Do you know the game 'Codenames'?  If not, go ahead and read, watch You Tube videos about it, and more than anything else TRY IT!

It is so much fun, gets your brain working and thinking out of the box.
It looks pretty easy until you actually become a 'Spymaster'.  

I've played it in all my teens classes last month, and the kids loved it so much, they are begging for 'just one more round', even though lesson time is over, it is 8h30 pm, they haven't had dinner yet, and are in the middle of their exams.

The other day we had class on Zoom, and we tried the online version, but unfortunately that one didn't work well, due to too much traffic, I suppose.

But it is easy to make one for online teaching as well, using just the words we would like to practice or review.

As you can guess from the picture ↓, I have been using different cards to play.  I admit, I didn't buy the game.

I will write about this↓game again in a different blog.
But for JANUARY definitely our game of the month was

Over the last year I have tried to get more comprehension into my Phonics instructions from a very early stage.
I am creating 4-frame-cartoon stories (without pictures), and the kids read them and draw the cartoons.

What I found most important for this is, that the kids can understand the story 100%.  No new vocabulary or grammar included.
It works a treat.  My kids have improved their reading in highest speed and confidence.

More about the story on the left below!

I learned about this video in last year's Comprehended Conference., from Madame Litten.
I looked into it this winter, and changed the lesson plan so it suits my needs.
Such a fun video.
And for next week, I entirely changed the Cartoon Story, still 100% comprehended.  I am looking forward to what the kids will come up with:
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I got requests from teachers to give some ideas on how to go about with the HUGE CONFERENCE, 'Comprehended Online' as there are sooooo many great!!! presenters and presentations.

There is no real formula, but from the eyes of me as a
PRIVATE ESL and GERMAN TEACHER & schoolowner, I am happy to share my thoughts.

Ahead, I must say, this year the conference is huge, it has always been, but never have I seen THIS amount of presenters, so there are many names, I myself don't know yet.  And I bet all of them are worth watching, so forgive me but in the end we all have to figure out ourselves.

I can tell you how I went ahead so far:

Who do you need ideas for?

Little kids?  Teenagers?  Adults?  

What are you looking for?

Writing?
Reading?
Speaking?
Online teaching (I think there is an extra section this year)

This one is big for me.
If a presenter just talks about what is done, or if he actually shows it, is such a difference.
So, I usually start here.

However, there are lots of gems of classdemonstrations in presentations, that are not listed under this section here.  MY OWN ONE AS WELL!  I have LOTS of Classroom videos from different ages and stages in my presentation, so make sure you don't stop after watching the demo section.

I also watch ANYTHING that seems to be about classroom games! 
Obvious!

I usually skip:
Classroom management (don't really have huge issues, and if I do they are so different from most teachers in the conference because most of them teach in regular schools)
same with 
Curriculum 
Assessments and grading (don't have to do this)

Movie talk
Reading related things.

This is soo hard.  Mostly all of them.
They are very different though, all of them.  No two alike.  And as the presentations are usually quite long I find it very important to find those that suit you.  Their style, way of talking, way of teaching....!

A good idea might be to check some of the names beforehand, most of them have websites.

I got the kick of it all through La Maestra Loca.
She is also teaching in 'regular schools', but her classroom just looks as 'crazy' as mine, without desks, often lying on the floor when writing, brainbreaks whenever possible, and just energizing!  

Getting more and more into the whole idea behind CI, last year I was very impressed with Madame Litten!  She also offers a wonderful amazing list of materials and just inspires.  I would check all of hers.

This year I am very curious about Ben Fisher, as he is a  German language teacher, and those are rare in CI.  But now I checked and WOW, there are a few more of them this year,  GREAT

Then the Jamboard presentation, as I just learned about it in the 
Ditch Summit and I  have had some great classes using Jamboard.

And of course the one about songs.  I think this will be the first one I jump into.

You should also make sure that, even if you don't listen to all of the presentations, do check the pdfs coming with them and download! There is a lot of great material!


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I hope this all helps a bit.

BTW, The conference starts on February 14 (HAPPY VALENTINE!  Do yourself a favor)
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you can still sign up HERE
And:
Use coupon code 25OFF to save $25

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