November 29th

Today we had a simple, yet interesting, peer teaching. One of our classmates asked us to sit in a circle and just talk. The idea was to share with the class the little things that  make us happy so that we didn't forget about them in these stressful times. Basically we are all in the last weeks of this semester and, as usual, it is a ridiculously stressful and exhausting period for everyone. I learned interesting things about my classmates (which is always valuable when you're not very good meeting new people), for instance, many of us enjoy being barefooted, some enjoy laying on the grass, others being with their pets, watching sunsets, looking at the clouds, and so many other things. Something that I personally enjoy a lot is starting seeds because I love the contact with the soil, the water and the sunlight.

image from this awesome article about conversation circles

 The activity was brilliant because we don't really have many instances to share this kind of things on a regular basis, besides, it was quite relaxing for everyone according to what I noticed.

Now, some of the potential uses of this activity in the EFL classroom could be:

- Teaching likes and dislikes. In fact, it could be done in smaller groups so that everyone gets their chance to participate, and so that the activity doesn't last for too long.

- For younger students (or older students who like drawing), we could ask them to draw what makes them happy and then explain it either in front of the class or to a partner (depends on time constrains and on group dynamics)

- If we ask them to draw or write a description first, then we could do the typical activity find someone who..., in which they would have to find someone who likes something similar to what they like, someone who wrote/drew something they don't like at all, someone who wrote/drew something completely different from the rest, etc.

I think it is a nice activity that can be done at the beginning of a course, so that students get to meet one another, or at the end of a course, when everyone is stressed, in order to help them calm down a little like in our case. 

Mindfulness in the EFL classroom

As you may have already noticed from the title, the topic for this post is Mindfulness.
But what is mindfulness? I'm sure that many people nowadays are familiar with the concept or at least have heard about it. I'm very grateful that I had a course here in college in which we read several articles about it, and also another course in which we practised mindfulness and meditation frequently.  In those courses I learned that meditation is basically focusing on the present moment, turning off our auto-pilot, and perceiving the world less judgmentally.
The benefits of it are many but the most evident is that through mindfulness we can become less stressed. For that reason I thought it would be nice to find activities that promote mindfulness but that at the same time are useful in the EFL classroom in relation to language use.
So first of all, I found an amazing website called Mindful Teachers that has several resources we can use. Even though it is not specifically directed towards EFL teachers, we can certainly adapt some of the activities to suit our classrooms.
One of the activities that I really liked is called Human Camera, a non-competitive game that consists in one student guiding another (whose eyes are closed) and telling him/her to open his eyes at a specific moment and take a mental picture, this is done three times and then the students switch roles.
When I first read the instructions, the activity didn't strike me as particularly useful in terms of language use, but then I remembered the typical activity we do with beginners: describe this picture.
Sometimes in pairs, sometimes individually, sometimes orally, sometimes written, the activity is used a lot to practice vocabulary and simple grammatical structures (i.e. there is a pencil; I see a house; etc), but maybe it could be more meaningful if we combined the Human Camera game to have students describe the mental pictures they took.
What I like the most of this idea is that it is quite flexible; it can be used inside the classroom, in a playground, in a park, or potentially anywhere. Also, it is an activity that can have interesting follow-ups, for instance you can ask students to write stories based on one of their mental pictures, to draw each other's mental pictures while one of them describes it, to guess who draw which picture, etc.
I know it is a short activity,definitely not for a whole lesson, but I'd like to use it when I get to teach beginners because I would have them moving around (which they tend to need), doing an activity that is very game-like, doing something collaboratively instead of competitively, and paying attention to the world around them.
 

November 8th

Today's lesson was especially interesting and fun because we had more peer teachings than usual. However, I think I'd better focus on one or two things only, otherwise this post will grow too much.
To begin with, we had a singing activity that was--I'm not gonna lie--pretty awkward at first, because most of us aren't used to singing in the classroom.

And this is the song!

I know it is for little children but I also know that a class of 20-odd year olds enjoyed singing row row row your boat together. 

So basically, we were explained that singing helps you relax and fight stress. Besides, I'd say that since you're forced to be more aware of your breathing while you're singing, it should help with oxygenation. In that sense, it is super useful for us as (pre-service) teachers because we make our lungs work and become stronger while at the same time we practice voice projection.

Another thing that someone mentioned in the lesson (or maybe I read it somewhere, I don't quite remember) is that singing in groups helps with the group dynamics, so perhaps it would be nice to do something like this with my future students in order to build a stronger sense of community.

Now, the second activity that I'd like to mention was a peer teaching. One of our classmates guided these Qigong movements and told us that he had successfully done it with his high-school students during intermediate practicum.

This is something that I was already considering when we had this lesson; I was looking for something like this to use at the beginning of some of my lessons during final practicum because I know that students sometimes need to move a little, to breathe better, and to have routines. For those reasons I'd like to implement something like this every other lesson when I'm teaching. 

And my classmate kindly shared the video with me afterwards so if you're reading this, thank you Juan Pablo!!

What I like about both activities is that they provide useful instances for both teachers and students to become healthier, so it is a win win situation, isn't it? And sure, maybe the students are going to look at me like I'm nuts when I start with the Qigong but maybe they will like it and find it useful in the end, and that's what really matters.