Extension cords

Extension cords to help power electrical appliances won't be provided by the Institute. Sorry! Please, ask your students to bring them and try to make the cords as long as possible since the power source may be far away from your station.

Multicultural Fair

It is great to see how teachers and students are working together to have the best fair ever. Good job!

On Nov 21, the day of the Multicultural Fair, Arnulfo will have his normal schedule from 8-12 and 2-6pm. If you left any material for the fair at the resource center, you need to pick it up tomorrow Thu before 6pm or on Fri after 8am.

By the way, the stamps will be ready tomorrow Thu at 4pm at the Coordination office. Please, come pick them up (do not send any student to pick them up. Stamps will only be handed out to teachers).

Passports will be delivered at the Embassy on the same day of the fair. All visitors will have to visit the Embassy first. Please, do not accept visitors without their passport at your sight.

Please, REMEMBER THAT CLEANUP MUST BE DONE AFTER THE EVENT. THE PHYSICAL PLANT DIRECTOR EXPECTS THE AREA USED TO BE AS CLEAN AFTER THE FAIR AS IT WAS BEFORE.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO TAKE ANYTHING (e.g. tables, chairs, etc) OUT FROM ANY CLASSROOM OR OFFICE, YOU MUST RETURN THIS TO THE ORIGINAL PLACE RIGHT AFTER THE FAIR IS DONE.

We really appreciate your effort and help.

Cycle 8 Meeting

The meeting for extension courses that begin on Thursday, November the 6th will take place on Wednesday, November the 5th at 11:40 and 5:40 so that everybody can attend.

The meeting will be held at the Noam Chomsky Auditorium. We hope to see you there! Thanks!

Martha Caballero

How to use the Panaboard

New TV screens have been installed in rooms 107, 206 and 218. There is also a Panaboard in room 310. This is the one we told you about the last meeting we had before the beginning of the previous cycle. On Tuesday, november the 4th there will be training on how to use the panaboard in room 310 from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. The ongoing training sessions last 30 minutes. We cordially invite you to attend So that you can make the most out of your lessons in the future cycles by using this equipment.

The only thing you have to do is be there, room 310 any time in the morning according to your availability. Don't miss the chance to get familiar with panaboard.

Martha Caballero

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Dear Young learner program teachers:
This coming Saturday (November 1st) we will be celebrating Halloween Day! For this purpose we need your cooperation.
1. Please, call your students (all programs) and invite them to design a very creative eyemask or hat at home (just one).
2.On Saturday, November 1st, do an “Eyemask /hat Contest” in the classroom and select the best one. Take photos to publish on the web. There is a gift for the winner.
3. Dedicate just one hour of the session to the Halloween activity and contest. Remember we have to continue covering the units assigned for the level.
4.The teachers will be given a bag of lollipops to offer the students.
5.The Kids Talk and Kids students are not allowed to wear disguises, just their hats or eyemasks if they want.
6. Teachers, you are especially invited to wear your eyemask or hat as well.
7. There will be a special decoration in front of the institute building for the Kids talk, kids and preteenagers students and teachers to take photos, you can come during the break.

Thanks a lot for your help!!!!
Have a boo time.

Curricular Test 1 postponed until Nov 4

Due to the strike on Thu, oct 23, the curricular test 1 for Tue and Thu courses has been postponed until Tue, Nov 4. As regards the oral test, there will be two options:


1. It can be administered on Tue, Oct 28.

2. It can be administered on Tue, Nov 4 along with the written test.

Young Learner Program Teachers

Dear teachers:
Today Saturday, October 25th there is no class at UIS (it is closed). So please, call the young learners and advice them not to come this afternoon.
The adult courses will be held in Cabecera.
Thanks for your cooperation.

Talent Show

All of you are welcome to invite your students to participate in our Talent Show on Friday, October the 31st at 4 p.m. at la Gallera.

Each one of the participants will have a max. of 5 minutes for his/her performance. There will be nice prizes for the winners. Depending on the registration we will consider creating some categories. Please, encourage them to participate.

If your students are interested in participating , please, ask them to register up to Tuesday, october the 28th at 6 p.m. with Ana Milena at the Reception office. They can also send information to: cyberlaura2110@hotmail.com or cyberlaura2110@yahoo.com. The information we require is:
Name of the student and I.D.
Contact information: phone, mobile and email
Class he is in
Teacher
Talent

Once again, thanks a lot for the time and effort you have put to make all this possible.

Martha Caballero

Curricular Test 1

Next week, October the 23rd and the 24th students from the curricular program are sitting test 1. Only authorized exams can be given to students. Please, remember to pick up your exams with the corresponding order for the copies at the coordination office next Monday, October 20, from 9 to 12 and from 2 to 7 p.m. The order has to be signed by Dr. Mariela Gómez from the Escuela de Lenguas, not the institute.

We still have some exams that were checked but nobody has come to work on the final corrections.

A FEW REMINDERS

Dear teachers

Attending some students' suggestions and taking into account the services the resource center offers, it is important to know that this center is only for individual work as well as for exam administration.
You are free to use the computers individually and the supporting material when necessary as far as you help us keep the silence and quietness a room like this requires.
You are also invited to use the teachers room as the place for discussions, meetings or any other academic or social activity that implies interaction.
Furthermore, we want to remind you of the importance of informing your Curricular and Extension students about the dates of exams and deadlines for handing in reports or homework. Don't forget they have the right to be told about their performance in each one of the evaluations on time.

Thanks for your cooperation and commitment.

Academic Coordinators

Multicultural Fair

Just to remind you that the main goal of the Multicultural Fair is INTERACTION. So please, provide communicative activities for your visitors.

If you have students who are interested in selling "1 dollar" things at the multicultural fair, you need to send us a printed report with the students' names, codes, program, English course, items, and price before October 14, 6 pm. A format will be sent to your email account.

Remember that you can hold a meeting today Tue, Oct 7 from 3:45 to 4:15 to discuss Multicultural Fair issues.

Testing Students at Common European Framework levels

If you are interested in attending the seminar on Testing Students at Common European Framework, you need to register at Ana Mi's before Tue, October 7, 6pm.
Only registered teachers will be allowed to attend the seminar.

Curricular teachers will be allowed to miss the 4-6pm curricular class. A note must be posted at the classroom door.

Extension program teachers will be allowed to attend, as well, but in this case, the course will be postponed one day. Teachers need to tell their students today that there won't be class tomorrow from 4 to 6pm.


Lecturer: Annette Capel
Place: Hotel Chicamocha Auditorium
Date: October 8, 2008
Time: 4-6 pm

Attendance Policy

Please, call roll on a daily basis in both the extension and the curricular programs. Keep record on the corresponding sheets. 20% of absences leads to failure of the course (16 hours in the curricular program; 8 horas in the extension program)

Cur. Lesson Plans & Ext. and Cur. Exams

Curricular lesson plans have already been revised. Please, pick them up at Ana Mi's.

In order to get more organized, we would like teachers in both extension and curricular programs, to hand in exams directly to the coordination office. Ana Milena won't be available to carry out this task.

Advanced English Grammar Workshop Next Week

Ms. Cherilyn Gain, our Fulbright Teaching Assistant from Phoenix, Arizona, will be offering a workshop on advanced English grammar. All Institute teachers are welcome to attend either the Tues, Sep 30 10-12pm or the Wed, Oct 1 2-4pm session. This is an old-fashioned grammar workshop, so bring your notebook and your love for punctuation! Topics include proper usage of the comma, semicolon, colon, hyphen, and dash in formal writing.

Registration Deadline: Monday, October 29, noon @ Ana Milena's

Extension Program New Cycle

Our extension program start date has been changed to Thursday, September 25.

Our beginning-of-cycle meeting will be held @ Chomsky Auditorium on Wed, September 24 @ 11:30 or 3:30 pm. (Curricular program teachers may release their students earlier to attend this meeting).

Information about courses and teachers for the new cycle won't be ready until September 24 @ 4 pm.

Proficiency Test for Curricular Program Students

If there are any English proficient students who are taking Curricular English I for the very first time, please encourage them to take the proficiency test to validate the curricular English program.
Exam Date: September 26
Registration Deadline: September 23 (before noon)
(More info @ Reception office)

Teacher's room being painted!!!

Dear Teachers:

As you may have noticed the rooms are being painted this week. Since you are all attending a meeting tomorrow, Thursday the 18th of September, we kindly request you to empty your locker so that we prevent any inconvinience with the moving of the lockers.

Thanks!

Martha Caballero

The director's blog

The Director's blog has been added to "My favorite sites". Every Sunday new posts are published in this blog; however, you are invited to visit it at any time.

New site

A very interesting site to work on videos has been posted. Ms. Güiza recommended it.

Schedules and Sites

New Schedules have been posted.

A new element has been added to this blog: "My Favorite Sites". Any teacher who would like to share his/her favorite esl sites can send me an e-mail describing the site URL, levels & skills.

Curricular Test 2

Curricular tests that couldn't be administered on June 26 due to the strike, must be administered on Tue, July 22.
Deadline to enter test 2 grades in the system has been extended to July 31.

New Saturday Cycle - Cycle 3

The new Adult Saturday cycle (cycle 3) will start on July 19 and end on September 20.

The new Young Learner Saturday cycle (cycle 3) will start on July 26 and end on September 27.

Curricular Test 2 Administration

Oral Test (Sp prod and Int) will be administered on June 24 and 25.
Written Test (Rd, Li, and Wr) will be administered on June 26 and 27.

Please, stick to these dates & do not switch the order of the exams.

Institute's Time

Administrative and Teaching staff needs to synchronize their time to the time in the Reception office.

From Tuesday, June 24, on people who start work at 6 A.M. will need to sign their names and the arrival time on the SIGN-IN SHEET posted in the reception office. A sign-in sheet will be posted, as well, at the Multimedia room for those teachers who have multimedia at 6 a.m.

PLEASE, SIGN IN AS SOON AS YOU ARRIVE!

HANDOUTS BANK

In order to create our handouts bank for Students' access, as a tool to reinforce and have extra practice, we kindly ask you to cooperate bringing useful handouts or worksheets that you have elaborated in different levels and programs. We will be receiving them on these coming days. We'd really appreciate it.

Faculty Meeting

Extension and Curricular faculty meeting will be held on Fri, June 20 at 9:45 am and 3:45 pm in the Auditorium. Attendance is compulsory. 8-10 am and 2-4 pm classes must be dismissed 15 minutes earlier. 10-12 am and 4-6 pm classes will start 15 minutes later (both extension and curricular programs). This will be a brief meeting.

Curricular Test 2 Administration

Written Test (Reading, Listening and Writing) will be administered on June 26 and 27.
Oral Test (Speaking production and Interaction) will be administered on June 24 and 25.
Courses that missed class on Fri, June 6, and Wed, June 11, CAN take the ORAL test on July 16 (after the summer break).

Plan de Gestion

Last Sunday an attachment with the summary of the Plan de Gestión 2008 was sent to your email accounts. This is important information all the Language Institute Teachers must be acquainted with.

Extension Class Attendance June 11 to 13

Those extension courses that were moved to Cabecera from June 11 to 13 due to the labor union strikes MUST NOT be punished with the attendance policy. Some students did have issues going to Cabecera and then going back to UIS and viceversa; they may need tutorials and some extra days to sit the midterm. Suggest them websites and resources at the Resource Center.

Curricular Test 2

Final Version of the Curricular Test 2 is due on Mon, June 16.

Extension Students' Contact Information

Students' contact information needs to be updated. It would be a great help if teachers could take a couple of minutes from their lessons to update their students' phone numbers and to find out how many students are UIS students or work at UIS. (Please, hand this info in by Tue, June 17 to the Coordination Office)

Extension Courses at UIS

Extension courses will go back to normal. Teachers teaching at UIS, will teach at UIS again from Monday, Jun 16 on.

Exam Drafts

Curricular and Extension Midterms have already been revised. Step in the Coordination office to pick them up.

B2 Program: Levels B2.1 to B2.5

Teachers teaching levels B1.5 and up need to remind their students that the B2 PROGRAM has now FIVE levels: B2.1 to B2.5

Extension Midterm Draft

The Extension Program Midterm Draft is due TODAY.

New info in the right column

In the right-hand column of this blog you will find the Adult Program Sequence. As this is confidential information that only people working at the Institute should know, people interested in seeing it must ask for authorization through their gmail accounts.

Extension Program Meeting

Our meeting will be held on June 3 at 11:30 am. or 5:30 pm. Teachers teaching curricular courses from 10-12 or 4-6, may release their students earlier. Attendance is compulsory in one of the above schedules.

Schedule Links

To see Weekday and Saturday course schedules, just click on the links in the right column. Curricular program schedule coming soon.

Comments on Curricular General Planning 2

Some great activities and Web sites. Can Do Statements were appropriately selected. Appropriate distribution of time.
For planning 3, remember to include:
-More Web sites (3 Web sites different from the Headway site)
-Quiz and test dates
-Supporting material
-Headway page numbers

Curricular English Test 2

-The DEADLINE for the curricular test 2 draft is on JUNE 4.
-Teachers will work in groups of 3 or 4 to design their own test (it is possible to work within the same groups set for test 1).
-Format given for test 1 should be applied in test 2.
-This time teachers will be responsible for burning Cds and getting copies made in Publicaciones.

Curricular Test 1 Grades

Teachers who are new in the Curricular program will be trained on how to enter grades in the system on the following dates:
May 29 from 8-10
May 30 from 4-6
Please, register before May 27 at the Reception in one of the above schedules.

DEADLINE to enter curricular test 1 grades in the system: June 6 ( two more days were added to give teachers more time to deal with make-up tests)

MAKE-UP TESTS: Each teacher will arrange a suitable schedule with their students for make-up tests. Please, drop by the day you are administering make-up tests to borrow the corresponding exams.

Training on Genesis

Training on Genesis will be held at the Multimedia Room this coming Tue, May 27. Teachers attending this training will become Genesis TUTORS:

8-10
Stanley Liu
Tatiana Mikhailova
Sandra Reyes
María Rojas
Michelle Zhang

10-12
Andrea Bolívar
Zoraida Uribe
Mario Rueda
Isnardo Saenz
Leo Portilla

2-4
Yezid Celis
William Durán
Martha Pedraza
Alessio Pisci
Adriana Rozo
Chris Zambrano

Assessment, Attendance, Answer sheets

Assessment, attendance and answer sheets of any EXTENSION course must be returned to the reception desk no later than 2 working days after you administer the final test.

Answer sheets of CURRICULAR courses must be filed by teachers until the end of the semester.

ANSWER SHEETS CAN NOT BE GIVEN TO STUDENTS. You can show answer sheets to students when doing the feedback but you need to pick them up right away.

New weekday cycle

Next weekday cycle (cycle 4) will start on Thursday, June 5.

Welcome to the Academic Coordination Blog

Hi everybody,
Here is the Academic Coordination Blog.
As you know this on-line tool keeps record of all the info sent. Just scroll down the screen and you will be able to find information sent from the day this blog was created.

General information about our curricular and extension programs will be sent through this tool.