Last but not least... our cultural gift!

The last lesson with Anna, we shared with her a bit of our own culture as Argentines: we made a Power Point Presentation which consisted of pictures each of us included regarding varied aspects of our country. Some of us decided to include food, for instance; others, well-known people, such as writers, singers, football players, etc; some others, awesome places you can't miss when visiting Argentina. All in all, I think we can say we are really proud of being Argentines, regardless of the many comments made about us. And I believe Anna got a good impression and felt comfortable going about intercultural activities and sharing time with us. We certainly did! :)

Boarding Schools

Anna prepared a Power Point Presentation for us to see what boarding schools are like in her country. Through the pictures we learnt they are like huge castles... they are amazing! She told us she lives in one and explained to us how they work, the kind of activities students do there (which are millions!), what their relationship with their parents is like, and what it meant for them to study in that type of schools, among other things.
What really caught our attention was the fact that boys and girls in England leave their home and family to attend school, since they not only study but also live in there. It was shocking for us given that here in Argentina we tend to be much more attached to our parents and friends. No doubt we would find it harder!
Anna also shared with us her own experience in her school years and that helped us get to know her a little bit more. We learnt a lot about education in England and had a great time listening to her anecdotes while going through the presentation with her.

GB captured in photos

Analía shared with us the pictures she took during her stay in England and together with Anna, they explained to us what those pictures meant. By listening to them, we could imagine what those places looked like. It was as if we were travelling there for a while. Through the photos we could also notice how different the landscapes are in Scotland, North of England and South of England. Besides we learnt not only vocabulary related to specific things that appeared on the pictures, but also cultural aspects of Great Britain, many of which we don't find in geography or history books. It was a creative activity and very enjoyable, too!

Are you a switcher?

The aim of this poster is to encourage teachers of English to reflect on one specific aspect of their experience in the classroom, namely, code-switching, which refers to the use of the mother tongue when teaching a foreign language. In order to do so, we will provide figures obtained through a survey on the frequency with which, and the reasons why, teachers of English speak to their students in Spanish.


(Abstract corresponding to a poster made in group for EDAPI's presentation at JVG)


Self-Corrections & After-Writing Reflections

My biodata

Paula M. Poymulle is a third-year student at Instituto Superior del Profesorado Joaquín V. González. She has been a first-grade teacher of English at a private primary school for two years. Her main interests are Phonology and Grammar.


After-writing reflections

Writing is a journey into the unknown

I don't think I can point out the exact day I first wrote a composition in English, but it must have been in my late years of primary school. I remember I quite enjoyed writing at that time, and I still found it appealing during my secondary school years. I used to take pleasure in writing in Spanish as well, though I was not very good at it.

It was when I entered the Teacher Training College in 2007 and attended Language I that I realized facing a writing task had mutated from a pleasant experience into an awfully dreadful one. I encountered difficulties as regards paragraph organisation, punctuation, vocabulary... Many aspects required polishing. Anyway, what I found the hardest was the first step: building the plot of the story. That could take me hours! Therefore, in-class compositions meant hell to me. However, I somehow managed to pass all the writing tasks and the final exam; I believe it was because I did improve throughout the year.

Language II was my next challenge. With the passing of time, I was able to generate interesting ideas more quickly and achieve satisfying results, so I did not suffer from "writing phobia" this time. Anyway, writing in class was still one of my weak points -maybe the weakest. So, although I passed all my compositions with quite good marks, I decided not to sit for the final exam in December and kept on postponing it for a whole year, when I finally passed it.

This year so far I've been through a totally new approach in Language III, that is, process writing: it involves peer- and tutor-feedback instances before handing in a piece of writing to the teacher. It sort of lowers my "writing apprehension", that is, the pressure and the sense of insecurity I usually experience when writing. Besides, readers' comments on your work largely contribute to enriching it. I hope this year's system of writing will boost my confidence and, little by little, lead me towards becoming a more independent writer. A writer who will be able to become aware of the readers' possible expectations and struggle to do the best to fulfil them.


Self-corrections & after-writing reflections