Rosa León Fandiño
Teaching Portfolio
My Philosophy
Teaching Purpose:
When I decide to be a teacher my passion was History, that is the reason because I decided to choose this subject to teach. I spent a lot of time studying so much and working hard to become in a great professional. I finished my Ph.D. in History; also, I went to Israel, to obtain all the help and information I can get in the original source place, to finish my thesis who was about "The Holocaust", or better the real Hebrew name: "Shoa". I spent 15 happy years teaching Universal History to my amazing students in a German school in Caracas.
In 2010 the situation in Venezuela it began to be unsustainable and I started to think the way to find another job abroad. A colleague convinced me to enroll for a Master in Spanish as a Second and Foreign Language, and I thought: that could be the solution, teach a foreign language! And for my happiness, since the moment I started to teach Spanish in my practices, I fell in love with languages. Since that moment I left the History behind and started a new chapter in my live as a teacher.
I have already six years teaching Spanish, two years in Africa and four in United States, and I cannot be happier. Every morning I wake up just thinking how many fun and interesting things I will do this morning. I do not change the emotion I feel when I see my students faces smiling because they understand, or they can communicate in Spanish. How proud they look when they translate to their parents the activities, essays or books they work in class. English lessons, to learn English for free at the Community Center. I want to contribute with this multicultural society.
Teaching Style:
​About my skills I known to be successful in all projects carried out, because I work with energy, proactive, efficient and a lot of commitment and responsibility in all my work. I enjoy working individually and in a team. I am very responsible in my role as a teacher and I really enjoy teaching.
I am always interested in to take on the challenge of a new project to fill me with satisfaction.
I want to be able to implement all the knowledge I can get from this experience for the benefit of other groups. I think you never can stop learning and is never too late.
The approach I feel more closer is the communicative because this approach focused on the overall goal of using language to communicate meaning. Using the communication approach, the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, which are important, are not the priority, but the communication itself. I really enjoy with communicate activities which can help to know different people, connecting people together. Through this approach the students could be closer to other cultures because is made it for everyone who want to learn.
About other approach I feel comfortable using some techniques from the affective-humanistic because is focused on the value of human beings in society and culture. Music, pictures, stories, help the students to conquer their fear of learning the language through an environment.
​
Teaching Techniques:
As a teacher I have many teaching techniques. Some of those technique depend of the student’s levels. For example, I like to make a diagnosis the first day of school, with this diagnosis I can know which students are advanced and can help me with the students who are not. The diagnosis also helps me to know which students could need more help. With this initial evaluation I start planning the lessons in differentiation way with different techniques.
My class has the typical structure of start, main and close. The activities are dividing between the 20% of the time me talking, teaching, and the 80 percent of the time the students practicing the language. I procure to start with a warm language and an activity who can engage the student with the topic or objective. I like scaffolding because the students can see progressively their success and the students who need more help can catch up the others. I am not afraid to use different ways to teach, depend the students, the topic, the goal. I can use authentic material, sequence activities, information gap, role of the teacher or a different role play. Other time I can use games to learn vocabulary or to recall what the students already learned. We have in class interviews, poll, reading, dramatization, essays, dialogues, listening, pictures, competitions, oppositions, songs and much more. Everything depend what we are learning, how the students can practice. which make the students feel secure in the class and what activity improve their communication and the four skills to learn the language: speaking, reading, listening and writing.
The daily basis motivation is the expectative what we will have in class. The advance students help me with this because they are the first who come to class thinking what they are going to do today to help. They have some roles in the class depending of the objective or goal. Other students work hard because they want to be in that helper group. The greatest motivation happens in the first class of each unit, when students review with me the objectives, what we want to achieve and know the topic and everything we can do to achieve what we put ourselves. For example, with the topic of the food my students spent the last year during a month super motivated to learn and do everything possible to participate effectively because at the end of the unit we would have a lunch in the class where we would use the vocabulary, the rules of the table, the dialogues with waiters, and everything they had learned about the subject.
The main part of the class is dividing between the guided and independence practice. In this part of the class I am more passive, just be available for help and feedback the students. My students are the active part, working in their activities, alone, in pairs, in group. Or making a research, a competition, an opposition or a project.
The close of the class could be a recall, and I have learned today activity. Sometimes I am in charge to directing the activity, other are the advance students in charge to choose and plan the close activity or follow the storm ideas they got for all the students.
Many times, the students use the peer assessment, not necessarily as a formal evaluation, more time as a formative evaluation. This kind of assessment help them to feel more secure, confident and help them to communicate each other and respect other opinions. The formal evaluation is always directed to the four skills, although not necessarily together at the same time. A project, for example, can evaluate the four skills because they read and write when they research, and, listening and speak when they expose, to the rest of the students, their projects.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use
to change the world.”
― Nelson Mandela
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
― Oscar Wilde
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
― Oscar Wilde
Teaching Purpose:
When I decide to be a teacher my passion was History, that is the reason because I decided to choose this subject to teach. I spent a lot of time studying so much and working hard to become in a great professional. I finished my Ph.D. in History; also, I went to Israel, to obtain all the help and information I can get in the original source place, to finish my thesis who was about "The Holocaust", or better the real Hebrew name: "Shoa". I spent 15 happy years teaching Universal History to my amazing students in a German school in Caracas.
In 2010 the situation in Venezuela it began to be unsustainable and I started to think the way to find another job abroad. A colleague convinced me to enroll for a Master in Spanish as a Second and Foreign Language, and I thought: that could be the solution, teach a foreign language! And for my happiness, since the moment I started to teach Spanish in my practices, I fell in love with languages. Since that moment I left the History behind and started a new chapter in my live as a teacher.
I have already six years teaching Spanish, two years in Africa and four in United States, and I cannot be happier. Every morning I wake up just thinking how many fun and interesting things I will do this morning. I do not change the emotion I feel when I see my students faces smiling because they understand, or they can communicate in Spanish. How proud they look when they translate to their parents the activities, essays or books they work in class. English lessons, to learn English for free at the Community Center. I want to contribute with this multicultural society.
Teaching Style:
​About my skills I known to be successful in all projects carried out, because I work with energy, proactive, efficient and a lot of commitment and responsibility in all my work. I enjoy working individually and in a team. I am very responsible in my role as a teacher and I really enjoy teaching.
I am always interested in to take on the challenge of a new project to fill me with satisfaction.
I want to be able to implement all the knowledge I can get from this experience for the benefit of other groups. I think you never can stop learning and is never too late.
The approach I feel more closer is the communicative because this approach focused on the overall goal of using language to communicate meaning. Using the communication approach, the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, which are important, are not the priority, but the communication itself. I really enjoy with communicate activities which can help to know different people, connecting people together. Through this approach the students could be closer to other cultures because is made it for everyone who want to learn.
About other approach I feel comfortable using some techniques from the affective-humanistic because is focused on the value of human beings in society and culture. Music, pictures, stories, help the students to conquer their fear of learning the language through an environment.
​
Teaching Techniques:
As a teacher I have many teaching techniques. Some of those technique depend of the student’s levels. For example, I like to make a diagnosis the first day of school, with this diagnosis I can know which students are advanced and can help me with the students who are not. The diagnosis also helps me to know which students could need more help. With this initial evaluation I start planning the lessons in differentiation way with different techniques.
My class has the typical structure of start, main and close. The activities are dividing between the 20% of the time me talking, teaching, and the 80 percent of the time the students practicing the language. I procure to start with a warm language and an activity who can engage the student with the topic or objective. I like scaffolding because the students can see progressively their success and the students who need more help can catch up the others. I am not afraid to use different ways to teach, depend the students, the topic, the goal. I can use authentic material, sequence activities, information gap, role of the teacher or a different role play. Other time I can use games to learn vocabulary or to recall what the students already learned. We have in class interviews, poll, reading, dramatization, essays, dialogues, listening, pictures, competitions, oppositions, songs and much more. Everything depend what we are learning, how the students can practice. which make the students feel secure in the class and what activity improve their communication and the four skills to learn the language: speaking, reading, listening and writing.
The daily basis motivation is the expectative what we will have in class. The advance students help me with this because they are the first who come to class thinking what they are going to do today to help. They have some roles in the class depending of the objective or goal. Other students work hard because they want to be in that helper group. The greatest motivation happens in the first class of each unit, when students review with me the objectives, what we want to achieve and know the topic and everything we can do to achieve what we put ourselves. For example, with the topic of the food my students spent the last year during a month super motivated to learn and do everything possible to participate effectively because at the end of the unit we would have a lunch in the class where we would use the vocabulary, the rules of the table, the dialogues with waiters, and everything they had learned about the subject.
The main part of the class is dividing between the guided and independence practice. In this part of the class I am more passive, just be available for help and feedback the students. My students are the active part, working in their activities, alone, in pairs, in group. Or making a research, a competition, an opposition or a project.
The close of the class could be a recall, and I have learned today activity. Sometimes I am in charge to directing the activity, other are the advance students in charge to choose and plan the close activity or follow the storm ideas they got for all the students.
Many times, the students use the peer assessment, not necessarily as a formal evaluation, more time as a formative evaluation. This kind of assessment help them to feel more secure, confident and help them to communicate each other and respect other opinions. The formal evaluation is always directed to the four skills, although not necessarily together at the same time. A project, for example, can evaluate the four skills because they read and write when they research, and, listening and speak when they expose, to the rest of the students, their projects.