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. 

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.

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

Super Duper Worth it

Boo hoo! Vacation is over and we're on our way back to Brazil. Although many people think traveling is more exhausting than relaxing, I think otherwise. Traveling and being able to meet different people  and see different places is totally worth it! It's worth the twelve-hour flight and other little inconveniences such as the freezing weather.  I'll have wonderful memories and stories to tell.


The activities below have as a final outcome 'writing about your last vacation'. 

Suggestions for Activities

My Super Duper Friends

After practicing the use of the third person in the Simple Present, students are to draw and write about their best friend.


Just like any other teenager, Super Duper also has his gang. They hang out and have fun together. Let's meet them:

Downloadable Material

My favorite singer

Students are learning how to describe their talents. After practicing the structure " I can... but I can´t ..." and learning the names of the musical instruments, I assigned the following written task: Draw and color you favorite singer and write about him/her.

Digital Tools

The activities presented here have been designed for an elementary group and the ultimate goal was to incorporate  a digital tool to it. At the time, I was working with Dani Lyra on this project that we developed and which consisted on devising lesson plans which enabled teachers to use digital tools. We called it "DIGITAL COMMUNICATION PROJECT - WEB 2.0 AND EFL YOUNG LEARNERS". For the first activity, students started out by drawing and coloring the foods they liked. Then, they wrote on the back of their drawings three sentences using the structure learned, the verb LIKE. They wrote two true sentences and one false. In the end, I digitalized their work using PHOTO PEACH, which allows us to make a slide show presentation. In the slides, students could read the true and false sentences written by their peers and guess which sentences were false, based on the drawings presented. They enjoyed seeing their drawings in the activity and had a lot of fun. For the second activity, students drew their bedrooms and wrote sentences using the structure learned, the verb THERE TO BE. Afterwards, the illustrations and sentences were digitalized and in the end, which could be the next class, students watched the slide show and guessed which of the three sentences was the correct one. Needless to say that they had tons of fun seeing their drawings projected on the wall.

Brazil in the World Cup Finals in 1994

The activity below was designed as a final project for a course I took in 2009 called "WEBTOOLS FOR EDUCATORS" and conducted by Carla Arena. The goal was to make an advanced group of students interested and prepared to talk about the topic, which was soccer. In order to make that happen, they were presented vocabulary related to soccer and a video with drawings I had made. The ultimate task was to write about a soccer game they had watched, using the vocabulary learned.

My Super Duper School

The images below are supposed to be used to practice describing one's school. Students can practice CAN for permission, CAN'T for prohibition, HAVE TO for obligation and DON'T HAVE TO for not necessary. They can also practice saying which their favorite subject is and when they have it and which their least favorite subject is.To wrap things up, students may be asked to write a short paragraph about their school.

Super Duper studies in the morning. He goes to school in Brasília, Brazil. Look what it's like:
Images - Downloadable

Family Members - Option 2

After practicing the family members and how to introduce them, students are given sheets of paper and instructed to fold them and draw the members of their family. Some students have very big families, so instruct them to draw just the ones that live with them. Afterwards, they write about them using the structure learned.

Step 1: FOLD

The number of folded parts will depend on the number of people in the student's family. (Sometimes, it is very difficult for them to fold the sheet, so you can do it for them. Ask them how many people they have in their family and fold it accordingly.)

Step 2: DRAW

It is only necessary to draw one on the first rectangle. (Point out that the ends of the arms and legs have to touch the edges of the sheet. )

Step 3: CUT OUT 

Students cut it out. (This step may be even more difficult than folding, so you might need to cut a few in order for them not to wreck it.)

Step 4: DRAW AND COLOR THE DETAILS

Students draw and color the details of each member in their family 

In the end, give each student a colored sheet of paper. Students paste their family and write about them. Collect and display them on the walls. You can also digitize their work, so their parents can see it.

Family Members

Young Learners: MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY

We practiced the structure below for some time (about three classes) and after that, I used the slides and elicited the missing words. Students learned the possible ways to talk about their family:

This is my mom. Her name is Anna.

Anna is my mom.

My mom's name is Anna.
This is Anna. She's my mom. 

To wrap it up, students drew the members of their family. Point out that they are supposed to draw only the people that live with them. After drawing them, students wrote about them. (You can take a photo of their drawings and project them using the data show equipment. Students then introduce their families to peers.)

Images - Downloadable

Teens: SUPERLATIVES

The same drawings have been used in order to practice the Superlatives. After practicing  the forms of the superlatives with different adjectives, students were to write about their family members.

How's the weather today?

Dani Lyra needed illustrations for a reading activity with her little ones, so she asked me to draw pictures of different kinds of weather. Here they are.

Images - Downloadable

My Super Duper Pets

I used this activity to practice describing pets, their names and colors. After that, students drew their own pet and wrote about them. Super Duper loves animals and so do his friends. Here they are.

Activity proposed for these images

John Lennon - A Short Biography

Dani Lyra asked me to draw a set of drawings about John Lennon´s biography in order to use it as a teaser.The teaching point here is the past form of the verbs. The teacher prints the images and displays them randomly. Students guess the sequence of events and come up with the story. Afterwards, teacher plays the video, so students can check the correct order. The other way around is also possible, that is, show students the video first and then, check whether they remember the sequence. In the end, students research information about late famous people and write a short biography each. Here are a few questions to guide them:

1) When and where was he/she born?
2) What did he/she do?
3) When and how did he/she die?  

Video

Downloadable Material

My Super Duper Weekend

The activities proposed for these illustrations are similar to the ones proposed for "My Super Duper Routine". The ultimate purpose is to have students write about themselves.

Super Duper has a lot of fun on the weekend. Check him out!

Suggestions for Activities - Downloadable

My Super Duper Routine

The activities suggested below have been designed to practice the third person of the Simple Present, action verbs, time phrases, and sequence words. As a wrap up, students may be asked to write about their daily routine as well.

Super Duper has a very busy daily routine. Here's what he does on weekdays.

On school days, I get up at 6:30.

First, I take a hot shower.

Then, I get dressed.

After that, I brush my teeth.

At seven o'clock, I eat breakfast.

I go to school at 7:30.

In school, I have Math, Portuguese, Science, Physical Education, Music and Computer classes.

At twelve o'clock, I go home for lunch.

I eat lunch at 12:30.

In the afternoon, I have English classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

And I have swimming classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I go home at 6 o'clock.

When I get home, I take a shower.

Then, I eat dinner.

And after dinner, I watch TV and relax.

At 8:30, I do my homework.

And finally I go to bed at ten o'clock.

Suggested Activities - Downloadable