My Sibling´s Routine - 2/2010

This is an extension of the Digital Project about "My Routine", but now my junior students are using the action verbs to describe the routine of a third person. They were supposed to write about a sibling. The tool chosen here was the "mixbook" (http://www.mixbook.com) because it was the easiest one to be taught and used in the little time we had, which was two weeks. Also, this tool allows us to add photos or images, which makes the book extremely appealing. Because some parents don´t allow their children to have their photos on the internet, I gave them the option to add ordinary images. Every class I would gradually teach them one step at a time. They were supposed to work at home, by themselves. I did not promise any kind of reward or points. I simply assigned the task, which was supposed to be completed as soon as they could and presented to the entire class. Surprisingly, five of the students made the mixbook. I managed to sugggest corrections to some of them but one was left unrevised, due to time constrains. Nevertheless, It´s worth to take a look at them and see how cute they are. Below, three of the books.

Esta atividade é uma extensão do Digital Project sobre "Minha Rotina" mas agora, os alunos do curso elementar estão usando os verbos de ação para descrever a rotina de uma terceira pessoa. Eles deveriam escrever sobre um parente, aqui no caso, o irmão ou a irmã. A ferramenta digital escolhida foi o "mixbook" (http://www.mixbook.com) porque era a mais simples de ser ensinada e usada no pouco tempo que tínhamos, ou seja, duas semanas. Essa ferramenta também nos permite adicionar fotos e imagens, o que torna o livro muito atraente. Porque alguns pais não permitem que seus filhos coloquem fotos na internet, eu lhes dei a opção de colocar imagens. A cada aula, eu ensinava um novo passo, um de cada vez. Eles deveriam trabalhar em casa, sozinhos. Eu não prometi nenhum prêmio ou pontos por isso. Apenas passei a tarefa, que deveria ser completada em um tempo razoável e apresentada para todos os colegas. Surpreendentemente, cinco alunos fizerem o livro. Eu consegui sugerir algumas correções, mas infelizmente, um dos livros ficou sem ser revisado, devido à limitações de tempo. Mesmo assim, vale a pena dar uma olhada e perceber como o trabalho deles ficou bom. Três desse livros estão aqui.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Would X Used to - 2/2010

The picture:

My intermediate students were learning to use Would and Used to to talk about past habits. For further practice, I showed them a picture of a few trees. In small groups, they were supposed to create a story about that picture. They were reluctant at first and said they were not imaginative enough, but then they gave in and let their creativity flow. Three heads think better than one. After they finished writing their story, they read it to their peers. While they were reading, I played some background music, which was the song played in the animation based on the book and drawings by Shel Silverstein "The giving Tree" (The actual 73´s). They had a lot of fun reading their stories and listening to their peers´stories as well, because they realized how touching and imaginative their stories turned out to be. In the end, I showed them the animation "The Giving Tree". They loved it. 

Os alunos do curso intermediário estavam aprendendo a usar Would e Used to para falar sobre hábitos do passado. Para revisar, mostrei à eles uma imagem de árvores. Em grupos de três, eles deveriam criar uma estória sobre aquelas árvores. Eles não gostaram da idéia à princípio e disseram que não havia o que escrever pois eles não conseguiam pensar em nada, mas depois eles se renderam e deixaram  imaginação fluir. Três cabeças pensam melhor que uma. Depois que eles terminaram, eles lêram as estórias para a turma. Enquanto eles liam as estórias, eu coloquei uma música de fundo, que era a canção da animação baseada no livro e ilustrações de Shel Silverstein "The Giving Tree" (a versão original de 1973). Eles se divertiram lendo suas estórias e ouvindo as estórias dos colegas, pois se deram conta do quão tocantes e criativas elas ficaram. No fim, mostrei a eles a animação "The Giving Tree". Eles amaram.

The stories:

"When I was a child, I used to go to my aunt´s farm. It was very cool, I have good memories about this. I used to swim in the lake and spend hours climbing on the trees. In the end of the day, I used to watch the sunset and in the nights, I usually used to watch stars crash in the lake. I hope I will return there someday and check if the stars still shine in the same way". (2/2010 - Filipe, Kely and Sinara)

"When I was young, I used to go to my grandparents´ farm and there, I used to play outside in the garden. My favorite place to play was under the trees, especially during the summer, when the sun was amazing. The sunset was really wonderful. When I climbed the tree, I used to watch that sunset, it was a very beautiful landscape. I used to have great moments on the farm". (2/2010 - Antônio, Edilson and Monique)

"In the beginning, when the pangea still existed, we used to have many trees and many animals and vegetation. The sun used to shine bright and the climate used to be stable. After the humans arrived, the Earth changed radically and the nature was extremelly modified. The trees were replaced for concrete and builds and the sun didn´t shine anymore because all pollution". (2/2010 - Camilla, Marina and Stephany)

The animation:

Travel Tips - 2/2010

My advanced students were learning vocabulary to talk about places they´ve been to or would like to go to. They were assigned the following task: Write about any  place in the world, by searching for information on where to stay, places to visit, places to eat and how to get around. They would find the information and pictures and put it in our wiki, especially created for them. This project involved three groups of students. Mine and two other teachers´. I hope you like it.  

Os alunos do curso avançado estavam aprendendo a falar sobre lugares onde eles já foram ou gostariam de ir. Eles receberam a tarefa de escrever sobre qualquer lugar no mundo, pesquisando sobre onde se hospedar, lugares para visitar e onde comer e por último como se locomover.Eles deveriam encontrar essas informações e também imagens e colocá-las na nossa wiki, que foi exclusivamente criada para essa atividade. Este projeto envolveu três turmas. A minha e uma turma de outros dois professores. Espero que vocês gostem.