Advantages and disadvantages of using the ELP in High School
Nowadays there are many schools that have implanted the ELP in preschool and elementary school, and now it is working very well. Moreover it becomes bound to the secondary education plan (ESO and Bachiller).
As a teacher of biology in high school, I think the ELP brings many benefits to our students. For example, students are acquiring English in the day, interleaving a science subject with the language, so they may be able to describe a process or make a terminological (and less common) vocabulary.
Furthermore it is important to develop the brain in the area of learning and learn English with a different approach to the typical "translate" from the mother tongue, that is to say to learn English associating words to objects, not to other known words.
The only drawback I see is that to introduce the ELP is necessary to subtract hours of content to pay attention to both sides (content and language). Nevertheless as far I am concerned the benefits obtained are much higher than the disadvantages.
I think that there are two aspects to be taken into account for a good way to combine contents and language: To do questions with a high level of the language and low level to contents (in this case, Biology), or to do questions with low level of language and high level of contents. And this is because if the content and the language are very easy, the student does not achieve the objectives of their level. Moreover if both are very high, the student does not understand or know how to answer the question.
There are currently many media, both in books and in digital we help launch the project and give us ideas and tools to support the use of the ELP in different educational contexts.
Finally, the incorporation of the ELP in education fulfills one of the main objectives of the Council of Europe, which is to promote awareness of a European cultural identity and to develop mutual understanding among people of different cultures. With the introduction of a European Language Portfolio is supported and recognized language learning and intercultural experiences at all levels.
As a teacher of biology in high school, I think the ELP brings many benefits to our students. For example, students are acquiring English in the day, interleaving a science subject with the language, so they may be able to describe a process or make a terminological (and less common) vocabulary.
Furthermore it is important to develop the brain in the area of learning and learn English with a different approach to the typical "translate" from the mother tongue, that is to say to learn English associating words to objects, not to other known words.
The only drawback I see is that to introduce the ELP is necessary to subtract hours of content to pay attention to both sides (content and language). Nevertheless as far I am concerned the benefits obtained are much higher than the disadvantages.
I think that there are two aspects to be taken into account for a good way to combine contents and language: To do questions with a high level of the language and low level to contents (in this case, Biology), or to do questions with low level of language and high level of contents. And this is because if the content and the language are very easy, the student does not achieve the objectives of their level. Moreover if both are very high, the student does not understand or know how to answer the question.
There are currently many media, both in books and in digital we help launch the project and give us ideas and tools to support the use of the ELP in different educational contexts.
Finally, the incorporation of the ELP in education fulfills one of the main objectives of the Council of Europe, which is to promote awareness of a European cultural identity and to develop mutual understanding among people of different cultures. With the introduction of a European Language Portfolio is supported and recognized language learning and intercultural experiences at all levels.
If you were not limited by the demands of the national/regional curriculum, what would you say is the most important thing you would teach your students about your subject? How would you assess their learning?
If I were not limited by the demands of the national/regional curriculum, I would like to put into practice a CLIL unit about environment education and make aware of the protection of our planet. I believe so because I consider it an important issue because increasingly more waste is produced and this not only hinders us our well-being, but it also affects the Earth's biodiversity.
Nowadays the plugged-in lives of students are largely devoid of exploring the natural world and we are just beginning to understand the ramifications of their virtual world. Additionally, if children are detached from nature, how will they learn about, understand, and value nature?
I would like to aware of the effect of human activity on the environment, focusing in detail on greenhouse effect and solid waste.
As far as the contents respected, it is important to include the greenhouse effect (GHE) process, the GHE gases, the consequences of GHE on the environment (sea levels raise, animal and plant species extinguishing, polar ice caps melting...), solid waste classification, the matter cycle, the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), laboratory experiment.
In the communication I think that pupils need to know the vocabulary about the subject and conditional and future structures in English, for instance, doing relation-exercises, to speak making questions about the environment, mini debates, link draws and words, etc.
Respect to the culture, students would transfer their knowledge into positive environmental action in their own schools and communities.
Finally I would introduce the cognition also, for example classifying the problems, comparing the gravity of each problem, identifying the different colors of rubbish bin, etc.
I would pretend to assess all this 4 parts. For example, respect to the greenhouse effect, student must understand the concept, its process, its causes and effects. Student also needs to be aware about what we can do to stop it. It is necessary to learn key vocabulary as for example atmosphere, carbon dioxide, Greenhouse effects, polar ice caps, raising sea levels, re-emits pollution. In addition, they must produce simple sentences in English related to the greenhouse effect process, as for example: the GH process is caused by CO2 emissions. If we make laboratory experiments, I would asses it with things like to understand the GHE process through the experiment, or to be able to interpret the graphic of the experiment.
Our schools need more encouragement, resources, and time to devote attention to environmental education. They need funding and other support to train teachers to incorporate environmental education into their everyday lesson plans and to develop the confidence and skills to take their students outdoors to learn.
In addition there are studies made in primary and secondary schools, which environmental education, especially with an outdoor learning component, has been shown to dramatically improve overall student performance, particularly in science and math. So, environmental education also helps build “environmental literacy” among the public who will then be more likely to take action to conserve and sustain forests and the environment.
Nowadays the plugged-in lives of students are largely devoid of exploring the natural world and we are just beginning to understand the ramifications of their virtual world. Additionally, if children are detached from nature, how will they learn about, understand, and value nature?
I would like to aware of the effect of human activity on the environment, focusing in detail on greenhouse effect and solid waste.
As far as the contents respected, it is important to include the greenhouse effect (GHE) process, the GHE gases, the consequences of GHE on the environment (sea levels raise, animal and plant species extinguishing, polar ice caps melting...), solid waste classification, the matter cycle, the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), laboratory experiment.
In the communication I think that pupils need to know the vocabulary about the subject and conditional and future structures in English, for instance, doing relation-exercises, to speak making questions about the environment, mini debates, link draws and words, etc.
Respect to the culture, students would transfer their knowledge into positive environmental action in their own schools and communities.
Finally I would introduce the cognition also, for example classifying the problems, comparing the gravity of each problem, identifying the different colors of rubbish bin, etc.
I would pretend to assess all this 4 parts. For example, respect to the greenhouse effect, student must understand the concept, its process, its causes and effects. Student also needs to be aware about what we can do to stop it. It is necessary to learn key vocabulary as for example atmosphere, carbon dioxide, Greenhouse effects, polar ice caps, raising sea levels, re-emits pollution. In addition, they must produce simple sentences in English related to the greenhouse effect process, as for example: the GH process is caused by CO2 emissions. If we make laboratory experiments, I would asses it with things like to understand the GHE process through the experiment, or to be able to interpret the graphic of the experiment.
Our schools need more encouragement, resources, and time to devote attention to environmental education. They need funding and other support to train teachers to incorporate environmental education into their everyday lesson plans and to develop the confidence and skills to take their students outdoors to learn.
In addition there are studies made in primary and secondary schools, which environmental education, especially with an outdoor learning component, has been shown to dramatically improve overall student performance, particularly in science and math. So, environmental education also helps build “environmental literacy” among the public who will then be more likely to take action to conserve and sustain forests and the environment.
Which training courses would you like to have access to as a teacher? Why?
Which is, in your opinion, the best way to share good practice amongst teaching professionals? Why?
I believe that a teacher must be a person who is in continuous training, and this is important to refresh our knowledge and to update new technologies.
On the one hand, some training courses exist to develop general knowledge, for instance TIC, Methodology, Cooperating and Mediation courses. All these are good to learn different ways of use class resources and to act in different situations.
On the other hand, once each teacher have decided which subject and age group they want to teach, they will need to consider the various different training courses. The one they choose will depend on their subject, qualifications, experience, and where they want to train.
As far I am concerned, I would like to have access to a Moodle course because after the English Capacitation, I consider this tool very useful for stay in contact to all your students and also to other teachers, in addition teacher can update all the documents and share it with the pupils.
Refer to my subject, that is Biology, last year I attend to a “learn to teach Recycle” and it seems very interesting to apply in Primary and Secondary level because it is worth to aware about it since childhood.
Additionally it is good to share all our knowledge and experiences with other people and enjoy learning about others. Last year Hungarian students came with two teachers to our School and it was an amazing experience. We have the occasion to share different methodologies and learn about their didactic lessons. Nevertheless, one of the best ways to share with other colleagues is on line, I know a red which name is “ BioGeo” and it is as Facebook, but only for share projects and files related to this subject. Another way to share is attend to conferences and meetings where lecturer explains news methodologies and researches. In addition, there are CEFIRE interesting courses and different programs such as Comenius, etc.
On the one hand, some training courses exist to develop general knowledge, for instance TIC, Methodology, Cooperating and Mediation courses. All these are good to learn different ways of use class resources and to act in different situations.
On the other hand, once each teacher have decided which subject and age group they want to teach, they will need to consider the various different training courses. The one they choose will depend on their subject, qualifications, experience, and where they want to train.
As far I am concerned, I would like to have access to a Moodle course because after the English Capacitation, I consider this tool very useful for stay in contact to all your students and also to other teachers, in addition teacher can update all the documents and share it with the pupils.
Refer to my subject, that is Biology, last year I attend to a “learn to teach Recycle” and it seems very interesting to apply in Primary and Secondary level because it is worth to aware about it since childhood.
Additionally it is good to share all our knowledge and experiences with other people and enjoy learning about others. Last year Hungarian students came with two teachers to our School and it was an amazing experience. We have the occasion to share different methodologies and learn about their didactic lessons. Nevertheless, one of the best ways to share with other colleagues is on line, I know a red which name is “ BioGeo” and it is as Facebook, but only for share projects and files related to this subject. Another way to share is attend to conferences and meetings where lecturer explains news methodologies and researches. In addition, there are CEFIRE interesting courses and different programs such as Comenius, etc.