This morning I had the pleasure of getting to observe and participate in Paola's classes--as usual, at the end of the day I felt inspired and energized!
The first group was hilarious, because it was a FRENCH class (1º ESO), which means that I got to embarass myself by using my extremely basic French to answer the students' questions (with Paola's patient help). They had prepared the questions prior to my visit, and it was fun to hear them speaking a language that I definitely need to work on myself!
They are currently working on numbers in-class, so the first thing that we did was a game of BINGO. Paola had them create their own bingo cards in their notebooks, and as they were finishing them one of the students in the first row turned around said, ¿No vas a jugar!?, so of course I did my own BINGO card.
They are currently working on numbers in-class, so the first thing that we did was a game of BINGO. Paola had them create their own bingo cards in their notebooks, and as they were finishing them one of the students in the first row turned around said, ¿No vas a jugar!?, so of course I did my own BINGO card.
As you can see, I didn't win. But! It was great fun to participate, to see the kids getting excited about numbers (to try and remember the numbers, myself.....), and see how Paola had the game organized. The students were helping each other (4 x 20 + 3.... why do the French make it so complicated!?) and when they finally got BINGO it was charming to hear the student struggle to read back all the numbers and check them.
Paola explained to me that she uses a variety of games (Taboo, Pictionary, Who's Who, Mimic...) for around 5 minutes at the beginning of each class to get them motivated and engaged. Today she had lolipops as an added bonus, and day-to-day the students are motivated to participate as they are divided alphabetically into two groups and the group that has the most points at the end of the trimester gets an extra + 0,5 (the other group gets +0,25) to their final mark.
We finished the class with the song "Alouette" which, once translated, had the students laughing about the poor bird. It was a great review of body parts, as well as a new adjective (gentille)!
My favourite comment came at the end of class, after the bell had rung, and one of the students happily told me, "With Paola, it's always fun!" You can't ask for a better compliment from your students, especially after an engaging class. <3
I also participated in an Escape Room with a different group of 1º ESO (this time in English).
Paola had shown me the application Canva yesterday, and I can't wait to use it, because of the sheer quantity of options that it offers, as well as the fact that there are many templates that you can download and print for FREE! She used CANVA to set up the Escape Room for her students:
Paola explained to me that she uses a variety of games (Taboo, Pictionary, Who's Who, Mimic...) for around 5 minutes at the beginning of each class to get them motivated and engaged. Today she had lolipops as an added bonus, and day-to-day the students are motivated to participate as they are divided alphabetically into two groups and the group that has the most points at the end of the trimester gets an extra + 0,5 (the other group gets +0,25) to their final mark.
We finished the class with the song "Alouette" which, once translated, had the students laughing about the poor bird. It was a great review of body parts, as well as a new adjective (gentille)!
My favourite comment came at the end of class, after the bell had rung, and one of the students happily told me, "With Paola, it's always fun!" You can't ask for a better compliment from your students, especially after an engaging class. <3
I also participated in an Escape Room with a different group of 1º ESO (this time in English).
Paola had shown me the application Canva yesterday, and I can't wait to use it, because of the sheer quantity of options that it offers, as well as the fact that there are many templates that you can download and print for FREE! She used CANVA to set up the Escape Room for her students:
I loved the funny team names, and the storyline. The students had five tasks that they needed to complete in order to discover who the murderer was--it was a fun, engaging way to get them to review and use all types of vocabulary and grammar that they have seen, as well as different skills. Honestly, I've heard a lot about Escape Rooms and even participated in one at a conference, but I'd never seen one in the classroom, so it was a great experience. These were the tasks:
Task 1: Solve three riddles. (The answer to the last riddle--M--was the first letter they needed to solve the mystery)
Task 2: Crossword puzzle with "clothing" vocabulary. (One of the letters in one of the words was the next letter they needed--E)
Task 3: They had to ask either Paola or I questions to discover what student we were thinking of (like Who's Who) and when they discovered who it was, they got the next letter (S)
Task 4: Describe 3 Pictures--a lagoon, a waterfall and a desert. (When we corrected them, they got the next letter--S)
Task 5: Grammar: Present Simple vs. Present Continuous, as well as have/has. (The last letter was I)
Turns out it was MESSI that murdered Diego! I was shocked!
Task 1: Solve three riddles. (The answer to the last riddle--M--was the first letter they needed to solve the mystery)
Task 2: Crossword puzzle with "clothing" vocabulary. (One of the letters in one of the words was the next letter they needed--E)
Task 3: They had to ask either Paola or I questions to discover what student we were thinking of (like Who's Who) and when they discovered who it was, they got the next letter (S)
Task 4: Describe 3 Pictures--a lagoon, a waterfall and a desert. (When we corrected them, they got the next letter--S)
Task 5: Grammar: Present Simple vs. Present Continuous, as well as have/has. (The last letter was I)
Turns out it was MESSI that murdered Diego! I was shocked!
Students working together, while staying safe.
I also liked it that Paola projected the Escape Room while they were working, which allowed the students to see the pictures in colour (for example) or allowed her to help them if they had questions. The students were extremely motivated and focused as they went through the five tasks--I will definitely be incorporating this into my classroom activities!
Once we had finished with classes, we were able to sit down for an hour or so and Paola explained to me how she leads a typical class, and in addition to dedicating time at the beginning of class to a specific game/content, she also reads a chapter from an adapted book. She has the students copy important vocabulary as well as write a short summary of the chapter. One volunteer shares their summary with the class which, as Paola explained, is an efficient way of attending to both the "fast finishers" as well as the students who need more support in this type of activity.
As always, just having the opportunity to sit down and talk about and discuss the different ideas / challenges / joys of teaching, as well as different tools or methodologies or activities that we use... that's one of the best parts of this project. We just don't have the TIME normally, and it's so enriching every moment we share.
Thank you, Paola, for a great day!
Once we had finished with classes, we were able to sit down for an hour or so and Paola explained to me how she leads a typical class, and in addition to dedicating time at the beginning of class to a specific game/content, she also reads a chapter from an adapted book. She has the students copy important vocabulary as well as write a short summary of the chapter. One volunteer shares their summary with the class which, as Paola explained, is an efficient way of attending to both the "fast finishers" as well as the students who need more support in this type of activity.
As always, just having the opportunity to sit down and talk about and discuss the different ideas / challenges / joys of teaching, as well as different tools or methodologies or activities that we use... that's one of the best parts of this project. We just don't have the TIME normally, and it's so enriching every moment we share.
Thank you, Paola, for a great day!
Jessica Church
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