2015/10/10

Hotel Transylvania


Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American 3D computer animated fantasy comedy film.
It tells the story of count Dracula, the owner of the Hotel Transylvania where only monsters can go. 
On the occasion of the 118th birthday of his daughter Mavis, Dracula invites some monsters for a party, but the hotel is unexpectedly visited by a “human” young boy, Jonathan. Dracula must protect Mavis from falling in love with him.

Hotel Transylvania 2 was released in 2015 and the story takes place seven years later. The hotel is now open to human guests, too. In the meanwhile, count Dracula had a grandson who is not a pure-blood vampire…


     Hotel Transylvania - Trailer


"The Zing" song

Hotel Transylvania soundtrack 

Let' s meet the main characters


I made this Piktochart poster for you

STUDENTS' TASK
Answer the following questions after watching the film

  1. Did you enjoy the film? Why/why not?
  2. Which is your favourite character? Why?
  3. What is your favourite scene? Why?
  4. Would you like to be Jonathan? Would you like to have an experience like his own?
  5. What would you do if you were Mavis, would you always obey your overprotective father or would you try to win more freedom?

2015/08/27

Using Google Versal to create an interactive (and flipped) lesson - An introduction to the UK

I have just tried Versal to prepare an interactive lesson about the UK.

With Versal you can create interactive online learning experiences (from full courses to short lessons or homework assignments) to share with your students. It could be great for a flipped lesson. You can add text, links, images and videos; you can create slide shows, quizzes, diagrams, maps and timelines. This is my example.



2015/07/01

Migration in Europe and multiculturalism in Britain

Europe is struggling to cope with a growing migrants flow. More and more migrants and asylum seekers are coming to Europe from Africa and the Middle East.
First of all, we are going to try to understand what migration is and what it means today. Then, we are going to talk about multiculturalism and, of course, about multicultural society in Britain.
Read the following articles, watch the video and answer the questions.


READING

HISTORY OF MIGRATION


History of migration:




http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=bbv

Migration from the colonies to Western Europe since 1800:




http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/economic-migration/pieter-c-emmer-leo-lucassen-migration-from-the-colonies-to-western-europe-since-1800

Migration to Britain:




http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/int_05_europe_01.shtml


MIGRATION TODAY

Some articles explain what is happening in Europe today 


Migration in Europe today: 
The following article try to answer these questions:

Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum seekers? 
What has caused migrant numbers to rise?
What is the EU doing about it? 
Are all the EU countries sharing the burden?




http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286


These 5 Facts Explain Europe’s Deadly Migrants Crisis:




http://time.com/3833333/ian-bremmer-europe-migrants-deaths/



Multicultural societies in an historic perspective:


http://ndla.no/en/node/89615
LISTENING

MULTICULTURALISM

Multicultural Britain

WRITING
Answer the following questions


Unfortunately, because of the migrants crisis, xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes have recently risen across the continent. 

  • What do you think about that?
  • Do you live in a multicultural place? 
  • Is there migration from or immigration to your country? 
  • What is your opinion about multiculturalism? What are the pros and cons of a multicultural society?
  • Watch the video above about multicultural Britain and write a summary.


SPEAKING
Role-play

If we are travelling to a foreign country, we are all immigrants although we are going to stay there for short periods. In fact, as soon as we set foot in a foreign airport, we have to pass trough the Customs Office, show our documents and answer some questions.
Watch the following video.  Imagine you are in a British airport, you and your class mate are respectively a customs officer and and a traveller. Invent dialogues like the one in the video, ask and answer questions like: 
  • What is your final destination?
  • How long will you be staying in the UK?
  • What is the purpose of your visit?
  • Where will you be staying?
  • Do you have anything to declare?

English communication - Airport Immigration and Customs

2015/05/05

Blogging in the classroom - after two years I weigh the pros and cons of my "teacher blog" (...and create a "students blog")



I have been a blogger for nearly two years. 
I use my educational blog The Travelling Teachers  almost every day in my classes and my students are asked to use it at home.
I have already written on this blog about the advantages of blogging in the classrom and  I propose again my Popplet mind-map about it below.

Click on the image to open it

After two years I can say that my students are more engaged than before, they are enthusiastic about using my blog both at home and in the classroom. 
Blogs support writing, reading, listening and even speaking skills
In the classroom (blended learning) we read some posts, translate them and comment on them. We watch some videos, listen to some songs or surf the Net through the suggested links. 
At home students can enter their reflections on posted questions, publish their own questions and share opinions. They are sometimes asked to study a particular topic on the blog at home and relate to the classmates and to the teacher about it in the classroom. (flipped learning).


By blogging, we also reach some important goals concerning technology. Students exercise their digital citizenship and understand some ethical, cultural, and societal issues related to technology; they also learn to use some technology tools to increase their productivity and creativity; they improve their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language (CLIL); they use the English language both within and beyond the school and, in the end, they start becoming life-long learners by using the foreign language for personal enjoyment and enrichment. 



But I realised that something was missing... 
Students did not willingly leave their comments on the posts. 
An educational blog should improve the students' way of expressing themselves.  In fact being published, by leaving their comments, should be an incentive for many students. Even the most shy students should feel empowered and motivated by expressing themselves better in a written discussion than in front of a class.
But, when asked to leave their comments on the posts or to answer some questions in a written form, my students felt intimidated. Absurdly, they preferred writing them on their exercise-book because they were afraid of my blog visibility (my students are young learners, unaccostumed to social networks and impractical in using social forums).



How to solve this problem? I really wanted my students to write more. I decided to create a students blog to make the learners more active, more self-confident and more and centered on their own learning process.


I created this image with Cacoo.

The Michelangelo English Club was born, on an experimental basis, a month ago.
It is meant to be a blog for the students of my classes, it will contain all their projects, works, reports and researches. The posts will entirely be written by the students. Learners will gradually feel more confident in writing posts and leaving comments because this blog will be their own, they will feel "at home".
Of course we will continue to use my blog, as well. The "teacher blog" and the "students blog" will be closely related and... we will see what happens!