Category Archives: Students’ Corner

Writing and Speaking Elementary : Describe a game

Pictures, Speaking, Students' Corner, Writing, , , , ,

Of all the skills a student has to become fluent at when learning a language  writing is, for me, the most boring one. I don’t think it’s the hardest by any means, this prize is awarded to Speaking but the truth is that students find it boring and we, teachers, almost always put off marking essays for as long as we can.

On the other hand, I find that it’s much easier for students to write a worthy piece of writing  if you provide a model, some guidelines to follow and also give them a topic  they are mildly interested in .

Last week’s topic for composition was Writing about a Game. I asked students to think of a game or a sport and answer the following questions

♥What’s the name of the activity? ♥How many players are there? ♥ How does a player start the game?♥What do the players do then?

I also asked some students to record their work and this is what they did (I used a tool called Fotobabble. I wrote about Fotobabble here). Thank you folks, good job!
Lucia Gonzalez Hide n Seek


Alba Feito “Marbles”

<iframe style=’border:0;’ height=450 width=400  scrolling=no  src=’http://www.fotobabble.com/api/fotobabble?apiKey=test&format=HTML&displayFormat=Player&id=cFo4UFNsVitSWjg9&height=450&width=400′></iframe>

Carolina Macas The Handkerchief

David Díaz The Liar Dice

 

Learn how to write an informal email with SlideRocket

General, Resources, Slides, Students' Corner, Writing, Writing skill,

Edit: Sliderocket is no longer free. Therefore, I have uploaded the presentation to Slideshare

SlideRocket is an online presentation tool that helps you create , manage and share your presentations. With this tool you can create better slideshows more quickly from within any browser.You can also upload your  PowerPoints or Google Docs presentations. Presentations are stored on SlideRocket’s servers and can be accessed from any device that is connected to the internet. For casual users , it’s free.

A Glogster Project : My Favourite Sport!

Create your own stuff, In the Computer Room, Students' Corner, Writing, , , ,

Every year I find a reason to use Glogster in the classroom (click here to see my first article about Glogster) I think most of my students, though camera-shy, like to see their work published. I find that Glogster is the ideal tool to use with twelve or thirteen- year- old students because it ‘s very visual and students have a lot of fun deciding which frame to use for their photograph or text , which video they want to embed ( In English, of course) . Yes, they have fun but what they probably don’t realize is that they are using English from Step 1 of the project.
In fact, after finishing our Glogster, I wrote on the board  several of the words they had been using  (frame, text, wall, image, tools, gallery, upload, cartoon…etc) and they were happy when they recognised it.

Have you never tried Glogster? Give it a go! It’s a lot of fun!

Click here to see it better!

5 students using MyBrainShark for their landmarks presentations

Audio, Create your own stuff, In the Computer Room, Slides, Speaking, Students' Corner

Did you think you have seen the last of MyBrainshark in this blog? Far from it!

Now I have engaged my students (level A2) into giving a presentation about a landmark of their choice. The fact that they did it at home and at their own pace , repeating as many times as they wished until they were completely satisfied and choosing their own photographs to illustrate it must have boosted up their confidence in using English because , with the exception of some students, most of them made a great effort and passed with flying colours.

Below are some of my students and their MyBrainsharks. They are: Victor Areces, Sara Días, Paula Fdez, Jesus Fdez and Paula García.

And here are their landmarks.
Grand Arch by Victor Areces

Petra by Sara Días

Ellis Island by Paula Fdez

Petronas Towers by Jesús Fdez

The Arch of Triumph by Paula Garcia

If you’re interested in using MyBrainshark  , click here to see my tutorial in Spanish ,

Forcing the Past Continuous

Funny Stuff, Students' Corner, , ,

For the past few days I have been thinking about possible situations where my students could use the Past Continuous. But, by far, the funniest one has been this one I’m about to tell you.
Bear in mind before going on reading that I work with teenagers. They can sometimes get quite emotional so I have to be careful not to push them too far so that they also enjoy the activity. Drama, on my side, is essential or they won’t buy my story. The more drama, the more fun you’ll get! This is my story and I have realised I love being naughty!!

(Going into the classroom with a gloomy face is a must for this story. Say nothing for a while and stare at them. Soon students will begin to feel uneasy and someone will eventually ask: “What’s wrong, teacher?”).

Well, you see! Yesterday afternoon I came to Grado (name the town where you teach) to do some shopping and a very unpleasant thing happened to me. (sad face and some more staring) . While I was leaving a shop (name the shop for realism) I heard a boy and a girl calling my name and running away. I couldn’t see their faces but I think I recognised their voices. When I went over to my car I realized someone had scratched my car with a key. That’s why I’m so sad. “Sara, the girl’s voice sounded just like yours!” ” Oh, no, no teacher” “What were you doing yesterday at 5 o’clock?” “I was doing my homework at home” and you David “Were you in Grado yesterday afternoon? Yes , but I was playing a football match!

As I said : I love being NAUGHTY!