ALL: Dear students

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEA22_lkmzwdcqr-KIhMeCBQCER8bY0E53CZPgu_GXszjLpKZ0JYcLG_czgY88yqN_1M0eagrXMZnJajDSaNsZ5NVuTl8R8RIKNUG7-e6s2znv_DutkosiMVFb0RTa2AjzEhvAsAiIQLY/s1600/cov+Dear+Students.jpg

Dear students,

WELCOME to the academic year 2015-16.

This year I will be teaching 2nd, 3rd and 4th of ESO.

Ice-breakers for our first day at school!
Activities to start using and improving your English in a fun way.

ESO1 and 2: 

• PASS THE BALL and introduce yourself. IN PAIRS: You can ask several questions to your classmate and then talk about him or her to the class.
• In groups, pairs or walking around the class stopping at any random time indicated by the teacher or another student. You can have a list with question words and complete them: Who is your best friend? What is your favourite food? When is your birthday?
• MY NAME + MY FIRST LETTER WORD
• Introduce yourself just saying your name and another word in English beginning with the same letter as your first name (you can choose a particular topic, i.e. animals), for example: I'm Ann Ant, I'm Bern Ball, I'm Carles Cat... Then, we'll try to remember these nicknames.
• GAME: End up with a game: stand up and form a circle, and each student say a word related to a topic (e.g. SUMMER). When a student says a word that does not fit or remains silent, sits down and gets eliminated. The last one standing up is the winner.
• An extra activity could be to introduce basic instructions in English and hang a poster with them, e.g.: How do you say ... in English? Excuse me I'm late, can I come in?

ESO3 and 4:

• ASK ATTACK: Draw a big question mark and let students ask you questions. Write them down to ellicit error correction (sentence structure)-, other students can help in the right word order/grammatical correction.
• LIE DETECTOR: You say three sentences about yourself, two are true, one is false. The class have to guess which one is the lie. The more surprising your true sentences are, the better! If you have proof of it, show them! E.g.:

1. I have been to Malaysia, Australia and Vanuatu this summer. 
2. I have learnt some Bahasa Indonesia language.
3. I have been parachuting.

• GUESS WHO: in this case, your teacher asks you to write an anecdote about your (e.g. this summer) or a hobby you have, and collects them from you. Then, they are read loud and the class have to guess who is the person who wrote it.

NOTE FOR TEACHERS: It is important to set the assessment criteria in the first day, too. Make it in a clear and concise way, but make all the information available. They can be asked to be the markers of a particular text (written or oral) to experience the way the teacher is going to mark compositions or oral skills.

Exemplify compositions with a good layout and a really bad one to exaggerate the contrasts and make clear what is the model to follow. 

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
40% Procedures (what you do: compositions, speaking, listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary)
30% Concepts (what you know: written tests, oral tests)
30% Habits (how you do it: homework, dossiers/portfolio, punctuality)

Written compositions:           Speaking:                        Reading:
Pr. Presentation 20%                Pronunciation 20%             2nd ESO Short stories 
Acc. Accuracy 20%                  Accuracy 20%                   3rd ESO Short stories
Fl. Fluency 20%                       Fluency 20%                     4th ESO Romeo and Juliet
Str. Structure 20%                    Acting 20%                        + Voluntary reading
Or. Originality 20%                   Content/Ideas 20%

Specify rubrics for each task.

Materials:

• Blue and black pens for notes, green pen for self-marking, red pen for other purposes.
• Plastic pockets and paper sheets.
• Pencil, eraser, sharpener, ruler, scissors, glue for specific purposes.
• Headphones (for listenings)

Books: Readers/Original materials (plenty of them in our library). You can fill in the reading worksheet and grade them, plus write a recommendation (why did you liked it? or not...). Make a collective poster/lino.

Textbooks: 

• Digital Students Book MacMillan INTERFACE

You will work on the digital book and sometimes write theory and some exercises in your notes (at the end you will have a dossier per each unit).

• Paper Workbook MacMillan INTERFACE 

You can write on the workbook; then you will self-mark these exercises and bring doubts to discuss in class.
http://www.macmillanelt.es/series/interface-4/#.VfdTbNLtmko

We will use laptops for acccessing materials, eventually tablets and smart phones when the teacher says so.

Flipped classroom: you will study the theory at home and do the exercises in class!

Digital portfolio (ePortfolio): see this example... are you eager? You can upload your writing, learning reflection/diaries and oral skills productions easily!

Options for teachers to consider (and students!): https://eportfolioreview.wordpress.com/eportfolio-list/
https://www.foliospaces.org/