Be mad with an infographic

Hello my dear friends!

I don't know if I've told you, but I love being creative and sometimes my imaginations hasn't got limits. My right neuron feels quite sad when a student colours an elephant with the grey crayon or a whale with the blue crayon. I think that students must be creative and use their imagination as much as they can. This will give them originality, a must tool in this society. For this reason, today I bring a nice infographic. Wait! Didn't I explain what an infographic is? Sorry! My fault.

An infographic is a very visual way of representing and transmitting knowledge. I use the app Canva. I told you about this app in this post. I think that is the best free app that I've ever used to create nice and visual content. Canva gives you a lot of free templates for infographics, CV, recipes, diaries...You can choose several illustrations, pictures, fonts. Try it! 

The topic that I want to show you through an infographic is a topic that I really love. I like telling stories, but sometimes the students find very difficult to express themselves with creativity and they tell the same stories that we know: Little Red Riding Hood, the Beauty and the Beast... In this infographic I summarize the best tools that I consider essential to make up a story. In this way the students reinforce their writing and speaking skills. 

How to make up stories de Soraya Borja Almarcha

I hope you like it and you can make up wonderful stories with your students. 

Take care and have a wonderful Easter break! See you soon!

TwoTwo

Mindmaps or how to create chaos in harmony

Hello again!

How are you? Have you already created a comic? Don't be shy and share your creations! Education is sharing 😛 I've come back to talk about chaos (my right neuron) in harmony (my left neuron).  I love when both of them combine in a perfect way! 

I've got visual memory, I mean, I remember better when I see a display for example, that when I listen to a song. For this reason today I bring you a mind map. A mind map is a visual map that allows you to see a lot of information at a glance. It's amazing, isn't it? Let me explain better.

I am going to use MindMeister; it's an app with a lot of possibilities: you can create a map with links, documents, you can present the slideshow, share it with you colleagues and convert it into Word, PowerPoint and so on. Impress? Not yet? Wait for my mind map, please 😏. (It would be better if the free options were wider, but for the first time, it's ok. I will discover other apps in the future.)

I would like to introduce my students in a very special project: Scotland.  I know that it's a country full of surprises and it worths to discover it (I lived there 10 months, so, I know what I'm talking about). This project lasts whatever your want. This means that when you start with projects, the best thing is start with a short project, in this way you can realize if the project works for your students and for you (the self evaluation is an important step in education, don't forget it!). 

I will include this project in the English subject; there are cross-curricular links with PE, maths, but the main focus is on the English language. Each  teacher can adapt the main topic to his/her own aims. My general objectives for this project are:

• To discover the United Kingdom and more specifically, Scotland.
• To raise students motivation in the Scottish culture.
• To practise the past tenses.
• To be able to summarize a story in a video.
• To be able to express themselves in different languages.
• To pronounce specific words in the proper way.

I divided the project in 7 different steps; the main idea is that each student "tastes" all the different stages. This is a brief summary about what you are going to discover in each step:

• Geography: the students will learn where Scotland is, which countries form the United Kingdom and what the Ben Nevis is. The assessment will consist in the comparison of Scotland and the students' country in an infographic.
• History: from the Vikings in Scotland we jump to Mary Queen of Scots: the most important queen in Scotland and the one who fought for the independence. The students will be assessed through different games. 
• Language: in Scotland, there are two languages: English and Scottish. The students will practice the pronunciation of the English language. They will need it for the final surprise 😁
• Culture: have you tried haggis? And shortbread? The students will discover the different traditional meals that Scots have got. The assessment will be to record a video cooking in the school's kitchen. Besides Saint Andrews is the patron of Scotland, a video will show them who Saint Andrews was. 
• Curiosities: the legend of Loch Ness Monster and how the Scottish men dressed years ago, there are two topics that students will enjoy. This can be linked to arts. 
• Films: the film Brave will explain the different clans that existed in Scotland. There is a legend called The Story of the Giant's Causeway that will show the students why the coast of Scotland and Ireland have wonderful stones like these

 

• Final surprise: I think, and this is my personal opinion, that every project has to have got a final surprise; and this project has got a wonderful one. Do you know anything about Erasmus+? Me neither until one year ago, but I am a very proactive body with two neurons that want to innovate more and more. On the mind map you have a short video about the project Erasmus+ KA2. Could you imagine how it would be to travel with your students to Scotland (or anyplace in the UK) as the end of the project? It would be absolutely A M A Z I N G.

I really like teaching through culture, there are a lot of interesting things and curiosities that can attract our students, for this reason I chose Scotland. Each step has got its own assessment, but the best assessment for this project would be the trip to Scotland. If the students know that they are going to put in practice everything that they've learned, they are going to be brilliant in the lessons and their personal motivation is going to be on Ben Nevis pick.      

I hope you enjoy and like this project!

TwoTwo

PS, the two photos that appeared in this post were taken by me one year ago 😉                                    

Cheer them up!

Hello TwoTwonians!

It's been a long time! Sorry, I have been quite busy! Today I want you to reward with a special entry. It's special because it's going to talk about emotions, feelings, and this is not an easy topic in education.

Do you know why puppets are so useful in Early Years? Well, I'll tell you. The Early Years student can hide his/her own real personality behind the puppet and he/she feels that is safe. Nothing happens, because the puppet is who is talking and expressing his/her feelings. But, what does it happen when we want that a Primary student talks about what he/she feels? We can't use a puppet, they are not going to feel comfortable and they are going to think that we don't take them seriously. 

Left and right neuron agreed that this can be a problem; students might be struggling with a subject matter, a family situation or a school situation. Then, how can express themselves? My neurons worked hard to find a solution and the solution came in the shape of a comic. Think! In the comic they can reflect their own fears and feelings and after all, it's a comic! They are behind characters that they create by their own.

There are several tools online. We, my two neurons and myself, chose StoryBoardTHAT. You've got several scenes, characters, shapes, text boxes... It's very intuitive and it's free. Like the rest of the applications, the only that you need is time to discover all the features that they can offer you.

Sometimes, teachers don't realize that students might be under difficult situations and we ask them their best. We transfer concepts, but we need to create a well-being area in their lives too (and this is the most difficult part). The comic that we created will help them in two different situations: if the student can't cope with a subject and, if the student is living a difficult situation at home which makes difficult that he/she focuses on the school tasks. 

If you click the image, you will directed to the comic in a bigger size

Would you like to try talking about feelings through comics with your students? Do you think that it would be an effective idea? The students can create a comic to explain a difficult topic in any subject. One thing I can tell you; it's very safe because you choose the type of privacy you want to. Students can be very creative with ICT and they love comics, then it's the perfect combination. Get a move on and share your/their comics! You won't regret!

TwoTwo

Don't be behind the times

Hello again!

I hope you've already started with your content curation tools; I'll tell you a secret, move your ear closer...these tools are addictive. I created another  Pinterest board and it won't be the last time. You will see why I need emojis 😊

My two neurons and I agree that new technologies must be present in our daily lives, but we agree too, that we need to use them with common sense and with a real purpose in our lessons.

It doesn't matter if you are a nostalgic or an expert using PowerPoint, you do know that it's an out-dated platform to make presentations; sorry, I had to say it! Let's see which apps are useful for teachers and why we need to use them.

• Prezi: it appeared years ago, for this reason was a revolution. The movement of the "slides" in the main board is the attractive of this app. For some people, that movement is stressful. My neurons agree. 
• Powtoon: don't expect a slideshow because Powtoon doesn't offer it. It's an app to make videos. It's not an intuitive app, but I love challenges and I created some videos for my presentations. The main problem, or the challenge, is that if you want it to use for presentations, you must  coordinate your voice with the video; it seems easy, but it isn't. Here you have a video that I created for Instituto Cervantes in Manchester when I worked with them as a Spanish teacher. 
• Genial.ly: one of the newest ones. I am learning about it; but until now, I know that: it's got attractive templates for presentations, video presentations, lists, maps and a large etcetera. Add resources, change the interactivity, add your own background... and if you want more, upload your profile to the premium plan and enjoy.

I created a slideshow with Genial.ly. The main topic is food, the lesson will be for 4th graders and it would be in the English lesson. First you need to bear the learning objectives in mind. For me, these are: 

• The students can identify general food and classify it in different groups: diary, spices, fruits, sweets.
• The students can make sentences by their own with picture support.

Second, you need to discover; there are thousand of resources, games and applications that you can find with each topic. I recommend you ESLgames+ and ClassTools: jigsaws, board games, roulette wheel and videos are only some few games that you will find here. 

Third, enjoy and create material that you like it! If you believe in the things that you are doing, your students will love them.

This is my presentation: 

I will be honest; it takes some time to create new materials and to know how to use new applications. We think that when we have a job it's all done. But that is not true. Try new things, explore, take a risk, leave your comfort area. Your students will thank you and you will be happier 😍 (right neuron talking).

Here you have the presentation, the real one! I couldn't assist, then my creator, Soraya, had to do it. Don't be too strict with her, she did her best :-) 

That's all for today!

TwoTwo