Some Updates and Thoughts

2 weeks have passed so quickly. It is amazing how time flies by…

I haven’t had a chance to stop and write, as I had to:

1)        Plan the web 2.0, I wanted to teach my teachers (that was Glogster, my LOVE)

2)     Read articles (lots of them) for the course: Qualitative Research  Methods

3)     Think of a computer based unit  for the course: Social Network in Education

4)     Finish the interactive lesson for my 6^th graders (print out the codes, laminate the cards etc)

5)     Completing 4 charts for the inspectorate's visit at school

6)      Stat planning my husband's surprise party (he doesn't read the blog – so do not worry!)

7)     Marking tests and dictations (I teach 6 classes)

8)    Looking for time to spend with my daughter and husband

So, as you can read it ain't easy going back to school, work full time, give courses once a week after school, being a mother and a wife etc…..

Anyhow --- enough about my problems… (sorry but it is easier writing everything down for you to read instead of going to the shrink – no time and no money for that J

I'm taking a course at college which I found out is an online course (asynchronous) and not a frontal lesson. The goal is to set up a group of students and to think about an ICT (information and communication technologies) learning unit based on one of the social networks out there. We have to write our thoughts and progress during the process in a blog, the lecturer opened for us (which is 60% of the final grade), commenting on other students' blogs (10%) and the final part should be working on the unit - (practice and review) by our students at school or by our colleagues (30%).

We have chosen Facebook, of course, but it is hard to come up with a subject as we (the member in my group – total of 3 teachers) teach different subjects to different age groups. Any way we agreed on (my suggestion!!) planning the unit based on the timeline the Facebook has to offer. Now if I think of that, it will best suit to teach History, as the pupils can enter many data, pictures, videos, presentations and more on a specific topic, on the specific date and year!  As the Facebook gives you the ability to choose the date for entering any information, thus if I decide to teach about the Great Fire of London, I will post all the information in the year 1666 and I (as a pupil) can choose the day as well.

But I am sure I can find more useful things to it such as (just come up to my mind) if I ask my pupils to create a page on Facebook and specify special or/and important events in their lives, such as birth, parties, first kiss, first boyfriend/girlfriend etc… (I am sure they have other events they consider to be meaningful)… There is still a lot to think aboutJ

Let's move on…. Another course offers the Second Life environment. Now that is a tool I just don't get!! I HATE it! I don't see the point in it (I can see it, I just don't like what I see!) and I can't seem to understand the implantation of it in my esl classes. It is basically a virtual world parallel to ours and you can travel to other countries, places, meet new friends/old friends, chat, talk and maybe learn a bit. The problems that I see are:

1)        Teaching this environment will take ages. Especially to kids in elementary (which is significant for my work)!

2)     Pupils can easily "forget" it is meant to be a learning tool.

3)     Teachers should LOVE the tool they teach with.

4)     To make a video, you need to teach a different tool which takes more time

5)     Don't Worry!! I will think of more reasons why I don't like that tool (game)

Well, okay – I have got to finish… I still have to take a shower and finish some other things (like paying the utility bills) and be at the college at 13:00 (it is 9 am)

Oh, another thing… I will love to hear what you think about Second Life.. (if you know it of course)

Postcards to Brazil

This year my 5th graders send postcards to peers in Brasil. They write about themselves and one of the holidays.
Read part of the letter I send to the teacher in Brazil:

The postcards we sent contain Jewish holidays images such as apples and honey, a dove (a symbol for freedom), Hamsa (the hand – people believe that it saves you from the 'evil eye') and more. Some of the cards have Hebrew words on them such as שנה טובה  - happy new year.

In our postcards we wrote about one of the 4 first holidays we have.

Rosh Hashana - the Jewish New Year
Yom Kippur – we fast for 24 hours (no water or food) so people will forgive our sins. On Yum Kippur it is not allowed for cars to be on the road so all the kids ride their bicycles, skates etc on the road with no fear. We can walk instead of on the curve on the road and no car is driving by.
Succot – this holiday symbols the hard way our ancestors had to go through on their way to Israel. (They walked by foot from Egypt)  In this holiday we build a Succah (it's like a tent – see the picture below) and we sit in it for 7 days (we eat there, sleep, play and more…) the Succah is built in the garden, yard or in a balcony at home. The kids have a great time making decoration and they enjoy sleeping there together.
Simchat Torah – this holiday is celebrated when the religious people finish reading the whole bible (they read the bible throughout the year in the synagogue – which is like a church only for Jewish people) Once they finish the reading and they have to start all over again (it always happens at the same time of the year) we celebrate the beginning of the reading.

All those 4 holidays are celebrated at the same month one after the other, so we have 2.5 weeks off school, usually at the end of September – middle October.

The kids also wrote about themselves and some of them added pictures and decorated the cards. Most of the boys didn't decorate so nicely but I am sending you all the cards.

Here are some photos to help you better understand what a Succa is:

This is my Succah. This is how it looks like from the outside (I built it in our balcony at home)

This is while building it

 decorating

 play time

 dinner time

Hope you learn a bit about the Jewish holidays and traditions..

Glogster

It is almost "end of the holidays" here in Israel. After a month and a half where there was a holiday nearly every day - food, traveling, meeting friends, writing blog posts, reading blog posts, spending quality time with family and more,,, This camp is about to end!

It is time to go back to what I really long for and it is called: "ROUTINE".

This is the time for me to think about new ideas and interesting tools to teach the teachers at my computer course (I like the sound of it... teach the teacher :).

So, while I search the interenet, search all the web 2.0 websites, blogs, books - reading articles and tiring myself and my brain... I suddenly remembered GLOGSTER. My old friend from long ago... We met during one of my interent traveling and fell in love!

Meet Glogster!



I am not talking about Glogter Edu (education), but the regular Glogster. The one opened for everyone.

Use Glogster for a variety of things:

* Creative Writing:

- talk about your vacation (see my example)

- talk about yourself

- talk about your favorite movie/ book/ friend etc

- Write a book report

- talk about your pet/ parents/ family

- talk about your school

- Write bibliography

* Photo Album...

- Make a photo poster

- Make your own poster

* Posters

- Make the abc poster

- Make a school poster

- Make a poster about your class trip

- Make a poem poster

and more and more....

There are endless ideas, but what I like the most about it, is that every kid - brings his own creativity to the work.

You can even open a class Glog. Why not make a Glog during the lesson? If you have a white board or even only an over head projector everyone can share their own ideas on the Glog.

You will have a class poster to hang on your classroom wall/ gift it in the end of the year/ parents day etc....

Glogster is also so easy to use! Open one, save it and share it to any social network, your blog, your site, print it out and also share it with people you don't know - get likes and comments.

So what do you think of Glogster?



Using DrawSomething in the ESL Classroom

Here we meet again.....

Thanks for stopping by :)

I have this idea in mind for a long time now. I have tried it last year, but couple of parents ruined the chances for the lesson to succeed and didn't allow the kids to use their phones...WHATEVER!!

Anyhow... I am determined to try it again this year.

Here it goes.....

Basically with this lesson plan you will need smart phones, ipad or ipod touch. Make sure DrawSomething is downloaded in them!

I think every 3 pupils can use one device and work in groups, so if you have a class of 35 you need 12 devices. I asked the kids to bring their own mobile so if everyone has a phone there's no need to work in pairs... whatever... enough with that.... you can work that out :)

The instructions I gave my pupils were:

Open the DrawSomthing app. Choose a friend from your 'friend list' (it can be either by entering his/her useer-name or via Facebook)

You will get 3 words to choose from. You are not allowed to choose names! Only words with meanings.

Choose a word you can draw. If you get 3 words you don't know - use a dictionary to help you with the translation.

Draw the word you chose and sent it. Wait until you get a drawing from a friend and try to guess what it is.

The Assignment:

In your notebook, make a list of at least 4 words you guessed right.

Write a sentence using each word.

Open a Paint file on your computer. Choose one sentence from the 4 you wrote and draw it in Paint.

Write the sentence you draw in the bottom of the page. Make sure the word you used (from DrawSomthing) is highlighted.

Save your drawing as a picture and upload it to our class forum. Don't forget to write your name.

Everyone should present their picture and sentence.

 Click to download

 

        

How to use qr codes in your esl lesson?! Here is an idea.

QR Code Hunting

QR codes are awesome!!!

Are you looking for an innovative lesson? One that is fun and exciting?
I have got an idea for a lesson plan the kids will love!!!
Read about how to implement QR codes in YOUR esl classrooms: 

This is a unique, fun and interactive lesson that includes group work, using a dictionary, reading and more.

It was planned to summarize the unit about London.

The class should be divided into groups.

Each group has a smart phone with a qr code scanner downloaded in it (such as i-nigma, qr scanner or qr reader for iphone).

The first note is given by the English teacher and it has a pictures of the following qr code:

The group has to scan the qr code, read the instructions, think about the answer, go to the person mentioned in the text and tell him/her the answer. If their answer is correct - they get a second note with a qr code.

This is the note they get for the first code:

It is 1666. There is a tragedy in London. What is it? If you know the answer, go to the school's secretary for your second question.

The answer is:

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

This is the second one for that particular lesson:

This is the note they get for the second code:

It's in the kitchen. You use it to clean and wash the dishes. What is it? Go to the school's guard to get your third question.

The answer is:

A SINK

The third qr code is:

This is the note they get for the third code:

Translate the following sentence to English: .ישנם מלפפונים בין העגבניות לחמאה Go to the school's principle to get your fourth question.

The answer is:

THERE ARE SOME CUCUMBERS BETWEEN THE TOMATOES AND THE BUTTER.

The fourth qr code is:

This is the note they get for the fourth code:

It's yellow. It's in London. It can be a boat. It can be a bus. What is it? Go to the school's counselor for your fifth question.

The answer is:

THE YELLOW DUCK TOUR

The fifth qr code is:

This is the note they get for the fifth code:

Terrible and scary things happened there Many years ago it was a prison. What is it? Go to the school's janitor for your sixth question..

The answer is:

THE TOWER OF LONDON

The sixth qr code is:

This is the note they get for the sixth code:

It's big. It's a house. It is 300 years old. You can see "The Changing of the Guards" ceremony there. Where is it? Go to the person who teaches computers at school to get your seventh question.

The answer is:

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

The seventh qr code is:

scary, interesting, special, terrible, quick, diffeent and exciting are all ......... Go to your English teacher if you iknow the answer..

The answer is:

ADJECTIVES

The first group to get to me gets candies or some kind of a treat.

ESL Video

This is just the tool we need to connect  and engage the students with the learning process of English.

Today's students spend hours using various media, such as: television, computers, mobile phones, music players and so on. With ESL Video they can be taught through songs, movies and video clips.

The tool is designed so that you will be able to upload any kind of video (which can be provided  by YouTube for example) and create a variety of exercises using the video. You can create multiple choice questions or sentences completion (close questions).
Students watch the video with pleasure and joy. 

This is a new kind of learning! Certainly we can't do these lessons very often, but we can surely add them to our weekly or monthly plans.
Take a look at some of the activities I've created for my students:

In this activity, I've used the first of six  funny, nice, easy to watch episodes (from Oxford University Press - there are a variety of ESL videos to choose from).

The students watch the show and then they answer the questions. It can be given as homework as well.

In this Angry Birds activity, which is basically a writing assignment - I wanted the students to watch the game's trailer and answer some questions before they star writing. I thought it would help them better understand the assignment and make the task more entertaining.

Here I used a funny video clip from YouTube and wanted to make a fun lesson (we had a blast trying to imitate the hippo).

So we listened the the song and then answered the questions about it.

Another song I've used was What a Wonderful World (I used it with the older students - grade 6) 

An important thing I lacked in my explanation is that there is a wonderful option to check the answers of the students (let's say if you give it as homework) and keep track on who did the homework and how many correct answers he got, simply log in to your ESL Video account, go to students score and there you see who submitted the work and who didn't.

See the example:

Note: You have to have a teacher code first and you MUST give it to your students. Once they answer and want to send the task, they will have to fill in your code.

That is really so easy to use and so nice:)

I love it! How about you?

Free Worksheets :)

Here are some of my newer worksheets.
They are free for you (via esl printables) to use in your class. 
Please do not sell them and if you post them on your site please link back!
Thanks
update:
Because many of my visitors couldn't download the printables from esl printbales I uploaded them all to my site. Download anything you want for free and easy as abc...