Christmas Animated Postcards

If you have access to internet, this website http://www.northpole.com/Mailroom/Postcards/PCIntro.html%20 is perfect for you! I know you will find it useful for a writing lesson. Students can email a Christmas animated postcard to their parents or friends, adding their own messages. It is a fun activity, students will enjoy it! I will include this project in my planning for December. But before starting I’ll need to follow SIX STEPS.
STEP 1: I will tell my students a little bit about Christmas and talk about the Christmas animated postcard project. STEP 2: I will ask my students to create a web and remind them that in the center of the web they will have to put the name of the person they want to send the postcard. STEP 3: they will write their ideas for the postcard in the web and later create a paragraph with those ideas. STEP 4: I will ask my students to exchange papers to revise their work and I will edit their work. STEP 5: I will ask my students to find out the email address of their father or mother; to send the postcard. (Check with their parents to be sure it's OK.) STEP 6: if your students have access to internet, they will be able to type the letter and send it online. But if your students don’t have access, they can type the letter in Word; you can paste it and send it later.

By Maria de Lourdes Lopez Pereira

Standards towards technology classes

By Hugo Velasco Castro
Guayaquil-Ecuador

If you want to use technology or if you are already using them ; keep doing it but, are you setting standards for your classes?


No matter what tools you are using in order to implement technology in the classroom, it is very important to set standards when using technology in your classrooms and some of them are: to develop technology skills that support learning, personal productivity, decision making, and daily life.

In order to accomplished these goals; our students could use a variety of media and technology resources for directed and independent learning activities. For example in my classes using internet has given my students opportunities to use educational software , E-books , demos to practice activities on-line and others to support learning. However, it is very important to teach our students how to use these resources effectively so they could have choices for their own learning and help them being autonomous learners.

So, If you haven’t; start thinking of standards as your assistant for achieving goals when implementing technology in your classes.

What about Science Fair?

By: Lorena Baquerizo, Guayaquil-Ecuador
In our local schools´ annual planning we will always find a day or two for the special science fair which will be held in the school´s patio and which decoration should be outstanding so it looks attractive for our visitors from other schools. Its content is 100% scientist and is explained by the students, some of them in Spanish and some others in English, among the subjects involved we usually have: chemistry, anatomy, math, social studies, statistics, physical education, and others.
Planning and making it real a science fair takes all the stakeholders we can imagine: media, sponsors, institution authorities, coordinators, secretaries, teachers, students, parents, sponsors, and janitors. The whole school community gets involved into this macro activity. My question is: Why do we have science fair? What do we want our students to learn or be able to do that day? What do we want our parents to see?
This is how a traditional science fair may look like: Stands with cardboards full of letters written with markers, hanging on the walls, small tables full of souvenirs ready to deliver to the listeners. Kids, most of the time with costumes, give a text known my heart, looking at the poster to help him remember the next word in his speech. Does this sound familiar?
And this is I consider a science fair should look like: Kids in different places with no more than tools, materials and instruments to do their experiment, nothing too prepared but just students own work in class based on a specific subject, not repeating a text but explaining it and able to answer a questions if a person in the public asks.
I know traditions make culture, but we need to be sure first that whatever we do, even if it has a long trajectory, needs to have clear objective and clear goals to reach. So our school events are productive and worthy of all praise.

Many…..many ideas to use digital cameras in the classroom…

Digital cameras can be used more than one way in classrooms….if you start thinking in some of them….you can count them with the fingers of your hands….but have you considered these ideas?
Usually we have these general ideas to use digital cameras, for: PowerPoint Presentations, Open House, Web pages, Bulletin boards, Journal writing, School Newspapers, Document Classroom Projects, etc.

But to not get students boring we have always to go beyonfd that so here I present you a different kind of interesting activities for kids and teenagers:

Yearbook snapshots:
- It is really interesting to post pictures around the school of students who receive special awards.
- Photograph examples of superior student projects to give other students ideas.
- To make calendars for the administration and staff.

Student of the Week posters for each class. Post them outside the classroom for all to see.
Take pictures the Set-Up for various projects and use pictures as a review for a quiz, or a quiz itself.

Take pictures of each childs' eyes only. Have children try to match up their classmates by only their eyes. It demonstrates how distinctive and unique we really are. Oral discussion can then follow.

"A Typical Day In The Life Of A Student At ."

- The students kept the camera for a day, take as many pictures as they wanted, and as a group created a booklet of that day.
- You can gain great insight into their thought processes doing a project like this.
- Publish photos for many projects.

And also here are some different ideas for different subjects…

Social Studies

- Take pictures of each student's face and incorporate that image into a computerized "Wanted" poster for the westward movement unit. Kids could add in (via text) the varmint's favorite book, etc. They could also be fancy and add in handlebar mustaches, black hats, etc. to make themselves look more sinister.
- Social studies students can use digital photos to design front covers for their reports. Photo essay projects of the old buildings and historic sights in your town.

Science

- Students can research more about leaves, rocks, or something from your garden. Those who study the ecosystems can use the camera to relate to nature. For example, in the fall, students take pictures to reflect different themes (color in nature, changing seasons, etc).
- Document growth of a classroom plant or pet. Use lab pictures with a question/answer session before the lab featuring the question "What will we do next?"
- Use digital photo for leaf identification and lab equipment identification. Take a picture of each lab group. Then print the pictures onto floppy labels with the names of the students, the period and their group number.

Language Arts

- Journal Writing. Classroom newspapers. Autobiographies. Students can insert photos in a biographical poem. A great way to start off the year and get to know your students.
- Demonstrate vocabulary, emotions, compare/contrast. Use a photo as a prompt for narrative or descriptive writing. Students take pictures of each other and write biographies of their friends

Elementary Ideas

- Have students insert their photo into a paint document and make themselves a character from a book or cartoon. They erase all but their face and paint the rest of the body with appropriate background and props for this person. Kids love this. Take pictures of students in various activities. The students dictate appropriate text for the picture then create books that they can "read".
- Use student pictures as gifts at Christmas, and Mother's day. Pictures made on the 1st day can be given to each student on the last day of school with a letter from you about how much they have grown and how much you enjoyed having them in your class. Make picture frames out of jar tops hot glue magnets to the back for the refrigerator. When you grow plants you can document the growth with snapshots. If you have different races you can do graphs. How many have ___color hair, how many wear glasses etc.

Have you ever implemented videos in your classes?

By Hugo Velasco
Guayaquil , Ecuador

What is the most interesting about using videos in the classrooms is the different kind of tasks we can give our students however, we as teachers must be aware of the difficulties we could have.
Have you ever implemented videos in your classes? Well, if you haven´t done it yet, it´s time for you to try and see the variety of activities and tasks that you could do and take advantage of. It’s been proven by experts that a high average of students are visual learners in these times due to the advance in technology that the world has reached.
You have the opportunity to discuss critical thinking topics through Video clips by using real life issues in different areas, practicing listening comprehension and writing skills as well. Who doesn´t like to watch a movie, documental or a cartoon? They are easy to connect to daily life issues. For example , you can make your students identify main characters , settings , main problem , cause and effect analyses and others.
When using videos you could face some problems such as : Low T.V. volume , poor video quality , language in movies could be difficult to understand for students, time availability may be short, etc ; but the important point is to have everything all set and be ready with extra activities.
In conclusion, Don´t be afraid of implementing videos in your classes, personally since I tried them, I have not stopped using them.

To give or not to give my cell phone number to students...That’s the point!

By: Samantha Quintana M.
Advantages:


+ Students can call to ask for homework if they were absent in your class.
+ If students did not understand an instruction can call to be sure .
+ Very useful at the moment of making Thesis.


Disadvantages :

+ Students can call just to ask silly questions.
+ Parents can start calling to know about their children performance at classes.

More acquiring but less learning

By Viviana Velasco

A couple of years ago I was asked to teach language to sixth graders. The language book I worked with called “Amazed” was based on the traditional syllabus, student’s priority was to learn grammar and vocabulary trough different short texts types. The standards set by my institution regarding to providing language instruction was not just focus on building a solid based for language learning but also including communication in the process. Based on that, my coordinator wanted me to develop activities that increased such communications; soon I started developing speaking activities which demands oral interaction. My critical moment showed up when I noticed that my students were not able use language accurately and fluently when doing oral interaction. I was confused with the idea on how could possible a student can perform well on grammar activities and tests but can not perform accuracy in conversations.
To develop a performance in grammar activities ,focusing on the traditional syllabus that the book offered me, my plan for the activities were the following :students first listen to and read the dialog or conversation, reread and paying attention to the pronunciation and intonation, look at the example of the grammar structure, read or give the respective grammar explanation , then practice the new structure in control context ( drills or substitution exercises ) and practice the conversation individually and then in Chorus, memorizing the dialog and finally practicing these with a classmate. After that and because of my communication goal, I wanted my students to interact without using their visual or text aid, for that reason I asked my students to extend the questions in order to have real conversation, using the structure they just being taught and also putting in practice their previous knowledge on it. As a result I observed my students trying harder asking and answering question and having difficulties to be understood by the other. They could not follow natural conversation (fluently and accurately) without consulting and asking me questions on how to say something. I was shocked I thought they have already learned.
As a conclusion, planning every lesson with small conversations, short dialogs or texts, present to a student a grammar structure and putting that in practice doing the grammar exercises do not help ensure students are acquiring a language at all. Thanks to the hypotheses and principles now I know that being taught all the time about how to write in correct way (focusing on form), make students learn language rules but not acquiring language in order to make them feel free of communicating.

Inviting Youtube in our classroom

Guayaqui, Ecuador

Lorena Baquerizo G.

Created in February 2005 by three PayPal employees, its main purpose is to upload, view and share videos. It is definitely a great tool to include technology in our classroom.

With only about four years old, youtube has become in an incredible tool which is used by people from different countries, ages, cultures, etc. It is more than just a site to share videos, it has become in a great tool to let the rest of the world see what you want. At the same time this has also become into a great tool for educators to incorporate technology in our classrooms. Different types of videos have been always within our curricula and weekly planning, so what does youtube have that can make our classroom even more interesting and up to date?, here some hints:
1. Home videos: Believe me, it will not matter what your topic is, you will find a video in youtube. It can go from National Geographic short videos to kids in US, Argentina, or Iran singing carols in their English classrooms.
2. Features: There are no long time videos in youtube, which makes it easier to use it in class since it can fit in our classroom periods.
3. Dynamic: With your own account, leave and receive messages will be part of your classes feedback; you will receive comments from all over the world and do the same to other people.
4. Easy-to-use: You only need to create your account, record your video, download it to your computer and then upload it as in any other social site (facebook, hi5, tagged in, sonic, etc). Then, once in the web automatically you will receive comments and posts.

I am conscious of the high cost of investment (not waste) of money, so we need to be realistic and try to use as much “cheap” technology as we can help our students to develop skills that are necessary in our times.

Sending cool homework through T.V.

Guayaquil-Ecuador

By Hugo Velasco

How many times have you had problems with your kids and the T.V.? . According to a research done by experts in 2006 in the U.S. , kids spend forty percent of their time watching T.V. at their homes ; specially when parents are working .
Most of parents are in a constant fight with their kids and it is usual to hear things like: do your homework!!!!, turn off the T.V. !!!!, You‘ve been the whole day in front of that !!!!!!! , You will not watch T.V. the entire week!!!!!.

What could we do as teachers?? Well, there are some things we could do in order to take advantage of technology; in this case the T.V. might be a good tool to engage our students with interesting topics that might be discussed in our classrooms.

For example, sending our students to watch channels such as Discovery Channel, Travel and Living, History Channel, Animal Planet and others, selecting specific topics or focusing on a specific task might be really useful for our Science, Social Studies, Marketing, Debate, and even our Language classes. If you stop and think what skills are your students developing or reinforcing ; you might come up with the conclusion that through television students might practice their listening comprehension , acquire new vocabulary , write a summary , listen and compare different viewpoints, start a debate based on a specific topic, formulate discussion questions , give opinions , and so on .

Now that you’ve heard some tips and advantages for using T.V. as a learning via in stead of a problem- maker; why not implement it!!!!!. Don’t let the T.V. take over your life, use it wisely!!!!!

Student - Teacher issue......

By: Samantha Quintana M.

Dear Miss Nathaly:

My name is Cristina, I am an English teacher at a boys high school, I should mention that I am 20 years old. So far I have had a great performance with my students, I think they have learned a lot, but recently I have been dealing with a problem.

A week ago a student from third course started to behave in a especial way towards me, on Friday, when I was going home I saw him at the bus station, he was waiting for me, after some short words, he said that he had a crush on me. The next day I talked with the psychologist and we have tried to change his mind and realize that he is just confused, but has not worked at all....what should we do?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear gorgeous Cristina:

According to the event that is happening now with your student, it has been wise from you to talk with the psychologist, what he is feeling now is normal at his age, his emotions and feelings start to mix and they usually have a crush on their favorite teacher.

Something that you can consider would to:

+ Analyze about his family, how he develops with the members of his family maybe you can find an answer there, some kids at that age do not communicate very well with their parents and they start looking for that attention from others.

+ Try not to give too much or less attention than others.

+ Never let him stay in your class after the class was dismissed.

I hope we can start knowing how to handle this; I will be waiting for your message.

I am a really nice young teacher!

Depending on the students' age there are many aspects we can find positive or negative of being a young teacher, but it will always depend on how you manage things life brings to you…..
Like those days when you are standing up in the middle of the class trying to catch students’ attention and no one listens to you because they think you will ignore they are doing a mess.

Some cool things, so COOL!

+ Students feel identified with most of the things you do, the music that you like to listen to, the cartoons o movies that you like or even some activities, as playing in your X-BOX, go to karaoke, eat at FRIDAYS, hang out in the mall or watch the Family Guy cartoon.

+ As a young teacher, some of my colleagues or students find some help in me to solve any problem related to technology. For most people, being a young educator means you can manage any type of information.

Some things are just not cool! Not at all!

+ Students will look at you as a brother and they will try to misbehave in class, trying to convince you to let them do things they are not suppose to do in that moment.

By: Danny Bajaña.

Why is Reading a nightmare for most kids?

Do you read Sunday newspapers? Have you read Pablo Coelho poems? Do you like editorials? From 1 to 5 where are you in the reading-freak-scale?

I love reading. Why? I am not sure, my dad loves it but my mom doesn’t. I don’t even remember my reading at school class. This year I am giving a reading class to 7th graders and I have found that reading is not really hard to teach, but motivate students is.

We don’t have reading habits. But as teachers we are pushed, somehow, to change this. There are many strategies to help out our students; one of them is silent reading.

I don’t think this could work with classes. A lot of concentration is being demanding from students. As English teachers we need to deal with more issues than regular teachers in Spanish. What a bout if they find a new vocabulary?


Lorena Baquerizo G.

Grades, grades!..... What do they say?

Some may say grades need to communicate and show students’ development and effort. Others say teachers should not count on the effort at the moment they assess, only what students are able to do.
Grades need to reflect students ' learning process and assessment as well as the teaching process followed and how effective it was. But there are many other factors that can influence. For example : Students ' anxiety in the moment of doing a test takes a student who had study a lot to fail.
Everything corresponding to behavior and development are two different aspects of education that influence one to each other but are very important at the same time. Have you ever mixed these two aspects when grading, is it all right to do so?

BY: Danny Bajaña (Internationla Education Student)

Grade or not to grade?

15 enriching minutes with Paul Seligson
Full of great advice, viewpoints and recommendations for teachers

The British teacher Paul Seligson who has been TEFLing since 1978 as well as being a MATEFL assessor and LCCI examiner, and freelance trainer came to visit UCG representing Richmond Publishing.

1.- Do you think Behaviour should be included as part of the grade? "If you don’t reward effort and progress in life, why will they make the effort? That’s nonsense. Behaviour and grades go hand in hand. I would give a 10% to attendance and homework. At this point high school students need to be motivated to keep moving forward. Even though no matter how hard they try, if they don’t progress you can’t pass them and if that’s the case you must forewarn them that they are going to fail.

2.- Advice 2: "Moving on to an efficient group management Paul said that we should get rid of the traditional class participation, remarking that the strong ones can’t survive at the expense of the weak ones...He answered that Pair work and group work are the keys with a proper monitoring stage."

3.- What do you think about punishing dishonesty with grades? "For example if you find a student cheating on a test, would you punish him? Paul said: I prefer for a student to copy the answers in the book rather than do nothing. Copying leads to more learning than doing nothing, making clear that our task is to have them realize what they are doing is cheating on themselves, they are not cheating somebody else."

By: Jorge Jimenez (International Education Student)

Christmas Animated Postcards

If you have access to internet, this website http://www.northpole.com/Mailroom/Postcards/PCIntro.html%20 is perfect for you! I know you will find it useful for a writing lesson. Students can email a Christmas animated postcard to their parents or friends, adding their own messages. It is a fun activity, students will enjoy it! I will include this project in my planning for December. But before starting I’ll need to follow SIX STEPS. STEP 1: I will tell my students a little bit about Christmas and talk about the Christmas animated postcard project. STEP 2: I will ask my students to create a web and remind them that in the center of the web they will have to put the name of the person they want to send the postcard. STEP 3: they will write their ideas for the postcard in the web and later create a paragraph with those ideas. STEP 4: I will ask my students to exchange papers to revise their work and I will edit their work. STEP 5: I will ask my students to find out the email address of their father or mother; to send the postcard. (Check with their parents to be sure it's OK.) STEP 6: if your students have access to internet, they will be able to type the letter and send it online. But if your students don’t have access, they can type the letter in Word; you can paste it and send it.

By Maria de Lourdes Lopez Pereira