Shall we practise the alphabet?!

Hi there!!

Look at our little cute Harry Potter...

What do you think?!

Impressed?!

I know I am!!

Something to share...

Where good ideas come from....

So, as you can see connectivity and creativity go hand in hand.... therefore,it would be fantastic if you continued with your blogs even after you have finished with our subject.... what do you think?

IMPORTANT

Hi there!!

Confirming: despite the special agenda for Thursday, I have been given permission to carry out our term test. Bear in mind,though,that you will have TWO HOURS and not three.

So see you on Thursday!!

Last class before the term test

Hello everyone!!

               Today we had our last class before the second term test. We had two great and entertaining presentations: the first on teaching vocabulary and the second on teaching receptive skills. I want to thank all those who have delivered their presentations so far both on the great job they've done and on the adaptative skills and positive attitude shown under the pressure of time.

             Next Thursday there is the Fairy Tale Festival, so we'll meet there. Good luck to all those who participate!!

            And the following class we'll have the term test. The topics included will be: Second Language Acquisition, Personality Factors, Learning Styles and Mistakes and Feedback.

The show must go on

Hi everyone!

Another class on how to overcome obstacles and how to cope with the unexected.... After all, that's closely related to what teaching is about....

Carolina, Julieta and Cecilia could finally deliver their presentation on how to teach pronunciation. However, they couldn't do everything they had planned because of a power cut. Still, they did a really good job.

So, next class we are going to have two presentations. Let's get ready to enjoy them!!

Another class has come and gone....

Hi there!

On Thursday we had our first presentation. It was about "Teaching Direct and Indirect Strategies".The girls in charge of the presentation were Jimena, Araceli and Soledad. They prepared several entertaining games and some other activities. It was all great except for one thing:timing. They were supposed to take between one hour and one hour and twenty minutes. Instead,they took almost three hours...

As I mentioned on Thursday, let's reflect on this and learn... after all, that's what we are here for...

Whenever you prepare a presentation and you have a time limit, rehearse and time yourselves so there are no surprises. This also means that if you have games or activities prepared you have to know exactly how much time you can allow for each one. And in this aspect, you should stick to the plan. Another point  to take into consideration is that you should have plan A (everything you would like to say and do), but also plan B (a ranking of what is the most and the least important so you know in advance what could be left out if necessary). Moreover, when it is a presentation in groups, try to achieve collaborative work: all the members of the group should have equal participation, and should help one another to find the right balance. For example, if in the group there is a shy person,  the others should help this person to feel more comfortable and to participate. Or if there is someone who talks a lot, the other members should help him/her to focus and move on.

What other suggestions do you have? Please leave your comment!!

And ....

Better late....

Hi there!! Better late than never!! Here's an account of what happened last class:

We worked on a grouping activity which was also a discussion activity on how to cope with different types of difficult people. Remember the main topic of the class was personality factors, so the idea was to add something different to the material you had read.

Some of the categories were: Sherman tanks, the indecisives, the negativists, the super agreeables, the clams, the balloons, etc.

Then we worked on an activity based on the chapter by Cook on the topic of personality factors, which we will round off next class.

Remember next class we have two presentations (one hour long each): the first on Teaching Strategies and the second on Teaching Pronunciation, so remember to read the material on those topics.

Have an amazing though rainy Sunday!!

Thursday's class

Hello everyone!

Yesterday we had classes... we finished discussing SLA (each of the four groups from the previous class briefly presented a model). Later, we started dealing with Learning Styles: we mentioned what they are, what they depend on and the most common classifications. We described the most important characteristics of the three modalities (we did a quiz and classified various study strategies), of hemispheric dominance and of field dependence and field independence.

Next class we will continue dealing with learning styles and personality factors. We will also start working on mistakes and feedback.

Finally, I gave back the essays on FLA, which you have to post on your blog together with some images/ videos/ links....

Finally... spring is in the air!! And in the calendar!

A new class...

Hi there!!

Yesterday we (finally!!!) had another class. We dealt with SLA, mentioning all the factors that have to be taken into consideration when studying the issue.

Next class we will start with a 20 minute activity to round the topic off. Then we will deal with Personality Factors and Learning Styles, so you have to read chapter 8 by Cook and chapters 5 and 6 by Brown (the first three chapters in the second bunch).

Bear in mind the schedule for the next few weeks:

• 25/09 learning styles and personality factors
• 02/10 mistakes and feedback 
• 09/10 we start with the presentations.

Evaluation and Needs Analysis you will have to read on your own. These topics will not be included in the term test, but I will give you some assignment. 

Happy day!!!

A teacher takes a hand,

Opens a mind,

Touches a heart.

Attention please!!

Hi!! I have JUST received an email communicating that there are NO classes at the Institute (only in the main building, in the other buildings yes) because there is no water.....

Please let me know about the groups that you have made and the topics you'd like, so we can organize that...

Survey...

Hi everyone!

I'll really appreciate it if you can complete this survey...As soon as possible... Thanks!!

Important!!

Hi everyone!!

Important news:

a) tomorrow the Institute will be closed (there's no water and there are no janitors)

b) I checked at Milgraff and you are right: chapter 12 by Cook was left out of the bunch... don't worry. Read the chapter by Brown and I'll explain the rest. Use your time well: work on your blog and your essay on FLA.

Welcome back from the winter break!

Hello everyone!

           Yesterday we met again, after a month! We talked a little about the organization of the classes we have left...
           A very important point for you to bear in mind is that you have to get organized (we need 5 groups of 3 students each) to deliver a presentation. Here you have the topics and the probable dates of the presentations (remember that these are likely dates and they can be moved one week forward or backward):

• 9/10 Teaching strategies
• 9/10 Teaching pronunciation
• 16/10 Teaching vocabulary
• 23/10 Teaching receptive skills, reading and listening
• 13/11 Teaching productive skills, speaking and writing

(On October 30th you have the play and we are all invited to the Fairy Tales Festival. And on November 6th we'll have the term test) 

           Then we dealt with First Language Acquisition. Those of you who were absent, please ask your classmates for the notes because we worked on several important concepts.

          For homework you have several things to do:

• Get in groups for the presentations so next class we divide the topics. 5 groups of 3 students each. (for 4/9)
• Read the two chapters on Second Language Acquisition: Brown chapter 10 and Cook chapter 12 (for 4/9)
• Write an essay on First Language Acquisition focusing on two main points: How do you think that children acquire their first language? What are your views on Chomsky's theory of FLA? (for 18/9)

         Finally....

Brilliant... from beginning to end!

Please watch this video.... it's simply wonderful... all of it: the ideas, the language used to communicate those ideas and the incredible "visual aid"...

I'd love you to comment on it...

Very relevant concepts! TIC, TAC and TEP

Watch this video.... it takes the concept of TIC one step further and it integrates Freire and Vygotsky...

About today's class...

Hello my dear students!

I'm sorry to tell you that today I will be absent because my son is still ill...

First, let me tell you that you have all passed the test (most of you with seven or more... as soon as I can I'll send you an email each with the score...).

Second, as we won't meet until after the winter holidays, I would like you to read the chapter by Steven Pinker called "Baby Born Talking - Describes Heaven". I think it would be a good idea for you to read both chapters on First Language Acquisition twice: once now and the second time closer to when it's time for us to meet again...

Please keep working on your wonderful blogs, and let's keep in touch!

Have a wonderful winter break!

Have you watched the Big Bang Theory?

I highly recommend it! Watch this funny and sweet scene...

About next class

Hi there!!

Yesterday we had the First term test.... I've already been correcting a few tests and I'm glad to tell you that so far so good!

Remember that for next class you have to read chapter 3 by Vivien Cook, "General Concepts of Language Acquisition". Don't worry if you find it challenging... we'll deal with it together next Thursday.

Have an excellent weekend and... Go Argentina go!!

Excellent work!

Once more, I want to congratulate you, my dear students on the fabulous work you are doing on your blogs!!

Study Weekend

Hi everyone!

Today we had the last class before the term test. We dealt with chapters 5 and 6 on TBLT by David Nunan. You all worked wonderfully well in groups and designed clear and creative posters... Well done!

Now it's time to study... and to rest a little too!

Congrats!!

I want to congratulate all those of you who have been posting news, sites and articles in your blogs! Keep up the enriching work!

Once more, I remind all of you of checking one another's blogs... thus you can benefit from the hard and creative work your classmates are doing!

Reminder

Hi there!!

Remember it is a good idea to check your classmates' blogs as well as mine... they have interesting ideas and reflections, and some have already included links to useful sites.

If you haven't added to your blog the list with our blogs, do it soon because it will prove useful and time-saving.

Continue enjoying the weekend!

Suggestion

Hi again!

I wanted to recommend that you read Sergio's summary of the lecture.... for those of you who were there it will act as a reminder, and for those of you who weren't it will give you a very general overview. If you are interested in finding out more, ask Andrea: she recorded part of the lecture.

Sergio's blog is http://beingtechnologicalteachers.blogspot.com.ar/

Keep up the good work!

Yesterday

Hello everybody!

Yesterday we organized the class in two groups: the "innocent" and the "experienced", chronologically speaking... thus organized, we had a competition based on the contents of chapter 3 on TBLT... apart from going over the main concepts presented in the chapter, we had some fun!

Next class we will go through chapters 5 and 6, and the class after that we'll have the term test... this is why I didn't give any new homework yesterday... so that you can start studying!

Those of you who owe some homework, it is time to catch up, please...

Lecture

Hi everyone!

A few hours ago we had the great opportunity of attending Emilio Tenti Fanfani's lecture. I think all of us who were there can agree that it was an enriching experience. First of all, he is an eloquent and entertaining lecturer. Morever, he discussed ideas closely related to our subject matter and our profession. Furthermore, he brought up topics worth reflecting on...

I invite those of you who were there to make comments in this blog for those who were not there... Which one of all the ideas discussed did you find most interesting and/or compelling?

Today's class

Hi there!

Today we devoted part of the class to clearing some doubts on your blogs. The idea was to learn how to use a new application, but for "technical" reasons it was not possible... That's the way it goes as far as the TICs are concerned: using teachnological devices in our classes is enriching and worthwhile, but it is also time consuming and frustrating at times... Nevertheless, there are tools which are too good to be ignored....

We finished discussing chapter 1 on TBLT and almost all chapter 2 (all that remains to be discussed are the seven principles). For homework there's not much, since I want all of you to catch up with your work. You have to describe two tasks and classify them in terms of macrofunction, microfunction and grammar and also develop a final task with its six steps...

Remember next Thursday there are no "regular" classes, but we'll meet at school 14 for a lecture. It's at 6pm.

Changing the world

Anyone can change the world.... at least the tiniest bit... Even more so a teacher who is constantly working with children...

Another class...

Hi everyone!

Today we had another enjoyable class. We finished work on teaching and learning styles and we started working on TBLT.

For next class remember you have to write and publish in your blog a reflection on whether we can change the world from the classroom. Also, you have to write (this time to hand in next class) a reflection on your teaching style (based on the survey you did from the reading material). Moreover, you have to read chapters 3, 5 and 6 on TBLT by Nunan.

Remember on the 19th we'll have no classes....

Thursday...

Hi everyone!

I wanted to let you know that on Thursday I'll be absent. As I told you last class, I'm really sorry, but I could not change the appointment...

So we'll meet again on June 5th. For that day, remember to complete the questionnaire on teaching styles, and read chapters 1 and 2 on TBLT, by Nunan.

Take care and see you soon!

Third class

Hello everyone!

On Thursday we had another class. We spent most of the time learning how to create a blog, how to take advantage of the options of design and how to use voki.

We also finished discussing the chapter on popular methods and I handed out a questionnaire to be completed using the chapter on teaching and learning styles.

So, for homework you have to:

• create a blog and publish a welcome note.
• if possible, create a voki and embed it in the blog
• complete the questionnaire mentioned above
• if possible, read chapters 1 and 2 on TBLT by David Nunan

Second class

Hi there!

Yesterday we had our second class. Students got in groups determined by birthdays and then they -you, in fact- worked on a chapter which provides a revision of the most popular methods that have been used to teach English. Groups worked actively and enthusiastically and some very interesting reflections followed.

Next class we'll be working on chapter 13, by Cook, on different teaching and learning styles. Also, next class we'll start working on our blog-project.

Oh, and try watching the presentation now... I've changed the configuration and I think it will be available to all

Finally...our first class!!

Hello, my dear 4th year students!!

I'm so happy to have finally had our first class... and I must say, it's been a pleasure to meet you!

During this first class we:

• got to know one another a little bit
• discussed the syllabus and the goals for the subject
• dealt with the definitions of language, learning and teaching

For next class, remember you have to:

• write a paragraph or two about you
• read the syllabus, in detail
• read ch 3 by Yule on the properties of language
• read ch 13 by Cook on SL teaching and learning styles

And, in case you want to see the presentation again, follow the link First Class Presentation

Have a wonderful weekend and see you next Thursday!

Greetings to all the workers!

What about us teachers? We are not in the picture... So...

           Happy Labor day for                       

                              all teachers!!

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone!!

Getting closer to finally starting our classes of English and its teaching III, I want to wish you...

Change the world

These are the beautiful lyrics of a song by Seals and Crofts...

You can't change the stormy weather.
You can't change the sense of time.
You can't change the rocked mountain
so it's easier to climb.
But you can change somebody's life
just by giving them your own.
One by one we change the world
so come on sing this song.

You can change yourself,
it might take a little while.
You can change your friends
just by giving them a smile.
You can change the world,
and we've got so little time
to chase away the darkness
and fill the world with light.

You can't stop the rain from falling.
You can't stop the ocean's tide.
You can't stop the Sun from shining,
even if you try.
But you can stop that empty feeling
of being all alone,
just by loving someone's life
you'll find love is in your own.