Plenary entry

The last sessions have been devoted to the different microteachings done by ourselves or our own classmates. The main things I have learnt during these lessons have to deal with class management (using songs to get attention or forming groups) and teaching skills, especially those related to body language and language resources: miming, eye contact, repeating words, intonation, giving clear instructions, rephrasing, explain without translating, etc.

I like the idea of motivating students by encouraging them to participate, doing engaging and dynamic activities, or ending by asking students what they like the most.

On the other hand it has been very useful to observe different projects in order to have more ideas for structures, resources and activities. I love using the magic box and I will have into account in the future. I am fond of the idea that activities in the project should be linked and progressive and pointing towards a clear final aim. And I like contextualised activities, that is, we are doing this activity for a reason and within a real context.

Concerning methodology, it is obvious the importance of giving examples and modelling and also having good visual support, using realia instead of pictures or  re-using the same material for different activities.

To sum up, observing the microteaching has been an enriching and fun activity.

Teaching Maths in English

Teaching Maths in English can be very useful since the language becomes a tool and students’ attention goes to the content and it is not focused on the language.

The content should not be new to the students but already seen in previous years and already acquired in order not to be an unreachable challenge.

Helpful resources can be:

-      A ten frame for sums. We can show the frame with stickers and they have to answer in open class; they can also work in pairs or we can do a number dictation in the grid.

-      Counting in twos, fives, tens; counting forwards and backwards; playing the “banana game”. Through this oral activities you can also teach language such as “Which turn is it?”

-      Who can tell me the highest/smallest number in this set? The teacher writes the two numbers on the board and then erases them. Children have to raise their hand and wait to say the answer. When they gain confidence, the teacher does not need to write the numbers on the board.

-      Which number comes after/before...?

-      Say a number between X and Y.

-      Round numbers to the nearest ten/ hundred/ thousand

-      To work mental arithmetic we can laminate grids of ten cases or so (A4 size) and students write their answers with whiteboard markers. This material can be easily reused and can motivate students.  After the exercise we can ask “Who got 10 out of 10?” And so on and make them explain, so they practise their English: “I made a mistake”, I could not listen”, “I didn’t understand”, etc.

-      Problems: the teacher dictates them and the students write the answer and a word. For instance, “12 euro” or “7 pens”. We can also ask afterwards “How did you get to that result?” And students need to explain their process.

-      And songs can help us to start the class, recover students’ attention, etc. We can also draw the story, mime it, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ir_l7qTiZ4

To CLIL or not to CLIL, that is the question...

These last lessons we have been dealing with CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). Our teacher suggests that the best way to use this methodological approach is through project work.

CLIL is a very useful approach to teach, since you are teaching language and content at the same time. If you feel comfortable teaching through CLIL, your students will perceive that positively and they will probably enjoy the process and will not be reluctant to learn contents in English.

On the other hand, if we want to be successful, all the teachers should be involved in the project. If this is the case, the English teacher can focus on more or less peripheral aspects of the project.

When planning a project, as the one we need to plan for our microteaching, we have to think about some important aspects:

• Aims
• Competences
• Concepts (language and content)
• How to introduce the topic
• Stages of the project
• Materials
• Assessment
• Activities, tasks and worksheets

Tasks cannot be isolated; they need to follow a structure. There should be warm up activities, middle activities and a final task. The activities should be assessed.

Storytelling

This week we have introduced storytelling in English teaching in Primary. To exploit the story, the teacher needs to act, mime, exaggerate, make use of voice, etc. So we can’t be very shy at that moment.

First, we have to introduce the story. That can be done talking about the cover, the drawings, the title, a character of the story in a drawing, an object, etc. We can also use the mystery box.

While telling the story teachers should also manage the group. If possible, it is better to split the class in two groups. One group can be listening in the multimedia room or in the computers, stories they already know and follow the listening while reading. In this way, students practise intonation, associate words with pronunciation, and obtain better comprehension of the story.

On the other hand, the other group need to be managed while they listen to the teacher. It is important to keep their attention during the reading. After the reading, or even during the reading, the teacher can ask questions to be sure students follow the story.

Questions after the reading should:

-          Develop students’ cognitive skills

-          Ask about their personal experience

-          Ask about the plot

-          Contain CLIL elements

Furthermore question should encourage participation and help develop their oral skills. Through stories, children develop understanding of themselves and the world around them. Storytelling is a class event which engages children’s interest, attention and imagination and develops their language skills. Children with different intelligences and learning styles like it. It also provides a framework for social skills and attitudes, such as active listening, collaborating, turn taking and respect for others.

Project work

This last week we have been learning about project work. A nice way to introduce the topic to students is using “a mystery box”. The students do not know the content of it and they need to guess what there is inside through questions. This technique activates their cognitive skills, curiosity and attention, fosters use of English, and promotes interaction.

After using the box, we can continue working on the topic through different activities (for example, for the project “the family”, we had laminated members of the family and we did different tasks with that material: who is missing?, prepositions, etc.). A good tip we received is that when correcting, you should always do it in front of the student so they can see it.

The structure of the project is based upon two questions:

-          What do we know? (previous knowledge)

-          What do we want to know?

Having all this information into account, the teacher has to close the gap between these two stages by creating engaging tasks and activities. As teachers, we also need to decide the outcomes, including structures, of the project. Attractive activities can be storytelling, videos, songs, role-plays, pictures and drawings, etc.

The project should always conclude with a final task. This task needs to provide information for their learning and can be used with assessment purposes. Also a grid and observations are good tools for evaluation.

September lessons

These first lessons the teacher has introduced the subject and explain all the tasks we will have to complete for the course.

She has also given us many useful tips for our teaching, especially concerning class management.

We have also reviewed previous knowledge about English Didactics. My classmates mentioned concepts such as project work, CLIL, storytelling, microteaching, etc.

One of the key points in teaching English is instructions given to students. As teachers, we must be sure that our students understand what they have to do and what we expect from them. That will make them feel confident. A way to do so is modelling and giving examples. As a foreign language teacher, we should not be scared or ashamed of gesturing and miming, even overacting a little, when explaining. 

Concerning class management, grouping is an essential issue. Make them work in pairs, then little groups and finally in open class. One of the members of the group is the speaker. That will make your class more dynamic.  Also, it is important to have their attention; songs, riddles and chants can be useful tools in that aspect. And most important: they are irrepressible doers because it is by doing that they learn.

A very good lesson was the one where Ricard Garcia came to class to give us some tips about going digital and online resources. The following day, I used voki.com in class with my students and they loved it! Their attention was fully there! I also love the time line websites, and the webs related to story writing, such as storybird or fodey.

We have also spoken about skills, and the teacher has told us that reading and writing should be developed after speaking and listening. In Primary 1 and 2 we should focus in oral skills, while written skills will come later. 

In general, I would say that the most relevant idea these first weeks, it is the fact that English teachers need to know well their students because you are treating with children, very sensitive human beings.