Interaction in class

Today I am going to write about interaction in class. I would like to become a teacher of secondary school and I think is necessary to use methodologies based on cooperative learning to motivate the students. Some of the things I would like to do:

•        To encourage the students to make work in groups, and then they should explain the other students what they have learned, what it was the more difficult and why. The work should treat about issues related to the subject, issues that they can apply in their real lifes.

•        The groups should be heterogeneous to foster that all the members give their opinions. The discussions will be longer and it will allow them learning how to express opinions and to respect the opinion of their partners.3

•        The teacher can form the groups, or the pupils can do it themselves. It will depend on the ages of the pupils but it is necessary to avoid that they choose according to their academic performance.

•        The teacher can give the material to the students like a puzzle. The purpose is that every student work in a part of the puzzle and then he must explain to the others to make a whole, where every member have to collaborate.

•        The teacher must notice the interactions and he has to work as an advisor when the problems come.

•        The teacher must assess the work of the group and which it has been the input of every student to the work

•        Finally the teacher should listen the pupils to see if they like the way of working and what they will do to improve the performance

Word Maps

I have done this word map with this application: http://www.wordle.net/.

You can see some of the terms the students have to study in first course of secondary school in Natural Science.

Corpora

Sometimes it is difficult to understand a group of words when they are written together, but you identify them when they are written separately. So you would need to see them in another text to check the meaning. Corpora are compilations of texts (oral or written) that offer several options of use of these expressions or collocations. For example, I have looked for the group of words “put up with” in the British National Corpus: http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/.

If you type these words in the gap you will obtain a list with examples about texts where this group of words has been used and the kind of texts: oral interview, essay school, newspaper, political law, etc. You can also see the percentage of use in any specific context in which the expression have been found. Try it!

But in this internet page you can’t see the translation of the expression or group of word, so is useful to see useful pages as http://www.linguee.es/ where you can see the translation of the expression like you would find it in a common dictionary, and several texts in English and their translation. Let’s try again with the same expression “put up with”: http://www.linguee.es/espanol-ingles?query=put+up+with&source=english

Thesaurus

Thesaurus are dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms. Now I have chosen a new word, in this case “counterfeit” and I have looked for it in http://theasaurus.com. Here you can consult the result:

http://thesaurus.com/browse/counterfeit

As you see, it is shown two lists with synonyms and antonyms of this word. At first, the words are shown in a list where the more accurate synonym or antonym appears at the beginning. You can stand out a word from that list according to its complexity or its length because there is a tool for it. You can also know which of the words of the list are more common or are used in informal situations by clicking these options. Finally you will choose your option taking into account all these variables.

For example, in the sentence “Its terms of service forbade stolen goods and counterfeit currency” the word “counterfeit” could be replaced by the word “false”, taking into account that is not an informal situation and is a common word.

Comparison of Dictionaries

I have chosen a word (conceal) and I am going to look for it in several dictionaries. Here you have the results I have got online:

Oxford dictionary: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles/conceal

Webster dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceal

Word reference: http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=conceal

Webster dictionary for learners: http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/conceal

In my opinion Oxford dictionary and Webster dictionary are quite similar but I find it that Webster dictionary is lightly more complete because you have synonyms, antonyms, rhymes and examples without any additional click.  I Think the sentences that are provided in this one  are easier to understand, which is pretty important, otherwise you will need probably to look for another word! The negative point in Webster dictionary is that for listening the pronunciation of the word another tab must be opened (and I couldn’t hear it) whilst you can hear it directly in Oxford dictionary.

The last definition I found belongs to Webster dictionary too, but it is made to English learners,  so there are less resources but they are written in a easier way.

Students' Needs

Hello everybody. I am going to choose a level of secondary education, see the contents that are required and the linguistic changes that would be necessary to teach them in a foreign language.

I have chosen the subject Natural Science which is taught in First course of secondary school (ESO)

According to de Decree 112/2007 the contents of this subject are:

This course begins with the study of the Earth in the Universe. After beginning with an overview of the universe, the Earth as a planet, and also the characteristics of matter are studied. Then it continues with the introduction to the knowledge of the geosphere and the study of the diversity of living things that inhabit it.

There are four main blocks of study:

Block 1: Common contents: It is seen the main characteristics of the scientific method and how new technologies can be used to find out information about Nature.

Block 2: The Earth in the Universe: Physical features of the Earth and other planets of the solar system, the movements of the Earth (rotation and revolution), geocentric and heliocentric theories.

Block 3: The atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the biosphere.

Block 4: Living things and their diversity

Of course it will be necessary to do some linguistic exchanges to teach the subject:

Firstly the pupils need to know some useful language which will be provided it to ask for clarification, repetition or non-comprehension.

An important thing is that pupils will use the language to learn whilst they learn to use language, so they must be encourage to participate and it is necessary a methodology in which pupils can interact with her partners to learn the contents by using the language: learning by using.

The resources need to be chosen very carefully in order to be accessible to them and it would be important that these resources contain visuals to develop their skills in listening and reading.

It would be advisable the first weeks to make activities to complete in relation to a text accessible in order to improve their confidence.

And illustrative video

Here you have a video which shows the new challenges that teachers have for the future and how and why they must adapt to the new needs of learners. Also we can see that learners must decide along all the available information and if it is suitable or not, and it is shown a good example to see it. 

What's a blog?

These are the blogs I have watched and their aims:

1. Infantil 2013 http://patricianaiara12345.blogspot.com.es/

This is a blog that shows how to use some of the new information and communication technologies to teach in pre-primary school. Seeing the structure and the way it is explained it seems to be a university students’ blog where the students show some tools to make for example Christmas cards by using several programs which are mentioned.

2. English Language teaching global blog (Oxford University Press) http://oupeltglobalblog.com/

This one mentions how  blogs can be used to create web-based courses, how the blogs have changed in last decade, how  traditional blogs can be changed into sophisticated blogs, which platform can be used  and how the teachers can adapt their methodology  to the changing needs of learners.

3. CLIL  for success. http://clilforsuccess.blogspot.com.es/

It is a blog for teachers interested in developing their CLIL skills, and where you can find experiences, researches, resources and ideas for it

4. Poesia infatnil i juvenil http://bibliopoemes.blogspot.com.es/

This  is a blog with nursery rhymes and some poetry for young people. Poetry can be  found in Spanish and Valencian.

I like very much the third one because is related with the job I would like to do in the future, but I find it more useful the second one because there is a lot of information, advice  and resources I could try use.

After seeing all this websites and resources I would say that a blog is a website where you can give, regularly or not, your opinion, share photos, articles, etc. It can be also used for example if you are a teacher as a tool for your classes: to provide homework, extra explanations, interesting information or links. If it is used for teenagers is important to show them some rules and boundaries that they must follow to make it a safe tool and  to avoid some bad experiences that lately are occurring by misuse of new technologies.

Here you have some sites that explain what a blog is and their uses.

http://www.affilorama.com/internet101/what-is-a-blog

http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33510/12-Things-You-Should-Be-Using-Your-Blog-For-Besides-Blogging.aspx

Hi Everybody.

My name is José Ángel Espinosa, I am Civil Engineer and I have been working thirteen years in the construction of roads, bridges, storm drains and I even took part in the construction of Terra Mitica. But, like many of my colleagues, nowadays I am unemployed and this is the reason why I have come back to the university so as to become a teacher of anything related with Science in secondary school.

Now I am doing ' capacitació' in English in order to improve my skills in this language (above all speaking and listening) and I am waiting for knowing the result of First Certificate exam that I did last month.

My knowledge about computers is related with the type of job I ve been doing as engineer, as I needed to use programs for technical drawing, excel, word and internet searches but I am not habituated in using or creating blogs, so that is a good chance for it!

Of course, I have a Smartphone, but I only have had one since five months ago because I used to use the mobile phone to work and I spent much of the day talking and I didn't need to use whatsupp. I was fed up the mobile! Now I use it for pleasure and I have another point of view.

I don't have tablet because I think it's enough for me to be connected with others with my Smartphone, my computer and my laptop and sometimes I wonder if we need all these things (iPod, tablet, smart tv) or our needs are created by others.

I usually use Internet for looking for a job,to consult the weather and to know the last news about the world and sport.

Here you have a photo I did the last time I was in London. I am sure you know where it is!