Bullying: a crime at school.

Being a teacher is not an easy task. Teachers aren´t only professionals who teach something, a teacher is a role model for their pupils, someone who inspires them to give of their best, as learners but mainly as people. The social responsibility of teachers requires a maximum of training and information in the social field. It´s for this reason that this post deals with a serious problem to such an extent than many children and teenagers are afraid of going to school: bullying.

This aggressive behavior which is intentional and which involves an imbalance of power or strength is likely to end in a disaster as in Spain happened a few months ago:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/heartbroken-parents-publish-11-year-7218009

There is no single cause of bullying. There are lots of factors in a child´s environment that can contribute to bullying behavior, some of them could have links with family challenges, academic failure, lack of tolerance with others, lack of empathy, low self-steem, the need for power, etc.

Besides, bullying can take many forms. The most important are three: physical bullying, which involves kicking, hitting or stealing the victim´s belongings; verbal bullying, when words are used to hurt, name-calling or threat a victim; and relational bullying. This last one is more complex cause the bully will convince others to reject, abuse or exclude victims from a group activity or game. Likewise, cyberbullying is commented to be a recent kind of attack in which the bully uses text messages or social networks to hurt the victim. It does exist passive bullying as well, when some students turn a blind eye; I mean, they observe this behavior but they neither engage in the bullying nor help stop it, due to several reasons.

If we had known how to look for signs, this wouldn´t happen; so it´s important to know what to look out, to be able to spot when someone is being bullied. Although most victims keep it to themselves, a victim will usually display signs. First of all, we can notice the child´s refuse to go to school and unusual moodiness, as well as, a decline of grades, bruises…

The truth is that researches suggest that victims may suffer from mental health problems later in life, such as depression, low self-esteem and anxiety. If you wish to solve the problem, the first you should do is treading lightly it, because the victims may be scared to talk about it because of shame, annoyance or a sense of guilty. You had better assure them that you will work each other to make the bullying stop. To make them be aware of a possible solution, tell them some examples in which victims found a solution and how they´re successful people, for instance, Michael Phelps, who was bullied at school for his long arms. What nonsense!

Education is the key to change such attitudes and the only way to create a better and more peaceful society and, partly, this lies in our hands. 

Some links of interest when you can find more information:

http://nobullying.com/

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

http://stopbullyingnowfoundation.org/main/

Learn by playing

Since forever, children have to learn new languages. The English is one of the most important they have to learn. It’s for that reason that the teachers and the parents have to look for the best way to do it.

For us, playing is the best idea. The reason is because they have fun, participate, learn and memorize songs and rhyme easily.

They have to mix class and plays, and a good way to play is with traditional games.

Everybody, when they were children used to play typical games, like “I spy with my little eye…” (“Veo, veo”) or “1, 2, 3, plan”, so what we want is that the children play them, but in English.

It’s a good method to learn the language while they’re having fun.

There are a lot of traditional games, but we choose four.

I spy with my little eye

It’s like “veo, veo” in Spanish.

One child starts with the sentence: “I spy with my little eye…” and according with the age or school year it can be:

-          … something + the colour. For example: something pink. It’s easy to practice the colours.

-          … something + what it looks like. For example: something that looks like a square. It’s good to practice the shapes.

-          … something + the first letter of the word. For example: something that begins for the letter “b”. It’s good to practice the alphabet.

Here you can see a video of the game. It’s very visual. 

 

Video: I spy

Telephone

It’s a well-known game and very easy. The teacher and the pupils make a row. The first child says a question or a sentence to the classmate behind him/her. This pupil has to pass the message to the next child. And so on to the end. The last classmate has to say out loud what he/she heard.

This exercise is useful to practice the language and very funny.

Simon says

One pupil is “Simón” who manage the action and the rest have to obey his commands.

The magical sentence is “Simon says…”

If Simon says “Simon says, jump” everybody has to jump. If they don’t do it, they are eliminated. But if Simon just says “Jump” everybody who jumps, they will be eliminated.

Summarizing, players are eliminated from the game by either following instructions that are not immediately preceded by the phrase, or by failing to follow an instruction which does include the phrase "Simon says". It is the ability to distinguish between acceptable and invalid commands. And with this game the pupils can improve their knowledge about actions, parts of the body…

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

It’s a well-known traditional game. They have to sing a song and move.

One child has the cookie and all the class say:

-          "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?”
“(The name of the child) stole the cookie from the cookie jar”

And he/she answers:

-          “Who? Me?”

Everyone:
- “Yes, you!!!”
He/she:
- “Not me!”
Everyone:
- “Then, who?”

Children close their eyes and the child put “the cookie jar” behind a classmate. When they open their eyes, the child who has the cookie jar has to purse him/her.

Children can learn the dialogue with this song:

Video: Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

These traditional games are good at school and at home too.

Finally, when we have to choose who starts a game, the best idea is to flip a coin to see it. It’s like “pito, pito"

Here, there is a song to choose who starts:

One, two buckle my shoe.

Three, four, knock on the door

Five, six, pick up sticks.

Seven, eight, let them straight.

Nine, ten, a big fat then.

What we want with all of these exercise is that the children have fun and learn in English something that they know in their own language.



Iria Álvarez Liz
Lara Conde Faría
Ana Fernández Custodio 

CORNERS IN CLASSROOM

What are corners?  

Corners are spaces located in different areas of the classroom. In these spaces, children can work independently, in pairs or in small groups. Every corner works different topics with specific resources. For example, music and movement corner, art corner, math corner, technology learning corner, etc. Activities that are done in these corners can be free or directed by the teacher. The work by corners allows to eliminate differences and to focus on the interests and learning rhythms of every child.

Learning corners allow children:

1. To explore and discover things that are new to them and make connections with things that they already know.
2. To relax because when children play they don't worry about expectations and their tension is reduced. There is no pressure because the focus is on process, not in the final product.
3. To express and to be themselves.
4. To develop communication skills and build working relationships with their partners. It also allows them to see things from other points of view.
5. To be more independent because they direct their own learning.
6. To role to play in order to understand the real world and their personal experiences.

In summary, learning corners allow children to develop appropriately. Through corners, children are encouraged to play and explore their environment by themselves.

Some of the most common corners are:

• Math corner: In this corner children can learn about numbers, colours, shapes, quantities, etc. We can work this with the following materials: building blocks, dices, scales, number cards, abacuses, puzzles, a lot of objects with different shapes, colours, sizes, etc. Some activities can be: dice games, count objects, classify objects by  shape, size, colour, craft games…

                     

• Art corner: In this corner, children do artistic activities to develop their creativity with different materials like: watercolors, canvas, paintbrushes, plasticine, oil paintings, scissors, glue, marker pens, thin cardboards, papers, chalks, blackboards, … Some activities can be: drawings, collages, figures, paintings, crafts, etc.

  

• Music and movement corner: In this corner, children can work with different instruments, sing, listen to music, dance, experiment with sounds and do tapping in different body parts. Some materials can be: headphones, CD player, microphones, songs CD, flutes, maracas, xylophones, toy guitars, piano, drums, bells, triangles, tambourines, accordions, cymbals, trumpets, rain sticks, etc.

                               

• Literacy corner: this corner should encourage children to sit down in chairs, sofas, carpets, pillows and listen to the teacher reading books, comics or magazines (on paper or tablets) about different topics. They can also practise writing stories, poems, their names, holiday experiences, songs…  

                               

• Technology learning corner: In this corner, children can develop their technology skills by playing educational games about different topics, listening to songs, watching videos or films, etc. In this corner, we can find: tables, chairs, computers or laptops, tablets, headphones, printers, interactive whiteboards, cameras, loudspeakers, keyboards and mouses.

                

• English corner: One of the many resources to learn English is this corner. In this area, children can expand their vocabulary (numbers, letters, greetings, days of the week, animals…) and improve both communication skills and oral expression in a fun and interactive way. You can see this in the following video.

          

Although there are a lot of schools which don’t have necessary resources or teachers which try to avoid this methodology, we think it is very useful in the children’s education because Remember! one of the best way to learn is by doing. Teaching through corners will allow us to help children pay more attention and they be more interested in learning.

THE CITY OF CHILDREN

Before reading this post, you should ask yourselves if the school is the only educational space. The answer is no, the city can also be recognized as an important educational agent.

Also, you should ask yourselves if the city you’re living in is educating kids, and if activities are adapted to them and they are enough. Surely your city is not prepared to carry out educational activities, for example, the spaces that exist for children's education are not well distributed.

EDUCATING CITIES:

The educating cities are developed as an educational space. On the one hand, the school assumes educational functions that the society required. On the other hand, the entire city also has educational functions.

THE CITY OF CHILDREN:

This project was born in the city of Fano, Italy, in 1991. Children are the protagonists and it looks for spaces in cities where they can be independent. It means that children become adults giving them more autonomy and participation in everyday life.

The creator was Francesco Tonucci, who is the author of numerous books about the role of children in the urban ecosystem.

His research focuses on the cognitive development of children and educational methodology. In 1991 he did the project of “City of children” in his hometown, it was a city that point of reference is the children. The project was very successful and it spread to different parts of the world.

More than 200 cities around the world are carrying out this project in their territories. The CEIP Fermín Bouza Brey, in the township of Ponteareas, can be noted in Galicia.

Also, we can talk about some experiences in Spain, for instance, the open schoolyards in Barcelona. This project consists in that the schoolyard is an open space to be used by families, children and teenagers in their weekends and in their holidays to give an alternative to entertainment. Every schoolyard will have a service of monitors to do sports activities, artistic activities and family, these are free.

In Ourense, we will talk about “The School Road”, a safe way. Children will walk to school to promote physical exercise that it means to use the best way of transportation. This project has signals at the meeting points, so the children can go to school safely. In this city, we also find the intergenerational educational garden in Mariñamansa in which children and Orense´s people have their own garden in which promotes contact with elderly people and, in this way, they protect the environment.

Here you have the video in Spanish about “The school road” !!

It is important, as future teachers, to know these experiences because it is a lifelong learning and a comprehensive education, which teaches children values such as respect, tolerance, participation, accountability and the public interest. We must also know the experiences of an educating city we have in our city.

After reading this post we ask the following question: What changes would you do to expand the educational potential of your city?

We recommend you see these links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo2QD7m6lm0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpW_fwSc1Eg

http://www.lacittadeibambini.org/inglese/interna.htm