Month: January 2012

Whilst reviewing resources on The TES resources website, I came across some that referenced Tools for Educators – Board Game maker  so I thought I’d investigate.

As is often the case, this site is not a language specific but it allows you to input your own language elements.

Whilst reviewing resources onThe TES resources website, I came across some that referenced Tools for Educators – Board Game maker  so I thought I’d investigate.

As is often the case, this site is not a language specific but it allows you to input your own language elements.

From a bank of images, you can choose to make a board game on a wide variety of subjects, using just images as in the fruit example, or incorporating instructions as in the mini beasts. These examples use the Galactic Challenge theme but there are three others from which to choose (it defaults to Galactic Challenge but all you need to do is go to the bottom of the list of topics and click on the board you’d like) The third and fourth examples show other board games.

These games can be printed and laminated for future use, then used for a variety of exercises.

For example, take the fruit one. It could be used for-

a)vocabulary rehearsal – everytime a learner lands on a fruit, they say the name of it in Spanish

b)giving opinions – learners give their opinion of the fruit on which they land

c)asking questions – learners ask one another if they like the fruit

d)shopping – learners must travel the board buying fruit – perhaps give them a list of fruit and they must keep going until they have all their fruit?

e)pronouns – ask and answer ¿Hay uvas? and response could be Sí las hay or No no las hay

f)colours/adjectival endings – learners say what colour the fruit is eg La manzana es verde or Hay una manzana verde; Los plátanos son amarillos / Hay plátanos amarillos

And that’s off the top of my head. I’m sure with a bit more thought I could come up with more ideas. If you have any, post them in the comments!

There are also Printable board games so that learners can design their own games. what about using the Loveheart game board for likes and dislikes – or for Valentine’s Day? The question cards can be edited to include your own images or questions. Or perhaps use the Bubbles theme for wishes or wants!

SaveSave

I couldn’t be at BETT this year which made me sad. I can do without the exhibition in itself; what I missed was the interaction with others and particularly the TeachMeet and TeachMeetTakeovers from which I have learned so much.

Not to be beaten, I recorded a 2 minute nano-presentation in case my name came up on the ‘MagicFruitMachine‘. It didn’t, but all is not lost as a)a list of URLs and links to presentations and blogs was given to every attendee and b)I’ve recorded it so you get it anyway!

Here it is – entitled Be patient – it’ll happen, it’s my encouragement to those who feel that their “drop in the ocean” won’t make a difference.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/34787586 w=400&h=300]

Just rediscovered a lovely website for stories in Spanish. La Biblioteca Infantil and La Biblioteca Pre-Escolar are great for native speakers and young learners alike with stories on a variety of themes complete with accompanying activities.

For example, La Pelota Dorada in La Biblioteca Infantil is a story based on a fairytale (won’t give away which one!) in which you can name the princess, the prince and also the hero which you choose from a duck, a beaver or a tortoise. The story has passages of text to read and sections of dialogue that appear in speech bubbles and are read to you.

Accompanying the story is an activity – in this case a ‘Find the difference’ – and also a list of books on a similar theme.

In La Biblioteca Pre-Escolar the stories are more simple and are all read aloud to the reader. In El canto del corral features a little girl who wants to sing but everyone is too busy until he goes into the farmyard. To accompnay the story there is an online activity – choosing musical instruments – and a craft activity as well as a list of books ona similar theme.

There aren’t a huge number of stories, however they are on a variety of themes that are suitable for integration into the primary curriculum, particularly in the  EYFS / PSHE areas.

The site also exists in English so good for comparing language, and also for the less confident Spanish speaker who wants to check out the meaning of the story!

ict conf flyer v.1 sept 2011