A video lesson for year 5&6

Hi there,

how is all going?

here you have a nice activity for your students. They have to watch the video below and choose the correct answer in each question.

A new app

Hi there, I have just found a new app that I want to share with all of you. I will  send an invitation to my students tomorrow. Due to to COVID-19 they have to be at home and I believe that they are going to enjoy with this activity.

The app I want to present in this post is ChatterPix, an easy application for everybody. In this case, children will have to ask parents to download the application to their mobile phones. Once the app is set, children will have to take a photo, draw a line to make it talk and record a message in English.

Here you have an example:

Uderzo passed away

Albert Uderzo passed away Today. I've got a heartfel feeling thinking about my childhood readings. I read the thirty-eight books with encouragement and wishing to read and read more stories. I am going to miss his cute drawings. My condolences to his family. 
This is one of my best presents I have ever had along my life. Juanma made it for me, an awesome Obelix&Asterix&Ideafix. Nowadays it is in Joanot Alisanda's library. Juanma and I wanted to leave it as a present for the school.

Care and solidarity

Coming back at school is unpredictable although I wish it could be after Easter. Personally, I think that it is advisable to lower the press on which it is best to compensate for the lost weeks.  The list of proposals around education is long and lends itself to all kinds of adaptations and interpretations. In this case, it is not the time to tear into conventional routines in normal situations, because normality has been totally broken. So, I think that the best would be to attend kids with the most tenderness around two important aspects: the care and the solidarity.

The first is the welcome of the students, an act of celebration and approaches, through a collective "How are you?", and an individual "How are you", because the experiences will have been different. The conversation, the speaker’s corner, in a circle, opened, free and spontaneous, with a lot of listening. It will be the time to express and share fears, anxieties, moods, tensions, their happiest and hardest times and a lot of experiences. 

And, of course, it will be the time to ask questions, always depending on each educational stage, what has happened, why has it happened, if the measures taken have been most appropriate, what consequences has had, what are the basic needs and which are dispensable with respect to consumption, how the conflicts have been handled, what we have learnt in every way, and what future horizons open up . Particularly interesting, beyond the statistics of pain, will be to visualize the initiatives of solidarity and mutual help that have emerged during these days, focusing on those that can be promoted as a collective, in which the students can participate, activating collaboration and helping others.

Stay home!

Due to COVID-19 we have to stay home. A difficult issue for some of us. However, it is not difficult when you plan your days with activities as reading, studying, dancing, doing exercise, streching your body, being creative, sewing, playing, and...cooking. Today, the post is going to be about this last occupation with an easy recipe: 

Banana and chocolate outmeal cookies. They only take about 10 minutes to whip up and another 20 minutes to bake. They are made of three wholesome ingredients that you most likely have around the kitchen:

1 banana

an outmeal cup

chocolate (85%dark)

Mash the banana and add oats and grated chocolate. Put into the oven in small portions at 190º for 20'. 

They are delicious and naturally gluten free and are free of eggs, dairy or added sugars!

                                               #IStayHome

Resultados de la búsquedaResultados web

Sewing facemasks

Hospitals are reaching out via social media to ask for help in solving the shortage of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is like a "rally". Maybe it is not the perfect word to describe the situation nowadays but a significant movement is underway and sewing groups are coming together and solving a problem to save lifes.

You can help, too. You can do something to help others. If you think that a handmade mask is not useful, think twice and make a difference right now!  

If you decide to participate and you are living around Sabadell, you must write an email to comunicacio@tauli.cat or use this telephone 93 745 83 80.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND DO IT NOW!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although we are truly living in unique times, today is March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.



Saint Patrick's Day is an Irish festivity celebrated today in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 
But... do you know how is the Irish flag? Here you have it:











A quotation for today:
St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic. ~Adrienne Cook
My dream and my thoughts are with those affected by the COVID-19, particularly those who are sick. I wish them a speedy recovery!

Pionners!

Hi everyone!

Classes stopped last Thursday because a new type of coronavirus, abbreviated COVID-19 is coming. That means that families have to be at home with their children. Sometimes this is going to be difficult but I believe that talking with kids about their fears can help everybody. Also, I thought of some guidelines to keep calm at home:

. Remind kids that you and the adults at their school are there to keep them safe and healthy.

. Let your children talk about their feelings and help reframe their concerns into a positive perspective. It is important that they know they have someone who will listen to them. Tell them you love them.
. Limit television, internet and social media so that they do not access to information.
. Speak to them about how many stories about COVID-19 on the internet may be based on rumors.
. Engage your children in games or other interesting activities instead.
. Keep a normal routine, readjust the "new" freedom so that they feel they have many things to do. Sample: 10 a.m breakfast, 10,30 to noon "mini-projects" as cooking, art, reading, jigsaw time, homework assigned by the school..., 12,00 free time, 13,30 lunch, 14,00-15,00 free time for everyone, 15,00-17,00 tablet time, coloring, school blog..., 17,00 snack time, 17,00 play outside if it is possible and take care of pets (garden, terrace, ...), 18,00 regroup time: board games, physical exercise, 20,00 prepare dinner and have dinner.
. Encourage them to keep up with their schoolwork and extracurricular activities as music and art.
. Be aware that one amazing benefit of being at home is that it eliminates the stress that comes with getting everyone out of the flat each morning.

In some families, the first days of being at home together may be the hardest. In others, may be quite fun, but little by little it will become harder but remind that this is going to be a short period of time. We have never experienced anything like this and all of us are pioneers!

Women Day

Hi everyone!

Last year I bought an amazing game related to those women in history who have changed the world. Since I believe that the game can be worthy for my English lessons, I scanned all the women cards and I created a presentation. Here you have it. Hope it can be useful for your English lessons.

      

St. Patrick's Day

Hi there,
Ireland celebrates next Tuesday, March 17th an important celebration. Just if it is your interest and you are thinking about it, here you have a story that might help you to introduce this festivity in your English lessons.

Speaking skills

Hi everyone, 
I read an interesting article last month and after reading it, I decided to check many aspects in my lessons because my main aspiration is to hear my students speak English. But we all know that it is sometimes difficult for those who are shy or introverted.

So how can we help learners to speak English with confidence?

1. Teacher's Role

·         First of all, try to speak English as much as possible so that children can listen to the foreign language and can have a good comprehension of the different messages.

·         Design speaking activities for everyone to succeed. Give patterns to them if the activity requires them. Make them feel confident with the activity and let them to work in groups.

·         Use lots of repetition because children need to do things many times. That makes them feel comfortable and help them to learn.

·         Present short activities to keep their attention and interest. 

·         Link gestures, movements and/or actions with clue words. That way of introducing the new vocabulary or structures in the oral activities will reinforce children’s learnings. Whenever they want to produce the oral activity, they will remind them and match their gestures with their productions.

2. The classroom

Most of schools have an English room for the foreign language. That is perfect, but do they have free space for moving up? As language teachers, many of us start the lesson with a warm-up activity. We need to check old learnings and maybe we introduce new ones. We work as a group and children feel as part of it. There may be more because learning English is a skill itself. So, be sure that an English Classroom has enough free space for these type of activities.

3. Tools for teachers

When I was a child, I had a book, a dictionary and a notebook for studying English. Nothing else. Things have changed a lot since then. Yes, we live in a digital age and our students have born in that one. So, how can we cope with this reality? Using digital tools and making them alive in your English lessons. For Primary beginner’s teachers, I should recommend to have contact with some basic tools:

• Audacity. It is free and it is useful for recording and editing sounds.
• Tellagami. A useful app for teachers and CS students. They all can have in their mobile phone and use it whenever they consider. Easy to download and easy to use.
• PictureTrail. It is a social network that allows members and visitors to share photos online in a different way. Visit it and see how many things and albums
• Pinterest will help you with lots of ideas and images. Snap and add them to your personal account. There is a huge amount of teachers following interesting ones.  Try it and see how your imagination shines searching for new ideas for your lessons.
• Google+. This google tool allows you to share your pictures and create slide shows for your blogs or web pages. 
• Drive. It is the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online
• Blogs. Do you use a blog at your school for English lessons? If your answer is negative, try to give you a chance and find out more about that tool. Start by choosing an easy one for you to work in so that it will allow you to make things easier for children and families. A learning dissemination is alive because English arrives at home and allows children check and share some activities. Families will see how their kids are improving the language. I am a blogger and I am at a different place professionally and personally if I compare myself 20 years ago. I’m not at all special, but I’ve managed to promote my school and myself because of my passion to share and help you, as an English teacher.  If you decide to have a personal blog, you can share information and best practices. Do not doubt, it is a useful tool.
• Internet Archive. You can record children and upload to the web. You can embed them in your blog or web page for your pupils to listen to. 
• Voki. Voki is a free service that allows you to createpersonalised speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.
• Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool that makes it simple to organize your best on line resources in the cloud. You have all your favorite websites categorized as you decide.
• Many websites giving new ideas and different resources. Our age is a digital one. There are lots of interesting websites and blog ideas. Rather than pinning those items on Pinterest, which is blocked at many schools, save an image and the website address to the proper folder or to your personal blog so when you are lesson planning for a particular topic, it will literally be there.

Happy St. David's Day!

The “March Hare” is a hare who appears in Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A hare is a type of large rabbit. March the 1st is St. David’s day - the patron saint of Wales. In Wales there is a traditional dish called “Welsh Rarebit”. “Rarebit” sounds a bit like “rabbit”.
For this simple reason, I want to show all of you, kids and adults, the Welsh Rarebit's dish.

Ingredients
25g butter
25g flour
150ml milk
175g cheddar cheese, grated
150ml brown ale
1 teaspoon of mustard (english mustard if you get it!)
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
2 egg yolks (the yellow part of the egg)
4 slices of toast
Preparation
1. Make a sauce with the butter and flour, and leave
to cool.
2. Boil milk and then whisk it into the sauce.
Bring to the boil once again, whisking to ensure that
it does not burn and also that the sauce is free of
lumps.
3. Add the cheese, beat in and remove from the heat.
4. Reduce the ale, English mustard and Worcestershire
sauce. When thick, add this mixture to the cheese
sauce. Season well with salt and pepper and beat in
the egg yolks.
5. Spoon on to the slices of toast and grill until bubbling.
Serve with extra Worcestershire sauce.... and enjoy it with your family! ;-D