Through these mini stories we work vocabulary, strands, reading comprehension, content and time-management.
The unit topic is recycling, which is very popular in all programs. You can find it under Global issues most of the times.
Resources:
Minicuentos en español: El reciclaje.
Through these mini stories we work vocabulary, strands, reading comprehension, content and time-management.IB Learner Profile: potential activities
Two heads are better than one.
This is a link to a live and collaborative document where you can find tons of activities to develop the IB Learner Profile in your classes.
If you are an IB teacher this is your opportunity to contribute with the IB community and/or find interesting activities to introduce your students/parents/staff to these key concepts.
If you have any ideas you think might help us feel free to leave a comment with your activity or click on the link to make your contribution directly through Google Drive (a Google account is required)
A big thank & hug to everyone participating in this collaborative project.
IB Learner Profile activites: a collaborative document
Some useful links:
- What is IB? [whatisib.com]
- The IB Profile in action [IBO]
- The IB Learner Profile [IBO]
- IBLP Posters [Antonio Luna]
This work has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate (IB)
Stop and Think: Risk-takers
Asumir el riesgo, ser valiente, tener coraje, ser audaz...all these expressions have the same meaning in Spanish: to be a risk-taker.
Want to know more?
- The IB Learner Profile [IBO]
- Perfil del alumno internacional [IBO]
- Como convertirse en una persona audaz [Gestiopolis]
- El arte de ser audaz [El Vigía]
20 potential questions you can get in a Reading Comprehension task
Practice makes perfect!
You need to have solid language skills (of course!) but at the same time you need to make sure you understand and practice the type of questions you will have to answer in a Reading Comprehension test if you want to score highly.
This is a summary of some of the more typical questions you can find in a Reading Comprehension test.
When taking this type of assessment you also need to know what it is expected from you: in this case we are testing your ability to comprehend/understand what you are reading and not your writing skills. This justify that some teachers don't pay much attention to your grammar, sentence structures... when grading this type of papers. But remember: don't relax and try your best!
You need to have solid language skills (of course!) but at the same time you need to make sure you understand and practice the type of questions you will have to answer in a Reading Comprehension test if you want to score highly.
This is a summary of some of the more typical questions you can find in a Reading Comprehension test.
When taking this type of assessment you also need to know what it is expected from you: in this case we are testing your ability to comprehend/understand what you are reading and not your writing skills. This justify that some teachers don't pay much attention to your grammar, sentence structures... when grading this type of papers. But remember: don't relax and try your best!
Español
|
Inglés
|
|
1
|
Basándose en el sentido general del
texto, elija la opción correcta
|
Basing your answers on the general meaning of the text, choose the most appropriate option
|
2
|
Busque la palabra del texto que significa
(sinónimos, antónimos y/o definiciones)
|
Find the
Word which means (synonyms, antonyms and/or definitions)
|
3
|
Clasifique las respuestas según se
refieran a X o Y
|
Classify the
answers according to whether they refer to X or Y
|
4
|
Complete el
cuadro
|
Complete the
table
|
5
|
CUIDADO: Hay más frases de las
necesarias
|
WATCH OUT: you
won’t need all the sentences
|
6
|
Debe dar tres palabras/razones para obtener un punto
|
You need to provide three words/reasons to gain one mark
|
7
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Conteste a las preguntas siguientes,
indicando si son Verdaderas o Falsas, incluyendo la justificación
|
Answer the
following questions indicating whether they are True or False, with
justification
|
8
|
Escriba las palabras que justifican
su respuesta
|
Write the
words which justify your answer
|
9
|
Faltan algunas
palabras
|
There are some
words missing
|
10
|
Resuma uno o varios párrafos en
oraciones
|
Summary sentences
with different paragraphs of the text
|
11
|
Relacione las dos mitades de una
oración
|
Match up two
halves of a sentence
|
12
|
Indique en cada grupo cuál es la
palabra con un significado distinto al de las otras
|
Indicate which word
from each group has a different meaning
|
13
|
Indique las frases que mejor corresponden
a lo que ocurre al final de la historia
|
Indicate the
sentences which best describe what happens at the end of the story
|
14
|
Ser consciente de los elementos
cohesivos/conectores que dan coherencia a un texto
|
Be aware of the
cohesive devices that give a coherence to a text
|
15
|
Escriba la letra correspondiente en
las Casillas
|
Enter the
appropriate letter into the boxes
|
16
|
Relacione los espacios numerados con
una de las palabras de la siguiente lista
|
Match up the
numbered spaces with one of the words from the following list
|
17
|
Relacione a una persona con una
afirmación
|
Match up a
person with a statement
|
18
|
Seleccione las frases apropiadas de
entre las que vienen a continuación
|
Select the
appropriate sentences from the ones below
|
19
|
Preguntas de respuesta corta
|
Short-answer questions
|
20
|
Relacione ideas o secuencias con
imágenes
|
Match up ideas
or sequences with pictures
|
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
Billie Jean King
Expressions in Spanish: Ser más lento que una tortuga
To learn expressions in the target language is essential because native speakers do use them all the time.
Expressions are used in formal and informal speech.
A language learner that is using expressions transmits certain information about him/her that is implied. Students communicating effectively with expressions show a deeper understanding of the language and also of the target culture.
This expression is just a comparison. A turtle is slow, doesn't go fast.
Sometimes expressions make sense in your native language others don't. It could be similar to phrasal verbs in English (just to some extent). So sometimes you will have to use just your memory to internalize them (you can use multiple techniques to do it, like acronyms, connect the expression to an image...)
What can we use expressions for?
For showing our proficiency in a language. Once you have mastered a certain number of expressions and include them in your interactions you are ready to go beyond the language borders.
Did you like the article? Share it! It's free ;)
Expressions are used in formal and informal speech.
A language learner that is using expressions transmits certain information about him/her that is implied. Students communicating effectively with expressions show a deeper understanding of the language and also of the target culture.
This expression is just a comparison. A turtle is slow, doesn't go fast.
Sometimes expressions make sense in your native language others don't. It could be similar to phrasal verbs in English (just to some extent). So sometimes you will have to use just your memory to internalize them (you can use multiple techniques to do it, like acronyms, connect the expression to an image...)
What can we use expressions for?
For showing our proficiency in a language. Once you have mastered a certain number of expressions and include them in your interactions you are ready to go beyond the language borders.
“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race."
Kofi Annan (UN Secretary-General, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Winner)
Stop and Think: Miguel de Unamuno
Nurture your students minds through crucial people that show and demonstrate the IB Learner Profile.
Inspiring our students is a core task for a teacher and a challenge every year.
Want to know more?
Inspiring our students is a core task for a teacher and a challenge every year.
Want to know more?
- Miguel de Unamuno [Wikipedia]
- Artículos sobre Miguel de Unamuno [Universidad de Navarra]
- Documental sobre Miguel de Unamuno [Documentos UNED]
Tongue Twisters: a funny resource to learn a language
A tongue twister is really useful for acquiring a second language.
But what a tongue twister is?
We can define it as a sequence of words difficult to pronounce fast and correctly. So we can benefit from it to help our students improve on their pronunciation and fluency. From a more informal point of view, we could say Tongue Twisters are the perfect tool to exercise our students tongues, and we can also use them to enrich our students vocabulary.
On one hand tongue twisters are linguistic tools but in the other hand are also cultural representations of the target country/language.
They can be considered generally as a tool to improve on pronunciation and fluency and specifically a tool to improve on pronunciation of particular sounds isolated.
We can also use a particular tongue twister to work on specific tough sounds for our students. This is the case of the Spanish "R" pronounced as "RR" in certain cases. Using this little tongue twister [you can use any other one you find or make up for this purpose] we will help our students to improve their pronunciation on this difficult sound setting the stress bar low.
Tongue twisters to practice the "R" sound:
Sites with tonge twisters in Spanish:
But what a tongue twister is?
We can define it as a sequence of words difficult to pronounce fast and correctly. So we can benefit from it to help our students improve on their pronunciation and fluency. From a more informal point of view, we could say Tongue Twisters are the perfect tool to exercise our students tongues, and we can also use them to enrich our students vocabulary.On one hand tongue twisters are linguistic tools but in the other hand are also cultural representations of the target country/language.
They can be considered generally as a tool to improve on pronunciation and fluency and specifically a tool to improve on pronunciation of particular sounds isolated.
Por desenredar el enredo que ayer enredé,
hoy enredo el desenredo que desenredé ayer.
Hay una rara palmera paramera en el páramo.
Glosario:(Trabalenguas para practicar la R y con vocabulario específico de Venezuela)
Tongue twisters to practice the "R" sound:
Sites with tonge twisters in Spanish:
Visual orthography: la coma
This visual can be used for teaching just the ortography or we can also show our students a couple of things about the multicultural world we are living in.
My students always love how different is the perspective of using the comma with numbers in Spanish and Engish.
After reviewing this graphic, challenge yourself doing this on-line activity [Google form] where you have to rewrite some paragraphs using commas:
Learn when to write a "coma"
My students always love how different is the perspective of using the comma with numbers in Spanish and Engish.
Learn when to write a "coma"
Remember: Smiling has a lot of benefits.
A study of the European Journal of Social Psychology found that smiling actually makes you more attractive to those you smile at, you are more personable, easy going and empathetic when you smile.
Source for online-activity:
- Orlando Cáceres Ramírez [Perfil en About.com]
- www.about.com
Stop and think: Paulo Freire, a Thinker
It is important to nurture our students minds with thoughts, but deep thoughts to make them think about crucial problems and reflect on them.
Paulo Freire can be a great example to introduce the concept of Thinker from the IB Learner Profile.
A Thinker is a person who use critical and creative thinking skilss to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems & exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions. [From IBO]
Want to know more?
Paulo Freire can be a great example to introduce the concept of Thinker from the IB Learner Profile.
A Thinker is a person who use critical and creative thinking skilss to analyze and take responsible action on complex problems & exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions. [From IBO]
Want to know more?
- Paulo Freire [Wikipedia in Spanish]
- Paulo Freire - Pedagogía [Youtube]
- Paulo Freire - a thinker [Unesco]
- Colectivo Paulo Freire [Colombia]
Learn Spanish online: Mi vida loca
Bored during summer vacation?
Don't know what to do with your life?
You want to improve on your Spanish level?
This article might help you answering all previous questions.
Mi vida loca is an interactive TV show (or internet show to be more accurate) to learn Spanish independently. It's interesting from the point of view that the student will have to interact with the show saying phrases and sentences aloud (with the possibility of checking pronunciation) to make the show going, making the activity very close to Real Life Situations.
One of the situations you will face in the first chapter: you are in a taxi and you have to give directions to the taxi driver, then you will have to choose among euro notes the exact and correct amount to pay your bill.
Another interesting available tool is "The Learning section", which is a learning supplement with video explanations of vocabulary and grammar, plus extra activities.
You have also available a syllabus and multiple printouts divided by "Grammar notes" and "vocabulary lists" for each chapter and focusing in specific language functions. For instance, the first chapter will focus on learning these specific "language situations": dealing with simple social situations, saying yes, no & saying I don't understand.
You can also take a look beforehand to the transcript to anticipate the content, improving your understanding of dialogues.
Take ownership of your learning, become your own teacher. Take the risk and you'll see how much you learn. Take a look to the teachers' tips and practice a role play or make a comment on "culture" section, tell us something about tapas.
One thing to take into account is that this TV show is produced by BBC with the assistance from people from the north of Spain. Therefore, they speak Castilian Spanish.
Remember! There is NO Standard Spanish, all Spanish are standards and all are great, there is no one better than other. Each one has their own characteristics and particularities. For example in Castilian Spanish [used just in northern and central Spain] they pronounce the c as the English th- sound, while other varieties [Andalusian, Canarian, American varieties] pronounce the c like the s. Rather than being reluctant to learn different accents, I encourage you to learn from them all. Look at their culture particularities and compare them with the variety you are learning and get to understand and accept the differences.
Great questions your teacher should be happy to answer:
Why do they pronounce the c as th- in English in Castilian Spanish?
Why do they use "vosotros" in Castilian Spanish?
Why are so many varieties of Spanish in the world?
A green tip:
Do not print out any resources, save the needed files in your computer and work with them from your computer instead. You can make a difference. Remember that we need 15 trees to make 1 ton of paper. Want to know more about benefits of trees? Click here. Spread the word!
Resources:
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