Getting rid of exams- a better choice?

Do you always shiver with fear or feel like fainting before sitting for an exam as I usually do? Or do you learn your lessons by heart and then walk in the street repeating everything parrot fashion? Well, just chill out for a second, people! A viable solution could be to get rid of examinations and evaluate students through continuous assessment and with project work. But is this a good or a bad idea?
It is wise to say that exams can sometimes be unfair, as their results do not always show clearly what students have studied or actually know. This might be because many people get very nervous when they find themselves in such a stressful situation and are therefore not able to perform successfully.
If we analyse the situation from another perspective, tests are beneficial to some students who are a bit lazy and, when they see an exam coming, are forced to study so as to be able to at least pass the exam.
On balance, it seems to me that continuous assessment is a better option. Teachers should evaluate their students progressively instead of just summing up marks from different tests to obtain an average that does not reflect what the student has learnt. Besides, project work also gives students the choice to work with their classmates, thus making the process of education a valuable and memorable experience.

What is your opinion? You may disagree with me, but I think that introducing new ways of assessing our students is something we as teachers to be should start considering.

FAAPI 2010

Hi everybody! I'd like to share with you our experience at FAAPI this year. We had the golden opportunity to meet really important people such as Jeremy Harmer, Allan Malley and Herbert Puchta. Besides, we attended very interesting lectures delivered by other profesionals who are not that well-known but who were very didactic-not in all the cases- and who provided useful and valuable information about current teaching practices in other countries, such as the United States.

I want to tell you that the university facilities where really modern and extensive. There were plenty of classrooms so many workshops or pannels could be held at the same time. The plenaries were held in an enormous auditorium with room for more than a thousand people. There was also a huge patio where we could go during the coffee breaks to breathe fresh air and enjoy the sunshine.

I believe the congress was carefully organized. It's quite obvious that ACPI (Asociación Cordobesa de Profesores de Inglés) has already been in charge of organizing many FAAPI conferences. During coffee breaks we could drink as much coffee as we wanted, and we were also provided with some sweet food to enjoy together with the coffee.

I think that when attending this annual conference you can learn about new trends in EFL and, above all, you have the wonderful chance to talk to native speakers, both American and British. So, next year, if you can save some money and invest it in your profesional development, do not even hesitate!

My painting

Hi girls!!
Well, after looking for a painting that shows, in my view, one aspect of scientific development for some time, I've chosen this one, 'Sunset at Ivry' (originally 'Soleil couchant à Ivry', 1873) by the French Impressionist artist Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927).
This work of art shows, as you can see, how wisps of smoke from factory chimneys spoil the magnificent view of an orange sunset in a beautiful rural landscape in France. I think not only the scenery is breathtaking but also the combination of colours is. I personally admire human beings who are capable of producing such great masterpieces.
I've been exploring a bit and I found out that this painter was contemporary with Cézanne and Pissaro, two other famous French Impressionistic painters, and with the latter he remained a close friend during the rest of his life. Precisely, both artists were particularly interested in showing in their painting both their love for landscapes and the negative effect caused by industrialization on them. Throughout their work together, Guillaumin developed his art of landscape painting.
As you may probably know, and as we studied in Literature III, Impressionists went out of their workshops to paint in the open air and this was mainly to take profit from the unique effects of natural light. This study of light effects is what is called Impressionism, as a painting consequently becomes an impression of one moment felt by the artist in front of nature. Beautiful...isn't it?
I hope you liked my choice and also that you've learnt a bit more about this artistic movement!

What is Englishness?

I'd like to share with you some postcards I brought from England. Two of them seem to be part of a series called 'Get around in English. Lesson nº...' and probably this is done on purpose to mock at EFL Coursebooks. That's what I thought when I first read it, but maybe you have a different interpretation! The first postcard, the one with the man drowning in the river-Thames maybe- is hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing when I read it precisely because during my first days in London I was shocked to discover that every English person I met was as polite as the man in the postcard. The man who checks your seat at the theatre says 'Thank you' when you give him the ticket, the teacher at the course would apologize for silly things or use constructions such as 'Would you mind...?' ' If that's not too much trouble...' every time she wanted us to move, or to change pairs, etc., etc. Then I got used to it but at the beginning I couldn't believe my ears. And after some days I reached the conclusion that we Argentinians are so very impolite! I hate generalizations but I honestly believe that 90% of us are like that. A few days after I came back to Argentina, I was at the butcher's and I literally stared at a woman who instead of 'asking' the butcher for the things she needed was actually giving orders to him, using the imperative: 'Dame 1 kilo de supremas. Ah y matambre también quiero. No, no no me lo cortes así. Bueno, ¿cuánto es todo? No me des dos bolsas, poné todo en la misma.' Oh my God! This is so rude! Isn't she listening to herself? She did not even say 'please' or 'thank you' when she left.

In my opinion, this is an issue for us as teachers and teachers-to-be, because we need to make students aware of this huge difference between the target culture and ours. What is your view on this? Do you agree?

The second postcard is also amazing! After quite a few years of studying Phonology at Teacher Training! When I saw this postcard for the first time, the long hours spent in front of the mirror practising the English sounds came to my mind. Did that happen to you as well? And when you listen to native speakers you realize that your Phonology teacher was not exaggerating at all. They actually speak like that! Our students also find the sounds odd or overdone when they listen to CDs in the classroom or even when they watch films at home, even though American movies are more common. I will never forget the way my teacher at International House, Fiona, pronounced my name. She produced the a: sound in the middle of my name, it was delightful to listen to her. For the first time in my life, I wanted a teacher to call me in class!!! Isn't that funny?

Well girls, if I happen to find more postcards like these-I'm almost sure I have more but the big question is where-I'll also share them with you!

We keep in touch! :)