Blog | Preparación Oposiciones-Profesores-Profesionales-Inglés Especializado

Oposiciones Inglés -maestros Madrid 2019

15 March, 2019 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

Registration Dates for Oposiciones maestros inglés Madrid 2019

From 11th March till 5th April

Number of places for English teachers

There are 1,078 in total (1,003 + 75 reserved for candidates with disabilities)

Exam Dates

The exam for the oposiciones inglés maestros (competitive exam for Primary English teachers) starts on 22nd June 2019.

Exam parts for the Oposiciones inglés maestros -Madrid 2019

The competitive exam will consist of the following parts:

Part 1A-1

This is in Spanish, which is common for all the candidates (except for those in Infant Education).

The questions in this part will be related to the contents laid down by Decree 89/2014 of 24th July. The questions, therefore, will be on issues pertaining to the Curriculum for Primary Education for the subject of Mathematics and Spanish language and literature.

The time assigned for this part is one hour and a half.

Part 1A-2

Listening with questions on it. (4 marks)
Text with questions on context and language use (3 marks)
Questions on phonology, morpho-syntax, semantics, and pragmatics related to the text (2 marks)
Questions on methodology related to the text given (1 mark)

Time assigned will be one hour and a half.

Marks for Part 1A (A1+A2)

The first part (part A1) represents 30% of the total. This is the exam in Spanish on General issues.

The second part (part A2) represents 70% of the total. This is the language exam in English.

Candidates need to get, at least, 25% of the total mark to qualify for Part 1B. And the total mark of Part 1A represents 70% of Part 1.

Part 1 B: Essay on one topic

Candidates have to write one essay on one topic out of three ramdonly extracted from the list of 25. You have 2 hours to draft your essay.

This part represents 30% of Part 1. You need to get at least a 5 (out of 10) to qualify for the second part.

Assessment criteria

The following criteria will be used:

Grammatical appropriacy: syntactic structure, verb forms, correct use of prepositions.
Lexical richness and appropriacy
Correct spelling
0.25 marks will be taken off for mistakes showing confusion or lack of knowledge.
Grammatical errors will cancel the answer when they prevent understanding. In all other cases, 0.25 marks will be taken off

For further specification of assessment criteria, check the Official Gazzette here

Part 2: Syllabus and Unit

Part 2A: Syllabus design

You need to hand in your syllabus design (aka scheme of work, teaching programme, teaching plan) when the panels say so.

The document needs to specify

objectives for the stage,
competences,
contents,
assessment criteria,
learning standards for assessment,
methodology,
assessment procedures and tools, and
how you plan to cater for students with specific and special educational needs.

The contents need to be distributed into at least 15 units, which need to be related and numbered in an index. There must be a maximum of 60 pages, including annexes. Font Arial 12 and double space.

You need to give the Rationale behind your Syllabus orally in front of the panel.

This part represents 30% of the total for Part 2.

Part 2B Oral presentation of a unit

Out of three units ramdonly taken from the index, you’ll choose one and will present it orally. You have an hour to prepare the presentation of the unit.

Part 2B represents 70% of the total mark for part 2.

How does SLS Hallam-Poppies help you with this oposición?

We offer One-to-one coaching, where we focus on

how to improve your essay writing,
practice with the language exam
your syllabus and unit oral presentation skills and contents

Preparación Oposiciones Profesores Inglés — Preparación Oposiciones Profesores-Profesionales Inglés

Oposiciones Profesores Valencia 2019. Secundarias y Escuelas

11 March, 2019 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

Oposiciones Profesores Valencia 2019: The public call was published on 4th March 2019. You need to have a C1 in Valencià or do the corresponding exam set for this call.

Secondary English teachers: 460 places in total (428+32)
English teachers at Official Schools of Languages: in total, 100 positions.

Registration dates for Oposiciones Profesores Valencia 2019

From 5th to 29th March. You have to do it online (see point 3.1.1 of the call). Please, be advised to read the document and other documents they may publish afterward.

Exam dates

The exam will start as from 26th June 2019, both for Secondary and Official School English teachers.

Exam Contents for both Oposiciones Profesores inglés Secundarias and Escuelas

Like everywhere else, the exam consists of 2 parts. You need to pass the first in order to be a candidate for the second.

Part 1

This part consists of two:

Part 1. A. Essay. Both for Secundarias & Schools of Languages

In most Autonomous Regions, this is Part 1B, but in Valencia it is Part 1A.

This year 2019, you will have to write one essay on one of the 5 topics which will come out in the draw from the total list of topics. You have two hours to do it. Remember to follow the advice given to you here and in our Introductory Course. You must use a blue or black ink pen and must follow the indications provided by the panels. It is important to use neat handwriting as illegible essays or those showing a personal “mark” will be declared null. This part represents 50% of the total mark of the first part.

Part 1B. Practical Language Exam for Profesores inglés Secundarias

Text Analysis

From a text by a significant author, you’ll have to answer questions pertaining

Grammatical and lexical aspects
Discourse analysis

Translations

Translation without a dictionary from Spanish (or Valencian, it is not clear) into English of a 300-400 word text.

They don’t set the time, but they do say that the total length of Part 1 B is 4 hours.

Part 1B. Official Schools of Languages

1. Listening

This part lasts 50 minutes maximum and is worth 40 marks

Based on a C2 level 5-6 minute audio, which will be listened to twice, candidates:

Answer questions to show general and specific comprehension of the audio.
Summarise the information conveyed in the audio using around 200 words.

2. Identification of the New descriptors set by RD 1041/2017

The candidate needs to relate the descriptors for the various skills with their corresponding levels (20 marks for this part)

3. Text Analysis

The candidates will analyse a contemporary text of maximum 25 lines from a pragmatic, semantic, morphosyntactic and phonological perspective, depending on how significant those aspects are for the general understanding of the text.

There will also be a brief explanation of linguistic issues from a linguistic and methodological viewpoint. This part is worth 40 marks

You can practise all the above with Our books “Volumen Práctico” and “Analysis de Textos”. Also with the materials for language practice, we cover at the Poppies Foundation Plus (Exam Pa r t 1A & Exam Part 1B) & the Building Blocks for those who have completed the Foundation Plus. You may also find our post text analysis of help.

The time assigned for Part 1B (Part 1 A in other Autonomous Regions) in the call Oposiciones Profesores Valencia 2019 is a maximum of 4 hours in total.

This part represents 50% of the total mark for Part 1.

To pass to the second part you need to get at least 2.5 marks in each part (Part 1.A & Part 1.B). The panels will assess this Part 1.

Part 2

Syllabus Design

All the requirements your syllabus design needs to meet, together with the elements you need to include are described in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana (Annex II, pages 114789-11480 for both Secundarias and Escuelas). You will hand in your Syllabus Design, online as a single document, in pdf format and 20MB maximum.

Very important: Deadline to hand in your document online: 30th June 2019

The Syllabus Design needs to have a maximum of 60 pages and a maximum of 15 for the annexes and any other support materials. The font is Arial, 12 and double space. It should also include a front page with all the candidate’s details and the subject. Check all the details in the Official Gazzete.

Oral Presentation

The oral presentation should last one hour maximum, distributed as follows:

30 minutes maximum for the syllabus design. You can use a one-page outline.
30 minutes maximum for the didactic unit.

Our book Inglés Programación Didáctica will help you with this part 2.

Also our course on Syllabus & Unit Design, which is part of Poppies Foundation Plus (available as from April 2019)

Poppies helps you prepare the Exam for Oposiciones Profesores Secundarias inglés. The courses can also be of great use for Escuelas.

Three effective ways to teach grammar, lexis, and functions

15 February, 2019 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

Do you find that the way you teach grammar and lexis is not effective? …
…that it doesn’t help your students to communicate in English?
…or is it that you find it difficult to connect grammar, lexis, and functions?

Poppies, as the collaborative project it aims to be, has asked Ángela Ruiz & Bego Pérez to share with you what they often do in their classes.

They’re bothEnglish teachers holding a permanent position in the Spanish state education system.So, here you have three practical, highly effective ways to teach and practise grammar, lexis, and functions

Since those who started the Poppies Foundation Plus in September 2019 are now dealing with Pragmatic Competences and, more specifically, with how we deal with functions in our Syllabus and how we connect them with grammar, I thought it would be proper to “update” this post, originally published on 22nd Nov. 2016.

How I teach and practise grammar with my students

The way Angela teaches grammar in context

Depends on the group

At least in most of the cases. There are, however, a few steps that I usually follow.

Steps I usually follow

First students talk

First of all, before me teaching, I like listening to my students:

I usually write on the board the title of the topic we are going to deal with and tell my students to say what they know about it. This helps us set the situation in which the language items take place. Students can say anything they like since, at this point, I do not correct them.

At the end, when most of them have said something, it is me telling them.

The teacher’s turn

I start by explaining what it is: a verb tense, a subordinate clause to connect two or more ideas, etc… I think it is important that they know what they are working on.

After that, I always explain the use of the grammar point. If it is a tense, when we use it; for example, we use it to talk about what we do every day, or past experiences, etc. If it is a subordinate clause, the context when we use it, such as to talk about a hypothetical situation in the present or a future time, and so on.

Students’ practice

As for the practice, during the whole process of explaining, I always include examples.

I use these examples as an excuse to help my students produce their own sentences. I think they learn more by practising, particularly when it is about aspects which are familiar to them, like their own life. They also find it easier to remember later.

End of lesson

To finish the lesson students have to write and share their own sentences on the topic so that I can check that they understood what we did in class.

What my lessons always have

One of the most important things in my lessons is that I speak less and my students more. I try to make them speak as much as possible. My lessons are student-centred and follow, therefore, communicative trends.

I hope this can be helpful. Thank you very much for taking into account what I have to say. It is always a great honour to share it with you.

Thank you to you, Ángela! That’s what collaboration is about. Teachers are not afraid of sharing!

Teaching/learning new vocab

Bego's way of teachinng vocab — Bego’s way of teaching vocab with mindmaps

Mindmaps

The best way is by doing mind maps.

There is a website I have recently discovered that works really well in class. Bubbl.us | brainstorm and mind map online

The procedure with higher levels and age groups

I tend to introduce the main topic and then words related to that topic.

Next, SS work with sentences (controlled practice and context)

and it is followed by free practice- SS have to select a few words of the new vocab and write dialogues using those words.

With one particular group, believe it or not, we did a rap song (it was 1 BACH, very fluent as well)

Might have been surprised if I didn’t know you. But I’m fully aware of all the great things you can and do in class, Bego. Thanks for your contribution and for the link, which will be part of the “Resources 4 English Teachers”

What about the lower levels and age groups?

As for the little ones, 1 ESO or 2 ESO, I also do the brainstorming,

Then we do writings as a class using those words.

After we have done enough practice, they have to do their own writing.

If feasible, we do cardboards to decorate the class. Unfortunately, this year is not possible, we have gone from 28 to 33 in one class.

Dealing with functions in the English class

The third one is suggested by me.

As I keep telling in the face-to-face classes and in the videos at the Poppies Foundation Plus:

We cannot say that we follow communicative approaches and then state that the objective of a lesson is to teach the present simple.

Besides, both the LOE & LOMCE refer to and include in their Curricular Contents a variety of functions.

Something I used to do years ago when I was teaching at Secondary schools

Give students different situations

Ideally in English, but if the level is too low you can give them the situation in Spanish & in English:

You are visiting New York and…

You’ve met a very nice American who has just introduced you to a friend of his from Canada.
You are sitting on a bench with this friend. You need to borrow his tablet.
Then, you decide to go for a sandwich and a coke.

And let them provide the appropriate language for those situations

What do you say to her/him?
What do you say?
How do you order it?

Of course, this time in English!

How do you organise this activity?

Well, it can be done

Individually, at the end of a unit as a self-assessment tool (And for the teacher to check that the student can actually do what had been set as a goal for the unit)
In pairs, where each student is given a set of situations and the other has to respond to the situation.
In groups of three where one sets the situation and the other two have to interact in that situation with the appropriate language.

Do you have any other ideas about teaching grammar, lexis, and functions which work and would like to share with Poppies?
Post your comment below to share them.

Expressing Best Wishes and Thanks and making two Announcements

21 December, 2018 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

SlsHallam-Poppies' Best Wishes and Thanks by Victor Nash — Best Wishes & Thanks by Victor Nash-G for SlsHallam-Poppies

SlsHallam-Poppies‘ Best Wishes for 2019

May the poppy the snowman is giving the child (or the other way round) represent that Old 2018 is giving the New 2019 hope and optimism and that in 2019 Poppies’ 10 wishes come true.

Los mejores deseos de SlsHallam-Poppies para 2019

Ojalá que la amapola que el muñeco de nieve da al niñ@ ( o al revés) represente que el Viejo 2018 le da al Nuevo 2019 esperanza y optimismo y que en 2019 se cumplen los 10 deseos de Poppies.

With our very Best Wishes for 2019. To all our registered and unregistered readers, our current and former students, our friends, followers and collaborators.

Sls Hallam- Poppies’ 10 wishes for 2019.

We respect those who are different and those who are different respect us.
All those who were forced to leave their country and/or have no home they can call their own, find one.
Girls and boys alike, wherever they are or come from, can go to school until they are 18.
Women all over the world do not have to be in fear of being raped, attacked or killed by despicable men.
No man is accused of doing something they haven’t done by some spiteful woman.
We all find ways of solving our problems and disagreements without ever resorting to war or violence.
Those of our dear relatives, friends, students and former students who are going through difficult times due to health, financial, family or any other reason, find things get better soon.
Brexit does not take place (too many dear friends and close relatives would be negatively affected).
We are wise enough to choose political representatives who, despite making mistakes, are humble, wise and inspire optimism rather than use fear.
We keep on learning and asking ourselves and other people questions.

Con nuestros mejores deseos para 2019. Para todos nuestros lectores, registrados y no registrados al blog; nuestros alumnos, actuales y antiguos; amigos, seguidores y colaboradores.

Los 10 deseos de SlsHallam-Poppies

Respetamos al diferente y el diferente nos respeta a nosotros.
Todos aquellos que se han visto forzados a dejar su país y/o no tienen una casa que llamar suya, encuentren una.
Niñas y niños por igual, de donde quiera que procedan y en donde quiera que estén, puedan ir a la escuela, hasta los 18.
Las mujeres de cualquier parte del mundo no tengan motivos para temer ser violadas, atacadas o asesinadas por hombres despreciables.
Ningún hombre es acusado de haber hecho algo que no ha hecho por alguna mujer resentida o maliciosa.
Todos encontramos formas de solucionar nuestros problemas y desacuerdos sin jamás recurrir a la guerra o la violencia.
Nuestros queridos familiares, amigos, alumnos y antiguos alumnos que están pasando momentos difíciles ya sea por motivos de salud, económicos o de cualquier otro tipo, encuentran que las cosas mejoran pronto.
No se produce el Brexit (demasiados amigos y familiares queridos se verían afectados de forma negativa).
Actuamos con la sabiduría necesaria para elegir a representantes políticos que, aunque cometan errores, son humildes, sabios e inspiran optimismo en lugar de utilizar el miedo.
Seguimos aprendiendo y haciéndonos preguntas a nosotros mismos y a los demás.

And our huge thanks to

Victor Nash, who has designed the drawing and has helped me with colour combination here (When I insisted that I had to have different ones to represent the coloured Poppies)
Our current students for inspiring us to get better, being so understanding and making us feel so rewarded in what we do.
All our former students who keep on recommending us to their colleagues.
Our friends and relatives for being there when we need them.
The followers registered on this SlsHallam-Poppies Blog, particularly those who have written to Paloma and told her about the competitive exam.
La Editorial MAD-7Editores, por permitirnos llegar a un mayor número de candidatos.
To life in general, for treating us nicely. Also for allowing us to live in a country which does not force us to leave, allows us to have a home, make a living doing the job we like, travel freely to other countries without any kind of restriction and live in peace. And for not being perfect so that it does not get boring and there is room for improvement.

Finally, the announcements

As from January 7th 2019, the online Poppies Foundation Plus will open. You can prepare the exam on your own or with a 6-hour-one-2-one coaching pack. You may focus on the three parts of the exam, or just two or one. Only 3 places for the coaching pack. It includes more resources, contents and videos than in previous editions.
También a partir de enero 2019, estamos planeando unificar y trasladar aquí la página Sls Hallam. Ello significa que Poppies incluirá además la preparación de otras oposiciones en las que hay un examen de inglés. También preparación de Exámenes en inglés y de Inglés para Fines Específicos.

English pronunciation: teaching unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns

20 November, 2018 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

English pronunciation: How do you go about teaching it?

In the Poppies Foundation Plus Course, we are now dealing with one of the components of Linguistic Competence. As usual, we connect these aspects with our syllabus, units and how we teach. The post first appeared here on 27th February 2018. There are a few slight changes.

Let’s start by considering…

How we learn unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns

When teaching the spoken language it is essential to take into account how humans learn unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns.

Initially, our brain registers those sounds as undifferentiated from the ones a person is familiar with.
As exposure continues, the listener’s brain learns to differentiate among different sounds. Then, among short sequences of sounds that correspond to words or parts of words. Neural connections that reflect this learning process are formed in the auditory cortex of the left hemisphere for most individuals.
With further exposure, both the simple and complex circuits ─which correspond to simple sounds and sequences of sounds─ are activated at virtually the same time and more easily.

What we learn from research

Research has also shown that these neural connections are formed not only in terms of sounds. They are also formed with other regions of the brain associated with visual, tactile and even olfactory information related to the sound of the word. All of which give meaning to such sound.

Neural activity is not unidirectional

Moreover, the flow of neural activity is not unidirectional, from simple to complex. It also goes from complex to simple. In the early stages of learning, the neural circuits are activated in bits, incompletely and weakly. With more experience, practice, and exposure these neural circuits achieve an increasingly complete picture of what is being learnt. The more the exposure, the less the input required to activate the whole picture. In this respect, knowing what the problems are, will be essential to tackle the specific problems each student has.

English pronunciation: Word stress in English and in Spanish

The teaching of word stress in English words is very important. This is particularly so because the stressed syllable in a word has roughly the same length as all the unstressed syllables together. So while in Spanish it is only a question of loudness, in English it is a question of loudness and time length.

The importance of stress

Thus, for example, both in English and in Spanish not placing the stress on the appropriate syllable (loudness) may lead to serious misunderstanding. This may be so because there are two words which have the same sound, but different meaning. Think, for example, of the difference in Spanish between LIbro and liBRÓ.

to avoid confusion

Even when there are no such pairs, though, placing the stress on a different syllable may easily lead to the listener perceiving a different word like, for example, understanding “reTAIN” instead of “WRItten” if the stress were misplaced on the latter and pronounced as “writTEN”. On the other hand, words such as COMfortable, in English, have the stressed syllable with the same duration as all the weak syllables together.

Teaching word stress in English

This is why it is essential to teach the intonation and stress pattern of a word when we introduce it for the first time or when the teacher sees that it is mis-stressed.

There are different techniques (e.g. repetition, writing the stressed syllable in capital letters, marking it, exaggerating its stress, etc.) to draw the students’ attention to their problems with word stress.

Teaching word stress on cognates

One such problem may be caused by cognates and the differences should be pointed out right from the beginning. Thus:

Cognates ending in -ción/-tion

Spanish words ending in –cion (condición, estación, etc.) have a primary stress on the last syllable,
while the English words ending in –tion (condition, station, etc.) are stressed on the preceding syllable.

Cognates ending in –al

Spanish words ending in –al stress the last syllable (capital, animal, natural),
whereas English words ending in –al stress the third but last syllable (capital, animal, natural)

Cognates ending in –dad/-ty

Spanish words ending in –dad stress the last syllable (responsabilidàd, humanidàd, dificultàd.
English words ending in –ty usually have the stress on the third but last syllable (responsibility, humanity), but sometimes the stress falls on the same syllable as the original adjective (difficulty).

Focus on stress when you teach any new word

As rhythm is connected to physical human activities, kinesthetic activities are particularly useful, according to authors such as O’Connor or Celce-Murcia. One of those kinesthetic activities can be done just by using Cuisenaire Rods. Watch how this can be done:

Others, like Lado, advise the use of a musical scale with “dots” of different size representing the words in the tone group. This form is rather visual and the rhythmical beat is clearly seen:

…………………………..…………..

…………………………..☻………..

………………………◦……..………

…….●…●………………………….

………………………………………

I need a rest

English rhythm patterns

In this line, and arguing that, English being stress-timed, its rhythm patterns are very similar to a musical phrase, Celce-Murcia, Avery and Underhill, among many others, advocate for the use of nursery rhymes, verse, limericks, Jazz Chants or rap.

In this respect, C. Graham has designed many different activities and provided a lot of suggestions and ideas on how to use jazz chants. See for instance: https://www.teachingvillage.org/2010/05/23/how-to-create-a-jazz-chant-by-carolyn-graham/ , or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYwoLZso7s

We certainly recommend all teachers to watch this video by AdrianUnderhill on Teaching pronunciation