Vacation time! Why not trying Quiz Your English app 😄

Vacations for teachers in Brazil have arrived. Despite of the break, teachers are always seeking ways to deepen their knowledge. If that is the case for you, I highly recommend Quiz Your English app. I will describe below some features of the game...really worth having a try! 😍

Key features:

• Go head-to-head quizzing your English language skills.
• Compete with other players from around the world and challenge your friends through social media.
• Battle it out over a range of general English topics and grammar, or brush up ready for your test by selecting an exam-specific topic.
• You achieve medals to mark the development of your skills and performance.
• Play for free
• Content developed by Cambridge Assessment English, the producer of IELTS.

Exam level: Cambridge English: First, First for Schools and IELTS 4.0–6.5
CEFR level: B1–B2
Skills practised: Vocabulary and grammar 

Great apps to study on your own!

Hi guys!
I highly recommend these two apps for teachers and students who study by their own. One is a prepatory for TOEFL. The other is highly engaging because you can practice your grammar while competing against people all over the world! Very fun!!

Top 12 TED Talks for teachers

In Brazil, we are now getting close to the end of classes (about 1 month to go). Hence, I believe it is time we watched some awesome videos that are very inspirational in the sense of showing our real value as teachers and educators. Enchant your students, you can really change their lives for good.

Follow the link for this top 12 videos:

https://www.weareteachers.com/ted-talks-teachers/#

Parent meeting: questions any teacher must be ready to answer.

Hi friends,
Every time there is a parent meeting, teachers may get anxious about the questions. But what we need to have in mind is that parents are not educators and they usually come up with questions that are superficial and not benefitial for the learning process at all.
So why not preparing a meeting, answering all the questions suggested below. You will show your work and parents will feel confident about you.

 Questions 

1.     What academic standards do you use, and what do I need to know about them?
2.     How will you respond if or when my child struggles in class?
3.     What are the most important and complex (content-related) ideas my child needs to understand by the end of the year?
4.     Do you focus on strengths or weaknesses?
5.     How are creativity and innovative thinking used on a daily basis in your classroom?
6.     How is critical thinking used on a daily basis in your classroom?
7.     How are assessments designed to promote learning rather than simple measurement?
8.     What can I do to support literacy in my home?
9.     What kinds of questions do you suggest that I ask my children on a daily basis about your class?
10.     How exactly is learning personalized in your classroom? In the school?
11.     How do you measure academic progress?
12.     What are the most common instructional or literacy strategies you will use this year?
13.     What learning models do you use (e.g., project-based learning, mobile learning, game-based learning, etc.), and what do you see as the primary benefits of that approach?
14.     What are the best school or district resources that we should consider using as a family to support our child in the classroom?
15.     Is there technology you'd recommend that can help support my child in self-directed learning?
16.     What are the most common barriers you see to academic progress in your classroom?
17.     How is education changing?
18.     How do you see the role of the teacher in the learning process?
19.     What am I not asking but should be?

Activity: pair up your students using homophones

This week I used an activity that worked wonders. I gave each student a slip of paper with a word and they had to find their homophone match. Needless to say that by the end of the activity (5 minutes) they had already raised awareness of the right pronunciation.
Below I suggest a link with the 25 most common homophones in English
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/homophones-list.htm

Practice your listening with movies! I have some suggestions

 Do you want to practice you English in a more contextualized setting, using real language. Check this ones out. I highly recommend

https://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/videos3.html

http://en.ver-taal.com/trailer_blooddiamond.htm

http://en.ver-taal.com/trailer_blooddiamond.htm
http://movies.clubefl.gr

Hope you can benefit from it!

Vo

Tabela Montessori - educando para a responsabilidade

A perspectiva pedagógica de Maria Montessori teve um impacto global e renovou muitos métodos educativos realizados até então, a ponto de “chocar” os setores do ensino clássicos e mais conservadores.

Hoje, este método que enfatiza, acima de tudo, a liberdade de aprendizagem e a responsabilidade do próprio aluno no processo de aquisição de novos conteúdos, não é apreciado na maioria das instituições. Podemos encontrar este método em algumas escolas particulares onde são trabalhadas muitas dessas estratégias interessantes, mas a pedagogia de Montessori não é o pilar da nossa educação atual (pelo menos não no Brasil).

Como dizer "estar matando cachorro a grito" em inglês

Esta expressão é uma usada por nós. O equilavente em inglês é "to be in dire straits"
Veja os exemplos: freedictionary.com

n dire straits

In a very bleak or grim situation. The recent nosedive in the stock market has left many companies in dire straits. I was in dire straits there for a while, but I'm feeling much better after my hospital stay.

Halloween lesson - Unicef projec

While I was researching material for Halloween, I came across this brilliant Unicef project for Halloween. This way you can teach culture with a humanistic approach. Beautiful! Really worth trying it!

For more info click on the link

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp019.shtml

Creepy sound effects for your Halloween lessons

This week I was preparing my lessons and I found two apps with Halloween sound effects. It is very simple to use. You just have to click on the sound you want. There is a list of various creepy sounds. My students had a lot of fun. I used for story telling and my students were in charge of the creepy sounds. I highly recommend them. You can see the names the ones I chose below.

Pirâmide de Aprendizagem de Glasser

O psiquiatra americano William Glasser (1925-2013) aplicou sua teoria da escolha para a educação. De acordo com esta teoria, o professor é um guia para o aluno e não um chefe .

Glasser explica que não se deve trabalhar apenas com memorização, porque a maioria dos alunos simplesmente esquecem os conceitos após a aula. Em vez disso, o psiquiatra sugere que os alunos aprendem efetivamente com você,  fazendo.

Além disso, Glasser também explica o grau de aprendizagem de acordo com a técnica utilizada.

A teoria de William Glasser vem amplamente sendo divulgada e aplicada pro professores e pedagogos mundo afora, é uma das muitas teorias de educação existentes, e uma das mais interessantes, pois ela demonstra que ensinar, é aprender!

Reflection on adequate teacher talking time

At the simplest level, teacher talk time (TTT) refers to how much the teacher talks during a lesson. However, this will vary according to the stage of the lesson. For example, the teacher needs to speak more when providing explanations of and examples for the target language early in the lesson. These moments have activities and practices more teacher-centered. The adequate teacher talking time is 30% for these moments. Elsewhere he may speak less as students need ample opportunity to practice the new material. This is when learner-centered activities take place and adequate TTT is 20%. 

Overall, however, the teacher should roughly limit his speaking to 20% to 30% of the class time, with the remainder devoted to speaking/use of the language by the students.

On the other hand, Student Talk Time (STT) should be around 80% during the course of the lesson.

Hey teachers, beware your TTT!!! :)

Learn how to say "gambiarra/ quebra galho" in English.

Existem várias formas equivalentes para esta expressão mas a forma mais prática é "to make a quick-fix".
E.g. I didn't have to buy a new plug because I managed to make a quick-fix. (Eu não precisei comprar um plugue novo porque consegui fazer uma gambiarra/quebra-galho).

Learning another language....

I found this image talking about learning another language and it is so true....

"Aprender outra língua não é somente aprender palavras diferentes para as mesmas coisas, mas sim aprender outra forma de pensar sobre as coisas"

English Certificate GET YOURS NOW!

Below I am going to go over a few key reasons why learning the English language and having a certificate are so important to the professional world:

• Being fluent in the English language can improve your chances of obtaining a job. It allows many applicants to market themselves as bilingual which is a trait that many companies seek. It is crucial when working for international firms and organizations.
• People who have undertaken English language courses find that it is easier to travel anywhere they please. 

• English is the unofficial language of business. It is a key language in business both domestic and international and many different components of business are completed in English.
• Many universities, colleges, and institutes of higher education are making English a requirement before enrolling in their programs.
• Being able to understand the English language makes surfing the internet easier. Most of the computer programs and computer software in the world today is coded or written in English. Many search engines use English as their primary language.
• So what are waiting for? Validade your knowledge or start studying as soon as possibIe. Above I send an institution which certifies your knowledge. Have a go!
• 
  

Approach, methodology and techniques. All you should know in a simple way!

Whenever a teacher starts working for a new school he/she will always be asked to follow a new approach, methodology and techniques. I have already gone throught this situation a number of times and here I try to explain this terminology in a simple and short way. Hope it can help you somehow! 😄

Isto são outros "quinhentos"....

Você sabe dizer a expressão isto são outros quinhentos em inglês? Observe o exemplo:

Writing a paragraph is easy but writing a 200-word essay is A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME.

(Escrever um parágrafo é fácil mas escrever uma redação de 200 palavras é outros quinhentos)

The Limitations of spellcheckers

• "In fact, you have to be quite good at spelling and reading in order to use a spellchecker effectively. Typically, if you have misspelled a word the spellchecker will offer a list of alternatives. Unless your initial attempt is reasonably close to the correct spelling, you are unlikely to be offered sensible alternatives, and, even if you are, you have to be able to make sense of what is on offer. You and your pupils also have to be aware of the limitations of spellcheckers. First, you may correctly spell a word but simply use the wrong one; for example, 'After I had eaten my super I went straight to bed.' A spellchecker will not spot that it should be 'supper' not 'super' (did you spot the mistake?). Second, the spellchecker does not recognize some perfectly acceptable words."
  (David Waugh and Wendy Jolliffe, English 5-11: A Guide for Teachers, 2nd ed

Desenvolvimento da Escrita para crianças

Queridos pais e educadores,
Compartilho esta tabela da Neurosaber que ilustra muito bem o processo de escrita dos pequenos

See, watch, stare and look. Difficult?

Os verbos de percepção em inglês são bem mais ricos que em português e a equivalência, às vezes, fica difícil.  Mas acho que com estas ilustrações ficará mais fácil para você.