Storytelling in year 4 15.02.13

As I told you on the last storytelling post, my school tutor provided me with lots of scanned tales. Year 4 students are currently learning vocabulary related to food so I looked for a story about this topic and I found a very funny one called Eat your Peas. The book tells the story of a girl who doesn't want to eat her peas and her mum tries to convince her offering lots of presents.

To tell the story I interacted a lot with students. I constantly asked questions to them in order they guess what was going to happen next. For example, when the mother offered to the girl some pudding, bicycles, etc. in exchange for eating her peas, I asked to children: "Do you think she will agree or not?" and they were so enthusiastic to raise the hand and bet what happens. I think that this methodology helps to better understand the plot of the tale and also contribute to help the kids to know the meaning of new words, for example, they should learn the meaning of new vocabulary if they want to bet about the answer of the girl.

Once I finished telling the story, I want to practice the oral skills of kids thanks to a conversation. I asked them this question: Which is the food you hate the most? and each kid said one. Then, we played a memory game and to do it I randomly asked some children this other question: Do you remember which food (name of one kid) hated the most? so they should remember other food names. This is a funny way to make a revision of the topic vocabulary and also an opportunity of knowing new words if a student hates a food we haven't learned yet.

I continued the session asking children more questions like: Which present do you prefer to eat your food? so they had to think in objects, actions, etc. they would like to have or do. This part was the funniest one because they said such a lot of exaggerated things that everybody could laugh and have a fantastic time.

"Valentine's day" with year 6 14.02.13

On Thursday we celebrated Valentine's day. I think that culture is an important theme to work with kids so I decided to prepare a special activity for that day. I found nice to write some love cards using different positive adjectives so I planned a cross-curricular activity which involved art and English. On Tuesday I made a heart card with different coloured cardboard and then, I wrote some good adjectives on it (nice, handsome, clever, imaginative, etc.). I showed the card to year 6 students and then, they created their own ones at art time. Here you can see the fantastic results.

On Thursday, at English class, we started the lesson reading the Valentine's day origin so kids could practise their written comprehension and know more culture aspects. Then, I prepared an activity in order to learn positive adjectives. The exercise consisted in drawing arrows between some words and the corresponding image. For example, I wrote "clever" and I put a brain in the same page. I could print one activity for each pupil, but I decided that they had to move so they came to the board and wrote on it with the digital pen. I was so surprised because although children know a lot of vocabulary and they can recognize lots of words, they hardly use them when they talk or write in English.

Right after, I gave the heart cards to students and they chose the adjectives they wanted to write them on it. I think that it's a good activity to learn positive words and write them to friends, family, etc. Children should learn to be kind to other people because it will satisfy them in their lives. Finally, I hung all the cards at the English class so all the pupils of the school could observe them.

"Where the wild things are" with year 3 14.02.13

On Thursday afternoon I told a very nice story to year 3 students: "Where the wild things are". This story is about a very imaginative boy who travels to a land full of monsters, so it's perfect for young learners.

 

On Wednesday my school teacher provided me with lots of scanned stories in order to practise the storytelling with my students. I found this set of resources very useful because pupils can listen to the story at the same time they see the book images on the board so I decided to choose one of the tales and tell it to my year 3 children.

That evening I took a look to all the books and I liked so much the one called Where the wild things are. Although it contained some difficult words, I thought it was a great story to tell the students. I had previously worked on The Gruffalo tale with these kids and they loved it so I was sure that they would love this one too. As I have said, this story is not easy for young learners because the vocabulary we find in it requires a high level of knowledge, so that's why I decided to use other resources in order to make children understand the plot. To tell the story I constantly used mime because it helps to understand unknown words. I also talked with different voices and showing different feelings and finally, I interacted a lot with my students asking them to repeat actions or sounds and also to anticipate what was going to happen next in the story. Definitely, non-verbal communication is perfect to help our students to understand the whole meaning of stories without working analytically. I could see how the kids were enjoying the tale all the time, guessing what was going to happen and imitating the monsters.

After having told the narrative, I planned an activity to develop the kids oral and written comprehension. I had already put in practise some storytelling with year 4 students and we did some activities that weren't related to the plot at all. I found these activities (which were included in the book) not very meaningful because they didn't check if children had understood the story or not, they just were about parts of the house, time, etc. In this case, I wanted to work on the oral and written comprehension of the tale so on Wednesday I looked for some questions on the web to ask to kids after the storytelling. I found a very interesting kind of test that was perfect so I projected it on the screen and students could answer to the questions in groups. I was wondered how well kids answer to the questions, they did it almost perfect, although the story was difficult. Thanks to that experience I could observe that teachers can teach English in a globally way so it's not necessary that children understand every single word or grammar structure of a text to catch the whole sense of it.
I want to share with you the story, so click here if you want to read it and take a look to the scanned book .

Here you have the comprehension questions as well.

"Menu II" in year 4 13.02.13

Last week I started an interesting activity with year 4 students: they had to design a menu. Although I planned one session for the exercise, it took more time, so we have continued writing our dishes this week. Here you have a picture of the menus. I think kids made a fantastic job and they also learned a lot of new vocabulary related to food.

If you want to see more pictures about the activity process, click here

Having done that, one of the year 6 students has helped me make a book which includes all the menus. For doing it we have used cardboard, paint and some string. In my opinion it's nice to collect all the kids craft in a book because they will feel very proud of their work. Then, we can show it to other students, to parents, etc

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"Prova d'avaluació d'anglès II" with year 6 08.02.13

On Friday I practised some oral comprehension with year 6 students. As you know, they are going to take an important exam in May so it's good to get them used to doing these kinds of tests. 

Before the lesson I photocopied the two last year oral tests in order to help the kids to do the first one and then, let them take the second one on their own. The first step on Friday session was to explain to the students how the oral exam was. I told them that they would hear a conversation three times and they should choose the correct answer of every question at the same time. 

Right after we started the first test. They had time to read all the questions carefully, so they got familiarized with the topic of the test. Then, I played the audio and I stopped it when I listened to the answer of a question. Next I repeated the dialogue slower in order to make the kids hear the answer. I also asked them what had they listened to so children showed me if they had understood the conversation or not. I continued with the track and I stopped again until the dialogue finished. I think this is a very good way to make students hear the essential information to answer the questions and avoid the supplementary information that won't help them guess the solution.

After finishing the first test, I let the kids take the second exam on their own. I played it three times and I didn't help them at all. During the break period I corrected the test and I was very pleased with the result. Most of the kids passed the test and they did it with a fantastic mark. I also calculated the arithmetic mean of the exams and I obtained a 7,6, so much better than the reading comprehension mark. That means that children must work harder on their writing skills in order to improve the results, but they also have to keep practising their oral comprehension not to lose the habit.

If you want to see the 2011-2012 English exam click here

If you want to hear the listening comprehension audio click here

"Menu" in year 4 08.02.13

During this week, year 4 students have been learning new food vocabulary. In their Surprise! book they could find some activities in order to memorize the new words but, despite that, I thought that an extra activity related to this topic would help the kids to consolidate the vocabulary.

The activity I planned was called "Menu" so children have been designing a set of dishes of a restaurant. Two weeks ago I asked the students to bring some supermarket leaflets in order to cut some pictures of food out and then stick them on their menus. 

I started the lesson showing to the kids an example of a menu. The menu was composed of: starter, main course, dessert and drink options, so they had to write their meal plan including all of these sections. Then, I divided the class into groups, so children worked in groups of three students. Right after I explained the process of the creation of the menu: first write the dishes, then find the appropriate pictures and finally, decorate the menu with a coloured sheet of paper.

Before putting in practise this activity I thought it was going to take just one lesson, but I was mistaken. Kids started the activity this week and they are going to continue the next one in order to finish their crafts. 

I saw children very excited doing this exercise. They love cutting out, creating crafts, designing...Children are naturally creative so we should offer to them open activities to develop their artistic skills. Usuallyy the book's activities are so closed so students just have to copy something and write the unique and appropriate answer. In exchange we have more creative activities like the "Menu" where there is not just a correct solution. There are a lot of possibilities that kids can write and most of them are right. 

The activity also contributed to encourage children to discover new words, to be curious and to look for them in the dictionary. During the lesson I could see how kids learned new vocabulary in a different way so we spent a great and profitable time.

"How to make a carnival mask" with year 6 07.02.13

As you know, kids are having a great time at school preparing all the carnival stuff and also thinking about their costumes and masks. My year 6 students made a plaster cast mask and it was really nice to wear it during the carnival party. 

Ignasi Iglesias school has a digital magazine where all the children write different sections as articles, games, etc. in order to develop their writing skills and to create an enjoyable reading for all the students. For year 6 students it's easy to write an article in Spanish or Catalan, so the teacher decided that the kids would write an article in English related to carnival: how to make a carnival mask. 

My tutor suggested that I prepare a lesson about the creation of the mask and I completely agreed. I decided to do a power point to help the students to learn the name of the materials we need to make the craft in English and to learn the process as well. First of all, I have written all the materials in English and I have added three extra ones in order that kids learn more vocabulary. Then, they have copied the words in their notebook. Right after, I have showed them some verbs that express the actions to make the mask (to cut out, to stick, etc.) and they have completed the sentences (to cut out the plaster cast strips). So with the materials and the process, kids have written their article about carnival masks.

Before doing this activity in class, I thought it was a bit difficult for year 6 students, but they haven't had any problem to do it. They have even worked quicker than I planned, so they have done a good job. Children have paid attention during most of the time and they have been motivated to learn the new words and to write the making process of the mask. At the beginning of the task they were a bit confused because they didn't know what  to write in their notebooks, but as they are very clever they have got it fast.

I think that power point is a good resource to show writings to the whole class. Students can see the sentences and can also interact with the teacher and with the rest of their classmates solving the activities. I consider that cross-curricular activities are very useful to learn a new language; in this case we have learnt English writing an article about crafts for the school magazines. If we are obliged to work with the book we can combine these kinds of activities in order to enrich our lessons.

"50x15" with year 6 05.02.13

During the last sessions I've been teaching the past of the verb to be in year 6. On the first lesson I taught the grammar structures: affirmative (I was, I were...), negative (I wasn't, I weren't...) and interrogative (were you...?). Then, we practised this grammar thanks to some exercises from the book. On Tuesday, I decided to prepare a very famous a motivating game to keep learning and to consolidate the grammar in a different and funny way: 50x15. This game consist in asking a question and offer four different answers, then the participants must choose the correct option. In this case, I wrote an incomplete sentence and children had to select the word that matched in the gap. Here you have an example:

To play the game I divided the class into four groups formed by students with different English level. Then I gave very clear instructions: all the groups had to answer all the questions and they should write the correct option on a sheet of paper. After writing their answers on the paper, I took a look around to check them and I showed the appropriate option. The teams that guessed right won a point.

I saw the kids enjoying the game and very motivated to guess the correct answer. They were very concentrated and although some of them cheated and looked into the book to answer correctly, they did a good job. I also think that this game was very useful to see the verbs in real sentences and kids had to understand the whole meaning of the question to say the word so it wasn't just a mechanical exercise.

I think that I controlled the situation when kids were playing and I tried to manage the group in the best way. When kids were so noisy I stopped the game and until children didn't realised they were behaving badly and then they paid attention again, I didn't continue playing. I also have to say that I explained the most difficult sentences. For example, there was a question that nobody got right so I stopped the game for a while and I told why it was the correct option. 

Class observation 04.02.13

Yesterday afternoon I came to school to put in practice some games with year 3 students. The games didn't take the whole session so I could observe how my tutor acted in class, which was her methodology, the activities she proposed, how she dealt with kids, etc.

My tutor has a traditional style of teaching and she follows the book structure to create activities but it doesn't mean she is a bad teacher or that kids don't learn English. As I could observe, she always prepares extra activities apart from the ones in the book and children like to do these kind of exercises. For example, I have seen two similar tasks in different classes which consist in describing pictures or drawings. In year 3, students drew a wizard and a castle and then, they talked about them in front of their classmates. Thanks to this activity, kids learn and consolidate new vocabulary as broomstick, hat, cape, tower, flag, etc. and they did it in a different way. With this methodology students felt also very proud of their crafts and they made an effort to do their best drawing a painting beautiful wizards and castles. Apart from describing the drawings in an oral way, they also wrote some sentences, so they practiced grammar as well. For example, kids used the structure "It has..." + the new vocabulary they learnt. I could observe the same kind of exercise in year 4 but in this case, children wrote their descriptions about their favourite animals. 

It should be also pointed out that the teacher decided to show all of the kids' writings in the corridor so the rest of the students could observe them and check how hard they had worked. Here you have the children's creations:

Today I have been observing a year 4 lesson. First of all, kids have corrected their homework about food and drinks. For correcting the activities we use the digital board because Surprise! book has a very useful resource to correct homework in an interactive way. Then, my tutor has told the story of a witch with the help of some flashcards. Although the story was in the class book and she could just turn on the audio, the teacher has decided to interact with kids and use her voice to tell the story. While she was talking about the witch she had asked some questions to students in order to improve their comprehension about the story line. I think that this is a perfect way of catching the kids' attention and also to ensure they assimilate the aims we had planned. After listening to the story, children have done an exercise of the activity book but before doing it in their books, they have solved it in the digital board. Kids love movement so it's a good idea to make them come to the board a write on it. This task is also positive to facilitate all the students the view of the correct answers.

A visit to the radio station and school blog updating 01.02.13

During this teaching placement I'm spending most of the time with year 6 students. My school tutor, who is also one of the two English teachers, is the tutor of the oldest kids so that's why I'm joining other subjects they learn apart from English and also some excursions.

Yesterday I went with children to the local radio station. We had already been there because last week we visited the place just to know how all the stuff worked. During the next fifteen days, students have been preparing a radio program in order to become journalists and be able to record it in a real studio. 

Kids were very excited with the experience and they enjoyed a lot reading their programs in front of the microphone. It was a fantastic activity because they work very hard in groups and they planned in pairs different sections about news, music, sports, video games, etc. Previously at school they had to write all the scripts, so they developed their writing skills and also they practised the dialogues many times, so the oral expression was taken into account as well.

Ignasi Iglesias school has many blogs that talk about excursions, important activities, English, music, books, etc. but sometimes teachers are so busy to update them. For that reason I offered to write a new entrance in the year 6 blog talking about the radio experience and also showing some pictures I took in the morning. My tutor was so grateful to me because she didn't know exactly how to include photos in the blog. I think that blogs are very useful to show to the children's family which activities they do at school and outside it, so this resource is very useful to establish a good and trustworthy relationship between the school and families.

Here you have the school blog, where you will find some pictures of the excursion.