In this blog you can find different ideas and activities designed to develop oral communication in English lessons, working with young learners from year 1 to year 6. Also, you will find different books and activities to work reading strategies with children. I hope you enjoy my blog and find it useful!
The
Homophones are the words that have exactly the same
pronunciation but have different meanings and spelling. In English language, there are a lot of words that are homophones. The most common homophones
in English are:
HOMOGRAPHES
The Homographs are
the words that are spelled in the same way, but have different meanings. They
may or may not be pronounced the same way.
After Reading chapter 9
of Kensuke’s Kingdom, “The night of the turtles” you have discover the process
when baby turtles are born and they try to find their way to the sea. Michael
and Kensuke witness this beautiful event from the beach.
Are you interested in
this event? Do you want to know more?
To know more, we will watch a video that shows
the process of life of the sea turtles:
The following picture gives us an idea of the life cycle of a sea
turtle. Look at it carefully and, with the help of the video that we have
watched before, and what you have read in chapter 9, try to explain the turtle’s
life cycle to a partner using your own words.
You can also help yourself to explain the
process taking into account this diagram:
Now, you have enough
information to be ready to write. Individually, you will have to write about
the sea turtle’s life cycle. According to this, you will have to describe a
process, separating your writing in different steps or paragraphs.
Here you have some
useful language that you should include in your writing. You have four levels
of words, that go for the most simple to more advance. Try to do your best and use most of the words!
Now, you are plenty of words to start writing about sea turtle’s life
cycle!
Don’t forget to be careful with spelling and punctuation!
The aim of this project about sea turtles is to link the story with science, always trying to develop the language of our children and to use it for real communication, at the same time they are improving their knowledge of the world.
In this case, we have focused on the chapter 9 of the book "The night ot the turtles"
This chapter has a clear link with natural science, so after reading it,
we will work it with some activities to develop the contents about turtles.
The sequence of activities is divided in three parts:
1-Previous work
Individual work, pair work
Read chapter 9 carefully and answer the following questions. Take some
notes and then share your opinions with a partner.
-What
did Michael think the turtles were at first?
-Who
does he describe them?
-How
many turtles were in the beach?
-Are
the turtles strong?
-Do
you like to see this phenomenon?
-Have
you ever seen something similar?
-How
do you think that Michael felt when he saw the turtles?
-What
is the important decision that Kensuke takes after seeing the turtles?
Do you
think that the baby turtles find easy to get to the sea? Why? What are the
other animals that appear in the video?
3- Colouring and writing
Individual work.
Materials required: one worksheet per student
with the picture of a turtle.
Give a name for your turtle and
colour it. Also, write at least 5 characteristics (around the picture) that you
think the turtle may have. Use description adjectives.
When you finish, the teacher will
display your turtles on the wall, making a poster named “The night of the
turtles” in the science corner.
After that, you have to write a
brief report (8-10 lines). Imagine that, as Michael, you are on a beach and you
are watching the process that baby turtles follow until they get the sea. Describe what you see expressing your feelings
and emotions while you are seeing that. Use the chapter 9 of Kensuke’s story to
help you and the video that we watched before.
READING PROJECT: KENSUKE'S KINGDOM, by Michael Morpurgo
READING TARGETS
Word level
targets
Pupils
should be able to:
-
Vocabulary
extension: search for, collect and define new words from
reading and topic work, and create ways of categorizing them. E.g. personal
dictionaries and glossaries.
(In
this case, new words related with
ships and the sea)
Sentence
level targets
Pupils
should be able to:
-
Identify adverbs and understand
their functions in sentences.
Text level
work
Pupils
should be able to:
-
Understand that the use of
expressive and descriptive language can create moods, arouse expectations,
build tension and describe attitudes and emotions.
Reasons for
choice “The true story of the three little pigs”
¨It is a fictional
book that is linked with a traditional story that children may know, adding it
a sense of humour
¨The story shows a
social awareness (the influence of media)
¨The text presents
more varied grammar and complex structures, and new vocabulary adapted to our
year 5 students
READING TARGETS
TEXT
LEVEL WORK
Pupils
should be able to:
Reading
comprehension
¨Identify typical
story themes, e.g. good over evil, weak over strong, trials and forfeits
¨Identify and
discuss main and recurring characters, evaluate their behavior and justify
views
Writing
composition
¨Write alternative
sequels to traditional stories using
same characters and settings, identifying typical phrases and expressions from
story and use these to help structure the writing
SENTENCE LEVEL
WORK
Pupils
should be able to:
Grammatical
awareness
¨To understand that
some words can be changed in particular ways and others cannot, e.g. changing
verb endings, adding comparative endings, pluralisation and that these are
important clues for identifying words classes.
Sentence
construction and punctuation
¨To identify the
common punctuation marks including commas, semi-colons, colons, dashes,
hyphens, speech marks, and to respond to them appropriately when reading
WORD LEVEL WORK
Pupils should be
able to:
Read and spell
words through:
¨Segmenting words
into phonemes for reading
Spelling strategies
¨Spell by analogy
with other known words, e.g. huffed and snuffed
Spelling
conventions and rules
¨To spell
two-syllable words containing double consonants, e.g. little, granny.
¨To investigate,
spell and read words with silent letters, e.g. know, wrong, knocked.
Vocabulary
extension
¨Search for,
collect, and define new words from reading and topic word and create ways of
categorizing them, eg. Personal dictionaries and glossaries.
¨Use synonyms
and other alternative words/phrases that express same or similar meaning
ACTIVITIES
DEVELOPING THE TARGETS
WORD LEVEL WORK
¨After reading the
story, each child will have to create a glossary in their notebooks with the
new words they learn.
¨In groups, they
will have look for and create word banks with words in the text that:
ühave two syllables
and contain double consonants
ü have silent letters
SENTENCE LEVEL WORK
¨Read with appropriate intonation and expression,
according to the punctuation marks of the text
¨Classify the verbs from the text -taking special
interest to their endings- in present tenses, past tenses, future tenses.
¨Write new sentences changing the verb tenses (e.g.
from past to present, present to future…)
TEXT LEVEL WORK
¨Each pupil will have to write a short description
about the personality of each character: the wolf and the three little pigs
¨Children will represent a trial, where the wolf have
to defend his point of view
¨In groups, pupils
will have to write their own sequel about the three little pigs, using same
characters and settings. Then, they will share the story with the whole group
Include
more complex structures and figurative language
žInclude
characterization and events which challenge pupils’ understanding of theme
žInclude
stories and poems with more sustained plots, descriptions and interactions
žRequire
a deeper response, on skills of inference and deduction
žRepresent
a range of genres
Reasons for
choice “The Owl who was afraid of the dark”
žThe
text presents a good variety of vocabulary and grammar structures, as well as
dialogues and different kinds of speech
žThe
story is a good link with science, as it shows the way of life of owls
žThe
story is attractive for children at this stage
READING TARGETS
TEXT
LEVEL WORK
Pupils
should be able to:
Reading
comprehension
Recognise how dialogue is presented in stories, e.g. through statements,
questions and exclamations
žRecognise how paragraphing is used to organize dialogue
Writing
composition
žCreate word banks associated with a topic by
brainstorming, word association, etc.
žUse reading as a model to write own passage of
dialogue.
žBegin to write portraits of characters, using
story text to describe behavior and characteristics, and present portraits in a
variety of ways, e.g. as posters, labeled diagrams, letters to friends about
them.
SENTENCE LEVEL WORK
Pupils
should be able to:
Grammatical
awareness
Extend
knowledge of verbs:
žRevise work from year 3
žClassify into regular and irregular past tenses
žExplore different pronunciations of –ed words.
žLearn and use most frequently used present and
past tense verbs
žUse verb tenses with increasing accuracy in
speaking and writing
Sentence
construction and punctuation
žUse speech marks correctly in writing
žNote where commas occur in reading and discuss
their functions in helping the reader
WORD LEVEL WORK
Pupils
should be able to:
Spelling
strategies
žUse word banks and dictionaries
žPractise new spellings by “look, say, cover,
write, check” strategy
Spelling
convention and rules
žSpell common irregular tense changes
Vocabulary
extension
žCollect new words from reading and topics and
create ways of categorizing them, e.g. personal dictionaries and glossaries.
The following video might be useful if we want to improve children's understanding of the story:
