Thursday, November 29, 2007

At the beginning/In the middle/At the end - Puerto Varas

At the beginning of the session I felt curious because I was not sure what it was going to be about. In the middle of the session I found out how useful this was going to be for me. At the end of the session I will try some of the tips provided by Susan with my students.
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At the beginning of the session I felt anxious, curious and I had lots of expectations about the workshop and about what I would learn. In the middle of the session I felt quite confident and happy. My expectations were being fulfilled. At the end of the session I was waiting for more things to learn and for useful materials and new elements for my classes.
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At the beginning of the session I felt very excited and motivated. In the middle of the session I felt I felt very complicated because I was thinking about my 45 students (they are very special). At the end of the session I was very happy. The last activity was fun and interesting.
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At the beginning of the session I felt comfortable. In the middle of the session I felt motivated. At the end of the session I liked the explanation about the session. I learned a lot about methodology.
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At the beginning of the session I felt full of questions because I was not clear about the purpose of the workshop. I also felt full of expectations. In the middle of the session I was interested in the contents and entertained. At the end of the session I was relaxed and concentrated on what we were doing.---------------------------------------

List of Participants - Puerto Varas

1. Marcia Bucarey Sepulveda, Liceo Punta de Mieles, marcia.burarey@gmail.com
2. Elba Aguila Maldonado, Escuela Encarnación Oivares, troglotita@hotmail.com
3. Sylvia Rodas, Colegio Alonso de Ercilla, asrodas@gmail.com
4. Norma Rojas Araya, Escuela Teniente Merino, n.andrearojas@gmail.com
5. Marcela Cardenas Benavides, Immanuel International School, marcecardenas@gmail.com
6. Leticia Villanueva Salinas, Colegio William Booth, leticia_laus@hotmail.com
7. Isabel Gutiérrez Opazo, Liceo Técnico Profesional Bosque Nativo, el_tragaluz64@gmail.com
8. Elizabeth Gonzalez Pinela, Colegio Crecer, egonzalez52@hotmail.com
9. Maria Elena Perez Henriquez, DAEM Comuna de San Pablo, mperezhenriquez@hotmail.com
10. Ricardo Villagra Cea, Colegio Juan XXIII, rvillagracea@gmail.com
11. Elena Llanquileo, Colegio Proyecxción Siglo XXI, elena_llanquileo@yahoo.com
12. Veronica Moraga Cancino, Colegio Los Alerces Puerto Varas, veroing_pro@gmail.com
13. Maria Angelica Monsalve Oyarzo, Escuela 88 Canadá, angel_mi@latinmail.com
14. Alicia Vera C., Escuela Francia Valdivia, aliciavera2005@yahoo.com
15. Soledad Sandoval Molina, Instituto Comercial de Osorno, solesandoval007@gmail.com
16. Victor Peña Villarroel, Liceo Fray Pablo de Mayo, victorhugopv@yahoo.es
17. Paz Morales Severino, Esculea Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza Osorno, passymor@hotmail.com
18. Paulina Alvarez Vega, Liceo Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, alvapau@gmail.com
19. Lorena Muñoz Huenchullanca, Colegio Preciosa Sangre, lapetite56@gmail.com
20. Jéssica López Monsalve, Escuela G - 627 El Mañio - Comuna Los Muermos, escuelamañio@gmail.com
21. Maria Ariela Torres Gallardo, Escuela "El Bosque" Valdivia, aritoga2007@gmail.com
22. Natacha del Carmen Acuña Velasquez, Instituto Superior de Administración y Turismo, nattyacunav@hotmail.com
23. Maria Eugenia Pizarro Molina, Escuela Delicio Cardenas y Escuela Básica San Pablo, chichepizarro@yahoo.com

Friday, November 9, 2007

At first/In the middle/At the end - Antofagasta

"At first, I felt like saying "the same old song again". In the middle, I felt more confortable. At the end I felt begging for more, I need more workshops like this one."
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"At first I felt about another workshop about curricula. At the middle I felt good and motivated because I like using drama techniques and role play at high - school. At the end, I started thinking how to motivate my colleagues to work in this way".
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"At first I felt anxious and curious, ready to learn something new. In the middle I flt motivated to apply innovative activities in the class. At the end I felt ready to apply some of the dynamic activities for getting nergy from the students"
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"At first I felt curious because I wanted to know if my travel was useful. In the middle I felt very happy, first because the subject matter was very interesting and the teacher was very nice. At the end, I felt pleased as my travel had been useful and I had shared with my friends"
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"At first I felt tired, sleepy. In the middle I felt more relaxed and interested on the lecture. At the end, I felt like I wanted to learn and practice more."
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"At first I felt excited about the new things I'd learn. In he middle I felt so interested. At the end I felt so relaxed because of the teacher's energy and experience."
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"At first I felt happy to be able to be here after a three - hour trip by bus. In the middle I felt impressed by the way we can use drama in our classroom. At the end I felt eager to go back to classes and apply what I learnt today".
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"At first I felt curious. In the middle I felt engaged. At the end I am compromised."

Comments and Pictures - Antofagasta

"We never stop learning" Let's take advantage of every opportunity we are offered! Thanks! Andrea González

"I'm very happy to to have the opportunity to participate in this workshop, because I learned new activities to teach English in a more attractive way, to meet colleagues I've not met before, to share our teaching experience and the most important of all, to have a very good teacher who - through her model and example - gave us more than reading a book, because Susan is a great person and a teacher. She motivated me a lot to continue teaching English". Vilma Vranicic

"Hi! I am Norma and I feel happy to have this opportunity to listen, practice and share experiences with other teachers. In this way, I understand that I'm not an island fighting in the ocean. There exists more like me, with the same problems or similar ones to be solved in the classroom" Norma Bernal

"It is wonderful to be informed about what is happening in our English world; we need more and more to help our students. When we motivate them more, we will get better results and improve their learning" Ana María Estay

"Please don't leave the opportunity to go to workshops. These workshops are good activities to become better teachers" Ingrid Muñoz Soto

List of Participants - Antofagasta

  1. Dolly Araya, Liceo Marta Narea, dollyara@hotmail.com
  2. Norma Bernal, Colegio San José, abernal@vtr.net
  3. Blanca Bravo, Escuela Victoriano Quinteros Soto, blancabravoe@hotmail.com
  4. Lila Carriel, Colegio Bautista, lilaycarriel@yahoo.es
  5. Liliana Cavour, Juan Pablo II, ayorca@vtr.net
  6. Alfredo Cordero, Liceo Juan Cortés Monroy, alfcord@hotmail.com
  7. Leticia Díaz, Escuela Arturo Prat E-80, leda197@gmail.com
  8. Ana María Estay, Escuela Alondra Rojas, ana_estay@hotmail.com
  9. Andrea González, Colegio San Nicolás, andreagonzalezjara@yahoo.com
  10. Ingrid Muñoz, Liceo Domingo Herrera, narnia91@hotmail.com
  11. Boris Olivares, Liceo Politécnico José Miguel Quiroz borisalejandro2005@yahoo.es
  12. Ligia Osorio, Liceo Marta Narea Díaz, ligikos@gmail.com
  13. Carolina Rivera, Liceo A-27 Jorge Alessandri, carol0605@hotmail.com
  14. Fabiola Toro, Colegio Emilio Sotomayor D-45, fabi_to@123mail.cl
  15. Marcia Villalobos, Colegio Santa Emilia, mvillalobos1@hotmail.com
  16. Vilma Vranicic, Liceo Andrés Sabella, v_vranicic_m@hotmail.com

Antofagasta Report




18 teachers of English from Antofagasta and one Teacher of English coming from Tal Tal met on Wednesday 7th November at Hotel Diego de Almagro in Antofagasta for the "Stand and Deliver" Workshop.



We started with a classroom set-up and then we moved the tables and everyone participated in a circle. It is was very notorious how different people participate when you have them looking at each other's back and when they look at each other's faces.


What problems do English teachers face in their Practice?


In Antofagasta we did an activity using rythm, were teacher had to follow a rythm using their hands and think about the problems they have in class and when in each turn teachers had to say one word that reflected one problem. The words or concepts where the teachers identified were:


Discipline,
Expectations,
Home problems,
Fear to speak,
Lack of vocabulary,
Big sizes classes,
Learning problems,
No time to practice,
Motivation,
Mixed ability classes,
Bullying


The problems presented were the same in Melipilla. In the end they are similar not only throughout Chile but also throughout the world, therefore we need to look for solutions. Of course, there are problems that the teacher cannot work on, like home problems, but for the mixed ability classes and the large classes there are solutions if we use some of the drama techniques that Susan is teaching us. The activities we learned tackle most of the problems, but the teacher needs to develop drama skills.


The teacher as a model



In order to carry out different active activities, without having discipline problems, the teacher needs to reflect the following through his or her body language and voice. The teacher as a model should:







  • Have classroom presence. In other words, know exactly what you want your class to look like.



  • Raise Awareness of the role of the teacher



  • Make eye contact: as it immediately reflects that you’re interested.



  • Read faces and respond to them: are the students open to learn? Sometimes the students have problems, and they do not want to work.



  • Maintain attention by using the techniques actors use to maintain attention.



  • Energy… in drama you contain your energy. It is an art of self control: keeping and conveying.



  • Creating engagement and atmosphere through relationships. Making students want o stay in the classroom.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

The SPICE of Life and ELT

Susan talked about remembering to create a holistic classroom atmosphere where students can feel motivated to learn and to study with a positive attitude, feeling they are being helped to progress quickly and effectively. She suggested we should remember the acronym:
SPICE
S for social development
P for physical development
I for intellectual development
C for creative development
E for emotional development