The Alphabet Game

These are some samples of 'The Alphabet Game' ('Pasapalabra') generated by using GenMagic software.

VOCABULARY 1  and OUR VOCABULARY. A couple of games aimed at revising basic vocabulary.

CHRISTMASTIME.  Vocabulary related to Christmas and winter.

Using interactive whiteboards in the language classroom

Interactive Technologies in Language Teaching web site includes some video recordings on the use of the IWB (Interactive white Board) in the English classroom.
In this example a class of special education students practise vocabulary from We're Going On a Bear Hunt story by using the IWB.

Interactive activities to work on the geography of Europe

Toporopa web site presents a set of interactive activies to learn or revise geographical data of Europe. Although most of the contents are more appropriate for Secondary students, some primary students may find it challenging to try Countries of Europe or Flags of Europe, for instance.

Online Photo Dictionary

Online Photo Dictionary website displays a set of thematic pictures (fruit, numbers, fast food...). The image can be explored by dragging the mouse on its different parts. The name of each item can be read and listen to.

"eTwinning Tourists in 5 star hotels" project

eTwinning tourists in 5 star hotels is a project carried out by schools from three countries. Students are organised in five teams of mixed nationality pupils and work on EFL and CLIL contents through a set of activities. This is an outline of the process:

- Each team is the staff of a hotel chain.
- The teachers are the inspectors and propose games, tasks and activities along the year. These activities are awarded with stars. The hotel chain (team) that first gets 5 stars for their hotels is the winner.
- Each team designs a brochure for their hotels.
- Each child makes a puppet, which will be their tourist. “The tourists” will look at the brochures and make a room reservation. Then the tourists (puppets) are posted out to visit the other countries.
- Each hotel chain makes a picture show of the tourists’ visit and gives them a souvenir to take home after their travels.
- The project ends with a virtual party (on Skype) where the winners will be announced.

"Our School News Magazine" eTwinning project

This post tells us about a project carried out out by three primary schools. Students from the three countries work together on the creation of a school magazine. Each issue includes different types of contents: prresentations, stories, riddles...

This is an example:

Friends Fur Ever

Friends Fur Ever is the name of an eTwinning project based on the topic of 'dogs'. Students from four primary schools explore this topic from different approaches: dogs in literature, songs about dogs, different onomatopoeias for barking, etc.

Link to their Twinspace

School movies

From this link you can access a collection of video recordings showing the work of students from Intxaurrondo Hegoa School. It includes presentations on different topics, sketches, and dubbed cartoons.

Vidtionary

Vidtionary is described as a video dictionary, i.e. words are visually explained through pictures in a short video clip. The entries can be searched alphabetically, by topic, or according parts of speech.  It also includes some quizzes and wordless versions of the videos aimed at guessing the word.

e-cultural Kaleidoscope

e-cultural Kaleidoscope is the name of an eTwinning project based on the exchange of information about traditions, greetings, recipes, and some other issues. It also includes communication on a common task: making kaleidoscopes.

Power Point Games

A good number of resources aimed at developing academic vocabulary at school can be found from this link (type ppt in the search box). These materials include some blank templates of  Power Point Games that can be completed by teachers of different levels and subject matter.

These are a couple of examples:

Holiday Squares is a version of Noughts and Crosses. It can be played with the whole class divided in two teams or in small groups of four (a pair of students make up a team), for instance. Older students could also generate their own games for the rest of the class.

Password game. A students stands on the front of the classroom with his or her back to the interactive board. The class gives the student clues to the vocabulary word on the screen as a clock keeps time. The student tries to guess the word before the buzzer sounds.

GenMagic: online comic generator

GenMagic is a simple way to create short stories. The program allows users to choose from a set of background pictures, objects, animals, characters... and add text to the different six scenes. Once it is finished, the story can be printed out.

Word card generator

Abcteach web site includes a tool to create lists of word cards. The user can choose the topic, font, size and colour of the writing.

Bingo cards

Custom Bingo Cards

Phonetics

These are several online resources that can be helpful to practise and improve pronunciation.

Ship or Sheep website displays some lists of words that focus on the differentiation of a particular sound by comparing minimal pairs.

Oxford University Press: New File.

• This web page introduces the phonemic symbols of English by associating them to pictures that represent a word that contains a particular sound. Phonems and words can be listened to by dragging the mouse on the pictures.

• Stress monsters is a game aimed at identifying the stressed syllable in different words.

Learn English Kids (British Council) also includes several resources to practise spelling and phonetic awareness.

• Phonemic chart

• Tricky words. This section contains matching activities and tests to practise spelling related to a particular phoneme.

Story Maker

Story Maker is a simple activity that allows students to choose several items in a story. It makes three different types of story: fairy stories, horror stories and science-fiction.

Activities for Easter

These are some resources related to Easter and spring:

A story:
The Great Egg Hunt

Handicrafts:
How to Make a Spring Hat

Handouts:
Easter Worksheets

Make a monster

Make a monster is a simple game based on Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings. The aim is to create a monster by choosing its body parts from the models provided. The new pictures can be printed out or saved as pdf documents and can be used to practise description.

Example:

My monster has the head of a bird and the legs of a horse. It has the tail of a sea monster and two big wings. It has got two antlers and long pointed ears. It is always angry.

The language of computers and the Internet in English

These are some glossaries and other type of resources that can turn out helpful to learn and practise the languages related to computer use.
About.com Spanish/English and Aprendiom offer bilingual lists of computing terms in English and Spanish.

Common computer terms in English is a monolingual glossary.

The British Council web site offers a song that includes some vocabulary related to computers: My Computer Mouse as well as some other activities on this topic.

The following video shows basic vocabulary on computers:

From Rags to Riches

From Quia-Shared Activities web page we can access a good number of interactive activities created by teachers. Criteria for searching them include type of activity, subject or area of interest and levels. If we choose 'From Rag to Riches' and 'ESL-English as a second language' we can find games such as the following:

- 'a, an, or nothing'
- 'Apartments and furniture'
- 'To be: present tense'
- 'Family words'
- 'Where questions'

Templates and guidelines to create games based on 'Who wants to be a millionaire?" TV contest can be found here.

Creating photo stories

Time for a Photo Story proposes a sequence of activities aimed at ESO 1 students. It can be carried out in around ten lessons and gives opportunities to develop language, arts, and ICT skills.




Time for a Photo Story: teacher guide

Time for a Photo Story: student materials