Tag Archives: slides

Role Play : Renting a House

Slides, Speaking, , ,

This year I am teaching  two different levels, the  2nd course in the Elementary Level and the 2nd course in the Intermediate Level.  Teaching the last courses within a level means my students will have to, necessarily, take the Certificación exam if they want to pass to the next level. The exam has different parts but I know you’ll agree with me if I say that the most stressful one is the Oral test. I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea to face a board of  two or three teachers  listening, very attentively, to every word you say. Haven’t you always wanted to be centre of attention 😉 ?

The oral Exam in the Elementary Level has two parts. The first part is a Role-Play. Here, the students will have to interact with the teacher. Students will be presented with a situation and they will have to take  one role, while the teacher takes the other role.

To prepare my students for these role-plays, I often use PhotoPeach, an online tool which allows you to create a free slide show in seconds. Dying to try my other slideshows with Role-Plays? Click here

This is the last I have uploaded: Renting a House. Prior to this online Role-Play, students, in pairs, have written an advert for a house/flat for rent and from this advert they have written a dialogue, which they have later performed.

This is the last step.

The Flipped Classroom: Two Interesting Tools

Audio, Create your own stuff, freeware, In the Computer Room, Resources, Slides, , , , ,

I couldn’t just wrap up the school year and kick off the summer holidays without mentioning these two interesting tools I’ll be trying this summer to add to the list of useful tools I have been trying on and off in the flipped classroom setting. The Flipped Classroom Concept is the new trend in education. Classes are flipping all over the world. Well, maybe in Spain, it is not so popular yet but I think it has a great potential in classes where the students are motivated to learn.
The Flipped Classroom is a reversed teaching concept. Basically the teacher, through about 5 minute -created videos, teaches the students at home and then “homework” is moved to the classroom. One of the advantages of this method is that students learn at their pace and while some students might need to watch the video just once to understand the content, weaker students will not feel left behind as they will be able to replay the video as often as they like without feeling they are interfering with the normal pace of the classroom. The student, then, comes to the classroom to work on what was explained in the video and time in the classroom is spent on practising, something the students cannot do at home on their own. There is,obviously, more time for student-teacher interaction. In this flipped classroom setting there are two tools I’m willing to give a try this summer and which I thought I would share with you, in case you want to give the Flipped Classroom a go next year.

The first tool is similar to MyBrainshark and VoiceThread, which I have been using for two years. It’s called Narrable and it allows you to upload photographs and record yourself or upload an audio file narrating your photo. When you sign up you only get 5 free narrables but you can get more free narrables if you don’t mind sharing them in facebook.

The other one is a bit more complicated and demanding on the teacher’s side and if you are camera shy, like me, maybe not so appealing but, anyway I’m willing to try it.
It’s called Movenote and it helps you record a video of yourself teaching accompanied by slides. First of all, you have to upload your images or presentations ( it supports pdfs, excel,.. and many more) and then you record yourself using your webcam while you explain your images. There is also the possibility of uploading a previously recorded video and synchronising it with the slides. It’s free , you only need to sign up to an account . The only thing I don’t like is that you share via an url but it doesn’t seem to offer the possibility of embedding it in a blog or website.

When I Grow Up

freeware, Pictures, Slides, Students' Corner, , ,

“When I grow up I’m going to be a flight attendant” I used to tell my parents when I was in primary school. That was really my dream!  I used to dream of going to far away countries, meeting amazing people and learning to speak different languages. I dreamed of holidaying in Indonesia and swimming in the Pacific Ocean … but my parents never liked it and very soon tried to put me off the idea by telling me flight attendants were just waitresses in a plane, but still… I dreamed!

Even now, if someone should ask me  if I ever wanted to be a teacher, my brain automatically associates ” wanting to be” with “being a flight attendant”. For better or for worse, I’ve got a friend who is a flight attendant and when she tells us about her travels I always turn green with envy. I cannot help it but that’s called rubbing salt into wounds, isn’t it?

Anyway, this is the question I asked my students and these were their answers. I thought it could be fun to take their picture now so that, in the future, they can look back and see if their dreams came true.I hope so!

Created with http://slideful.com/

Having Fun

Create your own stuff, freeware, Funny Stuff, Grammar and Exercises, , , , , ,

I should be marking exams and then again preparing a new batch of them.Oh my Gosh It is that time of the year!!Instead I am playing with Classtools.net.

One of my students asked me to do some more practise on Reported Speech Questions and I thought this could be a nice way to revise this point of grammar.

Click on the numbers to see the questions ! Don’t you just love it??