Methodology blog🌻

Hello everyone!☺️

Hi!🙂

Hello everyone!😉

Hi guys!😃

Some time ago I took an online course on language assessment in the classroom. It was really useful and I strongly recommend it. 

Learning English may be more effective and fun if you spend some time on these websites:

1️⃣ PBS Kids

This site includes great resources such as writing contests, videos, apps and digital resources for educators. Children will never get bored on this website. 

https://pbskids.org 

2️⃣ Fun Brain

There are over 100 interactive activities here to help kids from preschool to grade 8 develop skills in English literacy.

https://www.funbrain.com

3️⃣ Highlightskids 

The website includes animated stories, a poetry maker and a section where kids can send in their work and be featured on the website.

https://www.highlightskids.com

Hello! 🖐️

Recently I found a video that my university group made for the methodology class. This video is about the association learning strategy which appeared to be very effective for me and many my students, so I want to share it with you. Enjoy and don't forget to smile!😄

Hello everyone!😄

Nothing brings more holiday spirit than a good song! And here is a whole collection of Christmas nursery rhymes for beginner students that can be used both for teaching and pleasure. Enjoy;)

Hi guys!😺

I have always been thankful for sites with useful tips on teaching that would give me help and inspiration when I needed it. Here are some of them:

1. British Council official site

This site is great for both beginning and professional teachers. It has a ton of articles and great tips.

Link: https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources

2. Classroom Secrets

A lot of useful resources for different subjects, levels, and ages.

Link: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk

3. WORKS4ME TIP LIBRARY

One of the most comprehensive sites with teaching and management techniques.

Link: http://www.nea.org/tools/Works4Me.html

4. TEACHNET.COM

Many good tips arranged by topic within categories. Everything is clear and well organized.

Link:  https://web.archive.org/web/19990421032738/http://teachnet.com:80/how-to/index.html

5. Kim’s Korner for Teacher Talk

Ideas for many areas of classroom management.

Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20160110003048/http://kimskorner4teachertalk.com/

6. English Grammar

This site lists the English grammar rules and provides activities on practicing them.

Link: https://www.englishgrammar.org/lessons/

7. ESL Partyland

A good treat for ESL students which contains materials for teaching with video.

Link: https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/esl

8. ESL Video

This site lets you create your own quizzes to YouTube videos.

Link: https://www.eslvideo.com

9. UsingEnglish.com

Great resource with idioms and phrasal verbs that will help in teaching for sure.

Link: https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/h.html

10. Wacky Web Tales on Education Place

One of my favorite sites that will both teach and entertain at the same time.

Hey:)

Some time ago I made a presentation in Prezi and found it to be a nice platform. That’s why I wanted to share this YouTube video on how to use Prezi. Enjoy)

Reading rules

* Identify new words;

* Find the main idea/thesis;

* Create a preliminary outline;

* Read with a pencil;

* Draw and sketch;

* Read few more times.

Phonics

Phonics is a method of teaching children to read by linking sounds (phonemes) and the symbol that represent them (graphemes, or letter groups). Phonics is the learning-to-read method used in primary schools.

Phonics learning steps:

- Decoding (children are taught letter sounds in reception; they see a letter in a word and then say the sound it represents out loud)

- Blending (blending the sounds and saying the whole word)

- Decoding CVC (Consonant – Vowel – Consonant) words

- Decoding consonant clusters

- Vowel and consonant diagraphs

The whole-word approach

Hi methodology lovers!

Here is the sequence of activities to develop oral skills. Hope you like it) 

Form: 4-th (Level A1 - A1+)

Activity 1 (Listening)

The teacher asks students to clap every time they hear the sound [p] in the audio. The students listen to the tongue-twister at a different speed.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Activity 2 (Pronunciation)

The teacher has a tongue-twister written on the blackboard. The students repeat the lines after the teacher slowly. The teacher mimics and exaggerates the sound [p]. The tongue-twister is repeated around 3-5 times gradually speeding up.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

How to develop the intonation

- Provide learners with exaggerated models

- Let students compare two examples of the same phrase

- Ask students to have a 2-minute conversation in pairs as “robots” with no intonation. When they then go back to speaking 'normally', point out that the difference is made by intonation.

- Get students to imitate your intonation, but with humming, without words.

Activity 3 (Intonation)

The students repeat the tongue-twister using the gestures to show the rising and falling intonation:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.- falling intonation A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. - falling intonation If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,- rising Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? - falling intonation

Activity 4 (Speaking)

Pre-writing

- Brainstorming (students write down all the thoughts they have)

- Planning (students make a plan of their future writing)

- Generating ideas (discovery tasks, such as cubing)

- Questioning (usually done in groups)

- Discussion and debate (group discussion)

Controlled writing

Controlled writing activities are fundamental to teaching literacy to children or adults. Controlled writing focuses on establishing grammatical patterns, sentence structure, punctuation, and word order. Controlled writing exercises can help students learn how to express themselves effectively in proper English. Here can be used: copying; writing lists, and forms; filling-in-the-blank stories.

Guided writing

During a guided writing session, teachers are able to provide instant instructional support and immediate feedback to students in a small group environment. Students are working at their level with strong teacher support that enables for a successful, independent writing experience for the children involved. This increases their confidence levels and encourages them to keep on trying!

The procedure of the guided writing:

- Direct instruction, where the teacher reminds the students of their writing goals and provides them with some form of writing stimulus (approximately 5 minutes).

- Shared experience, where the students and teacher have a rich conversation about the writing topic and/or writing stimulus, key vocabulary and the possible text types that could be written (approximately 5 minutes).

- Independent writing and sharing, where students write as much as they can in the allocated time. The teacher provides timely feedback and scaffolds key writing skills. Students then share what they have written with the small group or the rest of the class (approximately 10 minutes).

Free writing

1) Portfolio assessment

The portfolio is a record of the child's process of learning: what the child has learned and how she has gone about learning; how she thinks, questions analyzes, synthesizes, produces, creates; and how she interacts--intellectually, emotionally and socially--with others.

2) Structured assessment activities

In a structured/simulated assessment activity to test competency we develop such assessment tools:

* A scenario/outline of the situation

* Scripts for people involved in the activity/simulation

* Instructions for the candidate and the assessor

* An observation checklist

3) Projects

Project-based assessment allows students to engage their learning in more concrete and creative ways. During the hands-on project, students learn how to apply their knowledge to practice. Also, they are more motivated to investigate the issue more deeply, so they remember more after such assessment. PBL is student-centered and requires reflection on both the process and the content to be meaningful. The key benefits of this assessment tool are:

* Authenticity (providing real-life experiences);

* Motivation (students are given voice and choice)

* Metacognition (providing significant feedback to students about their progress along the way)

* Collaboration (students learn how to work in a team)

* Creativity (projects require problem-solving and critical-thinking skills)

4) Self-assessment

Student self-assessment involves students in evaluating their own work and learning progress.

Self-assessment is a valuable learning tool as well as part of an assessment process. Through self-assessment, students can:

* identify their own skill gaps, where their knowledge is weak

* see where to focus their attention on learning

* set realistic goals

* revise their work

* track their own progress

* if online, decide when to move to the next level of the course

This process helps students stay involved and motivated and encourages self-reflection and responsibility for their learning.

5) Peer assessment

In peer assessment, a collaborative learning technique, students evaluate their peers’ work and have their work evaluated by peers.

Often used as a learning tool, peer assessment gives students feedback on the quality of their work, often with ideas and strategies for improvement. At the same time, evaluating peers’ work can enhance the evaluators’ own learning and self-confidence. Peer involvement personalizes the learning experience, potentially motivating continued learning.

6) Learner-developed assessment tasks

This assessment tool is based on the tasks developed by students. This develops students’ creativity, responsibility, and autonomy. But the development of such tasks should be guided or facilitated by the teacher.

7) Take-home tasks

Parents may see behaviors and skills that children demonstrate in only the home setting. Home inventories collect valuable information through a survey or set of short, open-ended response items completed by the adult at the child’s home.

8) Observation 

Observation is a very useful way to assess. But, as with all assessment tools, it needs to be well planned and designed. Because it is observation, some people can tend to be a bit slack about the planning and record keeping. This is not good enough.

9) Conferencing

In this case, conferencing refers to the one-on-one student and faculty communication to discuss a current or recent assignment. The ultimate goal is to help the student and the entire classroom of students to improve.

Summary

Having analyzed the assessment tools above I have decided that, in my opinion, the most effective ones are: Project-based assessment, Peer assessment, and Portfolio assessment.

Project-based assessment is very good for developing creativity and autonomy. To create a project, students need to have a good knowledge of the subject and possess creative-thinking skills. Also, this type of assessment is really motivating and interesting for learners.

Peer assessment is an effective assessment tool which gives the opportunity to develop responsibility and improve knowledge of the subject. Also, students work in groups and pairs and learn how to give a constructive feedback.