Talkgroup » ELTs

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Talkgroup » ELTs

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IS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) THE BEST?

CLT was born in 1980s and it has been considered as one of the best approaches to learn a foreign language. It is based on the principle that it is necessary to develop the communicative competence. This is the ability to use appropriately the language they are learning, in a real social context. For that reason, it always tries to develop the full range of skills. Some linguists contended that communicative competence comprises grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence.

The practices developed in CLT must take into account:

1. A significant amount of pair work and group work is conducted.
2. Authentic language input in real life context is provided.
3. Students are encouraged to produce language for genuine, meaningful communication.

The advantages of this approach are well-known in our context but we can´t forget that there are other approaches and methods which can be used in our learning process and they also offer lots of benefits. Despite these ideas, there are many teachers and experts who disagree with CLT and they continued carrying out teaching practices using some older methods. It is not possible to discredit any method or approach; however we must have a clear set of principles which orientate our work.

What do you think about CLT? Do you use it or do you prefer another approach?

Hepl our Planet

Every day each one of us can do little things for help our planet. We can make small things for big changes. We can do the difference together. Many products which use in our home can contribute not only to harm the environment, this affect our health. Symptoms such as disturbance, anxiety, depression, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbance, nervous and many more can be the result of these chemicals.

Looking after the planet and our health is easier than we think; making small differences at home can have a huge effect on the well being of the world. We only have to follow simple tips:

• Ride a bicycle: according recent studies in UK the most significant innovation in trasnport.


• Wear only natural clothes: Use clothes made from organic cotton. Conventional farms use chemical pesticides and fertilizers.


• Use rechargeable batteries.


• Use non-toxic and natural household.


• Eat organic: choose food free of chemical products.


• Use recycled paper

There are other ways for save our planet but they aren't on the list. It doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. I only give you some ideas to reduce ecological impact, and save some green by increasing efficiency while retain it.

USING MATERIALS

Materials are the best tool for teachers, imagine an English teacher without materials trying to get the attention of their students without implements only doing gestures, speaking in an unfamiliar language to their students. Now we not only have a marker and a board, we have many useful tools that we can make with our hands and if you don’t want to create them, you should dive in the technological space.

What are the most common materials we know or use in our daily life? We have dictionaries, box of rods, picture packs, course books, Cds, and also some teachers have access to a computer with internet of course or, a laptop, a video been or in the worst case a Tv could be a nice tool for you.

In my opinion, working with some materials is very important to motivate students, to increase their abilities because we are teachers no magicians, so we need some helpful tools to develop our students skills. I have learnt that not all the materials are perfect for all students, we have to select previously according with the task or ability or the aim that we want to achieve. In my school I have some materials but the real problem is that I have to adequate them to my linguistic goals.

Finally, I can say that we are in a new era where a teacher must be updated to the tendencies. We have a big challenge that is to innovate in our methodology and way of teaching. Only with creativity and knowledge we can make a difference or a point of reference for other teachers that haven’t change their paradigms. We have many opportunities to innovate and fulfill our students needs, and designing new materials is a good start.

What about you? What kind of materials do you use to get success in your class?

ICTs in Eductation

Nowadays, the process of learning in educative institutions has been integrating new technologies like software, web pages, and social pages as virtual and educative platforms that are other tools in class to strengthen system of education.

Technologies of the Information and communication are useful tools in the current academic environments, they can allow teachers to create new sources, and also, they are necessary to prepare young people to play full roles in modern society.

Some of the helpful software that we can involve in our classes is The Hot Potatoes that is a dynamic tool to create interactive Web-based teaching exercises. This includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like.

· The JQuiz program creates question-based quizzes. Questions can be of four different types, including multiple-choice and short-answer. Specific feedback can be provided both for right answers and predicted wrong answers or distractors.

· The JCloze program creates gap-fill exercises. Unlimited correct answers can be specified for each gap, and the student can ask for a hint and see a letter of the correct answer.

· The JCross program creates crossword puzzles which can be completed online. You can use a grid of virtually any size. As in JQuiz and JCloze, a hint button allows the student to request a free letter if help is needed.

· The JMix program creates jumbled-sentence exercises.

· The JMatch program creates matching or ordering exercises. A list of fixed items appears on the left (these can be pictures or text), with jumbled items on the right.

What do you think about ICTs (Information and Communication Technology) in the academical process?

Shall we give blogging a try?

We have learned how to set up a blog, we have been participating in our own blog with the aim of getting familiar with it. Now it is time to think how feasible it is for you to start a class blog, considering your own context.

I´ve found a blog created by an English teacher in Australia. The name of the blog is The open classroom. I invite you to read the post called blogging in class in 2008. There she tells us about her experience blogging with her students and links us to some samples of her grade 8 and 7 blogs, which I think you should not miss. Take your time to explore some of her previous posts and you will find useful information that can in some way contribute to open our minds to the possibility of using this tool.

It would also be of great value if you shared with us other teachers´ experiences with class blogs that you have come across.

NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP) AND TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS.

There is a bigh relation between Neuro Linguistic Programing (NLP) and the teaching-learning process, In this case, Zorica Antić from Faculty of Medicine, Niš, SerbiaBriefly, give us some characteristics of NLP approach to teaching and learning.

• The teacher- learner relationship is a cybernetic loop, a dynamic process in which meaning is constructed through reciprocal feedback; not a transmission of information from one individual to another, separate, individual.
• People act according to the way they understand and represent the world, not according to the way the world 'is'.

• Of prime interest in NLP are the ways in which people represent the world internally, through sensory imagery (principally visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) and language.
• A learner's internal representations and processing are reflected, in various ways, in their language- and their external behavior.

• Skills, beliefs and behaviours are all learnt.

• An individual's capacity to learn is influenced strongly by their neuro-physiological 'state', and by their beliefs about learning and about themselves.

• Such modification happens through communication between teacher and learner, which takes place through verbal and non-verbal channels, both consciously and unconsciously. The functioning of which human beings are conscious, and which can be controlled consciously, represents only a small proportion of total functioning.
• All communication potentially influences leaning. Crucially, teachers' language and behaviour influence learners on at least two levels simultaneously; both their understanding of the topic in question, and their beliefs about the world, including about learning.

In essence, teaching is a process of (a) creating 'states' that are conducive to learning; and (b) facilitating learners' exploration and/or enhancement of their internal representations; (c) to lead towards the desired goal or outcome of the context.
If we as teachers take into account those principles, our class environment would change and we would work on both the academic and the affective part of our students.

How to make blogs work

This presentation will give you some principles to consider when blogging. I invite you to watch it and apply some of the principles so that we can make the most of our blog.

Getting started in Social Media

View more presentations from Mike Fruchter.

Techonology and Education

The modern world is offering a lot of opportunities to improve the daily life. In education, the Internet has become a useful and important tool to achieve the results expected. There are a lot of websites which can be used in the learning process of a language in order to make students understand how worthy English is. However, we need to be very careful at the moment of choosing one of these sites. It is necessary to analyze the level, the language and the real benefits they offer. Then, all teachers need to deeper in these sites and of course, we need to update our knowledge about this topic in order to have strong principles to evaluate them. Thus, we must not only to learn how to use these websites but how to create them and how to become them a key factor in a meaningful learning inside the classroom.
On the other hand, we need to understand that these sites are just a means and the teacher´s guidance is very important. Thus, teachers can´t forget that technical problems happen at any time, and of course, the room organization and the work by pairs are too basic factors in the lesson development.
I would like you to give your opinions and comments about this interesting topic...

Envisioning the idea about how I will do in class

All English teachers have to demonstrate their commitment to provide effective teaching; lesson planning has an important part to play in this process.

What is a lesson plan?

Lesson planning is an exercise that permits teachers to envision the idea about how they will do things in class. It is an act of ethic and responsibility from the teacher to the institution he/she works at and the students.
I could identify three stages in this process. Firstly, there is a moment of thinking and doing by the teacher, it means writing down the aims which requires a little more thought; choose the topic or language, design materials and organize the stages to develop in class. In this stage it is of crucial importance that teacher knows students´ characteristics, weakness and fortress. Knowing students and assumed knowledge help teacher to propose coherent and feasible aims.

Secondly, this is the time of executing the plan, thinking and doing by teacher and students, interact with our students and live the language in the classroom.

Thirdly, after doing, here we have to go back to analyze what went well, what did not, and what could be changed for next class. Although all three stages are so important, I consider that the third one is a chance we have for professional development.

It would be interesting to know how you conceived lesson planning in your pedagogical practice and if you agree with me that the third stage is a point of departure to reflect on our practice and think ways of being better.