TEACH LIKE FINLAND

It is often spoken today about the Finnish schools. Their students are praised for showing better results with less or no homework. And they spend less time at school. How is it possible?

I tried to search for the answer as it interests me greatly as a teacher and a parent. And this is what I have found out and would like to share with you. I believe it can be useful.

• ·        The way of thinking. The thing that is common for Finland and the countries of the Scandinavian region is the lack of competition between pupils. It is also true for teachers and people of other professions. They do not compete with each other who is the best pupil / teacher or who is richer or more successful. That is why cooperation is thriving and giving its contribution to such good results. Finnish teachers work together on a common problem with a pupil, ask each other for advice. It is the mentality of prosperity that gives a chance to develop and be happy with what you have achieved in a team. Mentality of prosperity brings happiness.
• ·        The less is more or Finnish design of classrooms. Simplified design of classrooms lets pupils concentrate better. A study has proved that pupils showed less progress in education when the walls in the classroom were richly decorated rather than when it was vise versa. It is especially important for younger children as it has effect on their concentration of attention during the lesson.
• ·        To use or not to use new technologies? Finnish schools do not devote too much of their attention to technology at the lesson. Surprising it may seem but students concentrate better when there is a limited access to technology.
• ·        Independence or let the pupils decide. Who but the teacher may know better what to teach? This is how I always thought. We as teachers often make a decision for pupils or are imposed from above what to teach how many hours to devote to it. Finnish teachers have a little bit more freedom in it and have such a privilege as sharing the responsibility for content with their pupils. But a good idea would be to ask pupils what they already know on the topic we want to teach or even ask a simple question what they would like to find out?

If you are interested in more facts about schools in Finland I strongly recommend to read the book by Timothy D. Walker  - TEACH LIKE FINLAND. 

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A SCHOOL PARTNER IN NEED

The beginning of the school year is behind, now it's time to start international school project for students. Are you in?

A good platform for searching for a school partner would be  BRITISH COUNCIL SCHOOLS ONLINE. They offer a lot of project ideas and a possibility to search for a school partner. Here you can look through a variety of possible PROJECTS offered by British Council.

The projects for the primary school that I find quite interesting are:

• FROM OUR WINDOW. Draw, paint or take a photo of what you can see from the window, write a short description, and exchange with your partner school. Display the pictures and much discussion will result! Your partner school can do the same.
• CULTURE IN A BOX. Make and exchange ‘culture boxes’ containing ten items. By choosing the items to put in, they will learn about ‘how others see us’. By explaining their choices they will try to tell their partner school ‘how we see ourselves’.
• THROUGH THE LENS. Exchange photos and learn more about everyday life in your partner school. Raise questions, be surprised and find out what makes you smile.
• 100 WORDS.Aims to challenge young people to learn at least 100 words of the language of their partner school by writing, filming and sharing 100 word plays.

Students could start with a project and then exchange letters and learn more about themselves.
If you are interested in finding a school partner from a Poland, students of Year III or IV, feel free to contact me:-) .

Another project idea is exchanging postcards with random people all over the world. Here is link POSTCROSSING.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The job of a teacher is to open the door. If a child is not interested in walking through it, you must accompany the willing ones through and move on. Make sure the door is open for the difficult student every day, but you do not have time to coax and beg him along when thirty others have crossed the river and are ready to enter the Promised Land.

                                                                           Rafe Esquith

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TEACHER AND TECHNOLOGY - 2Ts

One can surely teach without technology and you won't be a worse teacher because of that but why not make the process of studying more appealing for pupils?
Today you will learn about three really great computer applications that you can use at the lesson as well as after the lessons.
The only minus is that you may need computers at the lesson, interractive board or maybe smartphones, but if you have a lesson in the computer class once a week, as I have this year, it may work perfectly.

1. #1 is Quizlet. This program is mainly for vocabulary, but you can use sentences as well. It contains several categories at which you can train vocabulary:

• learning the words
• flashcards
• writing skills
• test
• matching
• game - gravitation

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WHAT SHALL I DO WITH NON-LEARNERS?

Today's post is for deep overthinking and analysis of your strategies in motivating students. So, be ready for a long reading.

Why do some pupils are eager to learn, while the others aren't? The answer to this question has found Carol Dweck in her book MINDSET. THE NEW PSCYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. 

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IDEAS FOR USING FLASHCARDS

How often do you use flashcards at the lesson of English? I'm sure you do it quite often as it is one of the best ways to visualize the vocabulary. What is more, in tmodern picture-liking era flashcards reach the minds of pupils as nothing else.

So, how to use flashcards in a creative way helping students in acquiring information and not letting our students feel bored at the lesson.

1. Disappearing flashcards

I use this activity for introducing the new vocabulary. The flashcards are displayed on the board, students repeat the words after you but at each sequence of repetition you turn over the last flashcard and the students have to name it themselves.

It lookes like that: 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - sore throat - cold 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - sore throat - X

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - X - X 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - X - X - X 

cough - cut - tummy ache - X - X - X - X 

cough - cut - X - X - X - X - X 

cough - X - X - X - X - X - X 

X - X - X - X - X - X - X 

In the end after numerous repeating the students memorize the words and the sequence of the cards. They learn and train their memory.

2. Treasure Hunt

The flashcards are displayed on the board face up. What students don't know is if there is a sticker behind the flashcard, it's the treasure. The task is to make up a sentence corresponding to the card. If the sentence is 100% correct they are allowed to turn over the flashcard and check if there is a treasure, if not, another student tries. What is good about it is that if they make a mistake, they start listening to more successful students trying to repeat the grammar stucture after them, and as a result they learn.

3. Hopscotch
This type of activity is most suitable for younger learners as action is what they need. You might think that you can't play it in the classroom. But as you know there is always a way out for those who want. You can use oilcloth for that. The only thing you have to do beforehand is to draw the template on the oilcloth to which you will stick the flashcards.
A new post on hopschotch at the lesson of English is comming soon.

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DICTATIONS CAN BE FUN

Do your pupils like dictations at the lesson? For most teachers it's a synonym with 'old-fashioned' and 'boring'. I believe most students would make a dull face if you tell them you are going to have a dictation at the lesson today. But what if these dictations are fun and have elements of a game. Let's try to make an interesting activity out of a simple dictation.

First, why dictation is a good way to practice? It's a great tool to work on accuracy, not mentioning the skills of listening, writing and even communication. Let's see how you can transform this activity to make it combine all these elements.

A traditional dictation is teacher-centred. Why not make it student-to-student and let your pupils work in pairs. It will release tention and let them feel some freedom. There are 4 types of dictations below based on the principle student-to-student. I hope you will like them.

1. Running dictation

The text is on the board. Students make a line. One person from the line is a writer and can't see the text. The rest of the students in the line have to run to the board, memorize one sentence from the card, run back to the writer and repeat the sentence so that the writer could write it. You set the time for your students or the activity lasts until one team is done. Then you check if all is correct.

2. Shouting dictation

The idea is that your students make too lines at the opposite sides of the classroom and have to shout the text to their partner who is supposed to put it down. Make sure the texts are split or differ a little bit. No doubt, it may become too noisy if the whole class takes part in the activity, so it could be reasonable to make at least 4-5 teams, so that not all of your pupils speak at a time.

3. Whispering chain dictation

If you try to avoid any kind of noise in your classroom, this type of dictation would be most suitable for you. Students make a line or several lines if it is a whole class and whisper the sentneces. The last student has to write down what he/she has heard. Then they rotate positions. The last student comes to the front of the line and whispers first.

4. Back-to-back dictation

This type of dictation is good for pair-work. Students sit with their backs to each other and dictate. When they can't see each other, it removes body language and lip reading. By the way, it's excellent for telephoning practice.

You'll find other interesting activities you can do at the lesson GAMES AT THE LESSON

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REFLECTION OR HOW TO FINISH THE LESSON

In my today's article I'd like to present several ways I use at the end of the lesson to summarise all that has been done at the lesson. It may usually take up to 7 minutes and is a good way to relax a bit at the end and reflect on all that has been done during the lesson. 

1. Mincing machine, dustbin, suitcase.This is one of my favourite ways to finish the lesson. Children also enjoy it. At the very beginning they don't quite understand what it is for, but in the end everyone wants to place the word in the container.  It works best for primary school when you work with the vocabulary. The idea is to distribute the words or flashcards into the corresponding container. 
Suitcase --> words/flashcards that we might need during the trip to Britain, or that we want to remember. 
Mincing machine --> The vocabulary that we worked on, that we remember after the lesson. 
Dustbin --> words that we don't like, or that we don't need to remember or simply find too difficult. When all the words have been distributed, we read them usually all together. Sometimes, I turn them over and ask students to tell me what was in the mincing machine, suitcase and the dustbin. I printed out mine, but one can even draw the images on the board.

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CURIOUS ORIGIN OF SOME ENGLISH WORDS

1.A piggy bank is the form of a pig? The answer is simple and has surprisingly little to do with pigs. In the Middle Ages most of home pottery in England was made from a special sort of clay that was called pygg. Of course, the clay pots, in which people used to keep their money, was also made from pygg. these pygg jars gave birth to pig banks which are now called piggy banks and are made in the form of a pig in so many countries. 

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REVIEW ANY CONCEPT IN GROUPS

Today I'd like to share with you the way I sometimes revise the material with my students at the end of the topic. Usually it evokes a lot of positive emotions, creates basement for contest and is sgreat fun. It is simply not that boring as doing the worksheets.

What is unusual about it, you will ask? 

I use SANDWICHES. You read it correctly. But my sandwiches are made of fabric. You can see them in the photo. I use paper plates for them too.

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THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. YOUNGER LEARNERS

I'm sure that you all know this book by Eric Carle. It can be a really good story to teach your young pupils names of food, mainly fruit and vegetables. In this post I decided to share with you the printables that I have found for this topic and that can be useful at the lesson devoted to food.

First, if somebody doesn't know the story, here is the animated film, that you can watch with your students at the lesson. Watch The Hungry Caterpillar here.

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TEACHERS OF ENGLISH, ARE YOU POLYGLOTS?

As teachers of English we all know the subject very well, we can speak, write and understand English. But unfortunately it is easily forgotten how it feels to learn a new language.

How boring it can be to learn a list of words or to use a grammatical rule in speech. For that reason it could be interesting to start learning a new foreign language to feel the process and work out new techniques that work for you and that might work for your students too.

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 TEACHERS WATCH FILMS AND REVISE COUNTRYSTUDY

Let's start with a short quizz.

I'm sure you have heard such names as Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East Anglia. In what centuries were they used?

Do you know the names of some kings or queens that lived in those times?

Who was Britain's greatest enemy in that period of time?

If you know the answers to the questions above, then you can be really proud of yourself and of your historical knowledge.

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Какой учебник выбрать для начальной школы?

Сегодня я поделюсь мнением на счет учебника, по которому я учу детей в 1-3 классах начальной школы. Учебник называется Tiger, в России Tiger Tales, издательство Macmillan.
Я работаю в Польше, поэтому здесь учителя должны сами выбрать издательство, с которым будут работать. К слову учебник этот издательства Macmillan, с которым просто приятно сотрудничать, начиная от призов на школьные конкурсы, заканчиваю учебными пособиями для учителя.
Автором учебника является Carol Read, учитель и очень толковый методист.

Итак, в чем же достоинства Tiger?

*Учебник имеет коммуниктивную направленность.
Каждый урок в юните отрабатывает структуры из данного раздела. И в песнях, и в упражнениях, и в микро диалогах. Первоклассники на самом деле могут много сказать по английски.

*Следующим достоинством является наличие рубрики EARLY FINISH для учеников, которые раньше, чем другие справились с заданием.

*Дополнительные материалы, которые получает учитель - Teacher's Resourse File, в котором есть тесты к каждому разделу, грамматические упражнения, задания к песням, к видео, аудиозаписи, разделы с дополнительным вокабуляром и тесты к ним.
Ниже можно скачать материалы к курсу Tiger 1, для 1 класса:

1. Тесты к раздела учебника Tiger 1 скачать, pdf
2. Дополнительные задания Tiger 1 скачать, pdf
3. Если ученик справился раньше - доп. задания скачать, pdf
4. Задания для работы в парах скачать, pdf
5. Задания для работы со звуками скачать, pdf
6. Задания к просмотренным видео скачать, pdf


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SECRET CODE

SECRET CODE WHEEL DECIFER

The idea and the template of the secret code belongs to Lindsey, a teacher in Utah, who writes the blog THE TEACHER WIFE. Her ideas are really great! Today I'd like to share her idea with a Secret Code Decifer, which could be useful for us teacher of English as a second language.

There are two versions, with signs for younger children and letters, which can be more challenging. It's easy to make it. You have to print out the template on colour paper and join the wheels with a pin and a rubber from the back side.

You can change the code by rotating the wheels. There is also a worksheet of a letter to write your message on.

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TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

Mnemotechnics,(rus. мнемотехники)

Have you ever wondered why a teenager boy can easily recall the names of all the players in his favourite basketball team as well as the game scores, while he struggles to remember a few irregular verb forms? According to neuropedagogues, the answer is in the level of excitement or usefulness. People always memorise things if they evoke emotions, relate to their life or personal experience.

The general principle is: when learning is harder, it lasts longer. So, why not make the difficulty brain-friendly? The tricks to make you remember are called 'mnemonics'.

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WORD CLOUD ACTIVITIES

A Word Cloud (rus. облако слов) is another technology as well as QR codes that help to make your lesson friendly for the brains of your students. Word Cloud is a way to visualise the data in the form of words. Long lists of english vocabulary do not have to be dull any more. Quite the opposite, words have different sizes, shapes and look more attractive for dyslectic children.

How can you make a word cloud yourself. In the Internet there is a special program for doing it. All you need is to find this program and type in your words. I use 'Free online Wordcloud generator'. It's very easy to use. You have to choose the theme, shape, mask and type in the words. Save it on your computer as a jpg file.

But how can we use it at our lessons? I can suggest several ways.

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WARM-UP EXERCISES TO START THE LESSON

Warm up exercises are activities for the beginning of the lesson to introduce the students to the language or evoke their interest to the lesson. It's a very good idea to begin your lesson with a warming up activity as children don't feel stressed and are slowly introduced to the topic.

What warm up activities can there be?

1. Listen to the answer, give a question
The idea is simple, the teacher gives an answer instead of a question. Students have to say the question.
- I'm 12. 
- No, I don't.
- Tea, please.
When students do this kind of exercise for the first time, they are a bit perplexed, but very soon they get the idea.

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BOARD AND CARD GAMES AT THE LESSON

Games are always a great hit at the lesson. It makes the lesson unusual and the children feel relaxed. Games wisely used at the lesson is a very good way to train their skills.

The majority of games are for 3-6 people, so sometimes I have to adapt them so that the whole class could play.

There are TOP 5 games I use at the lesson:

1. The DIXIT cards

The game with Dixit cards is very popular today, so why not use it at the lesson of English. The good thing about them is that you can adjust the illustrations to any topic you need.
The ideas below belong to Aniela Tekiela, an English teacher and a Polish blogger.

• Find the common element for 2 cards and make a sentence with it.
• Forsee the future. One student opens one cards and tries to say what may it refer to in his/her future.
• Making New Year resolutions connected with the card.
• Answer the question, finding the answer in the card.
• Associations. One student has to describe his associations, the other has to guess what card he/she has in mind.
• Students search for common elements in the cards, find and write the word in English. The other team has to do the reverse task, find the cards using their notes.
• Finish the sentence using the cards: I'd like to learn....,  I've got ..., I really like/enjoy.... .
• Match the name of the film with the cards, eg. 'Shark'.

2. 5 SECONDS

Use it for revision. Actually, you need only one thing from this game. It's the funny 5-second timer, which makes a funny noise. You decide with the pupils on the category for the answering person, set the 5 sec. timer and the person has to name as many words from the category as he/she can. The number of words equals to the number of points for the team. The team with the most points wins.

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PARACHUTE GAMES

This time I'd like to draw your attention to the use of parachute at the lesson of English.
I'm sure you all know how it looks like. It's a circle of colourful segments, sometimes with a small hole in the middle. I've made mine myself. Of course, I could buy a ready-made one, but I decided to have more colours in it to be able to train colours with my pupils later. Maybe it doesn't look that ideal, but it works.

But how can we use it at our lessons? There are TOP 5 ways how to do it:

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Shouting at children doesn't work

I'd like to share the article by Paul Dix, an expert in Behaviour Management who explains why shouting at children is counterproductive for learning.

Fight or Flight


The Amygdala is a small nut-shaped object that sits in the middle of your limbic brain and controls your response to threat signals. In a very real sense, we have two minds – an emotional mind and a rational mind – but the emotional mind is dominant. It responds quickly to signals and sends out hormones to stop the rational brain thinking, deliberately. Man sees a snake, before the man can work out whether the snake is a dangerous one, whether it’s about to rear up and bite him, the Amygdala triggers. It sends blood rushing to the hands to fight and rushing to the legs to run and escape.

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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. YOUNGER LEARNERS

 

 There are special tricks a teacher can introduce at the lesson, that may help for some time. BUT it's not the remedy and sooner or later they won't work too. In this case it would be a good idea to ask or help a more experienced colleague-teacher at your school.
Anyway, these tricks may help you for the start and can make your lessons more attractive for your younger pupils.

Here we go....

1. Bouncyballs. 
It's a program in the internet that you can use to controll the limit of noise at the lesson. You will need a computer with internet connection and a microphone. The balls that you see in the picture start bouncing when the noise is increasing. So, the louder are the students, the quicker the balls are bouncing. You can change the theme from plastic ball that you can see in the picture to smilies, bubbles or eyeballs. It can work as a reminder for the pupils that it becomes noisy and they have to calm down.

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BACK TO SCHOOL. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

A new school year is comming and all teachers are surfing the Internet or making up their mind what they will do at the first lesson with their pupuls. My today's idea is DON'T BE IN A HURRY TO ENTERTAIN THEM at the first lesson. Think that on the first lesson depends a lot in their behaviour at the lesson and their attitude to you. So, it's high time to set the rules and maybe even sign a goup contract, as we all perfectly know how the lack of discipline at the lesson ruins all your aims, plans and ideas you were so eager to realise? And how frustrated and unwilling you may feel to teach because of that.

 But how can you set the boundaries?

 

 The secret is in you - this is what Carol Read says. For me she is a great specialist in primary English language teaching. Moreover, I teach from her books at school and find them highly professional. Her ideas are really precious and I'd like to share them with you.

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Reading books at the lesson

We all know that we have to read more and encourage our students to read more too, and we as teachers of English are supposed to promote reading English books. A good idea would be to start reading English books to our 1st Graders so that it was an ordinary thing for them to reach for an English book later. You think they won't understand anything? You have to try.

In this article you'll find out about the book for children by an English author Nick Sharratt whose works are always a great hit at the lesson with my younger learners. Actually, this books can be most suitable for 6-9 year olds who are learning Eglish as their second language.
What is special about them? They are humorous and interractive. There is always something in these books that you can touch, rotate or where a child can peep inside. I also use them to teach my own child English. We start learning storytelling for children as well.

As you understand, these books are useful for teaching English words and structures. Now you'll find out how I suggest doing it.

1. One of my favourites is A SHARK IN THE PARK
This books is fantastic as it arouses curiosity. The photos show how it looks inside:

What can we do with it at the lesson?

1. Before reading aloud, I bring some objects from the book.
* telescope, you can make one from the paper rolls
*a toy of a shark
*a toy of a cat
*a picture of a crow
*an illustration of a park
*a flashcard of Dad
You can bring pictures only but objects work
best. Next we try to predict what is this book going to be about.

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I have no lesson plan. What shall I do? Part II.

'Bring your English, and we'll build on it together.' This is how the Dogme teaching method works.
In the second part of my article I'd like to focus on other ways to conduct an English conversation lesson. I personally like these activities very much and can strongly recommend them, because they really work.

Here we go...

1. Magic match box or make something out of nothing (or next to nothing!)

Find a small container or a matchbox and put a small object into it. It can be a coin, a leaf, a grain of rice, a feather, a seashell, a lottery ticket, an aspirin or a mirror inside. Pass it round the class. Everyone looks inside without showing anyone else and writes the first thing that comes to their mind or they associate the object with.
Next you ask them to mingle and find out what others have written on the slips of paper or Post-it notes.
Ask them to group themselves according to their reactions. Let them explain why they have grouped in this way.



2. Running dictation

It's a form of English dictation, but with lots of fun. You divide the class into 2 groups, find an interesting text, stick it on the board or the wall, each team selects a scretary in their group who will be writing. The aim of each team is to come to the wall, memorise as much of the text or words as possible, come back to the secretary and tell all they remember. The secretary has to write. When the time is over, you compare the texts. The winner is the team that has most identical collocations or the most identical text.
The variation of this game see here.

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I have no lesson plan. What shall I do? Part 1.

It may sound like a nightmare for the teacher, if you have to stand for another teacher in some other class. But it can be even worse if it's not supposed to be an English class, but some other like History, Native language class, Literature, IT or maybe PE. What do you usually do in such cases?  I usually become very, VERY unhappy.

In the recent school year two times I had to teach IT and Polish (which is not my native language unlike my students, so you understand). I used some conversational methods and things that students had with them or could make at the lesson. And it worked really well to my great surprise. But only recently I've found out a new teaching method which core idea is conversation and things from the immediate surrounding that is everything that students can bring or have with them or see around them. That spoken English lesson is nothing but Dogme teaching method or Dogme teaching (conversation driven teaching).


What is it? It's a methodology and a movement. Dogme should be done using only resources that teachers and students bring to the class and whatever happens to be in the classroom. Students come with their English, not for English.


Sounds good. But how does it work? There are three main principles:

*language should work because communication develops social interaction

*student-produced materials are preferable than published textbooks

*activities lead to communication


Here are some of the activities of Dogme teaching that you can use at the lesson without or with little preparation.


1. DISAPPEARING TEXT

Choose a short text. Make a large copy of it or write it on the board so that the whole class could read it. Tell the class, they need to copy it down as accurately as possible. But they will only be able to see it for one minute. Display the text for 1 minute, then close it down. The class may compare their results. Then you let them see the text again but only for thirty seconds. From memory they make changes before comparing with the partner.

Then ask one pare to dictate what they think is the correct copy. Write it on the board and then display the original text and discuss the differences.


2. HANDS UP

Your pupils draw the outlines of their two hands on a piece of paper. Each hand will represent some category and the opposite category. Qualities in people they like and don't like, something they like/think good and something they don't.  They may use dictionaries if there is a need for it. On the board you write the sentences to complete with their words.

In pairs students compare their 'hands', looking for similarities and differences.

You can also write on the board top 5 'left hands' and top 5 'right hands' or make a kind of class ranking.


3. DESERT ISLAND

Tell your student that they are going on a desert island. They are allowed one kind of food/drink, one book and one CD.  Surely, you understand that you can replace the categories by what suits best your lesson. Instead of things they may take people from their surrounding to the desert Island, or famous people.

Everyone writes down their three choices on a slip of paper. You shake the pieces and redistribute them among the pupils. Pupils have to find the author of the note asking different questions. They are allowed to move around the classroom asking questions. When they find them, they ask them about their choices.


4. TWIN TRIPS

Many classrooms have maps as a decoration. Why not use it? It can be a map of the city, country or even of the world. A student with the closed eyes points with a pen at the random place.

What can they do when they know already the place of destination?
*Write a postcard or SMS from their location
*Tell the class something about the surroundings
*Give instructions how to reach it

*You may take postcards/messages/whatever, redistribute among other students and the latter have to guess who is it from/find the place on the map. They can make up a story how they got home (interview or writing down 5 facts about their trip).


In my second part I'm going to write about other useful Dogme activities for a conversation in English.
Read PART II here.

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Lapbooks. What are they?

 

These mini-books are a great hands-on teaching method. What is it a lapbook then? It's a kind of portfoilio or a collection of flap mini-books in which pupils can draw and write. This teaching tool is ideal to sum up any topic.
The whole lapbook is devoted usually to one theme. So, it can be about a country, time zones, sea animals, anything. These books are large and can cover your laps that's why they are called lapbooks. In the photos you can see an example of the book about Canada.  

 For the inner part y cou can use the laptop templates from the internet or cut them out yourself. All is up to you and your pupils.

Actually, you can make the elements of the lapbook at several lessons, not all at once.

With my younger classes we sometimes fill in only one template a lesson.

I'm sure that your pupils will remember making the lapbooks better than filling in the worksheets and, what is more, they will have their own lapbook ideas for the lesson.

 

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Spinners at the lesson.

A fidget  spinner is a fidget toy or a gadget that is noisy and disruptive at the lesson but it can be really useful for the English class.

This is how an English teacher can use it:

1. As a timer of the task a pupil has to fulfill
*How much of the (long) poem can you recite while the fidget spinner is rotating or how many times a pupil can recite a short poem.
*How much of a story can you retell while the fidget spinner is rotating.
*How many tongue twisters can you read correctly during this time.
*How many words can you read from a long list while the spinner is rotating.

*How many words can you name from the topic eg. Food or any other.
Find the winner! Who does best in the class today.
Your students will surely have one spinner with them, so you don't even have to bother yourself and buy it.:-)

2. As a pointer.
*The fidget spinner can also point to the flashcard/object/pupil. You only have to mark one of the sides of it.
At my yesterday's lesson it was pointing to different objects (a stick, a block, a watch ...), the task of my younger pupils was to say what it is made of (It's made of plastic/wood/paper/metal).

Or it can point to parts of the face (blue eyes, brown eyes, 3 eyes, 2 noses, 6 ears...) spin 6 times or as many as you like, draw your monster and DESCRIBE it:-)

3.As a dice where each colour can stand for something (action, movement, task, words for the story)
Read here how you can use board games at the lesson.

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 Chatting with Google Docs at the lesson.

To use it at the lesson your students will need computers, access to the Internet, an account in google and a shared access to the document.
The idea is that students exchange their ideas, give comments on the abstract of text that the teacher reads to them.
So, it looks like that: the teacher reads some chapter from a story, students listen, then after the teacher has finished reading, they write and send their comments on what they have heard. The interesting thing in this is that everyone sees what the rest of the class think as google docs has such a function as sharing the document with others and edit it simultaneously.
Then the teacher reads, students listen and again write what they think. My students were writing the comment 3 times, that's quite enough.
The curious thing about it is that every next comment they write is longer and contains deeper thoughts.
"But what if I have no access to computers or Internet at the lesson?" There is a way out:-) I used usual pieces of paper for every comment. At my lesson reading their comments was the most interesting part of the lesson for the students. There was such silence at the lesson, everyone listened. And that was great fun too. So, we trained listening and writing.
 

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QR codes in education.

What is it? It's a Quick Response code or a machine-readable optic label originally invented to store data.
How can they be used at the lesson? It's like a box that contains something but nobody knows what exactly untill they scan it.

This is how it works:


1. You need to code your words/sentences/text/pictures or even video in QR codes. It will look like the one on your right. There are lots of QR code generators for teachers, so it shouldn't be a problem.

2. Your pupils have to install the app with a QR code reader beforehand.

3. For the lesson you make your own dominoes with qr codes or find similar in the Internet.

4. Divide children into groups and make a kind of contest among/between them. The winner is the team that finishes first.

I'm sure your students will remember the lesson, have lot's of fun and what is best, will learn the vocabulary or structures you want them to learn.

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Do you know PUS blocks? 

What is it, PUS blocks? They are educational toys, that you can use at the lesson to revise anything.
They are Polish invention and as I live and work in Poland  I was lucky to run across them here.
There are ready-made tasks for these blocks, but I never use them.  I make the tasks myself.

Advantages of the blocks: learning, fun and self-control of a student. They learn conentration, abstract thinking and there is also a prize and a surprise that is the pattern that the PUS blocks make.
 Disadvantages: one has to buy the blocks and compile the handouts. I tried to make the blocks myself, but it didn't work, so I bought 6 boxes of them and now I'm a happy owner of this great educational toy.

How does it work?
There are 12 square blocks in a red box. Each block has a number on one side and a colourful shape on the other. There are 12 numbers in the box too. Now I'll explain it as I do to my pupils. You take the block with number 1, look at the task with 1, there says 'giraffe', so you have to find the picture of the giraffe, check what numer is written next to it and put this block on number 9 in the red box. When you have all the answer, you close the box, turn it over and open from the reverse side. If all the answers were correct, you'll get the pattern as I have on the board.

If I have no time to compile the handout I simply use the flashcards on the board that I numer from one to twelve and write the task on the board. It can also be grammar tasks, for eg. filling in the sentences with suitable words.

I strongly recommend it. It would be great if every child in the class had such a box at the lesson, but in groups of five they work well too.
 

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End-of-the-year story revision

Out of all the story cards pupils take 3-5 cards that lie face down.
1. They discuss in groups words/sentences that can be associated with these cards and present them to the class.
2. The task is to make up their own unusual story from the cards and present it to the class. 
In this way we can revise the vocabulary, structures and develop their creative thinking in English.

 

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A lesson on Mother's Day.

***What does your mum do every day?***
Aim: revise the vocabulary on everyday chores, estimate what their mothers have to do every day for them and the family, motivate children to take part in the everyday chores about the house.
1. We distribute the verbs in 2 columns (1.Mum does, 2. I do) and suggest how much time these activitis may take an average mother to complete. Count the spent hours and compar the results with the table in the picture.
Verbs: make sandwiches, take meat out of the freezer for dinner, check the cereal box levels, fill the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table for breakfast, put a load of clothes into the washing machine, iron a shirt, water the plants, empty the rubbish bin and hang up a towel to dry, write a note to the teacher, count out some cash for the excursion, pull a library book out from under the chair, sign a birthday card for a friend, write a quick list for the supermarket, put water into the dog’s bowl, make sure the doors is locked, turn out the bedside lamp, throw dirty socks in the laundry basket, set the alarm, turn off the TV.
2. Make extra columns: what I could do.
3. Write Mother’s Day resolution for today on a card and give it to their mum: Today I will…

 

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Creative things to develop English speech.

I use plastic containers as in the photo on the left to revise vocabulary and grammar structures with my primary students. I borrowed this idea from a speech therapist who was using it for her speech and language therapy, but what can suit for the lesson of English best where we teach students to speak.

This is how I work with it. The task of the students is to give a sentence describing the picture (for eg. Turtles eat grass.) If the sentence is correct they open the corresponding container and check if there is a small prize for them (usually it’s a sticker). As a rule, if one gets wrong, he starts to listen to what other students say and makes another try. In the end everyone knows the vocabulary and structures.
Such kind of speech therapy exercises work really well for the lesson of English.  It's really good for smaller groups, but can also be done with a whole class.

What else can be done? In the boxes there can be words out of which a pupil has to make a sentence. For eg. a cat - is - in - sitting - hat - the.

In the boxes there can be small pictures/words/set of pictures. Let the children from the class open the box/boxes select the task for the whole class.

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Smartphone zombie. A lesson plan ideas

The idea of this english lesson came to me after one of the online webinars for teachers about technology at the lesson. When I first heard about such a phenomenon as smartphone zombie, I thought it's a joke. Nevertheless, it turned out to be true. And this is how the idea of making a lesson about smobies came to my mind.

Who is it a SMOBIE?

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