IATEFL Glasgow 2017

                                             http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017
I have been accepted to be a  registered blogger and I will write about some interviews and events which will take place in Glasgow in April.
What makes the online event a   must do it is the international community of speakers who will share ideas about  English and the world of English.
I will be online and follow some events and I do hope that this event will enrich my personal  growth and provide me with tips and new ideas about the best practices and learn more about the speakers who are going to talk:    http://conference.iatefl.org/plenaries_q_live.html


Let's meet virtually online:  Glasgow will not be foo far from us!

Great things to do in Glasgow come rain or shine, from @globalgrasshopr: https://t.co/26C0Om0Z0n pic.twitter.com/ShHhblqeno

— PEOPLE MAKE GLASGOW (@peoplemakeGLA) 17 marzo 2017

# Westminster

London- Westminster: My heart is full of sadness tonight . Today we have seen again how violence and death are part of our daily lives- it happened a long time ago in London and it has happened again today.  It happened in the heart of London- Westminster- to remind us that we are at risk: terror and  violence that make us feel speechless.

Westminster is the place by the river Thames where the first EnglishParliament was born. It is also the place where  most of commuters arrive when they are reaching their offices or colleges for studying in central London. I used to walk in this part of London on Saturday and Sunday when I reached the centre of this city. I still remember what I  first saw when I arrived from Crydon on the 109 bus. The bus moved along the bridge and then it stopped in Trafalgar Square.      

By Diliff (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons


I have been to London many times and I have studied there too.  I have loved its international  communities. I have lived with  families whose origins were not always British but we lived together, we shared ideas about  our  countries and  we learnt from the  others.

I do hope that we will continue living together and that criminals like the man who committed such a  crime  will stop destroying our ideas and values.  First of all, we want to live in peace and  this is true for everybody, we need to have hopes and share ideas about us and the others.

        It will be sunny tomorrow and I do think that hope will continue living in our hearts , in London but also everywhere .
 

This was in @TimeOutLondon in 2006 and it is just as true today. #westminster welcomes the world. pic.twitter.com/JtlKM5zrby

— Heather DeLand (@HeatherDeLand) 22 marzo 2017

IATEFL ONLINE APRIL 2017

The next IATEFL ONLINE CONFERENCE starts in April.


 
The programme  can be seen online and  downloaded.  It is an important event for  ELT educators and most conferences  provide an interesting opportunity  for  CPD  and  Professional  Development.

The events are free online and  they can be seen by all the  teachers who are interested in teaching and  learning about changes in ELT and  Education.

I am looking forward to it and I hope you will also join the conference online!

St Patrick's Day 17th March

Ideas for Introducing the Topic :  Who was he? What do people do today? Do we also celebrate him in our country? 


 -Watching a video and listening to a song


Irish For a Day - St. Patrick's Day Party Music from Robert Palomo on Vimeo.


-Learning about the story of  St. Patrick : many stories about him

            
-Learning and Reading  online 

http://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/mar17/happy-st-patricks-day/family/?sf58937551=1

8th March: Women and Education

Thanks to  Shelly Terrell Sanchez who has shared lots of resources online  this week: Women's Day is now part of our celebrations and the web offers plenty of resources. When teaching English and other  school subjects we can rely on important documents and tips which can be used in class.

First of all , we should remember  the many women who struggled and  suffered.  History can teach us about them, their hopes and what happened in many lands and countries.   

10 Multimedia Resources to Teach About Women’s History https://t.co/Wv9xEqBS42 #WomensHistoryMonth #ESL #tesol #ells #tefl #efl #clil pic.twitter.com/xBcOXuRQgu

— American TESOL Inst. (@americantesol) 6 marzo 2017

Why do we need to celebrate  Women's Day?


Because things are changing but not everywhere. Too many girls and women need to fight against people who want to make them be silent. 
It is also about  Malala's rights and the right of girls who want to go to school and believe in education for women. 

Literature and women  writers

In Literature, I love thinking of the many voices of women and writers who have written about them: V. Woolf and others like  Dorothy Richardson who wrote about women and changed the way we write now. It was Stream of Consciousness but also the discovery of the attitude of women which was different from their husbands, fathers and brothers. 

When dealing with the XX century in Literature I like reading about V. Woolf's  ideas: I like her great text- " A Room of One's Own"- her voice is still talking to us and helps us think about the world and how women are  treated. 

Read “A Room of One's Own (Chapter 3)” by Virginia Woolf on Genius

Mind Mapping : Wisemapping a free tool online

                                                       Why using mind maps?  
The answer is simple: we can learn better and students can be supported by us while learning. This is true for any subject we might learn but it is also more important for struggling students.

I have just tried a new tool which is free online:http://www.wisemapping.com/.

You can find the tutorial online and in just a few minutes you can develop your own map. You just need to have an account and after registering you can begin developing your own maps.

I have been asked to make some presentations of some grammar rules in English and I think I might use it in my classes. It's simple, it's free and it helps teachers but also students to create their own mind maps.
When you create a map, you can share it online or work with collaborators online once you have given them the link.
When you finish , you can embed it and this is useful for teachers who are working online and write in blogs or wikis.

The link  to my map:    https://app.wisemapping.com/c/maps/524850/public


 

The next step will be to use it in literature and to create  mindmaps for my students who are  struggling with studying  authors and texts in English. I am aware that reading and studying  literature in English can be difficult but we do need to cope with it.

I have also used  mind maps for writing my first ebook so getting to learn more about this tool has in some way provided me with  new useful ones.

Internet is just a great source of web tools and I will also try  many more to see which is the most useful one.  Wisemapping can be helpful for everybody.