GOOD IDEAS, GOOD RESOURCES

Looking at my partner's blogs, I found a very interesing idea for my younger students such as "Interactive Picture" for vocabulary. Actually, I found it very interesting as a post-activity for CLIL lessons in each unit.

We did a review of the healthy food with the proteins, calcium, fat, vitamins, fibre, and carbohydrates.

THANK YOU!

https://thinkenglishthinkbig.blogspot.com/2021/05/do-you-like.html

SPEAKING PROJECT

I like to finish the unit with a "mini" Final Task in which students apply everything they have been learning on their own. It consists on a writing and a monologue of whay they have done.

In the 4th grade class, I presented this Genially with the different parts of the Task (it usually takes two/three lessons), I did it individually following the COVID measures, but they help each other when they need it.

I divided the project in different sessions, in this case, 4 lessons were needed. 

1) The first lesson we were focus on the Genially and the steps we were going to follow. We review the vocabulary (first orally and then written). In this part we use Flashcards and the blackboard to do little competitions. The second part of this lesson is focused on the analysis of an example. We are going to learn how to drescribe a healthy lunch so we listen and complete an example.

2) The second lesson is focused on their draft. With the help of a project plan from the book (I like those organizers because they help students to be organised with the information). We chose the food we liked and the quantity of them. (In this part, we revire the structures we are using such as a lot of, a little, a few...).

3) The third lesson is focused on autonomous work as I assess their drafts and they are prepared to do their final writing. We have to do them with cardboard, paper and coloured pencils as we don't have good devices. 

4) The forth lesson is for oral presentations to their classmates!! 

From my point of view, Genially is a great tool to introduce information and organise a project with different steps. It s more visual for those students who need different learning options. I think this tool has helped my students to understand better what was expected from them to do. Furthermore, I could post it in the classroom page we have and they could vizualise the videos and prepare some material in their homes. A kind of "Flipped Classroom" I guess.

What I would change, obviously, is the possibility of using laptops and each student could prepare their project with Genially. (I thought of using my own laptop in the classroom, but it wasn't a good idea because I would have needed 10 hours for all of them to prepare the project).

  STORIES AND BOOKS

The writing process is one of the most difficult skills to learn, and for me, teaching as I need to take care of lots of details for them to learn without any pressure. 

In the 3rd grade class we were learning about descriptions and the final task consisted on the creation of a giant (like the story we read on the unit) using the third person of HAVE GOT and some actions in PRESENT CONTINUOUS (although they do not know anything about it), but I was more interested on the physical descriptions.

I did not organise the final task in groups for COVID sanitary measures, but it was fun too as I told them to "create" new giant friends.

My principal learning objectives were:

• To work on the key vocabulary of the unit (with extension options for the advanced learners).
• To work on the structure of a description.
• To work on the communication function of a description.
• To write sentences using HAVE GOT in the third person (affirmative and negative).
• To write creatively and autonomously as much as they can.

The tool helped my students achieve those objectives with the motivation they felt when their works were projected on the board. As they were proud of their work and wanted to share it with the rest of the class.

As they are 3rd graders, the creativity was focused on the "vocabulary" the used or even the picture they drew because they are very limited in the writing because they are starting to write short texts. However, they showed me how much creativity there is in a simple task with only a picture and a couple of sentences. The communicative intention of their works was very powerful.

My students enjoyed the most the drawing part, obviously. They enjoy every task which involves drawing and painting. Also, the chance of writing on the computer was very popular. 

I would change next time the option that every student could do their own book about their giant, but the digital devices of our school are not prepared for that. I hope I could carry this same lesson on other class and try with the improvements.

Read this book made on StoryJumper

 HIGHLAND GAMES

In 5th grade we are working on clothes and the materials in which they are made of. In a text from the book we use the KILT was mentioned (that Scottish skirt that it seems to be funny for students). I tried to go deeper into this cultural piece of clothing and this video came across in my searching. They are very fascinated by the Brisith culture so I take advantage of that and give them the opportunity to practice listening. 

The objectives for this lesson were:

    - Review the vocabulary of clothing and materials.

    - Learn about special clothes and special ocassions.

    - Learn about the Kilt and Scottish culture.

The sequence of this lesson was:

1) RUTINE: I always ask one student to write the date on the board and review the vocabulary with a very simple game in which they show a flashcard to two classmates and the first one to say it correctly is the winner.

2) CONTEXTUALISE: I ask them about clothing and materials in a different way, introducing the structure: What is ... made of? so they recognize it. I ask them if they dress the same for school or a wedding and we planned a brainstorming of different clothes and events. So it is the moment to introduce the Scottish kilt and ask them what is it and where you can wear it. 

3) VIDEO: I put the video and they answer the questions on their notebooks (I would have used the laptops but the materials is not very well prepared for the task). I put the video twice.

4) REFLECTION: Then I ask them what they have learnt about the Highland Games and what parts were more interesting for them. Then, I try to make a reflection about their own learning process with questions like: What part was more difficult to understand? And what part was the easiest? 

As I knew, they loved the topic and the most difficult part was the task for them. I enjoy simply telling them how fantastic it is the culture of this country and I would like to think that they enjoyed listenin about it and asking me questions about the kilt, the trunks, the hammers, and the dancers!

For next time I would like to use the laptops because this activity will be adapted to each one learning pace. Besides, it is always motivating use headphones in class!

 ALL ABOUT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH

In 5th grade we were working on famous scientists, artists, inventors, musicians, … We were learning how to write a short biography using verbs in past. That was a very hard work because they met irregular verbs for the very first time and memorizing them was not a good surprise.

As we finished the unit last week, I take advantage of their curiosity and this activity as a very good review of the topic. I chose the Queen Elizabeth II as they are always asking me about her and the Prince Philip, so I wrote a text in which her life was explained (I modified some verbs and expressions for them to make it easy to understand).

My learning objectives were very clear and simple:

    - To review the Past Simple (regular and irregular verbs).

    - To review the principal points of a biography.

    - To read cooperatively.

    - To use the dictionary as a learning tool.

I decided to use the cooperative strategy: RECIPROCAL TEACHING.

It consists of working on a text in groups of 3-4 people. The teacher gives the material to them and divide the text in different paragraphs to be read for each member of the group. In my case, I decided to divide the text in paragraphs, but they were read by each group instead of each member (COVID-19 measures, I guess). Then they share what they read to the rest of their classmates and everyone has a general idea of the whole text.

The whole lesson started with setting them up in groups of three (and one of four) that I chose as I prefer to mix everyone up a little bit more (they have to work with everyone in the class!). Then I told them that we were going to read a text about Queen Elizabeth and doing a TimeLine about her on the computer.

** Here I have to do a little explanation about the laptops in my school. I tried to use them for the final task in other units and it was a disaster. They are not ready; they have a very slow working process, so students were waiting more than working in my class. That is why I decided to use the whiteboard and only one.

Then, I told them which paragraph they had to read, and they started to work immediately. When they finished, each group came to the front of the class and summarised the paragraph for their classmates in a mix of English and Spanish. Finally, we answered all the questions about vocabulary and doubts about the text. Each group decided which parts of Elizabeth’s life were important to be in the Timeline.

When everything was done, we started with the TimeLine in which each group wrote the sentences... As you may see, writing is not one of our best skills, we are still working on it!

LINK TO THE TIME LINE

Everything I have done can be improved. This lesson is not an exception. My difficulties were, especially, the computers. It is difficult to rely on the technology when it is not updated and work well. That is our principal problem, and the solution is not easy, but we are trying to acquire new equipment. 

On the other hand, I have to give more motivation and reasons for reading the text because sometimes I feel like I am punishing them with the reading altough the 75% of the students really want to read it.

The app is interesting as they organise the reading and develop the SUMMARISING strategy. I think of using it as a final task because I helped me to review the past simple as they had to write sentences about them, they worked cooperatively as they had to agree with the information, they used a new tool to organise a biography and its importants points.

Summing up, this tool gave me the opportunity to "update" reading and a new strategy for my students to develop learning to learn.

BIG THINKERS, READ!

Reading, for me, is one of my favourite skills to teach because it gives me some time to rest my throat! Actually, it is because I love reading and teach vocabulary, as this is the best way to learn new words from the context.

I learnt many strategies that are involved in the reading process and I try to develop the best strategies for each group of students (I teach English in a “small” school, so I have from 3 years old to 6^th grade). Furthermore, I have in mind different strategies depending on the grade they are and the type of text they are going to read.

In my lessons, I plan Storytelling in which I start giving a purpose, a motivation, a reason for which my students pay attention and enjoy the reading. I do this with the little ones and I always hide the book in my bag and ask them if they want to see what I brought (clearly the answer is YEEEES TEACHEEER!) They always want gifts and surprises, so I use the Paddington Bear as a motivation and he is who sends me all the “presents” and they love it. In this process, I also use predicting in which I ask students to tell me what they think is going to happen in the story using simple questions (sometimes I translate them, but I always repeat it in English after that).

Then, for the big ones, I try to use different texts and presentation ideas. For example, I help them bolding the key words from the key vocabulary we learnt (especially for the first cycle students to help them to understand what they have to look for in a picture or understand the sentence: It’s got feathers). I always teach the vocabulary and the structures orally first so when they read the text they perfectly understand the meaning (“There are two cows… Claro teacher, tengo que dibujar two cows”).

Finally, for the very big ones, I use other strategies that are more complex such as scanning and guessing word meaning. I like to “draw” on the text, so I ask them to take coloured markers or pencils and underline!

“PLEASE, read the questions first and then underline what you think it is important… Then use a colour to underline in the text where you think the information is!!! C’mon!”

It is not a teaching as guided as it is with the little students because it is more autonomous but it is still necessary and important to develop this skill to help them becoming better thinkers!

 THE PLEASURE OF READING

Reading is so valuable in so many ways that help us to become better communicators and thinkers. However, it is easy to find opinions such as: “reading is boring, and it isn’t worthy to spend time on it” and, very often, I ask myself why this thought is very popular.

From my point of view, reading is a very important part of the culture which spread history, literacy, numeracy, other experiences, thoughts, convey emotions… Unfortunately, I didn’t have a reader model when I was young, so I found no pleasure on it until I was so bored that I was attracted by a book and I started to become a reader.

I decided to choose this picture because I think that parents (or a model) are important in this reading development. It takes time to get used to reading and to find the genre or the type of text you like. It's our responsibility to help students and children showing a great variety to them to choose from. I loved the teens science fiction books as The Hunger Games. It gives me the opportunity to see the strengths of young people fighting against the adversity and big problems.

When I decided to start reading in English, I did so with “Divergent” which I read completely in English for the very first time. I didn’t read it in Spanish before or any idea of what it was about. I felt so proud of myself that I read three more books related to this series written by Veronica Roth. Now, I am reading “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin as I feel more mature now.

I continue reading en Spanish, especially with my Kindle, but I still enjoy the smell and touch of the paper in my hands. This pleasure is what I want to convey to my students in class.