Recently, I have known of the existence of the blog "Ayuda para Maestros", an amazing compilation of 40 online tools and resources for teachers. I highly recommend having a look at it!
Thursday, 9 April 2015
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
TESOL 2015 Convention: Culture
I am really interested in teaching culture in ESL classes. I believe that the knowledge and understanding of the English-speaking world might be a motivation for learners. If they get in touch with the cultural background and they find delight in getting to know about it, they will possibly want to be more fluent speaking the target language. Basically, I think that one of the learners' goal is to learn a language so as to have access to everythink related to the native speakers of that language.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Re-thinking evaluation methods
The educational community has been for long holding a debate over evaluation methods. It seems obvious that different types of learners show different degrees of success depending on the type of test. Not everybody has the same brain organisation, therefore, not everybody is is able to prove how much they have learnt in the same fixed types of paper exams.
Why is it so important to think of new ways of testing the learners' knowledge and progression? Basically, because those who have difficulties passing 'traditional' tests, although they have indeed learnt the subject, can feel useless, and that feeling is directly linked to lack of motivation; ultimately, the outcome is the dropping off school.
I suggest the reading of Carlos Magro's article entitled "Aprender no es aprobar" (learning is not about passing exams).
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Motivation & Cooperation in the Classroom
Language learners have numerous and varied reasons for acquiring an entire, new system of communication. Motivation is labelled into different types depending on its origin. As argued by Harmer (2007: 20), intrinsic motivation is the one that ‘is generated by what happens inside the classroom’; whilst extrinsic motivation is the one that ‘students bring into the classroom from outside’. A number of factors may represent an external driving force, such as a set goal, society, people around us, or even our background (Harmer, 98-99). Besides, some learners wish to learn a new language for a more practical reason, that is, as a means of obtaining something else; this is known as instrumental motivation. The learner’s purpose will lead him/her to focus especially on a particular part of the language, even though the largest part of the learners will emphasise on developing their communicative skills.
There are a handful of elements worth considering in the process of learning a new language. The learner’s linguistic background, his/her age, the degree of contact with the target language, or the different learning styles will set the pace for acquisition. Nonetheless, none of these factors can stop learning as far as the learner is motivated enough to accomplish his/her purpose. Apart from that, the instructor has to be well predisposed to teach, too. Teachers need to keep up date of the latest methodologies and resources available. It is also crucial to make the most of the colleagues’ experience and advice for improving in our teaching practice. According to Harmer, in order to stay engaged in their job, teachers need ‘to try and ring the changes, to try and find out what’s new, to experiment, to try new things, to take risks in the classroom’. Rigid methods should be kept away from the classroom, for teachers to develop their personal, unique teaching styles.
A stimulating means of strengthening learners’ motivation is by bringing cooperation into the classroom. Johnson (1984: 2) claimed that ‘teachers can structure lessons cooperatively so that students work together to accomplish shared goals’. When working in a collaborative way, learners have multiple motives for exerting themselves. The first reason is to accomplish a personal goal, which will presumably be learning the target language –intrinsic motivation–. The second reason is to fulfil the task he/she has been assigned inside the work group, thus meeting his/her partners’ expectations –extrinsic motivation–. Apart from that, cooperative learning provides countless chances for mutual enrichment, both at an academic level and at a personal one. In this sense, the more heterogeneous a work group is, the more its members can enjoy the learning process. In fact, for Johnson (74), ‘in terms of both motivation and actual achievement, the largest gainers from working in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups are the struggling, low-achieving students; the next largest gainers are the middle-achievers’.
In brief, motivation is essential for progressing in the learning of a foreign language. Not only learners, but also teachers need to be well stimulated for succeeding in their respective tasks. Cooperative learning has proved to be a source of the driving force that leads learners to succeed in their learning process.
In brief, motivation is essential for progressing in the learning of a foreign language. Not only learners, but also teachers need to be well stimulated for succeeding in their respective tasks. Cooperative learning has proved to be a source of the driving force that leads learners to succeed in their learning process.
References
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Lesson Planning
There are numberless online resources for planning an English lesson. An exhaustive research on the net provides us with lots of ideas and ways of carrying out an entire lesson plan, using imagination and bearing in mind motivation. Motivation, by the way, needs to come from the part of the learners and from that of the teacher, too.The teacher's willingness to teach is proportional to the learner's willingness to learn.
On the British Council Teaching English's site we have at our our disposal several examples of lesson plans, such as the one entitled Literature is Great!, devoted to the teaching of British Literature (downloading is available).
Saturday, 21 February 2015
How poverty affects girls
Recently I have known about a few campaigns devoted to defend girls' rights in under-developed countries. The causes, lead by different non-profit organisations such as The Girl Effect or UNICEF, are aimed at rising awareness on how poverty destroys young girls' will: they are forced to get married at the age of twelve; they get pregnant at the age of fifteen, and many of them die while giving birth. Apart from that, they have high chances of becoming infected with HIV, as their bodies become tools for supporting their families. Most probably, their daughter's fate will not be much different.
Due to all that, teenager girls have to be empowered to fight for ending poverty; for themselves, for their daughters, for their families, and for their communities. As we all know, EDUCATION will be essential for their succeeding in this struggle. Let's help them by simply spreading these two videos to let the world know their story:
Monday, 16 February 2015
Efficient Bilingualism
A scientific study accomplished by the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (UJI) has shown that 'bilingualism is associated with a brain reorganization that involves a better efficiency in executive functions'. It seems this is one of the many benefits of speaking two (or more) languages.
It is generally agreed that the more languages we know, the easier it is to learn a new one. However, the advantages of being bilingual go far beyond language learning itself. It also contributes to our brain's development as well as to our ability to think. Some scholars have even dared to state that 'bilinguals are smarter'. Apart from that, there is a considerable amount of literature devoted to analysing the cross-linguistic interactions that take place in the brains of bilingual people; for instance, the study carried out by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language.
In any case, speaking languages is an open window that allows us to look at the world around us!
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