Vocabulary Challenge

Vocabulary Challenge A fun way to support research and UNICEF!

British Council Vocabulary Challenge is still open and a really worthwhile activity to encourage students, family members and friends to do as we get ready for the holidays.   The research project aims to find out which of 7,000 of the most common English words Spanish, German or Chinese learners of the English language know. For every word attempted the British Council will make a donation to UNICEF. ¡Animo! and take the challenge here

¿Te has preguntado alguna vez cuántas palabras conoces en inglés? ¿Si eres un estudiante, estás aprendiendo inglés tambien en tu tiempo libre o usas el inglés como parte de tu diversión y aprendizaje? Si es así, ¡puedes intentar el Vocabulary Challenge del British Council para probar tu conocimiento de palabras en inglés!

Realiza el Vocabulary Challenge y ser parte de este proyecto internacional.

¡Prueba el VOCABULARY CHALLENGE ahora!

https://www.vocabularychallenge.org/

Twinkle twinkle little star .... Sweet dreams

How you wish somebody goodnight can make a lot of difference to that person. So, how about some innovative ways of saying goodnight?

- Wash your face and wash your feet!
Now it's time to fall asleep.
Your eyes are weak and mouth can't speak.
So hope this night shall be nice and sweet.
Good night, sweetie!

- The day is over, the night has come. Today is gone, what's done is done. Embrace your dreams, through the night. Sleep well, sleep tight.

Other Ways of Saying "GOOD NIGHT":

• Nighty Night
• Sweet dreams!
• Sleep well
• Have a good sleep
• Dream about me!
• Go to bed, you sleepy head!
• Sleep tight!
• Time to ride the rainbow to dreamland!
• Don’t forget to say your prayers!
• Goodnight, the little love of my life!
• Night Night.
• Lights out!
• See ya’ in the mornin’!
• I’ll be right here in the morning.
• I’ll be dreaming of you!
• Dream of Mama/Papa!
• Sleep well, my little prince/princess!
• Jesus loves you, and so do I!
• Sleep snug as a bug in a rug!
• Dream of me
• Until tomorrow.
• Always and forever!
• I’ll be dreaming of your face!
• I’m so lucky to have you Sweetheart!
• I love you to the stars and back!
• I’ll dream of you tonight and see you tomorrow, my love.
• I can’t imagine myself with anyone else!
• If you need me, you know where to find me.
• Goodnight, the love of my life!
• Can’t wait to wake up next to you!

What's the weather like? Videos about the weather

Dividiremos los videos sobre el aprendizaje del tiempo en inglés en tres apartados:

A- Videos de Vocabulario y Expresiones sobre el Tiempo.

B- Videos sobre el Tiempo para niños.

C- Videos de partes meteorológicos (para practicar la comprensión auditiva).

A- Videos de Vocabulario y Expresiones sobre el Tiempo:

1- El mejor video para aprender vocabulario y expresiones sobre el tiempo es el video (exclusivamente en inglés) de Oxford Online English: Talking About the Weather in English - Spoken English Lesson.

Divide las diferentes expresiones en estos apartados: cold weather, rain, bad weather, hot weather, y wintry weather.

2- Vocabulario: Weather - Clase de inglés - el tiempo, de Amigos Ingleses. 14:15

Video con explicaciones en castellano, en el que se van sucediendo diferentes frases relativas al tiempo: What's the weather like today? The weather' great/terrible. It's raining: It's spitting. It's drizzling. It's pouring with rain. It's pissing it down. It's bucketing it down ...

3- Vocabulario Inglés: El Tiempo (The Weather), de Sherton English. (2:40)

Se presenta el vocabulario atmosférico junto con fotografías y/o dibujos, repitiéndose cada expresión para reforzar la pronunciación.

B- Videos sobre el Tiempo para niños:

4- El Tiempo en inglés y español - Vocabulario clima y meteorología para niños, de Baby Nenes (10:27)

Vocabulario del tiempo meteorológico en inglés y español para niños, incluyendo muchas palabras relacionadas con el clima y la meteorología, en forma de video bilingüe que incluye la escritura y pronunciación de las palabras en ambos idiomas.

5- Los climas en ingles y algunos países en ingles, de Camila González.

También para niños, presenta, con audición exclusivamente en inglés, los distintos tipos de tiempo en diferentes países.

C- Videos de partes meteorológicos (para practicar la comprensión auditiva):

6- Clase de inglés. Weather forecast. El tiempo, de MasterD.

Video para practicar la comprensión auditiva ante un parte o previsión metereológica, similar a la de un informativo en una cadena de televisión en inglés.

7- English Listening Comprehension - Listening to a English Weather Forecast, de Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

Ante una audición en inglés sobre el tiempo en una semana, hay que elegir de qué semana se trata entre 4 opciones.

8- Weather forecast (BBC) –[Multimedia-English videos]

Se trata de un auténtico programa de pronóstico del tiempo en inglés, acompañado de un ejercicio de Listening.

More activities about the weather:

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/games/whats-the-weather

https://elt.oup.com/student/americanfamilyandfriends/level02/songs/song_10?cc=global&selLanguage=en

Cambridge English Qualifications for young learners

                                                                       Also published on csantaanaenglish.wordpress.com

Children between the ages of 6 and 12 can take the Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers exams to develop their language skills in a fun, practical and progressive way.

Pre A1 Starters, formerly known as Cambridge English: Starters (YLE Starters), is one of  Cambridge English Qualifications. It is the start of a child’s language learning journey.

Pre A1 Starters test format (2018 update)

A1 Movers is the next step in a child’s English language learning. A1 Movers can help the student: understand basic instructions or take part in simple conversations and complete basic forms and write notes, including times, dates and places.

A1 Movers test format (2018 update)

A2 Flyers is the third of these fun activity-based English tests for children. The tests are written around familiar topics and focus on the skills needed to communicate effectively in English through listening, speaking, reading and writing. With the A2 Flyers tests, the student will be able to: understand simple written English, communicate in familiar situations and use basic phrases and expressions and interact with English speakers who talk slowly and clearly.

A2 Flyers test format (2018 update)

Acquiring Vocabulary for Young Learners

Also published on csantaanaenglish.wordpress.com

If learning English seems very challenging, break it down into smaller tasks. For example, your child/student shouldn’t try to learn lots of new words in one go. Instead, they should focus on learning a few new words every week. They will be much more likely to remember them!
Here are some ideas you can try at home or at school. 

Free vocabulary picture books and lists

Use these books and lists to encourage young learners to speak, read and write in English
Download Cambridge English Assessment free Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers Word List Picture Books.
Download Cambridge English Assessment free vocabulary lists for A2 Key for Schools and B1 Preliminary for Schools.

Learning tips for young learners

Playing fun games

Try learning vocabulary and playing fun games at the same time! For example, you could use the words in the free picture books and vocabulary lists to play Charades or Pictionary.
Look at the vocabulary pictures together. For example, here’s a picture called At the doctor’s. Try using a mixture of closed questions, which assess quick factual knowledge (e.g. Where is the doctor?), and open questions, which assess reasoning (e.g. Why do you think the doctor is looking surprised?).

Talk about the pictures.

If you are a parent or a teacher, find time to sit with your children and look at the book. Talk together about what you see. The ‘Let’s talk!’ questions on the picture pages give ideas of what you can talk about. Try and help your children to move from one-word answers to longer answers.

Find words in the pictures.

There is lots of action in the pictures. Ask your children to talk about what they see. Can they tell stories about the people in the pictures? They can then begin to use the words for a real purpose.
See if the children want to test your English too! What can they ask you to find in the pictures?
Always use the words in context and help young learners develop short responses into longer phrases and sentences
For more information about Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers and for preparation materials, visit:
cambridgeenglish.org/starters
cambridgeenglish.org/movers
cambridgeenglish.org/flyers 

Digital Citizenship

Also published on csantaanaenglish.wordpress.com
The topic of digital citizenship is certainly gaining momentum around the world. Whether it is called digital citizenship, digital wellness or digital ethics the issues are the same: how should we act when we are online, and what should be taught to the next generation. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool, it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology.

As teachers, we know the value of good citizenship in the classroom and school community. But today, students need to be good citizens in the digital world as well. Their digital behaviour has a big impact on themselves and others, and what makes good or bad digital citizenship may not always be clear.

One of the first agreements that needs to be made is that preparing students to be literate digital citizens is everyone’s responsibility. Teachers, administrators, parents, and students all play a role.

What can all teachers do in their classrooms to help shape responsible students? (Select all that apply.) From Google for Education “Create Safe, Responsible Digital Citizens”

• Show students how to create strong passwords
• Provide opportunities for students to practice good behaviour
• Create a safe environment for talking about digital citizenship topics
• Integrate digital citizenship lessons in class.

You should have selected all of them because these are the four pillars to learn Digital Citizenship.

Several organizations have developed support materials and full curricula that can be used when planning instruction. For instance, Common Sense Media’s K-12 Scope and Sequence provides lesson plans, activities, and assessments.

Vicki Davis in an article on Edutopia presents “What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship”. She wants her students to know the “9 Key Ps” of digital citizenship, but for my purpose and for my students I will take into account only these seven Ps extracted from the above-mentioned article:

1. Passwords: Do students know how to create a secure password? Do they know that email and online banking should have a higher level of security and never use the same passwords as other sites?

2. Private information:  Do students know how to protect details like their address, email, and phone number? She recommends the Common Sense Media curriculum on this.

3. Personal information: While this information (like the number of brothers and sisters you have or your favourite food) can’t be used to identify you, you still need to choose who you will share it with.

4. Photographs: Are students aware that some private details (like license plates or street signs) may show up in photographs, and that they may not want to post those pictures? Do they know how to turn off a geotagging feature? Do they know that some facial recognition software can find them by inserting their latitude and longitude in the picture—even if they aren’t tagged?

5. Property: Do students understand copyright, Creative Commons, and how to generate a license for their own work? Some students will search Google Images and copy anything they see, assuming they have the rights.

6. Permission: Do students know how to get permission for work they use and do they know how to cite it?

7. Protection: Do students understand what viruses, malware, phishing, ransomware, and identity theft are, and how these things work?

Digital citizenship is a topic that we need to address more carefully and thoroughly in our schools. Our students must be aware of what they should and shouldn’t be doing, with the goal of keeping themselves safe online.