WELCOME TO MY TEACHING PORTFOLIO
Other Fun Stuff
On a beautiful spring afternoon, my students and I enjoyed a reading picnic!
Together we read some of our favourite stories and brought along a healthy snack too!
Before any spelling test we would play some fun games to help us practice our new vocabulary words.
We would do jumping jacks as we spelled the words out, played jeopardy spelling, or even this game, syllable pairing!
In this game students are each given a syllable to one of the vocabulary words.
Considering we learned that in order to spell a word correctly we must sound it out, this is exactly what the students had to do.
For example, here the word was "énergie".
Three students received a syllable and they had to find the missing syllables amongst their classmates to spell the word correctly!
During my stay at Vaudrin Academy we celebrated the ever so giving, Signora Mesa (their secretary).
With the kindergarteners we created a poster that thanked her for always giving us a helping hand. We hung the poster on her door before she came in for the morning and loved seeing her reaction when she saw it!
As for my 1st graders, we created a book that Signora Mesa could keep forever. The students had to write what they thought she did with her days at school. Their responses were hilarious! From thinking she spends her day watching The Habs to playing SuperSmash Bros on a Playstation, each response was simply brilliant!
Our grade one class seemed to have a lot of issues as there were numerous personalities that clashed on a regular basis. I decided it was important to put aside the tension and allow the students to express only positive thoughts for a whole day! So, the students each had to write one compliment for each classmate. We then compiled them and added positive thoughts and colour to the whole class!
Students took the compliments home and it really did them all some good to see how even people who they did not get a long with, had something great to say about them!
For the last 10 days of school we had a count down!
Each balloon was filled with an activity of a silly twist to our regular classroom routine!
Students were absolutely in love with this idea!
The kindergarteners and I created this adorable card for the end of the year!
I thought it would be a great keepsake for the parents to have for the future! It's also so fun to see how excited these little ones are about their future!
After all, next year they are stepping into big-kid shoes and entering grade one!
My students in cycle 2 were particularly nervous about beginning to read on their own in English and many were uncomfortable with reading aloud. With this said, I thought it would benefit them if I incorporated a little Reader's Theatre!
Students were absolutely in love with this idea!
Reader's Theatre is a way to bring literature to life for students.
It actively involves students in reading, writing comprehension, speaking, and listening activities.
The readers must act out the readings effectively so that the audience can visualize the action through facial expressions, gestures, and voice infation!
I myself found these activities to be extremely beneficial for the more timid students in my ESL classroom.
CYCLE THREE - POSTER FAIRS
My cycle 3 students were particularly uncomfortable with presenting or even speaking English in front of one another.
With this said, I arranged for the students to practise and be evaluated in their oral communication of the English language in numerous ways.
I often had students work with peers that could either help them, or those they felt most comfortable with.
The students were also much more comfortable with presenting anything formal in the format of a fair.
With this method of presentation, students were able to practise their oral numerous times and with as little audience possible before I would evaluate them.
I found this to have been extremely helpful in assisting them gain confidence and motivate them to participate actively in C1/C2 activities.
