First Day in Naval: SALINAR

In this picture we can see how hungry our little ones were! We had hamburgers and homemade french fries for dinner. We call it the “MacNaval”. It rained a bit but we could enjoy the evening.          

FIRST DAY IN NAVAL

We are very happy to be here again another year! We arrived at 11 o’clock and the weather was fantastic. Today, our main activity was to get to know each other.

We went to El Salinar and we had a great time! The kids couldn’t believe that they floated without any effort.

 

WESTBOURNE

Sunday, 30th June

 

We met at Ashley Road and we walked to the school, later we took the bus to the city centre and we jumped into a sighseeing bus. It was really nice, we saw all the city centre and the cliffs. After we had lunch at the beach, although it was a little windy and cold and then we visited the park and went shopping.

 

Five tips to write in English

TIP 1: Do keep in mind any writing, even a note to a friend, should have a structure, like the skeleton, and that greetings and connectors will be the bones to keep it straight.

TIP 2: See to find categories, like boxes to keep our ideas tidy. For instance, when talking about sports, you can refer to the ones you like and the ones you don´t, or the ones you usually do and those you would like to take up one day.

TIP 3: Avoid repetitions. The same word found in every sentence turns any writing into something uninteresting. People can be also called citizens, individuals, users, clients and so on.

TIP 4: Choose a specific number of ideas and do not improvise.  Writing requires a plan, and you can have it even before knowing the topic you will be enquired about.

TIP 5: Remember that less is more. Long relative sentences, very long periods, referring pronouns, and very colloquial words do not match easy writing.

CHILDREN LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE:

There is an important difference between children learning their first language and children learning a second language at school: second language children have already learned one language. So they bring with them to the  language classroom a great deal of experience of language, of life and many other natural abilities which help them to learn English.

 

 

The Good Language Learner

 

We know from research by Joan Rubin (1975) that the Good Language Learner:

1. is a willing and accurate guesser.
2. has a strong drive to communicate.
3. is often not inhibited.
4. is prepared to attend to form.
5. practises.
6. monitors his own speech and the speech of others, and
7. attends to meaning.

So what does this mean? Although this research is a bit dated and culture specific, we can still learn a few lessons from it.

 

If students do not feel the need for talking, for enquiring, for explaining… how can they learn a language to speak?

 

CHILDREN LEARNING ENGLISH

Enseñar a niños siempre es fascinante y todo un reto, es importante antes de comenzar a enseñar: observarles cómo actúan y lo que dicen, para enfocar la clase de acuerdo a su propia personalidad.

La principal preocupación del profesor no puede ser completar el programa o syllabus, lo prioritario es: motivar, divertir y entretener.