Category Archives: General

Happy, happy Christmas!!!

General

Now , guys, here it comes again! This time of the year when I feel torn apart between my desire to celebrate all the good things life has given me and all the things life has taken away from me (shall I say “people”?).
So I can never guess what my mood is going to be like when I write my Christmas post ; sometimes it is a tearjerker ( most of the times) and sometimes I am just the biggest fan of these holidays.
But this year I feel  my mood is going to be quite festive and I have even promised myself I’ll try my hardest to wear my sweatpants only when going to the gym and to dress up in sequins whenever the occasion demands it ; to be nice , polite and kind towards everybody, to struggle not to speak my mind even though the occasion might require it and to try to understand  that though everybody has a table and chairs at home to rotate the family gathering , it is me everybody loves and that must be the reason why year after year everybody decides to celebrate all the gatherings in my blessed house where ,it goes without saying, my dear mother gently suggests that I use my best wedding presents to decorate the table even though she knows I won’t be able to put them in the washing machine and I’ll have to spend hours washing everything up!!
So, after so much giving and giving I’ve decided, these holidays, to treat myself to some getting and getting. (prompt… this is where you need to watch the video ) and this is where the photo of my kitchen window applies.

Christmas is a mere four days away and I want to wish you the best of Christmas and advise you to treat yourselves once or twice during these holidays. You deserve it, don’t you?
Happy, happy Christmas!!! And please, enjoy every minute because life … is just this!

Reading Comprehension: Pre-Teaching Vocabulary

General, Reading, Vocabulary, Vocabulary Games, , ,

All my lessons last 90 minutes and even though I like to think that students don’t normally get tired or bored, changing gears several times during the 90 minutes is quite important to maintain their level of attention. In this sense, fortunately, teaching a language is not the same as teaching some other subjects where the range of activities you can do is a bit more restricted.
When it comes to Reading Comprehension there are some activities I have tried over the years that seem to have worked pretty well. This week I am planning to use a different activity with my intermediate groups to pre -teach the vocabulary in the Reading Activity, which I would like to share with you. It will require that they leave their seats and walk around the class, talking to their classmates. I’m sure they will appreciate the opportunity to move their legs.
Steps.
Step 1. Decide the vocabulary you want to teach (that goes without saying, doesn’t it?)
Step 2. Prepare two sets of cards. One card contains the word and part of speech you want to teach and the other card contains the definition.
Step 3. Students stand up and find their partner ( I have large groups so it’s going to take a while).
Step 4. Students sit down with their partner and write a sentence containing their word.
Step 5. Students read their sentences and explain the meaning of the word /expression being studied.
Note: I have very large groups, like  thirty students  per class but I never know how many  will be attending on a particular day. For this kind of activities I need to make sure I have cards for all the students. So, if I run out of words to pre-teach, I’ll prepare some cards containing the phonetics for the targeted words.

Thanks for reading!

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Learning the Alphabet

A word on Grammar, American Cultural aspects, Audio, Funny Stuff, Games, General, Lesson Plan: Intermediate, , ,

Sometimes I can write three posts in a row; I feel everything I want to convey flows naturally and… some other times I’m at a loss for words. I know what I want to say but I don’t seem to find the right words. I write and cross off, write and cross off and the whole process is repeated all over again until I find myself wondering what the point of writing a lengthy introduction is when I can never be sure if there is anybody out there reading it. And then, this week three teachers from different parts of the world kindly wrote a line to let me know they are on the other side, and paying attention. Thank you, you cannot begin to imagine how motivating your words have been.

Learning the Alphabet is fun but even in Advanced Levels vowels still pose a problem, especially for Spanish students – our “i” /i/ is the English “e”, the English “i” is pronounced /ai/ and our “a” is pronounced /ei/. The letters “g” and “j” are also difficult and students find it difficult to hear the difference between “b” and “v”. That’s why it is important to dedicate some meaningful time to learning something so useful in everyday’s life.

These are the two activities I’m going to use this year to teach/revise the alphabet.

♥The first one is a video. I have found that adults still enjoy- or shall I dare say more than enjoy- clips aimed at little children. If you are an adult, watch the following clip to revise the alphabet and tell me what you think. You might need to remind students of a traditional nursery rhyme that goes like this

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for the master, one for the dame,

before playing the video.

♥The second activity is nothing to write home about. It is the world famous Hangman, but this year, played in groups and instead of displaying words, I’m going to try a short sentence:

Divide the class into two teams. You’ll need a red pen for Group A and a black pen for Group B ( or any different colour 😉 ). On the board write the gaps for two different words of any length ( or a short sentence). Group A and B take it in turns to choose one letter of the alphabet. If the letter is correct, fill in the gap (in red if it’s A’s turn and in black if it is B’s). If the letter is not contained in the selected words, start drawing portions of the hangman (remember red or black). The game continues until all the letters have been guessed or all the parts of the hangman are drawn. If groups manage to guess the words, count the number of red or black letters to announce who the winner is.

You might also want to have a look at what I did to teach the alphabet three years ago. Click here

Goodbye to High School Teaching

General

…and it is with sadness that I am waving good-bye to this stage in my career.
I’m returning to the EOI Avilés for good. I can hardly believe it was three years ago that I shared with you my fears about a change of career I was ,willingly,about to  face. What I originally planned to be one year in a high school soon turned into three and the truth is I am glad I took the decision. I have learnt so much.
This is my big thanks to all who have worked and probably put up with me and my lack of experience in all the red paper involving teenagers throughout these three years. You have certainly changed my mind about what teaching in a high school involves.
I have learned that being a good teacher is not teaching to those who want but to those who don’t. Highly motivated students, students who love learning languages are really so easy to teach but what is really challenging is facing a group of students who clearly wish to be somewhere else but right there, staring at you.
I remember my first term being a teacher at the high school as something close to a nightmare , so used was I to students always wanting more, never seeming to have enough, always eager to collaborate and participate… that when I faced my new students , most of whom had everything but learning English on their minds, I nearly dropped dead on the spot .Being the new girl on the block , I was assigned the not-so-good groups, if you want to put it kindly and ,in some classes , I distinctly remember my new students slumped in their seats, legs stretching across the aisle and the horrified faces as I addressed them in English. For three years, I’ve had to be a mother, a father, a friend, a counsellor, a psychologist, an actress, a lawyer as well as a teacher. I have had to be motivating, energetic, enthusiast, flexible, understanding, compassionate, well-mannered, tender, well-balanced as well as hard and strict and I have loved every minute of it.

This video is worth watching… because we , teachers, make a difference  :).  Taylor Mali What teachers make .

and this version with the lyrics- in case you find it a bit difficult or are too tired after dealing with your classes.

I’m going on Holiday

General

I love teaching , just like that ,  and it is not something that on certain “difficult”  days I have not pondered again and again  but still at the end of the course, year after year , this same feeling remains. I enjoy teaching!

But what no one tells you when you decide to become a  teacher is that ending the school year is way more work than starting it, than preparing classes and than marking exams. I hate writing reports !

Anyway if you have been following me you know that , at the end of the course I’m normally so burned out that I need a holiday. So, my blog is  also going on holiday. I really hope you’ll still be there when both me and my blog return in September.

I ‘ll say my “see you later” this year with one of my favourite songs from The Beatles,  some refreshing images of  Hawaii’s beaches  and wishing you the best of summers.