deadline is Nov 15th

Some of you have already finished the teaching practice, and some are almost in the end of it!

- I’d like you to share how was or how has been your experience teaching in a public school.

- You have to give your testimonial describing the context, the main characteristics of school and students, as well as highlight how good or bad this experience is for your education as an English teacher.

- You also have to comment 2 testimonials, from 2 different classmates. Ok?

Are Teacher Colleges Producing Mediocre Teachers?

There has been a mantra of sorts going around education circles over the past few years: "Nothing matters more to a child's education than good teachers." (...) "Who's teaching my kid?" is an important question for parents to ask, there may be an equally essential (and rarely remarked upon) question — "Who's teaching my kid's teachers?" (...)By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation's 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom,"(...) It is nearly impossible in many states to tell which teachers produce the best student outcomes, let alone which teacher colleges. "And if we can't identify the skills that make a difference in terms of student learning, then what we're saying is that teaching is an undefinable art, as opposed to something that can be taught,"(...)
"If you want to get more-effective teachers, one of the obvious places to begin is to look at the supply side," says George Noell, a researcher at Louisiana State University who has worked for several years on the state's Teacher Quality initiative. "You need to know who's coming into teaching, how they were prepared and where they were prepared. Then you can make a link between who taught a kid, who trained the teacher and the overall efficacy of that teacher."(...)

See it completely at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1931810,00.html

Multiculturalism 101 - The Feminization of Our Districts Elementary Schools

If life and text teach us anything, men and women differ like night and day. And, despite politically correct rhetoric to the contrary and statistics on single parent families, the "traditional" two parent family provides a child with the upfront opportunity to experience the more than one face of life's realities. The advantage is not found in parental numbers but in differing world views, how they interact and resolve problems together and how their children relate and adjust to parental dichotomy. Exposure to these often vastly different male v. female perspectives is invaluable to a child's development. And, it's lacking in our elementary schools.
READ MORE... http://www.wakingbear.com/administrators-and-their-choices/a-few-good-men.html

deadline 05/10

"Before we go on discussing about your experiences observing classes, let's have a break and think about our profession itself. Read the article avaible on your e-mail and post your comment about it. Then you have to comment two other posts from your friends. This is food for thought!!!"

Class observations

"How was the experience of observing classes in a private English Language Institute? How can it contribute to your professional growth as an English teacher? Tell your friends what called your attention in this teaching/learning context.”

please do not forget the rules and deadline!

"Mens sana in corpore Sano"

Hi everybody..
As we know, mind and body are profoundly connected. So, not to get crazy with so much study, I have a suggestion. How about run? I hope to see you there!

SATURDAY NIGHT RUN, FROM UNIMED LONDRINA. AT 18:30
AUGUST 22, / INROLLMENTS AT TECHNO SPORT SHOPPING CATUAÍ.
IT WILL BE GREAT FUN!
www.saturdaynightrun.com.br

TEACHERS' SALARY

(...)The governors are complaining because they need to increase the monthly salary floor to 950 Brazilian reais (US$ 412.33) and limit the number of class hours to no more than six per day. A salary that is still so small and a classload, so heavy. It is possible, however, that the STF will consider them unconstitutional.

The governors are reacting(...)
More about this > BRAZZIL - since 1989 trying to understand Brazil.
http://www.brazzil.com/

Teaching grammar/deadline 21/07

Think about yourself as a student and as a teacher. What is the importance of teaching grammar? How would you define grammar? How do/would you teach grammar?

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Requirements For Teaching English As a Second Language

Teaching English as a second language abroad gives you a chance to mix travel and work together. In the United States, many teachers decide to teach English as a second language (ESL) to new adult immigrants or ESL students in the public school system. Either way, you'll need to find out the requirements for an ESL teaching certification.

ESL Teacher Requirements Abroad

Most teaching posts abroad require at least a bachelor's degree for teaching ESL. You will also need a work visa as an English teacher. Pursuing an ESL teaching certificate is not necessarily a requirement, although some more serious employers realize the educational value of hiring a certified ESL teacher as opposed to one who simply speaks and writes English fluently. If you decide to go this route, read literature on schools, culture, working environment and culture of your host country.

ESL Teacher Requirements in the United States

ESL teacher requirements in the United States are a bit more complex. If you decide to teach ESL to school-age immigrant children in public schools, you will need to complete teacher certification according to the teacher requirements of your state. If your state has them, you can also enroll in alternative ESL teacher certification programs. Find out also the possibility of registering for an online teacher ESL certification program as well as specializations, endorsements or other framework of ESL coursework.

Teaching ESL at Colleges and Universities

Many immigrant adults register for ESL courses at community colleges or at ESL learning centers that may be affiliated with a college or university. Depending on whether you decide to teach ESL either in the US or abroad, you will need to complete appropriate coursework on least on the MA level, if not on the PHD level such as a degree in TESOL. (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or TEFL. (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)

ESL Teacher Training

Like any job or degree pursuit, the best way to test whether teaching ESL is right for you is to spend a few hours volunteering or finding a summer job in the ESL field by signing up as an ESL tutor. You can also volunteer your teaching services through any continuing adult education program, community center or library.

Good Luck! With the proper research, you can weigh your options carefully, before plunking down your cold hard cash for an expensive ESL degree or related program.

available in http://teachingenglishweb.info/

Gripe suína afeta 18 instituições de ensino, entre elas a USP

A gripe suína, como é conhecida a influenza A (H1N1), chegou às escolas e universidades brasileiras. Até esta quinta-feira (25), pelo menos 18 instituições de ensino informaram ter detectado casos da doença (ou suspeitos de contaminação): são três faculdades, uma escola de idiomas e colégios de educação básica e infantil.

Ao todo, são 14 escolas de São Paulo, duas do Rio de Janeiro, uma do Paraná e uma de Minas Gerais.

http://educacao.uol.com.br

Obs, segundo o site, as duas instituições com casos comfirmados da gripe são: Universidade Estadual de Londrina, e FAP (professor do curso de nutrição).

Online test assesment

Dear teacher,

Would you like to know more about the future of online assessment?

At Oxford University Press they believe that the future of assessment lies on the Internet.



This is why, on 29th June 2009, will be launched the next generation of online testing tools for teachers at www.oxfordenglishtesting.com. There will be:

* An accurate online placement test.
* Online exam practice tests with tips, feedback, dictionary and more.
* Automatic marking and instant results.
* Online management tools for teachers to assign tests, track progress and record results.

YOUR OPINION...

How do you understand and identify the different terminologies about ELT?
Which terminology do/would you adopt?

Interesting topics

http://www.eslflashcards.com/preview.php?id=3
FOR FLASHCARDS

Six Vocabulary Activities for the English Language Classroom—
http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/docs/08-46-3-c.pdf

The Challenge of Spelling in English
http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/docs/08-46-3-c.pdf

Who's Teaching Our Children?

Men and women with the patience of Job, wisdom of Solomon and ability to prepare the next generation for productive citizenship under highly adverse and sometimes dangerous conditions. Applicant must be willing to fill gaps left by unfit, absent or working parents, satisfy demands of state politicians and local bureaucrats, impart healthy cultural and moral values and -- oh, yes -- teach the three Rs. Hours: 50-60 a week. Pay: fair (getting better). Rewards: mostly intangible.

With a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a double master's in literature and education from the University of Virginia, New Yorker Carol Jackson Cashion seemed a natural for a high-powered career in publishing or the arts. So last summer when cocktail chatter turned to the inevitable "What do you do?" question, Cashion was prepared for the shocked reaction. She told her companions that in the fall she would begin teaching at Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School. Reports Cashion: "They looked at me as if I had just flown in from Mars."

Americans want their children to have good teachers, it seems, but they are not sure they want them to become teachers. And perhaps with good reason. Since 1983, when the federally sponsored report A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity" in U.S. schools, the country's 2.3 million public school teachers have come in for stinging criticism -- some of it no doubt justified.

After all, how else to explain the fact that an estimated 13% of 17-year- olds and perhaps 40% of minority youth are considered functionally illiterate? . That less than one-third know when the Civil War occurred? That in a recent ABC-TV-sponsored survey of 200 teenagers, less than half could identify Daniel Ortega (President of Nicaragua) and two-thirds were ignorant of Chernobyl (one guessed it was Cher's real name). Five years after A Nation at Risk prompted a flurry of reform, average scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) have risen 11 points. Still, as recently as last spring, former Secretary of Education William Bennett gave U.S. schools an overall grade of no better than a C or a C-plus. To the teaching establishment, and teachers' unions in particular, he issued a sharp rebuke: "You're standing in the doorways. You're blocking up the halls of education reform."

Teachers, of course, are unhappy about the assessment, though it was nothing new. "Over the years, you're constantly bashed," says Kathy Daniels, a Chicago English teacher. "You get it from the principal; you get it from the press. Bennett just topped it all." What particularly rankles is that while accusations are flying, policies debated and remedies proposed, no one has consulted the real experts: those who do daily battle to improve the minds of students. Says Ernest Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: "Whatever is wrong with America's public schools cannot be fixed without the help of those inside the classroom."

The complete article at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968904,00.html

what teachers hate about parents

If you could walk past the teachers' lounge and listen in, what sorts of stories would you hear? An Iowa high school counselor gets a call from a parent protesting the C her child received on an assignment. "The parent argued every point in the essay," recalls the counselor, who soon realized why the mother was so upset about the grade. "It became apparent that she'd written it."
More Related

* How to Help Them Succeed
* Germany’s Kindergarten Teachers Go on Strike
* Study: Babies Who Gesture Learn Words Sooner

A sixth-grade teacher in California tells a girl in her class that she needs to work on her reading at home, not just in school. "Her mom came in the next day," the teacher says, "and started yelling at me that I had emotionally upset her child."

A science teacher in Baltimore, Md., was offering lessons in anatomy when one of the boys in class declared, "There's one less rib in a man than in a woman." The teacher pulled out two skeletons--one male, the other female--and asked the student to count the ribs in each. "The next day," the teacher recalls, "the boy claimed he told his priest what happened and his priest said I was a heretic."

A teacher at a Tennessee elementary school slips on her kid gloves each morning as she contends with parents who insist, in writing, that their children are never to be reprimanded or even corrected. When she started teaching 31 years ago, she says, "I could make objective observations about my kids without parents getting offended. But now we handle parents a lot more delicately. We handle children a lot more delicately. They feel good about themselves for no reason. We've given them this cotton-candy sense of self with no basis in reality. We don't emphasize what's best for the greater good of society or even the classroom."

When our children are born, we study their every eyelash and marvel at the perfection of their toes, and in no time become experts in all that they do. But then the day comes when we are expected to hand them over to a stranger standing at the head of a room full of bright colors and small chairs. Well aware of the difference a great teacher can make--and the damage a bad teacher can do--parents turn over their kids and hope. Please handle with care. Please don't let my children get lost. They're breakable. And precious. Oh, but push them hard and don't let up, and make sure they get into Harvard.

But if parents are searching for the perfect teacher, teachers are looking for the ideal parent, a partner but not a pest, engaged but not obsessed, with a sense of perspective and patience. And somehow just at the moment when the experts all say the parent-teacher alliance is more important than ever, it is also becoming harder to manage. At a time when competition is rising and resources are strained, when battles over testing and accountability force schools to adjust their priorities, when cell phones and e-mail speed up the information flow and all kinds of private ghosts and public quarrels creep into the parent-teacher conference, it's harder for both sides to step back and breathe deeply and look at the goals they share.

IF YOU WANT TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, LOOK FOR TIME MAGAZINE.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1027485,00.html

DAVID CARRADINE HANGED!

David Carradine, 72, star of Kung Fu and Kill Bill, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room closet with....wait for it...a rope tied around his neck and genitals. Umm...uhh...BBC UK reports:

Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck and genitals on Thursday morning. The US star was in Thailand filming his latest film Stretch, according to his personal manager Chuck Binder. Mr Binder said the news was "shocking", adding: "He was full of life, always wanting to work... a great person."

INFORMATION FOUND AT I DON´T WANT YOU LIKE THAT ( WEBSITE)

Tips to Go Green

Why go green?
De-stress the planet
Improve your health
Save money

What actually is "green"?
Materials made from salvaged or recycled materials
Provide alternatives to products with particularly high environmental impacts
Reduce specific impacts of construction, such as erosion
Reduce impacts of building operation by reducing energy or water use
Contribute to a safe, healthy indoor environment

How do I go green?
Unplug your phone charger. According to Nokia, if only 10 percent of the world's mobile phone users unplugged their chargers from the power supply once the battery is full, we could save enough energy to power 65,000 homes a year
Pay your bills and receive statements electronically
Construction utilizing sustainable architecture
Recycle your phone. Up to 80 percent of a cell phone is already recyclable: the batteries, once neutralized, yield reusable metals like iron and aluminum. Components like the wiring board and LCD screens provide gold, silver and copper
Plant native trees and plants. Native trees, plants and grasses use less water. One reason is that homeowners have been encouraged to use less grass and more native plants and shrubs that consume less water in their landscapes
Take your car out for a wash: with pumps and high-pressure nozzles, automatic car washes use up to 100 gallons less per vehicle. And most recycle rinse water, too

IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION GO ON WWW.GALESCHOOLS.COM

The tempest

Hi everybody...
Who wants to start the reading of "The Tempest", the translation can be found in domínio público - http://www.dominiopublico.gov.br/download/texto/cv000082.pdf and there are also two books at biblioteca central.
See ya!

Planejamento de aula

Planejamento de aula
Professora: Andressa Cristina Molinari/Juliana de Lemos Ano: 2009
Disciplina: Inglês

CONTEÚDOS BÁSICOS
OBJETIVOS
METODOLOGIA
(PROCEDIMENTOS/ESTRATÉGIAS)
AVALIAÇÃO
• Partes do corpo: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth e nose.
Comandos: come here, silence, touch, run, stop.
Revisão das cores
• Entender as idéias centrais da aula
Ampliar vocabulário
Responder corretamente aos comandos
Usar corretamente as palavras (pronúncia)
• Apresentação oral do vocabulário
Dramatização (TPR)
Exercícios de memorização diversificados
Música para ajuda na ampliação do vocabulário
• Verificação da participação
Interesse nas atividades
Sondagem da participação/desempenho do aluno


Aula de 50 minutos
Alunos de V e IV anos


• Atividade I (8 min.)

Procedimento: Cantar a música “Good Morning” e “Head, soulders, knees and toes”.
• Atividade II (5 min.)

Procedimento: As professoras reúnem os alunos em um círculo, passa os comandos e dever haver a repetição.
Comandos - touch your nose, eyes, ears, toes...

• Atividade III (5 min)

Procedimento: Colocar os alunos em pares e uma das professoras faz os comandos para eles fazerem no amigo
Comandos – touch your friend´s shoulders, mouth, head, nose...

• Atividade IV (8 min)

Procedimento: Espalhar cartazes pela sala de aula com desenhos das partes do corpo. Quando ordenados, os alunos responderão aos comandos referentes a uma das figuras.

Run to the NOSE, EYES, ERAS, MOUTH, NOSE.
Ao final da atividade, pedir para que sentem em círculo e chamar pelo nome um a um para que sentem no seu lugar.
Obs.; No decorrer dessa atividade alguns outros commandos serão apresentados tais como, come here, silence, stop, sit down.

• Atividade V (8 min)

Procedimento: Na mesa estarão dispostos recortes de revistas com partes do rosto, (eyes, ears, mouth e nose) cola e uma folha de sulfite para cada aluno. A tarefa é fazer com que o aluno pegue a quantidade de garvuras suficiente para montar um rosto humano.

• Atividade VI (5 min)

Procedimento: Ainda se utilizando dos comandos, será realizada uma atividade para revisão das cores. Cada um receberá quatro cores de lápis, (blue, red, yellow, green) uma das professoras fará os comandos enquanto a outra auxilia os alunos. Os comando serão os seguintes: Circle the eyes in blue, Circle the mouth in green, circle the ears in yellow, circle the nose in red.

• Atividade VII (10 min)

Procedimento: Ir para o pátio com alunos brincar de “Symon Says”, uma das professoras faz os comando enquanto a outra observa a realização da atividade pelos alunos (também imita a outra professora).
Os comando serão: Touch your Eyes
Mouth
Eyes
Ears
Nose
Point something yellow
Green
Blue...
Raise your right hand
Raise your left hand

 Materiais a serem utilizados: sulfite, cola, CD com as músicas, fita crepe, lápis de cor e revistas.

The efficiency of CEEBEJA

Nowadays, there are millions of illiteracy people in the world, in which many are from Brazil where the situation is not as different as other countries. The government, trying to solve this problem, has developed programs of inclusion. The Resolution n. º 01/2000-CNE/CEB establishes that the National Curriculum Guidelines for Youth and adult education shall offer the exams for conclusion certificates of junior and senior high school, and one of the most commonly required is CEEBJA; which consists of bringing back to school youth and adults who stopped studying and decided to return to schools to get a better job or a certificate. The fact is, although some say that CEEBJA is an inclusive program, and that it is able to prepare students for the community and give a good education, studies prove that this program is not effective.
A research based on interviews with teachers from CEEBJA revealed that their formation is not enough for this modality of teaching. Stremel argues that the continued formation do not contribute completely for the teachers formation, consequently, it is not enough; the teachers need to adequate themselves to the new technologies to provide students an education with quality, and also because center of formation do not have specific subjects for this modality of teaching.
Proves of this, are the results of ENEM in Jacarezinho which has the worst ten schools of Paraná. Students from CEEBJA who took part in ENEM reached 37, 54 points on average. According to Geni Sampaio this result is explained for the kind of classes the students are provided with; furthermore, we can conclude that the qualification of the teachers for this specific program should be provided for a better understanding of this continued formation.
The law of Basis Guidelines for National Education (LDB, lei n. º 9394/96) emerges as mediator of the rights and duties for all, in a way to oppose the oppression between the stronger and the weaker. (Severino, 1998, p. 58). The law should provide the rights and the good education, but it doesn´t happen.
To start with, the ones who participate in this program are adults who work, have an educational background and intend to be inserted on the market again. They are people who didn´t go school on the right time and now claim their right of knowledge. Taking it to account, we should provide the student an education based on their experiences, bring the problematic to their daily lives. But it do not happen, because there aren´t educational policies to avoid the discontinuities of the learning process.
Another problem faced in this program is the access to the schools who offer the program. It´s hard to think of giving education for all, when what we see is a few schools engaged with this task. According to the Trial n. º 553/00 approved in 06/12/00 for the State Secretary of Education in Curitiba, there are around eighty schools in the whole Paraná that offers this education, three are in Londrina, and more specifically, one in Univesidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL). The courses are organized as presencial and semi presencial, with enrolments on each discipline, offered, only in the overnight. The truth is that it is hard to think of an inclusive program that is only on the paper; for someone who had worked all day long, to study and be qualified in a certain subject which takes only a few months while the basic educational in regular schools takes around three years.
As we have said before, the teachers aren´t qualified to teach in this program. What happens is that once hired, a Portuguese teacher can give art classes, physical education, and even mathematic. Through this example, it´s clear to note how fragile is this type of education. To solve this problem, we should invest on teacher training with workshops, courses, and even a previous explanation on the program before start teaching. It is also necessary to rethink the curriculum for than, the process of learning and teaching build a real quality education.

Everybody need it, English!

One of the most common thoughts people have concerning the study of English is to get a certificate, due to the fact that this can bring a better position on the market, it is a way of being recognized professionally. I´m not saying that this way of thinking is wrong, but there are others and better reasons to make the English language part of your life.
Firstly, when you first have a contact with the language, it seems a little difficult, but later you realize that it brings you a lot of knowledge, new information about other people culture and also your own. Learning English makes you develop your skills, consequently, you realize the hole that you have in your community, and furthermore, seeing yourself as a world citizen. As you might know, English is all around the world and there are more second language speakers of English than native which brings us to the fact that this language is also a way of communication. It´s fundamental to know other cultures, without the capacity of understand and communicate in another language; you get stuck in your own culture.
Another reason for the need of English is the frequency we see it in our daily lives. It can be seen in pubs, shops, bakeries, markets and in many other places. If you have the knowledge on how to deal with it, you can take it for granted as a way of being aware of what happens around you. To remain monolingual is not a positive point in your educational development, because you restrict your abilities and deny yourself to appreciate and understand the world in which you live. English is not a way of exclusion, but a way of meet other people, new cultures, have contact of what is “different” for you
People who speak the English Language have the opportunity to make lifelong friends establishing connections with pals in other countries; we also have many tools on the net that can provide us facilities for making new friends from other parts of the globe. Your ability to speak English and the interest you have in learning it can connect you with people from the entire world.
For this and many other reasons, the study of English is not only important for professional growth, to get a diploma or getting a status, there are other advices you can follow to make English part of you. English was and still is important in my life. It could be on yours too, it´s just feel the need of English and run to it.

English in a new world language order / leave your message

Some people say that english must be seen as foreign language and that it is possibly a way of union between continents. I agree that the status that the language acquired has to do with globalization, and that it changed the way people see the teaching of the language. On the other hand, I disagree when the author states that english nowadays is only a tool for comunication and is no longer necessary to teach cultural aspects or grammar.

Top 6 Keys to Being a Successful Teacher

The most successful teachers share some common characteristics. Here are the top six keys to being a successful teacher. Every teacher can benefit from focusing on these important qualities. Success in teaching, as in most areas of life, depends almost entirely on your attitude and your approach.
1. Sense of Humor
A sense of humor can help you become a successful teacher. Your sense of humor can relieve tense classroom situations before they become disruptions. A sense of humor will also make class more enjoyable for your students and possibly make students look forward to attending and paying attention. Most importantly, a sense of humor will allow you to see the joy in life and make you a happier person as you progress through this sometimes stressful career.
2. A Positive Attitutude
A positive attitude is a great asset in life. You will be thrown many curve balls in life and especially in the teaching profession. A positive attitude will help you cope with these in the best way. For example, you may find out the first day of school that you are teaching Algebra 2 instead of Algebra 1. This would not be an ideal situation, but a teacher with the right attitude would try to focus on getting through the first day without negatively impacting the students.
3. High Expectations
An effective teacher must have high expectations. You should strive to raise the bar for your students. If you expect less effort you will receive less effort. You should work on an attitude that says that you know students can achieve to your level of expectations, thereby giving them a sense of confidence too. This is not to say that you should create unrealistic expectations. However, your expectations will be one of the key factors in helping students learn and achieve.
4. Consistency
In order to create a positive learning environment your students should know what to expect from you each day. You need to be consistent. This will create a safe learning environment for the students and they will be more likely to succeed. It is amazing that students can adapt to teachers throughout the day that range from strict to easy. However, they will dislike an environment in which the rules are constantly changing.
5. Fairness
Many people confuse fairness and consistency. A consistent teacher is the same person from day to day. A fair teacher treats students equally in the same situation. For example, students complain of unfairness when teachers treat one gender or group of students differently. It would be terribly unfair to go easier on the football players in a class than on the cheerleaders. Students pick up on this so quickly, so be careful of being labelled unfair.
6. Flexibility
One of the tenets of teaching should be that everything is in a constant state of change. Interruptions and disruptions are the norm and very few days are 'typical'. Therefore, a flexible attitude is important not only for your stress level but also for your students who expect you to be in charge and take control of any situation.

let´s start

Be welcome to our blog. Be free to write your opinions and thoughts!