Admitted, today I am being lazy.

I have been thinking all weekend about next week's classes.  Staying ONLINE, going OFFLINE.  And many things around that.  It made me so tired.

So, instead of writing a blogpost, I made another Jamboard I want to use in class next week.  And if you like, use it.

Kids interactively will drag the yellow tiles on the pictures.
Then, they will write a description of each character in slides 3-10.

Hope you can make use of it.  My kids love it.

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​Here is the link

One month is over.  Have a great start of February, and a wonderful week.
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In one of my posts this week, I mentioned another way for a winter (snowman) topic.  

Read all through the end, because the big tips come further down!
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I've mentioned various ways of storytelling so far in past posts.  Kids love stories, and I do not get fixed on ONE method.  And there are many:

Reading a book.
Retelling a book.
Creating a story together from pictures, from videos,...
using Story Cubes
using songs.
And and and.

The one method I use most frequently now, and kids just get so creative about is movietalk.

I learned about Movie talk several years ago, in a CI Conference.
The way La Maestra Loca introduced it, (check directly HERE)
fit excellently with my classes, so I started of doing it her way.

After a while little by little my own style and ideas came alive more and more, and ...that is what I will be presenting about this year myself at just that CI Conference.  So, if you want to learn more about the details of Movie talk, or learn and practice one of the hundreds way of storytelling, check that link and see if you can still get a slot to participate.  Regular registration was planned to be till midst of January, but because everything is different this year, you might have a chance.  No idea, but asking is free.

Anyway.  Let me share a few mini movies, I use around this time of year.

As with most of the videos, I learned, and love it the way, that you stop the video all few seconds and talk about the details in each little passage.
Who is there?
Where is she?
HOw old is she?
What is the weather like?
What is she doing? ...

Also lots of time for prediction:
Why is she doing this?
What is he going to do next?
Why ....


This movie is VERY moving!

This is another moving animation, with lots of vocab.  The great thing is that you can choose one of these videos for this year's season and then go with this one video for all levels.

For simpler questions here you could have them describe how Snowman A (We call him Frosty) makes Snowman B (WE call him Icy)

Or, what their favorite winter sports are.

For older kids you can get into feelings, and WHY Frosty feels sad, happy, etc.

If you are interested in this story's pdf, leave me a message and I will send it to you.

And another cute one, which goes well with Moral Education Class as well:
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And finally, in case you like to work with lyrics and songs and love SIA:

In my last post I talked about my favorite topic for ESL class, 'Let's make a snowman' >>>and why I use the Japanese word 'daruma' when talking to my students.

So, let me explain what 'daruma' is.
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It is one of these things with roots back in India.   
'Bodhidharma was a buddist monk, in the 5th or 6th century, and pretty little facts are known about him. 
However, he was the one who took Buddhism from India to China and from there to Japan, where it evolved into Zen.

According to my findings he is also the father of Martial Arts.

There seems no doubt about his look though.  Big eyes, thick eyebrows, beard and mustache, and a red (cape) covering his body.  
Please do read the Link I have added ↑‥There are some rather interesting legends and stories about him.

And finally  I can explain you a bit more, what a Japanese Daruma is.
In the foto I posted under the title you see a bunch of Daruma.
You get them in all sizes from mini to giant.
Most common is a 4,5 cm tall Daruma, usually made of wood.
It comes without the black eyes.  So, just white 'eyeholes'.

Why?

After buying it, one makes a wish and draws a black eye into the left white part.
When the wish comes true, -this may take time- the owner draws a black eye in the right part.　You maybe won't be able to read the Japanese, but have a look at some beautiful Daruma made of different materials, here.

The fun part aside the 'SNOWMAN' is, that we make all kinds of other creatures, using the same concept.
By the way, I want to use the word 'Daruma' (The Japanese word for the 'man' in 'Snowman'  because I don't want to get into trouble with teachers who think I am not thinking enough about the equality of genders.  

I will write another post about the origin of this word, though many of you may have recognized it from 'Bodhidharma' 

Let's get back to the lessons:
So, after having made 'Snow Daruma' we make 
'Fruits daruma '

Next it can be anything.
Sometimes I leave it up to them.
Sometimes I give another topic, like 'Sports daruma' or 'Hobby Daruma' or have them come up with topics.
​Lots of great thinking involved here.

These are some recent ones a few kids presented to me.
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And finally then, there are so many stories about/with snowmen.
Another post for this.

Have a wonderful, white day,  and please post me some photos of your snowmen!

Last week I got some of you disappointed because the Gingerbread Man is out of season.  
So here is another of my Jamboard Templates which you can try and edit if you like.
I hope Little Red Riding Hood is less season dependent.

I learned about Jamboard and how to create, edit, share and work (with) them in December's Ditch Summit.  Some amazing educators to follow there, who I will blog about at another time.

Anyway, enjoy watching the kids reading and dragging the word cards on the pictures!  It is great.

You can of course also set this as homework.  
​Have a great Sunday.

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Hello everyone.  I know most of you are having a hard time, now, longing to meet and hug your students.  It is tough, isn't it?  And how much were we thinking the teaching online would be so inspiring, relaxing and relevant.

Well, it does have so great aspects, and how lucky are we, that we CAN do this.
But it gets exhausting.

So exhausting that I hardly updated this page for a long time.  I hope to change this this year.

First of all a little present for you.
I created a Jamboard, which you are free to use, edit and work with.

I guess for many of you the topic is not a January theme.
For me this is a story I start teaching in winter, and then I arrange it and have the kids create their own versions, so we often do it in the middle of summer.

Hopefully this can inspire you a little.  Let me know what you think.
And 
Hang in there!  We will make it!


​Here is the link!