Showing posts with label Madrid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madrid. Show all posts

18.11.13

Lesson Plan: Gingerbread Cookies... or Another Way To Impress Your Students

Run, run! As fast as you can! You can't catch me 'cause I'm the Gingerbread man!

Autumn has definitely snuck into our lives here in Madrid. It's cold and rainy, and I've already got a cold.

So, since it'll be impossible to go out to enjoy the rejuvenating Sierra of Madrid, I've decided that TODAY IS THE DAY! 

Time for some baking!

And, since I've already ordered my copy of the book The Gingerbread Boy on Amazon, I decided, in order to make the story and the experience unforgettable, that my students will also receive a couple of Gingerbread cookies. 

I will probably prepare a simple activity about 'the family', like the one presented on my previous post about Gingerbread People, to keep adding to the story.

But, the best part is going to be singing the chorus of  this really catchy song  while reading the book.

I can't stop singing it! 

If you decide to bake with your kids the RECIPE is HERE!

--> Quieres leer esta entrada en español? Aquí la tienes!



     







6.6.13

CLASES DE INGLÉS PARA NIÑOS EN MADRID



APROVECHA LAS TARDES DEL MES DE JULIO PARA QUE TUS HIJOS 
 ¡¡¡HABLEN INGLÉS!!!

En el mes de julio, por las tardes, estaré disponible para clases de inglés, apoyo, repaso, preparación de exámenes oficiales (Starters, Movers, Flyers, Ket, Pet), clases para mejorar la competencia comunicativa y babysitting (juego, merienda, parque, mínimo 1 hora y media).


Clases individuales o en grupo, en la zona centro y sur de Madrid.

Para más informaciones, puedes contactar conmigo mandándo un correo a:

5.6.13

Free downloadable game about clothes WEAR or CARRY?


Have you spent the last 2 weeks teaching the difference between CARRY and WEAR? If your answer is Yes, this new post is for you! 

This is an activity I designed for my 6-year-old learners a couple of years ago. 

It's composed by several tiles, on each one the students had something to do to complete it. On one half they had to write the name of the article of clothing / accessory I had drawn, in the second half they had to draw the garments I had previously written.

In those days my class was composed of 15 students, so I prepared, more or less, 3 tiles for each one to complete.

I had also prepared 'Wild Tiles', the green ones you can see in the pictures, to keep the game going in case of some missing word/drawing.

Once they (had) completed the tiles we started to play in teams of 3 pupils each. When they were putting down their tile, they had to say:  "I'm wearing / carrying … " the object they were placing. Of course the rest of the kids had to check if he was right or not. 



If you don't have time to make it by yourself, you can find the photocopiable PDF of the same game plus a suitable version for children who cannot write by themselves yet (4-5-6 years old) on this link: 

Enjoy it!

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:
http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

25.5.13

Niños bilingües en Madrid: Meblis


Aprovecho de que en EEUU mis lectores estén celebrando 'Memorial Day' para escribir un poco en español :o)

Hace un par de semanas me fui a echar un vistazo a uno de los 'playgroups' semanales que organiza  Meblis aquí en Madrid. 

Pic: Whitney Museum of American Art



Meblis es una asociación, nacida originariamente en Roma gracias a la idea de una joven mamá española, que se propone de ayudar a las familias multiculturales en conseguir el objetivo de crecer a sus niños de manera bilingüe.

La idea se extendió a España gracias a varias otras jóvenes familias italo-españolas y, desde el año pasado, todos los fines de semana, niños y niñas acompañados por sus padres se encuentran en un espacio de Madrid con una educadora de la asociación para jugar utilizando un idioma común, diferente del castellano.

¿Playgroups? Qué son y como funcionan.

Estos Grupos de Juego que desarrolla Meblis son encuentros de 1 hora y media donde los niños siempre juntos a unos de sus padres juegan, cantan, leen cuentos y hacen manualidades 'dirigidas' por una monitora que les habla constantemente en el idioma elegido para ese grupo.

Es una hora y media muy entretenida y divertida en la que niños de 3 años y medio / 4 años aprenden un segundo idioma (principalmente él de uno de los papás, pero también hay niños que van porque sus padres quieren que aprenda ese idioma aunque no se use en casa) sin darse ni cuenta, como siempre pasa en el aprendizaje que se basa en juegos y actividades educativas lúdicas!

Los niños tiene la oportunidad de expresarse y utilizar el conocimiento que tienen de su lengua minoritaria, ganan confianza y dan un sentido al hecho de estar comunicándose en dos idiomas cada día. 

Lo que más me gustó fue el hecho de que estuvieron constantemente presentes sus papás para animarles, dirigirles y abrazarles, todo el tiempo del taller. Fue muy tierno.

El objetivo último que Meblis se propone es que el bilingüismo sea un derecho de todos. Yo asistí al 'playgroup' en italiano, porque de momento es el único activo, pero la meta es crear grupos de todos los idiomas! 

También organizan talleres para adultos sobre el bilingüismo, para despejar dudas  en los padres que hayan decidido emprender ese enriquecedor camino juntos con sus hijos.

Si deseáis organizar un grupo para disfrutar con vuestro hijo el aprendizaje de otro idioma diferente del castellano no tengais ninguna duda en poneros en contacto con la asociación!

Estarán encantados de ayudaros!

Más actividades para niños en Madrid

13.3.13

ANORAK - Revista en inglés para niños / English children's mag


Talking about motivation and how to inspire kids to get more involved on learning English, today I'd like to introduce you to ANORAK magazine.

This nearly bimonthly publication (five issues a year), colorful and modern illustrated  magazine defines itself as 'the happy mag for kids' and, actually, it is. But not only happy, it is like home: cosy, enlightning and cheery. 

Every issue is full of stories, presented under different graphic techniques, rhymes, games, quizzes and activities for children aged from 6 to 12. Each one is dedicated to a single subject: I got the one about animals, but inventions, toys, vikings etc. are waiting for you to enjoy them all.

And not only that! Your child can be part of its Little Editors' team. 

Yes! You read it right! 

Children are allowed to send drawings, rhymes, stories and comics to Anorak. Wouldn't be motivating for your students to cooperate with a real English Magazine?

I bet, it would. 

Designed to be 100% ecological (it' s printed on recycled paper using vegetable ink) and collected, you can purchase it in several countries all around the world 

Here in Spain it is mostly sold in Barcelona, but also in Madrid, Valencia and Gijon.

Don't miss it! Your children will love it!


I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:



25.11.12

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM by Adam Gidwitz


A Tale Drak and Grimm Cover
It's universally known that the original Grimm brothers' tales were not exactly what we're used to hearing. The first version of Children's and Household Tales contained stories quite unsuitable for children, because of scenes of violence and sexuality, therefore, many details were changed in order to publish a less cruel and gory version of it (take a look on Wikipedia). 

Nowadays it is very easy to find sweet and generously illustrated versions of those tales, but where's the catharsis? What about the process of getting over life's difficulties to evolve into a wise adult? 

A Tale Dark and Grimm is a pretty complicated book to describe because it presents many different interesting aspects, but it especially guides the reader along the path of Hansel and Gretel's lives, exquisitely explaining the emotions that our young protagonists are feeling at every step of the adventure of growing up.

As the narrator says, this book presents 'the real story of Hansel and Gretel' from before their birth to their coronation as the new king an queen of the Kingdom of Grimm, passing through, not only the chocolate cake house and the old lady who wanted to eat them but, also, several other Grimm stories: Faithful Johannes, The seven Swallows, Brother and Sister, A Smile as Red as Blood and The Three Golden Hairs. From time to time The Three Ravens that can predict the future appear.

"A brilliant fairy-tale salad" as Gianni Rodari would have called it! (chapter 20, The Grammar of Fantasy)

The plot is basically based on these two siblings who run away from their original parents to look for new parents who will take care of them and won't hurt them. The reason they run away is that their father cuts their heads off in order to save his old servant Johannes' life, and when they are brought back to life by magic, they decide that they cannot trust their parents' love. But running away to find a new family seems more difficult and painful than expected. During their long journey they have many adventures, most of them gruesome and gory.

And here comes, if can I express my sincere opinion, the best part of the book: the narrator. Highlighted by bold type, pops up to warn the reader, with humour and pleasant fickleness, about the terrifying scenes waiting for him in the following pages. Also, he clearly gives us a pedagogic explanation of what we are reading. I've been imagining him as a sagacious little gnome coming out from the edge of this enchanted world to get some air during the entrancing reading of the story.

I was particularly pleased by the author's way of explaining the development of the parent/child relationship. Hansel and Gretel, after being beheaded, are naturally disappointed in their parents' behavior. Their parents, on the other hand, feel guilty for what they have done, and eventually these two emotions must be resolved in a final confrontation. It's not simple to forget and it's easier to be miserable, but in the end forgiveness and sympathy will triumph.

I have read many worried posts written by teachers and parents about this book.
  
While the reviews are generally positive, many people are worried that too much violence could traumatize their children or students forever. This impression reminded me a kind of comic moment in my teaching carer.

I was using fairy tales as activities in class, when an 8-year-old boy told me, referring to The Seven Kids and The Wolf : "I've never understood how it's possible that mother goat can cut the wolf's belly, take her kids out, fill the wolf's stomach with rocks and sew it again while the wolf keeps sleeping!!!"

In that moment I realized that we can't sympathize with anyone's pain if we haven't experienced pain in our own lives. Also, I think that children can usually distinguish real experiences from 'Once upon a Time' reality. 

Anyway, the author has a FAQ page on his website, to clarify any further doubts about it.

And while you are at it, take a couple of minutes to read Adam's posts and comments, he is a very nice and smart guy!

On the same page you'll find a Teacher's Guide with lots of classroom activities.



Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 


                                                   





21.11.12

MY FIRST DICTIONARY


Have you ever found yourself in the unpleasant situation where the child you're teaching English has to learn a list of words as homework? 

Picture - Dictionary for children
You can feel the frustration spreading throughout your body, making your jaw tense up… and your brain is capable of producing only one question, in a loop: why on earth does this child have to learn a list of 20 to 30 words by heart when out there there are millions of resources much easier and more fun to achieve the same goal?

I haven't got an answer, yet. But I think we can prevent the aforementioned situation through a small daily effort to collect all the new words the children are learning.

You can buy your kid an address book or make one yourself and together start to fill it with words and pictures; dedicate a short time every day  and you'll save yourself the wicked lists of words!

I designed this dictionary for those who are preparing the Cambridge STARTERS exam. It includes the official vocabulary, that the kids have to know, organized under a letter, including some space to re-write the words and to draw a picture or place a sticker representing them. 

The fully dictionary is 94 pages long but it has got, also, 26 blank pages if you need more room for more terms.



If you want to take a look at more of my activities for young learners check out my page on englishbooks.es

18.11.12

A Christmas Carol - A Pantomime in Madrid


On the 7th, 8th and 9th of December 2012, at the Colegio Cardenal Spínola in Madrid, one of the most entertaining Christmas play for both children and parents is going to be performed: a pantomime version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

But what is Pantomime?

During the19th century in England children used to go to theatre especially during the Christmas and New Year's season to watch these entertaining shows that included music, magic, humour, flying and fantastic elements. This kind of show, which has children's stories as its main references, is called a pantomime, and has become a popular form of theatre.

It usually follows several performance conventions that will assure a hilarious effect.
The principal boy, for example, is always a girl wearing tight-fitting male garments that make her female nature evident.
The origin of this habit is in the 19th century because it seems that little girls could easily memorize the lines of the play.
The pantomime dame is, on the other hand, usually played by a man in drag.
Audience participation is another funny aspect of this type of play. If you go, you'll be call into the play to cheer for the victims and booh the villain. 
The music is also entertaining, it combines well-known tunes with re-written lyrics. Of course the audience will participate in it!  Last year we all stood up and sang along with the actors!!! It was absolutely embarrassing!!!
There is always an animal hanging around and a good Fairy that enters from stage right (Heaven, according to Medieval symbols) while the villain enters from the stage left (Hell). 
And finally there's always a chorus appearing here and there during the performance to delight us with a variety of songs and dances.

The contrast between the familiarity of a famous children's story and the re-written plot gives birth to an amazing comic and satirical effect.

I went last year and I'm really looking forward to seeing this new 'panto'. I'm sure it's going to be super captivating and lively!

As you have already read in the title it's based on Charles Dickens' book 'A Christmas Carol' and it is being performed for five shows only! 

WHEN?
Friday 7th December, 19.30
Saturday 8th december, 16.00 and 19.30
Sunday 9th december, 12.00 and 16.00 

WHERE?
Colegio Cardenal Spínola (C/ Cardenal Marcelo Spínola, 34)
Metro Duque de Pastrana- Bus 16, 29, 70, 107, 150

HOW?

Tickets on sale at:
Hastings School
Runnymede College
J&J Books and Coffee
Sabores del mundo

                                  

16.11.12

WRITING TIP nº2 -The arbitrary prefix


Here we are, talking about how to inspire your students to write a story.
The second story-inventing game from Gianni Rodari's Grammar of Fantasy is called the arbitrary prefix.

In some way, it could be considered a variation of the Fantastic Binomial (link), and it consists of taking word and placing prefixes in front of them in order to create new inspiring concepts.

Just write down a column of prefixes and a column of words. Then try to connect each one and observe the effect on your brain. 

micro        elephant 
sub           town  
un            bomb  
e              gap  
super        bug  
semi         ghost  
non          playing  
hyper       headed 

or 

micro       town (are there any giants around?)
sub          ghost (ghosts with fish tales?)
un           headed (an horror story?)
e             bug (a spy story?)
super       game (something like the hunger games?)
semi        bomb
non         elephant (?!?!?)
hyper      gap (double hole, double adventure)
etc.

Has any of the connections above already stimulated a brilliant idea for a story?

So, once upon a time, there were two cities that were always fighting. They were constantly busy with their war. But it was a very strange battle. They were struggling to be the best place to live in and they were using weird weapons called unbombs: very expensive devices that improved citizen's life instead of destroying it. 
So each city was spending lots and lots of money to buy these strange bombs
that brought new parks, schools and some kind of services, at every explosion.

People were very satisfied in both cities and when they met, they never stopped showing off the many improvements they got every month, 12 months a year.

Unfortunately one day the hyper-headed guy who made the brilliant unbombs started to suffer an incredibly painful headache. He couldn't do anything a part from lying in bed all day long. The doctor said that he had spent too many years thinking about how to make citizen's happy and now his head was almost blowing up, so he had to rest as much as possible.

What do you think people are going to do now? What about introducing a wicked semi-ghost to create a bit of suspense? 

As always this is only the skeleton of a possible story and not a completely developed tale. I'm sure you can make the most of this tip with your class.

Enjoy it and have fun!

9.11.12

MEET THE ANIMALS!, by Stephane Husar and Loïc Méhée

Today I'm talking about the second book of Cat and Mouse, edited by Anaya, that invite our young learners to get to know the animals!

Meet the Animals Cover
As animals are their favorite subject at this age (3-4-5) you won't have any problem capturing their total attention.

Exactly like in the previous one, Cat and Mouse - Learn the Colours!, we'll meet again the main protagonists, the big-headed orange cat and the little squeaky mouse, but this time they will introduce us to some farm and jungle animals.

The dialogue structure is repetitive and catchy and apart from animals' names we'll also discover their noises. Do you know what kind of noise a sheep makes?

After reading it I added some more activities as always.

First of all I seized the moment to teach the most appropriate song 'Old MacDonald' mentioning the farm animals we saw in the book.

I used this song during the next classes to play 'Musical Chairs' and the 'Statue Game': they were allowed to dance when the music was on but they had to freeze in position and hold it when the music was off.

Then I stuck some flashcards representing the animals from the book on the wall and lined my kids up into two queues. When I called out an animal they had to run towards the right card and touch it. 

You can also make the noise and they have to say the name and touch the corresponding animal.

Another game they love is performing the animals. Make them sit on the floor in a semicircle, call a student out, show him a card. He has to perform the animal and the rest of the class has to guess the animal performed.

Afterwards you can play again the "I spy" and "I can see a…across the sea" games. 

Finally if you have worksheets to color, that will help too.

This book has also a CD that you can use to make them listen and repeat. 
Actually it contains a lot of nature's sounds and my pupils enjoyed it quite a lot.

I still haven't tried the 'Theatre', but I've already noticed them saying stray sentences from the book, so I imagine it's not going to be difficult to arrange it. 

Have fun!


4.11.12

PIPPI LONGSTOCKING by Astrid Lindgren


Pippi Longstocking Cover
I suppose that many of us watched Pippi's adventures on TV when we were children and, maybe, some of her brilliant unconventional ideas are still stored in our subconscious. In my personal experience I still dust my parquet - floor skating on a pair of dust cloths, a technique she invented first, I suppose, and, oh yes! it's fun! 

So, for those who have never heard about her, Pippi has been labelled as the naughtiest girl ever, a little 'savage' whose mother died and whose father was washed overboard in a storm at sea. She lives on the outskirt of a Swedish town with a monkey and a horse parked on the porch of Villa Villekulla.

She is the strongest girl on earth and also the most brave of all. She tells lots of lies, although I'm sure Gianni Rodari would have called them creative stories.

Her character was created when Sweden was being transformed, from a poor agricultural country, into a rich and wealthy nation, and the Swedish culture of conformity, moderation, constraint and contentment was definitively modeling the stereotype of "calm, clean, quiet, industrious and modern" Swedish society.

Can you imagine the expression of horror on the editor's face during the reading of Pippi's book? Actually Astrid Lindgren didn't get published on her first try.
The character of Pippi was so outrageous that the publisher rejected her!

What would you think about a kid who dramatically messes up the kitchen, exactly like The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss, to cook pancakes and rolls shortbread on the floor?

And what about school? She's never gone and even when she tries, she really doesn't fit in! She doesn't treat her teacher respectfully, she is noisy, she lies, she draws on the floor and she doesn't participate when she is required to.
Her one-day teacher was actually really lucky when Pippi decided to drop school out after just a few hours.

But on the other hand, she is the best at inventing games to play with her young next-door  neighbors Tommy and Annika. Every afternoon they can be 'thing searchers' or can have coffee and cookies sitting on the branches of a tree, they can go walking in the wood and have any sort of adventures or ghost-hunting in the attic of Villa Villekulla. 

No matter how uneducated she is, she will always be children's favorite heroine!

Take a look at these classroom activities here: 
Pippi - Study Guide


    


Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.