I'll be writing from my new house ASAP !!!
23.6.12
13.6.12
MATILDA by Roald Dahl
I must admit that I love Roald Dahl's books, because they are like modern fairy tales and also because of his way of making you feel you're beside the protagonists, submerged in their own world, as wide as the book you're holding in your hands.
Matilda is a gifted little girl who is not really appreciated by her parents, especially because she is absolutely not interested in watching telly (TV).
What our heroine really enjoys is reading books to escape from her family's bad attitude towards her.
Actually Dahl, in this last book of his career, has left us many titles of the best literature ever, both for children and young adults. Books that Matilda devours and, even if sometimes she doesn't understand everything is written in them, she gives us the clue to decide if an author is good or not: "The way he (Hemingway) tells it I feel I am right there on the spot watching it all happen"
There are several levels to read Matilda, first of all the open criticism of the TV and people who waste their time in front of it instead of reading a book.
If you have no idea how to choose a good one, just follow Dahl's suggestions! From Dickens to Orwell, passing thrugh Brontë, Kipling, Steinbeck and many more, you won't be disappointed at all.
Matilda's parents are products of TV culture: superficial, ignorant and rude people whose main worry is money.
They disapprove and bully their daughter to discourage her from reading.
Matilda, on the other hand, doesn't give up and, as a young courageous protagonist, starts her adventure for independence and personal growth going to the library by herself.
The author also gives us his definition of a teacher:
"…most head teacher are chosen because they possess a number of fine qualities. They understand children and they have the children's best interests at heart. They are sympathetic. They are fair and they are deeply interested in education."
At certain point of the book Dahl resorts to paranormal powers, jumping into Fantasy.
Matilda discovers that through intensively glaring at objects she can make them move the way she wants.
Thanks to this super power she will rescue her ally, Miss Honey to get rid of the terrible Miss Trenchbull, a nightmare for the whole school.
Firstly she tips a glass over. Then she tries to lift a cigar and finally she manages to scare the Trenchbull to death, writing a message on the blackboard of her classroom with a piece of chalk moved only by her psychic power.
This super mental power is clearly a metaphor of the great willingness power belonging to everyone and capable to influence the development of events and she gives us the key of a successful life:
"She knew she wouldn't manage it right away, but she felt confident that with a great deal of practice and effort, she would succeed in the end. "
Finally, in this novel, as in James and the Giant Peach or in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we can easily distinguish many Propp's Functions, too.
A very interesting and deep analysis of their appliance to Matilda's story is explained in detail in this conference extract :
If you're thinking about assigning Matilda as compulsory or suggested reading for summer, for example, on this link you'll find many activities, worksheets, questions and lessons ideas to work on it with your students:
MORE BOOKS
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.
3.6.12
PHONETICS - The S game
Spanish is a language where you won't find any word starting with S followed by a consonant.
This happens because they always write an E before the S.
Therefore you will easily hear words like ESchool or ESpain instead of the original ones.
This problem can't be solved if your students are older than 5, because the exposure to the Spanish pronunciation has already set up that part of their brain predisposed to speaking.
But if you are teaching children younger than that, you still have some hope to influence their S - word pronunciation.
Here I suggest this game, a little noisy but fun, based on the classic hot and cold object hunt.
First write an S - word on a piece of paper, bring a physical object starting with S or use flashcards.
For example:
Skate / Skeleton / Ski / Skin / Sky / Sledge / Slide / Snack / Snake / Snail / Snow / Space / Spade / Spaghetti / Sparrow / Spider / Spinach / Sponge / Spoon / Sport / Spot / Spray / Spring / Square / Squirrel / Stadium / Star.
Then call out one child and send him out of the room accompanied by a 'witness' to be sure he is not going to peek in while you and the rest of the class will be hiding the S-word anywhere inside the classroom.
Once you have hidden it, call the kid in. He will look for the hidden word guided by the other pupils. They will say the S-word modulating the volume of their voice depending on whether the hunter is close or far from it.
The hider shouts the S-word when the searcher is headed in the right direction and whispers it when he isn't.
There is a possibility that they'll start screaming very loud at some point….be prepared!!!
30.5.12
THE EVOLUTION of CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Kelly
Summer 1899. Calpurnia is 11 years old, the middle girl born between 6 brothers.
We are in Texas, a few decades after the Civil War.
Calpurnia's father owns a big important cotton gin and behind her house there are the old slave quarters, out past her Grandad's laboratory, a place where the old man spends his time trying to distill pecans.
A couple of black women work in the house to help Calpurnia's mother to keep it.
Calpurnia likes nature and she is a smart girl who writes interesting questions down in her red covered notebook.
One day she decides to borrow 'The Origin of Species', the brand-new book written by Charles Darwin, from the public library. Unfortunately times were still green for a scientific theory of evolution and she only gets a disappointed reproach from the librarian.
To fully explain the historical period, we can say that the 'wind machine', a ventilator, was a revolutionary new invention. Later on, we'll find the 'Bell Telephone Company' installing the first telephone office in town, the fizzy Coca Cola appealing to children at the Fentress fair together with the just-released first auto-mobile!!!
So, surrounded by this period of great changes, Calpurnia gets home and, there, she is lent a copy of the Darwin's book by her own grandaddy: it's the starting point of an exciting scientific collaboration and friendship.
Their summer suddenly becomes much more interesting: she follows her teacher along the river banks to collect specimens and observe bacteria through a microscope. She develops her own scientific researches and keeps writing interesting questions in her notebook.
In other words she discovers what Science is.
But her mother has a different plan for her only daughter, so Calpurnia has also to learn a different kind of science, less amusing to her: housewifery.
She must take classes of piano, cooking and tatting to prepare herself for her coming out in society to find, one day, a husband to build her own family and keep her own house.
The book tells of months of intense personal inner growth and struggle for our young heroine.
Otherwise 1900 finally arrives. It's the beginning of a new century loaded with unexpected events, and promises for a future that definitively breaks from ancient lways.
It's a hopeful future for Calpurnia too.
I loved this book, first of all, because it evoked my long summers off from school when I used to spend my time scampering around outside my house observing nature and its wonders. Curiosity has always linked children all over the world and observation is the secret 'to see things you've never noticed before'.
It's fascinating how Calpurnia gets every day more conscious about the contrast between what she would like to be and, on the other hand, what society wants her to be.
A second reason to love this book is the detailed portrait of the American culture during the late 19th Century which is slowly stepping into modern times.
It clearly shows the divergent points of view among religious people and those who were embracing science.
Finally I've been captivated because it gives an historical perspective to what we just study as 'science' at school. It makes visible that theories, like the evolution, presented in our books aren't there just because someone one day decided that they were true and globally accepted.
Quite the opposite! Science had to struggle with old ways of thinking. Actually every renewal, personal or social, requires time, enthusiasm and faith, as Calpurnia's experience suggests.
To work with your class:
22.5.12
BIZZY BEE and the FLOWERS by Jill Warren
This is the story of a bumblebee, Bizzy, who begins his journey to make this world a better place. But, like in real life, things are more difficult than we expect and he has to struggle to end each day feeling satisfied and rest easy.
The first day of his life he meets some unfriendly Flowers. First a selfish Sunflower, then a domineering Rock which protects a bland Dandelion and, finally, a wary rosebush which is still too scared by a previous negative experience.
At the end of his working day our bee is pretty tired and looking for a place to sleep.
Fortunately, a nice, wise Daisy welcomes him and lets him rest protected by her soft petals.
Bizzy's tale is a metaphor of relationships among people.
Sometimes you'll meet a showy Sunflower who spends his life waiting for something better.
Sometimes you'll meet a showy Sunflower who spends his life waiting for something better.
Occasionally you'll have to decode a timid Dandelion with no personality of his own, victim of a supposed friend who makes his decisions for him.
Quite often you'll listen to a Rosebush saying he is way too scared of being hurt again and you'll realize how impossible it is to be part of his life.
So this book is about consciousness of oneself, capacity to recognize other people 's problems and be strong enough to keep looking for real friends, someone who will suit you. It tells us that, exactly like Bizzy, it's better to move on instead of wasting time trying to make happy someone who doesn't appreciate your effort and even makes you feel bad about what you are.
As en ESL teacher I would read this book to a class of pre-teen and early-teenagers, the stage of life when they start to get involved more deeply in relationships with their mates. This book could be a good excuse for a class debate about these topics.
More Books
The Lorax and Little Blue and Little Yellow
More Books
The Lorax and Little Blue and Little Yellow
18.5.12
Lesson Plan: Clothes and More - Part 3
USING VOCABULARY
TIME THE CHAIN
Make a circle with your young learners. Give each kid a flashcard. They have to show it inside the circle. In a chain they will have to say "I'm wearing…" the piece of cloth shown on the card they have.
Time the entire process and tell them with emphasis how many seconds it took and then something like: "Let's see if we can go faster!"
Every child has to pass clockwise his card to the next one and repeat the chain. Again time the process and tell them the seconds it lasted (of course, less than the previous time).
Three chains will be enough. Then they'll loose interest and concentration. Celebrate the last performance and step into another activity.
WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?
This game is based on children's natural desire to possess the more cards as possible.
Place all the flashcards on the floor, call out the pupils one by one. They have to choose a card, but to get it they must say "I'm wearing…" the garments present on the card.
14.5.12
CIRCLE GAMES - The Shoe Behind You
Introducing Time Expressions
My Spanish students know a circle game called "La zapatilla por detrás".
I persuaded them to play it in English introducing some little changes to the original one and I made the most of it to teach the next concept for my classes: Time.
- Arrange your class in a circle. Everyone is sitting on the floor except for one of them, who stands holding a shoe in his/her hand.
Let's call him Carlos, to simplify.
- Carlos starts walking around the circle with the shoe while the class is singing a chant. I personally chose " The itsy bitsy spider" because it was a little difficult for them to learn and this way they have already sung it about 100 times!
- At the end of the chant they ask Carlos: " What time are you coming, daddy?"
If it was a girl they would say " What time are you coming, mummy?"
- Carlos answers: "at 8 o' clock", for example, and the kids in the circle start counting until 8 while pretending to be asleep. At the same time Carlos is walking around them to decide who he is going to drop the shoe behind.
- Once the counting time is done, the kid who finds the shoe behind his back has to stand up and try to catch Carlos chasing him around the circle.
Carlos in the meantime will run away to take the place of his chaser.
- If Carlos gets the seat before being caught then it will be the chaser's turn to walk around the circle and drop the shoe.
There are a couple of rules in this game that will help to keep it under control:
1st: Don't let them run freely in the classroom. They have to run strictly around the circle. This way they won't hurt themselves or break something.
2nd: The pupil who is being chased has to complete two circles before trying to sit.
This way it'll be more challenging and engaging.
I hope you have a good time!
---> Quiero leer este post en español.
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.
---> Quiero leer este post en español.
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.
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