TEACHERS- Take good care of yourselves at first

As we are aware, we teachers have faced some emotive and difficult content in this Covid-19 social distancing. So, I encourage you to ‘check in’ with yourselves and be aware of how these may have affected you. After all, we have to be fine to help our students and families.

When thinking teachers well-being and support, there is a range of materials where we can find support. If you or others have been affected by the issues , here are a few links that you might find helpful:

• Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
• NHS apps library: https://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/ and select the ‘Mental health’ filter.
• My possible self https://www.good-thinking.uk/resources/my-possible-self/
• Recovery College: https://lms.recoverycollegeonline.co.uk/course/index.php
• FutureLearn: https://www.futurelearn.com/search?q=wellbeing
• The free mindfulness project: http://www.freemindfulness.org/covid19
• Self compassion.org: https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/
• MS Trust: https://www.mstrust.org.uk/a-z/relaxation
• Sleep: https://www.sleepio.com/
• Self-care: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/45-simple-self-care-practices-for-a-healthy-mind-body-and-soul/
• NHS Helplines
• Mental health Support
• Samaritans
• MIND
• Checkpoint

Hope it can help you and count on me

The new teacher's role during social distancing. Part I

During social distancing, we need to rethink teaching and learning philosophy and how to prioritize our relationship with students. More than ever, they need coaching and support to understand anxiety and fear. Planning, teaching, assessments and marking paper will always be important but now there's a call for teachers as life coaches.

Here I suggest one thing you can do to support and coach them. On the following 2 weeks I will share more ideas.

1. Hold reading conferences by video or phone

So little has felt normal about this new version of school.  Schedule one conference a week with some students class via Zoom, FaceTime, or an old-school phone call. They choose a story in English they have at home and read you a few pages. Give them a compliment and something to work on and I ask them some comprehension questions about what they have just read. It also provides a way to do a little teaching tailored to each individual child—reminding them to look for little words inside hard big words, or to remember that the author's lesson is usually something more widely applicable than the specific plot of the book.

The conferences will provide a time for each child to tell you how they're doing, what's on their mind, and what they've been up to during the odd days of this new reality we're all living from home. Here's a foundational truth of teaching: One-on-one time with a student deepens your relationship with that child. The pandemic hasn't changed that truth.

I hope you enjoy the idea. Next week, more hints...

Stay safe and take care of youtselves

Family Engagement: Presentation Slides

Hi everyone,
Today I had the chance to learn from great professionals in beautiful Blumenau as part of BrazTesol SC Chapter.
If you want to download the slides of my presentation...it's right here.
Should you need any help or tutoring, don't hesitate to contact at (51)996226570

https://drive.google.com/file/d/139Ez0CNdCeYnXnI7f6G67AKY_MBA8HUX/view?usp=drivesdk

Best,
Anaisa

Promoting fair assessment for special needs' students

Assessment is a tricky task of teaching but when it comes to students with special educational needs, there is a vast number of aspects that have to be considered. Depending on the disability, a student may have trouble with:

- Holding a pencil

- Hearing a question clearly

- Focusing on a picture

- Recording an answer in time even when he or she knows the answer

- Concentrating on a task in the presence of other people

- Answering a question at the pace needed by the rest of the class

Traditionally, teachers have assumed that all students either have these skills or can learn them with just modest amounts of coaching, encouragement and will power. But that is not really the case for SEN's students.

So, considering the facts above how can teachers find a better assessment?

There are a number of strategies for modifying assessments in ways that attempt to be fair and that at the same time recognise how busy teachers usually are.

These strategies include:

1) Supplementing conventional assignments with portfolios. A portfolio is a collection of a student’s work that demonstrates a student’s development over time. It usually includes some sort of reflective or evaluative comments from the student, the teacher, or both (Carothers & Taylor, 2003; Wesson & King, 1996).

2) Devising a system for observing the student regularly and informally recording notes about the observations.

3) Recruiting help from teacher assistants who are sometimes present to help a student with a disability.

If you have a student with a learning disabilities, talk to your peers and principal to find the best way for assessment. Also, don't hesitate to contact to discuss and share ideas

The Power of Student Engagement in ELT .

Have you ever considered the power of student engagement in your classroom?
If you have, you are on the right track. But have you thought of the impact of greeting your students with a warm 'Hello' as they enter your classroom?
If you haven't.... check out this information:

* accademic engagement increases by 20 points when students are greeted at the door by their teachers.
* disruptive behavior decreases by 9% with greatings.
* on the course of a day, greetings can add 1 hour of learning to students.

Amazing, isn't it?
I wish you all a bunch of warm greetings and lots of engagement.

Reference:
www.edutopia.org
https://twitter.com/edutopia/status/1155494620500918274?s=20

Why is reading comprehension so hard for your students?

Hi friends!!
If you or your students want to thrive on reading skills...this passage will suit you perfect. Enjoy the reading!

It is a fact that questions related to comprehension reading have now become a mandatory part of every competition and various examinations, it is used to check one’s logical ability. Also it is clear that students struggle to master reading skills, at least in Brazil. But why??

Well, in the case of English language tests and various competition exams, answering comprehension question is not an easy task and many students often wonder on “how to answer comprehension questions more effectively”

There are many reasons why students feel this way while doing comprehension questions.

• One of the main reasons is that most of the students are so familiarized with an easy level of reading comprehension questions that they easily get flustered when they see passages that have a harder vocabulary and meaning.
• Most students fail to understand the language and hence they lose interest in studying for such answers. But in reality, with proper practice and hard work one can easily conquer comprehension questions and they can be used to gain marks easily in a competitive exam. Here are a few important tips for answering comprehension tests

• Do not Use Outside Knowledge
• Make logical Guesses
• Review the Answer at least twice
• Always read the instructions Carefully
• Always go through the Questions First

And you? Is there an effective reading comprehension tip to share with us?

ESL Conversation Topics

Hi fellow teachers,
Try to imagine the following situation: you are sitting at the teachers' room doing your paperwork and the principal rushes into the room saying: "Be ready, you will have to replace ... in 5 minutes".
I am sure you know the feeling but there is no need to panick... When you have no time to plan...the best strategy is to have students talking.
If you are short of ideas I highly recommend this site:

https://www.eslconversationquestions.com/english-conversation-questions/topics/

There you will find sets of questions for a variety of topics. Really worth having a look!