https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621 Hecho con ♥ en-us 2018-10-09 12:25:05 UTC 2024-12-02 02:58:08 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Apple.png mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/290685420 I am working with my own group. It's a fourth grade at "Fundación Educativa Esquel" school. Every year, the fourth grades in the province of Chubut go on a school trip to Puerto Madryn, it's a project that was launched by the Education Ministry some years ago.                 
Last week this group went on the trip, I went with them as the course teacher. So, this week's final project is to make a journal of the trip as a group, but on video. In order to do that, this first lesson aim was to plan what they were going to say. I divided the "journal" into 7 parts, so I made 7 groups. I gave out a photocopy with some questions to guide their piece of writing about a particular day or moment of the trip. The idea was for the questions to guide the writing of a full paragraph. Each student received a photocopy with some questions like this:                      .                                                                                            On the third day...
-Where did we go? 
-What did we do there?
-How did you feel? 
-What places did we visit next? 
-What did we learn?                                                                                                                                                                                                  In the groups, students had to produce one paragraph answering the questions and telling about the day. I went round the classroom assisting each group. Of course, I was sure they were going to be able to do it, but the result really surprised me. They got really engaged in the activity and not only did they answer the questions that I gave them but they expanded a lot more narrating many things. What's more, we started working with the Past Simple only two months ago, and I noticed that they were using the tense very well with little help.                                                                                                                           It's sometimes hard to work in groups with young children because they may not agree on everything and that may be a reason for a problem, but in this case, I think the strategies that I used to guide their writing in order to produce a piece of writing in small groups was effective. I was very happy with the result :D]]> 2018-10-09 12:31:14 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/290685420 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/291712708 "KEEP CALM AND OWN THE STAGE"
This lesson was filming lesson. Students divided what each member of the group would have to say and had some time to practise in class. The idea was not to know it by heart but not to read everything either. They could have their piece of writing to use as support. 
When filming time came, they all got nervous. They all knew what they had to say, the text was about something they had experienced a week before and something they had written themselves and practised, but somehow, being in front of the camera makes them anxious, although it is an experience they enjoy. So, between filming groups they needed some support to stay calm and a sort of reminder that they can do it. It's really amazing how much children can achieve with somebody else believing in them, helping them stay calm and encouraging them.

]]> 2018-10-11 13:30:46 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/291712708 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/292540590 In this lesson we went back to the practice tests. Students are preparing to sit for the YLE "Movers" exam. They started sitting for the YLE tests last year and it was an experience they really enjoyed. They are all really enthusiastic about it, the Cambridge exam is a big deal for them. 
So, once a week we do a mock test, and as the students are really interested in doing well in the test they know they have to calm down, concentrate, work hard and do their best. Preparing this test is a good opportunity for them to learn about big goals, preparing for something in advance and working hard. ]]> 2018-10-14 14:50:17 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/292540590 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/293871454 "Eating a rainbow"
In this lesson, we worked with the notion that it is highly benefitial for our body to eat a rainbow...of fruit and vegetables. We grouped vegetables and fruit according the their colours and we learnt that each group has different nutrients and vitamins that are good for different organs of our body. Children were really engaged.
This lesson will be very useful to plan the next one. The following lesson I'm planning for students to write a food diary. They will have to keep record of the food they eat in the meals and snacks of two days. Now that they have learnt the benfits of each group of fruit and vegetables and the importance of balancing all the colours in our diet, I hope that they will consider this when eating at least for the two days that they will have to keep the food diary. 
Maybe after they present their diary, I can plan an activity for students to reflect on their diet and whether the diary showed a rainbow of fruit and vegetables or not. ]]> 2018-10-17 14:25:22 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/293871454 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/295119909 Today's lesson was about eating habits and the importance of having a balanced diet. We worked on how to keep a food diary for students to evaluate if they are eating helthily, and to identify any changes or improvement that they can make on their diet. 
This lesson was very important to me as a teacher because I myself consider eating habits education of extreme importance, and I think that it is a subject that should be included in all schools' curricula. As a teacher, I think we play a key role on students' education, and I strongly believe that we are what we eat. 
I also believe in teaching English as a means, and in this case, English was the means to teach about something so important as healthy eating habits.
And what I really loved was that students seemed to be really interested in the lesson and in their eating habits too.  ]]> 2018-10-20 21:46:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/295119909 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/295934402 -Students' reaction to the materials:
In this lesson we started a new unit, its vocabulary point is clothes. I introduced the main vocabulary using real clothes. Students drew items of clothing from inside the bag and as I presented the vocabulary they repeated the words.
Later on in the lesson, I gave them a worksheet with a suitcase and they had to decide where they wanted to go on holidays, draw and describe the clothes they were going to take on holidays. They had a lot of fun doing this, much more than what I had expected! They loved planning what to take on holidays.

-Aspects of the lesson I consider require change/improvement:
One activity was a roleplaying situation in which students worked in pairs. They had to ask and asnwer each other about the clothes they were taking on holidays. The dialogue was as follows:
A: Are you taking cropped trousers?
B: -Yes, definitely!
   -No, I don't think so.
   -I'm not sure.

Although I showed the activity with a helper before they started, I didn't drill the phrases, and I noticed when they were doing the activities that they were mispronouncing some words. So, I corrected students as I heard them. But it would have been better to drill the dialogue before in order to avoid those errors. It is something I will consider next time when we practise dialogues. ]]> 2018-10-23 13:39:42 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/295934402 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/296913756 -Aspects of the lesson I consider successful:
I think all the lesson was rather successful. I could see that because in this lesson I introduces a lot of new vocabulary related to clothes and fashion, such as: trendy, modern, fashionable, classic, new-style, checked... and towards the end of the lesson most students were using them accurately and in complete sentences, not just the isolated words.

-A moment that was important for the students during the lesson:
Something that I noticed that was important for them was the fashion parade show. After working with clothes and fashion in London, it was time for them to organise a parade, there were models and presenters. We worked in groups and all the members of the group had to collaborate in the writing of the description of the clothes that there models were going to wear. They all wanted to be models but at the same time they were all interested in describing the clothes to wear in as much detail as possible, they asked me many questions about this. We all had great fun doing this!]]> 2018-10-25 13:15:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/296913756 mane_her https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/300191481 -A lesson component:
This lesson I used for the first time the Macmillan Education Everywhere software. I used it to introduce, listen and tell a story projecting it on the board. I have never used it before, and this time I decided to try it and I found out it was very fruitful and that students got really engaged. The software was used instead of introducing and telling the story with the Student's Book. I really felt that learners were more into the story than when we use the Student's Book. It was a real success, I will incorporate this tool from now on. 

Another aspect that I noticed that students enjoyed from the lesson was the part in which we discussed the values taught in the story. After working with it, we discussed some questions that were aimed at analyzing the value of friendship in the story. I allowed the use of L1 for this so that students could feel more comfortable and provide a more insightful opinion. Most students expressed their opinion and they shared beautiful ideas and values. After this part, we went back to speaking everything in English. ]]> 2018-11-04 15:19:20 UTC https://padlet.com/mane_her/q79kr3xth621/wish/300191481