Which training courses would you like to have access to as a teacher? Why? Which is, in your opinion, the best way to share good practice amongst teaching professionals? Why?

From my point of view, teaching is a job that encourages your own growth because to do it well requires your own continuous education. There is no denying that teachers are constantly learning. It is widely recognised the need to improve the education and professionalism of teachers in order to increase student attainment and interest in each subject. Thanks to this educational institution, we can choose from various types of teachers training courses depending on your area, level, online or face-to-face courses and so on. Most courses are taught by secondary school teachers and this fact is really important as we can share good practices. They know what is interesting, motivating in class and what doesn’t attract students’ attention.

Everybody knows that English is so important for teachers. Nowadays, there are plenty of options to study English: online courses, speaking courses, how to teach your subject in English and many more. But, in my opinion teachers need training courses where we can be fully immersed in the life of a teacher from day one; you also spend time in at least one other school to gain the broad experience required to become a qualified teachers.

Other courses that are essential for teachers are ICT courses. If you have solid background knowledge about new technology, you will benefit from the wide array of practical activities. One interesting course about this area is practical uses for mobile technology as tablets or smartphones. I think that the use of mobile technology gives your students the incentive to participate in the activity by engaging them more fully.

Other fascinating training courses that I strongly recommend are:

o    Interactive whiteboards, where teachers will learn that an IWB can be a tool for engaging students.

o    Creative methodology for the classroom

o    Some course of yoga o Pilates.  From my own experience, I know that this sort of courses is designed to help you manage your own stress.

Finally, regarding the best way to share good practice, there are several options. One of them could be Moodle, for instance, to share and publish didactical material. Another one could be blogs where you can share your experiences with your colleagues and vice versa. Teacher’ community for sharing materials and experiences or exchange of practices in a partner school could be other good ways to share will your partners.

To conclude, I believe if you want to be a good teacher, you will have to do continuous training courses of your area, English’s courses and ICT’s courses.

If you were not limited by the demands of the national/regional curriculum, what would you say is the most important thing you would teach your students about your subject? How you assess their learning?

I am a Technology teacher in Secondary and from my subject I would teach not only technology but how to use this knowledge in order to solve daily problems or situations. In my opinion learn technology is more to memorize theory, students have to design and construct a solution for problems.

I think that the use of CLL is so necessary in the school, because this way students will be able to acquire the concepts of both subjects and the acquisition of another language at the point of develop the our basic skills of learning. This it would be my first change in the high school.

On the other hand I would also like that the teaching of the all subjects was more real, that is to say, an education where the students could develop their learning daily and manipulative real situations as technology teachers do. I would like an education where students can learn things that they are really going to use in their near future.

In a CLIL context forms of assessment must conform to the criteria and content we are explaining in class. In this context we intend real and effective language learning and that this can be applied in different contexts so I think that we lead different contexts for students to learns and further evaluated in terms of the different contexts.

It is important to note that teachers must not only focus on how to assess because future situations that our students will not only live but will be varied. From my point of view, I would do small tests to assess different styles, such wording would that do to assess their level of written knowledge for a report’s project, could also ask them to make a group presentation of the project to  the rest of the class, for instance. I think that the most important thing is to prepare students for a future situation and the best way is to confront these situations.

To sum up, in my opinion the most important in a CLIL context is that teachers regardless of the subject they impart are aware that we are language teachers and should facilitate and encourage the learning of a language.

Taking into account my personal teaching context, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of using ELP with my groups?

The European Language Portfolio is a personal document of a learner. In this document, learners of all ages include their official recognition achieved during the learning of a language and a record of cultural experiences at school or outside school regarding contacts with other languages and cultures. So, the ELP has three parts: a language passport, a language biography and a dossier with samples of their work in the language.

The ELP has several uses, for example improving language learning and self-assessment, to encourage people to learn languages-through their lives, to facilitate mobility in Europe and to please understanding among European Citizens.

The functions of ELP, from a pedagogical view are several: transparency in the learning process, self-assessment, responsibility and autonomy; from the point of view of information gives teachers real information by diplomas and facilitates mobility.

From my point of view, the advantages of using the ELP with my students are great because students can write their own experiences and can see how they are improving in language. In addition, it makes students more responsible for their knowledge and their learning and promotes tolerance towards another language and cultures as it is a sharing that brings us to other language and cultures.

On the other hand, I consider that its use in class can have some disadvantages. Firstly, most of the teachers are not prepared for using the ELP and moreover they don’t have enough time in class to use it as diary tool. Another disadvantage is that using portfolio requires carefully defined criteria for review and also training for reviewers.  The last one drawback is that the portfolio cannot be just a collection of works that does not reflect student’s growth. It has to be something more than a box of things that students elaborate and teachers save.

To sum up, the use of ELP contributes to develop many basic competences in education as the achievement of autonomy by the students. Indeed, with this tool the language learner is aware of their needs, skills and the new abilities to learn and how to manage their own learning process. It also helps to record their personal language experience and achieve personal goals. In addition, ELP is a document that brings teachers to the realities of our classrooms where increasingly more cultural diversity.

The main features of CLIL and the importance of including them in the teaching repertoire.

CLIL is an umbrella term that embraces any type of programme where an additional language is used to teach non-linguistic content matter and the essence of CLIL is in integration. In addition, the main objective is to promote both content and language mastery to predefined levels.

CLIL methodology has 6 core features and it is very important that teachers include them in the teaching repertoire. One of these features is multiple focus, supporting language and content learning in classes and organizing learning through cross-curricular themes and projects. Another one, is safe and enriching learning environment, involves guiding access to authentic learning materials and building student confidence to experiment with language and content and using classroom learning centres.

Authenticity, as a core feature of CLIL, involves using current material from the media and other sources (coins, dices, on-line games, etc.) and making a regular connection between learning and the students' lives (e.g. personalizing the tasks). While, active learning, as another core feature, involves students communicating more than the teacher and teachers acting as facilitators. In addition this feature involves favouring peer co-operative work (pair work, group work, whole class).

Finally, the two last core features are scaffolding and co-operation. The former involves fostering creative and critical thinking and building on a student's existing knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests and experience. While the latter involves planning courses, lessons or themes in co-operation with CLIL and non-CLIL teachers (e.g. through a Comenius project).

All these core features need to be taken into account during the planning and delivery of CLIL lessons. It is precisely the integration of these features in the teaching repertoire, which presents a challenge to teachers and a success instruction in a foreign language.

To conclude, I believe that after some time working with a CLIL approach teachers become more creative and self-confident. They are able to design units, to create, adapt and share their own material with their colleagues and thus, develop their professional competence and prepare their students to use the 21^st Century skills.

How can teachers link language learning and communicative competence with Bloom’s thinking skills?

Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist and the first to develop a hierarchy of six thinking skills. Since 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy has served as a guide for teachers to think about how they can design lessons that will help their students to think critically. In addition, Bloom’s Taxonomy has had a tremendous influence in assisting teacher of any subject matter to design instructional activities that cover the six levels of the hierarchy.

Teachers can link language learning and communicative competence in a foreign language with Bloom’s thinking skills following their hierarchy of six levels. It’s important to note that each step requires a higher level of thinking and Bloom’s taxonomy can be followed and adapted for every subject and level, even at the elementary level.

On the most basic level, knowledge, students have to recall information about a topic and they are asked to identify vocabulary and define terms of this topic. On the second level, comprehension, students will understand information about the lesson. Teachers can prepare a power point presentation to encourage their students to speak in class.

At the next two levels, application and analysis, students will have to apply and analyze knowledge, using knowledge gained in previous levels to solve problems and analyze information. For example, teachers can prepare a debate activity about a situation to improve the communicative competence of their students.

On the fifth level, synthesis, students create a product on the basis of given criteria, making an oral presentation o writing an essay about one topic of the lesson, for instance. And finally, on the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, evaluation, teachers challenge students to develop high-level critical thinking skills and students are asked to make options and provide evidence for those options.

In conclusion, there is a fundamental difference between teaching content through a foreign language and in a foreign language because it implies integration of content and language leaning. Bloom’s taxonomy is a tool to promote high-order thinking skills and the link with language learning.

THE BEST TEACHER I’VE EVER HAD

From my point of view to be a teacher is more than a profession it is a lifestyle. A teacher is a person who likes teaching has to be patient, and to be able to transmit values and knowledge to their students in classroom.

I can remember when I was ten years old and I played with my younger brother, he used to say to me that I would be a good teacher because I liked very much children and I help him with his homework. I couldn’t imagine that I would end up being a teacher in high school.

From time to time people ask me why I’m a teacher and I always say the same answer, because of my teachers in the school.

I have to say that I've been very lucky with my teachers. In primary school I had a teacher named “Don Antonio”. He was a kind, patient and cheerful man. He accompanied me for only 2 years but, he changed my life. He taught us a lot of things like reading, writing and adding, for instance. But he taught us more than only academic knowledge; he taught us to be responsible, independent and the most important thing, to be good people in the future.

When I was in secondary school, I was very surprised because I had a lot of teachers, one for each subject. Some teachers were extremely boring but I have nice memories of my science teacher, particularly. She named Vicki. I can remember she had a passion for science and she succeeded in covering that to us. She was, in others words, the perfect teacher for my because of her passion for teaching.

Finally I studied Chemical Engineering because I liked science. Nowadays I’m a technology teacher.  For me, the most important thing is to be a good teacher and I try to follow the example of my teachers, to covey the passion for my subject while I teach values to my students.

Hi everybody!

My name is Ana and I'm a technology teacher in a high school. In my free time I love travel with my husband and friends to some countries of Europe, so I can improve English's level. 
I think that I'm friendly, communicative and helpful person.