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EVALUACIÓN E INNOVACIÓN DOCENTE E INVESTIGACIÓN EDUCATIVA EN EL ÁMBITO DE LA ESPECIALIDAD DE INGLÉS The importance of music in L2 acquisition Innovation and research project Máster Universitario en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas, Artísticas y Deportivas Nora Buey Martínez Silvia Groote Murillo [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 2 INDEX INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 JUSTIFICATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Krashen’s Second Language Hypotheses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 METHODOLOGY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Aims ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Participants -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Instruments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Surveys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Available resources --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Procedure -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Phase I: Development of the questionnaires. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Phase II: Collection of questionnaires and analysis of resources. ------------------------------------------------ 11 Phase III: Analysis of data. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Analysis of the students´ survey --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Analysis of the Teachers´ Survey ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 The implementation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Phase IV: Proposal of teaching resources aimed at improving the learning of English. -------------------- 21 CONCLUSIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23 BIBLIOGRAPHY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 APPENDIX ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 25 Apendix I ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Apendix II --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Apendix III -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 3 INTRODUCTION Music in an essential learning tool because it is part of our identity, it also supports us in the development and practice of listening skill, pronunciation, and vocabulary acquisition. Since an early age we identify words and objects through the songs, so it is assumed that this process can be applied to the education and to the learning of a foreign language, in this case English. Since the moment we are born we listen, we transmit and feel through musical manifestation. We hear the singing of birds, lullabies sung by our mothers and thus music becomes in a universal and transcendental language in our lives. Using music extensive information music is also acquired from the social and historical context of the language. It is also regarded as a vehicle of the language, because it offers opportunities to practice areas which are difficult for some students, areas or features supra-segmental of communication, such as rhythm and intonation, and of course it is an important source of vocabulary. Therefore, music supports the content for the learning of language and the language learning process. Musical ability is recognized as the one of the seven forms of intelligence, although all of them occupy similar space on the brain and equal importance in the development of the global intelligence. Gardner (1993). Songs are not correctly used in the classroom, that is to say they do not just create a friendly and communicative used atmosphere among the students, they should offer much more in practice. They offer an emersion in the culture, especially through the stories and myths from other societies, in this case from English speaking comunity. According to Oller (1993) "teachers should be more innovative and creative, and they must use a wide variety of activities to strengthen, enable and motivate students to learn.” [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 4 JUSTIFICATION The reason why we chose this subject for a project is that we consider the music to be a central aspect of language learning acquisition. That is to say we consider music to be central to create relaxed, interactive and dynamic environment in which students will gain confidence and fluency in the English-speaking. From our point of view, we believe that songs stimulate a natural accumulation of vocabulary that students will be able to use in real life situations. This project describes the theoretical and practical reasons for using music on a weekly or daily basis in the teaching of foreign languages. To this end, we decided to implement this project in the state high school “Miguel de Molinos”. The experimental group chosen to carry out the project has been 14 students of 2nd year of ESO who belong to the bilingual program at the center was set up. The bilingual program regulated by the British Council tries to instill their culture in the students helping them by understand their artistic manifestations. During the period of our teaching practices we could collaborate with them in the Irish cultural week checking the effectiveness of the music. For example we used songs such as "Molly Malone" and "Whiskey in the jar" immersed in a context, to help students to develop the four basic skills and also to learn more about Irish culture. [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 5 Krashen’s Second Language Hypotheses Following the “Nativist Tradition” of Noam Chomsky (1965), which say that all human beings are born with the predisposition to acquire a language. Krashen developed his five hypotheses, being the best known of which are referred to as the “Input” and “Affective filter” hypotheses. According to Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, new, unfamiliar vocabulary is acquired when its meaning in a contact is made clear to the learner. Meaning is transmitted with the help illustrations, actions, photos and realia. Krashen refers to "comprehensible input" when the linguistic input is made comprehensible to the second language learner. Krashen says that the amount of comprehensible input is proportional to the amount of vocabulary acquired. Thus, according to Krashen (1989), vocabulary is incidentally acquired through stories because familiar vocabulary and syntax contained in the stories provide meaning to less familiar vocabulary, and picture illustrations clarify the meaning of unfamiliar words. There is evidence that picture illustrations succeed at supporting the reading process clarifying the meaning of incoming verbal information (Hudson, 1982; Omaggio, 1979; Mueller, 1980; Bradsford and Johnson, 1972). In short, meaning is critical to the acquisition of second language vocabulary. The use of music in the second language classroom is consistent with both of Krashen’s hypotheses. When second language learners hear “story songs”, that is stories which have been set to music, it is possible to assimilate and acquire vocabulary. As in the case of orally-read stories, story songs which are presented with picture illustrations, photos or gestures provide the necessary extra linguistic support which results in language acquisition. Furthermore, because of the positive effects which music has upon second language learners, story songs may motivate and captivate the attention of second language learners in ways that oral stories cannot. Krashen’s second hypothesis, the “Affective Filter hypothesis,” also refers to the use of music in the second language classroom. According to this hypothesis, the extent to which linguistic input is received from the environment depends largely upon the learner’s “affect”, that is his inner feelings and attitude. Negative emotions, functioning much like a filter, can prevent the learner from making total use of the linguistic input from his environment. Therefore, if he is anxious, unmotivated, or simply lacks [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 6 confidence, language acquisition will be limited. Therefore, a positive mental attitude has to be present in the interest of the second language teacher to provide an environment which evokes positive emotions. Music does precisely that. Whether learners simply listen to instrumental music, vocals in the target language, or sing in unison, it is a pleasurable experience. Furthermore, as reported in the literature, singing songs in unison produces a sense of community and increases student confidence when speaking the second language. In others words, music lowers the “affective filter” and brings about language acquisition. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences The use of music in the second language classroom is supported by the work of still another theorist, Howard Gardner (1993). According to this psychologist, there exist eight distinct types of intelligence: musical, spatial, logical, linguistic (verbal), logicalmathematical, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (understanding others) and intrapersonal (understanding self) and naturalist (observing and understanding natural and human-made patterns and systems). Brain research supports the notion that these distinct abilities appear to be independent of one another. That is, patients experiencing difficulties in one location in the brain do not generally experience problems in other areas. To him, all humans are born with a propensity to excel in all of these areas, yet their ability to bring these up to date is largely dependent upon the influences of culture, motivation level and experiences (1998). As a result, most individuals tend to excel in only one or two of these areas. There are several implications for educators. First, Gardner believes that it is the responsibility of educational institutions to cultivate these intelligences. Also, educators need to be reminded that historically schools have focused on the development of only two of these intelligences: linguistic and logical/mathematical skills. Such a perspective is narrow since humans possess a greater number of intelligences, According to Gardner, given this, schools need to acknowledge and foster a broader range of intelligences. Therefore, teachers need to instruct in ways that tap a wide variety of intelligences. Although it is impossible to tap all intelligences at all times, teachers need to incorporate a variety of strategies. Using music as a vehicle for second language learning is consistent with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Music [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 7 can be used in any number of ways to instruct the second language to second language learners. Students may listen to instrumental background music while writing an essay. To elicit verbal responses, students may be asked to listen to classical or jazz music. In order to acquire new vocabulary, students may listen to a song that tells a story while the teacher points to picture, illustrations of key vocabulary words. Students may learn to sing songs with lyrics containing key target language structures. Clearly, there are numerous ways in which music can be used to instruct the second language, so students will also cultivate the musical intelligence which Gardner speaks of. Furthermore, those students who have superior musical intelligence will benefit ever more. METHODOLOGY The following study has been based on our observation and the results which we have obtained during Practicum II and III at the State High School Miguel de Molinos, with a group in the second year of ESO. Aims Our proposed objectives are:  To promote the use of and production of music as a tool of encouragement and motivation in the development of the skills in English.  To offer a tutorial on the correct use of music as a tool in the English classroom.  To analyze the uses of music in the educational of our case study the High School.  To show the development of the learning strategies as a result of our experience.  To demonstrate the degree of influence and effectiveness of music in the English learning process. [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 8 Participants Before starting our project, we considered it important to know the context in which we were going to put into practice our reaching method. As we said before, the subjects of our study have been supposedly bilingual students in the second year of ESO. This bilingual program is regulated by the British Council. We should say that these students came from a bilingual Primary School called Jose Antonio Labordeta. We could see that the bilingual classes were dynamic, distended and also entertaining because the teacher used a great variety of strategies such as reading books and preparing different cultural events like Saint Patrick´s day, etc It is important to say that they have a Native English language assistant who collaborated in the practical teaching of the language so the level of these students corresponded to an intermediate level. For all these reasons we decided to work with them. Instruments Music is something easily accessible, for this reason, we decided to plan some activities with songs taking advantage of the audio provided by the High School. Since the implementation of the program web 2.0, we have been able to use the digital board and also the radio cassette, internet, tablet pc for students, etc. These resources have favoured the use of the ICT. Surveys We have also conducted some surveys to find out the interests of our students, because we consider it very important to motivate/ captivate their interest in the activities. These surveys [see Apendix1] show their interests and also their habits with regard to music. The questions which appear in them were selected mainly in order to answer the following questions: [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 9 - Do you like learning through music? - What kind of music is your favourite? - How do you like to work with music? - Are you used to working with music? Furthermore, we designed a survey directed at the teachers to find out their point of view as well with regard to music, and to answer these questions: - Do you use music in class as a learning tool? Why? Why not? - How do you use it? We will talk later about the analysis of the results we achieved from all these surveys. Available resources The resources provided by the school have been useful to carry out different activities. Through internet, students have worked on websites such as: http://www.masterkeyenglish.com/blog/ . These kinds of websites provide the learners with some resources which enable them to learn their favourite lyrics easily. In internet, we can also look for video-clips which that illustrate stories, promoting a better understanding. Moreover, internet can provide you with information about singers, music culture, etc. In the Appendix III (page9): you can also find the activities we carried out with the students which show how you can work with a song apart from “fill in the gaps” activity. In the implementation of the project and in phase IV we will explain how these activities work in a real context, and we will also provide information about some activities you can put into practice in your lessons. [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 16 The students always preferred to have clear constructions about what to do. Therefore, one of our goals was be precise with our instructions. Students do not like learning alone, as far as possible we avoided this. We promoted tasks in small groups or pairs. The fact that we carried out this type of activity made tasks easier, because, by not working alone, the students always had a peer who could help them. It is important to take into account the relative learning speeds of the students in the activity groups. An effective way to make groups would be to use the following chart which was established by Spencer Kagan (1990). He proposed that group work should be done in groups with mixed learning speeds. The following table shows how a group of four can be made up. Similarly, different combinations are possible for pairs (horizontal groupsavoiding the low and high level combination) Low Middle low Middle high High [THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN L2 ADQUISITION] 29 de Mayo de 2012 17 Finally we focus our questionnaire on learning and how our students like to acquire their knowledge. First it is important to say that this was an active and eager group, so there was good participation and interaction. They preferred to learn new vocabulary with visual supports as well as by reading and listening. Therefore, new vocabulary or structures were noted down in their notebooks after hearing to consolidate the learning process and make the words easier to remember in the long term. We have the view that music will improve their pronunciation as well as their knowledge of many other areas such as vocabulary, grammar, etc. This questionnaire demonstrates that students like music, something which promotes foreign language acquisition. Therefore we provided material for the students to be able to work at home in a playful way. This avoided the dangers of the passive listener. In conclusion, this questionnaire has been our main source of information to know the reality about the importance of music for the children and how this can be used to help them to learn English. Analysis of the Teachers´ Survey Our main goal is to know: how, when and why music is used in classroom. -Do they consider it useful or not to use music in the acquisition of a second language? Most teachers consider that songs are very useful in the acquisition of the English language and they use them in class in a timely way. They argue that songs are useful to develop the student ear, to learn new vocabulary and to review grammar, because music brings the students in contact with colloquial English and some songs provide relaxation and awaken the students to the taste for English. It is a different method of learning. Following this point, we will show you the reasons why teachers consider songs as a useful resource. The main abilities to pronounce well and the ability to learn new vocabulary quickly are improved with the use of the songs in the learning process. On the other hand, sub-skills such as intonation, correct use of grammatical structures and speaking are also present. These teachers expressed that the activities carried out are usually “fill in the gaps” or reorder the sentences. Rarely, they used an integrative group technique. The modern Integrative method in Education means that language learning in school happens at the same time as the development of other abilities, such as creativity and individual investigation. One example of the integrative approach is the integration of language learning with musical appreciation development. Phase IV: Implementation of the project. The implementation Through our observation and experience we can say these students are not used to working with songs in class, so we think that it is better to begin to work with songs from an earlier age. We did some activities with songs which they like, so they were motivated and participative. After finding out their favorite singers and types of music, we followed the three steps established by Lems (1996) y Poppeton (2001) to choose the songs: 1- The lyrics of the songs have to be clear and heard clearly. 2- The semantics of the song must be appropriate to the level of students. 3- The songs have to be reviewed to avoid controversial contents. However, as we said before, an essential criterion which has to be in mind before selecting a song is the aim didactic purpose of the lesson. There are many reasons for using a song as a resource in the second language class such as: - To provide a variety of worked skills: (listening, reading, writing and speaking). A song allows you to work the four basic skills in two stages. The first stage develops the listening and reading skill when you are hearing and listening the song, and in the second stage the students can produce oral or written outputs. - Exposition to English phonetics: (pronunciation, stress, rhythm, rhyme). One of the most difficult things about this foreign language is the difference between the pronunciation and spelling so using songs you can work on it. - Learning about grammatical and lexical points: a positive aspect about using songs is that you can see the grammatical points learned in class in a real context. Moreover, the students can learn colloquial expressions which do not appear in the textbooks. - Introduction to socio-cultural and educative aspects: using songs, teachers can promote educational values. - Translation technique: some teachers do not agree with this technique in the leaning process, however in some moments it is beneficial for the students because they can see the difference between their mother tongue and the second language reflecting on their differences and resemblances to reinforce the second language. - Adequate atmosphere: working with songs allows the students to be relaxed and at the same time motivated. As we said before, we carried out some activities taking into account the information we got from the questionnaires. Some of this activities were individual (“why don´t you continue?”, “fill in the gaps” and “order the song”) and some were in groups (comic strips and debate club). The group activities had better results than the individual ones. In general the students were very participative in all the activities because all of them loved the songs we used. In the next chapter we will explain the development of some of these activities. In short, the most important reasons for using songs in the second language acquisition are the following: to motivate and create interest in the students in the English language and to teach a foreign language in a funny and interesting way. Phase IV: Proposal of teaching resources aimed at improving the learning of English. Using music in the classroom is an effective way for teachers to achieve successful learning with L2 learners. In this chapter we propose some activities to carry out in L2 lessons using music. These activities are not the typical activities such as “fill in the gaps” or “correct the mistakes”. Students will be more involved in the activities and individually responsible for their learning. There are lots of activities to carry out with our students, it is only necessary to be creative and take into account their interests. Some of them are detailed below: - Does it really rhyme? In this activity, students have to look for words in order to make rhymes, so they can use all the vocabulary they know. - Comic strips: story songs can be used to promote cooperative learning. In this kind of activity students are divided into groups and the song is divided into strips. Each one has to represent a part of the song. They can to the story or change it. It is important to select the song carefully, being sure that students understand it. We did this activity with our students. The song we used was Imagine, The Beatles. They enjoyed performing this song so much. Before the performance, we were working on the vocabulary so that the students could understand the story of the song. - Debate club: it is possible to create a debate among out students, so we can use a song to introduce and talk about topics. We used a song by Coldplay in order to talk about the story of the group. They were very motivated and participative because they liked this group. - “Why don´t you continue?” We can carry out this activity giving them a song with some sentences deleted and they have to complete them through listening or they can complete them as they want. This activity was carried out with a song by Bruno Mars. They could use their vocabulary and grammar structures to complete the song. It allowed them to use their knowledge and imagination. - It is also possible to carry out some projects with the whole class. For instance you can divide the class in small groups. Each group has to choose a song and work on in order to prepare an activity to be carried out by classmates. Activities have to be adapted to the level of the students, so you can include reinforcement of the vocabulary in order to make it easier for low levels. You don´t need to include them if the level is higher. You can also use visual supports such as photos, videos, realia, etc to promote a better understanding. To sum up, it is important to know the context where you are teaching to achieve successful results. CONCLUSIONS The conclusions we have achieved in relation with our work research and its implementation are the following: - Songs are useful tools to develop the basic skills - Songs can connect the students with real contents - Students can learn quickly in a familiar environment - It is important to work on the songs properly in order to achieve successful results - Teachers should receive more training about how to work with music. BIBLIOGRAPHY  Bernal Agudo, J.L. (2006): Comprender nuestros retos educativos. Zaragoza, Mira editores.  High. S (1997): An introduction to teaching English to Children, London. Richmond  M. Olivera, C. Myers, G. Morales, R. Norris T. Morton. (2000): Aspectos didácticos de inglés 7. Zaragoza, ICE.  M. Grenfell, S. Thornbury, A. Mª Artigas, C. Pérez-Llantada.(2002): Aspectos didácticos de inglés 7. Zaragoza, ICE.  Rodríguez Viñas, J.L. (): Los recursos didácticos en la programación de aula. (Año desconocido) . Zaragoza, Fundación investigación y futuro.  MasterKey english. MasterKey english. [Online] 2010 . [Cited: 2 Abril 2012.] http://www.masterkeyenglish.com/blog/.  Adelina Leal Olivia; Pablo Sánchez Rodríguez. 2010. Revista digital: Innovación y experiencias educativas. [Online] Granada, Febrero 2010. [Cited: 29 Marzo 2012.] http://www.csicsif.es/andalucia/modules/mod_ense/revista/pdf/Numero_27/VARIOS_ADELI NA_LEAL_1.pdf.  Brewer.C. 2005. Sound tracks for learning: using music in the classroom. Song for tearcing. Using music to promote learning. [Online] 2005. [Cited: 13 Abril 2012.] http://www.songsforteaching.com/teachingtips/classroomoutcomesofusingmusic .htm.  Rosová, Veronika. The use of music in teaching English: diploma thesis.. Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2007. [Online] [Cited: 13 Abril 2012.] http://is.muni.cz/th/84318/pedf_m/diploma_thesis_1.pdf APPENDIX Appendix I Using Music to Teach English to Learners of English Answer the following questions: 1- Do you listen to English music? Never  Sometimes  Usually  2- Can you understand the lyrics? Never  Sometimes  Usually  3- How do you learn lyrics?  Websides  Transcription.  Diccionary  Other: ________ 4- Do you download music? Never  Sometimes  Usually  5- What type of music is your favorite?  Rock and roll  Reggae  Pop  Rap/ hip hop  House  Other: ____________ 6- Who is your favorite singer or what is your favorite English band? 7- Is there a song you can think of that has deep significance for you? What is it? Why is it significant? 8- Do you like watching the video clips of the songs?  Yes  No 9- Does your teacher use music in class? Never  Sometimes  Usually  10- What is your number one reason for learning English? Página 32 2. Write the sentences in the past tense. a-The lights go out and I can’t be saved b-Oh I beg, I beg and I plead. c-Gonna come back and take you home. I don't want to miss a thing 1.Put the sentences into the correct order : Where a moment spent with you is a moment I treasure, Watch you smile while you are sleeping, While you are far away and dreaming I could stay awake just to hear you breathing, While you are far away and dreaming, I could stay lost in this moment forever, (Chorus) Cause I miss you baby, And I don't want to miss a thing, I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, I still miss you baby and I don't want to miss a thing Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do, Then I kiss your eyes and thank god we're together Wondering if it's me you are seeing, I just want to stay with you in this moment forever and forever for ever Lying close to you feeling your heart beating And I wondering what you are dreaming, (Chorus) I feel your heart so close to mine Página 33 And I don't want to miss one smile, I don't want to miss one kiss, I just want to be with you right here with you, Just like this, I just want to hold you close, I don't want to miss one kiss, And just stay here in this moment, For all of the rest of time (Chorus) 2. Answer the following questions about the lyrics: 1.What does he want more? _________________________ 2.Does the title correspond to the text?Why? __________________________________ 3.Why doesn´t he want to close his eyes? ________________________________ 4.For how long does he want to be with his big love? _________________________________________ Página 34 Lyrics and suggested answers I don't wanna miss a thing I could stay awake just to hear you breathing, Watch you smile while you are sleeping, While you are far away and dreaming, I could spend my life in this sweet surrender, I could stay lost in this moment forever, Where a moment spent with you is a moment I treasure I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, Cause I miss you baby, And I don't want to miss a thing Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do, I still miss you baby and I don't want to miss a thing Lying close to you feeling your heart beating, And I wondering what you are dreaming, Wondering if it's me you are seeing, Then I kiss your eyes and thank god we're together, I just want to stay with you in this moment forever and forever forever (Chorus) And I don't want to miss one smile, I don't want to miss one kiss, I just want to be with you right here with you, Just like this, I just want to hold you close, I feel your heart so close to mine And just stay here in this moment, For all of the rest of time Página 35 Listen to the song and complete the gaps. Enjoy, it is a cool song! (Bruno Mars) Oh, her eyes, her eyes Make the __________________ Her hair, her hair, Falls perfectly without her trying _____________________, _______ ____________________ Yea, I know, i know, When I compliment her she won’t believe me And it’s so, it’s so ______________ to think that she don’t see what I see But every time she asks me, do I look okay, I say When I see your ________________, There is not a thing that I would change ___________________________, Just the way you are ________________, __________________________ Cause girl you’re amazing, Just the way you are, hey Her lips, her lips I could _____________ them all day if she’d let me Her laugh, her laugh She hates but I think it’s so sexy She’s so _________________, And________________ Oh, you know, you know, You know I’d never ask you to ______________ If perfect’s what you’re searching for Then just stay the same So don’t even bother asking if you look okay, You ___________________________ _______________________________, There is not a thing that i would change _____________ __________________, Just_______________ And when you smile, The whole ___________________________ for a while Cause girl you’re amazing, Just the way you are The way you are? The way you are? Girl you’re amazing, ____________________ When _____ ___________________, There’s not a thing I would change Cause____ _____________________, Just the way you are Página 36 And when you smile, The whole ________________ ___________ for a while Cause girl you’re amazing, Just the way you are, yeah IMAGINE (John Lennon) Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today... Imagine there are no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can Página 37 No need for greed or hunger Imagine all the people Sharing all the world... You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one Página 38 Music is the universal language of mankind. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Página 39 Port-folio II Critical reflection This document treats on the aspects in which I have based for the design of activities and his putting on practice on the classroom. 2012 SILVIA GROOTE MURILLO IES MIGUEL DE MOLINOS 10/04/2012 Página 40 CRITICAL REFLECTION The state secondary school called “Miguel de Molinos” introduces an English-Spanish bilingual section to give continuity to the studies that a good part of the pupils realize in the school "Jose Antonio Labordeta", within the framework of the agreement MEC/British Council. Firstly, I have taught some activities so much in 2nd year of ESO as in 2nd year of Bachillerato. I would like to talk about the bilingual programme instead of the regular programme that we can know more information. It´s necessary to say that students in the 2nd year of Bachillerato are preparing the university entrance examination so the lessons must be lead to pass the exams for this reason I decided to develop my didactic unit in ESO. In the bilingual section, children have five English hours a week but in addition they also have Science and Social studies in English language so the students have a high English level and it is an opportunity to do different activities through the week. In the English subject, the teacher has a diary programme that it consists in:  Twice a week, to follow the ordinary book: in this case students are working in a higher level because they use the textbook called “High School 3” in the 2nd year of ESO.  One a week:  Literacy addresses the reading, writing, and study of a full range of text types that children learn how language works at a word, sentence and text level.  English language assistant who collaborates in the practical teaching of the language through Power Points that depart from topics that it could be interesting for the own students. Página 41  Reading: students usually read at least 3 or 4 books in a year. In the library we can find an original version books so this kinds of reading support their level however they use adapted version. Furthermore this activities they also watch films, celebrate different cultural weeks about Britain among others. Undoubtedly I have to take into account all of this aspects to develop my learning unit in a same way that the teacher does it. Thus, in the days that students use the text-book I develop my lessons. I also do literacy lessons following the sheets which the teacher has and on Friday I manage with the book of Hamlet. Secondly I am talking about how the teacher engages the classroom and the strategies that the students are used to do every day. I would dare that the teacher is based on the communicative language teaching method. In her lessons students work in oral skill and they emphasise the grammar structures that she consider important to be learnt. In these cases, students write in their notebooks the structures with some examples that it can be useful for understand it. The use of the mother tongue in English class is practical for translate some words that they can be a problem for its understand or also it is a vehicle for talk about some information that it can be relevant like scholarship, some matters that is necessary that students cannot any doubt about it. The classes are dynamic, distended and also entertaining because the teacher uses a great variety of strategies as I can explain it before. The management of the class is easier than the non-bilingual section due to the numbers of students is smaller so the teacher can support the same level for all the students and this factor allow that the classes are more participative. When the teacher teaches in the lesson, she takes into account that there are in the classroom the same levels for all students so this circumstance does the lesson are very quickly and more or less all of them have the same doubt so it is a big advantage. Página 48 On the other hand we took into account their musical tastes. It seems to be a very important factor to motivate them due to the fact that they usually work with old-fashioned songs, so the teachers don't know how to gain advantage from the resource of music; in saying this I think that teachers think that music in the acquisition of a foreign language is a waste of time. Finally , this project have been for me a good experience and I think music it is worth working it in class but we have to promote its use since an early age. A REFLECTION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION All this time I feel that I improve a lot my work as a teacher however there some aspects of the language that I need to have more control to feel more comfortable in my lessons plan. The context in which I developed the practicum has been the ideal in order to develop my skills as a future teacher. The teacher of the Center made me a perfect contextualization in order to adequately develop my learning unit, assuming the role of the teacher of languages. Before starting to develop my sessions, I carefully analyzed the environment of the class in which I decided to develop my unit. Although, I try to anticipate all the problems it was in my implementation where I realize that I had certain skills should improve. The fact of being in class with my classmates has made me enrich knowledge, analyzing what we did well and bad. I learn from my peers who have helped me in my educational task and I can share different points of view. From the first day, the teacher gave us some guidelines on what resources were available to us, thus she has given me a great variety of materials. I have been able to adapt perfectly the content with material created by myself and that has meant that I could develop my creativity in order to complete my educational work. Página 49 In the first sessions I could find some problems such as not to anticipate me at the answer or question of pupils, have doubts with the pronunciation of certain words, not have present make a feedback after each session or not know to make the session temporary correctly. Little by little all these problems will be improve thanks of my tutor advice or the feedback that I made with my classmates every day after the sessions. According to the methodology I try to follow the communicative approach because the students were use to work on it so I try to do my best but I find a lot of variables or aspects which are present that I never think it before. As related to written interaction, it seems to me quite easy and I am able to adapt different written activities depending on the topic of each unit. I have been able to guide and to assist each student making feedback about their mistakes at the end of each activity. As a teacher, I think this way is the best way to take into account certain aspects that it could help at the student in future works. On my point of view I think the worst part is to evaluate a post written work because I think is something very subjective. It mainly depends on the level that the rest of the classmates have and for this reason I review several times all the writings that they gave me. I took into account the range of vocabulary the use of different connectors or grammatical structure seen during the course. The communicative approach is the methodology that my teacher use to use in class so the spoken interaction are present all the interventions that I did. I can select resources for improve this skill but sometimes I don´t I have no doubt that the conducting a lesson is a process that I can improve with the practice. At first, I have not had any problem at the moment of looking for materials or resources that help to support this interaction, nevertheless to correct the above mentioned interactions me it seems to me to be slightly more complicated. Página 50 The cooperative learning it has been the best experience that I had because I have learnt of my mistakes and I can solve it. The experience will provide me the knowdoledge about teaching strategies to put into practice with my students because all this time wasn´t enough for develop all my teacher competence.