Learning the Ropes

ORGANIZING THE PROJECT:    In order to do this task, I asked my students to work in pairs throughout the whole process. Primary or secondary teachers as most of them are, I thought it would be a good idea to give them freedom to choose the topics for their oral presentations; so, that’s what I did. This way, they could feel more comfortable talking about a topic or subject they were familiar with, which could in turn boost their motivation.       I started by explaining them the final aim of this task, which was to prepare just the beginning of an oral presentation on a specific subject, and to present it to the whole class. I emphasized the fact that they were expected to take into consideration a series of important elements generally involved in public speaking (apart from content and form), such as body language, intonation, pauses, and the use of visual aids to make it easier for the audience to understand and follow their speech. Here, I introduced Genial.ly as the to

I decided to use Pixton as an innovative tool in class, in the hope that it could boost my students’ motivation when it comes to writing, and specially the motivation of those who are usually reluctant to write anything.                          Taking into account that this tool was something completely new not just to my students, but also to me, I decided to design a task which could be accessible to students, and which at the same time would allow them to be creative to some extent. Bearing all this in mind, the task I prepared consisted in adapting a short story – chosen by students from a range of short stories and tales that they had previously read during this academic year – to comic, changing its ending.   The main objectives set for this task were to further develop writing skills, to reinforce the use of specific language resources, to introduce my students to the use of Pixton and new technologies with didactic purposes, to summarize a story, to create dialogu

Chelsea Hotel's Uncertain Future  If you want to learn more about the world-famous Chelsea Hotel and its future, watch this video and answer the given comprehension questions:  Chelsea Hotel In order to prepare my listening task with Edpuzzle, I decided to use a video about Chelsea Hotel and its uncertain future. Taken as it is from a BBC documentary, I chose it in the hope that my students would find it appealing and interesting enough. Also, something I took into account when selecting this specific video was the topic it deals with: right now my students are learning about travelling and tourism (including subtopics like accommodation), so I felt that this video matched our needs.   The main objectives set for this task include: to listen for specific detail, to develop top-down and bottom-up strategies, to promote autonomous learning, to widen vocabulary related to the topic dealt with, and to learn about the world-famous Chelsea Hotel.        As a pre-lis

When I first decided to carry out this task in class, its main objectives were to help students learn more about Arthur Miller’s life and work. Also, I thought it would be a good way to review past tenses and time phrases. After doing this task in class, I must admit that it took me longer than I expected to explain how exactly it works. Considering that many of my adult students don’t feel that comfortable when it comes to using new technologies, it was a big challenge. Anyway, once they understood how to do it, they really enjoyed the whole process. I asked them to work in small groups of three, so that every student contributed to the final project and they supported each other while doing it.  Some of my students – teenagers and some young adults – welcomed this activity from the very beginning, and their enthusiasm, I guess, created some curiosity in others. The most reluctant students, also got engaged in the activity, dynamic as it is, and especially so different from the

The pictures shared on the platform show us people reading in different contexts, and apparently different materials. In picture 4, primary students are reading what seem to be the books – perhaps graded readers – they have been assigned in class. In this case, therefore, their teacher might have chosen the book for them. The people appearing in the other pictures, in contrast, are reading books (an e-book, actually, in picture 3; and a newspaper in picture 5) which have probably been chosen by themselves.       From what I can gather, I’d say that the readers in picture 1 might be feeling relaxed and engaged in their reading, as they are sitting on comfortable armchairs in the quiet and peaceful atmosphere that a library usually offers. The readers in picture 2 could be feeling curiosity and “connection”, since they are both sharing the same book and seem to be discovering something new together. In pictures 3 and 5, I think that reading offers these people the opportunity to i

Watch this video and answer the questions below: 1.    How does the speaker describe Bali?       2. How much plastic garbage is generated per day? 3. What happens to those bags which do not make it to the ocean?   4. What makes Green School different?  5. How did they come up with their idea?