4+ Ideas for Mother's Day

Though the date differs in other countries, in Portugal we celebrate Mother's Day every year on the first Sunday of May - in a week's time. This has led me to collect some materials and gather ideas to mark this date in my classes, but without spending much time with it and using the few resources we have.
I would like to start by sharing here a very clever ad (maybe you've already come across it) that left me speechless the first time I watched it. I plan to use it as a lovely motivation in my classes to challenge kids to thank their Moms.
See for yourself! It is just awesome: a touching and heartelt tribute to all Moms who have the toughest job in the world.



Here is also a fab infographic on Mother's Day and Motherhood, definitely worth checking, and a video with the history of Mother's Day.
As for "Thank You" ideas for our students and classes, some tips would be ...

• to create and send a free Mother's Day Animoto video: students surely have pictures on their own and with their Moms and those photos can be used by themselves to create a 30sec free video or they can also share those pics with the teacher who will then very easily create a video;
• Students can also be challenged to (temporarily) swap their facebook covers to honour their moms using (the same) pics, whether with a simple photocollage or using a great free tool, Smilebox;
• As mentioned before, a photocollage is always an amazing choice and there is no shortage of free tools, even for mobile devices;
• The easiest, and also the most common, is to send a free ecard. There is no lack of alternatives here either, but sts can try 123greetings once it also includes some videos / songs.
• ...

My Sts are not into drawing and Ts don't have much time now. These ideas will therefore save us time in class, motivate Sts for something so personal and we will be including something they all love: technology. Even if their moms don't have FB accounts or email addresses, our students do and can show them; besides, there is always the possibility of printing, at home or at school. What do you think?

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Hallowe'en Resources

In previous years I've already posted here, here, here and here several suggestions and links to Hallowe'en activities as well as to its History / Background. Now I'm just updating (y)our list of resources, either for school or for (y)our own kids.
To start with, why not again some reading comprehension on this festival? http://www.5minuteenglish.com/oct29.htm has a vocabulary list, a short text and a True / False exercise to check understanding - it just takes sts about 5 minutes and it can be done online! Alternatively, you can copy/paste it and print to hand out to sts, or even use the link to Textivate and choose from 27 different activities! Check my resources here and here.
Both National Geographic (Quiz your Noodle) and British Council (Spelloween) have great vocab and spelling exercises though a bit difficult for beginners - Have a go and check them yourself - I'm sure you'll find them engaging and even addicting!

As usual, Lanternfish (formerly Boggles World) has a vast array of handouts that can be used with different levels / age groups of language learners.
My favourite though is this Interactive book: very complete and designed for our ESL learners. It starts with Hallowe'en vocabulary (and with audio), moves on to the use of English with prepositions of place, includes some traditions and ends with some poetry. The beauty of this is that we can use it in our own classes (if we have access to computers), in replacement classes or simply send the link to our sts for further practice.

For those who enjoy art and painting, check this interesting Guardian article with the best scary Hallowe'en paintings.
So... hopefully stuff for all tastes and ages!

Happy Hallowe'en, folks!!!

WORLD BOOK and COPYRIGHT DAY

An updated version of Shakespeare's dilemma...

"In all formats, books embody ideas and values considered by men and women to be worth passing on. They are valuable tools for knowledge-sharing, mutual understanding and openness to others and to the world."

Irina Bokova
Message for World Book and Copyright Day
23 April 2012

 

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.
The Day was first celebrated in 1995 and in 2012 the UK World Book Day was celebrated on March 1, 2012.
World Book Day was celebrated for the first time on April 23. The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day. In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare and the death of Miguel de Cervantes, among others.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Book_and_Copyright_Day and
http://www.un.org/en/events/bookday/

So, Happy Birthday Shakespeare!!! Watch and enjoy artists and athletes read a famous Shakespeare passage:

For more info, please check http://festival.london2012.com/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.history.com/news/2011/10/24/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-william-shakespeare/?cmpid=INT_Outbrain_HITH_HIS&obref=obnetwork
...
or my latest resource, a webquest on the English Bard at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=145126 and the worksheets at http://issuu.com/teacheralex/docs/handout_webquest__april2012

THANKSGIVING 2011 - 24th November

Much has already been said here last year about Thanksgiving and if you do some research on the web there is no shortage of Thanksgiving Day resources for us teachers to explore.
So, besides all those referred to last year, my selection for this year - with or without the general strike :) - is:
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/who-were-pilgrims - loads of data on the Pilgrims, Mayflower, Indians...
http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/smartboard-thanksgiving-holiday-resources.html 

Painting by Norman Rockwell

- stuff for smartboards
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/seasonalholidays/thanksgiving/ - varied resources from coloring pages to crosswords, unscrambling the words...
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/first-thanksgiving/ - it's no surprise any more that National Geographic has very good quality materials also for the younger ones, perfect for our learners of English from stories / info to activities (such as a recipe here or crafts here) or games - do try this Quiz Your Noodle here to test your knowledge on Thanksgiving!!! For ourselves, teachers, check this as well from National Geographic.
http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/holidays/thanksgiving/preview.weml - very nice resources with audio

Though Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Portugal, as teachers / educators, we can always take advantage of raising cultural awareness to teach learners to be grateful for who/what they are and what they have, especially now that we are facing harder times, and gratitude and generosity should be a constant. More: both the Pilgrims and the Native Americans worked together in an environmentally sustainable way and celebrated their plentiful crop giving thanks; nowadays, in a time of environmental concerns (for most, at least), we should question ourselves about our dependence on the earth as a food source - if we destroy it, what and how will we eat???
Soooooooooooo, whoever and wherever you are, do give THANKS.

BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's HALLOWEEN!

In a few days, Halloween is there again.

Every year on October 31st, Halloween is celebrated in many different countries around the world.

As usual, wikipedia has loads of information but have a look at History.com for a change! Here you'll find pictures, videos, games, infos on This Day in History (obviously updated daily!) and topics - exactly where you can read about the ancient origins of this celebration, evolution, today's traditions and trivia. Have a look at some of the short videos available (for example, Pumpkin facts), read about History of the Jack O'Lantern, and explore the interactive pumpkin carving patterns.

The NYTimes also has resources for teachers - many and good ones! Under the heading Education, we find lessons, crosswords, multimedia / slideshows, quizzes, recipes and more such as movie overviews.

Some more practical and easy stuff for us to use are the traditional word searches, crosswords or coloring pages you can find here and here and choose according to your age / level group.
With young learners, even 12 / 13 year-olds (7th graders) there is this link I find fantastic with Background Information and Activities + Halloween Teacher Activities + Halloween Family Activities. Then, if you click on the pumpkin (top right hand corner), you can play a short movie (with or without captions), play games, quizzes, write, read,... all with sound. In the end, learners / teachers / parents can also print whatever they want.

My Halloween greetings :)))