Hi! How are you? Today I want to share a short story called "Groomed". This short story is part of a collaborative work and it was written by my classmates from the Teacher Training College: Matias, Cecilia, Belen and me. I hope you like it After you read it, I would appreciate if you write some comments about it. Thanks🤗

Link:
https://es.calameo.com/read/005343597dc6b2c74af7a

                      DIFFERENT TYPES OF PERSONALITIES IN A CLASSROOM


Hi! How are you? I hope you are fine. Well, I have been absent for a long time. However, here I am. Today, I wan to post something related to difficult students, I mean, how to deal with them, with their personalities.

To begin with, I am going to start talking about complainers. They are everywhere and sometimes, it is difficult to deal with them or we do not know how to do it in the appropriate way.

                                              
I think complainers are a challenge for us, teachers, because when one starts complaining, then, the rest of the students will follow him/her and there, we have to put into practice some strategies. The best way to stop with that is by doing a game in which they must focus their attention, and of course, in order to do that, they have to be in complete silence. I usually do that with my students. They love competing so I divide them into small groups and I give them a topic. After that, they will have only one minute to write as many words related to that topic as they know. The winners are the ones that have written more words and of course, they are rewarded for that.
However, a game is not always a solution. Maybe, we need to talk to that complainer because we do not know if he/she is going through a bad situation at home and complaining is the way he/she has found to express his/her feelings.

Moreover, we can also find clams in a classroom. These students are very silent during the whole lesson and they do not show any signal of understanding or misunderstanding of a topic.



They seem to be really shy to talk or express their throughts or opinions about something. Nevertheless, in these cases, we can help them to be more confident about themselves by telling them that they are at school to learn not to be judged because of a wrong answer. Besides, while explaining a topic, we need to pay a lot of attention to these students, we need to focus on their gestures in order to know if they have understood what we have recently explained or we can ask them in private too. They have to feel that we are interested in what they think. Here I leave you some strategies for coping with clams:




What other strategies do you use to deal with these types of students? I will be waiting for your answerings!!!

                                                   My Best Reading Experience


Hi! How are you today? It's been a long time since I wrote something in this blog. So this time, I am going to publish something related to my best reading experience.

My best reading experience was a novel written by Emily Brontë: "Wuthering Heights". Have you read it? It is an amazing novel, I am sure you will like it. If you haven't read it, I provide you with a little summary:

"In 1801, Lockwood, a wealthy young man from the South of England who is seeking peace and recuperation, rents Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives in a remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There Lockwood finds an odd assemblage: Heathcliff seems to be a gentleman, but his manners are uncouth; the reserved mistress of the house is in her mid-teens; and a young man who seems to be a member of the family, yet dresses and speaks as if he is a servant.

Snowed in, Lockwood is grudgingly allowed to stay and is shown to a bedchamber where he notices books and graffiti left by a former inhabitant named Catherine. He falls asleep and has a nightmare in which he sees the ghostly Catherine trying to enter through the window. He cries out in fear, rousing Heathcliff, who rushes into the room. Lockwood is convinced that what he saw was real. Heathcliff, believing Lockwood to be right, examines the window and opens it, hoping to allow Catherine's spirit to enter. When nothing happens, Heathcliff shows Lockwood to his own bedroom and returns to keep watch at the window.

At sunrise, Heathcliff escorts Lockwood back to Thrushcross Grange. Lockwood asks the housekeeper, Nelly Dean, about the family at Wuthering Heights, and she tells him the tale."

Last year, I had to read the novel Wuthering Heights in the teacher training college. From the moment you start reading it, you experience a lot of different feelings. I remember that when I read it, I experienced two feelings : "love and hate". Heathcliff, the main character of this novel, was the only one to blame for my confused feelings. At some parts of the novel, he deserves to be loved and you can even feel pity for him and his life. However, there are some parts in which he behaves like a wild animal, he is full of anger and he is cruel to any person without caring anything.
I highly recommend this novel. But if you're a bit lazy, you can watch the movie. Here goes the link:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UXsJcTJ9xs&t=7s
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcczamhCbOw&t=5s

Hi ! How are you today? I hope you're doing well. Today I want to post something about Edgar Allan Poe. Do you know who was he?

Well, if not....

Edgar Allan Poe(born in January 19th,1809, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S- died in October 7th, 1849, Baltimore, Maryland), was an American short-story writer, poet and editor who is famous for his cultivation of mistery. His tales introduced the modern detective stories and the horror atmosphere.
He was an extraordinary writer of the 19th century. Besides, he is considered to be the master of horror writing.

I think he wrote incredible horror stories. I remember when I read one of his stories: "The Black Cat", I loved it! In fact, I love everything related to horror but while reading the story, I also loved the way in which he narrated it. I can assure you that if you start reading one of his short stories, then, you will not be able to stop until you have finished it. His stories are really page-turner.

Have you read any of his stories? If not...I have found a fantastic page in which you will find his works. Here goes the link:

https://poestories.com/biography.php


                                       

Multiple Intelligences

Hi there! How are you? Today I want to post something related to "Multiple Intelligences". It is a theory from which teachers can learn a lot. Besides, not only can teachers learn about what the theory is about but also they can learn about how to apply this theory in their classrooms.
To begin with, I will make a brief introduction in case you haven't heard about it before...

The theory of Multiple Intelligences has emerged from recent cognitive research and "documents the extend to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore, learn, remember, perform and understand in different ways", according to Howard Gardner.

He has identified seven intelligences:

- Visual- Spatial
- Bodily- kinesthetic
- Musical
- Interpersonal
- Intrapersonal
- Linguistic
- Logical- Mathematical

According to him, students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. So teachers have to plan lessons based on the multiple intelligences.
As not  all the students react in the same way with the same type of activity, teachers have to prepare different activities which are focused on different intelligences. So in this way, all the students will be able to demonstrate their abilities.

I think that Multiple Intelligences are wonderful. If you do a variety of activities in the classroom, you are able to see that a student is not good at writing because he is good at role playing. Moreover, you realize in what way you may work on with that student.

Here goes the link of a useful page with the activities that you may use with each intelligence:

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/clip-save-checklist-learning-activities-connect-multiple-intelligences/

                                 
Hi! How are you?

Today I am going to talk about some study techniques/ strategies that are useful to me and maybe useful to you too.
I usually meet with friends and we are used to studying all together. This is a very practical way as we help each other with grammatical structures, pronunciation or content. It works wonderfully for me.
However, there are many people that have some problems in studying with another person because it may be a bit confusing. So summaries or mind maps are also excellent study techniques if you want to study alone.

And...What about strategies to handle stress?

Well, I have no strategies for that kind of situations. It happens to me that I get so nervous that I shake in every term test, oral exam or final exam. I just can't help it !!

AN IMPORTANT POINT: DO NOT TALK WITH FRIENDS OR CLASSMATES AFTER A TERM TEST, YOU WILL BE MORE STRESSED THAN BEFORE.

First Language Acquisition

Hi! I have found this interesting video about the stages of First Language Acquisition. It is very short and I am sure you will like it. 

First Language acquisition is the process whereby children acquire their first languages. All humans (without exceptional physical or mental disabilities) have an innate capability to acquire language.

                                       

Hi there ! Yesterday I went to the cinema and I watched an amazing movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales". If you love movies about fantasy, comedy and adventure, you must watch it!!! I highly recommend it!

Hi !! How are you? I hope you are doing well. This post is dedicated to an educational approach that we are learning at the teacher training college.  
               
Here goes a little introduction to it:

CLIL(Content and Language Integrated Learning) refers to situations where subjects (such as History, Geography, Maths, etc)  are taught through a Foreign Language with dual-focused aims. This means, the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a Foreign Language. 
According to the 4Cs, a CLIL lesson should combine the following elements:
-Content: Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding.
-Communication: Interaction, using language to learn whilst learning to use the language.
-Cognition: Students have to develop their thinking skills, understanding and language.
-Culture: “self” and “other” awareness, exposure to different perspectives and shared understandings.

Finally, this is an interesting short video about this approach:

 What do you think about CLIL? Are you a Clil teacher? 

I have done an instructional sequence using the six- step procedure as a model.

Step 1 Schema building	Watch a video about animals at a zoo. Extract the names of the animals mentioned.
Step 2 Controlled practice	Watch the same video again but this time you have to pay attention to the food that each animal eats and to the environment where they live. Then, match the animals with their corresponding environment and food.
Step 3 Authentic listening practice	Listen to an animal’s factfile. Then, complete the factfile you have with the missing words.
Step 4 Focus on linguistic elements	Listen to the animal’s factfile again. Focus on the affirmative and negative form of the sentences.
Step 5 Provide freer practice	Select an animal you like and make a factfile of it with your partner.
Step 6 Introduce the pedagogical taks	Make a zoo on a big poster. Imagine and decide where to place each animal, which animals you will buy, the space you need for each animal and the food they will eat.

Hi ! In the teacher training college we have been reading about Task- Based Language Teaching. In case you do not know what I am writing about, here goes a very little definition of it:

           "This is an approach which focuses on the use of authentic language and on asking students
            to do meaningful tasks using the target language.  Assessment is primarily based on task
            outcome (in other words the appropriate completion of real- world tasks) rather than on
            accuracy of prescribed language forms. TBLT has its origins in Communicative Language
            Teaching."

Well, for homework, I had to select one or two pedagogical tasks and elaborate them in terms of macrofunctions, microfuctions and grammatical  exponents. So here it is:

TASK	MACROFUNCTION	MICROFUNCTION	GRAMMAR
Role play. At a train station. The group will be divided into two. The first group will be train inspectors and the other one will be travellers. Travellers need to know the train’s timetable.	Exchanging goods and services	Asking for and giving information	- Use polite      expressions. - Wh- questions - The time
Role Play. At the pet shop. You have decided to buy a new pet, but you do not know which one is the best for you. Make a list of advantages and disadvantages. Compare them. The group will be divided into two. The first group will be customers and the other one will be salespeople.	Exchanging goods and services.	Making comparisons	Comparisons with adjectives