Teaching Tip: Organization of a Professional Teaching Group - 1

Name:

Loreto Bustos

Economy:

Chile

School:

English Network, Concepción

Subject:

English as a Foreign Language

Tip:

A MEANINGFUL KNOWLEDGE JOURNEY

The English Language Teachers Network from Concepcion Province was the first formed in the region and it is one of the oldest in the country when there were only five in total. It was born due to the need of teachers to leave the state of being isolated and to work together in giving each other professional support exchanging experiences because the history of English Language teachers showed us that once the teachers graduated from University they worked alone in their schools without having the opportunity to practice the Language nor having professional development.

When the new educational reform began in Chile and we were called to attend courses to learn about how to face the challenge of the new methodology, we realized we had very similar educational realities and together we could be better teachers and grow professionally. So we started our work as a NET, we agreed how to function, it should be compulsory for all teachers to share knowledge and present workshops during the meetings. The first ones to do this were the teachers who got international grants from the Ministry of Education; the others shared their successful experiences in the classroom. We have looked for professional support and we have invited English Speaking professionals, University Professors, Fellow Teachers from the US Embassy, and Fulbright Teachers to present workshops about English Language Teaching. Some of the workshops topics have been: ABC’S Motivation , Textbooks Analysis, Classroom Management, Continuous Assessment, Cooperative Learning Methodology, Course Condorito in English, Culture and Methodology , Developing Speaking Skills with Limited Resources, Developing a Bank of Online Materials and Resources, Framework for a Good Teaching, Graphic Organizers , Implementing Communicative Grammar Practice Activities Vs. Fluency Activities, Karaoke in ESL,Lesson Planning, Listening and Reading Strategies Games , Multiple Intelligences for Student-Centered Teaching, Professional Evaluation,Phonetics ,Pen-Pal ,Postcards, Proverbs, Rubrics, Reading the Newspaper, Songs in ESL, Teaching Communicative Functions in Speaking, Total Physical Response TPR Method, Teaching Vocabulary with Online Resources, Vocabulary Development Strategies, Using Authentic Input: Magazines, Music, Movies and Motivation, Using Technology in the Language Classroom, Using Games to Teach, Video in The Classroom, Warming Up of a Class, Works in Computer, Using and Abusing Videos ,Word Maps.

Teachers of this Net have felt so much motivated that we are willing to participate in every single opportunity given or sponsored by the Ministry of Education or any other institution to be better prepared to foster the students in their learning. Most of us have already done the following: English Courses, Post Graduate Courses in English, Methodology, Mentor Training, International Grants, Public Speaking, Debates Tournament, Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, International Visitor Program, IATEFL and TESOL Presentations to promote the formation of Teachers Networks, TKT, Michigan, TOEIC, FCE, Trinity, QPT, TOEFL. We have also been able to manage the participation of five teachers in the International Visitor Program to travel to the US through the US Embassy.
We wanted to give support to Primary School Teachers and were from different communes we chose two representatives from each one to do this once a month for some hours, later some of them formed their own Net to have the chance to apply to projects.

Through all these years we have participated in many Projects to work with the students sponsored by the Ministry of Education as Understanding the World through Listening, Reading Short Illustrated Stories and Comic Strips, Open a Door to Vocabulary Development While Reading, Annual Exhibition and Artistic Competition, Annual Exhibition in English Week.

We thought that our professional development should reach not only our students in the classroom but also outside the classroom so we decided to organize some events to make them participate , motivate their learning in the language and give them the opportunity to use their knowledge in the language.

We have consolidated four events to take place each year with the participation of students from 5th level in Primary school to 4th level in Secondary school:

1. “Spelling Bee” Contest in May in which the students spell different words given according the level and taken from the students’ textbooks.
2. “Artistic Competition” in July in which different categories are included as Poems & Monologues, Songs , Karaoke, Plays & Group Presentations and Musical Bands. This was created to give students the opportunity to use the English Language through their artistic ability.
3. “Four Abilities Competition” in September which includes Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, Writing and Speaking. 
4. “Annual Exhibition” two days in November, students’ works and projects like albums, postcards, Yearbooks, folders, K-Rings, bookmarkers, power point presentations, posters which are made as a result of their developing of Listening and Reading Comprehension are shown in this event.

There is also a competition with the finalists of the previous events. This year we included the Debate Team winner in the Province to show a sample of Debate to motivate others to participate.

• “Miss Teen & Mister Teen Contest” is included in the exhibition; the students show their command of oral English according to their grade. Only one couple per school can participate, there is one winner in Primary Level and one in Secondary level.

We have also encouraged our students to participate in the English Opens Doors activities like Public Speaking and Debates Tournaments. The Debate Team of one of the schools which belongs to the Net got the First Place in the Province and the Second Place in the Region and was invited to the National Tournament for being within the highest scores in the country.

These kind of activities have helped the students to have a better self-esteem, they feel that what they learn is useful and meaningful, make them increase their motivation in the learning of the language and have a positive attitude towards English. Another thing I would like to mention is the exchange of experiences they have with the students of other schools and the chance to travel outside the school community and town because most of them don’t travel anywhere not even during vacations, they really appreciate to be invited to participate. Each teacher who belongs to this Net takes from 8 to 20 students to each event, their participation is awarded with Diplomas and prizes according to the category and activity. Teachers register at the beginning of the year to organize each event in teams.

Loreto Bustos Aguilera
English Language Teachers Network Coordinator
Concepcion