25/11/2020:

25/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We started with the explanation of what is the ICT, and how it could influence the education in a good way. Then, we saw three videos about how ICT resources motivate students to learn through actions, because as teachers, we have to give them the opportunity of having this responsibility. Finally, we worked and practiced with different applications from Internet to develop our skills about technologies.

2. What I’ve learnt.

I’ve learnt the advantages of using ICT resources in class. So far I have believed that the only way to use technologies in class is through the projector and presentations, because students are very young to be responsible about it. Now, I know that there are more forms of education, and using ICT could help learners to develop their autonomy. This resource could be a complement in the learning instead of an obstacle. Pupils could use technologies to search information or see visual examples, and they also could be motivated because of the combination between animation sessions and exploration of concrete materials.

 

3. Opinion.

From my point of view it’s very important to know different resources to use in our daily life, as persons and as future teachers. I mean, we have to be faster users of technologies because of the time we are in. In this way, we could use our ICT skill to improve the education through the opportunities that Internet gives to us. On one hand, it could have the disadvantage of the dangers that Internet has. On the other hand, we could get the solution close by our hands, so we have to educate the students in base of being responsible with the sources that they use to promote their autonomy.

Furthermore, we are living a strange situation with the covid-19, but we could change things up to get a new education. In other words, teachers need to develop their technology skills to offer equality learning for all students, independently if they are in their house or in class, so teachers have to control ICT to get it, and they could only have it through the practice and investigation.

19/11/2020:

19/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We started with the explanation of the task “Syllabus and Didactic Unit”. Then, we saw the presentations of each group that consist in a video that includes the information about one method and the performance of it as students and teachers. We worked with methods that the teacher gave to us, so each group had different ideas and representations.  

2. What I’ve learnt.

I’ve learnt the importance of knowing different methods to teach, because as a teacher we have to work with it, so we have to know the advantages and disadvantages before choosing one. In this way, I studied the types of methodology the last year, but through the performance I’ve seen the difficulties of methods like The Silent Way, because it doesn’t provide feedback; or The Direct Method, because it’s a good idea if learners have a base of learning, but it’s quite difficult to explain concepts trough this method because you only use native language and pupils are very young to understand it. But because of the advantages, there are a lot of methods that we could combine like Suggestopedia to get a class without nerves and have a relax atmosphere, because learners study better if they are comfortable, or Communicative Language Teaching to learn through the representation of real situations.

3. Opinion.

As future teachers, we have to practice how we want to teach, so it’s important to know the different methods that exist. From my point of view, we could use some of them in different levels of school, such as the Total Physical Response with learners of 5-6 years, The Communicative Language Teaching with pupils of the same level, or Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning and Multiple Intelligences with students of 9-10 years. I have this idea of practicing with various because all teachers have to renovate their form of teaching, so in this way, we could adapt those methods to each level.

Furthermore, I think that the method of my group could be quite difficult because of the performance. The Silent Way doesn’t have feedback, so the representation of it consists only in the speaking and ideas of students, the teacher point letters and they say them. I mean, it could be more difficult than the other methods because we haven’t got examples of tasks. All videos include a teacher who points something and students who read it.

18/11/2020:

 18/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We started revising the task of Epel and Passport to clear concepts. The teacher answered questions about the dossier of Epel. Then, we finished the Unit 1 about the English Curriculum in Primary Education and we did the questionnaire of this lesson. Finally, we had a Kahoot to check what we’ve known.

2. What I’ve learnt.

I’ve learnt the importance of reviewing concepts because then we can use them to summarize information clearly and understand them better. As a teacher, I have also seen the example of how it should be explained.

3. Opinion.

I think that it's important to learn how we could explain concepts in a correct way. We could apply the method used in this session to improve the class with participation and examples, and then we could have different types of questionnaires to attract students and motivate them. As a result, pupils will be interested in learning because of the various activities that we offer.

12/11/2020:

 12/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We organized the dateline of presentations and tasks. Then we debated about the goals of the task which we have to position ourselves into a level. We saw the parts of the common European framework of reference for languages and how it defines your level as a student of a language. Finally, we worked with the EPL and what it is. About this we saw examples of a passport, a linguistic biography and a dossier from the European language portfolio.  

2. What I’ve learnt.

We’ve learnt the goals of the task of levels, because it could help you to see the weakness and strengths that you have. We also understood that the common European framework is paid by all of us, because it’s a basic part of education. CEF is related to EPL that it’s the European language portfolio promoted by the Council of Europe, and it consists of a personal document about the academic life that you have as a student of a language. It includes three parts:

- Passport (like a self-evaluation): About this type of material we could create one for the assessment with a rubric in a piece of paper.

- Linguistic biography (reflection about your experience with this language): It’s an useful resource for the assessment, because you could assign a level through this activity.  

- Dossier (it’s only for you to know your progress as a student): It’s a material that we could create in class with paper, felt-tip pens, pictures… It could include where I’ve been, where I’ve gone, what I’ve visited (museums, cities…), descriptions of experiences…

There are two types of portfolios. On one hand, there is “My first Portfolio” until seven years. It’s for languages in general, not for foreign languages. On the other hand, there is “The Primary Portfolio” from eight to twelve years. It’s a resource to mark your progress of those 4 years.

3. Opinion.

The EPL is a really important resource to give you feedback about your improvement in the study of a language. In this way, we have to offer opportunities as a teacher to have communication with everybody, so it’s important to help students to understand us. I mean, we have to generate situations where all students could participate without taking into account the level that they have. About the class of today, I think an activity that includes the parts of EPL. The activity consists in a presentation of each dossier of students with the application “StoryJumper”, in this app they could present their memories and experiences. Then, they will create a linguistic biography about the experience with this language while they were creating the presentation. Finally, they could evaluate themselves with the passport by the self-assessment.

11/11/2020:

 11/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We saw a video about the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and the levels that it includes. In the explanation we appreciated the importance of knowing the level that you have and how it's relevant to know that it’s the same in all countries in Europe. We debated about the difference between plurilingualism and multilingualism, the concept of Approach adapted that consists in a method focus on action-oriented, and the meaning of general and communicative competence. Finally, we completed the task about our level from CEFR.

2. What I’ve learnt.

We’ve learnt that the CEFR was being created to identify the level of persons who study another language, so we need common levels between different countries, and there are in the CEFR (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). In this way, A is for the Basic User, B is for the Independent User, and C is for the Proficient User. CEFR also includes different skills like listening, writing, speaking, reading, interaction and mediation which it’s when you improvise translations to make person understanding another person. In other words, when we have to prepare an official exam, we have to use the CEFR because it provides you a common base about competences, contents, methods, evaluation. The objective is to establish a good way that allows the communication. We saw the application of general competences in a real context, with a real object of our lives. Furthermore, about the Approach adopted, we saw that it consists in a method focus on action-oriented. I mean, you guide the student in specific circumstances, in a specific environment and in a specific action.

Finally, I revised the difference between general and communicative competence that consists in:

- General competence includes the skills that everyone has as a person: Knowledge (learning from experience), skills and know-how (the ability to do something), existential competence (attitude and personality), and ability to learn (being disposed to discover otherness).

- Communicative competence includes concepts like linguistic (the speech is adequate to the rules of linguistics as a system), social linguistic (the speech follows the social rules and it’s correct for the situation) and pragmatic (the speech is related to the context and culture aspects) to get and efficient communication.

 

3. Opinion.

From my point of view it’s really important to have a common base between all countries from Europe, because it provides you a specific plan of studies to prepare yourself to know languages. I mean, all of us have to have the same skills in front of an exam, so I think that the CEFR it’s a form to equal the balance of studies. Furthermore, we have to take into account the context of these languages, because in this way we could learn the pragmatic aspect at the same time that we study a new idiom. In reference of last, we find a good example of its influence when you study an idiom, because it depends on the culture of the place. For example, in Spain we speak different in each place of the country, so if you study Spanish, you have to take into account the context and the culture and you have to live here to distinguish the variety of linguistic aspects from each zone. In conclusion, when we teach a language we have to raise awareness of the importance of having a common base and how  the context influences the meaning of language in communication.  

05/11/2020:

 05/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We saw the elements of the curriculum that includes the objectives, competencies, contents, teaching methodology, standards and assessable learning outcomes, and the assessment criteria. Then, we spoke about the difference between core, specific and regional subjects in a school. We reviewed the assessment worked other days when we saw the relevance of having a continuous and global evaluation. We focused on the characteristics of methodology of learning a foreign language, like preparing a session based on an action, which consists in promoting the participation. Finally, we worked in groups to complete the task of elements of the curriculum.

2. What I’ve learnt.

I’ve learnt the importance of knowing the structure of curriculum to prepare lessons. As a teacher, we have to promote the motivation of learners by giving them tools and resources, opportunities to work in groups and by using games in class. But, still, we have to be coordinated with other teachers to offer a quality education based on developing the skills of students. We also study the comparison between the two documents of the law, and we see the form that they are related, and how we can use it like a base to organize a class.  

3. Opinion.

I think that we have to know the parts that compose the curriculum to prepare a class in a correct way, so in this case, it’s important to see the differences between the syllable and the decree, because it’s a basic part to establish the structure of a lesson. As a teacher we have to have cleared the different components of the theory to teach, but we also have to know how we can apply it in a practical situation with real children, so in my opinion it’s relevant working these concepts in our class before going to teach in a real school.

04/11/2020:

 04/11/2020:

1. Summary.

We started reviewing the organization of the curriculum in primary education and the parts that compose it to see the difference between LOE and LOMCE when we compare them. Then, we worked in groups to complete different tasks about this document to reflect its structure in a visual diagram.

2. What I’ve learnt.

I’ve learnt the importance of knowing how is the structure of the curriculum, because we have to control it to prepare a class in a logic way. As a teacher, we have to follow a plan to teach because we have to offer the best version of quality education.

3. Opinion.

From my point of view it’s really important to take into account the parts of the curriculum when we prepare a class, because we could have problems with the structure of activities, evaluation or other things, so we have to be sure about the objectives that we want to achieve and reflect it in this document. Furthermore, we have to understand the history of education to improve it, so I think that it’s interesting to know the different changes that are being produced in this field to learn from it and offering the best version of our classes.