FIRST WEEK

SEPTEMBER 28th - MONDAY

Today was our first day, so one by one we have introduced ourselves to the new teacher (Juan Antonio) but in a very funny and original way to create a warm atmosphere in the class. The structures that Juan Antonio has given us have been:

    - If I were a colour I would be...., because...

    - If I were a character I would be..., because...

    - If I were an element of nature I would be... because...

When my turn has come, I have decided to introduce myself to my class as folllows: 

    - If I were a colour, I would be green, because it transmits peace

    - If I were a character I would be Sherlock Holmes, because he always gives his best to solve problems. 

    - If I were an element of nature I would be a tree, because they are home to many animals.

Of course, Juan Antonio has also told us a little about him and his life, rather... we had to guess!!!

SEPTEMBER 29th - TUESDAY

Today we met Maribel, she came to class with a lot of energy and like Juan Antonio yesterday, she transmitted that she really wanted to teach us everything possible.

In our first class, we have learned to use Classdojo, a very useful application to work with children and families. In this application, the teacher can monitor the development of children in class, adding or subtracting points based on different criteria such as attendance, good behavior, participation in class, etc. 

I consider that it is an original way to encourage children to be more active using a system of reinforcements and punishments. In additiojn, by being able to share the information with parents, coordination between families and school is easier. 

SEPTEMBER 30th - WEDNESDAY 

Do you want to know what your exact level of English is?

That´s possible thanks to the Common European Framework (CEFR) which defines levels of proficiency which allow learner´s progress to be measured at each stage of learningn and on a life-long basis. 

The different levels that we can find are:

As we can imagine, each level has its own characteristics. There are: 

To understand a little better what the CEFR consists of, I put here a short video where the most important information is summarized 

 

In relation to this, I think it is important to understand that not all children will arrive at school with the same level of Englis, but that doesn´t mean that they are stupid, it simply means that it is more difficult for them to acquire knowledge more than other classmates. 

OCTOBER 1st - THURSDAY

Nowadays we can find different methodologies to teach  English in the classroom. Today we have learned one of them: the Grammar-Tanslation Method

This method consists of a constant translation by the student thanks to a great knowledge of vocabulary. 

In Early Childhood Education it is considered impossible to use this method due to its great difficulty, in thus type of classes a simpler and more dymanic method is required that encourages children to learn more about the language. 

The main advantages of the Grammar-Translation Method are:

    - A safe way for the for the student with the help of their mother tongue.

    - Exhaustive explanations of grammar and deep knowledge of linguistic mechanisms.

    - No pronunciation problems.

    - Not very demanding for teachers.

And the main disadvantages are:

    - Oral skills are not important.

    - No attention to the communicative competence. Sentences which are disconnected from reality.

    - Demands great effort memorizing and reflecting. Lack of motivation. 

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!!