How to get film-based lessons right Have you ever shown films to your class, or considered setting up a film club? Daryn Simon, Head of History at Ysgol Bryn Alyn, and Beatrix Clark of Into Film share some advice. Why show films in the classroom? Using film in the classroom is particularly effective in developing children's literacy skills. The Leeds Partnership Project, in which pupils regularly watched and made films, recorded a 96 per cent improvement in reading, compared with the previous term, and a 60 per cent improvement in writing. What do students and teachers get out of establishing a film club? I have seen pupils become far more confident in expressing opinions about films. How can teachers make sure that pupils don't 'zone out' in class when shown a film? Choose the film carefully. What's the best way to structure the lesson to keep things lively? Before the film starts, share discussion points with pupils to help them watch in an active way. In practical terms, how should teachers go about setting up a film club?
Create Dream Explore: An Easy Activity to Promote Growth Mindset I love to start the year with Peter H. Reynold's books like The Dot and Ish. Both books are great for teaching kids that it is okay to take risks and make mistakes. I started this school year with an activity that I saw on Twitter. Then I spread each paper around the room with markers and asked students to go to each word and write or draw what the word means to them. I have a fairly chatty class but you could hear a pin drop during this activity. The most important part of the lesson came at the end when we shared all of their ideas. Here is the answer I got from one student, "...because it's okay for us to make mistakes. Just. Kids are so bright! Give this activity a shot in your classroom. Let me know how it goes!
Dumb Ways to Die | All at C Happy New Year from allatc! In December just gone, three separate people sent this video and issued a challenge to do something with it – never something we were going to be able to resist! It’s very funny, full of wonderful vocabulary and has allowed us to make use of the fabulous eltpics website. It’s also our first blog post to use content from Australia – something long overdue. And it has a dance routine… Click here for the Teacher’s Notes. Image made using photos taken from by @sandymillin, @cerirhiannon, @fionamau, @annapires, @sandymillin, @sandymillin, @mkofab, @dfogarty, @dfogarty, @teacherphili, @sandymillin, @thornburyscott, @sandymillin, @sonrisadelcampo, @yitzha_sarwono, @sandymillin, @sandymillin, @cgoodey, @theteacherjames, @ij64 used under a CC Attribution Non-Commercial license, Like this: Like Loading...
A Soundtrack for a Growth Mindset – Two Little Birds A Soundtrack for a Growth Mindset Everyone enjoys music! Hearing a tune can bring back a memory or a certain time and learning song lyrics also helps memory development. There are so many ways to use music in your classroom; changing the lyrics to fit a lesson, learning a song about the 50 states, singing a song about lining up…the possibilities are endless! Music has become a regular part of my students’ day. For a long time, I would simply turn on Pandora and choose a fun, kid’s station and set the music as our background. 1. Have you seen Zootopia? 2. When this song first came out, my class performed this in the school talent show. 3. I am not going to lie…I have been know to put this song on “infinite looper” and just let it play. 4. Ok, fine, you caught me…I love the songs from Sesame Street! Have I gone too far with the Sesame Street songs? 5. This song is truly what a growth mindset is ALL about! Do you have any other favorite songs that promote a growth mindset? Happy Teaching!
“On The Same Page”: A Video-Based Lesson In “On The Same Page” (Alli Norman and Carla Lutz, 2015), an introverted journalist for the local news section “has nothing to write about until he is whirled away into a colourful journey with his neighbour from the comic section.” Similarly, the students in this video-based lesson are asked to become active learners and have lots to say by making predictions at various stages in the story, raising questions about what they have have just watched, or sharing their personal reactions in the hope of enhancing their critical thinking skills while practising the language. The goal here is to set up a dialogue that is student-driven and through which the students will both demonstrate comprehension and engage in meaningful conversations with the visual text. What is more, this provides a flexible framework which allows for each student to work at their own performance level. Write a question. Such an approach demands that a variety of sharing strategies be used throughout the activity. 1.
Growth Mindset resource and Why do kids need to learn to struggle? As adults we all know the most rewarding experiences in life often involve significant struggle and sacrifice at some stage. Personally the greatest joys in my life have all come with some form of struggle… Being married. Being a parent. Staying healthy. Being a teacher. Without the ability to struggle life becomes very limited. A fear of struggling will stop students from trying something they are not 100% certain they will succeed at with ease. The list of things we know we can all succeed at in the adult world probably consists of 1) breathing 2) eating chocolate 3) sitting on the couch watching The Bachelorette. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Bachelorette, but I hope people aren’t talking about it at my funeral. So how do we help our students not just cope with struggle, but to thrive with it? Here is one activity I have used to confront and discuss “Struggling” with my students… Then the fun begins. For the record I never figured it out...
10 Creative Ways to Use Popular Movies in Fun ESL Lessons Bored of book work? Tired of teacher-talking? Want something exciting for your students? Then watch a movie! Now, I know what some of you might be thinking: Isn’t watching a movie a cop-out? It’s tempting to think that putting on a movie is simply a great excuse for the teacher to sit at the back of the room, dim the lights and fall asleep clutching the remote. Creating a lesson around a popular movie is a sure-fire way to have fun, engage your English learners and gain some much coveted popularity! How Does Watching a Movie Help ESL Students? There are countless ways in which movies can support your lesson. For example, they can be used to: Reinforce a grammar pointListen for gistPractice vocabularyDiscuss and debateRole play Movies are a brilliant way for students to hear up-to-date authentic speech and be exposed to various accents. To help your ESL students improve their English using any movie or short film, try out the following activities! 5 Great ESL Movie Comprehension Activities 1. 2.
How Teaching Growth Mindset Leads to Student Success Teachers, what is the most influential factor when predicting student success in the classroom and in life? Is it a high IQ? A high reading level? A high social intelligence? While all of these things measure intelligence in some way, they don't actually predict success. That means success can be taught! Carol Dweck, the leading researcher on Growth Mindset, teaches us that we either tend toward a fixed mindset - the belief that our abilities are fixed and cannot be developed - or a growth mindset - the belief that our abilities can be developed, cultivated, and improved. When our students have a fixed mindset, they face learning challenges with embarrassment and frustration because they don't believe that they can advance beyond their current level of understanding.
Lingorank: English listening exercises and tests with selected talks tubequizard