Day 4

The first part of the day was devoted to expanding our vocabulary and developing personal language skills. Then we also studied collocations and word partnerships. In the afternoon Geraldine introduced us to some new interesting ways of using images in the EL classroom. 

Day 3

Wednesday was devoted to writing, giving feedback and error correction. We did a lot of writing in teams and individually. In the afternoon we visited Oxford Spires Secondary School. The headmistress made a welcoming speech and answered our question. We got to meet some of the teachers and students there. Also, we saw some of their permanent exhibitions (art and projects). 

Day 2

The hotel I'm staying at is about 40 minutes walking distance from the Lake School of English, so I decided to take a walk to school and back every day. It wakes me up in the morning and gives me enough energy to last the day. The area I live in is absolutely beautiful. Every house looks like a small church and is unique in its own way. I love waking to school :) 

The first part of the second day was devoted to developing personal language skills, which I found very useful. In the afternoon we had a guided historical walking tour of Oxford.

Day 1

Day 1 was very exciting! We spent some time getting to know each other and our teacher. Our group consists of 14 people. Most of the students are from Poland and surprisingly from the same school. The others are from Germany, France, Spain and Finland. Our teacher, Geraldine, is British of course.  All of the teachers are. Geraldine is absolutely amazing! In my opinion she is perfect for the job - friendly, outgoing, approachable. We discussed classrooms challenges that day and worked on improving motivation. Also went through different effective learning styles and concentrated on mixed ability classes. The afternoon was devoted to phrasal verbs :) 

Creative teaching in Oxford! My expectations :)

So, what are my expectations from the two  weeks course that I've chosen?

I'm expecting to meet new people with similar interests. I hope that we'll have a great time sharing our ideas and learning from each other. Also, I wish for a very pleasant and friendly working environment. I don't want to feel nervous or uncomfortable at any point. I want to learn how to make my lessons even more productive and fun at the same time. I'm sure that it's going to be an amazing experience for me! :)

Porto. Promoting STEM

Наша группа состояла всего из 7 человек: учитель английского и учитель информатики из Литвы (Шауляй), учитель математики из Латвии (Лиепая, город, где рождается ветер), два учителя из Дании (Оденсе, третий по величине город Дании и родина Ганса Христиана Андерсена), преподаватель с Украины (Киев) и я из Эстонии (Таллин). Преподавательница - Элоиза из Сан-Паулу (Бразилия), но уже как второй год она живёт в Порту. Вот такая вот разношёрстая публика получилась.
Так как пятеро из нас знали русский, хотя только для меня он был родным, то между собой мы часто общались по-русски. В остальное время на английском. Мне было очень комфортно, так как в городе если кто и не знал английского (что случалось редко), то выручало моё пусть и слабое, но знание испанского.

О самих курсах ниже

Arrived at Porto

Preparing for the first day.