Odysseus and Polyphemus.

In the next work unit we are going to read a Greek legend: "Odysseus and Polyphemus" or "Odysseus and the Cyclops",  there are different names and many different versions of this ancient myth.

Here are some examples made by school students:

These are animations made by students:

Blowing Bubbles.

bubbles from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Show and Tell

In the last week have started Show and Tell sessions in class.

The pupils bring in some photos from home and can prepare some comments about them. The main objective is to just speak clearly about something familiar and simple.

The pupils work in groups of about 5. While one of them speaks the others have an assessment sheet. They have to evaluate their classmates on several key areas -  interesting photos, speaking clearly, interesting information, "correct" English and a final mark.

(las hojas de evaluación solo sirven para enfocar el interés de los alumnos mientras escuchan a sus compañeros)

5B show and Tell 1 from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.
5B Show and Tell 2 from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

And thank you Martín for your humorous "Ninja Cat" presentation ...

5B Show and Tell (Martín) from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Reading Aloud: Dialogues

In the current work unit we are focusing on different ways of writing down spoken words.
In this video the students have used different "speech verbs" to write a very simple narrative which includes some dialogue.
Students volunteer to read aloud the completed text. This is a difficult skill as they have little time to prepare and must think of the intonation required.
In this activity we are not aiming for perfection. We are aiming for building confidence, improving intonation and fluency.

Text for 5ºA:

"How are you?" asked Brendan
"I´m bored" groaned Zaida "We have too much work!"
"Rubbish!" yelled Héctor "I want even more work"
(written by class together)

Reading Aloud 5A from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Text for 5ºB:

"How are you David?" asked Brendan
"I´m not happy" replied David
"Why not?" asked Brendan, looking at David with interest
"Because it´s the literacy class" groaned David. "All right, hmmm" yelled Brendan "Go and sit down!"
(written by class together)

Reading Aloud 5B (1) from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Reading Aloud 5B (2) from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Easter Holiday Homework: Follow-up.

The pupils produced some excellent and interesting "Holiday Diaries".
(Pincha en las fotos para verlas más grandes)

After returning from the Easter break we did a questions and answer session using the whiteboards to take notes. (photos and video 5ªB). After selecting various dates from the holiday period pupils have to find others in the class who did something on that date. They use their own diary for consultation.

La calidad del sonido en el video no es muy buena pero se puede ver que todos los alumnos se involucran en la actividad 

Easter Holiday News from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Oceans World Exhibition

El pasado día 23 de marzo el alumnado de quinto acudió a la exposición "Oceans". La exposición tiene dos objetivos principales: 

Por un lado, transmitir conocimientos sobre las magnitudes de los océanos, sus principales características, orígenes, funciones geológicas, riqueza de la biodiversidad marina, recursos que proporciona, relevancia para el hombre, etc. 

Por otro lado, mostrar su extraordinaria belleza, sorprender, emocionar y tomar conciencia de las amenazas que sufren los océanos y de la responsabilidad de preservarlos, que a todos nos concierne.

Here you have some photos:

Holiday Drawing Activities

Ideas for the holidays: Why not try drawing your favourite animal or cartoon character?

This is a link to "Art for Kids Hub" playlist on youtube. The same one we used to draw the Kookaburra.

Running Dictations

5ºB Running Dictation from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

We went outside on a cold friday midday to do a "Running Dictation". Working in teams the students have to pass a written message from one end of the playground to the other via a chain of communication. Sentence by sentence, bit by bit. The final writing is never the same as the original but it is interesting and fun to see the end result then discuss which parts are "easy" and which parts cause difficulties.

Photos from 5ºA:

"Hot-seating" Drama and Storytelling

After reading a story or in a drama activity we sometimes do "Hot-seating" which is a common method in drama for developing and understanding a character.
It's also fun and gives a chance for spontaneous speaking and dialogue.

In this example the student in the "hot seat" is taking on the roll of The Iron Man. There is no preparation so she has to think and answer very quickly.

  5B Iron Man "Hotseating" from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Dictionary Work: Alternatives Verbs.

We are working on different ways to write the words that a person says.

(página 17 en el libro de texto)
We are going to use lots of alternatives to the verb "say" (said). Today we used dictionaries to check the meaning of a number of verbs and we need to select the ones that can be used for speaking

List of verbs with those we can use for speaking in red:

• grumble - quejarse

• shake

• go

• moan - quejarse, gemir

• whisper - susurrar, hablar muy bajo

• look

• groan - gemir, quejarse

• shout - gritar

• do - hacer

• yell - gritar, chillar

• ask - preguntar

• smile

• murmur - murmurar, susurrar

• croak - croar, decir con voz ronca

• jump

• start

• cry - gritar, llorar, llamar en voz alta

Who Am I? (actualizado)

Pupils have to guess their "new identity" as a famous person in this speaking activity. In this video there are very good examples of :

• Self-correction, 
• Question formation
• Listening and speaking in context

... and excellent interaction between pupils. Well done!

5ºB:

Who Am I? from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.
5ºA:
5A Who am I? from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Types of Questions the students asked:

• Am I a man? Am I a woman? Am I an actor? Am I Spanish? Am I a singer?
• Can I speak English? Can I run fast? Can I play the piano?
• Have I got long hair? Have I got a famous wife?
• Do I live in Hollywood? Do I play for Real madrid? etc etc

3D models: Birds of Oceania, Part 1 (Art)

In the art class we are making big models of birds from Oceania. We are using old newspapers, boxes and sticks (from the tree-cutting in the school playground) to make them:

We are working in groups of 3/4. We started by looking at flightless birds and and checking which ones are from Oceania, because many people forget that the Ostrich (avestruz) is from Africa.

Now we are building each part of the bird separately. The head, neck body and legs.

Cassowary

Emu

Kiwi

In the photos below the pupils from 5ºA and 5ºB are working on the initial structure of their models. They have to work together and resolve the problems which appear as the work progresses.





Step 1 Basic Structure

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2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Reading: Winter Birds

In this link the students can read about common birds which are easy to see in the UK in wintertime. From the BBC cbbc children´s website (abre en una ventana nueva).
Esto es un recurso que se utilizará en el aula
En este momento hay un problema con el link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/10-birds-you-can-spot-this-winter

Story Time: The Iron Man

On fridays we usually have our "Story Time" when we read poems, section of novels or short stories in a group. In the first term we read the first chapter of this famous story for children, "The Iron man" by Ted Hughes.

Open the video below to see an excellent and atmospheric, animated version of the first chapter. It is from the BBC children´s channel.
(1. Esto es un recurso que se utilizará en el aula)

Below that there is a video of the students in 5ºA doing a follow-up activity.
(2. Alumnos de 5ºA hablan del libro en el segundo video:)


The Iron Man from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

5A The Iron Man Review from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.


Listening Practice: This is an abridged version of the story, we will be doing some comprehension questions based on this listening. Practice reading the text to yourself as it is read by the narrator.

Esto es otro recurso que se utilizará en el aula:

Kookaburra Videos (Art)

Photos and video from our recent art class: ...

Pupils follow the instructions from the video on the interactive whiteboard:

5B Kookaburra Drawing 1 from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

... and then give feedback on their first attempts ... some are more happy with their work than others!:


5B Kookaburra Drawing and Comments from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Even though these photos and videos are from the pupils in 5ºB the drawings from 5ºA  were equally excellent! More photos of the finished drawings to come soon.