Topic 1: Ways of being updated as teachers
My tutor teacher in the school told me that she loved to mentor students’ internships. On one hand, they helped her and gave her another point of view, and in the other hand it was her way of keeping updated as a teacher.
She told me that students came fresh from the University, with lots of new resources and ideas about teaching. This was her way of keeping informed about the new tends in education. This reminded me about the concept of “lifelong learning”. We talked a lot about it in the University. Lifelong learning (LLL) is “the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an individual. It does not only enhance social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development, but also competitiveness and employability” (Wikipedia, LLL, 2011). |
In other words, LLL consists in keeping learning from any situation during one’s life. I have observed that nowadays everything changes so fast so it is very important to keep learning in order to be updated with the society. By what I have observed during my short experience in teaching, the postmillennial (the current generation of children and youth) receive a huge number of inputs during their day. They are used to instantaneity, to change, to being overwhelmed by information. This is a characteristic that has a repercussion in education too. I have seen that children are not as able to stay quiet as they could before, and they get bored more easily.
As I have commented many times, the school where I was placed worked by projects. I consider that the teaching unit that I had prepared was engaging, and students felt this too, but I could perceive how for them it was “another project”. They have had a lot of transdisciplinary and meaningful projects along their lives. Now, they have got used to them and it seems that they do not value enough how lucky they are to have the chance to learn like this. I believe that it is so demanding for teachers to outstand their expectations. For this reason, and more than ever, lifelong learning is so important.
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As Laal & Salamati (2011) stated, LLL “makes communities more productive and innovative, as workers create and discover new abilities and ideas”. Furthermore, “people who embrace LLL can better cope with the demands of workplace changes” (Laal & Salamati, 2011). It is always so important to cope with the demands of the workplace changes, but especially if you are in a private school, where your employment depends on the headmaster’s decision. It is good to keep updated and innovative, because the headmaster will be happy with you.
Another way to keep updated which my tutor told me is to attend the formation for teachers. It is compulsory for many state assisted and private schools. For the state schools it is highly recommended because these formations give points to improve the position in the Oposicions’ list. They can be masters and postgraduates, online courses from xtec.cat, etc. (Click on the image to access the webpage)
Furthermore, during this practicum V I have learned that a great way of keeping updated in the future is to create networks of teachers! For example, for the practicum report we created a common Symbaloo. This is a way of learning from each other and keeping updated. It is a very good way of fostering lifelong learning in the future. My tutor teacher in the school was lucky to have a parallel English specialist, and when working together they could also learn from each other.
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Finally, I would like to advice that “LLL creates a curious, hungry mind. Our drive and desire to learn keep us going, constantly looking for more to feed our hungry minds” (Laal & Salamati, 2011). So… I know it sounds scary, but for the conversations I have had with many teachers and my personal reflection about the topic… I am pretty sure that it is so worth it!
Bibliography
- Wikipedia (2011, Sep. 21). Lifelong learning, Retrieved 2011 Sep. 30, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifelong_learning.
- Laal, M. & Salamati, P. (2012). Lifelong learning; why do we need it?. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 31 (2012) 399 – 403
- XTEC - Xarxa Telemàtica Educativa de Catalunya's website. Retrieved 2018, June from: http://xtec.gencat.cat/ca/formacio/
Topic 2: Working by projects in the English area
As the school where I was placed was working by projects, this also included the methodology used for the English lessons.
I observed a lot of projects from which I learned a lot, but I would like to focus on the 6th graders’ project. To contextualize, it is important to highlight the origins of the project: in the school they are fostering the drama since they are in the early grades because “drama encourages children to learn how to influence others and how to put themselves in other people's shoes” (Üstündağ, 1997). So, since they are 4 years-old they start performing a role play every year. Nevertheless, there is a difference between the role plays of young children and the sixth graders: the eldest ones do the role play in English.
I observed a lot of projects from which I learned a lot, but I would like to focus on the 6th graders’ project. To contextualize, it is important to highlight the origins of the project: in the school they are fostering the drama since they are in the early grades because “drama encourages children to learn how to influence others and how to put themselves in other people's shoes” (Üstündağ, 1997). So, since they are 4 years-old they start performing a role play every year. Nevertheless, there is a difference between the role plays of young children and the sixth graders: the eldest ones do the role play in English.
It is a big responsibility to do this role play because a part from the language there is another challenge: it was a musical.
The idea of farewelling the school doing a play role in English came from my current tutor teacher. She thought that children were already used to perform in front of an audience, so the challenge of the language would be easy to solve. As Giebert (2014) stated: “Drama activities lend meaning to language structures by letting students experience the language in concrete situations.” It is, then, a meaningful resource to learn the foreign language. Moreover, to do it more impacting, she thought that the role play could be a musical, so this is what they did. During the different classes that there have been in 6th grade, they have performed Grease, Mamma mia, We will rock you… and this year they repeated Grease. |
It is incredible the amount of work that it is. This musical was completely original. At first, two teachers adapted the whole script to the sixth graders’ level. Then they worked on the context of the musical, the characters, and they did some drama lessons. They distributed the different characters among the sixth graders and they started learning the script.
If this was not enough, in their musical they were singing too. As it was too risky to do it live the same day as the performance, they recorded the songs. Thankfully, there was a teacher very engaged in the musical who knew a lot about music and computers. His skills were essential in order to record with microphones the students’ voices and then putting the instrumental base behind. |
Moreover, this teacher was also in charge of the extra effects and attrezzo like the lights, the background on the day of the performance, etc.
I think that it was great that they could have the opportunity to sing the songs in English, because as Baker (2010) stated “musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally”. Moreover, I could observe how children really learned the songs. Even though they recorded them three weeks before, they were still singing them through the corridors. As they had also been doing an analysis of the lyrics during the English lessons, they already know which the meaning was. I thought it was a brilliant idea, because in fact, when I look at my past as a student, I realise that most of the English I knew as a teenager came from the songs that I liked. Having the opportunity of doing a project like this is very meaningful for students, and they remember it for a long time.
I think that it was great that they could have the opportunity to sing the songs in English, because as Baker (2010) stated “musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally”. Moreover, I could observe how children really learned the songs. Even though they recorded them three weeks before, they were still singing them through the corridors. As they had also been doing an analysis of the lyrics during the English lessons, they already know which the meaning was. I thought it was a brilliant idea, because in fact, when I look at my past as a student, I realise that most of the English I knew as a teenager came from the songs that I liked. Having the opportunity of doing a project like this is very meaningful for students, and they remember it for a long time.
Choreography tutorials that the English + P.E. teachers prepared for the pupils
Finally, children were also creating the decorations for the stage, so those that were more artistic were so happy that they could collaborate with this. These decorations were done with cardboard and paint, so it was also fostering their drawing and artistic skills.
Another curricular area that was linked to this project was P.E. It was a very nice coincidence that in this school they have started implementing P.E. in CLIL this year. Having those lessons in English was very good for children because they could practice their corporal expression, facial expression, interpretation, choreography of the dances, etc.
It was such a completed project, with lots of different areas linked to it. This was beneficial because “a holistic approach to the curriculum which involves freedom, autonomy and creativity in the curricular decisions (from the teacher), results in a holistic view of life, which means a higher level of understanding and an effective management of their own lives” (Jeder, 2014).
Another curricular area that was linked to this project was P.E. It was a very nice coincidence that in this school they have started implementing P.E. in CLIL this year. Having those lessons in English was very good for children because they could practice their corporal expression, facial expression, interpretation, choreography of the dances, etc.
It was such a completed project, with lots of different areas linked to it. This was beneficial because “a holistic approach to the curriculum which involves freedom, autonomy and creativity in the curricular decisions (from the teacher), results in a holistic view of life, which means a higher level of understanding and an effective management of their own lives” (Jeder, 2014).
Here there are the videos from Mogent School Youtube Channel. You will find the making off+ the musical performance! |
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Bibliography
- Üstündağ, T. (1997). The advantages of using drama as a method of education in elementary schools. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi 13: 89-94 [1997}
- Giebert, S. (2014). Drama and theatre in teaching foreign languages for professional purposes. Langues de spécialité et professionnalisation. Vol. XXXIII N° 1
- Baker, S. (2010). Music benefits the brain, research reveals. Natural News Friday, July 30, 2010. Retrieved from (2018); https://www.naturalnews.com/029324_music_brain.html
- Jeder, D. (2014). Transdisciplinarity - the advantage of a holistic approach to life. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 137 ( 2014 ) 127 – 131