MY FINAL TASK

I have chosen the activity developed by Tatiana Clavero with PIXTON. She did an activity with a group of 3º ESO , focusing on the distinction between present simple and present continuous. In case that laptops at my High School were available and they worked, I would do the same activity, but with students from 1º ESO. It is suitable for them , since they are learning the difference beteween these two tenses right now. Of course, I would make my students evaluate their classmates using the rubric designed by Tatiana.

It is time to say good bye. I am really happy to have participated in this course because I have learnt a lot about TIC focused on the teaching of English. However, the main hinder has been the lack of computers in my Educational Institution . Furthermore, I would have needed more time to put into practise all the applications by myself.   For sure, I will go on practising  !! :)

GENIALLY: motivated tool for students

GENIALLY is a wonderful application to call students´ attention. They usually employ powerpoints for their presentations, so that the introduction of this tool will increase their technological scope.

TOPIC AND MODALITY

The topic to develop in this task is music. Teenagers love singing and listening different kinds of music, mainly in Youtube, so that they will be very motivated.

GROUPING AND TIMING

This activity will be carried out in groups of 3 / 4 people. All of them must share the music style they are going to develop in this project.

As far as timing is concerned, it will de developed in 4 sessions.

- In the 1st session the teacher will project a text on the digital board about different types of music. It will be read and translated aloud in turns . Later on, students will propose some examples of singers or music groups who represent each style. To finish with, some extracts of songs will be heard and students will haave to identify their style.

- The 2nd and the 3rd session will be devoted to the execution of the project. Students will look for information about the style they have chosen on the Internet and later on, they will plan the structure of their work. They will be helped by the teacher as much as they need.

- In the 4th session students will expose their project . The other classmates will have to listen carefully and prepare some questions to be asked once they finish their oral presentation. A final mark will be given to every group by every student of the class

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To practice speaKing

- To improve presentation skill

- To encourage interactive listening

- To promote cooperation

PIXTON or how to create a story with fun

I would like to propose a task to be carried out in a group of 1º ESO to develop their writing skill. I would make use of the application PIXTON, since I regard it more appealing for these young students (12-13 years-old). This activity should be developed in class to help them to solve technical questions / problems.

ORGANIZATION OF GROUPS

Students would be organised in pairs (it is supposed that there are enough computers to share

SEQUENCE OF TASKS

Students would be given a list of vocabulary and grammatical structures to use. They would focus their attention on the use of the past simple tense and the thematic field of activities. Previously, they would be shown an example of story created by PIXTON, and they would also be taught the basic technical knowledge

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To develop students´writing skill

- To develop students´creativity

- To reinforce pair work and cooperation

- To reinforce students´technical knowledge

- To practise the use of the past simple tense and the thematic field of activities.

CREATIVITY AND USE OF IMAGINATION

Students would be lead to the creation of the story. They are free to choose the characters, the setting , the scenes and the plot. However, the teacher would control the content. Although they would be given the specific vocabulary and grammatical structures, they could choose how to develop their story.

It is paramount to show the final activity to the other students. They can learn with the other stories at the same time they get fun.

Application of EDPUZZLE in class

As I explained in my last post, I could not manage to put into practice any task in my class because of the lack of new technologies, this is the reason why I am going to suggest an activity employing EDPUZZLE:

- REASON TO CHOOSE THE VIDEO

I have selected the video where Greta Thumberg, the teenager who defends the protection of the World, makes a speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elv-c3ZTkYg

The reason to choose this topic is to highlight the importance of preserving the world and to create environmental awareness on the part of the students.

- LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To develop listening skill

- To develop awareness about the climate change and its real consequences

- To develop students´creativity

- To develop students´knowledge about new technologies

- To foster cooperation between students.

- ACTIVITIES

- Students are shown how to use the application EDPUZZLE before hand.

- In class , students brainstorm the thematic field of Environment. The teacher also provides a list with extra words.

- This activity will be carried out by only a group of students.(in every unit the same task will be directed by only one group ). The teacher asks them to watch the video at home. As it is subtitled, students will find easy its understanding.

- They are asked to include some specific information about environment during Greta´s speech. To do this , they must look for information on the Internet, reinforcing their reading skill (flipped learning)

- This group must also prepare a questionnaire about the video , which will be answered by their classmates once they watch the video.

- After watching the video and doing the questionaire, students will discuss the ways to avoid climate change from home.

IMPROVEMENT

Computers and wi-fi connection should be compulsory in all the Educational Institutions from Andalucia

TIMETOAST : a wonderful way to improve the reading skill

When I was proposed this kind of activity I was doubtful about its execution, mainly because of the lack of technologies at my High School . There are only 15 laptops for all the students, and some of them do not work properly. Besides, they are not available for all the classes, since Tic sessions are the priority. I asked my students to carry out it at home, but most of them do not have computers. This is the main reason why I cannot attach any file. However, I would propose this task to be fulfilled with TIMETOAST.

Learning objectives

By means of this activity, students will develop both their reading skill and their creativity using new technologies.

Steps to follow

The procedure and steps to follow are the following ones: tudents are asked to choose an actor or actress. They must look for his/ her biography on the Internet. Later, they must use TIMETOAST to develop this actor´s/actress´ life, making emphasis on his/ her main movies. Here, they must write the plot/ main characters/ film director.

Advantages of using TimeToast for this activity

Obviously, the main advantage is the students´motivation. The mixture of new technologies and the English language makes this activity successful.

Things that you would change / improve next time

Computers and wi-fi connection should be compulsory in all the Educational Institutions from Andalucia

The pleasure of reading

https://educacionadistancia.juntadeandalucia.es/profesorado/mod/book/view.php?id=214132&chapterid=138145 

These five pictures represent a habit that I was used to do from my childhood : READING. I loved reading when I went to bed every night. In fact, I went to the library every week to borrow some books that were read quickly…

On the other hand, people are reading traditional books in pictures 1,2,4,5, I mean, books made with paper. However, an ebook is used by an elderly woman in picture 3.

On the other hand, except in picture 4 where some students are reading the same book, surely guided by a teacher, the others show people reading by pleasure.

To my mind, readers from pictures 1,2,3,5 seem to be happy, focused on the story they have really chosen, living the same adventure the characters are undergoing. Nevertheless, students from picture 4 do not seem so happy because they are following the teacher´s instruction to follow the same rhythmn.

As far as a reader in L1 is concerned, I like reading all kinds of genres, mainly in summer , when I am on holidays. Regarding L2, I also read all types of genres. As an English philologist, I have read the same amount of books in both languages. 

Because of the lack of time , what I usually read every day are the online news, both in Spanish and in English newspapers. Besides, I checked my Facebook and my Instagram account where I followed many accounts related to the teaching of English, to travels … they are quick and easy to read and they drop me a hint of the main news.

Honestly, I prefer reading books made with paper: their touch, their smell, their easiness to read back and forward…. Although I am thinking about purchasing an ebook in order to have more free space at home :)

Welcome to this blog!!

                                                     
Hi everybody!

My name is María José and I am a Secondary English teacher in a city located in the very south of Spain: Algeciras. English has been my passion since I was a child, this is why I decided to become a language teacher.

Languages are alive. This is the main reason why we, English teachers, should not stop learning a medley of methodological facets to face new challenges  with every group of students every academic year.

Thus, let´s learn English!! As the title of my blog suggests ( A pinch of English ) , I Will try to provide with ´´a pinch ``of resources to learn and improve our English. Let´s start with the following ones:

- https://lyricstraining.com/about   : a wonderful webpage to improve your listening and pronunciation by means of songs.

- https://www.bbc.com/news  :  an interesting webpage where you can find news from all over the world. Here you can read and listen those news.

- http://www.isabelperez.com/  : a compilation of resources to improve vocabulary, gramar and the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).

I hope they Will be useful for you!