Based on my experience so far in Spain, students don't get a lot of opportunities to get up and move during classroom activities. The first time that I asked my students to stand up and talk to another person was quite the experience. Some of the students leaned over as far as they could without leaving their spot!
When planning communicative activities, I like to have the students moving around and talking to a variety of people. They work a lot with the person next to them, and I think it's good for them to hear other students speak English
Thankfully, my host teachers allow me to do this type of activities--even when it involves a little (or sometimes a LOT) of chaos. I'm sure it drives them crazy sometimes, but I think the kids enjoy the activities which makes them want to speak English all the more.
This week, in order to practice "there is/there are" students had to create their own castle.
First, they wrote (at least) three sentences about their castle and what it contains. I was hoping that they would use some of the vocabulary from the unit but also be creative. And, any castle builder knows that a moat is essential--so I taught them this word as well as the word "crocodile."
My sentences were:
In my castle, there is a moat with a crocodile.
There are gardens behind the castle.
There are two bookshops in my castle.
There is a ticket office next to the door.
Next, they drew their castles--which took a lot longer than I thought it would. Though I should have known they would spend forever drawing them...
Then, I told them that they had to find their favorite castle, but it couldn't be their own. They had to ask their classmates about their castles and find out who's was the most similar. For example, "Has your castle got a moat with crocodiles?"
I was really impressed with the result. They ended up using a lot of English and got a lot of good practice!
Picture of the Day:
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| The beach at La Albufereta--near my school. |
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