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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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.

What did you do ...?

The students often tell the class their news at the start of the class. Part of the process is the use of verb tenses in context.  However occasionally we revise and focus directly on some grammar points.

Here the students from 5ºB are doing question and answer chains. They prepared their questions but do not know who they will be speaking to until their turn comes around again. (activity from October 2015)

Some students prefer to watch and listen ... which is fine!

5B Past Tense Chains from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Him Her Me Us Them ....

Working on pronouns is often difficult. But eventually after hearing and saying thousands of things in English they begin to sound right. Sometimes we do short "games" to check and revise.

In this activity the pupils from 5ºA are playing "Sergeant and soldiers" and have to think quickly (while practicing the use of object pronouns).

  
5A Pronoun Soldiers from Atalía 5 Gijon on Vimeo.

Draw a Kookaburra (Art)

We have been working on birds in Literacy. Our next project in Art class is going to be building 3D models of birds from Oceania. Before that we practiced drawing this super bird that is found in Australia: The Kookaburra

Here is the video with step by step instructions that we watched in class. (Message to pupils: If you don´t like your first version do another one!)