SUMMER READING: WHY NOT A COMIC?

Summertime is perfect for books. I remember when I was in high school I had to read many classics, sometimes a little boring, that were going to be meticulously studied during the following school year.

We didn't have many options to pick from. Nowadays things have significantly improved, very much thanks to technology and pedagogic enhancements. We are aware that not all teenagers are eager readers and that we can meet those who are not halfway by proposing a more engaging version of the classic novel, such as a comic.

The publishing house Heinle Cengage Learning (National Geographic) has a collection called Classical Comics especially designed for ELT students. I don't know, maybe if it's my impression, but I've noticed that most students (even the most difficult to engage) react in a very positive and unexpected way when I tell them they are going to read a comic. 

I suppose that direct speech (the dialogues are graded) and attractive comic strips are more entertaining and easier to understand than a stack of words on a piece of paper. Also, the characters are more recognizable. For example in Great Expectations, that's the book I got, there are at least 24 characters and, let's face it, it's difficult even for an adult to remember who is who all the time, especially when you get to those complicated parts where many names appear and you start to get really lost in the mist while you can't help falling asleep.

Well, in these ELT graphic novels you'll find a full descriptions of the main characters with pictures to help students follow the story and also, a glossary to support students while they read. The language used is for intermediate learners, levels B1 and B2.  There's a short biography of the author and, of course, audio CDs to provide a complete reading experience that will allow students to improve their listening and speaking skills too.

Give it a try! Get your students to love reading!

Great Expectations worksheets here.

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. 

                                                   

 

Anorak: Yay for Dreams!!!

It's finally time for the latest issue of Anorak, the happy mag for kids!

Dreams are the protagonists this time.

Which one would you like to buy? A 'flying over the cities' dream or perhaps you'd rather get a 'flying over the rainforest' one? There's the 'flying over the zoos' dream too, but it'll cost you 50,000 neurons and 300 kg of imagination!

Those who are afraid of having nightmares will find several options to overcome their fear. One solution might be making some night-time friends, following a few easy steps. Another solution to avoid nightmares might be the 'dream- catcher': a sort of dream filter, originally used by some Native Americans, which keeps nightmares out  and lets good dreams enter our sleepy heads.

By the way, once you've got your issue, don't miss Oliver and Clara's dreams and the strange case of Raya, the doll that one morning decided to come alive!

As always, Anorak comes loaded of fun and interesting illustrated stories,  and if you are a teacher you can surely get some inspiration for cross-curricular projects.

Furthermore, don't forget that any child, aged 6 to 12, as well as 'obsessed' with reading, writing and drawing, has the possibility of becoming a Little Editor. What does that mean? Take a look here.

Have fun!

Find more writing tips here . Book reviews and lesson plans here

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. 

                                                   

A card game to succeed in Cambridge YLE Flyers!

It's almost June and official exams for children who attend primary school are on their way! 

Is any of your students sitting the Cambridge  YLE Flyers exam?

If the answer is yes, but also if it's no, here you'll find a game to review the most difficult words from the official vocabulary list.

Divide the class into teams, and have children from one team reading the definitions while children from the other teams try to guess what it is being described.

If you'd like to buy the paper version of the game you can place an order on my BigCartel shop. I'll personally send you the .pdf file!

The digital version of Guess What?!? is also available on Amazon.com, Amazon.es, Indigo, Kobo  and Libris

Never underestimate the power of a quiz game when you're teaching English to children!!!

Actually, I think that many adult students could also get some advantages on using this game. 

Have fun!

   

The Life Cycle of a Dandelion

Science is one of the subjects that children who attend bilingual schools here in Spain have to study in English.

Most science books present just boring descriptions of things that children don't understand but have to learn by heart anyway to pass a monthly test.

I personally love science, especially because it's connected to real life, but, over all, because it's based on the scientific method, that let reality speak for itself, while we only have to make predictions, observe a phenomenon, and take notes to decide whether our predictions were right or not.

This means that science classes might potentially be something really engaging for children.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, at least according to my personal experience.

But, I won't complain about the missed opportunity of saving Spanish children from their boring science classes. Not at all!

Instead, I'll post about an experiment I personally conducted to observe the life cycle of plants and particularly of Dandelions (click on the picture above). Something you can easily do in your classes or at home to help kids understand and remember scientific terms in English.

Find some useful flashcards here. and a complete lesson plan here

More about science and the scientific method in the excellent children's book The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.

---> 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. 

                                                   

Spring - Lesson Plan 2 - Plants

It's still springtime, isn't it? It's time for another post about it. Have you already read the first one I published in March? If you're looking for original ideas to use in your class you should definitely take a look at it.

'Plants' are another trending topic during this season and also a good excuse to teach eco-friendly habits!

I introduced the subject using, of course, a book illustrated by Eric Carle: The Tiny Seed.

It's kind of a long story for the short attention span of my preschoolers, so I had to illustrate a shorter version of it with finger paint. I selected 8 scenes and kind of rewrote it using repetitive patterns and questions  to keep the children's attention.

The best part? When they saw the giant flower, taller than the house and the trees.
They all screamed stuff like '¡Alá! ¡¡¡Es gigante!!!' 

I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I usually read a story twice, because the second time, since they remember some parts of if and already know some of the key words, they are more attentive and interactive.

Then, we learnt The Flowers Growing Song, to feel like a tiny seed!!! 

OK, the kinesthetic learning style is one of my favorites. I admit it.

Then, we took a much closer look at the different parts of a flower using this puzzle on page 8 of this Garden Pack 2, and we play with this fun game, on pages 9 and 10 of this other Garden Pack, that teaches children what a plant needs to grow
 
The 3 packs (the link to the first one is in the previous post) are full of ideas and activities. If you have a lot of time to spend with your kids--that's not my case--I warmly recommend you make the most of them.

Finally, I gave them a precious gift: a little transparent bag with 3 sunflower seeds to plant at home.

They were all very impressed.

More activities about plants and gardening here and here.

--> 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. 

                                                   

  

Popsicle Shapes

'Shapes' is a well known topic when you teach EFL but there's certainly more beyond the 6 or 7 nouns that we usually teach.

Since this year I decided that my Spanish students can learn almost as much as a native speaker in terms of content, I've been designing my classes in a totally different and definitely more interesting way.

One lucky day I came across this page and I had a sort of an epiphany, because popsicle sticks is one of those things that I've always seen in the supply shop where I buy stuff for the classes, but I couldn't imagine a 'real use' for them.

When I say 'real use' I mean that children can use them.

Finally I got one possible answer and this is what I came up with. 

If you follow my FB page you'd have noticed that it took me the whole month of March to complete the activity, but don't worry! It's not a slow and painful process, it's just that I don't have too much free time. Perhaps, a whole afternoon (3 or 4 hours) available would be enough.

Using them with the kids I noticed that it's important to show a picture of the shape you want your students to reproduce in order to point out the number of sides of that same shape.

Around that simple concept of sides you'll be able to work on everything else. Take a look at the picture above for some ideas.

After that, you can leave your children free to create whatever shape they like (irregular ones too) and keep working by themselves on adding sticks and talk about their creations.

More about shapes here and here

--> 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. 

                                                   

Happy Easter Lesson Plan for Kids

Easter break is round the corner and I'd like to share with you what I planned in order to make it unforgettable for my Spanish pre-schoolers.

First of all I introduced the vocabulary: basket, eggs, bunny, chicks.

Because words become meaningful when they are used, and seen in this case, in a context, I didn't use any flashcards but, instead, these two books:

- Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure 

- Happy Easter, Peter!

Then we made our paper basket and filled it with 10 eggs. 

A great  handicraft that we needed to mime this Easter song.

I also planned an Easter egg hunt and, since I don't have my own classroom, I looked for an easy, but still fun, alternative. So, I printed some little eggs  and hid them under colorful cupcake paper cups.

If you're teaching elder children you can write words on the cups to practice reading and pronunciation.

We also made bunny masks and sang this song about sleeping bunnies.

We've been playing an Easter variation of the circle game Duck, duck…Goose! I invented for the occasion: Chick, chick…Bunny!!! 

For some relaxing moments, after hopping and skipping around the classroom, I found a couple of coloring pages of… a bunny and an egg, of course.

Finally, as a surprise for the end of the class, I bought  tons of chocolate eggs and hundreds of special Easter themed stickers!

Enjoy your Easter classes!!!

---> 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.