IMAGINE LIFE

Attraction´s shadow Theatre Photo.

 This post is devoted to encouraging creativity by stimulating student´s imagination.
According to Fiona Mauchline, teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer, promoting creativity in the classroom resolves around emotional investment, engaging the senses, playing with language and conveying absolute personalisation in the outcome.
 The activity I have chosen is related to a video clip that deals with the Cycle of Life in a creative way. Every video tells a story so, as a warming up exercise, we could ask students to describe:

•  what they see 
• what they hear 
• how they feel
•  who they see 
• whether they like it or not and why?... 

Another activity we could do is to revise the vocabulary related to family and then to describe a favourite member of their family: their physical appearance and other aspects such as emotions, senses... This exercise could be also used to revise the present simple tense. We could ask questions such us:

• What colour of eyes, hair, skin has he/she got ?
•  What does his/ her voice sound like ? 
• What makes him/ her laugh ? 
• How does she /he walk?
• What do you have in common?... 

 Finally, students could write a short essay titled "Imagine Life " using the vocabulary and language  grammar used in the class.

This is the video clip. The show is perfomed by the Shadow Theatre Group.

PAST SIMPLE VERB TENSE ( ENGLISH )

Past simple tense.

This post is devoted to explaining the the use and and form of the past simple in English.
I have chosen two video clips.
The first video is for students with an elementary level of English. The second one is for those with  an intermediate level.

FILM ENGLISH

I am devoting this post to talking about the website called  Film English.

This site promotes the innovative and creative use of film in English language teaching and learning. All of the lesson plans revolve around the use of video and film to teach English. The lessons promote critical thinking in the language classroom, and encourage learners to reflect on values while learning a language. There are different levels and themes.
 I will include  the video clip of the activity called Curiosity and the link to its lesson plan:
 curiosity lesson plan.

Student Design Award Winner - Curiosity: Exploration and Discovery from RSA Student Design Awards on Vimeo.

IDIOMS

New English Centre.

"Beat around the bush" means "Andarse con rodeos"

 Idioms are words, phrases, or expressions that cannot be taken literally.  In other words, when used in everyday language, they have a meaning other than the basic one you would find in the dictionary.  Every language has its own idioms.  Learning them makes understanding and using a language a lot easier and more fun!

 For example the idiom " to run the show " is equivalent to the Spanish expression " tener la sartén por el mango", " to hit the ceiling " means " subirse a la parra ".

I recommend spending one minute a day to learn an English idiom and then try to use it in your everyday conversations.

This post is devoted to learning the idiom: "beat around the bush"

The following video will explain the idiom to be used in context, which is the best way of learning.

WORD CLOUDS

I will devote this post to talking about the uses of “word clouds” for teaching English.
But first, I will describe briefly how to create word clouds and cloud narratives.
You can use Wordle which is a programme for generating “word clouds” from any texts that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You just have to click on " create your own " section, paste the text you choose and then you can change the words in the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour hints. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to use as you wish.
Therefore, talking about some applications of word clouds for teaching English could be:
use them to introduce or revise vocabulary and grammar, to engage students to create and tell stories, and students can even create their own word cloud or cloud narrative to show and present in the class. In short, using word clouds in the classroom is a creative way of teaching which helps to motivate students to learn.
Finally, I will include an example of a word cloud I created from one of my texts: 

MAROON 5

" Sugar"en español "dulzura"

Spectacular Maroon 5 as always, playing "Sugar", their song from their last album called V.

PRESENT SIMPLE VERB TENSE ( ENGLISH )

Present simple tense.
 This post is devoted to explaining the the use and and form of the present simple in English.
In order to do that, I have chosen two video clips.
The first video is for students with a more elementary level of English. The second one is for those with  an intermediate level.

PRESENT SIMPLE VERB TENSE ( ESPAÑOL)

 Present simple tense.

La página blueblocnotes incluye un vídeo breve y sencillo donde se explican el uso , estructura y aspectos a recordar del tiempo verbal presente simple en inglés. La explicación está en español con ejemplos en inglés.
A continuación, tienes la opción de leer la información del vídeo más detenidamente y de realizar ejercicios para practicar lo aprendido.

BACK TO SCHOOL

 Back to School infographics.

 I will devote this post to pointing out a collection of  infographics for the new school term including ideas how to engage students, educational technology in the classroom and manage positively from the start.
 The link to further information:  Piktochart. Useful infographics for teachers

I will Include an example:

 

THINKING QUOTES

Mansión del Inglés