Mobility 5 "Englishg teaching development through job shadowing". Link School of English. Swieqi, Malta

In July 2019 I attended a 5-day course entitled "English teaching development through job shadowing" offered at Link School of English, a private EFL school established in 1992, offering all aspects of linguistic stays to a wide variety of students (both nationality and agewise) wishing to improve their level of English in the "immersion" setting which provides a country such as Malta, where English is the second official language after Maltese.

My course, rather than a course, was a professional visit which allowed me to shadow and observe Edith Saliba, an EFL teacher with broad experience in English and French teaching both in secondary school, university and private language scchools. Born in Manchester (the UK) and raised in Malta since the age of 4, my mentor's mother tongue is English, although she obviously is a Maletese speaker as well.

My job shadowing experience ran from Monday July 15th to Friday July 19th, during which I was granted the chance to: 

 - To shadow an experienced teacher throughout the planning process of a lesson to explore various ways of adapting course contents and materials

- To improve understanding of language teaching methodology through observation

- To put the observed methodology into practice by means of micro-teaching

- To receive personalised feedback and help from another teacher

- To improve learning performance through self-reflection on personal teaching, and to develop language teaching skills by exploration of classroom materials and teaching options

- To enhance intercultural awareness by forming connections with a colleagues from a different country and sharing teaching experiences in an objective developmental environment

- To gain an insight into Maltese culture and heritage

During my stay I was invited to observe my mentor working with a party of 15 Italian young women from Salerno, all of them students in a professional school in Italy, who came to Malta for a 2-week course on Maltese culture and traditons. That is, instead of a more mainstream language course, I was able to take part in a course which focused more on content rather than in language (even though the course was obviously taught in English).

The class group turned out to be a mixed-ability group, where language mastery levels ranged from A2 to B2.1. The students all knew each other (since they were classmates at their school in Italy) so the initial level of cohesiveness among class participants was high.

...

MOBILITY 3 "Kulturstadt Berlin". Goethe Institut Berlin, 2019 by Blanca Linzoain

Kulturstadt Berlin

                                                   vom 1 bis zum 5.Juli

1. Presentar-se als companys amb un altre marc

Ús del regle de'ebenista per presentar-nos a la resta de companys. Un objecte pren el protagonisme, ens identifica, ens descriu, explica en tercera persona qui som, què fem a Berlin i què esperam del curs. Al finalitzar l'estada el mateix objecte es despedeix del grup i fa cinc cèntims del que ha estat la formació.

Va ser una bona idea que es podia aplicar a l'aula a la tornada al setembre i que com a més a més teníem com a eix transversal l'art hi encaixava perfectament.

2. Coneixements previs
Primeres hores en les que definim amb un anagrama què és cultura per nosaltres (en grups), les diferències culturals són poques.

3. Berlin, l'empremta de la seva història.
Una ciutat com Berlin és difícil d'acabar-se-la, té història, museus, teatres, escena musical i teatral alternativa, etc. La part històrica i museística, teòrica i pràctica, ve donada per la professora del curs, molt competent en la matèria. 

4. Goethe Institut Berlin, benvinguda i acompamyament

5. Berlin alternatiu

L'escena més alternativa de la ciutat, actors, pintors, músics, etc,  la descobrim en grups realitzant diferents entrevistes i portant-les a l'aula i compartint-les amb els nostres companys

6. Art a l'aula mit Sandra Künstler

Una tarda tenim la visita d'una docent que ens explica diferents activitats que podem portar a l'aula al voltant del tema art, música, història, que tot i ser entretingudes, no van deixar empremta, atès que cap d'elles ens va inspirar ni vaig portar a la meva aula a la tornada

7. Theater am Abend

8. Gruppenarbeit: Projekte präsentieren in Wirbelngruppen. 
Els projectes en grup van ser molt interessants, rics i divertits.

Projekte

Goethe Institut : Materialien

The End 

MOBILITY 2 "Museum Walks:integrating local history in your classroom" at Ariadne Lifelong Learning Institute; KALAMATA (Greece) by Imma Boluña

 

 

 "Museum Walks:integrating local history in your classroom" at Ariadne Lifelong Learning Institute; KALAMATA (Greece) by Imma Boluña (8/7 to 14/7)

 

 

 

 

• Archaelogical Museum of Kalamata, in the beautiful Messini region. Most objects in the museum can be subject to SPECULATION on the reasons why they were used at the time and also the stories that lie behind them.
• In the surroundings of any old town or site the following ideas are worth trying, among others:

 

# find the stories behind road names

# find the biographies behind road names

# speculate on certain artpieces and their meaning

# argue which traditions of your own culture you would keep or get rid of.

# POEM "Archaelogy" on the importance of time past. How important rooting is. What gives us a sense of rooting? What feelings are associated to rooting?

Ancient town of Messina

• Timelines can easily be set up for stds to better place that time in history

 


When referring to ancient civilizations which lasted 500 years, like Messini's, one may wonder and give reasons on how they stood for such long time. What key elements does life need?

 

Talking about relationships, this just brought-to-life mosaic, shows us two divinities: Ariadne and Dionisos. What can we find out about them and what would be the story that brought them together. Let's make it up!

 

 

What can we find out about the lives of the youth, both men and women? In which sense has current life improved or not?

 

 

You'de never guess what this room was for in Ancient Messini ... look at this stoney hole: what was it for?

 

 

 

 

 

Educational apps such as

ACTION BOUND

 

 

allow teachers to prepare scavenger hunts OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM, whereby, with the help of their mobile devices, they can search information, answer quizes, do actions and most of all, stir their languages in teams, both competing and cooperating.

 

 

The use of platforms such as ARTSTEPS (artsteps.com) allow us to design virtual museums where the whole of our class can post their task products, whether in written or video shape. Teachers might even want to collect the best of their stds' products over the years for inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



MOBILITY 1. “Identités française”. Université d'été de la Sorbonne. Paris, France. José Manuel Fernández Ramos

Identité(s) française(s) 2

La semaine du 15 au 19 juillet 2019 j'ai suivi un cours fantastique à l'Universtié de la Sorbonne à propos de l'identité française, un sujet toujours d'acutalité.

Quelles spécificités distinguent la France des autres nations ? Quelles sont les singularités typiquement françaises ? Ce cycle, ainsi que le cycle Identité(s) française(s) 1, tentent d'apporter des réponses à ces questions.

Il peuvent être suivis séparément.

• La mémoire nationale : histoire et culture
  Yann Migoubert, grec, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université
• Une nation turbulente (du XIXème à aujourd'hui)
  Aranud Houte, histoire, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université
• Qu'est-ce qui divise les Français ? Ces grandes querelles qui font la France
  Pierre-Henri Tavoillot, Philosophie, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université
• De la société de cour à la société mondaine : Paris au XIXe siècle
  Isabelle Dasque, histoire, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université
• L'émotion urbaine : mythologies parisiennes
  Nicholas Manning, littérature américaine, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université