Lights, cameras, English!

It’s always great experimenting to find new ways of teaching in our classrooms and engaging our students while doing so. However, it is sometimes the simplest activities that can produce masterpieces brimming with the student’s enthusiasm, passion and creativity. In this instance it is the tried and tested role play. Role playing is a fantastic way to the students to have their own input and use their imagination whilst reinforcing the language that they have encountered in the classroom. The student’s visions and ideas never cease to amaze me when they are given the freedom to experiment themselves. It’s as if you’re watching a group of young Steven Spielbergs going to work, just without all the fancy equipment and dinosaurs running around!

All of the books we use for young learners at Luna incorporate either a story or conversation, which allows the students to build on their communication skills by role play as well as having tons of fun doing so! The students love utilizing props and incorporating their own actions and stage directions to give their own unique creative spin to their work.

Here you can see some of my students acting out the roles of Max, Digger and Pat from a story from English Time 2 (written by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama). No signs of stage freight here! I just hope my students won’t forget me when they make it to the big screens as the next Morgan Freeman or Kate Winslet. Perhaps not as they may feel let down by my shoddy camera skills.

Damian Gowland

Slideshow on the fly - Animoto via iPhone

My class needed some extra practice with the dreaded drilling; they really do not produce any 'extended' language unless I use a taser. No, we don't have one, but...

When we used a teacher's book resource lately we had an absentee, so I joined and made one myself (OK! I like a quick colouring in as well!). This week the retrieval system the children use = half a dozen knackered, ripped, squashed, battered and lost artifacts. Hmm.

Have already made the flashcards available on Quizlet (click here)for the unit we are doing (but I don't think the mums bother, which is a pity - especially as they ask vaguely "how come there does not appear to be a great deal of progress being made"). So, in between classes I quickly photographed the surviving artwork on my iPhone, and then opened up the (new) Animoto app. Imported the pictures, changed the muzak, added a title & left it to cook. Whole process took less than 5 minutes (the colouring took longer!) & I had a nice 'job done' email by the end of my next lesson.




Now the free version of Animoto only gives you 30 seconds, and a limited choice of music. For more flexibility I like Stupeflix, and am happy with the paid up version as good value for money. For this,very much on the fly, a free 30 second cobble-job better than a poke in the eye I say.

What are your experiences with making slideshows in a hurry?

House & furniture - speaking practice

In class today my Magic Time 2 team managed to keep talking for the entire class, stimulated into action by a fairly simple game and the need to win. They were practically pelting each other by the end, trying to get each other to hurry up and have their turn!

We have done all the groundwork in previous classes, talking about where we live after drawing sketches of our flats/houses. Somehow, I doubt this group includes a future architect! We labeled the pictures and talked about the things we have in various rooms - cultural tip for Japan is that often there is not a designated bedroom, as futons replace beds and are put away during the day as the space becomes the dining/living room.

Aim of the game = get home with a van full of furniture. Land on a space, take the piece of furniture. Some one else lands on the same spot later, rock/scissors/paper for ownership. However, a lot of language along the way, where the children are asked about the item they are picking up...excellent practice for the last part of the Cambridge YLE Starters speaking test.


Sample item = sofa

"What's this?  What colour is it?

 Have you got a sofa in your house?

 What colour is it?  Is it big or small?

 Where is the sofa in your house? (Is it in the bathroom?)

...Here you are..."
 
Of course the players want to focus on the game & get to the end as quickly as possible, so they want to get the questions done asap. My aim is to get as much 'extension' out of the mini-dialogues as I can, without flogging it. At the end of the day, my students probably think they goofed-off for a lesson! Brilliant - all that revision, recycling and activating took place subliminally :)

Days of the week

A couple of my boys getting into learning their days of the week; if they get stuck in future, they might be able to remind themselves with some chanting/clapping. Weirdly, a lot of students find the clapping part the difficult bit. Why is that? And how come girls learn some amazing clap-chants? It' a genuine mystery to me! Key to this for me is that students keep the beat/don't lengthen syllables; sadly the American CD drops the hard /t/ sound in Saturday (so they get Tuesday & Thursday sounding too much alike) Anyway, well done Yu-kun & "B"Atsuya