Which training courses would you like to have access to as a teacher? Why? Which is, in your opinion, the best way to share good practice amongst teaching professionals? Why?

Let me start by saying that every day there is something new invented and our society progresses really quickly.For that reason I would like to have access or study courses in which they study new techniques of learning, for example “interactive groups” o community of practice. 

First of all it is necessary to define what a community of practice means. Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Let me continue by saying that the idea that learning involves a deepening process of participation in a community of practice has gained significant ground in recent years. As far as I am concerned, we, as teachers, should share and learn good educational practices for many reasons: below are explained these reasons with different examples. Firstly, provide a shared context for people to communicate and share information, stories, and personal experiences in a way that builds understanding and insight. Secondly, stimulate learning by serving as a vehicle for authentic communication, mentoring, coaching, and self-reflection. Thirdly, enable dialogue between people who come together to explore new possibilities, solve challenging problems, and create new, mutually beneficial opportunities. Lastly, capture and diffuse existing knowledge to help people improve their practice by providing a forum to identify solutions to common problems and a process to collect and evaluate best practices.

Let me conclude by saying that variety is the spice of life and for this reason we, as teachers, should share our passion for teaching and we should interact regularly to learn how doing it better.

IF YOU WERE NO LIMITED BY THE DEMANDS OF THE NATIONAL/REGIONAL CURRICULUM, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WOULD TEACH YOUR STUDENTS ABOUT YOUR SUBJECT ( IN A CLIL CONTEXT)? HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THEIR LEARNING?

As far as I am concerned, apart from the national/regional curriculum there are some important knowledges that are essential to the lifes of our students. For example, how to plant fruit trees, how to buy food in the supermarket, the prices, how to take care of animals, how to work in peers, how to help other people, ICT or cooperative work.

It is important to remember that apart from multiple focus, CLIL methodology and preschool education have also features as an active learning, authenticity, a safe and enriching learning environment, scaffolding teaching strategy and cooperation. We, as a teachers, have to do that the child be an active agent in his or her own learning and that the child's existing knowledge and environmental experience should be the starting point for new knowledge. Consequently, motivation of the student increases and this enable to progress more quickly.

As it is known, CLIL has a multiple focus: language and subject and these are the main difficulty because inevitably there are two assessment processes involved. For teachers there are a lot of questions related with assessment as “Do we assess language or content first or both? And which, when, why and how? What tools can be used for assessment? Who assess?” And it could be said that all these questions emerge from the characteristics of CLIL methodology.

Therefore, responding to some of the issues previously raised, CLIL units must have clear objectives. CLIL teachers should always have content as dominant objective so content first and then language. Also, content knowledge should be assessed using the simplest form of language and for a real purpose in a real context. When assessing it is necessary to use a mixture of formal and informal assessment and learners should be aware of it in a student-friendly format. Teachers have to understand that wait time is crucial because the students need time to think and to express and that in CLIL lessons we cannot always assess everything.