WHY TEACHING SHADOWING IS A MUST FOR TEACHERS!

Hi there, again!

You all know me well, don't you? As an English teacher, I am always looking for new ways to improve my teaching skills and learn from others, and I have been lucky enough: At @eoi_pontevedra I have always had the opportunity to thrive thanks to our "Teaching Shadowing Scheme". We have been working on it for years now!

However, earlier this year we were given the chance to take that school project the extra mile when being accepted by the "Observa_accion" programme, endorsed by the Consellería de Educación in Xunta de Galicia. A more structured way of teaching development was coming into play!

This official action plan involves teachers at schools observing each other's classes and providing invaluable feedback and unrelenting support, indeed. So, we took part in training sessions on what classroom observation is and learned a lot about how to provide effective peer-to-peer feedback.

As you may all know, there are numerous benefits to peer observation. Here are some I have identified as a wrap-up of the programme:

Firstly, I have discovered different teaching styles. The experience has allowed me to see different classroom practices and techniques that I have already incorporated into my own teaching routines. For example, I had never played Jenga in class before! Have you?

Secondly, I have received constructive feedback on my own teaching and have been able to identify areas for improvement. I undoubtedly need to speak less in class and let my students take over! 

Moreover, I have also been involved in a culture of collaboration and professional development within my own language school. I have definitely built upon my own trust and respect for my colleagues. If that does not lead to a positive work environment, what does?

All in all, teaching shadowing is an essential tool for language teachers struggling to improve their teaching abilities and learn from their colleagues. It is a win-win situation for both, the teacher who observes and the teacher being observed, and leads to a more effective school community.

If you have not tried it yet, you should definitely give it a go. The initiative has been enriching and I hope my school carries on with it in the future. Just in case you don't take my word for it... watch the video below. It won´t leave you indifferent!

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!

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY PAYS OFF, DOESN'T IT!

Hi there!👋    

As you all know, our school library has already opened its doors and we want you all to come and pay a visit! That is why you are more than welcome to take the school library quiz: Just visit the library any time you are at school and have a look at all the books and amazing things on offer. Once you are ready, fill in the quiz you will find on one of the tables and keep your fingers crossed! You might get a stroke of luck and become our big winner! 💪    

Have a look at the school library blog for more info.  Do not hesitate to visit! Coveted prizes are at stake here!

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Please, enjoy your reading adventures!

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

A new school year has just kicked off and we are about to open up a new term full of unexpectedness and, of course, willingness to learn. It is high time for both teachers and students to pull up their socks to reinvent themselves for their lessons. Motivation is key! 

As usual at the beginning of the course, I have been figuring out how to welcome my C1 students as we arrive in class. I have even been scanning previous posts looking for a flash of sheer inspiration and I have been lucky enough to bump into it! I am going to re-use an activity I did a couple of years ago to re-think the classic getting-to-know-each-other idea. Hopefully, my students will be able to set their own learning goals together to progress over the next ten months. Although it looks like a long time... time does fly! So, let's get ready to give the new school year our best shot!

This opening activity is called "The Compass". You can download it here! I have asked students to use their creative skills to identify their goals for the new school year by drawing. It took them a while to design their own compasses, but, after done, they managed to guess what their classmates' goals were by figuring out the meaning of their pictures.

It was quite an inspirational activity that sparked a lot of interesting discussions so do not hesitate to try it!

END-OF-THE-YEAR REVISION GAME

All good things must come to an end... and this school year is no different! That is why I usually tend to finish my last class of the year on a happy note. If that does not get my students into the right mood to enroll in our school again, I have no idea what will!

Since this year I am into #RetrievalPractice and boosting long-term learning, I decided to put a new class game into practice: a Retrieval Bingo Game. Also, I added an unexpected twist by using wheeldecide.com, which spiced up the atmosphere. I must say it worked out quite well in the end! Here is how we played:

Go to wheeldecide.com and create a wheel with the titles of all the units you have covered in the year. Just in case you need an example, this is what the roulette looked like for my C1.1 "Blended" students.  

When in class, give each student a bingo card like the one below (click here for a sample model in Spanish that you can customize to your own needs!) and explain that, as in any bingo game, the final aim of the game is to complete their card so that they shout bingo! as loud as they can. 

First, students should be asked to fill in the questions themselves before they start playing. To do just that, ask them to spin the wheel one at a time to write one question for every single unit in the year. Students complete their cards individually as units pop up on the screen. They can write true-false questions, multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions... on anything in the units: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation... you name it! Here is one example: I know little about mediation. Re-write the sentence using inversion. Promise your students will come up with much better questions! Let them know that creativity is power and, when it comes to learning a language, it also means progress!

Once they have completed their questions, it is time for them to mingle and play! As they ask each other their questions, tell them to write the name of the student who knows the answer and the correct answer itself. The game is much more effective if you tell students not to repeat names on their cards. That was hard, indeed!

At the end of the game, I awarded a certificate to the student with the highest number of correct answers and covered the questions that were left unanswered. It was a fun, furious and very compelling way to retrieve course content that students had almost forgotten! 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

POETRY WORKSHOP AT SCHOOL

👋 Dear all,

As you all know, poetry is one of the most elegant forms of human expression. From the Iliad by Homer to the Road not taken by Frost, there is a poem for every purpose.

As with any form of writing, a poem can be hard to create but also enormously pleasant... So, up for a creative challenge? With the right approach and the necessary help, you can easily start writing a poem of your own.

Connect with other students at school in our poetry workshop with the Galician writer, Tamara Andrés, next Tuesday 3 May at 18.00 and unleash the poet in you! 

Hope to see you all there!