Thursday 19 November 2015

Web tools for EFL teachers - Second part

http://www.wordle.net/
Tool to generate word clouds with different fonts, layouts and colour settings.



www.abcya.com
Online games for kids in K-5 sorted by grade level. Games incorporate areas such as math and language arts while introducing basic computer skills.
It is a fun and exciting tool in which you can also create graphical representations of words. I really like it!




https://tagul.com/

Tagul is a web service that enables you to create gorgeous looking word cloud art and place it on your web page.
With this word cloud generator every word is linked to a google search; so clouds are interactive and can be embedded on blogs or websites... Highly recommended!!





www.reallusion.com/

Reallusion is a leader in the development of 3D cinematic animation and 2D cartoon softwares for consumers, students and professionals; it is used to create 3d talking characters from an image or photo and facial animation for video and websites.


www.voki.com/

Educate, Engage and enjoy with all voki products! VOKI. It's Free. Create fun and unique Voki characters that speak in many languages  You can generate personalised speaking avatars for your blogs and websites... You will find a voki at the right of my blog...

I will add more tools soon... You can also find some webpages recommended at some of the teachers´magazines...

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Web tools for EFL teachers


Today I want to share some internet sites useful to                     teach / learn english…


Useful and easy-to-use tool to generate timelines to be added to your blog or website.

 http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=en
Free online tool to convert tex tinto speech. It creates an mp3 file which can be downloaded  and saved in your computer.

Site where you can post and share instructinal videos.


Free tool for creating an interactive community for your class.


Online platform to créate a shared workspace and improve teamwork.


Powerful tool to créate online surveys which can be embedded on your blog or webpage.




There are many more tools, resources and applications you can 
explore and exploit as a language teacher… I´ll be sharing more of them soon… Do you recommend us any one which works for you?

Thursday 8 October 2015

The need for early second language exposure...

Another interesting video from TED, this time we will listen to Tharessa Kehl, a high school student, talking about second language aquisition...


Wednesday 7 October 2015

A little girl and her interesting point of view...

Improving teaching strategies and the use of technology in class by a 6th grade student, Vivien Victoriano in a TED event.... Really interesting to hear....


 



Wednesday 26 August 2015

First Language Aquisition: Have you asked your parents which your first words were?




First Language Aquisition

Language is an extremely complex system. Despite this complexity and the vast amount of variation, children learn their mother tongue quickly and efficiently. Psychologists have offered an impressive number of functional explanations for this fact. Neurologists are discovering more about the structure of the human brain every day.
This time we will be dealing with Noam Chomsky´s theory about First Language Aquisition, which, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting ones...



Thursday 6 August 2015

Taller de Ingles gratuito para docentes de Tigre

Hi there again! 
This time I want to share an e-mail I received for teachers of English. It would be nice to be there...

Estimados/as
 
Queremos por la presente invitarlos al Taller de  Ingles gratuito para docentes de Tigre.
 
El mismo se desarrollará a partir de este sábado 08/08 de 9 a 10:30 hs en el CUT (Centro Universitario Tigre) ubicado en Newton y Solis .
 
Tiene por finalidad que se apropien de los saberes adicionales esenciales en las relaciones humanas dentro y fuera del espacio de enseñanza-aprendizaje.
 
Asimismo esta creado para brindarles técnicas, herramientas, modalidades y conocimientos lingüísticos propio del Idioma Extranjero.
 
Para inscribirse o ampliar información les solicitamos que lo hagan al teléfono 5282-7511 o al maileducacion@tigre.gov.ar.
 
 
 
Saludos Cordiales 
 
 
Subsecretaría de Educación
Municipio de Tigre

Do you agree with this article?

I read this article at Clarin´s newspaper last Sunday and I found it really interesting to use with our students...

I also leave you a link where you can read it much better... 
http://www.ieco.clarin.com/economia/ingles-idioma-educacion_0_1405059734.html
Hope you enjoy it as I did. See you!

Thursday 18 June 2015

There are many movies and series to talk / work about bullying with your students, such as "The Simpsons", "The middle", "The big bang theory"... There is one serie which goes deep on this subject, "Glee"; you can choose an episode or
 some fragments from it...


Stop that Bullying!

What is bullying?
Bullying is when someone intimidates or causes harm to another person on purpose. The victims of bullying can be verbally, physically or emotionally assaulted and are often threatened and made to feel frightened.
Bullying in school can include:
§verbal harassment - face to face, by phone, text or over the internet
§hitting, hair-pulling and kicking
§teasing and name-callingplaying nasty jokes
§spreading rumours
§damaging possessions
§frightening and intimidation - threatening

§exclusion at playtime or from social events and networks

Bullying Behavior
Despite country and cultural differences, certain similarities by gender, age, location, and type of victimization appear in bullying in Argentina and elsewhere.
§Bullying more often takes place at school than on the way to and from school.
§Boy bullies tend to rely on physical aggression more than girl bullies, who often use teasing, rumor-spreading, exclusion, and social isolation. Some researchers speculate that girls value social relationships more than boys do, so girl bullies set out to disrupt social relationships with gossip, isolation, silent treatment, and exclusion. Girls tend to bully girls, while boys bully both boys and girls.
§Consistently, studies indicate that boys are more likely to bully than girls.
§Bullies often do not operate alone; it usually involves additional youngsters

Who is affected?
BulliesVictimsThose who support the bullies Those who support the victim Bystanders (who may identify with the victim or be afraid to be the next) – TeachersFamiliesSchool communities … 
Peer victimisation implies complex dynamics and produces deep and lasting effects which range from physical discomfort (headache, stomachache) to loneliness, school avoidance, lower grades, low self-esteem, stress, depression, suicide…  

What are the consequences?
It triggers feelings such as anxiety, sadness, irritationembarrassmet and shame, uneasiness, misery, resentment, stress…
Bullying injures childrenphysically, emotionally, academically and socially,
and erodes self -esteem.”
It is a social problem which tend to persist  into adulthood and so affect work and family relations.

Bullies
Bullies tend to:
§be aggressive, dominant and slightly below average in intelligence and reading ability (by middle school)
§be at least of average popularity
§be insecure, deep down
§not to have much empathy for their victims
§be impulsive and unsuccessful in school
§be going through a difficult time
§feel overlooked or overshadowed
§be copying someone else's behaviour - maybe an adult or older sibling at home
§other members of his /her  family use aggression or force at home.

Bullying can threaten studentsphysical and emotional safety at school and can negatively impact their ability to learn. The best way to address bullying is to stop it before it starts. There are a number of things school staff can do to make schools safer and prevent bullying.
Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy

Getting Started
Conduct assessments in your school to determine how often bullying occurs, where it happens, how students and adults intervene, and whether your prevention efforts are working.
It is important for everyone in the community to work together to send a unified message against bullying. Launch an awareness campaign to make the objectives known to the school, parents, and community members. Establish a school safety committee or task force to plan, implement, and evaluate your school's bullying prevention program.
Create a mission statement, code of conduct, school-wide rules, and a bullying reporting system. These establish a climate in which bullying is not acceptable.
Establish a school culture of acceptance, tolerance and respect. Use staff meetings, assemblies, class and parent meetings, newsletters to families, the school website, and the student handbook to establish a positive climate at school. Reinforce positive social interactions and inclusiveness.
Build bullying prevention material into the curriculum and school activities. Train teachers and staff on the school’s rules and policies. Give them the skills to intervene consistently and appropriately.

Stop bullying on the spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time. There are simple steps adults can take to stop bullying on the spot and keep kids safe.
Do:
Intervene immediately. It is ok to get another adult to help.
Separate the kids involved.
Make sure everyone is safe.
Meet any immediate medical or psychology needs.
Stay calm. Reassure the kids involved, including bystanders.
Model respectful behavior when you intervene.

Avoid these common mistakes:
Don’t ignore it. Don’t think kids can work it out without adult help.
•Don’t immediately try to sort out the facts.
•Don’t force other kids to say publicly what they saw.
Don’t question the children involved in front of other kids.
•Don’t talk to the kids involved together, only separately.
•Don’t make the kids involved apologize or patch up relations on the spot.
•A weapon is involved.
•There are threats of serious physical injury.
•There are threats of hate-motivated violence, such as racism or homophobia.
•There is serious bodily harm.
•There is sexual abuse.
Anyone is accused of an illegal act, such as robbery or extortion—using force to get money, property, or services.

It may help to:
Ask the child being bullied what can be done to make him or her feel safe. Remember that changes to routine should be minimized. He or she is not at fault and should not be singled out. For example, consider rearranging classroom seating plans for everyone. If bigger moves are necessary, such as switching classrooms, the child who is bullied should not be forced to change.
Be persistent. Bullying may not end overnight. Commit to making it stop and consistently support the bullied child.
Avoid these mistakes:
Never tell the child to ignore the bullying.
Do not blame the child for being bullied. Even if he or she provoked the bullying, no one deserves to be bullied.
Do not tell the child to physically fight back against the kid who is bullying. It could get the child hurt, suspended, or expelled.
Parents should resist the urge to contact the other parents involved. It may make matters worse. School or other officials can act as mediators between parents
Follow-up. Show a commitment to making bullying stop. Because bullying is behavior that repeats or has the potential to be repeated, it takes consistent effort to ensure that it stops.

Use consequences to teach
Consequences that involve learning or building empathy can help prevent future bullying. School staff should remember to follow the guidelines in their student code of conduct and other policies in developing consequences and assigning discipline.
 For example, the child who bullied can:
Lead a class discussion about how to be a good friend.
Write a story about the effects of bullying or benefits of teamwork.
Role-play a scenario or make a presentation about the importance of respecting others, the negative effects of gossip, or how to cooperate.
Do a project about civil rights and bullying.
Read a book about bullying.
Make posters for the school about cyberbullying and being smart online.

Involve the kid who bullied in making amends or repairing the situation. The goal is to help them see how their actions affect others.
For example, the child can:
Write a letter apologizing to the student who was bullied.
Do a good deed for the person who was bullied or for others in your community.
Clean up, repair, or pay for any property they damaged.
Avoid strategies that don’t work or have negative consequences.
Zero tolerance orthree strikes, you’re outstrategies don’t work. Suspending or expelling students who bully does not reduce bullying behavior. Students and teachers may be less likely to report and address bullying if suspension or expulsion is the consequence.
Conflict resolution and peer mediation don’t work for bullying. Bullying is not a conflict between people of equal power who share equal blame. Facing those who have bullied may further upset kids who have been bullied.
Group treatment for students who bully doesn’t work. Group members tend to reinforce bullying behavior in each other.
Follow-up. After the bullying issue is resolved, continue finding ways to help the child who bullied to understand how what they do affects other people. For example, praise acts of kindness or talk about what it means to be a good friend.