Methodology aspects to highline of the English Lessons (3)

• Maple Leaf Learning: This is the work of a Japanese teacher. He creates his own videos and songs to teach English, and he uploads them to Youtube. The videos allow the teacher to create a very nice learning enviroment, where students enjoy, they are motivated and the lesson is really interactive. What's more, when using this kind of videos, the level of participation is really high.

• Theatre plays: The company "Blue Mango" is coming to the school to performance different theatre plays (The Lockness Monster for 3rd and 4th grade and Sherlock Holmes for 5th and 6th grade). The teacher has a CD with songs and some worksheets to work before the company comes to the school. Students are motivated because they know that they are going to enjoy during the theatre play, and for that reason they keep attention, they work very well and they are interested in the topic. They know that this learning will be useful to understand and follow the theatre play.

• Timeline: Creating a personal timeline allows the eldest students of the school to revise the grammar tenses that they have been learning during the primary education: Past Simple, Present Simple and Future. Apart from that, it is a child-centered activity, because they include on their work what they want related with their experiences and their lifes. Apart from that, they are allowed to present as they want: PPT, cardboard... 

• Being close to the students: The last day, as I knew that students of 6th grade were working the city of London (related with the theatre play Sherlock Holmes) I asked the teacher if I could bring some real pounds and some pictures about my travel to London. The teacher agreed and it was a really successful class: I showed them the most important monuments and places of London (Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, London Eye, London Underground, Camden Town, Notting Hill, Tower Bridge...). They were very excited watching at my pictures and asking me questions. Then, they also liked the coins, because most of them had never seen Pounds. I have learnt that sometimes it can be a useful strategy to show your real life to the students, in order to teach them something interesting: they will be much more motivated.