Last Monday we were rehearsing our TV contest. Guessing games about animals.

Our program hostess is Nene. So this is for you Nene:

You need to say:

Hello, boys and girls. This is our contest: Guess the Animal.

We have two teams: the Red Team and the BlueTeam. In the Red Team we have: David, Sergio and Marta. In the Blue Team, Isma, Pablo and Daniel.
In this game I take an envelope with clues. You play in pairs. First, David and Isma. Please, play your instrument to guess the animal. If you guess the animal with 1 clue, you get 200 points. 2 clues, 100 points, 3 clues, 50 points and 4 clues, 25.
Ready?

When a student guesses the animal you say:

Very good Isma 

or

Very good David. 

                                                       the Blue Team 
200 or 100 or 50 or 25 points for        or
                                                       the Red Team.

That's your homework for our next class, Nene. Please, study and practice those lines.

HOMEWORK the rest of you: you must practice asking questions like this:

Is it a pet?
Is it a farm animal?
Is it a wild animal?
Is it big?
Is it small?
Is it white?
Is it green?
Is it long?
Is it playful?
Is it fast?
Is it friendly?

and

Has it got a shell?
Has it got a long neck?
Has it got feathers?
Has is got scales?
Has it got a long tail?
Has it got a short tail?
Has it got wings?
Has it got fins?
Has it got big ears?
Has it got fur?
Has it got skin?
Has it got long legs?

and

Can it fly?
Can it run?
Can it swim?
Can it jump?

and

Does it eat carrots?
Does it eat meat?
Does it eat grass?
Does it eat cheese?
Does it eat fish?

See you December 15th, Monday, it is our last class this term.

Why do you like horses?

Everybody must answer this question, because I am sure you like horses. Myself:

I like horses because they are beautiful, elegant and fast.

Last Monday we started a new unit. We looked at a picture of a bedroom and reviewed the prepositions of place. Students had to say where everything was. Under the bed, next to the bed, on the wall, etc.

Important words students have to study are:

wall, floor, ceiling, window, door, shelf, bed, bedside table.

But we spend most of the lesson preparing our TV contest or Guess Game. Of course, our topic is animals, because now students can say a lot of things about animals.

We have 2 teams: 

Team A: Sergio, David and Marta.

Team B: Pablo, Daniel and Isma.

Host: Nene.

We are going to play 2 games. The first one is the clue game. Students wrote clues for the game. What is a clue? Check this game and you'll know. http://www.uptoten.com/kids/kidsgames-mixedbag-guesswhichanimal.html

The second game is a bit more difficult because students have to ask questions and score for each question they get right. the host answers the questions and the other team has to guess the animal as quick as they can so the other contestant do not ask many questions.

These are the type of questions students must ask:

Questions about animals

Group of animals:

 Is it a wild animal? Is it a farm animal? Is it a pet?

Physical qualities: (what they look like)

Has it got fur? Has it got skin? Has it got scales? Has it got feathers?

Has it got a beak?

 Has it got a tail?

 Has it got wings? 

Has it got fins? 

Has it got a shell? 

(And more about different parts of their body: legs, neck, ears, tail) Example: 

Has it got big ears? 

Has it got big feet?

Other qualities:

Is it a clever animal? Friendly,  playful, boring, cute, fast, slow, shy.

Actions:

Does it eat plants or vegetables?

Does it climb trees?

Does it fly?

Does it run fast?

Does it live in the jungle? 

Students must study these questions.

Homework

Why do you like horses?

Everybody must answer this question, because I am sure you like horses. Myself:

I like horses because they are beautiful, elegant and fast.

Don't forget to study the questions.

Darkred had a happy stay with David. Now Darkred is at Sergio's. Have a nice week, you two!

Last Monday we studied some adjectives we can use to talk about pets and other animals:

lazy, friendly, playful, cute, boring, fun, fast, slow, shy, beautiful, clever.

We watched a video: you may watch it again at home and learn the questions and answers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=947Re2MBbLI

We practiced asking the question:

What pets do you like?
A possible answer is: I like dogs.

Why do you like dogs?
I like dogs because they are friendly and playful.

Notice the underlined words: Why is for questions.

Because is for answers.



HOMEWORK

Study all the words above, including why and because.

Watch the video again and answer the question as in this example: Why does the girl like parrots? The girl likes parrots because they are cute.

1. Why does the girl like rabbits?
2. Why does the boy like dogs?
3. Why does the girl like cats?

Make the questions for the answers as in this example: I like birds because they sing. The questions is  Why so you like birds?

1. I like horses because they are fast.
2. I like hamsters because they are playful.
3. I like dolphins because they are clever.

I underlined they so you don't forget it. They is horses (1) , hamsters (2), dolphins (3).

Thank you Nené for the beautiful pictures of yourself and Darkred. You did a very good job telling us about your week with the Dragon.

This week is David´s turn. Let´s see what they do together. They´ll probably play football.

In our last class students practiced asking questions like this:

Are the dogs brown and gray? 

And answering:

No, they aren't. They are black and white.

We use are in the question when we ask about a number of things, animals or people. If we only ask about 1 thing, animal or person, we say is in

Is the bird blue and orange? 

And we answer:

No, it isn't. It is red, yellow and green.

Notice that I underlined the word it just as before I underlined the word they. That is another change. When we talk about something in plural, we call it it. When it is only 1 we use the word they instead of the noun (dogs, rabbits, cats, etc.)


We also described some more animals. One of our students, Isma, told us a new word: fin.

What animals have got fins? Fish have got fins. Can you see them?

Sharks also have fins.

HOMEWORK

1. Asnwer the questions:

a.What animals have a beak?

b. What animals have wings?

c. What animals have orange and black fur?

d. What farm animals have feathers and very small heads?

e. What wild animals have brown or gray skin and very long noses?

Make a picture of an animal that you like. Write as many things as you can about that animal.

Ex:

This is a dolphin.

A dolphin is long, round, and big.

It has got fins and a big mouth.

It has got skin.

It has got a friendly face.

Dolphins live in the sea.

They can swim and jump.

Dolphins are very intelligent. They like to play.

How is Darkred doing? She is spending the week at Nené's and I'm sure she gonna take good care of him.

Last Monday we continued talking about animals. Some of the students are still having difficulties to know when to say have got and when to say is or are. I hope they will get used to it little by little. Just and example:

Tigers are wild animals.

They have got orange and black fur.

They have got whiskers.

They are beautiful.

We listened to a recording and students had to spot the picture they were talking about in the recording. That way we reviewed prepositions: under, next to, behind, in front of, next to, etc.

Students had to draw what the teacher said: a head with a big snout, and some feathers on the head, etc. Then, they had to complete the drawing. Finally they had to ask their partner some questions about the partner's picture and had to make another drawing to show what their partner's drawing looked like. They had to ask questions like:

Has your animal got legs? 

Is your animal fat?

Has it got a tail?

Is the tail long?

I must say that all the students made wonderful drawings.

HOMEWORK

Go to the following link: http://www.eslgamesplus.com/farm-domestic-animals-vocabulary-esl-memory-game/ Play the game and then describe the animals.

Example:

A horse has got four long legs.

It is beautiful and fast.

It has got a hairy tail and  hair on its neck.

This is a special week. The students are getting together with students from other groups and the older children become teachers of the younger children for one day. It is also a special week because next Friday is Halloween, which is an important holiday in some of the English speaking countries, like the US.

Halloween is celebrated the Eve before the Christian holiday of All Saints and it begins a period of time in which people  remember the dead.
Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. (Taken from Wikipedia)

So in our lesson last Monday, after the introduction and reading and checking homework we were learning Halloween words so the children would be ready for the next hour with a group of older students.
During the second hour the children did different activities the older students had prepared for them, like matching words and definitions on the board and playing a bingo name.

We ended the lesson trick or treating. We went to another classroom, knocked on the door and when they opened we said: Trick or Treat. And you know what? They gave us some candy and said Happy Halloween!

By the way, Isma did not tell us anything about Darkred's stay in his place, only that they went swimming. 

Students find it difficult to know when to use have got and when to use is or are when talking about animals. So the teacher made a list on the board.

If we mention a noun we have to say have got: head, beak, eyes, ears, snout, neck, wings, fur, skin, scales, feathers, a shell, lesgs, etc. Even when we say: long beak, big head, white fur, etc.

We use is or are when we only say an adjective like: tall, short, big, small, long, gray colour, etc.

HOMEWORK

Watch this video

Answer the questions:
1. what animal has a big mouth?
2.What animal has big feet?
3. What animal has long ears and big feet?
4. What animal is long and hasn't got arms and legs?
5. What animal has a long nose and big ears?

Hello boys and girls!

Finally Darkred went home with one of the students. The first fortunate kid to welcome Darkred home is Isma. I hope you both enjoy the visit. We can't wait to hear about it.

In our last class the first thing we did - after our regular questions - was reviewing the prepositions of place. We played with Darkred and some of his friends putting them in different positions. Students had to give each other instructions on where to put the different animals. We had a sheep, a frog, an eagle and Darkred, of course.

We studied vocabulary to describe animals: remember, animals may

Have:

skin (elephants), fur (bears), scales (fish) or feathers (birds).

Have: (parts of their body)

tail, legs, neck,head, snout, beak, wings, teeth, a shell (turtle).

Animals may

Be

Big, small, long (crocodile), tall (giraffe) White, brown, gray or another colour.

Animals may 

Have:

A short/long tail, short/long legs, a short/long neck, a big/small head, a short/long beak, big/small wings, small/big teeth.

Animals may

Be:

Pets (cat), farm animals (chicken), wild animals (lion).

So, if I want to describe an animal I can say:

It is a wild animal.
It is very tall.
It has a long neck.
It has a small head.

Can you guess what animal it is? Yes, you're right, it's a giraffe.

Homework
Now it's your turn. Describe 4 animals. Don't tell us the name of the animal. Say 4 things about each animal, as in the example above.

Our poor dragon  was a bit depressed so we decided to give him a name. His name is Darkred. 
Darkred has got black wings and a beautiful tail.

I don't know what happened, we were really busy and forgot to decide who was going to take Darkred home for the week, so our poor dragon will be staying in the school for the week. But next week... Darkred will go to a student's home. For sure!

In our lesson last Monday we continued studying prepositions of place and we also learned the names of different animals. Most students already knew the names of most animals. Most, but not all. Most students did not know what's an ostrich, or a dear, for example. And only the ones that were in Learn&Enjoy last year knew what a goat is. They knew that animal because of the play we did: The Wold and the Goats.

We divided the animals into 3 categories: pets, farm animals and wild animals. Some animals can be either  farm animals or wild animals, like horses. Some animals can be either pets or wild animals, like birds.

We did some exercises in the book: we had to count the animals in a picture, then, we had to say where they were. Students asked each other: Where are the rabbits? or Where are the cats? or Where is the bird? and answer: The rabbits are under the table or The cats are on the wall or The bird is in the cage.

We played a bingo game to practice the names of animals.

Homework

Look at the picture. Some animals we did not study are the giraffe, the hippo, the octopus.
1. Find an animal sitting between other animals. Write a sentence: Ex. The elephant is sitting between the bear and the lion.
2. Find and animal sitting behind other animals.
3.Find an animal sitting in front of other animals.
4. Find an animal sitting next to other animals.
5.Find an animal in a tank.

6. This is a raccoon. Can you see one in the picture? Where is the raccoon?

Welcome our new student in the group: Ismael.

We also welcomed another  a new character in the group, the school's mascot, the Dragon. Students proposed names for it, like Simon, Red, Billy, Drak, and some other names, but we haven't decided yet how to call it. Our mascot is very young and doesn't know much yet. It doesn't know when is its birthday, for instance.

I was happy to see that most students had done their homework this time. They asked each other questions like this one: What was the weather like on Tuesday? We said was instead of is because we were talking about last week.

We reviewed numbers from 1 to 100. Students remembered well and made very few mistakes.

Then we started a new topic, which is about animals and positions. We studied and practiced prepositions of place: in, on, under, in front of, behind, next to, between, over,opposite.
We watched a video and listened to a song to learn the prepositions. Student sang enthusiastically. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx8i-Wq_jtc

Homework
Go to the following link and complete the exercise. http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=597

Then, copy the sentences on your notebook.

Hello Marta, Pablo, Daniel, Nene, Sergio and David. I hope everybody looks at the blog this time.

We are learning how to talk about the weather and a few other things too. The question we ask is:

What is the weather like today? That's when when we want to know about today.

But when we want to know about yesterday or about a day in the past we say:

What was the weather like yesterday? 

Look at the words in black, they are different: is for today, was for yesterday.

In our lesson this week we reviewed the names of countries in Europe and their capital cities. Then, each student was given a worksheet with some gaps of information and they had to ask a partner for that information to complete their worksheet. They had to ask questions like:

What's the weather like today in London?

And their partner had to answer:

It's foggy, or it's rainy or it's sunny, or it's cloudy, or it's stormy or it's windy or it's snowy.

Homework

1/Remember, draw one box for each day of this week and and write inside what the weather is like that day:

Example: TUESDAY. It is sunny and hot.

2/ Draw 3 little pictures of different types of weather and write a short conversation next to them.
Example:

Me:          Is it snowing?

A friend: No, it isn't. It is raining.

3/ Go to this link http://enjoyenglish.free.fr/english/primaire/weather/index.html and listen to the expressions. Then write what down what you heard.

Hello everybody! Are you ready to start?

This year Nene is joining us in the blog. We also have Pablo and Daniel, who are new in the school.

In our first lesson I was checking to see how much you remember from last school year after the summer. I asked the date and the season and students answered correctly. I said it was the first day of autumn and one of the students, the smart thing, corrected me and said: No, it isn't, the first day of autumn was yesterday, which it was right, because the new season started on September 21st and Monday was September 22nd.

I asked students where they had been in the summer. I said: 

I was in San Sebastian, at the beach. Where were you?

It turned out that they had all been at the beach. In Almuñecar, Valencia, Murcia... Well, Daniel was on a cruise. He went to Norway.
Students drew some beautiful pictures of the place they went for vacation and explained the rest of the group about them.

They learned the words: beach, sea, sand, trees, hotel, boat. 

Which things can you see in this picture?  This is for Homework.

Example:   I can see the sea.

Later we started our new topic: The weather. Students are already familiar with the question: What's the weather like? But we studied new words to answer that question, like: cool, freezing, boiling. The words they already knew are: cold, warm, hot.

We also studied some adverbs: quite, very, absolutely. We put them before the other words: Examples: very hot, quite warm, absolutely freezing.

Students listened to a recording and matched the pictures in the book with the sentences they heard.

We also started to learn the names of some countries in Europe: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Italy, etc.

Homework
Write a sentence for each day of this week. Example: It is cool on Monday.