News, Articles and Workshops
Social Program at OxfordTEFL! www.bcn-intercambios.blogspot.com
A day in the life of an English teacher in Barcelona
Program February - March 2008
Who are they for? These are open to all teachers working in and around Barcelona who are interested in professional development, want to get some good teaching ideas or would like to meet and share experiences with colleagues from other schools.
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| Workshop with Mark Powell | Workshop with Scott Thornbury | Teacher Development Workshops - Barcelona |
"Using YouTube in the Classroom" Presented by Jamie Keddie, Writer, Teacher and Trainer
Friday February 15th
For the language teacher, YouTube is nothing less than one of the best sources of classroom material we have ever had. Viral videos, notorious TV clips, famous news footage, sporting moments, comedy sketches, music videos, art projects, short films, science experiments ... the list is endless.
In this workshop, I would like to share 6 lesson plans that make use of some well-known YouTube videos. I will also show you how to download and save YouTube clips onto a hard drive (memory stick, laptop, ipod, etc) so that they can be played in classrooms that have no online access.
"Uncovering Grammar" Presented by Scott Thornbury, Writer, Teacher and Trainer
Friday February 22nd
A lot is being written nowadays about the idea of language as being an "emergent phenomenon". What does this mean exactly, and what implications might it have on our teaching of a second language? These are the questions I'll attempt to address, if not exactly answer!
"Leadership in ELT" Presented by Duncan Foord, Director, writer, teacher and teacher trainer
Friday February 29th
How do you deal with challenges? What example do you set others? When do you lead and when do you manage? In this workshop we will look at some real and typical challenges for teachers and Directors of Studies and see how an awareness of what leadership is might help you deal with these challenges more effectively.
"Friendship and fun in the Young Learner Classroom" Presented by Claire Venables, teacher and teacher trainer.
Friday March 7th
This session will provide practical ideas for integrating group-formation activities into lessons with the aim of dealing with problems such as motivation, confidence, interest, and the learning needs of the individuals within a class.
"The Power of Image" Presented by: Ben Goldstein, Writer, Teacher and Teacher Trainer
Friday March 14th
This workshop will look at how images have been traditionally used in the language classroom and seek out some alternatives for the future. With the advent of digital technology, we will address the need to place the image at the centre of our classroom practice, exploring new ways to help our students analyse and access images, as well as create their own. In so doing, we will be encouraging learners to develop a visual literacy.
Where, When, How much?
Where: OxfordTEFL , Girona 83, Metro: Girona. Tel:934580111
careers@oxfordtefl.com www.oxfordtefl.com
When : Fridays from 11:30 am. to 1:00 pm.
How much: FREE!!!!
Numbers will be limited, so please call/e-mail to confirm your attendance in advance!
* Social Program at OxfordTEFL!
Languages exchange nights.
Teachers and students get together to have a drink and speak in English, Catalán and Spanish.
BCN Cafe, C/ Consejo de Ciento 381.
Once a month from 20:00 hours.
For further information and a calendar of events click here to go straight to the website
www.bcn-intercambios.blogspot.com
www.bcn-intercambios.blogspot.com
Congratulations to Duncan and Lindsay on the edition of their successful new book “The Language Teacher's Survival Handbook “
About the book
In this book we address some of the day to day issues that teachers face inside and outside the classroom, based on the belief that the glue that holds your lesson plans together is you and if you don't feel right then your lessons won't be right. It could be called "Surviving being an English language teacher".
This book is not a methodology book about teaching. We think that there are already a lot of very good books like that on the market, but it does address some methodological issues. It's not an activity book (again, there are lots of these available). But there are activities that teachers can use. This book is about surviving teaching.
Chapters on stress, interviews, the staffroom and teacher development are included to help you feel more comfortable and confident about being a teacher, before you sit down to plan your lesson.
There are also chapters on topics that you will find in other books, such as grammar, teaching in company, using materials and teaching children, but taken from a slightly different angle. Our approach is to take typical challenges voiced by teachers themselves as our starting point and work through them.
There are chapters on body language, culture shock and using mother tongue in the classroom because we think these subjects are part of the fabric of teachers' day to day lives but seldom dealt with in training courses or basic methodology books.
There is a guide to the history of EFL, which gives an overview of language teaching methodologies and helps you to situate yourself within the "bigger picture". We hope too it will make you curious to find out more. There are also practical reference guides to English language exams and teacher training.
Finally we have included lots of practical teaching ideas. Well, you can't have too many of those, can you?
Lindsay Clandfield & Duncan Foord
One of our teacher Trainers, Lindsay Clandfield has won the Ben Warren Trust Prize for his new book for language teachers Dealing with Difficulties (DELTA publishing 2007, co-author Luke Prodromou).
Come along and join us to celebrate the event on Friday June 8th. It´s a great opportunity to meet up again with your trainers if you´ve trained with us, or to find out more about the trainers and oxford TEFL if you are thinking of doing a course with us.
12:00 Introduction to the centre and welcome by Duncan Foord, director of Teacher Training.
12.10 Book presentation and talk by the author. Lindsay Clandfield will be talking about his book and sharing some activities.
12.40 Celebratory drink and snack. Meet Lindsay and the other teacher trainers at OxfordTEFL.
13:00 Raffle draw for a complimentary copy of Dealing with Difficulties.
The book: Dealing with Difficulties
addresses many of the numerous problems faced by teachers providing solutions, strategies and suggestions for the language teacher including working with large classes, mixed levels, different learning styles and discipline.
About the prize: The Ben Warren-International House Trust Prize is awarded on an annual basis to the author or authros of the most outstanding work in the field of language teacher educations.
Numbers will be limited so please call or email to confirm your attendance in advance: 934580111 info@oxfordtefl.com
*The first review of "Straightforward Elementary" published by Macmillan and written by Lindsay Clandfield, our on-line Diploma TESOL tutor has been published in El Gazette. It is highly recommended…. Congratulations Lindsay!
Title: STRAIGHTFORWARD ELEMENTARY
Publisher: Macmillan
Author: Lindsay Clandfield
The latest level of Straightforward does not disappoint. Like the first book in the series, this coursebook for adults and young adults makes good on the claim to offer activities which are transparent and based on sound classroom practice. There are twelve units in all, offering an integrated syllabus of grammar, vocabulary, functional language, pronunciation and skills work. Each unit contains four double pages. The book begins with two sections on the ‘basics’ such as the alphabet, numbers and useful classroom language. Tape scripts, information for some communication activities and a review section are in the back of the book. Many teachers find teaching elementary students challenging; the speaking activities here are certainly appropriate for this level of learner. The inclusion of word lists showing frequency through the star coding system from the Macmillan English Dictionary is excellent. The focuses on blogs and mobiles give the material an up-to-date feel. The content is attractive, and the activities are often inventive and certainly engaging. Recommended.
Reviews by Pete Sharma for the International English Book Centre
A day in the life of an English teacher in Barcelona
By Anna Stubbs, Careers Advisor and Course Director in Barcelona.
Fancy working a 4 day week!?! Leaving you a 3 day weekend to enjoy and explore this lively and dynamic city! Well, as a Trinity TESOL Certificate qualified teacher this could be you!
Barcelona is a vibrant city all year round with glorious beaches for the summer months and the mountains for skiing and walking. As a teacher with full time hours (20-25) you should be able to afford a decent standard of living. Eating and drinking out is accessible. Rent is quite high but flat shares are the norm which can help keep costs down (300 - 350 euros per month) and can be a great way to immerse yourself in local life.
In your first years you will probably teach a mixture of general English to adults and children and some business English. This is a nice introduction to teaching as it makes your working day varied. To complement these classes you could find some private students by advertising near schools, universities, libraries etc. Some of your classes will be given in a language school, some in-company and your students' homes. You will probably have some travelling from class to class but will soon discover that Barcelona is a fairly small and beautiful city so you may be able to walk taking in the amazing architecture. If not invest in a bike and not only will you beat the traffic you will get fit too! If you need to take public transport you're in a great city - buses, metros, trains nearly always run on time and you can use this journey time for lesson planning.
You may find you are working early mornings, lunch times and evenings with time off between classes. At first it may take some getting used to these split shifts but with some time management you will see the benefits of being able to do your shopping when no-one else is around, having the swimming pool to yourself or maybe getting to the cinema at cheaper times!
Barcelona is a hugely popular destination for English teaching. There are vast numbers of schools who hire both EU and non-EU citizens. As a non-EU citizen it's unlikely a school will process your papers for you due to the length of time this takes. However, based on our experience at Oxford Tefl you should with our help and your persistence find employment usually on a cash in hand basis. It's a fantastic city with a magical charm.
I arrived in January 2001 planning to stay for 9 months and am still here!!!!!
