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02 SUCCESS IS THE SUM OF SMALL EFFORTS,REPEATED DAY IN AND DAY OUT.Montserrat García CominoPresidenta d'APABAL

04 ONE OF THE BEST TECHNOLOGY TOOLS IHAVE EVER FOUND: MYBRAINSHARKRussell Stannard

06 ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS! AND OTHERTEXTS TO INSPIRE YOUNG READERS INTHE MODERN CLASSROOM.Therase Jenkinson

10 ENGLISH THROUGH A GLOBALAPPROACH.Àngel Molina Molina and AngelaBattafarano

17 RESTORATIVE PRACTICES AT SCHOOL(REVIEW)MARY FINDS SOME MONEY.Gabriel Timoner, Gaël Thyus, María Antonia Santandreu, Pere Quetglas

24 CHARLES DICKENS AND COMPUTERS.Cathy Cobb Castrec and Antònia Vidal

30 ALL SHOOK UP: EMOTIONS.Oliver Fuentes Fuentes

37 BOOSTING BRAIN POWER: HOW TOFULLY ACTIVATEOUR STUDENTS’BRAINS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM.Liam Fitzpatrick

44 WORKING WITH INTERDISCIPLINARYTOPICS VIA ETWINNINGNeus Oliver Manera

40 ENGAGING THE IMAGINATION BYLEARNING IN DEPTH.Kieran Egan

32 USING PORTFOLIOS AS AN INSTRUCTIO-NAL TOOL. PORTFOLIOS TELL A STORY.PUT IN ANYTHING THAT HELPS TELLYOUR STORY.Montserrat Garcia Comino

27 LANGUAGE LEARNING AND LANGUAGETRAINING IN EUROPE: EDUCATIONPOLICIES FOR COLLECTIVE EMPOWER-MENT.Mª Neus Lorenzo Galés

20 ENERGIZE YOUR LANGUAGE PAIRINGS:LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!.Magdalena Balle Garcia

14 SPRING FEVER: CONTENT BASEDACTIVITIES FOR SPRINGTIME.Nina Lauder

08 GAMES FOR VOCABULARYREVISION AND ACQUISITION.Àngela Pont Rosselló

INDEX

“APABAL MAGAZINE”És una publicació de

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d’anglès de les Illes Balears

Revista nº 2Maig 2012Preu: 4€

Associació de professorsd’anglès de les Illes Balears

We have successfully reached our sec-ond year of existence and have comethrough a lot of experiences here, inAPABAL. This is thanks largely to ourcommitment to teamwork and to theeffort made by all the members of thecommittee, our associates, supportersand sponsors. Without them thisdream would not have come true.Even in the face of challenging eco-nomic conditions, we have beenworking hard to find new ways to getfunding and sponsorship. It has beenvery exciting seeing the huge quantity,not only of teachers involved in ouractivities, but also of other people at-tending the lecture series or the litera-ture-themed film series this year. Oneof our colleagues always describesthis teachers’ association as “more ofa marathon than a sprint”. We takepride in this characterization and em-brace it as a philosophy for planningour forthcoming events as we seek to

consolidate APABAL and remain faith-ful to our original commitment. It is also a pleasure to announce the1st Apabal Convention, which willtake place on September 10th 2012.All our efforts are now devoted to theorganization of this event and tosorting out the arrangements re-quired to make this day a very specialone for all teachers of English and-why not?- for those who teach othersubjects through English.I must praise each member of thecommittee for making this past yearsuch an exhilarating success, in spiteof these turbulent times. I would alsolike to extend my thanks to our asso-ciates, followers and sponsors fortheir unfailing support, without whichour flame would have gone out.If you are not a member yet, pleasethink of becoming one of us soon. www.apabal.com

Robert Collier

Success is the sum ofsmall efforts, repeated

day in and day out.

DireccióMontserrat García

CoordinacióMagdalena Balle

Consell AssessorAina CarrerasCarmen MorenoMargarita TruyolsVivienne Birch

Aina FortezaJoana SalazarAssumpta SuredaÀngel Molina

Equip de redaccióAina CarrerasJoana SalazarJan WrightRosa Maria ViñualesVivienne Birch

Correcció i revisió Sarah Brierley

Disseny i maquetacióDúctilwww.ductilct.com

ImpressióCopysteria InstitutC/ Alfred Bonet, 8A Baixos07003 Palma

APABAL(ICE)C/ Miquel dels Sants Olivernº [email protected]

D.L. 916 -2011ISSN 2174 - 8497

APABAL MAGAZINE / 4

Montserrat García CominoPresidenta d'APABAL

www.apabal.com/

APABAL MAGAZINE / 6

I have been writing about technology and language teach-ing for over ten years. In fact, my ‘Webwatcher’ articles inthe ET Professional have been going for twelve years. Inthat time, there has been one tool that has stood out fromeverything else: JING. In my opinion, it is just about thebest technology I have ever used. However, in 2011, I cameacross a tool that comes a close second. This tool could rev-olutionise the types of speaking activities we get ourstudents to do, both inside and outside the class. The tool isfree, easy to use and offers an incredible number of possi-bilities in language teaching. Initial tests I have undertaken

at the University of Warwick suggest it has a lot of potential.It is called ‘myBrainShark’ and is free to use.myBrainShark allows you to upload a PowerPoint presen-tation onto a site (a Word or PDF document) and then addvoice narration. myBrianShark packs it all together andprovides a link. By clicking on the link, you can see the doc-ument and listen as the narration and presentation isplayed back. For example: you can ask your students tocreate a presentation about their hobbies and interests inPowerPoint; they upload it onto the site and add their com-mentary; then, they send you the link. There are other tools

MYBRAINSHARK

Russell Stannard is a Principal Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick, where he trains teachers in usingtechnology for the MA in TESOL. He won the British Council “Technology” award and the Times Higher

“Innovation” award for his website www.teachertrainingvideos.com: a step by step video explaining the use ofdifferent technologies in education. In 2011, the site received over 287,000 visitors.

By Russell Stannard

ONE OF THE BEST

TECHNOLOGY TOOLS I HAVE

EVER FOUND:

APABAL MAGAZINE / 7

like this, but none with such a clear interface and a record-ing duration of fifteen minutes.Now, take a step back and think about that! Imagine it isthe first day of a high level class. I ask my students to listsome things about themselves, put them in pairs and tellthem to talk about these characteristics (hobbies, lan-guages they speak, places they’ve travelled, etc.) Then, I getthem to sign up for a free account on myBrainShark. Forhomework, I tell them to make a PowerPoint presentationabout their lives, upload it onto myBrainShark and thenadd their voice narration. They can then send the link tome: I can listen to them talking while I watch their presen-tations. I take notes on their oral level and at the same timefind out something about them. This is almost revolutionary! I can now set oral exercises forhomework. Ten years ago, even five years ago, this wouldhave been almost impossible. Let’s take another scenario. Iam in a high level class and the students want to practicedoing presentations. They have to do an oral presentationas part of their assessment next week; they want to practiceand get feedback from me. Now, in the past, that wouldnormally mean them doing a presentation in class. Thathas all changed now. I can ask them tomake a PowerPoint presentation:upload it onto mybrainShark; addtheir voice; then send me the result-ing link. I can listen, give somefeedback and help them prepare fortheir presentation. This is exactlywhat I did with my students this year.You can click on this link and listenhere:http://my.brainshark.com/security-and-privacy-29852347You Can Use Pictures, Video PDF orWord Documents, TooThe incredible thing about myBrain-Shark is that it doesn’t only work withPowerPoint. You can uploadpictures,videoor even a PDF file and do exactly the same procedure.A student could upload a selection of pictures from a recentholiday; add voice narration on myBrainShark;and thenshare them with the teacher or other students. This toolopens up all sorts of opportunities. In a low level class, stu-dents could limit themselves to just up loading one picture.

We have been running some experiments with themyBrainShark site at the University of Warwick. Studentshave done a variety of different activities. For example,uploading a PowerPoint presentation about their favouriterecipe and then talking it through. Other students haveused it to upload pictures of an interesting place in theircountry and then talked about it; some students have evenuploaded video content. The ‘Power’ is in the fact that theycan then use the site to add commentary to the content;then, myBrainshark packs it all together and creates a linkto access the recordings. Feedback from students has beenvery positive.The Connected ClassroomThere are several key issues that are beginning to emergefrom this work. Firstly is the idea of what I call “The Con-nected Classroom.”What I mean by this is that with the

emergence of all these technologies, we are now able toplan lessons that tightly link what we do in class with whatwe want out students to do for homework. Indeed, we canliterally say that the work the students do outside of theclass is really just an extension of what they do in the les-son. When I first started working as a teacher in 1987,homework was often an afterthought. It was something Ithought up at the end the lesson. What I have found withtools like myBrainSharkand the ideas that I have suggestedis that they work best when we do the preparation work inclass. For example, in the lesson we might get the studentsto make their PowerPoint presentations: we might putthem into pairs and get them to practice; we might evenoffer them some tips or appropriate vocabulary to helpthem give an effective presentation. This work — done inthe classroom — prepares and motivates them to go home,upload the presentation onto myBrainShark, then addtheir voice. The better we connect the classroom part withthe homework, the better the students seem to respond.One of the most interesting things about this approach andthis particular tool is dealing with the content that is sent toyou. Remember: you will receive a link, you click on it, and

you hear and watch the student pres-entation. It is all played back in themyBrainshark player. You can listen,take notes and then offer feedback tothe students. It feels very different tobe suddenly marking students “oral”work. Students can use this tool tocreate recordings of up to 15 minutes:you can end up with a lot of listeningmaterial — this can definitely be aproblem, but a ‘good’ problem!I suggest playing back some of thebest presentations in the next lesson.Students are always interested to hearwhat other students have created andit is a chance for you to highlight goodexamples and point out what makes a

good presentation.For those student and teachers who are technically savvy, Ihave even more good news for you. You can embed yourpresentations from myBrainShark into a blog, a virtuallearning environment or even a webpage, increasing thepotential to share your work.Of course, myBrainShark can be used by teachers, too. Youmight want to upload a presentation and then share it withyour students or an even wider audience. Remember, youcan do this with documents, too. In fact, that is howmyBrainShark is normally used. Companies use it to addvoice narration to clarify documents or for PowerPointtraining.You can sign up to myBrainShark for free here:http://www.brainshark.com/mybrainshark

Here is a set of step by step videos that show you exactlyhow to use myBrainSharkhttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/brain/index.htmlhttp://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/brain2/index.html

By Therase Jenkinson

APABAL MAGAZINE / 8

AND OTHER TEXTS TO INSPIRE YOUNG READERSIN THE MODERN CLASSROOM

Therase JenkinsonI have a B.A. (Hons) in Social Policy and Politics, where I produced a thesis investiga-

ting the concept of whole school anti-bullying policies in UK state schools. I then tooka post graduate course in teaching English. I have been teaching English as a secondlanguage for 15 years and have taught privately, in schools, in academies and in com-

panies in the U.K, Paris, Barcelona, Valencia and finally Mallorca. I currently teachEnglish in the Infant department at Agora Portals International School. I am the mot-

her of two boys, aged 9 and 2, and teacher for 180 more children, aged 3 to 5!

ALIENSLOVE

UNDERPANTS!

In education today, the tendency is towards multi-sensoryapproaches to teaching and learning. Research into learn-ing styles has shown that each individual processes andabsorbs information in very different ways. The result ofthese findings is that the teaching profession is now wellaccustomed to hearing about VAK (visual, auditory, kines-thetic) and the importance of its application in theclassroom.Great. The research is done, the facts are presented andnow all we have to do is implement it into our classrooms.Hmmmm! Now what happens? We find ourselves in aroom of up to 28 little minds – that’s 2800 billion neurons –waiting to be fired up by our inspirational, multi-intellec-tual and individually tailored teaching methods. My initialreaction to this methodology was, to be honest, sheerpanic. Having being schooled in the era of ‘open yourbooks to page 25 and answer the questions’, this was for-eign territory to me. Two options presented themselves, aradical career change to something less daunting, or battleon. Not being a quitter (and being past the age of radicalcareer changes), I decided to face this thing head on. And guess what? After some trial and of course lots of error,I have discovered that teaching in this way is actually fun.Yes, FUN. I began to really enjoy each class and in somecases positively look forward to them. In this article, I want to share with you some of my tried andtested class projects, using good old fashioned story booksas a basis for multi-sensory teaching, which I have foundboth stimulate and delight my early years learners.Aliens Love Underpants by Claire FreedmanThis is one of the story books that I use year after year withmy five year old children. The book is beautifully writtenand the illustrations are equally charming. The title itself isenough to call the attention of the children: “Did Missreally just say ‘underpants’?”The first reading offers an audio and visual opportunity forthose with the corresponding learning styles. From thispoint, we can then adapt and develop the text according tothe needs of our class. I think it appropriate at this stage toconsolidate the understanding of the text before progress-ing onto related activities. Role play is an attractive optionas it can appeal to all types of learners; however, it is a fre-quently used resource. With new technologies at ourdisposition, we are nowable to convert this time-honoredactivity into equally stimulating alternatives such as videoclips, cartoon strips and comics. I have found that my chil-dren react particularly well to the latter. The first step in producing the comic is to set up a story-board as a teacher-led whole class activity. Provide thechildren with an A4 sheet consisting of six equally sizedblank square spaces. From this point, the whole class maythen discuss the best way to tell the whole story in six parts,with the teacher writing simple sentences on the board tomatch the storyboard suggestions. This is not only usefulin checking the class’ comprehension of the story; it alsohelps the children to develop the ability to logicallysequence a story and summarize a text. Once decided, thesix story parts may be drawn in order onto the worksheetsand used as a reference for the comic project. Now, we’reready to create. The class is divided into groups; each groupis responsible for a given task, be it preparing the scenery,

planets, spaceships, aliens or underpants! Once eachgroup has completed their part of the project, the sceneryand props are put together and the teacher takes a photo ofeach scene (once the children are happy with the arrange-ment), using the earlier produced storyboard as areference. There are many advantages to this type of activity. Prima-rily, the kids love it! It’s a rounded activity that encompasseseach learning style and the children are always thrilled tosee their comics displayed in comic strip form or on acomic strip power point. Now that the children have fully understood the text andhave passively absorbed the target information and vocab-ulary, we may direct the class towards a variety of themesbased on the text. This story especially lends itself to sub-ject types, such as parts of the body and verb forms. Iusually ask the children to design their own alien and writeshort modeled sentences about their alien likes and dis-likes and physical descriptions. For example:My alien loves ice cream.My alien hates carrots.He has three arms and two heads.Using this type of activity, we ensure that we cover therange of learning abilities while inspiring the children’sinterest in books; and also deepening their understandingof the text, use of language and vocabulary.Below, I have listed a few of my favorite story books forearly years learners and made a few brief activity sugges-tions. I hope you will find them as useful and asentertaining as my children and I have.Dogger by Shirley Hughes: the story of a little boy and hislost teddy. A great follow-up activity: tell the children youhave lost an item. I usually claim to have lost a ‘diamond’necklace. I then ask the children for their help. They createlost posters to place around the school and then go on anecklace hunt. They are always so excited to find the miss-ing item and use their English in a real world sense. Anytitle based around lost objects is a suitable starting pointfor this project.The Shopping Basket by John Burningham: the story of ayoung boy sent to shop by his mum; on the way, heencounters many obstacles. This is a repetitive text and sois really great for learning vocabulary such as names of ani-mals, food and prepositions. We encounter many bullies inthe story, so it is perfect for discussion on this topic. It’s anideal starting point to set up a shop in the classroom; thechildren make shopping lists, before setting out to collecttheir items from the shop. Our class shop is made fromcardboard boxes and lots of imagination.The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg: a beautiful little storyfollowing a postman on his daily route, delivering his let-ters to various well-known fictional characters like theWicked Witch and Goldilocks. The letters and postcardsare removable, giving the book an extra dimension reality.The children can then write and deliver their own letters toclassmates, families, teachers or other members of theschool staff. I was absolutely thrilled at finding an envelopeon my desk one morning with ̀ To Miss Jenkinson’ carefullyscrawled across the front!

APABAL MAGAZINE / 9

by Àngela Pont Rosselló

APABAL MAGAZINE / 10

Àngela Pont Rosselló holds a degree in English Philology from the University of the Balearic Islands and has

also worked as a Spanish Language Assistant in England. As one of her professionalinterests is new technologies, she is now completing a Masters degree in Education and

ICT with the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).

GAMES FOR

VOCABULARYREVISION

AND ACQUISITION

Vocabulary plays an important role in language, whetherone is using a mother tongue or a second language. Whenthe communication process includes a varied vocabulary,it allows for a more natural, fluid and precise interaction. Traditionally, teaching a second language has been char-acterised by lectures, memorising concepts and texttranslation.However, recent research has underlined the importanceof three concepts for increased motivation in secondarylanguage acquisition: the students’ active role in the learn-ing process; the absence of the mother tongue; andentertainment. The degree of concept acquisition alsoimproves in these circumstances. One author that sharesthis new viewpoint is W. R. Lee, who states that gamesshould be used frequently in the classroom and not as‘peripheral or time-filling’ activity, as they have a high edu-cational value. This article intends to show how using vocabulary gamesin ESL has many benefits. In addition, a selection of gameswill be provided to supply ideas for those interested in thetopic. These games are focused on either vocabulary revi-sion or acquisition. According to John Holt, a person’s learning capacity isdetermined by two factors: the motivation produced bythe proposed task, and a person’s capacity to carry out thetask. Even if we cannot modify the second factor, we canpresent activities that foster students’ motivation towardsthe subject being taught. As mentioned above, games normally used as time-fillersshould in fact be used more often, for the following reasons: - They provide diversity, refreshing the established routine.Student interest is renewed, and they are more motivatedto carry out the suggested activities. Authors such asRichard Amato or Wierus consider that games create arelaxed atmosphere, leading to faster and more effectiveacquisition of new words. - They enable teachers to create meaningful contexts inwhich the usage of the foreign language is essential. Thetarget language is remembered more easily because thestudents find themselves in real-life situations. Gamesmake it easy to introduce new ideas, always an advantagefor the teacher. Games can also be used to review previ-ously learned concepts in an enjoyable way.- Normally, students want to participate in games; they aremotivated to acquire the basic concepts in order to under-stand what their classmates are saying and, at the sametime, to be understood by the rest of the group. Games arean incentive that motivate students to learn. Additionally,games enhance active participation, cooperation, groupinteraction and communication. As a consequence ofusing games, the fluency level increases as well as thespontaneous use of the second language.

- Finally, it is through games that the four basic skills can bepractised simultaneously; reading, writing, listening andspeaking. While games provide numerous advantages, one shouldnot forget to carefully select or modifying them for yourgroup. Factors such as students’ level, classroom numbersor cultural backgrounds should be taken into account. Here are some games through which vocabulary can beintroduced and/or reviewed. Although you may be famil-iar with some of these games, a brief description has beenincluded and some examples, just in case you want to usethem with your pupils. Word Bingo:each student has a card with the words theteacher wants to practice. The teacher reads out word defi-nitions and the students cover up the words they have onthe card. The first student who has all the words covered,wins. ‘Antonym Bingo’ is also interesting and challenging! Another way of playing this game (e.g. with younger stu-dents), is to have the concepts drawn on the card. Next, theteacher (or the appointed student) reads out the words; theother students (individually or in groups) have to cover upthe drawings that have been read out. Who wants to be a millionaire? This game makes multi-ple-choice exercises more interesting for students. Tomake it even more entertaining, the teacher can use a Pow-erPoint presentation and adjust the questions to thestudents’ level. If the game is played as per the TV show,one student should be elected as the spokesperson; theirrole is to read the fifteen questions and reveal the appropri-ate answers. The contestant/s may make use of ‘life lines’ attheir disposal: ask a friend (previously selected); 50:50, inwhich half the possible answers are removed; or ask theaudience for help. Who is Who? This game is good for becoming acquainted.Individually, students answer a few questions about them-selves (favourite colour, food, band or subject, etc.) andwrite them on a card. Then, they go around the classroomasking different classmates about their preferences, tryingto remember them. The game starts when a student picks acard and reads the first sentence; the other students try toguess the name on the card. A variation is to let students ask yes/no questions to findout the name of the classmate. NB, this game can be playedwithout the card, by using other clues, e.g. the students’clothing. Scattergories:each student or group fills in as many cate-gories as possible, with words starting with a chosen letter.Scoring: one point is given for each correct word; twopoints if it is a word that no one else has used. For cate-gories, the teacher can select different options, dependingon the topics studied. Here is an example:


LETTER COUNTRY FOOD DRINK ANIMAL FILM SONG NAMES Spain Salad Soda Snake Shakespeare Sweet Sandra

in Love Childof Mine


ENGLISHTHROUGH

AGLOBALAPPROACH

Àngel Molina Molina graduated as a Specialist inReception and Companies Management and as a

Foreign Language Teacher (English). He has workedfor 14 years as an English teacher with young learners

in Mallorca and Eivissa and freelancing on his own.He has taken part in the European Sections Program,developing Math projects in English through ICT. Atpresent, he is teaching English and Art in English at

CEIP Gabriel Vallseca in Palma.

Angela Battafarano is a teacher from the U.S.A, spe-cializing in teaching English as a second Language.

She graduated with a degree in Early ChildhoodEducation and completed her Master’s Degree in

Literacy, Culture, and Language Education. She hasspent the year in Mallorca teaching alongside Àngel

Molina as his language assistant.

by Àngel Molina Molinaand Angela Battafarano


For years, there has been a need to introduce changesin primary school methodology, in order to obtain agreater efficiency in the education process. That iswhy it is necessary to teach content from diverse areasin a global way. For the last three years, CEIP GabrielVallseca (Palma) has worked on using global methodsin Infant and Primary Education.

Working in a global manner means using motivationaltopics integrated into all subjects. In our case, Englishis taught using a global approach based on:

- Enhancing inclusion through group work.- Work by Basic Competences.- Motivation.- Designing methodologically attractive tasks.- Different types of learning.- Meaningful themes for the students; breaking withtraditional practices.- Transporting the real world into the classroom.- Flexibility (possibility of integrating new contribu-tions).- Manipulating a number of possible resources.- Adapting to individual students needs.

We knew that if we want the students to work usingthis method, textbooks should only be used for con-sultation; the students decide on the topic to belearned. Additionally, coordination between teachingstaff is fundamental. Meetings with classroom teach-ers are important in developing a joint program withlinked objectives, contents, evaluation process (usedthroughout all the sequences and learning interrela-tions), basic skills, etc. Also, sessions with the Englishlanguage assistant help students improve their Englishlinguistic skills.

Our Experience Using this Methodology

One of the topics studied in the first cycle was “Di-nosaurs”. In English class, we continued the theme bystudying the famous plesiosaur that lives in a Scottishlake: Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster! Using Nessie’sstory, we investigated how the Earth was formed, themovement of the tectonic plates, and how the mon-ster was trapped in the lake. All of these activities in-volved stories; later, the students acted out the stories.Using ICT, the students played games with the mon-ster and explained what she was like. We also studiedNessie’s environment; the students even made amodel of the lake, complete with monster! Last but

not least (as per the curriculum), students learnedabout different actions within the monster’s capabili-ties, e.g., jumping, speaking, flying, swimming, hiding,etc.In another group, the topic investigated was “The Uni-verse”. We converted the English classroom into aspaceship; with the help of ICT, we were able to travelaround the Universe. We sang songs about the plan-ets; and created a mini-book with vocabulary, whereeach student explained the elements that form theuniverse.

Studying these topics using this global approach wasvery rewarding for students: they could see what theywere learning, and they learned by playing.

In the second cycle, students decided to study “Pi-rates”, “The Lone Ranger” and “Motherhood”. In thethird grade, the students made a list of what theywanted to learn about the pirates and the LoneRanger. Working in groups (cooperative learning), theyinvestigated what clothes these characters’ wore, thefood they ate and where they lived — basic contentfor primary education curriculum. Learning aboutJack Sparrow’s clothes and the Lone Ranger’s favoritefood made it fun!

Content was taught via songs, stories, and ICT. Stu-dents felt confident: they could apply what theylearned to real-life. As ‘food’ was a topic with the thirdgraders, they decided to make a classroom snack.They voted between a sandwich or a milkshake. Thesandwich won! They loved this activity because theycould apply their newly-acquired sandwich-makingskills at home. By using the global approach, studentswere motivated and eager to learn more.

Once students learned what pirates and cowboys hadfor lunch and supper, they learned about where thesecharacters lived, writing a description of ships andhouses. With all this accumulated knowledge, the stu-dents had the fantastic idea of ‘visiting’ each classmember’s home — so we did! Each student showedus his/her home by creating an oral description of theparts of their house. This activity made students feelproud and important. It was very exciting for them tobe able to show the rest of the group where they lived.They felt very proud to be able to do this in English.

The fourth grade chose one of the most fascinatingtopics: “Motherhood”. The students wanted to know

how their mothers felt when theyknew they were expecting, and thecircumstances of their birth. In theEnglish classroom we used thesame theme, working on a descrip-tion of ‘mothers’ using as many ad-jectives as possible: sensitive, kind,beautiful, intelligent, hard working,etc. Later, the descriptions were ex-panded to include physical de-scriptions. During this activity, youcould sense the students’ love fortheir mothers. In their regular class,the students prepared a related ac-tivity: an interview with their moth-er, asking how she reacted whenshe found out she was pregnant. InEnglish class, we used elements ofthis interview to ask simple ques-tions, e.g. the mother’s place of ori-gin, age, hobbies, favorite activities,meals, country, animals, etc. Thismethod integrated the parents intothe classroom project. Many moth-ers came to class be interviewed. Tomake this activity even moremeaningful, students decided to in-terview tourists in English (usingthe same questions), to put intopractice what they learned in class.This resulted in one of the term’smost meaningful, motivating, and

recreational activities. Studentswere excited to be able to ask ques-tions they had practiced in classand at home, and then take it be-yond the classroom. It was aunique experience.

In the third cycle, we employedsimilar methods. Students decidedto study the city. In groups, theyused cooperative learning for thefirst time to decide what vocabu-lary to use and how to work to-gether. The first task was the cre-ation of a big city poster: theylearned relevant vocabulary andtransport questions, e.g., “Excuseme, can you tell me the way to goto . . .?” Afterwards, they designedtheir favorite city and then their‘dream house’. Using materials theycreated (posters, house drawings,etc.), they wrote house descrip-tions. The ICT sessions were par-ticularly rewarding for the stu-dents. The teacher created amini-web with links to house activ-ities, of varying degrees of difficul-ty. These activities had autocorrectfeatures, providing valuable imme-diate feedback. As both the sixthand third graders were studying

“The House”, we did some sessionstogether: older students helpedyounger students to describe theLone Ranger’s house.

In conclusion: working with theglobal approach has been verymeaningful and stimulating for thestudents. It satisfies the educators’demands; and it fulfills both theeducational requirements and thedemands of today’s society. Theglobal approach allows students tobe more prepared, confident andcompetent in an increasingly mul-tilingual and intercultural environ-ment.

To find out more informationabout our school task, please visitour blog athttp://www.ceipgabrielvallseca.com/english/


SPRING FEVER:

CONTENTBASED

ACTIVITIES FOR

SPRINGTIMESpring is just around the cornerand, as days get longer and flowersburst into bloom, the pupils in ourclass show newfound surges of en-ergy. As teachers, we need to knowhow to tap into this energy andchannel it accordingly. One of theways we can do this is by bringingcontent and language learning to-

gether in springtime activities thatappeal to different types of learn-ers in our class. ………………………………………CLIL (Content and Language Inte-grated Learning) is a term withwhich teachers are becoming in-creasingly familiar. The basic ideaof CLIL is to teach a non-language

subject, for example, Science orSocial Studies, through a foreignlanguage (in this case, English). Indoing so, the emphasis is taken offlearning the language itself andplaced on learning content. Re-search and feedback from teachersin a variety of settings has shownthat this approach enhances the

Nina Lauder holds a B.A.in Humanities fromBishop’s University,

Canada. She has beenteaching at all levelssince 1990. Nina is

involved in educationalconsulting and teachertraining. She has given

workshops all overSpain and abroad. She is

a materials writer forELT and CLIL books and

has published severalarticles. Nina is co-author of Explorers

(OUP, 2011). Currently,Nina works as a free-

lance author andteacher trainer. Formore information:

http://ninaspain.blogspot.com

By Nina Lauder



pupils’ educational experience while allowing them toreceive additional exposure to English without requir-ing extra time in the curriculum.

CLIL is currently being incorporated into educationalcontexts around the world in a variety of ways. Insome cases, pupils are given small ‘doses’ of the con-tent area in English; in other settings, pupils arestudying in full-fledged bilingual immersion pro-grammes. Some educators make distinctions betweenhard CLIL, where limited concessions are made to re-duce content and language load, and soft CLIL, whichis seen as being less demanding.

The activities that are suggested in this article can beused in the English class or in content area classesand can be led by either the language teacher or con-tent area teacher. In most cases, the activities do notrequire extensive preparation and can be carried outwith primary or lower secondary pupils. The activitiescan be used to start classes, as fillers, and as lessonclosers; or, they can help introduce a new topic or re-view activities once a topic has been covered.

Spring isn’t spring without . . .

To kick off the topic of spring, write the sentence stem‘Spring isn’t spring without . . .’ on the board. Give thepupils a minute to brainstorm appropriate answers.Encourage pupils to share their sentences with theirclassmates; then, hand out paper for them to make alist or a poster with their ideas. Suggested answersmight include: Spring isn’t spring without . . . rain-storms, flowers, baby animals, sunny days, Easter, mi-gration . . .

Pairwork

Pairwork activities in class make the use of languagemore meaningful and give pupils the opportunity tospeak more than in teacher-led tasks. Pairwork activi-ties for CLIL include labelling tasks (each pupil has alabelled illustration with some words missing, theyask their classmates for the missing information); gap

fill tasks at sentence level; or general knowledge ques-tions (see below).

Spring Music

It is said that “music calms the savage beast” — sospringtime is a perfect time to bring music into theclassroom! Depending on the age group and level ofpupils, they can work on traditional songs, popularsongs or pieces of classical music that tie in withspringtime. Younger learners enjoy songs such as“Rain, rain, go away”, “Itsy bitsy spider” or “Five greenand speckled frogs”; older learners can listen to anddiscuss the lyrics from songs like “Big Yellow Taxi”(Joni Mitchell, 1988), “What a Wonderful World” (LouisArmstrong, 1967) or “Beautiful Day” (U2, 2000). To de-velop music awareness, pupils can listen to classicalmusic pieces such as “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The FourSeasons or the “Waltz of the Flowers” by Tchaikovsky.

Fly Butterfly Fly!

One way to bring colour and life to the classroom is tomake butterflies. Pupils make butterflies from differ-ent coloured construction paper, then place a paperclip onto each butterfly. They hang the butterfliesfrom the walls of the class using thread or string.Hand out magnets to different groups of pupils andhelp them make the butterflies ‘fly’ using magnetism.If done carefully, the butterflies will flutter and twitchwithout having the magnet actually touching them. Materials: coloured construction paper, paper clips,thread or string, magnets.

Spring Symmetry

The world of nature is full of examples of symmetry.Encourage pupils to look at different plants and ani-mals and decide if they have lines of symmetry or not.Bring in a variety of leaves for pupils to look at. If theydivide a leaf in half, they will find that one half oftenhas the same shape as the other.

Butterflies are also exceptional examples of symmetryin nature. Show a picture of a butterfly with its wingsopen and encourage pupils to think about how it issymmetrical (butterflies have an antennae on eachside, the same shape on each side and the same pat-tern or design on each side). Butterflies and beetlesare example of line (bilateral) symmetry; in contrast,certain flowers illustrate examples of rotational (radi-al) symmetry. Honeycombs formed by bees are exam-ples of hexagonal symmetry. Encourage pupils to findpictures or examples of symmetry in nature and todisplay them.

Egg Quiz

Many cultures around the world see the egg as a sym-bol of new life and therefore associate it with spring-time. A number of these cultures paint eggs with


bright colours and give them out or hide them at East-er time. Find out how much pupils know about eggsby doing an egg quiz in class. Questions can includethings such as, How many eggs does an average henlay yearly? (approximately 300), Which part of the eggis highest in fat? (yolk) or How old is the average henwhen it starts laying eggs? (20 weeks). Older learnerscan find out information on eggs and write the quizquestions themselves.

Experiments

Doing hands-on experiments in class encourages chil-dren to make observations and hypothesis, take notes,and come to conclusions. Some springtime experi-ments than can be carried out in class are:

Spring Potato PetsYounger pupils enjoy watching things grow. Time andspace providing, pupils can make ‘potato pets’ (see il-lustration) and grow ‘hair’ on them using grass seedsor alfalfa seeds. Pupils cut a section of the potato (onwhat will be the animal’s back) and scoop out a fewspoonfuls of potato. They draw a face on their pet,add toothpick legs, and then sprinkle seeds ontodampened cotton wool on the animal’s back. Placethe pets in a safe, sunny place and watch their greenhair grow. Pupils can make daily observations in theirnotebook or on a chart.Materials: beans or grass/alfalfa seeds, cotton balls,potato, toothpicks.

Tree RubbingsPupils can learn to identify pattern and textures in dif-ferent types of tree bark by doing rubbings. Give eachpupil a piece of paper and a crayon. Explain how todo rubbings then take them outside to find two differ-ent types of trees and do their rubbings. If childrencannot leave the class during lesson time, this stepcan be assigned as homework. When they have donetheir rubbings they compare them and observe distin-guishing features on distinct tree bark. Materials: crayons, paper, different types of trees.

Rainbow Celery To demonstrate how the stems of plants absorb waterand carry minerals from the soil to the leaves, makerainbow celery in class. Cut the stalk of piece of celery,but not the leaves. Place the leafy celery stalk in 10-12cms of water with food colouring and ask pupils toimagine what they think will happen. After severalhours (or overnight), the coloured water should beginto rise up the stalks to the leaves. This experiment canalso be done with white carnations. Materials: food colouring, three stalks of celery, knife,water, clear glass containers.

Spring Festivities

A number of holidays around the world take place inspring. Pupils can find out information on celebra-

tions like Groundhog Day (February 2nd), SaintPatrick’s Day (March 17th), Earth Day, Songkran Festi-val (April 13th, Thai new year) or Holi (Hindu springfestival) and share their findings with their classmates.

Websites

There are endless resources online to help bringspring into the classroom. Some examples of webpages with activities include:

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/topic/topic.htm -Topic, theme and cross-curricular resources. Sectiondedicated to Easter activities and lesson plans.

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/index.htm -Spring crafts and printable colouring pages for younglearners.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/spring/ -Springtime crafts and worksheets from EnchantedLearning. http://www.hunkinsexperiments.com/ - Hundreds ofexperiments with food, light, sounds, clothes andmore. Each experiment comes with an illustrated car-toon to help pupils understand procedures.……………………………………………………………Language teachers and content area teachers can usefast and easy ideas like these to bring language andcontent together in their classrooms. Using languageas a vehicle to teach content offers pupils a switchfrom the language-driven approach and enhancestheir learning experience. Have fun brining springinto your classroom J !Useful Resources

Birdsall, Melanie, Timesaver Cross-Curricular EnglishActivities, Mary Glasgow Magazines, London, © 2001.

Bowler, Bill and Thompson, Lesley; Timesaver BritishHistory Highlights, Mary Glasgow Magazines, London,© 2005.

Burwood, S., Dunford H., Phillips, D., Projects withYoung Learners, Oxford University Press, © 1999.

Fried-Booth, Diana L., Project Work, Oxford UniversityPress, © 2002.

Lauder, Nina, JET: Projects Across the Curriculum,Mary Glasgow Magazines, London, © 2006.

Marsh, D. , Using languages to learn and learning touse languages. Eds. D. Marsh - G. Langé. Finland: Uni-versity of Jyväskylä, © 2000.

Svecova, Hana, Cross-curricular Activities, Oxford Ba-sics, Oxford University Press © 2004.

RESTORATIVEPRACTICES AT SCHOOL (REVIEW)

MARY FINDS SOME MONEY

By Gabriel Timoner, Gaël Thyus, María Antonia Santandreu, Pere Quetglas



Mary was coming home from schoolone day. She found some money onthe path near her home. She imaginedwhat she could buy. She did not tellher mum about the money. Instead,she hid the money in the desk in herroom. The next day she spent some ofthe money. She also looked at a toycatalogue to decide how to spend therest of HER money. Later she heardher neighbour tell her mum that hehad lost the money for his family’sholiday. Mary was feeling veryuncomfortable but still said nothingto her mum.The next day whenMary’s mum asked to borrow a pencilshe saw the money in Mary’s desk.Mary admitted that she had found themoney and had spent some of it.Mary’s mum sent Mary to her room.How does this help Mary understandwho she has hurt?What does Maryneed to do to make things right? Mary’s parents asked Mary what sheshould do to make things right. Marysaid that she should give the moneyback and say that she was sorry. Herdad and mum said they wouldarrange a meeting so she can do that.Mary’s dad told the neighbour whathappened and set up a meetingbetween their two families. Maryreturned the money and said she wassorry.

Things have been dealt with and peo-ple feel better, so what exactlyhappened?What did Mary learn fromthis experience?What helped this storyhave a positive ending? If Mary hadjust been punished and nothing elsehappened, what sort of ending wouldthe story have? (IIRP, 2006).

Sometimes students commit offensesor are victims of misdemeanors. Usu-ally a penalty is considered the mostappropriate response to wrongdoingat school or at home. However, it isessential to seek alternatives to pun-ishment, as in some situations it maybe counterproductive. Restorativeapproaches are considered effectivemethods to address the problems ofschool life. Moreover, it has beenobserved that restorative circles arealso a good way to increase schoolachievement results.

Restorative justice in its original formis considered a new way of thinking

about criminal justice; it emphasizesthe different ways in which crimeaffects relations between people liv-ing in community. In this type ofjustice, the offense is not only consid-ered as an action taken against thevictim, but also against the commu-nity – it’s not simply an illegal act and aviolation of state standards. Restora-tive justice increases the victims’ role;it requires offenders to take responsi-bility for their actions and the damagecaused. It also reflects the communitythrough a series of preventive andresponse programs to reduce the dis-tance between people, creating asense of security and strengtheningthe community bonds (Zehr, 1995).

The values of restorative justice arebased on respect for the dignity of allpeople affected by crime. Priority isgiven to treatment of human needsand participant training, so that theycan communicate their thoughts andfeelings openly and honestly.The aimis to create understanding, promoteaccountability and provide the abilityto ‘heal the wounds’ .The restorativejustice process encourages theoffender to take responsibility fortheir harmful behavior in a positiveway; to understand the causes andeffects of that behavior on others; and

Gabriel Timoner Sampol has a B.A.and Ph.D. in Biology from the

University of the Balearic Islands.Since 1991, he has worked as a bio-

logy and geology teacher at diffe-rent secondary schools in the

Balearic Islands. For the last sixyears, Gabriel has been Head of the

Son Ferrer secondary school.Currently, Gabriel is Director of theInstitut per a la Convivència i l’ÈxitEscolar (Institute for Cooperation

and Student Success) in theBalearic Islands’ Conselleria

d’Educació, Cultura i Universitats.

Maria Antonia Santandreu Lladóhas a degree in Primary Sciences

Teaching (1991) from theUniversity of Balearic Islands. Since1992, Maria has worked as a pres-

chool and primary teacher at diffe-rent primary schools. For the last

two years, Maria has been DeputyTeacher at CEIP Miquel Porcel.Currently, Maria is working as

Technical Teaching Consultant atthe Institut per a la Convivència i

l’Èxit Escolar (Institute forCooperation and Student Success)in the Balearic Islands’ Conselleriad’Educació, Cultura i Universitats.

Gaël A. Thyus Vieville has degreesin Psychology (1991) and

Educational Psychology (1998)from the University of Balearic

Islands. She began her career inchild psychology in private practi-ce. Since 1993, Gäel has worked asa guidance counsellor in differentprimary and secondary schools.She has also worked as a French

teacher at different secondaryschools from 1998 to 2005. She has

been Head of the Counselling

Department of IES Calvià for thelast six years. Currently, Gäel works

as a teaching consultant at theInstitut per a la Convivència i l’ÈxitEscolar (Institute for Cooperation

and Student Success) in theBalearic Islands’ Conselleria

d’Educació, Cultura i Universitats.

Pere Quetglas Márquez has a tea-ching degree in Physical Educationfrom the University of the BalearicIslands. Since 2001, he has worked

as a teacher in different primaryschools in Mallorca. Currently, Pereis working as a teaching consultantat the Institut per a la Convivència i

l’Èxit Escolar (Institute forCooperation and Student Success)in the Balearic Islands’ Conselleriad’Educació, Cultura i Universitats.


change it in order to be accepted back into the community.The process offers the victim a platform for discussion inwhich to ask questions and get answers; to be able tounderstand and explain the personal impact of crime; andto contribute to the outcome of the process. In this sense,the result may be that the victim receives an apology, resti-tution, services or other relief. These processes have thepotential to offer the community an opportunity toarticulate their values and expectations, to understand theunderlying causes of crime and to determine what can bedone to repair the damage. With restorative practices, youcan contribute to the welfare of the community and reducefuture crime (Zehr and Mika, 1998).

Using restorative practices, students learn to deal withtheir unacceptable behavior, to repair the damage theyhave done and build a community (Mirsky, 2011).

Restorative practices are an effective alternative to puni-tive forms of discipline; research shows that the latter notonly fails to reduce negative behaviors but actually exacer-bates them (Task Force on Zero Tolerance of the AmericanPsychological Association, 2008). With restorative prac-tices, students face their unacceptable behavior: they takeresponsibility for the same processes that provide supportrather than undergoing humiliating procedures.This is nota permissive practice: bad behavior is not tolerated. Com-munities that use restorative practices reach solutionscollaboratively, generating credibility for those involvedand those who have been affected by the unacceptablebehavior.

Restorative practices go far beyond the restorative justiceas they are both reactive and proactive. The fundamentalhypothesis of restorative practices is that human beingsare happier, more cooperative and productive (and morelikely to make positive behavioral changes) when they arein collaborative positions to effect change, rather thanwhen they are being punished or forced to do something.

There are different types of restorative practices, but wewish to highlight the circles. Restorative circles provideopportunities for students to share their feelings, ideas andexperiences, to build confidence and mutual understand-ing. In a circle, everyone has the opportunity to talk and tobe heard. Only one person talks at a time. Teachers can usethe circle to get feedback on issues, e.g., do students feelready to take the next exam; or simply to ask students how

they spent the past weekend. Restorative circles are anexcellent tool for community-building.

The circles involve students in conflict and tension man-agement. A restorative circle helps repair damage andrestore relations in response to a moderately serious inci-dent or a behavior pattern that affects a group of studentsor an entire class. Restorative circles can be useful not onlywith individuals but also with opposing groups. When twogroups are involved in conflict, the circle facilitatorrequires that the participants focus on the question of howthey will coexist on the school premises. Students have tobelieve that this latter variable is not negotiable and thatstaff will stand firm in this attitude. In managing groupconflict, it is essential to build relationships with thegroups’ natural leaders and to make them realize that theycan achieve positive goals with their leadership skillsinstead of misusing them.

Even more interesting, circles can also be used by teachersto help students with academic goals, to lay down projectimplementation and activity rules, and to generate orassess understanding of curriculum contents.Thisinvolves students in the learning process more effectivelythan with traditional classes. The circles can be powerfulbecause students who usually do not talk in class (abouttheir shyness, indifference, hostility, or insecurity) have theopportunity to get involved in classroom life. The result?Dramatically positive changes are observed in the stu-dents’ attitude towards participating in classroomactivities.

There are different ways to introduce restorative practicesin schools, as each school has its own needs. Althoughrestorative practices are not a panacea or magic solution toall kinds of conflict, it is undeniable that this approach cantransform the way many schools are presently organized.Restorative practices promote safer and more pleasantenvironments, leading to more successful schools.

Bibliographical References

“Mary finds some money”. International Institute forRestorative Practices (IIRP). Hull. Great BritainMirsky, L. 2011.Promoviendo Escuelas más Respetuosas;Construyendo Escuelas más Sanas y Seguras. InstitutoLatino Americano de Prácticas Restaurativas Setiembre2011, Volumen 69, Número1.Zehr, H. (1995). Changing lenses: A new focus for crime andjustice (2ª ed.). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

Zehr, Howard and Mika, Harry (1998). Fundamental Con-cepts of Restorative Justice Contemporary Justice Review. 1:47-55. Reprinted in Restorative Justice. Declan Roche(2003), ed. Pp. 73-81. The International Library of Essays inLaw & Legal Theory, Second Series. Aldershot, Hants,England: Dartmouth/Ashgate.


ENERGIZE YOUR

LANGUAGE PAIRINGS:

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!

The Ins and Outs of this ‘Love Story’

-The aim of the ‘Energize Your Language Pair-ings’ campaign is to provide Catalan-languageor English-language learners with the oppor-tunity to practise in a relaxed atmosphere.Furthermore, it provides Catalan and Englishnative speakers with the opportunity to meetpeople who are genuinely interested in learn-ing and improving their oral skills in the rele-vant language.

-With this in mind, Cepa Son Canals decidedto organize a volunteer linguistic ‘matchmak-ing’ exchange between Catalan speakers whowanted to learn English and English speakerswho wanted to learn Catalan. The way itworks is as follows: the volunteer tutor be-comes the ‘tutee’ and vice versa. The volun-teers can also participate in different activi-ties, such as cultural outings, plays, visits toexhibitions – all in the target languages, ofcourse! These activities are included in theprogramme, based on the assumption thatlanguage is inextricably intertwined with cul-ture; language is one of the ways to becomeacquainted with the customs, traditions, gas-tronomy, etc. of a culture.

-There first activity is a festive gathering inwhich tutors and tutees are introduced to theprogramme. The tutors are provided with atraining activity that includes material andstrategies for monitoring the partnership.This initial activity has a double aim: improveparticipants’ communication skills and todemonstrate the fun use of the studied lan-guages (English and Catalan) outside of for-mal contexts. Yes! It is possible to have a goodtime while practicing a foreign language!Basic Information for the ‘Dating’ Candi-dates

-Dating candidates: who can participate inthe language pairings?Anyone can become a tutor, provided thatthey are fluent in either Catalan or English.They just have to feel like speaking in Catalanor English in a non-formal atmosphere. A ‘di-dactic’ attitude is not welcome! Down-to-earth candidates are required; and they mustbe prepared to talk their partner’s ear off!

-A lasting relationship: how long does thepartnership last?The tutor and the tutee involved are commit-ted to spending 10 hours with each other, inorder to have sufficient practice time, dividedbetween Catalan and English.

-The ‘love nest’: where do the pairs meet?The first meeting (tutor-tutee) takes place inthe school; then, the partners decide where tohold future meetings (café, library, park, etc.)

-When do the partners meet?As the programme is flexible, the partners de-cide when to meet. It is advisable to meet forone hour per week.

Candidates in the Dating Process After the participants fill out the enrollmentform, the activity organizers will match upthe candidates according to suitability. Theenrollment form asks about timetable, hob-bies, gender preference re partner, etc.

Anyone can become Your Perfect ‘OtherHalf’ Anyone can become a tutor, provided thathe/she is fluent in Catalan or English. Theyjust have to feel like speaking Catalan or Eng-lish. It is important not to behave like a‘teacher’. Candidates should avoid ‘lecturing’and being too bold when it comes to correct-

by Magdalena Balle Garcia

Magdalena Balle Garcia has a BA in English Language and Literature. She has taughtEnglish and German in primary, secondary and adult education. At present, she is part of

the CEPA (Centre d’Educació de Persones Adultes) Son Canals school board in Palma,Mallorca. She has taken part in several magazine and book articles on TEFL. She has also

coordinated different European educational projects. Magdalena has experience as atraining material developer and curriculum designer. She is part of the official exam

commission for the “proves lliures de graduat en secundària” for the Conselleriad’Educació del Govern Balear. She is co-author of the book Del conte al portafoli

multicultural: un exemple de tasca competencial, which was awarded first prize for thebest book by the Balearic Islands Education Council in November 2010. She is co-authorand author of other books on didactics: Media & Multicultural Education and Success in

University Access for Over 25s. Currently, Magdalena is coordinating the digital bookEcolinguae: Approaches on Minority Languages and Minority Target Groups.



ing mistakes. Tutors should only correcthigh frequency errors, stigmatizing errors,and errors that block meaning or cause con-fusion for the listener.

Why is CEPA Son Canals an ideal place forthis ‘dating activity’?Cepa Son Canals is an Adult EducationSchool in Palma which provides formal andinformal education. It is located in a disad-vantaged area with many immigrants fromSouth America, North Africa and EasternEuropean countries. The institution organiz-es informal educational courses with stress-es on IT teaching; English; and Catalan andSpanish courses for immigrants. In the pastcouple of years, the school has also organ-ized a lot of multicultural activities: semi-nars, workshops and festivals to facilitatethe immigrants’ integration into Mallorcansociety and to teach them Catalan as well asSpanish. Teaching the local language is away to help them to be linguistically capableof a normal professional and social life.The languages department (Catalan, Span-ish and English) wanted to foster the use ofthe Catalan language in non-formal con-texts. The majority of students understandand try to speak Catalan in class, but theywould never attend a play in Catalan oreven watch television in Catalan. In fact,some immigrant students show negative at-titudes towards Catalan. With regards toEnglish, most students don’t feel at easewhen they speak it; in English class, theteachers have to find a balance and practiseother skills. The result is that teachers lacktime to devote to communication practice.

CEPA Son Canals, with its high percentageof immigrants, has had two challenges: toaddress the students’ lack of Catalan andEnglish; and to show students that leisuretime does not imply the exclusion of partic-ular languages. A large number of theschools’ foreign students come from coun-tries where English is frequently the secondlanguage; consequently, they are quiteskilled in English. The organization of theLanguage Pairings has been aided by thefact that the Catalan and the English teach-ers belong to the same department, makingcommunication and coordination easier.The teachers did some research on languagevolunteering e.g. at Palma’s Paraula(‘word’), a not-for-profit cultural centre(promoting the use and dissemination ofCatalan); or the peer-to-peer tutoring insome Catalonian secondary schools. Armed

with this information, the Son Canals teach-ers created the ‘Energize Your LanguagePairings’ programme, based on peer-to-peermethodology.

Peer-to-Peer Tutoring: an Inspiring Teach-ing MethodPeer-to-peer tutoring is when students teachother students. This approach is usuallyhighly satisfactory, and has many benefits.Students learn more when they are the onesto teach the comprehensive aspects of asubject. And there is a beneficial compli-mentary effect: students experiencing diffi-culties benefit from the help of someone ofa similar age or status, who (figuratively)“speaks their language”, and appears less in-timidating than the teacher. A peer tutoruses pertinent vocabulary and examplesthat resonate with the student, creating ef-fective bridges to breach the learning gaps.Additionally, the tutor receives valuable re-inforcement from having to prepare andteach a topic. Of course, a teacher trained tosupervise peer tutoring should monitor theprocess.

Sowing the Seeds of Love: Spreading the‘Energize Your Language Pairings’ Cam-paign

The Language Department teachers were incharge of promoting the programme. Howdid they do it? They launched a persuasivepublicity campaign to advertise the lan-guage pairings. Snappy slogans were printedon modern, colourful posters. The targetmarket was young adults ranging fromeighteen to twenty-five years old. The teach-ers made a huge effort to advertise the pro-gramme. An appealing logo identified all thematerial: posters, enrollment forms, didacticguides, etc.

The ‘mottos’ to promote these ‘perfect pair-ings’ were:-‘Learn from each other’s efforts and knowl-edge’, i.e. your success benefits me and mysuccess benefits you. -‘Learn for the sake of learning’, i.e. bothmembers share a common fate — they sinkor swim together. All the members partici-pate in the whole task, i.e. we cannot do itwithout you.- ‘All members play a necessary role in thepartnership’.


‘Love at First Sight’

The campaign worked! Many ‘ volun-teers’ responded with interest andfilled out the language pair enrollmentform. At times, it seemed like theteachers involved in the programmewere like a marriage bureau, readingenrollment forms and matcheding uppairs according to age, affinities andhobbies. After checking all the forms,the staff organized a first meeting – a‘get acquainted’ party, featuring lots toeat and a drama production.

Beginning a Committed Relationship

After being introduced, the languagepairs started to meet in the school li-brary. There was a ‘conversation cor-ner’1 (with computers, board gamesand CDs in English and Catalan) wherethey could start their conversation ex-change. Bilingual conversation guideswere handed out. The topics chosenwere related to the students’ immedi-ate context: their house, neighbor-hood, city, etc. The vocabulary andconversation prompts included in theguide were related to real-life situa-tions. During the first three sessions,there was always a Catalan or Englishteacher competent in both languageswho could help the pairs in case prob-lems arose. The pairs had to meet atleast nine times. To break the ice andinitiate communication, the pairs re-ceived Catalan/English conversationlessons. The pairs were advised thatfrom the fourth session onwards, theyshould spend time in an informal set-ting, e.g. a café, park bench, plaza, li-brary, etc. They had to demonstrateinitiative about where to meet.

Spending Leisure Time Together

The last sessions were devoted to funactivities. The language pairs attendeda play in Catalan, a cooking lesson inEnglish, exhibitions and a Palma walk-ing tour in English. These outingshighlighted two of the important ob-jectives of the programme. First, to en-hance language use via conversationexchanges. Secondly, to introduce stu-dents to the socio-cultural aspects ofthe language under study. It was veryimportant for students to overcome

their intimidation about speaking aforeign language aloud. Most of ourstudents find it very hard to startspeaking aloud in a foreign language. Itwould never occur to them to attend aplay or even watch TV in Catalan orEnglish. The programme tries to con-vince the students that they can spendenjoyable free time using another lan-guage.

Evaluation: Analyzing the Relation-ship’s Pros and Cons

The language partnership is a peer-to-peer task. Both partners participate inthe conversation, so each is involved inthe evaluation process. Co-evaluationis a process that involves two evalua-tors simultaneously. The co-evaluationis extremely useful: it presents two per-spectives, which contributes to theoverall improvement of the pro-gramme. The evaluation process in-volves constant dialogue during vari-ous stages of the programme. At theend of each session, each partner(tutor and tutored person) shouldcomplete an evaluation questionnaire(written in both languages).

The evaluation sheet should be easy toanswer. Each participant should beasked exactly the same questions. It isimportant for the staff involved in theproject to analyze the results in orderto improve the programme’s future im-plementation. It is important to con-vince the pairs that the self-evaluationsare crucial for everybody, to improvethe overall programme.

Conclusion: Language Pairings —Much More than a Marriage of Con-venience

The final evaluation helps to assess theprogramme in general. As Son Canals’language pairings will continue in fu-ture school years, the evaluation willhelp improve the experience for futureparticipants. Fortunately, there havejust been two dropouts to date fromthe total of sixty three partners. We be-lieve that the key to forming successfulpairs has been the close analysis of theinitial self-descriptive informationsheets. It is not ‘mission impossible’ tofind compatible ‘halves’!

1 In didactics, a‘corner’ is a spaceused for a specificactivity. In infant

education it isvery frequent touse ‘corners’ to

develop differentactivities, e.g. the

reading corner,the puppets’ cor-

ner, the musiccorner, etc.

CHARDIC

by Cathy Cobb Castrec and Antònia Vidal

Antònia Vidal Nicolau (Technology) and Catherine Cobb Castrec (English) are both teachers at the IES Son Pacs.They have been teaching Technology in English for the past eight years; in addition, they have been helpingother teachers start European Sections in their schools, by means of conferences and classes. They have also

taken part in several Comenius Projects and interdisciplinary ventures.

AND COMPUTERS


Our title might suggest a slightanachronism, since Charles Dickensconjures up a world of sepia-tintedparchment and dusty books. How-ever, at the IES Son Pacs, he is seen as avital and very modern author who hasbeen providing fun for our third ofESO students for quite a few years.To start off, we should explain that wehave been teaching Technology inEnglish for over eight years at ourschool. During this time, we haveexplained the uses of materials, tools,electricity, bridges and forces, both in

the Technology class as well as theEnglish class. The concept of CLILteaching (Content and Language-integrated Learning) embraces thismethod of imparting knowledge; ourstudents have taken part in a widerange of projects to enhance theirtechnological skills. Nevertheless, afew years ago, we felt that we shouldexplore another way of giving ourCLIL classes: using Technology toteach English literature.When you mention literature as partof a foreign language class, most stu-

dents and some teachers shudder atthe thought of reading a musty andboring book with a long and difficultexam at the end. Unfortunately, someof the adapted modern ESL books areso tedious that it is understandablewhy students develop an aversion toreading and literature in general. So afew years ago, our English Depart-ment decided that we would only readadapted versions of classics from Eng-lish literature (e.g. Hamlet, The Pictureof Dorian Gray, Oliver Twist and TheLast of the Mohicans, etc.). But a great

RLES KENS



author is not enough to instill interest and fervour in moststudents, so we had to find a strategy to make them want toread more, and make it a part of our course. Since Technol-ogy was an integral part of the third of ESO curriculum, wedecided to combine forces and drag Charles Dickens intothe twenty-first century by making him the most interest-ing person in the world of computers.Using an adapted version of Oliver Twist in English class,we read each chapter. Before answering questions, stu-dents act out the chapter, using clothes and accessoriesbrought from home. This enables them to understandwhat the text is about and provides a fun way to practisetheir speaking skills. They can also summarize the text eas-ily and visualize what has happened. They are also shown atemplate of the project, produced by the Technologyteacher and the English teacher, incorporating otherteachers as actors. At this point, the Technology teacher introduces them tovideo editing in the ICT class. Basically, they use a pro-gramme which enables photos to be transformed onto avideo with speech, microphone recordings, and writtentext. During one of their joint classes, one of the commonteaching projects is introduced: students get into groups(between two or three) and create a photo story for the firsttwo chapters of the book. Students are given the compul-sory requirements for the project (number of frames, theratio of oral and written work, and different technologicalrequisites). Students are also informed of the strict timelimit for handing in their work. In point of fact, they andtheir parents have already been notified of this require-ment at the beginning of the year, reinforced by asemi-official ceremony where they sign a consent formstating that failure to hand in the term assessment on timeresults in failing the assignment.So that all students can work comfortably from home, andto ensure that personal or social backgrounds do not affecttheir creativity, students may use the school resources(microphones, digital cameras, etc). This ensures that theyall have equal opportunity; creativity is the only variableamongst them.Students are encouraged to use all the technological aidsavailable, such as online picture editing, captioning, etc.They are also encouraged to ask their families or friends forhelp or advice, as long as they can explain and/or repeatwhat they did by themselves in front of the Technologyteacher. This ensures that nobody else is doing the work forthem. Once the videos have been given in, a general viewing of allthe videos takes place: students can assess what they havedone well and see the areas where they could improve. Thispeer-to-peer learning ensures that students have a betterappreciation of the teaching involved.They are given twomarks for their work: one from the Technology teacher, whoassesses how they have used the different aspects of theprogramme; and the English teacher gives a mark for theiroral and written skills, including creativity. The basic procedure is as follows: students write out sum-maries of the chapters read in class, illustrating eachsection as if it were a still from a film. The production of thenext photo story is always easier. The Technology teacherteaches them advanced computer skills to improve thevisual impact of their work.

All of a sudden, Oliver Twistbecomes the best lesson of theweek! Nobody ever forgets their books, everybody wants toact and students want to improve their photo stories witheach round. Also, because there are so many characters inthe novel, students ask their families to participate;throughout the years, we have seen parents, brothers, sis-ters and grandparents become new stars and enhance theproductions of these videos. In sum, students develop their creativity, improve theirEnglish, as well as honing their ICT skills. Equally, theylearn to be more organized with their time and develop anacute sense of responsibility (something previously lack-ing). Both the Technology teacher and the English teacher ironout any problems each time a new installment is given,improving the overall experience.Last but not least, everybody learns that reading is fun andthat presentations can be extremely effective when thecorrect computer knowledge is used. Students learn that itis not difficult to get impressive results with computers;and that apart from playing, watching films and listeningto music, technological knowledge is very useful and espe-cially fun when applied with creativity.


SHORT STORY

EDUCATION POLICIES FOR COLLECTIVEEMPOWERMENT

Neus Lorenzo Galés is an Education Inspector and the current Director of Language Services for the CatalonianDepartment of Education. With more than twenty-five years of experience, Neus has taught all the way from pri-mary to university levels. She has been very involved with European Union education initiatives. Neus has aut-

hored an ample selection of educational material in Spanish, Catalan and English for McGraw-Hill, OxfordUniversity Press, Richmond-Santillana, Océano and Graó. Currently, Neus is coordinating the plurilingualism

project related to third languages within the Catalonian Department of Education. She has been especiallyinvolved in promoting CLIL methodology and the Comenius, eTwinning and Grundtvig projects.

By Mª Neus Lorenzo Galés

LANGUAGE LEARNING

AND LANGUAGE TRAINING

IN EUROPE:


Why Teach Languages?At the September 2011 UN Summit of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, the President of the EuropeanUnion, Joao Manuel Barroso, stressed that “the EU,with its transnational experience of peace and integra-tion, is well-equipped to make a leading contributionto the globalisation process”1. He was implying thattoday’s global interdependence can be enriched by theEuropean model of plurality and intercultural collec-tive empowerment. In sum, Barroso was really sug-gesting that the best way of achieving the MillenniumDevelopment Goals is to accept differences in order todevelop shared, creative solutions.This policy was already expounded on May 19, 20062

by the European Union Council experts: they affirmedthat foreign language skills and mutual understandingbetween peoples are prerequisites for workforcemobility, needed to bolster the competitiveness of theUnion’s economy. According to Christian Tremblay,president and founder of the European Observatory ofPlurilingualism, the importance of cultural diversityand language plurality has been consolidated by sever-al studies; it can help develop labour markets, socialcohesion and professional skills3.

Why Teach Content and Language-integratedLearning (CLIL)?On 25 October 20114, the European Council came tothe following conclusion regarding the EuropeanIndicator of Language Competence:“While general language programmes help to developessential communication skills for everyday use,methodologies such as content and language-integrat-ed learning (CLIL) in both general education and VETcan be particularly effective in enhancing the mobilityand employability of workers.”Learning language and content in school projects helpstudents to integrate cognitive processes and culturalawareness as part of their personal knowledge build-ing. In order to promote CLIL, teachers and learnersshould be encouraged to use and practice whateverthey are achieving. Real world social participation andexperiences create educational ‘added value’: Using authentic environments to interact with the tar-get language on the Internet.Performing real tasks and activities that allow partici-pants to participate in European open projects.Collaborating to promote their local village on interna-tional platforms, presenting local information in a for-eign language.Exchanging real information with natives and speak-

ers interested in the same fields.Creating community-learning networks and partici-pating in community-building processes. Classroom management should incorporate strategiesfor promoting students’ involvement and self-aware-ness. In fact, the more collaborative techniques, thebetter: strategies based on mutual help, participation,social knowledge building, and co-operative learningare all excellent techniques.

Why Use CLIL in a School Project?The more students know about their learning aims atboth a personal and social level, the more accuratetheir test results will be, resulting in more reliablestandards. This, in turn, will allow for establishing bet-ter horizons for our educational goals. This positive circle of involvement can be simplifiedinto a three-step-wheel, for reviewing and assessing aschool’s implementation process5:

The main objective of a CLIL project is to blend lan-guage learning and curricular content via the “learningby doing” and “project work” methodologies. Theseapproaches promote a “hidden curricula develop-ment” that help students to increase their motivationand learning autonomy, as well as helping teachers toincrease their professional development and theirteaching strategies.

Planning a Project Using CLILWhen planning a project or task, it is necessary fromthe very beginning to make the teaching aims and theexpected learning achievements very clear. The tradi-tional 4-C suggested by David Marsh and et al. (2008)6

and the 6-C suggested by the Catalan group 6.sis7 con-cur in putting the stress on cognitive development andindividual awareness. Project sequences and taskplanning should make explicit what is expected fromthe students for the final assessment with regards toproduct, learning goals and final task.

Fig. 2: Task planning sequence: Adapted from Camps(1994), Referred to by Cassany (2008) inhttp://goo.gl/vDb11

Why Use CLIL for Organisational Learning?

Encouraging CLIL experiences is a way of promotinginnovation and action-research. New teaching andlearning strategies will emerge, especially of value fornew organisational forms of classroom interaction.Connectivity and complexity are part of global evolu-tion in our fluid society, and should be part of thelearning process. In fact, coordinating school activities among teachersfrom different subjects is a perfect starting point forimproving organisational learning. Moreover, inter-national networking helps both teachers and stu-dents to validate their work and encourages the edu-cational community to strive harder. Sharing andparticipating in these international exchange helpstudents grow towards complexity and coherent self-access criteria.

Fig. 3: Connectivity between CLIL and complexity(suggested by the author, Neus Lorenzo)

Exchanging and sharing experiences can be very use-ful for teachers and schools in developing self-train-ing and self-assessment. There are several interna-tional web pages where it is possible to present andshare CLIL lesson-plans, CLIL-project designs andexamples of good practices.

Fig. 4: Example of a CLIL activity: a secondary schoolproject comparing popcorn types using experimentalscientific method (photo: author’s archive, NeusLorenzo)

Examples: which CLIL?Choosing the right CLIL activity depends on severalfactors, but the main one is the age of the students.Easy and motivating sessions can be organised forvery young learners based on Total Physical Response,to develop physical education, handicrafts or arts.More complex and systematic sessions can beplanned to work on Natural Science or Maths foryoung learners or adolescents.

For any group, the main basics should be respected:a) To coordinate, compound and lead common proj-ects with CLIL-approaches.b) To engage and motivate quality work and scientificmethods, to learn new content and to use new lan-guage to implement the planned classroom activities. c) To build and perform new activities to enlargeknowledge, consolidate learning strategies and devel-op new skills.d) To communicate and exchange procedures andresults with other colleagues and other groups, inorder to activate cognitive dialogue, to disseminatediscoveries and to consolidate acquired knowledge.

Transmitting these main educational principles toschool managers, teachers and families is a majorchallenge; however, their participation is essential forachieving success. Future generations will have betterschool methodologies if we are able to disseminateCLIL approach and CLIL project work.

1 Statement by José Manuel BARROSO, EC Presidentfollowing this week’s UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals Summit and UN General Assembly in NewYork: European Commission, Audiovisual Services:http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/player/streaming.cfm?type=ebs&sid=1662182 Council (2006). Council conclusions on theEuropean Indicator of Language Competence.Official Journal of the European Union. Council of theEuropean Union. (pp. 1-3). OJ C 172, 25.07.2006.(2006/C 172/01) Retrieved from: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2006:172:0001:0003:EN:PDF3 The European Observatory of Plurilingualism athttp://plurilinguisme.europe-avenir.com/4 Council (2011). Council Conclusions on LanguageCompetences to Enhance Mobility. Official Journal ofthe European Union. Council of the European Union.EDUC 256 SOC 891 CULT 83, 20.12.2011 (2011/C372/07) Retrieved from: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:372:0027:0030:EN:PDF5 Suggested by “SisX6”, a Catalan group of educationinspectors involved in Teacher Training andPrincipals advising at the ICE-UB, University ofBarcelona (Imma Colom, Neus Lorenzo, JoanaMadurell, Carme Mañà, Blanca Morán).6 Mehisto, P.; Marsh, D; Frigols, M.J. (2008)

“Uncovering CLIL. Content and Language IntegratedLearning in Bilingual and Multilingual Education”, ed.Macmillan Education.7 Suggested by “SisX6”, a Catalan group of educationinspectors involved in Teacher Training andPrincipals advising at the ICE-UB, University ofBarcelona (Imma Colom, Neus Lorenzo, JoanaMadurell, Carme Mañà, Blanca Morán).


ALL SHOOK

UP: EMOTIONS


Oliver Fuentes Fuentes (1984) holds a degree in English Translation and Interpreting. Hehas worked as a Spanish teacher at the University of Bucharest and as a Spanish assistant

at high schools in Edinburgh. Since 2009, he has worked as an English translator andEnglish teacher in several high schools in the Balearic Islands, as well as at the EOI

Palma. He is currently teaching English at IES Josep Miquel Guàrdia.

By Oliver Fuentes Fuentes

“When dealing with people, remem-ber you are not dealing with creaturesof logic, but creatures of emotion.”Dale Carnegie

Anyone who has worked withteenagers in a classroom will agreewith the above statement. Neverthe-less, in the educational context, someprofessionals forget that studentsexperience a myriad of emotions.

Why Is Identifying Emotions Impor-tant?

School is an emotional time for stu-dents, teachers and parents (Schutz,Hong, Cross & Osborne, 2006). Emo-tions surface in almost every aspect ofteaching and the learning process(Schutz & Lanehart, 2002).

Because our learners may not be ableto describe their feelings or put theminto words, teachers need to knowhow students experience emotions.Educators need to be alert to what theface may betray; one cannot relypurely on a student’s words. Teachersneed to know whether or not studentsare following a lesson and understandthe explanation. By paying attentionto our students’ faces, we can spotemotions such as interest, enthusi-asm, concentration or perplexity.

However, identifying emotions is notalways an easy job. Some people masktheir emotions, for basic reasons: e.g.,doctors hide their emotions whiletalking to patients with terminal ill-nesses. Others learn how to neutralizetheir expressions, e.g., poker players(poker face). Social conventionsregarding what you can show on yourface or cultural norms may dictate aperson’s public appearance. Forexample, in Chinese etiquette, a giftmust be refused three times and onlyaccepted with a reserved demeanour.

Teachers should take into accountboth the different ways that childrendisplay their emotions and also thereasons behind those emotions. Boysmay show different emotions fromgirls, depending on family, cultureand social background. It is essentialfor both teachers and students tounderstand that a typical classroomcontains many different ways of dis-playing emotions.

Do Emotions Influence Teachingand Students?

Emotions usually shape cognitions. Ateacher’s emotions affect their atten-tion, memory and problem-solving.Negative emotions focus attention(Derryberry and Tucker, 1994). Emo-tions mobilize and synchronize thebrain’s activities, frequently intrudingand flooding consciousness (LeDoux,1996). For example, after listening tostudents making the same mistake forseveral weeks, a teacher may lose histemper and angrily correct the mis-take. Given that type of reaction,students are more likely to focus theirattention and remember the correc-tion.

A teacher’s expression of positiveemotions (e.g. caring) can have anevident influence on learners. Sec-ondary school students who areaware of their teachers’ concern aremore motivated and less likely to beinvolved in delinquency (Wong andDornbusch, 2000); they are morelikely to be participative, collaborativeand to respect the classroom rules(Wentzel, 1996). Furthermore, a stu-dent’s perception of teacher supporthas an immediate effect on how moti-vated and interested students feel(Wentzel, 1998). Students tend tolearn and perform better when theyfeel self-assured, satisfied and famil-iarized with the subject matter.

Although teachers are encouraged to“never become defensive or lose con-trol of their feelings” (Gathercoal,1993) and counselled that “calm isstrength; upset is weakness” (Wongand Wong, 1998, p. 164), masking theflow of emotions when teaching is anart that not everybody has mastered.What is more, students are usuallyaware of the teacher’s emotions.

Teachers can generate positive emo-tions through different strategies andcreative treatments, promoting suc-cessful learning and performance:

- According to Stephen Krashen, usinghumour in class can play a key role inhelping relax students and create apositive classroom atmosphere.Showing a funny cartoon from a news-paper or telling a joke is a good way tostart a lesson, introduce the topic ofthe day, or to review previous topics.

- Arousing our students’ curiosity byusing realia* can make the learningexperience more memorable. Forinstance, using town maps and for-eign bank notes or coins in role plays;or the royal family tree to practise theGenitive Saxon (i.e. possessives) forthe lower levels.

- Fostering interaction among peerscan improve students’ display of emo-tions, as well as regulate their socialbehaviour, resulting in social compe-tence. The peer learning approachoffers a variety of techniques andactivities (e.g. the puzzle method;peer tutoring) that result in promisinglearning.

- As stated by Donald Norman, evok-ing memories makes students buildattachments to items that have con-siderable meaning. Activities relatedto a student’s school memories will bewelcomed by pupils.

- Activities that are relevant to our stu-dents’ personal lives tend to engagethem, e.g. favourite leisure activitiesor identifiable everyday situations.

All in all, managing, feeling and con-veying our emotions may seem like anunknown world for many teachers,but it is a basic skill if we want toengage our students actively andmake the most of our lessons. Regard-less of one’s degree of emotionalawareness, one can always improvethis area with some ‘inner’ work: wejust need to pay attention to what ourdaily lives offer us.

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of myemotions. I want to use them, to enjoythem, and to dominate them.” -OscarWilde.

* realia: real-life objects.


USINGPORTFOLIOS

AS AN INSTRU-CTIONAL

TOOL


Portfolios tell a story.Put in anything that helps tell your story.

(Adapted from Pearl and Leon Paulson)

Montserrat Garcia Comino has a BA in English Language and Literature. She has been a primary and secondaryschool English teacher for over twenty years. Montserrat has also been a teacher trainer with the Universitat

Autònoma de Barcelona’s ICE, the Rosa Sensat Teachers’ Association, and with Pearson Education publishers.She has coordinated the “Stonehenge” group on English language didactics teaching. Montserrat has also

recently been involved with the “CLIL Across Contexts: A Scaffolding Framework for CLIL Teacher Education”international project. She is co-author of the book Del conte al portafoli multicultural: un exemple de tasca

competencial. She has also been advisor on foreign languages at the CEP Jaume Cañellas (Palma) for three years.Currently, Montserrat is an advisor for the Conselleria d’Educació of the Balearic Islands.

A portfolio is a good product for a competences-based task; it is a tool forteaching, learning and assessment. Students should become familiar withusing portfolios to display current work; and as a learning-to-learn techniquefor collecting, selecting and organizing different types of documents. Addi-tionally, portfolios aid teachers in evaluating the progress of their studentsand establishing interaction strategies. However, the development of a portfo-lio holds certain implications for the students: they must become aware of theprocess involved in their knowledge acquisition. The creation of a portfolio is auniquely personal act; with it, the student offers up a very individual productthat provides continuous learning evaluation, promotes student autonomy,and stimulates critical thinking.

The word ‘portfolio’ has become quite popular in the world of education, butit is not a recent invention. The concept is very well-known outside the class-room. Artists, photographers and architects use portfolios to show theirwork to potential customers. In fact, electronic portfolios in digital formatcan be true works of art. Within education, portfolios are linked to the con-cept of lifelong learning. The portfolio is a tool that encourages and assessescompetences development; it is a strategy for personal and professionalgrowth that promotes reflective learning and critical thinking.

“The portfolio is an organized collection of papers and documents, previouslyselected by students that reflect the process and its performance in relation tosome specific learning objectives and established assessment criteria.”(Barberà 2005) 1

A portfolio is a compilation of documents that not only summarize the stu-dent’s academic work, it also explicitly demonstrates the learning processes.A portfolio can also have a double focus: the individual and the group, aninterrelated association that is integral to the student’s development. A stu-dent must be personally involved in the selection of the portfolio content:they should be able to explain the criteria for selecting each item.

“The instructional value and power of doing portfolios comes when stu-dents use criteria and self-reflection to make decisions about what theywant to show about themselves and why. This implies self-selection of port-folio content.”

( Arter & Spandel 1991)2

The teachers’ role in evaluating portfolios is to establish evaluation criteriaand set the quality standards. A portfolio empowers students: it providesinformation about the quality of their work, and the collection depicts theevolution of their thought process. By building a portfolio, a cognitive processtakes place: students have to understand the procedure; they have to be ableto justify the structure; and to select what is relevant. The use of portfolios inthe classroom engages students, builds confidence and activates creativity.However, it requires planning by both the teacher and the student.


Montserrat Garcia Comino

1 Barberà (2005).La evaluaciónde competen-

cias complejas:la práctica delportafolio. En

Educere LaRevista Venezo-

lana deEducación, año

9, nº 31.

2 Arter, J.A &Spandel, V.

(1991). UsingPortfolios of

Student Work ininstruction and

Assessment.Portland,

NorthwestRegional Edu-

cationalLaboratory.


The portfolio must be purposeful; it is not just a folderof student’s work throughout a limited time period. Itcan include a complete record of all type of activities:drafts, revisions and self-reflections, etc. The portfo-lio transcends its format and becomes instructionalwhen the items included are analysed in a metacog-nitive maner. Students’ performances are shown in abroader scope, going beyond traditional assessment,providing a more humanizing view.

Portfolios normally include more than just a sampleof a student’s work. A portfolio implies the inclusionof drafts, revised papers, self-corrected worksheetsand reflection activities, throughout the instructionprocess. This creates a clear picture of a student’seffort, achievement and growth; in other words, theprocess and the progress.

When learners are involved in the process of creatinga portfolio, they are multi-tasking: activating theirthinking skills and critical viewpoints; dealing withproblem solving; and developing a moreautonomous attitude.

“The portfolio is a record of the child’s process of lear-ning: what the child has learned and how she has goneabout learning; how she thinks, questions, analyzes,synthesizes, produces, creates; and how she interacts—intellectually, emotionally and socially—with others.”(Grace, C. 1992)3

In order to undertake this large-scale output, it isessential that students have a clear idea of the portfo-lio’s purpose. A model portfolio should be presentedat the beginning of the assignment, via a familiariza-

tion task. Students shouldn’t forgetthat they have todemonstrate certain criteria when choosing materi-als. When building portfolios, students need to makea lot of decisions about what to include and what toexclude. The teachers’ task is to help their studentsgain the skills to create a portfolio. One approach is byclarifying instructional goals and expectations; byshowing samples of different portfolios (from boththe educational field and the professional world).“Ifcriteria are shared, students become part of the evalua-tion and are empowered to recognize weakperformances and improve them” (Arter & Spandel,1992)4. The portfolio selection guidelines should bearin mind the students’ level, maturity and familiaritywith portfolios.

A nice portfolio metaphor appears in “Portfolios asStories of Knowing” (Paulson and Paulson 1991).These authors see portfolios as ‘tales of achievement’

or ‘chronicles of conquests’. To them, students are telling astory when they select pieces of work and can explain thedecision-making process.

“A portfolio tells a story. It is the story of knowing. Knowingabout things . . . Knowing oneself . . . Knowing an audience .. . Portfolios are students’ own stories of what they know,why they believe they know it, and why others should be ofthe same opinion. A portfolio is opinion backed by fact . . .Students prove what they know with samples of theirwork.”P. Paulson & F.L. Paulson, (1991)5.

Other authors have referred to portfolios as:

According to the constructivist view, ‘knowledge is some-thing that students build’. With this in mind, a portfolio canbe viewed as a structure created by students. They reflecton their experience, and gain self-knowledge. A portfolio isalso a way of monitoring their own learning, as studentsfigure out what is really of value. While students choosewhat they consider important outcomes, the teacher’s roleto give a clear presentation of what constitutes a portfolio;provide effective feedback; and integrate assessment intothe instruction process.

3Grace, C. (1992) The Portfolio and its use; Developmentallyappropriate assessment of young children. Eric Digest.4 Arter, J.A & Spandel, V. (1991). Using Portfolios of StudentWork in Instruction and Assessment. Portland, NorthwestRegional Educational Laboratory.5 Paulson, P. & F.L. Paulson (1991). Portfolios: Stories ofknowing. In P.H. Dreyer (Ed.).

Liam Fitzpatrick has 15 years experience in teaching English as a Foreign Language. Originally from Ireland, hegraduated with a BA in Social Sciences from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Based in Spain since

1994, he has also completed post-graduate studies in TESOL with Aston University, UK. Liam works as an ELTConsultant and Teacher Trainer for Express Publishing.

BOOSTING BRAIN

POWER:

By Liam Fitzpatrick


Based on John Medina’s‘Brain Rules’

How to Fully ActivateOur Students’ Brains in the

EFL Classroom

How the brain really works stillremains a mystery. To create a class-room environment that supportswhat the brain is good at doing, weneed to take certain factors into con-sideration. When we begin tounderstand the marvellous workingsof the mind, we can organize ourclassrooms in a way that is conduciveto boosting brain power.

The following article is a summary ofhow eight of John Medina’s twelve“Brain Rules”(http://www.brainrules.net/) can beapplied in the EFL Classroom at alllevels (pre-primary to adult learners)in all contexts (large and small stu-dent groups). In demonstrating thebenefits of fostering a “brain boost-ing” classroom environment, somereflective questions will be posed andsome possible suggestions for taskand material types will be proposed.

Exercise Improves Cognition

In order to place this Brain Rule intoperspective, Medina takes us on achronological journey from our earlyevolutionary history as a speciesthrough to one of the nasty side effectsof modern civilization: our sedentarylifestyle. Based on research results, heargues that human beings and theirbrains were not made for sittingbehind desks for hours on end, dayafter day; physical activ-ity is cognitive candy.This is basically due tothe fact that movement(even of the slightestnature) provides oxygento the brain.

Controlled experimentswith groups of studentsthat have elements ofmovement/physicalactivity introduced intotheir classroom/learningsettings have shown thatcognitive performance isenhanced over a shortperiod of time. Once thatelement is taken out ofthe classroom/learningsetting, the cognitive gainplummets. What types ofcognitive performanceare we referring to and how does itapply to the EFL Classroom? Of thetypes that Medina mentions, three of

them are crucial to language learningand acquisition: long-tem memory;attention and fluid intelligence(which is defined as the ability to rea-son quickly and abstractly); andimprovising based on previouslylearned knowledge (taking us into ourproximal development zone).

What type of tasks? We already havemany of them at our disposal in theEFL Classroom: TPR activities, role-plays, dialogues, Talk with Your friend,Find Someone Who…, etc. These allinvolve movement, thereby guaran-teeing the supply of oxygen to ourstudents’ brains.Medina goes as far as to suggest thatwe should put treadmills into class-rooms!

Every Brain is Wired Differently

Medina cites cases involving a behav-ioral theorist, a neurosurgeon and anelite sportsman (Michael Jordan andhis failed attempt to make the conver-sion from basketball to baseball in the1990s) to demonstrate that everybrain is wired differently — it’s whatmakes each and everyone of usunique. Brains also develop at differ-ent rates in different people. Thebehavioral theorist is Howard Gard-ner, whose breakthrough MultipleIntelligences theory talks about sevento nine categories of multiple intelli-

gence. George Ojemann is theneurosurgeon.Medina discusses Oje-mann’s expertise with a brain surgery

technique called Electrical Simula-tion Mapping, which may indicatethat there are more than 7 millionintelligence categories. No two brainsare wired the same – neither in termsof structure nor function. In fact, weall store and retrieve language in dif-ferent areas of our brains (from nounsto verbs to other aspects of language).

What can we do in the EFL classroomso that this Brain Rule is taken intoconsideration? Firstly, we need to pro-vide students with variety in our input,through materials and activities thatprovide multiple pathways to acquir-ing knowledge of and about language.

IWB material allows us as teachers topresent content and carry out tasks ina number of different ways (many ofthem multisensorial). What aboutoutside the classroom? If our students’brains develop at different rates andcontact time with them in the class-room is limited (even more so in largegroups), are we providing them withenough opportunities and the rightresources to acquire the target lan-guage and reach their particularcourse’s learning objectives?

People Don’t Pay Attention to BoringThings

Can I have your attention, please?

Medina asks: does itmatter to learning if wepay attention? Apartfrom “you bet it does”, hestates that the moreattention the brain paysto a given stimulus, themore elaborately it willbe encoded andretrieved. Attention isinextricably linked tothree key cognitive (lan-guage learning) areas:memory, interest andawareness. Medina alsodiscusses the impor-tance of emotions ingrabbing our attentionand the limitations ofour concentration spanswhen it comes to main-taining focus.

In the EFL classroom, we need mate-rials/lesson structures that trigger our

students’ curiosity (as well as theircritical thinking). In addition, mate-rials/lesson structures need to allowfor flexibility and variety in terms oftask duration and task types that weuse to grab and maintain our stu-dents’ attention.

Memories are Volatile and Suscep-tible to Corruption

This is actually a combination of twoof Medina’s Brian Rules, related tohow our memories work.They are:

Repeat to remember! (short-termmemory)

Remember to repeat! (long-termmemory)

The freakish ability of people such asKim Peek (“Rain Man”) to read andmemorize ridiculously hugeamounts of information (two pagesat a time) from library shelves hashelped brain scientists to define thefour stages of memory: encoding(learning); storage; retrieval; and for-getting. Medina states thatresearchers are still only beginningto really understand the first one:encoding (learning). What they havebeen able to ascertain is that themore elaborately we encode infor-mation at the moment of learning(or perhaps input), the stronger thememory. In terms of language learn-ing, there is a need to provide ourstudents with multiple exposures atthe point of learning to the targetlanguage (“Repeat to remember”) ina variety of formats. Pronunciationdrills and IWB material are the firstlanguage activity and material typesthat come to mind.

Medina also states that the “goodnews” is that memory is not alto-gether fixed at the point of learning,but rather “. . . repetition, doled out inspecifically timed intervals, is the fix-ative”: remember to repeat! Theneural connection pathways will belost if we as teachers don’t walk ourstudents along them again and again.

Medina concludes this section onmemory by suggesting that schoolsof the future should have timetablesthat adhere to these two rules inorder to create brain-boosting class-room environments. How?Twenty-five minute modules(classes) cyclically repeated, seg-

mented and interleaved throughoutthe day, combined with periods of“study holidays” (no new input).

Sensory IntegrationRichard Mayer (cognitive psycholo-gist) and his controlled experimentsof different groups of students inmultisensory environments (e.g.,sight & hearing) as opposed togroups in unisensory (e.g., hearing-only) environments provide Medinawith the basis for stating that multi-sensory presentations are ‘the way togo’. The experiments have shownthat students exposed to multisen-sory classes have more accuraterecall. The implications of this forareas such as pronunciation, the useof grammar structures and vocabu-lary, etc. in the EFL Classroom areenormous. Although this articleadvocates the use of IWB material(which can in fact be used in somecases without the need for an Inter-active Whiteboard by simplyprojecting), there are other types ofmaterials and/or activities thatachieve sensory integration in theclassroom. Integrating sight, hear-ing, touch and even smell and taste(realia) into our classroom/learningsettings will guarantee that we areproviding more and richer stimu-lants for our students in the learningprocess.

Vision Trumps all Other Senses

“Words are only postage stampsdelivering the object for you tounwrap” - (George Bernard Shaw).This rule in particular poses adilemma and a paradox for us as lan-guage teachers: text is perhaps themost inefficient means of transfer-ring information. Brain research hasshown that when we read we areactually trying to visualize what thetext is telling us. Vision is by far ourmost dominant sense (for those of usfortunate enough to have this senseoperating at full capacity) and pic-tures, images and imagery grab ourattention and transfer information.Medina defines it as PSE – PictorialSuperiority Effect. It means that wepay attention to colour, size, orienta-tion and, in particular, objects inmotion. There’s more: animation isthe most effective delivery mecha-nism for information. However, foreducational purposes (and language

learning in particular), the animationitself does not need to be complex.Simple, two-dimensional anima-tion/illustrations are sufficient tocapture our students’ attention andtransfer concepts/information –anything more complex will only dis-tract the learners’ attention fromwhat it is we are trying to exposethem to or teach them (i.e. English asForeign Language).

Stress Changes the Way We Learn

Is there a straightforward relation-ship between learning and stress?Based on findings from some of themost famous case studies from thefield of psychology, Medina says wecan easily answer this question inthe affirmative. Stressed (and dis-tracted) brains do not learn in thesame way as relaxed (and engaged)brains. We all know that the stresslevels in a classroom come from awide variety of sources (factors fromhome environments, school/workenvironments, etc.) and can influ-ence classroom environments,relationships and dynamics. Theneed here is to lower as much as pos-sible the affective filters which mayinhibit effective learning.

Given that we as teachers cannotcontrol all these factors, what can wedo in the EFL classroom to ensurethat our students are engaging in thelearning process as much as possiblewithout unnecessary stress? As inthe first brain rule, many of the tasktypes and materials are already atour disposal for use in the EFL Class-room: games, quizzes, songs.However, the games, quizzes, songsshouldn’t just be ‘fun for the sake ofhaving fun’ but rather integratedwith the target language and learn-ing objectives of the particularlesson/unit/module being studied.

In closing, here’s a quote by WilliamH. Payne from the University ofChicago: “Psychology, in fact, standsin the same relation to teaching thatanatomy does to medicine”. Medinasays he would replace the term “psy-chology” with “brain science”.


ENGAGING THE

IMAGINATIONBY

LEARNING IN DEPTH

Dr. Kieran Egan is a Professor at the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University (Canada), and the founderand director of the Imaginative Education Research Group (IERG). He is the author of approximately a dozen

books; and co-author, editor, or co-editor of a few more. He is author of over one hundred articles. In 1993, Dr.Egan was the first person in the field of Education to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada. In 2001, he wasappointed to a Canada Research Chair in Education, and won a Killam Senior Research Scholarship. Various of

Dr. Egan’s books have been translated into more than half a dozen European and Asian languages.


by Kieran Egan

“Learning in Depth” (LiD) is a starklysimple and immediately practicalprogram that is also unusual – but itcan have a huge impact on children’seducation. It was introduced in twoclassrooms in British Columbia(Canada) in the 2008/9 school year,with 30 students. The next year(2009/10), there were more than 2,000students involved. By 2010/11, manymore students were involved inCanada, USA, UK, Hungary, Australia,Japan, Romania, China, Iran, and pos-sibly other countries (Egan, 2011). Theenthusiastic response, engagementand learning by children, and thedelight from parents and many teach-ers, is stimulating the rapid spread ofLiD. In consequence, I would like tosuggest that it is worth trying in theBalearic Islands.Learning in Depth—to echo its web-site––is a program in which each childis given, at a ceremony during theearly weeks of schooling, a particulartopic to learn about through her or hiswhole school career, in addition to theusual curriculum. Topics mightinclude such things as apples, ships,the circus, cats, railways, the solar sys-tem, etc. Students meet regularly withtheir supervising teachers who giveguidance, suggestions, and help asstudents build personal portfolios ontheir topics. The aim is that each child,by the end of her or his schooling, willhave built genuine expertise aboutthat topic. The expectation is that thisprocess will transform most children’srelationship to, and understanding of,the nature of knowledge. It shouldalso transform each child’s experienceof schooling. (www.ierg.net/LiD).

Children and parents at the “reveal”ceremony in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.

LiD is an unusual program and tends,after the first simple description, toelicit enthusiasm from some peopleand hostility from others. While thebasic idea is quite simple, the poten-

tial implications of the program forstudents, teachers and schools areprofound. Another oddity of the pro-gram is that it is entirely voluntary andentirely free of any form of grading.The direction in which students studytheir topic is entirely up to them,helped by their teachers.I want to briefly discuss three featuresof the LiD project. First, I will describethe initial implementations of LiD, togive some sense of why the program istaking off so rapidly — even though itseems bizarre and unworkable tosome people on first acquaintance.Second, I will discuss a few commonobjections that are initially made tothe program. Third, I will highlight themain features of the kind of pedagogyrequired to support and sustain LiDand other meaningful learning expe-riences in the classroom.In one school in Langley, BritishColumbia, a teacher decided to try outLiD after she heard it described in auniversity class she was taking. Itshould be said that she did so in theface of not a little skepticism, andworse, from some of her fellow teach-ers. In the following year, six otherteachers in the school began the pro-gram in their classes; in 2010/11, therewere eleven teachers implementingit. Now there is talk of the wholeschool taking on LiD! What did thoseother teachers see that made them gofrom dismissive skepticism to becom-ing enthusiastic implementersthemselves, within a year? They saw aclass of students who showed hugeenthusiasm to learn about their indi-vidual topics; students who werehelping their fellow students by bring-ing in material to help build theirportfolios; students coming to schoolwith special energy on the day theyhad their one hour LiD time slot; stu-dents talking to their parents andsiblings about what they were learn-ing; students accumulatingknowledge from libraries, papers andmagazines, the Internet, etc.; studentsdrawing, tracing, talking with adults,including other teachers, etc. The firstLangley teacher (who has been teach-ing for approximately 30 years) said, “Ihave never experienced the kind ofquestions and interactions I now havewith my students . . . I have neverexperienced these kinds of conversa-tions with children.” Another teachersummed up his experience after ayear by simply saying, “The kids love

it!” A teacher in Oregon wrote: “TheLearning in Depth project hasbrought to our students a completelynew relationship to learning that hasbeen surprising in its depth and qual-ity. After seeing Learning in Depth atwork in our school community, Iknow this has been a critical, missingelement. It has proven to be every-thing we imagined (and much morewe didn’t) when we heard about [it ini-tially].” (Quotes taken from the LiDwebsite.)

Girl with her starting portfolio on Ants

These are typical responses fromteachers so far. I include them—eventhough the paragraph looks more likethe kind of advertising one might seeon a new and dubious medicinead––to give one side of the response toLiD thus far. Clearly, the kind of peo-ple who are attracted by the idea andwant to make it work will elicit anenthusiastic response from students.But let me conclude by looking at howproponents of LiD see it:“Learning in Depth . . . is simplicityitself. Students are randomly assignedtopics that have been vetted forappropriate richness to warrant yearsof study. They receive individual top-ics during their primary years andkeep them through high school grad-uation. There are no assignments, nodeadlines, and no pressure to pro-duce. This is learning for the sake oflearning. Students receive supportand encouragement, a medalinscribed with the topic (for inspira-tion), and a ‘starter notebook’ to helporganize their thinking” (from aschool web site where the programwas introduced during the 2009/10school-year:http://web.corbett.k12.or.us/pdf/newslet3_10.pdf).The program begins with an initial“reveal” ceremony, attended by par-ents, caregivers, siblings, etc., in whichthe child receives a portfolio folderand learns the topic on which she orhe is going to become an expert. Insome schools, students are also givena ribbon with a medal that includes

their name and topic; in others, theyreceive a tile with their name and topicand a colored picture of the topic. Thetile is then fixed to a wall in the school.In the beginning, the LiD programneed take no more than one hour aweek in school. Increasingly, work isdone outside of school. The mainportfolio is kept at school (quitequickly the initial folder is outgrownand a number of schools have giveneach pupil an Ikea box). Students arealso given a “travelling folder” in whichthey can bring items from home. Par-ents are encouraged to help—but nottake over. A letter about the program isgiven to parents and caregivers, sug-gesting, for example, that it is notdesirable that Sarah receives her topicone day and her father downloadsfifty-five gigabytes of informationabout apples the next day.

Children with their medals announc-ing their LiD topic.

The program was designed to begin inthe first years of schooling, but alreadythere are implementations at everyyear of schooling, including the finalyear in high schools. Even more unex-pectedly, the program is attractingattention from those who run seniors’homes, as it seems to offer a morementally stimulating and engagingactivity than the common bingo andjig-saw puzzles. Unexpectedly, again,the program has engaged many stu-dents who are often resistant tolearning, or are considered “at-risk”; ithas given them something that istheirs, that they can pursue in theirown way. One ‘underperforming’pupil, aged twelve, was interestedonly in skateboarding. The teacherpersuaded him to take on “the wheel”as a topic; by the end of the year, thestudent was studying the physics ofbalance, surface resistances, etc.

Objections and Responses to the Pro-gram

Objection: The idea of randomlyassigning a topic to a child for studyover the next twelve or more years ofschool life is outrageous. The studentsmust be given a choice of topic. Response: One of the underlying prin-ciples of the LiD project is that“Everything is wonderful—if only youknow enough about it.” There are anumber of other reasons to think thatrandom assignment of topics worksbest (discussed in Egan, 2011)—espe-cially if they are given in a significantceremony, with parents and othersattending. There is a concern aboutthe kinds of choices students tend tomake. Teachers who insist on givingchildren their choice of topic find that,initially, students choose topics sug-gested by an immediate interest or arecently seen movie. What the fiveyear old is interested in is rarely whatthey are interested in at fifteen. Also, ifanything goes wrong with building aportfolio on a topic he or she has cho-sen, the pupil has only himself orherself to blame, which is hardly satis-factory. More pragmatically, it hasbeen consistently found that within amatter of weeks the commitment tothe topic is complete; it is “mine.” Thegirl randomly assigned the topic of“birds” finds herself identifying withher theme quickly, aided by the rest ofthe class recognizing her as the “bird”person; she is the appropriate personto whom they should bring any infor-mation or pictures they find aboutbirds. All children in a class have a dif-ferent topic. Having said all this, theremay be situations in which choicemight work well, especially with olderstudents beginning the program. One of the earliest implementers ofthe program initially insisted onallowing the students to have choice.But she ran into problems with thenumber of students wanting to study‘pets’ and ‘princesses’ and ‘dinosaurs’.Also, it became clear that children feltthat if they chose the topic, they couldalso change it whenever they wanted.In the second year, the teacherallowed them to choose three topics,and she settled on what she thoughtwould work best for the individualstudents. By the third year, she hadconcluded that random assignmentof topics works best.

Working on her portfolio

Objection: Even though this is a sim-ple add-on to the current curriculum,and much of the work may be doneoutside the school, the program issimply too difficult to organize. Howcan we coordinate students movingfrom school to school, and advancingyear by year, and somehow keep con-trol of all these portfolios they areaccumulating? Response: Well, at one level, thesepragmatic concerns are absolutelyimportant in considering any newprogram in schools; but also, ofcourse, one doesn’t want to let the tailof administration wag the dog of edu-cation. That is, the prior question iswhether LiD is of educational value.And if it is of greater value than someof the things we might currently bedoing, then we should take the neces-sary steps to implement LiD. Oddlyenough, the pragmatic objection thatthe program is unworkable in normalclassrooms has not yet proven to bethe case. Nearly all early year timeta-bles have some space for what insome places is called “explorationtime”; or, in schools lucky enough tohave such facilities, “library time.” Inall cases to date, it has proven quiteeasy for schools to accommodate LiD.Whether this ease will continueremains to be seen. Perhaps a sign ofthings to come occurred at a school inVictoria, British Columbia: a teacherthought LiD might make a good one-year project for his difficult year sixclass. At the end of the year, the stu-dents demanded that he makearrangements with the year seventeacher so that they could continueworking on their LiD portfolios.Objection: The students will becomebored with a single topic. What willyou do when they learn all they wantto know about that topic? Can theythen move on to another? Shouldn’tthere be a point, say around year fiveor six, when they can all change theirtopics?APABAL MAGAZINE / 44

Response: One problem with this project is that it isdesigned to create conditions in schools which no one hasseen before. Nowhere has there been a focused element inthe curriculum designed to build accumulative expertiseof this kind. So, firstly, it might be worth some effort ofimagination to anticipate some of the changes such a pro-gram may bring about. It certainly seems unlikely that wewill see students continuing indistinguishably from today,if the LiD program works as it should — and as it indeedseems to be working in many countries. Boredom is aproduct of ignorance, not of knowledge. The expectation ofboredom is based on our experience of present day stu-dents who only learn many things superficially. The way inwhich to really engage their imaginations is too rarely real-ized in class; teachers have to keep moving across thesurface level of mandated curricula just to ensure “cover-age.” Typically, the more we know about something, themore interesting it becomes. After students have spent fiveor six years building portfolios about, say, birds, they will beextremely reluctant to give their topic up and move on tosomething else. In this case, time will tell; there will nodoubt be significant variability among students in this, asin other regards. But boredom seems the least likely prod-uct of Learning in Depth.Objection: Because the program is entirely voluntary, stu-dents can drop out at any time, for any reason; after the firstfew years, during which children tend to do whatever isexpected of them, some students will begin to drop out.Surely this will lead to a stampede to the exit? Why shouldthe students—and teachers—take on a program and dowork that is not required, assessed, rewarded or punished,nor has any coercive power?Response: This, too, is an empirical question that only timewill conclusively answer. So far (though it is early days—asof this writing, only the fourth year of implementations iscoming towards an end at the schools that have been doingit longest) no child has asked to drop out. Indeed, morecommon have been unexpected requests of siblings beingallowed to drop-in. Also, unexpectedly in many schools,teachers themselves have taken on topics and started theirown portfolios. If students drop out, nothing is lost fromthe current schooling situation. There may also be goodreasons for a pupil to drop out for some months and thenpick up their portfolio again later. If one thinks of the LiDtopic as something like a hobby, some of the mechanismsthat hold children to hobbies will, for a few years, also beactive in keeping them actively building their portfolios. But the primary reason why I anticipate that this objectionwill have little force for most students is that human beingsenjoy learning. Rather bizarrely, we have created in ourmain educational institution—the school—conditions inwhich virtually no learning is un-coerced: all is subject tosome form of assessment. Students are consistentlygraded and sorted, based on formal or informal tests of onekind or another. It is as though we simply do not believethat people will learn unless we compel them to do so bygentle persuasion or harsh high-stakes testing. LiD wouldbe one of the few learning activities in schools that isentirely un-coerced. Similarly, most teachers get theirgreatest rewards from the experience of students eager tolearn, but we have created such pressures on teachers thatwe have consistently reduced the possibilities for thisrewarding experience. The teachers who have taken on

LiD report that it does indeed take some extra time—though, once underway, much less than they hadanticipated. Quite quickly, the students largely work inde-pendently. Teachers find that they want to continue withLiD, because of the delight in helping children who are pas-sionate about eagerly exploring their topic. It is as thoughLiD reestablishes the teachers’ faith that children love tolearn; a faith that school can too often undermine by itsovert or covert coercive practices.Many of the initial objections to the LiD program centredon claims that it would be impossible to implement, forone reason or another. These objections have been vitiatedby the experience of the past few years. Perhaps some ver-sion of these objections might have validity if these initialLiD implementations begin to fail, but we will have to waiton those failures to examine what went wrong. So far,teachers have only experienced remarkable success, muchof it no doubt due to the Hawthorne effect* and the enthu-siasm of those ‘early adopter’ teachers. At this stage, itseems pointless to examine arguments that conclude thatthe program would be impossible to undertake.

ConclusionWhile we will have to wait on the completion and moredetailed analysis of LiD research results before saying any-thing convincingly about the program, the dominantsense after a number of school visits is that something isworking—out of all proportion to what one might expect. Iretain images of groups of students eagerly carrying their“LiDKiD” folders; one boy setting to work with a particulargirl, not a usual friend, because they have discoveredsomething their topics have in common that they can bothadd to their portfolios; a girl asking her father to buy twobirds so she could study them over the summer holidaysand release them afterwards; a group of five year olds ask-ing me what my topics is—as though it is everyone’sbirthright to ‘have a topic’. But mainly, I have been struckby teachers bemusedly saying they have not seen anythinglike this before.

*‘Hawthorne effect’ refers to the tendency of people towork harder and perform better when they are partici-pants in an experiment.

K. Egan (2011). Learning in Depth: ASimple Innovation That Can TransformSchooling. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.

“This is a fascinating, provocative, utterlyvisionary and courageously speculativeimagining of an educational future thatis simultaneously elite and egalitarian,

deeply intellectual yet utterly connected to passion andidentity. A most audacious proposal from one of educa-tion’s most audacious thinkers . . . an inspiring challenge tothose who aspire to deep understanding for their stu-dents.”—Lee S. Shulman, President Emeritus, TheCarnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.



WORKING WITH

INTER-DISCIPLINARY

TOPICS VIA

ETWINNINGNeus Oliver Manera has a degree in English from Rovira and Virgili University. She has done research on ESL inSecondary Education at the University of Copenhagen. Neus has worked as an English teacher with adults andat the Formentera Official Languages School (EOI). Currently, Neus is an English teacher at IES Porreres and an

associate teacher at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). Since 2010, Neus has been an eTwinningAmbassador, involved in two European eTwinning Professional Development Workshops (PDW). She has also

coordinated International Projects in Secondary. Since 2009, Neus has been the Estudi General Lul·lià SecretaryGeneral, where she coordinates Modern Language courses.

By Neus Oliver Manera

Summary: eTwinning is a virtual exchange that allowsteachers to share material, information and experiencesusing web 2.0 tools. It opens schools to a European dimen-sion and helps teachers from different subjects worktogether on a topic.Key words: COMENIUS, European community, twinspace,interdisciplinary work, collaborative working, web 2.0.What is ‘eTwinning’?eTwinning is part of the European Union’s school pro-gramme. Specifically, eTwinning is a project whichencourages schools across Europe to collaborate usingInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT). Twoor more schools agree on a topic, and set to work develop-ing their project. eTwinning is part of the Lifelong LearningProgram and is an example of the COMENIUS programmein action. COMENIUS’ aim is to help students betterunderstand the range of European cultures, values andlanguages, as well as developing basic life skills. eTwinningis supervised by the National Support Service (NSS) andcoordinated by the Central Support Service (CSS) in Brus-sels. eTwinning started in 2005; since then, it has beenincreasing more and more among schools. Due to thegrowing number of registered teachers and projects, in2009 the position of ‘Ambassador Teacher’ was created.Ambassadors undertake activities to spread the concept ofeTwinning in their community: speeches, talks, courses oroffers of help. eTwinning is a safe site where teachers andstudents can upload pictures with no worries about beingseen by a third party. What is an eTwinning Project?An eTwinning project consists of teachers from all overEurope working together on collaborative projects. Theyshare ideas, creations and working methods via the eTwin-

ning Desktopor the ‘twinspace’. On the eTwinning desk-top, teachers leave messages, ask for partners or writeprogress reports. As eTwinning is a virtual exchange, teach-ers and students can work at school or at home. Botheducation professionals and learners practice their skillsonline via the twinspace.To start an eTwinning project, at least two schools from dif-ferent European countries are needed. However, otherschools can get involved in the same project. ICT (Informa-tion and Communication Technologies) is used to carryout the project. Since there are no face to face meetings, notravel grants are necessary.An eTwinning Project, Step by StepStep 0The first step is to visit www.eTwinning.net. Browsethrough the various sections: ‘news’; ‘inspiration’ (givingideas); ‘professional development’ (learn from experi-enced teachers); ‘tools’; ‘awards’; and ‘help’. This initialoverview is very important, as it gives teachers many ideasfor starting a new project. In ‘inspiration’, there are ‘kits’,with already planned projects that teachers can join. This isa very good way to start getting involved in eTwinning. The‘modules’ are examples of ideas teachers can use in theirfirst project — very useful for eTwinning beginners. Ifteachers have any doubts, they can contact the NSS forhelp. Step 1: RegistrationTeachers must register at www.eTwinning.net. Then, theymust fill out the required personal and school data. TheNSS checks the teacher’s information and gives them apassword to log in the eTwinning Desktop, in order to fill ina profile description. The Desktop is a very importantbecause it displays the teacher’s presentation. The eTwin-

ning Desktop is a platform that allows teachers to commu-nicate, exchange ideas, create or be part of a group. It has avariety of tools, e.g. learning events, forums, etc.Step 2: Finding Partners and Tools1. The GroupsThe Desktop has eTwinning teacher groups that helpteachers share different information, subjects, method-ologies, material and experiences. This collaborativeenvironment is a virtual meeting place where curriculumteachers and foreign language teachers can work togetheron projects. It’s not only the teachers involved in an eTwin-ning project who learn and benefit — the collaborationalso benefits the school community. Teachers can join different related subject groups. Thesegroups are a good way to find a ‘twin partner’. Once ateacher is a member of a group, they can get join a discus-sion group, a good tool for enriching their teachingsyllabus.2. Teachers’ BlogThe Teacher’s Blog is a platform created to share Europeanteachers’ experiences, comment on their work or discusstheir eTwinning experiences. With this tool, teachers canview projects and give their feedback, as well as askingexperienced teachers for advice about possible new proj-ects. This is a good tool once you have already worked on aproject.3. The eTwinning DesktopThis is the teachers’ protected area. Once they register, theycan write about their preferences, discuss ideas, talk aboutrelated topics or express their feelings. A teacher’s eTwin-ning Desktop wall or diary is often the catalyst for acollaboration between teachers. On the Desktop, teacherspost profiles about themselves and their school, whichother teachers can view. The more information you give,the easier it will be to find a partner. There is a “finding part-ner” search based on teachers’ profiles. Moreover, there areforums where you can post threads or reply to other teach-ers’ comments. A ‘mailbox’ allows teachers tocommunicate via messages.Step 3: Start a Project: eTwinning ToolsAfter finding a partner, the project has to be registered. TheNSS gets in touch with the school director, to verify theteacher’s information. Then the project starts.The TwinspaceOnce a teacher has set up a project, they develop it throughthe ‘twinspace’. This ‘virtual classroom’ is a collaborativeworking tool, where teachers and students learn fromother teacher and students from different schools. Thespace is divided in such a way that teachers involved in oneproject can discuss or talk about the project’s progress aswell as prepare project activities in the ‘teachers’ room’(off-limits to students). The students have their ‘pupils’room’, where they can keep in touch. Teachers can accessthe pupils’ room, just in case they need to supervise. Twinspace is a safe space: it is protected by a password;only people admitted by the administrator (usuallyfounder teachers) can gain access. Moreover, before anyteacher gets involved in a project, each country’s adminis-tration checks that that particular teacher really works atthe school. Teachers can rest assured that strangers cannotaccess any document, comment or photo that studentshave uploaded.


The activities can be done in many different ways:

All content can be either public or private. The teacherscontrol access by giving different levels of permission totheir students via the ‘participants role’.Application of Other Web 2.0 ToolsUsing web 2.0 tools in the classroom helps studentsachieve digital competence and gain skills and abilitiesthat will be valuable in many school subjects. eTwinning projects use the internet as the ‘place’ whereeverything occurs. A web page is no longer seen as simply atool used for research: it is also for meeting people;exchanging ideas, projects and experiences; and fordemonstrating teachers’ and students’ creativity.The twinspace provides some of the web 2.0 tools availablefor a potential project. The eTwinning homepage also con-tains other tools, e.g. videos, wordclouds, board makers,video conferences, voice recording, collaborative videoslides or story sharing. Once you are an eTwinning teacher, you can participate inthe ‘eTwinning 2.0’ course which teaches Web 2.0 skills andhelps you create projects. Why Get Involved in an eTwinning Project?eTwinning Works via the Interdisciplinary ApproachAccording to Jacobs1, connecting curriculum via the inter-disciplinary approach is an efficient way to help teachersdeal with knowledge that grows by exponential propor-tions. This approach gives students a more relevant, lessfragmented, stimulating experience. The collaborative aspect of an eTwinning project makes itperfect for interdisciplinary assignments. eTwinning proj-ects deal with a topic, not a subject; an eTwinning project iswide open to interacting with different subject matter fromvarious teachers. In primary education, it is common to link a project to dif-ferent subject areas, whereas in secondary schoolsteachers tend to teach separately, with no linking knowl-edge or sharing of experiences. The interdisciplinaryapproach closely links many educational aspects, espe-cially teamwork. As eTwinning serves to coordinate aproject between different schools from different coun-tries, the interdisciplinary approach is the bestcollaborative manner for undertaking the task.Adapting secondary education syllabus to the interdisci-plinary approach is easy because a project is focused on atopic, not a subject. The topic can be chosen by the teacher,students or a combination of the two groups. The projectdesign usually involves teachers from different countieswho teach different subjects. Teachers, and sometimesstudents, design activities related to the chosen topic. Atthis point, another subject teacher can get involved so thatthe interdisciplinary applications are relevant to theimmediate school.

Getting RecognitionFinished eTwinning projects can receive two types oflabels. The National Label is awarded by the National Qual-ity Agency. The European Quality Label is awarded by theCentral Support Service. Teachers must apply for theNational Quality Label; the European Quality Label ishanded out automatically once a year.Integrate eTwinning in the Secondary and Primary Edu-cation SyllabusIntegrating an eTwinning project into a course syllabus iseasier than any other kind of project. First of all, it is online:students can work in class and at home. Also, topics are theteachers’ choice, allowing the use of syllabus points. Proj-ects can be short or long term. eTwinning deals with manykey competences (digital, linguistic, learn to learn, socialand citizenship, culture, art, and autonomy). Project ExampleProfessions Through Photography (awarded theNational Quality Label)Schools: IES Porreres (Mallorca) and Lefkara Gymnasium(Cyprus)Students: 4th ESO studentsSubjects: English, social sciences, art and computing. Description: students, guided by their teachers, will gatherand exchange information about 10 traditional profes-sions in their region (5 for each school). They willspecifically look into the history and evolution of thoseprofessions through time. To make the project more inter-esting, students will take photographs of real peoplepracticing these professions (where possible).Twinspace tools: forum, mailbox, photo gallery, docu-ment file, chat.Syllabus adaptation: in English, students learned theappropriate grammar and vocabulary in class. The oralcourse presentations were done on the project topic. InComputing, they learned about Twinspace tools. In socialsciencies students worked on the differences and similari-ties between the two islands. In Art, they dealt withphotography.BibliographyJacobs, H. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design and Imple-mentation. Alexandria, Virginia: Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development, 1989.

www.eTwinning.netwww.eTwinning.esVoices in eTwinning Publisher European Schoolnet (EUNPartnership AISBL)http://unesdoc.unesco.orghttp://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/interdis/index.html

1 H. Jacobs, Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design andImplementation. Alexandria, Virginia: Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development, 1989).


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