Write and improve

Hello again
Sorry not to have been writing much recently, but I have so much on workwise right now, that it's hard to find time to do everything I'd like to.  Still, keeps me young and active as my dad would say!

Tomorrow, I'm off to San Sebastian again (I was there last Friday too).  I'm giving a session on Writing and Speaking for Cambridge English:  First and Cambridge English: Advanced.

I try to avoid repeating anything that I've done in San Sebastian before (quite a challenging task seeing as I'm usually there 5 times every year!), so I was checking out what new stuff there is and came across a very attractive development on the Cambridge English Youtube Channel.

Write and improve

I  registered yesterday to see how it works.  You register and put in very few details

The tasks are designed for levels B1 and B2.  Students type in their answer to the question they choose (or they can write about any topic), save their answer and submit it and get feedback on their errors and sentences.

To find out more, there are two videos on the Cambridge English Youtube channel:

Try it out - pass on the link to your students and contribute to a research programme!

Creative posters to use in creative classes! - Part 1

This morning, I was checking out some recommended pins in an email I'd received from pinterest

and came across a couple of things that gave me ideas for new collections to start and also inspiration for this post!

What about putting on some stimulating music (I'll leave you to choose suitable music for yourself and your students!)

Tell students to think about things they love doing........ something they haven't done for a while - because they haven't had time, someone they haven't seen for some time and they enjoy being with and doing things with.  They could share their thoughts with a partner or in a small group.

Then, show students these 'thoughts': 

You could focus on the structure and how it is repeated throughout:

I still find each day too short for 

                           all the  +  plural noun  +  I want to  +  infinitive

The plural noun needs to collocate with the verb - you take walks, read books, see friends.

Then, you could give them the skeleton for their thoughts and they write them down, using the same structure.

Here are my 'thoughts':

I'd better get on otherwise I won't have time to phone, chat, try out or develop!

Happy Monday!!  

Inspiration from the Inspiration Room

Tomorrow morning, bright and early I'll be heading along the coast again to San Sebastian.

I'm addressing the subject of writing all morning - Developing Writing Skills for B2 & C1 learners and Preparing for Success at Cambridge English: First for Schools writing.


As I know that some people will be attending both sessions, I wanted to make them different.

For the second session, I'll be sharing some websites to use with teenage learners to inspire them for the content of the writing tasks.

One of the sites I'll be mentioning will be the Inspiration Room.

This fantastic site has adverts from around the world.

I thought the Fiat Texting or Driving campaign from Brazil would make great material for use in class

Fiat’s road safety work in Brazil has included Texting or Driving, a print and poster advertising campaign featuring the letters R (Girl), F (Bus), N (Dog), L (Truck) and Z (Cow). “You either see the letter or the bus. Don’t text and drive”. The campaign won Gold for Poster and Bronze for Art Direction in the Design category at the London International Awards.

A new view of those pictures that circulate from time to time where you can see 1 thing or another.

A little help from pins

Many of us are back to work now.  Schools here locally are with teachers, without students at the moment.  Timetables are being finalised, maintenance work being carried out and preparations to welcome the students back to class being made.

I've mentioned Pinterest before on this Blog.  I'm using it more and more both for work and hobbies.  The number of boards I have is growing all the time and I must admit, that the weekly email I get with 'Your weekly inspiration' from Pinterest is one of the emails I look forward to receiving.

So, when I received a second email from Pinterest a couple of weeks ago with the Title 'Teach with a little help from pins', I checked out the suggested pins and boards in it.  I was impressed and made a mental note to share some of them with you via this Blog.

I checked out (and have clicked to follow) the following boards:

Reading ideas.  There are some great ideas here for activities and displays.

Bulletin Boards and Charts

Where I found this:

So, I hope you enjoy my 'important thoughts' for today.  I'm going to press on and get myself geared up for this academic year.  May it be a great experience for everyone!

Reading and writing and being creative with Storybird

Recently, while I was preparing a seminar on using pictures, I came across a great site for using pictures to create stories.

Storybird

http://storybird.com/

What is Storybird?
Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print. It is a fun, collaborative, storytelling website.
Storybird was designed to allow children to work with parents and friends in creating art-inspired stories to share and save. It is also now a very popular tool to for use by teachers with their students around the globe. Users choose from art hosted on the site and build a story around those images that can then be shared with family and friends. Storybird encourages creativity and is a web tool that supports working collaboratively.
The final product can be printed, watched on screen, or shared in an online library with the world. You also have the option to keep it private on the network. 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/storybird-new-teacher-boot-camp-lisa-dabbs

There is a great slideshow explaining how to use Storybird:
http://www.slideshare.net/WakeCountyPublicLibraries/whats-your-storybird-how-to-use-storybird

I would suggest that you can use Storybird as a source of reading material.  I just keyed in the word 'tall' into the search bar on Storybird and it came up with 3,441 stories by 659 people and using pictures by 18 artists.

I read one about negative and positive feelings called 'Standing tall' that I liked (I 'hearted' it actually - a 'like' for a Storybird story).

And then of course, you could use it with students to write stories.  Storybird provides the pictures (you could use the same set of pictures as a writing challenge first and maybe they could move onto choosing their own set of pictures).

I definitely

http://www.zastavki.com/eng/Love/wallpaper-28182.htm

Storybird!

Boxes of great ideas and links

A little earlier, I was catching up on emails from sites I'm subscribed to but haven't had time to explore (happens a lot!)
After seeing posters advertising Secondary and Primary Box in Granada and Malaga at the Cambridge Experiences, I decided that it was high time  I took a look at them.

In fact, I found so many interesting things in the Resources Section of Secondary Box, that I'll be leaving Primary Box for another rainy day!

http://www.thesecondarybox.org/

I have created an account on Secondary Box and have created a box called 'Writing'.  I'm saving resources that I find on Secondary Box that I plan to try out (and share with you!) to work on writing skills.

(I'm giving a seminar here in Santander on Saturday as part of the Santander Cambridge Experience, so writing is high on my interest list right now!)

And I just wanted to give quick mention of an interesting find that I have saved in my Writing Box.  I'm going to use a screenshot because it explains so well what the blog is and what it aims to do:

http://tefldust.blogspot.it/

TESOL Spain

Just over a year ago, I gave a session at the 2012 TESOL Spain Convention in Bilbao.

I didn't make it to this year's convention in Seville because I had other commitments, but I have heard a lot about it and as a reader for the TESOL Newsletter and with friends on the Board, I try and keep up with what's happening in TESOL Spain.

I receive the e-newsletter once a month by email.  You can read this month's edition online here (and also look through the previous 10 editions). The Question and Answer with Dr David Crystal (whose plenary I had the pleasure to attend in Bilbao) is well worth reading.

I've just been looking at the TESOL Spain website too and have begun downloading the handouts from the sessions in Seville.








The fact that you can access speakers' handouts even though you weren't at the Convention or were there but couldn't go to everything at once is great.  A great initiative!


I've downloaded several sets of handouts to look through in more detail.  Many of them contain your take-away-and-use-today ideas - for example Andrea Littlewood's ideas for personalisation in the YL classroom or Fiona Mauchline's Putting the Creative Back in Writing.

And of course, our very own Cambridge English Seminar Presenter, Katie Curbelo (or Katie Maunder as she appears on the programme) was in Seville.  Her session was called Speak, Write, Learn:  Fun Activities for the Adolescent Classroom.  I'm sure the session was as practical and as useful as always.

I'll be looking at the other articles in the newsletter and downloading more handouts in the coming days when I have time to come back to the site.  If you do the same, pass on recommendations to the rest of us via this blog!

And I hope to see some of you in Granada on Saturday!

Webinars this week

I have signed up for two webinars this week.

The first, today, Monday.  I'll be connecting to the Cambridge English Language Assessment's site to attend the Webinar below:

The webinar will also take place on Wednesday morning.

From seminars, I know that correcting writing is a subject that raises a lot of discussion and interest, so I'm sure that a lot of people will be online like me.

If you can't make either of these dates or times, there is always the chance to watch a recording of the webinar and to download the slides too.

On Thursday, I'll be connecting to the Cambridge English Teacher website and the webinar by Johanna Stirling on Joined-up Listening.

See you online!  (Or in person in San Sebastian on Friday!)

Avoiding Making Mistakes in Cambridge English: First Paper 2 Writing

Myself and the rest of the Presenter Team are busy busy right now.  For the next two Fridays, I'll be going to San Sebastian to give seminars, then I'll be popping across to Rome to talk at the International House Young Learners Conference at the beginning of March as well as giving a seminar here in Santander and in Miranda del Ebro and at Deusto University.  Phew!!!

Find out where we'll be by clicking here.

As always, when I'm preparing for these sessions, I come across some great material and ideas on the web.  I saved one of them and made a note to myself to share it with you here!

It's a pdf document from one of my favourite sites for materials to prepare students for First, Advanced and Proficiency:  flo-joe.

It's not new (dated 2005), but it contains some very useful advice for students when taking Paper 2 (Writing).

Get your students to read it (and read it through the day before the exam to remind themselves) and work on suggestions like planning and paraphrasing in class.  

Right, back to seminar preparation now .......   

New YLE Handbook

Great news!

As well as the new handbooks for other exams like Cambridge English: First or Cambridge English: Advanced, Cambridge ESOL has published a new set of Sample Papers for the Cambridge English: YLE Tests.
You can access these on the Cambridge English Teacher Support Website.

Here is the link to the Starters Sample Papers (Sample Paper B is the new one)

And the even better news is that on the same site, you can find the audio files for the listening tasks!


In addition to the new Sample Papers, there is also a new Handbook.

https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/digitalAssets/117422_Young_Learners_English_Handbook.pdf

I wanted to point out that there have been some adjustments and additions to the wordlists for the three different levels.

You can read about this topic in Issue 46 of the Cambridge ESOL Research Notes.  Some (but not all) of the modifications and additions are mentioned on page 20:

As usual, I found myself nodding in agreement at the changes and additions and the justification for making them.

While I write this post, I am listening to the news.  They have just said that today is apparently the most depressing day of the year because it's post-Christmas and the mornings are so dark at this time of the year (and it's Monday of course!)  They suggest going out for a walk - I won't be doing that just yet as we are in the middle of a storm here!

Have a great week!

Yesterday, I was along the coast in San Sebastian (for the second time in a week!).   Beautiful city (in fact, the first city I visited after I first came to Spain all those years ago to work in Madrid!)

Yesterday, I was there to give two seminars:  Teaching Cambridge English: Advanced for the First Time and Teaching Cambridge English: First for the first time.

Many of the participants attended both sessions.  I knew this was going to be the case, so I made sure that the sessions complemented each other and didn't repeat materials or ideas.  I also knew that 95% of the people who were coming WEREN'T new to either of these exams, but rather, had come along for advice and ideas for them to train teachers new to the exams.

Near the end of the second session, on First, I asked different groups to discuss their ideas, tips and advice for each of the five Papers of the Cambridge English: First exam, using this handout.  (I adapted this from a document for IELTS I downloaded from Usingenglish.com here.)  Precisely, I wanted to draw on their experience and expertise (there was a lot of this in the room, believe me!)

What I suggested to the people at the seminar was that I would share this document via the Teaching Together Blog.  Then, I will write up the suggestions that the groups in San Sebastian came up with and consider each of the five Papers in five separate blog posts.

It would be great if readers of this blog could also send in their ideas!  We can learn so much from each other!

Do you still use a red pen?

I was following a link from one of my subscription emails to a Forum Debate on tes.co.uk.

The question being discussed is:

Do you still use a red pen?

Here are a few of the comments posted in reply to this question from tes.co.uu:

We have to mark in green because, apparantly, the children get upset if their work has red marking on it! Now green is the new red!  Having marked in all the other colours of the rainbow over the years, we now HAVE to mark in red... I mark in black or blue for positive comments and in red to highlight the mistakes the students makes and my feedback, otherwise they would not take notice of what  they have done wrong and why. I mark in both green and red. The more the green the better the work, the more the red, the more mistakes they have made. I think its right to highlight the negative elements so that they know what to fix for next time. The worst thing I think is when kids don't review their homework and this is likely if the marking is monotone and uninteresting ... http://www.eltvista.com/2011/07/using-correction-codes-saving-your-students-from-going-down-with-their-slips-in-a-sea-of-red-ink/ What about you?  Do you use a particular pen for marking students' written work?  Do you think it makes a difference? We will come back to the subject of correcting written work in another post! http://www.getfreeimage.com/image/15/check-and-cross-marks-icon

As you like it:Catching Up in an Age of Global English

I was re-reading a report today of a study into the future of the English language, published in 2007.

The report, 'As You Like It: Catching Up in an Age of Global English', focuses on various issues, including the continuing fall in the number of school and university students in the UK who study a language other than their mother tongue.

The pessimistic view expressed in the report about the state of foreign language learning in the UK seems to be born out by an article in the Times Higher Education last week,  with the headline:

"Tongue-tied UK badly equipped to join in the conversation of nations"

This report contains some thought-provoking figures, for example:

There has been a general fall in the number of people applying to UK universities this year :

Much of this decrease is explained by a sharp decline in applications from older students - those in their twenties as distinct from school-leavers aged 18 among whom the application rate is down only slightly.

The biggest worry is the marked decline in languages and related studies. There has long been anxiety that the new funding arrangements would adversely affect language studies, partly because many language courses require an additional year of study and thus an additional year's worth of debt. Now we have evidence. Applications to European language courses are down by 11.2 per cent, those to non-European languages are down by 21.5 per cent: both decreases are well above the average decline across all subjects.

The writer of the article: Sir Adam Roberts, is president of the British Academy. He expresses concerns raised in As You Like It, such as: 

We Brits are at risk of becoming a nation of monoglots in a world of polyglots. 

All this contrasts starkly with the article from the ABC I referred to in a previous post. The 25,000 Spaniards contributing to the National Insurance Scheme in the UK and the 40,000 Spanish students taking a language course somewhere in the UK each year.

I found myself nodding on reading the following reflection on learning another language in an article published in the Guardian yesterday: 

the initial years of studying a language are tough: there is no escape from the grind of learning how to conjugate verbs, construct sentences and to absorb enough words to begin to understand what is written and said.

To elect to do this, young boys and girls need to know that, like practising a musical instrument, designing clothes or playing a sport, the end-result will be worthwhile. They need teachers who can inspire them, classmates who encourage them and families who understand the value of the skill. In Britain, none of this exists to a sufficient degree.

 

Let's hope our students are not reluctant to learn another language and see it as something useful!!!

If you need some arguments to convince them, there are lots in this New York Times article:

English Is Global, So Why Learn Arabic?

You could give each student or group of students one of the different views put forward by the 6 debaters - all of them coincide in the desirability for everyone to speak at least one other language.

And you can also read what the readers of the New York Times have to say on the matter.

Why not follow this up with some essay writing practice:

"Everyone should learn at least one foreign language" Why?