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!!!

EDL 2012

To mark this date (or simply to provide information on any issue), I decided to try out Textivate, a web tool that creates instant interactive text based activities.
I started by pasting a text into the Textivate window, clicked on "Textivate now" and it automatically gave e 27 different exercises / variations to choose from. By clicking on one of the squares, ranging from scrambled sentences to gap fill exercises, we instantly have an interactive activity. It's fast, useful and, above all, involves no prep time from the teacher; furthermore, these automatically generated activities, allow us to use the same text over and over again because each time we click for an exercise, it shows us a different text order, a different set of gaps, etc.
The problem with these online / interactive activities though, is that most of the time, I don't teach in computer rooms and when it does happen, some of them are not even running... In this case, well, yes, worksheets: copy and paste what you get, print and hand out.
What you have below are the ones I chose for my class but here I'm including the whole text so that you can have the original version. In what concerns the exercises, I chose one first example in which the text is disorganised and students have to put it in the right order by dragging and dropping the so-called "tiles" - beware that the columns are ordered horizontally!

Click below to access the activity. (Opens in a new window on touch devices.)

Click here to open the above activity in a new window.

In the second exercise, the text has no spaces and no punctuation; in the third one, all vowels are missing. As it so often happens and there are no computers available, we can copy, paste and print the different activities and work in groups to promote cooperation and some competition. With time, I would even copy these 6 (can be even more!) parts of the text, cut them into slips of paper for the students to order. In any case, there should be at least a follow-up with questions, either written or dictated by the teacher, and the answers written down by the students.

Click below to access the activity. (Opens in a new window on touch devices.)

This exercise may only be accessed via this site.

Some examples are posted here but all the documents and activities I referred to are here.

26th Annual APPI Conference

Hope you liked this 26th Annual APPI Conference held in Coimbra as much as I did.

It is always a privilege to work with Helena and this time was no exception.
Below you have the most important data from our presentation entitled "Unlock Your and Your Students' Talents". Feel free to contact me / us if you have any doubts or need anything.


Thank YOU so much for all your support and positive feedback.

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

Coffee Quiz

Following the last activity, I decided to hand out the quiz below (obviously without the link and the key!!!) so that students could do some research in English as well as enhance their knowledge on the topic. The challenge was immediately accepted as prizes will be awarded =))

Open publication - Free publishing - More coffee

Back to School - Breaking the Ice

Image Credit: Marcel Germain
via Flickr

Another school year starts soon – very soon – and even though I’ve been teaching for about 20 years, I always get a bit anxious about the best way either to break the ice with a new class or simply to loosen (former) students’ rusty tongues.Therefore, an easy task, a familiar topic but still with a different approach.

After some browsing, a suggestion for the beginning of this school year is as follows.
Knowing beforehand that our first lesson is usually in our mother tongue and filling in some forms, a simple question designed to make introductions easier and spark ideas:

AnswerGarden: What word(s) best describe your last summer holidays?...: AnswerGarden: What word(s) best describe your last summer holidays?... AnswerGarden: What word(s) best describe your last summer holidays?...: AnswerGarden: What word(s) best describe your last summer holidays?...
YOU, go ahead, try!
Now, this can be used as homework once you embed this onto your blog / website / wiki (in this case, ask them to type their initials so that you might know who wrote what) or, done in class, if you prefer to have an instant overview of the results, make sure they really DO it and have a computer with internet connection. Obvious!
At http://answergarden.ch/ there's no need to sign in, we can quickly and very easily collect our sts' feedback and their contributions are necessarily short (20 characters); TIP: tick the "Multiple answers per id per day" ;)

2nd step: Why? Elicit reasons to explain their choice of vocabulary.

3rd step: To further brainstorm ideas and start preparing a written activity, consider using
http://www.bubbl.us/  a free web application that, as they put it, allows you to

• Create colorful mind maps online
• Share and work with friends
• Email and print your mind map
• Save your mind map as an image

For you to have an idea...

With the usual questions: Where / When / How Long / With Whom...

Or with the sts' names and we write down their data - one by one.

4th step: After oral eliciting and topic form registration, sts can be asked to write down their own essays. However, depending on the level / age group / … we can introduce a model, ask them to write down their essays for homework or in class and then take them home to correct. It’s up to each one of us to decide what will suit best, right?
Hope this might be useful - if not now, for some other time.

Image Credit: http://safetykitsplus.wordpress.com/

Why don’t you leave here your suggestions as well? I’d love to hear your thoughts, your comments, your suggestions.

Anyway, a great school year for all! May we keep the passion and energy to engage our students :))

INVASÃO DOS TRAQUINAS II by ANSC 2

Hi, there!

You certainly still remember that Santa Claus came to ESCOLA SEC / 3 MARTINHO ÁRIAS - SOURE, don't you? That was INVASÃO DOS TRAQUINAS I. Last Wednesday, on the 31st March, children returned to their mothers' school and took part in more and funny activities. The day started with some stories, then there was time for some egg painting and before sharing lunch, there were two theatre plays.
After lunch, mothers and children challenged the cold wind and followed some clues... it was nice to see them all running around and playing.This family day ended with some more painting...but I'm not telling you anything else; enjoy some of the most pleasant moments.

Santa Claus is coming to... ESMA!!!

Christmas is a time of gathering, of family reunions and, mainly for children, a time for Santa Claus to pay a visit. Last week on 23rd December adult students were invited to bring their own children to school, to spend a different day with them, interacting and playing. What I witnessed was ... wonderful! Wonderful bonds between mums and children and / or teenagers - YES! There is nothing to be ashamed of; a mother is always a mother no matter how old we are!
We started the day going to the movies and around 1pm we were already heading to school for a shared meal - all very tasty homemade food prepared by ANSC 2 mums!!! (Congratulations, ladies, you are wonderful cooks!). Afterwards there were several activities - from reading and performing a story, game playing,... to drawing. The kids were fantastic - really! They behaved so well - no tantrums, no sobs, nothing! All mums were helpful and all looked after everybody's children, even Catarina's eldest son who was always attentive and looking after his twin sisters. It was a great day, in a great atmosphere.
The most exciting moment was yet to come - Santa Claus with gifts for all. You cannot imagine (???) how excited kids were: they cried and jumped for joy when they heard Santa's HOHOHO...
Before showing you the pictures I took, I would like to thank teacher CLAUDIA SOARES - she has really been unique with her professionalism and dedication; teacher JOSÉ MIGUEL MENDONÇA, a perfect Santa Claus, and teacher NATÁLIA COSTA from the schoolboard, who dealt with logistics making this Christmas celebration possible. I cannot forget the mums / ANSC ladies nor the presence of other teachers (teachers Clara Luís, Conceição Aires, Sandrina Tralhão and Sónia Antunes). A huge THANK YOU!!!
Now, be my guests!

Easter activities

Well, again... more activities and so more pictures. This time adult classes at Martinho Árias - monitored by teachers Claudia Soares and António Paiva - worked together to prepare something nice for the forthcoming Easter. Have a look at the video to see what it might be.

Clube de Inglês

Dear all,
In 2004-05 I created a Clube de Inglês in my school. Since then I have been promoting different activities so that the students can have fun while learning English outside the classroom. Here you can always know what I have in store and have access to links and materials I find useful.
Feel free to add your comments (positive or negative) as well as suggestions - they are all welcome!