Answers To Teacher Aida's Questions

1-Don´t you think your students may profit from an activity like this?

Yes, indeed. As I explained this activity is certainly useful to check mistakes, mispronounced words, fluency and ability to create sentences and share ideas. All we need to do is leave shame behind and stop having the paranoia that everyone will laugh or something.

2-Imagine your principle or academy supervisor would ask you to record one of your classes, would you dare saying "NO"?

I wouldn't ever refuse to do the activity. How could I? that just wouldn't make any sense whatsoever. In fact it would possibly end up projecting weakness and a negative side.

3-How would you convince your class to be videotaped or recorded?

I'd convince them by not giving a grade, or the opposite, giving points just for participating (at first) or to introduce it as a game (especially with kids).

4- Why do you think they ask teachers to videotape or record their classes?

They probably ask it to review the progress of the class and the teacher's performance. Maybe it could also be a new or just great way to show the parents how the kids work, in a general meeting.

Comedic Literature (An Attempt To Like Reading)

Since I need to develop an interest on reading, I've started to read books for pleasure. Obviously, I only read some related to contents that are alluring to me. I already read two cool books this month, nothing long, just a couple comedy ones. If anyone's interested on the topic, here's some thoughts:

First, a recent and acclaimed New York Times Best-Seller, "The Bedwetter" (2010), a memoir by comedian Sarah Silverman. Being a fan of her original stand-up comedy and irreverent tv series, this was a must-read. The jewish author's characteristic quirky humor was hilarious as always. It kept me laughing throught more than 250 pages. If you enjoy edgy jokes, puns and Sarah's top-notch punch-lines, this is the book for you. It also tells her biography and features tons of stories related to other renowned alternative comedians of the new wave. The photographic material was a visual form of artistic fun.

Finally, a masterpiece, "The Bro Code" (2008) by Neil Patrick Harris. Based on the character Barney Stinson from hit tv series "How I Met Your Mother", this is the bible for bros around the globe. Filled with the trademark humoristic style of the show's womanizer. It's as awesome and instructional as it gets! This great manual consists of a set of funny & honorable rules found in articles that had me cracking up non-stop. I got the chance to listen the voice of the author as I read every single page, since I was able to get the audiobook. So it was a very neat addition, a perfect complement, which made it the best reading experience I've had in my life. Truly essential if you're a fan of HIMYM, NPH or just happen to have bros. (Highly recommended, only 208 pages).

You can download the digital book (pdf file) & audiobook here: http://www.taringa.net/posts/ebooks-tutoriales/2322160/The-Bro-Code-%5B-La-Biblia-de-las-Citas-%5D.html

Emmy Awards 2010 - Best Of Entertainment

Al Pacino - You Don't Know Jack (Best Movie)

Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul (Best Drama Actors - Breaking Bad)

Jim Parsons (Best Lead Comedy Actor - The Big Bang Theory)

Neil Patrick Harris (Best Actor & Host - 2 Emmys - Comedy)

-All my favorites won this year!

3rd Activities Presentations

Enrique's Activities:

Prepositions are a widely known problematic topic, which made it a really swell choice. I thouht it was fun to identify the position of the objects in the pictures we were given. I liked the fact that he brought two different sheets of image activities. We had to concentrate on each object's location and recall the prepositions that were better for those cases, it was an entertaining mental excercise. Even kids usually enjoy this kind of activity.

The participation of everyone was required, and that is a relevant point to take into account.

My Presentation:

First of all, I want to say thanks to  eveyone for their help. It was slightly weird to face the group supposedly acting as a teacher. I did not particularly liked the experience but I did not hated it either. I guess it was just a neutral feeling there. 

Most people decided to be recorded in audio, which I perfectly understand. We are not used to that kind of activity in our country. However I do think that the initial reluctance to participate in something like a recorded conversation can be overcome. It could also work better in lower levels or with kids, since they like to have fun and are more eager to talk. They don't feel so ashamed for they don't care much about what everybody else thinks. Children may see a recording activity as just a game!

Luis' Activities:

The "joke" job application was hilarious. It instantly reminded me of a friend of mine who did a similar thing, but online. He said he had invented fire and spoke over 15 languages as a native with more than 50 years of experience in medicine, law, gymnastics, etc. 

Back on topic, I hadn't really thought about job applications before. It is true that those aren't very common in our country for whatever reason...

It was a pleasant experience to fill out the form. I did not know that so many details have to be written down. He also tried to make people participate and that was alright.

Xavier's Activities:

Even though it was raining, he kept on developing his activities and set a great example as a teacher. The activities were fun and simple. It was a bit dynamic because we needed to stand up and be fast. All the people wrote on the board, and that is always positive.

He talked about crime, being that a topic we can unfortunately all relate to in El Salvador. So it was a general interest content that he pulled off just fine.

2nd Activities Presentations

Henry’s Activities:

Although we are not used to reading often, it is essential for students to have reading exercise if we want to develop our students’ skills in thar particular area. The writing stories part lets students use their imagination, apply their vocabulary and at the same time, employ all the written structures they have learned. Topics such as blues music will be attractive for those who enjoy music in general.

Rose’s Activities:

Even at advanced levels, its is not so rare to find some people who still have quite a troublesome situation when dealing with the proper creation of “wh” questions. Consequently I think that it is a good idea to study or reinforce that particular topic.

Roleplaying is a fun way to have a spontaneous English practice and actually use our vocabulary as well as any talent some may have. It also gave the opportunity to see how well the students could follow commands, putting to test their listening skills while doing so.

Ana’s & Lili’s Activities: 

Pictures are doubtlessly essential to visual learners. They have no real complexity and most cases, which means the students will be able to relate to them with no difficulties. The group could recognize what was on every image. The repetition process is usually used along the pictures, and that’s a nice way to enrich our vocabulary.

Coloring is entertaining for kids and sometimes even awakens creativity.

Reviewing topics as the use of “will” are basic things we must never forget and it never hurts to check those topics every now and then so that we don’t forget anything.

1st Activities Presentations

Direct Method:

I thought Lupita’s presentation was almost exactly like one of teacher Aida’s classes. I guess they have a similar style. The activity that took place was a collective one, simple but helpful. I felt like there was not much pressure, and I enjoy that kind of environment. I was able to disccus questions with my classmates, which was fairly nice. Her attitude was alright, according to the method. I assume it will be a frequently used method by many of us in the future, even though I would not employ it so often.

Suggestopedia:

For obvious reasons, this one was easily the most fun. The use of several instruments appeal quite strongly to students. Some actually seemed to have experienced some kind of associative regression during the activity. I was in shock when I watched Xavi really in touch with the music, getting deep into the rhythm of a melody! Other guys were apparently discovering their hidden talents as new musicians, who knows, maybe a couple of them will end up dropping out of the major and going on a tour with their bands. But seriously, it was refreshing since it is not common in our country to have that kind of dynamic classes.

Audio-Lingual Method:

To be honest I do not like to repeat things a lot. However some students do find it fun when a teacher uses tongue-twisters and games or even competitions to teach them English. The activity required a lot of memorizing. I think it could be a great mental exercise for us. However I don’t know how much knowledge students could actually get from this. It has limits. Nevertheless it might be a good idea to use it sometimes, at least for a while. 

Silent Way:

Teacher Alex's activities were just as the method's title, kind of silent. He made some uncanny hand movements that I simply could not figure out. He explained some words that I did not understand. The activities were normal and I thought he did a decent job. The reading part was not long, and that's good with begginers.

What I Understood From The Methods P.4

Content Based Instruction:

In this method, reading is a main part of the student's learning. They get the chance to choose which topics they'd like to read. So it's useful to get many new words by reading texts. The class will have a more formal way to acquire the English language. 

The use of an speficif subject matter is an advantage, since the group focuses their attention on only one thing at the time, but also learning and developing diverse aspects simultaneously, which is an outstanding factor.

However because of the tedious tendency attatched to this method, I think it is more likely to work out with advanced levels.

Task Based:

Well, one undeniably great quality found in this method, is the intended development of a highly important element of an effective education, which is research. When we research about any content, the information we find is quite necessary to understand a topic. Besides, it will clearly allow us to reach a new level of knowledge.

The part consisting of tasks, is very interesting as well. I believe it puts the classes' abilities to test and gives the teacher an idea of how much progress his students have made.

The teacher also plans activities or tasks for the students to do at home, so it has the peculiar aspect of not being a method that is only worked during the class time.

What I Understood From The Methods P.3

Natural Approach:

The mere absence of grammar and deep explanations or analysis is actually attractive. The students feel far less pressure.

In my opinion advanced grammar is truly not necessary in order to speak a language.  Only the basic structures that are always learned inductively are required. As we know, native English speakers, for instance, usually do not know many specific grammatical rules and that does not stop them from having great fluency and communicate anything with utter success.

The Oral Approach & Situational Language Teaching:

I like the progressive learning that's been established in this method. The vocabulary is basic and it looks forward to constantly practice having conversations. It does not focus on complicated elements of the language.

It also exposes the student to different situations and they learn the needed vocabulary and expressions that would be suitable in specific cases.

Community Language Learning:

I believe that nowadays, nobody uses just the CCL method. It lacks too many aspects required for a successful learning process. However it does have plenty of positive ideas, which we could give a try and maybe get true benefits from them with our class group. 

Great values such as respect and trust are usually developed and practiced by using this method. This level of union in a groups always tends to be productive and incentivizes the students to make progress.