Conclusion- Be on the ball

During this course the activities have been very useful to create other sort of environment in class. Many students are tired of the typical activities and, after all, it is not that difficult to create new ones from time to time so as to motivate them during the English lesson. We, as teachers, have to bear in mind that English is a very important language and by being able to speak it and understand it, students will have access to a lot of information and, maybe, to have better professional careers.

The didactic tools that we have learnt during this course have to be only the beginning of many others Without doubt, Edmodo has been for me a very interesting tool and I really think that students will enjoy it as it is similar to facebook. Now, we will have to keep researching new useful webpages so as to achieve what we really want- to have our students with a good English level. 

VOKI!

Voki is a website where you can record your voice. you can also create a character and it is so fun! I propose you an activity through this website. I am going to record two sentences from two short stories! but I am not going to tell you which short stories. Just becuase of the sentece and the character that I have created you have to guess which short story I am talking about.
It is so easy! For teachers this is as well very useful becuse they can make funny exams by recording their voices and they can see if their students have read the short stories.

link: http://www.voki.com/

Here it is my voki guess from which short story!
http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=6308473&height=400&width=300

Here it is my next voki! which short story is it from??
http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=6308554&height=267&width=200

Now you can make your own vokis!

GO!Animate with Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat

After reading the short story have a look to the following link:

http://goanimate.com/videos/00IMnJVTO68o/1

If you have a look to the website you will be able to create your own video just loggin in and for free. Create a video with the short story representing some of the scenes or even creating a new one related to it.

Have fun!

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat

Let’s work on another short story!  Have a look to the following link and read the shot story written by Roald Dahl . Instead of answering the typical questions about the short story, I would like to suggest to take two photos from your favorite scene or character.

http://www.cuentoseningles.com.ar/shortstories/english/mrsbixby.html 

Here you have the photos that I have taken:

Now take yours!!

The butterfly circus -Motivational session in English-

Some ideas to do in your English classes through a short film! For 4 E.S.O. and Bachillerato

The butterfly circus is a motivational short film of 20 minutes long.  Through this short film students will practice the listening, speaking and writing skill. This activity is explicitly design to make them know that they can do what they want as long as they have a positive attitude. By giving to the students this touching movie, they are being encouraged to talk about something that has to do with everybody.

Film’s plot:

At the height of the Great Depression, the showman (Eduardo Verastegui) of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover Will (Nick Vujicic), a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow, but after an intriguing encounter with the showman he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed. http://thebutterflycircus.com/about/story/

Here is the film with English subtitle.

Film part 1: http://dotsub.com/view/7b5f59aa-6339-4831-866c-d085988f52ec

Film part 2: http://dotsub.com/view/02683716-f4f1-4fb3-b6a7-43dbf0b1f9fa

Objectives:

• Practice the listening so as to be able to give their opinions from what they have understood from the film.
• Practice the oral skill giving their opinions, ideas and thoughts.
• Write a reflection from the conclusions they get of the film.
• Motivate students to make them known that with a positive attitude and effort a person can achieve what they want.

 Pre-activity

Think about a situation in your life were you thought that you could not do something. For example: to pass an exam, or a moment that you were so shy and could not say something to somebody, or to speak in front of the class, or forgive someone. If you do not have any in mind think about a possible situation in the future that you find right now impossible to happen as for example to study a degree or to work in something that you would like to, or to have a good level of spoken English.

The teacher writes down in the blackboard students’ ideas. Each student has to thing at least about one.

Show them a photo of Nick Vujicic. Do you think this man can do something in life? have a decent life? How difficult can be your life without arms and legs? Do you think this is a real person or a fictional character?  Have you heard about him before?

During the activity.

The teacher put the movie in class until the minute 3:50 when Will, the limbless man spit at Mr. Mendez. Then, they have to think what is going to happen with Mr. Mendez. Will he help Will? or Will he treat him as the others?

Write down things that draw you attention during the movie to talk about them after the movie.

Post activities:

Which things have drawn your attention during the movie? Set the class in horseshoe position.

                Think about:

·         Tell the differences between ‘The carnival sideshow’ and ‘The butterfly circus’. How do they treat people?

·         Why are the people in ‘The butterfly circus’ happy?

               

Discuss in groups of four what these two sentences mean; what relation do they have with the movie and especially, with Will? Afterwards put your ideas in common and write them down.

-          ‘Where there is a will there is a way’

-          ‘Life is not a bed of roses’

In groups of four also search on the internet about all the things Nick Vujicic has done during his life. Do you know that he is married? Write down everything that you thought it was impossible for someone like him to do. Then, make a digital poster of Nick Vujicic ‘s life.

Write 5 lines reflection upon the movie and the things you thought they were impossible to do and that after watching the movie you think that you will reach.

Think about:

·         What can you learn from this character?

·         How a good attitude can help us to get the thing we want.

·         Think about the things you thought at the beginning of the class that you could not do.

Assessment

The assessment is in relation to the participation in class. Write down notes about the movie and about people´s opinion that may help you to construct your own.

Make a digital poster about Nick Vujicic in groups of four.

Hand in individually a writing with the meaning of the sayings ‘Life is not a bed of roses’ and ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ and the relation they have with the movie. Also may your own reflection upon the movie.

Enjoy!!

Wordle! Lets play with words through this website!

 Have a look to this link and create your wordle.
www.wordle.net

The activity that I propose is the following one:

The next wordle is for a post-treatment activity. Students will have to make up a very short fable of just ten lines with the words in the wordle taken from the short story 'The rabbit grow a crop of money'. This story tells us that to tell lies is not a good thing, so the topic of the fable has to be related about the drawbacks of telling lies. Then, students can add some wild and farm animals to their fables.

<a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5410627/Fable_about_money" title="Wordle: Fable about money"><img src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/5410627/Fable_about_money" alt="Wordle: Fable about money" style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"></a>

Textbooks: Bridge or walls?

I would like you to read this article from Michael Swan especially if you are a teacher. This article makes you think about how books are used nowadays in ESL classes. Worth to read it.

http://www.mikeswan.co.uk/elt-applied-linguistics/textbook-bridge-or-wall.htm