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Teachers are usually the ones in charge of promoting a good atmosphere in the classroom. If teachers are not healthy, that might bring negative effects not only on the teacher but on students as well! Teachers are very likely to feel stressed as a cause of the huge emotional and academic load that they have that's why I believe that giving time for themselves, to practice mindfulness exercises (see below for more info) or doing voice projection exercises is highly important. I believe that this course (HTHC) can help us (and me) to be aware of how to take care of ourselves so as to be as healthy as possible.  

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Discover & share this Story GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

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Disney Goodbye GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

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Discover & share this Disney GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

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To finish with this portfolio, I would like to share a personal relfection regarding teaching and being healthy.

During this course I think I learned that it is important to be healthy no matter what. It is true that if we are not healthy that might have an impact on our students, but what is MORE important than that is that if we are not healthy we are harming OURSELVES, and our number one priority (or at least mine) is being healty because I love myself. My body and my mind are my temple, so I have to take care of them.

I truly believe that most of the things I learned during this semester will definately help me to stay healthy, and I hope that my peerteaching can be of great help to other classmates as well.

I would like to finish this portfolio by posting a video that is related to our last class discussion regarding time. All of us experience time in a different way, so a minute of your time may mean hours in other person's life.

We are going to be teachers in the near future, and we will have to spend time with kids, and we all know that there's a huge difference in time's perception of adults and kids, that's why I consider that it is important to dedicate time to the things and people that you care about, as that might help to keep you and others healthy.

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As I mentioned in class, a good way to use Valparaíso to teach English to our students is to take them to a walk in Valparaíso. We (as teachers) would have to choose different spots and assign those spots to small groups of students, therefore, they would be in charge of "presenting" that sport to the rest of the class. It would be very useful to give them a checklist to follow, such as : mention when it was founded/painted/created, what is its importance to Valpo, etc.

I believe that in that way, students can interact with the city in a more meaningful way, and using the language that they're learning.

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I liked the colors, the fact that it was "inverted" and also the diversity of materials by which it was composed.

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My favorite place of the walk was the "Hotel boutique a contraluz" (http://www.ciudadanoresponsable.cl/turismo/hotel-boutique-a-contraluz-valparaiso-distincion-turismo-sustentable/)
I liked it because it provides clients with the chance of experiencing a 5 stars hotel experience being eco-friendly. Moreover, the place was beautiful and the staff who worked there let us visit the rooms - which is something that we usually don't see when we visit hotels- So, it was a great experience.

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We had a walk in Cerro Alegre in Valparaíso, and it was an incredible experience, I had the chance of seeing Murals that I haven't seen before, and I also learned how to use the spaces of our city to teach another language

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Link to the Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKPi7azNEpM

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One of my classmates did his peer teaching based on a relaxation technique. It consisted of a guided vision that included a kitten. I believe that ot was a GREAT idea, not only because I love cats, but also because there are some people who releases stres when they are accompanied by animals.
There are plenty of benefits that can emerge from the interaction with animals. Not long ago (about 4 or 5 months ago) I watched a video that was about a therapy called "Kitten therapy" that is used with people with memory issues.

If you are interested you can check the video in the post that is above.
Moreover, I also wrote a reaction paper about the video.
I would gladly accept any type of comment you would like to add.

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Throughout the semester, my classmates and I have carried out different activities realted to the topics we adress in the course. During this time, I've been thinking about how useful they are and what can be improved about them.

The first thing I would like to say is that they ARE effective if they are planned carefully, and by this, I mean that they have to be taken seriously. Most of my classmates have done a really nice job as I could see the reason why we were doing that precise activity,

Secondly, I believe that this activity encourages all students to participate in the lessons, as they feel more connected to the class due to the fact that now they have a responsibility.

And finally, I believe that peer teachings (for us, pre-service teachers) are really important and significant as they provide us with a chance of practising our teaching skills.

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The following posts are about (or somehow related) to the peer teachings that my classmates have carried out so far.

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The same day, we also read a poem by Arthur Sze, it was a beautiful activity, as I felt the connection with nature.

I think that I would like to replicate this with my future students, as it is a good activity for those students who are more introverted as they do not need to share their feelings. The activity also gives the group the chance to emotionally connect with each other. Nature makes us more human, and we need to start teaching our kids what nature actually feels like.

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Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree:
our emotions resemble leaves and alive
to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief
along the edges of a big Norway maple?
Have you winced at the orange flare

searing the curves of a curling dogwood?
I have seen from the air logged islands,
each with a network of branching gravel roads,

and felt a moment of pure anger, aspen gold.
I have seen sandhill cranes moving in an open field,
a single white whooping crane in the flock.

And I have traveled along the contours
of leaves that have no name. Here
where the air is wet and the light is cool,

I feel what others are thinking and do not speak,
I know pleasure in the veins of a sugar maple,
I am living at the edge of a new leaf.

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We visited a park in Gómez Carreño and it was beautiful. We ate lunch there and then I carried out some short activities in the park.

I decided to do a stirrer and a settler, as we have been told that a class should have different moments, and therefore, different levels of energy as well. The first activity, was called "untangle" and it constisted of students grabbing each others' hands and trying to untangle their hands and body, so as to form a circle. The activity was quite fun, and I believe that it could really work with on large size classes.

Untangle is useful to teach directions, prepositions of place, and parts of the body as well!  as students will have to tell each other : turn right, go up, raise your left arm, and so on. It is important to keep in mind that those structures should be thaught before playing the game, so students can use them properly.

The massage circle was the settler activity and I did it at the end of the lesson. It consisted of students giving massages to each other sitting on the floor, creating a circle. I believe that this activity propmts confidence and strenghten ties among the group.

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Last winter, I participated as a Chilean facilitator in the English Winter Camps organized by the Chilean ministry. The experience was highly enriching as it gave me some tools that I can now use with my students.

One of those tools was the use of Ice-breakers. I've realized that students had a different disposition if they started the day with a game or ice-breaker. They are highly useful in the morning since they "wake them up" and let them really motivated for the class.

One game I played with the students at the camp, and my classmates at the PUCV, was Mr. Beat. It consisted of following a rythm and selecting someone (Mr/Ms Beat) that is in charge of changing the beat. Someone (out of the circle) has to guess who is changing the beat.

In this game everyone gets the chance of participating, so it is highly useful for mixed personality classes. It is also useful for large classes as the game lasts more time.

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Mindufulness might sound like something that one can only do if attending yoga lessons. However, a few days ago I went to the Mall Marina Arauco in Viña del mar and I found a book called "Mindfulness, libro para concentrarse" It called my attention as I tought that one can only reach a mindfulness state when meditating. However, now I discovered that by simply colouring mandalas, one can concentrate and apply a mindfulness strategy.

I also found the book online, here's the link:
https://www.buscalibre.cl/libro-mindfulness-libro-de-actividades-para-concentrarse-colorear-para-desestresarse-y-actividades-para-enfocar-la-mente-empresa-activa-ilustrado/9788492921492/p/47267776?gclid=CjwKCAjwu7LOBRBZEiwAQtfbGO_RA333wNIVqUZLyFqppf3BiNzE-LP96391VEumDlNSStmwz3UqmxoC-yYQAvD_BwE

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It is an strategy used to cope with the day to day emotional/cognitive overload. It means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/mindfulness/definition)

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To flow seems like something almost spiritual, I believe that a positive flow might help us as a meditation technique, letting us focus on our mental health

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Why is it important to be assertive teachers?

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Why is it important to be assertive teachers?

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Because the way we adress our students will determine the class atmosphere. Therefore, if our students see us as authority but at the same time, know that we are approachable and not agressive, the relationship teacher-student will be great

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Assertiveness is the ability to honestly express your opinions, feelings, attitudes, and rights, without undue anxiety, in a way that doesn't infringe on the rights of others. (https://revelle.ucsd.edu/res-life/life-skills/assertiveness.html)

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Mary Poppins is an example of an assertive instructor, as she makes sure that kids know that she is an authority, without being agressive or authoritarian.

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Our vocal chords are the tools that we use as teachers, so we should take care of them! Here's a video that contains some tips that might help us take care of our voice. :D

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How To Take Care of Your Voice as A Teacher

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There are two types of activities: Stirrers and Settlers. Stirrers are really useful to cheer-up a class when students are down. Some examples of stirrer activities are: "Talking while walking", "Speed dating" and "Simon says". On the other hand, Settlers are useful when dealing with students that might be too energetic to focus on the lesson (it can also be useful for students who are really stressed or under pressure). Examples of settler activities are : "Story telling yoga", "Meditations" and "Guided fantasies".

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Burnout is persistent physical, mental or emotional exhaustion caused by long-term stress, usually as a result of excessive workplace and/or personal responsibilities. (http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/burnout)

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In other lesson, the teacher gave us some advise that could be useful so as not to get stressed and reach the point of burnout. Among her tips, she mentioned that one has to develop a "balanced lesson planning", which means that we have to organize the segments of the class so as to let students be in charge of their own learning at some points in the lesson. I believe that reducing teacher-talk is really helpful as the teacher has time to rest and relax the vocal cords inside the class, .

Another  concepts we adressed was the concept "Flow" If you want to know what is that about, you can watch the following video

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flujo, el secreto de la felicidad

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pregunta: "¿Qué hace que una vida valga la pena?" Observando que el dinero no hace a la felicidad, mira a aquellos que encuentran placer y satisfacción duradera en las actividades que dan lugar a un estado de "flujo".

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In our first class we did a visualization technique, which consisted on imagining how our future classes will be like (us being the teachers of course). I imagined being outside a class, in an open space with kids seated on the floor, listening to one of their classmates. I was just standing there, watching how they taught each other things. I draw what I could remember  when I got home, so here is a picture of my drawing!

I also found this website (https://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/emotional-health/visualization-techniques#healthier-eating-habits) in which some techniques and benefits of visualization are explained. If you have time, you can check it :)

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How to follow the Healthy teachers, healthy classrooms portfolio?

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How to follow the Healthy teachers, healthy classrooms portfolio?

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You can scroll down and follow the arrows to check the posts that I've made. :)

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Why is it important for teachers to be healthy?

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Why is it important for teachers to be healthy?

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Teachers are usually the ones in charge of promoting a good atmosphere in the classroom. If teachers are not healthy, that might bring negative effects not only on the teacher but on students as well! Teachers are very likely to feel stressed as a cause of the huge emotional and academic load that they have that's why I believe that giving time for themselves, to practice mindfulness exercises (see below for more info) or doing voice projection exercises is highly important. I believe that this course (HTHC) can help us (and me) to be aware of how to take care of ourselves so as to be as healthy as possible.

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My name is Sofía Herbias and I'm a student at PUCV. I study English (TEFL program) and this is my 4th year. I like travelling, cats and micheladas.

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This is my portfolio for the class "Healthy teachers, healthy classrooms" Hope it's useful for you :)