HAVE FUN WITH ENGLISH C1

 As you all know, I have been keeping my C1 blog up and running for a couple of years now. However, it is getting harder and harder to update it! My responsibilities as a head of studies at school, my blended level course, and the training sessions I keep on doing... are just getting in the way all the time! So, here I am! Trying to find out some time to tell you all about my latest idea, which I got the inspiration for from delpupitrealasestrellas.com .  The game is called " Vocal a la fuga " in Spanish. That is why I called it " The runaway vowel ". I simply loved the image of vowels flying all over our classroom! I intend to use this activity as a retrieval practice game for my C1.1 blended students to recall vocabulary from the first module in their course, where they have been learning personality adjectives. As most of them were revised at home, I found it very convenient and necessary to retrieve some in class.  Just follow the instructions on the card below ...

OMG! Time does fly! It has been ages since I last posted on my C1 blog. I have been as busy as a bee and had no time at all to devote to my facet as an amateur blogger. My apologies, everyone! Nothing can be done now but just... mend my ways! So, here comes a new update!💪 Going back to the grind in class after a holiday break (we have just enjoyed our Easter week!) has always proved to be challenging. Unfortunately enough, most students have got into the mood of getting away from their learning😉. That is why setting up the right class atmosphere on the very first session after the holiday is always on my top-priority list. No wonder some retrieval practice will do the trick!  So, I entered my classroom with a very positive mindset, determined to grab my students' attention and kick-start the lesson with a retrieval quiz. I designed it on @genially_es (I simply love it for quizzes!) to recall some of the expressions regarding fast fashion and social responsibility we had been work...

If there is a game that has gone viral that is Wordle . Its increasing popularity may lie in the fact that it has proved to be both simple and engaging at the same time, together with the fact that it also offers the possibility to challenge others! And you all know ours is a competitive world! We are always up for a challenge, aren't we? That is why I have decided to follow suit and confront my students with a tailored-made Wordle game that will definitely help them learn some interesting strategies to acquire new vocabulary. Who knows? They might get hooked and start playing the real game itself! Fingers crossed, hopefully in English! Here is the presentation I have designed to motivate them and get the right class atmosphere before playing five different challenges. I hope this does the trick and gets them involved! If it also inspires other teachers, I would have killed two birds with one stone!  Finally, all the credit should go to  @SlidesManiaSM ! I wouldn't have manage...

We have all been there staring at a blank page or a computer screen ready to plan our next class unable to think about how to come up with an idea to wrap up a unit that is about to finish. I usually tend to finish most of them up with a range of activities that consolidate knowledge from previous lessons. So, now that I am ready to complete Module 2 with my C1.1 Blended English Course I have just decided to conclude with a couple of fun class games. Here is how they go! I will start by getting students to recap all the things we have studied in the Module : education expressions, attitudes to ageing, benefits of having children, life stages, idioms related to age, syllabic consonants, conditional sentences,... You name it! Students will be given a certain amount of time to work with the person sitting next to them to shout out as many items as they remember, trying to get the highest number. Do not forget to keep a record of each team´s answers on the board! As soon as winners are ...

Most language teachers and students know that the Common European Framework of Reference has mapped languages to different levels. Wherever we are in the globe, standard levels have been set so that language learning is based on what speakers can do at each particular stage. That is, we know exactly what each learner can do at each specific level, no matter what language they might be learning. How about that? At school this year, my students are meant to be able to accomplish a wide variety of complex tasks effectively as they are already facing the advanced level. However, how effective do they think they might be? Have they joined the right course? As C1 is divided into two different stages, what can they do at each one of them?  As it is customary at this time of the year, I have just come up with a quick test to find out whether they have enrolled in the right course. Off to a running start! Let us see how it goes!

 👋 Dear school community! Welcome back to a new school year at  EOI Pontevedra . I am so looking forward to welcoming you all back to our friendly school! Above all, our newcomers: our blended English course students! You deserve a special mention this year as you are going to take part in a new promising experience. A new academic year is here and I have been working hard to get everything ready to meet you all! This year will certainly be strikingly different. Even so, motivation and hard work will be basic and will definitely have a significant impact on class performance. Again, my main priority as a teacher will be striving for a class atmosphere that fosters self-reliance, self-confidence, and a love of learning. I know I have made up my mind on a highly ambitious goal but promise to fight tooth and nail to stick to it! I hope this new course suits your needs as C1 English learners. Let´s roll out the red carpet and set the new course in motion. Here is our first challe...