Teaching about FEELINGS: Social-Emotional Learning and the COVID-19 Crisis

In spite of some critics who downplayed the importance of social and emotional learning and the value of belonging, to me it is clear and has been for some time: When  kids spend their daytime hours in safe, supportive schools where teachers work every day to build strong relationships with every student, they are simply better, more engaged learners.

Teaching during the lockdown was indeed about the technology—the mechanics of how to teach remotely. 

But it was mainly about how we were going to hold our students’ hearts. 

It was about connecting everybody and making them feel safe and secure ,before we got to the academics.

This virus had definitely stolen our students’ school experience for the rest of the year and we were not sure what would come next. Our students,  missed their friends and their teachers, the feeling of being together and connected.

So we had to work on relationship skills and how to talk to each other the right way. It was back then, more important than ever .

I hope, we all agree that ,as teachers , we are leaders, guides, facilitators, and mentors.

 We encourage students when they struggle, and inspire them to set and reach for their goals. We are role models, leading by example and giving direction when necessary.

In the very first days of the lockdown, my initial  thought was not to rush to teach them Grammar and Language skills but to have my students express themselves!

 Because, I know that when we can share our sensations, thoughts, and feelings, we feel a sense of relief, safety, and calm, and sharing our feelings and learning about them is one of the most powerful ways to regulate our nervous systems during stressful periods of time.

Many of my students reported feeling isolated, depressed, and overwhelmed!

 The lack of a support system had definitely been the hardest part about not physically attending school.

What I had in mind before I decided to launch “Our FEELINGS project” on e-me was Growth Mindset.

Last year, I was introduced to Growth Mindset by Jennifer Schmidt of The Cogent Construct  based in Spain.

Jennifer, had partnered with Pilgrim’s based in the UK to offer a new and innovative online teacher coaching  / mentorship program and I was asked to contribute to it!  

About Growth Mindset

This is a term introduced by Prof Carol Dweck and a concept that many schools are now introducing as a way to support a positive learning mindset. Those with a growth mindset (as opposed to a fixed mindset) believe they can improve with hard work and perseverance and that their intelligence isn’t fixed. They display better self-esteem and increased resilience. The journal encourages a growth mindset through checklist prompts and use of daily quotes to remind children about the importance of not giving up when faced with challenges.

During the lockdown, we were all developing empathy. 

Empathy is the act of meeting someone in their pain and helping them feel like they’re not alone.

In order to inspire my students to take that journey, me as a teacher could not pretend that human feelings were something to which I was immune.I had to feel with students, which required both an acknowledgment that my own feelings existed and a desire to understand the feelings of my students. If I could create a fertile space for empathy to grow, I could also provide the opportunity for meaningful connections with my students.

I also used some writing opportunities for my students to get their thoughts, feelings, fears, and questions down in a creative format of their choice.

I gave them an option to share with the e-class.This did not only allow them to share out their feelings but also gave me a place to check on them and follow up when I saw any of them expressing sadness, fear, etc.

Most importantly , I was honest and as understanding as possible to let students know we were all in that together and would likely all need a little grace.

Αfter the first shock, I decided to focus my teaching on supporting my students emotionally.

Actually, the very first idea which I used in our synchronous meetings, during the lockdown, belonged to our inspiring colleague Effie Kyrikakis.

It was all about sharing our wishes  and sharing positive messages within our families and the local community and about committing small acts of kindness.

The message to my students was:You can always fly with your imagination! Spread your positivity! #PlanesofHope 

The main idea was that, each adult in their lives -teacher or parent- focuses on helping them bolster their strengths, discover their affinities, and realize their personal visions for the future.

Afterall, each teacher should be  a role model of calm reflection within their school.

To me,it is crucial that we should avoid exhibiting our own frustrations, especially in emergencies.

As a result, my students became more likely to think of setbacks as temporary. They recognized that by using more effective personal strategies ,they could overcome obstacles and turn setbacks into triumphs. 

During those challenging times,I thought  that ,rather than jumping in to fix the problem when my students were bored  or unmotivated to do online work ,I should let them feel their feelings as they faced those challenges. The key was to listen to and encourage them so that they felt  comfortable taking control.

My motto: Let’s let our students discover their own ways to cope. This is phenomenal emotional growth and skill-building for the future.

Consequently, it was highly important that I should encourage my students to talk about their feelings but also express gratitude.

Therefore,I decided to incorporate another inspiring idea into our asynchronous meetings during the lockdown, which belonged to my amazing colleague Theodora Bogiou.

It was about sharing and spreading positive messages, during the lockdown, within the local communities.

Practising gratitude this way,not only helped my students to see the goodness in their lives but also realise that it could come from a number of sources, even inside their homes .

It proved to be highly beneficial for the kids, to enhance our practical optimism through focusing on gratitude, small acts of kindness, emotional mindfulness, brain exercise, and positive surroundings, especially in those difficult times of self-isolation.

THE  #I_love_ME_project  IDEA, IN BRIEF

We hang some messages on a tree in our backyards and balconies.

The first messages was on a red heart and they started by saying I love…

The second message was on green leaves and they started by saying I’m grateful for..

The third message was on suns and it was a message to somebody they loved, like advice or a love message. It started by saying My message to you is…

All in all, I managed to promote emotional growth by encouraging my children to talk about their feelings, helping them identify those feelings and validating them. 

dav

In addition to practical steps to prevent illness (like washing hands and keeping a safe distance from others in the grocery store), I wanted to stress to my students that there were many other areas of pandemic life that they could control: how they spent their time at home, what they did to manage tough emotions, which self-care tools they utilized to reduce stress, etc. Me and my students discussed those coping methods and even made a list of them together.

Consequently, the next idea for our webex online meeting, came from Effie  Kyriakakis’ #re-bloom project

They actually wrote  about their  inner strengths ,on their artwork, on paper flower petals and shared them with the class both synchronously and asynchronously.

We also talked about resilience! Talking about resilience and the positive things that can come out of a crisis was not an attempt to paint a happy picture of those times, but to create real, measurable factors that can be gained by coming through a difficult time.

I thought that I should first demonstrate how I face challenges and frustration head-on and use different coping tactics like talking to loved ones, making art or playing music, which I later asked my students to try ,at home.

 I often give my students’ brain and body a positive workout, in the school classroom . I decided to do the same,during the lockdown.

Why?

-I believed that finding ways of calming the body could help some children, too – for example, using breathing or meditation techniques. Many of my students told me that being very active and ‘keeping busy’ stopped negative feelings and reduced stress levels to them.

 – For almost everyone, physical movement and exercise are very important. Scheduling time for that ,especially during the lockdown, helped my students to make sure they remembered to do it. I decided to ask them to do that, at the beginning of each synchronous class meeting.

 – I also encouraged them to find an activity which they enjoyed that was completely separate from any homework tasks  – it was cooking, art, a new sport indoors, catching up with friends on a regular video call, etc.

 – My suggestion to them about doing things for others had also been found to help my students manage their own stress. i.e. helping around the house.

Being mindful of our emotional state, matters.

I personally believe that we have come into this life to make a positive impact on the world. Our inherent nature is at odds with growth—we tend to want to stay in our comfort zones.

If we always seek comfort first, we miss the purpose for which we came into this world. 

My students and I came to understand that challenges are opportunities for growth. It is through life’s challenges that we find its greatest gifts, but we need to know how to look for them, and, more importantly, appreciate them. 

Few weeks later, I decided it was time to talk to them about true and authentic confidence and courage.

We discussed that that’s how we survive when our confidence takes a hit, and how we can actually enhance our self-assurance when we struggle.

 Believe it or not, even my youngest learners, got the message! 

STORYTELLING and facing our covid19 fears 

1.LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and covid19

I decided to use a well-known fairytale , to talk to my youngest students about the pandemic: Little Red Riding Hood.

Why? Well, because of its symbols.

 There are many versions of the story of Little Red Riding Hood but in many of the stories there are some common symbols.

A sweet innocent girl: Little Red Riding Hood (aka:my students) is unaware of the danger ahead. The wolf ( aka: covid19) easily convinces her to linger and give him time to reach grandmother’s house. She is also unaware of the wolf’s devious nature.

Her cap or hooded cloak suggests family protection.

 It was given to her as a gift from her wise grandmother connecting the two. (Innocent becomes wise through painful experiences.)

 The grandmother represents the wise, aged woman, the experienced one who is sick and needs our help and care. The grandmother represents the elderly and other vulnerable members, in our family.

There are three generations represented in the story. Red Riding Hood represents the first generation, her mother represents the second generation and the grandmother represents the elderly.

The wolf is the Coronavirus, the danger ,outside . He tricks the innocent Red Riding Hood just as anyone can deceive us if we are not aware of the dangers.

The forest is where the life away from home is.There are many distractions along the way and sometimes this allows our covid19 to get the better of us.

If not for the huntsman, who represents the doctors, all would be lost. The huntsman is keen and alert, always on the lookout for the virus. He rescues both of them from the belly of the wolf. They are unharmed.

Happy ending: The wolf is killed and the huntsman takes the pelt. Grandmother and Red Riding Hood eat and are merry. 

The message to the kids : Whenever we overcome the danger and bring awareness to our behaviors there is a time of lightness and joy. 

Our family, represented by the mother, is there to advise and support us!

2.THE WIZARD OF OZ and covid19

I decided to use another well-known story which had already been introduced to my kids, before the lockdown and during our English Drama Lab meetings,  to talk to my oldest students about the pandemic: The Wizard of Oz

I thought, it would be a great idea to keep working on it, remotely, too, during the lockdown, in order to teach the kids about how to cope with life hardships and enhance their confidence and boost their courage!

WHAT DOES THE WIZARD OF OZ HAVE TO DO WITH CONFIDENCE and covid19?

If you think about it, each of the characters in The Wizard of Oz are searching for a different aspect of confidence.

Lion fluctuates between fearful and overly aggressive behaviour, because he lacks the confidence to face his fears.

Scarecrow is very intelligent, but lacks belief in himself, or self-confidence.

Tin Man searches for the confidence to know that expressing his unique feelings and sensitive side is okay.

Dorothy searches for the ability to follow her own heart and to learn how to stand up for what she believes is right with authority figures like the Wicked Witch and the Wizard himself.

All of the characters find their confidence along the journey, and they become more alive and more themselves as they do.

As for courage, what we all learned was that, like the Cowardly Lion, we could already be far more courageous, more valiant, more heroic than we imagine. All we need may be a little encouragement and affirmation of the considerable inner power we each already possess in order to rise courageously to the challenge of this current existential crisis, and those we will inevitably face in the future. 

Certainly, we all had, all those lockdown days, to search for and summon up such inner personal and collective courage, in order to cope constructively with the cataclysmic and chronic covid19 crisis. 

To sum up,this is what we actually focused on, both synchronously and asynchronously:

It is what Lion learned…

the ability to face your fears and try new things.

ΑΝΤΙΜΕΤΩΠΙΖΩ ΤΟΥΣ ΦΟΒΟΥΣ ΜΟΥ!

It is what Scarecrow learned…

the ability to believe in yourself and be comfortable with your own abilities and strengths.

ΠΙΣΤΕΥΩ ΣΤΟΝ ΕΑΥΤΟ ΜΟΥ!

It is what Tin Man learned…

the ability to express your feelings and thoughts, your true self, and not be afraid of how others see you.

ΕΙΜΑΙ Ο ΕΑΥΤΟΣ ΜΟΥ  ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΕΠΗΡΕΑΖΟΜΑΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΠΩΣ ΜΕ ΒΛΕΠΟΥΝ ΟΙ ΑΛΛΟΙ!

It is what Dorothy learned…

the power to stand up for what you believe is right.

ΥΠΕΡΑΣΠΙΖΟΜΑΙ ΤΟ ΔΙΚΑΙΟ!

My  students were learning to be courageous, instead of disappointed or depressed, when their boundaries were crossed.

They were learning that their words can make an impact on others and when they see that they are effective, they learn that they are capable of dealing with problems themselves which boosts self-confidence.

CONCLUSION

 Much like developing the skills and knowledge that we need to advance as a teacher, becoming more optimistic , especially in emergencies, entails deliberate effort.

And as with maintaining other competencies, sustaining a positive outlook may require a practical maintenance routine of being mindful about the good things in life, in us, in our work, and in our students

EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT

Over the last few months, the pandemic has created many challenges for teachers, students, and parents as they transitioned into home-based learning.

It is true that, in the age of Covid-19 ,as an educator ,especially in a State Greek  Primary School,you have two options: to do… nothing and to let the situation overwhelm you or to continue working hard during the day and worrying at night. Concentrating on research on creative, experiential and student-centered teaching that you have been doing for so many years, BUT, when the system around you is collapsing  this doesn’t seem so easy to do. You don’t have much room left, you want to keep in touch with others. You dedicate yourself, SOUL AND BODY, to doing your homework, keeping in touch with your students, feeling alive, moving forward into life.

 During the lockdown,on any given day, in schools across the World, many students exchanged warm greetings with a smiling teacher, then perhaps moved on to a morning check-in, followed by a quick mindfulness exercise to start the day grounded and mentally focused. Surrounded by peers they’d known for months, or perhaps even years—and a teacher they saw regularly—kids felt connected.

In spite of some critics who downplayed the importance of social and emotional learning and the value of belonging, to me it is clear and has been for some time: When  students spend their daytime hours in safe, supportive schools where their teachers work every day to build strong relationships with every student, they are simply better, more engaged learners.

I personally believe that, yes, it is mainly about the technology—the mechanics of how to teach remotely. But it’s also about how we are going to hold our students’ hearts!

Food for thought ,by Dimitris Primalis:

“School ditches  tablets”. Catchy titles like this one, banishing technology from the classroom, seem to be out of date after school closure and the need of thousands of teachers and educators to keep education alive in the midst of a pandemic. Whether you are a tech-enthusiast or you were forced to use technology, this crisis has brought to the surface the potential of learning technology, which has been tried and tested under extreme conditions.

To me, the good news is that , as teachers, we have overcome our greatest fears and biases against using technology so now we can make the most of it to facilitate learning, during the lockdown !

My own  first shock concerned online classes & COVID-19: 

How will the pandemic affect me as a teacher and my teaching?

Is it a threat or an opportunity for the human teachers to flourish as an effective teacher?

I have always thought that, teachers are leaders, guides, facilitators, and mentors. We encourage students when they struggle, and inspire them to set and reach for their goals. We ARE role models, leading by example and giving direction when necessary.

A computer can give information, but a teacher can lend a hand, or an ear, and discern what’s necessary for a student to succeed, and to want to succeed.

So yes, technology is going to play a critical role in the future of education. But not as big a role as that of a teacher.

My next step was to create our online, asynchronous learning classes!

The creation of those classes was mainly aimed at maintaining the contact of our students with the English language course and allowed me to quickly carry out my work, communicate between different computers and exchange data, sharing useful links.

That service allowed me to organize, present, store, and retrieve the material, which students are asked to use without time constraints, as is usually the case in the classroom. Our e-classroom platform was basically designed to enhance the educational process as it takes place in the classroom  and operation in a secure environment and I admit that I was really excited about learning how to use it properly .

Overall, the benefits of the #e-me platform we have been using all these months, are many. It was relatively easy to use, allowed the use of useful educational material, promoted communication and interaction between teachers and learners and served the needs of maintaining contact with the lessons and repetition.

The ‘key’ to the success of such a platform, however, lies in the frequency of visits of the students  to the platform! I personally, found it really challenging to be able convince my students to visit it ,as often as possible, during the lockdown!

Of course, parents and teachers, we were invited to dedicate some time and accompany the children’s first steps in that new environment, to suggest that they regularly connected with the electronic classes of the courses they attended and gradually helped them to become independent in their use.

My initial thought was to find the way to encourage my students to express their thoughts and feelings, while staying at home.

Obviously, when we can share our sensations, thoughts, and feelings, we feel a sense of relief, safety, and calm, and I believe that sharing our feelings and learning about them is one of the most powerful ways to regulate our nervous systems during stressful periods of time.

Many of my own students reported feeling isolated, depressed, and overwhelmed. The lack of a support system had definitely been the hardest part about not physically attending school.

I decided to launch the “FEELINGS project” on e-me inspired by Growth Mindset.

Last year, I was introduced to Growth Mindset by Jennifer Schmidt of The Cogent Construct  based in Spain.

Jennifer, had partnered with Pilgrim’s based in the UK to offer a new and innovative online teacher coaching  / mentorship program and I was asked to contribute to it!  

About growth mindset

This is a term introduced by Prof Carol Dweck and a concept that many schools are now introducing as a way to support a positive learning mindset. Those with a growth mindset (as opposed to a fixed mindset) believe they can improve with hard work and perseverance and that their intelligence isn’t fixed. They display better self-esteem and increased resilience. The journal encourages a growth mindset through checklist prompts and use of daily quotes to remind children about the importance of not giving up when faced with challenges.

I realised that during the lockdown , we were all developing empathy. 

Empathy is the act of meeting someone in their pain and helping them feel like they’re not alone.

In order to inspire students to take that journey, we as teachers should not pretend that human feelings were something to which we were immune.

Therefore, I had to feel with students, which required both an acknowledgment that my own feelings existed and a desire to understand the feelings of my students. If I could create a fertile space for empathy to grow, I could also provide the opportunity for meaningful connections with my students.

I also used some writing opportunities for my students to get their thoughts, feelings, fears, and questions down in a creative format. I gave them an option to share with their e-class.This did not only allow them to share out their feelings but also gave me a place to check on them and follow up when I saw any of them expressing sadness, fear, etc.

Most importantly , I was honest and as understanding as possible to let students know we were all in that together and would likely all need a little grace.

After the first shock, I decided to FOCUS my teaching ON SUPPORTING MY STUDENTS EMOTIONALLY.

The very first inspiring idea which I used in our webex meetings during the lockdown, belonged to my dear colleague and friend Effie Kyrikakis.

It was mainly about sharing our wishes  and sharing positive messages within our families and the local community and about committing small acts of kindness.

The message to my students was:You can always fly with your imagination! Spread your positivity! #PlanesofHope 

Th idea was that each adult in their lives -teacher or parent- focuses on helping them bolster their strengths, discover their affinities, and realize their personal visions for the future.

I always have to remind myself that, especially under the circumstances, each teacher should be a role model of calm reflection within their class. We should avoid exhibiting our own frustrations, especially in emergencies.

Within those two months in lockdown ,they became more likely to think of setbacks as temporary. They recognized that by using more effective personal strategies ,they could overcome obstacles and turn setbacks into triumphs. 

Rather than jumping in to fix the problem when my students were bored  or unmotivated to do online work, during self-isoalation,I let them feel their feelings as they faced those challenges. The key was to listen to and encourage them so that they felt  comfortable taking control.

In a nutshell

Let’s let our students discover their own ways to cope. This is phenomenal emotional growth and skill-building for the future.

To me, it was highly important that I should encourage my students to talk about their feelings but express gratitude, too.

To be able to do so, I decided to incorporate another inspiring idea to our webex  online meetings during the lockdown, which belonged to our amazing colleague Theodora Bogiou.

It was mainly about sharing and spreading positive messages, in the local communities.

Practising gratitude not only helped my students to see the goodness in their lives but also to realise that it can come from a number of sources, even inside their homes .

All in all, it was highly important to enhance our practical optimism, through focusing on gratitude, small acts of kindness, emotional mindfulness, brain exercise, and positive surroundings, especially in those difficult times of self-isolation.

THE MAIN #I_love_ME_project  IDEA, IN BRIEF

We hang some messages on a tree in our backyards and balconies.

The first messages was on a red heart and they started by saying I love…

The second message was on green leaves and they started by saying I’m grateful for..

The third message was on suns and it was a message to somebody they loved, like advice or a love message. It started by saying My message to you is…

To sum up, thanks to Theodora Bogiou‘s idea, I managed to promote emotional growth by encouraging my children to talk about their feelings, helping them identify those feelings and validating them. That kind of communication  also fostered a stronger class connection.

In addition to practical steps to prevent illness (like washing hands and keeping a safe distance from others in the grocery store), I wanted to stress to my students that there were many other areas of pandemic life that they could control: how they spent their time at home, what they did to manage tough emotions, which self-care tools they utilized to reduce stress, etc. Me and my students discussed those coping methods and even made a list of them together.

Consequently, the next idea for our webex online meeting, came from Effie  Kyriakakis’ #re-bloom project

They actually wrote  about their  inner strengths ,on their artwork, on flower petals and shared them with the class both synchronously and asynchronously.

We also talked about resilience! Talking about resilience and the positive things that can come out of a crisis was not an attempt to paint a happy picture of those times, but to create real, measurable factors that can be gained by coming through a difficult time.

I believe that teachers  can demonstrate how they face challenges and frustration head-on and use different coping tactics like meditation, talking to loved ones, making art or playing music, and actually, that is exactly what I did!

 I often give my students’ brain and body a positive workout, in the school classroom . I decided to do the same , during the lockdown.

Why?

-I believe that finding ways of calming the body can help some children, too – for example, using breathing or meditation techniques. Many of my students told me that being very active and ‘keeping busy’ stopped negative feelings and reduced stress levels to them.

Routines that foster connection are a core part of classroom life, and finding ways for students to experience these at home ,too went a long way toward easing my students’ transition to home-based learning.

 -For almost everyone, physical movement and exercise are very important. Scheduling time for that ,especially during the lockdown, helped my students to make sure they remembered to do it. I decided to ask them to use physical movement, at the beginning of each online class meeting.

 – I also encouraged them to find an activity which they enjoyed that was completely separate from any homework tasks  – it was cooking, art, a new sport indoors, catching up with friends on a regular video call, etc.

 -My suggestion to them about doing things for others had also been found to help my students manage their own stress. ie helping around the house.

Being mindful of our emotional state, matters.

We came to understand that challenges were opportunities for growth. Because, it is through life’s challenges that we find its greatest gifts, but we need to know how to look for them, and, more importantly, appreciate them. 

A few weeks later, I decided to teach them about true and authentic confidence.

 I taught them that, that’s how we survive when our confidence takes a hit, and how we can actually enhance our self-assurance when we struggle.

 Believe it or not, even my youngest learners, got the message!

The following closing ideas come from my dear friend and colleague Dimitris Primalis in his recent article ,in  ELT NEWS.

I couldn’t agree more, that’s why I am sharing part of his post, here! 

*Dimitris Primalis, is a frontline teacher and teacher trainer, currently working in Doukas Schools, Athens.

“Let’s take a minute to reflect on what we have done so far with our (online) classes that we can keep doing in the post Covid19 era. We:

 -Flipped the classroom

We assigned time consuming activities such as watching video or reading at home

-Differentiated learning

You were given the opportunity to send easier tasks to weaker students and more challenging ones to stronger learners, who are usually utterly bored in class, when we assigned  revision tasks asynchronously (offline). We also had the chance to give personalized feedback in a discreet way through emails .

-Introduced gamification

We introduced web 2.0 tools that promote gamification like Kahoot in class .

-Used material outside the coursebook

In the first two weeks of lockdown, when everybody hoped that this would not last for a long time, we  assigned revision exercises and then we became more resourceful.

-Promoted learner autonomy

Having guided them to the resources mentioned above, we have guided them to become more autonomous as learners. This time parents were more open to using the internet and less worried about the potential dangers.

-Applied formative assessment

We have discovered numerous new tools that allow our students to share reflective writing.

-More benefits

Because of the pandemic, more and more students realize that education should not be taken for granted. The majority missed their teachers and classmates, their routine which offers security .

-Beware of oversimplifications

I know that some teachers mistake the emergency online lessons during  Covid19 for online education. Building a raft to survive a shipwreck cannot be compared to an ocean liner. 

-A lesson taught for educators

 I firmly believe that learning technology is a medium that can boost learning and student engagement.“

Summarising my own thoughts

-We learn everywhere and always, we learn by all means.

– The desire to change or improve the learning process is paramount in the use of technology.

– Teachers need to learn and evolve constantly.

– In the years 2020, technophobia holds up well in Greek school reality.

– We use technology as a tool for exploration and learning.

– The issue is not more or less technology, but its effective use.

– We choose those digital tools that enhance students’ engagement and interest.

– It’s not technology. It’s what you do with it.

– It takes effort and time.

-Technology is not what makes it possible. It’s what makes learning easy.

– Pay attention to the developments in learning, not to the developments in technology.

– The cutting-edge technology in a school is the good teacher.

CONCLUSION

 Much like developing the skills and knowledge that we need to advance as a teacher, becoming more optimistic , especially in emergencies, entails deliberate effort!

And as with maintaining other competencies, sustaining a positive outlook may require a practical maintenance routine of being mindful about the good things in life, in us, in our work, and in our students

*THE BLOG POST TITLE has been inspired by this site:

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises.

Creating an English virtual classroom and an English virtual library: a successful example of scaling up teaching and learning in response to COVID-19

Schools and Universities in Greece have been closed since March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic as part of the government’s measures to prevent the spread of the disease. The Ministry of Education promptly responded to this emergency developing and gradually implementing distance learning, offering students the opportunity to keep in touch with the educational process. Without intending to replace face to face learning the Ministry has activating digital platforms and tools offered for free by ICT providers, addressed to the secondary and primary school students, as well as to Greek Universities.

Concerning the asynchronous learning, students and teachers can use the existing digital tools and platforms already offered by the Ministry of Education such as the Interactive School Books, the Digital Educational Material (“Fotodentro”) and the Advanced Electronic Scenarios (“Aesop”) organized by educational level, course etc.

To me, the school community in Greece has embraced this effort showing remarkable engagement to the demanding project of e-learning under these exceptional circumstances.

What is more, the synchronous, real-time teaching suggested by the Ministry is supported:

• through Webex services; to address inequalities, the Ministry has ensured access through landlines and through mobile phones free of charge following a deal with the three mobile phone providers
• through the School Network’s sch.gr platform, which uses Big Blue Button open software and can operate on smartphones and tablets.

My main thought,when schools closed due to the pandemic and after having attened innumerable webinars during the lockdown, was to create an English virtual classroom, for all my students! Why?

A virtual classroom enables students to access their teacher and their homework resources ,anywhere and anytime, so long as they both have a reliable internet connection.

I also did my very best to create an English virtual library.

You see, I am not allowed to lend my students any of the 500 English readers and magazines in our school library, under the circumstances! Therefore, I had to think quick and come up with a solution!

Whether or not we are planning for a physical or a virtual school experience in September, it is clear that we need to translate our practice. We need strategies for personalizing and enriching the remote learning experience. And it is clear that the library must be the center of that experience.

Currently, one very popular strategy is the creation of classroom scenes using Google Slides populated with their flexible Bitmojis.

I started playing around with this fairly easy and recently very popular strategy of building a library scene in Slides. With success!

I strongly believe that,at this moment in time, having a rich digital presence is no longer optional, for us teachers . It is essential to translate practice in order to communicate with our students and to support and inspire learning. It is also tangible evidence of our practice, especially in unstable times.

I thought quite a bit about how important this virtual presence was to me over the course of 25 years. 

Generally speaking, in many ways, an online classroom simply mirrors the physical classroom.

To me, a virtual classroom should include the following features, important for teachers.

-Interactive online whiteboard

-Library of learning materials

-Teacher tools and controls

In a physical classroom, you can look around and find textbooks, games, exercises, templates, worksheets, multimedia resources (print, video, audio).

A professional teacher needs these in their virtual classroom too. The teacher needs to be able to upload their digital learning materials to the cloud and save them for future classes.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• A blank Google Slides or PowerPoint file
• The Remove.bg website
• The Bitmoji Chrome extension

Steps

STEP 1: OPEN A BLANK GOOGLE SLIDE OR POWERPOINT

STEP 2: COLLECT YOUR IMAGES

STEP 3: CREATE YOUR SCENΕ

The steps, in detail

1.I read all about the procedure, in detail, here.

Think… what makes a room a classroom? The whiteboard.

2.The tutorials, I watched.

3. The final product!

My first virtual classroom

( Disabled link ,for security reasons)

My first virtual library

(Click on the link)

Note: To create the book review worksheet, I used the liveworksheets app.

I really wish I knew who started this trend so I could thank that person profusely since this is one of the most brilliant ideas I have come across in a very long time. 

Highly recommended to you all!

Digital learning web tools I have tried :a successful example of scaling up teaching and learning in response to COVID-19

When this pandemic began, teachers all over the World were given little notice to shift very quickly to distance learning or e-learning, sometimes with no training. In many cases, we had 48 hours or a weekend to reinvent lessons for an already planned curriculum, learn new technologies, find non-technology solutions to student learning, and figure out how to keep students engaged. But all us teachers ,also had to balance home and work and how to do our life’s work from afar while simultaneously caring for students, grieving losses, and so many more challenges and obstacles!

It has not been easy, for any teacher I know. This new approach or today’s certainty is a significant journey!

During the lock-down, countless hours behind a computer screen, reorganizing lessons had me and many of my fellow English teachers repeatedly saying, “I’d rather be in my school.” But reality dictated differently.

What is more, during the pandemic, many educators-including me- have looked to their professional learning networks on social media for encouragement through virtual book clubs, Twitter chats, Facebook groups, or wellness challenges.

To me, this crisis may have a silver lining for the implementation of digital transformation. It has forced the use of digital media tools to even teachers who had never done so before. 

 I have realised that, as English  teachers learn to implement these tools, students can also learn to use them to increase learning effectiveness and enhance their engagement. The fast learning curve is a struggle but the hard work will pay dividends developing and gaining new skills. The positive benefit out of all this is that we are going to add excellent value to our pedagogical practices. Or, I should say for English teachers,in particular, add to our repertoire of teaching tools now and for the future!

It is true that the education sector responded to quarantine with a sudden shift to online learning.

But, I have to admit that inequalities are exacerbated when it comes to access to technology and to digital devices. Many of our llearners suffer a form of digital inequality whereby they lack the connections and devices to learn remotely. In fact, this outbreak widens the gap between those able to access digital learning opportunities and those who are shut out. Access is not equal, and we see inequality growing.

And yet, even though the immediate focus is now on technology and tools, the most compelling quality is still human compassion!

Below, I am sharing a list of some of the online tools I have personally tried during the lock-down with success, for different teaching and learning purposes.

 I firmly believe that we should always take advantage of the opportunities for creative solutions.We should not let a lack of familiarity with the tools or approaches be a barrier to trying something new – I had  the confidence to try them out, with the precious help of my PLN!

 The target has been to keep my classes talking, sharing and collaborating, even during the pandemic!

Digital learning management systems

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

https://watch.vooks.com/ Βooks( free for only a month)

https://en.islcollective.com/ for Grammar Videos and worksheets

https://youtube.com/kids/

https://wordwall.net/play/ for Grammar Videos and worksheets

https://bubbl.us/ Mind maps online

https://en.linoit.com/ sticky and canvas tool

https://info.flipgrid.com/ video sharing for educators and students

http://roadtogrammar.com/ teacher resources/games about everything

http://koalatext.com/public/ online games etc

https://create.kahoot.it/ Learning games and more

https://quizlet.com/ Grammar/vocabulary games and more. Create a study set for any subject you’re teaching

https://www.gonoodle.com/ GoNoodle gets kids moving so they can be their best

https://www.mentimeter.com/app online polls

https://www.grammarly.com/ writing assistant 

https://www.liveworksheets.com/  transforms your traditional printable worksheets into self-correcting interactive exercises that the students can do online and send to the teacher.

https://vimeo.com/ All the Tools You Need to Upload, Host, and Share Video

https://edpuzzle.com/ interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students’ progress with hassle-free analytics 

https://classroomscreen.com/ Create multiple screens and navigate from one screen to another. placeholder image.

https://www.canva.com/ Create beautiful designs with your team. Use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and layouts to design, share and print business cards, logos, presentations ETC

https://www.pixton.com/ comic and storyboard creator

https://www.quizalize.com/  fun quizzes in the classroom or remotely

https://eslvideo.com/Free quizzes, lessons and online conversation classes for English language learners.

https://draw.chat/  a free, anonymous, online drawing board

https://storybird.com/ artful storytelling and a unique language arts tool. 

http://online.anyflip.com/ book creator

https://www.educandy.com/ With Educandy, you can create interactive learning games in minutes. All you need is to enter the vocabulary or questions and answers and Educandy turns your content into cool interactive activities.

https://answergarden.ch/ AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic feedback tool. Use it for real time audience participation, online brainstorming and classroom feedback.

https://www.google.com/intl/el_gr/forms/about/ Google Forms is a tool that allows collecting information from users via a personalized survey or quiz. The information is then collected and automatically connected to a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is populated with the survey and quiz responses.

https://socrative.com/ fun, on-the-fly assessments .An efficient way to monitor and evaluate learning that saves time for educators while delivering fun and engaging interactions for learners.

https://sites.google.com/new Google Sites is an amazingly simple tool to allow Teachers AND Students to create in class.  Projects, Portfolios, Lab Reports, anything can be turned into a Website and with the ease of New Google Sites it’s too easy and powerful to keep ignoring. 

 This tutorial will walk you through the basics of creating a Google Site and at the end I show you an example of a student e-Portfolio (link below to the same sample).

https://www.edmodo.com/  is a tool for educators to send messages, share class materials, and make learning accessible for students anywhere

Teaching online ideas and tools: An educational response to Covid-19 pandemic-a guest blog post, by Maria Polychrou

My blog has always been open to English teachers who wish to share their inspiring work with the educational community! This time, I have decided to ask our colleague Maria Polychrou to share her creative ideas, in a guest blog post and she has kindly agreed to write about her covid19 teaching experience.

During the pandemic, many educators-including Maria Polychrou and me- have looked to their professional learning networks on social media for encouragement through virtual book clubs, Twitter chats, Facebook groups, or wellness challenges.

I firmly believe that, in the weeks and months ahead, we must all consider: What can we do for others?  How can we fully embrace the ethics of care?  At the core of this principle is educational altruism, or selfless concern for other educators, students, and their families.

Mainly because digital practices are so portable, teachers can easily share resources with colleagues within the same school and across schools, countries, and even continents. We seem to have entered a new reality in which collaboration is no longer a luxury; instead, it is a lifeline that allows for teachers to learn about new digital tools, to integrate new teaching activities (both high-tech and low-tech), and to share responsibility for creating online or take-home resources.

I’ve always spoken about the importance of collaboration among teachers. To me, there’s no better time like the present, to come together and help each other navigate these challenging times. Now is the time to focus on the human impact technology has on teachers’ and students’ lives, and collectively recognize the critical role technology plays in human connections, creative educational pursuits, and education, in general.

The best part about the benefits of teacher collaboration is that they can be a reality—as they are in so many learning communities around the world.

I am consistently amazed at the tireless and heroic work of fellow teachers at every level of education, especially under the circumstances! Frankly, I see many teachers who deserve a standing ovation every day for their high-quality work.

Maria Polychrou, is definitely, one of them!

Teaching is by far one of the more noble and influential professions on the planet. English teachers, in particular, can and do make a difference every day in the lives of children and families.

We all agree that no teacher gets up in the morning and says, ‘I think I will just be mediocre today.’ Teachers want to do a good job, and given the proper environment and encouragement, they will. The strongest motivators are not monetary rewards or benefits. Teachers want to be appreciated for what they do. And when their colleagues give recognition and appreciation on their behalf, teachers do their best.

Enjoy reading Maria’s article! I bet, you will find it inspiring and useful!

These are just a few tools and ideas that can help ensure continuous learning during this Coronavirus pandemic.
But, as we all already know, no technology will be able to replace our expertise, our enthusiasm, and our human approach to education!

Feel free to comment and share your experiences!

Hello!! I’m Maria Polychrou and I am an English teacher and an oral examiner in Tesol Examinations in Thessaloniki! My educational background (M.A. in Theatre Studies and Ph.D. in Theatre, Intercultural Education and Teaching English as a Second language) and my involvement in many Erasmus programs, both in Greece and abroad, dealing with diversity and intercultural awareness through the use of theatre and drama,  can reveal my passion for theatre. That’s why I have been trying to use, promote, and explore educational programs based on theatre and drama techniques in English Teaching. Puppetry, Forum Theatre, Image Theatre are some of the resources of my inspiration in class.

 These resources of inspiration are what I have been trying to share with my colleagues in my presentations in different seminars and conferences over the past few years.

It was during such a conference that I met Ms. Aphrodite Gkiouris. It was the 27th Tesol Macedonia Thrace Annual International Conference in Thessaloniki last February when we first talked face to face in the backyard of the American College.

And this is something I will never forget! Her bright smile and her positive attitude made me feel at ease right away and very soon I admired her blooming character and I realized that she is an active and creative teacher who celebrates interaction among her students and her colleagues! “Sharing is caring” is her motto and I can guarantee you she is the first to share and embrace every new tip, method, and idea in English Teaching!

Thank you Ms. Gkiouris for hosting my article! It was such an honor for me really!!!!

Online teaching sessions                                                                                              Part 1

Wow!! It’s been quarantine time and a whole new era has dawned on teaching. Distance learning was the only way to keep in touch with our students and the whole educational community, both teachers and learners, reserve a Medal of Honor for their relentless efforts. Hats off to those educators who didn’t give up but educated themselves on distance learning and new online teaching tools day and night confronting the obstacles!!

In this article, educators, especially colleagues in kindergarten and primary schools, can find a list of resources and ideas for your online lessons. When you click on the hyperlinks you can access the resources I have used and shared with my students online.

Keeping in mind what my students and I loved doing during our face to face lessons was what has really helped me with online lessons. It has been one of my priorities to make them feel or at least remind them of the connection we have in our classes and the feelings we share. The best way to do it was through storytelling and puppetry. Puppetry online???? Oh yes!! 100% success!!

I resorted to reading books like “A very hungry caterpillar” by Eric Carle and tried to bring these stories alive on their computer screen. Using theatre hats, finger puppets, hand puppets, stick puppets, and shadow theatre, I tried my best to make this brand new online teaching adventure familiar with our live -in-class lessons. And that was when I gained my students’ trust back again. This boosted their attention, their willingness for cooperation, and their pure enthusiasm for English lessons!       

A great educational tool is Eric Carle’s books through which you can teach vocabulary units such as nutrition, numbers, animals, or talk about bullying, greediness, appearance, acceptance, or nature units such as the circle of life. We read the “Mixed up Chameleon”  and we talked about acceptance and equality!! We talked about how we should appreciate our own capabilities and strengths!! Moreover, you can use “ A very hungry caterpillar” to teach basic food-related vocabulary, numbers, or the days of the week. However, you can expand your teaching and talk about the circle of life of a butterfly and have your students observe their own balcony and their own plants. Moreover, you can talk about healthy eating habits and nutrition and have them look for fruits and vegetables in their own fridge. Such hands-on activities can make your lessons invaluable and the learning experience unforgettable.

In addition, you can read “ A Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle. Through reading this book you can talk about different kinds of animals or teach time but also you can talk about bullying, empathy, and feelings. It is a great book that can help you bond with your students even more. You can help them talk about their feelings and make them realize that whatever they feel is right. Especially during this quarantine time under the COVID -19 threat, kids can easily sense their parent’s fear or they themselves may feel threatened by this “unseen” enemy. It is good for them and you as well- to share all these feelings the same way you did (hopefully) in your classes! I used my ladybug puppets and students felt even more free to talk about themselves!

What I also try to do during our online sessions is to have my students active and moving around. It’s so hard for a 4/5-year-old kid to stand still in front of a computer and that is why I try to combine my online reading aloud stories or puppetry shows with kinesthetic songs! Therefore when we read “ From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle, I had my students imitate animals voices and movements. We played “ Simon says” and we listened to songs like “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA48wTGbU7A&t=103s

I dressed up as a native American Indian (Oh yes!!) and we talked about seasons and weather. 

We even made a magic spell to make the rain go away and of course, we revised family members vocabulary and we listened to the song “Rain, rain go away” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFrKYjrIDs8

When we want to practice the alphabet, I have my students’ parents provide their kids with trays filled with salt and we try to shape our letters with our fingers on the salty surface! I have tried as much as possible to have them make regular activities similar to those in class so as to make them feel that they participate in a “regular” teaching routine!! Then I ask them to look around their houses and try to find things whose name starts with specific letters!! We play the “ I spy “ game as well!. You can use these ideas when teaching colors and shapes as well! Kindergarten kids really loooove looking around and showing parts of their houses to the rest!!

What I also try to do is to combine my teaching with art! That’s why, when I wanted to teach my students the shapes, I introduced Kandisnky!!! What a fun and creative way is to identify shapes through famous paintings!!! You can click on the link to download resources!!)  Afterwards, you can have your students listen to “Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky and tell them to create a piece of art in Kandinsky style while being inspired by the music!! You will be surprised !!

When you click on the links, you can find many pdf files available which include vocabulary activities, board games, printable games. All these files can be a great tool used autonomously or you can combine them with the following online teaching tools!

Enjoy!!! This period was highly beneficial and educational to all of us!! Never give up!! Be the change you want to see!!!!

Online teaching tools                                                                                             Part 2

I have made a collection of online tools which I found really useful for my online lessons both for young and older students!! Enjoy and set your inspiration free!!

1. https://padlet.com/

Padlet is great for sharing digital content and improving the engagement of the students. Teachers can create special brainstorm sessions where they invite students to discuss some topics.

Eric Carle’s book review sessions are another great lesson idea. Create a session dedicated to his book and invite the students to share their reviews and comment on the ideas of others.

 

1. https://socrative.com

Socrative gives an efficient way to monitor and evaluate learning that saves time for educators while delivering  fun and engaging interactions for learners. You can launch a quiz, receive exit tickets (T/F questions, multiple-choice questions) or ask a quick question for instant student feedback.

 

1. https://www.wolframalpha.com/

Enter a topic or choose from a wide range of knowledge fields! A great tool for teachers and students!!!

 

1. https://trello.com/

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. Think of Trello as a virtual “idea board.” In Trello, you can create as many boards as you want with lists and cards. The boards can then be discussed, collaborated upon, and manipulated to create a visual workflow student can check in with each other using discussions on a particular card. They can attach pictures and files, and then assemble all cards into one final project.

 

1. http://www.scribblar.com/

It is an online collaboration platform that is perfect for students because it provides many incentives for teamwork as well as great technology to engage in creative work.

 

1. https://www.edmodo.com/

Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students and is assimilated into a social network. In this one, teachers can create online collaborative groups, administer and provide educational materials, measure student performance, and communicate with parents, among other functions

1. https://projeqt.com

Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter timelines, and videos,

 

1. https://www.thinglink.com/

Thinglink allows educators to create interactive images with music, sounds, texts, and photographs.

 

1. https://edpuzzle.com/

You can introduce students to self-paced learning with interactive video lessons. It’s easy to add your own voice narration and questions!

 

1. https://storybird.com/

Storybird aims to promote writing and reading skills in students through storytelling. In this tool, teachers can create interactive and artistic books online.

 

1. https://animoto.com/

Animoto is a digital tool that allows you to create high-quality videos.

 

1. https://www.ck12.org/student/

You can have your own students explore many fields like chemistry, maths, English. You can even find content for your own lessons through books and educational material which can be modified and contain videos, audios, and interactive exercises.

 

1. https://kahoot.it/

Kahoot! is an educational platform that is based on games and questions. Through this tool, teachers can create questionnaires, discussions, or surveys that complement academic lessons.

1. https://www.liveworksheets.com/

Liveworksheets transforms your traditional printable worksheets into self-correcting interactive exercises that the students can do online and send to the teacher.

 

1. https://wordwall.net/

You can make custom activities for your classroom such as quizzes, matchups, word games, crosswords, labeled diagrams, random wheels. It’s great really!

 

1. https://www.storyjumper.com/

It’s a great way to create, narrate, and publish your students’ books. You can have them create their own characters, plot, or add their own voice!!

 

1. https://web.creaza.com/en/help/create-a-cartoon 

Your class can create your own cartoon!

 

1. https://www.mindomo.com/

Mindomo lets you create mind maps and presentations with text, links, images, video, and audio. Combine content from the web with Mindomo’s built-in library and your own uploaded files. It is also possible to collaborate in real-time.

 

1. AudioEditor allows you to create exciting podcasts and audio mixes. The tool contains hundreds of audio clips, music as well as sound effects. These can be combined with audio recordings and your own uploaded audio files.

 

1. https://www.mysimpleshow.com/

Use mysimpleshow in the classroom with your students or contribute to open educational resources. Introduce, summarize, and explain topics worth sharing. All you need to do is upload a script and your animated video is created.

 

1. https://quizizz.com/

A very popular tool among teachers who want to create their own quizzes!

 

1. https://codekingdoms.com/

Learn how to make your own Minecraft mods with the power of code!

 

1. https://www.kwizzbit.com/ for quizzes 

 

1. https://synap.ac/ for quizzes

 

1. https://testmoz.com/#features for tests creating

 

1. https://www.vocabtest.com/ for tests creating

 

1. http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/poetry_engine.htm

Poetry Idea Engine. Wow!!!!!

1. https://freerice.com/categories/english-vocabulary

This unique tool is great for building vocabulary. For every correct answer you choose, 10 grains of rice are raised to help end world hunger through the World Food Programme. While your students play this vocabulary game, they learn while donating food to people in need.

 

1. https://coggle.it/

A mind-mapping tool designed to understand student thinking.

 

1. https://dotstorming.com/

A whiteboard app that allows digital sticky notes to be posted and voted on. This tool is best for generating class discussion and brainstorming on different topics and questions.

 

1. http://www.triventy.com/

A free quiz game platform that allows teachers to create quizzes students take in real-time. These live quizzes provide teachers with real-time data on student understanding of classroom concepts. Students need individual devices to respond to quiz questions.

 

1. https://www.polleverywhere.com/

Use Poll Everywhere activities to take attendance, give quizzes, and gauge understanding.

 

1. https://www.pixton.com/

Free comic storyboard!! Excellent!!

 

1. https://www.naiku.net/

Teachers can easily and quickly create quizzes that students can answer using their mobile devices. Great for checking for understanding before and after a lesson.

 

1. https://www.gosoapbox.com/ and Confusion barometer https://www.gosoapbox.com/tour/confusion-barometer

The Confusion Barometer allows students to indicate when they’ve become confused with the material, or need the teacher to slow down with the click of a button. The teacher sees a graphical representation of the number of students who are confused at any point during the class. Teachers can monitor the confusion barometer, and if they see a spike in confusion, will know that their students are having trouble with a concept, or that something wasn’t clearly explained.

 

1. https://lightsailed.com/

An e-reading program that helps teachers support independent reading in students. You can monitor progress and give assessment and feedback in real-time.

 

1. https://goformative.com/

You can upload any pdf/document/google doc, click to add places for your students to respond, edit any question details and you’re done.

You can also embed content from other websites and try our interactive question types like Show Your Work (drawing), Drag and Drop, Audio Recording, Graphing, or Essay! Create an assignment and get live results from students. Present them with real-time feedback in an instant, too.

 

1. https://www.focusboosterapp.com/

For those who feel tedious working remotely or alone, it’s a great tool to help themselves beat distractions, procrastinate less, and stay focused. A great Pomodoro timer!

 

1. https://www.brainpop.com/

animated curricular content (animated lessons, videos, assessments, games, etc.)

 

1. https://www.twiddla.com/

This is a great tool for those teachers who want to prepare K-12 students for writing college papers because it involves a lot of writing assignments.

 

1. https://vocaroo.com/

A free service that allows users to create audio recordings without the need for software. You can easily embed the recording into slide shows, presentations, or websites. Great for collaborative group work and presentations.

 

1. Piktochart (https://piktochart.com/)

It uses blocks—dividing up the page into sections that you can build your infographics with by cloning, moving, or deleting what sections you wish.

 

1. Youtube channels like

1. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMRZ0-ci4ifGBF1bJvrcDRQ

A channel with a large number of interactive simulations of experiments in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, used together with the platform https://phet.colorado.edu/. Depending on the subject, it can be used for all school ages.

1. https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

A very interesting channel with a lot of unusual experiments, puzzles, songs that are used as reminders for various scientific concepts (for example, Atomic Bonding). It could be best used for upper primary school grades and secondary school.

1. https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse/videos

channel with scientific phenomena presented in a very funny way. It covers a variety of topics, from historical facts to astrophysics problems. Intended for secondary school students, but if adapted and more thoroughly analyzed, it can also be used for upper primary school grades.

1. https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation/videos

 A large collection of animated stories about various phenomena – scientific, social, and artistic. Animated stories can be used with the platform TEDed, which provides the opportunity for interactive collaboration between teachers and students, with quizzes, reflections, and reference materials that can be further used.

1. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXko8B8Csp8OBtOv0BzCgw

Creativity in Teaching English is a channel with reading aloud stories using puppets!!

1. Kindergaarden channels!!

1. https://www.coolkindergarten.com/

has both language arts and math games for kindergarten plus a small selection of read-aloud and math videos.

1. https://www.starfall.com/h/

is a classic beginning learner website. Use both the alphabet and learn to read page for the maximum benefit and a couple of the kindergarten math activities are good too.

1. https://www.readbrightly.com/topics/brightly-storytime/
2. https://www.freckle.com/ is a differentiation platform with built-in activities for ELA, math, social studies, and science.
3. https://www.education.com/games/kindergarten/ for free online games 
4. https://www.neok12.com/ is a collection of free online educational videos, lessons, quizzes, puzzles, and games.

 

I hope you found this post useful and interesting!!!

Keep creating!!! Teaching is creativity!! Start promoting theatre and puppets in your lessons!!

Polychrou Maria

Mail: mariapoly87@hotmail.com

Youtube channel: Creativity in Teaching English 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXko8B8Csp8OBtOv0BzCgw

Blog: http://creativityinteaching.blogspot.com/

“Out Tree of Wishes” 2019-20 etwinning project

For all those -mainly non-European -teachers who keep asking me about what etwinning is about:

eTwinning is the community for schools in Europe.

eTwinning offers a platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe. eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport.

eTwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and services for schools. eTwinning also offers opportunities for free and continuing online Professional Development for educators.

Launched in 2005 as the main action of the European Commission’s eLearning Programme, eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, since 2014.

Its Central Support Service is operated by European Schoolnet, an international partnership of 34 European Ministries of Education developing learning for schools, teachers and pupils across Europe. eTwinning is further supported at national level by 38 National Support Services.

TwinSpace

The place where eTwinning magic really happens is the TwinSpace; a safe platform visible only to the teachers participating in a project. Students can also be invited in the TwinSpace to meet and collaborate with peers from their partner schools.

One of the most important elements of eTwinning is collaboration among teachers, students, schools, parents, and local authorities. In eTwinning teachers work together and organise activities for their students. They have an active role, interact, investigate, make decisions, respect each other and learn 21st century skills. eTwinning projects involve the contribution of each member of the team. Take inspiration and explore these awarded projects.

Finally, in eTwinning, our work is important and deserves to be shared and recognised locally, nationally and Europe-wide. eTwinning recognises the work carried out by teachers, students, and schools through National and European Quality Labels, eTwinning Awards, eTwinning Schools and the eTwinning Portfolio.

One of our school  inspiring etwinning projects, this year, was a project about… wishing trees!

In “Our Tree of Wishes”project, teachers and students of about…200 European Schools,worked together ! What an unforgetable experience ,for all partners !

Our “Our Tree of Wishes” project, in a nutshell

Students 7 to 15 created a collaborative Tree of Wishes.
We  decorated a real or drawn tree using wishes cards written by our students.
They wrote  their wishes ,for a festivity of their choice and hanged the cards on the tree. Then each school prepared a wishes card,to be shared with all partners. The cards from the other countries were printed and they decorated our collaborative Tree of Wishes. Finally we held a ” Best Tree of Wishes Contest”.

Our pedagogical objectives

– The students  improve their language skills

– They learn to express their feelings and wishes

– They develop positive thoughts and create positive wishes and send them to Europe and the world

-They develop their creativity 

– They get to know other cultures and broaden their horizons

– They create collaborative Wishing Trees 

Our project detailed plan

AUGUST

1) We wrote our addresses on the page “Our e-mail addresses” and joined the Whatsapp group of the project .

2) We added a marker for our school on the page ” Our schools on the map” 

3) We wrote a brief presentation of ourselves in the project FORUM.

4) On the page ” Organizing the project together” we added our name, school address, number and age of our students.

5) We uploaded our students’ posters, introducing the project to the school community  and the Twinboard, in the  Pages.

6) We added our expectations ,as teachers, at the beginning of the project, in the page “Survey on the project”.

SEPTEMBER

1) We presented the project and the TwinSpace, to our students. We also informed them about the netiquette of the project and the e-safety rules by playing the “kahoot” game.

We uploaded photos and/or videos of our students playing the ķahoot game and learning about the e-safety rules, to the sub-page “We learn e-safety in the classroom”.

We invited our pupils, as members of the TwinSpace.

2) Students introduced themselves, in the page “Students introduce themselves”, through a video, a text, or avatars.

3) We joined the project Logo contest: we uploaded our logo suggestions on “Tricider”.

4) We selected 4-5 drawings, which our students had drawn, for the logo contest. We uploaded those drawings to anArt Gallery, made with “emaze”. 

5) All teachers joined the Facebook group of the project https://www.facebook.com/groups/415721049072509/

OCTOBER

We presented our countries, to our project partners.We created trasnational groups ,to do so .

We created a “Thinglink” account for the project.

When our work was ready,we logged into “Thinglink” and uploaded it to the right country link.

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 

Our students wrote their wishing cards and a wishing letter, and shared them with all project partners.

In particular:

1) Each student wrote a simple wishing card in his/her own language. We helped the students translate the cards ,into English. Students , added a drawing to their cards.

We made a video /slideshow, to present our wishing cards.

We uploaded the video on Youtube or Vimeo first. Then ,we posted the link to the Youtube video, in the twinspace.

2) Students wrote a wishing letter, in English for the project partners, helped by their teacher.

The letter was uploaded ,as a pdf file ,to “Materials”, in the TwinSpace. Then we visited the subpage “Our letters to our partners”,and we uploaded our students’ letters.

3) We  printed our students’ wishing cards and all the letters from our partners.We decorated our Trees of Wishes, with them. 

4) Finally, we  took a photo of our own Tree of Wishes and we posted it, in the  twinspace Pages.

 JANUARY

1) We posted all the photos of our beautiful “Trees of Wishes” ,in a collaborative e-book,made with “Book Creator”.

The Book was uploaded to the page “Best Tree of Wishes Contest”. We used the numbers on the pages of the Book, in order to vote for our favourite trees.

2) We posted  the wishing letters , written by all  partners, in a collaborative e-book made with “Flipsnack”, divided into three volumes: the books were uploaded to an interactive image created with “Genially”.

3) Our students wrote their wishes for all our partners, in the Forum “Our wishes for the New Year”.

4) We completed a survey, in the page ” A survey on the project “

5) Teachers created a common Domino Game using New Year words and pictures, as a nice Holiday gift ,for all student-partners .

6)  Project Evaluation

 We filled in three easy and quick forms: one for the teachers, one for the students and one for the parents. 

7) We applied for the etwinning Quality Label.

Our own school wishing tree idea,in brief

” Our Tree of Wishes “, our inspiring etwinning project wishing tree ,is a Greek olive tree decorated with origami paper boats !
The idea behind it: during the Festive Season, all around Greece ,you will find Christmas boats (karavakia) decorated with lights and ornaments, which are very traditional and symbolic.
The Karavaki symbolises sailing towards the new life!
According to the Greek Christmas traditions, especially in the islands, kids prepare their own boats with paper and chips of wood, and on Christmas Eve, they use these little boats to collect the treats they receive, when singing the carols (kalanda) from house to house.

All our project links

Our intro school video: Making our wishing boats and decorating our wishing Tree

“Our Tree of Wishes” etwinning project online meeting

Our final school video ,about our project

“Our Tree of Wishes” etwinning project summary

Our Wishing Trees Art Gallery

Our project interactive map

Our Book of Trees

Our Book of Letters

The TwinSpace Netiquette of the project Our Tree of Wishes

A kahoot game for our students to play and check how much you really know about Internet safety and netiquette (good behaviour on the Internet)

A list, of all the web tools we used

https://docs.google.com/ : collaborative project plan

https://www.photocollage.com/

https://biteable.com/: project presentation and project netiquette 

https://www.kizoa.com/

answergarden 

mentimeter.com (survey on the expectations from the project) 

renderforest.com

pixiz.com

pizap.com

padlet

thinglink

vimeo for videos 

vocaroo.com 

powtoon.com

animoto

emaze: art gallery

kahoot :  e-safety and project netiquette

Google presentation: survey on the project 

Scrap coloring

Canva (for posters)

Pic.collage

Snapchat

Screencast-o-matic: tutorials

Google Maps: interactive map

Pixlr:Online Photo Editor

LearningApps: games

Break Your Own News: creation of posters for breaking news

Logo Maker and MsPainting (for logo – painting/drawing)

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=1adcc321c083

http://www.glitterfy.com/

http://www.postermywall.com/

Blogger: project blog

Book Creator: collaborative ebook

Story Jumper: fairy tale on the tree of wishes

Educandy: instructive games

Flipsnack:  books of letters

Teaching outside the BOX

 

I’ve always loved all kinds of boxes! I love using and reusing them and teaching my students about how to do the same, using their imagination and creativity! There are great ways to use cardboard boxes in the ESL classroom and here are just a few, to get the idea.

Why Work With Cardboard?

It is SUPREME.

1. It is (in most cases) free.
2. It appeals to the environmentally-conscious, pro-recycling parts of our human nature.
3. It is disposable – toss it back into the recycling bin when you’re done teaching/playing.

Cardboard Box Houses

 

 

Why not make this easy cardboard house, with your class,too? You can watch online videos ,follow the simple step-by-step instructions and help your students decorate their houses. With the help of some small dolls,furniture or action figures, have them act out scenes from a course book story or a tale you’ve read them, for role plays with a twist! You can even teach Grammar , ie the prepositions of place, by having the students move the pieces of toy furniture around the rooms or teach/revise vocabulary, ie colours, parts of the house etc

Dioramas to Die for!

Dioramas are perfect for capturing a scene from a story – and cardboard boxes are the ideal material for our class diorama. Simply cut out a rectangle from one of the sides of the box, like a window. Then have your class assist you in recreating a scene from a story or book you’ve read.And don’t forget holiday dioramas: from the first Thanksgiving to a spooky graveyard filled with monsters for Halloween, the possibilities are endless!

Landscapes 

Want to practice asking for and giving directions? How about using a miniature landscape instead of an old, boring, flat map or picture ? Use small cardboard boxes of different sizes, like small cereal or cookie boxes. Have your students create a landscape out of each.The students can make the landscape as detailed as they want .Use action figures to move around and ask for directions. In this last school year’s photo, my creative students created a four Seasons landscape and used it while reciting a poem they had written, about the four Seasons!

Boxed Words

Set up a Vocabulary Box ,in a corner of the room! Each time a student asks about a word he or she does not understand, go through the following steps:

Write-or have the students write- the word at the top of an index card, the definition (for your older students) or a drawing ( for your younger learners) below that and finally, an example of the word used in a sentence, if you wish.

Put the card in the Vocabulary Box.

 

At the end of the week/month (or school year) depending on the number of words accumulated, you can open the box and see how many of the words they still remember, how many they’ve forgotten or not used at all since that day in class, by playing fun vocabulary  games. The day I took this photo, we played a Treasure Hunt Game, using the words in the box.

Mail Box

Have each of your students write a letter to a classmate or you,the teacher. I always do so, at the beginning and the end of each school year . They get so excited when they receive their reply letters! Then, you can be the postman/woman and deliver them or have another student act as postman/woman. I also use the mailbox for homework assignments or special occasions such as  Christmas, where students get the chance to write to Santa. Watch this tutorial to make an alternative mailbox to mine, in the photos.

Dolls, Robots and other crafts

For a fun class role play activity, first have your students create an action figure or any other craft of their choice, out of a cardboard box .When they’re all done, students take turns acting out different role plays, using them! An the end of each school year, you can organise yearly “Art Exhibitions” with all the students’ crafts! Art exhibitions ,offer students a chance to display their work for parents, siblings and classmates.

 

Puppet Theatre

A cardboard box can easily be turned into a fun puppet theater, for all our class ELT puppet , finger puppet or even shadow theatre plays.

Here are the instructions about how to make your own shadow puppet theatre.

Class Theatre Hats 

 

I create class theatre props and crowns/hats from cardboard, throughout the school year. The last time I did so, was for the needs of our end-of-the-school-year adaptation of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” .

Not only are these hats adorable, but very sturdy. After they are constructed you can let the children decorate them with stickers and/or paint.

Playing with a Dice

 

I love using Dice Games to practice vocabulary, in my class! I made  my first class dice , a couple of years ago and have been using all the activities in this post, since then .

My students love the Dice Games and ask for them, all the time! 

Mystery box

This is an awesome guessing activity! The “Mystery Box” is a type of prediction game that you can create with simple items that you have in class.

Find a box, such as a shoe box, or any other kind of container which kids can’t see through, such as a cookie tin. Introduce the empty box or tin and discuss how the mystery box game will be played. Outside of the children’s view, place an item inside the box or tin. Ask the children to predict what is inside. If you want, you can let the children hold the box, to see how heavy it is or if it makes any noise bouncing around the box or tin.

Give the children one clue as to what is inside the box. For instance, if you have a teddy bear inside, you can say, “It’s soft.” After the first clue is given, ask the children to guess what might be inside. Repeat the process by giving a second clue, such as, “It’s brown” and then ask the children to guess again.

They have to guess, by using different modals such as “it must be..”, ” it can’t be..”, “it may be..” etc

All the students who guess right, are given special stickers! If only one student guesses right , she/he is given the item in the mystery box, to take home , as a present.

After showing the kids how to play the game, I ask the children to bring their own  mystery boxes from home, the next day, with an item inside the box for their classmates  to guess what it is.

Our etwinning “CUbeS”

Last school year, we used boxes in our etwinning European project, with huge success!

What the four partners ( Greece, UK, France and Poland)  decided to do was that, students produced a presentation or “Culture and Smiles in a Box” on their partner country in groups, both in class and on twinspace Forums. To be able to do this, students  gathered information about their own country and life and mailed it to their partner schools, in Cubes-boxes .Their partners, were responsible for producing the presentation on their partner country’s cultural assets on twinspace Forums .

My students felt able to be creative with their audience in the partner schools in mind and dare to share and compare.They also used their imagination and creativity as well as their artistic skills, in order to fill their CUbeS with content.

The Activity Box -for early finishers

For my early finishers, especially when writing tests, I use a special box!

A box, filled with activities and items of my choice, such as books, magazines, board games, toys, postcards, etc The box also contains small sets of task cards.

The box can be placed on an easily accessible shelf in the classroom or on the teacher’s desk.When students’ regular classwork/test  is complete, they can take one item at a time, either to their seat so as not to distract other students who are working, and get a quiet moment to relax. They use the materials in the box to practice their English, too. And instead of being just “busy,” students are engaged in creative, complex tasks.Kinesthetic learners, spatial learners, and logical learners ,all love exploring the different possibilities for the box materials as they try to spend their time ,the fun way!

Even better? The prep and management on the teacher’s part is minimal! 

The story telling box

Using a magic box when we do story telling with our very young learners, is so much fun! I ,personally, love it!

A good example of how to do so, can be found in this Blog post, written by my friend Margarita Kosior. 

Margarita ,is an amazing educator from Thessaloniki! I truly admire her work with storytelling !

I am so grateful that she accepted my invitation, to share one of her stories, in my Blog, a couple of years ago! Actually, she has been my inspiration to try similar activities with my junior classes and I wholeheartedly thank her, for that!

The routine, is opening the Magic Box which hides different treasures every time, usually flashcards or realia which appear later in the story.

In case of “Henry Hippo”, she created head bands with the four protagonists in advance and she placed them in the Magic Box. With the use of a magic star and on the sound of the magic words, the Magic Box opens.

Every time the group shout: “Magic Box, open!”, one headband/item is taken out.

 IDENTITY BOX

I have used the ‘Identity Box’ activity since I was introduced to it, at Pilgrims ,by my amazing “Teaching Difficult Learners” course teacher trainers Mike Shreeve and Phil Dexter , two years ago. It is  a way to introduce my students to each other (and to me!). I assign it as homework, on the first day and give students 2-3 days to complete it. Alternatively, students could do the project in school and bring in old newspapers and magazines ,in order to decorate their boxes. 

Supplies needed:

Scissors

Glue

Pictures (personal, magazine, etc)

Shoe Box (or box of any kind)

On the outside of the box, all students decorate with images of how they feel others see them OR how they see themselves.

On the inside of the box, older students, decorate with images of how they feel on the inside, what best describes their  identity.

 Sharing the boxes on the last day of the first week of school is a fun way to conclude this exciting week. 

I have also included an optional “All about me on a Box” writing activity extension.

*For those of you interested in reading about the original idea ,which actually doesn’t have anything to do with children, please, have a look here.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to fun ESL activities, why not think outside the box, or rather in this case inside it?

Why not capitalize on our innate fascination with boxes and the opportunities they hold?

Our first time, in a Forensics Tournament

Our school the 21st State Primary School of Larissa, within the framework of innovative projects, participated in a Forensics Tournament in English, at the premises of “Ekpedeftiria Mpakogianni” school , in Larissa, in May 2019.

The Tournament, was filled with debating, acting, oral interpretations, impromptus, and a lot of excitement.

During the tournament, our School’s Forensics team presented their skills in the event:

• Oral Interpretation of Literature

To be able to take part in the Tournament, our students learned and practiced the art and skills of competitive forensics .The preparation, lasted about two months.  First, they participated in the research and presentation of the material for oral interpretation of literature. 

The first week, included a close study of public speaking and oral interpretation, and little information about debate.   

All six students in our team,were required to participate in a forensics tournament preparation class, held outside the regularly scheduled class time. Our team met twice a week, for one hour each time. 

Peer Feedback 

My students benefited from peer feedback in that they were able to teach others about the tournament  rules and provided feedback that they would consider relevant. In seeing that their peer feedback was relevant, students were more engaged and invested in working to complete the task successfully. Peer feedback also gave my students an opportunity to have their voices heard, and to listen to each other. It is often easier for us to understand concepts from people who are similar in age as we are.

Our selections

Our selections were from a short story, and four novels.Our selections  incorporated a mix of monologues, dialogues and narrative . Our emphasis was placed on the prose aspect of the performance and not the dramatic qualities of the performance. 

The objective

In general, the objective of a Forensics Lab and Tournament is to enable the participating students to work together and to exchange views on issues of concern to their age, and even, more general social issues and to tell beautiful stories. Also to cultivate their critical thinking, help them to become familiar within the conditions of healthy and democratic dialogue and ultimately, help them to improve their language proficiency in English. During the tournament,both teachers and parents had the opportunity to enjoy the result of the effort of all students ,which was in a high level.

One, will be surprised to find out that a Forensics Tournament, is primarily a question of listening skills.Active listening is what feeds the brain with the necessary information to manage all issues and make all kinds of decisions.At second reading, the the students’ engagement with all areas of concern to human activity and their analysis, empowers them with critical thinking skills which-in these difficult times – are the most important skills for survival.

Finally, the ability of young people to express themselves comprehensively and with clarity, on the issues that concern them, will be valuable, both in their intimate relationships and in the professional arena, in their adult life ,too.

Useful  Info

HISTORY OF FORENSICS

In the early 1970’s, teachers of English from Anatolia College, Athens College (now known as the Hellenic American Educational Foundation), and Pinewood International Schools united to form the Forensics Society to give students from different schools the opportunity to meet to have discussions, make speeches and generally improve their speaking skills in English. 

Within a very short period thereafter, this ‘society’ grew to include another four schools: the American Community Schools (ACS), the Cairo American College, Campion School, and Pierce College (now PIERCE – The American College of Greece). Since that time, an additional nine schools have joined. These schools included the American School of Kuwait, Ekpedeftiki Anagenissi, Byron College, Costeas-Geitonas School, Geitonas School, Mantoulides Schools, The Moraitis School, St. Catherine’s British School, and St. Lawrence College. 

There were two tournaments a year: The fall tournament was held in Athens and the spring tournament was held in Thessaloniki. In some tournaments there were up to sixteen schools participating in the various events. Students originally participated in Debate, Comic and Dramatic Oral Interpretation, Comic and Dramatic Duet Acting, Impromptu Speaking, Original Oratory, and Extemporaneous Speaking. Eventually, however, Extemporaneous Speaking was dropped from the competition due to the ‘controversial’ nature of the current events at the time, and Group Discussion was added. In the 1980s, because of the increase in the number of contestants and the demands on both students and advisors, it was unanimously decided by the coaches of the schools that the tournaments be limited to one annually, alternating between Athens and Thessaloniki each year. The tournament came to be called the Panhellenic Forensics Tournament. The number of contestants in any given tournament has approached 400 in the past few years.

In 2004, another change took place: The society became an official association and is now known as the Panhellenic Forensics Association. The Executive Board of the Association meets regularly and all schools participating in the tournament are members of the Association.

Learning the Basics of Oral Interpretation

Oral Interpretation is the process by which words are pulled from the page and given dimension in a reader’s voice and body. Practitioners of oral interpretation bring stories to life, serving as a vehicle for the messages of the text. Some scholars argue that readers should unlock the meanings intended by the author (the vehicle should be empty) while others believe the meanings of texts inevitably transform as they filter through a reader’s voice, body, experiences, and culture (the vehicle is full of your stuff). Both ends of this dialectic are true: 1) readers should aim to honor the integrity of a text, using logic, analysis and research to investigate the concreteness and completeness literary text, and 2) readers should embrace the creative and artistic ways they effect how texts are understood, adapted, embodied, and delivered to an audience.

The importance of Reading Rewards

In order to stimulate learning and to motivate reading books , lots of teachers use rewards for students.

Research confirms that student motivation is a key factor in successful reading. However, in order to effectively support reading motivation in the classroom, it is helpful to consider the research on reading motivation and engagement.

Academic achievements are important to recognize. Recognizing the achievements that they have made in each area with curricular awards is a great way to foster confidence and promote good study habits.

Even our bookworms need a bit of encouragement

We all know that, some kids are just into it from the beginning and others need a bit of encouragement.  To me, if  we have a reluctant reader on our hands, special reading rewards are a fun and colourful way to make the idea of reading more engaging.

They are a way to track their progress. When they see how much they are achieving-  as the bookworm reaches its full length- our students will ,hopefully, become more motivated to sit down with a good book. Before we know it, they’ll be hooked on reading (well that’s the plan anyway).

It could be that the real value of reading-related rewards is that both the desired behavior (reading) and the reward (small gifts etc ) define a classroom culture that supports and nurtures the intrinsic motivation to read.

A few reading motivation ideas

Honoring books for self-selection, sharing the excitement of read-alouds, building a balanced book collection, making their passions public  and providing rewards that demonstrate the value of reading are just a few simple but transformative suggestions that can nurture the love of reading in our classrooms!

Our English library

Our school library is actually, a book case filled with books which have been categorised according to student level. This means that a student at an intermediate level will be able to select from a -limited, so far- range of books (novels) very clearly for his/her level without having to wade through books and reading the back cover or the first couple of pages to see if the book is going to be written in language that is too easy or too difficult for them.

In addition, it means students are able to read English books without having to pay for them. This may be especially important for students who are on a budget, or those who don’t really like reading and would be less motivated to read if they had to go out and find a book in English and then pay for it.

It also means, with a more restricted number of options available to choose from because they are divided into levels, students may end up choosing something to read they would not normally choose, even in their own language. And who knows, it might be the start of a whole new interest for a student.

In our English class, our bookworms , receive their rewards ,three times a year: at the end of each semester and at the end of the school year! Their names are published on the school site.

The rewards, usually consist of items like: bookmarks, educational toys, office supplies, balloons, lollipops etc

But, we should be careful: our students shouldn’t get addicted to rewards. They have to work because of an intrinsic motivation. As students achieve success in your class, they can learn to be motivated by their own achievements.

I really look forward to seeing a bigger number of my students take advantage of the school English library to improve their English language skills in any way possible, next school year!

Our English class record holders

The idea

Last year, we got motivated by the Guinness Book of Records, while teaching the Comparisons so ,we decided to look for our own class record holders and award them, accordingly!

This incredible “class record holders idea”, brought English to life in a fun, yet impactful way. 

Through engaging my English language learners in an exploration of class records, helped me support their growth in vocabulary, oral conversation, and written expression. Students had a chance to complete their  world record scavenger hunt, working in groups and creating their own awards.

The procedure

First, I made a few copies of the Guinness Book of World Records available to my students to peruse.

 I asked them what their impressions were.

Talking about world records is an opportune time, to review comparisons, of course .

I gave my students a chance to practice, using superlative adjectives, by making superlative statements about the students in our class using the list of adjectives I had already generated. Again, I gave them a chance to share with the class.

After my students had had some time to become familiar with the book and Grammar points, I  asked them why they thought those people were able to set those records. Was it because of a special skill? Was it luck? Were any of the records simple trickery? Was it effort and hard work? On the board, I wrote the words talent, skill, trick , effort and luck. Students discussed in small groups which of these five qualities was most important. Then, I had each group present to the class what they had agreed was most important or where their opinions differed.

As a final activity , I had my students each choose one other student, who held a class record .

 Then, I had my students partner and role-play an interview that they had written in pairs, in front of the class – one student asking the questions as the class reporter and another pretending to be the record holder and answering the questions.

 Conclusion

 Whether you have a class full of future record holders or not, your students are sure to find the information presented in the Guinness Book of World Records fascinating, especially if they have never actually looked inside its pages.

While our students are imagining their record placements, they will be practicing their language skills and becoming better students of English without even knowing it.