Saint John "Hogueras" Hi language partners, my target is improve my English so I'll appreciate all your comments. Thanks in advance. I'm going to write about the main traditional feast of my town, Alicante. It is know as "Hogueras de San Juan" and it is celebrated between 19th to 24th of June. All the party is focused on "Hoguera" - a huge monument made of paperboard and wood where current and controversial issues are treated from ironic and funny point of view. Each district has its one so the city is full of them, more than 350 "hogueras" sprout everywhere, with their unique aim to be burned the night of Saint John of Baptist, the 24th of June. I hope it has been interesting for you. Thanks.

Do you enjoy reading books? I usually read some books on summer holiday, perhaps because I relate reading books with free time and relaxation. It doesn't mean I read nothing the rest of year. I'm a IT teacher and usually have to read a lot of technical reports and IT news to keep up to date, so I don't have enough time or desire to read anymore after a demanding workday. I haven't predilection for a special genre, although after revising bookcase I have just realized that unconsciously I have tended to read thriller novels with some relationship with computer world. If you're a advance student of Spanish language I'll recommend you these titles: - La casa de los espiritus de Isabel Allende. - La sombra del viento de Carlos Ruiz Zafon. - El origen perdido de Matilde Asensi. What was your las book you read? Would you recommend me a English book for this summer? Thank you and have a nice day :)

Assessment Assessment is one of the most difficult task of teaching activity since it is not only about grading the learners' achievements at the end of each unit but it is a continuous measures that is developed before, during and after teaching practice. The relevance of assessment is even greater in CLIL classes because of the own features of this methodology, becoming a difficult and contentious topic for teachers. Firstly, language and content learning are integrated in the same school subject and therefore the assessment should be designed with this double focus. The key element is how to blend the language matter and content without putting in risk the subject goals. At the beginning of the course, activities like pictures, grids or matching questions could be suited for assessing content. However, learners with a high command of language shall be assessed using tools where language take a more important role, for example an oral assessment

CLIL classes Diverse researches have proved that there are profits in blending language learning and non-linguistic subject content. However, it is not just about using a language as a mean of instruction but using a new method to reach the goals in both contents and language matters. Several initiatives based on this new methodology has been grouped under the term CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). In CLIL classes, learners don't only read a text to learn language but to acquire insights into the non-linguistic subject. Besides, CLIL approach takes into account the learning skills of each learner, whereby lessons have to be designed with this triple focus. Language as a support of content and appropriate activities to the different students' needs and abilities. In addition, educational objectives are structured in a hierarchical way. Questions and activities should be link with other set of materials of higher difficulty. In this way, students will engage actively to their learning, evaluating their outcomes and progress, while teachers will take a role of guide or facilitator of the knowledge needed by the students to achieve each level. Obviously communication plays a fairly important role, so students need a safe learning environment in which they feel confident to experiment with the language. Strategies to achieve this could be for example, glossary of terms or discourse patterns. Although one of the most effective is to develop materials that arouse the interest of learners. CLIL issue can be both challenging and demanding for teachers and students, but it can be also stimulating and effective, for these reasons this strategy should be include in the repertory of every good teacher.

Plurilingualism in Valencian Community Diverse rules from Valencian Community have regulated the use of co-official language, Valenciano, at the different educational stages, setting up a bilingual model. Nevertheless, a growing demand social has led us to new model sociolinguistic, known as Plurilingualism. By other hand, the Council of Europe in its aim to manage a multilingual environment, has developed a Common Framework of Reference by which makes recommendations for teaching and learning languages. One of its most remarkable contribution is the Common Reference Levels that establish different levels of linguistic proficiency allowing the recognition of qualifications among European States. The new Plurilingualism Decree of Valencian Community collects the recommendations from Council of Europe and defines an educational organization with three instructional languages: Valenciano as the language of our territory, Spanish as the State language and English as the primary language of the globalized world. This regulation provides several benefits for each member of the educational community. For example, it improves the communicative competence of learners and allows the public recognition of their achievement through the Common European Framework Reference. Thanks to this, students will able to complete their formative develop in other countries, as it is the case of vocational training studies. In relation to schools, it provides an actual framework to organize the educational system in terms of languages, what subject will be instructed in which language. This allow schools to suit to the sociolinguistic environment in which they are located. In addition, the Common European Framework establish a guidelines to elaborate curriculum of languages contents, describing what the students have to learn and what communicative skills have to manage in each specific reference level. Lastly, the relationship with the families is improved since they have the possibility to pick out among different educational projects. In conclusion, plurilingualism is not just based on achieving a linguistic competences at the end of studies. Plurilingualism treats the language as a channel to transmit the cultural diversity, in order to integrate everyone but keeping their own identity.

Linking thinking and language - I warn you that this is a boring essay but if you have some free time, I'll appreciate your help. Thanks in advance ;) The advantages of plurilingual education are undeniable, not only for insight a new language but for the improvement in cognitive capacities of learners. Several pedagogical researchers have confirmed that pupils who speak other language different from their native one are better equipped to develop a high abstract thinking. In the last 30 years, some international and European schools has proved that integrating language learning with the content of other subjects provide better results than the language learning traditional model. This is known as Content and Language Integrated Learning, by its acronym CLIL. On the other hand, the education is not just learning knowledge. A new educational model has arose and it involves the feelings, needs and abilities of the learners. In this context, Bloom's taxonomy divides learning in a hierarchy of six thinking skills. The lower levels are related to remembering, understanding and applying. They are the scaffold of the other higher skills that allow to reach upper levels of knowledge such as analysing, evaluating and creating. The Bloom's hierarchy allows teachers to distribute the contents and procedures of the concrete subject in each flat. Moreover, there is a natural link between the each level with the language that it is required. The language of lower skills will be focused mainly on keywords, terms, definitions and basic descriptions. Whereas the top skills demand actions such as experimenting, judging or designing. In these levels students will need to use language structures more complex, closer to spontaneous language. To sum up, integrating linguistic with content learning improve the results of learners, and Bloom's taxonomy is a useful and meaningful context for language and content learning. This strategy has been applied widely in some Europe schools, especially in order to provide inclusive settings.

Geocaching Last week I was checking different webpages to organize a hiking around a reservoir, not far from my home, when I spotted a strange word that I’d never seen before “Geochaching”. Perhaps I was stupid not to know it. I googled it and thousands of links sprang out. I found out the international website that manages all caches across the world, with uncountable users registered, online shops with gadgets, events, forums. It looks a thriving activity! Basically, Geocaching is based on discovering caches that other people have hidden before. They are not visible to the naked eye, but you can find the GPS coordinates and some clues and tips on the Geocaching website. Each cache contains an item that you can change by other and a notebook to sign. Moreover, you have to register your finds on the website, adding some photos and comments for other geocachers. This's not a simple treasure hunt game for kids. The places where are hidden are relevant for their owners by its history, sights or personal experience, so the cache hunters could discover new amazing locations, even close of your households. I'll test it this weekend. I have just met up with other families and all together will work flat out to find eight caches near a reservoir. For more information visit geocaching.com Thanks for your comments. Bye.

How to boost my English Hi iTalki partners, In my last entry I thought over my English level and why I don't speak it fluently if I'm learning it since I was a child. I reckon the method of some schools, academies and private teachers were not fitted for being trusting in English, at least in my case. That is why I've decided to define my own path. If I want to be more confident I must prioritize practical skills over theoretic studies of grammar or vocabulary. I know they are quite necessary but if they aren't linked with practical experiences, I'll probably end up forgetting everything. On the other hand I have my shelves plenty of English textbooks and I don't feel like to return to them, they are really boring, so I've turned to resources that are on the Internet. Basically my routine is based on: - Everyday I spot the headlines from BBC web and if some report seem me interesting I read it completely. - I profit the time taking to get to workplace to listen Cambridge or BBC podcast. - I record in Ankiapp the new vocabulary and expressions that I find out. It’s a flashcard application, quite useful indeed. - Write a notebook entries like this, one per week. - A non-formal English class with a native teacher. He resolves the doubts that have come out during the week and also we talk about non pre-stablished topics. This is the moment when I'm aware of I have no idea of English. Well this is the way I struggle with English language. Probably it's not the best one but it suits me. Thanks in advance for all you comments.

How I'm trying to boost my English (part 1) First of all, thanks in advance for your help. This is my first notebook entry and I'm a bit concerned about the result. Obviously, my target is improve my writing skill, so I'll be grateful all your comments. In return for it, I'll review the Spanish entries from my correctors. I think it's a good idea write down about my experience learning English. I'm Spanish and it could be said that I have been studying English all my life, from teenage to now, and I'm in my forties so I would have to be an expert but I'm not. Perhaps at the beginning I didn't have any special interest but in the last years English has turned into my personal challenge. I studied in private schools, did courses, passed Cambridge exams, but I didn't progress as I expected. I don't feel confident with English. Thus I have set up my own way to learn English based on prioritising the practical skills such as speaking, reading, writing and speaking over grammatical issues. Afterwards, I had to define how to do this, but I think it will be next entry. Thanks for your time and reviews.