Cultural Diversity

Mauricio’s presentation was about cultural diversity. His presentation was very good; he started his micro-lesson asked us to create a definition of diversity and to read it to everybody. Then he read an official definition of it and some important aspects related with diversity such as; age, race, gender, ethnicity.

I liked his presentation because he showed us the importance of this topic in the classroom, the impact when you create a respectful climate and how students could spread the model you give them. His presentation was good in terms of visual aids, good pictures and videos, but he had too much information in some slides, and one video was too fast to read what it said, I could not read in some cases.

At the end, he said a very good piece of advice, that enclose the complete meaning of his topic; “putting in someone else shoes”, which was a very good close to his micro-lesson.

Stress in Students

Yhincy’s presentation was about the stress in students. Before start with some definitions, she started her presentation with some images that were glued on the walls, and we had to guess what those pictures meant. Then she gave some definitions and the causes and effects of stress.

In my opinion, she did a good presentation, she invited us to participate and the topic was interesting and useful as teachers. She had good tone of voice, and she moved around the classroom asking for attention, using eye contact too.

Less words and more action

Eduardo’s presentation was about Chileans projects to improve English education. He presented us three projects; Innovacien, this project is to modify schools and implement software, videogames and videochats with educational purposes. ChileIdiomas, this project is to create a small English city during a complete weekend and students have to talk, read, write, and listen English all the time. The last project was in Pichilemu, where the surf is implemented as a subject, to prevent drug addiction, delinquency, and other social problems.

This topic was interesting, with new ideas and the slides had good images. He had a good tone of voice and presence, his body language was according to the things he was talking and the title as a message was creative. In my opinion, I like the project of Chile Idiomas, because is funnier and easier than the other ones, and as a teacher, you do not need too much money to carry out this porject, you only need your students support.

Body Language

Yara’s presentation was about body language. This topic is very good, because as teachers, we can give good or bad signs of what we are talking. As Yara said our body is a teaching tool, is not necessary to say the translation of a word if we can demonstrate its meaning trough our body. In some cases it must sound weird and goofy but it depends on the teacher what teaching strategies he or she wants to use.

On the other hand there are some body movements that are useful in the classroom, for example giving eye contact, nodding and smiling, and walking around the room among others. In relation with her performance was good, funny videos, but I do not think it was a micro-lesson, because she talked most of the time, and we were sitting watching at her, without a real activity just some comments of what she was talking

Gallipoli

Language: English
Country: Australia
Epoch and social background: 1915 First War World.
Main Characters:

- Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee)

- Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson)

- Uncle Jack (Bill Kerr)

- Les McCann (Harold Hopkins)

- Billy (Robert Grubb)

- Barney (Tim McKenzie)

- Snowy (David Argue)

- Major Barton (Bill Hunter)

Powerful ideas and values:

- Patriotism

- Friendship

- Perseverance

- Loyalty

- Competition

This movie it was a little bit boring at the beginning, when Archie met Frank the movie starts to be more interesting.

This movie showed the importance of friendship, and the loyalty to his country in the case of Archie. He was perseverant during the whole movie, and Frank was not stay behind, for that reason he decided to follow Archie and to become a soldier to fight in Gallipoli against Turkish who were better armed than them.

At the end, I felt a little bit disappointment because Frank could not arrive to give the message to the Major Barton and for that reason Archie die. I do not think it was a really good ending to put an image of Archie when he is shot. I felt it was something missing. I mean, what happened with Frank? The British soldiers, they really arrived to support the trenches?

Slangs

Jorge’s presentation was about Slangs. He made a good presentation; he presented us very good examples and a good definition of them. This was a micro-lesson, because he presented the topic and then he asked us to participate in his lesson.

He had a good tone of voice, but he did not use the space and he did not do eye contact, he must improve that. Good pronunciation and fluency. I liked his micro-lesson, it was an interesting topic and it was good to learn more about language.

Behind a Social Network Service

Nadia’s presentation was about Facebook private policies. This was not a micro-lesson, it was a presentation. Her presentation was boring and with too much information, she was reading most of the time. In some cases she moved around the classroom to call for our attention but it was not good at all.

I think the idea was good, but the way she presented to us was boring, the video and her tone of voice were good. The introductory questions were quite good, and in some way there are some very good tips to consider from this presentation, such as lack of privacy, gossiping, hackers, etc. The most important thing I could extract was that you are exposing yourself to many things when you accept a network policy service. It is a little bit scary, but it is true.

Teachers' evaluation

According to the result of teachers’ evaluation, I think we should improve ourselves to improve Chilean education. It is a circle and we can start changing the situation.

Mr. Waissbluth, leader of the movement “Educación 2020”, said the conditions and the salary teachers earn is mediocre, that is why there are so many unmotivated teachers, it is understandable, but not acceptable, he said, and he is right, if a teacher do not want to be evaluate, it is because he or she knows that is not a good teacher.

In this way, teachers who are not updated can improve their strategies; there are so many courses and scholarships to apply for. It is not reason to leave this situation keep the same way we are now. It is time to work!

The Game as an Educational Tool

Francisca’s presentation was about the game as an educational tool. She made an excellent job; she did what we had supposed to do. This was a real micro-lesson!

She started with some definitions about “game” and how can we use it, then she presented a game called “who wants to be a millionaire?”. This was really fun and she used the space very well and she had a good tone of voice. This micro-lesson was very good and everybody was attentive throughout the lesson.

Purposes 2020

According to the article in La Tercera newspaper about “Propósitos 20-20 ¿resultados 0- 0?” Mr. Waissbluth talked about his program to improve Chilean education; he mentioned the things that he had done to release in the net and creates a movement with real objectives.

The idea of this initiative is to create conscience about our education, and he said is not an easy job, because of its lazy carelessness and unbeatable passiveness of the nation. He also mentioned things that had happened like unaccomplished promises, pilot planes, etc. It is something to think, and to start thinking know, the Chilean education is a real business, it is a matter we have to be updated and we, as teachers, can make a change, it depends on us.

English-only Movement

Paula’s presentation was about English-only Movement. Her presentation was quite good; she had a good tone of voice and good pronunciation too. There were some spelling mistakes in the slides, that should not be there, she should be more careful with that.She could called classmates attention because she managed the use of space and she glued on the walls pictures with “Spanish is not allowed” on it and she gave us a small piece of paper with a similar picture. That was really good!

It was an interesting topic, I did not know about this movement at all, and I could realize the discrimination that exists in USA. They believe that English is the most important language of all and any other should exist. Maybe it is a way to protect they culture, but at the same time they are discriminating other cultures.

Tools for Teaching English

Maria’s presentation was about tools for teaching English. She showed us some tools such as PPT presentations, Videos, Songs and Computers as tools to teach English nowadays.

Her topic was something we had already saw, but she tried to present it in another way; the first part of the presentation she talked about each tool, and the other part of it she asked us to talk about some of them in groups. “That was the idea”, said Mr. Litman, but in my opinion the way she talked in front of the class did not call my attention, she is a little bit boring when she talks and her tone of voice is good but she does not make any intonations at all.

Studying Abroad

Camilo’s micro-lesson was about studying abroad. He had a very good tone of voice and use of space. He did a presentation not a micro-lesson, because he showed us some tests we have to take if we want to study abroad such as TOEFL. He focused his presentation on this test and he took more time than the rest.

This topic was very interesting, I would like to travel abroad and improve myself, so it called my attention a lot. On the other hand, I would prefer that Camilo would have talked more about the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad than the tests I have to take.

Management Stategies

Romina’s micro-lesson was about management strategies. This topic is very interesting, and useful as teachers. It is important to know some strategies to control students’ behavior inside the classroom and to use the time on teaching instead of controlling the situation all the time.

Some strategies were very good; some of them could be a little bit difficult to apply in a real situation. It also depends on the teacher and the students, we all know that each person is unique and each reality is different.

How Tv affects teenagers

Maria Luz’s micro-lesson was about how television affects teenagers. She showed really good videos about the effects of television, she also had good use of space and tone of voice.

I found this topic very interesting; the way she presented it was very good. Nowadays the TV is part of our lives and we do not know the effects that can produce in our children and even our students. There are ways in which we can canalize this resource with Educational purposes, and teach our students how to watch television in a wiser way.

Recycling

Daniela’s micro-lesson was about recycling. She showed very good videos, and she added some music to her presentation. She gave very useful pieces of advice on how we can help our planet. She could engage the audience all the time.

She showed a good preparation and organization of her presentation, I really liked it; the quality of the images and the videos were excellent, each slide had a different background related with the topic as well. She had a good tone of voice and use of space

Technology

Cristobal’s micro-lesson was about technology. He had a lot of technical problems to start his micro-lesson, but he presented a very interesting topic and an activity about the advantages and disadvantages in the use of technical aims. I liked his presentation, but he was too nervous because he started to talk very fast and he gave his back to the audience most of the time.

Some of the aims he presented I knew them before, some of them did not, in the case of Twitter, I was not interest at all, because I do not think we can use it as a teaching tool, I think that GoogleEarth is more useful than Twitter.

Respect inside the classroom

The first micro-lesson was about the respect inside the classroom. I started with a question to contextualize the topic, then I made a comparison between before and now and the differences between them, then I showed some videos with some situations where teachers were victims of disrespect from their students to introduce the activity, to finish with some tips to manage those situations.

I think I did a good micro-lesson, my classmates were happy with my performance and the videos showed a reality where we, as teachers, could be victims in any time.

Relaxation

Daisy’ micro-lesson was about how to get relaxed and some tips about that. Her micro-lesson was more interesting than the first one. She also did a presentation not a micro-lesson, maybe if she had done a better activity than only ask us about the topic, her micro-lesson would have been better.

I think this presentation was quite good, and is an interesting topic to learn about. As a suggestion, she has to improve her tone of voice, is it too low and as a teacher, you have to be heard by all your students.

Billy Elliot

Language: British English
Country: London, England
Epoch and social background: UK miners’ strike (1984 – 1985)
Main Characters:
Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell)
Miss Wilkinson (Julie Walters)
Jackie Elliot (Gary Lewis)
Tony Elliot (Jamie Draven)
Billy’s Grand mother (Jean Heywood)
Michael Caffrey (Stuart Wells)
George Watson (Mike Elliot)
Sr. Braithwait (Billy Frane)
Debbie Wilkinson (Nicola Blackwell)
Billy Elliot at 25 years old (Adam Cooper)
Michael Caffrey at 25 years old (Merryn Owen)

Powerful ideas and values:
Fight for your dreams
Sexism (sports related with girls/boys)
Talent
Hope
Political problems

Colloquialism:
Poof: An offensive word for a homosexual man.

This is a very good movie; I like it very much because it shows a boy who is fighting for his dream to become a professional ballet dancer. Jackie and Tony are both out on strike, and Billy realizes he does not like boxing so he takes ballet classes with the help of Miss Wilkinson. His father and his brother both are against Billy because they think he is homosexual or as they say “poof”. At the end both understood Billy’s passion was dancing and Billy became a professional ballet dancer.
There are some things that called my attention one of them was the use of offensive words and a lot of swearwords. Another one was this movie has something similar with the clockwork orange movie, because both use several songs in different scenes in the movie according to the effect that the director wants.

Children Obesity

Stephanie’s micro-lesson was about children obesity. She also did a presentation not a micro-lesson. She was the only one who talked in the lesson and her topic was about something we all know and there was nothing to learn about it.

The power point was good, but she had some problems of pronunciation, that we supposed not to have it. I think if she had respected the time, the presentation would have been more interesting.

National Institute

Gustavo’s micro-lesson was about National Institute and its history. It was a little bit boring because, for me was not an interesting topic at all, and it was a presentation of the topic not a micro-lesson. He did not teach anything and he was too nervous, maybe because he had to remember too many things, he also said some quotes in Spanish, which were unnecessary, maybe he would paraphrased it.

On the other hand, he had a good tone of voice and he used the space very good. I think he could have caught classmates’ attention, if he had been presented the topic in another way.