Student Magazine - 9th edition

March 2021

BRITISH COUNCIL

STUDENT MAGAZINE Teaching

in the time of Covid

www.britishcouncil.co

Doctor IELTS

How can i practise at home?

Tony’s puns

Do you know what a pun is?

9th Edition

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

WELCOME!

FROM TONY AND SAM Welcome to this special anniversary edition of the British Council Student Magazine to mark one year of online teaching, as the COVID pandemic has forced us all to radically change the way we live and learn, almost a year to the day.

We would like to thank all of you for sticking with us through these incredibly difficult times, and are very happy to see that so many of you have continued to take your classes online with us.

In this special edition, amongst other themes, we share some stories from our teachers and students about how their lives and learning experiences have changed over the past year, which has seen unprecedented change for all. We also share some study tips and hopefully a little bit of humour as well. I’m sure you’ll identify with much of the content.

I hope you all stay safe and healthy over the next few months as little by little we get our vaccinations. We look forward to seeing your smiles of satisfaction, happiness and relief as and when we open the doors of our classrooms again and return to the world of face to face teaching.

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British Council Student Magazine

TEACHING IN THE TIME OF COVID

It was shortly after Easter, back in March last year, as the pandemic spread around the world and the number of cases in Colombia crept up, that the British Council decided to close its offices and classrooms and move online.

Although we could all see the coronavirus coming like a slow-motion tsunami, the news that we would start working from home still came as a surprise to us teachers who had mostly never taught online. What is this Zoom, what the hell is a breakout room and how do you manage a class of 16 students via your laptop?

Most teachers are sociable sorts who like the interaction with their students, and enjoy the dynamics of the classroom (and office). Many of us are not the most techno savvy and are not used to spending all our working day on our laptops. Or at least we weren’t a year ago.

If nothing else, the pandemic has shown us how adaptable we humans are.

Thankfully, the students here are incredibly patient and they/you really helped us teachers adapt to this new way of delivering classes.

Jessica So said “Making the transition to online learning was scary and I remember before my first virtual class I really felt wholly unprepared to manage 15 students and give them a British Council Student Magazine

Sam Day Weber

valuable learning experience on my tiny laptop.

Turns out my students were so patient with my first classes that they really put me at ease and soon I got used to teaching online, and I can actually say I am now a true fan of the online learning experience.”

As we researched techniques, tools, apps and websites we learnt that there are some advantages to teaching online. The ease with which you can share videos or audio, play games or incorporate web tools into classes is a plus. Yoanne Tong says a positive with young adult classes has been “being able to make use of the internet as a resource for project work – having learners do webquests,

watch and then report on videos, creating presentations using Canva or Powerpoint.”

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The Zoom app usually works well (Internet connection permitting) - being able to quickly put learners into new pairs and groups makes it easy to vary student interactions, and the chat function is a useful classroom tool. Some students feel they actually get more personalised attention from teachers now, and many teachers feel they can monitor and give feedback in a more focused way, using breakout rooms, than they could in a full classroom. The enforced adaptation has also made us old teachers learn some new tricks – Jessica So again: “Apart from the obvious pros such as convenience, my creativity has really been stimulated by the vast array of useful tools that a teacher has at their disposal to make a class dynamic. I have been required to experiment with new ideas and different ways of managing classes and it has been so interesting to see that a virtual class can truly be as fun and interactive as any face-to-face

class.”

I think all us teachers have been surprised by how many upsides there have been to teaching online. Amanda Oyevaar says “things like classroom management are easier, people outside of Bogotá can attend, sharing online resources has become seamless and I've also found it better for attendance (no excuses about traffic!).” Not having to travel to and from the teaching centre has saved time for students and teachers alike, and the fact we can now have learners in our classes from all over the country has made our courses more accessible and convenient.

many have missed the commute). Many of us used improvised office set ups, teaching from bedrooms or kitchens and adapting whatever furniture we had. Chris Cox describes “teaching very young learners to perform the song Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes with my laptop perched on the ironing board and my wife in an important meeting in the next room” as a personal highlight. Like many of us, Joel Kellogg cannot wait to get back into the physical classroom: “When you are teaching online, your work day is much longer than it would be if you were teaching face-to-face.

Also, I miss the banter in the teacher's room and chatting with my students in the breaks.

So, although I am very grateful to still be employed in these tough times, I do not like it one bit.”

So, while teachers are undoubtedly missing the social and human side of the job, and most don’t want to keep teaching online indefinitely, we have been pleasantly surprised by the benefits of moving online, impressed by everyone’s adaptability, and happy to have been able to keep working.

Amanda Oyevaar says “things like classroom management are easier, people outside of Bogotá can attend, sharing online resources has become seamless and I've also found it better for attendance (no excuses about traffic!).”

It's not all positive. All of us have missed aspects of the face-to-face job (although not

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DOCTOR IELTS

Doctor IELTS is here to help you with your IELTS related questions.

In this article I prescribe treatments to practice your listening and reading at home, independently, using authentic materials rather than IELTS practice tests or IELTS advice websites. There are also plenty of resources on the internet specifically for IELTS (such as the British Council page www.britishcouncil.co/en/ en/exam/ielts/prepare/practice-test) but this article highlights non-IELTS resources and I’m focussing on the Academic IELTS which is most commonly taken.

What type of thing should I read?

How can I practise at home?

The IELTS exam tests your reading, listening, speaking and writing. All of these can skills can be practiced alone at home, but improving your productive skills (speaking and writing) without a teacher is a little more challenging – I’ll discuss these in the next edition of the magazine.

The receptive skills (reading and listening) are totally areas you can work on at home, by yourself, and you’ll make significant improvements in your exam scores if you invest enough time and attention. You won’t transform your abilities overnight, but regularly reading and listening to English, especially if using the types of texts that you will come across in the IELTS exam, you will increase your vocabulary and get faster and better at understanding.

British Council Student Magazine

Newspaper and magazine articles are useful, and the most similar texts to IELTS will be found in more academic publications such as specialist magazines and journals, try Nature www.nature.com and Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com for articles on science, technology, medicine with a slightly more academic style of writing than newspapers.. But you can also find near infinite articles to practice your reading skills on news websites such as the BBC www.bbc.com/news the Guardian www.theguardian.com/

international and www.nytimes.com

the

New

York

Times

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magazine/ and the New Yorker www.newyorker.com interesting resources, although the style is less academic than IELTS texts.

If you don’t mind paying for access the Economist www.economist.com and Financial Times www.ft.com have very good articles and are written in relatively IELTS style English.

The key is to read a lot and read a broad variety of texts, not just your regular interests be it football or film, but also areas you know nothing about. In terms of the IELTS exam, the texts are taken from any subject that is commonly studied at university, these are often areas such as biology, history, psychology, business and geography, but could be from any discipline and it’s impossible to predict.

You do not need to have any knowledge of the subject in order to answer the reading questions, but having experience of reading about a variety of unfamiliar topics will help you prepare.

What type of thing should I listen to?

The listening is the same for General and Academic IELTS exams, and involves listening in a social, everyday context, but also in an academic context. Listening to a variety of sources with different styles and accents will help prepare you for the exam.

Most commonly the speakers have British accents, but it’s also common to hear Australian, other English-speaking nationalities such as South African and Canadian, and the audio may not even be of native English speakers (although they never have a very ‘strong’ accent). In order to expose yourself to a variety of accents try the website Elllo where you can choose to listen to short conversations on a huge range of topics, and the flags tell you the nationality of the speakers www.elllo.org/ index.htm.

You may also find the magazines National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/

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The most difficult sections of the IELTS listening are the third and fourth which are

British Council Student Magazine

TED talks are available either as videos or as podcasts, and they are quasi-academic lectures which provide excellent practice of listening to single-speaker talks on a single topic, as with the fourth section of the IELTS exam.

What should I do when reading and listening? more academic contexts. The fourth is a talk or lecture by one person on an academic topic which is totally unpredictable, but also perhaps the easiest to work on through regular independent listening. There are an almost infinite number of podcasts available on the internet these days and many of them would provide excellent practice for you. You may want to download a podcast app like Google podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Spotify. Through one of these you can browse by topics that interest you, or search for the most popular, or try these specific ones that I recommend because of their more academic or serious content: Radiolab, In Our Time (BBC), The History Hour (BBC), 99% Invisible, Audio Long Reads (the Guardian), the LRB podcast (London Review of Books), Freakonomics Radio, Stuff You Should Know.

Pay attention! You won’t improve much by passively consuming texts, you need to focus all your attention on what they are saying, and constantly check that you are following and understanding.

Test your understanding. Could you explain the article or podcast to someone who hadn’t heard it? Could you summarise it? What were the main ideas, and what was its conclusion?

Don’t worry if you don’t understand every word. You will not understand everything in texts aimed at native speakers. You can build up your vocabulary by using a dictionary and noting new words you come across, but you will have to be comfortable with missing some meaning when using authentic texts – focus on following the main ideas rather than every single word.

Don’t worry about time (at first). In the exam you have time pressure with the reading, and you only hear the listening once, but when practising at home you may want to take things slower. It’s OK to re-read articles and use a dictionary if it enables you to better understand. It’s OK to pause and rewind podcasts, and to listen to them more than once. Over time you will get faster but you don’t need to do all your practice in a rush.

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Q&A WITH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Ansana / Jessica / Sam

people.

What things have you missed most in your life as a result of COVID restrictions?

What have you integrated into your daily routine to help you take care of your mental and physical health?

Ansana most misses not being able to go the cinema, which is just not the same as sitting on the sofa watching Netflix!

Her last full pe-COVID surround experience was way back in January 2020 to see Jojo Rabit, while eating popcorn, sipping her Coca-Cola and inhaling the smell of hot-dogs. Sam has missed lots of normal things we all take for granted – spending time with friends and family, going to restaurants and bars, playing football, travelling and going to the cinema and museums.

Jessica has missed not being able to go out without a mask on, along with all the simple freedoms we took for granted before.

She’s also missing not being able to make any real plans for anything, especially travel, since rules and restrictions change from one day to the next. She also really misses not being able to attend face to face yoga classes with other

Ansana has integrated lots of things into her daily routine. She has come up with a “10 step routine” which includes getting up at 6am every day, not checking her phone or the internet for the first 30 minutes of the day, going for walks, guided meditations, taking more care of her skin and taking dance classes on Zoom. Sam goes out to do exercise every day. He also finds that, even though he hasn’t actually seen his family for such a long time, he has been speaking to them more than ever before online.

Sam is also reading a lot more physical books than normal in order to try to give his eyes a rest from the screen. Jessica has integrated a lot of self-discipline into her daily routines by reading up on how to plan your life as though it were a job, with strict times for doing things, working towards forming new habits and routines.

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British Council Student Magazine

Is there anything new that you’ve learnt during COVID that you think will benefit you long-term?

During this period of COVID and lockdown, Ansana has learnt that life goes on, that you have to make the most of every moment and that the only restrictions that exist are the ones that you impose on yourself. Sam has learnt a lot during this period, including learning how to adapt to new situations, adapting to spending more time on his own, teaching online, and learning how to cook lots of new food, including some Korean dishes. He’s also improved his Spanish a lot by reading novels, including “El General en su Laberinto” by “Gabo”, and has been trying to learn to play the guitar, but isn’t thinking of giving up teaching just yet! Jessica has learnt how to look at problems in a different way, and realises that problems are more opportunities for learning than anything else.

What are the first things you’ll do when life gets back to normal?

When things get back to normal again, Ansana will get to the cinema as soon as possible, start eating with her hands again, and wear more lipstick! The first things that Sam will do will be to meet up with friends and family, travel and eat out. Jessica will pack a suitcase and head off to Patagonia.

Have you read anything good or watched anything on Netflix etc that you’d recommend to others?

Ansana recommends: Fire”:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8 www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYxJV_rmE8 Jessica recommends Planet” and “It’s a Sin”:

watching

“A

Perfect

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxibm1ODEpI www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnR5DxP2e2g What’s the most difficult thing that you’ve had to manage during this period?

The most difficult thing for Ansana has not being able to see her family, and her grandmother’s cooking which has a secret ingredient called “unconditional love”. The most difficult thing that Sam has had to manage is taking care of his kid Emilio when he’s at home and Sam is teaching at the same time. The most difficult thing for Jessica, which she has successfully managed, is seeing the negatives as the possibility for positive transformation.

Do you think you’ll make any permanent changes to your lifestyle as a result of COVID? Ansana will try to continue to take advantage of every waking moment to squeeze every bit of juice out of life as possible. Sam will try to work more from home, and will also try to continue cooking more and continue with his exercise routine.

Jessica will continue to do more exercise and eat a healthier diet.

“Portrait of a Lady on

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-fQPTwma9o and “The Social Dilemma” www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0 Sam recommends reading:

Roberto Bolaño (“Los Detectivos Salvajes”) And a couple of series of HBO: “Chernobyl” & “Succession” British Council Student Magazine

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Robert feels that this period has helped him to appreciate much what might previously have been considered the small things in life.

What are the first things you’ll do when life gets back to normal?

When normality returns, María José will go to a nice restaurant to have a proper celebration for her 18th birthday. Robert will hug his mum, and will go to visit his wife’s family in Mexico.

María José Lorenzo / Robert Pérez What things have you missed most in your life as a result of COVID restrictions?

María José has most missed going out (especially having an ice-cream with her friends) and not being able to start university.

She hopes to be able to travel to Spain to start her studies there as soon as things return to normal. María José also had to complete her last year of school entirely online. Robert has most missed the ability to get out and visit family and friends, and being able to give someone a hug or a handshake.

What have you integrated into your daily routine to help you take care of your mental and physical health?

María José has started doing regular exercise, got a lot closer to her mum, and integrated the routines involved in having a new puppy as part of the family. Like many, Robert has taken to regular exercise, but is finding it difficult to motivate his teenage son to do the same.

He also feels fortunate to have been able to spend a long period of time outside Bogota during the pandemic.

Is there anything new that you’ve learnt during COVID that you think will benefit you long-term?

Have you read anything good or watched anything on Netflix etc that you’d recommend to others?

María José recommends watching Dynasty: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq0soWMpkv8 and anything on Disney +, since that new streaming service has brought back many childhood memories.

Robert has enjoyed watching Anthony Bourdain videos on Netflix.

What’s the most difficult thing that you’ve had to manage during this period?

The most difficult thing for María José has been to manage her emotional health and to learn to deal with the anxiety that uncertainty creates.

Robert has found it difficult to keep his children motivated throughout these tough times.

Do you think you’ll make any permanent changes to your lifestyle as a result of COVID? María José will continue to get up earlier and will continue to use that tools she has been taught to deal with anxious moments in her life.

Robert thinks that we’ll become mor conscious about hygiene, and that our lifestyles in general might become a little more isolated.

María José has become much more independent in her learning and has also started reading on a much more regular basis.

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British Council Student Magazine

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM Learn a bit more about projects from other areas within the British Council:

Coding for Kids Impact (in numbers):

57,940,637

Project dates:

22 July to 31 December 2020

Coding For Kids is an online training course run by the British Council in cooperation with the Ministerio de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (MinTIC) y Computadores para Educar. In this second version it aimed to train 8,500 public school teachers, from all 32 departments of Colombia, in computer programming. They used Micro:bit, a 4cm by 5cm microcomputer, and tried to develop their teaching in order to help children access greater opportunities in IT professions.

Location:

All 32 departments of Colombia.

Audience and/or participants: Teachers from state institutions nationwide.

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Be the 1 Challenge App

Impact (in numbers):

More than 272,000 downloads of the app for Android and iOS. More than 1500 teachers using the support screen (el tablero de acompañamiento) in official educational institutes.

546 teachers in 59 Colombian municipalities (24 departments) were supported and trained in how to use the app as a tool for formative evaluation by 19 expert trainers.

Project dates:

April 24th 2020 to December 15th 2020

The app Be(the)1: Challenge was a collaboration between the British Council and the Ministerio de Educación Nacional and formed part of their effort to create tools to improve students’ learning of English throughout the country. The lockdown situation of school closures in 2020 meant the app was used more as a teaching tool. A focus group of teachers was accompanied by an educational coordinator to work on an action plan to establish priorities and create opportunities around the ELT Influencer strategy.

Location:

24 departments in Colombia: Antioquia, Caldas, Bolívar, Córdoba, Sucre, Atlántico, Boyacá, Arauca, Casanare, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Guaviare, Putumayo, Cundinamarca, Meta, Magdalena, Cesar, Santander, Norte de Santander, Tolima, Huila

Audience and/or participants: English teachers and students in public educational institutions.

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British Council Student Magazine

Opening of IELTS exams Impact (in numbers): Project dates:

Delivering more than 2,000 IELTS tests (paper based and computer delivered) as well as UKVI, Life Skills and other exams products in the 2 months since reopening From 12 September to present

The Exams department have reopened the delivery of IELTS throughout Colombia and through a direct delivery model supported the British Council Chile and soon British Council Peru. This has been delivered with careful consideration for biosecurity, with social distancing and PPE used at all times and with the rollout of the Video-Call Speaking system allowing candidates to take the speaking exam with an examiner using Zoom. Due to strict capacity limitations the team have worked exceptionally hard to ensure enough sessions are available to meet the demand by opening sessions in the evenings and on Sundays.

Location:

Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Cucuta, Neiva and Chile, with more locations to be added soon.

Students, particularly those requiring IELTS for graduation, university Audience and/or participants: places or individuals who require IELTS for UKVI for visas or immigration purposes.

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Creative Enterprise Impact (in numbers):

60 emerging creative entrepreneurs

Project dates:

November 10 th- 28th 2020

We spent the first six months of the pandemic thinking about the concepts, tools and information that the creative sector needs to survive and thrive in a post-2020 world. We therefore hacked the existing Creative Enterprise Programme's contents and toolkit, turned it into a digital workshop, secured an alliance with iNNpulsa and completely transformed 60 creative businesses across Colombia: from creative businesses in Bogotá to endeavours in a Muisca community in Tenjo and a Wayuu wedding business in Guajira.

Location:

All corners of Colombia

Audience and/or participants: 60 emerging creative entrepreneurs form all over Colombia 14

British Council Student Magazine

Community Actions Centred on Gender and Women’s Rights Impact (in numbers):

A total of 556 participants with 340 being trained in three Women’s Forums. 1,063 guests, both local and international, took part in various activities in ten municipalities.

Project dates:

June 2019 to June 2020

The project is the result of a collaboration between the ARN and the British Council with its global programme Active Citizens, in which 340 women from 10 Colombian municipalities received training on the topics of gender, leadership, participation and sexual and reproductive rights. The participants created Women’s Agendas in which they identified the needs of their local communities, proposed solutions and started projects to benefit them in social, cultural and productive ways.

Location:

10 municipalities affected by conflict: (including 8 reintegration zones: Espacios Territoriales de Capacitación y Reincorporación (ETCR): Santa Lucía (Ituango), Tierra Grata (Manaure), Pondores (Fonseca), Las Colinas (San José del Guaviare), La Guajira (Mesetas), La Variante (Tumaco), Caño Indio (Tibú), and in areas of: Mutatá, Pasca, Cali.

556 participants with 340 being trained in three Women’s Forums Audience and/or participants: Note: Of the 566 participants 84 % were women and 16% men. Of these 41% were in the reintegration programme and y 51% form the regular community.

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Enjoy at home Project dates:

March – September 2020

Due to the pandemic we changed the phrase #QuédateEnCasa (stay home) to #DisfrutaEnCasa (enjoy at home) and offered more than 30 resources for people to enjoy whenever they liked. We offered books, online courses, interactive platforms, short films, art content and teaching materials to the whole world. Our content was and continues to be free and available to anyone with Internet access.

Audience or participants: 16

Anyone, anywhere British Council Student Magazine

TONY’S PUNS

There are many different types of humour in all languages. It is one area of language that is often difficult to understand for a myriad of reasons – a lot of humour makes direct reference to cultural stereotypes for example (the Scots are supposed

to be mean and the Irish a bit stupid), or to current events or (in)famous people in a specific country.

One example of humour are puns. What’s a pun, you might ask?

A pun is an amusing use of a word or a phrase that has several meanings, or that sounds like another word. Do you know of any examples of pun jokes in Spanish?

Here are a few examples in English below. See if you can connect any of them correctly. They’re only good though if they’re funny!!!

Here are three complete ones below before you take the pun test!

I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Last night I dreamed I was swimming in an ocean of orange soda, but it was just a Fanta sea.

What’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One is really heavy and the other is a little lighter.

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DISFRUTA EN CASA DE NUESTROS

RECURSOS GRATUITOS Dale un vistazo a estos trabajos de ficción, cómic y blogs literarios. https://www.britishcouncil.co/disfruta-en-casa/lee

No te pierdas nuestros documentales musicales, tips de expertos, series web y obras de teatro. https://www.britishcouncil.co/disfruta-en-casa/mira

Conéctate con nuestras sesiones en vivo de artistas colombianos y británicos, playlists, programas de radio y podcasts. https://www.britishcouncil.co/disfruta-en-casa/escucha

Aprende nuevas habilidades, mejora tus habilidades en inglés, accede a recursos para docentes o prepárate para uno de nuestros exámenes internacionales gratis y desde tu casa. https://www.britishcouncil.co/disfruta-en-casa/aprende

Acércate a grandes expertos en transmisiones en vivo, conéctate a festivales digitales o visita nuestras plataformas interactivas. https://www.britishcouncil.co/disfruta-en-casa/descubre

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British Council Student Magazine

CALENDARIO DE CURSOS 2021 PROGRAMA PARA ADULTOS PERIODO

MODALIDAD

SEMANA PRINCIPAL DE MATRÍCULAS

Bimestral 1 2021-1

Intsv 4 sem (1)

Intsv 4 sem (2)

2021-2

Intsv 4 sem (4)

Enero 4 al 9

Febrero 1 al 8

Marzo 8 al 14

Abril 12 al 19

Bimestral 3 2021-3

Summer Intensivo

Intsv 4 sem (5)

Mayo 18 al 23

15 de marzo al 14 de mayo (Descanso 29 de marzo al 3 abril) 16 de marzo al 16 de abril (Descanso 29 de marzo al 3 abril)

29 de mayo al 17 de julio

25 de mayo al 18 de junio

22 de junio al 16 de julio

Intsv 4 Sem (7)

Julio 12 al 19

21 de julio al 15 de agosto 17 de agosto al 8 de octubre

Intsv 4 sem (8)

Julio 17 al 15 de agosto

17 de agosto al 10 de septiembre

Intsv 4 sem (9)

Septiembre 6 al 13

14 de septiembre al 8 de octubre

Intsv 4 sem (11)

20 de marzo al 15 de mayo

20 de abril al 14 de mayo

Junio 15 al 21

Bimestral 5

2021-5

9 de febrero al 5 de marzo

Intsv 4 sem (6)

Intsv 4 sem (10)

16 de enero al 6 de marzo

12 de enero al 5 de febrero

24 de mayo al 16 de julio

Bimestral 4

2021-4

CLASES SÁBADOS

12 de enero al 5 de marzo

Bimestral 2 Intsv 4 sem (3)

CLASES ENTRE SEMANA

21 de agosto al 9 de octubre

19 de octubre al 10 de diciembre Octubre 11 al 16

Noviembre 8 al 14

23 de octubre al 11 de diciembre

19 de octubre al 12 de noviembre 16 de noviembre al 10 de diciembre

PROGRAMA PARA NIÑOS Y JÓVENES (4 A 17 AÑOS) PRIMER SEMESTRE SEGUNDO SEMESTRE

British Council Student Magazine

23 de enero al 19 de junio 14 de agosto al 11 de diciembre

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CONTACT US For information about English courses online, contact us: via WhatsApp: 3125235450 or call us: 314 357 4303 / 305 425 7868 / 311 811 9571 Email: servicioalcliente@britishcouncil.org.co

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