Trip to Kiev - November 2010

Conference in Kiev organised by Anna Morris (OUP). Talks by Gareth Davies, John Hughes...and me :) Great group!

CLIL Course in Motril

Many thanks to Edelvives and to Antonio Mendoza at CEIP Antonio Garvayo Dinelli for organising this event...and thanks to the teachers at the session for their active participation!

CLIL Methodology Course Miranda de Ebro

Great week on CLIL course in Miranda. Wonderful group and nice, sunny weather :)

A few links:
Graphic organisers
Assesssment in CLIL
CLIL Assessment
CLIL in the Basque Country
Evaluacion en Educacion Fisica (CLIL)

Language Identity Crisis

Blog entry on the Macmillan Dictionary Blog about the 'Language Identity Crisis' I suffer ;)

Cyprus 2010

Great trip to Cyprus. Nafi is a 'host with the most', beautiful weather, participative teachers :)
Some links:
- If the world were 100 people
- Activities for CLIL
- Clarifying CLIL
- Teaching Grammar to Young Learners

Aprender Ingles con Dancing English (Espasa)

Book filled with activities to go along with songs written by Dani Griffin. 15 songs with lyrics and full colour illustrations, activities for before, during and after the song (written by Dani and I). For more information click here.

Poland 2010

Teacher training tour around northern Poland. Beautiful cities, participative teachers and lots of kms :) Andrej and Ewa taking great care of me :)
Some ICT in class links:
I teach therefore you learn...or do you (thanks to Shaun Wilden for this)
Interactive Whiteboards (OUP)
Benefits of IWBs (OUP)
Smartboard, languaguage labs etc. (in Poland) from IRS
Article by Mark Prensky: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Pandy the Panda

The kindergarten series I wrote with Magaly Villaroel is now out on the market :) Young learners are introduced to English through the adventures of Pandy and his friends in their playhouse. The series includes class books, workbooks, a full colour teacher's book and loads of attractive resources! There are storycards with stories that teach children important values such as respecting others or being kind to animals.
For more information: PANDY THE PANDA

Brazil 2010

Great to be back in beautiful Brazil! OTA courses in Fortaleza, Goiania, Brasilia and Rio. With World Cup excitement on top of everything else :)
Some useful links:
Brain Breaks
Making a Kill (documentary re: kids with ADD and the meds they are given...thanks Marco!)
Can Language Shape How we Think? (thank Henrick and Marco!)

Recommended reading list (chez Marco)

• The Male Brain ©2010 by Louann Brizendine; Random House
• Why Gender Matters © 2005 by Leonard SaxBoys Adrift: Factors Driving the Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men, Leonard Sax

CLIL Course Palma de Mallorca

Fabulous three days in Palma! Special thanks to Tim, Montse and Emilia :)
Find ideas for CLIL classes and sample worksheets on the CGP Books page.

Oxford Presentations Skills Course - May 2010

Wonderful couple of days attending a course by Andrew Mallett on Presentation Skills :) Great working with Ken, Sarah, Helen, Joanna, Cath and Naomi :) ...and loved seeing friends...and exploring Oxford bit more!

Flying in a hot air balloon..wonderful :)

Great way to start the day! Thanks to Disfrutalia y Glomadas :)

Flying a small plane :)

Unforgettable experience flying a plane :)

Thanks to Disfrutalia and Aerohispalis :)

Slovenia - April 2010 - and adventure home....volcano aftermath

Great OTA course with Slovenian teachers and a big 'Hvala' to Suzana for all her help :) HUGE hassle to get back to Spain (night trains, 18 hour bus rides, queues and chaos) but it was an adventure :)

Yemen - April 2010 (Sanaa, Taiz, Aden)

"Shokran" to Nashwan and his team for such an enjoyable time :)

Some links you might like:
- Values lesson plans (from the Australian government)
- Material for character and emotion lesson plans
- Ideas for Learning to Read
- Ideas and activities for emergent readers

Wonderful week in Ukraine (Kiev and Lviv)

WRITING:
Fun and easy activities for Very Young Learners
Writing Games and Activities

Two week tour of Poland

Two week training tour of Poland :) Wonderful!!

Articles on Vocabulary:
Creative Vocabulary Teaching
Helping Students Learn Vocabulary
Vocabulary Boxes in Class

Croatia - February 2010

Great tour around snowy Croatia!

Talks and Workshops 2010

• OUP Kiev (Nov 2010) "Literacy for Little Ones", "Incredibly Easy and Motivating Activities"
  
• Edelvives / CEIP "ANTONIO GARVAYO DINELLI" (Motril) (Nov 2010) - CLIL in the Classroom
• CFIE Miranda de Ebro (Nov 2010) 30 hour CLIL Course
  
• NORTHERN CYPRUS (Sept 2010) Phonics, Whole Learning, Skills Work, CLIL
  
• POLAND (August 2010) Making Digital Sense: Change at your Fingertips
  
• BRAZIL (July 2010) OTA Course Fortaleza, Goiania, Brasilia and Rio
  
• CEP Palma de Mallorca (June 2010) CLIL for ESO and Primary (15 hours)
• CEP Sevilla (Spring 2010) Series of CLIL talks in CEIP Jose Maria del Campo
  
• SLOVENIA (April 2010) "Writing", "Brain Based Learning", "Songs", "Assessment", "Projects"
  
• YEMEN (April 2010) "Reading: Getting Started"; "Teaching the Whole Child"
  
• UKRAINE (March 2010) "Building Blocks for Better Writing"
  
• POLAND (March 2010) "Making Vocabulary Meaningful and Memorable"
  
• CEP Aracena (Feb 2010) "Language and Literacy"; "CLIL"
  
• CROATIA (Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Zagreb, Varazdin) (Feb. 2010) "Bringing the Real World Into the Classroom", "Great Minds Don't Think Alike"
  
• OUP Bilbao, "ICT: Changes in the Classroom" (Jan. 2010)
  
• CEP Cordoba, "Key Competences", "CLIL" (Jan-Feb)
  
• CEP Sevilla, "ICT in the Classroom", "Language and Literacy", "CLIL" (Jan - Feb)
  
• Badajoz/Don Benito/Seville/Jerez - "Making the Most of Stories" (Jan 2010)

CLIL non-fiction readers

OUP have just published some very interesting non-fiction readers for CLIL classes (or as extra reading for English class). The books come with incredible photos, an audio CD and fantastic activity pages. To get copies, contact local OUP reps (Read and Discover series) or look for titles on amazon. My good friend, Robert Quinn wrote some of them :)