Peppermint Patty at School

Don't wanna be a lousy voice through Patty's ears.

One thing educators must keep in mind at all times: students are human beings, who might have other things in mind than the lesson we want to teach them, who live, love, have headaches and feel sleepy (including when you're talking to them!)... Let's try to keep some other points in mind too...

• students are not binary-programmed -- we have brains to think, not USB ports to receive information. And those are not industrially made, each one is unique and functions differently.
• you evaluate them, they evaluate you -- don't think you're the only one in charge of drawing conclusions...
• don't blame them for your mistakes, don't let them blame you for theirs. -- teaching-learning is  teamwork. Both parts need to find a balanced point where they speak the same language, then create productive learning experiences from that.

This is what I can get you tonight. I'll try and add something to this post later on.. if any of you and to help me out with that, just leave a post mentioning other possible topics!


talk soon, folks!

YILTS X - day 2

André Lemos on life goods in São Paulo

David Crabbe thinking of his experience in Brazil 

The seminar's mascot

 Oxford's display 

(and display only - if you want to buy anything, look for a sales representative)

 Our beloved host and our beloved mascot

The coffee break

Yilts

X YÁZIGI INTERNEXUS LANGUAGE TEACHING SEMINAR

LEARNING HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

...and then 600 teachers from all parts of Brazil come to the third biggest city in the world for a three-day Seminar on language teaching. Sharing, caring, inspiring. It's so nice to see so many teachers thinking and rethinking our knowledge and practices! Topics presented varied from the use of music and arts in classes to the ideas of authors as Vygotsky, Gardner, Morran, Lévy, etc. 

Here are some pictures of our first day of seminar.

This is me presenting the paper 

"Fun Theory: Pleasure-based learning in a Social Interactionist Approach"

     

Plenary Session

David Crabbe on Learning Opportunities in task-based classes.

Professor David Crabbe

This was the first day only. Check back for more of what's going on at YILTS X!


I really appreciated the presence of those who watched my paper. Thank you for all comments and compliments! Hope it was somewhat helpful and mostly inspiring! I'll be soon uploading the material for those who'd like to read it.


So long!


:)

End of term

Another term's coming to an end and next one is just round the corner (there goes another idiomatic expression for you!)

When something is AROUND (or ROUND - British English) THE CORNER, it is about to happen, it will happen very soon.

Example: You'd better hurry up with that project. Deadline is just around the corner.

                   Rolling Stones reveal: new album round the corner.

Grading students is a hard task, and if you're a teacher, you know what I mean by this comic... 

Now, if you're a student, here are some requests from all teachers in the world: 

remember your test will be read by someone; when you use that desperately tiny handwriting or  lead that seems to be trying to go unnoticed you're only giving us a hard time understanding what was it that you didn't understand from our classes. 

Trust me - it won't go unnoticed... chances are you'll get a tiny question mark (if yours is one of the first tests on the pile, otherwise it'll be huge as to make up for your disuse of space) and less points than if you had made us understand what you meant.

I'll leave other tips on making exams for later. Gotta go back to my pile now ;-)

*Link gently shared by the dearest friend and co-worker Livia. Thanks, sweetie ;D

Holding back tears

♥ ♥ ♥

The switcher

I am teaching a group of little kids (3-year-old, incredibly smart, fun kids!) and learning so much from them, each and every class. 

Today, for example, I learned what it's like for a kid to feel empowered with the luminary decisions in the classroom. And what it was like for him to act so outrageously free from the "rules" that would keep him sitting down just like the other kids, in a proper place, in a proper position, in a proper way that wasn't genuinely his. He'd switch sits, switch moods, switch songs, and then he found... the light switch! It was such a challenge to have him participating on the activities and leaving the lights on so that 1) everybody could see; 2) the puppet would not be scared (he's afraid of the dark); 3) He were a nice boy; 4) we could all play a game and have fun; 5) the teacher wouldn't be upset; etc etc etc.

Well, after a few attempts to convince him, and after a few ons and offs, he joined the group and we could finally do the activity (of course, not without his eventual desiring looks to the switch). Actually, that was only after he realized the game involved big green balloons that he loved to throw, let go, and see it floating in the air...

At the end of the class, we talked about respecting and being respected, we both agreed and he promised to  behave better next class.

Some regrets, no ill will. As for me, what am I to say about him? --he's just luminary!

                                                                                                                                    off for now.