Adrià's Language Portfolio

Language biography:

My name is Adrià Lapuente Roca, I am twenty-one years old and I was born and raised in Valencia. My parents share origin with me but have different mother tongues, so at home my eighteen-year-old brother and me speak Catalan with my mum and between us, and Castilian with my dad.

Moreover, I attended Escola La Masia, an only-Catalan speaking school which developed my Catalan skills for fourteen years. This also made me use Catalan as a L1 with my friends

Marta's Language Portfolio

For sure, there is not a better way to introduce me as a future english teacher than sharing with you my language portfolio in which you can know more about my relationship with languages.


Language biography:

My name is Marta Ruiz and I am twenty years old. I was born in Vila-real, a little city next to Castellón, where I spent all my childhood and adolescense. My parents were not born in the Valencian region so they always speak spanish at home, because my father and grandparents are from Jaén, in Andalucia, and my mother's family are from teruel, Aragón. So I speak Spanish as a target language.

I can also speak Valencian but I don't have the same competences as in Spanish because I only speak this language at school, but not with family nor with friends. And because of me not speaking Valencian at home, my parents have always wanted me to learn it at school.

Circle Games

Circle games are a great way to encourage the whole class to work together. They also provide an often welcome change in working pattern. They are mostly used with young learners, but teenagers will play them and so will the right kind of adult class: one that doesn't take itself too seriously.

What are Circle Games?

Circle games are any games or activity that involve the whole class, sitting in a circle. Many of the games recycle vocabulary and involve an element of fun. We would like to outline a selection of our favourite circle games that can be used in young learner and adult classes. Some of the ideas were given to us by colleagues or they are classic children's party games which have been adapted to the English language classroom.

What’s My Problem?

This is a brilliant EFL game to practice giving advice. It should be played after the ‘giving advice’ vocabulary lesson has taken place. It is a great way for students to see what they have remembered and what needs reviewing. This game works well with any age group, just adapt it to fit the age you’re working with.

• Why use it? Speaking and Listening; Giving Advice
• Who it's best for: All ages and levels

How to play:

1. Write ailments or problems related to your most recent lesson on post-it notes and stick one post-it note on each student’s back.
2. The students must mingle and ask for advice from other students to solve their problem.
3. Students should be able to guess their problem based on the advice they get from their peers.
4. Use more complicated or obscure problems to make the game more interesting for older students. For lower levels and younger students, announce a category or reference a recent lesson, like "Health", to help them along.

Hot Seat

This is one of the students’ favorite games. Hot Seat allows students to build their vocabulary and encourages competition in the classroom. They are also able to practice their speaking and listening skills and it can be used for any level of learner.

• Why use it? Vocabulary; Speaking and Listening
• Who it's best for: All ages and levels

How to play:

1. Split the class into 2 teams, or more if you have a large class.
2. Elect one person from each team to sit in the Hot Seat, facing the classroom with the board behind them.
3. Write a word on the board. One of the team members of the student in the hot seat must help the student guess the word by describing it. They have a limited amount of time and cannot say, spell or draw the word.
4. Continue until each team member has described a word to the student in the Hot Seat.

Reinventing Writing: The 9 Tools That Are Changing Writing, Teaching, and Learning Forever

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In this much-anticipated book from acclaimed blogger Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher), you’ll learn the key shifts in writing instruction necessary to move students forward in today’s world. Vicki describes how the elements of traditional writing are being reinvented with cloud-based tools.

Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom

 

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There’s a technological and creative revolution underway. Amazing new tools, materials and skills turn us all into makers. Using technology to make, repair or customize the things we need brings engineering, design and computer science to the masses. Fortunately for educators, this maker movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing.

Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner

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Providing easy-to-use alternatives to the stand and deliver approach to teaching that causes so many students to tune out–or even drop out–Total Participation Techniques presents dozens of ways to engage K 12 students in active learning and allow them to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge and understanding.

Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day

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It started with a simple observation: students need their teachers present to answer questions or to provide help if they get stuck on an assignment; they don’t need their teachers present to listen to a lecture or review content. From there, authors Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams began the flipped classroom.

Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World

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In this groundbreaking book, education expert Tony Wagner provides a powerful rationale for developing an innovation-driven economy. He explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators.

The Relevant Educator: How Connectedness Empowers Learning

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This information-packed resource from digital experts Anderson and Whitby makes it easy to build a thriving professional network using social media. Easy-to-implement ideas, essential tools, and real-life vignettes help teachers learn to: Find and choose the best social media tools, products, and communities. Start and grow a collaborative, high-quality PLN using Twitter, blogging, LinkedIn, and more.

The Way They Learn

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Draw out the best in your children—by understanding the way they learn. If you’re frustrated that your child isn’t learning the way you did, chances are they are too! In this practical resource, Cynthia Ulrich Tobias explains that understanding how you both learn can make all the difference.

Awesome free education resources for teachers and students

1. GoConqr

If we’re starting off with the most awesome education resource, then we’ve got to put our own offering top of the list – but then we’re somewhat biased! Of course there are plenty of educational resources out there that offer similar things to GoConqr: some let you can create learning resources such as Mind Maps or Quizzes. Some will let you find great content. But what sets GoConqr apart is that you it brings creativity, discovery and collaboration together on a single platform (that’s available as an app too), for free. Click here to sign up and start creating now.

Expert Note-taking Advice

A big part of our exploration into study notes strategies involved gathering advice from the people who know what works best. We talked to a variety of people in education including teachers, consultants and tech specialists to gain an insight into their expertise so you can create study notes that work for you.

Read a summary of the main points below:

1. Don’t Take Down Every Piece of Information: Most experts we talked to reiterated this piece of advice so it’s definitely valuable to know. Focusing on recording your class notes means that you’re not fully listening and absorbing new information. The more you engage in note-taking, the more you will understand how to take ‘bites’ of information in your own words without breaking your wrist!

How to Survive Final Exams

 Developing a positive mindset can act as motivational boosters and fight exam stress. There are ways you can encourage your brain to adopt this attitude to help you produce outstanding exam results:

1. Plan your Success Strategy

The final examinations are condensed into a few weeks. Once you start, it’s difficult to structure your preparation time. It’s crucial that you have a study schedule planned previously, bearing in mind the time you have available as well as the subjects you need to study.

‘Testing Effect’: How self-testing helps memory improvement

The word ‘test’ alone is probably enough to strike fear into the heart of even the most nerveless of students. Yet research shows that tests can help improve our long-term memory and our ability to retrieve important information when we need it.

We all have our own study strategies, with specific habits, quirks and routines that we feel work best for us. But there is a mounting body of evidence to suggest that the traditional approach to learning may not be as effective as we once believed. In fact, if you find yourself reading until your eyes are almost ready to pop out of their sockets as you approach exam time, then it’s likely you’re doing things wrong.

THE PEOPLE VS THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

How do YOU think we can create a better future of learning? Watch this video which incites reflection. A really recommended video:

Recipes

This is a funny and delicious activity! Students will have to write a recipe that they love the most with the help of his parents. Then, once a week, one student (each week a different student) will bring the recipe to explain it to their mates and he or she will write it on the blackboard. The rest of the students will copy the recipe in their notebooks to have them for cooking it at home if they have like it. Furthermore, they will be able to bring the tasting plate so that the rest of the class can taste it.

This activity reinforces the writing; they learn the structure of the recipe, and vocabulary related to the kitchen too.

It is also a good way to concern about good healthy habits.

Project

1. 1st lesson. Put students into groups and explain that over the next X weeks/lessons they are going to be involved in a project. Give the groups 6 minutes to brainstorm project ideas and then two minutes to vote/choose which project their group will do. (Alternatively, ask students to think of projects on their own and then form groups where all the students have similar ideas).

1. 2nd (and subsequent lessons). Devote a section of the lesson (from 10 minutes upwards) to the groups discussing their project. During this time they can set tasks for themselves, and each other, that can be done outside the class, discuss progress, exchange information, and so on.

Note: It is important to have an outcome and time limit for the project. i.e. In 10 lessons time you will ‘present’ your project to the rest of the class.

This type of project work is extremely motivating for many learners, especially those studying at school where classes are levelled by age, not ability.

The Question Box

1. 1st lesson. Ask students to write down three questions (you could limit the focus or allow the questions to be about anything) that they would like answered. If you want, this can be done for homework. Put all the questions in a box.
2. 2nd (and subsequent lessons). Put students in groups and ask each group to pick a question from the box. In their groups they should discuss the question (you might want to set a time limit. e.g. 10 minutes) before reporting back to the class. If there is one question of particular interest you might want the class to spend more time on it.

 

NOTE: If there are some questions that they cannot answer, they can search information about it on the Internet before they start to discuss in groups.