TIME TOAST-BARACK OBAMA

TIME TOAST NOBEL PEACE PRIZE-BARACK OBAMA

• The learning objectives of the activity

-To celebrate the Peace Day (31^st of January) by knowing a nobel peace prize winner.

-To practice past simple and past perfect.

-To get to know an important politician of the American culture.

• The advantages of using TimeToast for this activity.

-The students can see in a visual and dynamic way the biography of an important person.

-They can establish which kind of information they want to put or not.

-The practice reading in a scanning way because they have too much information on Internet and they have to read and select the most relevant to be included In their timelines.

-They are reading, and sharing information in a meaningful way and we are  avoiding  traditional reading activities.

• The steps you followed to set up the activity

1.Present why we celebrate the Peace Day.

2.Brainstorming about what is peace and which values we need to transmit.

3.Search information about some of the nobel peace prize winners.

4.Analyse information about the life and career of Barack Obama.

5.Make a debate about why he received the nobel peace prize.

6.Create out timeline about his life.

7.Share the timeline with the students.

8.Make a discussion about the different information each group has selected to put in the timeline.

9-Create a huge timeline joining all the information we have found within all the group work.

• Any problems and how you and the students solved them.

Some students do not feel encourage with the activity, in relation to that I gave them an important role in the group, such as content supervisor ,or timeline designer, depending on their strengths in the subject.

• The students’ reaction – how did they feel about using TimeToast to complete the task?

At first they feel excited about using a new resource in the classroom, but when they started using it , they felt frustration because sometimes they did not know how to make a timeline, o add a new event.At the end of the activity they feel happy and proud of the effort they have made.

• Some things that you would change / improve next time.

-Try to find a Spanish character related to their reality and not an American one.

-Make a timeline takes time and maybe it is necessary more lessons.

-Help them in knowing how to filter all the information they find in Internet because sometimes they felt overwhelmed.

• At least 3 ways that the use of TimeToast helped you achieve your learning objectives

-In the first lessons of the year, we can use it as an “ALL ABOUT ME “ activity in which students present themselves.

-Also it is a good tool to practice grammar  because the do no have to read or make exercise,but writing and seeing that structures in magazines or newspapers.

-They read and they don’t realize they are reading,so we are making the reading moment a contextualized and memorable acitivity for them.

REFLECT OF READING HABITS

Reading can be defined as the process of interpreting different symbols and giving them a meaning in a specific context.

I have chosen two different pictures that from my point of view reflect different types of reading.

In the first picture the process of reading is produced in a relaxed atmosphere in a familiar context and also with a family member.In this kind of reading, the pressure is low and the child is enjoying because he/she does not feel the necessity of making a reading aloud perfect process.
In addition it is possible that it was the child the one who chooses the kind of book he/she wants to read, so he /she is reading also for pleasure.

 
On the contrary, in the second picture, we can find a different context, an academic one , every child is reading the same book which means that it cannot be interesting for all of them.
Also, if they read aloud the child feels the pressure of everyone hearing and not making mistakes.
Even the atmosphere is not as relaxed as in the previous one they can feel engage by the teacher and the rest of the classmates.
 
In my case I enjoy reading different kind of books in both languages, in Spanish I love reading novels but in English I really enjoy reading comedies and that kind of books in which I don’t need a full attention. Why is that?
Reading on my L1 does not involve a real difficulty ,but when I read in L2 and the book make me feel lost or it is not understandable I start feeling the same frustration as when a child cannot understand a simple statement in the foreign language.

In that case I find more difficulty on reading on digital format when reading in English, because I get distracted so easily, but on the contrary I love reading on digital format in Spanish.
 
In my opinion, all of that is related to that I read for pleasure, to relax and forget about problems after a hard day, that is why I use exciting and easy reading books in order to avoid the stress.

INTRODUCING MYSELF!

 

Hello my friends!My name is María.I'm an English teacher for Primary Education but also I love using technologies in my lessons.

According to that I have decided to create my own blog in order to share content,experiences and doubts with my colleagues but also with my students.

I hope you will enjoy reading this blog but also share your experiences and make a more memorable learning experience.

WELCOME TO ENGLISH4FUN!

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