https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3 Made with swagger en-us 2018-03-13 00:36:04 UTC 2023-03-19 11:04:31 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Rocket.png lporras3 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/241164028 Being a teacher has costed me more than I thought. Although having strengths such as passion, caring and discipline, hacing so many things to do can ve absolutely overwhelming. This has caused that my strengths become a double edged weapon, showing some of my weaknesses: frustration when stumbling, being very hard on my self and difficulties when leading with others opinions. I still growing, I hope I can have some chances to improve and definitely understand what is expected from me, balanced with what I can expect from my self.]]> 2018-03-13 00:36:58 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/241164028 lporras3 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/241164731 Althought I consider my English level is very good, I think that teaching could cause the proficiency to dicrease, since we, as teachers, try to find easier words, structures and contexts for our students to understand us. For me to avoid such thing, I consider my action plan is simple: being a simultaneous interpreter has saved my life. The need of vocabulary, fluency and real contexts demands a lot from an English speaker. This has taken me to think about being part of more American or English spaces in which I can interact with natives that have, definitely, a lot to offer. As well, I try to find myself in spaces that offer materials such as music, books (I'm a book lover) and pieces of art that may give me an open mind. Although it seems to be very personal, this has allowed me to grow as a teacher as well, reminding me who I am, the person I am offering to my students; challeging me to learn more to have more to give, encouraging the passion I carry, trying to forget about frustration, because failing is also a way of winning. ]]> 2018-03-13 00:41:33 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/241164731 lporras3 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/252372095 One of my biggest problems was to understand the structure and principles of the KTP program. This is why my supervisor decided to ask me to visit the class of an expert teacher. Well, it was a bitter sweet experience: the sweet part was that I learned a lot about how to deal a class by following the steps and undertanding different principles. The bitter part was to realize that I HAD BEEN DOING EVERYTHING WRONG FOR THE LAST 7 or 8 CLASSES! What a mess! Nevertheless, I learned about class preparation strategies, and how to make a task fun and not always a competition :)]]> 2018-04-17 00:04:25 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/252372095 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/266119953 Even though I am now an English teacher, I'm still in the race for improving my own English level. Saying silly things in front of my SUPER BILINGUAL friends such as "two times" instead of "twice" are the small things that I keep on trying to improve. This is not about how much vocabulary I know but how natural English flows within me. It's been difficult sometimes to stop thinking as a learner and start thinking as a teacher, who needs to make things as easy as possible for students. In my head, understanding things with a formula and with a "teaching purpose" isince there are things that I know by heart and it's impossible to explain them. Maybe I'm a mess, or maybe I am learning a lot form my students, maybe I am understanding new things and new ways to teach them. It is akward, sometimes I feel like I know things in a natural way and some others like I do not. What is wrong with me?]]> 2018-06-07 14:10:16 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/266119953 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/266122064 I work, during the week, at a school as an English teacher. That is a whole new world! Dealing with discipline, parents, strict schedules and, of course SPANISH USE. Although it has been a whole challenge, I've learned a lot from it. There is a point during the day in which I feel physically sick of speaking English and I need some Spanish for the soul. Nevertheless, it has been a great exercise with kids forcing myself to speak in English or I will have to give myself negative points! 

Also, in my race for not forgetting the languages I know, I've made a mess of myself: my cellphone is in French, the books I read are in Spanish, my head, from Monday to Saturday thinks and works in English... A WHOLE MESS! I think that the language I practice the most is of course English since everything I have to do for my jobs is in English: reading, writing, serching, listening and speaking; four skills worked from Monday to Saturday. Anyaways, it is also the language I feel more comfortable with. Somebody stop the polyglot roller coaster of my head!]]> 2018-06-07 14:20:30 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/266122064 lporras3 https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/275725165 After two years of presenting an international exam for the first time, facing such situation is quite difficult. It does not mean that it was not the first time, but the challenge now is to keep the language level after dealing with different situations that could take us out of the 'full inmersion' atmosphere that college used to offer. As a professional now, there is much more pressure when thinking in the word 'IELTS'. We, teachers, are the role model for students, their willingness to learn is mainly on our shoulders and getting a low score would be as Dessa pointing as embarrassing. 

Nevertheless, and inspite of all the pressure we are dealing with, the score, at the end is not what matters. Well, it does, obviously, but what really really matters is the opportunity such exam gives us to understand the things we need to do to maintain a language level, how important it is to be inmerse in such linguistic atmosphere, how difficult it is to find natural spaces for language use, but how easy it is to get lost in the forgotten language universe. ]]> 2018-08-28 00:22:42 UTC https://padlet.com/lporras3/lpqfhz5ug4k3/wish/275725165