Saturday 31 March 2012

Morocco March 2012


Wonderful visit to Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh to talk to teachers about bringing CLIL into the classroom. Teachers are BRILL and Mohamed is taking great care of me :)

2 comments:

Abdelilah Maaloum said...

Hey MissNina,



I was luckyto attend your last seminar in Marrakech on March 31, 2012. I attended with aclear objective in mind: to find out about CLIL. Amazingly, Not only have I gottenwhat I had sought, but also quenched some of my professional thirst and filleda gap in my own teaching situation. I will explain!



I am ateacher of English teaching young adults that are preparing to be engineers andpilots. Our curriculum is themes-based. We prepare them for an entrance exam onthe national level and maybe beyond (The French exams) that would allow them tojoin the higher engineering schools.



I realized,post to your workshops, that according to CLIL methodology if I may call it so:


Grammar is taught indirectly and in context
Using body language to replace the usual rubrics is definitely time and effort-saving
The teacher-role is shifted from the subject-knower to the learner sometimes
The teacher becomes conscious about his/her students’ learning styles and accommodates his/her teaching accordingly
Errors are very much tolerated
Lessons engage critical thinking skills
Curiosity is integral to class teaching/learning and that teachers should give it its due consideration.
Etc.



The gap thatI talked about above is that my classes have been such boring andcontent-filled. It’s true that the lessons are rich and the techniques arevaried but still that is not enough. CLIL may bring life into my lessons andvividness into my students’ participation. CLIL fosters motivation, bothextrinsicly and intrinsicly. I have also become aware that I have been very muchresponsible for killing imagination and creativity in my students while I hadalways blamed them for being demotivated, unimaginative and uncreative.



I just wantto thank you for the wonderful day we spent together: it was reallyinformative, innovative and professional. Let me tell you that you ARE a GREATteacher too!

Abdelilah Maaloum
Ibn Taimiya School (CPGE)
Marrakech- Morocco
abdelilahmaaloum@gmail.com

Abdelilah Maaloum said...

Hey MissNina,



I was lucky to attend your last seminar in Marrakech on March 31, 2012. I attended with a clear objective in mind: to find out about CLIL. Amazingly, Not only have I gotten what I had sought, but also quenched some of my professional thirst and filled a gap in my own teaching situation. I will explain!



I am ateacher of English teaching young adults that are preparing to be engineers and pilots. Our curriculum is themes-based. We prepare them for an entrance exam onthe national level and maybe beyond (The French exams) that would allow them tojoin the higher engineering schools.



I realized,post to your workshops, that according to CLIL methodology if I may call it so:


-Grammar is taught indirectly and in context
-Using body language to replace the usual rubrics is definitely time and effort-saving
-The teacher-role is shifted from the subject-knower to the learner sometimes
-The teacher becomes conscious about his/her students’ learning styles and accommodates his/her teaching accordingly
-Errors are very much tolerated
Lessons engage critical thinking skills
-Curiosity is integral to class teaching/learning and that teachers should give it its due consideration.
-Etc.



The gap that I talked about above is that my classes have been such boring and content-filled. It’s true that the lessons are rich and the techniques arevaried but still that is not enough. CLIL may bring life into my lessons andvividness into my students’ participation. CLIL fosters motivation, both extrinsicly and intrinsicly. I have also become aware that I have been very much responsible for sometimes killing imagination and creativity in my students while I had always blamed them for being demotivated, unimaginative and uncreative.



I just want to thank you for the wonderful day we spent together: it was really informative, innovative and professional. Let me tell you that you ARE a GREAT teacher too!

Abdelilah Maaloum
Ibn Taimiya School
(CPGE)
Marrakech - Morocco
abdelilahmaaloum@gmail.com