November 26th, our last day! Today he have been working on our project and then, we have presented them to our classmates. It has been a fantastic experience because we have had the opportunity to share with all of them and learn a lot. The projects presented were very different due to its teaching level. It has been an enriching experience, of course! Isaac has presented its CLIL project based on Gaelic football. He has planned a lesson plan where the diving question, contents, communication and others aspects that were also described. 

Además, Isaac ha mostrado a través de videos ejemplos reales de propuestas para trabajar ese deporte en la etapa de primaria.

L’Isaac comenta que portarà a terme aquesta proposta en un futur proper a la seva escola. N’està segur que serà una proposta molt motivadora i enriquidora pel seu alumnat.

Núria has shown its presentation based on “the suitcase book”. Like Isaac, she has emphasized with the importance of working on the bloom’s taxonomy along the lesson plan. 

Durante la presentación Núria ha dado ejemplos de cómo tratar cada una de las “higher-order thinking skills” en actividades para la etapa de educación infantil. Por ejemplo:

– To create a suitcase for the bird and for the fox (protagonists of the suitcase book).

– To offer different real objects in order to work on groups. One of each should prepare a suitcase to go for Christmas holidays and the other group should prepare a suitcase to go to the beach in summer.

Se’ns dubte la literatura ens pot oferir multitud d’oportunitats per iniciar un projecte a l’aula. Ens permet captar l’atenció del nostre alumnat d’una manera molt especial i motivadora.

Després d’una setmana de treball podem concloure que l’experiència ens ha aportat un munt d’aprenentatge que es podrà dur a terme a cadascuna de les escoles on estem treballant. Cooperació entre uns i altres, escolta cap a companys de diferents nacionalitats, compartir diferents projectes basats en CLIL i PBL, entre molts altres aprenentatges.

Tornem amb la maleta plena cap a Catalunya. Se’ns dubte aquesta formació en ajudarà en la millora del nostre ensenyament.

Fins una altra!

The importance of SCAFFOLDING in our class. Today, 25th November we have been working on it. In groups, we have classified different texts depending on different diagrams. Tree diagram, line graphs, flow charts, mind-maps, timelines, quadrants or carroll diagram could be done at class. Then, we have thought about different activities we could carry on in our class.

Isaac has explained about a PE activity using Venn diagram and Núria a kindergarten activity using carroll diagram. It has been really interesting!

A continuación hemos empezado a realizar una unidad didáctica, centrada en nuestro nivel de enseñanza. Esta tiene como estructura la metodología CLIL y PBL. 

L’Isaac ha cregut convenient fer una programació CLIL d’educació física per primària basada en l’esport Gaelic football. La Núria ha començat a elaborar una programació PBLL basada en el conte “The suitcase”. A partir d’aquí ha elaborat la pregunta inicial:

“What things should you put in your suitcase for travelling in summer?”

Demà presentarem la “lesson plan” a la resta de grups i escoltarem les aportacions de la resta de membres. 

Every project begins with a question that drives subsequent learning. A driving question is a “well-designed” question that students and teachers elaborate, explore, and answer throughout a project. 

Driving questions should be feasible, worthwhile, contextualized, meaningful, ethical, thought-provoking, challenging, authentic and above all open-ended. Not googleable. 

Today, 24th November, we have gone to the Immigration Irish museum and the Archaeology museum of Ireland to find A DRIVING QUESTION useful in our primary class. 

Tomorrow, in the academic class, we will develop a PBL lesson plan in based on the driving question discovered in the museum.

El EPIC, Museo de la Emigración Irlandesa està situado dentro de la Custom House Quay, en la orilla del río Liffey.

Actualmente es un centro comercial pero antes era el almacén del puerto para vino y tabaco. El museo explica la historia de la emigración irlandesa, explicando sus causas y consecuencias. La visita ha sido muy enriquecedora ya que es un lugar muy interactivo y entretenido.

El Museu d’Arqueologia Nacional d’Irlanda, sovint conegut com el NMI, està situat al carrer Kildare, al cor de la ciutat. Està especialitzat en antiguitats que van des de l’edat de pedra fins a la baixa edat mitjana. 

Caps de destral, espases i escuts de bronze, plata i or. Una important col·Lecció de metalls medievals, artefactes vikings i objectes de l’antic Egipte i el món romà son alguns dels elements que es poden veure darrera les vitrines del museu.

We have started our class revewing and defining some words we worked yesterday. It has been entertaining and we have had a great time. Then, the teacher, Gill, asks us to do a group activity related to communicative verbs.

After that, we have compared and contrasted different Bloom’s Taxonomy elements. It is a fantastic resource to get higher-order thinking skills in class.

Después de hacer una pausa y compartir experiencias con nuestros compañeros de curso, hemos iniciado la parte teórica del PBL (Project Based Learning). Durante la mañana hemos analizado las siete claves que forman esta metodología. Undoubtedly, it has been really interesting and useful for us!  

Cada projecte comença amb una pregunta que conduirà a l’aprenentatge. Aquesta pregunta serà molt ben dissenyada per tal que els alumnes i mestres elaborin, explorin i puguin aprendre amb el projecte. Se’ns dubte podrem aplicar-ne alguna a les nostres escoles.

• What am I made of?
• Why do we need bees?
• How can we use our school garden to create a maximum impact on our community?

Today 22nd November we have started our training course on CLIL and PBL to improve student engagement. The academy is located near the Liffey River, twenty minutes to the city center. 

We belong to a group of nine students from the Netherlands and Poland. The participants are part of different teaching levels. From Kindergarten to Secondary education. It means that people provide rich experiences. 

Gill, our teacher, comes from Dublin and she has an important experience in terms of education. Thanks to that, the atmosphere is perfect. 

En aquesta primera sessió ens hem pogut presentar i explicar el nostre context personal i laboral, així com les expectatives del curs. Això ens ha permès fer-nos una idea general del perfil docent de cadascú. 

El tema principal ha sido la metodología AICLE entendida como el aprendizaje integrado de contenidos y lenguas extranjeras. Hemos podido analizar el significado así como sus características. La profesora nos ha ofrecido unos ejercicios para ponerlo en práctica:

• Soft CLIL / Hard CLIL. (if you are a subject expert or not).
• 4 Cs: Content, Communication, Culture and cognition.
• 3 Dimensions of CLIL: Concepts, procedures and language. 
• Kinds of knowledge.
• Communication skills.
• 3 As: analyse, add and apply.
• Teacher’s role in language development. 
• What CLIL teachers need?
• Issues in CLIL (in terms of applying it in class).