EXCITING NEWS: OUR SCHOOL RADIO PROGRAMME ON IVOOX HAS BEEN REVIVED!

First of all, apologies for not having posted in a while: Things have been rather busy at school lately, but for a very good reason! We’ve been hard at work developing an exciting new project: our very own school radio station, as part of Radio na Biblio, a programme supported by the Consellería de Educación da Xunta de Galicia.

Over the past few months, I’ve been collaborating with fellow teachers and students to design, script and record podcasts that bring language learning to life. These tasks have allowed our learners to practise their English and other languages they study at school in creative ways, while developing valuable communication and teamwork skills.

The first series of podcasts my students recorded focuses on a highly relevant topic: household finances and how to save money. These episodes were researched and recorded by my C1 students, who tackled the challenge of speaking clearly and informatively about managing personal finances.

So, you can now listen to our programmes on iVoox! I hope you enjoy them and find them useful! Stay tuned for more content! 

MAKING LANGUAGE LEARNING LESS BOT-RING: THE ULTIMATE MEDIATION INSTRUCTOR!

Hi, fellow teachers!

I can't stop moving on through the ever-evolving language teaching journey, can you? I am continuously seeking tools to enhance my students' learning experiences. One such tool that has captured my attention recently is the chatbot. Who hasn't heard about the wonders of @Mizou from @ELT_CATION, @blogdecristina and @EliGozalo? I couldn't resist following suit to uncover the mysteries of integrating bots in the ESL class!

As I was brainstorming ideas for my bot design, inspiration came quickly: What aspect causes the most insecurity among my C1 students? Undoubtedly, it's mediation! They struggle to understand how oral mediation works here in Galicia when it comes to the standardized exam: "Identify the main idea of a small text and highlight the most relevant pieces of information without adding any personal opinion or extra ideas". Challenging, isn't it?

So, I got down to it and started designing a chatbot experience with Mizou that I'm now excited to introduce: The Ultimate Mediation Instructor🥰. It is a new bot specifically designed to help students practice mediation skills, which - as I have mentioned - are a crucial component of standardized language exams in Galicia. Just like the exam teacher here and complying with the Galician standards, the instructor evaluates students' ability to summarize and streamline main ideas effectively, guiding and supporting them throughout the building process.

I have already implemented it in class and also asked my students for feedback on the tool. Students' opinions are key to my teaching job! Here are five compelling advantages they have found out:

• 24/7 Availability: They all agreed that this chatbot is available round the clock, providing them with instant access to mediation practice whenever they needed it so that they could engage with the task at their own pace. How convenient!
• Personalized learning: I tailored the interaction so that each student could choose their own area of interest for the bot to provide the right text to mediate. My students pointed out that this personalized approach fostered greater engagement and motivation. I was thrilled!
• Immediate feedback: According to my students, the most significant advantage of the Ultimate Mediation Instructor is its ability to provide instant feedback on their responses, which not only reinforced learning in real time but also helped them identify and address areas for improvement more efficiently.
• Promotion of Speaking and Writing Skills: Through supportive prompts, the chatbot encouraged my students to practice and refine their speaking and writing skills in a safe environment. This active engagement facilitated language production and fluency development. They were so focused!
• Autonomy Enhancement: My students agreed that they managed to take over their own learning process by exploring mediation independently, experimenting with different language structures, and tracking their progress live and over time!

I will try and continue to enrich language learning experiences in my classroom, embracing the possibilities that #AI offers in fostering meaningful and effective language acquisition. Also, I will keep on considering risks and challenges that need to be overcome! So, stay tuned for updates on this journey!

EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY: THE ICT PERSONALITY TEST

Dear fellow language "tech-teachers"!

Yeah! This entry is meant just for you! As you know, we are submerged in an ever-evolving digital age. Even so, the integration of ICT skills into the language classroom has become increasingly controversial. As language educators, is it necessary for us to put the efficiency of technology in enhancing learning experiences to the test? 

To my mind, technology offers a myriad of opportunities to engage students, personalize learning experiences and foster collaboration and communication skills: all essential components of language acquisition, don't you agree? From interactive language apps to designing personalized chatbots, the possibilities are endless! Moreover, integrating ICT skills into the language classroom not only prepares students for the digital world we live in but also cultivates essential 21st-century skills: critical thinking, creativity, digital literacy... You name them! I know I am not alone on this!

So, as a technological enthusiast, I have already started my own personal contribution to the enhancement of technology integration in education by collaborating with other teachers to learn cooperatively to effectively use technology in class.

My next training course is taking place in the Teachers Training Centre in Vigo next week and I have just decided to kick-start the first session with a fun and insightful activity: the ICT Personality Test, which aims to help teachers reflect on their current use of technology in teaching and identify areas for growth and improvement. You can give it a try yourselves! Just scan the code below and let me know how you did:

The test consists of a series of questions designed to assess a teacher's comfort level with digital tools, their proficiency in incorporating technology into lesson plans, and their openness to exploring new technologies. By completing this test, I hope they will gain some relevant insights into their teaching style and how technology can enhance their instructional practices. At least, it will provide some food for thought to jump-start the session in the right mood!

I encourage you, educators, to embrace technology as a learning tool rather than a mere add-on: You will manage to create dynamic learning environments that cater to diverse learner needs and preferences. Technology opens up a world of possibilities for both language teachers and learners alike. Let's approach it with an open mind and a willingness to explore!

AI IN THE CLASSROOM: GIVE CHATGPT A TRY AND YOU´LL NEVER REGRET IT!

No wonder why #ChatGPT is all the rage among ESL teachers right now! It is becoming increasingly popular due to its ability to generate human-like text and assist various teaching tasks such as creating content, generating dialogues in English, providing language exercises and quizzes and even helping with pronunciation and grammar. You name it!

I have been trying it lately to enhance my teaching practice and provide my students with rich language-learning experiences. In fact, I have noticed that I am slowly adopting it as a great new tool to obtain quick accurate responses to a great number of queries, among other interesting ideas that I am also exploring!

My last attempt was aimed at my C1 students, as we were about to wrap up a unit on consumerism and fast fashion. I asked Chat GPT to come up with a list of five short advantages and disadvantages of built-in obsolescence. For me, this should be a practice that we might tend to avoid when it comes to production. That was why I found it really hard to make up some real advantages!  As Chat GPT did the trick for me, I eventually gathered ten wonderful statements that I have used to create a #Genially presentation where students will be asked to drag and drop the prompts into the right column (for or against), trying to reach an agreement first. Just as easy as pie!

Hopefully, it will spark discussion in class as I will definitely ask the group to take a clear position on the issue using the vocabulary presented and also some other expressions we have already learned, once they have completed the columns. 

I hope you find this board useful! Enjoy!

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE: HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE ESL CLASSROOM

Some of you, maybe my most beloved followers, already know that yesterday I took part in a webinar by @linguascope. I was privileged enough to share knowledge and expertise with @CristaHazell and I am still thrilled about the experience. 

I had always been keen on retrieving information in class, even before I knew what it really was and the great benefits it provides both students and teachers with. So, when Crista asked me to join the Linguascope webinars, I did not doubt it. I knew retrieval practice would be my thing! I have read a lot about the issue, also implemented a lot of strategies in class, being and the big three (Brain Dump - Cops and Robbers and the Elimination chain) my favourite ones, of course!

If you are interested, you can watch the webinar through the Linguascope app and also have a sneak peek at my presentation below.

retrieval_practice_linguascope by Paula Gómez Cernadas

Thanks a lot to Crista, again, for making the webinar possible and to Diana Pastoriza for considering that I deserved the credit! Just let me know if you are interested in getting more information about the contents of the webinar and I will be glad to share!

PLAYING TRIVIA: CAN STUDENTS BE THE PROTAGONISTS?

Whether the subject at hand is movies, geography, or '80s ballads, playing a trivia game is always a fun way to spice up your lessons so that the class community can bond and compete over shared knowledge in a motivating environment. However, I had been struggling for ages to come up with some sort of new version of the game that had a greater impact on language learning than just that of  "You got the wrong answer". Luckily, I came up with a clever idea when I found the @simplificamates template on Twitter. It was just the perfect game to give my class trivia a new twist. 

It is true that the template @genially_es provides is great for the classic "correct vs incorrect" feedback type. However, David´s template goes the extra mile! If you use his template (he has been generous enough so as to share it on Twitter🙏), students will not be able to know whether their guesses are right until the end of the game. So, if they fail any of the questions, they have to go back to start and play again. What a nightmare, or is it?

As there is no other way to get positive feedback than playing until the end, the debate is guaranteed as students strive to get all the right answers! No wonder they will hate starting from scratch! On top of that, once they get all their correct guesses (hopefully, it will not take them too long!), you may add very interesting feedback or even follow-up questions, which really worked out for me.

I have been using this template with the forums of my blended learning courses, bringing students' contributions and comments into our at-school lesson. I must admit it did the trick. Students got actively involved and their work at home paid off! You may give it a try below... even though answers were based on the students' posts onto Moodle, they should not be too hard to guess. Up for a challenge?

OFF TO A FRESH START!

It is that time of the year again... September is about to finish soon and school children are already used to getting up early every weekday and grabbing their school bag in a rush so as not to miss the bus that will take them to their well-settled routine. Our summer blues has definitely vanished, hasn't it?

However, even though both primary and secondary school teachers have already plunged into the school curriculum, we - of course, EOI teachers - are still struggling with the preparatory work for school year 21-22: enrolment periods, virtual classroom management, getting to know each other lesson plans, ice breakers... we are set to start in just a few days! As usual, it often depends on the Autonomous Community we live in or even our local Education Authorities. But for better or worse, it is that time of the year again for EOIs...

I have already been designing the new beginning. This year I will be teaching C1.2 again but the school course comes with an extra bonus: a Blended C1.1 English course I just can't wait to teach!

No wonder I am preparing a plethora of resources I will be sharing with my school community. Here is one I am particularly proud of: my @wakelet compilation of online dictionaries, translators and corpus dictionaries. I hope my blended course students find it useful. I will definitely devote some time to providing the right instructions on how to make the most of them. I love collocation dictionaries and expanding my students' knowledge on how to sound more natural. It is most likely this will help. Wish me luck and all the best for the new EOI school year!!

2021: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Isn´t it absolutely true that some of us might prefer to forget about 2020? There has been plenty going on. So, it might not be too hard for students to look ahead to 2021 as an all-round change. 

My first class in January will be devoted to going back in time and reflect on how we will remember the year that has just come to an end, trying to come up with some positive thoughts and hopes for 2021. If the @wooclap game above does not do the trick and is not motivating enough, I´ll try to spice up the class a bit with this video from my first-class-in-the-year post in January 2020. 

Hopefully, both activities will get my students in a cheerful mood to play an idioms game, as there is an English idiom for every aspect of a new year! If this does not work, I do not know what will!

A PERFECT SUMMER BREAK

Dear all, 

I am sure you all agree with me on the fact that this has been a very weird year. However, that does not necessarily mean summer must also be odd, or does it? If you want to make a difference this season, how about embarking on a new experience? Visit our online library and indulge in the valuable resources it provides. Whether you are on a staycation or getting away, this is just the perfect site to take with you! Staying safe does not mean bored! 💪

ITip of June

As it is almost exam time, my ITip for June is going to be devoted to exam practice. Even though my students already know what the exam in Galicia will be like: activities, tasks... having a look at some samples might help them improve. I have just discovered this useful website thanks to my colleague María Fachal, who also teaches C1 at EOI Pontevedra. She is such an inspiring teacher! 

Idiomium is an amazing website with lots of resources for English learners. Surfing the site you will find grammar exercises, vocabulary tips and, most useful of all, a great exam bank for different levels, including EOI C1.

Listening, reading, speaking, writing and mediation tasks will no longer be a major challenge to face if you practise intensively with ...

ITip of MAY: SPEECHNOTES

This month I am going to present you with a great class working tool. Speechnotes is the perfect voice editor to move from voice-typing (dictation) to key-typing seamlessly and boost your pronunciation skills at the same time. You will love it thanks to its high level of accuracy, great features and ease of use. Luckily, it is free and needs no registration. It also allows you to edit speech results, which might also come in handy!

You can type at the speed of slow clear speech and even insert punctuation marks. How does it work? just speak into the mic to let Speechnotes transcribe for you and beware... if the notes make no sense, you might need to adjust your pronunciation a bit!

ITip OF DECEMBER: SPEEK

Here is a new ITip for ESL students to practice English at their own pace. Speek lets you record and share voice notes, memos and responses without an account. You just click on the microphone and start giving your two-minute speech. That is just how much the web allows you to speak. As soon as you are done, click on the microphone again and you will be able to save your clip as a link that you can share on social media afterwards. Simple and user-friendly!

Experience the sense of giving your voice a try in English and hear what it really sounds like! If looking for more voice recorders, check all my ITips of the month. Some others are also worth a try!

WELCOME SPRING!!

It is time to welcome spring and embrace sunlight and warm breeze. To celebrate the change of the season I am posting my new update on the monthly ITip: VOA Learning English.

VOA Learning English is a site for students of English as a foreign language that covers a wide variety of subject areas at different levels (from beginner to advanced). It is great for students to get informed on different types of news and improve their reading, listening and grammar skills. You can even give it a go on your mobile if you download the app.

Please, let me know if you find this useful. Hope you enjoy it! 

CONVERSATION CLASSES IN MARCH

Here are the dates Ross will be giving conversation classes in March. Great opportunity for B1 and B2.1 students at EOI Pontevedra to learn English through an informal chat. Do not miss them!

CONVERSATION CLASSES WITH ROSS

Here is the new schedule for the conversation classes with Ross in February. It you are studying B1 or B2.1 English at school, do not miss them!

PODCAST IN ENGLISH

Hi everyone!

It's been ages since I last updated my ITip section. Here is a new website for you to learn English effectively: Podcast in English. This is a podcast site for English learners which includes real English conversations with different levels of difficulty. 

All podcasts are free for language learners but if you become a member you will be able to receive worksheets, vocabulary tasks, scripts and many other highlights. 

Become a pie member and don't stop learning!

LIVE TALK AT SCHOOL: STRANGE BRITISH SPORTS AND CURIOUS COMPETITIONS

The British taste for celebrating eccentricity has been well illustrated throughout the years. British people have been keen on a wide variety of light-hearted games and sports for ages. 

Aside from the classic sports we all know and love, tennis, football, cricket, rugby..., there are some truly weird sports that we think you absolutely have to try.That's why we are helding a live talk at school next Thursday 8 March at 16.30. Join in to know about how many deeply odd sports the British are really good at.