The following lesson plans and materials were created for an Ecuadorian classroom in a low-income school. The students are in the equivalent to 10th grade in the United States. The level of the students range from beginner to low intermediate. The lesson plans were developed from Unit 3: Foods at the Supermarket in the textbook mandated by the Ministry of Education. The resources in the classroom consist mainly of a whiteboard and copies of
handouts which the teachers pay for out of their personal funds. There are also between 30-40 students per class. At the bottom of the page, you will see the rubric used to grade the students final project which was to create a dialogue using the food vocabulary they learned in the lesson.
Assessment sample
The final assessment project for the unit is to create a role-play. The students have to use the food vocabulary they learned and apply it to a real life situation. The guidelines and the rubric for the role-play can be found below. The students will receive a grade out of 10 as is standard in Ecuador.
Reflective teaching journals
During my year teaching at the secondary school in Ecuador, I reflected on both my own teaching as well as the other English teachers at the school. Journaling is an invaluable tool that can help a teacher to improve his or her teaching skills. It allows you to focus on areas that are challenging for you and also reflect on and modify lessons. Below is a link to a sample of the journal that I kept during my Peace Corps service.