SECOND DAY

Today we have had several meetings: the first one has been with the two English teachers to talk about the materials they use, the contents of the subject and their students.
They told us that each group of students has two English lessons per week and the books are determined by the government. In their mixed-ability classes, they have a maximum number of twenty-seven students.  They gave us a copy of a book so that we could use it in our lessons. The first thing I noticed was that the books focused on different topics by means of reading comprehension activities, listening and writing activities. There were no grammatical explanations or activities devoted to learn the differences between the different tenses. I think this fact makes the book much more appealing for students.

The second meeting has been with Iorgos who is a computer teacher but does the different secretarial tasks in the school as the figure of the secretary doesn't exist in Greece. He told us that most of the immigrants of the school come from Albania but most of them belong to the second generation and therefore they have no problems to speak Greek. He also explained  to us that there is a psychologist every twenty schools. Needless to say, that this is not enough and the teachers are the ones who have to do their best to help students with their problems and concerns. They tend to talk to them to solve their problems or offer some advice and guidance whenever they need it. I feel really lucky to have a Counselling Department in my school. They  can help students and advise us the best way to deal with the students' concerns.

The first lesson we attended was a Latin lesson. The layout of the classroom was quite original and the classroom had been decorated by the students. They had a corner where it says Possible as a reminder that they can get anything they want if they work hard.
Anastasia, the Latin teacher, told us that students only study this subject for a year. Our colleague Darío Martínez  explained the importance of learning Latin and how he teaches Latin in our school. It was a very interesting lesson because the  Greek students could explain to us  what do they do in their Latin lessons and they could exchange ideas with a teacher from a different country.

Dario Martinez and Greek students

The next was an English lesson taught by Katerina.  The lesson was carried out in English but the content wasn't related to a specific grammatical point. It was about critical thinking and logical fallacies. It started with a brainstorming to check what students knew about it. Then the teacher talked about different types of fallacies using different examples and pictures. I think the topic was interesting for the students  who were in the last course of the school. Some of them participated in the lesson and I could check they had an excellent level of English and their fluency was impressive. It was an inspiring lesson. I think it could be adapted to be used with my students of Practical English.

The day finished with a lunch with some of the teachers of the school. It was a great way to interact with them  and get to know  them and the school in  a relaxed way.