Student Name: Mahra Al Qassimi

Username ID: H00330597

Course Code: EPC 2403
Course Name: Practicum 2a
Course Teacher: Antoinette Wiseman & Aisha Al Teneiji
Title: Interview Questions

Professionalism and Understanding:

Please give a brief description of the school, i.e. boys/girls, size, location.
Curriculum and texts used
-

I attended my TP at Al Darari Kindergarten that is located in Sharjah.

The school consists of 12 teachers and 282 students.

What different subjects are taught?

- English, Arabic, Math in English and Arabic, Islamic, and Science.
What did you enjoy most about your practicum?
- I enjoyed interacting with the students and teachers. Compared to my
first and last day teaching, I have achieved in developing my classroom
management and students looked forward to learning with me.
What challenges did you face?
- My Teacher Voice, with 24 students in the classroom and such a low
voice. I was worried whether or not theyll be able to hear me teaching,
but during the last few days I have noticed some improvements.
What did you do to show your commitment to your job as a teacher in the
school?
- I tried helping out as much as possible, I would volunteer even if they
didnt ask for it. I also stayed in touch and kept my MST, Ms. Hamda,
posted in what Im doing or have to do.
How did you collaborate with your MST and other teachers in the school?
- Very well, I grew quite fond of them actually. The teachers there guided
us and tried their best in making us feel comfortable.

Describe a typical day in your school.

- Students who came early stay in the waiting room until 7:45am, one of
the staff then lets them go play outside until 8am.
- At 8am the students head to their class, mark in their attendance on the
chart and place their bags at the backpack shelves. The teacher asks them
to form a line and Ms. Ebtihal leads them to the Morning Assembly.
- At 8am, the students have listened actively to the Morning assembly,
Quran, prayer, and saluted the U.A.E national anthem. At 8:35am, the
students follow the teacher back to the classroom and sit on the Circle
Time mat. As for the students who came late, they are reminded to mark
in their attendance and place their bags.
- From 8:30 to 8:35am, the students have the Morning Circle with Ms.
Ebtihal. The students go over the attendance, date, weather, Quran and
prayer recitation and what they have learned.
- At 8:45-8:55am, the students enjoy their Light meal Time.
- At 8:55am, the students are back at the Circle Time learning a new lesson
with Ms. Ebtihal until 9:10am.
- At 9:10am the chosen 6 students go to the center with the MST, and the
others keep themselves busy at the other centers until the teachers calls
out their name.
- After 45 minutes of working in the centers, the students are taken to the
playground.
- At 10:25am, Lunch Time lasts for 30 minutes.
- At 10:55am, the students head quietly to the toilet and have to be back in
5 minutes.
- At 11am, Ms. Hamda enters the classroom and greets the students. She
sits on the mat and introduces the lesson for 15 minutes.
- Ms. Hamda works with 6 students every 10 minutes at the Literacy/Math
center until 12pm.
- At 12am, either Ms. Hamda or Ms. Ebtihal plays/reads a story for the
children and have pre-, while-, and post- reading activities.
- At 12:20, the students are told whether or not to take their bags. The two
chosen helping hand students stand at the front of the car/bus line and
lead the way.
- At 12:30, the students who use bus transportation are taken to get on the
bus, and the students who use car transportation stay in the waiting room
and watch TV with everyone else until their guardian come and picks
them up.

Planning for Learning

Talk about the process of planning for lessons. How did your MST go about
this? How did you plan to ensure you worked within the curriculum?
- I asked for either the curriculum or went and discussed it with my MST. I
asked her beforehand, prepared the lesson plan, and showed her a day
before my lesson. I communicated with her through WhatsApp, and
asked her if she had any doubts or suggestions regarding my lesson plan.
What did you learn about planning during the practicum?
- I learned that it is very important and without it, the lesson wont flow
smoothly. A teacher should be prepared, otherwise both the students and
teacher will be confused and it will just turn out to be an unsuccessful
lesson.
What challenges did you face when preparing your lesson plans?
- Al Darari Kindergarten has a new teaching system, where 6 students
worked with the MST at one center, whilst the other students played at
the other centers until the teacher calls their name. It was hard imagining
activities for the other centers and writing it, also I tried my best to
choose an activity that was suitable for all different levelled students.
Explain how you planned for teaching speaking and listening.
- Speaking: I would use flashcards and the Repetition strategy.
- Listening: I would start the lesson by either playing a song or singing the
Hello Hello or Morning song, or I would say the phonic sound and
ask them to listen carefully, then repeat after me.

Implementing and Managing Learning

What strategies did you use to manage the children?
- When I taught at the Circle Time, to grab the students attention, I used
hand signals. Without uttering a word, the students slowly started paying
attention and the room went quiet, only then I started the lesson.
Which were the most effective strategies you observed your MST using in the
classroom?
- When the students misbehaved, she would take out a picture of a sad face
and pin it on the bulletin board and they would instantly go quiet.
Describe a lesson you taught and the way in which you implemented the lesson
class work, group work, and individual work. How successful was this for
you?
- Class work: I started by introducing the lesson at the Circle Time, I asked
the students to repeat the sound after me. After teaching them how to
form the letter, I told them to write the letter in the air.
- Group work: At the center, the students would work on an activity
together and ask me for help if they needed.
- Individual work: I showed each student a paper with letters on it and
asked them to identify the sound that we learned.

Explain the stages and how you taught listening and speaking as an integrated
process.
-

I reminded them of the sound they took yesterday and asked questions.
I showed them a phonics song video of the sound /p/.
I used flashcards and asked them to repeat the name after me.
Used the whiteboard to show them how to form the letter p.
Explained the activity and sent them to the Literacy Center.
Each student worked individually and asked for help when in doubt.

What strategies did you employ to teach speaking/listening activities?

- I used the Repetition, Elicitation, and Explicit correction.
What do you have to take into consideration when teaching speaking/listening
activities?

- I have to think if this is age appropriate for them, will they understand it
and find it enjoyable. I have to keep them interested and have a plan B
incase they start losing interest and feel bored.

Organization
What did you do to appear well organized when in the schools? (refer to
organizing your time, portfolio, tasks etc).
- I used the student booklet to manage my time, I worked on my tasks and
portfolios in order and moved on to the next one if I finished early.

Why do you think its important to be well organized when in the school?
- Time management is very important for both the teachers and students, a
teacher should be prepared for the lessons before hand and not work on it
the night before.
Have your organization and planning skills improved? Yes - in what way? No what steps can you take to improve in this area?
- Yes, I learned at my first semester that as student-teacher we should work
on developing our courage and not feel shy when wanting to ask your
MST something as simple as a question.

Reflection
What has been your most powerful learning throughout the practicum?
- The last two lesson I taught, I found them to be very successful compared
to the previous ones. I prepared an activity that was simple and fun, I got
a positive reaction from the students and my MST liked it.

What was the most helpful feedback you received during the placement?
- I was told by my MST, Ms. Hamda, not to waste too much time
explaining and use the Explicit correction strategy to point out the error
and provide the students with the direct correction.
What challenges did you face when writing your reflections?
- Writing my reflection was easy, but I think it wouldve been better if we
could give out more information instead of just answering the questions
that were on the booklet.

Were you able to make links between what you did at college and what you
observed or experienced during TP? Give an example.
- Yes, Ms. Ebtihal chooses two helping hand students everyday. For clean
up time, she asks one of the helping hand to switch the light on and off
and start singing the clean up song. This strategy signals the students to
start cleaning up and that its time to move to the next period.
What do you think are important things to study at college to ensure that you are
well prepared for TP?
- I think it would be quite helpful if we learned more about the childs
psychology. Knowing what goes through their minds and what their body
language points out will make it easier for us to know what the child is
feeling.
Did you face any problems or challenges in dealing with _____________
and how did you manage these?
Refer to one of following:
MST
Other staff
Administration
Students
- There was one student, Aisha, she would misbehave in different ways and
call me by my first name. By time she started respecting me and if she
happened to call me by my name, I would tell her: Ill only answer you
when you call me Teacher Mahra and that was effective.

What skills do you think are important for trainee teachers to have when dealing
with_______?
MST
Other staff
Administration
Students
- All of the above, I think we should have the skills of professionalism,
understanding, and accepting. We should be able to communicate easily
with everyone and build a good relationship.
Portfolio and Observation tasks
Show how your portfolio is organized.
Choose one task that you found interesting and tell about it. What did you learn
from doing this task?
What changes would you make to the observation tasks?
Refer to one artefact / other task / journal you found interesting and tell about it.
Portfolio-Assessment Criteria to be completed post interview.