Jane-Maria Harding da Rosa
Hi, I’m Jane-Maria.
I help EAL, CLIL , YL and ELT teachers develop professionally by focusing on what they can do in the classroom so they can get better results.
It’s not about what materials and resources you have, it’s about how you use them, what you say and what you do that will have the biggest impact.
The reason I became an English language teacher (30 years ago) was so I could live and work in Portugal. As soon as I started I realised that it wasn’t just a job, but a career path. What I loved about being in ELT was:
* The creativity in the classroom; developing activities, games and tasks to help students become better language learners.
* The community of ELT teachers who were willing to share their ideas and support and encourage each other.
After writing and coordinating courses in Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL), completing a Master’s in TEYL, writing courses and materials to support CLIL teachers, becoming a CELTA tutor and then DELTA tutor (now there’s a career path!), I decided that I wanted a change of focus. I went back to university and completed a PGCE in Primary Education.
However, while I loved teaching in Primary Schools in the UK, there was always a nagging feeling that I wasn’t fully utilising my expertise and knowledge. So now I am pulling everything together and aim support EAL and CLIL teachers around the world.
My belief
I had only been teaching for 18 months when my Director of Studies asked me to present a session at a symposium on all the activities and ideas I had for teaching young learners. It was received with such positivity, where nearly all the participants wanted to come and talk to me. I have regularly written and presented courses, seminars, webinars and workshops for institutions, ELT Associations, publishers and universities. It has always been my belief to share ideas, activities, approaches and insights as I enjoy disseminating knowledge and watching it have a cascading effect on teachers and their students. I often get teachers contacting me saying they still use the ideas I presented 5, 10, 15 ,20+ years ago. It is a humbling experience knowing that many lives, both teachers and learners, have been ‘touched’ (and still are) by something I said or an idea I shared.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the classes I did with Jane. Her dedication, along with the quality and depth of her teaching is unsurpassed. She provided me with skills and knowledge, in a challenging yet supportive environment, that I will take with me for years to come. I would regard the time I spent in her classes as invaluable professional development. I can think of no better preparation for a career in TEFL than classes with Jane. ”
— (Fergus Bowman, Profesor titulado)
My MMM Philosophy
While I was studying for my MA in TEYL at the University of York, I came across a very learner centred, child friendly approach to planning lessons used by University of Nottingham ITE team: MMM – Meeting new language, Manipulating it and Making the language your own.
Meeting new language
The way new language is presented involves a teacher trying to provide comprehensible input in an interesting way so that learners use their hearing, sight and knowledge of the world to put the language into context.
Manipulating the new language
The teacher should then try and support the learners in manipulating the new language in a variety of activities. First in a controlled way and then moving into more guided manipulation where the learners select the language they want to use from the range of new language they have just encountered.
Making the language your own
In this stage the students are likely to be in groups or pairs for activities with a clear purpose so they need to communicate. This should be much freer, less controlled practice where the emphasis is on getting their meaning across and understanding others’ meaning. The focus is on ‘ownership’ of the language, they need to feel the language belongs to them when they leave the classroom.
I realised that this was what I had been doing all through my career, except it wasn’t language it was ideas, concepts, approaches… anything!
While on my CELTA I ‘met‘ an idea of using card games to help support learners with ‘have got’ + colour+object. It was eye-opening, but I didn’t think being able to say ‘I’ve got a blue circle’ was very useful. I manipulated the game to include classroom objects, (I’ve got a blue pencil) and by doing that I made it my own, so much so that I shared the idea in several training sessions.
Meet, Manipulate, Make it your own, has become my mantra, and I hope to continue to share ideas and activities for other teachers to meet, and manipulate into their individual teaching setting, and make them their own!