Back from Mexico...and straight to the Christmas Race :)

Wonderful 12 day holiday in Mexico. Yesterday I participated in the Christmas Race in Seville...on my stilts :)

Bilingual Education E-Journal

An online journal with articles and information for CLIL teachers (click on the image of the magazine on the webpage to open the journal). There is an article that I wrote on 'Ready Made Resources for CLIL Classes' pages 66-69.

Visit to the Rio Tinto Mines (Huelva)

Visit to the fascinating Rio Tinto Mines.

OUP Day - Sofia, Bulgaria

In Sofia for a couple of days. OUP Day organised by Milena Kostova and Rumiana Savova who took great care of Jules, Sarah, Gareth and I :) Teachers were very participative and the staff from OUP and Bookhouse were wonderful :)
Some useful links:
Writing article Kate Ruttle
Early Literacy website

CLIL in Secondary School - Ponferrada

CLIL course in Ponferrada at IES Alvaro de Mendaña. Classes on Canada with ESO students in the morning and sessions with CLIL teachers and English teachers in the afternoon :) Everyone worked very hard!! Thanks to Vicente for his perseverance getting the course up and running and to Javier for his support from the CFIE.

Turkey - September 2009

An 'Incredible English' and 'Storytelling' tour (Izmir, Istanbul, Ankara). Great evening 'out on the town' with trainers and folks from OUP/Istek :)
Some useful sites for teachers:
- Closure Activities
- Effective Storytelling
- Online stories from British Council
- Online stories from BBC
- Storyline - some really nice stories read online
- Incredible English site (sign up free and get access to info)

Preparing for PAU Exams

Some articles and sites that might be useful for Bachillerato teachers :) Click on the links to open the pages.
Criterias PAU Andalucia
Reading Comprehension Texts (some are not appropriate for Bachillerato, but some are useful)
Reading Strategies
Intensive Reading: What's Wrong?
Paragraph Writing
Vocabulary Building Tips
Strategies for Developing Reading Skills

Back from the Medulas

Week long trip around Spain with visit to the MEDULAS (just south of Ponferrada). The Medulas was one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire and is an interesting place to visit :) Lovely night in AldeaDuero en route home :)

Brazil July 2009

Brazil tour was WONDERFUL. Started off in Salvador da Bahia which was great :) Muito obrigada to Patricia, Ana Carla and the organisers of the ACBEU conference. Fantastic groups in Porto Alegre for the OTA course and it was wonderful working with Nancy Lake, Tim Ward and the local OUP team! The course in Recife ran smooothly and the groups were really participative :) Eduardo took Tim Herdon and I on a great tour of Olinda and out for 'acaraje' :) The groups in Rio were fantastic...very active teachers with excellent ideas! Lovely dinner one night by the sea at the foot of Sugarloaf mountain with Carlos and incredible night life and samba in Lapa with Janaina!!! Last day in Rio fantastic day in Urca, Santa Teresa, Boto do Fogo (Samba concert) and Lapa with my friend Andre :)

Some links that might be useful:
Education Oasis Graphic Organizers
About Learning: 4MAT
General information on Tetramap
How to do free-writing (and how to use free-writing as a pre-writing task)
Word Shapes Activities (from ABC Teach) (Holistic word recognition)

Key Competences for Lifelong Learning

Here are some websites that might be useful if you'd like to find out more about the KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING.

Basic Framework for Key Competences (in PDF format)
Definition of Key Competences (in PDF format)
Key Competences in the Spanish Education System (from OUP Spain)

CLIL Course in Mallorca

Wonderful couple of days working with primary and secondary teachers in Palma. Thanks to Aina and Montse for all their help and support :) Great 'cocas' last class and really enjoyed working with Patti, Tim and Kevin. I hope that the CLIL songs from class are a big hit with students :)

Masters in Bilingual Education, UPO, Seville (2009-2010)

Information regarding the Masters in Bilingual Education being offered for the 2nd year at the University of Pablo Olavide in Seville. There is also an on-line version of the course. For more information click here.

Communication Activities for CLIL Classes

A couple of pages of easy to set up and carry out activities to encourage communication in CLIL classes. Click HERE for worksheets.

Resources for CLIL Classes (Seville area)

Looking for material and resources for CLIL classes? Get in touch with Aurora on 629 840 478 (Seville). Subjects include: Music - Biology - Business - Chemistry - Design - Geography - History - ICT - Maths - Physics - Religion - Ethics - General Science

CiefP Santander - May 2009

Wonderful couple of days staying near the 'Sardinero' and working with enthusiastic teachers on the PALE programme. Special thanks to Javier Barbero and to Veronica for her great 'Memory Game Maker' suggestion :)

Switzerland (Bern and Zurich) May 2009

Wonderful couple of days in Switzerland :) Workshops for primary teachers on Saturday with Mary Slattery and 'bear' (for more info, click HERE)!! Thanks to Jayne and Jennifer and, of course, to the teachers who were very active and participative :)

Five Senses Worksheets

A set of ready made worksheets on the FIVE SENSES for the primary school classroom. Click HERE to view the document on Scribd.

CLIL Course in Aldeaduero - May 2009

Bell International and the Junta de Castilla-Leon are hosting the CLIL course in Aldeaduero :) Great group and beautiful location :) Click HERE to see a short video from the course. If you'd like to hear the 'Chaparrita' song click here.

Back in Egypt - April 2009

Back in Egypt (Alexandria and Cairo) talking to teachers about
First Friends :)

OUP Day - Kusadasi, Turkey

Weekend event with Dede and Ken Wilson at beautiful hotel :) Thanks to Ipek and her team and to the teachers for their active participation :)

SAFA Course 2009

Congratulations to everyone for all their hard work and thanks to Jeff and Mabel for their help during the session!

Online Picture Dictionaries

The following online picture dictionaries might be useful for EFL or CLIL classes.

- Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary (with audio)
- The Visual Dictionary
- Internet Picture Dictionary (in American English)
- Picture Dictionary (with pictures and definitions)

Online Colouring Page

Jens sent a link for a fun and easy colouring page for young learners. Go to http://thecolor.com/ There are lots of different topics and ideas :)

Slovenia - March 2009

Wonderful 'road trip' training tour around Slovenia with Irena. Off to IATEFL Slovenia on Friday :)

Poland 2009

Wonderful trip around Poland :) Thanks to Ewa P. , Ewa R. and the OUP teams for being such great 'hosts' :)
(Visited Szczecin, Koszalin, Olsztyn, Gdansk, Sopot, Torun, Bydgosczcz, Warsaw, Lublin, Rzeszow and Krakow)