Animal Description

It's been such a long time since I last made a post, but here it is.

It's a power point activity to help beginners to write. I am working with animals and I saw this picture on the internet (I'm sorry, I can't remember the site. If anyone knows it, just let me know, so I can get the rights to site). In this activity, the students build up the text and then they are invited to cross their own animal and write the description.
Next post I'll put some of the results from my students.

Click here to download

What's the difference between OTHER, OTHERS and ANOTHER?

This is a very common and frequent question among pre-intermediate ESL students. Every now and then I am asked about the difference between "other", "others" and "another". So we are going to see one at a time, thus maybe we can avoid its misuse.

The first one is "other” which means “other person or thing”. This word is generally accompanied by the word "the". Take a look at those examples:

·   I have two pencils. One is black, and the other is blue.

·   The other car cost much less.

·   Where are the other boys?

·   The other people are waiting for the same thing.

·   Add the flour and the other ingredients.

It’s not a rule, because sometimes "other" can appear alone in the sentence or preceded by words like "some", "any", "my", "your", "his", etc., or also a number:

·   I have no other hat.

·   None of her other friends came.

·   Camila has three other children.

·   Many other people have said the same.

·   They gazed into each other's eyes.

·   Do you have any other questions?

The word "others" is used to avoid repetion of words in one sentence. The use of  "the" is optional.

·   Some people like to rest in their free time. Others like to travel. 

·   One boy fell off his chair and the others laughed.

·   This is not the only answer to the question. There are others.

It is relevant to mention that we can use the expression "the others" with the same meaning as  "the other people" or "the other things":

·   There were three books on my table. One is here. Where are the others?

·   Katarina and Andrew are bringing some food, but the others aren't.

Last, but not least, the word "another" which means “one more”. If you observe it closely It is exactly the same thing as "an other" written together. By the way, both are written together - another – since th 16^th century. We use "another" when we want to refer to something which was mentioned before in a sentence.

·   This cake is delicious! Can I have another slice, please? 

·   Please give me another chance.

·   He was a wonderful teacher. Everyone agreed it would be hard to find another like him.

I hope I could clarify the doubts.

As a last tip: Try to observe the words in context, so then you will notice the difference between them. Observe the examples. They always help to understand the use of the words.

See you next time!!

Off to school We go together

Well a new semester is just around the bend for some of us. Even veteran teachers feel nervous and struggle to prepare the first lesson. No matter what level you teach, establishing rapport with a new group of students is key to knowing how to help them learn. The first contact a teacher has with his/her students often makes a lasting impression for the entire semester or year.

So below I will share a few ideas that will help everyone get acquainted and might even start friendships that will last a lifetime. Let’s jump right into our first activity.

1st Activity – from chaos to order!

This activity is ideal for the students to notice the importance of organization in the development of the activities. The teacher can, from what the students do/say, raise a few rules to the organization of the classroom.

I ask the students, all at the same time, to sing their favorite song to the person next to them ( this activity will generate chaos); Then I ask one student to sing his/her song to the class alone. After that I ask students to say which is more pleasant – when everybody is singing together or alone. At this point I make my students perceive that the chaos is not acceptable and the order has some sense. The teacher can also discuss with the students other situations in which the organization is essential.

2nd Activity – Balloons in the air!

It’s an activity to break the ice and also to talk to them about the importance of group work.

Material needed: balloons, CD and a stereo.

I hand out the balloons and ask the students to blow them up. When everybody is ready with the balloons filled I explain that the student will play with the balloons like they do with a shuttlecock and when I touch a person, this person will leave the game, but his/her balloon will stay and the others must not let it fall down.

At the beginning it will be easy but as ask the students to leave the others will have more work to keep the balloons in the air. The game is over when you have only one student alone trying to keep all the balloons up.

Ask them what they thought of the game, if it was easy or difficult. They certainly will tell you that at first it was easy, but as the students were leaving it became increasingly difficult. So that, It's time for the teacher lead to the idea (if any of the student has not already done so) that the group work is like that. If the group members are not present to prepare the project, the others in the group will have more work and less chance of being successful.

3rd Activity – Students dictionary

            For this activity one will need paper and a digital camera. I took this activity from a site which I don’t remember. If someone  know where it is from, just let a comment, so that I can give credits to the one the credits are due. But let me explain the acidity.

The teacher writes five questions on the board. Questions might include the following:

• What is your name?
• Where were you born?
• How many brothers or sisters do you have?
• What are their names?
• Do you have any pets?

Then T tells students to write those questions on a piece of paper and to add to that paper five more questions they could ask someone they don't know. T pairs the students up, and have each student interview his or her partner and record the responses. Then have each student use the interview responses to write a "dictionary definition" of his or her partner to include in a Student Dictionary. You might model this activity by creating a sample dictionary definition about yourself. For example:

Tavares, Vanessa. proper noun. 1. Born in Paulista , Recife. 2. Three sisters, etc.

Bring a digital camera and take pictures of the students to paste next to their entries in the Student Dictionary. Bind the definitions into a book, and show it to the students.

 
Ok. I’m a little tired now. Tomorrow I will post some more ideas. Bye bye!

Kids 4 the World Fair

It is a project we have with the children from the last level of Kids track. A country is assigned for each Kids 4 group and the students, together with the teacher, have to prepare the exhibition which is held on a certain day near the end of the semester. This year, it is going to be tomorrow(10/12/2010). Here you can see some of the pictures I took from my students during the preparation. In these photos, the students were making the flag of the country using the mosaic technique.

Site Recommendation

Hi Everyone,

Spelling in English is hard even for those who are native or have been practicing the language for years. So I have a great site recommendation for you: www.spellingcity.com.

It is a free site that can make teaching spelling very exciting. Spellingcity  provides a simple online way to practice spelling. I hope you enjoy it.

Fairy Tales

We had a topic on the book about Fairy Tales. Within this topic, we should analyse the elements of the story such as PLOT, SETTING etc.
I decide to make a Fairy Tale Project and I asked us my Adult 6 students to explore the world of fairy tales. First we chose the wonderful Cinderella and part of our Guided Reading program. We learned about the "elements" ~ the ingredients ~ of a fairy tale and then looked for them in Cinderella. I found a wonderful site which did the work for me.
Learn all about the elements of a fairy tale,here.
After having learned the elements of a fairy tale. I divided my students into smaller groups and assigned each a different story. The students were supposed to read, analyse and produce a poster.

Here is what they produced:

It was a very rewarding activity. The students could benefit from the vocabulary, the grammar and also the messages each story brings.

I have a Dream - Martin Luther King

Dear High Intermediate Students. Watch the video and then answer the following questions.

01. When and where did this speech take place?
02. According to M.L. King, what is the problem with blacks? What does he want to tell them?
03. Explain why he said: " There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights."