The Maletín Pedagógico is a tool for use in Clubs Socials and other ambits which promote social inclusion and opportunity amongst members of the community who often suffer social exclusion and other forms of discrimination. It is a group of 15 prepared lesson intended as a fun introduction to English.
The Maletín was originally designed by Andrew Dodd together with his students at Pi i Molist, Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona (a day centre for persons suffering / recovering from serious mental health problems). The lessons represent an enormous amount of love and patience taken to develop the numerous materials which have been enjoyed and perfected there. It is the hope of all participants that other people will be able to enjoy the easy to use lessons now made available.
Thanks to La Federació de Salut Mental de Catalunya Maletín is now available for use in all social clubs. La Federació have sponsored the project and driven it to where it is now. The Maletin has been pilotted in seven of La Federaciós social clubs, and where possible the insights of the educators and students there have been incorporated into the Maletin to improve the learner experience.
La Federació has also had the fortune of having had the involvement of Serveis Linguistics de Barcelona (a dynamic and socially responsible Educators, Language Assessment and Translators Co-operative), who are this Maletin available for use on-line, together with a variety of excellent added interactive activities which allow for extra fun activities in class and complementary homework to support the main pedagogic objectives.
The lessons are designed with three objectives:
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That they are cognitively stimulating (memory / attention / planning)
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That they give a “taste” of the contents and methods that someone encounter should they wish to continue their interst in a more formal English training context
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That they are way of bringing people together to collaborate in a meaningful and fun social activity.
The course is roughly based on what a student might be expected to study in a beginner course of English (A1) but the activities could also be useful to those with a higher level of English hoping to refresh their knowledge of the language.
Do we have to do all the lessons?
The classes are expected to be followed in the order presented as many classes build on the contents of previous lessons. This said, only lessons 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 are absolutely necessary to prepare students to do the final exercise in Lesson 15, which brings all the vocabulary and grammar previously studied together.
It is up to the person giving the lessons (dependening on their confidence with the material) whether to include lessons 2, 4, 6 and 13.
Customising the material.
Although there are only 15 lessons (and only 11 of those are absolutely essential) this should not stop teachers / educators from adapting the materials for themselves and introducing new vocabulary. In fact by introducing new vocabulary you can make the course last a whole 9 months or more.
For example, some of the Clubs Socials thought that it would be better to include more practical jobs vocabulary in Lesson 9. Unfortunately, we needed that particular vicabulary about celebrity jobs to allow students to complete Lesson 15. However, if you go here you will find an extension lesson where, following the same lesson plan teachers/ educators can include an extra lesson on more routine jobs.
The audio has been recorded directly from the computer (see here for instructions on how to do it) and we recommend this Macmillan site. Those teachers / educators more confident with their pronunciation can record their own voices and insert the recording into powerpoint.
Please share your new lessons here at at El Nostre Anglès and we will try to make them available to other teachers and educators.
Enjoy!!