End of the year!!

Hi there!!

Last Friday we had the last class!! I'm guessing you are all feeling relieved!!

I just wanted to thank you for the positive feedback you gave me. The truth is that I love teaching and I really try to do my best! As we keep saying in our classes, even after many years of practice there is no magic recipe. Some classes go great and others not so much. We never stop learning. I believe that one of the most important factors to have a positive, enriching experience in any classroom is to create a warm, relaxed and trusting atmosphere...

Also, for me it is important to be coherent: to teach doing what I tell you you should do. And your feedback tells me you notice and appreciate this. So... thanks!!!

Good luck in your exams and...

Term test...check! Next... presentations and make up

Hi there!! How are you?

Today we had the second term test...I'll do my very best to finish correcting for next Friday. So next Friday we can decide together when the make up will bt e.

Next Friday we have the presentation on Tools, techniques and activities... we are all looking forward to it!!

Well, I know you are very tired.... but we have only a few more weeks to go, so let's make one last effort!!!

Last Friday and next Friday

Hi there!!

Last Friday we met... quite unexpectedly since we thought there were not going to be classes...and we had a class I hope you found useful and enriching.... We did some studying and revising together and I gave you clues as to what the questions of the exam are going to be...

Soooo.... I'm looking forard to your getting a lot of nine's and ten's in the second term test!!

See you on Friday!!!

Second presentation...ready!

Hi there!!

Last Friday we had the second presentation; it was about Focusing on Language...the girls did a great job!! The presentation was clear, entertaining and the powerpoint was really helpful....Well done!!

Next Friday there are no classes (because of the elections)...so we are meeting again on Friday 27th October fot the Term Test!!

First presentation... ready!!

Hi there!!

On Friday we had the first presentation: Celeste, Paula and Flor K. delivered their presentation on Classroom Management. They did a really great job.... Congrats !!!

At the end of their presentation we gave a couple of examples of what could be exam questions from that unit.

Remember that next Friday we are meeting at the Chamber of Commerce for a Seminar, at 6pm.

And on Friday 13th we'll have the second presentation, on Focus on Language.

And now...

Planning lessons and courses

Hi there!!

On Friday we dealt with the material on Planning Lessons and Courses. Unfortunately, very few students had read the material...Still, we managed to discuss some important ideas on the topic. You should download the questionnaire from the blog and finish it on your own, since next class we already start with presentations....

Bear in mind that in a few weeks we will be having the Second Term Test.... you should catch up with your reading!!

On Friday we will have the first presentation, so please try not to be late so you do not interrupt the group in charge.

Yearly plan and others

Hi there!

How are you??

Yesterday we finished dealing with the theory of Syllabus Design and of the Foreign Language Curriculum. And you started working in groups on your own Yearly Plans.

Next week we will deal with Planning Lessons and Courses, and the following week we will have the first presentation.

So, for homework, you should read the material on Planning Lessons and Courses and work on your Yearly Plans, which you have to hand in on September 29th.

Well, that's all for now!!

Syllabus Design

Hi there!!

How are you doing on this rainy weekend??

Last Friday you worked in groups (organized according to the first letter of your names) on the questionnaire on Syllabus Design. The we shared the asnwers. We dealt with the first ten questions. For next class you must answer the questions on the "Diseño Curricular", which we will check together at the beginning of the class. Then you will have to design a yearly plan in groups.

Important!!!

We have moved the presentations back one week: instead of starting on the 22nd we will start on the 29th. The date of the term test remains the same. The topic "Testing" will not be included in the exam.

I really hope tomorrow you spend an amazing day!!

TBLT and Syllabus Design

Hi there!!

How is your weekend going? Or, if you are reading this after Monday,how is your week going?

Just a few lines to let you know that last class we finally finished unit 1, on Methods and Approaches. And we started Unit 2. We mentioned only a  few  ideas related withSyllabus Design, so next Friday we'll get into it.

Make sure to read the material and print the questionnaire!!

TBLT

Hi there!!

On Friday many students absent...probably because of the unfavorable weather conditions...

We finished dealing with the Natural Approach and then you got into four groups (according to favorite colour) and worked on different sections of the chapter on TBLT.

Next class each group will present a short summary of their sections and then we will all work with some true/false statements that you had to write.

Also, we wil start working on Syllabus Design, so you have to read the material on Syllabus Design and the Diseño Curricular. Finally, you should print the questionnaire on Syllabus Design that you can find in this blog.

The Natural Approach, presentations and others

Hi there!!

How are you? I hope you are fine and enjoying your weekend!!!

On Friday we met again after the Winter Break.... we dealt with the Natural Approach, discussing Krashen's five hypotheses to explain SLA. That discussion led to a reflection of situations we have all experienced as students in which our rights as learners are not respected. More specifically, we reflected on how exam situations do not take the Affective Filter into account... My conclusion is: think of the positive experiences you have as students and try to replicate them when you are the teacher. And think of all the negative experiences and try to do things differently when you are the teacher. What do you think?

Also, and very importantly, we organized the presentations for this second part of the year. Those of you who were absent must join one of the groups....

Group	Topic	Likely date
Paula, Celeste, Flor K., Luciana and Fernanda	Classroom Management	September 22nd
Ayelén, Ivanna, Flor L., Araceli	Focus on Language	September 29th
Natalia, Daniel Lo, Rocío, Carla and Sabrina	Tools, techniques and activities	October 6th
Yanina, Ana, Milton, Sandra and Angélica	Testing	October 13th
Daniel Le, Camila, Luciano, Agustina	Educational Technology	October 27th

Bear in mind that it says "likely date", which means that there might be changes. According to our plan, on October 20th we will have the Second Term Test.

Some ideas to bear in mind as regards the presentations:

• the presentation should be one hour long
• make sure to have plan A, plan B and plan C (you know that unexpected things always happen in teaching)
• check the contents so all the groups members have equal parts. (Remember that there will be an individual score and a group score)
• Use visual aids
• Do not include a lot of text in the slides. And DO NOT READ from the slides.
• Prepare at least one activity for your classmates
• Make it dynamic... remember we have classes on Friday evenings!!

Well, that's all for today...

Tomorrow

Hi there!! Tomorrow we'll meet again after several weeks... We will deal with the Natural Approach and we will organize the presentations for this second term...

Are you ready to get back to work?

See you tomorrow!!!

Coming next...make up!

Hi there!!

Yesterday we had our last regular class before the winter break. We finished working on CLT and we started working on the Natural Approach.

As next week we are having the make up, I will be seeing most of you after the holidays. For homework you have to finish answering the questionnaire on Natural Approach and read the chapter on Task Based Language Teaching.

Some of you I will be seeing on Friday, so that's all for now

Getting there!!

Hello!!

How are you?? I know you are all very tired.... WE are tired, in fact, but the Winter Break is almost here, so hold on!!

Yesterday we worked on CLT (always comparing it to previous approaches and to current trends in education: remember it is important to have the timeline perspective in mind). At times, the questions and answers led us a little away from the topic... in fact, there were several interesting ideas that we reflected on yesterday (such as the concept of "needs analysis", or how to deal with heterogeneous groups; we also  mentioned the current plurilingual multicultural approach).

Next Friday we will finish dealing with CLT (only a few more questions to go!), and then we will work on the Natural Approach, so make sure to read about it in chapter 15. Also, print the questionnaire on it that you can find in this blog. I do not ask you to answer it because I know you have two term tests next week, so....

and...

Class of June 23rd...

Hi there!!

On Friday we met again... most of you were anxious both about the results you were expecting and the term test you were about to have in English and its teaching....

In that context, we focused on having feedback on the term test:

• general feedback (about attitudes, behaviour, etc)
• linguistic feedback (about language mistakes in the test: and we introduced the difference between mistakes and errors)
• content feedback (about some questions which turned out to be more problematic than others)

We also agreed on the date for the make up: July 14th. 

We did not use the little time we had left for discussing CLT because, as you were focused on the term test you were about to have, it did not seem advisable to get into new concepts.... 

For next class, please re read the chapter on CLT and finish answering the questionnaire (not to hand in but to discuss in class). Also, print the questionnaire on Natural Approach (but do not answer it).

That's all for now...

Term test and others

Hi there!!

We have just had our first term test. I'll do my best to finish correcting for next Friday.

For next class, re read the chapter on CLT and finish answering the questionnaire.

Well...that's all for now. I hope you have a fabulous week!!

Friday 9th

Hi!!

As I had let you know last Friday, tomorrow I will be absent, So we'll meet again on Friday 16th for the term test.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Hello!!

Today we had a class on CLT. We only discussed some questions of the questionnaire... it is a very rich approach and there are many ideas to focus on.

Today we agreed, on the request of the majority, that the term test will be on June 16th. We are moving it forward one week so it does not coincide with the exam of English and its teaching I.

Bear in  mind that most likely I will be absent next week. (I will confirm so next Thursday, so make sure to check the blog!!).

The topics to be included in the term test are all we have studied so far: History of Language Teaching, the Nature of Methods and Approaches, Audiolingualism, Whole Language and the aspects of CLT we dealt with in class today.

So...

IMPORTANT!!!

Hi there!!

Since you have let me know that you'd prefer the term test to be on June 16th (rather than on June 23rd), I have made a few adjustments. And, I need you to print (from this blog, check the pages on top) the questionnaire on CLT, chapter. We'll be using it on Friday.

Thanks!! See you on Friday!

Whole Language

Hi there!!

How are you on this cold Autumn morning?

Yesterday evening we had classes: this time we focused on Whole Language and the important contributions it has made to teaching in general and second language teaching in particular. It was a brief chapter but it introduced some key principles on the nature of language and on learning... do you remember what they are?

For next class you have to read chapter 14 on Communicative Language Teaching. Also, bear in mind that we are having the term test in less than a month, so you should start getting ready.

There's only one more thing to say...

Audiolingualism and presentations

Hi!!

Just a couple of hours ago, you delivered your mini presentations on different aspects of Audiolingualism.

Here are your posters:

Afterwards, we went over the central ideas of this approach one more time.

For next Friday, you should read chapter 9 on Whole Language.

Group work

Hi there!!

Yesterday we worked on Audiolingualism. You got together into five groups: background, approach, design 1, design 2 and decline. Each group specialized in one aspect of Audiolingualism and prepared a poster. As I monitores, I could see really good group work: well done!!

Next class, each group will deliver a mini presentation on the section they have been working on... Don't forget your posters!!

The good news for you is that you do not need to read any new material for next week. All you need to do is revise a little so you do not forget everything you worked on yesterday.

Here's how nicely you worked yesterday:

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Tough class

Helloooo!!

How are you? Have you survived the class on the nature of methods and approaches? I know it was hard, demanding and tiring. Just trust me when I tell you that it will all make more sense in a couple of weeks.

Remember for next class you must read chapter 4 on Audiolingualism.

Third class

Hello!!

How are you?? I'm guessing you are very well right now...

isn´t it??

Today (or I think I should already say yesterday) we finished working on chapter 1 on the history of language teaching. We had time to start dealing with chapter 2, but there is still most of the work on it to do.

For homework you should complete the questionnaire on chapter 2 (not to hand in, to share in class), and you should read chapter 4 on Audiolingualism.

Well...that's all for now.... Have a ...

Second class

Hi there!!

How are you?

Yesterday we met for our second class. First, we got into groups (determined by birth date). Second, you worked in groups on a questionnaire on the chapter about the history of language teaching. Finally, we started sharing the answers of the questionnaire (we did not finish... we'll continue next class)

For next class you should:

• re read chapter 1 and the answers to the questionnaire (so you have ideas fresh in your mind when we discuss it)
• read chapter 2 on The Nature of Approaches and Methods
• print (only print; do not answer) the questionnaire on chapter 2 from this blog.

Also, I wanted to welcome the students who just started yesterday: Welcome Daniel Lempke, Mirian P., Paola and Milagros!!

Finally, I want to stress the importance of your reading for each class. Yesterday I could see that more than half the class had not read the material, which makes it more difficult and less enriching to work together. 

And now yes...

Enjoy it!!!!

In case you are interested

Hi there!!

A teacher I know is interested in selling the following used books..

Let me know if you are interested (or you know someone who is).

Welcome to Didáctica II !!!

Hi there!!

Today we had our first class together!! We did a couple of activities to get to know one another (since the more comfortable we learn the better we will learn together), and then we discussed some important aspects of the subject.

It is important that you remember:

• You should always read the material for each class (so you can follow the classes and participate)
• You should arrive on time: we have very little time together, let's make the most of it!
• If you want to promote you should attend 60% or more of our classes, you should get 7 or more in both term tests and in every assignment we have during the year, you should participate actively in most classes and you must have the passed the final of Didáctica I by August)
• You should frequently check the blog .

Please feel free to ask any questions you have!

We are meeting in two weeks now... remember to get the material from Milgraff and read chapter 1 on History of Language Teaching.

That's all for now...

It's been a pleasure to meet you all