Not the End of My Tale

  About a year ago I had another teacher ask me why I allowed my 3rd graders to “waste class time drawing pictures when they should be learning English”. I am not alone in believing that many children enhance their language learning through art activities such as drawing. Incorporating drawing in our virtual trip around the world this year, I draw together with my students as we visit each country. According to cambridgeenglish.org, there are quite a few other ways to use drawing and crafts to enhance language studies. These do not need to be reserved for preschool children but are effective in older children as well. The writing here can be done solely by the child or with help by having the teacher write the word first on the board and letting the student copy it. Here are a few tips to add drawing to your language teaching.  Students can… Label some of the things in the drawing with words, like sun and beach.  Write captions of what people in the drawing might be sayi...

 The second stop on our Around the World Virtual Tour was Hawaii. My students read and watched information from a native Hawaiian. They were especially fascinated to read about her favorite snack- dried plums and her favorite food-poi. Besides picking coconuts and using them, the students liked hearing about pineapple plantations. Food seemed to be the biggest interest in Hawaii, although some students wanted to swim or hike, too. The students were able to make a short video about their visit using adobe spark. This was done while online with me. I shared the page with the film and asked what picture they chose. Then they typed their text in the chat box, an I pasted it into the film. The students I still get to meet in person will make the audio recording for the whole film.  This week we are continuing our trip to New Zealand with a new host who shares quite a bit about the Maori people.

The excitement of getting ready to head off on a trip...   For our virtual Arund the World trip, my students have started to pack their bags, using a sheet where they write their packing list after our class brainstorming. At the same time, they have been writing questions to send to our "virtual host" in California. Here are the questions that they have written, plus one or two added by me. None of the students seem to know anything about California and are very curious. For some reason, they seem most interested in candy, beaches and deadly creatures. I am looking forward to info, tips and opinions that our "virtual host" will be sharing in their film, which will be our "official arrival" at that destination. Here are our first questions: 1. What’s your favorite candy? Is there any special candy in California? Have you been to the m&m store? Is there a candy factory near you? 2. Where is your favorite beach? What do people do there? How often do you ...