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Servicio Español para la Internacionalización de la Educación

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Xa estamos a piques de comezar outra nova mobilidade, mentres Clara segue a describir as súas experiencias observando as clases no Cavilam de Vichy e rememora os seus comezos co francés.
Ao mesmo tempo que ides lendo as aventuras de Clara, por aquí ides aprendendo todo o que este curso do Idec vainos aportar.
Nesta ocasión, durante sete días intensos, sábado e domingo incluidos, asistiremos a un curso sobre formación inclusiva.
Un dos nosos obxectivos principais é ampliar os nosos recursos para satisfacer as necesidades da grande diversidade do tipo de alumnado que asiste ás clases na nosa Escola. Outro obxectivo primordial é o de extraer conclusións para reducir o abandono escolar.
Na última enquisa de análise do abandono escolar na que participaron os alumnos da EOI de Lugo, algúns deles contestaron ter abandonado a escola e darse de baixa nalgunha ocasión. Aínda que a inmensa maioría comenta que  o fixeron por cuestións alleas ás clases e soamente por circunstancias persoais, estamos totalmente dedicados en traballar para reducir o abandono , aínda sabendo ben que non depende de nós.
Este curso que comezaremos o próximo domingo con toda a ilusión do mundo foi posible grazas a financiación do Sepie. E aquí vai o meu agradecemento especial á nosa coordinadora do Proxecto Erasmus +, Tere García, que nos da un empuxonciño cando o necesitamos e nos anima a participar en proxectos coma este, nos que saímos da nosa zona de confort e aprendemos a ver o mundo dende outra perspectiva. Este sopro de aire fresco é o que necesitamos para facer as cousas aínda mellor e que das nosas clases non quera nunca marchar ningún alumno.
No seguinte post preséntovos a quen será a nosa formadora, e poderedes ver o programa completo do curso.
Xa temos a maleta preparada, asegúrovos que vai ben lixeira, porque agarda voltar  chea de experiencias e novas ilusións.

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Servicio Español para la Internacionalización de la Educación

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Portal SEPIE, Servicio Español Para la Internacionalización de la Educación, Agencia Nacional Erasmus+ #ErasmusPlusES y responsable de la Internacionalización de la Educación Superior Española (Estudiar en España)

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A nosa formadora chámase Betty Aggeletaki. É unha psicóloga especializada no ámbito da educación especial. Formouse durante moitos anos en distintos aspectos de psicoloxía, xestión de recursos humanos e educación para adultos. Traballa no centro Idec no Pireo dende 2014 como formadora de formadores, en temas como innovación, traballo en equipo, prevención de estrés, competencias interculturais e educación inclusiva.

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Training programme Inclusive Education 15-21 May 2022

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Many of you have been asking about the Acropolis, but unfortunately we haven't had the chance to see it yet.
While we patiently wait for the start of our training tomorrow, we decide to make the most of our time by visiting one of the closest islands to Piraeus Πειραιάς Aegina Αίγινα.
We must admit it was not our first choice, but we ended up here and it was totally worth it.
In a high-speed ferry we got to the island in about 40 minutes. Stands full of pistachios welcomed us, since it is the most famous product from the island.
Then, horse-drawn carriages transported us back to the 19th century. The dazzling white chapel of Agios Nikolaos was one of the first things that caught our attention, and we also found the fish market with almost as many tavernas as stalls.
From 1827 to 1829 Aegina town was the temporary capital of the newly founded Greek state. Neoclassical mansions date from that period.
You can see Greek cats which love posing in all our photos. Here is one admiring with us the splendor of Markellos Tower. Cats are everywhere in Greece!
In the photos you can also see the archaeological site of Kolona, where remains of a Doric Temple of Apollo can be found. Swimming at the feet of the column is an unforgettable experience, since Kolona beach is just at its steps.
Tomorrow we'll be ready to start our first day of training with fully charged batteries. We'll keep you posted!

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15 may 2022 Inclusive Education Tackling Idec

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Hoxe comezamos o curso cunha presentación moi orixinal de todos os participantes. No seguinte post a comparto, xa que os que sodes profes seguro que vos parece unha boa maneira de comezar o primeiro día de clase, ( un orixinal "ice-breaker").
Comezamos analizando o que entendemos por educación inclusiva e falamos un pouco da súa historia. Non perderedes nada porque no adxunto van todos os apuntamentos da sesión de hoxe.
Foi interesante a diferencia entre prexuicios, estereotipos e discriminación, na que nunca antes parara a pensar.
Analizamos distintos tipos de dificultades de aprendizaxe e puxemos exemplos reais de cada unha delas. Como tiñamos na sala diferentes profesionais do ámbito da educación (orientador, director, xefe de estudos, PT, profesores de secundaria, formación profesional, escola oficial de idiomas), puidemos velos dende distintos puntos de vista.
Vimos aparte o espectro autista e as súas características, e rematamos con distintos tipos de tests que se empregan para detectar as dificultades mencionadas.
A dinámica das sesións foi participativa e motivadora, con exercicios prácticos coma crucigramas onde demostramos o aprendido, e outras actividades que, dende o meu punto de vista coma profesora de lingua, gustáronme para empregar nas miñas clases. Veredes algúns exemplos nos seguintes posts.

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15 may 2022 Inclusive Education Tackling Idec

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This is the ice-breaker I have just told you about. You have to draw some things that describe you and then explain them to the class. A more original and visual way than the classical introductions of the first day. I like the fact that later you can put them up on the classroom walls and motivate your students. Do you like it?

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Have you ever heard about brain gym?
Our trainer, Betty, believes it is very important to move a little bit after a while to keep us focused. I have done some research about the term and this method highlights  the importance of movement for learning. Using simple movements integrates the whole brain, senses and body, preparing the person with the physical skills they need to learn effectively. Brain Gym can be used to improve a wide range of learning, attention and behaviour skills.
We did a couple of activities like that. The first one was the "Freeze Dance". As you can see in the video, you just need to follow the instructions of the lyrics and freeze when they tell you to do so. I must confess I felt a bit silly doing this in front of a lot of strangers, but then I got more comfortable, and now I know the reason why we did it, I think it was an excellent idea.
And you, if you are a teacher, are you going to make your students dance in the next class?
We also did something fun. We held hands and made a circle, then we crossed our arms and swaped our left hand with our right hand grasping again the same people. The aim was to end up in a single circle with no knots. I have found that the name is "the human knot". Look it up if you haven't heard from it, apparently it is a common team building activity. We did have a laugh!

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Party Freeze Dance Song - THE KIBOOMERS Preschool Songs for Circle Time

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This was another way to check if we had followed the explanations and to make us reflect on what we had just learnt. Each of us had different shapes of post-it notes. She asked us three questions, about three different types of learning disabilities, and we had to put some signs on each of the three bus stops on the wall.
I can think of many language activities using this fun technique. And you?

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Mentres agardamos a seguinte sesión, déixovos cunhas imaxes do Pireo, onde ten lugar o curso. Está un pouco afastado de Atenas, e é un lugar de paso para moitos turistas cando van coller o ferry para as Illas Gregas. Hai edificios impresionantes, restaurantes, tendas e zonas mellor coidadas ca outras.

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Hoxe estamos a traballar o tema da avaliación. Non nos cabe dúbida de que a avaliación formativa e a autoavaliación son esenciais para garantir o éxito no proceso de aprendizaxe. Comentamos a nosa opinión persoal da avaliación formal que nos vén imposta dende fóra, que ás veces desmotiva ao noso alumnado. Aquí podedes ler todo o relativo coa base teórica.
Tamén falamos da lexislación que regula as necesidades especiais en distintos países e falamos das nosas experiencias persoais na aula.
Nos seguintes posts preséntovos algunhas ideas de presentación das actividades que máis me gustaron da sesión de hoxe.
Comentarvos tamén que comezamos a mañá con un pouco do "brain gym" que vos contei onte.

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These are a couple of activities we did today to move a bit and keep focused in such a long session.
We started with some dance in which we had to follow some instructions and move along.
The next one was in an open circle, we had 3 instructions: jump in, jump out and clap. The first time, we had to follow instructions, the second time we needed to clap when the trainer said "jump in!", and jump in when she said "clap". When someone clapped when she said "clap", the game was over.
Another brain gym activity was to do a puzzle in teams. It was a good way to have a short break and a fun team building activity.
After those short fun activities we were ready to continue learning about some more theoretical aspects.

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I particularly enjoyed this activity. It was a task to revise aspects about assessment.
The music was on, we had to read different posters on the wall, and when the music stopped we had to choose the one we liked the most. Then, we had to sit down again, summarize the chosen article to the class and explain why we chose it.
I like it for my English classes. Do you?

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Today we prepared in small groups of 3 an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a specific student with some kind of special needs. We analysed the goal, objectives, strategies, materials and resources we would use, the method of evaluation and the people who would be responsible for it.
In our group of 3 we analysed the case of David, who had a severe bilateral hearing loss and found all language -based learning in a whole-class setting very challenging.
We learnt that there are many factors involved and how to first decide on one or two very specific objectives, which can be revised regularly. It is important to find the most important ones, which was the most difficult part for us.
It was a challenging task but extremely interesting and gave us a lot of food for thought.
After that, we learnt some specific strategies and techniques according to the type of students with learning  difficulties and disabilities. You can read all about it in the notes here attached.
We also did some brain gym activities, and learnt some emotional freedom techniques such as tapping, I had never heard about it before. I will show it to you in the next post. I hope you enjoy it. You may want to try it on your students or yourself! I willl definitely give it a go!

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More food for thought...

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Strategies for Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties

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Strategies for Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties

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Mnemonics

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This is the technique I was telling you about. None of us had ever heard about it! And you? Did you know about it? Have you ever used it?

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What is EFT ? What is tapping? Introduction to Emotional freedom techniques | Reena Singh

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This could be considered as a brain gym activity or a team building exercise. But for me it was a way to make us aware of the importance of listening to instructions (we were all doing it wrong!), how important is to understand instructions and ask if you don't understand. Finally, I will highlight the importance of synergy and collaboration.
It is so good for us teachers to put ourselves in our students' shoes!

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Crossing Galaxies - GTI 2018 Team Meetings

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Tomorrow we'll be already half way through our course and experience in Piraeus. Until I post about the fourth session of the course, I show you a few photos of the Athens Riviera Αθηναϊκή Ριβιέρα

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18 may 2022 Inclusive Education Tackling

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Today we saw many different techniques that could be useful to teach all types of students in general.  You can find a summary of all these techniques in the file attached.
In the next posts I will just show some of the ones I personally liked from today's session.
In my opinion, a combination of many of these techniques could prove extremely useful in order to cater for the variety of students who attend our language lessons at our School.
Along the long session, we also did a lot of brain gym activities like the ones I present at the beginning of this padlet. Now I understand how my students can feel after such a long session, and the importance of these type of activities to keep them engaged and focused. I don't want to forget how important they are for learning the importance of cooperation, which is great to build a good working environment in our class and to benefit the process of learning.

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18 may 2022 Inclusive Education Tackling

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We analysed some of the steps of the flipped model and how efficient this could be, since students change roles from passive recipients to active constructors of knowledge.
I have used this in many tasks this year. And you? Have you ever used it in your class as a teacher? Or as a student?

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Decoding the Flipped Classroom Model in 3 Minutes | Flipped Classroom technique

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This is a good example about how to use this technique to learn vocabulary.

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By spending just 10 minutes for reviewing per day, we gain the knowledge back to 💯.
My conclusion:
🧑‍🤝‍🧑Students: Please do your homework.
🧑‍🏫Teachers: We shouldn't forget to revise what we have taught in the previous lesson.

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How to plan a paragraph that tastes good 😋

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Mind maps are creative, visually appealing and a fun way to revise, to brainstorm, to problem solve... They have many purposes and benefits.
Do you use them?

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The Acropolis and its Museum Μουσείο Ακρόπολης

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The Acropolis and its Museum Μουσείο Ακρόπολης

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We finally managed to fit in a visit to the Acropolis and its Museum.  Here are some photos of the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still existing in our times. It is situated on a hill from which you can have an amazing view of Athens.
https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en

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Today we tackled the issue of early school leaving. We analysed the European legal framework and different situations in the countries from which the participants of this training were from.
In the second part of the training we talked about different learning styles. We focused on the most common styles: visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetic learners. We discussed some advice to teach each type of learners according to the educational theorist Neil Fleming. You will find the notes here attached very interesting.
Another classification we analysed was that of Honey & Mumford's learning styles, based on Kolb's model. They supported that all of us use one of these four styles to learn: activist, reflector, theorist or pragmatic.

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Have a look at the notes in the previous post and you can write on the comments below, which type of learner are you?

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We took this questionnaire to find out which type of learner we were.
This questionnaire is based on Honey & Mumford (2006).
Our trainer's tip is to do one questionnaire like this with our students at the School of Languages at the beginning of the year.
I think that it's a good idea, since sometimes people don't know how they learn better. If they are aware of their preferred learning style, not only can we use it in our lessons, but they can also choose the best way to revise and to take their notes.

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What kind of teachers do the students love?

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What kind of teachers do the students love?

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Trying hard to do most of the above things is hard, but I believe that we can make a difference. Some of the golden rules for teachers are:
✅Keep your goals and expectations realistic
✅Recognize your achievements
✅Understand that you are human and that you will make mistakes
✅Do not lose your sense of humour

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This is a great activity! You play it with a small box of Smarties for each student.

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Lycabettus is the highest hill in the Greek capital with spectacular views of the entire city, the Acropolis hill and all the way over the sea and the Egina island.

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Today's session was extremely useful and productive, since we discussed some specific techniques for teaching students at risk of dropping out.
You can find them in the notes attached, but I will also highlight some of them in the following posts. I really hope you find them useful.
I particularly liked the SMART model, which describes how objectives should be.
➡️ Specific
➡️ Measurable
➡️ Attainable
➡️ Realistic
➡️ Timely
Another very interesting technique is the S.W.O.T. analysis, which aims to recognize students weak and strong points.
STRENGTH
WEAKNESS
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
After explaining this analysis to your students, ask them to take a piece of paper divided in four quadrants and to write in each of them the words above.

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Specific Strategies for Teaching Students at Risk of Dropping Out

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Specific Strategies for Teaching Students at Risk of Dropping Out

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Here there are some useful tips.

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We had a laugh with this activity. The entire group stands in a circle, each person holding a big card with their name on it, (but they can hold any other object of your choice).Tell the group that you are going to read the story of "The Life of the Wright Family", and every time they hear a word that sounds like "right" or "left", they should pass the object in their hand to the person on their right or left accordingly. You have to read the story faster and faster.
After doing the activity, you can ask questions like:
👉How much of the story can you remember?
👉What does this activity tell us about communication?
👉What does this activity tell us about teamwork?
👉What does this activity tell us about listening skills?

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Today we saw the Acropolis from another point of view. We climbed up to Philopappou Hill, where you can have great views of the Acropolis, the whole city of Athens and the Aegean Sea that surrounds Attica.

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Today the trainer focused on gifted students and the topic of bullying.
We also did some more brain gym and activities that can be used in our language classes. In the next posts I share the tips I found useful for language teachers in particular.

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A great method which can be extremely helpful in dealing with people at a high risk of dropping out is the method of focusing on solutions. These are some tips about how to put in practice. 

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We did this activity in today's class. It was fun, engaging and we withdrew very interesting conclusions. I'll definitely try it in my class!

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This activity about drawing your hand and writing what the teacher asks in each of the fingers sounds like a great idea. It makes students reflect on important issues the teacher proposes, but in a more original and engaging way. Would you like to give it a go?

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After getting our certificates and saying a few words we took this photo. I must confess it was a bit sad since nobody wanted to leave this amazing country.

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At the end of the course we brainstormed ideas to elaborate a future plan for our own schools. The concept of the traffic light proved extremely useful.

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At the end of the session our trainer, Betty, and Xenia, from the administrative team, taught us some Greek dance steps. I'm the one filming☺️

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Este es todo el griego que he podido aprender en esta corta estancia.

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En este post quería compartir dos cosas en las que he pensado mucho estos últimos dias.
Por un lado, la importancia de aprender inglés, y el uso del inglés como lingua franca. Es impresionante la de puertas que esta lengua nos abre. Tengo anécdotas para contaros en persona, porque trabajé mucho de intérprete en esta estancia, ya que algunos de los compañeros no hablaban inglés, y vimos incluso de primera mano la realidad en un hospital griego.
Otro asunto en el que he pensado mucho es en la eficacia comunicativa. Os voy a confesar que como profesora de lengua, de inglés, en particular, al principio me resultaba muy difícil seguir los discursos de mis compañeros del curso e incluso muchas veces de la ponente. Mi cabeza no era capaz de quedarse con el contenido de lo que me querían transmitir (muy interesante y relevante), sino que se centraba en los errores gramaticales, las carencias de vocabulario, la pronunciación tan alejada de la de la lengua estándar.
Poco a poco, me fui relajando, les escuché con atención, me quedaba con su mensaje, con lo que me querían transmitir y muchas veces me identificaba con lo que contaban, sus experiencias, sus frustraciones, sus anhelos....
Os puedo decir que a muchos de mis compañeros del curso, todos del ámbito de la educación, pero no profesores de lengua, no les resultaría fácil ahora mismo obtener un certificado en nuestra Escuela. Pero al mismo tiempo su manera de resolver las carencias de lengua era admirable, con gestos, paráfrasis... Tenemos muchas otras herramientas más para comunicarnos, dejando al margen la gramática del libro y las listas de vocabulario. Me han demostrado que lo importante es comunicarse con el otro, conectar con las personas y transmitir lo que llevas dentro.
Creo que ha sido una lección importante.
Como conclusión para mi trabajo en la Escuela, extraigo que debemos fijarnos menos en los errores y valorar mucho más la capacidad comunicativa de los aprendices de lenguas.

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Empecé dando las gracias y termino por supuesto inmensamente agradecida por haber tenido esta inolvidable experiencia. Me ha enseñado a ver muchas cosas del proceso de enseñanza desde otro punto de vista y desde el otro lado de la palestra.
Mi más sincero agradecimiento a la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Lugo http://www.edu.xunta.gal/centros/eoilugo, a los compañer@s que redactaron antes de la pandemia el proyecto Erasmus + Goal (gracias 🙏) y por supuesto al Sepie http://sepie.es/index_amp.html que nos ayuda en su financiación.
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