ELTCommunity.com: Amazing Minds Spain 2012

Have you seen Islands Online World?

Posted by Gloria Vivanco 21-May-2012

The online world of Islands enhances the lessons from the coursebook so that children can extend their learning outside class. The online world gives them a chance to play, explore, create, and interact in English in a safe digital environment that children are naturally drawn to.

The online world of Islands provides the perfect home-school link. Pupils continue to learn in a fun game environment, just like in real life.

Progress Review System

For ease of classroom management there is a Progress Review System (PRS) where teachers can register their classes and monitor their progress.

All teachers will receive an individual PIN code to the Online Island and, unlike the pupil version it will contain a map, allowing them to skip back and forward between scenes.

Parents can also view pupils’ progress via the Report Card online.

Visit www.pearsonelt.es/islands for futher info

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Game-Based Learning: What’s the Attraction?

Posted by Gloria Vivanco 21-May-2012

It’s true! Video and online games have a hold on our children! But why do they find these digital worlds so engaging? And how can we harness that energy and excitement to help them enhance their learning? In this talk we will go a step beyond games to discuss the concept of Game-Based Learning, an exciting new development in the world of education which may challenge the way you view your students, how they think and learn, and what they are motivated by. We will also examine how GBL can make your pupils more autonomous and efficient learners outside the classroom, and help make you a more effective and satisfied teacher.

Brian Engquist is a long-time resident of Spain, having spent the last 20 years comfortably settled in his adopted home of Madrid. During this time he has been actively involved in the world of TEFL both as a teacher for a number of age groups, levels and class types, as well as a project coordinator and mentor for other teachers. He is a relatively new addition to the Pearson team and is enjoying his role as a teacher trainer. He gains particular satisfaction from being able to meet and exchange ideas with teachers from a variety of backgrounds and contexts all around Spain.

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Developing Smart Minds through Phonics

Posted by Gloria Vivanco 21-May-2012

Multiple Intelligences can provide the basis for an activity-centred approach that fosters children’s thinking skills. In this session, different types of activities for the teaching of Phonics will be presented and their implications for the development of creative thinking and smart minds will be discussed.

Sagrario Salaberri is Lecturer in TEFL at the University of Almería (Spain). Throughout her career, she has been active in fostering teacher training. She has been a speaker at many conferences, courses and seminars on the teaching of English as a second or foreign language. She has written many articles, chapters and books in that field and has been involved in the development of curriculum design, curricular material for EFL and teacher support materials. She is co-author of handbooks for teachers and course books such as “Storytelling”, "English Club", "Cosmos", "Universe", and is author of “Classroom Language” and levels 5 and 6 of “Sunshine”. Sagrario is one of the authors of the new Pearson Primary course Islands.

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CLIL in Practice for Teachers!

Posted by Gloria Vivanco 21-May-2012

English teaching and learning have never featured as strongly on the Primary curriculum in Spain as they do now. For bilingual education scenarios, CLIL methodology is an essential platform for developing teaching strategies and techniques that help to promote independent learning, peer interaction and language use for real communicative purposes. A good CLIL lesson plan will also anticipate the language demands that students will need to be able to understand all the content and then communicate with it. In this session Magdalena will provide an analysis of the repercussions of CLIL from a linguistic and from a pedagogical point of view. She will go on to present a sample CLIL lesson plan and practical examples of CLIL methodology strategies.

Magdalena Custodio Espinar is an English teacher who graduated with honours from the Faculty of Education at UCM. She was Technical Advisory Teacher for the Madrid Regional Education Authority from 2008 to 2010. She has participated as a speaker at different conferences and presentations on bilingualism organized by regional and national teacher associations and regional education authorities, as well as the British Council and for the publishers Pearson and Oxford. She is currently teaching at San Sebastian School, a bilingual state school in El Boalo, Madrid and is an external consultant for Pearson and the co-author of their new Primary course Islands.