Speak as much as you can!!Surveys in class!!

      In this new post we will suggest the use of Surveys in our English class. Surveys are a good way to practice the new and the reviewed structures. First of all, they provide a big amount of repetition for our pupils, therefore practice, far away from those very boring traditional repetition drills. it is also a motivating way of interaction with classmates since they have to get all the information from them. Finally, it is a means to use the language in "real" interaction, that is, to use the language with a purpose.
      In this post, we show you three different surveys, to practice different aspects of vocabulary and structures. Surveys are easy to make and can be made about whatever aspect of vocabulary, so it is a very handy resource we have for our lessons. We Hope you like it.
WEATHER(What's your favourite...?Primary 4
      Here we will practice some weather vocabulary, together with the days of the week and the seasons.
      Firstly, our pupils will ask three different classmates to complete the chart given. Then, each pupil has to complete a brief text with their personal information.
      Later on,they will draw a weather chart with the weather forecast for a week. Finally, they will have to write and say the information they have previously drawn in their weather chart.

SCHOOL OBJECTS(Have you got...?)Primary 3
      In the next survey we will practice some school objects vocabulary with the structure "Have you got...?" Each pupil has to ask three classmates using the structure given.
      Secondly, when they have all the information, they will make a bar graph to represent the information they got.
      Finally, each pupil will write about what they have or haven't got, using the vocabulary given.

SPORTS(CAN YOU PLAY...?)Primary 3

      In the following survey we will practice some sport verbs with the structure "Can you play...?". Each pupil has to ask three classmates using the structure given. Then, each pupil will write about what they can and can't do.
      Secondly, when they have all the information, they will make a bar graph to represent the information they got.
      Finally, using "I've got and I haven't got" they will write about sports items.

Haunted House

Apart from being a very important cultural aspect and quite attractive and motivating for our pupils, Halloween can also be a good opportunity to practice and review some English structures. In the following post, "The Haunted House", we propose a didactic unit, based on Halloween vocabulary, in which we will practice the four skills and also grammar contents such as there is/are ,prepositions, questions and short answers...


Start the lesson doing a brief brainstorm on Halloween vocabulary. Try to get all the words they know about Halloween although they are not the ones you have chosen for the unit. After this, introduce the vocabulary using flashcards and playing some games with them. Visit www.toolforeducators.com  to get free flashcards and printable activities, it is very useful to make our own material.

After the flashcard games, our pupils have seen both the oral and the written form of the new words, so it is time to practice with them, in this case we propose a crossword and a wordsearch. 

 

Now it is time to deliver "The Haunted House" sheet. Firstly we will work with the prepositions "on, in, under, behind..." and the parts of the house so it is worthy having a little time to review them. We propose two different levels here, 3rd and 4th of primary.

 

After these activities, to finish, we will deliver a little ghost to be coloured by our pupils and used to make a speaking activity. In pairs, our pupils will put the ghost in a room and the classmate have to guess where he is asking different questions e.g. Is he in the bathroom? yes, he is. Is he in the bath? No he isn't. Is he behind the door? Yes, he is. then they change roles

We hope you find it useful. See you!!

English Dictionary

In the first entry of our blog we will recommend the use of an English dictionary to improve our pupils vocabulary learning.


How to improve our 2nd cycle pupil's vocabulary? Make an English Dictionary 

         A good and motivating way to improve our pupils vocabulary is to make a personal English dictionary. It is a very simple craft activity, that can be done in just one lesson, and that can be a valuable resource to practice vocabulary and spelling. In addition to this, it gives us a good oportunity to use language in a practical and real way, giving the instructions and the name of the materials in English. Even more important, using this dictionary we will avoid giving our pupils lists of vocabulary to study, they will copy and translate all the words by themselves.

Material needed: 

 Paper, cardboard, scissors, little bookbinders and a hole maker. 

First step: Decoration 

First our pupils can draw, colour and decorate the dictionary freely. We need to make sure that each of them have got 26 little pages(one per each letter.They write the letter at the top of each page and use both sides to write words beginning with this letter). 

2nd Step: assemble the dictionary

Then we need to make the holes to the paper and cardboard and put the little bookbinders. And that's it!!It is ready to use.

Tips: show them finished examples of each step, so they can figure out what you want them to do. avoid translations, either made by you or children, and give short and simple instructions repeting as many times as needed. You can also add next to the letter in ecah page a simple transcription of the sound F/ef/.

I hope you like and find it useful!!