My videos in Spanish to learn English

Hola ¿cómo están? Tanto tiempo.
Les dejo mi primer video para aprender gramática inglesa.
Espero que les guste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxGDcYduQQw

También los invito a visitar mi página de facebook 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elteacherjulian/329060973855406

Youtube videos, again

I always have problems remembering things that I have learnt long ago. If I don't practice again, I tend to forget things.

That is why I am always finding for information and activities to restudy and learn new things too.

An easy way to learn is by watching videos, and you must know that youtube is full of videos like that. So don't be afraid to give a time to find information on youtube.

I recommend you to check the page of the bristishcouncil, so you can also check the videos like the one below.
They are good to be used with your students. They are simple and very "straight to the point".

Source: Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjteVOdEWg&feature=g-all-a&list=PLA6F15A19F632495D&context=G2a0362fFAAAAAAAAPAA)

Youtube on education

Teachers of English really need to expose the language to the students as much as they can. The use of technologies has helped to do so.
Youtube is the most important page to watch video, and the good thing is that you can even download videos from it (now I wonder if that is legal ... mmmm).
Youtube is full of pedagogical videos, courses of English, classes, and teachers teaching English. But don't be so narrow to think just like that. I remember using a video of how to use organic pesticides in plants (which is the topic my students study about), and even the video didn't have a pedegogical used related with grammar of the language, my students were trying to get the main ideas, extracting vocabulary and deducing some points. But the great thing was not just the use of the language, but the fact that they were using the language in a context they know. And in addition, they were learning more things about their own theme of study.
The use of videos on youtube is endless.
I can recommend you some channels on youtube that can be helpful for you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BritishCouncilLE  (Learn English)

http://www.youtube.com/user/BritishCouncilTE   (Teach English)

http://www.youtube.com/user/podEnglish  (EF Language)

http://www.youtube.com/user/OUPELTGlobal  (Oxford University Press)

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishLessons4U

http://www.youtube.com/user/JenniferESL

http://www.youtube.com/user/HolmwoodsELT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpwuQsNiLg  (Shaping the way we teach series, University of Oregon)

Christmas Idea coming from Philippines

Filipinos have a very beautiful custom for Christmas: creating a Parol.  Something I want to do by myself too. But, ¿what is it a parol? Check it on these videos, and I think, it is a good a idea to do with your students.

Source: Youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1OH90z7DKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MUILysdEdI

The innocence can be so powerful

We think, that just because we are adults, and we have a lot of experience, our views, ideas, or opinions are the only truth, and we don't hear what the children have to say. Their innocence seems to be so silly and weak, but they have the pure wisdom, they don't worry about things, they don't think about things so much, they just do the right things. I say this, because I remember two excellent indian commercials I have seen time ago. I would like to share with you these commercials, and then think what children have to say about solidarity, and how we must work as a real team.

Source: Youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS6RhU9ZvKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M0EZ8T5J8

Movies and Series for teachers

I am fan of  movies and series. Not just one kind of movies, but different, and I might say that I have watched a lot of movies and series related with teachers, and from most of them, I got great lessons.

I will share with you some of the films and series, that I consider interesting and good for teachers.

• Gokusen: I have mentioned this series before. A japanese teacher, comes to teach in a hard class, where most of the students are bad guys. But "Yankumi", this new teacher, comes to teach them a good lesson of friendship. What they don't know, is that "Yankumi" is descendant of Yakuzas, so she won't be easily scared by the students.
• The Queen's Classroom: Talking about strict teachers, this is an excellent japanese series about a strict teacher who became the worst nightmare of a young group of students. I like this series, because the teacher even though, was a bit scary, she was an excellent professional, knowing and doing her work very well.
• Nobuta wo produce: A shy girl who is bullied at the school, is helped by two students to be popular in the school.
• Battle Royale: Not recommended for children. A controversial, crude, and violent movie. Students are so bad that, in the future, the government passes a law, in which, one class within the country must participate in a kind of punishment called battle royale. Just one must survive. (This movie shows the lose of respect and values in the schools, which is getting common in some parts. Sad to say)
• To Sir with love: An old movie, starred by Sidney Poiter, who comes to a difficult class to teach, and he must face hard times with the students. But he will teach them more than just contents.
• Dangerous Mind: Famous movie with excellent soundtrack. Again, this time a woman playing the role a teacher, comes to a hard class, and do her best to help them in a world of gangs and drugs.
• Take the Lead: The same plot, a teacher coming to a hard class. But this time, based on the life of Pierre Dulaine, with lots of music and rhythm.
• Les Choristes: Touching french movie. A teacher of music comes to a boarding school, where most of the students are having a difficult life. He comes with the dream to form a choir, but it won't be easy at first.
• Front of the class: Based on a true story, this movie tells the life of Brad Cohen, who was bullied at the school because he suffered from tourette sydrome. His dream was becoming a teacher, but in order to do so, he had to face difficult obstacles. Here we see how dreams, even impossible, they can become true, if we really want them so much and put so much effort on them.
• School of rock: The perfect movie for Jack Black. Here, Jack plays the role of a decadent rock musician, who uses the name and title of his best friend to work in a school, and teach (nothing) to a group of young students. The movie is full of "recesses", until this lazy teacher discovers that his students are really good at playing instrument. From then on, he starts teaching music, and how to play rock.

Some of the movies are good to work with the students. others not. But I find all of them very interesting. But of course, there are hundreds of movies more, and if you want to share some, you can do it leaving some comments.

Teacher, how can you improve your performance?

Sadly, I have found that one of my favourite pages has been closed down. Teachers.tv closed on april 29th.

I think, it was at the beginning of the year that I found this spectacular page related with education. And why it was so amazing? Just because it had a collection of more than 3,500 videos full of resources, ideas, tips and interviews of teachers.

To my happiness, I found out too, that those videos didn't vanish. They are managed already by a couple of pages that are keeping alive the idea of helping teachers in the process of improving their skills.I can recommend the following two pages in which you can find all those videos:

http://www.schoolsworld.tv/

http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/

In the latter one, I recommend the section called "The behaviour challenge: can you handle it?" where you have the chance to choose what you would do in a certain disruptive situation on the classroom. But in both pages, you can find videos related with a specific subject, stage or role, among different topics.

I hope you can find the time to check it!

why is it important the use of videos at the classroom?

I must admit that I love movies. I can be watching movies on and on, and I can even repeat some movies, because they are really good. It is true though, I have forgotten some already (probably I have watched too many movies that I don't have more space on my memory)

But I just need one image of a single film to remember it completely. And this makes me believe that images are so much powerful than concepts. And if this is really applicable to everyone, it means that I can't leave aside the use of videos at my classroom.

If you don´t believe me, let's take this example. Imagine that I ask you to explain the meaning of the word "honor". Probably, it will be a bit hard to explain it with words. And most of the things that will come to your mind will be images of a person doing certain things, that for you, it will explain the meaning of the word "honor". Probably you will just imagine a "person" and not a "thing" or an "animal". This is because abstract words are difficult to explain without associating them with a concrete word. And in this case, we already know that the word "honor" is a condition of the human being.

Taking into account what I have said before, I consider it is so much important to use videos to support the content of the class. That is why interesting activities are remembered by students after many years. Maybe they won't remember all the content, but they will still have in their memories those moments.

Now the question is... if it is really meaningful the use of videos on the classroom?

By my experience. I have noticed, that videos are the most attractive feature at the moment of teaching. It calls the attention of the students, but we can make the mistake of just using the videos to raise their interest, but with lack of content or real meaningful.
One solution is by really planning well the activity we want to work with, and use the video just to help the increase of knowledge.