Art in class

Los jugadores de naipes (Francisco de Goya)

La gallina ciega (Francisco de Goya)

The teacher will show these paintings to the children, in which the topic is traditional games. It is a good way to show them how culture was in their country in the past. That will help them to be aware of the changes that have happened in their country. Making a comparison between how the game was in the past and how is it nowadays.

After the previous activity, all the children will play “Gallinita Ciega” and “Cinquillo”. In the first game, one child will cover his/her eyes with a blinker and all the kids have to move around in order to be catch. If the “hen” grabs on of his/ her classmates, he /she would have to figure out who that person is. In the second game, the children will have to put the card number five on the table, and then they will have to follow the numbers up and down. The winner is the one that runs out of cards first.

Reading activity: Mice

Skimming

What animal is this text about?

Dogs

Birds

Mice

Scanning

Which one is the smallest one?

What do the Dormice eat?

The kind of mouse that lives with peoples is __________

If it can grab things with the tail its name is __________

Reading between the lines

Which one is the mouse that uses to live next to the farms?

Which mice hate cold places the most?

Predicting

Which one would rise the top of a chair before, the harvest mouse, that climbs very well or the jumping mouse, able to jump three meters with a single jump?

Intensive Reading

Write ten lines to resume the text

Guessing meaning from context

Rewrite the sentences changing the word that is given to you for the one with a similar meaning.

It makes its nest at the top of stalks of grass and corn.

(House) _________________________________________

They are popular pets.

(Famous) _________________________________________

They sleep for seven months every year.

(Hibernate) _________________________________________

Storytelling: Panda bear, Panda bear, What do you see?

In order to choose a proper book to tell to my students I have chosen “Panda bear, panda bear, what do you see?”  Because is a very good book to be told, read and to do activities about it.

This story has a repetitive structure which makes easy to the kids to remember it. In the structure, the animal that has being seen in the last page, not only answers to the question about what is the next animal that is going to appear, it also speaks about something that is typical for that animal, like swimming for the turtle or soaring for the bald eagle. The pictures, are also perfect for the students, because are similar to the ones that they would do to draw those animals.

To tell the story to the kids I have prepared a storytelling based on a song that speaks about a person going on a safari. It says:

“Going on safari and what do I see? A (Animal name) looking at me.

It says (Animal sound while we do the animal movement) and I agree with the (Animal while we do the animal movement again) looking at me”

We use the same repetitive structure that the book has, and we can also ask to the kids which one is going to be the next animal. The story is going to be told a few times after letting the kids have the handout. Before that we have to explain to the kids that the story is a bit different in the text than in the song, in order to prevent mistakes while they are reading the book by themselves. 

Here is a link to the song YouTube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awVrYAD7G4M

After listening activity: I can't hear you!

After doing the listening activities related with this eight actions the students will be divided in four groups.

Each member of the group is going to have a card with a picture of one of the actions that appear in the song. When the teacher gives the sign the kids will have to find the other students that have the same card that them, by doing the action that is drawn in their card.

Listening activity design: Aliens in a pub

Before listening activity:

To play twister game. We can work body and colours. Later, the teacher can add more difficulty to the game in order to use more than one part of the body. Also, if they work in groups and together, they have to put as many parts of their bodies as teacher orders in one unique colour.

After finishing the first activity the students will listen an audio file about an alien barman from a very famous astral pub, who speaks about the different races of aliens that are drinking in the pub in that moment and why they are how they are, also telling romours that he has heard about them.

This is not the picture used in the activity

While listening activity:

We plan this activity, talking from the point of view of the waitress. All the costumers are going to be described.

• Exercise: Complete the sentences circling the correct answer.
o "Burmecians, have big heads and are very smart because, they are always listening".
o "I have heard, that Bangass, always know what happen around them, that maybe, because in their heads they only a big, big eye!"


After listening activity: 

Complete this table.

The very hungry Caterpillar: Before, while and after reading activities.

1.- Butterflies from the world: We are going to visit Faunia, a specific place where are lots of butterflies for all over the world.

2.- Life-cycle of the butterfly: The teacher brings to the class some caterpillar in a box. In this way, we can se the life-cycle. We have also to feed them.

3.- The number song: We are going to sing some songs like, "Ten little fingers" or "Five little monkeys".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9KmC1-jGNc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1MxtTPm-Ek

4.- Mathematics: We are going to work shapes: circles, rectangles and triangles; for creating a caterpillar.

5.- Arts & Crafts: With collage, we can create a caterpillar and a cocoon, too.

6.- ICT: Find some interactive activities about food, using the smart board, or something similar.

7.- For recognizing different types of food, we are going to create a bingo game.

Methods: Second language acquisition

1) It has been said that the Grammar- Translation Method teaches students about the target language, but not how to use it. Explain the difference in your own words.

Grammar translation method only teaches language’s structure (grammar) while other methods that also use communicative skill.

2) In the Grammar-Translation Method, grammar is treated deductively; in the Direct Method, grammar is treated inductively. Can you explain the difference between deductive and inductive treatments of grammar?

Deductive: it’s grammar translation method. First teacher, teach the rule and then gives the examples.

           

Inductive: Direct methods. First the learner receive inputs (examples), then create the rule, by himself, based on the experience receive through the inputs.

3) Which of the following techniques follows from the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method, and which ones don’t? Explain the reasons for your answer.

a) No audio-lingual / Yes grammar-translation.

b) Yes (but not all). Read and answer questions.

c) No audio-lingual / Yes grammar-translation.

5) Asher believes that foreign language instruction can and should be modeled on native language acquisition. What are some characteristics of TPR that are similar to the way children acquire their native language?

- Give orders to the children for getting inputs.

- Children are silent. They don’t talk, they only listen.

- Comfortable environment for the children.

7) A lot of target language structures and vocabulary can be taught through the imperative. Plan part of a TPR lesson in which the present continuous tense, or another structure in the target language, is introduced.

Transports

"Stand up if you came to school by car / train / bus...". Teacher completes the action with a picture of the transport.

Vocabulary: car, train, bicycle, walk, boat, underground...

Is ZOG an appropiate book?

ZOG is a great book to use with five-four year old students.

The topic includes magical characters as dragons and princesses, things that will help to keep the kids focused on the plot. The story also is good in order to motivate the kids, to help them to develop positive behaviors, imitating character’s attitudes during the story.

It’s a good book to use storytelling because the pictures are good enough to help the students to follow the story looking to them. The structures are simple and there are no long descriptive paragraphs, and even though vocabulary is a bit difficult, the teacher can change difficult words and the children can follow the story easily thanks also to the pictures that, as we said before, are very descriptive.

After listen it a few times in class. It can be given to the kids in order to let them read the story by their own, discovering the vocabulary that the teacher has changed during the storytelling, the repeated structures and the rhymes.

Reader: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Hello! My name is Charlie Bucket.

I live in a very little house with my family, my father and mother and my four grandparents, my mother's parents and my father's parents.

We do not have much money because my father is the only one with a job in the family.

We usually eat cabbage and cabbage soup, but I prefer to eat chocolate, because it is my favorite food.

That is the reason why I love my birthday's present, a tinny chocolate bar that I eat slowly.

Every day when i go to the school I see Willy Wonka's huge chocolate factory that smells like chocolate and makes me feel starving.

I would really like to get in the factory and discover how it is from the inside