Final activity

 

I like Pixton from Mariola. I think the objectives are very well selected and the final task of the students shown in her blog is a good proof of the effort she made to teach jobs and introductions. I also liked the sequence of tasks, from my point of view it is progressive, which makes it easier for her pupils.  

Genially

 

Hi everyone,

Today we are working on a very useful tool for students, Genially. Due to the fact that I’m teaching English to adults, working with Genially motivates them to learn in an easy way and on its own pace.

Now, we are learning about the United States of America, an English speaking country, so I asked my students to create a project using this tool as a final task. Basically, they have to work on writing and speaking skills.

Firstly, we watched a video in the class about the United States and its basic characteristics (location in the map, inhabitants, number of states, presidents…). I explained the final task to the students and I asked them to work in groups of three. They chose their partners on their own. They had to look for information on the Internet and make a draft about what they were going to talk about. I corrected them and gave some guidance. After this, I showed them the tool “Genially” and explained how it works.

Students decided the task each one had to carry out and agreed how the presentation was going to be shown.

They could use different extra materials such as text books, videos, other Genially presentations…

Finally, presentations were exhibited and at the end, they discussed about all of them, making their own self-assessment about their projects, difficulties they found, interest and motivation degree. We also chatted about possible changes for future projects.

You can see an example of a project here:

https://view.genial.ly/5fc7e696523e3f0ce620e4db/presentation-the-usa

To summarise, this tool helped my students to work in an autonomous way and has encouraged them to the acquisition of meaningful learning. In addition, using Genially in the class has motivated them and made them participate successfully. Next time, I would change the way of selecting the groups of students in order to have mixed-ability groups and achieve better results.

MY BOOK WITH STORJUMPER

https://www.storyjumper.com/book/read/93381866/5fc53398763d5

This activity was created by 6th grade students. This one is an example of a couple of students who created this book using Storyjumper. 

The activity was addressed to be done in pairs, I chose the couples so they could work together at home easily if necessary. The unit was about animals and making friends. In the first session I read a story on Storyjumper about some animals who were friends. Students love animal stories and this is motivating for them. We discussed about the story and created a different ending. I explained to the class that we were going to create a book using this tool so they sat in pairs and started to put ideas in common, creating the characters and making drafts. Using the process approach, my pupils were creating their story under my corrections and some guidance. As we are provided with plenty of computers in the school, we went to the computer room and after the explanation of the use of Storyjumper, students started to create their books. 

The main aims of this activity were:

• To be able to write stories in English using process approach.
• To work in pairs being collaborative and respecting other's ideas.
• To develop digital skills.

These 3 main objectives were clearly achieved by the students, due to the fact that they were able to write different stories in English, working with a partner and making decissions about what to write and how to create the book. Furthermore, they used the tool mentioned above successfully.

When all the students finished their projects, all the books were presented to the class through Google Classroom on the Interactive whiteboard and we discussed about them, giving positive feedback to their works. They presented their opinions and experiences on the topic and they all concluded that they had never used this tool before and that they also enjoyed working on it, but the most difficult aspect was to include photos that were not provided on the website. 

Finally, they completed a self-evaluating form with 4 items which had to be coloured with red or green depending on the grade of achivement of each item. In this way, I am involving my students in their own learning.

Read this book made on StoryJumper

EDPUZZLE

Hello everyone!!!

How are you today? As you know, we are learning how to tell the time in English, which is a bit difficult, but I have a video that can help you to understand the time in a better way. This video has been edited with Edpuzzle and you will find some questions that must be answered while watching it. Click on the link below to watch the video.

The main aims of this activity are: 

• To learn how to tell the time (o'clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to) 
• To identify the short and the long hand on a clock
• To develop digital skills by using Edpuzzle 

This resource (Edpuzzle) has been used many times before in the classroom and my students really enjoy learning in this particular form, due to the fact that it is a visual way to acquire knowledge when the subject is hard for them. In addition, the idea of having multiple choice questions during the video provides them tools to achieve the aims previously set.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to include the voiceover option due to technical problems on the website.

Click here, watch and answer the questions

https://edpuzzle.com/media/5fc12947e7105740b580d5ba

MARY SHELLEY'S TIMETOAST

As we are learning about important writers in England, focusing on Romanticism, we have decided to go through Mary Shelly's life. In order to study in depth her life and relevant facts, we worked on making a timeline by using Timetoast tool.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English author best known for writing the novel Frankenstein. She was in her teens when she wrote the book that is now a classic.

In this unit, the main objectives are:

• To know Mary Shelly's life
• To approach English culture to students
• To create timelines about a person
• To work in groups showing respect and others' opinions
• Develop digital competence on students

By using this tool, students are learning life sequences in an effective visual way. This activity started by having a brainstorm about Frankenstein, none of them knew who was the author. I showed them a photo of Mary Shelly and they could finally have an image about her. They had the task of finding information about her life on the Internet, bring it to school and debate about it. Then we selected the most relevant ones and I asked them to create her timelife in class by the use of the laptops and working in groups of 4. Some of them had already used this tool, so they had a little knowledge on the subject. They really enjoyed creating this timeline with this tool and the acquisition of the objectives were successful. What I would change of Timetoast is the option of including exact dates, so it would have more options to be used. My students learnt about Mary Shelley pretty well so they can remember her life in a different way as t would be taught just by reading it or making an outline. 

Click here to see timetoast https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2424129

READING HABITS

 

My reading habits have changed over the years. I had a wide variety of books in my house. For Birthdays and Christmas, I used to make a list of new books I wanted. When I was younger, I enjoyed reading books by El Barco de Vapor. I remember I won a book of this collection as a prize of a contest. As an adult, my reading preferences have changed in the sense that I read more of a variety. I enjoy fiction, as well as biographies, non-fiction... but mystery books are my favourite. My reading habits have changed as well. I don't have the amount of time that I once had to read.

Nowadays, all of us want to speak a foreign language as fluently as our native one, or at least to be close to this goal.. Unfortunately, this is a difficult task. However, one aspect that annoys the majority of us while studying a foreign language is reading it. We make up any excuse to postpone this reading untill the last minute, we prefer spending our time on doing different obligations. Why don't we change this attitude? Reading a foreign language should be considered a lucky chance instead of an annoying necessity. I believe that people should read it in their spare time on daily basis. Such reading helps us develop a deeper learning of a foreign language, gives us the hole picture instead of a novel, and provides us with the opportunity to keep our minds active.

We can start by choosing the most attractive format of reading (magazines, articles, recipes...), they might be quick to read. E-books are also a good option, you can take them everywhere and they are easy to carry. We should take in mind the importance of choosing the right moment of the day to read in a foreign language so we can enjoy it and feel the pleasure that it brings.

TYPICAL THINGS YOU CAN SEE IN LONDON

 

ENGLISH GAMES

Here you have 3 different websites with lots of games to practise your English

  https://www.anglomaniacy.pl/

 https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

 https://www.eslgamesplus.com/fun-games/

PHONICS

Do you think learning phonics is boring? Listen to this sticky song about letter S, sing it, dance it and enjoy it.