SECRETS OF POWERPOINT FOR TEACHERS. ACTIVITIES AT THE LESSON.

Microsoft PowerPoint can work perfectly not only for creating presentations, but also for making up animated activites for the lesson. In this post you will learn how to make games in this programme.

At the lesson you will need a projector and an interactive board.

1. Sea battles. A well-known game from our childhood can be used to practice speaking skills and revising grammatical structures. I used this one at the end of the school year (New Hot Spot 3). Students have to make a sentence using the suggested structure and the expression. If the sentence is correct, then you click on the field and check wether there is a battleship. Here you can download my presentation and transform it according to your needs.-->A sea battle game

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BRAIN-FRIENDLY LEARNING. TEACHING STRATEGIES

Do you know what it means  A BRAIN-FRIENDLY LEARNING? If so, you don't need to read the information below. But if you have a very transparent idea of it (as I used to have), read it, you may find out curious facts about our brain and how this knowledge can be used in the classroom. The information below is taken from the book by Janet Nay Zadina "Multiple pathways to the student bain. Energising and enhancing instruction."

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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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