Classroom Game Design

Paul Andersen teaches science at Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana. He is the 2011 Montana Teacher of the Year. He has been teaching science on YouTube for the last three years. Paul began his career teaching all the science classes at a small rural school in northern Montana. Andersen uses technology and game mechanics to increase engagement in his classroom. He discusses here how he modified his methods for grading, delivering instruction and planning based on the principles of game design.

History of Mother’s Day

In Spain Mother’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May. On Mother’s Day we honor mothers, celebrate motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. What do you know about this celebration?

Inglesada.es

Tirando del hilo de un foro sobre recursos para enseñar música en inglés he llegado a Inglesada.es, un foro general de maestros y profesores de inglés en España. Puede resultaros útil porque incluye multitud de noticias, novedades, ideas para la preparación de oposiciones, referencias en una librería virtual en Amazon , proyectos, recursos para la enseñanza y aprendizaje del inglés y de otras materias en inglés, apuntes, materiales para pizarra digital, etc.

El registro en el foro es gratuito.

http://www.inglesada.es/ 

Sparklebox

This web was launched in 2006 as a means of sharing high quality printable primary teaching resources to download and use. Every resource is free to download and completely virus free. You can also share your own resources.

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

Teaching Tips

Series of videos by the British Council which are regularly added with tips, new ideas and issues for English teachers.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/tips

Also on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL17B8E2A8B6003A38&feature=plcp

An example:

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Earth Day

Yesterday it was Earth Day. Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment. It is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.

Here you have a very useful resource to promote environmental education. At My Garbology, you'll find an interactive online game that teaches about Garbology and answers the question, "Where should my waste go?" You'll also find lessons and activities to extend your Garbology experience, from how to pack a waste-less lunch to getting the dirt on composting. Plus, read our Trash Talk blog for stories of Garbology in practice. In the classroom or at home, you can make Garbology a part of your everyday life. MyGarbology is a project by NatureBridge, in partnership with AT&T, Pasco, Westernized, Elastic Creative, Sirius Sound, and many more.
(Source: http://www.naturebridge.org/garbology.php)

BEP Network

Esta semana hemos recibido un correo del profesor Manuel F. Lara, en el que nos comunica una interesante iniciativa que consiste en la creación de una red llamada Bilingual Education Platform Network. 

Os animamos a conocer su trabajo en la siguiente dirección:

http://www.bepnetwork.com/

También podéis seguir la actividad de este grupo, entre otras redes, a través de Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bepnetwork/

IPad English

A very interesting blog on IPad as a tool for language learners by Jeffrey Hill (Normandy Business School, Le Havre, France) 

You will find the best English learning applications and an opportunity to add comments or even share your own opinion or some extra information about the posts.

http://www.ipadenglish.net/

Sound Maps

Interactive maps to find recordings of regional accents and dialects, wildlife and environmental sounds, and selected world and traditional music.

http://sounds.bl.uk/sound-maps 

See also http://sounds.bl.uk/ , where British Library Sounds presents 50,000 recordings and their associated documentation from the BL’s collections.

Google Docs for Teachers

An updated guide to using Google Documents in the classroom (designed for teachers who have never used it) by Richard Byrne.

Open publication - Free publishing

Do you know Scoop.it?

Some examples about English language:

http://www.scoop.it/u/larabep

http://www.scoop.it/t/learn-english

http://www.scoop.it/t/english-classes

http://www.scoop.it/t/efl-esl-blogs-worth-following

http://www.scoop.it/t/my-favourite-esl-resources

Ayudas para cursos de lengua inglesa

Resolución de 6 de marzo de 2012, de la Secretaría de Estado de Educación, Formación Profesional y Universidades, por la que se convocan ayudas para cursos de lengua inglesa, destinadas a titulados en Máster en Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idiomas y a Maestros.

http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2012/04/02/pdfs/BOE-A-2012-4575.pdf

International Childrens' Book Day

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It (this year it is Mexico) decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster. These materials are used in different ways to promote books and reading. Many IBBY Sections promote ICBD through the media and organize activities in schools and public libraries.

Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature (published by IBBY). Back issues from 1963 to 2008

Source http://www.ibby.org/

Khan Academy

Our students and teachers can make use of this site, the resources of which are available to anyone completely free of charge. More than 3.000 videos covering almost everything (science topics, humanities, etc..) Each video is especially purposed for viewing on the computer. Practice exercises are also available. http://www.khanacademy.org/

INEBI and BHINEBI. CLIL approach in the Basque Country

During our last visit to Barakaldo as members of our ARCE project, we have been introduced to these two basque CLIL programmes.

INEBI is a content based approach to teaching and learning second languages in primary education (primary 1 to 6). It provides material (organized by level for quick and easy access), that covers Social Science and Natural Science contents.

http://nagusia.berritzeguneak.net/hizkuntzak/inebi-1-1.php

BHINEBI provides material organized by subjects and level for quick and easy access in secondary education. It covers such contents as Geography, Visual Arts and Design, Philosophy, Religion, Politics, Science, Literature, History and Music.

http://nagusia.berritzeguneak.net/hizkuntzak/bhinebi-2.php

Exam English

This web site is for people studying for an English language exam. It contains Free Online Practice Tests for the most important international ESL/EFL exams: IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, and the Cambridge ESOL exams such as CAE, FCE, and PET. If you are not sure of your level, you can take a free level test.

http://www.examenglish.com/

Celebrating World Poetry Day

During its 30th session held in Paris in October-November 1999, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) decided to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

UNESCO encourages the Member States to take an active part in celebrating the World Poetry Day, at both local and national level, with the active participation of National Commissions, NGOs and the public and private institutions concerned (schools, municipalities, poetic communities, museums, cultural associations, publishing houses, local authorities, etc.).

You can find many resources (video, blogs and others) to promote poetry in your EFL classroom on this page: http://community.eflclassroom.com/page/poetry-in-the-classroom

What matters in grammar teaching

Hermanamientos con centros de Estados Unidos y Canadá

La Consejería de Educación en EEUU y Canadá facilita, a través de esta página, un servicio de punto de encuentro de centros educativos con el objetivo de poner en contacto aquellos que deseen realizar un proyecto de hermanamiento tanto virtual como presencial. La adscripción de centros se realizará según la oferta/demanda y teniendo en cuenta las características reflejadas en la solicitud y el orden de llegada de las mismas.

Para solicitar un contacto con un centro, bastará cumplimentar la solicitud (ver la página) en el idioma del país de origen y remitirla a los siguientes correos electrónicos:

Programa piloto: Centros educativos con secciones bilingües de la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia e ISAs (International Spanish Academies) de EEUU-Canadá:

hermanamientos.isas@educacion.es  

Centros educativos del resto del España y de EEUU-Canadá:

hermanamientos@educacion.es  

Los centros que deseen localizar posibles contactos de forma autónoma podrán utilizar los siguientes enlaces para acceder a directorios de centros:

Great Schools www.greatschools.org

Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) www.cal.org/resources/databases.html

K-12 Directory of Schools.com www.k12directoryofschools.com

engVid

engVid brings you more than 300 video lessons by experienced native-speaker teachers. New classes are added three times a week, covering grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, TOEFL, and more. Lessons by topic and level (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

engVid on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/learn.english.free

On Twitter: @engVid

Home: http://www.engvid.com/