender: a) ideas generales b) ideas generales y especficas c) slo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal. 2. Cuando usted escucha algn texto en ingls, ya sea una cancin, una entrevista, una narracin, etc., usted es capaz de entender: a) ideas generales b) ideas generales y especficas c) slo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal Edad:

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3. Cuando leo y/o escucho identifico de qu se trata el texto (tpico/tema) a) Si, generalmente lo identifico b) a veces, depende del texto c) me cuesta identificarlo 4. Cuando leo y/o escucho un texto en ingls se identificar el tipo de texto que este tiene (narrativo, argumentativo, descriptivo, instructivo, informativo) a) siempre b) a veces c) nunca 5. Con respecto a las instrucciones que el (la) profesor le da en ingls: a) me las han enseado y las comprendo b) no me las han enseado pero las deduzco c) no me las han enseado y no las entiendo 6. Con respecto a mi conocimiento de la forma correcta de escribir oraciones y prrafos en ingls: a) me los ensean y me han dado ejemplos claros b) me han enseado solo las reglas pero no me han dado ejemplos claros c) nunca me han enseado la forma correcta de escribirlos 7. Antes de escribir diseo un plan para escribir una historia. a) siempre b) a veces c) nunca 8. Trato de recordar la forma de escritura de alguna historia que he ledo para poder escribir mi propia versin. a) siempre b) a veces c) nunca 9. Cuando escribo en ingls: a) escribo y despus reviso mi trabajo chequeando si hay errores de forma b) escribo pero no me importa si me corrigen o no c) escribo, reviso y pido la correccin del profesor(a) 10. Con respecto a su actitud haca una actividad donde se le pide escribir: a) s como hacerlo y no cometo errores (o cometo muy pocos) b) puedo hacerlo, pero con bastantes errores c) no s como hacerlo o me cuesta mucho 11. En la clase estn dadas las oportunidades para que usted pueda escribir en ingls ya sea oraciones, prrafos, cartas, cuentos, etc. a) Si, hay gran variedad de actividades donde se nos pide escribir b) Si, pero slo a veces se nos pide escribir c) No, no se nos pide escribir o son muy pocas las veces.

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Survey Results
1. Cuando usted lee cualquier texto en ingls es capaz de entender: 16 a) ideas generales 6 b) ideas generales y especficas 2 c) slo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal. 2. Cuando usted escucha algn texto en ingls, ya sea una cancin, una entrevista, una narracin, etc., usted es capaz de entender: 10 a) ideas generales 4 b) ideas generales y especficas 10 c) slo algunas palabras pero no el contenido principal 3. Cuando leo y/o escucho identifico de qu se trata el texto (tpico/tema) 10 a) Si, generalmente lo identifico 2 b) me cuesta identificarlo 12 c) a veces, depende del texto

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4. Cuando leo y/o escucho un texto en ingls se identificar el tipo de texto que este tiene (narrativo, argumentativo, descriptivo, instructivo, informativo) 4 a) siempre 16 b) a veces 4 c) nunca 5. Con respecto a las instrucciones que el (la) profesor le da en ingls: 16 a) me las han enseado y las comprendo 8 b) no me las han enseado pero las deduzco 0 no me las han enseado y no las entiendo 6. Con respecto a mi conocimiento de la forma correcta de escribir oraciones y prrafos en ingls: 14 a) me los ensean y me han dado ejemplos claros 2 b) me han enseado solo las reglas pero no me han dado ejemplos claros 8 c) nunca me han enseado la forma correcta de escribirlos 7. Antes de escribir diseo un plan para escribir una historia. 4 a) siempre 18 b) a veces 2 c) nunca 8. Trato de recordar la forma de escritura de alguna historia que he ledo para poder escribir mi propia versin. 5 a) siempre 17 b) a veces 2 c) nunca 9. Cuando escribo en ingls: 10 a) escribo y despus reviso mi trabajo chequeando si hay errores de forma 6 b) escribo, reviso y pido la correccin del profesor(a) 8 c) escribo pero no me importa si me corrigen o no 10. Con respecto a su actitud haca una actividad donde se le pide escribir: 8 a) s como hacerlo y no cometo errores (o cometo muy pocos) 8 b) puedo hacerlo, pero con bastantes errores 8 c) no s como hacerlo o me cuesta mucho 11. En la clase estn dadas las oportunidades para que usted pueda escribir en ingls ya sea oraciones, prrafos, cartas, cuentos, etc. 20 a) Si, hay gran variedad de actividades donde se nos pide escribir 4 b) Si, pero slo a veces se nos pide escribir 0 c) No, no se nos pide escribir o son muy pocas las veces.

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7.7 Working Plan

First Term UNIT 1. Love Life April 25th-30th

2. Campaign May 8-29

LESSON Pre-test 24th April From the heart 25th April Evaluation May 2nd Charity 8th May Charity (continued) 9th May

SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES

ASSESSMENT

Reading: Poems Writing: Write a letter Reading: Charity leaflets Writing: Write a charity leaflet. Writing: Leaflet

Summative

Formative Summative

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Debate: Genetic engineering 15th May A Good Cause 22nd May A Good Cause 23rd May Revision of World Issues 29th Evaluation 30th May A new look 5th June Appearances 6th June

Reading and Listening: a debate Writing: Commentaries about the reading. Reading and Listening: a diary Writing: write a letter for a good cause Writing: write a letter for a good cause Listening: World Issues Speaking: Commenting the world issues Reading and listening: Changing Faces Speaking: Talk about looks Listening: Personal stories Speaking: Ask and answer questions Writing: write commentaries about the stories Reading: Fashion victims Speaking: Ask for information Writing: A report (preparing) Writing: writing a report

Formative

Formative

Formative Formative

3. Looks June 5-19

Formative Formative

Fashion victims 12th June Fashion victims 13th June Evaluation 19th June Masterpieces 26th June Art or crime? 27th June Reaction 3rd July Evaluation 4th July Second Term

Formative

Formative

4. Art World 26th June to 4th July

Reading: A diary and a newspaper report. Speaking: exchange of opinions. Reading: Read and Interview. Writing: Opinions Reading and Listening: Reactions to modern art Writing: biography of an artist

Formative

Summative Formative

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UNIT The Art World August 7-14 (Pending from previous term)

Behaviour August 15September 11

Travel September 25 October 9

On Screen

LESSON SKILLS The Story of Pop Reading and Writing 7th August Unit Review Reading and Writing 8th August Evaluation 14th August Extra Curricular Activity SIMCE exam training 15th August Express Yourself Reading and Writing 21st August Dos and Donts Listening 22nd August Bullying Part 1 Reading and Writing 28th August Bullying Part 2 Reading and Writing 29th August Student-teacher was ill. Medical Certificate 4th September Hooliganism Reading and Writing 5th September Evaluation 11th September Extra Curricular Activity SIMCE exam training 12th September Holiday 18th and 19th September Getting Away from it Reading and Writing all 25th September Walking Around the Reading and Writing World 26th September Travelling to the USA Reading and Writing 2nd October Travelling to Chile Reading and Writing 3rd October Evaluation 9th October Prize Money Reading and Writing 10th October Making Games Reading and Writing 16th October No class because of Teachers Day 17th October Pride and Prejudice Reading and Writing 23rd October 161

ASSESSMENT Formative Formative Summative

Summative Formative Formative Summative

Formative Summative

Formative Summative Formative Formative Summative Formative Summative

Formative

October 10 November 13

Extra Curricular Activity SIMCE exam training 24th October Colegio Ingls Purranque Anniversary Week 30th October Holiday 31st October The History of TV Reading and Writing th 6 November Harry Potter Listening and Speaking th 7 November Evaluation 13th November SIMCE EXAM 14th November Test 5 Miss Liliana Aguilar The Canterville Ghost 20th November The Guardian 21st November UFO mania 27th November Post Test 28th November Reading and Writing Reading and Writing

Summative Formative Summative

Messages November 21 28

Summative Formative

7.8 Students Samples These samples correspond to 5 students writing performances in the writing sections both from the pre and post test. They have been considered and transcribed as were produced by the learners. Sample 1 Andrea Crott (Pre test) X-II Hello. My names Andrea. I live in osorno, chile. I have got short straight hair and brow eyes. Im quite tall and skiing. I love playing volleyball very well. I like reading too. Please e-mail today. (sic)

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XII Thank you for your letter. I went to December for holidays. Well, I slept in atent and it rained every day!!! He couldnt swim because it was forbidden, often his tennis racquet breaked and finnich the disco was closed. Steve (sic) Andrea Crott (Post test) X-II Hi! My name is Andrea I amd twty years old. I live in Purranque. I have little children. I have long hair and brown eyes. I like go to the disco and what tv and cant play volleiball. (sic) XII Thank your for your letter. I went to Jamaica for holidays. I love this place is very relax. I the day splet in a tet. I could swim because it was forbidden but drink a caimpiria in the afternoon in the play tennis and the last night the disco was closed this is my holidays. (sic) Sample 2 Karen Calfin (Pre test) X-II Hi! My name is Karen. Im 15 year old. I live on Purranque, Chile. I have got long dark hair, brown eyes. Im quite short, I like basquetball. I can play tennis and football very well. (sic)

XII Thank you for your letter. I went to USA for holidays. I slept in a tent. The wather was terrible because it was rained every day and I couldnt swin because it was forbidden. I cant go to the disco because was closed. (sic) Karen Calfin (Post test) X-II Hello! My name is Karen and Im sixteen years old. I live in Purranque, Chile. I have got long dark hair and brown eyes. Im quite short and slim. I love playing basquetball and I can play tennis. Please e-mail me today! (sic) XII

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Thank your for your letter. I went to Paris for holidays. I went in August too. It was so so. I visited a lot of museum with my family and also a lot of shops, but the climate was terrible! It rained every day. Also I tell you that I couldnt swim because it was forbidden and I couldnt play tennis because my racquet broke. Also I couldnt to go the disco because the disco was closed.!!! See you soon. (sic) Sample 3 Rudy Varas (Pre test) X-II Hi! My name is Rudy and I am fifteen year old. I live in Purranque Chile. I have gott long and dark hair and green eyes. I love surf the internet. I cant play guitar. (sic) XII Thank you for your letter. I went to Antartica for holidays. Is very fantastic. I cant slept in a tent because is a very cold. A rained every day. Couldnt swim because it was forbidden. When play tennis my racquet broken But in the disco never was closed. Is fantastic. (sic) Rudy Varas (Post test) X-II Hi!!! My name is Rudy and I am sixteen years old. I live in Purranque, Chile, twenty-nine km the south of osorno. I have got short curly black hair and a green eyes. I am tall and slim. I like play computer game and can play some instruments. (sic) XII Thank your for your letter. I went to Pucon for holidays. Is very delightful in the morning. We swam in sea, after go to walk in the volcan, and in bicycle visited other places. In the night wooow! Very good the disco. Danced every night just like you and every thing. (sic) Sample 4 Katerine Mol. (Pre test) X-II

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Hello. My names Katerine and Im fiveteen years old. I live in Purranque, Chile. I have got long straight dark hair and brown eyes. Im quite tall and I like listen to music. I can cook Italian food. Please be my e-mail pen pal. (sic) XII Thank you for your letter. I went to August for holidays. I slept in a tent and it rained every day. I couldnt swim because it was forbidden. I couldnt play tennis because my tennis racquet broke. I couldnt dance in the disco because it was closed. (sic) Katerine Mol. (Post test) X-II Hello! My name is Kati and I am 16 years old. I live in Purranque, Chile. I have got straight dark hair and brown eyes. I am tall and slim. I like playing with cats. I can cooking quite well. Please e-mail me today. (sic) XII Thank your for your letter. I went to Punta Arenas for holidays. I went in September. It wasnt great. I slept in a tent with my sister, but in the night started raining. It rained every day. I liked swim but I couldnt swim because it was forbidden. When I was played tennis my tennis racquet broke and I didnt win the game. Also when I went the disco it was closed. (sic) Sample 5 Maria Jose Bravo X-II Hello. My name is Maria Jos and I am seventeen years old. I live in osorno, chile. I have got long straight dark hair and brow eyes. Im quite short and I like skiing I can playing computer every day. Please be my e-mail pen pal. (sic) XII Thank you for your letter. I went to October for holidays. Well I he slept in a tent and it rained every day!! I couldnt swim because it was forbidden, after in his tennis racquet broke. Its down down! and finish the disco was closed in the afternoon as well one kiss Bye! Steve (sic) Maria Jose Bravo (post test)

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X-II Hello! My name is Maria Jose other Kote. Iam seventeen years old. I live in Purranque Chile. I have a short straight dark hair and brown eyes. I like chating in the computer and waching tv every day and I liked go to the disco with my friend and my boy friend. Please be my e-mail pen pal! (sic) XII Thank your for your letter. I went to Brazil for holidays. The first day I slept in a tent and after go to the very beautiful restaurant and eat very much! I rained every day I couldnt swim because it was forbidden, but go to the beach and play volleyball Is very like!! Is Cool In the afternoon go to the gym and play tennis but the racquet broke. In the night go to the disco and was closed and dint dancing! Well this is my holidays. (sic)

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