Departing Cheltenham

Saturday, 4th March 2017

It has been a very rich experience that I would like to repeat without any doubt. It is a pity not to have enough time to prepare activities to use in my lessons. The idea is to create a wiki, step by step...

Workshop on CLIL Methodology and Langugage for Secondary Maths and Science with Graham Workman

Friday, 3rd March 2017

All the websites mentioned in the seminar, along with many others not included in the handouts, can be found at           www.grahamworkmansecondary.wikispaces.com

Go to Useful websites where you will find all the links about:
- how to do everything on your computer
- listening
- reading
- vocabulary
-in addition
-dictionaries
-useful resources to explore
- create a wiki for each of your classes
- presentation tools

Workshop on CLIL Methodology and Language for Secondary Maths and Science with Graham Workman

Thursday, 2^nd March 2017

Talking about The Bangalere Project. Prabhu (1982)

Aims: today is the time to study about the Scaffolding to support:

1)      Content obligatory language

2)      Content compatible language

 Handouts about scaffolding language and sentence frames specifically in Maths and Science.

3)      Design : following the  “Template of PowerPoint slides to include in TBL ( tasked based learning) lesson”

All the teachers begun to work in groups or individualy, and this is my first work about systems of linear equations.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4i8YHkJ3ev-MWZ5Q2cwanluaXM/view?usp=sharing

Workshop on CLIL with Graham Workman

Wednesday, 1^st March 2017

More handouts to work: Pronuntation, Types of questions:  real question, genuinely, display, initiation, referential question using information gaps…

Workshop on CLIL Methodology with Graham Workman

Tuesday, 28^th February 2017

The four following days, we studied with Graham Workman which actions honour his name.

A lot of original tasks, different tasks, and a lot of information on his webpage. We laughed and enjoyed  in his lessons and I would like to practice  some of the tasks I learned as soon as possible.

After a presentation (have a look at its rich in contents webpage), we tried to answer the following questions: Why teach CLIL? , and some keys are:

1)      International language of Science

2)      Live, study and work abroad

3)      Provides useful qualifications

4)      It works…. When it is task-based.

Aims:

1)      Activities

2)      Vocabulary revision

3)      Design of CLIL material

4)      WEBS, podcasts

5)      Classroom language (Accurate language)

Handouts to work:  Wall dictation, visuals, collocations, minds….

- Workshop on CLIL Methodology with Dr Diana Hicks

Monday, 27^th February

The second week was really intense. Classes began at 09:00 am, at the Isbourne Centre. In this building we could take some coffee or tea and have the packed lunch that our host family prepared for us:  sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, cakes, etc. We didn´t have much time to rest but enough to exchange some words with other European teachers. We finished our lessons about five pm.

We met Diana Hicks,

She is an expert teacher in CLIL methodology and she was explaining  the meaning, the aims, the characteristics and the steps of Learning Integrated Language Content in detail.

Some of my notes during the day are summarized. I recommend you have a look at the links of bibliography and webgraphy

(Links of book)

To start, a brainstorming, the question is:  what would you like to know about CLIL?

1)       How can CLIL help me teach Maths?

2)      One classroom only? Flexible?

3)      How is CLIL transforming learning across EU?

4)      CLIL pedagogy

5)      Mixed: proficiency/ability

6)      “Block teachings”: integrate writing and learning

7)      Students speaking English

During the day she was talking about the answers and others, we told her our experiences in CLIL and we did some activities to understand the process and to see how CLIL can be used in all subjects.

The first activity was a surprise for me, I mean for its results. It was a debate about the questionnaire we had filled about the Rules of L1 (mother tongue) and L2 (second language, English in our case). Surprisingly, we did not have the same idea regarding CLIL.  We were teachers from: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Norway and Bulgaria.  

SOUTH WALES

Sunday, 26^th  February 2017

Today we had an Educational visit to South Wales.  It has been a long day !

At 7:45 am all the 2^nd week course European teachers met  outside Cheltenham town Hall. Neil introduced us to each other during our way to The Big Pit National Coal Mining Museum of Wales at Blaenavon World Heritage Site https://museum.wales/bigpit/   while he showed us the beautiful countryside and explained some curiosities about the area: in Wales all the advertisements are written in both languages, Welsh and English. Imagine you  could only see this sign “Amgueddfa Lofaol Cymru”    (it means National Coal Museum)

Oh my god! What a strange sensation to be at 90 m²   underground.  “It is true that you can  experience the sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere of an authentic coal mine”.  Unfortunately, my English level is not high enough to understand Welsh people, they have a hard accent and it was difficult to follow the explanations during the visit.  But the miner who guided the one-hour tour underground was very patient with us and repeated  all that we required him to repeat  quietly.

Then, we spent two hours walking along  St Fagans Welsh National History Museum, Cardiff. It is an open-air Museum of Welsh life and St Fagans Castle, where you can explore how people in Wales have lived, worked and spent their leisure time. It was raining a lot and I couldn´t enjoy much.  

https://museum.wales/stfagans/

Then, we had our free afternoon in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. This is the flag of Wales, I really love it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Wales