A HANDBOOK OF GOOD
TEACHING PRACTICES
AND
ICT T OOLS F OR T EACHING
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
TOOLS AND RESOURCES USED FOR DEVELOPING FOREIGN LANGUAGE
SKILLS:
● Speaking
● Listening
● Reading
● Writing
LEARNING W ITH O THER I CT TOOLS AND R ESOURCES
APPLICATIONS U SED FOR P RESENTATIONS
TOOLS USED F OR CV WRITING
COMMON TOOLS USED FOR EVALUATION AND BUSINESS ENGLISH
COMPETITIONS
TEACHING B USINESS E NGLISH
EXAMPLES O F GOOD P RACTICES
● Using the European L anguage P ortfolio
● Bilingual P roject a t IES S antiago A póstol
● Learning Communities (Interactive groups / Dialogic literary and artistic
teaching)
INTRODUCTION
One of the priorities addressed by the project is revising and strengthening the
professional profile of the teaching profession. As teachers, we have a need to be
well equipped and keep up-to-date with ICT tools and new technologies in order to
motivate and engage our students. The educational marketplace is undergoing a
transformation as there are more and more technological advances such as Internet
file-sharing, open educational resources, augmented reality, digital assessment
tools, etc. In order to keep up with these changes and exploiting them for our
students’ benefit, we need to acquire these competences to improve learning
outcomes. This is the reason why we want to improve our digital competence by
using innovative, student-centred pedagogical approaches, and implementing
assessment tools through which levels of competence can be effectively assessed
and evaluated.
During the project the teachers of the participating schools worked jointly on creating
teaching materials for enhancing linguistic and intercultural competences with a
special focus on Business language. We also shared good practices of fostering
different skills with the aim of making our students independent language users by
the time they enter the world of work and equipping them with competences that can
serve a s a basis for further d evelopment i n the f orm o f lifelong learning.
We embedded the use of technologies in our everyday practice as all the activities
were carried out with the help of ICT tools. Students and teachers alike have
developed through this as digital tools offer unprecedented opportunities to improve
quality and reduce barriers as well as enable learners to follow a flexible and
individualised l earning path.
All the teachers participating in the KA2 project “YES for Future - Your
Entrepreneurial Skills” have recorded their work and experiences in this handbook
of good practices, which has been designed to provide other teachers with an
overview of a selection of free web tools, websites, and mobile apps with practical
examples that have utility in nearly every lower and upper secondary classroom as
well as methodologies, evaluation methods and teaching techniques. In each section
a variety of tools is presented as we all have different levels of access to computers
and tablets, different school web filtering policies, and different needs for our
students. The tools and resources that we have included in this handbook are the
ones that we have used with the participating students and in the professional
development workshops that we have conducted during the training events,
transnational meetings and s tudent exchanges.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES USED FOR DEVELOPING FOREIGN LANGUAGE
SKILLS:
SPEAKING S KILLS
VOICE T HREAD
It i s a c ollaborative t ool t hat a llows users t o have o ngoing d igital conversations built
from t ext, a udio, and/or video comments added b y p articipants around any c ontent.
Advantages:
VoiceThread c omments a nd conversations can be b uilt around interesting images
and video content a nd serves educational p urposes. You can actually h ear t he
voices or even s ee t he f aces o f o ther participants, w hich m akes i t even a more
personal e xperience.
It is e asy t o u se. Uploading content i s as e asy a s adding a ttachments to e mail
messages. A dding text, a udio, and/or video content is a matter o f h itting o ne
easy-to-find record b utton
VoiceThread has a s imple i nterface, w hich m akes it an approachable t ool regardless
of your e xperience w ith digital t ools or t he a ge level of the students t hat y ou’re
working with.
Users c an work o n V oiceThread presentations a t any time — e ven if t heir “ partners”
are u nable to p articipate because they a re i n a different class period… o r because
they are in a different country.
That i s the good s ide o f VoiceThread. H owever, u nless you want t o purchase a nd
account for e ducators or schools, w hich is n ot free o f c harge, the h uge disadvantage
is t he inability to allow m ultiple u sers t o have simultaneous access to the s ame
account. As a r esult, e very participant o f an o nline c lass c ourse must use a single
class a ccount login.
New users c an only create u p to f ive VoiceThreads f or f ree, o nly c omment by
microphone or text and share y our v oice t hreads through a s hare l ink
In c onclusion, V oiceThread is a good m edia collaborative tool f or learning. For the
purpose o f our p roject t he advantages offered b y t he application o utweigh t he
disadvantages a nd h as t he potential to positively impact teaching a nd learning i n an
online and traditional environment.
Voicethreads created by the S panish students:
About their s chool
About their town
VOKI
Voki is a f ree s ervice which allows the u ser to create p ersonalized, speaking avatars.
These a vatars c an b e incorporated i nto a variety of o nline a pplications i ncluding
email, blogs, a nd personal profiles.
It i s f un and engaging. A ll t his s erves a p owerful motivator t o pupils a nd it i s one of
the m ost s triking advantages o f using Voki i n the languages classroom. I t also
makes i t possible for the quieter pupils t o make t heir presence f elt a nd be h eard. I t
has o ften been the case t hat it i s i ndeed t hese p upils w ho h ave p roduced the most
remarkable Vokis.
It can provide a fantastic w ay to assess t he speaking skill and evidence o f learning.
Pupils gain confidence in t heir s peaking ability as a r esult o f using V oki in this way.
Samples f rom students:
Voki by M anuel M ártinez Rojas
Voki b y J uan A rias P reciados
Voki b y J ulián N ieto E spino
Voki by Alberto N avia Izquierdo
LISTENING S KILLS
Listening skills practice-learn English Teens- British Council: Different graded
listenings with different types of activities.
Lyrics training: Site where you can find thousands of songs and lyrics to work with
your students.
Listening s kill a ctivities f or the w orkplace.
Real English: V ideos w ith a ctivities. Real people, r eal E nglish.
English feel g ood. P ractice E nglish with f ilms. A ctivities a re i ncluded.
OM v ideo: G raded v ideos , from elementary t o a dvanced.
Elllo: Elllo stands for English Listening Library Online. It offers free listening tests .
There are different activities on this site, all of them focus on listening skills. There
are “Views” ( audio Interviews), “Videos”, “Mixer” ( 6 speakers answering the same
questions), “New Center”( short news stories), “ Games”, “Scenes”, “Audio Notes”
(short explanation of interesting language). All the listening tasks include activities
and t he o ption of showing t he scripts.
www.esl_lab.com: This page offers general listening activities, quizzes, everyday
conversations with adult and children’s voices. All activities are graded from easy to
difficult.
www.english4allages.com: It provides Resources for Teachers. You can design
interactive a ctivities w ith f lashcards and l istening t ests, etc.
READING SKILLS
Breaking News. : You can read and listen to different news graded from elementary
to a dvanced learners. A ctivities are included.
*European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe: Fact sheets
resources and publications in different languages ready to be used in class and a
wealth o f materials that c an be used t o d evelop reading skills in f oreign l anguage.
(*To learn more about this resource w atch the presentation given by Leena Hirvonen
during a Teach Meet session in the transnational meeting held in Slovenia in April,
2015.)
http://www.grimmstories.com/: Classic stories by Grimm brothers in multiple
languages
http://www.andersenstories.com/: Classic Andersen’s fairy tales in different
languages
WRITING S KILLS
LINOIT
Linoit is a digital noticeboard through which you use “stickies” or post-it notes and
save them to a canvas. It is a tool for pre-writing skills and collecting ideas and can
also be used for collaboration between teachers, as an individual eportfolio, group
project f or s tudents o r e ven as a n o nline filing system to store your r esources.
How t o collaborate using L inoit
- Individuals h ave t o sign into t heir l inoit a ccount.
- As t he owner of a canvas, to share y ou h ave t o f irst c reate a n ew g roup a nd
invite u sers ( either b y u sername o r email address).
- Invites will b e sent directly to n ew members.
- They c an either access i nvite via t heir email or refresh when in Linoit.
- Groups c an then collaborate o n t he s ame c anvas.
- To share a c anvas to a n existing group, g o to “ My c anvases”, c opy a nd t hen
choose group.
MAGIC P ICKTOCHART
Piktochart is an infographic and presentation tool which allows you to turn simple
data into engaging infographics or posters with just a few clicks. Piktochart's custom
editor lets you do things like modify colour schemes and fonts, insert pre-loaded
graphics, icons and upload basic shapes and images. Its grid-lined templates also
make i t e asy t o align graphical elements and r esize i mages proportionally.
ANSWERGARDEN
AnswerGarden is an easy free feedback tool to use in the classroom or at work as a
creative brainstorming tool. You can embed it on your website or blog to use it as a
poll or g uestbook.
How to u se A nswerGarden
You can ask questions, create quick warm-ups, pre-reading and post-reading
activities, what-do-you-know-about activities, current events, voting, create a class
graph, get-to-know-you activities, polls, check for understanding…
The students can also create their own answer gardens as part of presentations
made by t hemselves.
TITANPAD
TitanPad is a nice online document tool for editing that helps you quickly collaborate
on text d ocuments with your team.
You can import text file, HTML, Word, or RTF file formats. Also, you can download
the document as HTML, plain text, bookmark file, Microsoft Word and in more
formats.
To use this tool , no user registration is required. Just click on the “Create public pad
button” to get started. It will redirect you to a public pad where you can type anything
in the given field. You can import any text file, HTML, Word or RTF file and share the
pad b y c licking on “Share t his p ad” b utton with your c olleagues.
MAGNETIC POETRY
Easy online tool for writing poems with students or colleagues. Poems can be
created a nd shared with o ther users.
Other interesting tools and ideas for writing, publishing and making activities
for t he c lassroom:
Writing p rompts
Creativity Portal
http://www.writethescene.com/start
https://www.mystorybook.com/?utm_content=buffer8c77f&utm_medium=social&utm
_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Personal journal:
https://penzu.com/journals
Word clouds:
https://tagul.com/show/odenxlvf4554/Cloud%202
http://worditout.com/word-cloud/573883
Vocabulary grabber:
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/#
https://visuwords.com/
Dictionary c ollection:
http://www.memidex.com/
Collocations:
http://www.ozdic.com/collocation-dictionary/business
http://www.just-the-word.com/
http://www.wordhippo.com/
Vocabulary practice g ame
http://knoword.org/
http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1453
http://www.vocabulary.com/
Learning f rom books and f ilms:
http://speechyard.com/hu/books/
Class tools:
http://www.classtools.net/
Webpages for news or t exts:
http://www.newsinlevels.com/#
http://www.freeeslmaterials.com/sean_banville_lessons.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
https://newsela.com/
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
http://www.rookiemag.com/2013/12/change-your-mind/
http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologicaltesting/f/genius-iq-score.htm
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news
http://www.ew.com/ew/?xid=logobar-time
Other g ood p ages, g eneral E SL r esources:
www.isabelperez.com: T his is a site w here y ou can f ind r esources t o p ractice a ll the
skills. V ery interesting a nd u seful
www.eslflow.com: web p age with l esson plans.
www.bogglesworld.esl.com W orksheets, flashcards, lesson p lans, s ongs, a rticles
and plenty of a ctivities for teaching ESL.
www.teach-this.com: V ery s imilar to B ogglesworld. H ere, you can f ind useful
worksheets, resources , games a nd teaching ideas f or ESL.
www.michellehenry: Useful webpage where y ou can f ind r esources t o p ractice w ith
your s tudents t he d ifferent skills.
And m ore:
http://www.freeeslmaterials.com/sean_banville_lessons.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/
http://www.world-english.org/
http://www.englishcorner.vacau.com/
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/
http://en.islcollective.com
http://busyteacher.org/
http://iteslj.org/
http://learningenglishwithmichelle.blogspot.hu/
http://community.eflclassroom.com/
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
http://eslresources-euge.blogspot.hu/
http://efllecturer.blogspot.co.uk/
http://film-english.com/
http://eslchestnut.com/
http://lessonstream.org/
http://www.manythings.org/
LEARNING WITH OTHER ICT TOOLS AND RESOURCES IN DIFFERENT
SUBJECTS:
GOOGLE C LASSROOM
It is a g reat tool that y ou c an u se for different p urposes. Actually it is like b eing in a
virtual c lass environment t hat e nables t he teacher t o monitor their student’s work.
Teachers can do lots of things with it: sending assignments, posting announcements,
email students individually or as groups, track when students turn in their
assignments, s hare due dates w ith m entors. Y ou c an even f lip the c lassroom.
In terms of developing writing skills, it is very useful as students can work
collaboratively in google docs as you can comment and send them feedback on their
writing. The students can also use add-ons to highlight text or use an online
dictionary, for example. Teachers can create rubrics using these add-ons to assess
the students’ pieces o f w riting and s tudents can c reate their o wn d igital portfolios
Finally, as a teacher, you can collaborate with other teachers by letting your
students interact with other students from other classrooms or schools by creating a
group p roject in the form of a n email exchange project between two s chools.
Classroom from the teacher’s p erspective
Classroom f rom t he student’s p erspective
LAYAR
It is an application used to develop augmented reality which has become a good
option for developing this technology quickly and easily. It has a drag and drop
interface which a llows y ou t o link t o s ocial media v ery easily.
When you scan an image with Layar you need to tap your screen to alert it to scan.
The n ice b it is t hat y ou c an see i t actually mapping t he i mage.
An example of how to use Layar can be seen in the video created by Juan
Fernández de Vega f or t he Teach Meet held i n S lovenia, A pril 2 015:
Watch it o n YouTube
GEOGEBRA
It is a very interesting tool to make mathematics more visual. GeoGebra is dynamic
mathematics software for all levels of education that brings together geometry,
algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package,
so it c an be u sed for drawing, c alculating and a nalysing, it w orks offline t oo
Watch a n example: h ttp://www.geogebra.org/b/UC0oddls#material/2645917
provided b y T erhi R aittila d uring the transnational m eeting in Slovenia, April 2 016.
APPLICATIONS USED FOR P RESENTATIONS
PADLET
Padlet is a v ersatile, easy t o u se t ool f or t eachers, ideal tool to use w ith s tudents in
class. Some features are:
Very e asy to u se and h as a u ser friendly interface
It is web based a nd d oes not r equire a ny software installation
It allows y ou t o easily a dd notes, t ext, images, v ideos, and d rawings to your w all
You can a lso a dd w ord documents f rom c omputer t o y our P adlet w all
Padlet provides a wide v ariety o f l ayouts t o c hoose f rom
Padlet w orks a cross multiple devices i ncluding m obile p hones
Any P adlet w all you c reate can b e e mbedded into y our blog o r website.
It enhances c ollaborative work. Multiple people c an p ost t o t he same w all a t the
same t ime.
Any P adlet w all c an be exported i n a v ariety o f f ormats including, P DF, i mage,CSV,
or Excel. I t i s completely f ree
Samples f rom t he s tudents:
Other applications o f padlet in the c lassroom:
Brainstorming tool. Create a Padlet wall for the whole class where they can collect
and s hare ideas about a given t opic.
Students can u se it as portfolio w here they display their b est work.
You can use the classroom Padlet wall to post assignments and homework
reminders to s tudents.
Use it as a book r eview page w here s tudents post r eviews o f t he b ooks t hey read
Classroom Padlet wall can be used as an open space where students engage in
group discussions and interactive e xchange o f ideas.
Students can use Padlet for sharing their reflections or group discussion on what
they h ave learned and what they need h elp w ith.
PREZI
Prezi is a p opular alternative t o the traditional P owerPoint p resentation. I t i s a visual
learning tool w hich a llows y ou to create maps of texts, images, v ideos, graphics,
etc… and p resent t hem i n a nonlinear w ay.
You c an import pictures, m aps a nd P DFs a nd u se them as a canvas. I t is a v isual
learning t ool which a llows y ou t o create m aps of texts, images, videos, graphics,
etc… and p resent t hem in a n onlinear way.
Your P rezi can be kept i n t he public d omain a nd therefore accessed by your
students o n the I nternet. A t home, they c an navigate the Prezi t hemselves, o bserve
connections of i deas and visualise concepts.
It is a great tool for interactive c lassroom sessions o r g roup projects. S tudents c an
cooperate i n r eal t ime with u p t o t en others, i n the classroom or at home, t o
brainstorm a nd build a p resentation on o ne shared virtual w hiteboard.
Prezi o ffers a free e ducational subscription (simply use an e mail address that clearly
belongs t o your e ducational institution). The tutorials o n t he website a re clear a nd
easy t o follow. T he best way t o learn about Prezi, t hough, i s to have a g o a t c reating
a p resentation y ourself.
Example of p rezi presentations c reated b y the student a bout their national l abour
markets a nd s uccessful e ntrepreneurs presented during t he student exchange
meeting in H ungary, N ovember 2015:
Watch the p resentations here
TOOLS USED F OR CV W RITING
Writing a resume was part of the tasks our students had to complete within the
project. Considering they were developing employability skills and the fact that a
resume is our main presentation letter if we are looking for a job, they opted for two
main t ools from a variety o f t hem: Genially and E uropass Curriculum Vitae.
An online CV is the perfect tool for this because it can be accessed from anywhere
with a simple click on a link. One of the biggest advantages of having a CV stored in
the cloud is that the changes you make will automatically update (the link stays the
same) for everyone who look at it a second time without you needing to send a link
again.
GENIALLY
Many of our students opted for this tool to create an interactive CV as they consider
it is important to show information off in a way that is visually attractive.The digital
world offers endless possibilities to search for work and we need to be able to take
full advantage of it.
Genially enables you to create a series of CV templates which are completely
modifiable and free. You can find them under the category ‘CV’ once you have
started a session in Genially. Y ou can add images, docs, and links to web pages, or
you can give additional information through videos. This option is especially great
for illustrating your job experience and educational background, skills, or social
media profiles i n a n o riginal w ay.
You can edit the text and images background colours, information in the tags, and
info about your name or anything else you want to change, and can also change the
effects for each element, resizing bars and shapes to highlight your skills and
strengths. See s ome CVs designed by t he s tudents:
EUROPASS CURRICULUM V ITAE
It i s o ne of the f ive d ocuments t hat make your skills and qualifications c learly
understood i n E urope. It is i n f ree a ccess a nd c an be used by a nybody, i rrespective
of their nationality o r country of r esidence.
The Europass C urriculum Vitae can be completed:
● Online. Go to the Europass online editor to complete your CV. You can then
download the file or send it to your e-mail account.. It is important to always
save your Europass Curriculum Vitae in XML or PDF-XML format on your
computer. Y ou w ill then be able t o upload t he file to the editor for update.
● Offline. Download the E uropass CV template, instructions and e xamples. You
can t hen u se t his i nformation t o generate y our C V on your c omputer.
Some samples from students:
COMMON TOOLS USED FOR EVALUATION AND BUSINESS ENGLISH
COMPETITIONS
GOOGLE F ORMS
It is an easy tool that lets you quickly create a survey or assessment and then send it
to students, parents, teachers or staff. Answers will be automatically tracked in a
separate spreadsheet. Because forms are filled out online, there is no need to enter
in results manually. Responses are collected and displayed immediately in a
corresponding Google Drive spreadsheet (Sheets), which allows you to sort, analyze
and visualize the information.
You can select from multiple question types, drag-and-drop to reorder questions and
customize values as easily as pasting a list. You can use Google Forms with a
personal Google a ccount, or through a Google A pps f or Education account.
l
Sample o f end-of-project evaluation questionnaire made w ith G oogle f orms
KAHOOT
It is a game-based classroom response system which offers teachers an engaging
way to test the learning and knowledge of their students. It can be used as a
review.. Students sign in using a class code. You can easily create an account; it is
free for everyone, be it a teacher, student or any other user. Users just need to fill
the basic information in order to complete t he profile.
Kahoot saves the result of every quiz played over the platform. When learners start
quizzing they need to enter their nickname and their recorded scores are saved in
their p rofile.
Kahoot d esigned for t he T eacher Training Event in Spain, M arch 2015
QUIZIZZ
It can be great for formative assessment as can be a great way to help students
review before a test. Teachers and students in general are more familiar with the
multiplayer gaming website Kahoot. Quizziz is an alternative to Kahoot, and it is very
similar t o i t, with a few key d ifferences:
Just like Kahoot, the teacher (or student host) chooses a quiz to begin. A five digit
game code is provided. Players point their browsers to j oin.quizzizz.com and input
the game code, along with their names. If players are using smartphones or tablets,
you j ust d isplay t he j oin l ink a s a Q R code.
Kahoot is designed (o n purpose) to show multiple choice questions on a large
screen, and students respond by clicking buttons on their devices that correspond to
the answers they want to choose. Quizizz takes a different approach. No projector is
necessary because players see questions and answer options on their own screens.
The question order is randomized for each student, so it is not easy for players to
cheat. With Quizizz, players don’t have to wait for the whole class to answer a
question before t hey continue to the n ext o ne.
QUIZLET
Quizlet is a simplistic app that enables students and teachers to create digital ‘study
sets’ or ‘flash cards’. You simply type in your questions or ‘Terms’ and your answers
or ‘Definitions’. These resources can then be engaged with and shared in a number
of ways. The setup is really simple. However, the nice thing about the app is that you
can expand the horizons of its use. This is how it can be embedded into the
classroom in a number of ways. For example you can use it as a revision resource,
as homework or as a language learning tool. It includes automated voice with
different language options.
Example o f q uizlet scatter g ame: employment
SOCRATIVE
Socrative i s a online student r esponse t ool t hat allows t eachers t o engage their
students t hrough a s eries of q uestions a ccessed b y c omputers a nd/or m obile
devices. T here a re t wo t ypes o f quizzes: Single Q uestions and Q uiz Based Activities.
Single Question - These a re q uick impromptu single question q uizzes, T he r esults
are i mmediately d isplayed w hen t he activity i s ended. The data can n ot be s aved
and is lost w hen you move t o the next q uestion. For this a ctivity, t he teacher c an
write t he questions o n the board, s hore w ith a powerpoint, or s ay t hem a loud.
Students c an be s hown t he results from b y projecting t he t eacher account o n a
screen.
Quiz B ased Activities - These are pre-planned quizzes. T he r esults f rom t hese
questions can b e s aved b ut not shown i mmediately.
Using Socrative with S tudents:
Student g o t o s tudent socrative: on a c omputer: h ttps://b.socrative.com/login/student/
and e nter the Socrative room number or o n a m obile device - Students open t he
Socrative a pp and enter the S ocrative r oom number. Then select a t ype o f q uiz.
Sample q uestions from t he q uiz completed in t he s tudent exchange i n Slovenia, A pril 2015
Snapshot o f the r eport o f t he Business English Quiz c arried o ut in S lovenia, A pril 2 015.
TEACHING B USINESS ENGLISH
Practical ideas for the Business English classroom: – Making the most
of video
This is the second article of a three-part Business English series by ELT teacher,
teacher trainer and course book author, John Hughes. Here, he looks at how the use
of video c an s upport business E nglish teaching.
One survey into the use of video in education reports that teachers increasingly
welcome this tool as a means to support learning. For example, 68% of teachers
believe video stimulates discussion, 66% say video increases motivation and 62%
think their teaching is more effective by using video. Please see the link provided at
the end of the article for m ore d etails o f t his s urvey.
These figures are all based on responses to education in general, but I’d suggest
that if you were to research similar figures for Business English teachers, you’d
probably find the percentages were even higher. That’s simply because video lends
itself in so many w ays t o B usiness E nglish t eaching.
Here are five examples of how to integrate video into your Business English lessons,
with suggestions f or classroom a ctivities.
Presentation s kills
The internet is full of videos showing different types of business presentations. They
range from the highly professional presentations we associate with speakers on TED
to much more basic material. With all of these we can assess the presenters’
performances with our students and decide what techniques and language will help
improve their presentations. In addition, we can also video our own students giving
presentations. By using the video recorder on a basic mobile device, you can record
a student’s performance, use it to give them feedback, and let them self-assess their
own presentation.
Watch this p resentation taken from TED talks. It’s called ‘The magic washing
machine’ and gives students a masterclass in how to use visual aids in a
presentation.
Workplace and p rocess v ideos
I once taught business and technical English in a factory instead of a language
school. This was much easier than being in a normal classroom because I could take
the students onto the factory floor and have them talk about their workplace.
However, we don’t always teach students at their workplace, so video can help. For
example, ask your students to make short videos of their workplace and film the key
stages of a process. Then they can bring these into class and describe what is
happening on screen. You’ll also find a range of videos online that showcase
different companies and how they work. These are a great resource to teach the
language f or describing workplaces and their p rocesses.
This process video shows how IKEA produces its furniture. Students can watch and
note d own the d ifferent stages or information a bout the company a nd its s tructure.
Infographic video
One modern genre of video is the ‘infographic video’ (also called ‘kinetic typography
video’). It shows animated text on screen which merges with images and may have
narration or simply some background music. You can write comprehension
questions for students to answer whilst they watch. Many business infographic
videos tend to include lots of numbers and figures, so I give students the numbers
shown i n t he video a nd ask t hem t o note d own w hat t hese refer t o.
This infographic video looks at t he importance o f u sing v ideo i n b usiness.
Interviews
One of the simplest video formats is the interview or a business person talking
directly to the camera. If you want to teach the language of specific business area,
then find an interview with an expert in the field. Alternatively, make your own video
by preparing a set of questions and interview a real business person to show in
class. If you teach very experienced business people, then interview them and ask
their permission to show their video to another class. In particular, if you teach
different one-to-one classes, interview each of your students with the same set of
questions. Then show the videos of the students to each other. It’s a nice way to
bring other people into your one-to-one lessons and for students to share their
knowledge.
Take a look at this i nterview with an expert talking about cultural differences in
business. I t’s t aken from t he v ideos i n the Business Result s eries.
Short films
Using short films in a lesson can add some fun and variety. For example, one short
video called ‘The Black Hole’ looks at what happens when an office worker
photocopies a black hole which has magical properties. Play it to students and ask
them to think what they would use a ‘black hole’ for at work. Another short film called
‘Signs’ lasting about twelve minutes offers all sorts of opportunities for use in the
classroom. The first two minutes show a young man going through the same work
routine every day – a perfect springboard into the use of the present simple, and for
getting students to t alk about t heir r outines.
Here is t he ‘ The Black Hole’ video, and here i s ‘ Signs’ .
And finally, here is the s urvey I mentioned at the beginning of the article about using
video in education.
All the materials compiled for the Business English curriculum can be seen through
this l ink:
https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?ref=button&Bsrc=SMIT&resid=3F8B4AD713AE6
901!471&cid=3f8b4ad713ae6901&app=OneNote&authkey=Akk-XZYCaIKIxDU
EXAMPLES O F G OOD P RACTICES
THE E UROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO
During the transnational meeting held in Finland, November 2014, one of the
workshops carried out was “”How to use the European Language Portfolio”. Since
then students have been encouraged to make use of it during the life of the project
as well as other Europass documents like the Language Passport or the CV
Document without forgetting the Europass Mobility Document, which served as a
validation tool that we used to record the students’ knowledge and skills acquired
after e ach m obility.
What i s t he ELP?
To understand the E LP b etter w e have to c onsider t wo c rucial elements:.
The Council of E urope, the European common framework.
The E uropean Language Portfolio
● Helps t o develop language l earning and i ntercultural s kills
● Facilitates educational a nd vocational mobility within Europe by p roviding a
clear profile o f the owner's language s kills-
● Encourages lifelong l earning o f l anguages
● Contributes t o t he p romotion of d emocratic citizenship in Europe -Contributes
to mutual understanding within E urope by promoting p lurilingualism (the a bility
to communicate i n two o r more l anguages) a nd intercultural learning.
It is a sort of i mplementation tool f or the c ommon E uropean f ramework
A d ocument in t hree parts (language passport, l anguage b iography a nd d ossier) i n
which an individual can record his/her linguistic achievements (including i ntercultural
competence) to date. It has both a r eporting a nd a p edagogical f unction, w hich in
other words provides n ot o nly e vidence o f achievement, but also key information
about the learning characteristics and p referred l earning style o f the user/learner.
The reporting f unction a ddresses t he concern o f t he Council of Europe to p romote
individual mobility. ( also called i nformative, record-keeping function). T he l earner c an
show w hat h e or s he c an do i n o ther l anguages a part from t he m other t ongue
The pedagogical f unction i s o f v alue t o t he t eacher b y i ndicating approaches m ost
likely to b e effective w ith the u ser a nd to t he l earner b y raising t heir awareness of
what is happening in t he l earning p rocess.
It i nvolves t he l earner in the decision making, the goal-setting a nd t he e valuation o f
learning achievements
It e ncourages l ifelong l earning of languages
The l anguage p assport p rovides an o verview o f the i ndividual’s p roficiency o f the
different l anguages a t a g iven p oint i n t ime. T he overview is defined in terms of skills
and in common reference levels o f the common European f ramework. I t r ecords
formal qualifications and describes language competence a nd significant language
and i ntercultural l earning e xperiences.
The language b iography enables the l earner to p lan, r eflect and a ssess t heir
learning process a nd p rogress. It e ncourages the l earner to state w hat t hey c an do in
each language and to include i nformation on linguistic a nd cultural experiences
gained in a nd outside e ducational contexts. It is o rganised t o p romote
plurilingualism, f or e xample the development o f c ompetencies in a n umber of
languages.
The dossier o ffers t he l earner t he o pportunity to select m aterials, t o d ocument a nd
illustrate a chievements o r e xperiences r ecorded in t he l anguage biography or
passport.
Why u se t he E LP?
In t he context o f e ducation it i ntegrates the learning of different l anguages. I n terms
of work i t shows t he c andidates’ c ommunicative competence.
In a m ore personal c ontext:
it r egisters the learners’ l anguage skills by c ollecting a nd d isplaying evidence of what
they have learnt
it helps them to overcome their fear of s peaking in a foreign l anguage.
It h elps t hem t o d evelop their a utonomy and t ake t heir o wn initiatives.
How c an we introduce the ELP t o o ur l earners?
By e xplaining t he r eporting function, w hich might o pen the d oor to E urope for t hem.
By emphasizing the common European standards o f proficiency
By talking a bout their own l earning l anguage e xperience
By s howing t hem a sample of a n E LP i n p rogress
By engaging them in t he p roject a nd assessing t heir p rogress through the tasks and
experiences they are going to have
When and how to use i t?
How t o start:
The student completes p ersonal information a nd s ticks or s ubmits a photo
Completes l inguistic p rofile
Self-assessment and p eer-assessment
Students start writing about their language experience
Examples of writing a nd speaking ( students’ presentations / a pplication letters...)
Planning c ommon tasks o n f acebook a fter e ach of t hem students should s tate what
they c an d o o r w hat m ust be d one to a chieve t he e xpected standard.
The e-portfolio
Presentation o f t he workshop o n u sing the E LP carried o ut in F inland, N ovember 2 014
BILINGUAL PROGRAMME AND LINGUISTIC PROJECT AT IES SANTIAGO
APÓSTOL
Bilingual P rogramme. Now a nd t hen
For a better understanding of how bilingual programmes work in Spain , first we
should look at the historical background of Spain in the last 30 or 40 years and how
the d ifferent e ducation p olicies have a ffected the teaching of foreign l anguages.
If we look back at Franco’s dictatorship, in those days Spanish was the only official
language in Spain. Other languages like Catalan or Basque were not in use in the
public sphere or schools. Under Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975), the promotion of
a s ingle culture and l anguage was v ery s trict.
In Spain there has traditionally been a problem with the command of foreign
languages, maybe due to a perceived lack of necessity, since so many people in the
world speak Spanish, also because of the isolation of Spain from the rest of Europe.
In addition, French was the language which most students learnt at school and for
them English was a useless subject that didn’t have to do with life. For teachers,
English was j ust a job a nd a useful language for t ravelling.
But after Spain joined the formerly EEC in 1986, the teaching of foreign languages
has undergone substantial improvement. With the Education Reform in 1990 basic
compulsory education was extended by two years (previously ending at the age of
14 and from then on at the age of 16). In terms of foreign languages new goals
needed to be set to follow European standards and regulations. As a result, there
was a switch f rom F rench to English a s t he first f oreign l anguage t aught a t schools.
There was even a political determination to improve students' level of foreign
languages and this interest in foreign languages led to the introduction of bilingual
programmes. Many non-language teachers have asked for help to learn about CLIL
methodology s ince
Bilingual programmes in Spain
The term ‘bilingual’ refers to the fact that students are going to get education in two
languages. This is important because, so far, education has been completely
monolingual: students had formal instruction of foreign language as a subject, but
there w as no teaching o f content t hrough E nglish.
Many Spanish state schools are now offering bilingual programmes to their students
in a number of forms. Each secondary school has the freedom to develop its own
curriculum regarding which subjects are taught in the foreign language and for how
long e ach week.
Most schools and all the schools offering bilingual programmes have a foreign
language assistant whose main role is that of a mere culture and language
informant, but indeed their work enriches the learning experience for the children and
for t he content teachers.
Features:
Coordination t eam
Language a ssistants
Continuity f rom P rimary to S econdary Education
Immersion p rogrammes (teachers and s tudents)
Teacher t raining programmes (linguistic a nd methodological)
Bilingual programmes in E xtremadura
Gradually in the last decade more and more schools started to implement bilingual
programmes, mostly in English and some in French and Portuguese. Out of a total of
549 primary and secondary schools about 274 run bilingual programmes, which
represents 49% of schools. 153 in primary, 111 in secondary and 10 in vocational
education.
Our B ilingual p rogramme s tructure
Students’ a dmission and arrangement of g roups
Students volunteer to take part in the programme. The schools developing bilingual
projects are allowed to establish selection procedures in order to incorporate
students in the programme. In our case, they have to take a diagnosis test at the
beginning of the school year to check their standard of English. Most of them are
admitted in the programme, but if we feel they can have difficulties we have a
meeting with the parents and agree by mutual consent which educational response
is best. There is always the possibility of joining the programme later on if it is
advised b y their c lass t eachers.
Parents sign a commitment form on behalf of their children to stay in the programme
during t he four years o f compulsory secondary education.
Most primary and secondary state schools arrange groups in mixed-ability classes
(70%); however, the students taking part in the bilingual programme have different
lessons and teachers regarding the subjects taught within the programme, English
included.
However there are schools where the students in the bilingual programme are
together in the same class. This was our case when we started implementing the
programme but over time we decided to mix the students in different classes for a
better integration in school l ife.
Other features
The programme starts at the beginning of lower secondary, when they are 12 years
old and it is extended throughout the whole period of compulsory education, until the
fourth grade.
At least two subjects must be taught using the foreign language. In each of these
subjects considered in the programme, the foreign language must be used in at least
one weekly period, which means that roughly 30 per cent of the contents are taught
through E nglish.
The weekly schedule and contents of these non lingüistic subjects are the same as
those followed by the rest o f the s tudents.
ln this programme students must do a second foreign language, usually French, and
have an a dditional h our of English in their weekly t imetable.
Content s ubjects taught t hrough the E nglish language in lower s econdary:
1st grade: Maths, P.E. a nd A rt 2nd grade: Maths and P .E.
3rd g rade: M aths, P .E. and A rt 4th grade: M aths, P.E. and E thics
Vocational h igher education - Industrial R obotics and A utomation:
Industrial computing
Economics and e ntrepreneurship
Teachers
Teachers have to prove their B2 level of proficiency by means of the certificates
admitted o fficially.
Among the teachers involved in the programme, there is a coordinator, usually a
teacher from the English d epartment. T heir role is:
Conduct w eekly m eetings
strengthen teachers cooperation.
search f or and adapting r esources
Engage t eachers in t he participation o f E uropean p rojects
Encourage staff members to take part in courses aimed at improving their foreign
language s kills
Activities
Outside the regular academic programme we arrange a number of extracurricular
activities every year in order to increase the students’ exposure to language, to
encourage cooperation a nd experience other cultures.
School trip t o London
English adventure c amps
Team-building events and g atherings
Cooperation project with an A merican school
Participation i n E uropean p rogrammes
Drama workshops
Methodology
CLIL uses English as a medium to t each o ther s ubject areas
CLIL focuses o n f luency and c ommunication
CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a
foreign language with a double aim, the learning of content, and the simultaneous
learning o f a foreign language'. ( Marsh, 1994)
From the very beginning, when we started off with the bilingual project, we have
followed the regional regulations on the issue including 30% of the subject content
through the medium of English. However, we have always put emphasis on
communicative competence and we feel communication should pay a prominent role
over content. It is no use learning the names of bones or muscles if there is not a
communicative purpose in itself. Currently, we tend to integrate contents in a way
that the student can make connections with their own experience and we use
supportive strategies like working in groups, using graphs, graphic organizers (to
structure writing projects, to help in problem solving, decision making, studying,
planning research and brainstorming) , visuals, ICT applications, content area texts-
Scaffolding learning (building on what l earners already k now)
Language and content are also integrated through task-based or project-based
activities. Through these activities we can motivate students to use English to
communicate in the real world. The final product can be a presentation based on a
given topic or a research, conduct an interview, making a video, cooking a meal …,
but. of course, the focus is not only on the product but also on the process of
learning.
Desdobles. Split classes to strengthen the students’ speaking skills through
interaction, presentations, d escriptions, c ooperative w ork, g uided d ebates …
Evaluation
Conclusions (on regional l evel)
Strengths
Interest of families. C ommitted to t heir c hildren’s e ducation
The bilingual programmes contribute to the improvement of the school’s e ducational
programmes. Through the programme, families expect their children to improve their
standards in foreign languages.
Students’ performance was remarkable last year in the region: 80% proved a B2
level of E nglish according to the European Framework.
Culture of hard work is also promoted by implementing the programme. It is an extra
effort f or b oth s tudents and teachers.
The experience involves more c ooperation and new methodological approaches for
content s ubject teachers
Positive c ontribution of foreign language assistants
Weaknesses
Lack of t eachers w ith the required l evel o f E nglish
Performance differences between primary and secondary students, French and
English
Lack of appropriate t raining f or c ontent s ubject teachers
Lack o f f inancial support
Threats and opportunities
- Exposure to foreign language restricted to classrooms (dubbed movies,
limited use of FL in mass media …) Foreign language used in an academic
context.
- Difficulties i n finding s ubstitute teachers
- Specific difficulties i n rural areas in t erms o f t ransport m ainly.
+ Globalization a nd m obility i n t erms of work and training.
+ Coping with undermotivated students, lack of hard work, discipline problems
may lead teachers t o try new a pproaches and f orms o f o rganization.
+ Proximity to neighbouring countries like Portugal or France is an opportunity
to expand the p rogrammes in t hose l anguages
PLC (School's Linguistic P roject)
Rationale
There are several factors that brought about (or led to) the implementation of the
Linguistic Project: the integration of key competences in curricula, the European
framework, external evaluations like PISA report and the implementation of bilingual
programmes developed jointly by non linguistic departments and foreign language
departments. The former required and still demand strategies and methodology to
address the communicative competence.
In addition, many teachers feel a need to do something about the difficulties that
students find in written and spoken production and we think that teaching a subject
does not only mean a simple transfer of knowledge but also involves dealing with
communication skills, so we really want to develop communication and know-how
skills.
How? Steps t o e nhance the s tudents’ language c ompetence
All the d epartments agreed to fulfill these c ommitments:
Perform s peaking activities and c ommon assessment criteria
Include common guidelines for oral presentations, projects presented in writing and
in digital form a nd e rror correction (mention c ommon d ocuments)
Whenever possible there will be a weekly meeting for the team of teachers in charge
of the l inguistic p roject to monitor i ts implementation and c oordinate a ctivities.
Include a communicative task dealing with the four main language skills every school
term.
Interconnections w ith the bilingual programme
Coordination and cooperation depend on volunteer work of the teachers involved.
The future of CLIL projects still depends mostly on teacher's availability and
willingness to k eep t rying on t heir own.
Foreign language teachers and in particular the bilingual programme coordinator’s
role is to encourage the team of teachers in the bilingual programme to perform
common t asks or i nterdisciplinary a ctivities
Conclusions
Expanding the p rogramme t o a ll the s chool, different l evels.
There’s room for improvement in terms of human resources, more teaching hours of
language a ssistants, m ore f unding
External assessment tests to prove the proficiency level acquired by students when
they finish the p rogramme
An example of good practice: Presentation of the Bilingual programme and the Linguistic
project o f IES Santiago A póstol given i n Spain in March 2 015
LEARNING COMMUNITIES (INTERACTIVE GROUPS / DIALOGIC LITERARY
AND A RTISTIC TEACHING)
Interactive g roups. An approach t o achieve s chool success
It is a different way to organize and work in class which improves our students'
learning level and their relationship at school. The students are arranged in small
groups monitored by an adult and are engaged with their peers in a common task.
Each group has a time limit to complete the task and rotates to move on to do the
next task. Basically, through the use of this approach, underachieving students are
not separated from the class to be helped, but rather the opposite, the teachers ask
other adults to intervene in the class for help and all students take part on equal
conditions.
How many people c an p articipate i n class?
5 or 6 students in each different team (heterogeneous mixed ability group). Always
the same students i n e ach class group.
One a dult ( not a teacher, a volunteer)
The t eacher m onitors t he students but d oes not take part.
How do we work in interactive g roups? T here is one d ifferent activity i n e ach group.
Students m ust d o the a ctivity together.
They have about 1 0 t o 15 minutes to c omplete each activity.
When they finish, they change places and do a different activity. Volunteers’ role is to
produce dynamic supportive learning interactions in each group and guide the
activity, not to replace the teacher’s role. They do not have to explain the task, they
only have to encourage the students to be critical and solve problems by
themselves.
Some c lues to w ork in interactive g roups
Activities m ust be done helping e ach other.
They n eed to c ollaborate and p articipate.
They need t o o rganize t he task b y t hemselves and t hey s hould be p atient.
They h ave to respect and listen t o each other ( students a nd v olunteers).
What about the volunteers? They are not teachers, but usually family members like
parents, former students or other community members. In general, people who take
part in the interactive groups have some connection with the school (from some local
associations, university...).
Goals and results
Positive attitude: l isten/ h elp
Expectations: students, teachers, families.
Better r elationship with f amilies.
Social skills: team w ork, initiative, self-esteem.
Communicative skills: speaking, critical t hinking, d iscussing, explaining, listening...
Motivation
Tolerance
Dialogic l iterary a nd artistic teaching
It is a different way to discuss and comment a book or an artistic work through
dialogue.
Students can choose a book of universal literature. In each session, everybody must
have r ead t he same p art of the b ook (pages/chapters).
Everybody must h ave c hosen o ne p aragraph.
A student becomes the m oderator.
Each student reads aloud a passage and shares why he/she has chosen it. They
give t heir o pinion a bout each extract.
In dialogic artistic teaching the teacher's role is to choose an artistic work and explain
the main topics that could be commented about it such as historical background,
level of representation, realistic/expressionist approach, technical aspects (colours,
light...), whereas students search for some information related to the artistic work
and those topics. They choose the most important/ interesting piece of information
for them, share it with the other students and explain the reasons why they have
chosen i t.
Dialogic t eaching session i n a n art c lass d uring the T eacher T raining Event held in S pain, March 2 015
Goals and results
Promoting the p articipation o f a ll the s tudents.
All t he c ontributions h ave t he same v alue (not only t he teacher´s).
Communicative skills: speaking, reading, discussing, explaining, listening to one
onother.
Freedom o f speech.
Respect.
Humanisation o f the class.
Presentation o f the ‘Learning C ommunities’ P roject i mplemented a t IES Santiago Apóstol -
Spain in March, 2 015
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