Secondary School Teachers from Baja California Sur Share Their Experiences in a Crash Course on "The ABCs of ELT".

Fifty-five secondary school teachers from all over Baja California Sur gathered together at the SEP office in La Paz for a 35 hour workshop on "The ABCs of ELT: The Basic Skills of English Teaching" and the new educational reform, from January 15th-19th, 2007.
The participants discussed and demonstrated the following: Cooperative Learning and Task-based learning, How to Lesson Plan and Write Specific Objectives, Techniques in Classroom Management, Techniques for Developing Fluency: Role play and Educational “Games”, Using Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Collaborative Reflective Teaching. According to the workshop evaluations, the favorite topics and activities were the Cooperative Learning/ Interactive Activities and Role play and the least favorite topic was “Rubrics” (possibly because of the black out!).The participants would like to have more workshops on educational games, role play and fluency activities. One suggestion for the presenter was "Get a bell!"
Highlights of the week were: when the teachers shared their interesting (and sometimes frightening!) classroom management stories and tips, the "Pizzeria" role play, the very imaginative (and gruesome)collaborative picture stories, and the inspiring support for each other demonstrated during the discussion of reflective teaching and peer observation.

Recognition should go to Maestro Raul Villafan who, with unfailing energy and humor, organized the workshop and added to our classroom management discussion the excellent,"Old-West style, gun-slinging cell phone" technique. The workshop closed with a ceremony that included comments by the Secretary of Education, certificates and gifts for participants and facilitators alike.
You guys are proof that collaborative learning works with large groups! Don't give up!

Trainers and Trainees work together on the ABCs of ELT at the Escuela Normal Superior de BCS in La Paz

Twenty one teachers, trainees and trainers participated in a workshop from January 8th to 12th, 2007 at the Escuela Normal Superior de Baja California Sur entitled "The ABCs of ELT: The Basic Skills of English Teaching". Participants learned about writing clear lesson plans that demonstrate specific measurable objectives, tried out routines and techniques for implementing controlled, communicative classes in a motivating, collaborative atmosphere and learned how to assess their students in a valid and formative manner using rubrics. Finally, they set personal goals and collaboratively made plans for their own professional development.
The benefits of working collaboratively were amply displayed by this group of very mixed abilities which developed into a family by Friday. According to the comments on the workshop evaluation, the favorite activities were the fluency games and collaborative activities, as well as the Classroom Management problem-solution discussion. The least favorite part was having to quickly finish the discussions. Topics that the participants are interested in learning more about are: Learning Strategies, Classroom Management and Assessment and more educational games.

Other highlights of the week were: the caring way the experienced teachers (you know who you are) helped the trainees, Luis as the dove in the interactive "Zoo are you?" activity, the hilarious answers to "Why have you got a monkey in your bag?" and the Academy Award winning problem-solution role plays.
The workshop ended with a closing ceremony in which the participants and the facilitator received certificates from the director of the Escuela Normal. Thanks go to Maestra Alma for organizing this workshop at short notice. The positive energy of this group can be summed up by the following comments from participants: “I liked very much the way you made us mingle. It was an exciting experience” and “I like the nice environment you and the colleagues create. Now I’m motivated again to go back to school and work harder and become a better teacher”.

Good luck to all of you!