British and Cuban Educational Systems.

The following two weeks I was absent, both were excused.

Anyways, my friends told me that during Tuesday, August 12th class, María Teresa, Rodrigo and Evelyn prepared a debate about British Educational System, specifically they referred to its Public System which differs from our Chilean Public Education. In Britain, the kind of students who attend these schools belong to the elite. We can normally referred to these schools as private. The characteristics these Public schools have are that many of them were incorporated by public statute and they were on a fee-paying basis, which means they did not exclude children from any other part of the country.

The following week, Katherine Gonzalez, Pedro and Fabian presented about Cuban Education. The information about their educaticational systen that I know is that they have the highest rate of Literacy in Latin America. One of the reasons why Cuban education mantain these scores is related to the quality of its education. First of all the whole community committed with children, adolescents and adults education, secondly there exists a national initiative in adapting their national curriculum, they develop their instructional material locally which poses low cost but high quality, and finally great attention to teachers is provided, in terms of their professional formation.

Tuesday, August 5th

During the second part of this lesson we went to the lab and we had to research using http://www.cvil.com/ which is similar to google. We had to find different useful information about different topics such as

-Learning to learn which can be defined as "a process of discovery about learning. It involves a set of principles and skills which, if understood and used, help learners learn more effectively and so become learners for life. At its heart is the belief that learning is learnable".

Generally speaking, learning to learn refers to how to motive ourselves in order to acquire a significative learning and how to enjoy this meaningfull process of learning.

It is also important to mention that Learning to Learn is the most effective student success programme employed in the United States, which can be applied in primary and seconday schools as well as in colleges and universities. Learning to learn focuses on four main stages; the first one is related to the past experiences about learning and studying, our habits and methods; The second one comprehends the interest that we have about a certain subject; The third one considers the procces of studying; if we are able to understand the subject, and finally the methods or techniques that we apply while studying.

I consider that this four main stages are really useful and should be promote in our classrooms.

-Another term that we had to investigate was locus of control, which is divided in external and internal locus of control.

The first one refers to our individual beliefs; if we consider that our behaviour is guided by external circumstances, in other words, by fate, luck and destiny.
The second cathegory refers to our behaviour guided by our personal decisions and efforts.

-And finally we had to research the following term:

Micro-violence can be exerted towards someone perceived as weaker than ourselves, the difference that micro-violence carries in contrast with violence, is the fact that micro-violence is a subtle. For example it can be identified as answering your phone while your teacher is giving a lesson or avoiding a question to change the topic. I believe that is very important to sensitize our students and future students about this type of interaction among them.

Tuesday, July 15th

The most recent mass media attention focused on a shocking act perpetrated by María Música Sepúlveda, a fourteen years old secondary education student. She was participating in an "Encuentro participativo de Educación" which literally soaked.

María Música poured a jug of cold water on Mónica Jiménez's face, current Ministry of Education. Immediately the reactions were diverse. In one hand, many people and authorities did not support María's act and on the other hand, the student was even called as heroine. Additionally, a facebook group called "yo tambien le lanzaria un jarro de agua a Mónica Jiménez" was created to reassure her act.

The president Michelle Bachelet stressed the act as "undemocratic". On her defense, María Música declared "it was like being talking to the wall".

In my opinion, María Música was really impolite and her act represents younger generations' lack of values, which are emulated from their homes and schools.

First Debate

The first debate was in charge of Dreny, Eduardo, Nicole and Rodrigo O. They chose to develop a debate using La LOCE (Ley Orgánica Constitucional de Enseñanza) which was enacted on March the 10th, 1990. What the LOCE is? Somehow, everyone has an opinion about it and the whole controversy under Pinguinos' revolt. In a national newspaper I found the following quote which defines what the LOCE is:

"Promulgada por Pinochet un día antes de dejar el poder, la LOCE abrió la
puerta a la educación como un desregulado negocio que casi no permite fiscalizar
la calidad de la enseñanza. Algo aberrante -dicen los expertos-, cuando es el
Estado el que brinda el dinero para que escuelas o liceos funcionen, en no pocos
casos, acogiendo sólo a alumnos que les aseguren buena nota en el Simce. El
lucro con fondos públicos."

I took this quotation from La Nación, May 30th, 2006.-

If we agree or disagree with this quote or similar ones, or opposing ones was our classmates' debate. First Nicole and Dreny presented us a power point explaining the objectives of LOCE and its advantages. Then Eduardo and Rodrigo diveded the class in two groups, one was against and the other one was for LOCE. I took an even number, so I had to disagree La LOCE.

I consider that my classmates did a really good job, the debate was well prepared and almost evey student participated. They were good moderators and knew how to guide us through the topic.

(If you are interested in the complete article where the quote was taken, click the following link)

http: //www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20060529/pags/20060529210954.html

Warm Regards.

EFL debates

During this class Mr. Litman showed us a power point with quite useful hints about how to debate in a ESL (English as a Second Language) class.
In relation with all kind of debate environments, it is really important to realize about the significance of debating, and how to promote this whole set of neccesary skills which allow us to share our opinions, using respect, tolerance and solid foundations.

Now we should consider why it is important to teach how to debate in an ESL classroom. It is crucial because, as I already mention, it would allow us to share opinions, but in this case, using English would develop a critical thinking on students and it is a good way to employ language skills and to correct grammar.

Another important point that I remember from the pp, was a list of baby steps to follow in teaching to debate. These steps are the following:

1. First of all, we need to know what is an opinion, which can be defined as our feelings or thoughts about something. In this part it is also important to consider how we can express agreement or disagreement, using respect and politeness.

2. Now we can express our opinions and give reasons in a logical and convincing way.

3. Supporting ideas is our next step, this can be through explanations, examples, statistics, etc.

4. Opinions need to be organized through an affirmative speech, on the other hand, introductions and conclusions need to be drawn.

5. Refutation it is also important because is our way to prove that the other person's opinion may have a mistake or it is untrue.

As we can see, we need to follow these clear stages.

If we have a beforehand preparation and pay attention to these steps, we may have good results in teaching to debate and also in the debates we should participate.

After the class finished, Mr. Litman gave us a list of topics because we are going to prepare a 20' debate. I'm working with Diego and Felipe and we will present on the second tuesday after the winter break. We are really excited with this evaluation but unfortunately, we haven't decided our topic yet.

Blogging

At the following class we also went to the lab, Mr. Litman gave us time to work through our blogs, to update them, to correct mistakes, and to clarify any kind of doubt.

I utilized my time in correcting mistakes, because when I post an entry and then I read it again to find errors, I do not always find them. I also help out some classmates that didn't know how to customize their blogs.

It was a productive hour.

Education

During this class we worked in groups. We had to read an article published on Santiago Times, an online newspaper written in English. We had to share our opinions about this article, which at the present date, was the last action taken by secondary students in the public system.
Los “Pinguinos” are really concerned about the LGE and they are not pleased with this educational reform, in addition students are trying to prevent this law from passing in the Congress, reason why some students from El Insituto Nacional occupied their school’s building, in any case police were able to stop the occupation.
As far as we can realize and as far as we are concerned as future teachers, students’ demands are legitimate; every one deserves equal opportunities to develop skills, to learn, to choose what to study and where. Public education should be as satisfactory as Private and Charter education.
Before we discussed about this article, we went to the lab. We read an article from La Tercera, also related with education although, it was about another issue. These days’ parents are more worried about their children’ and adolescents’ performance at school, parents would like to know if they prepared their science homework, who are their friends, how they behave at school, etc. These concerns are healthy but in some other cases can take a different twist.

Now is not enough to check children via cell phone, or pick them up, now parents can control their kids by a software already very popular in the United States. This software, which has some other variations, but in essence is the same, can inform concerned parents about their kids’ grades, what’s about the next class, attendance, etc. I think this kind of software has advantages and also disadvantages; parents that have a demanding work can keep updated with all aspects that embrace their children’s education, but on the other hand, students can feel that their private life is being invaded, that their parents do not trust on them.

I really believe that this is an invasive method, would not be easier to trust, to have quality time when is possible, hear and be heard, promote responsibility from young age, and many more aspects that are directly related with students’ performance and behaviour?