Thanks to Jen Turner for telling me about this fun site on which you can make a jigsaw puzzle of any image, specifiying the number and shape of pieces as well as difficulty.
To demonstrate, I’ve made a couple that could be used for Spanish cultural awareness.

20 Roscón de Reyes

30 Sardana

One of the aspects of our Comenius Regio project that I have particularly enjoyed and that has given me great pleasure is the change in perceptions about being ‘foreign’ and by extension different.

Although pupils at WCPS are bright, and have had some contact with children in Spain previously, many still thought that every town in Spain was near a beach, that it was always hot, and that everyone steak and chips whilst speaking English. Their idea of a Spanish person was a lady with dark hair wearing a sevillanas dress or Lionel Messi (who isn’t Spanish!)

As one of the strands of the project was Intercultural Understanding, challenging and changing these perceptions has been key to the success of the project.

As pupils have met teachers from Barcelona in person, and children from Els Pins via Skype, and asked them questions, many things have dawned on them – for example,we all wear similar clothes, our food isn’t so different although we eat at different times and that we have many interests in common like sport and the environment. It’s also been noted that, whilst they do speak English quite well, people in Spain speak Spanish , but people in Barcelona also speak Catalan.

Now that we’re more aware about Spain- and India through Connecting Classrooms, being ‘different’ has become cool and there are several pupils who would never have ‘owned up’ to having another first language who are now wanting to share.

There’s always further to go of course and whilst this infographic is deliberately provocative, how many of the ‘perceptions’ can be identified as not just being held by Americans?

If we were to draw a similar map based on our perceptions, what would it look like?

Might be interesting to ask learners what they know and think, and then set about challenging the accuracy of their perceptions.

 

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Image from Flickr By mikefisher821 Some rights reserved

I sometimes look back to when I first began teaching and can’t believe some of the things I recall. Like handwritten worksheets made on a banda machine, barely legible worksheets photocopied from Tricolore, not allowing pupils to see the words when you introduced them orally and naff songs! But, as this quote says, I do better now!

These images pretty much sum up my thinking on the use of ICT.

This is the sort of teacher I aim to be.
http://lisibo.co.uk/wp-admin/edit.php

I want to be remembered. Not with cuddly teddy bears and keyrings (although they’re lovely!)

And I want to be the teacher who leads her pupils to that ‘true delight’.

Following the #ukedchat on Thursday, I felt that this image was very apposite.

You can join in #ukedchat every Thursday between 8pm and 9pm (UK time) Find out more here.

Image – nicklphotography2008