Countless online resources

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!

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.

That is the reason why I consider interesting this year's TESOL convention, which focuses on culture. Its theme was "Crossing Borders, Building Bridges”, and it is possible to read a summary of the sessions in this link.

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).

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.

References

- Johnson, David W. (1984). Circles of Learning. Cooperation in the Classroom. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

- PEARSON. “How Can Teachers Stay Motivated”. Interview with Jeremy Harmer. Web. 20 February 2015.

- Harmer, Jeremy (2009). How to Teach English. London: Longman.

- Wrzesniewski, Amy and Schwartz, Barry. “The Secret of Effective Motivation”. The New York Times. Web. 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).

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:

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

UNICEF | #ENDChildMarriageNow 

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!

Read the details about the UJI research here.

Transformative Learning

The TED-Ed team has launched a question in their forum to reflect over 'The Power of Transformative Learning': What is learning to you? Is learning isolated to acquiring a specific set of skills or information? Or does it transcend the rigid prescriptions of academic studies?

If you wish to contribute to the debate, or to know what other people think of it, visit their webpage.

Learning with all the senses

Gestures and pictures 'boost foreign language learning'

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have accomplished a research which demonstrates that movements and images facilitate vocabulary learning.

Learning methods that involve several senses, and in particular those that use gestures, are therefore superior to those based only on listening or reading. A picture facilitates learning: our brain remembers words in a foreign language more easily.

Source: Max Planck Institute

Useful Resources

BBC Learning English: inspiring language learning

TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing

English Central: learning through videos

English in Levels: making English easy for students at all level

One Stop English: for English language teachers

Macmillan Inspiration: CLIL lesson plans

Busy Teacher: free printable worksheets

English Club: free website for learners&teachers of English

DIDACTICS: Innovando en la Educación

The Guardian Teaching Network

Teacher's Survival Kit

1. Sentence Race
A good game for large classes and for reviewing vocabulary lessons. Any level.

1. Prepare a list of review vocabulary words.
2. Write each word on two small pieces of paper. That means writing the word twice, once on each paper.
3. Organize the pieces like bundles, 2 bundles, 2 sets of identical words.
4. Divide the class into 2 teams. get them to make creative team names.
5. Distribute each list of words to both teams. every student on each team should have a paper.  Both teams have the same words.
6. When you call a word, 2 students should stand up, one from each team. The students must then run to the blackboard and race to write a sentence using their word.

The winner is the one with a correct and clearly written sentence. This is always a hit with kids. For more advanced students, use tougher words.

2. What's the Question?
An activity to review question forms previously studied in class, for practising both listening and speaking skills. Any level.

1. Form two teams (three will work, but two seems to add just the right amount of competitive tension).
2. Explain the game, with a few examples of answers in search of questions. Ask, 'What's the question?', and get students to correctly say the corresponding questions for your answer.
3. Have two players--one from each team--come to the front. Style it like a game show if you like, with the students standing side-by-side. If you have access to bells or buzzers, it's even more fun.
4. Read an answer to a question and say, 'What's the question?' The fastest player to respond wins a point for her/his team. New contestants come to the front for a new round.

Rationale: This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must provide a grammatically perfect question. All too often, they are used to answering rather than asking questions, so this is challenging and useful as review.

3. Intonation Fun
An activity addressed at underlining the importance of intonation. Basically, it gets students to say the words in quotation marks in the contexts that follow. Any level.

• Say 'Hello'

-to a friend
-to a friend you haven't seen for 3 years
-to a neighbour that you don't like
-to a 6 month old baby
-to someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't
-to someone on the phone when you're not sure if they are still on the other end

• Say 'Goodbye'

-to a member of your family as they are going through the boarding gate at the airport
-to someone who has been annoying you
-to a child starting his very first day at school

• Ask 'How are you?'

-to someone you haven't seen for 20 years
-to someone who has recently lost a member of the family
-to someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night

• Say 'I never go to pubs'

-by a person that totally disapproves of drinking alcohol to someone who often goes to pubs
-as a response to someone who has told you they sometimes go to pubs
-said before: '…but I quite like discos.'

• Ask 'What have you done?'

-to someone who claims to have fixed your TV only that now it's worse than before
-to someone who is scolding you for not doing anything when you suspect the same about them
-to someone who has just done something very bad and has serious consequences

Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom

Theatre of The Oppressed

The International Theatre of the Oppressed Organisation (TO) was born in 1971 in Brazil, under the very young form of Newspaper Theatre , with the specific goal of dealing with local problems – soon, it was used all over the country. In Europe, TO expanded and the Rainbow of Desire came into being – first to understand psychological problems, later even to create characters in any play. They discovered that all those forms, independently where they had been created, could be developed and used all around the world, because they are simply a Human Language.

Theatre of the Oppressed is the Game of Dialogue: we play and learn together. All kinds of Games must have Discipline - clear rules that we must follow. At the same time, Games have absolute need of creativity and Freedom. TO is the perfect synthesis between the antithetic Discipline and Freedom. Without Discipline, there is no Social Life; without Freedom, there is no Life.  TO's Declaration of Principles 

INVISIBLE THEATRE – To be a citizen does not mean merely to live in society, but to transform it. If I transform the clay into a statue, I become a Sculptor; if I transform the stones into a house, I become an architect; if I transform our society into something better for us all, I become a citizen. Invisible Theatre is a direct intervention in society, on a precise theme of general interest, to provoke debate and to clarify the problem that must be solved. It shall never be violent since its aim is to reveal the violence that exists in society, and not to reproduce it. Invisible Theatre  is a play (not a mere improvisation) that is played in a public space without informing anyone that it is a piece of theatre, previously rehearsed. Invisible Theatre is the penetration of fiction into reality and of reality into fiction, which helps us to see how much fiction exists in reality, and how much reality exists in fiction.

IMAGE-THEATRE – Words are emptinesses that fill the emptiness (vacuum) that exists between one human being and another. Words are lines that we carve in the sand, sounds that we sculpt in the air. We know the meaning of the word we pronounce, because we fill it with our desires, ideas and feelings, but we don’t know how that word is going to be heard by each listener. Image Theatre is a series of Techniques that allow people to communicate through Images and Spaces, and not through words alone.

LEGISLATIVE THEATRE - Theater is not enough to change reality, we all agree. Legislativ Theatre is the utilization of all forms of the Theatre of the Oppressed with the aim of transforming the citizens legitimate deires into Laws. After a normal Forum session, we create a space similar to a Chamber where laws are made, and we proceed to create a simular ritual of lawmaking, following the same official procedure of presenting Projects based on the spect-actors interventions, defending or refusing them, voting, etc. At the end, we collect the approved suggestions and try to put pressure upon the lawmakers to have those laws approved.

Aulas Felices

The "Aulas Felices" program is a positive psychological approach to education. It was developed by Ricardo Arguís, Ana P. Bolsas, Silvia Hernández, and Mª del Mar Salvador. All four authors form the SATI Team, a work team dependent on the "Juan de Lanuza" Center for Teachers & Resources, in Zaragoza. Sati means "full attention". I have had a look at their work, and I found several motivational activities which I think useful for teaching English, and that I would like to implement in my classes. Next I will note down three examples.

1. WHY DO PEOPLE EMIGRATE?
 Goal - Analysing the reason/s why people emigrate from their original country to a foreign one is an interesting starting point for understanding the current worldwide inequality and injustice. Migration is a close issue for our students since there are a lot of foreign pupils in our classrooms. Therefore, we can start from our daily life.

Development - First, we'll ask our students to reflect on the possible reason/s why people decide to emigrate, and we'll brainstorm all together. We can also ask our foreign students to contribute by explaining their own experience to the rest of the class. Next, we'll deal with the vast inequality and the big injustices existing in the world. For that purpose, we'll refer to the document "Inequality & Injustice at the Present Moment".

Reflection - Finally, we'll focus on our own involvement in the aforesaid social problem: what is our commitment to the fight against world inequality & injustices? how can we make other people aware of the difficulties migrant people ought to face? how can we integrate our foreign peers into the class?

Expansion - In groups of 4 people, create a poster explaining all the information about migrations learnt during the session. All posters will be shown at the school's hall as a campaign for tolerance and integration.

Timing - A one-hour session.

2. LABELS GAME
Goal - Assessing the consequences of "labelling" people according to different criteria. To learn to be more objective when dealing with other people, thus avoiding prejudices coming to the surface.

Development - First, give the students the instructions for playing the game. We pretend we are in a determined social situation. About ten students will play as volunteers and the rest will act as observers. The teacher sticks a label on each student's forehead; in the tag there's written a particular role for the student to play: expert, responsible, funny, lazy, aggressive. Students can look at the others' tags, but not at their own. Each time a student address a peer, he/she has to do it taking into account their target's given personality.

Reflection - At the end of the game, each student willl try to identify the role (label) he/she has been given, basing on the ineteractions he/she has experienced when playing. Afterwards, there will be a collective reflection on the following aspects: how have we felt during the game? what do the observers think about the development of the game? do we like the way we've been treated according to our given label? how do we usually stereotype people, and how does that awful habit negatively influences our social relationships?

Timing - 20h for playing the game; 20 minutes for reflecting.

3. RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS
Goal: Being aware of our individual behaviour's impact on the environment.

Development: Carry out an environmental education campaign at the school. Analyse news related to ecology, responsible consumption, natural products, earth-friendly behaviour...Next, we'll design a Decalogue of 10 daily actions that help protecting the Earth. Such declaration of intent will be exhibited all over the school, and the entire educational community will be advised to follow it. Besides, students will write a letter addressed to the city hall, asking the mayor to show his/her commitment to the city's environmental health by assuming those 10 principles.

Timing - A one-hour session for designing the campaign, including the drafting of the Decalogue and the writing of the letter.

Download the Aulas Felices program here

Understanding English Teaching

"Understanding Language Teaching. From Method to Postmethod"

by B. Kumaravadivelu

I summed up chapters 8 & 9 of this book in a short film which I created by means of Dvolver MovieMaker. Here it is!

The Death of The Method, by Paloma Alberola

Twitter @AlberolaPaloma

I love being informed about what's happening at the moment and sharing that information with the rest of the world. In fact, I've always wanted to be a journalist! That's the reason why I love social networks, especially Twitter. This is my personal profile, in which I discuss about wordwide current affairs from my own point of view:

https://twitter.com/AlberolaPaloma

Interview

I interviewed my practicum teacher Carmen, who is an English teacher at IES Abastos, a secondary education school. Her experience is being very helpful for my training time.

 • How did you first learn to do what you do?

I studied the CAP program many years ago, but it was not of much help. We attended few lessons and our practicum period was only 2 weeks! So I manily learnt by practising, little by little.

• What was hardest when you first started doing it?

For me it was difficult to stand at the front of the classroom, with 20 teenagers looking expectantly at me.

• What made you keep doing it even though it was hard?

I loved it when I saw my students' progress, when I realised that I was helping them learn. It is such a satisfactory experience that I kept trying, up to now.

• What helped you get better at it?

 Experience is key for learning how to be a good teacher. So never give up, ven if you find it really difficult at the beginning.

• Did anyone else help you with it? How?

My colleagues have helped me a lot -and they still do-. Especially those who have been working on this for many years. I learn from them everyday. Our English department is sort of a teachers' cooperative.

• Describe one time that you knew you were getting better at it. How did you know?

There is not a precise moment in which I realised I was improving, but there are some moments in which you feel satisfied about your work. Then you think you're getting better.

• Once you started to get good at it, what made you want to get even better?

Sometimes the teacher's performance does not determine the students' performance or attitude towards the subject. So the only reason that leads me to keep improving is to try to help students learn as much as I can.

• How long did it take before people started coming to you as an “expert”?

I do not consider myself as an expert, I am just a teacher who's been teaching English to teenagers for about 15 years!

• Who do you trust to tell you how you’re really doing? How do you know they will tell you the truth?

I hope my colleagues at the high-school feel confident enough as to provide me with feedback that helps me be a better English teacher every single day, year after year.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Have you ever heard about The Theory of Multiple Intelligences? Its main contributor is Howard Gardner, whose work has been of importance for education and educators. He claimed the existence of several types of personal intelligence:

1. Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence.

2. Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner’s words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

3. Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.

4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related.

5. Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

6. Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

7. Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner’s view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

Gardner's theory is so important for educators because it offers a broad vision of education; allows the development of local and flexible programmes; and looks to morality.

Each type of intelligence ties to a series of parameters, so it is possible to test each person's prominent type. I did it by means of an online test, and this is my result:

infed: Howard Gardner, multiple intelligences and education

Hello!

Hello everybody!

My name is Paloma Alberola i Alborch, and I'm a trainee English teacher. I have studied a Bachelor's Degree in English Studies, and a Master's Degree in Teaching English. The current blog is my personal space for reflecting on my experience as a teacher-to-be.

My interests are mainly how to teach English language & literature to non-native students. I am devoted to think of new, alternative ways of teaching English: funny, effective, motivational. Feedback is welcomed!

Paloma