Hi everyone! I want to share with you this amazing page about Phonics materials online. Phonics is a method that we can put into practice in the classroom. I would like to comment briefly some ideas about this method: Phonics is one of the fundamentals methods of learning especially in children. "Phonics is a method that native English speakers use to teach children how to read and write. It is based on the sound of the letters, making the students aware of the existing relation between the phonemes and graphemes, instead of the whole language approach, where words had to be learnt by heart". Furthermore, I would like to know more about what the benefits of phonics are. Although there are alternative methods for teaching children to read and write, phonics is widely regarded as being one of the most effective. Also, allows children to hear phonemes, identify them, and understand how the sounds and their associated letters correlate with one another. The teaching of phonics has been shown to give children a comprehension of how words are constructed very quickly. I hope that this material can be useful for you, see you!

Hello everybody! Today, I want to share with you an amazing game that we can put in practice easily and in a funny way in the classrooms. These kind of games can be used as warm-ups at the beginning of a lesson. They can also be useful at the beginning of the term so that pupils have the chance to get to know each other and at the same time they practice English. Furthermore, 'I spy with my little eye' is another game that can be used as icebreaker or warmer. See you later!

Hi everyone! I want to share with you this amazing video that can help us for a better understanding of this approach that we studied in the topic three of the subject "Desarrollo del currículo de Lengua Extranjera". The following video is about "the communicative approach to language teaching". The focus of this approach is on communication, it also promotes interaction, genuine everyday language is emphasized, language items are select on the basic of what the learner need to know in order to get things done through language (in order to perform linguistic functions) and it aim to have students communicative effectively and in a manner appropriate to the context they are in. Therefore, Communicative Approach should be guided by these principles: * The information gap principle. * The information transfer principle (from one format to another). * The correction for content principle. Finally, I attach some links in which there are information gap activities: http://ed5.booksearch.waidev2.com/php/DOCS/RICHMOND_elt_books2/189---tryLinkPDF.pdf http://files.school-collection.edu.ru/dlrstore/e081a2a0-445f-4103-a27b-14c1de09c006/NME5_InfoGap.pdf I hope that this material can be useful for us. Till the next! :)

Hello again! In class, I have seen the importance about speaking and oral interaction skills in our classes, and searching on the internet I have found an interesting article. I believe that, I should create more speaking and oral interaction activities, because these kinds of activities are not common in current lessons. We have to train our learners in filling the gaps of their oral language by using gestures, fillers, more simple words, etc. Also, we can work this area with visual aids as flashcards. And above all, it is more dynamic that writing skill. However, as a language teacher it's really important to know what counts as speaking in language learning and how to promote such skills. Then, I attach two links in which there are activities for improve the skill of speaking and oral interaction: http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/elltoolkit/Part2-41Interaction&Communication.pdf http://www.sydneyr.det.nsw.edu.au/equity/documents/ESLEd/Some-examples-of-communicative-activities.pdf I hope you find it useful! :)

Hi again! Last day in class, we had seen the TPR's method and searching on the internet I have found very attractive slides. This method attempts to center attention to encouraging learners to listen and respond to the spoken target language commands of their teachers. TPR is a language teaching method built around coordination of speech and action. Imperative drills are the prominent classroom activity in TPR. Also, in TPR the teachers are responsible for giving commands and monitoring actions taken by the learners. On the contrary, the learners are imitators of teacher's verbal and non-verbal models. On the other hand, TPR has some advantages: - It is a lot of fun. Learners enjoy it, and this method can be a real stirrer in the class. It lifts the pace and the mood. - It is good for kinaesthetic learners who are required to be active in the class. - It is very effective with teenagers and young learners, etc. I attach this link for know more about this method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QzG-oD59Ybw#

Thank you very much! I'm glad you find it useful :)

Hi classmates! This is my second contribution in diigo and I have seen very useful to set the difference between evaluation and assessment. These terms are quite different. What is the purpose? Firstly, the purpose of assessment is improve the quality of future performances work product, skill in order to offer feedback to document strengths and growth and to provide directives for improving future performance. Assessments are nonjudgmental and are designed and intended to be helpful to produce improvement. On the other hand, the purpose of evaluation is determine the quality of the present performance, work product or use of skills against a set of standards. Evaluations are designed for and intended to document the level of achievement that has been attained. I hope you find it useful!

Hello everyone! This is an article that talks about a very interesting evaluation technique, the self-assessment. Self-assessment provides information about student achievement that corresponds only in part to the information generated by teacher assessment; self-assessment contributes to higher student achievement and improved behavior. This document emphasizes that self-assessment is a key strategy to involve students in taking more responsibility for their own learning. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that it requires greater involvement by the teacher. On the other hand, teachers use self-assessment because it has distinctive features that warrant its use, also, it is more cost-effective than other techniques and students learn more when they know that they will share responsibility for the assessment of what they have learned. Also, self-assessment is a technique that it is necessary training and throughout the article, we can learn how making self-assessment more useful and if it is a reliable technique. To sum up, I believe that "self-assessment is a strategy that helps students to become aware of their learning progress and also helps the teacher to understand what the teaching is and learning process performed by the learner, concerning to the difficulties involved, the objectives achieved, etc. And above all, promotes the development of autonomy, self-discipline and self-control by students". I hope you like it!

Thank you very much for your comments! :)