Criterias that I would use to asses my students' performance when speaking

This is my set of criteria I would take into account when assesing a speaking task

• I wouldn't interrupt my students to correct before they had finished
• I would take into account what they could achieved
• I would comment on what was correct not just on what was wrong
• I wouldn't correct my students' pronunciation mistakes while they are speaking.
• I would give them either an oral but personal feedback or a written one. In fact I lke the written one the most because they could keep the sheet of paper I would give them with my message on it , soemthing something like 'great presentation, good job'

Do you agree with it? What would you change?

I'm all ears....

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Do you agree with this sequence of strategies that our students use when they find difficulties in reading?

1. 'I think about whether the word is important for understanding the whole text'
2. I read on to see if the word is repeated'
3. 'I start again from the beginning of the sentence'
4. 'I say the word out loud'
5. 'I look to see if the word has some part I know'
6. 'I study the words around it'
7. 'I ask the other students in my group'
8. ' I ask my teacher to explain'
9. ' I think if there is a Spanish word like it'
10. ' I go to my dictionary for a translation'
11. 'I write it in my notebook'

Now tell me what you think ....

Funny activity for Halloween!

This is a matching activity! If you are willing to learn about witchcraft and wizardry then this activity is for you!Match the name with the correct picture and find out how much you know about that topic
Go to : http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-games-wizardry.htm

Reasons and types of listening we find in textbooks

In this particularly case,I worked with SNAPSHOT(Intermeditae level)
The reasons given for listening:
Listen for comprehension
LIsten and repeat (for intonation)
Listen to check answers
Listen and complete
Types of listening:
-Monologues ( scripted)
-Dialogues (Telephone conversations)
I think that it would be nice to say ´listen and enjoy', but sadly, all textbooks ask our students not only to listen but to write and comprehend the listening at the same time! It would be nice to include other kinds of listenings, such as the listening of stories, songs, sounds(so as to let their ears and minds enjoy rather than worry about what they have to listen in order to do sth else)

Are these 2 coursebooks different?

Coursebook 1: SNAPSHOT - Longman 2000
It has 20 units
Sequence of structures:Present simple-present continuous-past simple and present perfect simple-past simple past continuous and past perfect -future with will/won't, may/might, going to or present continuous-comparison of adverbs and adjectives-comparatives-obligation and prohibition with verbs must, have got to, needn't-1 st conditional-present perfect simple and continuous-2nd conditional- i wish+past tense-used to /be used to-the passive: all tenses-3rd conditional-reported speech-future continuous-future perfect
Coursebook2 : OPPORTUNITIES- Longman Pearson -2000
It has 34 units
Sequence of structures:present tenses-state and activity verbs-used to and would-past perfect- present perfect continuous- the passive- the future- modals of speculation-conditional review:1st and 2nd- conditional 3-wish and should have- reported requests and orders- reported statements- reported questions
Although both books present some grammar topics in a different order, both follow a similar sequence, since both begin witrh present simple and finish with reported speech
The teacher's books don't justify why they chose to follow the order established in both books. They only mention what comes first and what comes next.
Both books offer the same sequence, however, I think that Opporunities would be a good option since it doesn't follow only one story throughout the whole book, (as Snapshot does )it has many different stories in each unit and they deal with interesting topics.

3 different coursebooks and different procedures to teach vocabulary

Coursebook Nº1 Opportunities (Intermediate level)
Michael Harris-David Mower-Anna Sikorzynska (Longman, 2000)
Procedures for teaching vocabulary:
-Word-building
-Matching
-Guessing from context
Coursebook Nº2 Get on track to FCE (Advanced level)
Judy Copage- Lucrecia Luque Mortimer- Mary Stephens (Longman 2002)
Procedures for teaching vocabulary:
-Word-building
-Guessing from context
-Synonyms
-Matching
Coursebook Nº3 Word club III (Beginners level)
Michael Harris – David Mower (Longman, 2003)
Procedures for teaching vocabulary:
-Matching
-Guessing from context
-Word-building

A questionnaire teachers can use with students at the beginning of a course

YES NO

1) Do you speak another language apart from your native one?
2) Why do you want to learn English?
Because you like it?
For your job?
To travel?
3) Do you have previous knowledge of English?
4) Do you like communicating with other people?
5) Do you think you learn best if you work with books?
6) Do you like writing activities?
7) Do you like oral activities?
8) Do you prefer working :
In groups?
In pairs?
or individually?
10) Are you in contact with the language at any moment of your day?

What are the pros and cons of using pairwork and groupwork in the classroom?

I think that the pros of pairwork/groupwork are that they increase opportunities for practising the language, enable students to take risks with the language and to see if they can negotiate meaning, therefore favours cooperative language learning and build self-confidence. Also, it trains students to use the foreign language independently of the teacher.

As regards the cons I believe that some students feel shy when working in pairs, particularly when there are differences in gender, age, language level, personality or if one student corrects the grammar of another or if one of the students is flirting with the other. Also, some talkative learners may dominate pair/group work and block the language production of their partners. Personality clashes between partners is important. The tension our students may feel when working with a classmate that they don’t get on well with could make them feel annoyed and completely demotivated.

My little experience says that pairwork or groupwork is effective when there is a motivating and authentic activity, the purpose of working in pairs/groups is clear, students feel comfortable with their classmates, and the organization of the activity and sitting arrangement is effective too.
I am absolutely sure that there are many other important implicatures for this to be successful, so come on let’s think a bit more about some others!

The qualities that a teacher should have

I think that some of the most important qualities a teacher needs to have are sense of humour, self- confidence, sensitivity to learners as people, ability to build rapport, ability to be methodical. I believe that the most lovely one is the one that makes reference to sensitivity to learners as people, we should never forget that our students before being students are human beings, people, who have feelings and emotions.
It would be also interesting to take into account two more qualities, first the capacity to teach values to our students since we are educators who teach English. And the second one, I don’t know if it is a capacity or not, but anyway, I think we “teachers” should have the capacity to trust our students, to be always there, next to them walking along this path of learning, because if we do not trust them, how can we make them believe in themselves!

How do you feel when observing other teachers?

After having observed a couple of times, I think I feel confident enough to keep on doing it and learning from it! I strongly believe that through observations it is possible to learn a lot from others! It’s like wearing eye-glasses, what I see through them is not the same as what you may see wearing the same pair, since we all have different ‘views’ and so action focus. As regards the title I think that it describes very well the role that observers and the observed T have (being a kind of mirror that reflects or help you to see the action that takes place in the classroom more clearly). To me is interesting to see how other teachers behave in certain situations, and then think how I would have behaved if that problem would have taken place in my class.

This is the place where we can all share our thoughts, our opinions and why not our experiences as teachers.
I hope we can all learn from each other!.

Post a message soon!

Kisses

Naty