Have you ever had a fantastic week? Have you ever felt so happy with little or big things that happened to you that are just a kiss to your heart? Well...let me tell you about my week.

I went to my first work at primary school and we get ready for the concert... this means, singing the song over and over, soing the choreography, etc, etc

Then I went to my second work at a secondary school and we watched some videos related to plants. The kids really enjoyed it as they already knew all the vocabulary in Spanish so they were able to make the connection.

This was one of the videos

At 5.00 I arrived home and study for my writing test on Tuesday. I was really nervous because I wasn't sure if I had passed the Use of English part so.. if I failed in the writing part.. I had to do the make-up for all!!.. i was really nervous about that because I didn't want to disappoint the teacher..

Tuesday came and again.. some dancing and singing in the morning. Then secondary school and finally the test!!!! I sat at 18:10 and I stood up at 21:00 

I felt like this when I left...hahaha

Then Wednesday came and I had more dancing and singing. But no school or prof to go to in the afternoon so.. 

I spent time with my mother and husband. 

And then one of my teachers told me that I had passed the Use of English part.... yeeeeesssss!!!!!

I was already feeling nervous... because on Friday I had to deliver my last practicum lesson of my career!!!!!!!!!! it was a huge thing for me... but before Friday .. on Thursday afternoon I went to the prof and we had the last workshop.. 

Naty, Vero and Sabri did a fantastic job!

At night Moni sent me a message (students at the prof know who Moni is :) she's ...MONI) Well... she told me that my degree has just arrived at the prof. 

Many moments came to my mind... friends, partners, teachers, study groups, long hours, long weekends...etc, etc. 

Finally.. Friday came. I prepare my bags for my last practicum lesson

I had sooo many things... but I was sooooo happy. 

When we arrived, we prepared the presents for all of the students and coperative teacher (they loved the presents)

There were some students who were crying because we were leaving... I almost start crying as well as it was a huge day for me as well.

Well.... you may think that I'm crazy..(perhaps you're right) but this past week was amazing, fantastic, great, shocking, and lovely. 

How was your week? I would love to hear from you :)

Hi everybody!!! How are you? This time I want to share with you something that you may know but perhaps you are not conscious about it. Can you tell me what teaching strategies do you use in a classroom? do you know how many kinds of strategies are there?

First of all, there are two assumptions. All four skills are important and deserve special attention and action and learning strategies help students to develop each of the skills.

There are two kinds of strategies:


What's the difference? even though both of them are apllied for the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and it is better if they are applied together, direct strategies involve the new language directly and are used to develop each of the four skills.

By Evelyn

Indirect strategies provide indirect support for language learning through focusing, seeking opportunities, controlling anxiety and other means. These strategies will help students be aware of learning and they will also be able to use/apply these strategies when they are studying for a test or when they are revising. Some of the activities that students do perhaps every day are indirect strategies.. so what teachers should do is help them to recognize those strategies and explain how they can use them.

By Evelyn

We (teachers) have to be aware of these strategies so we guide and help our students. What do you think? Do you use some of these activities in your classrooom? How?

What do you think about positive feedback?

I wanted to share with you something that happened with my third graders... So, every day they had to write four lines:

Today is Friday, September 14th.

Yesterday was Thursday and tomorrow will be Saturday.

It is a cloudy and warm morning.

I feel ......

This last Friday (7th) was the last time that I copied those four sentences on the board. Why? because I had told them that from Monday (10th)  they were going to do it alone.

I was scared and nervous as there were many students who do not want to work alone as they are shy or believe that they can't do it.

I made this big poster so they can write the sentences.

The BIG MOMENT came... so on Monday I told them that they had to write the four sentences. 

Many of them immediately took their folders and started writing.. I was

Wow!!!! they can do it alone... I was soooo happy

But there were some of them who were struggling.. so for them I prepare a card with his/her name on it and with the four sentences (they only had to complete with the days of the week, the weather and how they felt)

To my surprise.. It worked perfectly. As soon as they took their card, they sad and were able to write everything. I remembered the smile of one of the boys .. I was so proud of him and I told him that :) he is confident now and he feels so much better.

You may be thinking

Well.. I was thinking that we (teachers) need to encourage and give positive feedback to our students. They need to feel that we believe in them and that we know they can do it. And even the smallest thing they do, we have to congratulate them. 

I found this video which explains how giving positive feedback is good for our students.

He mentions 4 important characteristics:

1) Specific feedback means to be precise when you tell your student what you think.

2) Actionable feedback means to emphasize what they could be done differently next time.

3) Timely feedback means that we show do it immediately and frequently.

4) Respectful feedback means to look for the good! something concrete that the student did. 

Something else.. if you give positive feedback,

• your students will be motivated, 
• they will feel more confident,
• their affective filter will be low,
• and most importantly,, they will love to participate and to take risks 

Now... after reading all this. What do you think about positive feedback?

(I would love to hear your experiences in the classroom!!) 

Hi everyone!!

We are starting a new month today and I wanted to reflect a little bit about these last two months.

I was in a roller coaster these two months.. why?

To begin with, I had to sit for a final exam in july and that was my official ticket to be a teacher of English! I was anxious, nervous, excited, tired, happy.. imagine all those feelings together...hahaha.. my brain was a roller coaster (poor my husband that he had to put out with me)

Fortunately I passed and now I can say that I am a teacher of English!!!

I don't know why but after that I felt strange.. maybe a part of me was shocked because I was actually able to finish (part) of a career that I had started many years ago. And perhaps I couldn't believe it .. don't know. What I do know is that I felt sad and didn't celebrate it or felt happy...but well... this experience made me reflect about many things and I am still thinking about them.

August came and I had to continue studying... at the beginning I felt that I wasn't going to be able to finish all the subjects. But then I thought that I could try to live, work and study little by little (eventhough It's really difficult, I'm doing my best). I'm just going step by step..

So.. I was thinking that I want to share with you..

Does it happen to you that sometimes you just want to give up or stop studying or working in certain places? Sometimes it's frustated when you feel that you are doing everything you can and you have people that tell you that it's not good enough.. or when they don't give you any compliment (specially at school) at all and they just tell you the bad things you are doing. 

So I thought about my students and I didn't want them to feel the same way that I was feeling (frustated and not happy) so I changed my point of view completely and focused ONLY on positive things.. for instance

When I enter a classroom and they are smiling,

When I enter the school and some of them come quickly and hug me,

When they feel sad and after I talked to them, they feel better,

When they enjoy routines and they can't wait to do them all,

When they feel they can do something by themselves and I celebrate it,

and many many more...

Now I have a question for you... How do you cope with negativity or frustrated situations where you work/ study? What is your point of view?

Hi everybody!! i have a question for you... have you ever wonderer how babies acquire language?

Well, there is a theory for describing their first language acquisition and it was developed by Noam Chomsky who is an 89-year-old American linguist.

He believes that children have an innate capacity to learn the rules of language. They have a LAD (Language Acquisition Device) which facilitates language development. But how do they learn? well.. there are stages which children follow until the age of 5 or 6 when they have acquire a linguistic competence. 

These are the stages that they follow: 

In this video you will see a two-year-old boy who is able to form full sentences, name animals and to ask questions to his mother. Why? because he is in a Telegraphic stage and it means that he has the ability to do all this things. 

But what happens if you want to learn a second language? Do we acquire a second language in the same way?...... nop... do you know why? because when we learn a second language there are many factors which play an important role in a second language acquisition process.

Here you have some of the factors:

 Age

 Time
 Motivation

 Culture

 Learning styles

 L1 influence

 Personality
 Context
 Teacher

As you can see there are many factors. And you may think..

Think about it and later I'll explain Second Language Acquisition theory.. stay tuned :) and enjoy your weekend 

This week I had to prepare an oral presentation about Jamaican accent with my fantastic partner!!!!! I  was amazed by Jamaican people as even though they had suffered a lot, they are always happy and thankful. They have a great philosophy of life... completely different to ours (Argentinian people) I think that something we have to stop complaining about everything and start enjoying life.

It might sound cliche but I think it's true. What do you think?

Happy day to all my students who are firefighters!!!!! I had the pleasure to have some students who were firefighters and to know that they devote their lives to it.. it something amazing!!