New address

Dear all, my new platform is wordpress. This blog content can now be found in drawmyattentionefl.wordpress.com See you there!

Drawing Faces: Hair

Drawing hair is the most fun part of drawing a face because there are countless ways to draw it and the more styles you come up with the more you want to continue. Hairdos, mustaches, beards, sideburns and goatees.... the sky is the limit. Seriously, I have shown you just some of them. As I keep on drawing, I remember a few more and still leave others out. Anyways, I will try to show you as many as I can remember.

Drawing Faces: Eyebrows

When drawing eyebrows, we can choose from a varied number of different lines and when one particular eyebrow shape is combined with one particular mouth shape, we will have a different facial expression. Here are just a few:

UPSET

ANGRY

EMBARRASSED

PEEING MY PANTS / NERVOUS

SUSPICIOUS

A few more:

Drawing Faces: Noses

Ok stick figure fans! Drawing noses is easier than you think. Once you get the hang of it,  you can even come up with your own nose shape eventually.

Drawing Faces: Mouths

You don't have to be a Picasso in order to draw a face. Very simple lines will do the trick. Below, you will see the different types of lines you can draw to make a mouth. You'll see that it's no big deal.

Soon

I particularly think that we, as teachers, need basic drawing skills. I lost count of the times I have been asked the meaning of something that was a lot easier for me to explain by drawing. Therefore, I have decided to show you a few tricks I have up my sleeve...just in case.

What does your dad do?

My students were learning names of jobs and what people do, for instance, a police officer keeps our community safe, a firefighter puts out fires, a taxi driver drives around town, etc. After a few classes and significant practice, we wrapped this lesson up with a writing task in which they wrote about their parents´ jobs. We used an app called CHATTER PIX, which allows users to add a voice to a picture. No need to mention they had a blast! 

OPTION 2: Students draw themselves in the clothes of the professional they want to become when they grow up and write about it. They can explain their choice by using a reason or an adjective.

Examples:

When I grow up...

I want to be a doctor because I want to help sick people.
I want to be a vet because I love animals and I want to help sick animals.
I want to be an architect because I think it´s interesting/fun/lucrative.

In the end, they record their text by using CHATTER PIX.


Tip: Allow students to practice reading their text before recording it, so you can correct any pronunciation difficulties they may have. 

Voilà!!!

Now, everything is in its place.

In case you´re wondering...

Dear all, the reason why you´re not being able to download my material is that I´m currently working on a new place for it. It´ll be available again in no time, I promise.

Draw your vacation

This is an opportunity for students to learn personal information about the teacher. The ultimate goal is to engage students into writing and make them familiar with simple writing techniques. Show students drawings of your last vacation. Don't worry if you don't draw well. The fact that you drew them will   encourage your students to do the same. Also, show short simple sentences for each drawing.  Make sure, students identify and understand the three parts of a paragraph:  

1) TOPIC SENTENCE: It tells you what the paragraph will be about;
2) BODY: It is developed around the topic sentence usually with examples and details;
3) CONCLUSION: It restates the introduction with different words.

Also, make sure students are familiar with "connectors". After showing your students your sentences, allow them some time to draw and write about their own vacation. Have colored pencils and blank sheets of paper available on your desk in case they don´t have those. You can also assign this task for homework. At home, they will scan and upload their drawings and write about them.  They can make a video or a power point slide presentation to show in the following class.

I enjoyed my vacation because it was relaxing.

I didn't have money to travel, so I stayed in Brasilia.

However, I could play the guitar and practice some songs.

I went shopping for clothes and shoes.

And I could sleep a lot and relax.


Show your students what a paragraph should look like:

Images - Downloadable

Super Duper Resolutions

Super Duper has made a few resolutions for 2015.

He's going to LOSE THE CAPE. 

He's going to STUDY REALLY HARD

 

He's going to EAT VEGETABLES. 

He's going to DO CHARITY.

He's going to remember to FEED HIS PETS.

He's going to STOP EATING so much sugar.

He's going to have the courage and GO TO THE DENTIST's. 

Downloadable Material

Resolutions 2015

Ok, here we go again! It's time to think about our resolutions for 2015. Have you made your list yet? I usually don't bother, but I'm putting my foot down. I'm going to lose weight starting on Monday. My plan is to lose 11 pounds in the next 6 months. How about you? 

"I'm going to lose weight."

Ooops! It just dawned on me that I have two more resolutions for 2015 besides LOSING WEIGHT.  I have a thing that annoys me very much and sometimes causes me trouble. My mouth has a mind of its own. I don't think it's funny at all, therefore,  I'm going to watch it and AVOID BEING IMPULSIVE. I'm also going to learn SIGN LANGUAGE. There's no particular reason. I just think it's a beautiful thing to learn.

My Super Duper Family

Super Duper is a teenager and he lives with his parents, who are loving parents and who are always there for him.

Images - Downloadable

Elections 2014

Last october, Brazilians voted for president and unlike previous elections, this one was marked by  fearce and really nasty comments of the candidates about their opponents' character. Instead of talking about their platform, they attacked each other trying to make them look unreliable to the voters (which explains the opening remark in the video). Thus,  I took this opportunity to assign a project for my teen students. Since they were learning the first conditional, they were supposed to pretend they were running for president and create a political platform in which they stated what they would do in case they won. They were supposed to use the possible starters below:

1) If you vote for me, I will...
2) If I win this election, I will...
3) If I have your vote/ support, I will...
4) If you give me a chance, I will...

When they finished writing their platforms, I proofread them and provided them with comments and suggestions. After that, the students used the school's IPads to design a poster, in which they would draw a symbol for their campaign, think of an "imaginary" party/number and come up with a catch phrase. The drawing app they used was DRAWP because it's super user friendly.

Once their posters were done, we filmed their platforms. I projected their posters on the data show screen and they stood before it. The videos are time consuming, therefore, I suggest that you assign this project to only one group of few students. I had 8 students In this class.

To wrap things up, we had an election in school. We set up a room with the video on, a ballot and voting slips displayed on a desk. Everyone going past the room was invited to go inside, watch the video and vote for one of the candidates.

My students enjoyed the project very much and took it very seriously every step of the way. In the end, the winner got a token.

Idioms 4

Super Duper still has feelings for that girl Melissa. 

Everyday, he rehearses to ask her out but every time he gets close to her, he has BUTTERFLIES IN HIS STOMACH.

He got sick and tired of keeping it to himself so one day after lunch he GOT IT OFF HIS CHEST.

They started seeing each other and Super Duper is fascinated because they SEE EYE TO EYE on almost everything. 

They went out one day and Super Duper GOT A LUMP IN HIS THROAT when Melissa told him she didn't like his cape.

Super Duper's cape has been a reason for mocking among his friends. They are always PULLING HIS LEG.

He screams AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS, so that they knock it off…

… and the next thing he knows they are AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS.

He GIVES them A COLD SHOULDER as well.

Eventually, the cape resulted in BAD BLOOD between Super Duper and Melissa, so they broke up.

At the end of the day, Super Duper realized he's better off alone. He'll KEEP HIS CHIN UP and LET HIS HAIR DOWN!

Downloadable Material

Resolutions

My teen students learned how to talk about resolutions by using GOING TO. To wrap things up, they were asked to illustrate a song. I apologize for the rough sketches, but this particular group was not very into drawing. However, I haven't showed them the video yet, so I hope that when I do, they feel motivated to finish them up, so I can edit it eventually. Nevertheless, I wanted to give you an idea of what the video could look like, so here's the result:

 

My Best Friend

After learning how to describe people´s physical characteristics, my students have been asked to draw, color and write about their best friends.

Brazil X Germany

" It was not a bad dream, because if it had been one, we would have woken up" (Tino Marcos). It is real. The chance to be champion for the sixth time has been postponed once again. However, I always try to see the bright side of everything. We cannot always win and everything in life, good or bad, is a lesson to be learned. 

How old are you?

Super simple activity for practicing HOW OLD ARE YOU? with elementary students. I usually draw first to demonstrate what I expect from them.

  Teacher´s                                 Student´s

1) Write the following on the board:

HOW OLD ARE YOU? I´m___________

2) Hand out sheets in blank;
3) Students draw and color their age (They draw a big number in the center of the sheet)
4) Students tape them on their chest;
5) Students walk around the classroom and practice Q/A;

February in Brazil

In Brazil, the number one holiday in February is Carnaval, which is deemed the largest collective party in the entire world. It´s a five-day holiday, that´s right, a five-day holiday in which people go away, relax and have fun. A traditional activity during this period is getting together to sing and dance. In different parts of Brazil, the musical style during carnaval ranges from regional folk music to the carioca samba.  " Foliões", which is how the people who participate in the celebration are called, either travel to the coast or go to Rio and Sao Paulo to see the samba schools´ parades. Each school presents a theme and parade accordingly and during the parade, a group of jurors analyse and grade every aspect of it, from the clothes they wear to the music they play. The parades officially start out in São Paulo on Friday and Saturday. The two parades take place in Anhembi and are broadcast live to all viewers. On Sunday and Monday, it´s Rio´s schools' turn to astonish the viewers with their costumes, props and ornamented cars. Sapucaí is the place chosen for such monumental event, which is also broadcast live to anyone who´s willing to see it. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the results come out and Rio and Sao Paulo´s winning schools celebrate their victory with the Winners´ Parade, also broadcast live. Every year, carnaval is held in February. However, this year it´s from March 1st to March 5th, which is pretty unusual. Still, brazilians love it because any reason is a reason to sing and dance, even when the date is not right.