When we say poetry, we always think in Shakespeare, love sonnets and old things like that, but poetry is more than these things, how to involve our students in this “complicated” world? Because it is true that for our students (especially if they are in their first primary years) can be difficult create their own poems, so, how can we help and motivate them to do it?

I have been investigating on internet and I have found some ideas that I would want to share with you, because as a future teachers I think they could work really good, here I am going to let some web pages that for me are interesting:

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/tips-teaching-poetry

About this page, I have to say that I don’t really like the first part of reading, because the ideas that use are basically about reading, memorizing, reading and memorizing, that are things that in my opinion are not really good to motivate our students (in my opinion, and as a student that had to memorize some poems, it is frustrating and bored). But, the second part of the page, “other activities” I think that is a great idea create a newspaper where children can express themselves and write their thoughts and feelings and you motivate them to work hard because is something that other people are going to read! It has a lot of alternatives really catchy for them, like visiting a place where people recite poems, or record themselves to see how they read poems. I really love these ideas.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/poetry-teaching-tips-new-teachers-lisa-dabbs

This second page, for me, is very interesting, because describe short and simple activities that you can make with your students, and I am sure that they will enjoy it. For example I remember in the school that we create one shape poem, and I enjoyed it a lot. Another one that I found amazing is the one using music. Could you imagine something better than read your favorite song as you were a poet? I can’t!

I have been reading about haikus too, I let here a page explaining a little bit what haikus are and some examples, and I think that could be a good resource to use in our classes, because are simple poems in some cases a bit funny, so they could create their own haikus (for example, each student write a short line, and then the teacher mix the sentences and read one by one randomly, creating crazies haikus) I am sure that children will laugh a lot with the results, and they learn another kind of poems from other country.

http://www.tallerdeescritores.com/ejemplos-de-haiku.php

And that is all for today! I hope that you like this post, and give you some ideas to help children with poetry!

Then we have done an activity in which we had to create our own character following the structure given by the teacher, Raquel. Here I start to think about that and, I´ve remembered that when I was a child I always wanted to be a super heroine, but I didn´t like the known super heroines like Catwoman or Storm, so I decided to invented a little super girl. She hasn´t got a name yet, because I´m still creating, but it will have one in a couple of hours. She is a normal girl, who goes to school and try to solve the daily problems of the school life.

I think this character it will be useful for children, because it´s really near to them and the problems are easy happened in the daily life of a normal student of primary education. I know that there are a lot of character similar to this one, but the special feature about mine it is that the truth is that she isn´t a really super heroine, but with her powerful imagination she wear her super heroine suit and fight bravely every day to rich victorious the 6^th grade graduation.

I think when I finish the activity of create my character I will write a short story about it, because this project it made me think and I have lots of ideas related with my character adventures and experiences. So, if I had time, I will write some of them.

See you soon!! J

Today I am writing to you in order to share a magnificent activity to work on poetry in the classroom.

As we all know, poetry is the great benefit as it fosters Social and Emotional learning. The students put in practice their imagination to express themselves working with grammar and language itself. It is a different way to work on grammar and identify the different types of words in a nice easy way. It makes you think and reflect about the type of word that you would write about and the reason why you have chosen it, which relates poetry with their real lives and gives meaning to the whole process.

Therefore, poetry gives us the chance to work through scaffolding as they are able to use the language even when they do not have a great knowledge of the vocabulary.

With this activity called Word scramble, students can work in pairs or individually. It is not a complicated task and it engages children to work on poetry. You can find the link below:

What do you need for the activity?

-Cards

-Worksheet

-Rubric

The cards are organized by colours; every colour represents a type of word: verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions and endings that can be added as (ing, ed, it or the).

Some of the verbs can be classified as a noun so it has two colours.

Also included are some blank colour sheets  so students can add their own words into the project.

There is a rubric so they can assess themselves and the teacher can also score them.

The students can take any word from the cards given and create their own poem. After students create it they feel very proud and they want to share it with the class.

As Betsy says in the video, the students also think about images when they write their poems so you could ask your students to draw and represent the words in a picture.

This way we are working the linguistic intelligence, the visual special intelligence and the intrapersonal intelligence.

This is a powerful idea as you can choose the words that you want. Imagine that you are working the ecosystem with them, then it would be amazing if you use some of the words from the ecosystem vocabulary to work in a cross curricular way. For example some of the nouns in this case could be:  river, chain, animals or herbivores.

The worksheet with the blank in colours simply gives you the structure in order to give coherence to the poem and to follow some rules that you should have previously work on with them in the class.

It is a good way to start working on poetry and to reinforce what they know. Once completed, the children can create the word that they want instead of giving them the worksheet. Or they can create their words instead of the teacher giving them to them.

I hope you like this activity and I encourage you to use it in your private English classes if you can. If you have any ideas do not hesitate to send me a comment.

Lourdes

Hi, Today I’m going to write a post about what we did during the middle group class on Monday. The topic of the class was poetry and the different ways to take advantage of it.

The class can be divided in different parts: In the first part, the teacher gave us some tables that we had to use in groups of three people. To complete the task, we had to open a PowerPoint file, where there was a picture of a map, and touch the different parts of a it which contained a link to a YouTube video. In the videos we heard some teachers speaking about how important are poetry and the diverse ways to approach it.

During the second part of the class, the teacher told us to form new groups of three people as well. Then, we did an activity similar to “the experts group” in which each group was given two websites that were highly linked with poetry. After that, we analyzed them and by the time we had finished we exchange our group partners and each of the new members of each group had to explain their website to the rest. We could use the tablets for this activity.

Finally for the last part of the lesson, we formed new groups of four people and the teacher gave us photocopies of some poetries. Each group had to choose one and then we had to put in practice our storytelling skills to develop choreographies for the poetry, so that children could use it and find poetry motivating and easy to follow. One we had everything planned we were recorded in video while we showed our poetry and its choreography.

In conclusion, this class was a very useful one; it is so because it was very complete. Thanks to it, we first learnt about poetry and how to use it in class; then some resources as websites were provided so that we can find some help, and finally we had the chance to practice what we had learnt during the lesson.

Moreover, the last thing I have to say is that although I like it so much due to the motivational part, I have to say that I would like to know other examples of activities that can be done with poetry at schools.

I hope this message proves interesting for those who like poetry!

This is my fourth post, and I would like to explore a little bit the emotional outcomes of reading and writing fairytales and other stories in the classroom.

Fairytales are usually seen as something innocent, created for children by adults, with the only aim of being amusing. Sometimes, we try and go deeper into the stories, and the result is that we get to the conclusion that they also transmit values and pieces of advice. But my question is: Is it everything fairytales have to offer? My answer is a big round NO.

When the writer creates a story, and when it is a good one, all of a sudden the characters are brought to life. They have something to say, they are somebody, and the reader or the listener will connect with their emotions, feel sorry when they are sad, compassionate when they suffer, full of joy when they succeed. And all of this wouldn’t be possible without empathy.

I am sure that all of you understand this term perfectly, but just in case, let me introduce you a definition by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , according to which, Empathy is

the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else’s feelings.

Why is it important?, and how is it related to health? It is important because when we are teaching literature, or English, or whichever subject you prefer, we are also transmitting values, helping our pupils develop to their full potential, and it includes allowing them to be themselves, to build self-confidence and to be able to understand others’ needs, which is a proof of mental health.

What does it have to do with Fairytales? In fact, a lot. In order to be told or read, a tale needs to be created. And it is at that point of creation, where the pupils have to imagine their characters, and to provide them with a personality to make them deeper and catchy for the reader. Focusing on the character’s aims, dreams and hopes, fears and faults, the pupils will use  the language they know, the literary figures we have taught them, but also their own experience about life.

For example, a kid who is happy, will more likely create happy characters, and it is possible that only good things happen to them. On the other hand, if another child is going through something, it is possible that this process of creation can help him/her to externalize needs, fears, or experiences, just like they were the character’s and not theirs.

This is one reason that makes children prefer stories whose characters have something in common with them. If they go on an adventure, so are the readers. If they become friends with a vampire, suddenly it turns from a horrifying creature, to the best of companies. If they are mice who can cook, they will want to be super chefs.

And what about you? can you see any other reason to consider fairytales good for health? I am looking forward to read them!

First of all, I want to start with a question: do you think that it is possible be a good poetry performance? Well, in my case, I have been thinking about it during this week and of course it is possible but it is not easy. When we were in class last week, I saw one video that made me think a lot. In the video we could see some tips to follow and could be a good poetry performance. The tips were:

• Score your poem: This means that we have to think carefully with which poem we want to work in order to highlight the words that we want to emphasize and think everything that should be related with the word, for example the gestures. If we chose easy poems will be easier for us and it doesn’t mean that it will be a bad task.

• Find you pace: It is also important think about in which poem are we going to work and decide the pauses that are better for us, because not always a line break gives you the pause. So we have to practice it many times to know which way is the best one to carry on.

• Good diction: This part it is related with the pronunciation, because as we know a good pronunciation it is very important, especially if we are working with children and in a different language. A good tip to achieve this point is avoided gobbling.

• Natural movements: If we want to performance a poem in a correct way, we should be careful with the movements that we made, because sometimes we tend to exaggerate them and it doesn’t fit. The best way is keep it simple and keep it natural.

• Natural and have fun: The last tip was that when we have all the previous steps, we just have to have fun during the performance because it is the best way to do it well.

So, what do you think after reading all the tips? Do you think that it is possible? Well, after see the video and do some activities, we worked with a poem, we performance it and I have to say that it is not as simple as it seem.

I was looking for the link with the video but I couldn’t find it, so you can start seeing the 5 tips video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cca7SRzsbBw and if I find the video that we made I will share it with you.

Enjoy it!

It is encouraged and boost the use of literature in the class, and teachers instil in students that reading and understanding is very important for life. Teachers give many opportunities to read in class: before/after starting the class, reading as an award, reading during the break… These are appropriated methods to encourage reading which is quite important but what really matters is: Do we know what are students reading? Do students understand what they read? Are students able to retell the story?.  Probably you have frequently observed a teacher giving just a book to a student to read without emphasising on understanding.

Considering these actual questions, I suggest some strategies for a better comprehension seen from my experience.

• To begin with, dramatize is ideal for reading. There is not better method to understand than being involved in the story, students will make an effort in understanding what they are reading. The student will feel inside the story as part of it and it will be understood rather than just reading.  Dramatize is related to expression movements (drama). This is suitable for kinaesthetic students according to the Howard’s Multiple Intelligences.
• As well, teachers can select several words which are going to be eliminated and students have to guess what the words are.
• Going little by little is always the best way to learn. Sometimes, to read less understanding the story, thinking and commenting about the last read, is better rather than reading three pages and not understanding nothing at all.
• Read sentence by sentence and explain this with the students’ own words.

To sum up, new strategies are needed to improve education and reading comprehension.  Reading is a passionate requirement in children’s life and the teacher-family role is quite important to help them and make it enjoyable in order to develop their reading competence.

I hope you liked it,

See you!

The first thing I thought when I saw the headline was “I can’t believe that a gymnast like her tells her experiences about sport in two books. And even, if those books are for children”. So, I start to read the article and I see that she created a main character named “Olympia”, as a reference to the Olympic Games, so children, only reading the name of the character can discover what is her goal: reach the Olympic Games.

Using Olympia, Almudena told her story and how she became the best Spanish gymnast (she reached the finals of four Olympic Games: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008) and gives tips about how to decorate the maillots, the make-up and the hair styles.

How we can use that books in our future classes?

That article made me think about how we can show our future students about healthy habits and promote sports in class. This kind of books are awesome for reach this objective because we have a story, specially adapted for children, with pictures, so they we can be focused only in the pictures if our students don’t have the reading skills learnt.

Also, that stories talks about other things rather than the main story. It’s like a “cross-curricular” book, because we have literature in the story and arts and crafts in the tips Almudena gives about her maillots.

One disadvantage and a great solution for that

One disadvantage of those books is that can be only focused on girls, because it can be a little bit strange (I don’t say impossible) to see a boy decorating a maillot or thinking about making-up, but we can adapt it to them!

For example, changing the name of the main character and giving our students the chance to create their own story about a gymnast. For example, while I was writing that I thought about a character named “Athos” (Yes, like the Musketeer, but can be a reference to Athens) who wants to be at the final of the swimming competition of the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020, so he starts practising for it and reach, in 2015, the Spanish national championship, so his dream begins there. Can you imagine of creating a story like this at class?

A conclusion and a thought

Just to conclude, also, we can think about having in our class a meeting with the author of the book, Almudena Cid, and our students can talk to her and ask her about how she reached those four finals and how she prepared for that. Or, we can invite Gervasio Deferr, and ask him the same questions. These are just dreams that can be unreal in a real class, but if we didn’t dream about improving our classes, who will do it for us?.

Link to the news, if you want to read the whole article (in Spanish): http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2289589/0/almudena-cid-narra-vivencia/trayectoria-deportiva-dos/cuentos-infantiles/

For this week I would like to write a little bit about a new project that we have in this subject that I think we are all going to enjoy a lot. The project is about “Children’s literature workshops”

The first thing that the teacher did to catch our attention about the topic was to tell us that we were going to work with children. This can sound strange, because we are going to be teachers and we will deal with them every day, but as we are still in University, I think that this point is very important.

The reason why I think so, is because we are doing a lot of projects or presentations in which we have to imagine that our audience are children, but to know that, in this case, this is going to be true, I think that catches even more our attention and that we take this project with more energy.

Secondly, Raquel showed us some trailers about the films we could choose to be the topic for our workshops. As I could see in class, we were all (or nearly all); very excited to see again some of the films that we watched when we were little children. The possibilities were: The Lord of the Rings, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Gulliver’s Travels and Snow White. At the end, Aladdin was the one who won.

I have to admit, that when the teacher told as that we all had to think about a different topics with the same film, I thought it would be a bit difficult. With this little sentence I would like to have a brief reflection: we you have to go deeper into the things that surround as, and not only what you can see with the naked eye. In this case it refers to see beyond in a film, but we can take this advice for a lot of situations in our daily life.

Later, we had time to reason about the specific topic we wanted to deal with. In my case, my group and I decided to make the workshop about “Life in the desert”. At the moment, we have a lot of ideas about how to make this very attractive for the children and, at the same time, that they learn a lot about the topic through a film that we all know.

I can not finish this post without saying that these kind of lessons give us a lot of opportunities to see more materials and resources that we can use in our future lessons, but also how to work with them correctly, which is also very important.

Thank you very much for reading my post and I wait for your comments and opinions!

Yesterday I read an article at the page of “Anatarambana literatura infantil” about a book that last days was a cause of lots of controversies, the book is “Nicolás tiene dos papás” which translated into English is “Nicolás has two dads”. It is a Chilean book which, taking into account the huge sells numbers will appear in many schools, in the book we can see a very simple story of a boy who lives with his two dads, and they are a really happy family, the whole story is based in very simple sentences and images related with the pictures.

First of all I thought that the critics would focus on the idea of the family of Nicolás (of course the book received some hard critics from the religious institutions) but lots of the negative critics were based on another point, the literacy content. In the article I read the author criticizes the book not because he consider that the content was inappropriate, but just because if speaking about words, the book doesn´t offer too much, the author consider that the book is the perfect example of a book which idea of the content is quite good, but its literature value is terrible.

Is true that the history of Nicolás is a very minimalistic and poor in words creation, maybe the authors should focus not only on writing books with goods values like family values or a book that promotes respect to all the people but also it should offer some stories, some action and emotions, some relation between the different situations and words that the pupils will learn while reading the book.

My surprise and the interesting point of the article is the recommendation of another book about the same topic called ¡En familia! Written by Alexandra Maxeiner and Anke Kuhl. The difference between this book and the previous one is huge, “¡En Familia!” is also a simple book but it shows some real social situations, uses more sentences and makes the students to learn real facts about the different types of families and the differences between them.

I would like to know your opinion about this article and also to share some links about the topic with you.

Link to the online version of the book: http://www.movilh.cl/documentacion/nicolas-tiene-dos-papas.html

The article link: http://anatarambana.blogspot.com.es/2014/11/nicolas-tiene-dos-papas.html

An article that recommends another book about the different types of families: http://anatarambana.blogspot.com.es/2013/09/libro-recomendado-en-familia-de.html