Happy Halloween!!!

Are You Ready For An Unforgettable Lesson?

Halloween is a perfect day to do something different in the class, but it is not just about decorating the classroom. This party, originally from Ireland, give us the chance to create a funny and full of learning lesson.

There are tons of activities we can prepare for our lesson, but after being talking about storytelling in class, we thought it was just perfect for a day like this.

Telling stories in classroom has many advantages:

•         Generates motivation
•         Promotes learning through meaning and communicative interaction

We think that a suitable story for Halloween could be:

                                                     “ Hansel and Gretel”

Here you have a couple of links where you can find a wide variety of stories to work with.

• http://www.speakaboos.com/story/hansel-and-gretel
• http://storynory.com/2007/10/14/the-witch-who-was-frightened-of-halloween/

But remember that it is not only telling a story but also planning a whole lesson. As we already know there should be:

-        Pre-storytelling. Activities in order to contextualize, motivate,

-     While-storytelling. Keep children attention and make them interact.

-        After-storytelling. Follow up activities.

Here you have an example of a storytelling lesson we designed and recorded last year.

If you really want to laugh, quick click here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWoN1pA6R0&feature=youtu.be

It is a bit embarrassing, I don’t think this link will last. ha ha ha! XD

Activities for students

http://fichasingles.blogspot.com.es

http://actividades.parabebes.com/fichas-ingles_eq42.html

Just found excellent pages that helps teacher to elaborate exercises for studetns, it is a great way to learn english.

From our point of view we can find all kind of topics and fun activities.

If the exersice is fun studetns will learn more faster!

Fun activities

Faroza's Choice

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/speak/the-funfair

I like this activity because it is really fun for students it takes them out from their routine in class an encourage then to learn in a different and nmotivating way.

This activity helps to promote important skills like speaking and reading as well as they can follow an interesting story.

They have set an important context so they can be aware that english can be useful fot them

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/ten-little-aeroplanes

This activity is really interesting, promotesw listeninjg and oral production because children can sing the song an d also they can sing by themselves.

I think that songs are really entertaining and students have fun! 

In this specific song the student is learning to count numbers so it is important not to teach them the numbers it is essential to make the numbers useful for them so they can use it in their life and context.

Alba's Choice

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/fun-games/haunted-house

I have chosen this “I spy with my little eye” activity because it is a popular game that I used to play with my grandma and my cousins, in my mother tongue of course, and I really like it. 

I think that is simple and easy to put into practice not only in class but in any environment outside of the school. Also it can be adapted to work vocabulary related to a particular topic or to make it more challenging for students.

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/planet-earth

I have found this story particularly interesting because it treats an actual topic such as environmental problem. I think it is a meaningful way to learn English through cross curricular themes.

Noemi´s Choice

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-games/adjectives 

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-games/pronouns

I choose these two games because I think they are very useful in order to get students to focus on grammar aspects. Using this game students practice with a particular grammar in a enjoable way.

Scaffolding through language

In our opininion if the teacher pretend that the children acquire a successful learning, she/he has to use many scaffolding teaching strategies while she/he is explaining something or communicating with children.

Some important strategies are:

Prompting, repeating ideas and using synonimous, visual support like flahcards, pictures etc, paralingustic information (volume, intonation...), role playing (witch is more entertaining for learners), reformulate the questions if they havn't understood it, vary the pattens and routines if they are ready, formulate display questions for checking and referential questions .

The teacher must be interactiog with them all time, thinking aloud, etc. 

Useful information we have found:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7495444_use-scaffolding-strategies-classroom.html

http://math.unipa.it/~grim/ATanner122-127.PDF

Listening fun activities

Listening comprehension is a crucial skill necessary for students of all ages because it contributes to language and cognitive development. Children must listen effectively and process the heard information before being able to perform a number of tasks. Using activities that promote listening comprehension aids students in their efforts. Involve all students, no matter their current level of listening comprehension, in the activities. 

Telephone

Is a simple game, divide students into groups of six or seven, and ask the children to raise their hands if they think they are good listeners. Select one student from each group to receive a whispered message from you. Give them instructions about how the game works and tell them to go back to their groups and relay both the game instructions and the message. Tell the groups the team who successfully repeats the message from you is the winner. Instruct leaders to whisper that same message to the person on their right, who then whispers the message to the person on his right, and so on. The person sitting to the immediate left of the leader writes the message down on a piece of paper and hands it to you. When all groups are finished, share the group answers with the class and share your original message. If a student didn't understand how to play, discuss the importance of listening and how listening was the key to winning the game. 

Active listening

Perform a role playing exercise to model active listening to the class. Select a student to share what's been happening in her life over the past week. Model active listening by looking at the student the entire time she speaks, reacting to what she shares and repeating back portions of what she shares to her. Then, ask the class what actions you took to show that you were listening. Let students role play active listening in pairs with each other, allowing two minutes for each student to talk about a topic. Encourage students not to interrupt, to focus on the speaker, to accept the person's feelings without judgment and to show by your tone of voice and friendly expression that you are interested in what the other person is saying.

Scaffolding Self-Regulated Learning in Primary Classrooms

The video below is about the scaffolding as a teaching method in elementary school. This video offers the scaffolding as a method to solve the current problems found in schools (lack of concentration, poor interaction among peers, no creative activities and interesting to learners ...). Teachers need to know and apply in their practices Vygotsky approaches. Learning should be Responsibility of teachers and students. This Responsibility is passed from teacher to student, gradually. We particularly liked the end images of the video because represent very well the concepts of ZPD and scaffolding.

Benjamin Franklin

"Say it to me and I will forget it, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn."