2023 CBA CONFERENCE

Every class, assignment, and experience shape the human brain. How much familiar are you dealing with educational neuroscience? Be ready to understand how the brain processes information into learning and how stress responses affect the functions in the brain. In this session we will reflect five research-based principles that we know affect learning and behaviors in the classroom.

In the last decade CBA La Paz has lived and experienced many changes. Some of them are: institutional growth, academic department growth, post Covid realities, new job demands, digital literacy and XXI century skills and needs.

Institutionally, it has been hard to overcome some moments; however, the Academic Department has been a very important cornerstone to continue working and sustaining CBA families. It is time to embrace our own reality and see a positive and inspiring insight and opportunities to always be better and provide the quality which the Academic Department is in charge of; in other words, it is time to develop communicative competencies in our users, by means of the CBA “know how” which can be found nowhere else.

Knowing who we are, what strengths and weaknesses we are facing, not as individuals, but as the soul and abstract imaginary teachers` body that is 77 years old and has constructed the CBA identity, is it possible to define Institutional Academic Objectives, action plans and realistic goals to come true.

I am an English teacher who has worked with children and teens for more than six years. I currently work at CBA – Sucre and “Pequeños Genios” Kindergarten. I specialized in Teaching Young and Very Young Learners at Mason University and participated in different ecological projects. By focusing on Eco-PBL pedagogy, I developed a children’s textbook named “Eco-Heroes” which aims students involve in projects to solve ecological problems while developing English skills.

Nowadays technology provides access to different ways for students to write. Collaborative writing is the process of producing a written work as a group where all team members contribute to the content. When writing is done collaboratively it can be prompted by reading and thinking but discussion can also play an important role and talking is another process that allows students to consider what they are writing and practice what they have to say and try things out. These processes are really important for language learning as well as producing good writing. Therefore, feedback can be brought during the process of conceptualizing and drafting as well as revision. Collaborative writing can also be used in classes in case the students do not have access to Internet connection or computers following the same processes.

In today’s digital age, the workshop titled “Exploring the Power of Tangible Tools: Enhancing Learning Beyond Digital Platforms” focuses on the effective utilization of paper, clips, markers, colors, and physical materials as valuable teaching resources alongside popular online platforms. This workshop emphasizes the complementary nature of these activities, aiming to provide educators with innovative strategies to engage students and enhance their learning experiences through a balanced integration of physical and digital tools. Participants will gain practical insights into incorporating tangible resources to promote creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking in the classroom, ultimately fostering a well-rounded educational environment.

There is no question that all the four language skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening- are important in language learning, and successful teaching can benefit from including a conbination of these skills in the classroom. In this workshop the presenter is going to share interactive strategies for integrating speaking into a writing-focused course, with the goal of improving student’s competency in both language skills. Writing to speak and speaking to write.

Some strategies as for speaking and writing will also be shared to create a student centered classroom and create interactive opportunities that incorporate communicative language teaching and task-based cooperative learning.

Students who have their motivation motors switched on and turned towards learning will pay attention, work hard, and believe that they can succeed. Unmotivated students may seem passive and unengaged. Their motor for learning is switched off, so they don’t have any energy to invest in the learning process.
There are factors that can help increase student motivation and engagement. It is also important to talk about the different kinds of motivation and how they can arise.
Knowing and understanding that people have basic needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness may help us to develop motivation.
We also can work with the ARCS model for promoting and sustaining motivation in the classroom. We can see how these four ideas fit the three human needs.
Attitudes and motivation are complex social, cultural, and psychological factors that influence how a student approaches many situations in life, including second language learning.

Every class, assignment, and experience shape the human brain. How much familiar are you dealing with educational neuroscience? Be ready to understand how the brain processes information into learning and how stress responses affect the functions in the brain. In this session we will reflect five research-based principles that we know affect learning and behaviors in the classroom.

In the last decade CBA La Paz has lived and experienced many changes. Some of them are: institutional growth, academic department growth, post Covid realities, new job demands, digital literacy and XXI century skills and needs.

Institutionally, it has been hard to overcome some moments; however, the Academic Department has been a very important cornerstone to continue working and sustaining CBA families. It is time to embrace our own reality and see a positive and inspiring insight and opportunities to always be better and provide the quality which the Academic Department is in charge of; in other words, it is time to develop communicative competencies in our users, by means of the CBA “know how” which can be found nowhere else.

Knowing who we are, what strengths and weaknesses we are facing, not as individuals, but as the soul and abstract imaginary teachers` body that is 77 years old and has constructed the CBA identity, is it possible to define Institutional Academic Objectives, action plans and realistic goals to come true.

As education moves into the 21st century, teachers and students are encountering artificial intelligence (AI), which refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that require human intelligence. This technology demands a change in teaching methods. Educators can use AI tools to create personalized learning experiences and design adaptable learning paths.

AI can help teachers by automating routine tasks, freeing up their time to focus on higher level instruction, and supporting students’ social development. Combining AI with traditional teaching methods can make learning more engaging and effective.

One major benefit of using AI in education is its ability to offer personalized learning experiences. It is crucial to integrate 21st century skills into education, taking into account the advancements in AI, to prepare students for the future. By nurturing critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and digital literacy in the context of AI, teachers can empower students and help them improve their performance.

Today’s classrooms look and feel different due to technology increase. Students today need new sets of skills to succeed in the globalized society of the future. During this workshop, teachers will be exposed to some fundamental changes that are currently taking place in 21st century education by looking at the 4 Cs, and importantly, teachers will consider how these changes can and should be impacting English language teaching and learning around the world. The 4 Cs are communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These skills were originally identified in 2002 by a non-profit organization known as Partnership for 21st Century Skills (Plucer, Kaufman & Beghetto 2016). These are considered to be key skills for 21st century learners. For language teachers, a primary challenge is thinking about how these skills can be promoted and worked inside the classrooms through interactive activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted various aspects of our lives, including language learning and communication. This presentation focuses on exploring the concept of ‘Willingness to Communicate’ (WTC) in the context of language learning post-pandemic. WTC refers to an individual’s motivation and readiness to engage in communication in different languages. The presentation examines how the pandemic has affected learners’ WTC, considering the challenges of reduced interactions, increased speaking anxiety, and the influence of factors such as classroom enjoyment and learner’s psychology. Strategies and interventions to enhance WTC in language learning settings are explored, considering the new normal of language education in a post-pandemic world. This presentation aims to equip language teachers with practical tools to enhance the effectiveness of their teaching methods, while fostering learner’s motivation
and building their confidence in the language learning process. By addressing the challenges and providing practical strategies, it aims to empower language teachers in fostering a positive and effective language learning environment.

The topic explores the influence of excessive digital connectivity on students and the potential role of the behaviorist paradigm in addressing the challenges posed by this phenomenon. By employing behaviorist principles, educators can implement techniques such as positive reinforcement and behavior modeling to encourage responsible digital behavior.

Furthermore, this emphasizes the importance of structured learning environments and consistent routines. Educators can design classroom activities that promote engagement and active participation while reducing excessive social media time.

Studying the impact of hyper connectivity on students and exploring how the behaviorist paradigm can contribute in this regard allows educators to develop effective strategies to address the challenges associated with excessive digital connectivity.

By applying behaviorist principles, educators can support students in developing responsible and mindful online behavior while fostering a healthy balance between technology use and other important aspects of their lives.

Nowadays we aware about the importance of being innovative in education, that’s why design thinking has been becoming as angular stones in the teaching process, this kind of strategy is being applied in many countries around the world.
DT has been applied in 2000 on labor and industrial fields, but later this model has been introduced with the education, some of the benefits that DT offers is the multidisciplinarity and projects-based learning, these ones are about the way to learn with the ability to face to different real situations around the world.

As teacher we are working and living in a very technological era. This fact presents teachers with many difficult and challenging issues. Before the pandemic, face-to-face classes were, in a way, easier to handle and sometimes difficult to control or be aware of the time the teacher spend talking. Now with the new reality and virtual classes, not only does it seem to be necessary the oral participation of a teacher, but it also seems that the participation of students has been reduced for various understandable reasons. With online classes some teacher feel that they are talking to no one. Classes appeared to be colder. However, many teachers don’t realize that this is not true. We, as teachers, have to reduce our talking time and continue being facilitators. When reducing talking time, we more than ever should have classes that appeal to different learning styles, let students help and encourage each other, so that they can develop camaraderie, and build closer relationships with one another in an online classroom. And most importantly, have students use authentic communicative language in an environment that students can consider to be safe.

The achievement of communicative competence rests on a complex and balanced ecosystem of interdependent technological and human contributors: consumers who want to learn a language; print, digital, and online courseware; and teachers who facilitate learning. Just as in the natural world, where well-balanced
ecosystems thrive and unbalanced systems struggle, language learning that is too dependent on just one component is bound to fail.
In the EFL environment, where learners lack both adequate exposure to new language and sufficient opportunities to practice it, it is crucial to maximize limited class time to include rich exposure to authentic language and carefully constructed interactive spoken practice that ensures increased quantity and quality of
expression. As our profession has moved towards more remote and hybrid settings, we must adapt to an altered ecosystem where learning has shifted from a balanced person-to-person process to a more person-to- digital one. The result is a need to ensure that we optimize the efficacy of our technology without losing the
essentials of communication development.
In this presentation, co-authors and language specialists Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher will share techniques and choices that make the best use of class time in both face-to-face and hybrid ecosystems to support the development of communicative competence in an EFL setting.

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is an ELT method that focuses on using real-world tasks to develop language competence rather than on form-driven instruction. In the 21st. century, TBLT continues to be highly relevant and effective as it endows the ability to communicate effectively in English, which is becoming increasingly vital in various fields of endeavor.

Summing up, TBLT continues to be highly relevant in today’s classroom, enabling students to develop their communication skills in various settings. It promotes collaborative learning, personalizes learning, and creates an awareness of cross-cultural issues.

The presenter demonstrates meaningful use of entertaining, engaging, and practical brain break activities that take children away from hard mental work and allow their brains and bodies to reset. In order to present a pretty effective workshop the session focuses on several kinesthetic and Total Physical response activities that means that the participants apart from watching, hearing, and writing during the presentation, they participate actively individually, in pairs and groups with the main idea to learn something useful and at the end of each activity discuss on how to adapt these activities in the classroom and leave this workshop with fresh ideas that help each teacher create an environment in which kids re-energize, refocus and give their brains a boost.

El avance de la tecnología en las últimas décadas ha sido enorme, lo que ha provocado grandes cambios en la sociedad, tanto en su estructura, como en su comportamiento o en la forma de relacionamiento. Este aspecto se vio incrementado con la pandemia derivada del COVID-19, que nos obligó a evitar el contacto entre personas, y adaptar a lo virtual gran parte de nuestras dinámicas de trabajo.
En esta charla/taller, se presentarán diferentes metodologías de trabajo y dinámicas grupales para aplicar en entornos educativos, con el objetivo de recuperar todo lo positivo que implica la interacción y el contacto directo y presencial entre personas.

Nowadays technology provides access to different ways for students to write. Collaborative writing is the process of producing a written work as a group where all team members contribute to the content. When writing is done collaboratively it can be prompted by reading and thinking but discussion can also play an important role and talking is another process that allows students to consider what they are writing and practice what they have to say and try things out. These processes are really important for language learning as well as producing good writing. Therefore, feedback can be brought during the process of conceptualizing and drafting as well as revision. Collaborative writing can also be used in classes in case the students do not have access to Internet connection or computers following the same processes.

In this opportunity I want to develop the topic “HOW IMPORTANT IS VOCABULARY?” enforcing the importance of having an extensive vocabulary in our teaching practices remembering when and how we can teach vocabulary mixing old and new strategies that would be very helpful now a days..

There is a real need for social interaction with the teacher or between peers, following Vygotsky’s concept of mediation (1978) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to explain the margin of incidence of educational action. For Vygotsky, this zone is the difference between what students can do on their own and what they could do with the help of an adult or a more capable partner.

Teachers have to design strategies for students to engage in their own learning. This means that students have to be aware of what they have learned by developing metacognitive skills such as “learning to learn”. We know that transforming an entire study program is complex, but don’t worry, we can start by integrating Projects into our program. What is it?

Projects or Going-Beyond-the-Book is a solution designed to offer a different and fun experience that offers a sample of the methodology for language education. The content corresponds to the language curriculum, it is very flexible in when and how it is used, as we have seen before it combines perfectly with other methodologies that develop 21st-century skills and integrates easily with any language course.

Students who have their motivation motors switched on and turned towards learning will pay attention, work hard, and believe that they can succeed. Unmotivated students may seem passive and unengaged. Their motor for learning is switched off, so they don’t have any energy to invest in the learning process.
There are factors that can help increase student motivation and engagement. It is also important to talk about the different kinds of motivation and how they can arise.
Knowing and understanding that people have basic needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness may help us to develop motivation.
We also can work with the ARCS model for promoting and sustaining motivation in the classroom. We can see how these four ideas fit the three human needs.
Attitudes and motivation are complex social, cultural, and psychological factors that influence how a student approaches many situations in life, including second language learning.

This interactive session will provide an opportunity to reflect on your roots as an English teacher, current challenges and opportunities facing our students, and the changes we’ve all experienced in the last few years. We’ll take time together to consider ways we and our students can connect and reconnect to our own roots, to new opportunities, and to each other as learners, teachers, and users of the English language in a global context.

I am an English teacher who has worked with children and teens for more than six years. I currently work at CBA – Sucre and “Pequeños Genios” Kindergarten. I specialized in Teaching Young and Very Young Learners at Mason University and participated in different ecological projects. By focusing on Eco-PBL pedagogy, I developed a children’s textbook named “Eco-Heroes” which aims students involve in projects to solve ecological problems while developing English skills.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, blended learning was a choice due to learners’ not having the necessary technology available at home. English teachers and learners had to quickly shift to virtual instruction, and therefore, suddenly shift to the use of technology which meant buying devices, getting access to a reliable Internet connection at home, and making big changes to teaching and learning practices. After these significant global changes in education and with less obstructions, blended learning arose as a steady commitment in the present and looked to the future striving to provide students with the best of both in-person and online learning experiences and with the opportunities and flexibility necessary for the teaching of 21st century skills.

In today’s digital age, the workshop titled “Exploring the Power of Tangible Tools: Enhancing Learning Beyond Digital Platforms” focuses on the effective utilization of paper, clips, markers, colors, and physical materials as valuable teaching resources alongside popular online platforms. This workshop emphasizes the complementary nature of these activities, aiming to provide educators with innovative strategies to engage students and enhance their learning experiences through a balanced integration of physical and digital tools. Participants will gain practical insights into incorporating tangible resources to promote creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking in the classroom, ultimately fostering a well-rounded educational environment.

There is no question that all the four language skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening- are important in language learning, and successful teaching can benefit from including a conbination of these skills in the classroom. In this workshop the presenter is going to share interactive strategies for integrating speaking into a writing-focused course, with the goal of improving student’s competency in both language skills. Writing to speak and speaking to write.

Some strategies as for speaking and writing will also be shared to create a student centered classroom and create interactive opportunities that incorporate communicative language teaching and task-based cooperative learning.

Every class, assignment, and experience shape the human brain. How much familiar are you dealing with educational neuroscience? Be ready to understand how the brain processes information into learning and how stress responses affect the functions in the brain. In this session we will reflect five research-based principles that we know affect learning and behaviors in the classroom.

In this talk, we will dive into the fascinating world of AI and its transformative potential in the field of education. We will explore how AI can empower teachers and educators by augmenting their instructional capabilities and streamlining administrative tasks.
We will showcase innovative AI-powered tools and applications that enhance collaboration, assessment, and content creation.

As education moves into the 21st century, teachers and students are encountering artificial intelligence (AI), which refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that require human intelligence. This technology demands a change in teaching methods. Educators can use AI tools to create personalized learning experiences and design adaptable learning paths.

AI can help teachers by automating routine tasks, freeing up their time to focus on higher level instruction, and supporting students’ social development. Combining AI with traditional teaching methods can make learning more engaging and effective.

One major benefit of using AI in education is its ability to offer personalized learning experiences. It is crucial to integrate 21st century skills into education, taking into account the advancements in AI, to prepare students for the future. By nurturing critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and digital literacy in the context of AI, teachers can empower students and help them improve their performance.

Today’s classrooms look and feel different due to technology increase. Students today need new sets of skills to succeed in the globalized society of the future. During this workshop, teachers will be exposed to some fundamental changes that are currently taking place in 21st century education by looking at the 4 Cs, and importantly, teachers will consider how these changes can and should be impacting English language teaching and learning around the world. The 4 Cs are communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These skills were originally identified in 2002 by a non-profit organization known as Partnership for 21st Century Skills (Plucer, Kaufman & Beghetto 2016). These are considered to be key skills for 21st century learners. For language teachers, a primary challenge is thinking about how these skills can be promoted and worked inside the classrooms through interactive activities.

In this opportunity I want to develop the topic “HOW IMPORTANT IS VOCABULARY?” enforcing the importance of having an extensive vocabulary in our teaching practices remembering when and how we can teach vocabulary mixing old and new strategies that would be very helpful now a days..

Nowadays we aware about the importance of being innovative in education, that’s why design thinking has been becoming as angular stones in the teaching process, this kind of strategy is being applied in many countries around the world.
DT has been applied in 2000 on labor and industrial fields, but later this model has been introduced with the education, some of the benefits that DT offers is the multidisciplinarity and projects-based learning, these ones are about the way to learn with the ability to face to different real situations around the world.