Skip to main content

#30GoalsEdu Goal:Explore a Past Reflection

I have been working as an EFL teacher in the public sector for about ten years. I never really taught exactly what I had to teach-that is, the books set by the Ministry-I always liked to supplement them with materials of my own. And still that was not enough. There was constantly this feeling of inadequacy in me. I thought that to have the privilege to be around children every day and just teach them the language was not enough. I had to change something.

 I gave it a lot of thought till I decided that I wanted to teach my students the same things I teach my children. I didn't want to give them solely knowledge. I wanted to teach them values, I wanted to raise their environmental awareness, I wanted to teach them about Human Rights, about Citizenship and Digital Citizenship, about bullying and racism and stereotypes. And many more...

So a couple of years ago, I started having these "special days". A day raising awareness against bullying, a day raising awareness against racism, a day dedicated to environmental awareness, a day about how to use the Internet safely. And every year I try to add days.This year we have dedicated some time on Human Rights and Children Rights and Refugees, working on our project for Teachers4Europe 2016. We have also completed a programme with the British Council on Life Skills, and worked on themes such as citizenship, values, streotypes. Next year I am planning to add a day dedicated on HateSpeech as well.

 And I know now that you can find different ways to teach a language.One of them is to think first as an educator and then as a language teacher. This is what I have chosen to do.

This is my past reflection-about a year ago.

Raising awareness in the English classroom


Comments

  1. Anthi HarouJuly 8, 2016 at 4:54 PM

    Wonderful ideas, Maria!Teaching values should be of primary importance in all school contexts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maria VlachopoulouNovember 12, 2016 at 6:04 PM

      Thank you so much, Anthi! I believe this with all my heart this is why I am fighting for it!

      Delete
  2. UnknownJuly 8, 2016 at 9:07 PM

    Congratulations!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 18, 2016 at 11:31 PM

    Great reflection! Thank you for sharing. I love your raising awareness days!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maria VlachopoulouNovember 12, 2016 at 6:06 PM

      Thank you so much, Shelly, for all the support and inspiration!

      Delete
  4. DimgkNovember 23, 2016 at 11:05 AM

    Congratulations, Maria!!! Wonderful ideas!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DimgkNovember 23, 2016 at 11:07 AM

      Dimgk=Dimitra Gkouli...Maria, i love your work!!!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

International Happiness Day

I started the lesson with the video of the song "Happy" by Pharell Williams (feat.Minions)! The video is colourful with lyrics so pupils could sing along and get into the mood of the day easily! As a listening activity I asked them to count how many times the word "Happy" is heard. This was actually fascinating as the word is actually mentioned about 50 times in the song. After the counting had finished, I asked them how they felt listening and singing along-because they had been singing along! They said they felt happy! This is when I wrote on the board: Happy International Day of Happiness evrybody! And the fun began! This is where you can find the video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOWDb2TBYDg We went on with colouring the happiness colouring sheet . Students had to pick up their favourite colours and notice how they felt as they coloured in their happy word. Other students chose another worksheet in which they had to design their own T-shirt of h...
2 comments
Read more

The magic of social networking during Covid-19 crisis social distancing!

 Some years ago, I read this amazing book by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, Connected-The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape our Lives. The book as the title suggests is about social networks and their role in our lives. According to the writers, "a social network ,like a group, is a collection of people, it includes something more: a specific set of connections between people in the group. These ties, and the particular pattern of these ties, are often more important than the individual people themselves. They allow groups to do things that a disconnected collection of individuals cannot. The ties explain why the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". During this pandemic I have seen this taking shape in various forms. I have found immense support, encouragement and inspiration in all the groups of colleagues I am part of. Stretching from local to national , and even European level the sharing in social networks is unconditional and the h...
2 comments
Read more

Teachers4Europe 2016, Human Rights-Refugee Rights-Solidarity: A collection of poems written for the refugees

During school year 2016, Grade 5 (E2) of the 1st Primary School of Amyntaio, Greece worked on the theme of Human Rights and Refugees Rights within the frame of our project for TEACHERS4EUROPE 2016. At the beginning of the activity students read a poem written by a student  from Canada who won the first prize in 2010 in the first Refugees and Human Rights Child and Youth Poetry Contest, organised by the UNHCR Toronto Office and COSTI Immigrant Services in commemoration of World Refugee Day, June 20. The title of the poem is "I am". The student describes how he thinks being a refugee may feel. In spite of being only 12 years old the student uses very strong images of torture, death,slavery, war, sorrow, despair, lonelinessin the poem. We tried to discuss the meaning of the poem and the feelings it evoked. I have to admit it touched them a lot. Then the students were asked to compose their own poems based on some phrases taken from the poem such as, I am..., I am looking ...
4 comments
Read more