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COMMUNICATIONAND

AUTONOMYin the English class

Lourdes Roviras PagsAvda Les Mlies,83 Vilafant

Tf:972674063IES Castell dEmpries

[email protected] DOCENT DE LOPCI 1Accs als Cossos de Catedrtics

Convocatria de lany 2009

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I know I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only provide an environment in which he can learn.

Carl Rogers

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INDEX

1. Introduction 4

2. Objectives 6

3. Justification 8

4. Contents 10

4.1.Communicative Competence 10

4.2. Research and Information Processing 11

4.3. Multilingual Competence 11

4.4. Literature and Aesthetics 115. Methodology and resources 12

6. Procedure 14

6.1. Project one : Refreshing your Memory 14

6.2. Project two : Humour 15

6.3. Project three : Pride & Prejudice 166.4. Project four : Computers 17

6.5. Poject five : Values & Human Rights 186.6. Extreme sports 20

6.7. Selectivitat Practice 20

7. Assessment and evaluation 21

7.1. General evaluation 21

7.2. language room 22

7.3. Oral Competence. Evaluation grids 24

8. Conclusions 329. Acknowledgements 34

10. Bibliography and Urlography 35

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1. INTRODUCTION

After some years of teaching experience, trying quite a wide range of varied

activities with my students, without any doubt, one of the main problems of

learning a foreign language is to speak fluently.

Sometimes students do not talk because they just feel so embarrassed. As a

teacher you tell them that, at the beginning, mistakes are not important if the

message is understood. However, they realize that they cannot apply

spontaneously the rules learnt and feel upset and discouraged.

This project pretends to shed a little light on how to improve communicationand something which is even more important, to lose all sense of shame whenspeaking in front of an audience .A new society with new technologies is becoming the centre of research

everywhere, including the school. How can we, digital immigrant teachers, get

involved in the minds of our digital native students? The solution is easy:

observing and studying together with them. That means we have to include theICTs in our daily teaching, there is no way back . We must go beyond their knowledge of new technologies and show them the multiple uses of the web, one

of them precisely: how to be more autonomous . We need to be updated andcontribute to an active and critical use of ICT in education.

A multi-tasking student at home

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A big problem we may have with the ICTs is that the student probably knows

more than us, which can mean a drawback for the teacher who does not feel

comfortable in this situation. We can solve it with the acceptance of our

weaknesses and make them a reward to the techiest student, who will feel

flattered to do the job for us. Fortunately, there are a lot of courses about thistopic nowadays: Pla de Formaci Permanent: Curs de Llengua +TIC with greatprofessionals eager to help us .

How can we achieve these challenging targets?. The idea is to change from the

traditional method of teaching which is more didactic to a student-centeredmethod which is more participatory. The students turn to be responsible of their

learning:

We believe that every human being has the right to achieve his or her full potential-100%,

and that a student-centered approach to learning helps to make this possible. Students

are encouraged to participate fully in, and take responsibility for, their own learning; each

individual is valued and trusted. Such an approach will, we believe, move the student

towards self-fulfilment by enhancing self-concept and at the same time facilitating the

release of potential. These beliefs are not abstract theory but are founded on solid

experience where they have been rigorously tried and tested.(Brandes and Ginnis 3)

Each individual has enormous creative potential. Put a collection of individuals together

and you multiply the potential. This is real power! Power to do and to achieve, power to

solve problems, change things overcome difficulties, power to learn. (Brandes and Ginnis

30)

A clear example of this theory is shown in this project students of fourth year ESOdid two years ago: a TV program . After a couple of sessions in the classroom

stating the rules and helping with the dialogues, they managed to organize

themselves and work on their own, they did not need my help, they just needed a

good environment (qtd in Bandes and Ginnis 12). I was impressed with the

results!

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2. OBJECTIVES

There are four main objectives to be achieved in this project :

To be able to improve students oral speech : as it was stated in theintroduction, this is one of the most difficult skills to be accomplished when

learning a language. The goal is to prepare activities to motivate the

students and make them feel comfortable, so as to increase their self-esteem . Teaching has to do with the holistic view of the learner, weshould be concerned with the whole person involving mind, body and spirit,

making them talk in class is a great way of achieving this goal, a learning

to learn view. We have to try and foster their creativity .

Professor Lilian Katz said: We are looking for more than a mechanicalapplication of selected techniques.We are looking to achieve success which will

encourage confidence and lead to a real eagerness to learn- a disposition for

learning. (Fletcher 45)

To encourage their autonomy , which involves developing confidence intheir own capacities, empowerment. One of the best ways to learn alanguage is to use the tools (that the language teachers offer the students)

by themselves, being conscious of their level and being able to choose on

their own: attention to the diversity . It is much easier if the school has alanguage room prepared to work in corners, for example. However, thanks

to the amount of new interdisciplinary projects and the new materialsthe schools have (computer rooms, laptops, class projectors, digital

blackboards, etc.) all the students get used to work in groups or alone

changing, in a way, the standard teacher-centered class.

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It is very difficult to make them conscious that they can learn a lot, think

better, in a funnier and more creative way, without the teacher being the

center of everything. We know that the culture of the effort to achieve your

goals is decreasing, so to make them aware of their learning capacitiesis hard work.

From the cognitive point of view , the learner needs to understand therules first and then apply them: awareness-rising through

proceduralization to autonomy. (Thornbury 37)

Both objectives, autonomous learning and oral production, will be

developed through tasks, following the Vygotskian theory of learning :

- Children construct knowledge.

- Learning can lead development.

- Development cannot be separated from its social context.

- Language plays a central role in mental development.(Vygotskys Developmental Theory: An introduction, Goggle videos)

To use the new technologies to achieve the learners goals: the projectpretends to challenge the learner through the use of the ICTs. To motivate

him/her into the collaborative learning (through the use of forums, emailsand the social networks, skype, etc.).

Basically, the main objective, which includes the three points mentioned

above, is to prove that we can do it all without the help of a textbook. The

role of the teacher is to think which tasks can enthral the students andhow to get their engagement .

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3. JUSTIFICATION

The activities will be focussed on the competences established by the Catalan

LOE DECRET 142/2008, de 15 de juliol, pel qual s'estableix l'ordenaci delsensenyaments del batxillerat. (Pg. 59042)

Annex 1 Competncies generals del batxillerat ...Per tot aix, conv idear tasqueseducatives en qu l'alumnat pugui aplicar all que sap, en contextos diferents i en relaciamb qestions diverses, significatives i funcionals. Ensenyar i aprendre per competncies pressuposa accentuar en la didctica de cada disciplina aquelles activitatsd'ensenyament i aprenentatge susceptibles de produir coneixements, destreses i actitudsque puguin ser mobilitzats en situacions concretes com, per exemple, prctiques detreball en grup cooperatiu, tutoritzaci de recerques, resoluci de qestions en grup,

plantejament de situacions que comportin l'expressi i interacci oral, etc. En definitiva,ensenyar i aprendre per competncies implica, doncs, accentuar la dimensi prctica i alhora global de l'aprenentatge(...)

The ideas in this project could be applied to any level of English, but I have

chosen second Batxillerat students . Why Batxillerat ? Because they are matureenough to understand the rules and regulations of oral speeches and they have

the capacity to choose their needs according to their level. Besides, they need to

be autonomous in order to get into university and into the Bologna Process .

"In the decade up to 2020 European higher education has a vital contribution to make

in realising a Europe of knowledge that is highly creative and innovative... Europe can

only succeed in this endeavour if it maximises the talents and capacities of all its citizens

and fully engages in lifelong learning as well as in widening participation in higher education." Ministers responsible for Higher Education in the countries participating in the

Bologna Process, Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communiqu, April 2009

(Official website of the Bologna Process )

Our high school , IES Castell dEmpries, is a perfect place to study languages.

Placed on the north coast of la Costa Brava, with an immigration of nearly half of

the population: 4,980 of the 10,629 inhabitants are from another country. 1

1 El Punt Diari, 18 January 20088

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El 2008 el municipi de Castell dEmpries tenia una poblaci d11.653 habitants, el 65% de la poblaci viu a Empuriabrava i el 35% restant viu al nucli de Castell

dEmpries. Entre el 1998 i el 2008 la poblaci sha doblat. Sestima que hi ha unamitjana anual de 15.000 habitants no empadronats. Durant lestiu es pot arribar a70.000 habitants. Un 46% de la poblaci de Castell dEmpries ha nascut alestranger, principalment a la Uni Europea, seguit dfrica i dAmrica del Sud. Lamajoria daquesta poblaci estrangera viu a Empuriabrava. (Agenda 21 de CastelldEmpries . Bloc1, Poblaci, Deliberaweb, Forums)

Actually, there isnt a definite number of inhabitants in Castell because it

increases every month.

The advantages of having students from another country are based on the

richness of cultures and the facilities of the language, some of them are from

Germany, Great Britain and other English speaking countries, so we can share

the classes with them. The big disadvantage is that a high percentage of these

students come from countries where English is not spoken, so they have to learn

Catalan, Spanish and English. It is our job to integrate them into the ordinaryclasses . That is why learning to be autonomous can be a great tool for them.

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4. CONTENTS

Our high school, IES Castell dEmpries, began an innovation project three yearsago focusing on oral skills in batxillerat.My challenge this year has been to present,as a part of this project , something which was a bit scary at the beginning, but thatin the end, as you would be able to check further on, has proved to be really

thrilling: no books in 2 nd batxillerat, only a grammar book and projects based ondifferent cross-curricular topics . That is why I have chosen this part of theresearch for my Projecte Docent.

All the activities are focused on the four competences of the new Catalan LOE,which deal with the integration of knowledge:

4.1 . Communicative: Varied podcasts (dialogues, interviews, readings of news,

compositions, etc.)

Oral presentations about a current topic. Ordinary class speaking (brainstorming of ideas to introduce a topic,

discussions and debates, comment the readings, the readers...)

Teacher-student and student-student interaction in English insideand outside the classroom

A podcast in their blog chatting in the classroom

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4.2. Research and information processing: One oral presentation per term : process, sumarize and explain the

information about the theme .

Readings, songs, exercises related to the topic. They dont have abook, so they have to try and find good examples to work in class.

4.3. Multilingual and intercultural competence : Every topic deals with cultural differences, there are students from different

countries in the classroom, so it is easier to talk about it: different kinds of

dialogues , sense of humour , new technologies , lifestyles and humanrights.

4.4. Literature and aesthetics : One reader per term: work on the book and the film when possible The news : BBC, CNN, Catalonia Today, Resident magazine, and others.

Every student ends up with an eportfolio gathering all the competences beforementioned:

http://batxilleratportfolios.blogspot.com

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5. METHODOLOGY AND RESOURCES

There are three projects in the first term and three in the second term, the third term

is aimed at preparing Selectivitat. We focus on speaking and listening, but there arealso reading and writing skills throughout the course .

The teachers involved in this project need a lot of coordination, in our high school we

have one hour and a half every week to settle down all the objectives, activities,

exams, etc. They are exactly the same for all the students in first and second

Batxillerat . We have three hours every week.There should not be more than twenty students in the class in order to carry out all

the activities. One of the three hours of classes is completely autonomous: they go to

the language room and work on their own in different corners . There is a set of work to be done during the term (see page 23) and they have to choose according to

their level and needs:

Computers: news, grammar, vocabulary, podcast, blogs.

Film: students choose a film and make a summary

Listening: listening comprehension

Reading: newspapers, magazines and make a summary

Writing and revision: workbook practice, writing styles

Speaking: games, dialogues, interviews, readers (it is the sofa corner )

Pictures taken in our language room

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There are two groups of second Batxillerat this year and we are three English

teachers, which means that we have been able to part our groups and we have done

it according to their levels. There is no possibility of handling all that work in a big

ordinary class.

In short, those items below are the resources we use to evaluate their engagement :

Portfolio: show your work and evaluate your progress

Language Class : autonomous work

Moodle class : 24h class

Internet tools : blogs, podcasting, wikis, forum, class

Web information : the best websites for practice

Audiovisual material : films, videos, powerpoints, podcast...

Grammar book : a private teacher for you

Readers: a book each term

One of the classes takes place in the language room, as I have explained before,

and the other two classes:

Ordinary classroom: we normally work the grammar and the reading.

Audiovisual room: with no tables, only chairs, for speaking and listening

As you can see there is no time for a textbook. We still keep it in first batxillerat

because we think they need a guided support. However, there is no need in second

batxillerat.

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6. PROCEDURE

Project one: Refreshing your Memory

(September-December)

Session one: Presentation of the course

- Presentation of the activities and timetable- New format: Can we learn without a textbook?- Ice-breaking game (speaking)- Write an email to your teacher - Give the students the reader (Pride and Prejudice) Begin reading NOW!!

Session two: Warming up- Summer holidays: did you work? did you go somewhere interesting? (speaking)- Listening to a dialogue about holidays- Comment on the importance of time fillers, discourse markers... (ppt)

First activity in the language room: a dialogue (podcast)

Session three and four: Revising tenses

- Grammar book revision of basic tenses: present/past/perfect simple and continuous,future

Project work : find a good reading

- Prepare a list of basic mistakes. Find songs/ readings which show the use of thetenses. Prepare typical exercises: complete/ filling the gaps... This is a useful link:http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar

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6.2. Project two: Humour

(September-December)

Session one: wit and wisdom (brainstorming)

- Learn some words related to humour, wit and wisdom (speaking)- Funny quotes (ppt)- Reading : funny reading showing reported speech- The best joke in the world :order the lines ( speaking and reading )

Project work: telling jokes in class

- Find a joke on the web, memorize it and tell it to the class (podcast)(let them hear some of the jokes recorded by the students last year)An example: Laia Salos joke

Links:Short jokesJokes 1Jokes 2Jokes 3

Session two and three: Reported Speech

- What do you know about the reported speech ? (speaking)- Grammar book exercises

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6.3. Project three: the reader PRIDE & PREJUDICE

( September-December )

Two sessions: doubts about the story (speaking)

- The main characters- The view of women/ marriage/love / money in the story- Bonus material: the politics of dating / Jane Austens life (listening)- Discussion of the main topics of the book on a WIKI :

Final project work (first term)

Oral presentations (in pairs or groups )

Possible topics about the projects: Pride & Prejudice and Humour

- Love: types of love with couple examples- what are the different values of each couple.

- Social class: /education/ behaviour/housing: upper class, middle class and working class

- Differences between the book and the film

- The Bennet sisters

- The three men: the priest, Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley

- Keira Knightley: the most popular British female star today. Life and films.

- Jane Austen: A popular writer of Comedy of Manners in two examples: Pride and Prejudice,Sense and Sensibility (this one is for the literary-minded)

- The myth of Romanticism What is 19 th century Romanticism? How is it shown in the film?Can you compare it to some romantic film of the 21 st century? Are we still romantic today? Inwhat aspects of romanticism?

- Life in the 19 th century: everyday life with examples in the film. Possible aspects: jobs,technology, clothing, education, housing

- The director and his filmography

- Humour in the Pride and Prejudice film

- Great comedians today

- Is there an international Humour? Or a Catalan, Spanish, English humour? Find examples

- Humour programmes on Spanish, Catalan and English/American TV

- American sitcoms: what they are and some examples. Are there any typical features?

- () and student s own suggestions, of course

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6.4. Project four: COMPUTERS

( January-March)

Session one and two: brainstorming and reading

- Are you a computer-literate? (speaking)- A joke on computers (order the paragraphs)- Vocabulary related to computers and a reading about piracy

Session three : modal verbs

- What do you know about modal verbs? (speaking)- Grammar book practice

Project work: a composition

Discussion essay / opinion essay:

Computers have made the world a better place Discuss

(writing and podcast)

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6.5. Project five: Values & Human Rights

( January-March)

- Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice Heber J. Grant - Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like artit has no survival value; rather it

is one of those things that give value to survival. C. S. Lewis- When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion

Abraham Lincoln

Session one and two: vocabulary and reading

- Whats right and whats wrong? Vocabulary

- Are you honest?- What do you know about the human rights? (speaking)

Session three: Conditionals

- Grammar practice- Speaking: moral dilemmas (Would you buy alcohol or cigarettes for someone who

you knew was under-age?) (podcast)

Project work: human rights

- Learning some words: worksheet- Introduction to the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights

- Speaking activities related to human rights

- Presentation of a poster/ news showing some of the human rights studied

The reader: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

- Presentation of the book and the author: Where his rights respected in his time?- Discussion of the main themes on a WIKI

Final project: Oral presentations (second term)

Five minutes talk about your research paper in second batxillerat or your trip toLondon.If it is possible, a trip to London is the best way to finish with the projects beforethey begin studying for Selectivitat.

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London Posted by Elisenda* on 11:21 in london travel

The word that summarizes the trip to London is: UNFORGETTABLE! .Departure time in front of the

high school, take the bus, emotions inside the bus, arrival to the airport, take the ticket, pass the

controls, embark, sit down in the plane, sleep a few moments, awakening, finally in London, takeanother

bus, the Hotel, leave the suitcases and begin the route.The first day was already exhausting. The whole day walking, even in our free time! The best thing of

everything was to be able to have a lot of free time to walk along London, to visit places, to take

photographs... But when we were arriving at the hotel... FINALLY! What a rest!

I am not going to describe the whole trip. Only the impressions that I have had.

I believe that it has been, on the whole, better this trip than the trip to Italy. I don't know why but the

good companionship, the good moments, no discussion, no misunderstanding...

In general it has been quite fantastic. So many laughs for remembering! Oh my god!

I would have enjoyed to be able to stay there more days and have more moments to remember all

together! The truth is that I came back with a good taste in my mouth and hope that it continues being

done, because all the pupils will be grateful for it! 2

2 This is the post of a second Batxillerat student about her trip to London:http://sendablog2batx.blogspot.com/2009/03/london.html

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6.6. Project six: Extreme sports

( January-March)

Session one and two: Reading and Listening

- Revising relative clauses with a reading about sports- Why do you think that people do extreme sports?- Reading & Listening: Base jumping (watch a video )

Session three: Relative Pronouns

- Grammar book: practice exercises

Project work: talking

- Talk about an extreme sport for a minute (podcast)

6.7. Selectivitat Practice. Writing, reading, listening, speaking

(April-May)

Revising WRITING:

- Formal / informal letter - Dialogues- Descripton of a person/place- A discussion essay- An Opinion essay- A narrative text

Revising READING / LISTENING

- Read and listen to a selectivitat text every week

________________________________________________________________

EXAMPLES:you can see some samples of their work:

Carles PortfolioAdri s PortfolioNeus Portfolio

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7. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

7.1. General evaluation

The main objective is to achieve the level B1/ B2 of the Common European

Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL)

This is the evaluation criteria of the whole project which we are developing in first

and second Batxillerat: A project for Innovation. Focusing on oral Skills. The maingoal is to end up with an Eportfolio showing what the students have done in twoyears and making a reflection of their success in learning the language. In the last

post, they have to choose the first and last written and oral evidence and compare

them. Have a look at Elisendas final reflection

I am only focusing my research on some aspects of this general project: speakingand empowerment using the new technologies , with no need of a textbook

Assessment criteria , following what the LOE says about the percentage of oral andwritten production:

45% Exams

Two class work examsOne reader

.

55% Portfolio25% oral: Oral presentation, podcast, class participation,25% writing: compositions, personal blog, forum, projects5% portfolio presentation and reflection on your work

Extra points for optional worktranslations, extra posts on blog, more activities...MARK MORE BASED ON WORK, NOT just EXAMS!!

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7.2. Language room

This grid is used to evaluate their autonomy and engagement in the language

room. On the next page you can see the activities they have to do each term (one

hour a week).

It is a great opportunity to read and learn about anything that happens around the

world at the same time that it is happening. They read live news on the CNN or

BBC. One of our students in 1 st batxillerat , for example, read a piece of newsconcerning the frogs and toads extinction, the birds and the climate change and

made a summary of it. Curiously enough, this was the article which was chosen

for the reading comprehension in Selectivitat 2009.

Do you understand now why I said in the contents that this experience wasthrilling?Why do we need a textbook in class? What we need is a computer room

to have access to all the information at once!

The activities they enjoy the best are the speakings (sometimes spontaneous),

they just sit on the sofa and begin speaking, the games and the news. Of course,

they would always choose the film, but they are only allowed once in a term.

Learning to be autonomous means choosing the activities yourself, not the

teacher, which is really hard work sometimes because there are always students

who need to be ruled, they feel they are wasting their time, otherwise.

Last year we enjoyed the help of a language assistant, which was a great

pleasure for us and for the students. She was always in the sofa corner talking tothe students and doing activities with them. It is a shame we cannot have the

possibility of repeating another year.

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Type of activity What did you do? Which language itemshave youlearnt/practiced?

Film Explain what you watched in 50words

5 new words learntportfolio

NEWSCatalonia Today

bbc.co.uk cnn.com(other sites)(text or video )

Summary or Opinion(50 words)

At least 3

3 new expressions learnt

portfolio

SPEAKINGpodcast

Summary or opinion of a piece of newstalk about an extreme sport

portfolio

GrammaVocabulary

MultiromGrammar bookWorkbook/PhotocopiesMoodle/web sites

Practice for the exams

SelectivitatListenings

At least 3 Practice for the exams

SelectivitatReadings

At least 3 Practice for the exams

SelectivitatWritings(100words approx)

Informal /Formal letterDialogueDescriptionNarrativeArgumentative essayOpinion essay

Practice for the examsportfolio

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7.3. Oral Competence. Evaluation grids

Oral presentation

It is the activity the students feel the happiest. All of them say that although it is hard

work to process the information and explain it to the class without reading, they feel

proud of their work when they finish it. It lasts a minimum of five minutes and the

topics are:

Personal: hobbies, summer, music, sport...

The culture and traditions of an English speaking country: England, Scotland,

Ireland, Australia...

Social topic: drugs, immigration, racism, famine, consumerism...

Their research project in Batxillerat The projects we work in class: Pride and Prejudice, love, humour...

Their trip to London

PROCEDURE:

1st part:

The students prepare the oral on their own and give the script to the teacher to

correct the mistakes (if necessary).

They present the topic to the audience. Most of the times, they use a power

point to illustrate their presentation. They can also have a piece of paper with

some notes.

The other students take notes and make questions at the end of the

presentation

The teacher or a student records the presentation

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2nd part:

The student at home watches his/her presentation, fills in the OBSERVATION

SHEET and writes his/her literal transcription

(this activity helps them to analyse their mistakes)

When everything is finished, they give it to the teacher ( the observation sheet ,

the transcription and the summaries of all the peers presentations )

EVALUATION:

It is evaluated a 25% of their final mark together with their podcasts and

speakings (reader oral test)

If you want to see examples go to www.youtube.com

The tags are : oral presentation castello dempuries, batxillerat portfolio

- Fiona and Chainez - Laia and Elisenda- Claudia and Carles- Adri- Ariadna- Marina

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1- Watch your presentation and answer the following questions.

NAME & TOPIC:Presentation Did you use any resources?Were the resources relevant and attractive?

Bodylanguage andeye contact

Did you look at your audience most of the time?Did you read from your notes ?Did you do any gestures/movement to hold the attention of your audience?

Structure Did you organize your ideas in order of importance?Did you use discourse markers to make your ideas more clear? ( First, then,secondly, on the one hand, on the other, finally)

Content Did you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience?Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books?Was your information more superficial or more detailed and original?

Language Did you use check your grammar? (verbs, word order)Did you use rich vocabulary looking up the dictionary? (synonyms, new words,expressions)Did you use sentence linkers? (and, but, moreover, also, furthermore,although, however)Did you use fillers? (well, you know, for example, one second, repeating aword)

Pronunciation& Intonation

Did you know how to pronounce all your words? Did you check thepronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher?Did you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? Didyou speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions?

Self-Evaluation

You are your teacher! What mark did you get?? ;-)

2- Now its time to improve for next presentation. Write down a LITERAL TRANSCRIPTION of your presentation.Check your Language and Structure. Can you correct your mistakes??

OBSERVATION OF YOUR ORAL PRESENTATION

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90% OF YOUR MARK: YOUR PRESENTATION

Criteria Points

POINTS 90% 8-9 6-7 4-5 ____

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10% OF YOUR MARK: LISTENING TO YOUR CLASSMATES PRESENTATIONS

Oral Presentation CO-EVALUATION

NAME &

Topic

( who is

presenting

and what is he

talking

about?)

3 FACTS

I havelearnt

(what is new

info for you?)

Do I have

any questions?

(interesting

questions get

extra points)

Ideas I copy

for my presentations

(what can you copy

to get better marks

in your

presentations?)

General

Impression

(whats your

mark for this

student?)

Example:

Name: J. Vidal

Topic: Halloween

1) Its an ancient

Celtic Festival

2) Its on 31st

October

3) Only little

children go trick

or treating

Where is it

celebrated apart

from the U.S?

She reads little from her

notes.

She looks at the

audience and moves

naturally with some

gestures

She asks questions to

the audience.

She puts some horror

music, shows a horror

video

Very good !

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Readers oral test

Students read a book every term. They only buy one and they borrow the other

two from our library. The second book is the same for everyone, but they can

choose the third. This is something we feel very proud of because they are free to

select the level and the theme and they appreciate it so much. There is a written

test on the first two books, but the third test is oral. We evaluate the fluency and

spontaneity. We give the students some questions to prepare, but they cannot

read any notes when speaking, the test lasts from five to ten minutes.

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Reader Oral test- Sample questions you can prepare

1- Can you summarize the book in two minutes?2- Is there a mystery sentence or a turning point in the story?3- When and where does the story take place?4- Who are the main characters in the story? Whats their role?

5- Choose one character (main or secondary) and describe him/her.6- Can you identify with any character? Why?7- Choose your favourite moment in the story8- Which new key words have you learnt to understand the story?9- Provide an alternative ending.10-Would you recommend this book? Why?

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PodcastThey do the podcasts in the language room. There should be a minimum of

two every term. They are varied and short:

- An interview / dialogue

- A piece of news

- A composition they have written

- A joke

We evaluate the pronunciation, intonation and originality.

Examples:

Podcast of a dialogue

Podcast of a piece of news

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8. CONCLUSIONS

Just by having a look at the oral presentations above and their own self -evaluations

and final reflections we can say that the improvement on their oral competence is

really amazing, not only because of their fluency, but also for their self-confidence in

front of the audience. They are speaking and using the power point as if it were the

most natural thing in the world. In the language room they also feel at ease with the

computers, blogs, podcast and other similar gadgets. Sometimes they complain

about the difficulty of recording their oral and post it in the web (they have problems

with formats) but in general teachers and students are particularly happy about the

progress in learning. Moreover, this activity has helped them a lot in their oral

presentation of the Research Paper in front of the examining board.

Being autonomous is something which is harder to attain at this age. However thanks

to the range of activities they can do in the language room (with a certain control) in

the end they learn to choose according to their necessities.

Next year, it will be our goal to have a better control of the activities they do in the

language room. Most students are concerned about their work, they know that it is a

good way to do their homework . They love reading the news, watching films and

doing the blog. However, it is hard to make them write a composition or do grammar

and vocabulary exercises.

In June, we always ask them their opinion about this new way of teaching and

learning. All of them agree that they have improved in oral and written fluency. Most

of them complain about the amount of work that the subject involves, they will realize

about their progress in the long run, not immediately (obviously they are teenagers

and want results now). Some of them miss the grammar and the teacher-centered

classes; they feel more confident with grammar exams and some writings from timeto time. A few good students do not like this way of teaching at all because it

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involves a lot of work and they know that, without studying, can get an excellent

mark, so why so much practice?

They have not complained about the fact of not having a textbook, probably they

have not even realized that there was no textbook this year, which proves that it

is not necessary if you work with projects.

The most worrying thing for a student is his/her mark. Do they get better results

by working in a student-centered way? I would say that the weaker students getbetter marks because they do a lot of homework, a lot of practice, which

represents a higher percentage of the final results: 55%. Students who do not like

working get a pass mark, but not a good mark. This year in second batxillerat

nobody failed.

In conclusion, projects entail a lot of work for the student and for the teacher, but

the results are very positive and the effort is worthwhile. They do not need a

teacher in front of the class, they just need thrilling, enthusiastic activities and

getting involved.

If you study to remember, you will forget, but if you study to understand, you will

remember. Author Unknown

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9. Acknowledgements

I really appreciate the help of my colleague Snia Guilana, who I met four years agoin the high school. I would have never reached this point of rethinking educationwithout her enthusiasm and encouragement.

I must confess that four years ago I only used the computer to prepare exams. I hadno idea of ICTs, it was something really chilling for me. The first year of the project, in2006, I was the most stressed teacher in the high school!

Fortunately, I have understood that learning about new technologies and using themin the classroom has been the best experience I have ever had in my professionalcareer.

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10. BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Fletcher, Mark Teaching for Success. Brain-Friendly Publications,2004- Ginnis, P.;Brandes, D. A Guide to Student-Centered Learning . England. Blackwell1988

- Lin, M.;Mackay,C. Thinking Through Modern Foreign Languages. Cambridge2004- OConnor, Joseph and Seymour,John Introducing NLP . Neuro-linguistic

programming. Harper Collins, 2000 - Rogers,Carl Freedom to Learn for the 80s. Merrill, Ohio- Seligson, Paul Helping Students to Speak . Richmond 1997- Thornbury, Scott How to Teach Speaking . Longman 2005- Windeatt,S.; Hardisty,D.;Eastment,D. The Internet . Resource books for teachers,

Oxford

URLOGRAPHY- Competencies Bsiques a Batxillerat

www.xtec.es/estudis/batxillerat/03_doc_bat_loe/competencies_generals_batxillerat.p

df

- European Language Portfolio

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/portfolio/default.asp?l=e&m=/main_pages/welcome.html

- Vygotskys Theory

http://www.educar.org/articulos/Vygotsky.asp

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=634376752589779456

- IES Castell dEmpries, Engish at Batxilerat

http://batxilleratportfolios.blogspot.com/

- IES Castell dEmpries, Blogs

http://thebloggingworldofcastellohighschool.blogspot.com/

- IES Castell dEmpries, 2 nd batxillerat portfolio

http://2ndbatxilleratportfolio.blogspot.com/

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