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!

To Autumn: a poem, a video and a ... competition!

Here is the all the poem "To Autumn" we started to read this morning. This poem was written by John Keats in 1819.

Watch and listen to the poem in the video while reading the text below and enjoy it.                                

  TO AUTUMN.

                                            1.

    SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
    To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
        And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
            To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
        And still more, later flowers for the bees,
        Until they think warm days will never cease,
            For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

                                            2.

    Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
        Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
    Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
        Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
    Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
        Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
            Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
        Steady thy laden head across a brook;
        Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
            Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

                                            3.

    Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
        Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
    While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
        And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
    Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
        Among the river sallows, borne aloft
            Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
    And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
        Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
        The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
           And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Now you have listened to the poem why don't you try to write one on your own? 

- Think about the characteristics of Autumn

- Think about the activities you do in this period of the year

- Think about your feelings when you look out of the window 

- Think about nature in this season

- Think ...

And then try to write a very short poem (3-4 lines) and send it to me here or on edmodo.