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Poetry Theater (Reader's theater)

25/4/2013

April is the month of poetry so I wanted to do something special and fun with my students having in mind this topic. I was thinking of what to do when I came across this great website called Giggle Poetry. On this website there is a section called "the Poetry Theater section". There I found very easy and simple poem-scripts that would be ideal for primary ages. What I liked most about these poems is that they are so funny and relevant for my students that they really enjoyed working with them (At the end of this post, there are some files that include some of the poems my 4th graders worked with).

How to organize the activity:
Each poem has at least two characters, so I divided the classroom is several groups and assigned roles to my students according to their reading fluency. Those with better reading skills got characters with longer scripts and those with weaker abilities got simpler scripts. I let them work together in the classroom. Those groups who had very short scripts learned their section by heart but those who had long scripts could read it while performing.

Objectives:
My main objective was to help students develop their reading skills and become comfortable reading a piece of poetry in class. This activity really helped my students achieve these objectives since they were able to read with expression and comfort.

Follow-up:
As a follow up activity, I asked my students to draw a comic representing the story of their piece of poetry. They were so creative and original and they did a wonderful job! Have a look at the pictures of their work below!

Don't suck your thumb

dont_suck_your_thumb.pdf
File Size:	63 kb
File Type:	pdf

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How to torture your teacher - 1

how_to_torture_your_teacher.pdf
File Size:	57 kb
File Type:	pdf

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how_to_torture_your_students.pdf
File Size:	53 kb
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My New Pet

my_new_pet.pdf
File Size:	48 kb
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How to torture your teacher - 2

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Comparatives and Superlatives

24/4/2013

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Below, I present a lesson plan that you can use in your class to review comparatives and superlatives. Students should have at least a pre-intermediate level.

1. Review:
In the board, review with your students how to form comparatives and superlatives. You can do it by creating a chart that includes the rules to follow and have in mind when working with comparatives and superlatives.

2. Worksheet: "Think of a word".

- Divide the class in small teams ( no more than three people) and turn in the worksheet "think of a word" to each team.
- Then, write a noun on the board and ask students to suggest whatever the worksheet tells them.
- It is a competition, so students need to fill in the worksheet as fast as possible but without spelling mistakes.
- Misspellings will be penalised. The first team to complete all the sentences will win a point. Each team will get a point for each word that is correct. Should a spelling be wrong, no point will be awarded. The teacher will ask students to spell the written word is she/he thinks that it might be misspelled. If two groups write the same word in a sentence, they won't get the point.
- Repeat the exercise with different words a couple of times and add up the points to select a winner.

3. SONG: "Everything" by Alanis Morissette

- The teacher will introduce the song to students. He/she will explain ask students to fill in the blanks. The teacher will tell students that the words that are missing are adjectives, comparatives, superlatives and some parts of the verbs in the present perfect.
- Students will listen to the song and complete the gaps.
- If students find the song difficult, the teacher will give them a worksheet that includes the words missing. The teacher will read the words aloud to make easier their identification in the song.
- Repeat as many times as students need.
- Check answers by asking students to read the song aloud.
- Check new vocabulary.
- Identify the adjectives and complete a chart with them like the one at the review stage.

4. The guessing game:
This game can be carried out either writing or speaking:
- Describe an object/animal/person using comparatives until someone guesses what it is
e.g. "It is as yellow as a banana, "it is hotter than fire", "it is as round as a ball" (SUN)
- Wrong guesses should be replied to with another clue comparing the real object with that wrong guess, e.g. “No, this thing isn’t a candle. A candle is colder than it."
- Descriptions should include at least two compatives or superlatives

lesson_plan_attachments.pdf
File Size:	55 kb
File Type:	pdf

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TV Commercials in the classroom

1/4/2013

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While we were playing "Pass the word" (see previous post to learn how to play), my 4th grade students came up with the idea of creating commercials. So after playing "pass the word" for several sessions, they started to design their own commercials. In order to carry out this activity, I grouped them in pairs or groups of three.

First, I asked them to choose a product that they would like to sell and think of the characteristics of that particular product. Then, I asked them to create a brochure that included pictures and characteristics of the product. I monitored all the process by teaching them some frames they may use when describing the features of the product. Some of these included:
- It has ....
- You can ...
- Before it was ... but now it is only ...

I also provided them with some English dictionaries in case they needed to look up for new vocabulary.
Below is the result! I can say that they absolutely enjoyed doing it and they learned a lot!

FOLLOW UP
Having finished designing the brochure it was time to put into practice their acting skills, so they pretended that they were on TV and they had to sell for example, "an Ipod" or an "English class". I reminded them that actors on TV exaggerate everything they say and do so they had to do the same. They had a lot of fun preparing and practising the commercial and they came up with very creative ideas and product features. This activity is absolutely great to improve student's oral fluency and an excellent way to encourage collaborative tasks in the classroom.

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Acquisition of the concepts of "hyponym" and "hypernym"

1/4/2013

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This is a fun activity to teach young learners the concepts of hyponym and hyperonym and review vocabulary at the same time. For those who are not familiar with these terms, these are the definitions that are found in Oxford Dictionaries:

1. Hyponym: A word of more specific meaning than a general or superordinate term applicable to it. For example, spoon is a hyponym of cutlery.

2. Hypernym: A word with a broad meaning constituting a category into which words with more specific meanings fall; a superordinate. For example, colour is a hypernym of red.

Children are often confused with these ideas or concepts. This activity will help them to understand that there are some words that belong to a bigger category and vice versa.

Having clarified these concepts, I will carry on with the explanation of the game:
1. Get a ball that you can catch with a hand (ideally a soft ball).
2. Stand in front of your students.
3. Throw the ball to one of your students at the same time as you say a category (hypernym). For instance, throw the ball as you say "animals".
4. The student who catches the ball will pass the ball back to you as he or she says a word
that fits in that category (hyponym). For instance, "dog".
5. When you receive the ball you can pass the ball to another student without changing the
category by saying "another". In this case, the student who catches the ball will throw the
ball back to you saying another animal.
6. You can change the category whenever you want. But I recommend you to play with a
category for a while to make the game more interesting.
7. It is important that students pass the ball back to you and not to another student.
8. You can pass the ball to the same student several times consecutively.
9. Students cannot repeat a word within the same round.

How to get points:
I play this game as a competition between my students and me. I write the points on the blackboard so everyone can see them.

I (the teacher) will get a point if...
1. I hear a student speaking in a language that is not English.
2. A student repeats a word within the same round.
3. A student doesn't know the answer.
4. A student invents the answer.
5. The student says a wrong answer.
6. The ball falls down and it stays on the floor more than 5 seconds.
My students will get a point if...
1. They speak in English during a long period of time.
2. Depending on their age, if they play without failing for a certain period of time.
3. I don't speak in English.
4. When I consider that they are doing a good job.

FOLLOW UP
Once students have mastered how to play the game, you can make it a little bit more complicated. Imagine this situation:

Teacher: "Animals!"
Student 1: "Dog!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Cat!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Horse!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Bird!"

Now it would be the teacher's turn. However, instead of saying "another" or changing the category, the teacher can say another example of animals (hyponym) such as "bear" and throw it to the student. In this case, the student will have to throw the ball back to the teacher saying the category (or hypernym) in which "bear" belongs to. Look at the example:

Teacher: "Animals!"
Student 1: "Dog!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Cat!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Horse!"
Teacher: "Another!"
Student 2: "Bird!"
Teacher: "Bear!"
Student 2: Animals"

After this, the teacher will change the category.

PD:
1. You can carry out the game without naming the words "hyponym" and "hypernym" but it is important that you explain what they mean. These concepts are usually taught in their native language during their "Language Arts" period at some point. You have the decision of introducing these new words or not.
2. These are some of the categories that you can use to play: Animals, parts of the body, numbers, clothes, food, classroom objects, colors, shapes, buildings,sports, languages... You can make the categories a little bit more difficult for higher levels such as things in the kitchen, adjectives, verbs in the past, adverbs...

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Poetry Theater (Reader's theater)

Comparatives and Superlatives

TV Commercials in the classroom

Acquisition of the concepts of "hyponym" and "hypernym"

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