tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45469089729876445252024-03-05T15:46:51.637-08:00Miss Male's ReflectionsMiss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-25449288524776924092016-12-13T11:01:00.003-08:002016-12-13T11:04:31.194-08:00My 2016 in 5th Blue<h3>
<b><i><span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: large;">It's the end of the year, and it's time for reflection...</span></i></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">1. </span><span style="color: #4c1130;">What were your favourite activities/ projects this year, and why?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">2. What is the most important thing you learnt this year? Why?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">3. What were your favourite books/stories/novels/films? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">4. What suggestions can you make for next year? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">5. What can YOU improve next year, in 6th form?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">Source: TeachingMonster.com</span></td></tr>
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Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-21922547861634955762015-12-18T07:26:00.001-08:002015-12-18T07:26:56.872-08:00December & Balancing<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, the end of the year has arrived: December, Christmas, spreading good wishes... and time to stop and make a balance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Precisely to start with the balance, I profited from the last class with my lovely 5th form... and I offered the students the chance to make a written reflection, either in English or Spanish, without writing down their names so as to make it absolutely <b><i>honest</i></b>. I asked them two questions:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. What is the most important thing you have learnt in 5th form?</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. What suggestions can you make for next year?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I explained that the suggestions could be in relation to anything: the course, the projects, materials, class dynamics, teacher's behaviour or explanations... anything and everything. And well... my students spoke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They had tons of warm wishes, love and <b>tiny hugs to my heart.</b> But they also had suggestions, <b>GREAT suggestions </b>indeed. They made me realise some of my hunches were right: indeed, some projects had been too long. Yes, they had in fact loved some other projects, and wanted to keep them. And yes, definitely, they all wanted to participate in the <a href="http://globalprojectnls.blogspot.com.ar/" target="_blank">Not Perfect Hat Club project</a> -which, amazingly, we might be able to do next year!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then... Oh, yes. They had <b>QUESTIONS</b>! They are critical thinkers. And they wanted to know, among other things: </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Why can't we have chewing gum in class?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Can we have shorter Cards?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Can we have more jokes?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>- Why is our school uniform so hot? (I'm not kidding!!)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've rounded off this year with a big <b>SMILE</b> on my face. I feel we've all grown a lot... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I truly believe I am now a better version of myself. And I owe this to a wonderful group of 5th formers, who taught me every day and in every little gesture that <b>it IS possible</b> to make a difference.</span></div>
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Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-40585834273932153942014-12-16T10:14:00.002-08:002014-12-16T10:14:44.986-08:0021st Century Skills - Final Reflection<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5th forms project have been designed and developed to enhance some of the skills necessary for a 21st century learner.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- <b>Summarizing skills</b>: when dealing with summarizing skills, students worked really hard reading webpages, books and cards which had information about the different projects. They read paragraphs and they had to obtain the main ideas, summarizing them in one or two sentences. Then, they created collaborative presentations with the information they gathered. They also designed mind maps which helped them study.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">-<b> Logical & Creative thinking:</b> in our first project Helping Hands students analysed the situation of children in different parts of the world, they connected the place where they lived with their needs. They also read about children's rights and the extent to which they are respected or not around the world. They created a comparative chart collaboratively and they drew conclusions regarding this issue. During Green Helping Hands project students analysed the impact our actions have had on the environment. They investigated about energy & environmental issues. For this they had to find reliable sources, select relevant information, summarize the ideas and show them in a creative way.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- <b>Communicative skills: </b>during assemblies students trained their skills for communication. They were asked to share their ideas and thoughts about the topics both fluently and accurately. They were given different functions which helped them develop their ideas further as well as specific vocabulary to be more precise when they expressed their beliefs. Besides students had various situations in which they made informal presentations during the projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They also developed their communicative skills in writing when they created different pieces of work such as comics, stories, descriptions, presentations, reports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">During the videocalls, students faced the challenge of communicating with both native and non-native speakers from different parts of the world, sometimes with unknown accent or with technological difficulties, but always achieving a successful exchange of messages.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">- <b>Reflective thinking (reflective moments): </b>All of our projects contributed to the development of reflective skills as students used their knowledge of the world, their feelings and their perceptions to consider the different themes we worked with. Not only did they reflect upon their social commitment to people in need or the environment, but also about the role of ancient civilizations in shaping our culture and heritage. Furthermore, during the project The Time Machine they also implemented a journal in which they reflected upon their learning and the process carried out in the lesson. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">- <b>Bringing the world into the classroom: </b>5th form students have connected with different classes from around the world, both synchronically and asynchronously. They have enjoyed learning about other cultures, sharing their interests and guessing the locations while developing geographic skills. They also used social media to report what was going on in real time, they used online browsers and maps to locate geographical features and monuments, as well as books, encyclopaedias and atlas.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">- <b>Collaborating with other teachers </b>(bilingual projects / cross cultural content / global themes)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Even though it has not been agreed on during the teacher’s meeting, we worked on a <i>bilingual content</i> when we studied Ancient Greeks. We profited from the fact that students studied Greek myths and legends in Spanish at the beginning of the year, in order to build in knowledge regarding this ancient civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As far as <i>cross cultural content</i> is concerned, we have already mentioned that each of our projects dealt with topics that bridged gaps and expanded students’ view of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #404040; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5th form Projects took into account <i>global themes</i> such as children's rights, the environment, pollution, poverty etc; which aimed at raising social awareness and building global citizenship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-59158241363819803752014-06-03T17:06:00.001-07:002014-06-03T17:10:16.387-07:00Reflecting on Mystery Hangouts<br />
<i>Mystery Hangouts: A Learning Experience</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Hangouts (or Videocalls) in general, and <b>Mystery Location Calls</b> in particular, foster different types of learning for our students. To begin with, students <b>acquire </b>knowledge of the world by engaging in conversation with citizens of distant countries -that is to say, they access this information directly from the source, not by, say, reading a text produced by third parties.</span></div>
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Also, they learn by <b>investigating </b>about a topic/place, using all the resources available: consulting maps, Atlas, books, the Internet, as well as their teachers and their classmates. Furthermore, they get to <b>practise </b>the target language while learning the content, which in the context of EFL is of paramount importance.</div>
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Finally, students are able to come up with a specific <b>product </b>as a result of all the work carried out in the process: they guess the specific location of the other group, they are able to find out more details about the place, the school, etc, and then they publish their results and discoveries in different formats: writing a report, creating a poster (or Glogster online, which allows them to include videos and photos as well as text), etc. More importantly, they arrive at this product by <b>working collaboratively</b> during the whole process, which is a key strategy in 21st Century Learning Skills.</div>
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If all of this is not enough... students -and teachers, of course! - have <b>FUN </b>through the whole process, while exploiting all the skills and layers of learning mentioned above. All in all, this is a wonderful learning experience, not to be missed!</div>
</span>Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-68132348762544253852014-02-18T11:29:00.002-08:002014-02-18T11:29:48.986-08:0021st Century Learning Part 3 - Tools<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Q_hWkNJlI1w" width="560"></iframe>
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"Standing still is not an option". We agree with this statement, and because of this we try to implement digital tools either for reflection, for example this blog, for training, for instance in online courses or seminars, and for fun, such as the use of social networks.<br />
It doesn't matter if teachers or students feel more at ease with technology, as learning is a two way street, and technology should be a means to an end, not and end in itself. Both teachers and students can teach and learn at any moment using the technology available, and profiting from eacher other's expertise.Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-41686529566772379082014-02-18T11:03:00.000-08:002014-02-18T11:03:53.081-08:0021st Century Skills Part 2: Content<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4NhNw2S4_Bg" width="560"></iframe>
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We agree that language itself is not enough for our 21st century students. In fact the three main areas of content covered in the video are considered within 5th form projects: cross curricular, cross cultural content and global themes. There are some instances that still need to be polished such as bilingual Project, but we still work across the curriculum collaborating with teachers from other groups in primary and secondary.</div>
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What we consider to be unacceptable is to expect everybody to be the same as we are, not to acknowledge diversity. We would like to include cross cultural activities this year, communicating with schools from other countries within the connecting classroom framework. It would be interesting to share different points of view regarding the same topic globally, in order to reflect on our own culture and to discover how it differs from others.</div>
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5th form Projects take into account global themes sucha as children's righs, the environment, pollution, poverty etc; which aim at raising social awareness and building global citizenship. In this way we pretend to expand their view of the world.</div>
Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-52295535874411415132014-02-17T11:14:00.000-08:002014-02-17T15:49:52.193-08:00Initial reflection: 21st Century skillsAfter having watched the video from Pearson ELT on the importance of developing 21st Century skills, here are our reflections.<br />
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Even though we do not belong to the same generation as our students, we do not consider ourselves digital immigrants, we are not outsiders. We feel comfortable with using technology in the classroom and we consider ourselves flexible enough to adapt to what the situation requires. We accept the challenge to help our students develop the digital skills they need to process the huge amount of information available to them. We are conscious that there is a need to add into our plans instances in which they filter and summarise the data the Internet has to offer.<br />
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Summarising skills can be implemented from the very beginning. We can train our students to summarise key points from texts read, songs, any given topic, and we can even have a "Summary of the lesson" activity at the end of the day.<br />
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In relation to our first project, Helping Hands, we could include logical thinking strategies when gathering data about the situation of children in Argentina, and about the process of collecting items for donation. This is an aspect we need to go on exploring. Also, regarding creative thinking, students could be asked to present results using different tools and media.<br />
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Even though fifth form projects deal with working with teams to try to promote social change, it may be necessary to go more deeply into what it means to work as a team, the roles involved, the expected attitude and behaviour, learning to act both as a good leader and as a good follower.<br />
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Developing communicative skills is a central issue. In fifth form students have several opportunities to exercise these skills throughout the year, however they mainly give informal talks or presentations. We could try to implement the teaching of formal presentation skills so that students gain more confidence and develop accuracy in a formal register.<br />
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We consider we should include reflecting moments within our plans, making them explicit and providing them with a specific timing in the assembly. This year we aim to raise students' awareness in relation to their learning styles and provide them with tools to enhance their strong points while at the same time improving their weaknesses.Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-50491829608638110292013-09-06T18:22:00.001-07:002013-09-06T18:22:53.714-07:00Bonding and / or Setting limits?With Teachers' Day just around the corner, a lot of ideas cross my mind, revolve, unsettle, and bring about reflections. I would like to share some of them with you...<br />
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<b>Here's a little story about myself and my growth as a teacher. </b><br />
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When I was in my first year at the Teacher Training College, my Didactics 1 teacher gave me a lesson I would never forget. She took us to the Lab to watch a video. She didn't explain what it was about, and she didn't allow us to listen to it at first. We had to watch the pictures and predict what the song might be about. Here's the link to the video:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUm_pcxtFeM">So many colours in the rainbow...</a><br />
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We were quite struck by the pictures, I can assure you. We were all very certain about the story's plot: clearly, it was about different styles of teachers, and one was everything we didn't want to become, and the other one, everything we aimed at. However, as soon as we watched the video again, this time with the sound on, the power of it arose suddenly: we could, and actually -most probably- <i style="text-decoration: underline;">would </i> act like <b>both</b> teachers in different situations in our every-day contexts... And the key questions were: how can I strike a balance between <i>bonding, caring, loving, having fun, </i>and <i>establishing boundaries, setting limits, incorporating order and habits</i>? How can I do all of this without hurting my students' inner self? <b>How can I make a difference?</b><br />
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Let me<b> </b>tell you that these questions are still there... I can't give a full answer to any of them, and I don't think that's the point, in any case. I think the thrill, the CHALLENGE (with capital letters) that I face every day, is precisely to try a new way, a new technique, a new approach, to address these questions in my classroom. And specifically, in my first form classroom, with this specific group, with their unique charateristics.<br />
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Even though I understand the chief importance of setting limits (and trust me, when I do, they understand exactly what I mean, and the reasons why I'm acting the way I do!), there must still be a way of allowing art, music, playing in the wholesome meaning of the word, and <b>enjoying</b> learning into the classroom... Here I am, trying to find <i>my</i> way.<br />
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<i>"There are so many colours in the rainbow,</i></div>
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<i>so many colours in the morning sun,</i></div>
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<i>so many colours in a flower, </i></div>
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<i>and I see every one"</i></div>
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<br />Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4546908972987644525.post-72184255205954189332013-03-21T16:11:00.000-07:002013-03-21T16:11:02.846-07:00Getting startedMy first reflection on my blog! Getting started with this made me think of the way I got started with my group this year. So, here's what I've noticed about this year's starting points:<br />
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<u><b>Starting Junior School</b></u><br />
The first week was quite complicated in terms of organization and relationships. Futhermore, keeping the students awake and on task in the classroom was a real challenge. By the end of the second week, however, students had understood and incorporated many of the new routines of Junior School, such as the chant to line up, the songs we use for greetings every day (Hello and Goodbye), how to proceed when the teacher is calling the roll, and to discriminate between classwork before and after breaktime (assembly and written work, though of course these are not the names they associate with them).<br />
In the third week we started to systematize the statement of Learning Intention and Success Criteria, and the results are already visible: students expect to "plan the day", and they enjoy providing feedback on the tasks and their performance. When they help me write the "plan" on the blackboard, they use English effortlessly, as the words are familiar to them.<br />
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<u><b>Diagnosis Project: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?</b></u><br />
This year we have decided to change the focus of all the projects, to make them more related to the students' experience. The first project was supposed to be Winnie the Witch, and we had agreed on a lot of fun, hands-on activities for it... until we got to know that the project had already been exploited in Kindergarten. It was quite frustrating, and we had to think of a quick and efficient solution. We decided to use the book "Brown bear...", by Bill Martin Jr., as we had done last year, but with a twist -new activities, new dynamics, new focuses.<br />
So far, I've noticed that students like the story, and they have learnt it practically by heart. They say it with the same tune I use when I read, which, I've also noticed, is different to the one the majority of the readers in youtube use. My version is quite quick, but makes a kind of chant, so it's easier for the students to follow. A tangible result of this project is that students have incorporated the use of adjective + noun (e.g., brown bear), and they tend to "correct" me if I say only one part of the chunk.<br />
In relation to dynamics, students seem much more engaged in the type of activities we've been doing this year, such as group work, artistic tasks, experiments, etc. But it is very difficult to organize these activities, to lower the students' levels of anxiety before and after the tasks, and to "control" their behaviour. I am working on these aspects, trying out different strategies.<br />
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Let's see how it works out...<br />
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<br />Miss Malehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06843874131938566249noreply@blogger.com5