Motivational Strategies Test

Pennycook, “English is an unfair language”.

This is what Alastair Pennycook says about the situation of the English language in our society:

-It acts as a gatekeeper for education, jobs and social mobility, favouring a monolingual élite, both in the Centre and in the Periphery.

-It makes certain domains inaccessible to many people.

- It is causing many minority languages to disappear and prevents many people from identifying with their mother tongue.

- It hinders literacy in the mother tongue for speakers of minority languages.

- It is not receptive to the needs of many people.

- It privileges the figure of NS in the ELT profession, together with many other fallacies.

- The prevailing, barely communicative, pedagogical orientation of EFL education in Spain tended to silence & marginalize learners (even though those coming from advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds).

It is true that we have been told since we were kids that English is a really important language and that it is essential for our formation and education but until what point is this true? We live in a globalized world where you have the possibility of connecting with a person that leaves thousands of kilometers away from you only by using a mobile phone or a computer and in order to be able to stablish this communication, you or the person you are talking too, need to know the same language. We have been studying english since primary school or before and the truth is that considering they have been studying it for at least 10 years, the level of English our students when they finish "Secundaria" is not what it should be. This is probably because they don't think English is an interesting language or that it can be useful for them. They study it because they are "forced" to, without giving them the oportunity to discover for themselves how English is.

I agree with what Pennycook says, English can sometimes be an imperialist language because it oppreses other languages because we are told that English is the most important language and we have to be able to speak it if we want to succed in life. It is true that as Pennycook says, English can open many doors because it is spoken in a huge variety of countries but as a teachers, our job is to show or to help students discover what can English do for them. This way they will see English as a friend, not as an obstacle on their way to graduation.

Photovoice

In this section my group and I worked on a bad habit that students do inside and outside school.
We decided to choose recycling and everything involved with throwing waste to the trash can. We looked around valencia and we found many recycling zones where an impromer use of the trash can has been done. We took pictures of them and created an advertisement/ poster and we also added some personal opinions of students and people regardning recyling and how does people take out the trash.
The main purpose of this photovoice is that students reflect about it and consider if they and their parents are really taking out the trash properly and whether they recycle in an apropriate way or not.

Motivation Graph

As you can see in this graph, my motivation at the beginning of the class is really high, mainly because I am full of energy. As time goes by I start to feel tired and my motivation decreases a little but then, at the middle-end of the class I regain my motivation again and I keep feeling motivated until the end of the class, where my motivation decreases again because I feel tired and hungry, needing some rest.

My Multiple Inteligences

These are the results of three diferent self-evaluations tests I took regarding multiple intelligences and learning styles.

Aulas felices

Estas actividades pueden ser útiles para fomentar la convivencia en el aula.

1-      ¿Qué Actividades de mi vida me entusiasman?

Nivel: Educación Secundaria

Objetivos: Identificar actividades que nos motivan plenamente y plantearse propuestas para mantener e incrementar estas acciones.

Desarrollo: vamos a reflexionar acerca de aquellas cosas que mas nos motivan en esta vida y en las que nos implicamos a fondo, con todo nuestro entusiasmo y energía. Esto nos puede servir para disfrutar más de esas actividades, pero también para extender esa actitud de entusiasmo y energía a otras áreas de nuestra vida.

Pediremos a nuestros alumnos que piensen en que actividades se implican plenamente en su vida y viven con entusiasmo y energía. Deberán hacer un listado de ellas señalando además las razones que les producen esa sensación de plenitud y vitalidad. Un segundo paso será poner en común esta tarea con todo el grupo de clase. Tras la puesta en común, vuelven a trabajar individualmente: a partir de su listado de actividades y de otras que les hayan gustado de las aportadas por sus compañeros, tendrán que elaborar “una lista de propósitos”. Esta lista consistirá en una breve descripción de actividades que van a intentar mantener o incorporar en sus vidas, con el fin de hacer cosas que realmente es atraigan, les hagan disfrutar e incrementen su sensación de vitalidad -en definitiva: que les ayuden a ser más felices-.


2-      Debates con intercambio de roles.

Nivel: Educación Secundaria

Objetivos: Favorecer la expresión oral. Aprenderá ponerse en la perspectiva de otra persona.

Desarrollo: partiendo de algún contenido que estemos trabajando en clase o que surja y despierte el interés de nuestros alumnos, podemos plantearles que adopten una postura a favor o en contra, pensando bien sus motivos y justificando adecuadamente su posicionamiento. Los temas que pueden ser objeto de debate son muy variados: un conflicto surgido entre dos personas, nuestra actitud ante la construcción de una carretera que pasa por un entorno natural de especial valor ecológico, la utilización de animales en festejos populares, la necesidad o no de emplear aditivos en los alimentos, etc. Los alumnos pueden hacer un listado de las razones que justifican su punto de vista. A continuación, se pueden llevar a cabo un debate moderado por el profesor.

Lo mas interesante para el desarrollo de la fortaleza que nos ocupa puede ser, al término de debate, cambiar de perspectiva e iniciar un nuevo debate haciendo de “abogados del diablo”, es decir, cambiando el rol e intentando defender los puntos de vista del otro equipo. Al finalizar puede ser muy útil realizar una reflexión personal -ya sea individual o grupal, oral o escrita-, para ayudar a los alumnos a valorar si les ha ayudado ponerse en el punto de vista del otro y eso les ha enriquecido de algún modo.

3-      Inventando juegos y deportes

Nivel: Educación Secundaria

Objetivos: estimular la creatividad y el trabajo en equipo del alumnado.

Desarrollo: el juego es una fuente natural de creatividad e imaginación para niños, jóvenes y adultos. En los centros educativos podemos potenciar el juego y las actividades deportivas y, de hecho, existen espacios y tiempos a propósito que lo facilitan.

Podemos partir de algún trabajo previo que hayamos realizado con los alumnos en el que hayamos investigado y recopilado información sobre juegos infantiles, juegos tradicionales o deportes. Ahora les proponemos una nueva tarea: consiste en inventar nuevos juegos y/o deportes, partiendo de algunos ya existentes en los que introduzcamos variaciones, e incluso crear algunos que no existan -o cuya existencia desconozcamos-. Esta invención de juegos y/o deportes se puede realizar de modo individual, por parejas o en pequeños grupos. Se puede seguir esta secuencia: 1) cada alumno piensa individualmente y diseña un juego o deporte; 2) por parejas, cada uno expone lo que ha inventado, y 3) en grupos de cuatro alumnos, seleccionan los juegos o deportes que más les gusten y redactan las instrucciones para jugar.

Teaching situation in the UK

This news article explains the situation of the National Teaching Service in the UK. It was published in the BBC's webpage the day my group and I did the Speaker's Corner presentation on OFSTED, what a coincidence:

National Teaching Service dropped, government confirms

A scheme to recruit good teachers to work in deprived areas has been dropped, the government has confirmed.

The National Teaching Service was announced by England's then Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, in 2015.

The plan was for 1,500 outstanding teachers and leaders to be deployed by 2020 "to the schools that need them most", with a pilot in the North West.

But following the pilot "we can confirm that we will not be progressing", said a Department for Education spokesman.

Teacher shortages

The original plan was to send "the country's best teachers and leaders to underperforming schools that struggle to attract and retain the professionals they need", according to a speech made by Mrs Morgan to the Policy Exchange think-tank in November 2015.

The initiative was part of a government plan "to give every child an excellent education".

"Too many places are lagging behind, meaning young people in these areas are not being given a fair shot," said the government at the time.

NTS staff would work with schools for a period of up to three years in a bid to drive up standards.

An initial pilot was launched to enlist up to 100 teachers and leaders to work in primary and secondary schools in the North West from September 2016.

But according to the Times Educational Supplement, just 54 teachers were recruited after only 116 applied.

The government says the pilot was launched "to test the concept of how a National Teaching Service could work".

"We are pleased with the level of interest in the pilot and the calibre of the successful candidates," said a Department for Education spokesman.

"However, following a review of the outcomes, we can confirm that we will not be progressing with the further rollout of the National Teaching Service

"We recognise that it is vitally important that schools, particularly in challenging areas, can recruit and retain excellent teachers, and we are determined to continue to support them to do this.

"We will use the lessons learnt from the pilot to secure a better understanding of to support schools in the future, and will set out future plans in due course."

'Damning'

On Thursday, Ofsted's annual report highlighted serious problems in recruiting teachers and school leaders, particularly in northern England, where, it said, heads were reporting an "auction" for teachers.

Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said Ofsted's verdict on the government's teacher recruitment record was "damning".

"We now learn that they've are scrapping the much lauded National Teaching Service after just a year," she said.

"Last week, we learnt that the Tories have missed their recruitment target for the fifth year in row.

"And last year, the highest number of teachers left the profession in a decade."

"The chronic teacher shortage continues to threaten standards under the Tories, and they are completely failing to take this crisis seriously."

1 December 2016

Post a tweet on a theory of learning.

This is a tweet I posted on my twitter personal account about Behaviourism.

Student's Contract

Student Contract

Teacher:______________________

Student:______________________

Level:________________________

Student objectives:

·         Listen to the teacher and ask questions in case of doubt or misunderstanding.

·         Be constant and be up to date with work.

·         Do all the requested homework.

·         Submit assigments before the deadline is over.

·         Assist to classes regularly.

·         Improve my skills as a student.

·         Grow up as a person and as a student through hard work, in order to promote individual enrichment and knowledge.

How can the student know his/her own progress:

·         Graded assigments.

·         Exams.

·         Oral tests.

·         Tutorial sessions.

Signed:

The teacher                                                                                                      The student

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                              ______,_____of______,_______

Schools turned into Academies?

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-37791282