Among the many activities and lessons I developed for my grade eights this year the most exciting was building a classroom library. Since I am teaching in China, building a classroom library took a little more pre-planning and creativity to organize than if I had an English bookstore in my city. Prior to the winter holiday I met with my students’ parents and proposed my plan to build a class library. With my parents’ support and financial contributes I was able to buy over 170 books while on holiday in Vancouver, Canada. Getting the books back to China was a balancing act of weight distribution in my returning suite cases. It all worked out however and I was able to make the books fit with out paying for extra weight!
The finished library was divided into three learning levels with a wide range of topics to fit the diverse levels and interests of the class. The library includes reading levels for early English language learners, intermediate and advanced to fluent readers. The library consists of fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and several reference books such as, dictionaries and thesauruses, which were purchased in China. For the remaindered of the year I conducted silent reading time in class where I did mini lessons about effective reading and reading for thinking purposes. I was very happy with the results of the library and look forward to using the books again next year with my students as they enter grade nine.
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Objective: To engage students in thinking and discussion using art. Student Development:
In November last year I wrote about art appreciation and Chicago's Concordia University art lessons. At the time I was using the art lessons with a weekly group of grade sevens I taught during the school's weekly "English Corner". Since the art appreciation lessons were so well received with the grade sevens I decided to introduce the lessons to my grade eight class in the second term of the school year. I selected several pieces from the Concordia lessons and had them printed on card stock to use as handouts, which would then be put on the wall as a collection of pieces we had looked at. Each lesson started with a brief introduction of the piece where I would give the title, artist's name and the date it was created. Then, showing the piece on a projector and providing one printed on card stock, students were asked to fill in the attached handout and start to analyze the piece. I encouraged students to get up and walk around the room, viewing the piece from different angles. The handout provided prompts to guide student's thinking. At the bottom of the handout I asked students to consider their feelings when they look at the piece and why they think it was created. After about 25mins I would provide students with biographical and historical information about the artist and the piece. To conclude the lesson we would have a class discussion about the piece, discussing points from the handout and exploring thoughts and opinions of the peice.
This term one of the units in my student’s textbook is themed “Endangered Animals.” Using the theme I made an assignment where students had to create fact sheets for different endangered marine animals. Students were first in groups of 2-3 and then in larger groups of 4-6. Attached is the lesson plan I used for this activity, along with the factsheet template and grading scale I used. To narrow the focus in class I chose to have students write about marine animals, however there are many options for this lesson. In the PDF I have provided some good websites for endangered animal resources.
Objective: To introduce students to common idiom expressions and have them actively build expressions into sentences for deeper understanding. To first understand the reason why teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) idioms is important we first have to understand what they are. Idioms are cultural phrases, which cannot be understood by knowing the individual word meanings alone. For example, “raining cats and dogs.” It is understood that the sky cannot literally rain cats and dogs, but what then do cats and dogs have to do with the rain? In the meaning of this idiom they represent large and heavy raindrops. To say, “it is raining cats and dogs” is to mean, “it is raining very heavily.” Idioms pose a challenge for ELLs because often they have not been raised in the culture the idiom is being used in. Not being able to understand the meaning of phrases can lead students to misunderstanding and confusing situations. When I have taught idioms with my classes I have first developed a definition I feel is appropriate for their level of understanding and then provided them with an Idioms List Handout (see attached). Students can record the definition on the handout and read pages of idiom examples with their meanings. The Idiom List Handout was compiled using idioms from Idiom Site. There are several other good websites for idioms; including Idioms The Free Dictionary and Using English-Idioms. Once students have had a chance to explore the idioms on their own I introduce the Idiom Activity Handout (see attached) and provide and exemplar, using the idiom “back to the beginning” (see attached). Each student should choose, or be assigned a different idiom to complete the activity. The activity sheets can be displayed in the classroom or put into a book. This is a basic activity that can be built into expanded lessons or used as filler between units or lessons. Students can also be put into pairs to complete the activity. There are many options…enjoy!!
As an ESL/EFL teacher I am always looking for ways to get my students reading and thinking, however this can sometimes be a challenge as many articles I find can often be too high a level for my students. As well, the articles can be time consuming to either make the English level simpler and/or provide a vocabulary list of the main words I can predict will pose a challenge. In my search for articles to use with my ESL/EFL class I came upon a great website called English-Online. All the articles on the site are free and have been written for ESL/EFL learners and every article has a vocabulary list at the bottom. To visit the site click here.
On the site there are hundreds of articles to choose from and a wide range of topics to choose from. I have used two articles with my class so far and have found the students engaged in the topics and they were able to understand the content quite well. The English-Online site also has a link to their shop where you can purchase PDF documents of prepared articles with accompanying worksheets and exercises. Although, I have not purchased a PDF download, I have browsed a few and found them quite good. To visit the shop click here. Lesson Notes: The articles I have used with my class have been good for reading as well as a way to get students practicing there writing by answering questions about the article after they have read it. Since my class is grade 9, and writing is an important part of their final evaluation, I have also had them write a composition where they share their opinions about what they have read by providing evidence from the article to support their argument. This Friday marked the end of my second official week teaching in China and I decided it was time to introduce a critical thinking challenge. I am a strong believer in teaching for critical thought, and will likely write many blog topics on the subject. In my search for a suitable topic and resource I was reminded of my Environmental Education course where we were introduced to the online news source Science Times. The articles on the website are a collection of contentious topics written about science, technology, and the environment. Attached to each topic is an article written in three different reading levels; elementary to advanced. The articles have been written with the two sides of the issue presented, however there is no bias attached. This is what makes Science Times such a fantastic resource; students learn to read and form opinions of their own.
During class I introduced students to the article “Biodegradable Plastic.” It discusses the introduction of plastics, which break down in salt water as a plausible solution to the amount of plastic waste created by large ships at sea. The students were engaged in their learning and although, at times the vocabulary was challenging they asked questions and appeared genuinely interested in the topic. Following an introduction to the article (see Hot Topics for a view of what I presented in class) and once they had finished reading I asked them to debate. Since the article presented two perspectives I asked the question: Is biodegradable plastic in the oceans a good thing? Yes or No. I broke the class into two separate debates and had them pull a card to see if they were arguing for Yes or No. As I was walking around listening to their conversation I noticed how involved they were in the topic and eager to debate. Many students felt the biodegradable plastics still posed risks and were not willing to agree entirely with the solution; even when they were supposed to argue for the idea being good. Lesson Notes: I will definitely continue to use Science Times and already have one article tagged for later this term. Debate can be an excellent way for students to work on their critical thinking skills, as well as their English. Finally, environmental issues are on the minds of the world’s youth and it is well worth exploring their ideas. |
Ms. Kolshuk's BlogWelcome to my blog where I post about my teaching practice, ideas, findings and discuss topics of an educational nature. Please feel free to comment and/or email with any topic suggestions.
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