A blog for the CALL lessons with my two 5th classes (2007-2008) at Esc EB 2,3 Sto. António - Parede, Portugal

CALL Lesson 8 (19 & 23 May 08)

      Google maps: Writing texts (2)

In today's lesson you will complete the texts about each teacher. You will get the necessary information from the World Atlas and use knowledge that you already have (= conhecimentos que já têm). Each student will write the text in their notebook. Your work in CALL lesson 7 was very appreciated, as you can see by the number of messages from our teacher friends.

The Objectives and Activities are the same as in CALL lesson 7, so there is no need to repeat everything here.

If there is time, you will include two other teachers in our maps: Natalia Malkina in St. Petersburg, Russia (5B), and José Antônio Silva in Brasilia, Brazil (5A). If there is no time, I will do it myself.

Please visit this blog, listen to the voice messages in the "Voiceboard" and leave a comment.

Enjoy the lesson!  

Resources

CALL lesson 5

Google maps : 5A + 5B

World Atlas

 

Report

5B didn't have CALL Lesson 8 on 19May, as planned, because the two school wireless networks had a very low signal in Room 10. No pages would upload. It was frustrating for all of us. However, I had Plan B - a traditional lesson - and hopefully we will try again next Monday (26May), since next Thursday is a national holiday.

5A had a "glitchless" lesson in Room 14. They all worked well and enthusiastically. They completed the texts about the remaining five teacher friends and had time to create a window for teacher José Antônio. I will upload his photo.

5B's lesson was postponed to May 26 in Sala TIC due to failure of the wireless connection in Room 10 the previous week. No doubt it's always good to have a Plan B!

They completed all the entries about the teachers and had time to add an entry for teacher Natalia in St Petersburg, Russia.

Both maps are complete and with all the photos showing.

Posted by: teresadeca at 11:49 | link | comments (8)

CALL Lesson 7 (8-9 May 08)

        Google maps: Writing texts

In today's lesson you will start writing a text about each teacher. You will get the necessary information from the World Atlas and use knowledge that you already have (= conhecimentos que já têm). Each student will write the text in their notebook. I'm sure you will like this task and will work well, as usual.

You won't have time (= não terão tempo) to write all the texts, so you will finish them in CALL lesson 8.

Objectives

Students will:

• locate countries in a world map
• look for (= procurar) specific information in the World Atlas about each teacher's country
• write a short text about each teacher based on that information
• practice basic language skills: reading and writing

Activities

1. Open CALL lesson 5
2. Open Google maps and select on your class map (on the left) + Click Edit
3. Open the World Atlas
4. Refer to the table in CALL lesson 5 and look for the name and country of the first teacher
5. Click on that teacher's placemark (on the left) in the Google map to open the window with the photo
6. Click on that teacher's continent and then country in the World Atlas
7. Look for the following information about that country: official language and color(s) of the flag
8. Write a text next to the photo including the first name of the teacher, the country, the continent, the nationality, the language spoken and the color(s) of the flag
9. Select that text and make a copy
10. Look for the name of the next teacher on the table (CALL lesson 5)
11. Open that teacher's window (Google map)
12. Paste the text in it, next to the photo
13. Repeat procedures 6 - 12, making the necessary changes to create a new text 
14. Repeat the same procedures for the remaining teachers

Enjoy!  

 

Classwork

5B: Texts on the first five teachers

 

5A: Texts on the first five teachers

 

Report

Both groups, 5B and 5A, worked very well and enjoyed the tasks. They liked working with the interactive World Atlas to find the necessary information, and also enjoyed writing the text about each teacher. They had to locate countries in their respective continent and both learn and revise nationality and language vocabulary. They also revised the colors when talking about the flags.

Since there were 10 teachers for each class, I suggested that they copy-paste the first complete text in the remaining four windows and replace the relevant information in order to save time. There were different volunteer students at the laptop for each new entry. They worked at a good pace and were able to complete half the teachers, They were very proud to see the end product before leaving the classroom.

Equipment: Same as usual with the wireless connection for 5A (Room 14) and 5B (Room 10).

Posted by: teresadeca at 18:49 | link | comments (24)