ASSISTANCE TO A CONFERENCE

The class was invited to a conference to listen to some teacher that have been working in a foreing country. One of them was in United States. 

Their topics were so interesting because thay have motivated us to wo working to a differetn country. In first place bacause we are going to improve our level of English that i very important for our future as English teachers. And in the other hand because it will open our mind, firstly because we are going to stay so far from home, and secondly because we are going to learn a lot of new methos of education depending on the country we go. 

From my point of view, this kind of things help us to change our way of thinking. Because we probably do not know this kind of opportunities. 

In my opinion, I would like to do this, because I believe that it is an incredible experience for our job. I want to do something similar next year, but not as a teacher, otherwise a volunteer in an association abroad. It will help me to improve my level of English and to know how is life abroad. 

CEFR AND PEL

FIrst of all I would like to give a definition of CEFR. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is an international standard for describing language ability. It describes language ability on a six-point scale, from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have mastered a language. This makes it easy for anyone involved in language teaching and testing, such as teachers or learners, to see the level of different qualifications. It also means that employers and educational institutions can easily compare our qualifications to other exams in their country.

For that reason, in class we have been talking about our level according to the CEFR, and I have discovered that I have abilities in two levels. In some cases or in some skill I am a proficient student, but in others, I have a B2 level. 

It is so effective because it help us to know what are the abilities we are in or the abilities we would have to improve to obtain a good level of English that is very important four our future as teachers. 

The other topic we have been talking about is the PEL. It means European Portfolio of Languages. It is so useful because you enter in the website and you can fill the gaps with the abilities, skills and common thing you do or that you have done to study and improve a language. For instance in this case, English. At the end you can download a PDF document with all your different information.