I would like to start this section with an excerpt from a paper I wrote which was published at the beginning of 2016 in the volume titled Innovative language teaching and learning at university: enhancing participation and collaboration which depicts my understanding of the learning process:
“Each learner is an individual, and although we share many characteristics we have our very own distinctive traits which make us all unique. Some of us can remember facts and events particularly well, some can recall vividly what they see, others have a sensory memory and can remember experiences very clearly, including smells, tastes, temperature, etc., yet unconsciously, we all can remember what we regularly do and practise again and again in order to become better at something: playing an instrument, a sport, or, in this case, learning and using a foreign language. The more often we practise something, the better our understanding of the subject, the higher the standard we can achieve and deliver, and the more developed our implicit memory (Schacter, 1987) becomes (commonly referred to as ‘muscle memory’) ‒ in the same way that our muscles improve with exercise, when they are utilised.”
Álvarez-Mayo, Carmen (2016) TANGO, an international collaborative bilingual e-learning project. In Cecilia Goria, Oranna Speicher, Sascha Stollhans (Eds), Innovative language teaching and learning at university: enhancing participation and collaboration (pp. 37-48). Dublin Ireland: Research-publishing.net. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2016.000403
Throughout all these years that I have been developing teaching, learning and assessment materials, I have shared knowledge and experience with colleagues and team members. As a Spanish Coordinator I have produced learning materials and examinations at all levels, from A1 to C2, as reflected in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (CEFR), developed by the Council of Europe and published in 2003. Back in 2005, while working at the Instituto Cervantes (IC) in Manchester I was part of the worldwide team that adapted the Cervantes’s syllabus to become correlated with the European Language Portfolio (ELP). This project was done globally in all centres around the globe and the work was distributed amongst smaller teams, each one composed of 4 to 5 centres. The Manchester IC was one of the ‘team coordinator’ centres. Reflecting on all courses and practice in our centres, we checked and edited a draft document, produced in the Madrid headquarters. Everyone in the team received a section of the document; first, we worked individually, then, the five of us, the full-time academic staff and the Academic Coordinator, shared and discussed our reflections in team meetings, and the conclusions reached were compiled by the Academic Coordinator in a document for all the Instituto Cervantes centres worldwide. Being part of such a vast and complex job was an extremely interesting, insightful and rewarding experience - it gave me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the syllabus of the whole institution and to acquire an in depth knowledge of the both the CEFR and ELP documents.
Since October 2005 I have been a Spanish Coordinator in LFA at the University of York and I have been responsible for a great part of the teaching and exam preparation; I have reviewed and edited all exams and assessments (and shared good practice and guidelines with my team), in all levels, in modules which unfortunately no longer exist, such as the six Spanish for Business modules from A1-C2; I have designed new modules and courses for LFA and the Language and Linguistic Science Spanish Degree, producing documentation for their approval and implementation at the LL&S Board of Studies.
In my opinion, current assessment practice needs to be reviewed and updated in order to ensure that all skills, traditional and ‘new’ can be tested - as well as to allow equal opportunities of assessment ensuring inclusivity and accessibility. We need to make sure that our graduates are fully equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century job market, they need to be all-rounders and posses/ aim for 360° skills (follow link to access an abstract for a University of York Learning and Teaching Forum workshop which I'll deliver on 31st October 2016).
I have also taught a variety of Spanish modules and I have been using Powerpoint presentations to support my teaching for many years.
“Each learner is an individual, and although we share many characteristics we have our very own distinctive traits which make us all unique. Some of us can remember facts and events particularly well, some can recall vividly what they see, others have a sensory memory and can remember experiences very clearly, including smells, tastes, temperature, etc., yet unconsciously, we all can remember what we regularly do and practise again and again in order to become better at something: playing an instrument, a sport, or, in this case, learning and using a foreign language. The more often we practise something, the better our understanding of the subject, the higher the standard we can achieve and deliver, and the more developed our implicit memory (Schacter, 1987) becomes (commonly referred to as ‘muscle memory’) ‒ in the same way that our muscles improve with exercise, when they are utilised.”
Álvarez-Mayo, Carmen (2016) TANGO, an international collaborative bilingual e-learning project. In Cecilia Goria, Oranna Speicher, Sascha Stollhans (Eds), Innovative language teaching and learning at university: enhancing participation and collaboration (pp. 37-48). Dublin Ireland: Research-publishing.net. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2016.000403
Throughout all these years that I have been developing teaching, learning and assessment materials, I have shared knowledge and experience with colleagues and team members. As a Spanish Coordinator I have produced learning materials and examinations at all levels, from A1 to C2, as reflected in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (CEFR), developed by the Council of Europe and published in 2003. Back in 2005, while working at the Instituto Cervantes (IC) in Manchester I was part of the worldwide team that adapted the Cervantes’s syllabus to become correlated with the European Language Portfolio (ELP). This project was done globally in all centres around the globe and the work was distributed amongst smaller teams, each one composed of 4 to 5 centres. The Manchester IC was one of the ‘team coordinator’ centres. Reflecting on all courses and practice in our centres, we checked and edited a draft document, produced in the Madrid headquarters. Everyone in the team received a section of the document; first, we worked individually, then, the five of us, the full-time academic staff and the Academic Coordinator, shared and discussed our reflections in team meetings, and the conclusions reached were compiled by the Academic Coordinator in a document for all the Instituto Cervantes centres worldwide. Being part of such a vast and complex job was an extremely interesting, insightful and rewarding experience - it gave me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the syllabus of the whole institution and to acquire an in depth knowledge of the both the CEFR and ELP documents.
Since October 2005 I have been a Spanish Coordinator in LFA at the University of York and I have been responsible for a great part of the teaching and exam preparation; I have reviewed and edited all exams and assessments (and shared good practice and guidelines with my team), in all levels, in modules which unfortunately no longer exist, such as the six Spanish for Business modules from A1-C2; I have designed new modules and courses for LFA and the Language and Linguistic Science Spanish Degree, producing documentation for their approval and implementation at the LL&S Board of Studies.
In my opinion, current assessment practice needs to be reviewed and updated in order to ensure that all skills, traditional and ‘new’ can be tested - as well as to allow equal opportunities of assessment ensuring inclusivity and accessibility. We need to make sure that our graduates are fully equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century job market, they need to be all-rounders and posses/ aim for 360° skills (follow link to access an abstract for a University of York Learning and Teaching Forum workshop which I'll deliver on 31st October 2016).
I have also taught a variety of Spanish modules and I have been using Powerpoint presentations to support my teaching for many years.