FIFTH DAY

Tuesday has been a fascinating and inspiring day. We have begun with a lesson of Modern Greek Literature with the teachers Ana, Despina and Dora.
The students have been working in groups of five and each group has had a different task. They have carried out a comparative analysis between the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos and the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, the historical and political background of both countries, Spain and Greece. For me the interesting part of the activity is that each group  has focused on one issue: one group  has concentrated on the historical period, another has worked on how to perform Yannis Ritsos' poem Epitaphios, etc.  The teachers have  moved around monitoring their effort and answering their questions. Finally, each group has presented their information and conclusions to the rest of the class.

Students performing in front of their classmates

To finish the lesson, our colleague,  Darío Martínez  has recited a poem of Federico García Lorca.

This lesson has given me  the idea of preparing a similar task comparing  historical backgrounds between Spain and the UK and Spanish and British authors.

Our last lesson has been  English with second grade students. The lesson was about nature versus nurture.  To carry  it out, Lia has divided  the students into different groups. The lesson has started with a brainstorming activity. Lia wanted to elicit from the students what 'being wired to learn' meant.
Then, students have read a text and have had to answer some questions. For the more advanced students, they could expand the lesson reading Shakespeare's  Stages in a  man's life and analysing it.
The speaking activity has dealt with talking in groups about the most useful subjects they study at school, the subjects they'd like to study but they can't and the things they have learnt at school that aren't on the syllabus
The final task was writing an article about all the topics they have previously discussed in class.

When the lesson has finished a group of students has given us some letters they have written for our students. It has been very thoughtful of them and we can't wait for our pupils to read them.

Letters for Spanish students

I have  enjoyed the lesson because Lia tries to relate every topic to the students' lives and interests. This way it is really appealing to them. I can adapt some of the materials to use them in my lessons.