3rd Week - New things!!!
Another hectic week went by! This week I had to study for the tests that I had to take in Madrid yesterday morning and this very morning. They are tests that I have to pass in order to get a position as a teacher adviser in a foreign country. It is a position that the Ministry of Education offers to teachers with the aim of promoting Spanish language and culture learning in foreign countries. I applied for the following countries: Australia, the USA, Ireland and the UK. I think I did a good job but now I have to wait for the results. That is the reason why I spent Saturday and Sunday in Madrid, which is about 500 Km away from my city, Granada.
As for the course this week, I must say that again I learnt a lot of useful things. I learnt how to use "Delicious" which is an extremely useful tool. Imagine that you are surfing the net and you find different and interesting webpages. You normally bookmark them using your browser. "Delicious" is similar but it goes one step further, since when we bookmark any webpage, with this tool, we can add interesting comments about it. That way, when we need to find a specific web-site, we can access and consult our "Delicious".
I read two articles from the Teaching Aural/Oral Skills block. I enjoyed both of them, but I must say that I really liked Maria Busa's article, "New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation", becuase she focuses on an element that I consider of capital importance, that is, the pronunciation of prosodic elements. In Spain we normally teach pronunciation, but we do not put a lot of emphasis on trying to pronounce prosodic elements in the right way. Spanish prosody and English prosody are quite different. I also read the article "Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials" by Lindsey Miller, and my intention is to read the third article "The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills" by Juila Gong.
Another assignment this week was the one devoted to visit a webpage related to Teaching Aural/Oral Skills. I visited the one by the BBC "Pronunciation Tips from the BBC". We were supposed to comment on the good things of this web-site. I found the activities quite good and I recommend it because you can find materials and activities that can be adapted to any level of English.
Today, I read a Final Project Report by Joanna Zubel from the Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education "Ignatianum" in Cracow, Poland. I analised what the project was about and expressed what I liked the best about it. Joanna's reality is quite different from mine, we have different needs, but both share the idea of trying to make our teaching as interesting as possible, above all with the use of ICT tools.
It is really rewarding that bit by bit we learn different things and the majority of them are quite useful.
LET'S KEEP UP THE HARD WORK!!!
Another hectic week went by! This week I had to study for the tests that I had to take in Madrid yesterday morning and this very morning. They are tests that I have to pass in order to get a position as a teacher adviser in a foreign country. It is a position that the Ministry of Education offers to teachers with the aim of promoting Spanish language and culture learning in foreign countries. I applied for the following countries: Australia, the USA, Ireland and the UK. I think I did a good job but now I have to wait for the results. That is the reason why I spent Saturday and Sunday in Madrid, which is about 500 Km away from my city, Granada.
As for the course this week, I must say that again I learnt a lot of useful things. I learnt how to use "Delicious" which is an extremely useful tool. Imagine that you are surfing the net and you find different and interesting webpages. You normally bookmark them using your browser. "Delicious" is similar but it goes one step further, since when we bookmark any webpage, with this tool, we can add interesting comments about it. That way, when we need to find a specific web-site, we can access and consult our "Delicious".
I read two articles from the Teaching Aural/Oral Skills block. I enjoyed both of them, but I must say that I really liked Maria Busa's article, "New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation", becuase she focuses on an element that I consider of capital importance, that is, the pronunciation of prosodic elements. In Spain we normally teach pronunciation, but we do not put a lot of emphasis on trying to pronounce prosodic elements in the right way. Spanish prosody and English prosody are quite different. I also read the article "Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials" by Lindsey Miller, and my intention is to read the third article "The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills" by Juila Gong.
Another assignment this week was the one devoted to visit a webpage related to Teaching Aural/Oral Skills. I visited the one by the BBC "Pronunciation Tips from the BBC". We were supposed to comment on the good things of this web-site. I found the activities quite good and I recommend it because you can find materials and activities that can be adapted to any level of English.
Today, I read a Final Project Report by Joanna Zubel from the Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education "Ignatianum" in Cracow, Poland. I analised what the project was about and expressed what I liked the best about it. Joanna's reality is quite different from mine, we have different needs, but both share the idea of trying to make our teaching as interesting as possible, above all with the use of ICT tools.
It is really rewarding that bit by bit we learn different things and the majority of them are quite useful.
LET'S KEEP UP THE HARD WORK!!!
Hi Adriano,
ReplyDeleteThe job sounds amazing, I hope you get it! Good luck! I also read Joanna's project and agree on the need to make things interesting. I perceive that if I am bored by a subject, I'm less effective. Like Joanna, I use the English File book and it always deal with things in an interesting way, but I go the extra mile and research what I need to get my students' interest and inspire them. On the subject of pronunciation I also agree with you, and I have to say that pronunciation is not the forte of the people who come to me. It takes them ages to 'get' why phonetics will help them. But technology is here to help us!
Michael Alves
michaelwebskills.blogspot.com
Thanks Michael for your contribution! I hope you are right when saying that technology is here to help us. I share the same wish!!!
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