Useful resources for learning&teaching English
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Each year we say we'll start doing this, or stop doing that ;D
If you click the pic below, you will find lots of new years resolutions that pop up in late December, as well as others that are more likely to make it through the new year and really improve your live.
Christmas is a time where you spend time with family and friends. It's about creating happy memories that will last a lifetime. I'm sure that you all will have many happy and cheerful moments and other ones where you will have free time. Here you have a good opportunity to get in contact with English. Click on the Christmas cards and you will find some Christmas games!
Hi there, Christmas time is coming and children will be many days without practising English. Because of that, I decided to give special homework for them: to watch videos, movies, series and cartoons in English. Nowadays, it's easy to switch the dual system on tv, but also I wanted to recommend some proposals for primary students.
1) Here you have the first one. Sesame Street.
2) Phineas and Ferb Episodes
3) Dance academy. Series
4) Girl
Meets World - New Family Comedy Series
5) Boy Meets World
6) Wild Kratts
7) Friends 8) Monty paiton
Use videos to improve your fluency. Choose a short part of a show and repeat it line by line. Try to match the tone, speed and even the accent (if you can). It doesn’t matter if you miss a few words, the important thing is to keep talking. Try to sound just like the native speakers on the show.
Also,FluentU is a great way to practice listening and repeating. TV 411 (videos with native speakers. Following each video is a comprehension quiz)
After going to the cinema and watch Wonder I couldn't stop thinking of an activity for my students. Last year I introduced them into the song below. It is "We are going to be friends" by White Stripes from their album White Blood Cells but kids didn't seem to be engaged. This year has been different due to the Wonder release. If you don't know anything about it, I will say that one of the theme songs is the one below. It tells the story of meeting a new friend at the beginning of a school year. Although we are at the end of the first term, the song is always welcomed. I love it. Sure that my students are going to have it in their minds.
Hi there! Yesterday I went to Verdi Cinema in Barcelona and I enjoyed a lot watching Wonder.
The book made a difference on me and I prayed for watching the movie as soon as it arrives at Barcelona. Every teacher must read and work the book in the classroom. All the characters are important in Auggie's life but also it's amazing to understand the reasons for acting how they do. Here you have a trailer of the movie. Worth watching!
Hi everyone!
December is here and, as most of you know, I love traditions and Alice in Wonderland. For that reason, I decided to mix Alice with Christmas and here you have the result: Alice Advent Calendar. Hope you like it!
By the way, do not open all the windows. Just one by one.
Young children need to move about, so activities which take part in different areas of the classroom and require the children to be sitting or standing in different places are ideal: standing in a circle for a song, sitting at their tables to complete a worksheet, standing next to their chairs for a chant, etc.
That's the reason because I prefer to have less furniture and more space. I mean, I use the English Classroom with a split group, and when I have the whole group, I use students' classroom.
Tables in my English space are always in movement. Sometimes they are laying like a U, sometimes in groups of four and sometimes in pairs. Depending on the needs. Ideally, some readings about this topic say that the children should be able to sit on the floor in a semi-circle or in rows in front of the teacher, who may be sitting on a chair, very close to the children. If you have enough space, a large rug or an old blanket spread on the floor will help the children know where to sit.
I want to take a moment to thank all of your support, whether it’s
helping children, FOLLOWING this English blog, or
giving your support. It means so much for this teacher of English!
Although
this tradition is not a catalan one, I wish all of you a very happy
Thanksgiving! Whoops! I forgot it! If you click on the picture below you will find a present for TEACHERS: an activity for working phonetics!
Some of my students are studying food categories. After going to "Fageda Factory", they did a research learning the names of some food terms and grouping them into categories. They did a great job!
By the way, if you click on the food pyramid, you will find a game. Drag each food into the correct group it fits the best.
I also prepared a ppt with healthy advices. That is a guide of a healthy diet divided into sections to show the recommended items for each food group. Also we have learnt what our body needs.
When children have some spelling difficulties, maybe the best way to improve them is playing games. This post is an example to engage students in spelling success.
You can play the SPELLING CARD GAME in different ways. Here you have some ideas:
The teacher decides the topics for each group of students.
Select those words in which students have problems (the photo above)
Give kids the opportunity to decide the topic and to create the cards.
RULES OF THE GAME.
It's very important to use English (it's my/your turn, whose turn is it?...)
To start, a player needs to put the first letter of a word on the table.
There is a responsability to shuffle the cards and to give 5 of them to each player.
If a player doesn't have a card to continue, he/she has to take one from the middle.
When a player takes a card from the middle, he/she cannot use it until the next turn.
If in the same turn the player has several cards, he/she can put these cards on the table.
The game is not finished until all the cords are completed.
If a player has no cards, he has to continue playing taking a card from the middle.
The winner is the player who has no cards to play.
"Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems" (wikipedia)
In the video below, you will listen to Jane McGonigal, a game designer who will be asked about the effect and the advantages of using games at schools. She comments that the clue for learning when playing consists of the kind of engagement when playing.
In the video below, you have a real sample. You will see that children are not afraid of making mistakes, and they keep trying until they get it correct. They have fun, they are more motivated and they use the language in a natural way.
I can conclude that students that are allowed to fail, experiment, try on different social roles and participate more in their own learning, learn more than students who are taught in a more "traditional" way.
Hi everyone. As a teacher of English I reinforce the foreign language in different ways. One of them is to listen to somebody who speaks English as his/her first mother tongue. That encourages me to improve the language I teach. Anyway, I'm telling you this because I'm a follower of Ted's lectures and I want to share the last I have watched and where Joe Dispenzam, who has a Bachelor of Science degree, gives a TED talk about the brain’s composition and the role of its parts in building our experiences up and creating emotions.
He begins by giving us an overview of the functions of the three independent brains we have, which are composed by billions of connected neurons. First of all, he states the neocortex is the most evolved part and the seat of conscious awareness. It gathers information and, as a consequence, this part of the brain changes physically due to the production of a new connection between neurons. Then, we have acquired a new experience. He goes on talking us through what is the limbic brain (emotional brain), which receives the response from different patterns of neurons and regulates internal chemical order. When chemicals are realised in the emotional brain, we get an emotion, one that will be still remembered after some time. Moreover, he claims that routine lulls the brain to sleep. Mr. Dispenza mentions the cerebellum, which is the seat of subconscious mind.
It is surprising because, although the three parts of the brain work individually, they give us memories of our experiences!
Here you have the lecture.
It reminds me to a mindmap I made with year 6 students last school year. Here you have:
This is Greg. The main character in the "Diary of a Wimpy kid".
I'm a big fan of Jeff Kinney, and this post is a tribute to his books and characters. They are lovely.
I recommend visiting his site where you will find some resources to work his books in English lessons.
Jeff Kinney didn't think of being a writer. He wanted to be a cartoonist but as he didn't have a job at any newspaper, he started working on Wimpy Kid in 1988. The first book was published in 2007.
Hi everyone!
I'm following a training on-line course and we are working around the eight intelligences. Here you have a meaningful PowToon showing the main features of each intelligence. Also , you can follow the link MI Test and take the online test to determine which is your unique multiple intelligences profile. If you want to comment yours, I will be very happy to read your answers.
By the way, I have classified the activities we can do in our lessons. I must say that depending on what we are focusing during an activity, it can work more on a specific kind of intelligence or another.
Some children find frustrating and annoying when teacher force them into activities that require thinking, plan and writing.
The question is: is there anything that will make them feel writing is something interesting? So, I tried to engage students with an amazing activity I want to share with all of you.
The aim of this activity is to design a T-shirt with a message and a picture. First, they must observe the language of the messages: short, direct and understandable (but not always correct!). Then, they have to draw, paint and write a message. Finally, they have to write a description of their T-shirt design and present it in front of the class.
Let's find out some examples and understand their messages. Maybe children will find some grammar mistakes. We must be aware!
When children decide their message and they finish the activity, they will answer some questions about it: 1) why did they choose it? (you can give some examples to them)
because I like it,
because it makes me feel happy/proud of me
because it reminds me an advert...
because it reminds me my favourite pet....
2) Do you think is a good message? yes, I do/ no, I don't 3) Why? Because it is about friendship/ kindness/ freedom....
Things have changed around us. I am researching the use of internet, specially the benefits for primary children. For that reason, I try to update my teaching methodologies to the present moment.
Watch the video and tell me what your expectations are.
The presidents of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural (OC), the two biggest grassroots organisations fighting for independence and self-determination for Catalonia, were sent to prison yesterday. The post today is for them. I want to give my suppport to their families sharing this video in this blog.
My heart is broken due to the facts that are happening in Catalonia. Catalan people are peaceful citizens who want to be heard. Personally, I think that States and Institutions must change their roles and open their minds negotiating the best for living life in peace. I don't lose hope!
By the way, here you have one of my favourite activities and pages. This is lyricstraining. This time, you can practise your English with Imagine by John Lenon. Click on the pic below and fill in the gaps.
Autumn is easily my favorite time of the year. Fall is such a wonderful time of year, isn't it? Although we are still enjoying a summer weather, some leaves are turning into warm colours. The weather is getting cooler, but it is still fun to play outdoors. Today I want to share "Autumn leaves" by Eric Clapton with all of you. This is one of my favourite songs. I'm sure your parents, teachers, friends and everybody who loves jazz, will like it.
I have done many reflections about my job as a teacher through the summer. Each time I think about it I consider that my job consists of building a rich environment that facilitates the kind of learning that will benefit my students. It is not to reproduce the lesson but to develop concepts, think critically, and apply and evaluate what they have learned, by providing opportunities and experiences that are relevant to such goals. Because of all of those reasons, I prefer to work through projects rather than to have a book and follow the units without any motivation.
Hi everyone! How was your summer? Mine has been amazing because I could organize it so that I had time for different activities. One of those was to deep into an excellent technique for teachers and kids. Have you ever practised Mindfulness? That is "to pay attention, on purpose, to the present moment" (Grossman, 2016).
Some months ago I listened to a lecturer (Emma Reynolds) to talk about Mindfulness and the positive effects it has over our lives. From that moment, I tried to read some books about it and I learnt more over the summer. Once I have seen that we can obtain lots of benefits in our schools, I decided that one of my resolutions for this new school year would be to use this technique with my students. There are many ideas and activities in the internet but here you have an easy exercise to practise with kids, as an example.
I have been in Menorca with my daughters for some days. We went walking "Camí de cavalls" where we met English people who asked us different things about the place.
English is important wherever you go or travel!
By the way, here you have some activities to help you with English.
But remember...it's always up to you!
By clicking on the links below you can download and print some activities to practice a bit of English.
makeagif.com offers you a tool which makes your photos alive just adding some movement. Look at the example below, I just wanted to add two different images and "voilà" they became a gif in just 15 seconds.
You have to register if you want to tidy your creations.
This is my nephew last July 5th, when it was his 14th birthday ;D
This is a super simple, super fun colors song for kids. They can play it at home or when they travel by car. It's a great way to pass the time and talk about all of the things they see around them. They can look for the coloured objects with their family as they drive through the countryside.
Hi there, as a teacher of English I recommended to my students to listen to English music and to watch original films in Summertime. However, an essential element that acts against the whole educational system is the systematic practice of dubbing into Catalan and Spanish languages of almost all audiovisual material, mainly cinema and television. As there are no movies or programs in original subtitled language for them, children do not have to make any effort to read in their own language and it is said that, because of this, children do not learn easily foreign languages.
Although economic and social needs have communicated that it is necessary for the population to master languages especially English, the authorities have collected the glove and the educational policy is to define the school as the responsible of this issue. I mean, the school will have the obligation to teach a second or third language, but the socio-cultural context will act against this obligation, because the student will not be immersed in that new language in a continuous way throughout the day, just only the English hours at school. Then, how can the school deal with this situation? Personally I speak English 100% at school and out of it if I have kids around me (p.e.Colonies period) because as always we say, we have to teach by example. How can I say to a kid that English is a communicative language if I don't use it to talk with the school community? In fact, I pretend that, whenever students see me, they use the foreign language to talk with their English teacher. I have to say that it is easier with the big ones because they have more structures in mind to use but you will be impressed listening to the youngest students asking to me different questions or just saying hello or good morning. But not only students practise English but also families and colleagues try to use it. I have to say thank you to those mates and families who have encouraged themselves to use English with me and with kids because we can lead by example and feel that English is around us! Well done! It is a good way to go. A big hooray for all of YOU and ME! WE ALL ARE CHAMPIONS. WDW
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