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Living a healthy life is an important thing to become a good teacher because as so we have to cope with a range of stressful situations besides the responsibilities of the job itself. Therefore, having the tools to help yourself and your students to deal with the pressure that today's world put on us is a must for a good teacher. In addition, caring for your voice, posture and health is key to be able to carry out the task of being a teacher since  it  prevents days out for health reasons.

Moreover, by creating a supportive and friendly environment in the classroom you can boost the learning process into a meaningful one.

By following all the principles and activities that I have shown in this portfolio, I think that I can become the teacher I want to be, that is to say, healthy, full of energy, fun, and commited with my students.

I have traced a plan of action for my summer which consists in practicing at least 3 times a week qui gong; doing breathing exercises along with my family every morning; laugh at least once a day; and finally, practicing sleep hygiene which consists in going to sleep and wake up at a regular time.

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Entry 13.1: Activity to carry out while in nature

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Entry 13.1: Activity to carry out while in nature

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aA good activity can be a scavenger hunt, where students are asked to find 1 thing they can see, 1 thing they can touch, 1 thing they can smell. This activity can be carried out in groups, pairs, or individually.

Another activity can be also a scavenger hunt in which students have to find out differents items from a list, and take a picture of each one in order to show the rest of the class their job once they get back at school.

Note: you can use the following list of items or edit it according to the place you are visiting.

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As teacher you can start build up the trip before you actually go out with your students by giving them background knowledge about the place you are to visit, for example, a museum. Also, as a suggested activity, you can prepare a sheet of paper for each student where they have to write down  a word for each letter in the alphabet. In this sense, they may be more focus on the trip than on their mobile devices, while they also build up their vocabulary.

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As a teacher you can provide activities in the classroom that promotes friendship and bonding. For example, an activity called that's me which consists in asking students to form a circle and sit down on the ground. Then, you ask a volunteer to say something s/he likes e.g. their favorite color or food. When the student say something others may like they have to raise their hand and say that's me.

This very simple activity can help to find out common interests among students which is a very good way to get closer to one another since we, as humans, tend to relate with like-minded people.

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Laughter brings physical, mental, and social benefits. It helps to reduce stress, anxiety, pain and conflict. All of these can help you to overcome problems, bounding with other people, and also to support physical, emotional, and mental health.

Source: http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm

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The benefits of a good snore are:
- It relaxes you and reduces stress, as well as boosts your energy and improves your mood

-It has several benefits for your mind since it improves memory and consolidates learning. Also, it boosts creativity. In the case of learners, a good night's sleep sharpen their attention.

-It helps to keep a healthy weight, and also reduces the chances of having a heart attack or getting depression.

Finally, by sleeping well, you will live longer and happier. So go ahead and sleep tight.

Source: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20459221,00.html/view-all

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During our childhood, we laugh a lot since we can find the fun in simple things. However, It seems like as we grow up, we tend to lose that attribute.

In today's world so full of responsibilities and stress, a good laugh could be a great way to cope with it. Additionally, laughing brings different benefits for one's health. So, we as adults should seek opportunities to have a good laugh to feel good and happy everyday.

In the classroom, laughter can be a nice aid for teachers to prevent boredom, and to boost learning as well, thus, making students to enjoy the teaching-learning process.

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Here is a song that you can try with your students.....

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Row Row Row Your Boat | Bedtime Lullaby | Super Simple Songs

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1. It enables you to meet more people
2. Is a forum for sharing
3. Brings people together and encourages a sense of community
4. Offers opportunity for giving and receiving positive feedback
5. A forum for fun & laughter
6. Support
7. Provides a safe environment to try new skills
8. Brings people together. Give it a try!

source: http://www.moresingingplease.com/benefits-of-singing

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1. Singing exercises our lungs. It tones up our intercostal muscles and our diaphragm.
2. It can improve our sleep
3. We benefit our hearts and circulation by improving our aerobic capacity and we decrease muscle tension.
4. Our facial muscles get toned.
5. Our posture improves.
6. We can become more mentally alert.
7. Sinuses and respiratory tubes are opened up more
8. With careful training recent evidence suggests that it can help decrease the problem of snoring.
9. There is a release of pain relieving endorphins.
10. Our immune system is given a boost enabling us to fight disease.
11. It can help reduce anger and depression and anxiety
12. Use of music can help people to regain balance if affected by illness such as Parkinson’s disease

source: http://www.moresingingplease.com/benefits-of-singing

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1. Increase in self esteem and confidence
2. It increases feelings of wellbeing
3. It enhances mood
4. Useful as a stress reducer
5. It is uplifting spiritually
6. It can increase positive feelings
7. Encourages creativity
8. It can be energizing
9. It evokes emotions
10. Promotes bonding
11. Increases understanding and empathy between cultures.
12. It is healing

source: http://www.moresingingplease.com/benefits-of-singing

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As humans, we have a strong connection with nature. This connection has to be constantly nurtured since being in contact with nature brings a number of benefits for us. We, as future teachers, can expose students to the natural world.

Benefits of being in contact with nature:

It is an opportunity to experience with our senses

Students could develop mindfulness

It can boost creativity

It improves wellbeing and reduces the risk of depression

It builds community, family and friends bonds

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/13/10-reasons-why-we-need-more-contact-with-nature

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QUOTE....
Ahh, nothing better than a good night's sleep to feel as good as brand new, but sleeping does not only serve to boost your mood or to keep you beautiful. It has a number of benefits for one's health.

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A field trip gives the opportunity to take students out of the classroom so as to show them that learning can happen inside and outside the school. It gives the opportunity to bond and develop social and emotional health. Moreover, it provides the students the chance of learning through hands-on activities.

However, if not planned carefully, it may backfire since a number of random events may happen, for example a student may get lose, or perhaps students will be texting the whole time. Therefore, it is important that you assigned students tasks that guide their experience.

Source: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-benefits-of-learning-through-field-trips/

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Oxford Online Learner's Dictionary defines friendship as the feeling or relationship that friend have. Friendship is very important throughout our lives to develop our identity, our sense of belonging, and  also the feeling that you can count on someone different from your relatives.

In this sense, developing friendship in the foreign language classroom  is crucial in the learning process since it enhances one's self-esteem and self-confidence. These two are said to be inversely proportional to foreign language anxiety, as well as to lower students' affective filter.

The benefits of frienship include:

It reduces stress levels and increases happiness ones

It helps to cope with trauma

It promotes a healthy lifestyle

It improves self-esteem and self confidence

Source:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/friendships/art-20044860

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Whether you are a professional or just an amateur, all of us can sing, we do it in the shower, walking to college or work, or while doing household chores. It is thought that humans  started singing before any spoken language was developed.

Different personal dimensions are benefited by singing, whether by oneself or in groups. These dimensions are: the phisical, the emotional, and the social dimension. Furthermore, as an FLA teacher singing could be a great tool to loosen up your students, and as an outlet for you and them during the day.

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Irony of the situation

Group work is supposed to be about everyone being responsible for the development of a task, yet in my experience group work is usually about carrying additional weight on my shoulders and stressing over the futility of those who are not interested in working, which is quite an ironic contrast between theory and reality. More than often, groups give all the workload to the most hard-working members. In my opinion the latter issue is critical (especially when grading) as it is extremely unfair to give the whole group one same grade. But this issue is by no means restricted to a grade; assessing people who do not deserve it with a good grade is reinforcing their behavioural problems, very much like giving them a prize for not working.

That is exactly what I lived some weeks ago, when we were to design a rubric for self-assessment. The group I was in was assigned the criterion “Responsibility” --again, ironically-- , to which they responded by not working a single second on the assignment...

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Vocal Warm-Up | #2 Resonance | National Theatre

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To properly speak in a first or second language teachers and students can engage in a series of exercises to warm up their articulators and resonators. in the following videos there are some suggested exercises that you can try along with your class.

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In order to produce speech humans use a number of speech organs that are divided in articulators, for example the tongue, the teeth,etc. and the resonators, for instance the nasal cavity, the oral cavity, etc.

Voiced sound: The basic sound produced by vocal fold vibration is called “voiced sound.” This is frequently described as a “buzzy” sound. Voiced sound for singing differs significantly from voiced sound for speech.

Resonance: Voice sound is amplified and modified by the vocal tract resonators (the throat, mouth cavity, and nasal passages). The resonators produce a person’s recognizable voice.

Articulation: The vocal tract articulators (the tongue, soft palate, and lips) modify the voiced sound. The articulators produce recognizable words.

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Entry 5.2: How to breath with your diaphragm

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Entry 5.2: How to breath with your diaphragm

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The following video shows how to breath properly. Enjoy!

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Learn To Sing:  How To Breathe From Your Diaphragm

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http://www.aussievocalcoach.com/2016/ - FREE Beginner and Advanced MP3 Vocal Routines Learn how to breathe from your diaphragm to create more power, better tone and longer phrases.

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Entry 5.1:Benefits of diaphragmatic breathing

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Entry 5.1:Benefits of diaphragmatic breathing

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- Relieves physical muscle tension
- Allows the mental function to slow and relax
- Body and mind connection
- Calms and centers
- Activates parasympathetic nervous system
- Releases natural wastes, such as carbon dioxide
- Gives the internal organs a gentle massage
- Increases the oxygen to all cells
- Strengthens the lungs
- Slows your heart rate
- Lowers your blood pressure
- Increases blood flow to muscles
- Improves concentration
- Reduces anger and frustration
- Boosts confidence
Mayo Clinic Staff. Stress Management; Relaxation Techniques. August 2011.

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The diaphram is a key muscle to breath, it is located bellow the lungs as shown in the image below.

Teachers can make the best out of this form of breathing since it enhances the voice projection along with an array of benefits that are mentioned in the following box.

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As teachers, taking care of our voice is really important because it is the most important teaching tool. Teaching is one of the professions in which the voice is used the most since teachers have to speak during the whole day, also they have to face classroms with poor acoustics and big classes. Bearing all these in mind, it is of paramount importance to do everything at hand to

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After having a look at my medicine wheel, I found out that all the progress I have done is oriented to the areas of mind and body, relegating the other aspects to a couple of things. Nevertheless, I still have to work in key issues such as time-management and sleeping time.

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Entry 3.2: Take-home self-knowing activity 

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Entry 3.2: Take-home self-knowing activity 

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In my opinion, the MI worksheet was very interesting because, unlike the survey at the left, it has open-ended questions which engages students in a reflexive process about their personal and educational experiences have shaped their learning styles.

I found out that the learning styles I have developed the most are the verbal-linguistic and the logic-mathematical (what a surprise uh!), accordingly the subjects that are often given the most importance througout elementary and secondary schools are the ones mentioned aforehand.

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Entry 3.1: Multiple intelligences survey

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Entry 3.1: Multiple intelligences survey

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In order to help your students to understand themselves better you can carry out a quick survey, such as the following:

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The following video presents a simple routine that teachers can learn to share with their students. It is simple and has straightforward  instructions.

In case you want to try more advanced routines or suggested music to go along with it, you can visit the following youtube chanel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/taichihealthproducts

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The medicine wheel is a symbolic representation that many ancient cultures used to represent how everything is interconnected in the universe. These cultures, unlike modern western cultures, thought life as a cycle or circle, in which the creator or god is at the center and everything stems from hin/her.

As shown in the image below, there 2 concentric circles divided in 4 areas by a cross, it symbolizes the four directions, each of them represented by an animal, for instance the East is depicted by the eagle and represents the spirit. Then, the South is depicted by the wolf and represents the emotions, etc.

This wheel helps self-discovery, since you can posit yourself in the midlle as the creator and start to write things related with the four areas of development the ones that you think are managed closer to the center, and the ones you still need to improve moving outwards.

Once the wheel is done, you can compare the areas to see which are more developed and the ones that are not. After this, you can start working to achieve balance.

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The art  qigong is a form of ancient Chinese yoga that was used as a health care. It consists in exercises that  integrate deep breathing and stretching. By practicing these exercises everyday, a person can get a number of benefits, such as stress-reduction, energy building, and an increment in vitality.

Teachers can use this exercise to benefit himself as well as their students because it may work as a tool to improve focus and to create a distended environment in the classroom. Furthermore, it can reduce lazyness, specially if it is done during the first period in the morning. Moreover, teachers of English can act as instructors giving directions to students in English, thus not only maximizing input, but also addressing kinesthetic learners.
For more info, you can visit the following link http://nqa.org/about-nqa/what-is-qigong/

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Knowing oneself is very important for the individual development of a person, because by knowing ones' streghts people can improve tremendously in different areas, for instance, desicion making skills; it can help you to see new opportunities; better time management; among others.

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When planning a  lesson, we --as techers-- have to bear in mind that our students minds have been shaped differently by their experiences and genetical predisposition. So, when chosing activities to be carried out in class, we have to address al the difirent types of learners. According to Gardner and presented in a super way fun in the video below there  are 8 different types of learners. By doing so, we make sure of providing students with activities which fit their learning styles

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8 Intelligences - Theory of Multiple Intelligences Explained - Dr. Howard Gardner

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During my first healthy teachers class, we practiced the mountain pose which is a great activity to strengthen your legs and also improve your posture.

The instructions to do this activity are in the following link http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/mountain-pose/

It is noteworthy that Professor Glass introduced mental imagery in this activity asking us to imagine that our legs were as strong as a mountain. Furthermore, she teach us some deep breathing exercises that went along with the pose.

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Entry 1:The importance of a good posture

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Entry 1:The importance of a good posture

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According to the Physical Therapy Association (1998) having a good posture is important because it helps the body to function at its best, as well as contributing to the levels of stamina along the day. Furthermore, it prompts a feeling of wellbeing in general.

All this benefits are a great way to cope with the demands of beign a teacher, such as standing up for several hours or having to work a long shift.

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This is Juan Pablo's portfolio on his quest to become a healthy teacher. On it you will find different types of activities aimed at the aforementioned purpose. Also you will find reflections on the process, as well as further findings. This portfolio is structured in 14 entries which have sub-entries, as well. The sub-entries are numbered in function of the entry they belong to, for example, Entry 1/Entry 1.1 --Entry/sub-entry.  Enjoy!