Sweet Pic

My students threw me a birthday party last year. I even got gifts! It was very fun. =)

Can you name all the games?

Think of it as a Where’s Waldo and Guess Who mix - Arcade Aid is a huge graphic with gaming references to classic and modern games, and the goal is to name them all. Initially it had 56 games, now it has 167! If you do then you can brag to everyone in the school yard that you are indeed a gaming wizard. But, to name them all you don't need to be addicted to games, you just need to think in English... Applying it in your class as an warm-up activity or as an end of class activity on an interactive board would make your teen students love you, specially the boys, wouldn't it? You can also send it as an extra activity for them do it at home or spend some minutes on the school lab doing it. As I'm not that mean, you can have the answers here: http://shogungamer.com/news/arcade-aid-answers-list-and-solutions-poster .

http://www.arcadeaid.com/challengingstage/

Spaghetti Kids

In this edition - updated and expanded - Spaghetti Kids collection continues to maintain the qualities that put it among the most widely adopted collections and it is still providing more resources for both teachers and  students. The level is beginner to elementary (from 06 to 10 years old), it's made for 40 to 50 hours of classes per year and the variant of English is American. New graphic design, more activities, supplementary materials and suggestions for diverse projects that explore the topics covered in the units and integrate the teaching of English and other disciplines are some news of the collection. Along with the Student's Book we have the book Let's Celebrate, with activities related to holidays accompanied by cultural notes. A CD-ROM for each volume of the Student's Book is available, containing interactive games and songs that are part of the Student's Book. 

The Teacher's Pack includes Teacher's Book with answer key, as well as simple tips and guidelines on how to best use the book; Teacher's Guide containing information, tips, tests and photocopiable games; 12 thematic posters (40 X 54 cm); CD-ROMs with interactive games, songs and the listening activities proposed in each Student's Book. Teachers can also download extra activities here.

 

Some comments:

- I worked with this material two times per week, on a total of 80 hours/year approximately, so I really had to add a lot of extra activities to use the spare 40 hours I had;
- Volume 1 is made for kids that already know how to read, but when they are 5/6 years old they still can't;
- They don't have neither flashcards nor flipcharts for all the levels;
- The Teacher's Book / Guide is in Portuguese.

Ask MisterDuncan

Besides running Learning English with MisterDuncan (The World of English), the English teacher MisterDuncan also has a new place to teach online. He uses 'Ask MisterDuncan' as a video forum to answer questions sent by his viewers about the English language. I have never used his classes because I never had the opportunity, but I believe it can be used as a different way of explaining/illustrating some subjects to students. If you want to send him a question, the address is misterduncan@ymail.com .

http://www.youtube.com/user/askmisterduncan

CastTV

The best place to find TV Shows! The goal of CastTV is to index every video on the web and to help users find videos that matter to them. The site wants to give users the best way to find all their online videos, from TV shows to the latest celebrity, sports, news, and viral videos. What is sad about this site is that some videos are paid... But if on your workplace you have an Internet Lab or access to the Internet on the PC where the video projector is used (and are going to use the free videos), you will never rent TV Shows anymore to do video activity with your students!

http://www.casttv.com/

Scribblenauts

I saw a student of mine playing this game and I thought it amazing for learning vocabulary. As I'm a happy owner of a Nintendo DSI too, I'm really thinking of buying it for myself, lol! The main idea behind Scribblenauts is that you are presented with a challenge and you can do whatever you can think of to get past that challenge. This is done via the onscreen keyboard. You can enter anything you can think of into the keyboard and it comes to life in the game world. Not everything works, but you’ll be amazed at how much actually does. The game accepts over 20,000 different inputs. The game is split into two modes, challenge and journey mode. The modes aren’t actually that different. In challenge mode you have to complete a certain objective, once you complete it a star appears and you collect that to complete the level. In journey mode, you have to get past obstacles in the level to get to the star. Both modes require you to think of ways to complete the object by brining whatever you can think of into the world. Everything including: people, animals, dinosaurs, weapons, tools, buildings, vehicles, and whatever else can help. Challenge mode has all kinds of objectives. Examples from the first area include: saving a sandwich from ants, beating a long jump record, picking flowers, catching a butterfly, etc. Those might seem simple, but they can get tricky depending on the level layout, and the challenges get harder as the game goes on. Journey mode could have the stars behind walls, up on high ledges, or guarded by enemies, so there’s some thinking involved on how to get to them as well. Once you finish a level in either mode you can choose to play it again and this time you’ll be playing in advanced mode. The idea behind advanced mode is that you have to complete the same level 3 times in a row; the problem is you are never allowed to use the same object twice. This really causes you to think about the puzzle in a different way and try to come up with new solutions. You really have to think outside the box to complete most levels in this mode. For each level you’ll earn a currency called “ollars” you can use these to buy new areas, songs, avatars, or other features from the store. You can also create and share your own levels through wifi. You can choose any level as a template and modify it to include whatever you like. This has the potential for some very interesting user generated stages. Now aside from just creating and populating levels with objects, you do have a character that can interact with the objects. You can move your character around the level, have him ride vehicles, and also hold objects. He can attack with weapons, use tools, and throw items as well. Also you can drag the objects you create around, and attach them to each other when necessary. So there’s a lot you can do here.

(I bought it later! =p)

Learning English with MisterDuncan (The World of English)

Mr. Duncan has worked in China for 4 years as an Oral English Teacher and now he lives in England. He loves teaching, that's the reason for producing these video classes. I have never used this in my classes because I have never had the opportunity, but it seems to work. If you use it before me, please, let me know!

http://www.youtube.com/user/duncaninchina

Sweet Pic

Me, by a student. Besides the letter I, it's sooooo lovely! *.*

Final Michigan ECPE Skills Booster

Passing the Michigan ECPE exam just got easier! Here you will find almost everything you need for success on the ECPE. Almost everything because the listening part of this book is very different of what you'll hear on the day of the exam (the exam is harder), but the other parts of the book are great. The purpose of this book is not to test how much you know already, but to build on this knowledge.

You'll find Student's Book without key, Teacher's Book with key (it's called teacher's book only because of the key, the book is the same as the student's book) and audio cds. A Multi-ROM is also included, but it's not that much.

Multiple Intelligences in EFL

Multiple Intelligences in EFL gives a brief overview of the latest research into multiple intelligences relevant for EFL; shows how you can enrich your own teaching by systematically activating other intelligences in your language lessons; demonstrates what you can do so that more students feel “addressed” in your class; will help you to appreciate otherwise hidden strengths in your students and provides fun lessons for your students - through 99 clear and easy-to-follow teaching recipes. 

"Drawing on their own experiences and on tips from many educators, the authors have assembled a wide ranging set of exercises which should stimulate and help students who are learning English. Their collection represents one of the most original applications of Multiple Intelligence Theory that I have seen." - Howard Gardner

I teach mainly for kids, and I love this book because most of the exercises are adaptable for the young ones - and all the exercises are wonderful!