Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 35

STORIES FOR INDIA
Marga Herrero, IES Pedro Cerrada Utebo, Zaragoza, Spain
Abstract: My name is Marga Herrero. I am very enthusiastic about English and I have been
teaching EFL at Secondary Education for 30 years now at IES Pedro Cerrada in Utebo, Zaragoza,
Spain. Moreover, I am currently teaching at the University of Zaragoza too. I teach English to the
future Primary and Infant teachers at the Faculty of Education. In this essay, I want to show you an
interesting Project carried out in our Faculty of Education, which is not just a simple Project for the
EFL classroom trying to integrate all kinds of innovative methods, but a bigger task which implies
solidarity and help in our society together with the internationalization of education, nowadays.
Key words: EFL teaching, Project-based methodology, CLIL, problem-solving.
Firstly, I must say that the EFL teaching-learning process has changed a lot in the
last decade, mainly due to the use of the new technologies, so that the students
have a quick and easy access to any kind of information on the run. Therefore, we
have to integrate ICTs as part of the curriculum in all subjects. And, of course the
methodological trend changes from year to year.
Nowadays we try to promote CLIL (Content and Language integrating learning)
with cooperative work, in order to develop the basic competences of our students.
In the first levels, they are using the ‘hands-on-leaning’ methodology for the
students to learn by experimenting themselves, that is tos ay, learning by doing,
problem-solving activities, project work, or even more innovative methods like the
‘flipping classroom’, that is getting trendy in the most modern schools, where,
students get to know all the information they need for their tasks before getting into
the classroom with the use of ICTs, which also helps them be digitally competent.
Besides, they should develop their social skills to be aware of our world problems
at the same time, to collaborate with associations or institutions and that is dealing
with the so called ‘Emotional Intelligence’.
As teachers, we are certainly into a LIfe-long process and we have to be up-to-
date all the time, training, revising, attending conferences and congresses to be
able to motivate our students and get them on the English cart. Without motivation,
the whole process wouldn’t work.
Anyway, in this essay, I want to explain an interesting Project which involves
everything said above, that has been carried out in our Faculty od Education in
Zaragoza, with the Infant Education students and teachers although I didn’t
participate in it, personally. I was simply a viewer when they showed the final
product and invited all of us to do the same, as I am inviting all of you in this essay
too.
Everything started when we were visited by a person from an NGO (Fundación
Isabel Martín) at the Faculty last January, 2017. They are working in India to
empower women and children and to sensitize about the differences between the
North and South, promoting active solidarity. They are funding the bilingual
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