First day's impressions

After a short presentation on the unit and getting to know our teacher a bit on the very first day of the academic year, we had our first "regular" day on Thursday.

She used two warmers: throwing the ball to somebody you don't know and asking a question in the large group, and writing down two items on yourself and playing mingle in pairs in order to guess your classmate's items and viceversa.

I must admit that in the first warmer I was more anxious about choosing a question (you couldn't repeat what others had already asked, so it became increasingly difficult) than listening to what was being said, which I think went against the objectives our teacher had for the activity. Maybe, it would be a good idea to try to take that pressure off the game (or maybe only I felt it, and then there is nothing wrong with the warmer itself), or ask the students to remember the answers, not just who you threw the ball to. I guess that when you speak in front of a large group of people it is normal to feel a bit anxious, but I hate to see that I focus more on myself than the others. Other than that, I felt quite comfortable.

The second warmer was more fun for me for two reasons: it was more dynamic, in the sense that it implied moving across the classroom and it was "messier" because people were talking at the same time, and it allowed me to have a better interaction (with few people, that is true), because it was done in pairs. After doing the second warmer, I realised that the first made me feel a bit tense, because it was too static for me.

I guess those are things a teacher should bear in mind, as some people will feel more comfortable with certain types of activities, and there should be enough diversity so all in the group are offered the chance to feel relaxed and receptive, which are prerequisites for learning, after all.

In the second warmer I felt a bit silly because I didn't measure well one of my items, and it was too difficult to guess (except for one of my classmates, who must have had a very similar way of thinking as mine, because she guessed both straight away). Hopefully, I will stop feeling so self conscious soon, because at the end of the day, we are just learning through play, just like we have been doing in the degree most times, but this first week I couldn't help those mixed feelings.