TODO TIENE UN FINAL…TODO TERMINA

This time I’ve chosen to start my last posting with a part of the famous lyrics of the song “PRESENT” by Vox Dei. I’m not saying anything new if I say that everything has an end and everything finishes. However, from time to time, it’s not pointless to remind us that we’re not caught in endless and forever-lasting situations and that leaving some situations behind is a natural part of growing.

Starting my last posting with this phrase is totally appropriate since we’re all nearing an end. If yet quite early to talk about the end of the year, we can at least speak of the end of classes. In the blink of an eye, another term has almost elapsed and we’re on the verge of the stressful and demanding period of preparing for the final exams. This year, however, we’re approaching a different end. In my case, I’ll be completing a series of consecutive subjects which I started back in first year such as Phonology, Language and Literature. What about what I feel? A mixture of emotions. A mixture of self- accomplishment for having completed successfully most of my course of studies together with melancholy for having to say goodbye to a number of subjects that were an essential part of my daily routine for four years.

Hand in hand with the end of classes –more specifically language classes- goes the end of this experience of blogging. In my case, this was a most rewarding experience. I had to learn from scratch all what now, I do almost mechanically.

I can say I like endings because each end implies the beginning of a new era full of new challenges and rewards. However, they also involve leaving behind a period which in my case I enjoyed a lot. But as life itself, all situations in life consist of a cycle which eventually comes to an end. And we must do anything but accept it.

Thanks for sharing a wonderful year together!

It’s high time we said: ENOUGH!

Whenever we turn our TVs on, most of us feel surely infuriated at knowing that another innocent citizen has fallen prey to insecurity. Inevitably, we can’t help thinking that it may be us or some beloved person the next victim. What are we masters of if we are not allowed to be the masters of our own lives? Anyone with a knife or a gun can put an end to our lives in a matter of a few seconds.

For those of us who live in towns- small earthly paradises- insecurity is not a direct problem. We can still go out without fearing the worst. Having your cellphones, wallets and bags stolen or your life taken away for stealing your bike are terrible acts we, fortunately enough, still witness through the media. In big cities, however, despicable robberies, assaults and crimes are commonplace. Doubtlessly, the place that represents the summit of insecurity is Buenos Aires. There, crime rates have risen to record levels, with many people being murdered every single day.

I wonder what we-citizens- are waiting for to demand reforms from the Government. I can’t believe that some politicians defend the criminals’ ‘human rights’ rather than that of their victims. This week, the whole country witnessed the murder of Mariano Ferreyra, a young activist of Partido Obrero, in the hands of the ‘Unión Ferroviaria’ mob. They enjoyed a liberated zone by the police, who was there but didn’t have permission to act. In response to the death of this innocent person, a day of strikes and protests was called for. Hundreds of people marched to and gathered at Plaza de Mayo to demand justice.


We can’t live in this state of impunity any longer. We can’t allow anyone else to have a gun, to murder and to go unpunished. Governments: stop arguing that insecurity is being sensationalized. Insecurity is real and is depriving most of us of a dignified life! I’m totally in favour of society marching to say ‘enough’. However, it’s a pity we are only reminded of the necessity to act whenever another innocent person is killed. How many ‘Marianos’ will there still be before politicians react and offer concrete solutions to the growing problem of insecurity?

A day to reflect!

October, 12th! What happens if we ask somebody to say the first idea that comes to their mind when they hear this phrase? Most probably, public holiday! A day to rest from the stressful day-to-day work or school routine. Perhaps only a few would claim that this is the day when we celebrate ‘Día de la raza’ or ‘Día de la diversidad cultural’. Does this generalized cultural oblivion reflect the neglect of aborigines? Most probably.

Years pass by and all that we find on October, 12th are ‘empty’ political speeches and tributes in the news to the group of natives who witnessed and suffered the ‘discovery’ of their land. And of course they deserve the most remarkable tributes because it was they who were brutally tortured and killed in cold blood for defending what was theirs: their culture and their land. But is that enough?

I believe that even though bringing back to memory our own past and history is essential, we need at the same time to move forward and reflect on and try to improve our sad reality: 50 millions of indigenous peoples in the whole of America striving to have their rights recognized. It seems that nobody care about the descendants of the original settlers of our land who live in a shameful state of alienation and poverty. What’s more, many natives are now suffering from extractive industries who keep on perpetuating colonization. Thus, many natives see their land taken away in the name of ‘progress’ to install oil wells or grow soya crops.

I believe it is paradoxical that while we’ve been watching different tributes to Indigenous peoples these days, they still live in a context of alienation, exclusion and racism. It is high time governments start considering the present situation of aborigines as a priority in their agendas.

Growing old

Now that almost all of us have made our presentations, I decided to choose one of the topics and reflect on it: Growing old.

Growing old is part of the natural life cycle. Thus, since we are able to apply critical thinking, we fully understand that getting old is an unavoidable fact of life. But does understanding of this inescapable reality ensure its acceptance? I’m afraid it doesn’t. At least it is so in my case. Although we all know that no one is immortal, we somehow seem to believe deep down that an exception will be made in our case.

Every stage in life is full of its own charms. Each stage unfolds unique, unforgettable and rewarding experiences. Therefore, we shouldn’t be afraid of moving on.

Childhood abounds with plays and fun. Kids don’t have a job to keep or bills to pay. Children enjoy running, jumping, playing dressed-up and creating endless stories out of their imaginations.

During adolescence, teenagers enjoy a life which is not yet characterized by full responsibilities. It is an age of socialization: adolescents take part in countless social meetings, forge strong bonds with their friends and meet new people. During this stage, they also enjoy their first love.

By the end of adolescence, many need to take one of the most difficult decisions in life: the choice of a course of studies. With this comes more responsibilities, more hours of study and less hours of spare time. Mind you, this is a very rewarding and enjoyable stage where most of us are studying what we really enjoy while at the same time being pampered and economically sustained by our own families.

Adulthood may also abound with extraordinary experiences. Everybody who was able to find a partner and raise a family must easily account for the happiness that they find from being surrounded by the love of children and grandchildren.

However, in spite of the fact that there are many happy and rewarding situations waiting to be experienced in every single stage in life, I still feel quite afraid of moving ahead. And I think this will be even worse in some decades. Yes, I’m afraid of growing old. Why? Not because old age has nothing to offer since this is hardly true. Old age has some glorious rewards. It’s a time to enjoy retirement and spare time which will allow us to devote ourselves to hobbies and preferences. However, as time passes by, we become more and more aware that we are coming to an end. It’s almost painful for me to accept that once I leave this world, there will never ever be anything ahead. I’m afraid of time elapsing too quickly and not being able to accomplish all the dreams I dream to achieve. There is so much joy in living that I will like to live forever!

My Pecha Kucha presentation

Serendipity

View more presentations from nerinagobbi.

‘What in the hell is Pecha Kucha?’ was the first question that sprang to my mind the moment I heard this weird name. Words always convey different impressions to different people and the word ‘Pecha Kucha’ was not the exception to the rule. This word conveyed to me the idea of difficulty and some sort of challenge. Fortunately, these were not more than mistaken impressions. Although I must admit that it was challenging-as all new things are- It didn’t prove to be a nuisance.

I felt quite relieved when I learnt that Pecha Kucha was not a particular program we need to run but a Power Point presentation with specific characteristics. Using Power Point was not new (I remember using it at Secondary school) but I learned how to use it more in detail. As regards the topic, I chose serendipity out of curiosity. I have that word written on my agenda and now I wanted to know what that concept referred to. I googled serendipity and I was so astonished with its meaning that I decided to adopt it as the topic of my presentation.

I found 20x20 an interesting format since it allows you to develop a topic quite completely while being concise. Backing up our presentations with pictures and some words or quotes keeps the audience more motivated and interested as it makes our monologue more dynamic. It’s true that I would have liked to have more time to expand on some details behind the serendipitous discoveries I presented but having a time limit is a useful technique for not leading the audience into sheer boredom. Just think of how much time we women can talk if we are enthralled with a topic and not limited by any factor.

All in all, a nice experience. Comparing the odd feeling I had the first day I became acquainted with the phrase `Pecha Kucha’ and the final product, I feel really proud. Even more proud if I think how basic my knowledge about computers and technology is (or was- I must admit I’ve learned many new things lately)

Changing attitudes...

Last week, I was taking a look at some mails when I found this one which really caught my attention and triggered me to reflect on the following issue: Are teachers falling prey to enraged parents who defend their children blindly? I’m afraid they are. And the following headlines illustrate this new trend which is taking over the whole world.

Haven’t you heard of teachers being confronted by aggressive parents? The causes simply boil down to the teacher giving some of the students poor grades or disciplining at school. Gone are the days when parents would feel disappointed by their children’s poor results at school and would hand out some kind of punishment. In that way, parents would make it clear that the figure of the teacher as well as the school as an institution deserved to be treated with respect. Now, parents blindly defend their ‘angel-like children’ from apparently ‘insane teachers’ who just do their work. Hardly a minute goes by between the child or teenager shows their qualifications and the parents rush to school to attack the teachers. Many parents do not even stop a minute to reflect on the damaging consequences that their overprotective behaviour may have.

Parents have clearly gone from one extreme to the other. From harsh punishment to an absolute laxity. Fortunately, a bad report do not longer trigger (as usually as some decades ago) a torrent of physical child abuse which is absolutely terrible. However, nowadays parents do not even chat with their children as regards their poor results or unacceptable behaviour or help them improve their performance. Parents are failing to strike a balance between the two extremes. Imagine how difficult the role of the teacher is. They are being constantly harassed by parents who make their daily job more and more difficult.

I’m really worried about this new trend since teachers need parents support to work adequately. Lack of support by parents is simply disheartening. And unfortunately, the parents’ declining standards of behaviour are adopted by their children. So, it’s very difficult for students not to treat the teacher disrespectfully when they sees their parents doing exactly the same. I believe that parents should be acting as good role models by supporting staff and helping them create a more positive learning environment for their children.

Important dates

September: A Time for 3 important dates in our lives

In this month 3 important dates to me, and perhaps for you too, are celebrated.


The first one is September, 11th (or the 17th). This day will always be important in our lives as it will remind us of the profession we have decided to practice for the rest of our lives. On the 21st of September, we celebrate students’ day. This year, most of us are still celebrating students ‘day more than teacher’s day but very soon this fashion will be reversed. Will it? On second thought I wonder “will we ever stop being students to become teachers?” Of course not. We’ll be students our whole lives. We will be continuously learning new things and experiencing new situations surrounded and accompanied by our students. A good teacher recognizes that her knowledge is finite and maintains an open-minded attitude to all the new situations that may arise daily.
I think that’s the magic involved in our profession: teaching and learning are inextricably intertwined. Teaching is by nature interactive and in this interaction both parts learn and enrich themselves continuously.

We are also celebrating spring’s day. Spring is for me the most beautiful and inspiring season. Most people’s humour and predisposition towards work and life changes. Personally, I love getting up to the chant of birds and the warmth of the sun. Getting up, studying, working, going out, everything is better when the sun heats the earth because it also heats our lives. It’s the season that represents birth and renewal. Could there be any connection between spring’s day and teachers’ day? Perhaps. I can say I hope my career is full of the joys of spring. I hope we never lose the desire of renewing ourselves and our knowledge every single day in the same way that flowers and plants do during spring. I also hope we can plant many seeds along our teaching profession which will grow forever since we will make an impact on all our students. Isn’t that connected to spring?

Do you agree with the idea that these three important days will be forever intertwined in our lives? Let’s share.

Scientific development

Scientific development and its areas of application have been growing enormously in the last decades. One of the areas which this science affects the most is Genetic Engineering. The two pictures I upload clearly illustrate part of the main aims of this growing science.

The syringe in both pictures stands for manipulation, for artificial intervention in the course of nature. The illustrations also represent the 2 main areas within Genetic Engineering: human Genetic engineering and GM food.

Scientific development has been growing at a tremendous pace in recent years. And I wonder whether this growth has a limit. Very frequently it seems to me that it doesn’t and that scares me a lot. Human nature is inherently ambitious and in the pursuit of further striking discoveries, I believe scientists are ready to defy all existing moral standards.

Although I’m not a fervent catholic, I believe there should be a restriction on the right to manipulate the course of nature. I do accept Gene therapy which consists of repairing or replacing defective genes or introducing some therapeutic genes to help fight a disease. This would imply a better quality of life for people with short-limb dwarfism for example. But what about having babies tailor-made? Recently, I’ve heard of a 38-year-old woman who already has 3 sons (through In Vitro fertilization) and now wants a daughter to round up the family.
I completely oppose using Genetic engineering for such trivial matters such as choosing your babies’ sex or eye colours. This would in turn lead to discrimination as people would naturally select some features over others.

However, in spite of what one thinks is the limit between good and bad or acceptable or unacceptable, there is little we can do to prevent the course of scientific development for the many interests there are behind it. We’ll have to wait and see which is the next thing coming out of the scientists’ Pandora’s Box.

Storytelling

Let’s enter into the magic universe of storytelling

We are all born with a natural disposition towards creating, telling and listening to stories. Any child is able -even before reading- to take a book and start inventing a fascinating story just by looking at the pictures. There seems to be an innate ability for framing quite logically a sequence of events as well as enjoying tales since an early age. Therefore, If children have this natural inclination to relish stories then, why not nurture it? We can set to work in our own homes telling stories to some little relative or in the classroom to our students. Here goes a simple reflection on storytelling in language classes.

I believe in the power of storytelling to enhance learning. By telling stories to our little students, we are exposing them to an enormous amount of input in a motivating and meaningful way since we are placing language into a context. Our students will pick up some of the language used in the story without being conscious about learning. And this is the kind of learning which we should aim at when it comes to teaching young children.

As regards the way in which tales can be told, we may read the story or we can simply tell the story ourselves. I prefer the latter. By eliminating the book from the storytelling time, we are removing a major barrier between the audience and the story-teller (i.e. between students and teachers). Why? Well, by freeing our hands from the book, we can move them widely conveying much more meaning. But leaving the book aside and start telling a story is not enough if we are to produce the most favorable impact. Use of our hands and body, gestures, pitch, intonation and delivery rate are key aspects a storyteller need to handle. It’s essential that we learn how to vary and combine all these features to represent clearly different character voices or to convey different moods.

Personally, I am very interested in improving the way I tell stories. Narrating is a complex but magical science through which we are able to create vivid images, pictures and experiences.

“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience”

A worrying trend

The copy and paste culture

The 21st century is undoubtedly an era characterized by an unrestricted and quick access to a tremendous amount of information. Just by googling any word or phrase or clicking on some links here and there, an unthinkable number of pictures, opinions and facts will unfold before us. As a result of the quickness and easiness of these processes, every day millions of people search the Net to find out information on different topics.

Even though we may find this aspect of technology completely appealing, some teachers resent this easy availability of knowledge. Why? Well, it seems that students are in general tempted to copy all information they are supposed to look for without any kind of production of their own.
I do not doubt the truth of claims like that. While I feel that many people approach this process seriously, I can’t help thinking it is not difficult to feel tempted to copy information when apparently all the teacher asks can be easily found on the Net. But whose fault is it? There is no doubt it is the student the one who overtly copy or print all the information they need but aren’t teachers fostering that behavior?

I think they are. I do not mean that they encourage this behavior verbally in the course of their classes but they do promote it unconsciously through the tasks they may set. I believe that if students are able to find exact answers to the activities teachers propose, then tasks are not challenging enough. If we care about framing questions which require elaboration and reflection on the part of the learner, then it is not that easy to find the appropriate answers on the Net.

Apart from setting more challenging activities, there are other ways of modifying this pattern of behavior. Perhaps we can devote some time in our lessons to warn our students against the dishonest practice of plagiarism. Most of us may think that teenagers are well aware of the deceitful nature of copying others’ productions pretending they are theirs. However, in a culture where plagiarism abounds in all spheres (we are all used to buying fake DVDs and CDs for example)and accepts it as more natural all the time, I believe it is not redundant to emphasize the ills of this practice.

Besides, we live in a time when we want things easy and almost instantaneous. How much time does it take to Google some information, click on some page, select a piece of information and print it? Just a few minutes. In most cases, as soon as the paper goes out of the printer, it is put away in the folder. Students do not even bother to read what they have printed. This is also an undesirable pattern of behavior which we may discourage in our classrooms. We can for example insist on experiencing the sense of accomplishment that arises out of completing tasks by themselves.

Even though the culture of copy and paste seems to be deep-seated, I believe efforts to try to revert this trend won’t be fruitless. I think that it is well worth the effort of trying to foster a better kind of student and citizen.

The Shocking game

We would spend hours playing with Barbie dolls in their grand mansions. More hours playing at being famous top models or dedicated housewives, taking care of our rag dolls. Boys would spend whole afternoons playing marbles or football in the street. These games seem to epitomize childhood in the 1990’s. This is the period of my own infancy so sane and innocent. I cannot help thinking about that golden age whenever I see the dangerous, life-threatening “games” which the current generation chooses to amuse themselves.

It seems that this generation characterizes for finding extreme pleasure in activities that put them on the edge of death all the time. They are ready to go to any extent in order to experience the most unusual, intense and complex sensations. And what is most worrying to me is that they exceed all limits and seem to have lost the cult of life. Five minutes of new sensations take priority over our own precious existence. At first, this sensation-seeking behavior took the form of getting blind dark. However, soon afterwards, this was no longer enough and they started feeling the curiosity of taking drugs- From one single joint one party night to significantly increasing doses of marijuana or Ecstasy. Though extreme as this behavior may seem, a group teenagers found another risk-taking game.

Have you heard about ‘the shocking game’ (or ‘ahorcado’ or ‘seis nudos’)? This is a new game which is being fostered by the Internet which caused the death of 4 boys in Rosario de la Frontera, Salta. This game consists in achieving ecstasy through lack of oxygen and it’s generally played in pairs. One of the two wraps either a rope or tie around his neck until experimenting loss of consciousness. When they reach that point, his friend needs to loosen the strap around the neck just in time to avoid their friend’s death. Apparently, the exciting element is to cheat death. If they play alone, they need to tie six knots which would automatically untie as the boys jump down. If they fail to make them in the appropriate way, they die.

I find it puzzling to understand what it is that crosses their mind to play with something as sacred as life. What would be the entertainment of generations to come? I do not dare wonder about that.

My experience as a cartoonist!

One more pseudo-solution

Take a look at my cartoon here

Well, to tell you the truth, the idea of making a cartoon appeared to be challenging. I’ve always admired the job of cartoonists because I believe the many cartoons they write are mere products of great minds. The result of imaginative, critic and humorous personalities.

I’ve never ever imagined myself writing a cartoon simply because I think I do not have that character and that innate ability to amuse people. Besides, not only do I have little imagination but also I’m horribly bad at drawing. But there comes technology to assist us. Whenever we feel limited to do something, technology is there to make the task less daunting.

Therefore, the positive side of the page we explored is that it helps us overcome some of our natural limitations. In my case, this program saves me from the frustration of struggling-without success- to make some drawings. Will there ever be some program which provides us with ideas? Perhaps if that happens, then we’ll be able to make cartoons without difficulty. And then, that may have interesting teaching implications since we can include cartoons as support material of different teaching points, perhaps adding motivation to our classes.

Besides, the program is quite easy to operate. I didn’t have any problems to create the cartoon. Perhaps the only drawback is that the options we are given to select characters and accessories from are quite limited, restricting the ways of conveying different meanings. In my case, as I wanted to use the picture of a car which was not provided by the page, I added that picture later on in Paint. Its simplicity also enables people with little skill at managing computer programs to create cartoons quite easily. So, why not encouraging our students to create their comic strips?

All in all, I may admit that the task of creating my own cartoon was less of an ordeal than I’d expected. Although the result may not be a stroke of genius, I’m glad that I was able to make my first cartoon successfully.

Abbreviations in the Web- also in schools? Part2

Teenagers make use of abbreviations in an excessive way in text messages and in the Web. Many people fear that students may transfer them to academic writing. Nevertheless, as I pointed out in the previous posting, the use of writing shortcuts is not a phenomenon restricted to teenagers; adults also make use of them. The 2 cartoons that I’m uploading here take a humorous look at the use of abbreviations in schools but this time not as produced by teenage students but teachers.

This picture is a parody of the supposed way in which teenagers write. The humorous effect is achieved by a reversal of expectations. Any person would expect students rather than teachers to spell words this way.

In the second picture, we see exemplified one of the reasons why people use abbreviations: To economize on words and effort. We live in an era where a high value is attached to instantaneity. Thus, shorthand writing is successful because they epitomize immediacy. However, although the use of abbreviations is gaining more and more ground, I am of the opinion that they will never spoil the quality of academic writing. I do believe in the capacity of people to discern between internet slang and language appropriate to the more formal educational setting. If students were to start using abbreviations inadvertently at schools, we can use each of these instances as a "teachable moment", as an opportunity to teach the differences between formal and informal writing. I believe teachers will never let their use become naturalised.

They are humorous, aren’t they? Of course, they are not humorous at all if we believe they are possible snapshots of future classrooms. They are humorous to me because I believe that abbreviations cannot and will not conquer classrooms never ever. To think that either students or teachers may start using them interchangeably in any context is to underestimate the intelligence and the capacity of discernment in the choice of appropriate language in the different situations.

Abbreviations in the Web- also in schools? Part1

Teenagers on social networking sites are creating a new language experts say. Among the many variations that teenager’s language (considered a new chronolect) shows is the excessive use of abbreviations. However, I would like to say that this phenomenon is not restricted to teenagers exclusively since it is possible to find messages written by adults following the same fashion. However, this time I’m going to focus on the use of abbreviations by adolescents.

I’ve heard countless times teachers voicing their concern about the possibility of students transferring the new code they use from the Web to the classroom. They fear this would result in the use of abbreviations in essays for example. As regards this possibility, David Crystal makes a very interesting talk which you can see here .

Whether you can take a look at it or not (I advise you do), I would like to summarize Crystal’s main ideas and comment on them. He states that there are a number of myths surrounding why teenagers make use of abbreviations in text messages and in the Web (For example in Twitter).
People believe that this new text messaging thing and tweeting thing is full of abbreviations introduced by young people for a number of different reasons, which he regards as total myths.

MYTH N° 1: Teenagers are deliberately trying to create a new language so that parents do not understand what they are up to. Crystal counteracts this by saying that only 10 percent of the words found in Tweets and text messages are abbreviations and that 80% of all the people that text message are adults (not teenagers).

MYTH N° 2: Adolescents abbreviate inadvertently because they don’t know how to spell words. Crystal tries to debunk this myth by saying that the reason why teenagers abbreviate is because it’s economic and more efficient or just fashionable or cool.

MYTH N° 3: Abbreviations are the result of a generation that does not longer know how to spell. In order to counteract this new myth, he says that texting is writing and reading on a mobile phone. He adds that although people say that these days children do not read, in fact they are reading in order to text well. To carry out these processes, they need to be quite literate. And since they are literate, they can spell.

MYTH Nº 4: The last myth says that in school, children do not know the difference between how to spell correctly or incorrectly and that they are so careless that they put abbreviations into their exams. Crystal claims that young people are aware of what exactly the difference is between the style of language that has been designed to be used in cell phones or in the Web and that they need to use in their essays.

He concludes by saying that we are still in a mindset where we see the book as central and the electronic technology as marginal while for children this is the other way round. So, one way of managing this would be to put the book into electronic technology. Furthermore, he points that teachers should replace the black and white notion of correct/incorrect language by the recognition and acceptance that there are different styles and that each style has its own purpose. He says that one interesting activity to develop an awareness of appropriacy is to give students an essay and ask them to turn that into a text message or vice versa.

Personally, I totally agree with Crystal’s counterarguments. Though it may be true that some teenagers transfer language appropriate to the Web into academic writings, I think they are the exception rather than the rule. I do believe that teenagers are intelligent enough to differentiate different styles of the language as well as the contexts in which they should use them. In cases where people do use too informal expressions or abbreviations in an academic context, it may be that they have never been taught to draw the appropriate distinction. I think that raising our students’ awareness of the existence of different styles is essential. In my view, schools tend to center their curriculums on the development of formal writing skills that are in most cases too detached from the learners’ daily experience. I do not mean that we should stop teaching how to write a letter because there are circumstances in which we may need to write one and students should be trained to do that. However, I think it vital to include in the curriculum genres which are closer to the adolescents’ experience such as the mail (now included in almost all textbooks) and the text message. Students should learn to compare and contrast the various genres available and make appropriate choices whenever they write.

As regards Crystal's opinion about teenagers’ reading habits at present, he mentions that children do read. I agree with him in that they read different texts (Mind you, it was not easy to get convinced of that). The problem is that we belong to a generation that was for years only in contact with books: they were both sources of knowledge and pleasure as they delighted us with their many stories. It’s being hard to me to accept that nowadays children prefer reading e-mails, postings and comments of any kind rather than classics.

I am convinced that children read (though not the kind of texts I would like them to) and that they are totally capable of showing discernment in the choice of the language they need to use in a particular context. Nevertheless, they may probably need some explicit teaching and training at using the different forms of the language appropriately. And this is a task that we need to tackle in our own classrooms.

Tied to English

Tied to English

This time I’m writing a personal reflection of how deeply English influences my life… and very probably yours.

Since I’m 7 English is part of my life. I was launched into the world of this new foreign language by my parents who since I was a little girl were already thinking about a not-to distant future that would demand of me some skills at English.

At that time, I enjoyed it but it was just one more activity among those I had. How could I imagine back in those days that English has arrived to stay with me forever? May sound exaggerate for those who do not share (as we do) this passion but this claim is far from blown-up.

Years at the institute in my town, some years more at teacher training college and more entire years to come surrounded by English. I would better say enthralled by its never- ending collection of words and expressions waiting to be learned. It is this passionate interest that drives our minds to be both consciously and unconsciously in search of interesting language data to be acquired. No matter whether we are watching a movie or listening to some song in the radio or surfing the net, we’re always thinking about English, about an interesting new word or expression nice to be learnt or something interesting to be used in some future lesson.

And the story goes on… We come back from our classes at TT College, practicum or our work and our minds can’t simply stop. We keep up thinking how much we enjoyed the class as well as how much our performances still need to be improved. Our minds are thinking about English round-the-clock.

I don’t know whether it’s healthy or not to be thinking about English almost all the time. Perhaps not, who knows? But I do know that this is something we cannot manage, it simply happens. And once we start thinking about the language, our minds can’t stop. English is so rich, so delicious and so full of things we already don’t know (and perhaps will never do) that it simply grabs our attention all the time.

We are language lovers

who will be tied to English forever.

Football and technology 2

Controversy around the uses and implications of technology is present everywhere. Is technology a menace to our supremacy in the world? Or should we view it as a tool capable of making our daily life easier? If you have been reading my previous posts, you would already know that my position as regards technology is ambiguous. Of course I’m in favour of technological devices but what I do not approve of is making use of it in excess. This time, I want to comment on an application of technology that I do approve of: the use of cameras in football matches.

Although I am not a keen follower of football, I have been following some of the most important matches of this World Cup. As you may know there were two controversial scenes in two matches that started off a heated debate as regards the necessity of installing cameras in football matches. You may already know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I’m referring to the goal scored by the English which was not considered as such and that scored by Argentina which was illegal. Each goal led to the English and the Mexicans defeat at the hands of the Argentineans and the Germans. Happier as I was that Argentina won that match, I couldn’t stop thinking of how unfair it is to score a goal and having it disallowed or scoring a goal offside.

I find that there is a kind of contradiction between referees failing to judge the legality of a goal and the slogan of this World Cup: “Fair play”. Don’t you think that installing cameras is a necessary measure to ensure a fair play? In this case, I need to acknowledge that technology helps. Human beings are not perfect and we can’t expect them not to commit mistakes. But this can’t be a valid justification for a team which crashes out of the World cup after an unfair defeat. Cameras can make an invaluable contribution to the fairness of the match. I think it’s high time football authorities started considering this issue.

Experience at TT college

This time, I’m sitting in front of the computer ready to write an account of my experience at TT college. To be sincere, I find it anything but easy. Hundreds of pictures and thoughts are springing to my mind. But well, this is my reflection.

It all started four years ago and since then I’ve been devoted myself to this course of studies. At first I was much more obsessed about studying, I do not mean that now I’m irresponsible (I’m far of that) but I learnt to relax and enjoy a bit more. It’s true that it’s hard to take thing easy when the pressure we receive at this teacher training is high. We all know that going to class, listening and taking down notes and studying to sit for exams is far from enough. Almost all teachers ask us to do assignments from class to class. In this way we are caught in a circle where everything we do is study, study and study.Personally, all these years, I was devoted to this course of studies round-the-clock. Mind you, I do not regret devoting that much time to study (If I hadn’t, things wouldn’t have gone as well as they did) but I do say that it’s difficult to slow down. And sometimes, that’s vital. Sometimes we are so obsessed about finishing our studies in the prescribed time, that we find ourselves trying to cope with everything. I say ‘trying’ because sometimes we just try but are unable to complete all our assignments on time.

This year, I decided to slow down and not to do all the subjects of fourth year just to have more time to devote to the subjects I decided to do. Now, I feel satisfied of the decision I took because otherwise It wouldn't have been easy to comply with everything. Sometimes it takes time to realize that we need to take things easy but at some point most of us realize that. It’s never too late!

Football and technology

Humanoids vs humans: the next battle?

If we were to talk about the topic which is now the subject of every news programme and every page of different magazines and newspapers, we would say: The World Cup. This morning, I was reading headlines news when I found one which caught my attention: ROBOCUP: The future of football? An apparently promising idea that combines football and technology. This news led me to reflect about the limits-if there are any-of technology.

Nobody would doubt that technology came to our lives to change it drastically and for ever. And nobody would doubt that the changes it brought about were mainly positive. Communication was improved and previously manual and slow tasks were sped up, just to mention some of the many transformations. And the whole of humanity is so dazzled by the benefits which technology is bringing about that many want to extend them to every sphere of our lives. The question is, are there any limits? Or should we let technology go on conquering and ruling areas previously ruled by men? In the article I read, a group of scientists designed in Singapore a football competition for robots and they predict they will eclipse real players.

This group of scientists dream with the exciting prospect of a football match where the protagonists are no longer Messi, Rooney or Xavi but just humanoids.
I believe there is nothing wrong in designing robots which perform human actions as long as this is not motivated by the desire of creating sort of perfect beings that would surpass the human race. What is the reason behind creating human-size football players? Creating players that would never get tired or old? Creating players with an innate ability to score as many goals as a human being could never do? But there is a limit. I think these are ideas coming out of insane minds. Of course we can go on making use of and creating new technology if this means improving our quality of life but not if it means starting moving humans aside until they are wiped off the face of the earth. Do defend our supremacy over technology!

ICT: Its REALISTIC side

Interactive whiteboard: From $700 to 7.500; Visualisers: from £ 200 to 700. Most teachers crave innovative and hi-tech classrooms but taking a glance at the prices of the newest and most attractive technological gadgets leaves us gaping. But take heart! There is a lot we can do within ICT without wasting a single cent.

You know, I firmly believe in the importance of being eclectic and creative teachers. I mean, being able to incorporate as many different activities, ideas and procedures into our classrooms as we can. Of course with the aid of all these gadgets available now this task is much easier. But I feel that the really creative and good teacher is that who can make the most of her lessons without wasting money, who can maximize everyday opportunities and resources to make a memorable lesson. Of course we can’t pretend to go on just working with the coursebook, the board and the tape but we can make use of different tools that the Internet offers without spending money. Have you ever tried Web 2.0? Just in case you have not, Web 2.0 is a platform that promotes interactive information sharing and collaboration. There, you’ll find lots of tools such as podcasts, weblogs, social networks which are free to use. Take a look at it: http://www.go2web20.net/

I was surprised at the great number of free applications available there (though many of them are not restricted to the educational context). There is no doubt that it can take a lot of time and effort to start exploring them but it’s a challenge we need to mount. Challenges are just necessary, they are vital to help us grow and be a better professional every single day.

I think we all need to reflect about the kind of teachers we want to be. Dated? Or keeping pace with some of the many technological tools that are now available? My personal opinion is that the 21st century teacher needs to be a networked teacher, connected with the students in many different ways. How? Well, taking advantage of ICT- and I do not mean using expensive gadgets, just free online tools that can make learning more meaningful and motivating. But as I said in the other posting beware excesses!

ICT: Its UNREALISTIC side

The era of the teacher just aided by a coursebook and blackboard to deliver a lesson is coming to an end. All of us, trainee teachers, are little by little becoming more aware of that because of the importance that some teachers attach to technology as a means of enhancing learning and the booming availability of new resources on the Net. Hand in hand with my increasing awareness of the importance of technology, I started being chased by the acronym ICT almost without interruption. I’m sure you've experienced something similar. Haven't you?

The problem is that this term has been recurring over and over again without me knowing well what it refers to. And although later on I learnt that it means Information and communication technology, I’m not still sure what this umbrella term includes. That’s why here I make a personal synthesis of some of the things I’ve been reading about coupled with my own reflection.

Information and communication technologies refer to any product that deals with electronic information- that is to say, with storing, receiving, manipulating, retrieving and transferring information in an electronic way. This is a simple definition, isn’t it? But rather general, almost vague I would say.
Let’s go a bit deeper. I found an awful lot of tools mentioned as being part of this umbrella term ranging from any application on the Net to the newest hi-tech gadgets such as:

If your interested in Student response system, click here to see how it works: http://www.replysystems.com/how-reply-devices-work.shtml

Let’s concentrate on this aspect of ICT: High-tech gadgets. You know, although the importance of including technology in our lessons is being highlighted all the time, I find it’s by no means easy and within everyone’s reach. Of course I do not mean that we should not include it in our lessons since as we all know, we can no longer avoid the importance of technology in daily life and how appealing it is for the new generation of students. What I find it difficult is the viability of including a variety of these tools because of their cost. They are so much expensive! (Nobody can pretend all of us can afford them with the salary of a teacher!)
Besides, I think we have to be very careful with the inclusion of these technologies in classrooms. I feel we need to be very careful not to take this new trend to extremes. First, it goes without saying that an analysis of the context of the school and the possibilities of the learners need to be taken into account before introducing anything in our lessons. Then, we need to plan specific moments during the class in which to include these technologies. I feel that although students seem to enjoy and have a natural ability to handle technology, they can be overwhelmed by too many activities which depend on the internet for example. Technology abounds in flaws that sometimes make the use of it extremely difficult which the student himself cannot manage. Perhaps until technological gadgets and applications are more widespread and affordable, we need to restrict ourselves to the most basic ICT applications like the computer for example. But mind you, there are still so many schools in our country that do not even have a computer (something which is being commoner to most people) that makes the use of ICT just a dream or an utopia.

It looks perfect, doesn't it? But how many institutes and schools can afford this? A minority, of course. It seems to me that these classrooms are still far from our reality.

Idiomatic expressions 2

More about idiomatic expressions

In the first video I uploaded, the 'Teacher' presented 3 idiomatic expressions: as easy as pie, to be pie-eyed and to have a finger in many pies. This time, I'm uploading a new video which presents: to have green fingers, the grass is always greener on the other side and to be green with envy. Personally, I find these videos extremely useful. You know, It's generally difficult to remember new expressions but it's always easier if you can associate them with some mental representation. And these videos help me make that connection, favouring meaningful and lasting learning. I think I'll always remember these expressions- or at least I will for quite a long period of time.

What do you think of these videos? Do you find them useful? Do you apply any other techniques when it comes to learning vocabulary?

Idiomatic expressions 1

Learning idiomatic expressions

There is no other way to improve vocabulary than reading extensively or listening to any available material. But that is not always enough. I need to do something with the input I find interesting if I do not want the bulk of it fading away shortly afterwards. Searching on the net, I found a series of videos which teach some idiomatic expressions in a catchy way. A pity to miss them!

Here, I will be uploading some of the videos in this series. Please, devote some minutes to listen to them! I find them particularly useful and engaging, a good mix not easy to find.

Blog and weaknesses

Well, thinking about our hectic and tight schedules,I want to take advantage of this space working on things that really help me improve. I've already said that among some skills and aspects of language that I still need to sharpen, I know I need to widen some aspects of vocabulary. So,in pursuit of this end, I will start working on one section about idiomatic expressions and fixed phrases.