Latin American Fellows Unite in Costa Rica

Beautiful Costa Rican flora

In January 2008, Latin American English Language Fellows, Regional English Language Officers (Kay Davis in Mexico City and Kitty Johnson in Lima Peru), their assistants Jose Manuel Villafuerte and Marcela Raffo and Fellow program administrators Catherine Williamson and Christa Hansen got together for the midyear conference at the Apartotel Cristina in San Jose, Costa Rica. The thirteen fellows each presented on some aspect of their fellowship for 45 minutes. According to the conference evaluation, fellows unanimously found this midyear conference very helpful. The responses to the question "What impact, if any, do you think this conference will have on the rest of your fellowship?" are as follows:
1. Nice to see everyone again and hear what they are up to.
2. Collecting project descriptions and resources for future ELFs.
3. I feel that I can use much of what I gained here in the next five months. I feel that I am doing and will do a good job for the remainder of my time.
4. I will network more with the Western hemisphere and communicate more with them to see if they have resources I need.
5. It makes me feel part of a community - and reminded me of what a great resource this community is for me. This conference has motivated me and given me access to resources for my projects. Definitely think they're an very important part of the fellowship that should be included every year!
6. I have a number of solutions to emotional/psychological problems that will really help!
7. Thanks to time spent with other fellows I have a better sense of where I'm at or rather how my personal expectations of my work fit into realistic expectations. Better balance.
8. Unsure, but I may be more assertive in relations with host.
9. Right now, I feel very motivated and far more prepared to be successful,. I also feel better about the problems I've faced. This has made all the difference in the world.
10. -Helps me with directions and focus. -Inspiration to create better balance
11. A greater sense of positive energy, more acceptance, of things I can't change.
12. A great influence. Showed me what I should be/could be doing! Gave me strength and renewed energy to reapproach my project!
The favorite of the fellow presentations was Wendy Senft's "What about your social life?" which addressed the personal side of the fellow experience, although, overall, people found hearing about each other's professional experiences interesting too.

The fellows agreed that the midyear conference should be part of the fellow experience every year.

In addition to the fellows conference, the Latin American fellows also presented at the local National Conference for Teachers of English "Empowering Tomorrow's Leaders" at the Centro Cultural Costarricense from Jan. 23-25th. To view the array of interesting presentations at the conference click here for the program . One of my favorite speakers was featured Beninese storyteller and educator Raouf Mama.

Fellows (from left to right):

Brigitte Miller, Michele Gordon, Erin Lowry, Tara Zahler and Allyson Kellum

It was a real pleasure catching up with you!

Chihuahua teachers share resources, knowledge and good cheer!

In December 2007, from the 10th-14th, twenty-six high school teachers participated in a 30-hour workshop, organized by Betty Ramirez and Ramiro Bojorquez from the SEC, at Maestros Mexicanos high school, Chihuahua. The workshop was intended as both a follow up to last year's workshop with some of the same teachers and an opportunity for other teachers to experience an in-service teacher training. The group consisted of diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds but none-the-less managed to work well together. There was a wide range of topics including: Classroom management, Lesson planning, Bloom's Taxonomy (we used it to help write objectives and then design tasks), Integrating Skills with Cooperative Learning, Authentic Tasks and Materials for Integrating Skills, Fun Web Tasks where participants created their own blogs (please see our blog to view pictures and participants' blog addresses) , Rubrics and Performance Assessment.

According to the workshop evaluation the group found the topics very interesting and most people also really liked the activities. The evaluation results also indicate that the topics which participants will use in their classes are mainly "Assessment" and "Lesson Planning".

The participants' favorite parts of the workshop were: "Internet and blogs", "interacting with other teachers" and "lesson planning". The participants would like to learn more about "Motivation" and "Internet links".

Please let me know how this workshop has affected your teaching by filling out my Workshop Follow Up survey. Thanks so much!!
In addition to writing specific objectives participants devised some really creative christmas "picture stories". Other memorable moments were: Martin's wonderful "Jeopardy" demo, Paty's demonstration of the state of the art computer lab we were using and Toni singing at our end-of--workshop posada.

Martin setting up "Jeopardy". Watch out Alex Trebeck!


Paty showing us "Tell Me More" software.


Toni singing.

It was a nice opportunity to meet some enthusiastic new teachers and catch up with some friendly faces from last year.

Some familiar faces...

Who says teachers can't have a good time? Happy Holidays Y'All!

Best of luck in 2008!

Durango CBTIS "Gets Real" with Authentic Tasks

Thirty-four English teachers from the CBTIS 130 in Durango participated in a 30-hour workshop on: Multiple Intelligences, Differentiating Instruction, Authentic Tasks for Authentic Communication, Fun Web Tasks, Authentic Film for the EFL Classroom and Motivating Teachers and Learners. On the last day all the participants made their own blogs which, whose links you can view here. The workshop was coordinated by the amazingly energetic duo of Ricardo Hagen and Guille Gonzalez.

The diverse expertise of the participants, ranging from medical doctors and food scientists to psychologists and engineers, definitely enriched our discussions. According to the workshop evaluations the majority of the participants found "Authentic Materials" and "Multiple Intelligences" to be the most useful topics. However, "Internet Tasks", "Blogs", and "Authentic Film" were their favorites topics. The greatest challenge was "task-based learning". Topics they would like to learn more about are: "Authentic Tasks", "Motivation" and "Working with large groups".

Please let me know how the workshop has affected your teaching by filling out my Workshop Follow Up Survey by clicking here. Thanks for your hospitality and enthusiasm!

After an intense week of making role plays, watching authentic films, creating blogs and devising tasks, Anabella, Alicia and I went for a picnic in relaxing Nombre de Dios to eat Durango's delicious gorditas ... mmmm.