Saturday 29 June 2013

People

Today I want to start with a gift for my first readers (a majority of women) :)

 Look at this photo:
who is this man?
where is he from?
what's his job?
can you describe him? what does he look like? what is he wearing?
if you don't know him, can you try and guess anything about his life?
Now click on the photo, read the article and find out who he is...




Would you like to meet someone like him? I would take the possibility into consideration ;).


I'm sorry, but instead of meeting him on this blog, you will listen to a teacher of English, who is introducing herself, and she is asking a lot of questions to you as well.

First listen to her (possibly, don't look at the script during your first listening) than listen and read, and finally try to answer all her questions

Click on this link.

You can write your answers and pretend to speak with the teacher you heard, stopping her while she is speaking.




Complete the following cloze: use the suggested words

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Why should teachers learn English


Very often we hear the same statements: on one hand the world is changing very fast, and on the other hand the school is suffering from a lack of investment. At least that is the situation in the Italian state school.



In this context, primary school teachers in Italy are involved in a project, that offers them the opportunity of learning English: the Italian education ministery has invested ia learning programme that is developed over three years in which teachers attend a course with traditional classes and learning modules  on line. Some teachers complain that it doesn't represent the most effective way of learning a language, but I think it is a good opportunuty and it does represent a start.

Even though I have met many colleagues who are doing a really good job to learn and keep up their English,
I realise that this is a heavy burden on top of their everyday workload (it is a time of budget cuts and limited resourcing which has transformed our schools and ways of teaching over the last five years).

Considering all this I feel like reflecting on a few ideas:

Teachers have a very important and delicate task: they are there to help their students to face the world. It is a long process; a learning journey along many pathways, that give pupils the right instruments to interpret the natural and social environment - skills that represent the first steps to have the chance of acting on the world stage.
It is true, nevertheless, that teachers do not have to know everything (we can't afford all the human knowledge!), but they do need some basic skills for reading and interpreting reality and the ability to select relevant information from the rest.
I think that in the key competences of teachers, there must be space for the European language, if they want to help their students to become conscientious European citizens.
I agree that considering a B1 level of English for teaching in the primary school is probably not enough, but it is a start, and the possibility should be offered to all teachers.
There are colleagues that might never teach English in their career,  but they may still need  a media to communicate, in order to share ideas and experiences with other teachers around the world.

Nevertheless, even if you completely agree with all I have said so far, there is still another problem: how can you possibly learn a language when you have to deal with everyday life and work, and the very short time left? That is the point. It is a big challenge which I want to take up on this blog!
Keep in touch!




Wednesday 12 June 2013

Teaching: a matter of relationships

Click on the video and you can select the subtitles (bottom, right). I suggest to chose English for the first listening, and then your own language.



Sunday 2 June 2013