Students or teachers?

Last Wednesday some students of the third class in the school of Guardea prepared a very nice lesson on the song "Beat it" by Michael Jackson.
We listened to the song and watched the video once first,

then we listened to it again and filled in the gaps in the text we had on the photocopy they had prepared.

 We really enjoyed the activity and learned new words. Then for homework the students wrote sentences using the words they already knew.

We want to say a big 

to Riccardo, Bruno and Andrea! 

Talking in English in Giove

Thursday 12th February we had Alastair and Helen in class III A to talk about free time activities, hobbies, sports, school, family, clothes and fashion too. 

The students were split in two groups so that everyone had the chance to talk, say a few sentences, ask questions.

Helen had a very nice idea: she was pretending to be in India and made a telephone call in which she asked questions to fill in a survey about members of the family, activities they do in their free time, age, date of birth, and so on.

 All the students answered the call and gave her the info requested, the best thing was they were all involved, listened to each other and they were also eager to talk in English!

 

What have you got? I've got a cat!

First year students here are some exercises to review "have got"  

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2944
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5681
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3170

Guess who?

This morning in class II A we played "Guess who?".
The students described a well known person and they had to guess who it was.
To describe people we created this mind map last week

It was also nice to listen to students describing themselves when they were small or their parents when they were younger.

Where were you yesterday? What did you do last weekend?

Second year students started to study the simple past so they will be able to talk about their past experiences very soon.
They have all studied the simple past of the verb to be and some of them started to study the simple past of the other verbs, both regular and irregular.
Here are some useful exercises to let all of you be more confident in telling us about your past.

Simple past verb to be
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5211
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=3509

Irregular verbs flashcards and games



Irregular verbs
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/fill_in.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/fill_in2.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/forms.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/forms2.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/irregular_verbs/forms3.htm

Simple past affirmative form
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_statements.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_statements2.htm

Here are the videos on Trinity GESE exams and they will help you choose your grade.

http://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=2046

Follow the instruction:

1. Watch Grade 3 and Grade 4
2. Try to write down the questions each grade              
3. Answer to the questions orally
4. Which grade could you write down and answer more questions?
5. This can be the grade fro you.

Anyway we will talk about it in class.

Present perfect: video, notes and exercises

Third year students click on the link below and you will find notes and info on the present perfect form.

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos/present-perfect-simple-and-continuous

Some exercises!

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_statements.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_statements2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_negation.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_negation2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/present_perfect.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/present_perfect2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_mix.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_mix2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/present_perfect_already_yet.htm

And now let's have fun! 

Future plans and grammar structures

Third  year students here is a link to a video and some grammar notes about the future with will, to be going to and the present continuous.

Have a look at it then we will discuss it in class and we are going to create a mind map to share.

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos/future-forms

And now let's exercise "will" 

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_future_statements.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_future_negation.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/will_future.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/will_future2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_future_mix.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_future_mix.htm

and "to be going to"

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/going_to_future_statements.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/going_to_future_negation.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/going_to_future.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/going_to_future2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/going_to_future_mix.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/going_to_future_mix2.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_future_mix2.htm

Lessons with peculiar teachers!

Last and this week I could attended very special lessons in my classes! In fact some of the students became teachers and I enjoyed being a student!

Students from III A started last week with a lesson on the song "Shake it off" by Taylor Swift.



In fact Marta C., Caterina, Sara and Aurora prepared some exercises for all students who followed their instructions. First we watched the video and listened to the song without having the lyrics in front of us.

Then we were shown an exercise on the IWB and we had to fill in the blanks while listening to the song again.

After that the "teachers" asked some questions about the song and we answered to them orally.

This week I relaxed a lot because I had three lessons by my students!

The girls of class III G made a lesson on the song "Thinking out loud" by Ed Sheeran



First we listened to the song and watched the video without having the words of the song and while listening the students of both classes III G and I G carried out an activity I prepared for them: take the words they heard while listening.

The "teachers" Giorgia, Chiara, Aurora and Francesca gave us photocopy with a fill in the blanks exercises to do while listening to the song again an the they corrected it.

At the end of the lesson they also gave us homework!

In class III D Emily prepared a presentation on Walt Disney after having read a book on him.
She told us a bit of life and career,

she showed us one of first cartoons he invented



so we could learn about Mickey Mouse and Scrooge McDuck,
we talked about Disneyland and the other Disney movies such as Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and so on.





The students were really very interested and asked a lot of questions, we made connections with History, Geography and Literature referring to the I and II World War, the 1929 economic crisis, the U.S.A., Charles Dickens and much more.

Yesterday in class II A Natalia told us about a story she read of the Famous Five series written by the English writer Enid Blyton. Even though I was among the students I helped all of them understand it as much as possible reformulating some sentences and translating some words.

Here is the first part of the story audiobook.



It was really a great experience having my students turned into teachers both for me and for the other students. I think this motivated the ones who prepared the lessons and their mates to do the same in some days time.
I was proud of all of them and happy of the "adventure" and work we did together so far.

THANKS A LOT TO ALL OF YOU!

Rome: a school trip we'll never forget!

Last Thursday 5th February 2015 class III A went to Rome on a school trip to visit the Number exhibition and the Keats-Shelley house.

Of course we had great time and it was a great experience for both students and teachers. In fact everyone could learn new things and explore several mathematical systems and poetical thoughts. We all had the  chance to try out theorems and listen to an English guide. We also could taste a delicious ice cream! 

Here is a video with some pics from the day. 

SWEET MEMORIES LAST FOREVER!