Asking for a quality label

"Teach me yours" has been another eTwinning project where different European Countries have shared their own language at a basic level, bearing in mind multilingualism. Through the eTwinning net, we organized and planned a task per month and our students collected, learnt and recognized the most important words  around different topics: Greetings, Months, Days, seasons, weather, colours, jobs and food as the most important. After that, they compared the languages and they were able to realize that many languages have a lot in common and some of them are absolutely different. They made a difference between Roman and Germanic languages. 

Now, it's time to ask for a quality label. I wish my school could have its first one!

IMPACT Project

Dear all, as you can see in the photos something is happening this week: it is being celebrated the 5th IMPACT Teacher Training Week in Deventer, The Netherlands. The weather is rainy and cold but the Catalan Team is always shining! 

                                                     Panorama Mesdag, The Hague

Anyway, I am involved in a European team called "Let's travel around Europe". We are going to write a cooperative story time with our kids in year 3. Just if it is your interest, here you have the blog where we will upload all of our materials.

A new training course

An eTwinning project is a collaborative work between two or more European schools on a previously agreed subject, topic or issue. The collaboration is carried out through a virtual platform and the use of different web tools. 

Normally, there are some administrators in a project who agree the theme, the duration and the students that will participate in, the competences that they will develop, the final product or products they wish to obtain and the language they will use, etc. Good planning and communication between partners are key factors for the success of a project.  I would recommend to participate in a training course about all of those points, and the best I have participated is the next:

My tools for eTwinning projects

Thinking about...

I have done many reflections about my job as a teacher through the summer. Each time I think about it I consider that my job consists of building a rich environment that facilitates the kind of learning that will benefit my students. It is not to reproduce the lesson but to develop concepts, think critically, and apply and evaluate what they have learned, by providing opportunities and experiences that are relevant to such goals. Because of all of those reasons, I prefer to work through projects rather than to have a book and follow the units without any motivation. 

By the way, here you have an interesting article about PBL. Worth reading. 

Brain project

Hi everyone!

I am so happy because another challenge has been another success in my lessons. 
Don't worry because I'm gonna tell you what is going on: 
students from year 6 decided to find out some information about the brain. 
They wanted to know how it works and why it needs downtime. 

So, after introducing the topic, I used the jigsaw strategy to boost students' confidence with the information they had. So, they were distributed in groups of four and each student specialized in one part of the brain. After that, they met with members from other groups who were assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, they returned to the "home" group and explained their information drawing a mind map. Each group made excellent ones. At the end, we decided to have one in common. 
Here you have it:

Finally, I designed an activity to encourage them to build sentences about what they learnt. 

They have learnt a lot, they expanded English vocabulary and they improved structures. The end of the school year is here and I am very proud of all of them!
For next week, they have to "dygest" all the information because we will play the brain-game-kahoot. Students are very excited thinking of kahoot activity.
So, I hope that kahoot encourages them to review and study the brain facts they have learnt.

What else can I ask for?

PBL

Hi everyone! 

Most of you know that I decided to move from my old school to a new one which works through projects along the school year. This methodology is applied not only in kindergarten but also in primary where projects are focused on student learning goals and include different types of activities.

So after working in a new methodology I want to reflect what have been my feelings about Project Based Learning.

Adopting the PBL approach has produced a change in my way of teaching. I have to improve the presence of different levels of learning and special needs, the competences and social skills. It makes that students have to work in their own way to solve problems, to think and to access to information, processing and learning. 

Personally I think that this way of working has enriched me as a teacher because I have the challenge of improving my lessons every day through individual work but most of the times through cooperative teams by asking questions and doing research as well and making the students decide for themselves. The video below explains the most important aspects and elements of PBL. Worth watching! 

"Now is tomorrow"

Hi there,

Nowadays, Catalonia is pushing education towards new challenges. The Catalonian's "Consell Escolar" is diving into a deep reflection on the challenges to face the future of catalan education and it has organized five conferences to show what's going on and where education is going.

This morning, Viivi Lokk, from Tallinn's Educational Department, has introduced the audience into the Estonian educational system where children, from the very beginning, are involved in it so that every person is a lifelong learner. 

But, how do they do? These ideas are crucial for understanding the Estonian system. 

* Mentoring and coaching learners.

* The State gives a curricula but each school decides the concepts that they will work depending on need of its students. That is an important difference with Catalan system.

This morning (at Cosmocaixa,BCN)

So, those reflections have made me reaffirm on working through meaningful projects.

City vocabulary

Hi everyone,

this is a ppt about our city or town.

It describes basic vocabulary to check with students.

Useful for English lessons!

That is!

 There is some joy for learning better when heart meets brain. 

So, I encourage all of you, teachers, families, friends and students to follow this statement!

Erasmus+ course finished!

Happy to have finished this worthy course. If you are a teacher, I encourage you to enrol yourself in the etwinning network and enjoy with the on line courses it offers to teachers.

Tackk

Hi everyone!

Although the school year has already finished for children, I go on improving my task of teaching.

As some of you know,  I'm following an on line trainer course about PBL (Project Based Learning) and I have to write down a Learning Diary.

Here you have the beginning. If you want to know more about it, click on the image and have a look.

Project Based Learning

Hi everyone! 

Most of you know that one year ago I decided to move from my old school to a new one which works through projects along the school year. This methodology is applied not only in kindergarten but also in primary.

So after working in a new methodology I want to reflect what have been my feelings about Project Based Learning.

Adopting the PBL approach has produced a change in my way of teaching. I had to improve the presence of different levels of learning and special needs, the competences and social skills. It made that students had to work in their own way to solve problems, to think and to access to information, processing and learning. 

Personally I think that this way of working has enrich me as a teacher because I had the challenge of improving my lessons every day through individual work but most of the times through cooperative teams.

So, the strategies I used have been very different from using a book and follow the units because there have been a connection to the real world.

Asking questions and doing research as well, made the students decided for themselves. They had the chance to improve their problem-solving abilities. Finally, they shared what they had learned. Now that we can say that the school year is ending, I am proud of having done this new challenge.

Useful mind maps

Hi everyone!

Mind mapping is a useful visual resource to help students not only with English vocabulary but also with thoughts, ideas or other items. It helps organize the information and develops creativity through constructing it. 

In terms of vocabulary mind maps can include animals, numbers, family members, tenses, verbs and much more. Using mind mapping we are encouraging thinking and we are linking thoughts outside the traditional English lessons.
Furthermore, it can be an incredible tool for teachers. Can you imagine using it for planning our lessons, organize information and projects among different ideas.

Here you have the best mind mapping tools for teachers and students.
However, the best way of understandig how they work is to share two examples: 
1st one, popplet used for an eTwinning project done by IRV
2nd one, basic vocabulary for students done by NOZ

Never stop learning

I'm living days of changes and taking important decisions. That's the reason because I decided to write and to upload the image above. That means a lot in my professional level. To empathise, to understand , to have the confidence to say "No" or to say "Yes" when I feel a challenge in my job.

Nowadays, I'm ready to say that next month is going to be an important one for me. I'm a passionate person and that is why I do what I do.

Have a nice weekend!

eTwinning training course

Hi everyone!

I have just started a training course in the eTwinning network. 

This is my first homework: a personal presentation.

Inquiry-Based Learning

The video below explains and shows us how to put students in charge of their learning, with lessons that stem from student questions and harness the power of curiosity.

Olomouc, Czech Republic

Hi you all, 

 it was an amazing long weekend last week.

 Do you remember Voices of European TeacherS? 

It is a European Teacher network that began in 2012 and finished last weekend in Olomouc, in Czech Republic.

Primary, secundary and university teachers from all over 10 different European Countries wanted to improve education by working on identity, diversity, citizenship and multiculturalism. Heterogeneity, technology and theory with practice as well. So, as teachers, our challenge is to help our students to cultivate frameworks in order to analyze the world. That is why,we all have been working together a long these years.

Since the very beginning I started to deep into the Identity meaning and I introduced it to my students with this ppt. 

Identity from Inès Rosado

If you want to find out the projects done a long these years, click on the pictures below and check them: