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Thursday, December 19, 2013

What is really important in Education



What is really important in Education

The objective of education is learning, not teaching. Therefore I am going to talk about active teaching.
For me - teaching online is using technology in the classroom; as an additional method of traditional teaching.
I am for blended learning which means - taking advantage of both, traditional f2f techniques and possibilities given by new technologies.
Some say that: participants in online classes seem to be more involved and engaged in lesson activities than students in traditional classes.
In my opinion, we are able to activate our learners equally in both situations.
Getting decent communication in different educational settings requires altered teaching approaches.
This enables us to change them from passive learners to active students.
But how to help them learn actively and meaningfully, it is a separate issue.
Active learning involves providing opportunities for students to talk and listen meaningfully, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject.
(Meyers & Jones, 1993, p. 6)
Confucius’s aphorism:
I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.
(Page 75 Instruction at FSU Handbook 2011)
Should not be forgotten. By doing and practicing, we build our long term memory library.
Short term recollection is formed mostly by memorizing, which is, unfortunately, assessed in the majority of schools.
My experience tells that I ought to practice active learning principles to progress activities for my students that best mirror my particular communication style and the topics, forms of thinking, and strategies to the problems which are needed to understand and relate to the topics.
This is how I work on creating my “active learners”.
Looking for answers to the most common questions: what, when, where, who, why, why don't, how etc. is always the starting point.
As a result of our discussion - we are able to put together part of incompetent content knowledgeable student with fully involved learner and self-motivated thinker.
Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Taking part in free study lessons and online Speaking Groups, will help a lot. This would also increase our confidence in speaking, as well as improve vocabulary and pronunciation. Additional excellent setting to practice is   Virtual Classroom such as WizIQ, where teachers would encourage us to work on all language skills.
Standards for Foreign Language Learning
Communication
Communicate in Languages Other Than English
Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a
variety of topics.
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of
listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

In my view, the most important skill to master is speaking the language. This is difficult assignment especially if you don’t live or work in a native speaking count. We can look for reliable supports to talk to via Skype. It is essential to find someone whom we’re comfortable speaking with.
The process of natural assimilation, involving intuition and subconscious learning. It is the product of real interactions between people in environments of the target language and culture, where the learner is an active player. It is similar to the way children learn their native tongue, a process that produces functional skill in the spoken language without theoretical knowledge. It develops familiarity with the phonetic characteristics of the language as well as its structure and vocabulary, and is responsible for oral understanding, the capability for creative communication and the identification of cultural values.
A classic example of second language acquisition is the adolescents and young adults that live abroad for a year in an exchange program, often attaining near native fluency, while knowing little about the language. They have a good pronunciation without a notion of phonology, don't know what the perfect tense is, modal or phrasal verbs are, but they intuitively recognize and know how to use all the structures.
The traditional approach to the study of languages and today is still generally practiced in high schools worldwide. Attention is focused on the language in its written form, and the objective is for the student to understand the structure and rules of the language, whose parts are dissected and analyzed. The task requires intellectual effort and deductive reasoning. The body is of greater importance than communication. Teaching and learning are technical and based on the syllabus. One studies the theory in the absence of the practice. One values the correct and represses the incorrect. Error correction is constant leaving little room for spontaneity. The teacher is an authority figure and the participation of the student is predominantly passive. Schools will teach how to form interrogative and negative sentences, force to memorize irregular verbs, study modal verbs, etc., Therefore, students hardly ever masters the use of these structures in conversation.
The efficient teaching of languages isn't that tied to a packaged course of structured lessons based on grammatical sequencing, translation or oral drilling, nor is the one that relies on technological resources. Well-organized teaching is personalized, takes place in a bicultural environment and is based on the personal skills of the facilitator in building relationships and creating situations of real communication with comprehensible input focusing on the learner's interests.
Krashen, Stephen D.  Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.  Prentice-Hall International, 1987.
Krashen, Stephen D.  Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning.  Prentice-Hall International, 1988.


My Teaching




When I teach Polish, my foreigners and I have to speak only Polish, and my English classes are run only in English.
This means they are required to forget about native language and start speaking as well as thinking in a foreign language.
Telling the truth, my method is extraordinarily revitalizing, challenging and exhausting for all of us. There is a lot of non-verbal communication, singing, acting, drawing, even dancing sometimes.
There is no space and time for analyzing grammar rules or memorizing isolated vocabulary. Nobody thinks about why we communicate the way we express our thoughts.
When a student does ask why? , my only response is because they (natives) say so, or they just talk like this.
My students learn the language in different contexts, mostly singing phrases, expressions, collocation, idioms, and phrasal verbs also telling stories. Moreover, I encourage them to talk to everybody even to themselves in a foreign language. As a result of this, they are able to identify a collection of compelling stories.
I correct only limited mistakes.  I do not want them to stop talking. I also encourage my students to listen to songs, watch movies with subtitles in a language they learn, read a lot and so forth.
Moreover, I use a lot of You Tube videos to improve student’s pronunciation, as well as, movies with English subtitles and of course songs.
I work in a huge Department of Foreign Languages and my colleagues know who is running a class because we make a lot of noise and we are happy together, enjoying our learning.


My ideas about learning/ teaching languages.



This is why I am for teaching/learning speaking skills.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

OJ,MALUŚKI,MALUŚKI- Golec uOrkiestra

Pójdzmy wszyscy do stajenki- Golec uOrkiestra DVD (+playlist)

Do you like it?

GOLEC uORKIESTRA DVD -KONCERT KOLĘD I PASTORAŁEK,WŚRÓD NOCNEJ CISZY

Golec uOrkiestra is a unique phenomenon in the Polish music scene. The team was founded in 1998, Paul and Luke Golcowie . Janusz Brome - an outstanding pianist , arranger and composer once said of them: "Highlanders twenty-first century." Why ? Because of the great mastery can be combined various musical trends . In their songs you can hear the sound of Zywiec Folk among whom grew up , but their beloved jazz, pop and rock'n'roll . Its driving force proved to be expressive, full of humor distanced songs , like binoculars , UFOs and extremely energetic Crazy is we live today warming many fans at every concert .

Friday, December 13, 2013

Polish Christmas Traditions


Polish customs, especially at Christmas time, are both beautiful and meaningful.  

 
The preparations for Christmas begin many days before the actual celebration. Nearly everywhere women are cleaning windows in apartments and houses just before Christmas. The insides of the houses are also cleaned thoroughly. It is believed that if a house is dirty on Christmas Eve, it will remain dirty all next year.

Weather-forecasting is quite popular during Christmas. Everything that happens on Christmas, including  the weather, has an impact on the following year. The weather on Easter and throughout the next year supposedly depends upon the weather on Christmas (snow, rain etc). Only a white Christmas is considered a real Christmas; therefore, everybody is happy when there is fresh snow outside.

Some ceremonies take place before the Christmas Eve supper. Among farmers, a popular ritual is the blessing of the fields with holy water and the placing of crosses made from straw into the four corners. It is also believed that animals can speak with a human voice.

Straw is put under white tablecloth. Some maidens predict their future from the straw. After supper, they pull out blades of straw from beneath the tablecloth. A green one foretells marriage; a withered one signifies waiting; a yellow one predicts spinsterhood; and a very short one foreshadows an early grave.

Poles are famous for their hospitality, especially during Christmas. In Poland, an additional seat is kept for somebody unknown at the supper table. No one should be left alone at Christmas, so strangers are welcomed to the Christmas supper. This is to remind us that Mary and Joseph were also looking for shelter. In Poland, several homeless people were interviewed after Christmas. Some of them were invited to strangers' houses for Christmas; others that were not asked inside the homes but were given lots of food.
 
It is still strongly believed that whatever occurs on Wigilia (Christmas Eve) has an impact on the coming  year. So, if an argument should arise, a quarrelsome and troublesome year will follow. In the morning, if the first visiting person is a man, it means good luck; if the visitor is a woman, one might expect misfortune. Everyone, however, is glad when a mailman comes by, for this signifies money and success in the future. To assure good luck and to keep evil outside, a branch of mistletoe is hung above the front door. Finally, old grudges should end. If, for some reason, you do not speak with your neighbor, now is the time to forget old ill feelings and to exchange good wishes.
                  
Traditionally, the Christmas tree is decorated on the Wigilia day - quite an event for children. The custom of having a Christmas tree was first introduced in Alsace (today a region of eastern France) at the end of the 15th century. Three centuries later, it was common around the world. Early on, the tree was decorated with apples to commemorate the forbidden fruit - the apple of paradise (the garden of Eden). Today, the Christmas tree is adorned with apples, oranges, candies and small chocolates wrapped in colorful paper, nuts wrapped in aluminum foil, hand-blown glass ornaments, candles or lights, thin strips of clear paper (angel's hair), and home-made paper chains. The latter, however, has become rarer because commercially produced aluminum foil chains are being sold.                 
 
Christmas and Santa Claus Day are not celebrated at the same time in Poland, but rather three weeks apart. Santa Claus (called Mikolaj) Day is celebrated on December 6th, the name day of St. Nicholas. This is when St. Nicholas visits some children in person or secretly during the night.

            
Christmas Day, called the first holiday by the Poles, is spent with the family at home. No visiting, cleaning, nor cooking are allowed on that day; only previously cooked food is heated. This is a day of enjoyment, for Jesus was born. On Christmas Day, people start to observe the weather very closely. It is believed that each day foretells the weather for a certain month of the following year. Christmas Day predicts January's weather, St. Stephen's Day impacts February's, etc.
 
St. Stephen's Day is known as the second holiday. This is a day for visiting and exchanging Christmas greetings. When night begins to fall, you can hear stamping and jingling, followed by Christmas carol singing outside. Carolers begin their wandering from home to home. Herody, a popular form of caroling, is a live performance usually played by twelve young boys. Dressed in special costumes, they include King Herod, a field marshal, a knight, a soldier, an angel, a devil, death, a Jew, Mary, shepherds, and sometimes the Three Kings and an accordionist. They sing pastoral songs and carols, and when let into a house, perform scenes from King Herod's life. Oration and songs vary and depend upon to whom they are being addressed: the owner of the house, a young woman about to be married, a widow, etc. At the conclusion, the performers  are offered refreshments and some money. Also popular is caroling with a crib (szopka) and with a star. Usually, those are items are carried by three caroling teenagers. They, too, are given some money.

The Breaking of the Oplatek
One of the most beautiful and most revered Polish customs is the breaking of the
oplatek. The use of the Christmas wafer (oplatek) is not only by native Poles in Poland but also by people of Polish ancestry all over the world.
The oplatek is a thin wafer made of flour and water. For table use, it is white. In Poland, colored wafers are used to make Christmas tree decorations. In the past, the wafers were baked by organists or by religious and were distributed from house to house in the parish during Advent. Today, they are produced commercially and are sold in religious stores and houses. Sometimes an oplatek is sent in a greeting card to loved ones away from home.
 
On Christmas Eve, the whole family gathers and waits impatiently for the appearance of the first star. With its first gleam, they all approach a table covered with hay and a snow-white tablecloth. A vacant chair and a place setting are reserved for an unexpected guest, always provided for in hospitable Polish homes.
The father or eldest member of the family reaches for the wafer, breaks it in half and gives one half to the mother. Then, each of them breaks a small part from each other's piece. They wish one another a long life, good health, joy and happiness, not only for the holiday season, but also for the new year and for many years to come. This ceremony is repeated between the parents and their children as well as among the children; then, the wafer and good wishes are exchanged with all those present, including relatives and even strangers. When this activity is over, they all sit down and enjoy a tasty though meatless supper, after which they sing koledy (Christmas carols and pastorals) until time for midnight Mass, also know as Pasterka ("the Mass of the Shepherds").