THIS IS NOT THE END...

...BUT THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING NEW

Day-to-day we have been walking towards the end of this subject, and now that we're almost finishing it, I think that it is the right moment for us to share the conclusions we have drawn to after all our lessons and hours of reflections.

Here I´m going to set out some of the conclusions that I’ve reached after all these weeks of lessons:

1. The perfect methodology does not exist yet.  Each group of students is different and therefore, the methodology to be used must be different in each case. Furthermore, not all the aspects of the same methodology are appropriate to be used in the classroom, you must choose the points that you are agree with within each methodology to create a new one.

2. Education needs a big push to help it to change and here we play a very important role because it is difficult that these educational problems change from the top. This is why we must begin to work hard from the bottom place we hold to change this problem, it is a difficult but important work to do.

These are my personal conclusions but… What do you think? What are your conclusions?

To conclude this entry to the blog, I would like to share with you two videos but for sure, I advise for the most sensible people that before watching the videos, they caught some tissues to dry one's tears...

This first video shows me that we must move on and fight for our dreams; fight for them overcoming all obstacles that are put before you, because impossible is nothing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1JhSZucfEE

This other video, that I think many of you have seen, reflects the attitude of the children. We should be a good example for them because they do what they see.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJF50kwwRJE

(Noemí del Río Ruiz)

ENGLISH IS A CRAZY LANGUAGE

ENGLISH IS A CRAZY LANGUAGE!!

Regarding the topics that were worked in class last week, I was looking for some extra information in the Internet and I found some interesting web sites which show that English is really a difficult language. Most of the webs that I have consulted say that the most difficult skills of English are spelling and pronunciation.

The reasons are all the roots that English has. We have already talked about that in class but I would like to explain a curious comparison that I have found: “English is a mixing bowl!!”

We have to take into account the place where English was born: a small island that was invaded by different groups of people: Celtics, Romans, Germanic tribes (Jutes, Anglos, Saxons and Frisians), Vikings and French. All the groups had different languages and they left their influence on English. It is a big bowl because it is made up of elements and words taken from different languages.

Besides, I didn’t know that English people don’t adapt the words that have been taken from other languages. In Spain, we change the “borrowed words” and adapt them to our spelling system but they write and pronounce them in the original way so; when we try to speak in English properly, we found many difficulties because we have to learn vocabulary from different languages!

It is thought that English is an easy language to learn at the beginning because the general structures (grammar and vocabulary) are extremely simple. However, there are so much exceptions and little rules for everything that English is very difficult in the last stages of learning.

There are other factors that make English a hard language: the enormous vocabulary, the synonyms and its spelling system. In the following web site, there are many funny sentences that prove that English is really a hard language. Try to pronounce and understand all these sentences!!

http://www.i18nguy.com/english-is-tough.html

As Richard Lederer (The author of the book “Crazy English”) says, the only reason is that “English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race”. It is the same reason that makes Spanish or Chinese difficult to learn!

What do you think? Is it easy to pronounce the web site’s sentences? They are really tongue-twisters!!!

(Gonzalo García)

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...

While I was watching the video “Otra snapshot de realidad” that Francisco sent us some days ago, I was thinking it was necesary writing some words about it.

It is an amazing short which shows the inequality between men and woman. Men can do whatever they want and they can arrive at home when they want, while woman have to be always at home doing home tasks. For men, their job is the most important thing and they think that it is harder than things woman make. So, when men arrive at home, they want to have the dinner at the table and if it isn´t prepared they argue with their wifes. Sometimes most of men shout their woman and hit them although they say later that they don´t beat them and that woman are crazy.

This short is quite similar to “Virgen Negra” which we saw in assembly hall of University. Men could have a lot of woman and children, but woman could only have a husband. Woman had to have sex with her husband although they didn´t want because woman who had more children was the most praised. Why can´t woman have more than one husband if we are in the same conditions?

I think this is a good topic to teach in our classrooms because children have to know, since they are childs, that men and woman have to have the same values, conditions and oportunities. Nowadays it´s horrible that some people think that both sexs are diferents, so I think that we should work in it to avoid discrimination and to inculcate the equality. What do you think?

(Lydia)

TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH OR NOT TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH (THAT MUCH), THAT'S THE QUESTION

As you, my classmates, will become teachers one day as me as well, I would like to ask you a question or doubt which has been around my mind for a while already.

My worry is related with the topic we have just seen in the lesson. Do we have to talk our children in our own language while we are teaching them? Is it good if we translate them some vocabulary which they may do not know?

As I see it, to learn a new language it is much better to hear the new language as much as possible. Teachers should speak using the foreign language most of the time during the lesson. But from my point of view, that would just work in higher levels when children have already enough knowledge to understand the explanations, definitions or new vocabulary without the necessity of using your own language.

It is said that translating words or using your own language from time to time is not good for children. But right now I want to post you a question: What about if the pupil cannot understand any word of what you are saying? What about if the student cannot follow any of the explanation which of course influence his learning?

Students who are in first or second grade cannot even read perfectly in Spanish, how can we ask them to read properly in English? We know that all our students are different and each one has their own level or learn in a different way.

Most of the students who come from kindergarten cannot even spell a word or they cannot transcript correctly the words they are listening, for example while doing dictation. As you all know, words in English are not written as they sound. That makes them even more difficult to learn this new language. My experience with a first year child has taught me that even if he has studies a word and the child has written it twenty times before, when you ask him to write it again saying the word using the correct pronunciation, he won´t know the word. Young students have difficulties relating words and sound.

We were taught using a translating method and generally, our oral and hearing skills are very low. New students are being taught without using it, without even translating a word. Do you think that it will work out?

I consider that we should mix up both methods, what is your idea about it?

I am really looking forward to hearing your opinions, thoughts and arguments. I will probably learn from you all.

Thanks.

Julia.

30 MINUTES

While we discussed last Thursday in class (15/11/2012) the theme about the time dedicated to "serious" tasks in class, it came to my mind a situation I learnt when I was on teaching practises (TP) last year.

Ales, the teacher I spent the most time with when I was on TP, told me that children, above all when they are very young (1st and 2nd year) tend to get bored or not to pay attention after they are required a lot of effort on an activity or this is the same once and other again. He told me (and I was able to prove it by myself while I was with him in his classes) that he prefers to spend a little time with a task (no more than 20 minutes, unless it´s needed) and to play games (referred with the task as well of course) or talk about something that worries to the children; ablout this last point, he told me that it doesn´t matter if they talk in spanish if the theme discussed is something very important, so that children could understand every word.

He taught me that there´s no problem if one day you don´t finish all tasks you had scheduled. The important thing is that children learn not the maximun things (altought is an objective, but I would a secondary objective) but in the best way these things they study. We could say is not a matter of quantity but QUALITY!!!! So it doesn´t matter if one day children only learn one thing, that if this knowledge they have interiorized very deep in their brains it will be much more important than having had learnt more things and the day after they couldn´t remember a single thing.  

Víctor Pérez

"THE SILENT WAY", A CURIOUS LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD

Some days ago, I looked for some information about silence and its importance for teaching. I found two or three interesting things on this topic but I especially like one of them. It is possible that this will be studied in class in the followings weeks but I would like to share it with you because it is a curious language teaching method.

This method is called “The Silent way” and was created by Caleb Gattegno. It consists of a curious way of teaching where silence is extremely important so it is related to Unit 0 that we have studied.

The teacher is silent for most of the time and students have to try to speak in the language studied as much as possible. The session starts from what the students know because they are the main characters and they are the ones who want to learn a new language.

Most of the activities used in this method are speaking, pronunciation and vocabulary. It avoids using memorization and imitation activities. The materials that the teacher uses are very curious, for instance; sound-colour chart (for phonics), pronunciation and vocabulary rods, etc.

The teacher, who is in total silence, uses non-verbal gestures to guide the class. There are different signs to represent “Stop”, “Repeat”, “Speak louder”, etc. Students learn a new language without imitating the teacher and they develop their autonomy and their creativity.

The contents that students learn are reviewed and recycled over and over so they work with new vocabulary and grammar structures without forgetting the old ones. However, I think that this method was created for small groups but it cannot be used in big groups: Will all the students work if the teacher is silent? Besides, I believe that it could be useful in advanced levels but I don’t know if we could use it with twenty five children.

This quote summarizes the methodology of the “The Silent Way” Method:

“The teacher works with students; the students work on the language”

Caleb Gattegno

The following webs are good to get more information:

-          http://myenglishpages.com/blog/the-silent-way-method/

-          http://www.uneeducationpourdemain.org/en/silent-way-en/213-caleb-gattegno-silent-way-presentation

(Gonzalo García)

ROCINANTES

I have just found in a folder a “Rocinante” card and it has remind me Paula, a young teacher who I met in the practice period last school-year. She taught Spanish Language, English Culture and Arts and Crafts in 5^th year of Primary Education. I was lucky to see some of her sessions, to work with her making some tasks and to learn from her methodology.

This is a TRULY WONDERFUL
HORSE...

What I really like of Paula is how she behaves towards the students. She doesn’t mind to spend some time of her sessions to solve possible problems that pupils might have in or out of the classroom. Furthermore, she is a positive person full of energy and that motivates the students. When they are checking activities or reading aloud, Paula almost sings their names changing continuously the person who is talking, so students must pay attention and not get distracted. She also loves introducing different topics in a “non-usual way”, for instance, explaining Easter playing common Easter English games.

The best think of Paula’s sessions is that students feel comfortable in them and, in general, they do their best in every task. They also talk to her about their feelings and problems in her sessions, in other subjects and in their personal life and, of course, Paula does everything she can to help them.

Returning to the beginning, I want to explain one special “trick” of her methodology, her system of positive points. She prints many pictures of one literary character which is different each trimester. When I was at school the character was Rocinante. She cuts the pictures and gives one to the student who shares to the rest of the class something relevant or curious, for example the name of people born in Calatayud (bilbilitanos). So, students can collect a lot of “Rocinantes” and they can redeem each one for 0.1 points in different tasks.

I think that giving these cards is a good way to reward students’ effort and participation, to “invite” them to search information and share it with their classmates and also to use them as a part of the continuous evaluation during the trimester. But, in my opinion, the cards could be redeemed for something different instead of 0.1 points, what do you think? Do you have any suggestion?

(Cristina Lázaro)