A GREAT IDEA FROM A PARNTER: TIMETOAST ABOUT WOMEN WRITER.

 Hi GEF students!

We all know that sharing is living and that is the reason why I am writing this. I have seen some parnters´ blog and giving feedback to them. But there is a great idea that I have to do with mi students.

The idea was to recognise the work of several English women writers and, in doing so, to develop and improve skills such as researching information, summarising, and making a timeline of their life or rather their most important works, thus making it easier for them.

I divided the class into 6 groups of 4 students so each of them has a specific writer:

- Agatha Christie.

-J.K. Rowling.

-Beatrix Potter. 

-Jane Austen. 

-Virginia Woolf.

-Charlotte Brönte. 

This is one of the result obtained:  https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2947558

GENIALLY

 Hi GEF students!

If we want to improve our students´ speaking abilities, the first thing you think about is making oral presentations. In that way, they can include a fantstic app called Genially with which they can add the information in a more visual and attractive way. 

The activity I proposed to my school is working in a transversal way together with Spanish teacher and values one. Our students of 6º grade had to create, in groups of 4 students, an easy, short, understandable and adapted story in order to present them to the youngest students in our school, the students in 1º grade. 

For that reason, the tasks they have to do are:

-Making equitative groups. Each student will have a different role in the group: grammar checker, writer, designer, ICT manager.

-The group choose the topic and write the story in parallel with the Spanish subject.

-Once they have the story, they have to choose modality of Genially. Besides, they have to add some questions to check understanding and capture the attention of the audience. 

-Elaborating the project with de app. 

-The first presentation is done in the 6º grade class so as to colleagues give feedback in terms of oral presentation skills. 

-The second presentation is done in the 1º grade class to emphasize the importance of reading, partnership and accompaniment and care of the child.

This is a sample of a project carried out: 

https://view.genial.ly/647da4fb22c931001983ef1f/presentation-presentacion-minimal

They have obtained incredible results thanks to Genially as it allows them to improve all the skills that a language determines as well as to develop technological skills as they are motivated not only by the result but even more by the process. Genially provides many benefits in an intuitive and, best of all, collaborative way so that all members of the group can work and contribute equally. 

PIXTON

Hi GEF students!

I am going to present you today  an amazing tool called Pixton. You can create fantastic comic in order to practise writing between other skills such as creativity, cooperativity and design in a fun way. 

This is a comic as example some students did:

What do you think about it? It is incredible!

In order to get to that point I organised the class into 5 groups of 4 students. Each student has a different role: grammar revisor, brainstorming checker, designer and ICT manager. 

Consequently, each student has associated a specific task:

- get a concrete idea for our comic book through brainstorming. 

-Develop the written text using the vocabulary and grammar seen in class. 

-Design the comic according to the written text.

-Create the comic using the Pixton tool. 

-final revision. 

For that reason, the learning objectives in that project are:

• List different ideas to your project (by brainstorming).
• Find the role of each student.
• Invent the story.
• Write down considering grammar and vocabulary seen.
• Draft the comic on paper.
• Design the comic with Pixton.
• Review the final product. 

As I told them that the topic was totally free based on any topic seen not only in English lessons but also in any subject they love, they have to be creative as they choose. Furthermore, they have to show their final products to their colleagues and this is a source of motivation to be more creative. 

Moreover, it is a requirement to be evaluated by their peers as well as the teacher. When they finished the project, we dedicate a session to show their final results. During this process, we count with a rubric (for their colleagues and for me, the teacher) in which we consider the format, the grammar, the creativity, the design as well as the way the expose their work. It is important to leave space for them to offer improvements as well as to highlight positive and negative aspects of the work on display. 

As a conclusion, my students enjoyed a lot doing this task which has been quite intuitive but time-consuming. On the other hand, what they liked least is that it is not collaborative so only one person, ICT manager, could do things in the app and the rest would watch. 

This is what I would change for next time, I would make the groups smaller 1-2 students or directly individual with less requirements. 

EDPUZZLE

Hi GEF students!

Today I have created a new video for my students. I have used an incredible app called EdPuzzle. Here you can watch the result:

https://edpuzzle.com/join/ochocra

https://edpuzzle.com/media/647da442405bc042ad8a9cf1

The reason why I chose this video is because children feel motivated and engaged when other children speak and the themes are close to their own tastes. Furthermore, it is important that they realise the different accents that everybody has. Besides, the vocabulary used is affordable for my students. 

 The activities proposed are the following:

-Pre-listening: we work with the previous units the vocabulary mentioned: family, animals, food, hobbies... it helps them to understand better the information. Besides, I divide the class into 4 groups and each of them, at home (flipped classroom) has to takes notes of all kids that appears in each minute: minute 0-1 for team 1, minute 1-2 for team 2 and so. 

-While-listening: now is time to put in common the whole information compiled. We listen again the video and complete the questions that it offers.

-Post-listening: finally, students have to write and explain what makes they happy. Moreover, they have to interveiw four partners and takes note of their things choosen. 

In that way, the objectives for these exercises are:

• To practice vocabulary seen previously. 
• To write down in a table the information listened. 
• To share information collected. 
• To express feeling and personal information.
• To interview some partners. 

It has been a great experience to bring my students closer to an authentic video whose results have been more than fruitful. Moreover, with this activity not only one but all the skills have been worked on and, in a transversal way, values have been worked on. 

Some disadvantages are the use of new technologies and internet since in some houses they do not work well. For this reason, they are recommended to go to Guadalinfo centres or as easy as using telephones, most of whose families have them. 

TIMETOAST!

Hi GEF students!

The post that I write today is about an excelent app that I have found: TIMETOAST. 

You can use it to make incredible time lines.  In that way, some of my students, some who are more advantaged, did this incredible time line about a topic they like a lot: St. Patrick. Here I attached you the link in order to chek it better: https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2945379

It was amazing to check the result as well as to carry out the proposed educational objectives such as a careful search on the internet, correct selection of information, reading as well as the realization of the timeline through this application. 

Using TimeToast was a great success because it is a very easy to use and effective program, besides obtaining the information in a visual way when it comes to retaining knowledge to our students. 

Since I have some gifted students in my class, I proposed them to try this application:

1. It was clarified what a timeline consists of.

2. They chose a topic to make their timeline (St. Patrick because they enjoyed a lot its celebration).

3. They started the search on the internet obtaining all the necessary information. In this way they were critical with the necessary data. 

4. I gave them some guidelines on how to use the TimeToast application.

5. They got down to work to obtain this fantastic result to which they even included images to facilitate the data to their classmates. They were fascinated with the work done and the ease. Although some problems arose such as internet connection and registration, this way they did it from my account. 

Once I have seen how the students use the application and all its possibilities, I will not hesitate to implement it with the rest of the students with different content, since it is quite simple to study it later on. 

My own reflection about READING

Hi again, GEF students!

Today I would like to make a reflection about reading habits, particularly when we read in another language. Keep focus and I am looking foward to read your opinions!

1. What kind of books or texts are the people reading? Did they chose the books themselves or did someone else choose for them?

Nowadays people usually read in a variety of formats, from the hardcover they might buy at local bookstore to the softcover on an airport book rack to the ebook people read on tablet to the audiobook that people stream on their phone. 

So, in that way, I can divide poeple in two big groups: the one who loves reading true literature and the other who reads just the texts that appear on social networks magazines etc...

Furthermore, in relation to the questions whether people choose the books themselves, I honestly think that adults are totally free to select which book they are going to read but the situation changes when I talk about teenagers or children who don´t choose their books because the school normally imposes them for educational purposes. They are appropiated for them but reading the genre you like, the kind of book you  are interested in, is essential to get a reading habit. The desired reading habit.    

2. Describe how they might be feeling at the moment and give reasons.

In that way, we can find two kind of readers: 

a) Readers who choose their texts so they feel so passionate and intrigued; exciting, pleasant and  comfortable with the kind of genre as well as the content. 

b) Readers who do not choose their texts so they may feel bored, forced and that may and this can lead to the opposite of the desired effect: a taste for reading. 

3. Focus on one or two of the photos and say how they relate to your own experience as a reader in L1 (Spanish) and L2.

My love of reading began in high school when a teacher encouraged us to read anything. We were all used to reading the same book regardless of our tastes, as shown in the fourth picture. Then I discovered in the library a small book, "The Shadow of the Wind" and it was the first time I enjoyed reading, I enjoyed something I had chosen. Reading anything but reading, that is the key. 

Think about the following things:

- What texts do you enjoy reading in each language that you speak? Do you choose the same kind of texts or do you read very different things depending on the language? What factors determine your choice? 

This question makes me think about the differences in both languages. In my mother language, Spanish, I love reading thriller and crime books. I feel so so dedicated to solving the mysteries that I can't put the book down. I am really passionate about them. On the other hand, in my foreign language, English, I mostly read informative articles, short stories... Also, when I watch movies in the original language, I do read the subtitles. 

In that way, depending the language, the readings are very different due to the reason I read because when I read in my mother language it is basically for hobby and in the foreing language it could be for practising, improving and learning more and more the language so the level of English should be suitable and the extension not to much. 

-  When do you read? In what format do you read (paper, e-reader, online etc.)?

I usually read in every spare time I have after work but the season of the year when I read the most is in the summer. I love taking out my book and reading wherever I go the beach, the mountains...

Although new reading formats are appearing, I still like to read in a paper book. The feeling of the touch of the paper and its characteristic smell is incomparable.