WITCH HAZEL by Enric Lluch

Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel is a little bored of poisoning apples in the Snow White tale and decides to visit Witch Bosslady to be relocated.

She is definitively a peculiar witch. She lands with her broom in the airport and uses the bus. She loves squid sandwiches, pays for the apples she's going to fill with a ton of poison and doesn't like arguments. She suffers chilblains and is very greedy.

Bossy Witch relocates her in Hansel and Gretel's story because the witch in charge is ill. Witch Hazel has to read the book to know what to do and finally she flies towards the chocolate house. 

For a little while everything happens according to the story we all know. Hansel is being kept prisoner in a cage and Gretel is going to light the oven. 

Due to the heat coming from the oven, the house starts to melt and… that's it! Witch Hazel manages to completely mess up Hansel and Gretel's tale because… she read only half the book!!!

Not a scary witch at all, is she? 

Edited by Algar Editorial, this incredibly illustrated book is part of a collection of ten titles called The Chest Full of Monsters where you'll find, besides Witch Hazel, all those creepy creatures, who usually scare our young readers, presented in a humorous way and unusual situations.  

For a more interactive experience The Witch, The Vampire, The Bogeyman and the Zombie are available for iPad too. You'll be able to choose among five languages, English, German, French, Spanish and Catalan, and also, to record your voice while reading it: it could be an alternative solution to teach pronunciation.

The publishing house gives us the opportunity to try The Zombie for free.

Don't miss it!

Some Witchy Printables

See You Soon!!!

Sentences about food for young learners

Before going on holiday, I'm leaving these sentences about food.

They include some of the food vocabulary and basic English structures that your students must know to pass the official Cambridge Starters Exam, level A1.

Cut each sentence into pieces and give them to your pupils to put them back together in their notebooks using some glue. It's a good exercise to check their grammar and their ability to produce the language.

 FOOD VOCABULARY LIST:

Apple, Banana, Bean, Bread Burger, Cake, Candy, Carrot

Chicken, Chips, Chocolate, Coconut

Drink, Egg, Fish, Food, Fries

Fruit, Grapes, Ice Cream, Juice

Lemon, Lemonade, Lime, Mango

Meat, Milk, Onion, Orange

Pea, Pear, Pineapple, Potato

Rice, Sausage, Sweets, Tomato

Water, Watermelon

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Birthday, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Supper, Morning, Afternoon, Evening

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Fridge, Kitchen, Table, Cupboard

Park, School, Store, Shop

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Some, Any, Much, Many, A Lot of, Lots of

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Eat, Make, Try

BASIC STRUCTURES:

Would you like….?

I'd like….

Do you/we/ they… affirmative/ negative short answer

Does he/she/it… affirmative/ negative short answer

Have got vs Have breakfast/ lunch/ supper

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Oraciones sobre la comida para 'young learners'

Estas son oraciones que utilizan parte del vocabulario que los niños tienen que conocer para presentarse a cualquier examen de nivel A1. 

Recorta cada diálogo separatamente para que los niños puedan recomponerlo razonando sobre las construcciones gramaticales necesarias.

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

Christmas Songs

Children's favorite period of the year is around the corner and I usually teach simple songs to cheer the classes up.

This modified version of 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' is perfect for the very young ones, because they can move a little while they're singing it. 

Picture by Emma Reilly

We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year!

Let's all do a little clapping,
Let's all do a little clapping,
Let's all do a little clapping,
for Christmas is near!

Refrain...

Let's all do a little jumping,
Let's all do a little jumping,
Let's all do a little jumping,
for Christmas is near!

Refrain...

Let's all do a little twirling,
Let's all do a little twirling,
Let's all do a little twirling,
for Christmas is near!

We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year!

For the older ones, aged 6-7, I chose these two songs:

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

I'm showing these videos and trying to teach them the lyrics during the last 15 minutes of class. It's a process that requires repetition, but, as seeing the same words several times is also the best way to learn to read, I'm sure they'll make the most of it.

Writing Tip nº3: THE CASUAL SYNTAX

Chapter ten of 'The Grammar of Fantasy' by Gianni Rodari talks about Dadaist and Surrealist games to look for a 'fantastic theme' that will help your class to write stories.

An easy one to set up in the classroom is the Casual Sintax.

The students, one after another, have to secretly answer these 6 questions:

question 1: WHO WAS HE/SHE/IT?

question 2: WHERE WAS HE/SHE/IT?

question 3: WHAT WAS HE/SHE/IT DOING?

question 4: WHAT DID HE/SHE/IT SAY?

question 5: WHAT DID PEOPLE SAY ABOUT HIM/HER/IT?

question 6: HOW DID THE STORY END?

The first pupil answers the question and folds the paper like an accordion. He passes the folded paper to his classmate, who will answer the second question, fold the paper again and pass it to the third one and so on until the paper accordion will reach the sixth and last student of the chain. Once he has answered the last question you can unfold the paper and read the answers following the order of the questions. It'll be hilarious and perhaps you'll find material to write a whole story.

WRITING TIP NUMBER 5
WRITING TIP NUMBER 4

WRITING TIP NUMBER 2

WRITING TIP NUMBER 1

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!