”Primeros Pasos en Español - First Steps in Spanish”
Quick links to the following information::
GENERAL INFORMATION
- FUNDING: please go to the "Funding" page for more information.
- DATES:
| Febuary - May |
July -August |
15/02/2009 - 20/02/2009
05/04/2009 - 10/04/2009
24/05/2009 - 29/05/2009 |
05/07/2009 - 11/07/2009
19/07/2009 - 25/07/2009
16/08/2009 - 22/08/2009 |
- LANGUAGES USED FOR THE TRAINING: Spanish
- OTHER LANGUAGE/S USED DURING THE TRAINING:
English
- LANGUAGE VERSION(S) IN WHICH MATERIALS WILL BE PROVIDED: English,
Spanish
- EDUCATION SECTOR OF THE TRAINING PARTICIPANTS:
SCHOOL AND PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION,
Primary,
General secondary´
ADULT EDUCATION,
Higher education institution offering outreach courses for adults,
Organisations working with migrant groups/ethnic minorities
- TARGET AUDIENCE
Teachers (Pre-school, primary, secondary, vocational, adult, special needs),
Teacher trainers
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Preparation
Interacting’s pre-departure programme for the “First Steps in Spanish teacher training course requires participants to profile their own education system and their individual schools. This preparative exercise explores different national education systems and extracts detailed information on how schools are run, teachers’ workload commitments, degree of experimentation and flexibility in each school, initiatives undertaken by teachers and so on. This information will be guided in the form of a questionnaire to be filled out by participants before attendance and to be presented upon arrival. If any of the teachers participating on the course have had experience with using games, storytelling, or theatre in foreign language teaching at primary level, they are invited to bring videos or dvds of their work.
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Objectives
Interacting’s one-week First Steps in Spanish course has three goals: to improve teachers’ competence in Spanish; to improve methodological expertise through the use of drama; and to deepen teachers’ knowledge of Spanish culture.
A strong group dynamic within a “safe” environment allows teachers to put themselves in the position of their students and try out new techniques. Result: a skills base that both improves teaching delivery and motivates pupils.
Much of the course is in Spanish, which improves listening comprehension while demonstrating how this approach works with young learners. A more formal teaching component based on grammar and conversation is also included.
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Methodology
Based on the belief that learning is a living and dynamic process, the seven-day course is interactive and learner focused. Specially designed to take drama into the classroom as a teaching resource, teaching targets are assessed on a daily basis through group sessions.
First Steps in Spanish is delivered through a variety of plenary sessions, seminars and workshops that kick off with icebreakers and introductions, then on to group work, building confidence, improving communication skills, developing dialogues, scene building, characterisation, story telling, language theatre games, and voice techniques.
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Follow-up
Upon completion, participants are required to
fill in an evaluation form, activate new partners for European projects, put their knowledge into practice by teaching on one of Interacting’s summer courses.
In addition participants are provided with:
- A certificate of attendance
- A CD containing didactic material, activities undertaken during the course, presentations made by guest speakers and photographs
DAY-BY-DAY PROGRAMME OF TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Apart from DAY ONE the daily timetable is from 9:30am - 4:30pm with an hour lunch and a coffee break in the morning and another in the afternoon. Evening meals from 9pm.
SUN: P.M. Arrivals. Reception, welcome to Madrid and course orientation.
MON: A.M. General Assembly. Introductions and warm-ups.
Activities and songs practicing greetings and the language of identification, questions and answers to "who" and "where".
P.M. Trust-building exercises. Guest speaker:
Good practice in Spanish schools. Language review.
TUE: A.M. Games to introduce and review vocabulary.
P.M. Cultural afternoon, the Prado, Interacting with Art, using a museum visit as a resource. Language review and exercises at the Retiro Park.
WED: A.M. Games to introduce and practice the language of action and place (with vocabulary and songs).
P.M. Games and songs to demonstrate CLIL and meaningful contexts . Language review.
THUR: A.M. Language review (with vocabulary and songs). Building blocks for dialogue, activities to stimulate conversation.
P.M. Story telling techniques. Language review. Treasure Hunt in Madrid.
FRI: A.M. Language review (with vocabulary and songs). Interacting story-telling performance: ‘Señor
Oso’.
P.M. From practice to theory. Evaluation. Farewell Dinner.
SAT: A.M. Departures.
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Here’s what teachers had to say about Interacting training courses…
“Very active activities, practical, good organisers.”
“It has been my best experience as a teacher!”
“I’ve felt really enthusiastic, sometimes exhausted, but finally I find myself full of energy and ideas. Now it’s up to me to put all I have learned into practice. It is incredible how emotional it has been. Even my English has improved noticeably.”
“Brilliant, superb, excellent teachers and cultural events.”
“Excellent and useful course. Excellent accommodation.”
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