Guess what is it?

Hi everyone!

Well, today I am going to share with you a little game that I often use in my class to help my students be comfortable talking in front of the class and learning new vocabulary through description of pictures.

First of all,  I have pasted five different reference pictures and nine color reference pictures on my whiteboard. Here there are:

Fruit

Objects

People

 

Vegetables

Animals

I also had printed some silhouettes of animals, people, fruit, vegetables and objects; as the next examples:

Then, in class I show some of these silhouettes to my class and they name them. After that, I explain slowly what I will do and what do I expect for them.

"I am going to describe something and you are going to guess what is it.

It is an animal (while I am pointing or touching the animal card on the board)

It could be gray, white, black or brown (while I am pointing or touching colors card on the board)

Do you know what is it?... (Encourage children answer with "is it a.....?")

If they do not guess, you could give them more descriptions as: it has long ears (while you extend your arms up forward and point your ears) or long legs, big paws, among others.

Let them answer...

If they do not guess, you could start talking about actions as: it eats vegetables (point the picture) and name which one.

Let them answer and remember you always have to congratulate them for their participation"

Usually I guide the game by the first time. After some classes, I allow my students to pass in front to the class and participate describing. In my case my class is divided in five groups of four so every day as warm up activity one kid of the table has to describe a silhouette to gain points to their group(one point for good description and four if the group guess what is described) each group has four opportunities to guess if not next group could say the answer. And that's it, we have played all year long including new vocabulary monthly. 

This idea is a good tool to introduce new vocabulary and also to encourage my students to make descriptions and although they are only 5 or 6 years old (remember they are spanish speakers).

That's all my dear friends I hope you like it. As always any doubt please let me know it, leaving a comment.

If you want to see an example of how apply this to a regular class click here.

Where can I find movies to teach English?

Hi everyone!

Well, I like so much use interactive resources, but undoubtedly the movies are the best.  :) There are different ways to watch a movie online as:

• Netflix
• You tube and...
• some websites as: megashare, putlocker, viooz and primewire. 

Netflix is an excellent tool, it has good quality and diversity. The thing is that the range of products is limited when you start; however it goes opening products while you are using it. More use is equal to more products. In addition, Netflix has the option to explore languages,  in my case I had three different  as Spanish, English and French; both audio and subtitles. However,  it doesn't apply to all products. To sum up, Netflix is a good product for a low cost.

Concerning to You Tube it is excellent too, but the range of movies is limited and when you find one, it sometimes has low quality or is incomplete. I prefer You Tube  watching some cartoons or short stories more than movies.

By the last,  there are some websites that I used. They have good quality and they are in English sometimes it has subtitles in English but some others don't. The only thing that I don't like is that they have a lot of pop ups and I admit that they caused me confusion at the begining because they redirected me to other pages and I couldn't watch the movie. but I learned how to handle them and it is easier now. :P

Fun activities for english preschool learners! ;)

Hi, everyone!

Today, I was thinking about what could I post. Then I remembered that I taught some jobs and occupations to my class and I realized that it was a great experience that I want to share with you guys. So here we go...

I chose some  jobs and occupations. There were:  baker , doctor, astronaut, shoes maker, archaeologist and some others. Well, the challenge was find a way where my students  (5 and 6 year old spanish speakers) could learn new vocabulary and communicate it.  Then, my mind popped up and here they are my ideas:

1. Decorate the classroom or almost one corner  with elements that evokes a bakery a hospital or even an universe. (I make this decoration with my students)

Astronauts

Rocket in the classroom

Safari

spoons crafting ideas

Archaeologist

2.  I encourage students to bring costumes in their backpacks for the week and also let them a small dialogue to learn in English (by the weekend). Then, one week later, they come to school with their full equipment and here is where game starts. It because they go into other classrooms introducing themselves and explaining what are they performing. Sometimes they carry some products or services (as when they are doctors). 

 3. While we are learning new topics related with the job or occupation, we make some crafting or recipe.  

Spoons

For some recipes ideas you can visit this blog Postres de Mamasabel

Well, those were some ideas. I hope you enjoy them.

If you have some question or suggestion please let me know leaving a comment. Besides, if you need some ideas for your classroom project leave me a comment and I will help you. :)