Do schools kill creativity? Sir Ken Robinson again.

At the very beginning of this blog, I posted a video of Sir Ken Robinson speech on creativity. Now I have found an interview with him on the same topic. I really love his ideas.
Do you agree with all these? Here you have some of Sir Ken Robinson's statements for you to think about:
The problem is that education systems need to be transformed.
Most education system confuse intelligence with academic ability




Part II

"THIS BLOG IS A JEWEL" AWARD

Dear Andreia of ESL First Steps: THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED!


Teaching English to Primary Children has received the award "THIS BLOG IS A JEWEL"!
I am really grateful to Andreia who has given it to me! On this special day, 8th March, International Women's Day, I devote this award to all the women who are teachers and every day try to do their best to improve their pupil's education.


These are my eight things I would like to do before I die:

1. Keep loving my family
2. Be the best auntie
3. Have a baby girl called Clara
4. Keep learning
5. Keep teaching
6. Help the world achieving social justice
7. Paint a picture
8. Travel around the world

And these are the eight blogs I choose to give them the award "THIS BLOG IS A JEWEL"

1. http://ticcancanto.blogspot.com
2. http://1r2ncatala.blogspot.com/
3. http://blocsillencs.blogspot.com/
4. http://classeitic.blogspot.com/
5. http://auroenglish.blogspot.com/
6. http://pelsite.blogspot.com/
7. http://cepeivissa-llestrangeres.blogspot.com/
8. http://raconsdecolors.blogspot.com/
   

Now, remember that you all have to write the eight things you would like to do and choose eight more blogs to give the award.

And again: Andreia, THANK YOU!

Be linguistically sustainable!

Interesting document here: DECALOGUE.BE LINGUISTICALLY SUSTAINABLE.

Article 4: Languages open up new horizons.
Therefore, let's open new horizons to our students!

Thanks to Helena Alvarado who has sent it to me.

International Mother Language Day

21st February it's the International Mother Language Day launched by United Nations in 1999 and observed since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

As an English teacher I love learning and teaching languages. Therefore, I have a special interest in developing in my students some language concern. I also try to work with them concepts as lifelong language learning.
I think that you may agree with this believes and so I have decided to share with you this websites that I have found and that I really like.

United Nations website on International Mother Language Day

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Education on Unesco website

Map of languages of instruction in Europe here

World Day of Social Justice

20 th February is the World Day of Social Justiced launched by United Nations. This year is going to be observed for the first time.
I have no doubt that education can also be a way to achieve social justice in our world.

Visit the web clicking here

Congratulations, Mr President!

Will President Obama be a President for Peace?

Listen to his swearing:



The Oath of office for President
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So, help me God".

Listen and read his Inauguration speech here

DENIP: 30th January. School Day of Non-violence and Peace

DENIP: Working to promote a Culture and an independent, free and voluntary
Education for Non-violence and Peace from 1964.

It is celebrated on 30th January.
1. The "School Day of Non-violence and Peace" (DENIP), founded in 1964 and also known as World or International Day of Non-violence and Peace, is a pioneering, non-state, non-governmental, non-official, independent, free and voluntary initiative of Non-violent and Pacifying Education, which is now practised in schools all over the world and in which centres of education, teachers and students of all levels and from all countries are invited to take part.
2. It advocates a permanent education in and for harmony, tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights, non-violence and peace.
3. It is observed on January 30 or thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi. In countries with a Southern Hemisphere school calendar, it can be observed on March 30 or thereabouts.
4. Its basic message is: "Universal Love, Non-violence and Peace. Universal Love is better than egoism, Non-violence is better than violence, amd Peace is better than war".
5. The method of teaching this activity of education in values should be one of experiences and it can be freely applied in each centre of education according to its own teaching style.
6. Friends of DENIP are those persons who, by accepting the spiritual, individual and social supremacy of universal love, non-violence, tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights and peace above their opposites, advocate the diffusion of the principles which inspired the day.
Llorenç Vidal. Founder of DENIP

Visit DENIP website.

Peace eduaction programme

THERE IS NO WAY TO PEACE, PEACE IS THE WAY - A.J. MUSTE

I think Peace and Human Rights have to be core contents in our teaching. Here you've some resources for the integration of peace education in your teaching.

UNESCO Culture of Peace: Because the year 2000 is the International Year for the Culture of Peace (UN Doc A/RES/52/15) and the period 2001-2010 is the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (UN Doc A/RES/53/25), there is no better time to join the global movement to educate for a sustainable culture of peace.

"A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems, have the skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice non-violently, live by international standards of human rights and equity, appreciate cultural diversity, and respect the Earth and each other. Such learning can only be achieved with systematic education for peace." -Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education

Visit the UN website for peace education

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Daniel Barenboim has said at the New Year's Day concert in Vienna:

"We hope 2009 will be a year of peace in the world and of human justice in the Middle East."

I hope so too!

Raise your hand against smacking

Christmas time is the time of the year to spend with our loved ones, but anyway, children are the most important and the ones who live it with most passion... So it is a good moment, to spread the message of the new initiative of the Council of Europe.

There is a campaign on Spanish TV that I love. It is the campaign against corporal punishment for children, "Raise your hand against smacking" launched by the Council of Europe.

No religion, economic situation or "educational" method can justify hitting, smacking, spanking, abusing, humiliating, or any other practice that violates a child's dignity. It is internationally recognised in human rights law that children have a right to protection from all forms of violence, including corporal punishment in all settings – home, school, penal systems, care institutions. (Nothing can justify violence toward children on coe.int)

Christmas

Short video on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens on teachers.tv site


Synopsis

A quick burst of festive spirit, as Michael Rosen visits Charles Dickens' London home to explore his Christmas legacy.

Michael Rosen, Children's Laureate visits 48 Doughty St, the elegant townhouse in London where Dickens and his family once lived.

Now a museum, Michael looks at how the house could have inspired characters from Dickens' Christmas classic A Christmas Carol and views memorabilia from the time it was written.

The programme will give students and teachers an insight into how Dickens helped shape the Christmas we know today, as well as being a way to inject a bit of Christmas spirit in the classroom.

Read it here.

Learn more about A Christmas Carol here.
And here too

More methodology

Here you have some interesting tips on methodology. They are really good pieces of advice for language teachers. I strongly recommend this reading.

Orientaciones metodológicas. Junta de Andalucía.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

On 10th December is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

United Nations Office of the High Comissioner for Human Rights.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. FULL TEXT (pdf) or web

Read the related news on United Nations website.
Visit the Council of Europe related news website.
Read the related news on Unesco website too.

Unesco has developed six internationally-agreed education goals that are aimed to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015. Read a short presentation for children in my Primary English blog.

Watch this video by Amnesty International.

Teaching English as a foreign language to children

Tomorrow we are doing a lesson on English teaching. We will comment on two basic documents, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the Primary English syllabus of the Balearic Islands.

But anyway, I would like to highlight some points that I always try to follow in my Primary English lessons. I strongly recommend the following pieces of advice:

1. Start working oral skills. Example: I like fish. It is good for me,
   
2. Sing - use songs to practise and learn vocabulary and grammar patterns
3. Storytelling. Examples: Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan in Neverland
   
4. Use pictures, gestures and body to explain meanings. Example: What's the weather like today?,
   
5. Do not translate
6. Use English as much as you can, especially at the lowest levels.
7. Introduce L1 only in difficult learning activities for example, when children have to think about grammar or about the way language works.
   
8. After having introduced oral skills, start with written skills
9. Write and draw lists of vocabulary
10. Check previous knowledge before introducing new contents. Example: Are there any computers in our school?
    
11. Integrate vocabulary into the related grammar patterns. Example:Ibizan animals
    
12. Use the language learned to communicate -although it is a simple and basic idea. Example: A tour around my town,
13. Take advantage of the festivals during the school year: Halloween, All Saints Day, Christmas
    
14. Introduce universal topics to meet CLIL standpoints: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Children's Day
    
15. Ask your students to do projects: specific final tasks in which students use all their language knowledge to achieve a goal -although it is a little goal. Examples: Introducing myself (oral project), My life (written project)
    
16. Ask your students to pay attention to the Art part of their final assignment/project/task. Example: My monster
    
17. Engage your students in doing their own Language Portfolio -electronic or not. Examples: Primary blogfolios
18. Use ICT to support your constructivist methodology
    
19. Work on children's attitude towards language learning and other important concepts: autonomous language learner, lifelong language learning, self-assessment. See the Portfolio web site to develop these standpoints.
    
20. Be a blogger. Create a blog for your subject. Example: We like English!

Interesting documents

Here you have got some interesting documents on e-learning:

HIGHSCHOOL.COM

BLENDED LEARNING GUIDE

LEARNING SOLUTIONS. E-MAGAZINE

DEFINING INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA DESIGN EDUCATION

And another really interesting matrix:

No Strings Attached: Wireless Laptops in Education.

TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING 2008

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, Knowledge, Skills and Tools for the Learning 2.0 Age

Visit the web

Technology Integration Matrix

What is the Technology Integration Matrix?

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.

Technology Integration Matrix

Obama on Education

I think it could be a great language and teaching practice if we checked what Obama has said about Education during his compaign.

Would it be possible that a Spanish politician could say the same? Would Spanish teachers accept a plan like this?




Not bad...

NO CHILDREN PORNOGRAPHY

The Universal Children's Day is on 20th November. Post this picture on your blog to join the blogcampaign against pederasts.

Teaching through competence-based curriculum

Here are some documents about competences.
Our new law of education, LOE, focus on competence teaching as you all know.
But the Council of Europe has been developing the competence theory for a long time.
Here you've got some interesting documents about key competences.

KEY COMPETENCE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING. A EUROPEAN REFERENCE FRAMEWORK

Council conclusions on the European on the European Indicator of Language Comptenece

Don't forget the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as it focus on linguistic comptence as we have said in older posts.