Welcome to the "Learning and Teaching English" blog.
This is the blog for the teacher training activities held at Córdoba CEP:
- "Learning and Teaching English Celebrations" (2011/12).
- "English Workshop: Developing and Activating skills in English"(2012/13)
In this blog the participants in the courses will collect and describe all the resources, strategies, lesson plans and experiences in their classroom related to English celebrations/skills.
ENJOY YOURSELF!! LEARN AND TEACH ENGLISH!!
Here's an interesting article about Interaction in Cities which I came across a few days ago. Did you know that Interaction between Strangers is a subject at university?
Although no linguistic implication is discussed, it seems to me that the ways we as "individuals" may choose to interact (or not) with strangers may also shape how we choose to activate our skills and use language in context.
Have you ever wanted to use some authentic writing in your classes but found it too time-consuming to look for (and read!) material, only to decide that it´s not useful / suitable for your class?
I´ve just been in this situation and found a really useful article on the British Council website, which talks about using "minifiction" or "flash fiction" in the classroom.
The article is here , so you can decide for yourslef!
Personally, I think it´s another option for those of you who want to use some authentic texts in class, as the stories are short and need less preparation on the teacher´s part in terms of reading, extracting language, grammar points etc. AND....the students feel satisfied at having read something "real"!
Songs are a good resource to learn grammatical structures. There are many songs that repeat the same sentences, so it is easy for the children to recognise these structures. A good example is the song Moon Shadow, by Cat Stevens:
I'm being followed by a moon shadow
moon shadow-moon shadow leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
moon shadow-moon shadow
and if I ever lose my hands lose my plough, lose my land oh, if I ever lose my hands oh, if... I won’t have to work no more
and if I ever lose my eyes If my colours all run dry yes, if I ever lose my eyes oh if … I won't have to cry no more.
yes, I'm being followed by a moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow leaping and hopping on a moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow
and if I ever lose my legs I won't moan and I won't beg of (oh)* if I ever lose my legs oh if... I won't have to walk no more
And if I ever lose my mouth all my teeth, north and south yes, if I ever lose my mouth oh if...
I won't have to talk...
Did it take long to find me I ask the faithful light Ooh did it take long to find me And are you going to stay the night
I'm being followed by a moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow leaping and hopping on a moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow moon shadow - moon shadow
As we can see, in this song there is a repeated structure "If I ever lose..." so children can work with conditionals. After the first paragraph, we can miss the words "If I ever lose" and we ask the children to fill in the gaps. As it is repeated all the song, it won't be very difficult to them to recognise the words.
In this specific example we can also work with present continuous "I'm being followed" and future simple "I won't have to".
I´ve really enjoyed reading about the way you are using some of the ideas we´ve been discussing in the Workshop! I am glad that your students are enjoying the activities. It´s great to have such responsive and responsible participants as yourselves...Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences and keep posting!
Hi mates!
Last week I had the opportunity to put into practice some of Neda's ideas and the results were very positive. Course: 4th ESO.
We worked with a song (Adele's "Someone like you"). As an icebreaker, I told them to listen to the song and write all the words they could understand. After that, they had to discuss what the song was about in groups of 3 with the help of the words.
Only some of the students had a clear idea of the meaning of the lyrics. So, I decided to give them all the lines of the song. The problem was that they were not in order. Their task was to put these lines in order and listen to the song again.
I think that this can be a motivating activity to introduce a grammar point or some vocabulary that is in a song. In this way, we can catch students' attention easily.
First of all I'd like to thank Neda and Pilar. Neda for her amazing workshop. I'm having a great time and learning a lot. And Pilar for organizing everything so well.
Juan after these compliments I would be recognised with 5 more hours than you.
Finally, my experience.
I've tried one of the ideas that Neda suggested. I had a Reading. A text in the book ( Interface 1º ESO ). It has a Listening. I told my SS to close their books and open their notebooks. I told them to write down every word or sentence that they hear. I played the text twice. First time the whole text. Second time making stops. Afterwords I asked them which words they've heard and to try to guess the topic of the Text. AMAZING !!!. TRY IT. Sole
I want to share with you another activity for third and fourth years. I propose a tongue-twister, a good way to improve pronunciation. Firstly, students will try to say some parts of the tongue-twister separately, in order to pronounce them correctly. In the end, they will try to say the tongue-twister as fast as possible, but also pronouncing it correctly, linking the words.
Another way to work with these tongue-twisters is separating the class in groups and make each group say one part of the tongue-twister.
Below I write you some examples of tongue-twisters:
-"I can skateboard with a black hat and eight bags"
-"I'm happy when it's hot and I'm on holiday"
-"The spider and the grasshopper are under the flower"
-"Five fish eat ice cream with a knife"
-"The green witch is wearing punk jeans"
-"The rich prince likes chicken and English"
-"The snake and the spider eat spaghetti"
This idea was taken in a formation course by Enma Thomas.
In order to work with songs in a different way, I have already practised some very useful ideasand strategies provided by Neda in our weekly sessions. And I must admit that the result has been a complete success.
OBJECTIVE: Conditional Sentences for 4ºESO. Making hypotheses.(Type II)
MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES:
1)Work with the song “If I were a boy” by Beyonce. (Devote one session).
a)The students listen to the song and individually they write down on their notebooks ten words they can understand.
b)In groups of three, students share and exchange vocabulary and ideas, trying to guess the topic or plot of the song story. If possible for advanced students, they can also rewrite the parts of the song they get to understand.
c)Every group read their handouts to the rest of the class.
d)The teacher projects the lyrics and plays the song while the students check their notes.
e)Sing the song and enjoy it.
If I were a boyby BEYONCE
If I were a boy even just for a day I'd roll out of bed in the morning And throw on what I wanted And go drink beer with the guys
And chase after girls I'd kick it with who I wanted And I'd never get confronted for it 'Cause they stick up for me
If I were a boy I think I could understand How it feels to love a girl I swear I'd be a better man
I'd listen to her 'Cause I know how it hurts When you lose the one you wanted 'Cause he's taking you for granted And everything you had got destroyed
If I were a boy I would turn off my phone Tell everyone it's broken So they'd think that I was sleeping alone
I'd put myself first And make the rules as I go 'Cause I know that she'd be faithful Waiting for me to come home, to come home
2)Write a composition about a topic that is related to the song. The composition steps are explained to the students in class ( devote one session ) and an example of a guided composition is written on the blackboard jointly in class. Use “brainstorm” and “mind maps” to elicit information and ideas from the students and teach them how to do it the same at home.
COMPOSITION TOPIC: Who would you be if you were a famous character from a novel
you have read?
POSSIBLE TITLE: If I were a different person, I would be…
(explain the use of “were” with the 1st person sg).
COMPOSITION CONTENT: The answers to the following questions may help you with your
composition:
-Why would you like to be that character? Describe him/her physically, his/her personality and
behaviour and give reasons for your choice.
-How would you behave?
-What would you do?
-How would your new life be?
COMPOSITION STRUCTURE:
-Your composition must have three paragraphs as a minimum:
-INTRODUCTION: very brief information about the plot of the book you have read and the
character chosen.
-COMPOSITION BODY: one or two paragraphs Cincluding,among many other ideas, those in the
previous step ( composition content ).
-CONCLUSION: Your opinion about the experience. Would you really like to be a different
person or are you happy and proud of yourself?
-Grammar you must use in your composition:
-Descriptive structures: adjectives (remember word order), relative sentences.
-Conditional sentences: Conditional Sentences Type I and II (hypothesis).
In third and fourth years of primary education, for reading I use Macmillan Children's Readers books. Children have to read one book every trimester. They don't translate the whole book, they try to understand the idea of the story. They also have a vocabulary list they have to learn. With the CD provided in the book, they listen to the story and practice pronunciation. As they don't have to search every word in the dictionary, they are learning to understand the meaning of the sentence, and how they link words to know the meaning.
