Future Teachers' Opinions

Fears and Expectations of Future Teachers 

by Ayleen Gallardo 

     This video was made with the intention of knowing some of the possible fears and expectations that the English pedagogy students feel in regard to their profession. I believe it is really important to critically reflect upon these topics in order to create a teaching philosophy that will represent us as teachers of any given subject. At the same time, I think that one of the most important aspects talked throughout this video is that all of these students acknoledge the relevance of motivation, classroom managament, assesment, and putting into practice the things that they have learnt during their formation as future teachers. There are no doubts that being a teacher is not an easy task but I believe that my classmates and future colleagues will do an excelent job because they know that making mistakes and being afraid will always be an opportunity to grow and be better.

Ted Talk Review

How to escape education's death valley 

by Sir Ken Robinson 

     Sir Ken Robinson is a British educator, writer and speaker. I have always enjoyed Sir Robinson's talks since he has a very particular sense of humour. Thus, this video is not the exception. He starts by saying that most American people do not understand sarcasm making a reference to the American law No Child is Lef Behind. At the same time, he also mentions that there is a high percentage of students who drop out school because they find it irrelevant, boring, and meaningless. Therefore, the question that we all should be wondering is what are we doing wrong.

     In order to answer this question, Robinson explains that are three basic principles that have been forgotten. The first one refers to the fact that all humans beings are naturally different and diverse. He exemplifies this by saying that even if you have twins you will know that they are not alike. So the problem relies on the issue that our current education system is planned far away from this conception. In fact, the reson why maths is more important than any other subject affirms that the possibility to be good at something else is nonexistent. Therefore, Sir Robinson states that a real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, physical education, and so on. By doing this, students can prosper since the curriculum integrates every aspect, and different talents that students have. The second principle has to do with the term curiosity. It seems that during our adulthood we stop questioning or wondering about things, we just accept them without hesitation. In this sense, Robinson explains that children are natural learners and that part of being a child has to do with being curious. Thus, teachers should mentor, stimulate, provoke, and engage this important aspect in their students. Being teaching a creative profession, teachers need to be supported in their labour in order to make the best out of education. Sadly, an important part of the concept of education is learning and we tend to forget about it. This means that it doesn't matter if a teacher is teaching in a particular class, if there is no learning then education is not present. The third principle is based on knowing that human life is inherently creative. For all of those reasons, it is important to understand that we need to individualize teaching and learning accepting that we all are different and unique. At the same time, we need to acknoledge that teachers matter and without them education will never improve. Finally, we need to remember that education takes place in every classroom of this world and not in some legislative building. 

     Let's set the conditions that will change the present and our future in the education field.

 

Pixton: Creating your own comic book

Hello everyone!

     One of the things I really like are comic books and mangas. Thus, Pixton really caught my attention. The description is quite simple, Pixton allows you to create your own comic books since the characters, the background scenes, and the speech bubbles. You can sign up to the website using your Google account or creating a Pixton account as well. 

     If you go to the link, you will see that Pixton was created by a marriage couple. Their names are Clive Goodinson, and Daina Goodinson. Both of them combined their abilities in order to deliver this amazing website to all of us. 

These are the founders' descriptions shown on the website. 

Once you enter the website, you need to choose among these options.

After you sing up, you need to choose among these options.

     Later you need to complete some details about your own class, activity, people, and create your own avatar. Once this process is finished, you are ready to go. 

LANGUAGE LEARNING  

     Comics are really attractive to the humans' eyes, since they have a vast amount of drawings. Therefore, they catch the attention and interests of learners (Yang cited in Yunus, Salehi & Embi, 2012). Comics can provide to the classroom the necessary motivation for the reluctant readers, while the experienced one gains confidence and inspiration. (Yunus et all., 2012). At the same time, students can also develop writing skills by making their own stories, and then creating the illustrations. This is an important factor, since some students really enjoy reading comic books or graphic novels, but they struggle when they are asked to write something. Moreover, they need to use images in order to organize their ideas properly (Yunus et all, 2012) In this regard, websites such as Pixton can really motivate students to learn English while developing their reading and writing skills. Furthermore, is a creative way to connect the English subject with the Arts. For instance, they can work in the English class in their speech bubbles, and in their Art subject they can create illustrations that can be later transform into digital format. At the same time, you can ask students to do a presentation or even a play of their stories, which allows you to foster the English language in several and entertaining ways.  

LIMITATIONS

     The only limitation I can think about, as always, is the Internet connection and the lack of necessary supplies to do the task. However, the good thing about this website is that even when you do not have the resources to apply it, you can do it either way. You can ask students to bring materials in order to create their own comic books. They can watch tutorials on how to do notebooks on their own and then present their stories as actual comic books. It is always important to have in mind a Plan B, that can allow students to have fun when technology fails. 

     I hope this brief review was helpful to all of you. As for me, I would love to use this website with my future students. 

REFERENCES 

     Yunus, M., Salehi, H., & Embi, M. (2012). Effects of Using Digital Comics to Improve ESL Writing. Isfahan.

Google Classroom

Hello everyone!

      Today I will write about an application that has been very useful to me. I was introduce to Google Classroom when I was in my third year of the English Program, and I found it very helpful and better than the application offered by the University. As always, let's start by a brief description of this tool. 

DESCRIPTION

     Google Classroom is a platform that works as an online class, is completely free, and it can be used by anyone. First of all, you need to have a Gmail account in order to sign up to different classes. Once this process is finished, you are good to go and check the materials uploaded by your teachers. These materials can be videos, articles, and even assignments which have specific deadlines. Moreover, you can download this application in your cell-phone which is very useful if you have a bad memory. Every time you need to submit your work, your cell-phone will show you a message reminding you about the homework. As a teacher, this application is quite useful in organizing your students' assignments and providing them material that they can check before coming to classes. Thus, you can definitely implement a flipped classroom methodology.

     Here below, I will leave pictures that will explain even better the usage of this tool. 

Sign up using your Gmail account. 

As a student you can join to different classes.

You can check material uploaded by your teachers. 

LANGUAGE LEARNING

     As I said before, Google Classroom allows your students to check the materials before coming to classes. Of that way, you can implement the flipped classroom methodology. According to Laurie Harrison (2013) the flipped classroom can be defined as "delivering instruction to students at home through self-study materials". The idea then, is to create a class that is focused on students' questions about the materials and some difficulties that they might have had while doing the activities or checking some new content. This is a very good way of helping students to develop autonomous work, responsibility, and being well-organized with their time. Surely, a commitment needs to be done in order to get the most from this ICT. In terms of the English language, you can try to upload materials that can help students to familiarize with the L2. For example, TED talks that are related to their personal interests. Furthermore, different abilities (listening, writing, speaking, reading) can be developed since you are free to upload any kind of material. Finally, Google Classroom can be used with students from all ages. The only thing that will be different is the material updated depending on the students' ages, and personal preferences. 

LIMITATIONS

     As always, Internet is one of the limitations, If students do not have a connection to it from their home or cell-phones, he/she will not be able to see the content. The second limitation has to do with the way students are used to work. When I was introduced to Google Classroom, I found it wonderful since the application that the University had was awful. However, it was really difficult to accustom to it. Most of the time, I forgot to read things and then in classes I was pretty much lost. You might think autonomous work is easy to do but it takes some time to develop. For that reason, I believe that you need to teach the importance of it to your students in order to create a true commitment. 

     I really hope this short explanation was useful to all of you. I truly believe that Google Classroom is an awesome way to teach not just English, but important values that we all should have.

REFERENCES

      Harrison, L. (2013). The Flipped Classroom in ELT | ELTjam. ELTjam. Retrieved 2 July 2017, from https://eltjam.com/the-flipped-classroom-in-ELT/

    

Adventure Time

Hello everyone!

     Today I want to write about a website which I find truly impressive. Its name is Classcraft. Personally speaking I really like this initiative of transforming the classroom into an adventure role game. I have always found entertaining creating your own character and giving him/her features that represent you. Therefore, if you are a teacher who enjoys games like World of Warcraft or Tree of Savior, you should definitely try to implement this website to your students. Be sure to really know your class in order to design this fun adventure together.

DESCRIPTION

     Classcraft acts like an alternative reality where students can create their own character and choose its class depending on their abilities and personal interests. They can choose to be warriors, mages or healers. All of the characters have special and distinctive powers, which make the experience more personalized and fun. At the same every class has its privileges such as eating in class or having some clues for the next test. These rewards are gained when students' behavior is excellent and that helps them to improve as learners. By doing so, students gain XP (experience points) to level up their characters. As the teacher, you are the one who decides which behavior will gain more XP according to what you are trying to promote in the classroom. For example, if I want students to learn to work in teams I will give them more XP if they succeed in helping their other classmates and doing collaborative work. Moreover, if students fail they will lose Health Points (HP), which is the life of their characters. Therefore, if their character dies they will have to face random consequences and their team will be penalized. 

Here below I will leave some pictures that are shown as an introduction when you enter the game. 

You can subscribe as a teacher, student or parent.

Students can choose the class of their characters. 

Warriors

Mages

Healers

Every class has its own privileges and powers. 

Classcraft gives the possibility of improving different abilities. 

Students learn to work in teams in order to not lose HP. 

LANGUAGE LEARNING

     So, as you can see Classcraft is a very complete website which allows to teach anything you want while your students learn important values such as teamwork, solidarity, responsibility, and so on. One of the most important things regarding the English language is that motivation can be increased. Authors, such as Gardner, have affirmed that motivation is the main factor that needs to be developed in the acquisition of a second language. Therefore, this particular website can help students in their acquisition of an L2 by making input available and accessible for students (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Furthermore, Classcraft can be used with students of all ages. As a teacher, you can design the material, rules, rewards, etc. Thus, according to your context you can get the most from this ICT. 

     It is also important to mention that parents are allowed to participate along with their children, so that can be a good way to expose the students and their families to English language in their houses as well.

LIMITATIONS

     Some limitations that this website can have are related to Internet access, supplies, and acceptance from the school. The first one has always been an issue, sometimes Internet connections are quite slow interfering with the class. At the same time, before using this tool you need to check if there are enough supplies for all the students, and their conditions too. Lastly, it is important to take into account if the school will allow this kind of resources as a way to learn, and foster the English language. 

     I believe this website is really well-made, and I would love to work with it in the future. English is taught sometimes in a traditional way that is quite boring for students. It is important to acknowledge that now students are really into technological devices, and as teachers we need to implement creative and fun resources to the classroom. I really hope this brief review can be helpful and useful to all of you!

  

REFERENCES

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2005). Understanding Language Teaching From Method to Postmethod (1st ed., pp. 26-27). London: Routledge.

Playing with Kahoot

Hello everyone!

   Kahoot caught my attention immediately when it was presented by our teacher. In fact, my classmate and I used it in our practicum with our students. Most of their classes were based on using their English books, thus creative activities were almost nonexistent. Therefore, their motivation and interest towards the English language was not the best. Although, their behavior was not horrible the felt bored while doing the activities. When we got the chance to do the classes, we wanted to introduce this technology to students, and to our pleasant surprise the students' response was extremely positive. 

TALKING ABOUT KAHOOT

     Kahoot is a tool based on gaming. You can do different kind of quizzes related to the topic you want student to learn. Since it has gaming aspects, students feel more motivated to work. If you do a quiz, you can create as many questions as you want, with their respective alternatives, adding pictures to help the student choose the right answer. Moreover, you can decide the time that each question will have depending on the level of difficulty. At the same time, you can keep track of the students' results which is helpful to know their strengths and weaknesses. Kahoot also demands to be quick in selecting the right answer in order to gain more points. Therefore, students participate actively in the process of the game. 

     Here below I will leave an activity made with 5th grader students in order to understand how this tool works. This activity was based on recognizing nationalities, flags, and some specific characteristics from three countries. 

     The images shown are projected to students using a data or any other kind of device. In their computers or cell-phones, students see the colors and the specific forms in order to choose the right answer. 

LANGUAGE LEARNING

     This particular tool has been very useful and entertaining to implement with students. They have shown a positive reaction to it and they have asked us to do another one next class. I believe that one of the most important things that Kahoot brings is the fact that you can learn by playing a game. However, one can never miss the purpose of every activity. It is important to know how to manage the game, and stop it in order to explain or help students understand possible mistakes. It is important to give feedback to students and ask them why they selected an alternative. It does not matter if the alternative chosen is correct or incorrect, the idea is that students can explain why he/she has chosen it over the other ones. Although, Kahoot gives the chance to create fun material, it can also help you to make students think critically about their choices. 

LIMITATIONS

     One of the limitations that this tool have is the Internet factor. Although, using it has a lot of advantages when working with kids, it can also lead to lose time when the connection is not so good. You need to take into account several things before working with this application. It is important to not only check the Internet but also the computers as well as if the students have the devices, in the case of cell-phones, to work with it. 

     Working with Kahoot was a great experience. Students really enjoyed it and it help us to introduce useful tools that could help students not only learn English but have fun while doing it. Even when, you need to have certain things in order to work properly with Kahoot, you can always change the activity according to your resources. It is important to never lose our creativity and design a class along with students. It always starts by our example. 

Songs for all

Hi everyone! 

     Today, I want to talk about a web site called Lyricstraining. Our teacher showed us this last week, and I found it quite interesting and fun. This web site helps you to practice your listening skills while learning pronunciation and different languages as well. 

     When I was in school, our teacher turned on the radio and played some song I had never heard before. In front of me, I had a sheet of paper with blank spaces that I had to fill in while listened to a random musical theme. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty boring as well as impersonal. I didn't understand the lyrics, the context and of course the song's meaning. I was completely clueless on how this could actually be effective learning. Now, you can ask the following: Isn't lyrics training the same thing? Yes, it is. However, don't blame on the tool, blame on the methodology.

     Most of the time, there are perfectly good technologies that are used poorly. It is our job to find ways to make learning fun and effective to our students. For this reason, I believe that this technology can help students with their listening skills as wells as their pronunctiation and spelling. The most important thing is that they can choose any song they want. Thus, their interests are actually involved in the learning process. That's pretty neat, don't forget that your students are the main characters of the story.

     Now, lyrics training is also about filling the blanks, something that has been used million of times with students, and it keeps failing in caughting out their attention. Mainly, because there is no connection between the song and students' personal interests. 

Lyrics training gives students the posibility to choose any song they want.

To choose different levels of difficulty.

Students can choose the modality of the game.

Students keep a score of their hits and fails.

     Moreover, by using this web site you can foster self-learning since students can use it whenever they want. You can even upload material for them, in order to inmerse your students into the English language in a fun and creative way. 

PLAYING LYRICS TRAINING

     I would love to use lyrics training with little kids (6-8 years old). I have noticed that most teachers try to make their classes in English, which is perfectly fine because students need to be exposed to the language. However, it would be a nice idea to complement it with this web site. Lyrics training can be used as a warm up activity to lead students into the English language. 

     For instance, let's work with the song "Let it go" from the original movie "Frozen". We can select the choice mode to make students start practicing their listening skills, then we can give meaning to the isolated words, and ask students if they know what they are (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, etc) By doing this, we can start learning the way words can be classified, and next time we can change the choice mode in order to practice spelling. Moreover, students can express their opinions about the movie and the main topic that was exposed in it. The posibilities are many, it is our job to make something good out of every new experience. Don't forget to ask students their thoughts, and how would they improve the activity, if needed. 

LIMITATIONS

     As all the activities, if it gets too repetitive, it will get boring too. The idea is use the tool but not exaggerate with its usage. Complement your classes with the web site and upload fun and creative materials for your students. Remember it all starts by yourself! 

Cheers to all of you!