How can I reconcile the identity of being professional with the realities of ELT in Colombia and my own context?

By that time I had already finished my Specialization in Learning Needs from the UPTC, and I tried to get a job there in Tunja, it was a really hard moment because I was not being out of the country and that was one of the most important requirements in the school in Tunja, anyway, I found a job in a really prestigious school.

My first impression of the school was that the resources to teach English were really good, there were visual aids and technological resources enough and the students had money enough to get their materials, in addition, the spaces in the school were fantastic, beautiful parks, and lands, so I thought that it was going to be a really good experience, and after 6 years of studying how to teach Foreign Languages, I got thousand of ideas about how to do excellent classes.

Then when the Principal and the Coordinators explained to me the rules, the policies of the school and some teaching recommendations, such as students cannot go out of the classroom, they cannot work in groups, they cannot watch videos, they cannot be in the park, they cannot speak aloud, they cannot play, so I wondered, What can they do? How are they going to learn being like machines?  I was completely surprised I did not how to teach in that, how to treat my students like machines, like mommies, like people who are allowed to do anything only sit properly and listen to me?, that was absurd, the lands, the parks, the spaces what for? If they could not use them, I felt frustrated, and my identity as professional was touched, I felt upset, because according to many theories of teaching English that I had read and heard at the university, for instance the Learning Strategies theory (Oxford, 1980), in which students have to do things, have to move, have to guess, they have to play, they have to plan their own strategies to learn English, and according to T. S. Roberts (2004) and E. F. Barkley, K. P. Cross, & C. H. Major (2005). The Collaborative Learning which is one of the best strategies to encourage and motivate students to work and participate in the foreign language and as its name indicates Collaborative means to work as a team.

Having into account all theories, and the situation, I felt that all the things I knew and I had studied were not necessary in that school, because I could not do all the activities I knew to motivate my students, instead of that I have to keep them controlled, quiet and sat. I realized I needed to do something to really be connected with my knowledge, my experience and my expectations and purposes with those children for teaching them English.

So I did it! I talked to the Principal, but what happened, when the school policies are untouchables? When they do not care what you know about teaching foreign languages? What can a teacher do? I felt powerless and discouraged, I tried to do my best and once I broke the rules I took the students out I made them play and sing, and they really enjoyed the class but I got punished. So What kind of motivation for the teacher is that? Why do we spend years and years studying and getting literated if the schools are not interested in receiving advise and help from you, in order to improve their quality in Foreign Language teaching and learning?

I lived this situation one year ago in that private school, and the saddest is that there is not only one school which follows these policies, actually most of the people I know and which have worked in many private schools faced the same limitations and problems, and for that reason, most of them gave up, because their identity, and their professionalism were being affected by those old-fashioned, and controlled rules, so what is going to be the future of the EFT in Colombia if the schools do not do anything to get updated with the strategies and methodologies of teaching English?  

On the other hand, now from my new experience in the Public side of the education, I can talk about how I reconciled my identity of being professional with the reality of ELT but at this time in a Public school in a little town called Ciénega.

After so many prohibitions and boundaries I got into a new education world a total different side of the situations I had lived before, that was a big change too. Because I was working with welty children, and then I started working with low resources children but I loved it, even knowing that in the Public field there are not so many materials and audiovisual resources,  there is something more important than material things and it is Autonomy, when I arrived I did not have the same things and the same facilities in order to teach  English, but I got a big green land a good space to go out and explore the nature, for that reason, I knew it was the time to apply all the theories and strategies I had studied and use all the objects and belongings I  got in my hands for doing the best things I could.

I felt completely identified with role as an English teacher, and the most important to me was that my students felt connected with my subject as well. They did not have good English bases but they had interest what was more significant. Last year the school got some money in an English context and now there are more materials for working I have books, computers, videos and many more things, and I feel free to teach my classes, sometime we work inside the classroom, sometimes we read, write, sing, play, listen, watch, walk, laugh, cry and all those things are which teaching and learning English are made of.

I know I am doing well because I am giving everything I got to contribute to the purpose of the ministry of education about the bilingual people, and I am completely identified with the task I am carrying out. However, sometimes I feel concerned as well because, I know I have autonomy nobody forbids me to teach the way I consider is the best, but I felt worried because there is a failure in the Public Education because in Primary Schools there is not a specialized English teacher to teach this language and that is why most of the students have low English level in sixth grade, for the lack of early English, what is a good point in the private education due to in private schools children learn English since preschool.

Nevertheless, in order to contribute with this lack in Primary School, I am already working with an English Program of Bilingualism which is supported by the Mayor of the town, this program is already working in all the Primary Schools in Tuta, Boyacá, the program basically has a specialized teacher in the Foreign Language who goes to the school and teach children some English hours, in order to motivate them to start learning English and to know basic things which can be helpful for them in the future. For next year this Programme is planned to get started in other towns such as Ramiriqui, and Ciénega.

So after presenting both sides of the education private and public fields, I can say that the reality of the English Foreign Language Teaching and Learning is really far away from what it would be, for the limitations, for the old policies, for the lack of resources and many other aspects, so what is what is really worthy in our lives as teachers, in our personal experience as learners, and in our real practice in which the feelings, ideas, thoughts and knowledge we have conformed our identity as professionals?  I consider it is our commitment with our area, with our own policies and way of thinking, we can change the things if we all work together to show to the private school that to learn English does not mean to repeat and answer like robots but actually it is to interact with real people to work in groups, to learn by playing, to learn by changing the activities every day, and the most important to show our students in public and private schools, that we care about them, that we are really interested in their learning process that they are essential for us, because as we know if there are not students there are not teachers, so let is keep on working to show to the world we can do the difference in the education.

REFERENCES

  Noticias de Educación. ¿Cómo va la educación en Colombia?. Guiaacademica.com. Colombia, Abril 19 2010. . [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in http://www.guiaacademica.com/educacion/personas/cms/colombia/articulos_de_expertos/2010/ARTICULO-WEB-EEE_PAG-7626711.aspx

      Taken from Common European Framework of reference for Languages. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages     

     BYRAM, Michael & PARMENTER, Lynne. The common European Framework of Reference. The Globalisation of Language Education policy. Languages fro intercultural communicaton. 2012. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in  http://books.google.com.co/books?hl=es&lr=&id=b-ixKSqytTgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA149&dq=THE+REALITIES+OF+ELT+IN+COLOMBIA&ots=2FJfTrm8xM&sig=zca_8t7BsHXxVtPj31GrTCKZ1w#v=onepage&q&f=false

      Colombia- United States Free trade Agreeement. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 2013. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement

      STOERGER, Sharon, The international Review on Research in Open and Distance Learning. Book Review – Collaborative Learning: Two perspectives on theory and practice. School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University.2008.

      GONZÁLEZ MONCADA, Adriana. Professional Development Of EFL Teachers In Colombia: Between Colonial And Local Practices. Íkala, revista de lenguaje y cultura Vol. 12, N.º 18 (ene.-dic., 2007) [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in   http://aprendeenlinea.udea.edu.co/revistas/index.php/ikala/article/view/2722/2175

      Total Physical Response. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. [on line ]. [Reviewed on Abril 2013].  Available in   http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Physical_Response

[1]Noticias de Educación. ¿Cómo va la educación en Colombia?. Guiaacademica.com. Colombia, Abril 19 2010

[2] Taken from Common European Framework of reference for Languages. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia.

[3] BYRAM, Michael & PARMENTER, Lynne. The common European Framework of Reference. The Globalisation of Language Education policy. Languages fro intercultural communicaton.

[4] Colombia- United States Free trade Agreeement. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 2013.

A GREAT MOVIE CALLED STARS ON EARTH!

When I was in the undergraduated program one Teacher advise me to watch this movie called "Stars on Earth" in that time I did not see the things in the same I do right now, but them when a teacher from the master advise me to watch it again, I could do a deeper reflection and that is what I want to share with you, my experience with the movie and my personal experience with a child who had a neurolinguistic problem called Dislexya. 

“STARS ON EARTH” A STORY THAT CHANGED MY MIND AS TEACHER

INTRODUCTION

Stars on Earth is a great movie in which we can see how many teachers and parents most of the times are not aware of the language problems that their students or sons could have and for this reason they do not know how to react when these kind of difficulties appeared. On the next pages we will discuss closely how a language problem about difficulties in reading and writing  called Dyslexia and dysgraphia, affected the learning process of a little boy named Ishan.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Nowadays, through Neuroscience studies many physical problems of the brain related to the development of language have been discovered and studied; according to Brown, S and Attardo, S (2009) these are some of the most common Athypical Language Developments:

HEARING IMPAIRMENTS: Related to hearing loss and deaf children.

MENTAL REATARDATION: It is defined for basis of IQ, in this case it found 4 mentally retardation levels: IQ 70-52 Mild, IQ 51-36 Moderate, IQ 35-20 Severe, IQ < 20 Profound.

AUTISM: It is the lack of the ability to establish social relations including with their parents. Language development is very slow. Autistic children are unable to work in cooperative activities.

STUTTERING:  Repetition of sounds, syllables or phrases, it can a block because the speaker cannot release the words.

APHASIA: It is a damage of the brain, in which can exist a partial or total loss of language.

DYSLEXIA is a disorder in reading and Dysgraphia that is a disorder in writing, these disorders can be acquired or developmental. There are three types of dyslexia and dysgraphia: Phonological, deep and surface. Children with this disability have problems spelling, they have disruptive behavior, and they watch a lot of television.

REFLECTION

We as teachers have heard that all these language development problems exist but, unfortunately, most of the times we have not received instruction enough about the symptoms to identify the disabilities or about the possible activities that could be implemented in order to teach these kinds of children. For this reason we confuse these difficulties with behavior problems, and we called our students lazy and bad children; this was the story of a little boy called Ishan brother of a smart guy, and  son of a noble woman and a strict man, who was very hard with his two boys, so different, one of them was always the first in the class, and he got 10 in all this tests, instead of Ishan who failed all the subjects, and he was unable to write or read correctly.

Ishan parents did not know what to do with him, they thought Ishan was lazy, and naughty, due to this he did not like to do his homework and he failed all the tests, but he was not bad at all, because he was very good at painting, he loved to do it and he had the biggest imagination to make up beautiful pictures. Nevertheless teachers, and parents did not see the good things in Ishan and they just considered that he needed to be corrected in order to get better scores, as his brother did every day.

Their teachers did not do anything to find out what is going on with his mind and his learning problem, and nobody helped him, so he ended in a far and boarding school, where he felt completely alone and sad, he was depressed and he felt he was the worst person in the world because he was unable to read and write as it was a crime.  Many days and classes passed and Ishan without any help, was going bad again he mixed everything and even if he tried really hard to understand what the teachers said he could not get a word.

 This story remains me two years ago when I was working in Villa de Leyva, I got a student named Valeria, she really nice, and she was very good in English, she could pronounce everything in a right way, but when she was trying to write she could not do it, she wrote as if she were looking in a mirror, at the beginning I did not notice the problem, I thought it was normal and maybe because it was English, I thought it was hard for her to write, but then one day in a meeting with all the teachers of Valeria,  they asked me if Valeria was a good student, because she could not read or write well in the other subjects, so I was really surprised because she could pronounce well in English but not in the other subjects .

At that time, I was studying Learning needs at the UPTC, so I thought Valeria had  Dyslexia or dysgraphia but I was not sure so I asked for help to one of my teachers, I told my teacher the doubt a have about if Valeria had problem of Dyslexia and dysgraphia or not, I showed him the english and math notebook, he analyzed the things and he said it was very possible, for this reason, I told to the coordinator about the situation, she asked me to talk with their parents and finally they took Valeria to specialist and they started treating Valerias’s problem, after one year she got better and then could write and read much better.

When I was watching the movie I started thinking of Valeria because she had the same problem and nobody knew it, she almost passed for a lazy and misbehave girl, as Ishan in the movie, fortunately, as Ishan was helped by his arts teacher who discovered his big talent for painting and who helped him to improve his  writing and reading, and helped his parent to understand Ishan’s problem, I tried to help Valeria as well, I did not gave her extra classes to help her but I got a feeling about her difficulty, and I tried to make sure she was suffering of something before saying she was a bad student.

In conclusion, it is really important to be very careful with our students, because there some problems like HEARING IMPAIRMENTS, MENTAL REATARDATION, and STUTTERING which are easy to identify but there are some others like AUTISM, DYSLEXIA and DYSGRAPHIA, which are not so simple to discover that is why we as professional of the education must pay closely attention to all of our students and we notice something different  of unusual it is essential to ask for help and try to assist the student in order to allow him/her to improve and do things better,  we can be the people who help the world or the people who make it fall down, our words are powerful  and our actions much more, so we must be careful with the things we say and the thing we do.

Written by Mariana Ibañez G

­­­­

International day of Autistic People!

According to Brown, S and Attardo, S (2009)  "autistic children seem to be impaired from the very beginning. They seem to lack the ability to desire stablish social relations, including with their parents"

As we know this is neurolinguistic problem and after many studies it has been said that there is not a cure for this difficulty. 

Today is the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF AUTISTIC PEOPLE, and I watch in Cinemax an interesting documental about this disability, and I remember I have an interesting job about some strategies for working with an autistic boy;  I want to share with you my little research about the  strategies that I used with an autistic student in Villa de Leyva because they were vey useful for me, and if you have any case of autistic children, maybe you could apply these activities for teching him/her English, and find them very useful. 

The strategies are in spanish but I know that in this case it is most important the content that the language!

(The names of the participants have been changed for protecting the privacy of the family and the boy)

AUTISMO

El autismo es un trastorno de la relación social, las personas autistas no se relacionan con el mundo que lo rodea, no reconoce los objetos, ni los animales ni tampoco las situaciones.

También es un trastorno en la comunicación, no pueden combinar sus sentidos para dar respuesta  a las situaciones que se les presentan.

También es un trastorno psíquico, ya que el niño no posee una flexibilidad mental para actuar, pensar, decir o expresar algo. Tiene dificultades sensoriales y su conducta es involuntaria, no se interesa por el entorno que lo rodea, no siente miedo, no tiene imaginación, no expresa sus emociones, tiene comportamientos repetitivos, no mantienen el contacto visual y gritan sin razón aparente.

CASO DE UN NIÑO AUTISTA

Carlos niño coy

Seis años de edad

Residencia villa de leyva

Padres Angel Niño y Diana Maria Coy.

Colegio Dulce Corazón de Maria villa de leyva.

DESCRIPCION DE LOS CONTEXTOS DEL NIÑO

FAMILIAR

Sus padres son jóvenes, el papá es empleado en un restaurante como chef, la mamá es ama de casa.

Son de estrato medio 3, y hacen todos los esfuerzos necesarios para ofrecerle al niño una educación buena y un tratamiento especializado.

Sus padres son tranquilos, amables y han asumido con mucha comprensión la situación de su hijo, no lo presionan sino que lo apoyan totalmente y procuran darle lo mejor.

Sus abuelos paternos están alejados del caso, pero sus abuelos maternos están pendientes del niño, de su desarrollo y de su crecimiento, además son amorosos y comprensivos y apoyan mucho a su hija, esposo y nieto.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

ESCOLAR

El niño cuenta con 3 profesoras, una profesora de grado transición y dos profesoras de ingles. Sus profesoras son amables y comprensión procuran enseñarle actividades que el puede practicar todos los días. Asi mismo las profesoras van a su ritmo de trabajo y le hacen bastantes actividades de expresión corporal que le  permite mejorar su espontaneidad y nivel de comunicación.

Por otra parte, sus compañeros de clase son muy amables con Carlos siempre le colaboran en todo, le  dicen que colores deben usar, que libro debe tener en que pagina, donde debe escribir, le ayudan a destapar sus onces y además advierten a los profesores sobre su condición para que lo traten con más cuidado y atención.

SOCIAL

El niño generalmente se relaciona, con otras profesoras del colegio, con el conductor de la ruta que lo lleva a su casa quien lo recoge, lo sube al bus y le pone su cinturón de seguridad. Con los niños vecinos a su casa que son hijos de amigas de su mamá, quienes saben de su condición y lo tratan con paciencia.

 ESTRATEGIAS PARA TRABAJAR CON EL NIÑO  AUTISTA

1.    LAMINAS E IMAGENES

Teniendo en cuenta que Carlos  desarrolla una gran dificultad con el lenguaje es importante enseñarle a través de láminas, fotos e imágenes de los objetos, personas o actividades con los que interactúa a diario.

2.    ACTIVIDADES RUTINARIAS

El niño debe aprender conductas y actividades rutinarias que le permitan interactuar con su entorno es decir que él puede aprender a hacer una misma cosa todos los días, a la misma hora y con la misma gente.

Así mismo es importante ofrecerle oportunidades de practicar lo que ya sabe y darle la opción de elegir entre una cosa o la otra, para que él pueda desarrollar su sentido de preferencia.

3.    MUSICOTERAPIA

La música ayuda a que el niño desarrolle una conducta mas espontanea, y a que su habilidad de comunicación mejore ya que la música ofrece relajamiento y permite que el niño socialice con los demás y comprenda mejor el lenguaje.

4.    ENSEÑAR EN GRUPO REGLAS A SEGUIR

Es importante enseñarle al niño como seguir reglas o instrucciones, dichas reglas se pueden enseñar a través de juegos grupales, en los cuales los niños deben hacer lo que el profesor dice y todos siguen las instrucciones.

5.    REGLAS BÁSICAS DE CONDUCTA

Es necesario al niño enseñarle reglas básicas de conducta tales como saludos y despedidas que le permitan interactuar con las personas que lo rodean. Y para que adquiera un buen habito cuando se comporte en público.

6.    ESTRATEGIA DE REPETICIÓN

Para ayudar al niño a desarrollar su habilidad del lenguaje, se puede mostrar imágenes y hacer que el niño repita varias veces el nombre del objeto, la persona o la actividad con el fin de que relacione la imagen, la palabra y luego pueda usarla en un momento real.

7.    TERAPIA INDIVIDUAL

Otra estrategia muy útil es trabajar solo con el niño en sesiones de una hora diaria con el profesor encargado debidamente capacitado, o la psicóloga de la institución, en la cual se manejan actividades de lenguaje, de destreza, de habilidad motora, de motricidad fina y gruesa, de visualización.

8.    AGENDAS PERSONALES DIARIAS

Esta estrategia pretende hacer un registro gráfico o escrito de las actividades más relevantes del día, con el fin de ayudar al niño a comprender más fácilmente dichos sucesos; este tipo de agendas tiene un efecto positivo en el niño autista ya que le dan un aire de tranquilidad y bienestar, lo motivan a aprender y además le permiten organizar su mundo. Es importante que los padres y profesores lo guíen para llevar su agenda diaria.

9.    ARTE

Teniendo en cuenta que este niño no tiene una gran capacidad de imaginación y creatividad es positivo  ayudarle a desarrollar o a expresar sus habilidades a través del arte, la pintura, los colores y el manejo de los elementos que se emplean para la misma.

1. EN VACACIONES

Es importante que los padres de familia durante las vacaciones le establezcan un horario de rutina con el fin de que el niño pueda practicar y ensayar las actividades antes enseñadas, los padres deben mostrar la laminas que se le dan al niño de las cosas y repetir su nombre con frecuencia para que el niño pueda también reproducir la palabra.

INFOGRAFIA

DEVEIKIS, Mariel R. El Autismo. [En línea]. [Consultado septiembre 3 de 2011]. Disponible en http://www.monografias.com/trabajos13/elautis/elautis.shtml

Autismodiario.org. Agendas personales para niños con autismo. [En línea]. [Consultado septiembre 3 de 2011]. Disponible en http://autismodiario.org/2008/10/21/agendas-personales-para-ninos-con-autismo/

DURAN, M. ¿Cómo aprende un niño autista? [En línea]. [Consultado septiembre 3 de 2011]. Disponible en http://comoaprendeunautistapr.blogspot.com/

INVESTIGANDO En. Bases Pedagógicas del autismo. ? [En línea]. [Consultado septiembre 3 de 2011]. Disponible en http://investigacion.ve.tripod.com/capitulo22.html

QUOTES

“To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.” 
― Frantz Fanon


“Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law” 
― de Saussure, Ferdinand

"The vocabulary of endearment, complaint, and abuse, provides, I think, almost the only specimens of words that are purely emotional, words from which all imaginative or conceptual content has vanished, so that they have no function at all but to express or stimulate emotion, or both. And an examination of them soon convinces us that in them we see language at its least linguistic. We have come to the frontier between language and inarticulate vocal sounds. And at that frontier we find a two-way traffic going on.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Studies in Words

VOCABULARY CARDS AND GAMES!

CHECK IT OUT!

PASS THE BAG GAME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSsnIhk0Y_I

VOCABULARY CARDS 
You can find many more in this adress: http://www.eslflashcards.com/preview.php?id=10

PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS

Well, I apologized to my followers but I was kind of busy at work! 

Anyway today at work, I was  using a common game that is used in spanish and it is called El Baúl de Mi Abuela, I named it in English "My Grandma's Box". 

This game is for learning and remembering vocabulary, the idea is that the Teacher has to say in  "My Grandma's Box" there is a Lion for example then teacher points at their students at random and they have two options which depend on the teacher instruction, the first one is to say words which start with the same letter in this case "L" such as: love, lamp, last, late, like, lord, lemon, little, etc; and the second option that is two say words which corresponds to same family words for example Lion is an animal so students would have to say animals as well, such as: dog, snake, pig, cat, cow, etc. 

This is a great game, and today my students were having fun when they were playing, and while they were playing I started thinking about the reading of Hedge, T (2009) about Vocabulary, and I remember the PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC  relations that he mentioned in this chapter, and I realized that students were able to use the meaning of the vocabulary according to these two realtions in a unconscious way. It was surprising for me because, students were using their mental lexicon in English using these relations among words to play and get points in this simple but useful game.  Every time I feel more and more amaze for our capacity of having and developing our MENTAL LEXICON

Finally, I let you know this game, if you want you can use it in your classes, chikdren will have fun and they will practice vocabulary at the same time. 

MENTAL LEXICON

Hi everybody, I invite you to check out this video about the last Linguistics Class topic conversation  about Mental Lexicon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8HIAVTeGNk