My version of the same idea

For my first day of class, I decided to use the sunglasses project. I prepared a whole class for this simple project and I'd like to share it with you...

Material needed: one paper sunglasses per student, scissors, colored pencil. 

Preparation in advance: Take some flash cards or a PowerPoint  presentation with pictures related to vacation to the classroom.

Time: 60 minutes

I welcomed students and asked them to sit on a circle on the floor. Then, I showed them my paper sunglasses, very similar to this one...

By the way, This one, as I mentioned before, I took from Pinterest. 

So, I invited them to guess what  I did during my vacation. After that, I told them they were supposed to draw something nice that had happened to them during their vacation. But they couldn't tell anybody about it, since they would play a guessing game. 

After 20 minutes drawing and coloring things, I worked with vocabulary. 

I created this "page" on an Ipad app named Popplet. It has a free version (that you can only create one vocabulary cloud) and a paid one. I usually use this app to work with vocabulary, but I know there are many other uses of it. It's worthy downloading it. Take a look at the one I created for this class...

It took me less than 5 minutes to make it I elicited vocabulary and drilled pronunciation. To consolidate the new structures, I played a hot potato and a miming game.

When I felt students were familiar with the new vocabulary, I played the guessing game. In two groups, students discussed about their vacation. Then, student from group A showed his /her sunglasses to group B. Students from group B had to guess what he/she did during his/her vacation.

To wrap up, after playing this game, students were invited to write a paragraph about their vacation. The sunglasses and the paragraph will certainly become a bulletin board which pictures I post later! 

I hope you enjoyed this class!

Ideas for the first week of class

Starting a new semester is not an easy task. I've been looking for ideas and I'd like to share with you some of the best projects ideas I found on Pinterest. I hope you like it!

This is a getting-to-know-you project! 

In advance, teacher cuts the students' profiles.

Students are to cut from a magazine or draw things they like and paste on their profiles. Then, in pairs or in groups, the class try to find out what the pictures are about. I think it is a really nice activity for the first day of class!

Another very nice project I found on Pinterest was "We were looking back on summer, this is what we see". Take a look...

This is a variation of the same project...

Students are to draw what they did during vacation. Then, the class can have a very nice conversation about it. Did you like it?

Another very cute idea...

Students draw things  they did during vacation again... But now, using colored chalk on a black sheet of paper... How about this?

Let's welcome students? This is what I found to make it possible...

Some ideas to start a very nice semester!

Break a leg!

Revising the semester

Last week of class... I wanted my students to revise all vocabulary and content we learned during the semester. I  was looking for a different activity when a student came to class holding a huge letter... My class was ready! I asked my students to open their books and hands on... This is the result!

Did you like it?

Vocabulary Bank

My 3rd grade students are learning the parts and the names of the insects in English. They were having some difficulties to recognize them, though... So I came up with the idea of having a  vocabulary bank which was visually appealing for them. I looked for images on google and copied them on a card paper. Then, I divided students into pairs and asked them to color the insects and write their names. Then, they helped me to hang them on the wall.

Simple and effective. See the result...

Did you like it? Give me your feedback!