Listen to music and you'll learn English!

I have learnt many vocabulary and daily expressions listening to music, so I thought I needed to add something to the blog that related music with English.
This lady gives eleven songs that can make us more fluent in English language because of the rythm of the songs or the pronunciation. She  says that through songs we can learn or improve our pronunciation, listening skills and vocabulary. Also, we can learn verb tenses, phrasal verbs, sentence structure or even daily expressions. So it is a fun way to acquire more English.
Some of the songs she shares are the following:
 -Somebody to love by Queen
-I'm yours by Jason Mraz
-We can work it out by The Beatles

Carolina Araújo

We CAN!!!

Well, the week of exams is about to start and this is a reminder to tell you that we CAN! Nothing worthwhile comes easy, so Come on!!!

Miriam Orón.

A DREAM TO FIGHT FOR

Some days ago, I saw this short film about self-realization and it makes me think that wherever your situation is, you have to continue and try what you want to do it, even if you feel that you cannot do it or you will not achieve it. Most of the times, ourselves are the responsible for our decisions and we have to look ahead in a positive way to have the enough strength to carry on and achieve our dreams and our goals.

Noelia Máñez.

A useful online resource

 I have found a playful game to work with students from 6 to 12 years in our classrooms. This game is a useful resource to practice English in our class and provide them a huge number of vocabulary. It is also a multicultural game so, this is also interesting, and the learner is the main character in this game. I think that you can have a look and decide if you want to use it in a future, to change your routine, perhaps is not a daily activity but why not once a week?

You can find the link here: http://pbskids.org/mayaandmiguel/english/games/index.html

Reflection on education

I would like to upload this video about a reflection of the educational system. I watched it some years ago at my school and I thought that all that he says, is what is happening nowadays. I did not ask myself about the organization of the classroom, I neither ask myself about if we have different brains or not and if we are different from the others, and this is something that is underlined. Why we all try to learn and know the same to reach the high marks?

It is true that nowadays we need a change, and for that reason, are emerging different approachments to learn, I know that is nearly impossible to provide an individual assessment but as a future teacher I will try it because I would have liked to be taught like this, improving that aspects that were better on me. 

I hope that this situation continues improving and going forward to have a better future, an a better education, think about it.

Noelia Máñez.

Community Language Approach

As a future teacher you are going to become, you need some tools and materials in which you will support. Here you can find an approach that Curran made it for the language teahing. The main idea is to achieve students work together to develop what aspects of a langugae they would like to learn.

  The approach take us attention because it emphazises the sense of community in the learning group, encourages interaction as a vehicle for learning, and considers as a priority the student's feelings. The teacher is capable to recognize the struggles in language acquisition, due to, he os she takes care of his/her students learning process. 

   Some things relevant to this is that there is no syllabus or textbook to follow, and it is tehs tudents themsleves who determinate the content of the lesson by means of meaningful conversations in which they discuss real messages. Notably, it incorporates translation, transcription, and recording techniques. It also makes possible to use the students L1 to communicate while they are learning.

Cristina Francisco.

The sooner the better? A study breaks the beliefs about bilingualism

I have found this headline on the digital newspaper El país which claims that lot of parents want their children to be bilingual and learn another language. It says that there had been lot of investigations about the critical period, but a current one has told that the critical period is until the seventeen or eighteen years but it does not expect to reach a proficiency level. 

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/05/07/mamas_papas/1525687477_992744.html 

It is also said that a child only can achieve that level until the ten years old.  It is also claimed that this biliguism achievement is until the eighteen years because after this age, their interests and context change and all that could affect to their learning.

As we have learnt all children have a critical period to learn and to develope some skills each time, not all children have the same time to develope themselves and also learning takes time. 

To the question that appears at the headline that if is better to start learning before?  I will answer that children have a critical period to develope each skill and they have to expand them depending of they own developement. 

Noelia Máñez

Help for kids that the education system ignores

       During the video, Victor Rios defends the idea that students define themselves by what they contribute, not by what they lack. He has studied those young people that have been pushed out of school and at the same time, he names his personal experience.

         His main objective is to change the way we label young people from ‘’at-risk’’ to ‘’at-promise’’. Thanks to a teacher that he had, he has once again had hope and confidence in education. In fact, based on that teacher that he admires, he proposes three strategies that each teacher should follow to help their students and that none of them be excluded or on the way. The first one, teachers must get rid of the deficit perspective in education. Besides, they need to value the stories that young people bring to the school-house. It is essential that we help them to be proud of whom they are, so we should be there for listened to them. The last one, we have to provide them adequate resources.

         To sum up, mentoring, job training and counseling are three techniques that could be useful for teachers and could make them learn from their mistakes instead of dragging them out of their classes.

Miriam Orón.

Studying English in the degree of primary education

Nowadays, knowing several languages is important to fit in a multicultural society. For this reason, the link between all these different cultures is English. It is said that this international language is essential to be prepared to the future that is coming. So teachers have the responsibility to do this task since early ages. That is because English has to take place as a subject in the degree of Primary Education in our country, to train efficient teachers and give them enough tools to face up all the situations that could appear during their future teaching.

Firstly, in a world where is not barriers, it is a basic necessity to learn English, because as we have said before, it is the link between all the countries, so it could be called the ‘’International language’’. The lack of gates and the knowledge of English, allow people to go abroad just for travelling or even getting a job. Thanks to the language, people find open up doors. There are no obstacles in order to move around.

Is incredible how world media transmit information that only could be taken advantage by English speakers. That is the case of the news channel CNN, which has the most world coverage, whose programming is unintelligible to people who do not have an advanced knowledge of universal language. (Editorial office ‘’El Tiempo’’)

Concerning means of communication, everything is destined for people who know English. That language is the link between all of them. International news or advertisements are promoted in this foreign language. So it is recommended to have a high level if people want to be aware of all of them and not be cheated. Related to the following quote, learning English gives us wealthier and culture if it is not like this, we would be isolated and we would only know a unique point of view of what happens around the world. As a result of this language control people could develop their critical skills.    

            The fact that English is given as a subject in the degree of Primary Education has a lot of advantages. For instance, it allows a quicker and easier integration into the labor market, due to the International recognition. So for that reason, nowadays in all jobs is required a high level of English. According to ABA English Course results ‘’62% of Spanish people use English in their job’’. People who have a good command of this foreign language have more opportunities of being promoted. It is why inside a multicultural world, the more fluent people are in a language, the more competent they will be.

            Although English is not the best strength for some people, it is being demanded by lot of companies in Spain, as ABA English Course says ‘’English is the language more demanded in the business quoted in 80% of the cases’’. In spite of all the difficulties they could deal with the language, people would take it as a challenge or an objective to overcome their adversities. Moreover, it is a way to exercise people’s memory, doing their brain more efficient and flexible. Another advantage is that people who have two languages on practice have more facility to focus on a main objective. This means that due to language people could train their brain and make of the English a goal.

            Studying this language in the first degree at the university could allow students having more resources to confront all the difficulties that they would find when they achieve more levels. If the university provides learners facilities to take level tests or courses to improve their level, it would engage students to the linguistic immersion. Also, university gives them the opportunity to prepare them to the B2 level that is required in their future trajectory. For that reason, they start their first course getting ready to the B1 level, to later on, achieve the next level.

            Furthermore, learning English makes learners feel more confident with themselves. There is no need to travel with company because they are independent and able to go out regularly of their comfort zone, thanks to their management on the language. Besides, it is known that the more speeches people have, the more social relationships they can establish. The fact of being aware of other cultures and showing interest on them, allows people to increase their personal friend’s circle. Thus, learners could prove that their language and culture are not the only ones along the world.

            Regarding students, it is important that future Primary teachers start encouraging children since kindergarten. In order to this pre-schooler, studying another language will realize them that their language and their culture are not the unique, as we have said before. So, the sooner they start with English, the more results they will achieve. Using other resources, such as flashcards, songs, dances, videos, role-playing, storytelling, will attract and motivate children to start with the second language. For these reasons, students in the degree of Primary education should take English and Didactic of English as a subject, because on them they could find resources enough to deal with methodologies to engage the foreign language.

To conclude, English has to take place as a subject in the degree of Primary Education because it has several advantages, not only for the future teachers, but also for the students. We are in a society where a lot of cultures live together, for that reason people should be prepare for interacting with others. Besides, the more languages people have, the more possibilities they will have to get a better job. Moreover, being fluent in English allows people to travel on their own along the world, establish social connections, and the possibility of being aware of all that happens in their surroundings. For these reasons, we think that English should be given sooner, so people could achieve all of the things that the second language provides to them.

Noelia Máñez
Miriam Orón

Scaffolding as a way to learn

Learning process is an activity that takes a long time. People learn continually and differently. There is nobody how learns exactly as do another person. So, this process requires time, due to the things that are taught need to be developed depending on the ages, the cognitive capacity, the things that must be learned… that students must know in a certain time. Education must take in account the capacities that each person presents and to be adapted his or her circumstances.

Students learn in many ways and build their knowledge based on prior experiences and knowledge that need to be supported in their learning. Scaffolding refers to one of those varieties of institutional techniques in education. This method moves students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process. It is a way to gradually shift the responsibility from teacher to the students until they become more independent.

This video shows how the learning process goes and how the scaffolding turns into a useful tool for the teacher and the students. It goes with the main idea that learning always proceeds from the known to the new, so good teaching recognizes and builds on it through scaffolding. This building will be made by seeing the learners as individual and group students.

To make sure that this technique works correctly, children need a right support to participate in their learning, complete a challenging task and learn a new concept. Moreover, it is necessary to encourage students to continually grow and develop to a level that is just above their current level. So, the main goal is to build on the understanding, on what students can do (individually or in group) keeping in mind their strengths and needs. The things that must be carried out are:

·         Give a tailored assistance that is adjusted on an as-needed basis.

·         Build learner confidence fostering feedback in the class. Students understand what they are doing right and how to they can do better.

·         Let them participate actively in their learning and move.

For that reason, the learning challenge need to follow questions like: what the student currently knows and what can they do, what do they need to know and be able to do, how big is the learning gap. Once the teacher has thought about this, the next step is to model the background knowledge and give a guided practice. Briefly, the goal is to design learning environment that supports the success of every student.

It can be summed up as this technique tries to build a learning where the previous knowledge will be the starting point. Combining the capacities of each students and their background knowledge, the learning process will success effectively. It is just to go from the general to specific, like when a house is being building and goes to the bottom to the top. It can only work if the child is considered and is presented as an actively part of his or her learning, since students are going to be the key to answer teachers’ educational questions and to create an adapted learning. Having all this in mind, the scaffolding can only be effective if students’ environment:

1.      Knows their strengths and weakness.

2.      Gets effective feedback.

3.      Gives a tailored assistance.

4.      Controls frustrations and builds on competences.

Cristina Francisco

Every kid needs a champion

In this video Rita Pierson talks about the importance of stablishing connections with your students and the need of giving feedback even when it is not good enough, because perhaps next time the student will be able to do it better because you encourage him to do it the best he can. 

Noelia Máñez

the monster quiz: the board game

I have found this link about a game called the monster quiz: the board game. 

http://blearning.eradigital.es/index.php/gaming/37-monster-quiz-the-board-game

It’s an app with a board game which it is also shown in the board of the classrom and it calls the attention of the students, the teacher if he or she wants can also print the game. You can use it such as a different form of working different areas and contents of the topic you are talking about. 

The students are the main characters of this game because they are who prepare the questions and the activities to complete the game, so they have to deal with the unit before doing this game task.  The goal of this interesting game is to have the nine cards of the monster, to achieve that, they have to win the competitions between their classmates.

They work on the unit for example with some questions of the present simple and the vocabulary, for example making question like: What is the girl wearing? 

Students can also promote the cooperation between the different groups and create community and unity among all the children of the  class.

 

Here you can see and explanation of a teacher that uses it in the class.

Noelia Máñez

The Power of Words

''Words have power to destroy or heal.
When words are both true and kind, they can change our world''.
-The Buddha-


Miriam Orón. 

EXPERT BEYOND EXPERIENCE

H. G. Widowson uses this quote from a poem by T.S. Eliot as moto for teaching education. In this case, he is focusing on the foreign language teaching. 

During his article, "Expert beyond Experience" (Widowson, H.G. 2003), he is developing some issues for been considerate. The main point is to focus on what does a foreign language teacher need. Even there is an unconditional requirement as having linguistical competence, there also exist some factors that must been kept in mind.  In that way, the author refers to the need to have been a foreign language learner. From this aspect, Widowson rejects the generalized idea that people have about the native speaker. He thinks that a person who also have been a learner of a foreign language may understand better what his or her students are passing through. In that what, it is a combination of competence in the language, pedagogic competence, and experience as a foreign language learner.

All this will give the teacher some experience in which he/she will learn from it and to develop expertise on it. From the moment the teacher is carrying through the learning process, he/she is getting experience and knowledge about how his/her job needs to work. Therefore, it is needed to theorise and have competence in the field. From that point emerges the idea of theory. When Widowson talks about that concept, he is referring about how things work, how to design activities that are going to work… and how it is proved.

Where does this theory come from? Even there are a lot of resources that experts have written in a lot of books, the theory can be developed by yourself during you are experiencing as a teacher. Here you can find some examples:

• Based on you experience as a learner, how kids would learn better.
• Knowing certain activities about useful pedagogies (ideas, resources, strategies...)
• Attempt the diversity to know why you tecah this or that way.

All those thoughts and ideas are going to be your theory in use. It is something intuitive. They are your beliefs about teaching and education, the theoretical concepts. Once you have achieved the theory, the next step is to theorize about it. Theorizing means to learn from those experiences, to think about them, and questioning yourself about why or why not you have chosen it.

The main idea is to put on practice the theory and theorize about it, in order to accept, modify or reject it.

But the theory must be used in an appropriate way, therefore here you need to develop critical reflection and not to take on trust everything. How can I be critical and analyse myself?

• Observing myself and recording my actions.
• Analysing the student's results.
• Asking my students to get feedback.
• Thinking about what I have done.

From the moment you are questioning yourself and your work as a teacher, you are becoming an expert. As I was telling you at the beginning, a foreign language teacher becomes an expert not only for his/her linguistical competences. Your experience and the theory you get from this is making you improve. But also, the critical reflection that you made in your practice. Since you can do all this, you would become an expert.

Cristina Francisco