Here are some key ideas to enhance language learning activities:
Start language learning sessions with a personal touch, such as greetings and check-ins, to foster engagement among participants. This helps create a supportive and inclusive learning environment.
Encourage participants to share positive reflections about their learning experiences, which can boost morale and motivation within the group.
Provide practical suggestions for enhancing language practice, such as dividing material for better practice and suggesting improvements in vocabulary and formatting.
Discuss the importance of layout improvements, material effectiveness, and understanding rating systems to ensure language learning activities are user-friendly and impactful.
Emphasize the importance of maintaining high standards compared to competitors, which can contribute to the overall quality of language learning experiences.
Highlight the significance of clear instructions, improved visual presentation, and considering the student perspective to enhance usability and effectiveness.
Explore various teaching methodologies, such as simplicity, repetition, starting lessons with visuals, and gradually increasing complexity, to facilitate effective language learning.
By incorporating these ideas into language learning activities, educators can create more engaging, effective, and user-friendly experiences for learners.
Speaker | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
Maria García Fernández | Introduction and Weekly Check-In | Maria initiates the conversation, greets attendees, and inquires about their week, fostering engagement among participants. |
Thelma Elliott | Positive Reflections | Thelma shares positive feedback about her week. |
Speaker | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
Katherine Elkington | Suggestions for Language Practice | Proposes dividing language practice material into two screens for better practice and suggests improvements in vocabulary and formatting. |
Gergo | Discussion on Activity Usability | Discusses improvements in layout, importance of material effectiveness despite appearance, understanding stars rating system, manual correction prioritization, recycling activities, and purpose of produce phase in language learning. |
Josie Salmon | Importance of Maintaining Standards | Highlights the importance of maintaining high standards compared to competitors. |
Toni Kitchen | Query on Activity Rating Process | Asks about the process for activities rated three stars or lower. |
Georgina Malagarriga | Discussion on Usability and Student Perspective | Raises concerns about usability issues, suggests clearer instructions for students, discusses the importance of considering student perspective, and highlights the need for improvement in visual presentation and usability. |
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez | Importance of Instruction Clarity | Discusses the need for improvement in visuals and clarity of instructions, and highlights the importance of understanding the purpose of each phase in language learning. |
Myrna Akkers | Concerns about Activity Clarity | Raises concerns about the clarity and effectiveness of the produce phase in the activity. |
Speaker | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
Gergo | Structuring Lessons for Clarity | Gergo emphasizes the importance of using pictures to introduce vocabulary and clear explanations of grammar structures. He highlights the need for simplicity and repetition in language learning activities. |
Katherine Elkington | Setting the Stage with Visuals | Katherine suggests starting lessons with visuals that outline the structure and content of the lesson, helping students understand what they will be practicing from the beginning. |
Georgina Malagarriga | Micro-Doses for Effective Learning | Georgina discusses the concept of "micro-doses" in language learning, advocating for simplicity and repetition as effective teaching methods. |
Josie Salmon | Repetition for Natural Learning | Josie reinforces the idea of repetition in language learning, emphasizing that students will have multiple opportunities to practice language skills naturally. |
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez | Simplifying Lesson Ideas | Jonatan suggests starting with a simple idea for lessons, gradually building up complexity, and reinforcing the importance of simplicity in teaching. |
3rd of may, 2024, 8:58a.m.
1 h 11 min 48 s
Maria García Fernández 1:49
Hi, ladies.
How are you? Hi, Thomas.
Thelma Elliott 1:57
Hello. Hello, everyone. Hello. Maria Rojas here, Thomas.
Tomás García Alonso 1:58
Hello, Maria. Hello everybody.
Maria García Fernández 2:04
How are you? How was your week for the new ones? Did you survive?
Thelma Elliott 2:08
Yeah, it was fantastic.
Maria García Fernández 2:11
Well, if you're still here, that means that Beth, what a surprise.
How are you?
You're muted.
Bev Sisson 2:19
Hi, I'm good. I'm good. How are you?
Maria García Fernández 2:23
So it's nice to see all faces that have gone for a while back. How is everything?
Bev Sisson 2:30
Yeah, OK. OK, good, good. Yeah, need to talk about. Yeah. I was gonna say we'll catch up. OK.
Maria García Fernández 2:33
Yeah, we will catch up later.
And the rest? How are you? Yes, nessa. Josie. Raquel.
Bev Sisson 2:40
Good to see.
Maria García Fernández 2:45
How was your week?
Nezha Essouaf 2:49
All good. All good. Thank you for asking.
Maria García Fernández 2:52
Get voice here.
Gergo 2:53
Hi. Hi, good, good morning everyone.
Actually can't find a link for the meeting, so I'm sorry I'm going to send it to him. How is everyone but Maria or has already asked you? But.
How's everybody? Who's who's? No worries. Who's who's doing a long week? A long weekend. Sorry.
Maria García Fernández 3:10
Sorry.
If they are here, I guess that no one, no.
Gergo 3:19
Long weekend, anyone?
Alright, alright.
Maria García Fernández 3:22
It was. We're not here are taking the long weekend.
Gergo 3:25
Hey, Bev.
Bev Sisson 3:25
Is he, is he still? Hi.
How are you?
Gergo 3:29
Hi.
Yeah, good. Nice to see you again. Haven't seen you for awhile.
Bev Sisson 3:34
Yeah, well, I'm. I'm here. I'm here. So nice to see you.
Gergo 3:38
Are you are are you, are you in England now or are you back in Bulgaria?
Jas Anand 3:39
Mm hmm.
Bev Sisson 3:44
I'm in Bulgaria, so it's Easter weekend here. It's a it's a long weekend. It's Easter.
Gergo 3:50
Easter week. Oh, yeah. OK, because it's orthodox, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. So you you have it, you have it later.
Bev Sisson 3:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gergo 3:56
Yeah.
K.
Anyone anything to share about classes this week?
How are your classes? How are your students?
New new teachers. How did you find teaching with the opportunity platform?
Anything to share?
Thelma Elliott 4:15
It's really nice. It's nice. Gradually, I'm getting to know more about it, so it's really nice platform.
Gergo 4:18
Yeah.
OK. That's really that's that's cool, too cool to hear.
Anyone else anything to share after we arrived? OK, super.
A joke? Maybe someone.
Katherine Elkington 4:35
It.
Gergo 4:40
Come on, people.
Jas Anand 4:40
Not very good. I've just got something just to not share, but just to comment with teenagers.
Gergo 4:48
No.
Jas Anand 4:49
I mean, I don't know whether who else has teenagers, but I've got one particular one. She's it's like pulling teeth.
So it's it's really hard to get a reaction. And I know teenagers generally, they're not all like that. But when you have another student in the class, she really drags everybody down. So it's very hard, doesn't it? With a group class because it's just one word, answers and very hard to get something out of her. And then I feel sorry for the other student who is eager and keen to go. So I'm not really sure how to address that.
When you got, you know, one really sulky person who just does not want to be there.
Gergo 5:35
OK.
Jas Anand 5:35
And I have commented and you know, so it's it's just something I I would I welcome any.
Sort of suggestions.
Gergo 5:42
Now any, any, anyone this is this is a good this is a good one because it's not it's it's something that I think.
Many of us encounter from time to time, right?
A person who who doesn't really want to be there.
In the class. So anyone, do you have any suggestions to Beth? What would you do? What would you do with the with the team in your in your class? Who who's who's?
Who's there but who's not there?
Bev Sisson 6:17
I think, yeah, it's I think it's happens more often than than we would like with teenagers. But I think I mean, I always try to focus on something that they are particularly into. I can can I share one experience. I remember a teenage girl who was very much like that. She spent the whole time looking round not paying any attention. And I found out that she was really interested in makeup and wanted to be a makeup artist. And so it's like, right, OK, pick up on that.
And so I would ask you about what kind of makeup she liked and she was. And she really came alive but.
That could have happened if the if she was alone in the class. Obviously, if there's two teenage boys in me there spending a lot of time talking about makeup wouldn't go down too well. So in that in my situation it worked, but I think they just try and pick on something that that person is really, really into. Have you found out what any hobbies?
Jas Anand 7:01
Mm hmm.
Bev Sisson 7:15
Have you found out any of her hobbies?
Jas Anand 7:15
Yeah.
Yes, she is. She's a very girly girl. And then once I did mention makeup and the next 10 minutes, she got the mirror out, started looking at her hair and I just thought, OK, let's talk about something else. It's OK one to one. But then you're deviating from the class. And I think because with with adults.
Bev Sisson 7:34
Yeah.
Maybe if I have a little time, we've got a delay. Sorry.
Jas Anand 7:39
Yeah. Let me see. We're teaching adults. They are there because they want to be there, obviously. But with children, their parents would like them to have a class, you know, and they're tired. But it's.
Bev Sisson 7:46
Yeah.
Yeah, just happy to interact with your students. Is she happy to interact with the other students? If you get them asking each other questions?
Jas Anand 7:56
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Bev Sisson 7:58
No. OK.
Jas Anand 7:58
No, she shot, you know.
Bev Sisson 8:01
Oh, it's difficult one. I'm not quite sure what to say.
Jas Anand 8:01
It's.
Gergo 8:03
Yeah, sounds sounds like a sounds like a a heavy, heavy task, Tony.
Jas Anand 8:09
Heavy duty.
Yeah.
Gergo 8:12
Tony, you want to say you want to share some?
Toni Kitchen 8:16
It might be simple and obvious, but just making sure you're using open questions so you're eliciting more than that one word and that's it, may be obvious. You may be doing that already, but you know instead of do you like this or whatever? What do you like about it? You know, just, yeah, a bit. A simple one really.
Jas Anand 8:35
Yeah.
Gergo 8:36
Oh yeah, that that might work. OK, thanks. Thanks, Tony. Josie. Something else?
Josie Salmon 8:41
Well, just to build on that actually cause, yeah, I think that works well, something I've been trying recently also with kids that are a bit higher level. It's getting them to ask me questions because I think giving them a little bit of like I don't want to say power power feels too strong of a word, but giving them like an opportunity to be able to use the language and learn a little bit about you as well, but practise it through questions rather than just having to answer because I think sometimes they don't even know what to say like TD just don't really think about.
The world, like adults, do, so they might not really know their opinions on stuff, but if they can ask you, then you can then model the language as well. And I think it just makes it a bit more fun for them. But again, they have to be a bit higher level I think to do that you can't do that with sort of beginners. But yeah, I found they really enjoyed that. Yeah.
Jas Anand 9:21
Yeah.
Yeah.
Gergo 9:33
Is is it then? Thanks, Josie. And yes, it's it's. It's her level. Your the teens level. Yes. Is it? Is it good? I mean, is she able to express herself adequately?
Jas Anand 9:33
Good. Thank you.
Yes, yes. You know when she is, her English is very good and I think she's not she her language command language is good and she just doesn't want to be there. So it's.
Yeah, when she talks and when you get her to talk and then she switches off, you know, so.
Gergo 10:08
Have have you have you? Have you ever asked if if if she was bored?
Jas Anand 10:09
Yeah, her English is.
Gergo 10:14
I mean, I mean that directly.
Jas Anand 10:15
You know, like I dare ask that question.
When? When she's not interacting, I have to move on to other activities, you know? So, yeah, I mean, one activity was about cities and that's the only time I've seen her really perk up. And she said, oh, I said, which city have you been to? Oh, Los Angeles. And then she got her phone out and started showing me pictures. I said OK, great. That was the most wow reaction I ever had from her. So. But then you're not actually following the.
Class structure. You know you've got to be careful how you do that.
Gergo 10:51
Yeah. And especially when there are other students I that's that's, that's completely understandable. That's you can't do everything just for one student.
Jas Anand 10:54
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Gergo 11:01
Yeah.
Tricky, tricky situation. Well, let's you you could try. You could try what Tony and Josie mentioned and and to to to spice it up for her or or. Or open her up. Basically, I think. And some in the end.
Jas Anand 11:10
No, thank you.
Gergo 11:21
In the end, sometimes people just do not want to be there and whatever.
It's not going to change.
It's a pity, but with teens, right, there's, there's their their their parents told them that they need to be in a class and they would like to be somewhere else, doesn't matter where, but just not. Not in front of the screen. And with that it's it's it's very hard to. I was a teenager like that myself. So there were no there were no online classes back in those days but.
Jas Anand 11:30
Yeah.
Yeah.
Gergo 11:55
Yeah. So it's like I'm going to language classes. Was not my favourite thing in the afternoons.
Jonathan.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 12:06
Yeah. Let. Let me just make one question here. Is this girl learning?
Jas Anand 12:16
Is learning on the topics that she's never come across, but I think couple of weeks ago I was literally asking myself, has she stopped learning? And then I thought maybe she goes to a higher level but her whole attitude is a very teenagey attitude. So then I think I did make notes and say, you know, maybe she needs to be a higher level. She wants something challenging.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 12:41
Probably it's not the level the the question is, is she learning? Because maybe the attitude is like that. So there's no much you can do about it. So just keep on doing the class and maybe she's there listening and she's learning. She'll. So she likes the way she is so we don't have to change anyone. So she's there as long as she's there, it's fine. So she will probably be learning now. You can do something. So she will have more or she will or the classes will be more appealing to her. Fine.
Gergo 12:41
But you shouldn't.
Jas Anand 12:50
Yeah.
Yeah.
OK. Yeah.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 13:13
Just try it but.
Do do do what you're doing. Actually I mean, for how long has she been in your classes right now?
Jas Anand 13:21
For about 3 months.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 13:23
OK, so still.
Jas Anand 13:24
And I've read all the background. Yeah, I've read all the background notes about the other teachers who taught her, and they have said she doesn't engage. And, you know, there's a lot of history there. So, yeah, I've to just. Yeah.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 13:36
Yeah, something that would work. Yeah. Something that would maybe concern me a little bit is is if there is a change, right? So if that's a happy person and then all of a sudden she starts, like being like that, then it's a problem. But if she already is like this, we accept it. I mean, then you give the class and probably she's learning something. I don't know. That would be my opinion.
Jas Anand 13:52
Yeah.
OK. Thank you.
Gergo 14:01
And and and also like. If she's not disrupting the class directly, I mean, OK, it's not nice to have a student who's not really engaging. And the other other other students wants other students want to to learn or to do the tasks. But there's not much you can do about that. So it's you ask them questions. They answer the questions the way they want to. And that's it.
So so yeah, but Jonathan mentioned this is really also like if she if she's there, if she's there, just to listen and by listening, she's picking up certain things. What she she doesn't know that's already a win win situation for both student and and US teachers in the end.
Jas Anand 14:28
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, great.
Gergo 14:51
All right, all right. This was a good a really good starter instead of instead of jokes.
For for today.
Jas Anand 14:59
Sorry I couldn't do a joke.
Gergo 15:01
No, no, no. But but this this is this is an important. This is a really important thing. And also I think all for all of us sometimes this happens. So it's just it's it's worth to to see what others what others would do and what we could do.
To to address the the problem and in the end Jonathan's.
Comment. I think it's also a kind of reinforcement to to understand that we can't always do something and and even even more we we we shouldn't always do something. So sometimes we just need to take things as they are and then and and and then move on with our work and do do what we can do otherwise with the other students and go on with the class so.
So yeah, we have we have our.
Are are barriers right? We are not. We are not in a classroom. We are not there to to.
To to to morally or teach them or or, you know, improve their mood or attitude. It's it's 30 minutes English learning and that's it. That's what we focus on. So thanks, Jas. It was a. It was a good, good question to to discuss to start with.
OK.
Now, before, before we move.
To.
To depart, in which we talk about activities.
A few things.
Relating back to what we discussed a couple of weeks ago about class classwork, attitude from the part of the teachers.
There were two things came to our attention and one is the use of of headsets or at least earphones from the part of the teacher's when you are conducting classes. So it would be important.
To.
As for us teachers to use a headset or, or at least an earphone or something, when we do the classes, it's just.
Of course, the the audio our audio will get better so the students can understand us better.
But also also for US teachers, it's it will be much easier for you to follow what the students tell tell you and what the students say in the class. So it's it's it's it's it's important again. Well, I'm. I'm not sure. I think it's not in our contract that it's compulsory it's compulsory to where to wear headphones maybe in the future it will be for this reason but.
But it's it's it's it's it's something to to to pay attention to.
And another thing.
About about classroom attitude is your background, unfortunately.
On our platform, you cannot blur out your background or you cannot choose. You cannot choose. Choose an alternative background. We see we see what what the students see what's behind us.
So please try to make sure that that that.
If if the bed is behind you, then you make the bed before you start the class.
And and and.
Perhaps also try to try to pay attention to having a static background. Of course, if if if kids. If your kids walk into the room abruptly or something that's you can't control that.
Every once in a while but but but.
Being in a garden when kids are kids are playing behind you or or your your, your spouse or partner doing the dinner behind you.
Might be a little disruptive for the for the whole classroom, so.
Try to try to pay attention to this. Of course, sometimes we don't. We do do not have other other option right, because that's the only place what we can take. But, but let's try to pay attention to these these things headphones and and backgrounds.
Yeah, mm hmm. Alright.
So having said all this, let's talk about the product then the product itself.
It's it was nice to see that in the in the past weeks, more and more of you joined the Wednesdays and Thursdays workshops in which we, we collaboratively work on complementary works, right, which is the which is the the.
In.
The main way to improve our product as the as the content of our product, let's let's put it this way.
To start this, to start this dialogue with, I would like to share a few pictures about an activity. We worked on a couple of weeks ago, maybe last week. I'm not sure, and firstly I will show you the original, the original state of the of this of this activity. It's a very old activity. It was in my date.
In my database it's it wasn't a complement to work. So for this reason you can't see the.
You can't see the level of the activity, but it's like it's a it's it's AP two activity which is which is as you can see, it's about. It's about the verb can.
Jonathan, you raise your hand.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 21:05
Hello am I.
Gergo 21:06
OK. Deb. No, no, no, no. It for me. It was saying that that your hand is up, but no. OK, OK.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 21:10
Sorry, sorry. Sorry I don't know.
Gergo 21:13
OK, thanks. So so.
So as you can see, this is an activity about about can.
In affirmative interrogative and negative form, right. So.
Very important that when you build this activity, when you work with work on this activity, you pay attention to this part. This is this is the part which which the algorithm takes into consideration. When you give the green face.
Or the red face. This is the part what you are rating. This is what the students need to need to consolidate.
With this particular activity and that's very important when you are correcting an activity and not just when you are correcting when you are, when you are teaching the activity and at the end of the class you are giving these these smiley or or unhappy faces. This is what you need to pay attention to. Did my student did my students understand this? Did my student or?
Did did can my students work with this independently without without problems and then you can give a then you can give a green face.
Now, originally before we started working on it, it was only a it was only a or. There were only two attachments, pictures attachment and.
Number when I come through, we will see what was the title of the OK. Now it's called present. I don't remember what was the original original title but so this was the this was the the first attachment. These sentences. No instructions whatsoever. Nothing to to tell the teachers what to do with this. The teachers tab was empty.
And so this is where you started with this was the first thing to share with the with the students.
And then you went on to this attachment. The pictures, which looks like this. I didn't make a screenshot of the third one.
But but basically this was all everything. So this is where you started. I mean this was the info for the teachers. This is this is the first attachment, the second attachment. And sorry, I'm I I I I forgot that for the second attachment there was there was but there were instructions for the teachers.
Basically, these are the same sentences, exactly the same sentences as they were in the in the first attachment for students.
And very simple.
Tasks, let's say.
To to work with it. Now, before we go further.
In the in the.
We are also going to see what we what we did together with it.
But let me ask you and please take a few seconds of consideration.
How many stars do you give to this activity? It's very important. How do you rate this activity? How many stars do you give this activity?
You don't need to raise your hand or raise your hands if you want guys, but how many starts would you give to this? Anyone? Go ahead, Catherine. We can't see you, but we can't. We can't see you. We can't hear you. Sorry.
Katherine Elkington 25:00
I'm just saying about three or four. I think the the language is quite good. You could drill it quite nicely.
Perhaps the the vocabulary and the pictures need to. Maybe they can be divided onto 2 screens so you can practise the 1/2 and then practise the other half.
Like the infirm? Affirmative. And then do the interrogative and negative forms on a separate page.
Gergo 25:21
Really important what you are saying.
Yeah. Thanks.
Katherine Elkington 25:28
I think language is quite good and at least you've got the pictures there. So you've got your visuals.
Gergo 25:34
OK, very, very important. What Catherine just said is that that it looks like it looks like nothing, right, because because we we we had toxinity fortunately.
Now, nowadays we are we are, we are really getting used to having having a much, much better layout, much more instructions but.
As as as a bottom line as a teacher, you can work with this.
You have here the affirmative form you have here the negative form. The interrogative is missing. That's a problem because.
Because on the P2 level.
The the, the, the the inversion for the for the students is not entirely clear, so you need to show that inversion in in writing most of the time. So you make them understand. But on the other hand you have here example sentences and you have a bunch of pictures to work with.
And actually the pictures relate to the sentences. I mean, like they really follow the pattern of the sentences. So. So it's it's it. It gives you the opportunity to actually practise. And this is the important part. It gives you the opportunity to practise this.
And that's what really counts when you are giving the stars. Is that how apartment the activity is to practise the subcontracts of the of this of this particular thing?
It yeah, it looks crappy. OK, but but it's, but. But it's but, but it's it's. But you can do the job with it and that's why the stars are for. It's very important to understand. Because often times we see or we receive a complementary work which is which looks like OK and what should I do with it and that's that's holding up the entire system of Corrections. It means that someone receives a complimentary work for which they are by the way for you for you to, for for which they are going to get paid for.
They have nothing to do with it.
So it's it's it's lost effort.
Right, that teacher who receives that complimentary work they would need to go through all, each, each and every attachment, review everything again, and then five 10-15 minutes spent on reviewing something which was actually OK, but perhaps a student didn't like the content, or the teacher didn't like the pictures, and so on and so on. So this is this is this is really important to keep in mind. OK? Catherine said 3-4 stars. Anyone else?
Josie.
Josie Salmon 28:26
I would say, yeah, three star. Are you gonna ask like, yeah, because so on the stars, it kind of says underneath a little label and that's acceptable. And I would say this is acceptable because you can use it but it needs some work on it. It needs better formatting. It needs to be able to. Yeah. It needs to be easier to use and to look better. But they're looking better.
Gergo 28:42
Yeah.
Josie Salmon 28:51
Is what makes it easier to use as well so.
Gergo 28:54
Yeah, and this is, this is also what what Josie mentioned here. It's also again really important and helpful is that if you hover your, your, your, your, your arrow the cursor over the stars, you will see like one star very bad or really bad. I don't remember two stars bad three stars acceptable 4 stars good five stars really good or very good. Right. So this is acceptable because because you have content to work on this.
Everything everything below 3 stars has a problem with working with the subcontracts. That's when you that's when you give less than less than three stars.
Of course, if you have a, if you have a vocabulary exercise where you really where you where you where you rely on the pictures and the pictures are very bad. So you can't use the pictures to to, to introduce or to present the content, then it's not acceptable because you need the pictures.
Wait, it's Donny, please.
Toni Kitchen 30:04
There's a question at what point does it go back into the system then? Does like everything three star and lower go back in to be looked at?
Gergo 30:16
Yes, yes. So every everything that is 3 or below goes back to the system and even then even eventually four-star activities should all go back to the system as well. Now this system is is being remodelled because the activities will be.
Manually sent to corrections, meaning meaning there will be a there will be a person checking the activities which are which are which are going to be used for the coming weeks and then it's going to be handpicked to really set up a ranking, like a priority, risk, priority, priority list which activities needs to be need to be corrected first.
And which second? Because the algorithm can only can only make make like.
A sum of all the stars that an activity received in a given period. Now of course, those activities that are used more, for example, pronunciation activities that go into more classes or certain structure activities that go into more classes, they are rated.
More times, therefore they get.
Higher on the priority list, but it's not always that they actually really need corrections.
So that's the that's the. That's why we we decided to to work to work manually on this on this until we we have an algorithm that understands it better or we have a we have a better way to to organise the the prioritising of of activities to be corrected. So it's very important you understand this this this starring system.
Also, if you if you if you choose to remove an activity or recycle an activity from your class.
There is. There is a there is an option like. You can click, you can take the box order and then you can give your comments.
It would be nice if you gave your comments. Why did you recycle the specific activity? Of course, in certain cases it's very, very, very obvious really. If it's only one attachment then you take missing attachments and then it's OK. If you have a French activity in a Spanish class.
And it's wrong language and you take the box and it's it's OK, but otherwise it would be nice if you if you if you told the system some more about your decision.
What your problem was with the activity and whenever you give, whenever you leave your comments.
Whether it's in the teachers nodes in the, in the activity, notes in the in the notes section here, please leave your name.
Because we we increasingly see notes from many, many people, I don't know. Or maybe it's only one person I have. No sorry. I have no idea. But without without name. So sometimes, sometimes it's it's it's it's not for how to say.
It's it's not that that we or anyone would like to.
I want to say a question your decision, but it's asking about it, OK? Why did you say that? Because sometimes it's not clear.
The note the notes are some the notes are not not entire like for the next teacher is not entirely clear why someone said what they said.
That particular thing, and if it if the name was there, then it's very simple. Each and every teacher can send a message to that teacher who left a note that hey, I see that you said you say that this activity is is is only about pictures, but look at the teachers.
Teachers nodes. There are example sentences and everything is there. Have you seen that? So it's actually a communication within the community within the group which makes our work easier. It's not that we need to, we need to keep or we want to keep files. Who said what and whatever it's it's more about really having a good workflow and making it possible to.
To to work together more effectively.
All right, now.
Anyone else? Three stars, four stars. Is there anyone who would give less than three stars to this articular activity? Of course, no one will say that after after having spoken about it. Georgina, go ahead.
Georgina Malagarriga 35:24
I will go with less stars.
Gergo 35:26
OK and why?
Georgina Malagarriga 35:31
Because I would have to say too many things to the student.
To have them do what I want him to do.
I think there's too many sentences at the beginning. There should be a clear 123 positive negative question.
There would be more of a present. The morals to understand it just having random pictures on a on a screen without any reference to them. What do they have to do? How which picture? When so?
For me it's.
We could work with it, I'm sure, but it's not easy to use.
It's not a disaster. It's not a disaster. But it could be made way, way, way easier to use.
Gergo 36:17
Mm hmm, one or two.
Georgina Malagarriga 36:17
And so that makes the flow that makes the flow go slower because you have to struggle a bit more to explain. Oh, but look here, but like there, but wait. But here. But wait, it's.
The content but.
To use it when there's other ways to make it even easier to use and and comprehensible for the student as well. I mean here, what do I have to do? Do I have to read? Do I have to listen? Do I have to repeat? Do they have to answer? Were they positive? Were they negative? Were the question where so it could be made more obvious.
Gergo 36:48
Teachers need to find it out themselves, yeah.
OK, OK, good arguments. And then so it's not 3, how many stars would you give?
Georgina Malagarriga 37:04
Well, I would give it three because you can work with it, and if not, I will give two stars or one to absolute everything I do. So that would collapse the system, but OK, if I can use it, it's sweet. But honestly, I'll give it two because it's not a disaster. It's not like what is it? So I would give it 2.
And this is the case. This is the case where I would not be showing some of these slides and I'll be using the chat box to model and I'll be using the chat box to teach. This is one of those cases.
Gergo 37:25
OK.
And which slide wouldn't you show the because there there, there, there were, there were only two the the sentences and then you have a it was a long slide with eight pictures and all pictures are all pictures show the actions or they are related to the sentences each of them.
Georgina Malagarriga 37:39
This one for example.
Gergo 37:57
So read or or or or write on the blackboard. Use a makeup not speaking. Learn the alphabet, learning and so on, and so on. So all pictures were related to the to the sentences.
Georgina Malagarriga 38:11
But I wouldn't show this one.
I would have one step before.
The step that goes before that.
Gergo 38:18
Hmm. Mm hmm. OK, OK. OK, thanks. Thanks, Jonathan.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 38:25
Actually, what I like about your team's comment is.
What we actually do, it's evolution, right? So for instance this this activity maybe one year ago or two years ago was kind of like 3, maybe four, I don't know. Now with the evolution that we have, we know that we have to improve this now. So we if we know that we have to improve this maybe at the beginning it was rated three or four now yeah, it could start to be given Too's.
How the system will know that there's something that we have to go and and do about it, right? Because of the probably the evolution that we have had so far. So we have to pay attention to what we are saying all among us and then we have to improve this, which I love it.
Gergo 39:14
Thanks. Yeah. Good. As again it's it's it's it's it's aligning what with what Georgina has just said that, OK, it's acceptable in the sense of you can use it in a class and you can teach with it. But perhaps it's it's not perhaps for sure it does not meet our standards. What we have nowadays and what we are, what we, what we are, what we are setting up. Yeah, OK, cool. Now anyone else anything to add?
Georgina Malagarriga 39:44
Well.
Gergo 39:44
4.
Josie Salmon 39:45
I just. Oh, sorry, George, do you wanna go? I'll go. I'll. I'll be quick. So.
Because it's when we're thinking about standard as well, we have to remember that it's not just about the standard that we want to give from our community, but also the standard of our competition and the standard out there is high for activities now. So we have, we have to keep up with them. Otherwise people aren't going to want to learn with us. That's just how it is unfortunate.
Gergo 40:13
But as that is, yeah. Yeah. Super important, Josie. Thanks. Yeah.
Josie Salmon 40:14
Yeah, yeah.
Gergo 40:19
Georgina, back to you then.
Georgina Malagarriga 40:22
I know this might be difficult, but this is this has this is a book right? Just imagine this is a book for students and teachers I guess. Right? So by the way all instructions there would be for students. So imagine you have a book and you see this on one page and that on the other page. What do you think? Because I know this is like the digital whatever online support and you might feel you don't know, but you do know imagine you had a book, a show this to a student.
So that.
How do you feel about it? And I think we could start putting ourselves in that perspective so that we understand better what has to be done. It's not what we want you to do. I was talking to soo about this. No, it's what has to be done. So sometimes looking at it from another angle. OK. All right. So maybe it's not a screen. OK, but what do the students see and imagining? And as it is a book, maybe could help all of us understand.
Going to that, what did Jonathan say? Evolution. Yeah, thing in going that step a bit further now.
That's it. Could be a good exercise to help us.
Understand it better and.
Have another have a better wider understanding of what it should be top side of that.
Gergo 41:50
Yeah. All right. All right. Now, before we before because because so many of you you.
Commented and pitched in with different ideas and really different angles, which I think it's really important that that we can we can express these different different thoughts and and and everything. What what was sad I think has its it's it's truth and its place in this in this discussion now then.
What would you do with it if this was a complimentary work for you? Where would you start? Let's see that. So, so, Jonathan, if I may ask, don't kill me, but what would you do with this? So you say that this is 2 stars. What would you do to make it 3?
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 42:41
Sure. No.
For me, I would always start with the the visual.
'Cause, if you have a visual, then it's much easier. For instance what Georgina was saying is that OK? You have all this list of this sentences here, So what do I do with this right, which for me it's it's not about creating a nice book, but we don't have to forget that the purpose of this is for students to learn. Right? So. So yes, we think about students. OK, So what can we make teachers have? So it's easy for them to go and and and teach.
So for me, I would go to the to to the other, uh attachment, the visual one. OK, so I would start working on that. So can I go with this? And probably it's it's too long and in and and and maybe it's not that nice. So I would give this priority to start with.
Gergo 43:51
Oh yeah, thanks. So you would you, would you would you would organise the visual part, especially the pictures, pictures with which you can with which you can work. Yeah, all right.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 44:01
And actually, yeah, and probably I mean if this is for CNN and for teachers, then if there's something I can do so people can understand from this, this one, what to do that that would be an improvement. OK, so, so I would start working with this and then relate it to the sentences or something. So So what can I do? So students will know exactly what to to perform.
Gergo 44:15
Oh yeah.
OK, it's unfortunate that we didn't reach that part of the of the corrections. So actually the actually the pictures are are the ones that are still missing, but yeah, OK, important important point. So it should be if if I can like in in this what you have just said I understand two things is that it has to be about visually nice and and and easily recognisable easily understandable there should there should be.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 44:33
OK.
Gergo 44:58
Clear structure of what to do with the pictures, not just pictures themselves, right? And how to work with them.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 45:05
Probably if you have a picture that it's something obvious that something that you cannot do right. So that's a way to proceed. So it's like, alright, so I showed this picture. So probably people will know exactly what they cannot do. OK. So it's going to be like easier for students to understand.
Gergo 45:21
Yeah.
OK, so the visual eight part should be much stronger, right? That that the that the visuals which are aiding your teaching and the learning curve that should be much stronger in uh, huh. OK. OK, really good. OK, thanks, Jonathan. I think, Myrna, you were the first to raise your hand and then Catherine.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 45:29
Yes.
For me, yeah.
Myrna Akkers 45:46
So yesterday I remember. Or was it yesterday or Wednesday when we went through?
This working with all this information you said there needed to be a format that was followed right intro present practise and then produce. So I don't think that is this what this pictures is. Is this the production stage? Then it would be different.
Gergo 46:10
This is this would be the produce. Yeah. This would be the last part. Yeah, exactly.
Myrna Akkers 46:14
But then they're not producing anything. That's original, isn't it? It's they're just reproducing what was there just now in the sentence format.
Gergo 46:26
Yeah, or or right? Alright then. Now, now. This is what you are saying. Here is a little.
So to understand it, see or to. To put it simply. So in the produce phase.
It's.
Working independently with the structure, it doesn't mean that you are not using the same vocabulary that was used before. This is a structure exercise. We are not teaching vocabulary here. Furthermore, low level.
So if they have, if they have this kind of connection, what they practised before and then they they they have visual references to those sentences that they practise before it will make them, it will make the the the life of the students easier, so to say, so they can focus on learning the structure of can. And that's only and that's very important, especially with the low level exercises that we focus on one.
Myrna Akkers 47:21
OK.
Gergo 47:27
One thing what we are teaching, especially here with low levels because they missed the necessary vocab, they often often struggle with the with the inversion of questions, right? So they especially Spanish speakers, they would say I can instead of can I? Right? So this is some this is something what we need to reinforce sometimes even on on a low P3 level which is again debatable but we are not getting.
Into that now, but so so.
Having pictures that they can relate to.
Because they already read about them in sentences, that helps them, right? Because because because in the in the end, like, can I wear makeup, I can't wear makeup. Can I speak English? I can't speak English. Can I learn English? Can? And so on and so on. So here what they need to learn is the can.
Myrna Akkers 48:26
Alright, so in this so in this produce phase, if we put a instruction on the top and it's create sentences with, can conch?
Katherine Elkington 48:35
Mm hmm.
Gergo 48:36
Would be something would be something like that would be something like that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly or.
Myrna Akkers 48:39
OK.
Gergo 48:43
If you use pictures that are that that contain new vocabulary and maybe if we have time later, I will quickly show something like that, then you add the extra vocabulary under the pictures.
So so if it's, if it's about. If it's about doing the laundry, right?
Myrna Akkers 49:01
Yeah, that makes.
Gergo 49:06
For, for, for instance, then do the phrase doing the laundry should be written to them so they don't need to think about how to say doing the laundry. How do I say the washing the clothes? So this is the thing with high levels. It's a completely different thing.
Myrna Akkers 49:17
That makes, yeah.
Perfect.
Gergo 49:24
Because they they should have the the, the, the background and the and the the the info what they what they can combine to actually create the sentences with using the structure independently. Whatever we are teaching to them.
Myrna Akkers 49:39
Perfect. Thank you.
Gergo 49:41
Thanks, miRNA. Catherine, you had your hand raised as well.
Katherine Elkington 49:44
Yeah, I'm about to go to class, but I I would say talking about the structure that we've just been talking about, when you do your introduction and well you present your information, you need to give the information. So perhaps the first slide needs to be positive, negative interrogative. So you can kind of cover that right at the beginning and then you can divide the pictures into the different screens.
Would be because then at least the the the student has a visual picture of what the lesson's gonna be about. So you would put a chart on the front thing and you can make it use colours or whatever it is.
At the top and then just so that the students know what they're going to be practising right from the beginning.
So you're kinda setting the stage a suggestion.
Gergo 50:37
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm mm hmm now.
In in, in. In my understanding what you what you were, what you were laying out with these words or sentences? That's the present phase. That's that's that's attachment #2. When we show the structure.
Show this to or or when where where students see what structure are we practising, right? What's the? What's the? What's the? What's the affirmative? What's the negative? And what's the interrogative? Yeah, exactly. So they have a.
Katherine Elkington 51:11
But so sorry, the introduction is a picture normally.
From a lot of the materials I've seen from a topic.
Gergo 51:20
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Katherine Elkington 51:21
Oh, maybe that's the topic, not the. Oh, OK.
Gergo 51:25
With all of, with all of them, with all of them, I I actually consciously.
Held it back until now because I really wanted to hear. Hear it? I will. I was curious.
That the what? What? What you what? What you have to say about this? This.
Particular topic because this really is the.
The let's use the word soul of the of the of the product. What's what's what's what's put into this? This kind of how to how to?
How to resent the knowledge?
How to present the the the actual content? What we would like students to understand and what we would like students to understand within 10 minutes.
Because that's also a key factor here, right?
You can't spend.
5 minutes.
On making students understand what you are talking about, if it's five minutes, then you only have 5 minutes left for the practise part, so it should be. It should be really directly clear from the very beginning of the of the of the exercise of the activity. What are you talking about and what are you going to focus on and what are you going to practise in the coming 1011 say.
13 minutes depending on your class flow and depending on the class in which you are.
OK, very good question. Catherine, or comment as well. Georgina, please.
Georgina Malagarriga 53:08
Yeah, this made me think. I don't know these past months these activities are like micro doses in a way that not because there's more material, are they gonna learn more or is it gonna be better? And maybe it's like, hey.
Something simple.
But they can really get and they can really consolidate. And I remember I I I don't know the exact phrase, but Jonathan always says if it's not simple.
Then it's not clear or I don't. I don't know the phrase, but he says if it's not simple, it's not.
It's not going to work or.
Keeping that in mind, I say oh oh, but this is too easy for students. And I said no, it's doable. And the fact of giving me maybe these little bits of micro doses of Lexus or whatever it's it's, you know, it's it's easier, not easier, but it's more.
Say it's like more guaranteed that they're gonna absorb the content. I don't know, you know, not making it complex is not gonna make it better. Making it longer is not gonna make it better. Making it trickier is not gonna make it better. Why not? Here's the structure. Copy it. Reproduce it. Boom. That's it. So every time I do some complementary work, I I keep that in mind. It's a micro doses. Of course. In 10 minutes and it works.
Gergo 54:33
Yeah, and it's red face, red face, red face. After the 3rd or 4th Class, Green Face. Next one. It's actually the thing. And yeah, it works.
Josie, please go ahead.
Josie Salmon 54:46
That's it exactly what Georgina said. And what you said and the repetition, because they will do this again, not just in this activity but in other activities because they'll get asked questions using can and they'll have to answer using it. So remembering that we're just exposing them to the language and getting them to practise it. But they will be able to do it again and again. And that's how you learn a language naturally. So yeah.
Gergo 55:13
That's it. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, Josie. Jonathan.
Jonatan Buxeda i Núñez 55:18
Yeah, I really like this, this this exercise here and and actually with the can thing. And I I love this way of presenting attachments in like 4 attachments like presenting or like the intra presenting practise and pictures as as you can see here down below but.
As as Georgina said, we have to make it very simple. OK, so the simple idea that we can have the better. Now once we have this simple idea, then we can go for the intro, the present, the practise and and the pictures. So for me in this case.
For me the the simple idea of micro practise or micro doses here would be imagine like these two images like water and an aeroplane. OK so then you can go and present ads like in a sentence of can you bring water into an aeroplane from outside actually so OK so that could be an introduction or maybe another picture would be like some somebody shouting or speaking and.
I don't know and and another image of someone.
A movie theatre. OK, something like that. So. So now that I have it very simple so I can start making questions. And actually students can go and and make some questions. OK, now that I want to end up producing this, OK, now I can go for the intro. I can go for the presentation of what we're gonna be doing. Like it maybe the inversion thing. So I can explain. OK. But I would go to this simple idea that we're gonna be doing in 10 minutes this and we will check.
If students know how to invert and how to make questions in narrative and positive and using can.
That's it. Once we have this very clear, then all four attachments can be done.
Gergo 57:14
This with with this.
Now this is this is very hard to achieve in a way. How you how you how you presented it. It's very hard to achieve without complementary work system because because teachers are working independently. So there should be there should be a kind of kind of model like a kind of sequence which which teachers can follow because we are not sending messages to each other that hey now you are going to work on this. So it's it's it's kind of.
Of tricky on the other hand is. It's up to us to to constantly improve and develop the the process of of correcting to find the best way to put this philosophy and this idea into the into the improvement practise.
This is this is the. This is the thing here. Because yes pictures super important because because they they they speak for themselves.
So this is where we started.
A picture. She can swim a very, very simple sentence, right?
Yeah, speaks for herself. What's he speaks for herself. Sorry. What do you what do you ask from the? From the, from the, from the students.
Right, it's important to help your fellow teachers have the questions ready so the teachers do not need to come up with those questions. The questions are over there. Simple questions relevant to the entire topic. And there you go. This is the intro phase, right? This is this is this is. This is where you start.
The whole the whole thing with. Then we go to the parts which Georgina mentioned. We have a very clear, very clear.
Presentation of the structure itself, what we what we were talking about and and eventually we decided to have so many.
Sentences because we wanted to have them with all, with all the, with all the subject pronouns.
Because on the P2 level, sometimes it's not like you know. For example, the verb to be you conjugate the verb to do you conjugate in the third person singular form can you don't conjugate and this this is visually. Here you can show them that look is the same right for all for all for all cases. So this this is this is where you present the grammar. This is where you engage first with the students showing that OK.
She can swim. Can you swim? I can swim. Can you swim? I can speak English. Can you speak English? And so on. And so this is very simple. And to be honest, the the can you bring water on an aeroplane? It's a. It's a good one. But for B twos, maybe it's a little too hard.
Perhaps because because because they're on boarding and so on and so on, but doesn't matter. OK, good. So again, very simple explanation to the teachers. What to do here. OK, explain the meaning we can use.
If they need to understand what the verb can is about, so you give your fellow teacher a very simple sentence explaining the meaning of the verb can.
Also important because imagine that someone asks you how to how do you explain can and sometimes and it might not come so easily, especially if you want. If you want to speak to low level students. So you need to be need to be.
Easy going with the kind of words you mentioned. Mark came up with the idea to use the word ability because this is something that Spanish speakers will understand as a cognate.
The majority of our students are still Spanish speakers, so let's put it over there for your fellow teachers who are not in a Spanish speaking, spoken country or whatsoever, and it it works perfectly in in in classes with Spanish speakers. I think with other my other languages might might understand it as well have students to ask each other about what they can and can't do a little task to be done. We won't have time to to to cover. Why is it here but.
Just to go quickly further, this would be the practise phase. We give them two simple tasks to do. One finish the sentences. It's kind of gap fill exercise and the other one where they actually need to combine the pronouns and the actions and the contexts and they can make sentences in affirmative, negative and interrogative form. So this is where they actually apply the knowledge.
To sentences and then the fourth phase. And then we are going to look at that next week.
Because it's not ready, and because it's past 12 but but, but then the fourth phase will be the pictures. And actually Raqqa has also sent some really nice pictures to put into here. So. So we are going to complete it and then next week I would also like to mention a few words about why do we have this here and how would we like you to work when you are collecting this.
Activity because we spent approx 4045 minutes to to complete everything here and you won't have that time and it's not expected from anyone here to work this much. When you are doing a complementary work. That's why we compartmentalise it. You are going to work on one attachment and that attachment needs to be ready to go ready to be used within our standards and that's that's the way.
We see in front of us.
At the moment.
OK, now again.
I can't thank you enough for having these comments today because because this this is really this is really starting to seem like an actual conversation when people, when people share their ideas, knowledge, experiences, pitch in with, with, with new things, let's try it out. Maybe not like that, but this is very important. What we are doing here because because this is a, this is like an improvement.
Of our product.
Which which is right is is key for all of us and all of our businesses. So thank you everyone for being here. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for listening and have a nice weekend long or short, whatever. See you next time, OK.
Vanya Miller 1:04:10
Thank you so much. Good girl. Bye, everybody. Ciao, catale. Thank you. Bye.
Mark Venning 1:04:10
Thank you. Bye, bye. Thanks. Gotta go. Bye.
Josie Salmon 1:04:11
Thank you. Thanks. Have a great weekend. Ciao.
Maria García Fernández 1:04:11
Thank you everyone. Thank you.
Tomás García Alonso 1:04:15
Have a nice weekend.