Weekend in EDINBURG

Hi 👋, 

As Adele says in her song “Hello, it's me” …. AGAIN :)

I have been to Edinburg this weekend. Simply amazing😉 !! I hope you have ever been to, but if not, you should go. Prince’s street, Georgian New Town, Grassmarket, Edinburg Castle, Royal Mile (which is 1800 meters long, the Scottish mile indeed) , Palace of Holyroodhouse… everything! It is really like a story. In addition, these days in Edinburg is taking place Fringe Festival. Art is all around! Streets plenty of theatres 🎭 , music, magic… you must be there to know what I mean. 

It is time to have rest. I am exhausted 😩!! 

Best wishes,

Carmen

Hello 😊 

Este fin de semana he estado en Edimburgo. Qué pasada!! Espero que hayáis estado y si no, tenéis que ir. El castillo de Edimburgo, la Royal Mile (que mide 1800 metros y por eso una milla escocesa abarca esa longitud)… es que todo es precioso. Además, en agosto en esta ciudad se celebra un festival que se denomina Fringe y hay arte y artistas por doquier. Tenéis que ir para ver de lo que hablo porque es ver para creer. 

Me voy a descansar que estoy muerta!! 

Mis mejores deseos,

Carmen 💋 

25th August CLIL IN NC

Hi my dear teachers,

It is Friday! I cannot believe the first course week has just already gone. The week has been too short! There are many teachers 👨‍🏫 who has already finished the course as they were only supposed to be for a week. I felt so sad as we really got along! We have been an excellent group!We have promised to keep in contact! Maybe for future Erasmus exchanges indeed. That would be awesome👏 ! 

Es viernes! No me puedo creer que ya haya pasado una semana de curso. La semana se me ha hecho súper corta! Hay mucho profesores que hoy se iban ya porque solo estaban una semana. Me ha dado mucha pena!! La verdad que hemos creado un grupo muy bueno porque nos hemos llevado muy bien por suerte. Nos hemos dado teléfonos e emails para mantenernos en contacto. Quizás para futuros intercambios! Quién sabe :) Sería genial. 

I would like to highlight the importance of being in contact with foreign teachers. This experience shows you how many strategies are for teaching in general. To be honest, not of all them are right, however you can learn also what not to do. I will never be able to explain the richness that this experience has. I am so lucky 🍀! In addition to so proud of representing my school! 

Esta experiencia está siendo genial porque aprendes muchas estrategias nuevas. Para ser sincera, algunas no me gustan mucho pero se aprende lo que hacer y lo que no hacer. Creo que por mucho que lo diga, no seré nunca capaz de expresar lo buena que está siendo esta experiencia para mí. Soy muy afortunada de estar aquí así como de representar a mi colegio :) 

Lessons today were about activities. We have spent the whole day doing CLIL activities which might be useful for our classes and in fact they are. Classes are just perfect 👌. 

Las clases hoy han ido de actividades en CLIL! Hemos estado todo el día haciendo dinámicas, juegos... muy útil todo para el futuro. Me encantan las clases! 

It is time to say goodbye! I have an arrangement in 20 minutes! We are having dinner in The Charles Grey just next to Grey’s monument. 

Me despido ya que he quedado en 20 minutos. Vamos a cenar en The Charles Grey que está al lado de Grey's monument. 

Take care,

 Cuidaos mucho, 

Carmen 👠

24th August CLIL IN NEWCASTLE

Hi 👋, 

It is me again. Today it has been so hard minded. We have been working the whole morning without any break. I have only had time to have a sandwich. Now I perfectly understand why they love Spain! What I mean is although England is wonderful, in Spain we eat much better than them! 

Aquí estoy yo otra vez. Hoy ha sido un día duro para la mente. Hemos estado trabajando toda la mañana sin ningún descanso. Solo hemos tenido medía hora para comer un sándwich. Ahora entiendo mejor porque los ingleses adoran España! Inglaterra es genial pero… nosotros comemos mucho mejor que ellos! 

To be concise, today we have had two sessions which have been so interesting. Sessions are now starting to be more practical and it is so useful for us in order to make use of what we are learning about. Both sessions were about cognitive skills. There are two main types. These are HOTS (higher order thinking skills) and LOTS (lower order thinking 💭 skills ). Hots are the ones related to develop reasoning skills, develop enquiry and discussion, develop creative thinking, evaluate the work of oneself, to hypothesize… and LOTS are the ones related to remember, order information, define objects, check understanding, review learning.

 Para ser consist, hoy hemos tenido dos sesiones muy interesantes. Las sesiones ahora van siendo más prácticas para que sepamos cómo utilizar la teoría que estamos dando en clase. Las dos han sido acerca de las habilidades cognitivas. Las clasifican en dos grandes grupos. Las de alto y las de bajo nivel de requerimiento. Las de alto nivel tienen que ser con el razonamiento, las puestas en común, las discusiones, los debates, hipótesis… mientras que las de bajo tienen que ver con definiciones, ordenar información, repasar…

On the other hand, I must admit I have social life too. Today I went with my flatmates which are Brazilians and Italians to a pub called Old George Yard. We saw English life music. That was amazing! I had fun there! I really like this city as they are full of people who wants to improve their English! Of course the best way is having a conversation. 

Por otro lado, he de confesar que tengo vida social. Hoy he ido con mis compañeros de residencia que son italianos y brasileños ha un pub muy famoso que se llama Old George Yard. Hemos visto música en directo y ha sido genial! La verdad que me lo he pasado genial. La ciudad está llena de estudiantes que quieren mejorar su inglés y la mejor manera es hablando. 

I am learning a lot. I am still so happy! What's more! The sun has sinned today! :) 

Estoy aprendiendo mucho. Estoy muy contenta. Y además. Hoy ha salido el sol! 

Best wishes,

Mis mejores deseos,

Carmen ❤️ 

23rd August CLIL IN NEWCASTLE

Hi everyone,

¡Hola a todos! 

This morning we have taken session number three. It was about language across the curriculum. One of the main things we have done is to talk about differences between content obligatory and content compatible. Content obligatory is the specific vocabulary for talking about technical names about any subject. The other one is general vocabulary used in our subjects and sometimes used in everyday situations. 

Esta mañana he tenido la sesión número 3 que iba acerca del aprendizaje de las lenguas así como su papel curricular. Uno de los principales contenidos que hemos visto ha sido la diferencia entre lo que ellos denominan contenidos obligatorios y contenidos compatibles. Los obligatorios se refieren a todo vocabulario técnico de la asignatura (tecnicismo) frente a los compatibles que serían aquellos extrapolables a otros contextos y asignaturas (interdisciplinar) 

There are also high and medium frequency words and collocations which are often used in general English (across, about, towards, forward, backwards…). It can be useful for future learnings.

También existen juegos de palabras, preposiciones… que se utilizan con mucha o mediana frecuencia en ingles y que pueden ser claves en diferentes asignaturas dependiendo de aquello que estemos enseñando ( a través, a cerca, hacia, delante, detrás…)

To finish with, we have experienced a Kahoot!. It was about what we saw yesterday. It is a good resource in order to review what we saw in previous classes. I got the third position! Not bad at all :) 

Para terminar las clases, hemos hecho un Kahoot!. Ha sido presentado a modo juego para repasar aquello que vimos ayer. He quedado la tercera! Nada mal :)

When we have finished our classes, Italian teachers and I were to the city center just in order to visit some places in the town. We went to St Nicolas cathedral. Italians are always saying that Italian art is much better than English art in general. It makes me laugh due to this deep feeling of belonging! That's funny! In addition, we went to Grainger’s market. It is really a market you have never been in. Things are vintage and quite weird in general. The thing that shocked me the most was a pair of shoes with high heels! But not the heels you can imagine… heals make in Minnie's form or Daisy’s form! Even if I must admit I am a little bit posh, I will never wear this short of pair of shoes. Finally, we went dinner to an Italian restaurant! Not very British but I must admit English food are no the best one in the world. 

Cuando terminamos las clases, he ido con los profesores italianos al centro de la ciudad para visitarla. Hemos ido a la catedral de San Nicolas. Los italianos siempre están diciendo que su arte es mejor, que su café es mejor y me hace gracia porque lo dicen siempre súper indignados. También fuimos a Grainger’s market que es un mercado en el que estoy segura que no habéis estado nunca. Es todo muy raro pero lo que más me ha llamado la atención ha sido una tienda de zapatos cuyos tacones son todos de motivos de Disney. Fijaos que admito que soy un poco piji pero jamás me pondría eso jejeje Finalmente, hemos ido a cenar a un restaurante italiano. No es muy británico desde luego, pero es que la comida inglesa…oh my God!

Time to have rest. Everything is perfect here. I am so happy 😁 

¡Me voy a descansar! Todo es genial aquí. Estoy muy contenta. 

Take care, 

Cuidaos! 

Best wishes,

Mis mejores deseos!

Carmen! que no tiene traducción :P

CLIL IN NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

Hi everyone!

I am totally new at this issues so I do hope to do it well. I have been in Newcastle Upon Tyne for two days. The trip was so long but finally I arrived to Newcastle 1 which is actually my home (it is a students residence). Everything was ok apart from little details which has already been solved. In addition, my flatmates are so kind and they helped me every time I request whatever :)

To start with, I would like to speak about my academy. Its name is International House and now I perfectly understand the name. There are people from many countries but to be concise, in my classroom there are teachers from Latvia and Italy. They are all just starting in CLIL methodology. The Italian teachers are part of the Erasmus+ project but they have never gone to a foreing school as we do in Jaby School ( we are the best ones of course ;) )

The course is been so interesting. I am learning lots of things such as key vocabulary but for me the most important thing is to learn how to break with the traditional idea we have about a bilingual system. CLIL doesn't mean to get traditional mother tongue lessons into a non-native language ones. CLIL is much more than that. It is how to integrate content and language demands where is also crucial to take into account what they call the 4C: content, communication, cognition, culture.

Last but not less important, I have had short time to visit some places in the city. However, I hope I can go tomorrow evening as today has been a very busy day. I attach some photos. Newcastle is a very nice city, plenty of students. There is a cinema in the main square which is called "green scream" as they are in a park.

I really appreciate the opportunity of being here. It would be amazing in order to achieve the model of teacher I would like to be. There is always lots of thing to learn from you and the others.

Best wishes,

Carmen

LAST DAY. TOUR THROUGH TUSCANY

The last day in Florence has been intense.

Yesterday we went to visit some on the cities of the Tuscan area, we visited San Gimignano, Monteneggroni, and Siena.

San Gimignano is 60 km from Florence it is known as the city of  the thousand towers and it was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1190. It has 14 towers which are symbol of the ancient power of the inhabitants, which now a days are perfectly preserved.

There, in San Gimignano is the best ice-cream of all Italy, and of couse I tried one, it was lovely.

After we continued to Monteriggroni in the region of Chianti, one of the most 

Characteristic villages of the region, It was small but charming, there they made part of the film life is beautiful.

Last but not least we visited Siena, which is spectacular, The cathedral and of course Piazza Campo, here every year there is a horse race.😊

El último día en Florencia ha sido intenso.

Ayer fuimos a ver algunas de las ciudades de la región de la Toscana, hemos visitado San Gimignano, Monteneggroni, y Siena.

San Gimignano está a 60 Km de Florencia, es conocida por la ciudad de las mil torres, fue declarado patrinomio de la humanidad po la UNESCO en 1990. Tiene 14 torres, las cuales son símbolo del poder de los habitantes, hoy prfectamente conservadas. Allí esta el mejor helado de Italia, que por supuesto probé, buenísimo.

Luego continuamos nuestro viaje a Monteriggroni, uno de los pueblos más característicos de Chianti, un pueblo pequeño pero encantador. Allí se rodó parte de la película la vida es bella.

Por último Siena, una ciudad preciosa, vistamos la catedral y la plaza Campo, donde todos los años se celebrar carreras de caballo.😊

FIFTH DAY. FLORENCE

Today was the last day of our course, which has been very enriching and the whole experience has been fantastic.
We have practiced with Canva app today, we have also got to know some new ones like Screencast-o-matic, Socrative and Prezi, all of them very interesting apps.

Tomorrow we are going on a tour to La Toscana, and on Sunday I'll be flying back to Madrid.😊

Hoy ha sido el último día de curso, el cual ha sido muy enriquecedora y toda la experiencia en general fantástica.
Hemos practicado con la app de Canva, y también hemos aprendido unas nuevas como Screencast-o-matic, Socrative y Prezi, todas ellas muy interesantes.
Mañana nos vamos de tour por La Toscana y el domingo vuelo de regreso a Madrid.😊