We will devote the first sessions of our class to discuss those two terms, English and English Education. Definitions for these two terms come in all shapes and sizes. We will use as starting point, three statements from professional associations:
1. TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) – Position Statement on Teaching English as a Foreign or Additional Language to Young Learners
2. TESOL – Position Paper on language and literacy development for young English Language Learners (ages 3-8)
3. NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) – What is English Education? (from the Conference on English Education)
After reading these statements, the question is: How do you define “English”? “English Education”? Make sure to write your working definitions in the comments, based on what we read in class and our discussions.
Good evening, group. According to the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) in the 2005 Conference on English Education Leadership and Policy Summit, English Education can be understood as a particular field which integrates a whole set of issues concerning English language teaching and learning, English teacher’s training and professional development, as well as multi-modal research in the aforementioned topics.
ResponderEliminarFrom those three dimensions, I would like to focus on the second one, which I consider is the closest issue for us as pre- and in-service teachers from this B. A. Programme. In that sense, here are some questions to raise our academic discussion:
- Why are English educators aiming their endeavors towards preparing English language arts teachers to adjust their practices to the current standards and language policies? Why not the other way around?
- How can English educators keep a balance between raising pre- and in- service teachers’ awareness of the diversity in their teaching contexts and just giving them the instructions and pedagogical amulets for automatically dealing with those situations?
- Why is there such a hierarchical conception of educational policy making as an issue for leaders and not as a consensus among the educational agents, (i.e. teachers, families, society as a whole)?
- Does the notion of “advocates”, used in the Associated Core Values to characterize what is meant for English educators, implies anybody who will defend anything in exchange for money and other prerogatives?
- How is that “acting as liaisons” between Higher Education and K-12 schools different from just another marketing strategy of the Educational System Inc. to keep its clients?
According to your questions: I can say that first, the Ministry of eduation should take into account many factors that affect the educational system in Colombia, such as: the contexts, the needs, the interests among other factors that can transform the way in which it is seen the teaching of English nowadays.Furthermore, professors should reflect about its own practices, if they are doing a significant role and if they are teaching and learning in a continuous way while they are educating the students not only in English language but in all the issues that it encompasses.
EliminarGoog night
EliminarIn my opinion, Colombia's system of education is too attached to international polices, investing few resources on education, and "working" to satisfy international organisations. I think that's why we learn, and study about all those laws that lack of context and real application on Colombia's classrooms. There is a critical awareness about the laws that has been being built by us in these years,the matter here is what are we going to do to change those policies,plus how are going to make education better through a constant reflection about the laws.
What is expected from the educators and preservice teachers in Colombia is they are greatly prepared in order to improve the country's education quality and respond to it developmental necessities.The educators should be prepared in foreign languages so they can help the students that currently taking place in our context
Eliminarteacher's role ,in the society is fundamental to support for learning process and is a challenge.
Hello Everybody. I am also working with the NCTE and will focus on the first dimension of English education mentioned by our classmate Jaime: English teaching and learning. This topic is very important to our career as it defines how English as a language should be developed by learners and how a teacher should work with literacy in the classroom. Here are some questions that I hope will allow us to go deep on the topic:
ResponderEliminar- Why should a teacher be interested in research? How do you think researching may affect the classroom practices of a teacher? Do you agree with new English teachers being prepared to be researchers at the same time as teachers?
- Do you agree that connecting personal and civic literacies to student’s lives allows teachers to generate significant learning in them?
- Imagine yourself as a teacher that is already working… Do you think that at this point experience will be the one that will guide you or that the advice from English educators will still be handy in your career?
- ¨English encompasses culture and cultural literacy¨ (From the conference on English education). Considering Colombia is a country that speaks Spanish primarily, what do you think would be this English cultural literacy in our context?
- How can you help your students develop a critical perspective of the world through English?
Hello Esteban... Well, In my opinion, research is not just a field that professors must consider important to improve their practices;from my point of view any career not matter the emphasis, should take into account that research is one of the best methods to know the reality, the context of the population and to validate our knowledge.
EliminarAs guidelines says. the need to acquire a second language is something mandatory in primary schools not just because is the universal language but also because learning English may help to understand the reality of others and their culture. Moreover, it helps to improve the transformation of the society in a more developed and advanced one.
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EliminarResearch is fundamental to improve teaching practices, to dignify our role as teachers, becuase through invstigation we show that we care for our knowledge, we care for a better education, and also, we show care for students' needs with our research works. All educational practices involve an ethical dimension, civic and personal lives imaginaries in the students should be integrated to make teaching- and learning practices better, also to train good citizens.
EliminarTeaching is a continuous learning and constant preparation, this is for life, based on that, I agree with Maria Camila when she said that any career not matter the emphasis, should take into account researching to improve the critical thought with strong arguments and daily practices inside classroom.
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ResponderEliminarHello, everyone! I would like to discuss about the paper that my classmates (Daniela and Duvan) and I read for the class.
EliminarIn their paper, Bastidas & Muñoz Ibarra (2011) discuss about the problems with English teaching in Colombia. To sum it up, it all starts with the fact that even though teaching English became a requirement in most schools because of the General Law of Education (1994), there has been a slow, and sometimes unknown, process for developing an appropriated English teaching curriculum, and therefore, the students are not really learning the language.
Also, the authors conducted a research in several schools in Pasto, Colombia and found out that some of the most common causes for the already mentioned problem were:
• Teachers are not well prepared for teaching English
• There are not enough weekly hours dedicated to the teaching of English
• The government does not ensure the necessary materials for teaching
• Students’ lack of motivation
Based on that, we would like to raise some questions to discuss:
- Do you think the Colombian government does not take into account the country's reality when creating education laws?
- It often happens that a teacher who is not qualified for teaching english ends up doing it anyway, why do you think this happens and how it affects the students?
- Do you think that teaching English should really be mandatory in ALL schools of Colombia? Why?
- How would you motivate students, and also teachers, to learn English?
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EliminarHi Sebas
EliminarFrom my point of view, Colombian government don't take into account many aspects of our context, as I said before with esteban's questions, the educational system need to create an education that focuses on children requirements and desires. Also, Colombian goverment have to realize that many teachers are not qualified to teach so it makes the process of learning much more difficult and many times null.
Otherwise,the English should be mandatory in primary school and then in middle school, when the student is aware on the importance of knowing a second language, at that moment , the decision to study English should be for desire and placer, not for obligation with a system.
Hello Sebas
EliminarIn my opinion, it is kind of considered, but is not enough for the realities and the needs of the country, we need laws and guidelines more attached to our context demands. By the other hand, I think it is imposible to teach something that you don't know, or you like, it will only lead to an awful education.
The third question is really interesting: not all students want to study English, there are many languages that could be taught in schools, but it is a matter of satisfying international canons, it is virtually imposible to think beyond English. Finally, we all know that English opens a big amount of doors, so the best way to motivate people is to make them aware that through English they can learn about the world and get better employes.
I think, according to your questions that the education in Colombia needs more programs to make sure and continued working on english language competence and pedagogical knowledge to assume an education public and private institutions, the government have to invest more in preparation, I think nowadays, there are certain awareness of wanting improve difficulties in professorial and his professional development. Teachers in Colombia should provide didactics and acts as a facilitator and advisor to assume a role that make a mark in the student’s formation because the teacher can become a figure to inspire others to learn, in spite of the social conditions of precariousness.
EliminarGreetings everyone. I am César.
ResponderEliminarI work too with the document that my friends Esteban and Jaime were discusing (NTEC).
I would like to propuse two questions from my reflection of the reading and also from all these years that I have been studying this language.
-Are there other valid ways to teach the English language that entails not only the grammatical, orthoepy, orthographic, semantic... but that covers also other aspects like the sociologic, artistic, emotional, philosophic, and many others that make a language?, which are they?
-If a language is much more than its grammar, then what it is?
Thanks for your time.
Hi Kaiser... Well, for me it is very difficult to answer your question, because from my experience as a pre-service teacher I have not started to put on practice valid ways to teach English so, for that reason is hard to give you a kind of list. Nevertheless, I am completely sure that there are many good methods that teachers apply to make the process of learning significant for there students.
EliminarFor me, language it everything, language is culture, identity, reality among others and therefore, it communicates.
Well, Cesar, I think that it is possible throughout an education that foster more the social value of the language, rather than just accuracy, and good grammatical skills. The purpose of being proficient in any language is to express yourself in a good way, to be fluent, to dwell two worlds at time, without the fear that causes mistake.
EliminarAs we have studied all these years, language is everything, we are language, language go through us, grammar is just a lot of rules that we have to know to be socialy accepted and respected.
Hi my friend!
EliminarIn my opinion is very important the context and experience, because we get new learning. So, I think that we as teachers need first start with the teaching, this because and from my point of view, is the best way for learning different concepts; for example, in the last semester in Pràcticas class, we had the opportunity of feel and meet more about this profession and also new knowledge that only we can understand through the practice.
Hello Kaiser, I do not have the precise and "correct" answer to your question but I think that, teaching languages is to prepare students to be better people through the recognition of different cultures, the grammatical aspects, I think are the pretext to teach deeper aspects.
EliminarGood evening
ResponderEliminarI would like to talk of NCTE regarding to second apparat ‘’The field of English education seeks to prepare and support teachers of English language arts’’ which explain the importance of evaluate pre- and in - serve teacher, then it is important to start with a question; why do teacher create new evaluative strategies for English education? New teacher who need gain more pedagogical expertise with help of English educator, is gaining experience in a specific area, and also creating identifies. These is about reflect on and to create knowledge.
Now I consider the probability teacher even no having experience can prepare a session class with justice, ethic and mainly teaching and learning. Our English educator is seeking in learners participate constantly in the debate: standards and guidelines.
How can new educator gain more pedagogical expertise, when they are almost four years outside of classroom of an institution?
How can new educator transform or change his educative environment whether he know the imposition of traditionalism by the system?
In our context the English language can be considered as FL (foreign language) and as SL (second language) It is important to start with a question, which are the different between English and English Education? For instance, when one speaks in maternal language and know to express ideas fluency, it means a greatest develop of speaking and listening, but it does not mean that been teacher; Why? Because to be a teacher requires no only speaking and listening, but two more linguistic skills like reading and writing, and something else, pedagogy.
Then, I consider there are conceptual empty regarding to this concepts: Foreign language, second language and bilinguims.
Hi Miguel
EliminarIt is pretty difficult to acknowledge that our role, and significant work is on the classrooms reality, as teachers we have the ethic responsibility of changing our student's lives through out good teaching practices, it does not matter if the system sucks, we always have the choice to make things different.
Cousin!
EliminarI will try answer the first question: "why do teacher create new evaluative strategies for English education?"
Easy, because constantly the people are changing and, of course the education also needs is advancing.
The education today`s has manny tools, and is very different to traditional education, because today the teacher can change the teaching way in every class, because he can uses the laptop, internet, tables, smartphones, etc.
I think that is very important that the proffesor include the technology in the classroom, because it is a nice help for the: English education.
Hello, I think that teachers create new ways to evaluate because standardized tests are not absolute and needs to adapt to contexts. Education is create new ways of inovate and never stop learning.
EliminarHello everybody!
ResponderEliminarI would like to propose the next questions according to TESOL documents, as a way of reflecting on our role as teachers.
- How can a teacher promote English learning in a context in which there is a lack of resources for supporting this process?
- Why is it important for teachers to keep updating in terms of educational methods and strategies, for implementing in their practices?
- How can a teacher deal with the fact that students learn in different ways?
Hi Ale...
EliminarAccording to your questions I want to answer some of them.
It is known that in Colombia there is a lot of need in the educational field but teachers even if it makes the process of teaching 100 harder, they must be prepared for that kind of situations and that is the reason of why being a teacher in Colombia is much more difficult that in a 'first world country'; because sadly teachers have to deal with many things by their own, without leaving aside that they need to do an excellent job.
Additionally, teachers need to be prepared to accept, not always to deal with the amount of learning styles that could affront in a classroom. I said accepted, because a teacher never stops of finding new things of which he or she could learn.
As future teachers, we have to take into account the different theories that talk about learning styles, they key is to plan activities that imply different materials, didactics, theory- practice. Also, as teachers we have to be creative, and innovative, this is a key to be succesful as teachers.
EliminarHello everybody!
ResponderEliminarAccoding to the document A diagnosis of English language teaching in public elementary schools in Pasto, Colombia (my classmates Duvan, Sebastian and me read it) I can say that our country has big contingencies in the teaching and learning English language, because teachers do not know how to carry out this language to classrooms. Why? I think it is for the reason that they do not take ownership of the English language. The latter has not been appropriated as the most paramount element for interaction.
For that reason, students are not encouraged to understand and use the English as a need for their learning. It seems to me that educational policies are isolated from real life.
The question is: are teachers and students prepared to teach and learn English? The answer is no, and it has to do with educational policies, which are in one direction and students' realities are in another one.
The following questions try to reflect about this opinion:
How is it supposed that students know English if their teachers do not empower of the English language?
How do teachers encourage students to make English useful for their lives?
Hi Dani...Well, your first question is something that I have think about and the answer for me has been always the same: it is almost impossible to learn a language without motivation and empowerment not only from teachers but from family or close members.
EliminarIt is not possible at all, you cannot teach something that you do not know, English teachers need to have the teaching competency and language skill to teach English. And,about the second question, English would be useful if the student is aware of the power of speaking another language, and relating the foreign language to the mother language is a key to a meaningful learning.
EliminarI disagree with what you wrote, Mateo, since I do think you can teach something you do not know. The problem then is how the results of that teaching are going to be reflected in the learning, and what is meaningful and reliable from what you taught before.
EliminarHi everyone.
ResponderEliminarI am here to talk about some specific points of the text from the author McKay. She starts giving an open and clear view about th english language as something that can be taught and how that has become a necessity that most people look up for. When she talks about a necessity she refers to all the consequences learning a new language has, in this case is the English language which is a pretext to learn and get in contact with every aspect of the language itself; economics, politcs and cultural aspects that english deals with.
It has become something that enhances some areas to think about the English as a matter of importance; For example pedagogy has a lot of implications with the language because the main reason of language is to teach it in a formal way, so people can get in contact with english from any point of view that determines the use of it and obviously the practice of the user.
Hi Sebas
EliminarIt is important to highlight that learning a language implies to open and discover a huge variety of new codes, and the acquisition of information about different areas of human knowledge as science and social sciences.
It's also important to know that learning a language with the only purpose of communication is a constant misconception, because a language (in this case English) englobes a culture and along with it comes knowledge presented from different perspectives.
EliminarUs, as preservice teachers, must incentivate in our students that "thirst" for knowledge and show them the importance to have different codes for communication and learning not the a S.L itself, but how it may become the most useful tool they're going to have.
Hello, dear fellows!
ResponderEliminarI would like to propose some questions based on my reading experience with TESOL (2009,2010):
-Why do you think that children's acquisition of a second language is not THAT important to the government? why do they focus more on following the standars of the Common European Framework, and don't pay attention to doccuments like the TESOL or NCTE?
-If you were going to teach English to a group of children between 3-5 years old: which didactic tools would you use?
-The TESOL states that teachers must have good language skills, and teaching competency: which kind of programmes would you propose to the Ministry of Education to improve this traits in Colombian teachers?
Hi Dear Jacke.
EliminarAccording to your first question and in my opinion, maybe is because goverment want to prove that in the 'paper' they are good enough and that they can do similar things as in Europe or another continent, even if they are consciouss that it does not going to work here in Colombia.
Moreover, your second question is very interesting because from my 'poor' teaching experience I have noticed that is very necessary to observate how students behave and process information; and with that, it is easier to get a a profitable activity in class.
Hi Jackie
EliminarIn my opinion, it is because of the strict following of international standards by the government. And, if you are going to teach to children, the best thing to do is to use a lot of informal activities, and didactic tools to ensure a good learning process.
Hello everyone.
ResponderEliminarI read with my friend Camila the first 4 pages of the document Lineamientos curriculares idiomas extranjeros. It talks about the pretention of colombian education of overcome barriers through english teaching since primary school. why? It says that is necessary to promote colombian human creativity, science and technonoly to interact with other countries and people from other cultures with the purpose of educating competent citizens to be able to use sistematized information and to help in the country progress in areas like economy, politics and science.
Here are some questions about this document:
- Why is important to teach English as second language?
- How can English reduce inequility?
- How can Colombian people promote the diversity and richnees of this country through English?
- Is English teaching and learning in Colombia overcoming barriers? why?
It is difficult to answer this questions, why? Because we have this wonderful laws and guidelines according to the latest international trends, but far of our reality.
EliminarI think that, this questions should be easy to answer from our perspective as English teachers.
EliminarAs we know, the last years, Colombia have implemented some important proposes about English teaching and it was been difficult because of the own limits which defines each school any academic institution at the time to think in the Curriculum.
The solution is in our hands, we are the new generation. We need to answer questions which nobody dare to answer. We as English teachers should create the necessity to learn a second language. We will broke all of those MENTAL barriers and to teach to people live better, not to suffer in an ignorant world that still has closed eyes.
Good afternoon partners.
ResponderEliminarAccording to Global Education Association with the reading "Position Statement on Teaching English as a Foreig nor Additional Language to Young Learners", I can say that "English" is a foreign language and "English Education" is to learn the various sociocultural contexts, government policies, and historical language practices. But the most important at moment to teach are the program should have a learner-centered approach, and materials should be selected in accordance with the age of the children, the length of the program, its objectives, and the learning environment. Other thing that I consider priority in the document is the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) is a professional discipline that requires specialized training. For that reason, the Conference on English Education Leadership and Policy Summit (2016) said that English educators understand that to meet this goal, they must conceive of English studies as encompassing a wide range of intellectual content, a wide variety of communicative genres and literacy practices, pluralistic and inclusive approaches to literacy use and instruction, and diverse ideological perspectives. English educators value this intellectual diversity, and they strive to introduce pre- and in-service teachers to the complexity and richness of the field.
How would you use a learner-centered approach on a class of 50 students?
EliminarHello Mateo
EliminarThis is an excellent question that only professors that have a great experiences can answer it. Now, how you know we are teachers in training and I consider that if we had the opportunity in the observation class to see fifty students in class, it is the chance to understand the concept of learner-centered approach.
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ResponderEliminarHello, everyone.
ResponderEliminarI want to share to you some specific points of "The State of Language and Content Instruction in Colombia(CLIL)" by Jermaine S. McDougald.
The author mentions that bilingual education is the best opportunity to teach all those subjects that integrate the curriculum without leaving aside the English language. This means that not only English class, but that mathematics, science or art will be taught in English. Also, it would be a way to improve the process of language acquisition.
Over time, English has become a synonym for "prestige" in the academic, cultural, political and economic spheres. It is why bilingualism is taking a new role in Colombia. Now, universities and schools not only focus on learning English, but expecting what students can do with the "new language".
Graddol (2005) complements McDougald's thinking saying that English is not just a skill, it is the way of transforming the curriculum. In addition, bilingualism is associated with high quality education and with the idea that studying at a school or university that implements English as part of its integral education will ensures a better future with more competent people.
By the other hand, Colombia Bilingual Project is used as a part of the curriculum based on CEF. But is more evident in private schools or universities which are demandig more in terms of professional development.
There are several approaches to integrating content and language because schools have a different meaning for bilingualism. Some CLIL programs try to put the content learning on the language learning.
To use CLIL approach requires teachers and schools willing to rethink the traditional concepts of language teaching in Colombia. Unfortunally, there are a very small amount of teachers in Colombia that have this "dual" certification.
Hey, fellows! We are the new face of Colombia education. We need to put in practice McDougald thinking.
How would you teach other subjects in English? which methodologies would you use?
EliminarI think, English is the door towards sucess. Just, when we understad the correct education sense, we would be able to understand the life. It means, we as teachers need to apply all of this aspects which involves the educational fiel and not only to train to achieve a perfect English but to mold an integral humans being.
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EliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarHello my dear friends...
ResponderEliminarAccording to the text read from TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) I can specify several things that seem to me of great importance. My concern nowadays is that teachers who know how to teach, but do not know how to teach English, will not be able to educate the children as users of the language. On the contrary, teachers who are learning from the theory about the teaching methodology of English as a foreign language will not necessarily be better teachers of the language.
On the other hand, if the Government of Colombia were to implement a strict linguistic policy for the learning of foreign languages in order to fulfill the objectives of the National Bilingualism Plan, it would be necessary to offer English as a quality foreign language education to children from their infancy in grade one to eleventh grade. Implementing a sound educational initiative for public schools would require the recruitment of a large number of english language teachers who are professionally qualified to teach in elementary school. Similarly, it is essential to take into account the immediate need for professional development for teachers in service. In-service teachers would need to qualify their practice through more socially and culturally contextualized pedagogies of english as a foreign language leading to more innovative teaching.
How to ensure an education of quality to children and youngsters?
EliminarI think that teachers must design the practices that help the students to gain knowledge through interactive learning and different contexts.Teaching is always being reinvented, because the teacher is always looking for new methodologies to prepare resources and didactic materials, to make knowledge acquisition easier. Teaching is a continuous learning process and constant preparation, this is for life; teachers never stop learning and teaching.
EliminarHello everybody
ResponderEliminarAfter Reading your different points of view, I want to add something according to my reading assigned, NCTE (National Council of English Teachers). In the three dimensions proposed by the authors, they mentioned a lot of important tips about: 1) Teaching and learning of English, 2) The preparation and continuing professional support of English teachers at all levels of education and 3) The field of English education is built upon knowledge gained from systematic and multi-modal inquiry into the teaching and learning of English.
According to the authors conference, my answer to response the question, what is English education, is the preparation for teaching in schools. Is the special Education for persons who have the vocation to teach English with the capacity to prepare learners integrating the different knowledges and study fields and core values to become professional English teacher.
Moreover, I focused on ‘core-values’ and I asked some questions about that:
Some of the English teacher tasks is to prepare learners to be creative, literate individuals, contributors to the cultural, social and economic health of their communities, participating and critically aware citizens of our democracy in a complex and diverse world.
Who is responsible for being trained in those values? English education? Family? Society?
Consider the Colombian context, We are being properly educated to train professionals?
How we are integrating humanistic formation in English education?
As you have seen, I did my analysis of the conference as a reflection to think about the way in which we are doing our practice as teachers in training and learners.
Hi David... Well, for me as a student and as a pre-service teacher. The responsibility to train students in those values that you mentioned on your summary is not just of the school, it is also responsability of the family, the political system and everyone that surround the child. And until population do not understand that education is not just a field that schools should afront but also everyone who construct what we called "society" have to be part of that children's process, our eduacative system is not going to change rapidaly.
EliminarAn integral education is the responsability of the entire society and the school to train good citizens, good human beings that respect and love the other. About the secod question, not always, we see nowadays a lot of teachers that still teaching with textbooks only, that's not a good profesional.
EliminarI want to comment and add at the first part of your comment saying that Colombian context needs an education with high social commitment because the problem in the country is that teachers lack of preparation, the Colombian context demand responsable professionals capably educated to assume challenges, for this reason, an educator who does not have an enough preparation in the english knowledge and his culture possibly it will look reflected in the students of the middle and superior education levels ,this is, when the students finish the high school to take Prueba Saber 11° and when they are studying in the University to confront situations that requires the use english communicative competence.
EliminarAs a result of the reading of ‘A Diagnosis of English Language Teaching in Public Elementary Schools in Pasto, Colombia’ by Bastidas & Muñoz (2011), our group (Daniela Orozco and Sebastián Ramírez) decided to prompt a discussion through some questions that invite the whole class to reflect on what we are expecting from the current language policies in our beautiful but complex country, without omitting the real sense of the document and the issue in question. Thus, and in order to avoid repetition, I would like to complement the prior and well-designed intervention of my classmates along with the ‘Position Paper on Language and Literacy Development for Young English Language Learners (ages 3-8)’ stated by TESOL association.
ResponderEliminarThe desire of teaching English in Colombia has been reduced to how many bilingual projects join the General Education Law of 1994, concerning the purposes to be develop and so allowing everybody to learn such language and on the other hand, the benefits it brings to our context. It is necessary now to keep in mind that teaching languages in Colombia was not that accurate 20 years ago and of course, not all families have had formal schooling opportunities, less the access to the learning of a language. In fact, it still happens even though the Government and some authorities in Education have been aware of the importance of developing literacy skills in English and the big efforts many schools, especially the Elementary schools, with all the flaws and advantages have been doing to adapt their curriculum to what is promulgated by the Ministry of Education.
Therefore, it is a duty to recognize there are socioeconomic gaps among students in a same classroom, and bringing back that not all families have had enough formal schooling opportunities enable me to say that it becomes a little bit difficult to expect each student to develop English literacy skills from home, not even aiming to spread out the unflattering conditions of Elementary schools in terms of methodology, didactic materials and language proficiency of primary school teachers.
Then, how to break those gaps that you metioned?
EliminarAccording to the "Position paper on language and literacy development for young English language learners" (age 3- 8) stated by TESOL association.
EliminarI agree with your text analysis and say that one of the idea to take into account is that in Colombia the academic training at an early age should be aware of the learning processes of children, the material should be appropriate for each age and stage of training, teacher must be prepared and know that is appropriate to develop the skills of Children who are just learning.
Colombia's National Standards by Stephanie Arroyave Gil and Carolina Murillo:
ResponderEliminarColombia's National Standards for teaching English are based on sadly, on the common European Framework of Reference, according to that, all the time we ignore the last word of this name that is indeed, a “reference” and not something mandatory. In addition, what the Colombian educational system has to do in this century is to take the standards and guidelines with good purposes and challenges for Colombian education.
Nevertheless, Colombian government should take into account other important aspects in order to improve and enhance the broken, empty, and mediocre system we currently have. One of this aspects are the context and needs of our country, which is a multilingual because there are about 42 indigenous languages and 3 dialects spoken in the pacific Caribbean by the afro-Colombian communities. On the other hand, most of the Colombians' view of English language, is only for academic purposes. Moreover, in Colombia is promote what we call “Elite education” leaving the message that English is just a resource to get a better job and build links with other countries for “better” opportunities.
Questions:
*How could the gorverments and all the Colombian communities make coherence the standars with the reality?
*What is the role of an English teacher in this change of mind?
What kind of strategies should the government apply to achieve a bilingual country?
*Is it accurate to set English in every single Colombian school?
*How can we foster the learning of a second language in teenagers?
*Based on the MEN's definition of foreign language and second language, should an English teacher have English as a second language or as a foreign language?
Hi Caro
EliminarIt is difficult to make a law effective, because sometimes laws are just too ideal, and out of the needs of an specific context, so the solution is to implement laws easier to read and to apply. Also, teachers should be empowered of their knowledge, this is the way to change something, finally, teachers learn English as a foreign language, because of diverse reasons, on of those reasons is that we do not need English to survive everyday, it is not mandatory to speak this language in vital contexts.
Hi everyone.
ResponderEliminarI will just write something that I talked with my friend Miguel days ago: How important is for Medellìn people English today?
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It because and about the Anexo 14, the National Ministry of Education propoused a bilingual country with the actual program Colombia bilingual (2014-2018) but we know that is imposible it, because in Medellìn city (I talk only about Medellin, because is my context) the people do not like the English or do not want lear English because is not neccesary for their life or the job.
I actually think that, today English is a need for Medellin inhabitants because wherever you go English is present. For example, you could see in the Metro system some annonces and important indications in English and this is the best evidence to think " Medellín is being visited by foreing people" "English is the universal language" "I need to know what say there because this is my city and my context"
EliminarSo, there is not sense to be teachers if we think English is not important in our context, we should to transform our reality.
Based on "The notion of second languages Responding to today's linguistic Ecologies( Mora, 2013) Teaching methods should create an appropriate mix that fosters an interest in the English language and engages students in the cultural elements and history of a language. Planning a class, teachers must keep in mind techniques and specific activities to best plan and develop the class. Students are interested in using technology to gain knowledge and the teacher’s role is to manage the class to make the most of its time, which can include using technology in the classroom to allow students to find out about current information, cultural aspects. Technology also provides many resources to learn and teach different topics and can create significant learning in students. Also, teaching a language with the assistance of technology helps to develop competences and skills in students.
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