The Flipped classroom, adaptable for primary?

This is a very interesting little JPG that I came across during my morning Facebook patrol. It was posted on the British Council website and talks of how we could turn the classroom inside out, so that effectively the class is studied home online via web and the homework is done in the classroom.

Now, how could this be implemented into an ESL classroom, and a primary one at that? The only way one could really integrate this would be to give students an opportunity to see vocabulary beforehand. Being such young students, self study is still not applicable, however by proving flashcard cards, games and word games, one could facilitate language acquisition.

Another benefit to this method is that allows students who are sick to not miss out on any valuable vocabulary, or those who go on holiday during term time(which frequently happens in Spain). I also feel it's a great tool for parents who have very little knowledge of English, as they can learn at the same time as their child. This is a issue I have heard many a time during parent-teacher conferences.

If anyone has any other idea on how this could work within the ESL classroom, please let me know!

Very pinteresting!

I have just become a fan of Pinterest, so, I really have very little clue about what I am doing, but I am going to "pin" different educational resources that I find interesting. I haven't gotten very far at the moment, but I shall be expanding as the days/weeks go by! you can find me at

http://pinterest.com/dougle2k/

Keep Calm!

OH WOW, this really made my day indeed! At the moment, the "keep calm" posters are really taking off, I found this fab little website that allows you to design your own Keep Calm posters, I really think this could bring some originality into the classroom, even having competitions amongst students to see who can come up with the funkiest slogan!

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/createPoster/

A delectable detail.....

Now we know that getting children to read at the best of times can be a tricky subject, but how about trying to tempt them with these gorgeous cupcakes? After a child reads a book, and they can explain what they have understood, you could reward them with a cupcake featuring a motif of the book? The cupcake come from a place called "Victoria's Kitchen", here is a link to her Facebook page, great name by the way, :-D

http://www.facebook.com/victoriaskitchen

Classroom Dojo

A few weeks ago whilst I was tweeting, someone from "Classroom Dojo" got in contact with me and asked me to have a look at their website. Naturally intrigued, I had a quick looksie and quite frankly like what I saw. As a technologically minded person, I have been looking for a good program that allows me to keep an accurate track of my students' positive and negative behaviour, whilst also cataloguing their attendance. Classroom Dojo does exactly this. It's a great app that you can also use on your IWB as students can self assess, something that I feel needs greater input in Spanish schools as children often seem less independent. I've taken some screen shots so that you can see how the setup works.
                                                                                                                                                                         

This is a screen of the main page, here you can add and edit your class list and click on students to add information.

This is the attendance page, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

This is the positive feedback that you can assign each student after every class. 

This is the negative feedback that you can give each student.

                                             

                               This is the end result, an easy way of creating report cards and teacher-parent       conferences.

The best thing about this app is that it also available for iPad and iPhone so if you haven't got access to a computer, you can keep on top of it easily and readily. The only drawback is that it will become time consuming to use, as I personally have hardly any free time during the day, however I do believe it's worth the extra effort! Fantastic job!

Autumn already....

Once again I find myself trailing the internets for different ideas for the start of the new Autumn term and I found some fantastic resources courtesy of TES NEW TEACHERS. Its a page that I follow on Facebook and often find that they have innovative new ideas, this shall give me plenty of food for thought before September comes...

Ohhh, beautiful bulletin board!

I must stop thinking about the new term, I must stop thinking about the new term....... But I can't help it. I came across another decoration idea for the beginning of term, I wonder if I could get it organised now and then maybe RELAX during my summer holidays! Hahaha! Click here I think I'm onto a winner here!

Conversing wih your iPhone?

Ok, so this post is more based along the lines of adult ESL, but it grabbed my attention. This is a little app called SUPIKI, which is free to download onto your iPhone. It allows you to practice your spoken English and it responds to you. I will download it later, and give it a test run and full you all in.

Check out this application on the App Store:


Supiki English Conversation Speaking Practice
Linguacomm Enterprises Inc.
Category: Education
Updated: 19 Jun 2012

poster mania!

Just a quick post before bedtime..... I was bowled over by this fab website www.teachfactory.com  . As you are all probably aware, I do like having a pretty classroom so this web is perfect! It has so many free posters that you can print out and put around your class, and they are so unique! This is my favourite so far......

Phonics are hot news....

At the moment in the UK, the teaching of phonics is big, big news. Here in Spain, as children learn Spanish technically before english, the use of phonics is not as necessary as you generally say what you see. However, now that the Spanish Government has implemented the importance of bilingualism in their primary schools, it is becoming increasingly more important the use of phonics within the primary classroom. I have seen that students who enter in Primary who have previously studied the "Jolly Phonics" structure have better pronunciation, and are more able to sight read. Instead of them memorising a word, they are more capable of breaking the sound down thus allowing them more freedom within their learning. Finding a good app that allows teaching phonics in a fun and dynamic manner is quite difficult, however Twinkl has designed an innovative new app for the iPad and Android devices (of which I have neither - YET) which allows teachers to bring more interactive ways of studying phonics back into the classroom. Here you can find the link to their sneak preview, and I for one am quite excited, and am putting away a few pennies, I think I may need an iPad!

Cool door!

Thanks to the website "Scholastic Teachers", I came across this little gem.

Unfortunately, this isn't going to be too appropriate for the level that I teach, however, the idea is easily adaptable in order to make it easier for your little ones to understand. I was also thinking that it would be a great idea to interact the sentences according to what we are studying in English, Science or Maths. I'm a very big believer that the children ought to participate, so it would also make a great little art project too, even throw in some extra alphabet practice! (plus, I think parents would love the friendliness and good messages it evokes!)

Forward thinking!

Different Seasons Tree

Once again, I find myself absolutely obsessed about how eye catching I can make my class in September. I don't believe that having a pretty class is the most important aspect, but as my students are coming up into a different education cycle, I want to make the situation as least stressful as possible. Pretty things help to distract them from their nervousness and anxieties. I came across this pretty tree from Teacher's Pet. I know, I seem to have a small obsession with this website, but I generally love all the ideas that they come up with. This tree is a great way to explain the different seasons (especially as I teach ESL) but it would also brighten up the class. What do you think?

London Olympics 2012

So, tomorrow the Olympics start and I for one am super excited about it. I've been working at a summer school the past month and tomorrow is my last day. Today, we made some awesome torches, made from cardboard and crêpe paper and they looked fab!
So, it got me thinking about where people could find some interesting information about how to follow the Olympics as an English as a second language learner. Although this page is not specifically for primary students, it does provide a great little handbook for teachers and learners who want to better understand the vocabulary! GO TEAM GB!

Back to school already...

So i know we've only just broken up but I'm already brimming with ideas on how to best decorate my class and warmly welcome my new students in September. Teachers Pet has a great post about original ideas on how to decorate your door, something I had t really considered. I was thinking about making a splayed out fan with all the students' name and mine in the centre, opinions? Here is the link to the website http://displays.tpet.co.uk/#/viewPost/id981