WORKING ABOUT GIUSEPPE ARCIMBOLDO

First we review the vocabulary of fruits and vegetables and about parts of the body, specially parts of the face. Then we watched a power point that introduce this artist and we analized some of his paintings uinsg There is and there are. And finally we tried to imitate him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoXi8IVeuoE&feature=youtu.be

CHRISTMAS 2012

Sometimes teachers think that we are the only ones that have the key for teaching and we don't realise that we have  little experts in some aspects in our classes. I thought about it and discover, that one of my students with some behaviour problems was an origami expert and I asked him if they wanted to be the teacher. He was so happy and he did this work. It was a vey nice experience. Try it!

HALLOWEEN 2012-2013

We did the finger puppets activity, as you can see in the video, and then students have introduced one of their characters using English.

STARTING ART IN ENGLISH

When English teachers start a new school year, we always think about reviewing vocabulary. This year I thought to do this activity through art. Why not?

 First, for remember numbers and the alphabet and for explaining students how important is ATTITUDE in my class, I spelled the word ATTITUDE; they have to write it using big letters.

Then instruct students to write on the line the number that corresponds to each letter's position in the alphabet (for example A = 1, B= 2, C = 3 ...). Finally have students add up the numbers on the lines. What is the answer? The answer is 100, proving that attitude is 100 percent -- attitude is everything! Use this activity to lead into a discussion about the importance of attitude. Why is having a good attitude important? How do you recognize a "good attitude" in a person?

The second activity is reviewing vocabulary:

-          Divide the class into groups

-          Explain them that we are going to say a topic and they have to write as many words as they can remember since I say stop

-          Say to the students as many topics as groups you have in the class

-          When teacher finishes with the topics, he/she writes on the blackboard a letter for each group and asks them how many words they have for each topic.

-          Each time teacher has the results for the topic asks to the winner group for say the words they have written and ask the other students if they are correct, if the answer is yes that group is in charge of that topic.

-          Give each student a piece of A4 white cardboard, where they have to draw the shape that represents a word in their topic. (they can draw two or three in each cardboard)

-          Students have to cut out the inside part of that shape creating a stencil

-          When the group has finished all the stencils, give them a big cardboard where they write in big letters the name of their topic.

-          Give students watercolors and a toothbrush. Students put the stencil on the cardboard; they dip the toothbrush in the watercolor, they dab off any excess and they use their finger to make the paint spray over the stencil shape

-          When the stencil is cover, carefully they lift it off so they see the shape on the paper. They use another stencil shape somewhere else on the cardboard until they finish.

-          They let the paint dry

-          They can use a marker to draw the outline of the picture if it’s not very clear and they write under each picture the word in English

With this activity you can cover a lot of aims in the curriculum and they have fun.

You can watch this video about the activity:

WE START TO WORK ON THE COMENIUS PROJECT

Our school is involved in a new comenius project titles: CLIL "LEARNING LANGUAGES THROUGH SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION", and I've created materials for working the Recycling unit. I've started working Materials and here you can see all the things we have done about this unit.

QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS HOMEWORK

Answer these questions about the power point Chirsmas around Europe. Remember to look into your class blog in the section Festivals, Christmas or follow this link:
http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/466938/CHRISTMAS-AROUND-EUROPE
1.- When do Christmas start in Italy?
2.- How do you say Happy New Year in Italian?
3.- What is celebrated in Italy on December 8th?
4.- Which costume do children wear on December 23rd?
5.- What's the Italian name for the traditional Christmas dinner?
6.- When do christmas holidays finish in Hungary?
7.- What's the name of the typicall hungarian cake you can see in the power point?
8.- How do you say Christmas Eve in Hungarian?
9.- which festivity is celebraten on December 5th in Belgium?
10.- What do Belgian people drink in all the Christmas meals?
11.- Which colours have the Danish flag?
12.- What is celebrated in Denmark on December 13th?
13.- What do Danish light in Christmas time?
14.- Do Turkish people celebrate Christmas? Why?
15.- Which is the most important figure in Turkish religion?
16.- Where was St. Nicholas born?
17.- What do Turkish people eat for New Year?
18.- What is the festivity that Spanish people celebrate on December 28th?
19.- How do Spanish celebrate that festivity?
20.- çwhich tradition do Spanish people on December 31st?
21.- How many weeks have English children for Christmas holidays?
22.- Which is the desser on Christmas day for english people?
23.- Which colours have the Irish flag?
24.- When do Irish celebrate St. Stepjen Day?
25.- Name a typicall Irish biscuit?
26.- Where is situated Finland in Europe?
27.- Which was the ex-capital of Finland?
28.- Do Finish people visit saunas on christmas Eve?
29.- How do Polish people called to January 6th?
30.- What's the name of the traditional Polish Christmas Pudding?
31.- When do christmas preparations begin in Germany?
32.- Which is the mos popular carol in Germany?
33.- How do you say Merry Christmas in Norwegian?

CHRISTMAS TIME

Students like to use computers for learning, so we are going to learn about how our Comenius partner's celebrate Christmas time. We are going to learn about: Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Turkey, Spain, England, Ireland, Finland, Poland, Germany, Norway and Slovakia. they are going to do the task they have on the webquest I have created for it:
http://letslearnaboutchristmas.wordpress.com/task/