The Animal Sounds

A very interesting topic for children is the animals. They love to know their names and the sound of each one.

Here I let you a song to memorize the name and the sound of many of the animals in the world and a picture of the most common animals.

Enjoy it!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This story is the favourite one of my pupils. They have memorized each word.

A green baby caterpillar hatches from an egg, and from birth he experiences a perpetual craving for food. He eats through fruits on five days, one piece on the first, two on the second, and so on up to five, then experiments with a wider variety of foods. Soon enough he eats too much and nauseates himself. After recovering he spins a cocoon in which he remains for the following two weeks. Later, the caterpillar emerges as a bright, colorful butterfly with large, gorgeous, multi-colored wings.

Foods eaten:

• 1 apple
• 2 pears
• 3 plums
• 4 strawberries
• 5 oranges
• 1 piece of chocolate cake
• 1 ice cream cone
• 1 pickle
• 1 slice of Swiss cheese
• 1 slice of salami
• 1 lollipop
• 1 piece of cherry pie
• 1 sausage
• 1 cupcake
• 1 slice of watermelon
• 1 green leaf

It is very useful to teach some food.

Here you have the video in which they are telling the story.

Poetry "My Shadow"

Poems can help children to improve their memory, learn vocabulary and sounds. It is good to stop being ashamed.

My Shadow 

Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest things about him is the way he likes to grow-
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Tongue Twisters for kids

• 
  She sells seashells on the seashore.
• Flash message. Flash message.
• Mix a box of mixed biscuits with a boxed biscuit mixer.
• A proper copper coffee pot.
• I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw. Esau, he saw me.
• Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat.
• Lovely lemon liniment.
• Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.
• Good blood, bad blood.
• Three free throws.The instinct of an extinct insect stinks.
• Comical economists. Comical economists.
• Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
  A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
  If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
  Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
• One-One was a racehorse.
  Two-Two was one, too.
  When One-One won one race,
  Two-Two won one, too.

The Skeleton Dance

Here I have a very funny video. It is very usefull for chidren to learn the parts of the body and the bonnes.

Enjoy it!

A very good book to learn how to draw

This is the best book I have ever seen to help teachers to draw.
I am very bad drawing and since I have known this book, every example that I have to show to my pupils is more easyer to draw than before.

You can buy it by Internet in Amazon.

Why is it important to use Fables to teach English?

Fables are short stories in which animals are the main characters. The most famous fables are the ones written by Aesop.

Telling fables is a great activity to teach to the children some ideas that we could find in the morals of these short stories.

Children are interested in them because they love animals and they enjoy stories in which animals can talk and do humans things.

For telling them you can read it or use the ICT in order to show to the students some videos telling the fables.

Here you can find some moral and  an example.

The Lion and the Mouse:

If someone tells you that you can’t do something and you know that it’s not true, you should trust in yourself and make an effort to get it.

If you do something nice for someone, they will do something nice for you. Little friends may prove great friends.

Multiple intelligences

People have multiple intelligences, this is the reason for why someone is better doing something than other, and the other is better in a different thing.

Do you want to know what are your multiple intelligences? 

you have logical-mathematicalintelligence you like to understand patterns and relationships between objects or actions. You are good at thinking critically and solving problems creatively.

If you have linguistic intelligence you think in words and like to use language to express complex ideas. You are sensitive to the sounds ans rhythms of words as well as their meanings.

If you have interpersonalintelligence you like to think about and try to understand people. You make an effort to cultivate good relationships with family, friends and colleagues.

If you have intrapersonal intelligence you spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to understand yourself. You understand how your behaviour affects your relationships with others.

If you have naturalistic intelligence you like to understand the natural world and the living beings that inhabit it. You have an aptitude for communicating with animals.

If you have existential intelligence you like about philosophical questions such as What is the meaning of life? You try to see beyond the here and nowand understand deeper meanings.

If you have musical intelligence you tend to think in sounds, ans may also think in rhythms and melodies. You are sensitive to the sounds and rhythms of words as well as their meanings.

If you have spatial intelligence you tend to think in pictures and can develop good mental models of the physical world. You think well in three dimensions and have a flair for working with objects.

If you have kinaesthetic intelligence you think in movements and like to use your body in skilful and expressive ways. You have and aptitude for working with your hands.

Knowing these intelligences we will understand better our pupils and why they do well some things and in others they have more difficulties.

Hansel and Gretel

Today I bring you a play to work with children, The vocabulary and the extension is adaptated for the chidren English level.  

The story´s name is "Hansel and Gretel

Hansel y Gretel

Father: Good morning children. I forget to buy your biscuits for breakfast

Hansel: Oh I´m hungry. Gretel, Can I bite you your little finger please???

Gretel: It is not a joke. Daddy we can go fish to the river.

Hansel: Ok, but before we can go help daddy chopping to the wood.

Hansel: Gretel! We have been working for two hours!!! What do you think if we go to play?

Gretel: I think it’s fine! Let’s tell daddy!

Hansel: No, he is very busy! We will be back soon, he won’t realize that we are gone.

Gretel: Ok, Let’s go!!!!

THEY PLAYED FOR ONE HOUR, AND WHEN THEY  WERE TIRED, THEY DID NOT KNOW HOW TO RETURN.

Hansel: Oh!! We are lost!!!

Gretel: Ohhhhhh, no!!!!!

Hansel: Don´t worry. We can pass the night under that tree.

NEXT MORNING....

Hansel: Good morning!! Let´s go.

Gretel: Hansel, I am so tired!!! I dont want to walk anymore!!!

Hansel: SSSSSSSSHHH, Gretel, have you heard that???

Gretel: What are you talking about?

Hansel: Yes... the sound of a bird!!! Look at that!

Gretel: OOOOOH, it’s a big black bird! And it is looking at us!!!

Hansel: Let’s follow the bird!!! Maybe it shows us the way to come back home

Gretel: Ok, Hansel, I think it’s a good idea!!!

THEY FOLLOW THE BIRD UNTIL THE BIRD STOPPED

Gretel: Hansel!!! Look! The bird set down on the roof of that little house.

Hansel: Come on!! Maybe the owners of that house can help us finding our house

WHEN THEY WERE CLOSER TO THE HOUSE, THEY WERE SURPRISED. THE HOUSE WAS MADE OF SWEETS.

Hansel: I can’t believe it!!! This house is plenty of sweets and candies!!! The windows are made of chocolate!!!

Gretel: And the chimeney is a lollipop!!! I want to eat a little bit. Look! The bell is made of strawberry cake!!! Ñam!!!

(DING-DONG)

Witch: Two sweet little children are eating my house.... Ha ha ha!!! I want to eat them!!!

(she OPENS THE DOOR)

Witch: Hello, little children!!! Welcome to my house. Do you want to eat some sweets?? Come in!!!

Hansel and Gretel: Nice!!! We can eat lot of sweets and then we can come back home.

Witch: (Mmmmm.. I am going to give them lot of sweets. They are going to be more and more fat and then... I WILL EAT THEM!
 And force them to do the housework. The children were very afraid.

Witch: You, boy, enter into the cage. And you, girl, take  the broom and clean my house.

Gretel: I don´t want to clean any more. Please let me go.

Witch: oh... you want to go away from me, right? So now you´re going to make me a foot massage.

Witch: I´m hungry. Gretel switch the oven on and bring me your brother.

Hansel: No, no, please! Let me go.

Gretel: Excuse me, I think that the oven is not working.

Witch: Oh, let me see!

Gretel: Now Hansel! Push her into the oven.

Witch: NO!!!!

Father: Ohh my lovely sons! I have been looking for you during many days. Give me a big hug

Hansel: Oh daddy, we have missed you a lot.

Gretel: We love you.

Activities to do witch the children before, durind and after the play.

Activities:

Pretelling:

-         Description: Learn how to describe people and places. They have to name different adjectives to talk about the witch, the children and the witch ´s house. They have to participate in the history inventing the adjectives of the main characters. Each pupil has to say and write on the board an adjective.

During the story:

-         While they are listening the story and we say any of the adjectives on the blackboard, they have to do a gesture linked to each adjective.

After telling:

-         At the first activity, we are going to give them a map. The map shows a few ways to came back home and they have to draw the right way.

-         At the second activity children are going to play a game in pairs. One of them have to guide the other, whose has her/his eyes blended, in order to get one object.

The days of the week

This is the song that we sing every day in the assembly.
hildren learn better the days of  the week using a song than repeating and repeating

"Monday, 
Tueday,
Wednesday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Saturday
and Sunday.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7 days
Each day is different and every day is new."

Imaginative activity

Here I have an imaginative activity to do with the children.

They can read a book and make a comic in a website. The name is: Play comic

It is free and can help children to improve their technological skills.

Here is an example:

Enjoy it!

Children´s book and activity

"THE NIGHT BEFORE"

Summary:

The night before tells the story of a boy who sees a dragon coming into his house. The boy hides under the bed and the dragon looked for him all over the house. Finally, when the dragon finds the boy, the boy realizes that the drake only wanted to be his friend. 

Activity:

The children have to make a Power Point , formed by five slides:

Here is the explanation and the examples:

The first one has to contain: Title, name, surname and grade.

The second one has to contain: Description of the boy and a picture of a little boy.

The third one has to contain: Description of the drake and a picture of a dragon.

The fourth one has to contain: The answer of this question, “What could you do if a dragon is near to you?"

The fifth one has to contain: five unknown words of the book with each translations. 

Classroom vocabulary

There are many  English specific words in schools. When I started in the English school, I had to look for many meanings because I forgot or I had never used.
Here I have a little list of importat words that we have to know to work with children.



- Punzón= Punch
- Babero=  Overall
- Plastilina= clay
- Cartulina = cardboard
- Pizarra digital = Whiteboard

- Pegatina = Sticker
- Estantería = Shelf
- Recreo= Playtime
- Tobogán = Slide
- Pincel = Brush
- Pintura = Painting
- Purpurina = Purpurin
-  Alfombra = Carpet
- Asamblea = Assembly

Jolly Phonics

I am being a treiner teacher in an English School. I have seen that the way to teach children to read is very different from the Spanish way. It´s name is Jolly Phonics.


What is Jolly Phonics?

It is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multy-sensory method is very motivating for children and teachers, who can see their students achieve. The letter sounds are split into seven groups.

The souns are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.

Pizza recipe

Here I have another recipe to do with children. It is a very easy recipe.

I wish you enjoy!

Gingerbread men recipe

It is a nice idea to cook with the childre. They love to experiment new things and make things with a final product.
It is perfect for Chritmas.

Enjoy it!

Salt dough

Usually in England they make a kind of plasticine to help children to develop their pshisical skills.

Ingredients:

- 4 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup ofsalt
- 2 cups of water
- colour painting

This kind of douth is much better than normal plasticine because texture is more elastic.

How can I improve listening in students?

When I think about listening, we usually think on CD reproducing a conversation for official exams.

But that idea is very far from the reality, children need to improve their listening for the foreign and the 1^st language more than other competencies because they can´t write yet. There are many exercises to improve it.

For example, we can put different color hoops on the floor. Kids have to run and when they listen a number and a color, they have to do groups that number of people and stand up inside the correct color hoop.

If they are wrong, they would be out of the game.

The worst teacher I ever had

The worst teacher I ever had was an old woman.

I was in her class when I was 7 years-old but I still remember how was her face when she looked at us.

Her attitude was depressive and I can´t remember to have ever seen a smile in her face.

Many years have passed, so I don´t remember exactly how was she teaching. But I remember how afraid I was about her when she shouted.

I got not the confidence to told her my concerns.

In a few years I don´t want to be like her. I want my pupils feel safes and confidents.

Furthermore, she told bad things to my parents. I think that a teacher has to encourage pupils and parents on good aspects.

The best teacher I´ve ever had

Thinking about every teacher I have had in my life and comparing their behaviours, I could realize that my latin´s teaher of Bachiller was the one who most impressed me. Maybe this decision was affected by my age.

This teacher was very patient and had every feature a good teacher has to have.

Therefore, the thing he called me most the attention of his personality was his engagement with his pupils.

I remember many times he renounced at his lunch time to repeat explanations.

He had also a relaxing voice, he didn´t shouted and had always a smiliy face when he saw us at the school.

I would like to be a teacher like him, thinking firstly at my pupils.