In regards to the planning of the worksheet, I personally tried to design simple exercises that would not require too much effort for students to resolve but would still be just as effective in its didactic function. This way, I would not overwhelm students with a lot of work and instead would let them focus in more detail on the tasks they had to do.

In what concerns the posterior creation of the sheet, I kept the style minimalistic in nature and complemented it with a touch of colour and a clear, numbered structure.

As for the lesson itself, I experienced a certain difficulty in trying to organise the class. I had to repeat the clip because some people had not clearly understood what to do due to my lacklustre instructions and I also felt there was a lack of connection and interaction whilst my students completed the sheet as I did not exactly know how to help them and, therefore, awaited for them to finish silently.

I have learnt that it is very hard to organise and control the situation of a lesson, due to the varied levels of collaboration and motivation coming from the students, and that the connection between student and teacher is vital for a lesson to continue properly.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ1oSS5bQvQ[/youtube]

I recently did a short lesson in which I had to be the teacher. During this lesson I had to present a three to five minute clip on which the students had to answer a previously produced sheet.

The first part, the planning, is what found the hardest because it was difficult to find a clip that was the correct length and was at the same time comprehensible and adequate. I watched many clips but in the end I decided to choose one about public transport which I understood completely.

The second part was making the sheet. At first I had to spend some time thinking what exercises to include. When I had decided what to do it was very easy as I already knew the content of the clip.

When it came to presenting the clip, I found it a little bit hard because there were not many students and so the discussion part didn’t last long.

With this experience I learned how to make a good worksheet and how to keep students´ attention.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFlGARKl0F4[/youtube]

Firstly, the planning for this activity was surprisingly difficult. Finding a clip that was short enough and had sufficient vocabulary to be educational was quite challenging. As a result, my comedy clip was not filled with high level vocabulary.

The creation of the worksheet was a simple task as I had seen many good examples that teachers had previously given us. As for the lesson, I think it was a very awkward and embarrassing experience. The most difficult part was trying to get people to answer me.

From this experience I have learnt that I never want to be a teacher and I now completely understand the frustration teachers must have when trying to teach a group of teenagers.

Although I appreciate having been given the opportunity to have this experience, I do not think teaching is for me.

At first when I had to choose a comedy clip it was quite complicated as I had no knowledge of British culture. Finally, I found an appropiate, funny and educational clip which really pleased me.

Later on, I went on to write a worksheet that could teach something to the class. I wasn’t sure how many exercises to include but I finally decided to include four varied questions, which covered reading and listening skills.

After presenting the clip to the class I realised, how complicated it is to teach and to keep everybody’s attention. I personally think the class was fluent and I hope students learned something out of my clip. For future teaching experiences I’ve realised I should be a bit more interactive. However I think it was an interesting experience.

A few weeks ago, we got to give a lesson to the rest of our class based on a comedy clip. We first had to choose a comedian and then a clip in which there was enough vocabulary and content so we could do our lesson.

I found that picking a comedian was not as easy as it seemed at first. There were many and I couldn’t understand a few of them, but I finally chose Russell Howard. This comedian has done more long clips than short ones, so I also found it difficult to find a two-minute clip. However, I was satisfied with the one I picked as it was easy to understand and quite entertaining.

At first I was nervous to give a lesson, as it was one of the first times I had given one. At the end, however, I found it was fun, as I got to interact with the class and debate on some of the points Howard mentioned.

I personally thought giving a lesson was not difficult at all, but getting the class to be attentive and interested at what you’re saying is quite challenging.

I don’t like teaching. I don’t like children: I DON’T like teaching children, so I was quite surprised I enjoyed this project. I spent about a  thousand hours trying to find a video that had enough vocabulary and was funny at the same time. I failed. I couldn’t quite understand the accent of most of the speakers and the one I did understand, used pretty simple vocabulary.

My worksheet was quite simple: fill in the gap, define some vocabulary and some quick questions to understand the video. I wish I had completed the worksheet with some additional topics for the class to discuss but I realised that later on.

The lesson went well. The students were participative and eager to see how the lesson would work out, and I was quite nervous at first, but relaxed towards the end of the class.

I learned some vocabulary and how exhausting teaching really is. I only had four students and can’t even begin to imagine what teaching a 24 student class (like the ones in primary) would be like. I now appreciate way more the worksheets we are given as I have seen how time-consuming they can really be.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to get to see a lesson from a completely different perspective but I’m not sure if i would do it again, should the opportunity arise.

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a couple of days trying out a new experience: being in class but from another perspective. Our classmates were, for barely 10 minutes, our students.

The process involved choosing a clip from an English-speaking comedian, extracting its useful and slightly advanced vocabulary and creating a worksheet for the rest to fill in.

For me, the experience was interesting; I would’ve probably been a bit more nervous if it had been in front of the entire year, but it was only in front of 4 students.

I found out what it is to look for activities which are useful but also seem interesting and realised, a bit more, the effort put in by our teachers behind every single activity they plan, no matter how difficult or easy they are.

For the next time, it would be even better if the experience lasted a bit longer to make it more real.

But, alll in all, I think the five of us enjoyed each other’s presentations and that the idea was very refreshing.

In the beginning, I didn’t really like the idea of being a teacher for a day as I viewed this experience as an oral presentation. However, as I went to search for comedians and videoclips I gradually enjoyed making the worksheet design and thinking of exercises; although I admit creating worksheets isn’t easy because you need to have plenty of imagination.

Regarding the lesson, I tried my best at teaching and even though I was nervous because I didn’t know if my classmates would find the worksheet too easy or the videoclip boring, they collaborated and made my class easier.

Finally, I learned teachers do a great job with controlling thirty teenagers, as I wouldn’t know how. Also, I liked how the students respected me and followed the worksheet.

In conclusion, I would try this teaching experience again but I believe teaching primary students will be more fun.

The European Youth Parliament (EYP) is an educational organisation which brings together young people from all over Europe to discuss current topics in a parliamentary setting. EYP is present in 39 European countries and organises almost 500 events every year, involving nearly 28.000 participants.

Since it was created in 1987,  thousands of young people have taken part in regional, national and international sessions, whwere they have formed friendships and made international contacts. The EYP has thus made a vital contribution towards European unity and bridging gaps between cultures.

Today it is one of the largest European platforms for political debate, intercultural encounters, European civic education and the exchange of ideas among young people in Europe.