NOT NOW, BERNARD by David McKee

May I say that I found this book a little weird? It's a bilingual version, published by Anaya, of a very famous illustrated novel written by David McKee and translated into many languages as well.

It's strange because the protagonist, Bernard, didn't get any revenge for being ignored by his parents all the time. 

On the contrary, right in the middle of the story, he's eaten by a monster, which was waiting for him in the garden. Can a supposed protagonist die in the middle of a book?

What terrible parents! Always too busy to pay any attention to their own son, who, desperately looking for someone to spend time with, ends up eaten by an unfriendly-looking monster. Can you see the metaphor?

This happens in real life as well, doesn't it?

The tale continues showing the monster, which has now taken the place of Bernard, going indoors and being ignored by those busy parents of Bernard. 

The monster has changed into Bernard now, we can recognize the child's expression on its face. It could be judged as an annoying kid: It bites the father's leg, it beaks toys… At the end of the story, even its identity as a monster starts to weaken. 

It rings a bell… it reminds me of some students with a difficult personality, whose distrust was overcome with some extra praise and affection.

Anyway, the book is easy reading for 6 year-old Spanish students and it's food for thought. It has got attractive illustrations that will catch your students attention, easy-to-follow story lines that will keep them attentive, and simple, repetitive language presented in a meaningful context that will help retention.

Many other classroom activities are explained in this READING GUIDE

AUTUMN LEAVES

Autumn Leaves

Autumn has been delighting this part of Europe with bright colors and warm temperatures, so far.

Amazed by my surroundings, I decided to use a little piece of this season to teach some meaningful English.

I looked for some coloring sheets about fall, to get inspired, and I found many pictures of leafless trees. 

Suddenly something clicked: as my 3-year-old student loves using glue, why not to stick some real leaves on one of those pictures?

So we did. And he enjoyed it very much.

PS Drawing a leafless tree is very easy and it could be a valid option if you haven't got much time to do a search on the internet.

I only suggest that you add a smiley face on its trunk. Children will appreciate it!

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. 

                                                   

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.

You can purchase it right HERE! 

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

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: http://madridplayers.org/ReserveTickets.php

Information: christmascarolmp@gmail.com

Tickets on sale at:

Hastings School

Runnymede College

J&J Books and Coffee

Sabores del mundo

                                  

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!

WRITING TIP NUMBER 5

WRITING TIP NUMBER 4

WRITING TIP NUMBER 3

WRITING TIP NUMBER 1

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!