Black History Month

February is Black History Month in the U.S. and Canada. It is a time to remember some of the greatest leaders in African-American history, who fought for racial equality and civil rights. As studying a foreign language means also studying its culture, I celebrated Martin Luther King Day with my students. I used the material and activities below, practising student's reading, listening and writing skills.

Martin Luther King Reading

HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT WORK.docx

I also used this M.L.K. biography from Biography Channel as a listening exercise.

Happy Black History month!

The Story of Thanksgiving

This is a lesson on Thanksgiving for 8th graders. Before watching the film, students are asked to refer what they know about this festivity. Then they watch the follwing video.



QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FILM “The First Thanksgiving”

Food vocabulary in the video: duck, geese, turkey, deer, clam, corn, peas, wheat, barley

• Which king ruled in England around 400 year ago?

• Why were some people unhappy?

• Where did they first go?

• Why did they leave Holland?

• How did they go to America?

• What was the ship called?

• How long did it take to get to America?

• What was the sea journey like?

• What was the weather like when they arrived in America?

• They did they survive winter?

• Who helped them?

• What did the Indians teach them?

• Why did they decide to give a Thanksgiving party?

• Who did they invite?

• Which food did they prepare?

To find out more about Thanksgiving, click here

Back to the past (simple)!

Every school year we have to revise the past simple and every time we revise it, students stumble over the "awful" irregular verbs ... again and again. Why is it so painful for them to learn anything by heart?
Well, students and teachers alike... just keep on trying, because "where there's a will, there's a power".

So, student, if you're still "haunted" by the "awful" irregular (or regular, for that matter) verbs, give these activities a try ...and have fun! After you have finished, please leave a message on how well (hopefully!) you did.

Games with the past simple

Test your memory

http://www.manythings.org/wbg/verbs_past2-mw.html

Spelling (Write the missing verbs)

http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/perfectpast/irregular%20past%20spelling.html

Two betting games
Game one: completing sentences. You get points for the correct answer:

http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/perfectpast/past%20simple%20betting.html

Game two
http://www.quia.com/cb/119049.html?AP_rand=1602325017

Matching game

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/online/jigword/jigpast1.html

Snakes and Ladders

http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/New_Snakes_%20Ladders/Past_simple_tense.html

Quiz Show (exciting)
http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/ClassroomGames/Quizshow/Irregular%20Past%20Simple%20Quiz%20Show/index.html


Now, if you're not really a game lover, here are some exercises:

Negative in the simple past

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-past/exercises?05

Questions in the simple past

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-past/exercises?06

Mixed exercise

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-past/exercises

A list of irregular verbs, just in case...

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/irregular-verbs

Feeling like doing a test? Here are some:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/simple-past-1 (easy)

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/simple-past-2 (medium)

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/simple-past-3 (difficult)


Last but not least, DO NOT FORGET to write about your last summer holidays on WALLWISHER. Just click on "post a sticky" and you'll be redirected to the wall! Have fun learning English!

Your teacher.

Studying Vocabulary - Fantastic Tool!

Surfing the net trying to find different ways for my students to study/memorize voacabulary, I came across this fantastic online fashcard programme - www.quizlet.com
As they say quizlet is "...the largest flash cards and study games website with over 6 million free sets of flashcards covering every possible subject. It's the best place to play educational games, memorize vocabulary and study online."
In fact, you can create sets of flashcards (with sound and pictures)with your own terms and definitions for your students, or you can ask students to do so. In case you have no time to create your own flashcards, you can choose from sets created by other users. Everything for free! Pretty amazing, isn't it?
I was so curious to test it, I created this one:

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study english flash cards

To know how it works watch this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1AbcKz-_q8
Have fun and ... enjoy your summer holiday!

Using Songs to Motivate Students' Creativity

Teenagers and music are inseparable. So it's always an excellent tool to use in the classroom to teach or revise both grammar and vocabulary, or just for fun. I posted some examples some time ago (click here to check).
With songs students can practise the 4 skills: from a simple listening activity, or a reading comprehension, or even a debate, to a more elaborate writing activity, you just have to pick (or let them pick) the song.
I've recently written about arousing student's imagination and creativity through art. Music is art too. So why not using it to stimulate creativity? Here are some ideas:

1. After listening to the song, ask students to create a new verse to it;

2. Ask students to find a photo which best describes the song lyrics;

3. If the topic of the song allows it, you can ask students to improvise a dialogue between the song writer and the character in the song. In this case, you have to make sure students understand the lyrics so as to feel confident enough to accomplish the task. Give them the timing and the setting to give it more meaning and make it easier (Coldplay's Scientist is a suitable song for this activity);

4. Have students write a letter/e-email to the main character (or the singer), or send an answer to the character referred to in the song;

5. "A song talk" - students usually have their favourite songs. Maybe they know interestings facts or stories to tell about their songs, so ask them to prepare a short talk;

6. If the song tells a story, you can challenge students to turn it into a cartoon story using Xtranormal or Goanimate;

7. Ask them to draw or collage the song and compare the visualizations in class.

Well, the sky is the limit! Enjoy.

Rethinking Education

Reflections and opinions on education in the 21st century. How do we teach? To what extent have we changed the way we teach so far? Are we teaching the same way we taught 10, 15 or 20 years ago? If it's the case, are we willing to change? How and what can we change? These are questions worth answering.
I guess most of us teachers really want to adapt and adjust to these changing times, in which technology plays an important role. Students are no longer the same as the ones we taught years ago!
Here are some videos on the subject. A must see! I hope you get inspired by them as I did.

Motivate your students with GoAnimate

I found this great free tool that allows anyone to create fully animated cartoons by choosing characters from scratch, props, backgrounds, audio and text.
This could be a good tool to stimulate reluctant writers to animate a story, a text or a song in a creative way. I think the best way to describe GoAnimate is to have a look at their demo video below. Check it out here.

An example of what you can do with GoAnimate:

GoAnimate.com: by Cognito


Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Hugs!