Teaching and Learning English

A NEW WIKI AND BOOK PROJECTS ABOUT A SHERLOCK HOLMES' STORY

2012-01-28T23:46:00.001+02:00

Click on the image to visit the wiki.

Our latest news involve lots of online communication, story reading and loads of fun, as we have been in for yet another surprise by Ms Aniella Lebeau and her students in France: a second reading competition! (Details about the first one here.) This time our venture involved the participation of the students in C' Class, who were brave enough to do all the work solely on the Internet! They read a Sherlock Holmes' story proposed by Ms Lebeau and published their own reading activities about it on this specific wiki page. When you visit it, you will have to click on each team's name to view the activities its members prepared.

Not only were these budding wiki writers not afraid to sample what a paperless classroom is like, but they also left their comments on the story, an example which was later followed by some of their French e-pals. As a final homework assignment, they drew and described their favorite scene from the story to be seen below. What is now left is the last stage of the competition; that is, to try to do the activities made by the French students in class in the time allotted, which is scheduled to take place at the beginning of February.

Wish us luck and stay tuned for more news!

View more Sherlock Holmes' projects here.

A' JUNIOR PROJECTS

2012-01-28T23:02:00.000+02:00

A sample of some 8-year-old students' first attempts at using the language.

Click here to find more projects.

SWEET MOMENTS BEFORE LESSONS

2012-01-26T15:09:00.000+02:00

Our new wiki writers slash secret agents who also happen to be
students in C' Class found the culprit they were looking for!

Eva, Irene and Marinos from B' Class urge us to SMILE!

A YALE LECTURE ABOUT HAPPINESS: A SPEAKING LESSON WITH AN ADULT GROUP

2012-01-16T13:35:00.002+02:00

Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 110): The last lecture in the course wraps up the discussion of clinical psychology with a discussion of treatment efficacy. Does therapy actually work? Professor Bloom summarizes the different types of influences that clinical interventions might have on people who receive therapy.

Professor Bloom ends with a review of one of the most interesting research topics in "positive psychology," happiness. What makes us happy? How does happiness vary across person and culture? What is happiness for? Students will hear how the most recent research in psychology attempts to answer these questions and learn how people are surprisingly bad at predicting what will make them happiest.

00:00 - Chapter 1. How and Why Therapy Works

07:48 - Chapter 2. Question and Answer on Therapy

11:16 - Chapter 3. Happiness and Positive Psychology

18:58 - Chapter 4. Getting Used to Happiness

42:41 - Chapter 5. Closing Remarks

My notes:

The first chapters of reference in this video seem to be related to Irvin Yalom's book "When Nietzsche Wept"; therefore, if you have read the book or seen the film, the beginning of this talk will surely be of interest to you. What I would like my students to focus on is Chapter 3 onwards. These are thoughts that represent a perennial problem tormenting mankind: happiness and its dubious existence.

While listening, students can follow the interactive transcript which is enabled by a simple click on a button under the video when watched on YouTube. Needless to say, this is also excellent listening practice. As soon as the video ends, students can refer to the transcript of the talk in order to solve any remaining questions about the speaker's actual words.

Subsequently, attempting to answer the above questions in bold would give them an ideal opportunity to speak their mind and also put into use the new vocabulary learnt by thoroughly studying the transcript. After all, if reflection on life is not encouraged in the classroom, few speaking topics remain that truly matter...

Links for further exploration:

More recorded Yale courses on the respective YouTube channel.
Activity using another Yale lecture on the nature of death.
Happiness is contagious: an extraordinary YouTube video.

PSYCHOLOGY AND ELT

2012-01-12T15:29:00.000+02:00

TESOL Greece 11th Annual Patras Event, Nick Michelioudakis on Psychology and ELT.
Event Theme: "Transitions" (January 22nd, 2012)

The way an experience ends defines our perception of the entire experience. One possible conclusion: Teachers should not assign homework at the end of the class- students could play a game, instead!

ADULT STUDENTS' BLOG POSTS

2012-01-07T15:47:00.001+02:00

George's Blog (various):

Reading the "Caleb's Crossing" by Geraldin Brooks

7 Twitter Habits To Adopt In 2012 To Double Your Followers

Orangutans 'could video chat' between zoos via iPads

Alice's Adventures in the Land of Learning English (two ECCE letters):

NEW REFRESHMENT BAR FOR STUDENTS?

TIMES NEW

The Crazy Students (two book descriptions and an ECCE letter):

Oliver Twist

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Write a letter nominating one person for the exchange program

FCE Students:

The Project (a wonderful story by Mary)

OUR CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS SHOW ON 23/12/11

2011-12-27T19:59:00.000+02:00

Santa and Rudolf paid us a visit and participated in the show!

George and Nicolas played the guitar and impressed everyone!

The Juniors sang Patricia Johnston's 'Old Saint Nick' with joy!

Presents for all the little ones.

A2-level student, Katerina, wrote her own story and
all her classmates helped to enact it on stage.
Cooperation in all its glory!

Older students presented the audience with
a quiz about British Christmas traditions.

Singing and posing happily!

The story of the Gingerbread Man.

The students had to solve one more mystery to find their presents...

... and the Christmas crackers contained the necessary clues!

Related Links:

All Christmas Show Photos:

picasaweb.google.com/106576925145604672862/ChildrenSChristmasShow231211

Kostantinos, D' Class: Greek Christmas Customs

bitsandpieces-english.blogspot.com/2011/12/post-by-konstantinos-martimianakis.html

George, A' Class: A funny Christmas story

george-english.tumblr.com/post/14659014152/a-funny-christmas-story

Nikolas, Α' Class: Email to Santa Claus

nicolas-english.tumblr.com/post/14402875404/an-email-to-santa-claus

Students' Christmas Projects:

picasaweb.google.com/106576925145604672862/ChristmasProjects2011

Christmas Reading Competition:

markaki-students.blogspot.com/2011/12/good-news-for-bloggers.html

The projects that received the first prize (a Longman reader with a CD)

in our school's Christmas competition.

Manolis in A' Class describes why he likes Christmas.

Marinos in B' Class accompanies his beautiful
Christmas story with drawing and stickers.

Fotis in C' Class writes a letter as Paul from Australia,
describing the unique Christmas traditions there.

Nicolas in D' Class created a wonderfully big card
with song lyrics on the outside and the narration
of British Christmas customs inside.

Konstantinos in E' Class wrote an imaginative Christmas story,
without ever forgetting to decorate it with impressive drawings.

#EDTECH POSTS REPUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE ESOL AND TESOL GREECE!

2011-12-16T13:48:00.001+02:00

Two guest posts for Barbara Hoskins- Sakamoto's 'Teaching Village' have been published again on the new Cambridge ESOL South East Europe blog and in the latest TESOL Greece newsletter (the December's issue includes the first post, while the second one is to follow in a later issue):

How to integrate blogging in EFL teaching – by Christina Markoulaki, EFL Teacher

How to create video activities on a teacher’s blog (by Christina Markoulaki)

For this wonderful generosity, I would truly like to thank Mr George Papakyritsis from Cambridge ESOL Greece as well as Mr Dimitris Primalis and Mr Eftichis Kantarakis from the TESOL Greece newsletter editorial team. I am very much obliged and glad to finally realize that there are people behind the print and online media who willingly facilitate the dissemination of ideas.

#iTDi Webinar 1, “What is a teacher?"

2011-12-16T13:43:00.000+02:00

The program

Moderator: Shelly Terrell

Theme: One of the main goals of the iTDi Teacher Development online course is to support teachers’ growth in three distinct and meaningful ways: 1) Encourage teachers to continue to clarify and define their own teacher beliefs, 2) Expand and develop their range of classroom teaching skills, and 3) Empower teachers through confidence-building, reflective activities and follow-up discussion and exploration. Key members of our iTDi team and friends of iTDi will address one of these three goals from their own existing beliefs and experiences as teachers, trainers, researchers and writers.Talks will be in 20-minute blocks with a 10-minute live Q&A.

Presenter Title	Time UTC
Luke Meddings 'Teaching is really talking'	09:00-09:30
Chuck Sandy 'Becoming the teacher you are'	09:35-10:05
Marcos Benevides 'The teacher as artist'	10:10-10:40
Scott Thornbury 'The teacher as manager'	10:45-11:15
John F. Fanselow "Huh? Oh... Aha!"	11:20-11:50
Steven Herder 'Developing teaching principles'	11:55-12-25
Open Panel Discussion 'What is a teacher?'	12:30-13:00
(Click on the presenter/title for the presentation abstract)

This link will tell your local time for the webinar: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=iTDi+Webinar+1+-+What+is+a+Teacher%3F&iso=20111217T09&p1=136&ah=4

To register, click here: http://itdi.pro/webinar.html

GOOD NEWS FOR 'THE BLOGGERS'!

2011-12-09T13:18:00.001+02:00

The good news has to do with the reading competition we took part in together with three other schools in France. Our E Class students chose the team name 'The Bloggers' and followed the steps dictated by our French e-pals, the organizers of the whole competition.

It so happened that we won! We got 50 out of the 52 reading questions correct! The questions were, in fact, a compilation of the best student-made activities produced in the three schools.

Congratulations to our online friends, as well! All the participants worked hard in reading the story, creating activities of their own and then solving the quizzes.

Read about how it all started and see the activities our E' Class students prepared:

CHRISTMAS READING COMPETITION

READING ACTIVITIES PREPARED BY STUDENTS

Reading competition results 2011

View more documents from Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages
(Poster designed by Aniella Lebeau)

Note: The students did not call themselves 'The Bloggers' by chance!

These are their two class blogs:

girls-english.blogspot.com

bitsandpieces-english.blogspot.com

STUDENTS' CHRISTMAS PROJECTS

2011-12-08T15:41:00.001+02:00

Our students have been very creative lately, deriving inspiration from the forthcoming Christmas holidays and preparing all sorts of projects. The latter may contain a few mistakes, but the messages, the stories and the drawings are so sweet that we could not possibly resist the temptation of publishing them! The point now is: Who is going to win the school competition?

The Gingerbread Man made with an iPad app by some B-class students
who are also going to put on the respective play in our Christmas show!

B-class student Fotis wrote a letter as Paul from Australia,
describing what Christmas is like there!

A Christmas story with a moral by Georgia, C' Class.

Arts and crafts by Rafaela, E' Class.

Decorating our paper tree with exciting projects!

See more photos in our Picasa album.

READING ACTIVITIES PREPARED BY STUDENTS

2011-12-02T13:31:00.001+02:00

issuu.com/markakischool/docs/a_christmas_carol_reading_activities

Our competition entry is ready!

Our team is called 'The Bloggers'. Wish us luck!

More info: CHRISTMAS READING COMPETITION

CHRISTMAS READING COMPETITION

2011-11-20T20:31:00.001+02:00

Our E' Class students (B1+ level) are going to read Charles Dickens' story 'A Christmas Carol' and prepare their own post-reading activities about it in groups in order to take part in the reading competition organized by their French online friends and their teacher, Aniella Lebeau. Our lesson is meant to comprise these particular stages:

1) Students should first watch this video to get a general idea of the story. Can they guess what the end of the story will be?

2) Students can now read about the main characters of the story.

❄ Scrooge is a horrible, nasty and mean man. He loves money more than his life. He always counts his money but he never gives any to the poor people, even for Christmas.

❄ Fred - Scrooge's nephew is a very kind man. He loves Christmas. And he always invites Scrooge to his Christmas but his grumpy uncle never accepts the invitation.

❄ Bob Cratchit - Scrooge’s clerk is a very poor man with a large family. He generally works hard and he does his best to be a good clerk. But he sometimes gets into trouble because Scrooge is very strict.

❄ Tiny Tim - Bob Cratchit's young son is handicapped from birth. He always walks with a crutch. Tiny Tim is always cheerful. He never sits or plays alone because everybody loves him. His father Bob always looks after him after work.

❄ Marley’s ghost is always in chains because Marley is damned for eternity. Marley was horrible and nasty when he was alive. Now he is punished so he is very miserable.

❄ The 1st spirit is the ghost of Christmas past. He takes Scrooge back to his childhood. He always carries a light.

❄ The 2nd spirit is the ghost of Christmas present. He takes Scrooge to Cratchit’s house and to his nephew’s house where everyone is celebrating Christmas. This spirit is often sarcastic and ironical.

❄ The 3rd spirit is the ghost of the future. He takes Scrooge to his own tomb. He never talks or answers a question, he is so scary!

3) Some pictures illustrating the story can be found here.

llustrations :

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/carol/gallery.html

http://charlesdickenspage.com/illustrations-carol.html

http://www.printspast.com/christmas-carol-prints-rackham.htm

4) Students can now read the whole story on their handout and simultaneously listen to it by clicking here.

5) The additional activities on the handout can be completed either in the classroom or at home. They will also help the students understand what they have to do in the following stage.

6) Students are divided into groups of three. Each team should have its own name. Having decided on the name, they should start making their own activities which can be of any type (multiple- choice questions, matching or gap-filling activities, etc.).

E-PAL PROJECT: STUDENTS' PRESENTATION OF THEIR TOWN

2011-11-17T21:36:00.001+02:00

E-pal project: students' exchange of information about their towns

View more documents from Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages.

Hello Margot and Justine

How are you ? I'm writing to tell you about my city.

It's called Heraklion and it is in the south of Greece .It has got 200.000 inhabitants and a lot of ancient sights.There is the palace of Knossos , Gortina's , Malia's and Festos palace. The most famous of these is Knossos palace. The palace of King Minos was an incredible centre of civilization which was built about 1500 B.C. After many centuries , a devastating tsunami destroyed the palace ...

Heraklion's harbour was built by the Venetians . They had built the fortress of Koule,the Venetian fortification in 1523 up to 1540 .They had built Morosini's fountain , too !

Near Heraklion there is Samaria's gorge .The gorge of Samaria is the longest in Europe with 18 km length .You can visit Heraklion in winter and in summer .In winter , you can go ski,taste traditional Greek food and make snowmen in the snow ! In summer ,you can go to the beautiful clean beaches , go for a walk to the centre or better you can go shopping to Talos Plaza !

Talos Plaza is a very crowded shopping centre with many facilities .There are shops , cafes , cinema rooms etc. The fantastic view of the sea can change your mood !

In conclusion ,Heraklion is a very beautiful city and you have to visit it !!

If you want to see photos about my city click on the link:
http://www.heraklion.gr/en/visitor/photos-maps

Best wishes ,
Fotis

ECPE SPEAKING: VIDEOS SHOWING THE PROCESS

2011-11-17T19:57:00.000+02:00

Watch the second part of the video here.

A big bravo to our adult student-blogger, Helen, for discovering and posting the videos a few days before the official exams! The best of luck to all candidates!

BLOG POSTS BY B2-LEVEL ADULT LEARNERS

2011-11-17T19:44:00.001+02:00

ECCE Writing and Speaking

Letter: Write a letter nominating one person for the exchange program

Essay: Many people believe it is better to spend their money enjoying themselves and not worry about saving for the future. Do you agree with this?

Speaking Part 1: PERSONAL QUESTIONS

Speaking Part 2: CHOOSE WHICH JOB YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY (SPEAKING)

See also this list of useful ECCE links.

E-TOOLS FOR LEARNING

2011-11-16T09:37:00.000+02:00

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

View more presentations from Jane Hart

THE MAGIC IN STUDENTS' STORIES!

2011-11-15T15:26:00.001+02:00

Marinos' story 'The Magic Air Book'

View more documents from Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

See also Vangelis' interview of an undercover agent: his teacher!

Note: We publish students' work almost as it is initially handed in. Few mistakes and ambiguities do exist, but we lay more emphasis on personal achievement and progress than accuracy.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 100th MONKEY

2011-11-13T02:28:00.001+02:00

The following story can constitute a most appropriate springboard for a multifaceted C2-level class discussion about societal norms and how these establish themselves in the collective human subconscious over the years. Can the students think of any societal changes, rules or practices that can be justified by the 100th Monkey phenomenon? What can the latter possibly reveal about the evolution, nature or even psychology of mankind?

The 100th Monkey: A story about social change.

By Ken Keyes Jr.
www.wowzone.com/monkey.htm

The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes -- the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea...Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

ECPE WRITING TIPS

2011-11-06T18:13:00.000+02:00

Opinion ECPE essay

View more presentations from
Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

Useful tips on Fullspate.net:

Essay Writing Advice (for ECPE and C2 EFL exams)
Useful Phrases for Proficiency Essays

Useful Advanced Essay Structures
Inversions

Complete a GCVR Michigan practice test offered for free on Fullspate by starting here. On completion of each test, click on the link at the bottom of the page to be led to the next section.

More links about all types of certificates: eflinks.wikispaces.com/Certicates

DOGME TEACHING

2011-11-06T16:55:00.002+02:00

Since this is what all online communities of educators seem to be talking about, I decided to look up the term and read some further details about it:

Dogme language teaching is considered to be both a methodology and a movement. Dogme is a communicative approach to language teaching that encourages teaching without published textbooks and focuses instead on conversational communication among learners and teacher. It has its roots in an article by the language education author, Scott Thornbury. The Dogme approach is also referred to as “Dogme ELT”, which reflects its origins in the ELT (English language teaching) sector. Although Dogme language teaching gained its name from an analogy with the Dogme 95 film movement (initiated by Lars von Trier), the connection is not considered close.

Main precepts of Dogme

There are three precepts that emerge from the ten key principles:

Conversation-driven teaching
Materials light approach
Emergent language

Taken from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_language_teaching (click to read more)

Related articles of interest:

A Dogma for EFL - Scott Thornbury

A dogme coursebook? | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

Teaching Village wiki: Dogme in ELT (a variety of resources)

UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL ARTICLES

2011-11-04T14:50:00.000+02:00

Here is the link to the BBC News financial glossary that will prove very useful to advanced learners of English who wish to keep informed about the current political and financial situation by reading online articles.

Our CPE/ ECPE students can practice reading such texts by starting with these two:

Q&A: Greek debt crisis

Greece's PM faces knife-edge vote

Wake up! The motto of the frustrated Greek citizens
formed with burning candles.

HALLOWEEN PROJECTS

2011-11-01T15:43:00.002+02:00

Click here to see how Nicolas depicted Halloween on the iPad.

The B' Junior students were certainly creative in making and describing their own zombie! What is more, students of all ages had great fun playing these online games.

Talking about iPads and horror, here is a video that may frighten our students even if the Halloween is over!

iPad Horror - Simon Pierro by TechGear

EXCHANGING EMAILS WITH STUDENTS IN FRANCE

2011-10-30T15:20:00.002+02:00

We have resumed our email exchanges with our amazing French e-pals! All classes from B' to E' (children aged 11 to 14) were extremely happy to introduce themselves to and share their news with their fellow students in France. A most suitable way to practice English having an authentic purpose in a real-life context! If you click on the label 'E-pals project' under this post, you can discover more writing samples and information about this project. Here is a sneak peek at what some of the older students have written. (The first names have been reduced for obvious reasons.)

Hi N. !

How are you? We are C. and L. How old are you? We are 14 years old.
L. has got one little brother (L, 9 years old) and one little sister (L, 5 years old). C. has got one little sister (M, 10 years old) and one little brother (M, 7 years old). Do you have any brothers and sisters?

L. lives in Souilly and C. in Dieue sur Meuse. And you? We live in France and you?

Do you have a Facebook and/or msn account? If you have Facebook, we can be friends. We are girls and you? We think, you are a girl too.

We dance in the same club at Ancemont. We are in the same class at Louis de Broglie school. We are good friends. L has got a cat and C hasn't got any pets. Do you have any pets?

Do you speak English very well? And do you speak French or another language? We love Macdonald's (fast food restaurants) and Nutella (this is a very good chocolate with milk and hazelnuts, do you have Nutella in Greece?) And you?

We like shopping, swimming and hanging out with our friends. What do you like?

Bye, L and C.

Ps : Can you send a picture of you, please? And we can send a picture too next time. There are two pictures of Souilly and Dieue sur Meuse (situation on a map of France).

Hello girls!

Thanks for your email! It was great to hear from you! I'm 13 years old!

I've got an older brother and an older sister! My brother's name is J (he's 25 years old).My sister's name is H (she's 21 years old). They study in Athens! I also have three pets, two dogs and a cat!

I live in Heraklion-a small town on the island of Crete, Greece...It's a beautiful country. You should visit it someday!

I love playing the keyboards! I like pop and rock music.What kinds of music do you like? I also like playing volleyball with my dad at weekends. Do you have any hobbies you enjoy doing?

I've got a facebook AND an MSN account, so I would love to be friends with you! I'm a girl,too, so we'll have a lot of things to talk about!

I like english and I can speak quite well, I think... I speak some French,too ( I love it!). I like eating Nutella- I'm mad about it!, but I can't eat too much...

I'm sorry, but I can't send you a photo of me, because I'm replying to you from class, so I don't have any photos here!!

Write back soon and tell me more about your life and habits!

Best wishes,N

NEW GUEST POST ON VICKY LORAS' BLOG

2011-10-23T21:14:00.002+03:00

I owe a huge thank you to the well known blogger , EFL teacher and iTDi associate, Vicky Loras, for her very positive attitude and willingness to share some of my classroom ideas for young learners. I am the one who is honored and extremely glad to have met her, even if our acquaintance is only online… for the time being!

You can read the article here:

http://vickyloras.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/classroom-activities-for-young-learners-guest-post-by-christina-markoulaki-christina_mark/

More photographs about the activities described can be found in the following Picasa albums of the school:
1) Alphabet cards made by the Juniors
2) Grammar train

Proudly showing the carefully arranged cards!

Mickey can join in the fun, too!

Happily learning the Past Continuous (negative).

Past Simple vs Present Perfect Simple

GREAT ARTICLES ABOUT TEACHING

2011-10-21T14:24:00.000+03:00

I feel compelled to share some extremely interesting posts I have recently come across on blogs maintained by teachers, most of whom also happen to be iTDi associates. Do not hesitate to participate in the conversation and follow the particular blogs as well as the other ones listed on my wiki page 'Teacher Blogs'.

On the Teaching Village:

Choice in the EFL Classroom (by Vicky Saumell)

How to Use E-Portfolios (by Işıl Boy)

The Blasted Oak (by Torn Halves)

Are we going too global? (by Yitzha Sarwono)

The iPad in the ESL/EFL Classroom (By Kevin Cozma)

On Vicky Loras' blog:

If “Google” is Translating Then I’ll Start Revamping – Guest Post by Naomi Ganin Epstein

How Did She Get Here in the First Place?

More:

Halloween projects (for students by students) by Vladimira Michalkova

You’ve got to be a teacher to get it by Henrick Oprea

Curate your favourite topic with Scoop it by Smaragda Vamvakari

TRAVELLING THROUGH EARTH TV

2011-10-19T13:31:00.000+03:00

When we asked our B2- level students to visit www.earthtv.com/en and write about which place they would like to travel to, this is what they answered on their class blogs:

A place I'd love to visit by Minas

A place where I want to go by Stergios

Sydney by Andrew

London by Hercules

Paris by Chrysanthi

USING WEB LOGS IN THE EFL CLASS

2011-10-12T14:49:00.000+03:00

Using Web Logs in the EFL Class

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Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

STATS

7Favorites
5Comments
99Downloads
4,678Views on
SlideShare
457Views on
Embeds
5,135Total Views

After taking a look at these stats, I thought it was worth resharing a presentation I prepared a couple of years ago which is a compilation of ideas about how teachers and students can exploit blogging for EFL purposes. I hope it proves useful to the readers of this blog!

If you drop by our wiki as well, you may wish to read several tips for teacher and student bloggers.

GRAMMAR REVISION

2011-10-08T16:44:00.000+03:00

Click here to find slides of the tenses A2- level students should be aware of. The slides contain the theory mostly, but students can find interactive quizzes and fun grammar activities on these pages:

Posts about grammar on this blog

Grammar resources on our wiki

More grammar quizzes

Visual explanations of each English tense to provide visual clues for all major tenses

Click on the handout you prefer and turn it into an online quiz by clicking on the corresponding phrase at the top of the page so as to get a score right after you complete the quiz.

Our grammar train!

STEVE JOBS: HOW TO LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE

2011-10-06T15:18:00.000+03:00

Hard as I tried, I did not manage to remain unaffected by the stream of tweets, quotes and articles about Steve Jobs on the day of his death. He was, and still is, an inspiration to millions of people, who willingly acknowledge him as a man who saw the future. As a big fan of Apple and a passionate believer in the life philosophy Steve promoted, I now wish to give some food for thought to my adult students who would like to know more about him. First of all, here is a selection of astounding tweets about Steve:

"I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates."
"Remembering that you are going to die, is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose"
3 apples that changed the world: the one that Eve ate, the one that fell on Newton's head and the one that Steve built
#SteveJobs was born out of wedlock, put up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What's your excuse?
Our 10-yr-old on being told who #SteveJobs was: "Oh, he's the man who designed the future." Quite.
Hot off the Press!!! An Activity about Steve Jobs wp.me/p15r5L-bs

The final tweet is about an interesting vocabulary and reading activity Cecilia Lemos (EFL teacher and iTDi EFT author) has prepared for her adult students on this day. What is more, two videos I would definitely recommend to adult students are these ones:

How to live before you die: At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks - including death itself.

The crazy ones: Steve Jobs narrates the first think- different commercial "Here's to the Crazy Ones". It never aired.

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits.The rebels.The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.They're not fond of rules.And they have no
respect for the status quo. You can praise them , disagree with them , disbelieve
them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them .
They invent.They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can
you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art ? Or sit in silence and hear
a song that's never been written ?Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory onwheels ? We make tools for these kind of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones , we see genius .
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world ,
are the ones who do ."

SENIOR CLASSES: ONLINE ACTIVITIES

2011-10-03T14:37:00.000+03:00

A' Class: Watch this National Geographic video. Animals have got very good disguises! What animal did you like the most in the video? What is your favourite disguise?

B' Class: Imagine it is No TV day today. Visit this site and then answer these questions: What are you doing now? (Remember! You can't watch TV!) Do you like this day?

C' Class: Look at the pictures on this page. Which crazy invention do you like the most? Have you got any ideas about a new invention?

D' Class: You are police detectives ready for your next mission! Can you solve this case?

E' Class: You have a new mission; start posting on your class blog! Try writing about your summer experiences or anything else that interests you.

ECCE Class: Visit www.sixflags.com and leave a written comment about which theme you would choose and why, using the words you learnt in this unit.

FCE Class: Visit www.earthtv.com/en and write about which place you would like to visit and the reasons for your choice on the class blog.

ECPE/ CPE Class: Create vocabulary quizzes for your classmates, using some of the newly taught words. The questions should be in the official exam format. Publish them when they are ready on the class blog.

e.g. When he realized he was late for the lesson, he started apologizing ______ .
a. abundantly b. profusely c. extraordinary d. insignificantly

Being utterly concentrated when completing a mission!

STUDENT PROJECTS

2011-10-02T17:50:00.000+03:00

I have posted a student's project after quite some time, since our Top Secret Website serves exactly the same purpose: you can see student projects there, but only the ... spy ones produced by A, B and C Class. What is more, a considerable number of our students has taken up blogging; therefore, all kinds of posts can be found on their blogs. However, if you are looking for more varied work on this blog, click on the label 'Student Projects'.

A meticulously made project by Mary, D' Class.

JOB INTERVIEWS

2011-09-29T13:25:00.000+03:00

A few links that will be of interest to adult students and their teachers:

1) Practicing Job Interviews: Lesson plan for English for Specific Purposes

2) Job interviewing questions and replies

3) Useful vocabulary for the resume and interview

Remember!

Present perfect (continuous) to speak about work experience up to the present moment
Present simple to discuss current job responsibilities
Past simple to discuss past responsibilities
Use of conditional forms to imagine situations at work

Job Interview Practice - Worksheet

Use the following cues to write out full questions for a job interview.

How long / work / present?How many / languages / speak?Strengths?Weaknesses?Past job?Current responsibilities?Education?Specific examples of responsibility at past job?Which position / want - like to have / new job?Future goals?

Use the following cues to write out full responses for a job interview.

Current job / schoolLast job / schoolLanguages / skillsHow long / work / current jobThree specific examples from past jobCurrent responsibilitiesStrengths / weaknesses (two for each)Why are you interested in this job?What are your future goals?Education

All the above were found on esl.about.com.

See also: eflinks.wikispaces.com/Business+English

SWEET MOMENTS IN OUR FIRST LESSONS

2011-09-23T13:47:00.000+03:00

www.youtube.com/markakischool

C2-LEVEL STUDENTS' DEBATE: THE DEATH PENALTY

2011-09-23T01:23:00.002+03:00

The C2-level learners of our school who have been attending lessons for some months should be familiar with the story of Troy Davis who was on death row, as it has been brought up in our recent classes. Even though there was no solid evidence against him, this man was executed in the U.S. on 22 September. We now urge our students to read about the whole story here and then find out more about other controversial death row cases.

Keeping all the information in mind concerning both sides of capital punishment, they should try to answer this question:

When is the death penalty the right answer? Does it constitute an efficient crime deterrent or should it be abolished?

Here is also a variety of links on the issue along with two interesting quotes that can serve as a springboard for further discussion:

Capital punishment is a barbaric remnant of uncivilized society. It is immoral in principle, and unfair and discriminatory in practice. It assures the execution of some innocent people. As a remedy for crime, it has no purpose and no effect. Capital punishment ought to be abolished now.
~American Civil Liberties Union

I believe that the weight of the evidence--aggregate statistical analyses, evaluations of experiments and quasi-experiments, and studies of individual behavior--supports the view that the rate of crime is influenced by its costs. This influence is greater--or easier to observe- for some crimes and persons than for others.
~James Q. Wilson, "Thinking About Crime: The Debate over Deterrence," The Atlantic Monthly, September 1983

Students can double-click on words they do not know on this blog.

START-OF-YEAR PHOTOS

2011-09-20T15:43:00.001+03:00

View all

Teachers may wish to try out the word revision game seen in the pictures: young learners need to find the word the teacher describes in English or utter a word belonging to a specific word group before pulling a brick off the tower. Of course, if the tower falls, all words collapse with it!

Happy new school year, everyone!

JUNIOR GAMES FOR THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR!

2011-09-16T11:30:00.000+03:00

Click here to see the slideshow on Picasa.

USEFUL LANGUAGE: TRAVELLING

2011-09-14T12:37:00.002+03:00

At the airport

School's educational trip to London (July 2011)

Asking for directions

Introductions

Banking vocabulary

Travel, trip, journey and voyage: What is the difference?

A previous post containing information about London

AN iPAD 2 IN OUR CLASSROOM!

2011-09-11T18:06:00.000+03:00

The educational tool we have just acquired: a brand new iPad 2 which will surely enhance learning in its own unique way! Ideas about how to make the most of an iPad in the classroom are listed here, while more #edtech links can be discovered on this wiki page of ours.

SUMMER STORIES

2011-09-09T14:51:00.004+03:00

http://issuu.com/markakischool/docs/summer_stories

Some of the summer stories that have been posted on the students' blogs by the ones attending summer courses. Summer has ended, but we have to admit that it was fun and creative!

Read about the way we conducted this activity in the classroom in our guest post on Barbara Hoskins- Sakamoto's 'Teaching Village'.

OUR STUDENTS' WORK AND THE BIG EVENT!

2011-09-04T19:10:00.000+03:00

We invite you to pay a visit to our students' blogs, scroll down each page and get a glimpse of their hard work. If interested, you can click on 'Older Posts' at the bottom of each homepage to grasp the variety of the work produced in our classes.

The 'big' event: having homemade pizza
to celebrate ECPE exam success!
More photos here.

Girl Power (A2+ level)
Personal thoughts, Articles, Various writing projects

Bits and pieces (B1+ level)
Articles, Corrected Essays, Videos, Thoughts and preferences

Alice's adventures in the land of learning English (B2 level)
Vocabulary calendar, Video activities, ECCE Writing samples

FCE Students! (B2 level)
Articles, letters, online activities and photos

Literature Blog (C2 level)
Word lists, Articles, Vocabulary Calendars

TWO INSPIRING VIDEOS

2011-08-26T16:33:00.001+03:00

By watching and taking some time to contemplate on these two videos, advanced students will not only practice their listening skills, but they will also expand their vocabulary and enrich their ideas.

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself -- at the university's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005. The transcript of his talk can be found here.

Angela Maiers is an education and technology consultant from Des Moines, Iowa who shares with us how two words can change a life.

EUROPEAN PROJECTS & GREEK LANGUAGE

2011-08-26T16:17:00.001+03:00

The links were provided by Joel Josephson and posted on the Facebook group of EU_Educators: Two European projects that are are addressing the needs of Greek and less widely used and taught languages (LWULT).

1) GLOSSA - Greek as a vehicle for promoting linguistic diversity http://www.ellinikiglossa.eu/

on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ellinikiglossa

2) Sun.Com - informal language learning networks: http://www.sun-languagecommunity.eu/

on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SuNCom/193803417327967

ISIL OZGE CHRISTINA ISTANBUL

2011-08-22T08:41:00.001+03:00

The title of this post is the result of my feeble attempt to imitate the inspirational title of Woody Allen's blockbuster 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', but the present story involves three women whose lives unexpectedly intersected in a city far away from the one Woody Allen chose!

What an experience, indeed! The sole thing I did before my one-week trip to Istanbul was to announce my decision to all teachers belonging to the iTDi group, partially because we have been sharing all kinds of news lately, but most importantly, because I was hoping that this multicultural group encompasses teachers living specifically in Istanbul. Of course it did! Two excellent teachers, well-known in the blogsphere, Isil Boy and Ozge Karaoglu happened to inhabit, in their own words, 'the best place to live in'.

A few days later, on a sunny afternoon in Taxim area with a view of Bosphorus and the historical peninsula of the city, the following photo was taken!

From left to right: Isil, Christina and Ozge

Most 'unpredictably', the discussion was about teaching the English language in Turkey and Greece. The iTDi project, teacher workshops and further creative work Isil and Ozge are involved in (postgraduate research and book writing respectively) were not left unmentioned. The gossip and other 'small talk' that are unique to female companies were, admittedly, the icing on the cake!

I have thanked and exchanged comments with them on Facebook and Twitter hundreds of times. What I now need to share with the readers of this blog is two extracts from these bloggers' latest posts that grabbed my attention. Starting with Ozge, I reckon my conception of creativity was pleasantly altered when I read this:

I have been creating edtech materials for young and very young learners with my kindergarten kids for the last three years at my school.

Daisy and Drago is the very first animation that has been drawn, coloured, animated and dubbed by children in the world. You can watch the second part of this animation, “Daisy, Drago and the Magic Wand” here.

Last year, we created “Bubble and Pebble” digital games which were drawn, coloured, dubbed and inspired by kindergarten children. Those digital games are, again the very first digital games in the world that were created for children by children. You can play them here.

Taken from: “Bubble and Pebble” on AppStore!

Bubble and Pebble from ozge karaoglu on Vimeo.

Similarly, Isil's posts have mostly to do with edtech, which is tremendously useful to today's teachers. In her most recent post, whose beginning and end I am quoting below, she shares her views about changes in the educational settings and describes ways for this to be achieved.

As the saying goes, I truly believe that “change is good”, but is it also good in education? If it is so, how can we make change happen in our teaching? The answer I came up with is, by means of “theorising”.
....

In Chuck Sandy’s inspiring keynote presentation at RSCON3, he also discussed that we can be the change. He believes that “positive change in education happens one student, one classroom, and one school at a time“, and he made an emphasis on “creating real change in the lives of our learners.”

Taken from: THE-O-RISING AND A ‘CHANGE’ IN TEACHING

Untitled from tomifune on Vimeo.
A touching video Isil's students made especially for her.

A big thank you to these two wonderful women, once again! I hope one day such a meeting will be repeated. Where and when exactly? It does not matter; only people make the difference.

BECOMING PALS AND THEN E-PALS!

2011-08-12T17:58:00.004+03:00

We were lucky to be paid a visit on 9th August by Barbara Goodison, previously a teacher in our school now living in New Zealand. Her two wonderful children, Nick and Anna, were with her and had the chance to meet the two D- Class girls, Nassia and Christina. What amazed us was the ease with which they discussed (in English) about their preferences and hobbies and also played some games with a doll they named 'James'!

Nick and his cricket pitch!

Another thing which benefited our students the most was the presentation of certain cultural features of New Zealand by the two eager inhabitants of it: Nick explained everything about the popular sports there (including rugby and cricket), while Anna, who is very passionate about birds, drew a kiwi on the board and described how it looks like to the surprised Greek students who had no idea such a bird existed!

Anna drawing a kiwi bird on the board!

Barbara subsequently took part in the conversation, asking questions to the girls about the landscapes as well as traditional food in Greece, which in turn led to more questions about the strangest dishes in New Zealand and Britain.

After having a great time together, all the children agreed to become e-pals and exchange emails in the year to come so as to share their news. Nick and Anna also welcomed the thought of writing comments on the girls' class blog as a way to keep in touch with them.

The girls received one more unexpected visit by Sotiria, their beloved blog follower they were so curious about! Once again, they talked in English (Sotiria happens to be a C2-level student of the school) and they made Sotiria promise to drop by after the August holiday to show them some of the photographs she has taken from her travels in Europe.

Nick, Anna, Christina, Nassia and Sotiria

What an amazing adventure learning can be! Nassia draws a very similar conclusion in her blog post where she describes the events of that specific day and how she felt.

Thank you, Sotiria and Barbara, for everything you did for the girls! Words cannot describe our gratitude. We expect you back the soonest possible, yearning for more enlightening discussions!

MUSIC IN EARLY LEARNING

2011-08-12T17:11:00.003+03:00

These are the gifts we have recently given to some of our youngest students! The A' Junior student, Marina (in the first photo) and the pre-junior students, Manolis on the left and Ifigenia on the right (second photo), say a big thank you to Patricia Johnston for her rhythmic children’s songs and private messages! Little Antonis (in the middle) could not miss out on all the fun, of course!

In this recording, you hear Manolis and Ifigenia repeat short phrases after Patricia in order to sing the song later on. They were so pleased and enthusiastic about the CDs and the song ‘This is a cat’ in particular. Through music and games, they loved the English language right from the start!

THE GOOGLE+ PROFILE OF THE SCHOOL

2011-08-06T17:02:00.006+03:00

We finally got round to editing and using our Google+ profile. Although we are still trying to fully understand and take advantage of the possible educational uses of this network, we were happy to enter one more online community! Anyone interested in adding the school to their 'circles' can find us here:

gplus.to/markakischool

Google+ links:

Larry Ferlazzo's blog post about how to get a shortened URL

31 Essential Google+ Resources by Mashable

Google plus for learning: ScoopIT collection

25 Interesting ways to use Google+ to support learning

If you wish to create your own Google+ profile, but have received no invitations, here is one coming from us! Simply click on this link to get started.

BENEFITS OF STUDENT BLOGGING

2011-08-02T20:53:00.015+03:00

A series of conclusions and interrelated examples follow, based on the school's latest decision to incorporate student blogging into the curriculum. Will this form of students' self-expression eventually be used as a means of assessing their progress, as contemplated in a previous post? Only the future will show!

In the computer room of the school.

Demonstration of class work, resulting in getting a sense of achievement: The FCE (B2- level) students have been blogging since last year, having an array of written work to exhibit on their class blog and feeling very satisfied with the great number of visitors! An adept mother-blogger also copies her written assignments on her e-portfolio.

Creativity, combination of different kinds of media: B1-level students are proud to present videos of their favorite horror films and songs which have been embedded in their blog and combined with written comments.

Additional help provided at home and possibilities for self-correction: This excellent blogger has corrected his piece of writing on his own, following the advice offered by his teacher in the comment section. What is more, the CPE learners create their vocabulary calendars exclusively online and receive feedback in a respective way.

Further research on topics discussed in class: The girls in the summer D- Class group (A2+ level) have discovered more information about various extraordinary tourist destinations mentioned in the lesson.

Written communication with readers, learning how to respond politely to comments: The aforementioned girls interact with their followers with ease, leaving written comments under each post.

Collection of all helpful links in one place easily accessible by the student: The future IELTS candidates of the school link webpages containing tips, strategies and downloadable material to a blog destined to fulfill that purpose.

Students continue practicing English even after completing the desired course, a case of lifelong learning: George, a former student and a professional seaman, keeps updating his blog by publishing videos and texts about his travels.

See also our wiki page with tips for teacher and student bloggers.

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT

2011-07-31T16:54:00.003+03:00

More inspiration came from the Reform Symposium webinar, this time after attending Cecilia Lemos' wonderful presentation on forms of alternative assessment. Since students in our school already use technology extensively (the links in the tabs under the blog title illustrate some example uses), we constantly think of ways to make the most out of it. Therefore, here are several links recommended by presenters or attendees of the webinar that will definitely give some food for thought to all those who wish to acquaint their students with the best assessing practices possible.

Cecilia Lemos' blog post about alternative assessment

A collection of links about e-portfolios by Vance Stevens

More links about e-portfolios by Dr. Helen Barett

E-portfolio links on Scoop.it

The Assistments platform

10 Ways to assess learning without tests by Edna Sackson

10 Principles of assessment by the Assessment Reform Group

REFORM SYMPOSIUM: EU PROJECT LINKS

2011-07-30T18:51:00.003+03:00

www.reformsymposium.com

This post aims at informing teachers about some of the links presented in Joel Josephson's presentation 'European projects: innovative resources for all', since EU projects are one of the best ways to connect with other teachers and students, promote multiculturalism and break down the classroom walls, a topic dealt with in one of our previous posts. More updates about this webinar (#rscon3) can be found on the Twitter profile of the school.

The European Children’s Travelling Language Library: eulib.eu/home.html

The aPLaNet European Union Project: aplanet-project.eu

Lifelong learning- EU projects: eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/index_en.php

The Sun.Com project: www.sun-languagecommunity.eu

EXTENDING LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

2011-07-27T21:08:00.005+03:00

Another interesting challenge posed by Barbara Sakamoto and Chuck Sandy during the process of developing material for the International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi): How do we, as teachers, create suitable conditions for learning without being limited by the classroom walls?

My participation in the project involves a lot of thinking, which is always encouraged by the two organizers I mentioned before. Since these two exceptional educators have managed to arouse the interest of the teachers participating in the EFT authors' team, they are bound to work miracles for the teachers who will register for this online teacher-training course!

Here is a piece of the thoughts stemming from discussions with other teacher-bloggers in the group. More texts about learning and teaching fall into the categories entitled 'Posts for teachers' and the 'iTDi Project'.

1) Exchange of blog comments with the advanced students of iTDi's very own Henrick Oprea. This is a piece of my thoughts back when the 'blogging challenge' concept made its appearance:

'The whole concept is, in fact, very intriguing, not simply because students' increased blog traffic will be the perfect boost to their confidence and will to blog, but also because this circulation of culturally and socially related ideas and information will enable learners in both parts of the world to familiarize themselves with difference, multiculturalism and plurality of identity in the best manner possible.'

The description of the series of steps taken so as for the blogging challenge to be completed are included in this group of posts. This is where you are also going to find links to the posts students commented on (the posts belonged to student blogs only) as well as links to previous blogging challenges my students have taken part in.

2) E-pal project: communication without frontiers! This was the title of a previous blog post, referring to the written communication along with the exchange of podcasts and photographs between our students belonging to A' Junior up to B' Class groups (8-11 years old) and their French peers taught English by Aniella Lebeau.

Our French e-pals!

Not only did the young students manage to communicate fully (and only in English!) through the simple emailing service, but also had the chance to create further online projects, resulting from this communication, like the glogs and presentations they made about their schools!

You can read all about the email exchange and the subsequent projects here.

3) Is there a simpler way to expand your students' horizons by helping them contact native or non-native speakers through Skype? Some of my intermediate students talked to my online friend, musician and EFL teacher, Patricia Johnston at the beginning of the school year and were utterly thrilled by the experience!

C' Class talking to Patricia on Skype:
excellent speaking practice by asking and answering questions.

I am aware that all the above require an Internet connection and the existence of at least one computer in the classroom, but I think that even a low-tech school can afford to meet these two basic requirements! In the case of small groups, even the teacher's laptop could do the trick. There is also the possibility of some students working at home to send the emails or write a blog comment, providing that the two prerequisites for such an action are met in the family environment.

4) In case there is no technology available at school or at home, books are another great way to urge students to continue learning even when outside the classroom settings. The teacher can lend them a book that suits their age and level from the school library or their own personal collection and the adventure begins! The tasks that can be assigned are endless and require no classroom time, ranging from summaries on paper to blog posts and students' own comics. If there is time available in the lesson, read-aloud activities are an amazing alternative.

This is what a read-aloud activity entails in brief: In a relaxing atmosphere including unobtrusive music and a circular arrangement of desks, the teacher sits in the centre reading short passages of the book aloud, fitting the level, needs and interests of the specific class. He/she needs to pause regularly to ask comprehension questions, explain difficult vocabulary or urge the students to predict what is going to happen next. As it can easily be seen, this activity trains the students’ listening and speaking skills, familiarizing them with a variety of texts at the same time. The students have the chance to look at the pictures of the book during the short intervals, also taking a look at the text that has been read by the teacher.

(Extract from one of my guest posts for the Teaching Village)

Following this link will give you a taste of some book projects that have been produced in our classes this year. What attracted the interest of the teacher and student online community was the comic written and designed by a 11-year-old girl after she had read a story she liked.

http://issuu.com/markakischool/docs/katerina-comic

EDUCATIONAL TRIP TO LONDON 2011

2011-07-22T16:25:00.001+03:00

Educational Trip to London July 2011

View more documents from Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages.

This is a list of the places the children who participated in the trip went to. They were escorted by Mrs Maria Markaki who made sure that the students visited a variety of places and practiced English in a number of occasions. Some photos can be seen here, but more ones will be added soon. Till the next trip, we urge all our students to do their best to improve their English-language skills in order to be the first ones to board the plane to London next summer!

PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

2011-07-20T21:30:00.004+03:00

This is how I contributed to another interesting conversation with the EFT authors in the iTDi discussion group. Whoever has more ideas to offer or a comment to make is welcome to do so under this post.

Promoting critical thinking skills may be simpler than most teachers imagine, at least as I see it. What I usually do is choose extra material that I am sure will interest the learners (it often is about their interests or worries/ thoughts expressed in class) and then somehow connect it with the course book so as to end the lesson in a different and more pleasant way. This material could consist of a simple song, an online article, a video or a combination of those. Then, we discuss about the new material expressing a variety of thoughts, employing new vocabulary and answering an array of questions that arise through this practice.

For example, this is what I have quite recently done with Alice, an adult learner who is always willing to demystify life, bit by bit!

http://markaki-students.blogspot.com/2011/05/road-to-be-taken.html

In this particular lesson, not only did we manage to successfully combine Nickelback's unconventional rock music with a spine- chilling TED talk, but also to produce a written text based on Robert Frost's poetry. The connective link among all the aforementioned activities was life and the various ways of dealing with it or making the most of it, which is a very intriguing discussion subject with all adult learners.

So this is one of the ways I have used music to urge the students to think. You will find more posts about music under this label on my blog:

http://markaki-students.blogspot.com/search/label/Music

I have also categorized all thought provoking blog posts with which I try to test the acuteness of the learners' critical thinking as 'food for thought' :

http://markaki-students.blogspot.com/search/label/Food%20for%20thought

Finally, I have occasionally incorporated poetry and book reading in class, as it is customary for every teacher who wants to make the students' voices heard:

http://markaki-students.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry

(The poetry posts also include the exceptional poem by Robert Frost 'The Road Not Taken' with some written comments underneath stemming from students' own life experiences.)

http://markaki-students.blogspot.com/search/label/Books

The brief exploration of the linked pages above will easily prove that technology can and must be taken advantage of in order to enhance classroom discussions and procedures. The potential online material offers is vast and the adept utilization of it will certainly spark a light even in the most indifferent students, allowing them to step forward and speak their mind, thus practicing the language in the most efficient and pleasant ways possible!

BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING

2011-07-17T21:27:00.004+03:00

This is part of what I have been asked to write for the iTDi project I referred to in my previous post. If you happen to agree or, most importantly, disagree with my views, please let me know why. Students' observations concerning the learning procedure also constitute valuable feedback.

What beliefs do you have about teaching and learning?

I believe that teaching is about successfully transmitting the knowledge one has, employing a variety of methods, to people who are willing to absord the new information. At least, this is how the situation should be like ideally.

How do people learn?

They learn in a variety of ways by being presented with all kinds of input which can be visual, acoustic and kinaesthetic (i.e. involving bodily movement). Even if a student seems to prefer a specific learning style, exposure to a combination of authentic or semi-authentic material invariably helps. Of course, the ‘spice’ added by technology and traditional book reading includes most of the aforementioned ‘channels’ of knowledge.

What's the best way to teach?

There doesn’t seem to be a ‘secret’ that you can tell someone and immediately turn them into extraordinary teachers! As I have written in one of my blog posts:

“I was mostly enchanted by Luke Prodromou's impressive talk, but also presence. What he said was that there are no characteristics of an ideal teacher. One can constantly smile, be friendly and polite to students, stand and walk around the classroom, implement communicative activities and so forth, but the students may still not learn. On the contrary, Mr Prodromou has seen teachers sitting at their desks, barricaded behind a pile of books, being very strict, but actually having the children's full attention and encouraging active participation in the lesson. Therefore, there is no checklist for what is right or wrong when teaching; what a teacher does with all the techniques is what matters.”

However, I do remember Mr Prodromou saying that if there is a quality to characterize a good teacher, that is, according to global research, friendliness. Therefore, if I were to draw a final conclusion, I would say that being friendly and very positive towards your profession and the people sitting in front of you in class every day will surely bring, in one way or another, the desired outcome: that is, it will make people want to come back to you to experience more of the activities you will have prepared for them. This is when you know there is a good teacher around!

How do you know when a student learns something?

That is a very difficult question to answer because you can never know for sure what exists in an individual mind! The same problem needs to be faced by every examiner who has to measure the candidate’s ability in a matter of minutes (concerning the speaking part of the test.) However, the best indication a teacher can get about a student’s knowledge lies in the reproduction of the foreign language. Do students use the new vocabulary or grammar when they speak? Do they accurately incorporate it in their writing? If so, then they must have mastered the material taught. In the future, though, they may repeat some mistakes, which is an inevitable part of language use and ... of human nature!

What is your goal in each class?

My goal in lessons of all levels is first to revise what has previously been said to check upon existing knowledge and, then, enhance it with new material, ideas and tasks. One of the things I never fail to do is put on a smiling face, no matter the circumstances, and end the lesson on a positive note.

What's a good metaphor for teaching? What's a good metaphor for learning?

Teaching is like acting on a stage where the performers try to pass on a certain feeling or even message to the audience. The learners are not merely passive listeners; they can be summoned on stage and decisively change the course of the play.

Complete the sentences:

Teaching is ... giving a part of one’s soul and mind. Learning is ... accepting this gift and transforming it into one’s own property.  

WORKING ON AN iTDi PROJECT

2011-07-15T18:02:00.005+03:00

Are you wondering what iTDi is? Then read the beginning of Steven Herder's guest post on Barbara Hoskins- Sakamoto's 'Teaching Village':

I’ve always believed in the power of people to be able to come together to create something much bigger than any one of them individually. Here is a story about a bunch of teachers (myself and Barbara included) who are coming together to create something new called The International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi).

What is iTDi?
ITDi will be an online portal offering professional development opportunities for the full range of teachers from beginners who want to get off on the right foot, to veterans who want to reconsider or re-energize their approach in the classroom. Initially, two courses are being offered: Teacher Development (TD) and English for Teachers (EFT).

Who can join us?
Well, we need more writers, investors and supporters. With the size of our goals and the demand for professional development from teachers literally around the globe, we’ll always have room for more passionate educators to join us. For more information, please contact us through the iTDi website.

How did iTDi begin?
As the era of Collaboration 2.0 has now clearly arrived, just about anything is possible these days and almost everything is attainable for people with good ideas and the drive or determination to make them happen. As the world continues to get smaller, I now regularly have Skype meetings with people living on 3 or 4 different continents. The seeds for this kind of synergy began for me personally about 5 years ago.

The rest of the article can be found here.

I am very fortunate to have been invited to participate in the EFT authors' team. That is, a group of well-known teacher-bloggers who give their opinion on as well as add to the material that Chuck Sandy and Barbara Hoskins- Sakamoto produce for teachers who wish to enrich the language they employ in the classroom.

The names and short biographical notes of all the EFT course writing team are included in this iTDi webpage.

I have created the new label 'iTDi Project' to tag any post relevant to it, since I intend to publish some of the opinions I express in order to get other teachers' and, most importantly, students' feedback.

A big thank you to Barbara and Chuck for offering me the opportunity to be a part of such an original online project! The first sample modules will be published in the coming months to prove the hard work and inspiring ideas which they were based upon.

THE FIRST PHOTOS FROM THE SCHOOL'S CURRENT EDUCATIONAL TRIP TO LONDON

2011-07-15T14:05:00.004+03:00

picasaweb.google.com/agglikou84/LondonTripJuly2011

NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR LIBRARY

2011-07-11T01:24:00.002+03:00

The four magnificent books which have just entered our lives! They are now available to any of our advanced students who wish to do some extra reading.

The first and... biggest one:

1) The Complete Novels of Jane Austen

And three books written by Paulo Coelho (who also maintains an amazing blog):

2) Veronica Decides to Die
3) Eleven Minutes
4) The Alchemist

HOW TO FULLY LEARN A WORD

2011-07-11T01:02:00.004+03:00

When you study new vocabulary, you need to make sure that you are aware of five things:

1) the spelling of the word
2) what part of speech it is
3) its pronounciation
4) its basic meanings (remember the polysemy that characterizes the English language!)
5) the ways it can used within the sentence

Concerning the first four aspects of a lexical item, visiting www.dictionary.com or consulting your glossary, dictionary or, of course, teacher would help a lot in consolidating new vocabulary.

What about the fifth aspect, though?

Since glossaries do not always offer example sentences, you can visit sentence.yourdictionary.com, type the word whose use confuses you and get a bunch of ideas about its place within complex or simpler sentences.

Advanced students who create vocabulary calendars every month, like Alice and the 'Literature Blog' writers (read more about this type of task), will surely find this site to be extremely useful!

A sample of a vocabulary calendar

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH!

2011-07-09T15:18:00.004+03:00

I know the whole discussion about death can be utterly morbid, but I think some of the adult students may like it. So here it is: a video of an amazing introductory lecture in Yale University. The specific course is entitled Philosophy of Death and it addresses philosophical questions that arise when one contemplates the nature of death. In case you need a listening aid, you can find the transcript of the lecture here.

See also a listening activity which is based on this video on the students' IELTS blog, as listening to university lectures will be particularly useful to the TOEFL and IELTS candidates.

Watch it on Academic Earth

COURSE DESCRIPTION

There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? This course will examine a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. The possibility that death may not actually be the end is considered. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? Also a clearer notion of what it is to die is examined. What does it mean to say that a person has died? What kind of fact is that? And, finally, different attitudes to death are evaluated. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? How should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life?

GUEST POST FOR THE 'TEACHING VILLAGE'

2011-07-07T17:26:00.002+03:00

www.teachingvillage.org/2011/07/06/tell-a-story-by-christina-markoulaki

Barbara Hoskins- Sakamoto has once again given me the chance to present such a large audience of readers with stories from my classroom. In my latest guest post, I attempt to describe the storytelling activity I prepared and implemented to start the summer courses on a positive note.

This activity resulted in a lot of interesting student posts being published, while it was based on a sample story I have written in order to give the young writers an idea of what the form (words accompanied with pictures and/ or music) and structure (normal paragraph division ending with a hint at the moral of the story) could be.

The forgotten flamingo

View more documents from Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

The rest of my guest posts for the 'Teaching Village' can be found here.

SUMMER STORIES!

2011-07-04T21:19:00.008+03:00

Some of our students' summer stories which have been published on their class blogs:

Rafaela's summer story on 'Girl Power' (A2+ level)

Nassia's story on 'Girl Power' (A2+ level)

Christina's story on 'Girl Power' (A2+ level)

Stergios' story on 'Bits and Pieces' (B1 level)

Minas' story on 'Bits and Pieces' (B1 level)

Helena's summer nightmare on 'FCE Students' (B2 level)

'Drawing in the sand' by Izoldi on 'FCE Students' (B2 level)

Summer experiences by Mary on 'FCE Students' (B2 level)

Helen Lag's story on 'Literature Blog' (C2 level)

Elen's story on 'Literature Blog' (C2 level)

Nick's story on 'Literature Blog' (C2 level)

RAFAELA'S SUMMER STORY

2011-07-02T15:55:00.001+03:00

A special day on the beach by Rafaela

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Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

IT'S RAINING STUDENT BLOGS!

2011-06-30T17:02:00.003+03:00

Summer courses have just started and student bloggers have multiplied in our school! Besides, is there a better way to practice written English?

Now wear your seat belts and let the blogging tour begin! There are new posts on all blogs ranging from various compositions done as homework to answers to personal questions and suggested links. Publishing an abundance of work will continue throughout the summer, so make sure you pay some regular visits!

1) Girl Power: We are in D' Class (A2+ level) and we are having summer lessons. This blog is our e-portfolio. English is very useful and fun!

2) Bits and pieces: This is a blog maintained by Stergios and Minas, two E-class students (B1+ level) in Maria Markaki Language School. Here you can read some of their compositions or take a look at their favourite YouTube videos and webpages.

3) FCE Students: We are the students of FCE/ ECCE class (B2 level) in Maria Markaki School. We are 15 years old and we live in Iraklion, Greece. We created this blog to practise English in creative ways. We used to blog as E' Class students, but we are now older and better at English!

4) IELTS Writing: Various essays and links concerning IELTS by two future candidates, Thanasis and Nikolas. (C1 level)

5) Literature Blog: We are students of C2 level in Maria Markaki school. We live in Heraklion , Greece. We learn English to use the Internet more easily and to employ the language in our professional career.

Read also about the ways we use technology in our school.

SUMMER COURSES 2011: PHOTOS

2011-06-30T16:38:00.000+03:00

picasaweb.google.com/agglikou84/SummerLessons2011#

IELTS STUDENT BLOG

2011-06-29T14:58:00.000+03:00

studying-for-ielts.blogspot.com

The very first posts concerning IELTS Speaking (Part 1) by a future candidate. This is where useful links for teachers and students attending such preparation courses can also be found. Here are the ones we have collected so far:

IELTS links

E-PAL PROJECT: COMMUNICATION WITHOUT FRONTIERS

2011-06-25T17:29:00.003+03:00

I borrowed the title Patricia Johnston used in her latest Kids' Factory newsletter, to refer once again to the excellent cooperative e-pal project Aniella Lebeau's students and ours managed to pull through! (You can read all about it here.) Having Aniella's permission, I have published an amazing photo showing all the French students who took part in the project.

Aniella's note: A group photo with my 2 year-7 classes.
Some students painted a French flag on their hands
and one girl, Ophélie, made a paper flag herself.

You can see Patricia's article in French above, explaining the purpose of this exchange and including various links to relevant blog posts and glogs.

There is also a link to her site where you can read our students' response to three questions Patricia asked them regarding their correspondence with their French peers.

The interview is accompanied with photographs of all the participants, which is truly touching and will certainly serve as a valuable reminder of this experience in the future.

Thank you, Patricia and thank you, Aniella, for expanding my students' horizons as well as my own! What we have managed to organize throughout the year is exactly what teachers call 'a new learning experience' or 'a classroom without walls'.

Be ready for more learning adventures in the year to come!

Irvin Yalom: "When Nietzsche Wept"

2011-06-25T14:29:00.000+03:00

Even though the concepts presented and the actors' accents may pose difficulties to the adult students who wish to watch this excellent movie without any subtitles, it is definitely worth trying!

Based on the bestselling, award-winning novel by Irvin Yalom, "When Nietzsche Wept" tells the story of obsession, a drama of love, fate and will that formed the basis of modern psychoanalysis. Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Dr. Josef Breuer, Louise (Lou) von Salome and Anna O - these compelling characters cross paths when Breuer and Freud agree to treat Nietzsche; a sick, poor and unknown philosopher. The story follows the dramatic lives of two of the most important and enigmatic men who would change the course of Europe's intellectual history and the intriguing women who inspired and ruined them.

AN EXTRAORDINARY CERTIFICATE!

2011-06-20T12:18:00.000+03:00

'Excessive points' certificate

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Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages.

Who said that students get nothing out of the 'points' won in class?

LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

2011-06-12T14:56:00.003+03:00

Eva, a 17-year-old student who sat the Panhellenic exams on the English language yesterday, sent me the following text of hers which was produced as a response to this article on current political affairs and the accompanying writing topic. Similar texts or links can be found under the label 'English Literature Candidates', while yesterday's exam topics can be seen here. It is to be noted that Eva's text expresses entirely her own views and concerns about Greece.

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to expess my deep concern about two out of a number of major problems our country is struggling to face.Additionally, I would like to propose solutions that, in my opinion, are the most suitable ones for these problems,at least to a certain extent.

Over the past few months,it seems that the economic field of our country has been infuenced by the worldwide-spread phenomenon of the financial depression.The unemployment rates are increasing continuously and more and more businesses are closing down.I feel strongly that we should make an effort to change this situation.Firstly, each and every one of us ought to realise that as a nation it is our responsibility to pay our taxes. Moreover, tax evaders must be punished in an exemplary way.

Furthermore, a concequence of the human intervention in nature and the uncontrolled industrial activity in many parts of Greece is the environmental pollution.The greenhouse gases released from cars and factories penetrate into the atmosphere and cause problems both to the environment and the humanity.Therefore, it goes without saying that filters should be put on the chimneys of factories.What is more, organisations motivated by the government could launch campaigns to encourage people to recycle and use public means of transport instead of cars.

In conclusion, these problems can become a threat to our country and it is essential that we solve them gradually.

Yours sincerely
Eva Katsibri

WORDS ABOUT CURRENT POLITICAL AFFAIRS

2011-06-08T19:45:00.020+03:00

This word group is mostly based on the online article 'Direct democracy Demonstrations in Greece' shared in a previous post. Double-click on the words you are not familiar with to see definitions and examples in a pop-up window.

Indignant citizens' gathering at the main square of Heraklion

demonstrator cutbacks Parliament privatize banner
apathy lay off mike surge moderate moderator obsequious wage coup confined parliamentarian indignant frustrated revolutionary inevitable regime levy steep taxes well-off middle class capitalist elite magnate corrupt debt net wealth launder money declare income Minister mandate substantial purchase rivalry apparatus intelligence outlay joblessness parliamental immunity try trial jail pitchfork detest well-to-do rev up provocation fundamental straightforwardly vision simultaneous fierce constitutional leadership intellectuals lot party policy consistent with subjected to censure institution seek struggling explosion representative oligarchy individuality bent articulate integrated convention segregated anchor impulse fore rank and file hierarchical inheritance blossom backlash

The motto 'Wake Up!' was formed by burning candles.

Other terms in the article:

1) American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American insurance corporation. According to the 2011 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was the 29th-largest public company in the world. It was listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average from April 8, 2004 to September 22, 2008. (More on Wikipedia.)

2) The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients. (More on Wikipedia.)

3) Xe Services LLC (pronounced /ˈziː/ zee) is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. It is better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors. Of the 987 contractors Xe provides, 744 are U.S. citizens. At least 90% of the company's revenue comes from government contracts. Xe provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency on a contractual basis. (More on Wikipedia.)

4) Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested as part of the insurrection of 10 August during the French Revolution, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of high treason, and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793 as "Citoyen Louis Capet". He is the only king of France ever to be executed. (More)

5) Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre when her husband, Louis XVI of France, ascended the throne upon the death of Louis XV in May 1774. At the height of the French Revolution, Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished on 10 August 1792; the royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Temple Prison. Nine months after her husband's execution, Marie Antoinette was herself tried, convicted of treason, and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793. (More)

6) Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, sociologist, historian, political economist, political theorist, journalist and revolutionary socialist, who developed the socio-political theory of Marxism. His ideas have since played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement. He published various books during his lifetime, with the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867–1894), many of which were co-written with his friend, the fellow German revolutionary socialist Friedrich Engels. (More)

7) Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. (More)

8) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) ( /ˈsnɪk/) was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise funds to support SNCC's work in the South, allowing full-time SNCC workers to have a $10 a week salary. Many unpaid volunteers also worked with SNCC on projects in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Maryland. (More)

9) Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969. SDS has been an important influence on student organizing in the decades since its collapse. Participatory democracy, direct action, radicalism, student power, shoestring budgets, and its organizational structure are all present in varying degrees in current American student activist groups. (More)

Protesting artistically!

SCHOOL SHOW 2011: SLIDES AND LINKS

2011-06-08T17:25:00.000+03:00

The English version of the slides presented to the parents during the end-of-year show.

Additional activities 2010- 2011

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Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages.

More photos and information about the work presented during the show:

END-OF-YEAR SHOW PHOTOS

BOOK PRESENTATIONS BY B1-LEVEL STUDENTS

WHITE FANG COMICS!

MORE BOOK PROJECTS

PROJECTS ON READ-ALOUD ACTIVITIES

FURTHER READING AND COMPUTER ACTIVITIES

KATERINA'S OWN COMIC!

THE CONDITIONALS STRIKE BACK!

2011-06-08T15:18:00.002+03:00

Conditionals

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Maria Markaki School of Foreign Languages

GRAMMAR TUTORIALS ON ENGLISHPAGE.COM:

(Also find the related activities at the bottom of each page.)

Continuous Conditionals

Mixed Conditionals

'Were to' in conditional sentences

Surprisingly, an unexpected idea for a different conditionals activity came up during a random comment exchange on Facebook: Older or adult students can watch part of the video called 'My Social Tattoo' in which a woman tattoos the 152 pictures of her Facebook friends on her arm. Then, they may be asked to form the questions that sprung into their minds, using various conditional types (basic or mixed ones).

e.g. What would she have done if she had more friends? (mixed type)

What will happen if one of them unfriends her? (1st type)

TIME TO LEARN HOW TO TELL THE TIME!

2011-06-08T14:32:00.000+03:00

Play the word games here: http://clubefl.gr/myblog/gogos/ (What's the time please?)

Read the time in words and stop the hands of the clock when on the right position:
http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/clock2/clockwordsres.html

READING: GREEK CURRENT AFFAIRS

2011-06-06T13:38:00.005+03:00

Direct democracy Demonstrations in Greece

by Marta Soler and Carlos Robles

During the day, one can see several hundred working class demonstrators against the cutbacks at the postal service near Syntagma Square (the parliament), with the fear that the government will privatize it and sell it to a German company which will lay off large numbers of postal workers (perhaps over 50%). At 6 o’clock in Syntagma Square, a crowd starts to gather under a banner which says "no to apathy – direct democracy (amesi demokratia)." It is the ninth day of such gatherings and discussions. There is an open mike for speeches and proposals. By 8, some 50,000 people have gathered (I am with some friends near the speaker on the edge of the people seated, the crowd surges around, and up the high steps to the road that separates the Parliament and may extend over in front of it. The woman who moderates (one of several moderators) calls for a continuation of a discussion proposed the previous night (that meeting ended at 4 AM), and takes hands for 20 speakers (eventually there is a vote which approves hearing from all of them before continuing).

Most of the crowd is young, the people in their twenties. The European Union, to which the Greek government is obsequious, even though headed by a Socialist (George Papandreou, who is reputed - a rarity among leading Socialists - an honest man), has demanded that the Greek parliament vote on June 15 on a maximum salary for every young worker before she reaches the age of 25: five hundred – 500 - euros a month. This is a poverty, near starvation wage for a young Athenian (barely enough to pay rent – perhaps if 4 people share an apartment - let alone eat).

Read the rest here:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25129

Writing Topic: Write a letter to the Prime Minister of Greece, stating which two problems you think Greece should address immediately and possible ways that this could be done. Remember to start and end appropriately, also employing the most suitable style for a formal letter. (200 words)

Plan:

Paragraph

Key ideas and words

1

2

3

4

How will you open and close the letter?

SPIES IN ACTION!

2011-06-03T17:37:00.000+03:00

This is George's latest spy project that has also been added to the page where such work is collected: http://markaki-topsecret.blogspot.com/p/spy-equipment.html You will find more spy projects on our Top Secret Website!

END-OF-YEAR SHOW PHOTOS

2011-05-29T16:47:00.002+03:00

To see all the photos and download those desired, click here.

The slides that were used during the show will be published soon!

ECCE/ FCE and ECPE/ CPE Certificates

2011-05-27T21:34:00.001+03:00

Congratulations to all these students!

THE ROAD ... TO BE TAKEN!

2011-05-26T01:56:00.001+03:00

The title refers to the latest post on the blog of an admirable mother and learner, Alice:

aliki-ka.blogspot.com/2011/05/road-to-be-taken.html

She describes a difficult decision she has to make, since she sees herself standing in front of the same bewildering fork that Robert Frost met before he wrote 'The Road Not Taken'.

Alice's essay is the outcome of an intriguing lesson we had together about life, in general, and people's various ways of living it. In this specific lesson, we watched Ric Elias explain what the three things that really matter in life are, as he unraveled the thoughts that sprung into his mind the minute his doomed plane went down.

We also heard Nickelback's song 'If Today Was Your Last Day' and contemplated on what each one of us would do if we knew that we were running out of time. Some of the questions which arose were: What is truly worth our effort and attention? What constitutes the very essence of life?

Any learners (or other readers!) interested can leave their comments on the topic under this post.

LEARN NEW WORDS WITH COMICS!

2011-05-23T14:43:00.000+03:00

learnwithcomics.blogspot.com

Since comics are said to be one of the most efficient ways for the new vocabulary to be retained, visit Sofia Stefanidou's blog and make the most out of it! She primarily focuses on phrasal verbs, but more vocabulary is sure to come. To explore other similar links, you can drop by this wiki page of ours:

eflinks.wikispaces.com/Vocabulary

BOOK PRESENTATIONS BY B1-LEVEL STUDENTS

2011-05-20T14:52:00.001+03:00

The books that E' Class students are going to present to their parents on May 28 undoubtedly belong to classic literature. The presentation will include the narration of the story, the students' personal opinion about it and an accompanying video that students themselves have chosen to help the audience visualize the content of the book.

On the class blog you will find the descriptions of the books to be presented:

Oliver Twist (posts by all students)

Jane Eyre by Izoldi Tsagaraki

Pride & Prejudice by Maria Spanoudaki

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Anna Minadaki

REBECCA by Helena Kalogeraki

More book descriptions on their blog:

The Promise by Nick Latzourakis

Great Expectations by Maria Spanoudaki

TOM SAWYER by Helena Kalogeraki

White Fang The Book by Maria Giannoulaki

POSTER FOR THE END-OF-YEAR SHOW 2011

2011-05-18T13:22:00.001+03:00

Click on the poster twice to view it in its original size.

WHITE FANG COMICS!

2011-05-17T15:17:00.002+03:00

Comics made by Konstantinos and Minas (D' Class) in order to be presented in the end-of-year show on May 28. Click on the pictures to view them in a larger size.

ECPE VOCABULARY ACTIVITY

2011-05-11T13:15:00.001+03:00

Explain the difference between the two commonly confused words.

arise/ arouse, exceptional/ exceptionable, detterent/ detergent, reciprocate/ recapitulate, presence/ attendance, inflict/ impose, susceptible/ perceptible, viable/ vital, stipulate/ speculate, apprehensive/ comprehensive, imaginary/ imaginative, permissible/ permissive, implement/ supplement, compulsive/ compulsory, libel/ label, indignant/ indigenous, downright/ upright, revoke/ provoke, gratification/ gratitude, physicist/ physician, affinity/ infinity, obstruct/ abstract, laud/ fraud, predecessor/ successor, uphold/ withhold, except/ exempt, inexorable/ inevitable, possessed/ possessive, poignant/ poised, livelihood/ likelihood, nurture/ nature, impertinent/ not pertinent, infallible/ infamous, complication/ implication, complacent/ adjacent, fusion/ profusion, defer/ infer, insolvent/ insolent, diffident/ indifferent, illegible/ ineligible, perennial/ perceivable, precision/ incision, deluge/ divulge, considerate/ considerable, proponent/ opponent, repeal/ reveal, requisition/ inquisition, gush/ gust, shimmer/ simmer

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE SCHOOL

2011-05-10T14:33:00.002+03:00

Facebook seems to be ready to 'archive' older groups, so we decided to move to a more convenient home:

www.facebook.com/pages/Maria-Markaki-Language-School

Click on the link above to 'like' our new fan page since the our current Facebook group may lose some of its information in the near future. All the school news will be posted on the new page from now on. Thank you in advance!

Teachers arround the world may also be interested in another Facebook fan page that we have created named Teachers of English in Greece DO blog!

This page is an attempt to gather Greek as well as non-Greek teachers-bloggers and get them to share useful information. So, if you are a fan of blogs as valuable educational tools, then become a fan of this page, too, and let us know about your blogs and the way you use them in class!

ECPE EXAM TIME!

2011-05-09T12:39:00.001+03:00

Some adult ECPE candidates and wiki writers!

Wiki with various word lists and other samples of written work:

ecpestudents.wikispaces.com

Blog including an array of links about reading, listening and writing:

sotiria-english.blogspot.com

The best ECPE links on the web:

markaki-students.blogspot.com/2009/11/useful-ecpe-links.html

PINK FLOYD 'MOTHER'

2011-05-08T16:00:00.003+03:00

This is a different song from what expected on Mother's Day, being about nuclear destruction and the futility of war; admittedly, it is truly relevant to current affairs.

Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother, do you think they'll like this song?
Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother, should I build the wall?
Mother, should I run for President?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
Is it just a waste of time?

Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Momma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true
Momma's gonna put all of her fears into you
Momma's gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing
Momma's will keep Baby cozy and warm
Oooo Babe
Oooo Babe
Ooo Babe, of course Momma's gonna help build the wall

Mother, do you think she's good enough
For me?
Mother, do you think she's dangerous
To me?
Mother will she tear your little boy apart?
Mother, will she break my heart?

Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Momma's gonna check out all your girlfriends for you
Momma won't let anyone dirty get through
Momma's gonna wait up until you get in
Momma will always find out where you've been
Momma's gonna keep Baby healthy and clean
Oooo Babe
Oooo Babe
Ooo Babe, you'll always be Baby to me

Mother, did it need to be so high?

TRUETUBE: VIDEOS AND LESSON PLANS

2011-04-29T17:29:00.002+03:00

www.truetube.co.uk

About TrueTube (read more here)

TrueTube is a free, award winning education site for schools with videos, lesson plans and assembly plans for PSHE, RE and Citizenship at Key Stages 3 & 4. We currently receive more than 1 million hits per month across 130 countries.

Launched in 2007, TrueTube has hundreds of high quality short films on social, moral and ethical issues, made by young people. Many of the films are accompanied by lesson plans to support their use in the classroom. Our sister organisation Boldface Productions works with young people to produce films on the social issues which matter to them, and increase their skills and prospects for employability.

PUT ON YOUR THINKING HAT!

2011-04-28T15:00:00.001+03:00

The Thinking Hats on Storybird

Put on your thinking cap

Meaning

Take time for consideration of some question.

Origin

A 'thinking cap' was previously known by the appealing name a 'considering cap'. That term has gone entirely out of use now but was known since at least the early 17th century, as in this example from Robert Armin in Foole upon foole, 1605:

"The Cobler puts off his considering cap, why sir, sayes he, I sent them home but now."

The earliest record I can find for the term 'thinking cap' is from the USA, in the Wisconsin newspaper The Kenosha Times, July 1857:

"This tendency is a very good thing as the safeguard of our independence from the control of foreign power, and it obliges every man to keep his thinking cap on."

That citation uses the term figuratively - there's no suggestion that it refers to a real cap. The figure who comes to mind when wondering who might wear such a cap is Sherlock Holmes. In the stories he was portrayed as settling down in a smoking jacket to consider difficult 'three-pipe' problems. There's no record of his wearing a cap to accompany the jacket though.

Read more here: www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/293000.html

What Are the Six Thinking Hats?

	White Hat Thinking: Information availible and needed.
	Black Hat Thinking: Cautions and difficulties; Where things might go wrong.
	Red Hat Thinking: Intuitions, feelings, and hunches
	Green Hat Thinking: Alternatives and creative ideas.
	Yellow Hat Thinking: Values and benefits; Why something might work.
	Blue Hat Thinking: Manage the thinking process.

Some more related links can be found here:

mwedwardstechnology.blogspot.com/2011/04/put-on-your-thinking-hat.html

WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE

2011-04-27T11:37:00.001+03:00

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.

ROCK MUSIC WITH WORDS THAT... ROCK!

2011-04-25T20:30:00.001+03:00

Nickelback - If Today Was Your Last Day

My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day's a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day

Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you'll never live it twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce of memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?

Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin' stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side

If today was your last day
and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce of memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

Questions:
1) Do you know what the underlined words and phrases mean?
2) What does the phrase in bold refer to? This link may be of help.
3) What would you choose to do if today was your last day?

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

2011-04-25T19:55:00.001+03:00

Since teenagers love rock music, here is a surprise blog post for them!

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records.

Cobain came up with the song's title when his friend Kathleen Hanna, at the time the lead singer of the Riot Grrrl punk band Bikini Kill, spray painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall. Since they had been discussing anarchism, punk rock, and similar topics, Cobain interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning. What Hanna actually meant, however, was that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which his then-girlfriend Tobi Vail wore. Cobain later claimed that he was unaware that it was a brand of deodorant until months after the single was released.

"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted to be a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the song's music video. In an interview conducted the day Nevermind was released, Cobain stated the song was about his friends, explaining, "We still feel as if we're teenagers because we don't follow the guidelines of what's expected of us to be adults [. . .] It also has kind of a teen revolutionary theme". As Cobain did more interviews, he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the song's meaning. When discussing the song in Michael Azerrad's biography Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain revealed that he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age."

The book Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes "Teen Spirit" as "a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness." Azerrad plays upon the juxtaposition of Cobain's contradictory lyrics (such as "It's fun to lose and to pretend") and states "the point that emerges isn't just the conflict of two opposing ideas, but the confusion and anger that the conflict produces in the narrator—he's angry that he's confused." Azerrad's conclusion is that the song is "alternately a sarcastic reaction to the idea of actually having a revolution, yet it also embraces the idea.

Cobain has said, "The entire song is made up of contradictory ideas [. . .] It's just making fun of the thought of having a revolution. But it's a nice thought."

Bits and pieces from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit

Find the lyrics and their translation in Greek here.