Hi there! I would like to share a story which was written by my classmates Celeste, Cecilia and Matias and me. Hope you like it!!! :)

https://es.calameo.com/read/005343697dc6b2c74af7a

BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS...

Hi there! How are you?

Today I'd like to make a comment about my favourite books and reading experiences. 

When I was seven I read Winnie the Witch for the first time. I enjoyed it a lot. It was so funny! Now I use it with my students, it's very enriching.
When I was nine years old, I read Harry Potter for the first time and I just loved it. That was the moment when I realized that I enjoyed science fiction so much. I love magic and fantastic characters.
When I read it in the teacher training college (in english), it was quite difficult for me to understand some things because of the "Harry Potter" specific vocabulary. 

In secondary school, my literature teacher gave us many books from the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I love the way he writes. He uses a technique called magic realism, which is the incorporation of fantastic or mythical elements into realistic fiction. It's really interesting.

I remember I read a novel last year in my summer holidays. It just blowed my mind! It is called "A Cry in the Night" by Mary Higgings Clark. It is not a science fiction story but it is amazing. It relates the story of a criminal case. My favourite part was the end because it is twisted. I love that!!!

To sum up, I love reading. Specially science fiction stories. I think reading is extremely important. Reading not only has tremendous power when it comes to fueling the development of all aspects of language ability, its importance to the entirety of a human life in this day and age really can’t be overstated. I think that we as teachers should find the suitable atmosphere when reading a book. Using concrete objects, changing the sitting arrangement, etc. 

Clothing

If you happen to teach clothing items in class and you don't know how to deal with the topic, I will give some tips that I usually use and they work wonderfully.

• In the first three lessons (two periods of 50 min per week) I introduce a book that I love: Winnie in Winter. It is a very useful resource and so enjoyable. I remember that when I was a kid my teacher used to tell us stories of Winnie and I have never forgotten them. I returned from school and re-read them over and over again. It's great to work clothing, seasons, furniture and parts of the house. We talk about What's Winnie wearing in winter? What is she wearing in summer? So that you introduce the verb wear. I normally ask the students to elicit some vocabulary related to Winnie's clothes in winter and then make the comparison with Winnie's clothes in summer. Seasons help them to make connections. (I implemented this activity with second and third graders)
• If you happen to teach in kinder, as I do, you may also introduce this topic with a guided role-play of Little Red Riding Hood. I picked up some clothes at home (a red cloak, a shirt, glasses, a scarf and a head-band with pointed-ears) I played the role of the wolf. Some students played the roles of mum, grandma and the hunter. Before starting, we got dressed. As we were dressing up, I named the clothing items. After this, I just helped them with the dialogues which were very short and simple. We enjoyed it so much!!! After doing the role-play, we played "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?": The children sing this song while the wolf listens in the other corner of the classroom. After singing, they ask: "Mr. Wolf! Are you ready?" and the wolf answers: "No! I'm putting on my socks!" When the wolf is all dressed up, he is going to answer "Yes!" and try to catch some children who are going to be wolfs with the big bad wolf. They just LOVED it. It was really funny. You can also do this in primary. They're going to love it.

Well, that's all. I hope you find them as useful and funny as I did. See you around! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShE27Hst_NM (this is the link of the song "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?")

Vocabulary games

Hi there! Last week i found this page about games for practicing new vocabulary. I found it really useful. Besides, students enjoyed playing them so much! So hope you find it useful too. Link below 😊

http://m.busyteacher.org/13612-7-best-games-for-vocabulary-class.html

EXAM SITUATIONS

I think that the best strategy is to prepare the exam with your classmates. At least it works wonderfully to me. We all have different ideas and information and maybe I have some value information that my classmate doesn't and viceversa. Besides, we can correct and assess eachother. 

Another useful strategy is to practice your answers on a sheet of paper. Make questions and write the answers in your own words in order to check understanding.

As regards strategies to handle stress, I have none. I get so nervous and stressed. I just hate exam situations. I think that there are so many ways to assess students. It is not necessary to go through these stressful situations. However, I love studying and I get quite happy when I get good marks. It motivates me a lot.

FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Noam Chomsky

He is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics". He is credited as the creator or co-creator of the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of behaviorism, being particularly critical of the work of B. F. Skinner.

I happened to hear of his theory two years ago in the teacher training college and since then I just wanted to know more and more about first language acquisition. For me it is a facsinating topic! So much interesting! 

Perfect - Ed Sheeran

I thought it would be nice to share this beautiful song with you. Next Saturday I will have the opportunity to listen to it on live. Enjoy it :)