Types of learners

The other day hector and I got together to study for our test and we were discussing the different types of learners.After doing some reading and searching, we found out we actually have some mixed characteristics of them. We recommend you to watch this video and try to see what type of learners you are.

It's all about sharing...

Today, Mauro and I are going to be tested... and anxiety is on top!

We have some groups in common, Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, etc... and we found out that the main idea of all these groups is sharing.


What to share?

Share everything! I love sharing because I know that my ideas can help other people. If I have some knowledge that might help others, why should I keep it to myself? Sharing is a way of confirm if all the things I am studying on are correct. I have to say that I share in a double sense... this means that I share to help others but also because I want to be helped. If my summary is incomplete, somebody will tell me. Sharing helps us growing.

Keeping things to myself makes me pity? No, but I think that it tells about your insecurities. Knowledge is not a trophy. Knowledge is to be passed on. And even more if it isn't your own!

I learnt a lot about how people learn and what to take into account when teaching. Now let's see if I can put all those tools into practise...

In a week more or less I will tell you about my test... I wait for the best!

Thanks for Reading!

:)

The Prezis of our Presentation last week

Hi there people!

Last week we shared with you a Presentation on Teaching Writing. This topic involved Writing Systems and Procedures in Writing...

Here we are sharing wih you our Prezis so you can take notes on them :)

Thanks for being so cooperative last class!

See you on the Term Test!!!!


Héctor's Prezi:

http://prezi.com/iur1c_ji6wu9/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy


Mauro's Prezi:

http://prezi.com/aakzf4eunqbw/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

extroverts and introverts

This nice video shows the differences between introvert and extrovert people. Did you think introvert people are only anti-social and calm and extroverts are only talkative and energetic? Watch this video and think again!

We hope you like it! 

Something we found about the topic of last class!!

Analysis on Chapter 5

Very interesting!


A clear and complete summary of the chapter on Styles and Strategies.

Copy the link to your browser and check it out!

https://prezi.com/im8drbft3qow/analysis-on-chapter-5-styles-and-strategies-of-h-douglas/

More about SLA

Working with accents is really difficult. You must be willing to change your pronunciation and you need a very good ear. Of course, a good teacher is also required.

None of these elements are given in the example... BUT IT VERY FUNNY!!!!

SLA

As we are going to start speaking about second language aquisition we wanted to share this video with you. It is from FRIENDS the american tv show. In this episode Joey needs to learn french for an audition. Phoebe, who knows the language, tries to teach him. As you can see, learning a new language isn´t as easy as it looks.

We hope you enjoy it!

What to do with Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Theory

Last week, we had to read about Chomsky’s theory of Language Acquisition and I totally agree with him. His theory talks about a lot of aspects which had been left aside in the Behaviorist Theory.  

Behaviorism had been the explanation for Language Acquisition for a very long time. In fact, this theory also had been applied in Education. This theory is absolutely based on observable results. There were several important names associated to Behaviorism like Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndike. This idea of knowledge appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century and it reigned until the “Cognitive Revolution”. 

At the beginning, Chomsky’s ideas were assumed to be crazy talk, but by the early 1980s the cognitive approach had become the dominant research line of inquiry in most psychology research fields.   

The way in which Chomsky’s theory explains the development of language is totally convincing because it supports one of the most important characteristic of Language which is its creativity. The main idea behind Behaviorism regarding language is repetition and this process is not compatible with the concept of creativity.  

When I was a kid, I was taught English with pure behaviorist techniques. I had to do lots of repetitions, translations, etc. Now that I have more information about this theory I can think of different ways of teaching, and of different techniques and activities. The best way of taking advantage of this information is applying it into our daily practice though it is hard to change the way in which we have been taught. That is to say, we tend to repeat the same system used in our process of learning. We ,teachers, should be critics of our way of teaching all the time.

Baby Sign Language and First Language Acquisition... or is it Second Language Acquisition?

Sign Language?

You probably know about the Sign Language that deaf people and their families use but what about a 16-month-old baby who can use it and communicate? Is that this system is messing up with the natural process of Language Acquisition? Are these babies bilinguals?

Some Facts

The creator of this system is Rachel Coleman. She has developed a system which she thinks is incredible... take a look...

The system

Here you have some examples of the video that Mrs. Coleman has created. Take a look!

Her perspective

Of course we can hear Mrs. Coleman talking about it... and about FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION! Very interesting! Quite long... but I think that it is totally worthy... Take a look!

What do you think?

I found it ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Nowadays, there are lots of people fighting for inclusive schools... Is it a great idea?


Now it's time for you to give your opinion....

Thanks for reading pals!!!

einstein the parrot

Hello mates... the other day when we were talking about skinner and behaviourism this video came to my mind. I guess he must have been taught by stimulus and response... we hope you like it...

Check my classmates' blogs!!

Last minute!

I have added our classmates' blogs! Check them!

They are eleven... Feel free to comment... Whose is the 12th? Our teacher's blog!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Technology in the Classroom

How many times did you ask to a student to turn off his/her mobile phone? Probably many more times than you can recall...
If you are about forty years old like me, surely that is something that as a student you didn't experience.
Nowadays it is more and more common for students to have an electronic device at school so why don't we start using them with educational purposes?
This is an idea of applying a technological device in your classroom...

Task	Macrofunction	Microfunctions	Grammar
Previous to the task: Every student is asked to bring pictures of their families in a technological device such as a tablet or a mobile phone. Situation: You are about to fly to Spain for the first time and you are alone. It is a thirteen-hour-flight so you are prepared to talk to other people in the plane. You show the pictures of your family to a new friend and you want to tell him/her who they are by describing them. You are also open to answer any questions. Procedure: go around the classroom and choose a partner. He/she will be your companion on the flight. Describe your family to him/her and take notes about his/her family.  After fifteen minutes, you will describe your partner's family to all your classmates.	Interpersonal or Social	Describing people in your family. Asking and answering questions.	To have To be Vocabulary related to describing people.

This very simple task can be used in early stages of learning (elementary-upper). The vocabulary used in the chart is aimed to Elementary students. If you want to use this task but with more advanced students, you can add more items of vocabulary and grammatical structures (describing habits, jobs, personality, etc.)

Hope you like it!!!!!

An amazing SOURCE!

Hello dear friends!

Here I am again ready to share some material I have found surfing the net.

It is very common for us as English teachers to be always searching for material. Those who are over thirty, like I am, know that nowadays it is easier to count with a long list of websites than a bookshelf full of books.

The website I am going to share with you today is my BIGGEST source of material. Use it wisely.

You have to SIGN IN, I mean, create a user and then SHARE with the community any material that you would like to share.

englishtips.org

Sometimes you may download a ZIP file and it USUALLY has a PASSWORD. For all those files which are encripted, the PASSWORD IS "englishtips.org"


I hope it is useful and I will be waiting for you comments about it.

Hi friends!

We want to give you the warmest welcome to our blog! 

We are Mauro and Héctor and we are students at the English Teachers' Training Course at the I.S.F.D. y T. Nº55 in Escobar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We don't know where this blog would take us, but we're sure it would be like yelling lots of things that are in our minds. 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoy writing these pages.

Thank you so much!!

Mauro and Héctor.