Some days ago, I came across this lovely video about teachers and the effect of a good teacher on our lives. Watching it was fun and, I must say, thought-provoking! These are some of the beautiful things that people in the video remember learning with the help of their teachers:



I learnt I didn't need to be like everybody else.

I learnt that everything is possible.

I learnt that you can approach knowledge with a sense of wonder and fun.

I learnt how to be myself.

A good teacher inspires you, invites you to venture into new worlds, changes your life. We keep repeating it and we keep forgetting it: being a good teacher is not about the academic content (at least not only about the academic content). Being a teacher is a unique opportunity to touch someone's life and a huge responsibility. I guess it all comes down to a simple question: what kind of teacher do I want to be?

We are approaching the end of the academic year here in Argentina, so I have some time to think. 

Hope you have an inspiring summer!

See you soon!

Barbara

My top 10 sites to look for images

This post continues from the post I previously wrote on using images in the ELT class. So where can you find interesting and useful pictures on the net? Below you will find my top ten sites when I’m looking for some inspiration. But first, a note on copyright. Remember to choose material that is royalty free or licensed under a Creative Commons attribution (some people choose to register their creations this way so they can be shared for certain purposes). You will find some more information about Creative Commons here:

Creative Commons - What, How, Why

View more presentations from Ivan Chew

My top 10 places to go for pictures

Stockxchange offers a huge gallery, with many royalty free pics, and you can also share yours.

Imageafter Here you will find a large freely licensed photo collection. You can also look for textures and and backgrounds.

At FlickrCC you can search for Flickr pictures licensed under Creative Commons.

Morguefile has a large gallery where you can contribute your own picture (Why morgue? Who knows!)

Burning well  is a public domain image source, offering photographs donated by photographers from around the world.

WP Clipart is a collection of artwork for schoolkids and others that is free of copyright concerns as well as safe from inappropriate images.

EveryStockPhoto, Picfindr and  Veezzle are free stock photo search engines, indexing free photos from large collections.

And, last but not least, our very own collection of pictures for teachers!

Take a photo and... is a free photographic resource intended for and created by teachers. Also, teachers contribute their pictures via Twitter. This is a great project curated by Carol Goodey, Vicky Loras, Fiona Mauchline, Sandy Millin and Victoria Boobyer, aka @cgoodey, @vickyloras, @fionamau and @sandymillin.


Enjoy!

Some ways to use images in the classroom

We teachers know, probably even more than other professionals, that what the old phrase says is true: a picture is worth a thousand words. We experience the wealth of possibilities offered by visual stimuli everyday. We use pictures to teach, practice or review vocabulary, to do guided oral and writing practice, as visual clues to help in listening-comprehension and as starters for activities such as role plays and class discussions. And we choose to use images because we realize that they actually make explanations simpler, save students lots of effort and add a touch of colour to our classes. In other words, most teachers agree that they actually work!

Some ways to use images in the classroom

ZAs triggers for discussions or debates

ZTo practice descriptions

Adjectives

Prepositions

Opinion expressions

I think...

In my opinion...

I suppose...

I believe...

ZIn listening-comprehension activities, like listening to a description and choosing the right picture.

ZIn speaking and listening-comprehension activities, where a student “dictates” a picture for a partner to choose the right picture.

ZTo practice comparing and contrasting

Picture A shows... while picture B...

On the contrary, picture B...

I think picture A is more... than picture B

If I had to choose between the two...

There’s a marked contrast between...

On the one hand, i don’t think...

The main advantage/disadvantage is...

ZAs a variation of the previous activity, to work with a set of pictures with something in common (let’s say people using computers in different environments) so the discussion relates to this particular element, comparing its use in the different contexts.

ZFor students to make up the story behind the picture. Then they can use a site like Storybird to write their story.

ZAs a variation of the previous activity, students can use Five Card Flickr to get five random pictures and invent the sequence of a story.

ZTo discuss about “fixing” problems in a picture (how would you improve or change a roo, a flat, a city?)

What I kike/dislike is...

I don’t really like the...

I’m not too keen on...

I’d prefer...

I’d be more attracted to...

ZTo practice speculating and making a decision

I think it’d be better to...

I believe... should be...

It would be more convenient...

It wouldn’t be a good idea...

Don’t you think...?

ZAs starters for role-playing conversations based on pictures of people talking (students take the place of different people in the picture).

ZTo create conversations, adding text balloons. They can do this, for example, at Blabberize.

ZPlaying Snap (to find pairs of pictures that match)

ZPlaying Piggy goes... (students pass one card to the left or right and try to find the four cards that match or are related)

ZPlaying Who’s who? (students guess the character by asking yes/no questions and using descriptive vocabulary)

ZListening to a song and putting pictures in order

ZPlaying Partial pictures (where you show part of the picture and students have to guess the name of the object)

ZCollaborative writing (students are given an unrelated picture to write a pragraph in groups and then they have to work with other groups to make their paragraphs fit in a larger story)

ZUsing maps to practice directions and negotiating meaning in information-gap exercises

ZUsing graphic organizers to revise and recycle vocabulary

The list is by no means exhaustive,

but simply offers some suggestions t

hat might encourage some fresh ideas.

You are welcome to share them here!

Guide to writing an academic paper

Wow! It’s been more than a month since I wrote my last post! I’ve been so busy lately that I hardly noticed! Anyway, I’m back! I promised my students to write this short guide to academic writing ages ago. With the beginning of the new academic term I’ve regained forces so here it is!

WHEN WRITING AN ACADEMIC PIECE OF PAPER...

The number of sections and amount of information that you are expected to include in a piece of writing depends of course on the kind of work you are doing, the degree you are working towards, the length expected and some other things, but the following is intended to help you with some general doubts you might have when you start your paper.

WHAT YOUR PIECE OF WRITING MUST INCLUDE

1.   Title page

University

Course title

Lecturer (s)

Essay title

Your name

Date

2.   Table of contents

This is necessary if you’re writing a relatively long piece and/or if you have different chapters or sections.

3.   Introduction

This is a crucial part of your writing. Provide a brief description of the topic you are planning to address and an outline of how you plan to tackle it. Keep it reasonably short (one page tops). Do not include any discussions of the topic here, just state what you are going to do later.

4.   Literature review

Are there any research studies relevant to the topic? Describe and, if possible, evaluate them.

5.   Methodology

You will have to write this section if you are carrying out a study. Describe your hypotheses and discuss the methods, design and subjects of your study.

6.   Data analysis

Analyze your data. You may include graphs, tables and other visual aids here.

7.   Discussion

Discuss and summarize the results of your data analysis. If you haven’t carried out a study, this is where you discuss your topic, put forward arguments to back up your ideas, etc.

8.   Conclusion

Summarize what you have done in your essay and evaluate what could be answered and what could not. This can be suggested as necessary subsequent research. Although the conclusion is a fundamental part of your writing, keep it short. You are not supposed to discuss your results here, you did that already in the previous section.

9.   References

Include all the sources that you have cited or mentioned in your essay. Remember that failing to cite your sources is considered serious misconduct in any academic setting. You might find this post I wrote about citing useful.

10. Appendix

Include tables and graphs that you haven’t included in the running text here. You can also include questionnaires, texts and any other material that that you have used in your study.

REMEMBER!

Be to the point! Sometimes it’s hard to cross things out if you've spent a lot of time doing research and writing them up. However, if you somehow ended up with material that is irrelevant to your essay, you must let it go!

Be careful with plagiarism! Acknowledge both direct and rephrased quotes and always give credit to the sources or your ideas.

Write in a non-sexist way. Don’t use man as a false generic, adopt non-sexist terms for job titles (eg. sales agent instead of salesman), use the pronoun they instead of he, or otherwise provide both the feminine and masculine pronouns (eg. the student should be asked if he/she is comfortable with the test before it is carried out). However, be careful not to overdo it! Here you can find very interesting examples of people who are not so happy about political correct language.

Finally, proofread your paper! Always re-read everything when you finish and check for typos, grammar mistakes and possible inconsistencies in the organization of your headings, subheadings, examples, tables, etc.

Hope this helps! See you soon!

Politically correct language: yes or no?

I must say I’m not a big fan of politically correct language myself. I mean, I don’t think anyone after Foucault would doubt that language does create reality and that language is used to exert power and dominate those who happen to be in a weaker position. And of course I’m all in favour of respecting differences and the rights of the minorities (although, you see, I even dislike the term minority because I perceive it as discriminatory itself).

But I’m sure all of us can see that we can use language for power or discrimination without necessarily using politically incorrect language (so if I decide to “let someone go” I’m definitely using my power to cause someone a terrible problem, even if I choose not to say: “hey, you’re fired!” . And we can use political correct language and euphemisms to conceal politically incorrect actions (so “the rebels were neutralized” sounds better that “the rebels were executed/murdered/killed” and that might make someone feel more at ease with the idea that they were executed/murdered/killed, but it doesn’t change the fact that they were executed/murdered/killed).

Anyway, it’s a very serious subject and we could debate it for hours. Guides on how to use political correct language, especially in academic settings, are all over the place, but some people actually write against its use. Interesting links:

Guides on PC language:

Guide to non-discriminatory language Salford University

Guide to non-sexist language University College Cork

Against PC:

The poverty of postmodernism

Political correctness and free society

An A-Z guide of PC madness in modern Britain

Writing in a politically correct era 

About Spanish:

¿Es sexista la lengua española?

El cyberespanglish y el español neutro en la red


Enjoy!