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Three issues I would like to raise here to serve us as Food for Thought:

Food-4-Thought no. 1:

What are the Spanish Education Authorities doing to ensure that every student gets the education they need for the 21st century?

I’m afraid not much.

I spent last year and a large part of this reading and analysing the changes in legislation, once again.

Indeed, I am currently revising the book on “Programación Didáctica” so that it reflects the changes introduced by the LOMCE and all its ensuing Royal Decrees, Orders, etc. Other than the name, I fail to see any improvement in this legislation. At least,  not for Foreign Languages in general and English in particular.

If anything, it aims to impose “standardisation” of the wrong kind, without seeking any kind of consensus with the Education stakeholders. This made me think of the post I received on Monday from the Plataforma Reivindicativa por una Educación Independiente del Poder Político. The post was just a link to this YouTube video  published by 27-year-old poet, filmmaker, and  speaker, Prince Ea . His website is a good source of materials to use in class. Particularly if you seek to motivate your students and give them some food for thought. I hope it will make the Authorities and the System think and reflect.

Food-4-Thought no. 2

What are we, Education stakeholders, doing to change the things we do not like in Education?

I believe that complaining about things we do not like is easy, but useless. If we really want to change things, we need to take action. That is why I have signed various petitions concerning the education system or for a fair access to become a permanent teacher. And for that same reason, I have also signed first

the petition started by a student of ESO,  and also, to put greater pressure on this other promoted by a couple of students of Bachillerato. 

This is the least I could do. And I encourage you to sign both petitions and to spread the word as much as you possibly can. Tell your friends, colleagues, family, acquaintances. We can change things if we take action.

Food-4-Thought no. 3

What are teachers doing to provide their students with the education they need?

Those who truly care, as much as they can.

As a token, I was talking to Maria, a highly professional, motivated English teacher who is constantly seeking how to motivate her students. She was rather concerned about the fact that with the LOMCE, the Publishing Companies have crammed a lot of, very often biased, contents in the English curriculum. Yet, they seem to have forgotten about a key 21st-century issue: raising students’ awareness about environmental issues.

So, I told her about a series I really like. It’s called Life and it has been published by National Geographic Learning.

I have no commercial interests whatsoever in promoting this series. It is just very interesting and motivating. I like the way they structure grammar, functions, and lexis in each of the units. The way they cover issues related to the environment, technology, culture, customs, etc. from an international perspective is, in my view, highly motivating. Their videos and photography are beautifully attractive. That is why I recommend it to supplement or even substitute those aspects you find lacking in your textbooks. This is the link in case you want to have a peep: Life

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