Glogster!

This website it's an interesting tool to teach our learners any subject!

According to the English subject, not only it can motivate the students but also teachers can promote the Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing skill. 

Use it to introduce a new topic, to create a mind map, summarize the content or to attract your learners' attention. In addition to that, the students will be able to use it to create their projects and, in this way, they will be developing their creativity, increasing curiosity and interest and developing the technolgical competence.

We'd like to share our glogs with you!

Marta Gómez - Reading strategies glog!
Marta Cortés - Wanted glog! 
Álvaro Domínguez - Thinks I like glog!
Miriam Gallardo - Elephant and friends glog!
Aurora Capablanca - Belly dance glog!
Marina Chamizo - Music that I like glog!

Other websites or resources similar to this one are: PREZI, CREATELY, FREE MIND.

Action research

Action research is an investigation or inquiry initiated to solve a specific problem or a reflective processes to improve the educational practices of the teacher who is going to initiate the action research. It provides them immediately results and opportunities to understand and examine their own practices. 

The aim of an action researcher is to bring about development in his/her practice by analysing existing practice and identifying elements for change or improving their strategies, practices and knowledge. 

We have to follow the following stages: 

• Planning
• Acting
• Observing
• Reflecting

Action research can help teachers feel in control of their own professional situation.

Merry Christmas

         

 We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Seven up!

Classroom management!

An effective classroom management has to take into account the following tips:

• Know what you want and you don’t want
• Show the students what you want to create you want; Create expectations
• Correct the student’s behavior periodically
• Create rules in the classroom
• Develop an effective praise:

ü Is expressed sincerely, spontaneous and using non-verbal gestures

ü You must not compare with other students

ü Encourage students to appreciate their accomplishments

•  For an effective parents conferences:

ü Documentation about the child’s behavior

ü Maintain eye contact

ü Be a good listener

ü Ask the parents for his input regarding the student

ü Giving parents some concrete ideas for behavior management at home

•  Monitoring the entire class
• Gaining the students’ attention
• Move around the class
• Establish a line between teacher and student

Do you want to know more about classroom management?

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/classroom-management/behavioral-problems/26200.html

Think about it...

If we want our learners use the language to express their opinions and ideas and, in short to communicate them with people, teachers should develop activities according to this objective. 

We have to take into account what our aim is when we are designing our activities.

What do you think about that? 

Are you agree with the boy in the picture?

P H O N I C S

How to teach your children to read using phonics

It is very useful to teach your students the phonics in a relevant and funny way.

                                                                                

It's time to improve your phonics! 

Look at the following pictures...

Anxiety in the classroom

Many students become anxious just before a test and/or they get nervous when they have to give a prepared speech or presentation in front of their partners. Such temporary feelings of anxiety are instances of state anxiety. However, some students are anxious a good part of the time, even when the situation is not an evaluation, for that reason, we have to take into account some tips to achieve a good and relaxed atmosphere. 

We suggest some tips to prevent the anxiety:

• Educate and inform the students about anxiety
• Provide an open-communication classroom, where all the students should participate and all the ideas are good to learn
• Teach and discuss the positive strategies and techniques to be relaxed with the students
• Allow students opportunities to practice and apply useful strategies to get over the anxiety. For instance, allow students to use stress balls during class or listen to soothing music while taking exams. Using this strategies may reduce tension and anxiety in the classroom.
• Model positive ways to prevent and manage anxiety
• Provide an effective praise
• Teach students to focus their attention on a specific object

Finally, we suggest an interesting video about "learned helplessness", in which we can prove how students feel when some students in the class know how to do an activity  and they do not. In this video, the teacher gives different exams (one very difficult, and another one very easy). Then, s/he asks the students; who have done the first question, and the students with the difficult exam get surprised when they see that some students done it (without know that they are different questions). After that, the teacher gives the same exam to the whole class, and, even doing the easy one, some students do not know the answer. It is possible that this student group after this situation are frustated... What do you think? 

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