Hello readers! =)

Today, I want to talk about the activity that I did the last week at the university. It is called "I can tell it" and it consisted of making different workshops about some Disney's films. We had to divide us in groups and we prepared all the activities. Then these activities would be developed by a second cycle children.

Our groups have chosen "Snow White and the seven dwarfs" then the next day arrived and the little children came to the university! Firstly, the teacher explained their little introduction to start the workshop, and then the children were divided in groups and follow the fairy tale in the classroom where the activities were developed.

Now I want to talk about our experiences and our activities.

We decided to carry out an introduction activity to help children remember the tale, we proposed some question and then children have to put in order a puzzle about the story of Snow White, while we helped students all the time.

The next activity consists of reading a short version of the tale with two of my partner wearing a fancy dress of Snow White and the Prince. Moreover, we supported the activity with some gestures and a power point.

The last activity was a game, children were divided in two groups and we asked some questions about the story. The questions have a gradually difficult. With this activity we wanted to know the understanding of the story. So, we decided to create a kind of evaluation through the game. 

Furthermore, we decorated the space with some photos of the dwarfs, some parents were fancy dresses and we gave to the children hoods and little necklaces with the names of the seven dwarfs. At the end of the workshop we presented to children bookmarks.

I enjoyed a lot with this workshop and it was a very nice experience. We always prepared and created activities for children but we do not have the opportunity to develop and see the result in a real context, but this time was different, we could see our project developed by children and it was very educative for us because we could learn about our mistakes. 

Finally, we could see if we chose the adequate activities for the ages of the children and the difficulties that children could have with it. We had a good experience with children! =)

See you soon ! =)

Poetry !

Poetry is a form of literature. On the one hand it is a different way to employ language using the asthetic and rhythmic characteristics of the language. On the other hand it is a way to develop our communication like tales, theater, stories, etc. It has some characteristic like rhythm, rhyme, sense, it is for all ages, you can play with it and you can use in different topics. 

Nowadays, poetry does not work enough at schools and it is a right tool to use in class because it has a lot of advantages, and students can learn by playing, creating and reciting.

Why have we use poetry in our class?

• It is a fun and enjoyable activity.
• To educate a sensitive and aesthetic taste.
• To develop and to promote creativity.
•  To be capable to communicate our feelings and our sensations.
• It is included in the curriculum as one of the basis elements for developing the comprehensive training.

For this reason, teacher should give more importance in their classroom. There are different strategies to use and to work poetry in our classes, depending on how teacher adapts and works it. Moreover, it is important to provide spaces and time to work with poetry.

In our last practical class we learnt about poetry, how significant it is and how to create it. One of our task was to create a poetry book, I would like to say that at the beginning I felt some afraid because I thought that it is difficult to create poetry, but then when I started with my first poem I felt more comfortable and I discovered that all of us are capable to create a beautiful poem. I would like to share with all of you my final work and at the same time I would like to see yours works. I am sure the, will be very nice.

To conclude, I think that students are able to create beatiful poems. As future teachers we have to help them to discover the world through their senses and we should to educate their sensitivity.

See you soon reader!

Classroom library proposal!

Reading and make children read is a very important aspect of our life. Reading can help us develop the imagination, creativity and it can improve the cognitive processes such as attention and concentration. Reading is a necessary and useful activity in our life!

As a teacher we should to act as a mediator between the children and the books. Our objective is to motivate students to read and to increase and improve the reading.

How teacher can create this animation?

-Through their imagination.
-Organize experiences with the reading.
-Make recreational activities.

The las activity that we had to develop in our Bilingual Teaching Training Degree consisted on propose a classroom library and to show how to motivate the reading. I would like to share with you our proposal.

Each reading is a magic trip!

We are going to create a library like a bus station covered with cards to represent a bus stop, it is situated in a corner next to a big bus created in a continuous paper, in the bus there is a window per child with their photos. Moreover, the teacher is going to create a magic road.

Every children have to bring a book for the library and have to complete the classroom collection, the school should proportionate at least seven books more.

The teacher is going to give children a bus ticket, with their names.

The idea is that children place a sticker in their window when they finish their book and according with their opinions they are going to decide to put a green circle if they like it or red circle if they do not like it.

Then, they have to fill a sheet fos bus tickets, these are the areas they are going to complete after read a book:

-Destination: (the name of the book).
-Driver: (the name of the author).
-What I like most? Why?
-What I like less? Why?

The teacher gives them a personalized certificate when they complete ten bus tickets.

Furthemore, every children have to write the most difficult word and the meaning on the road. Children have to write one word per book without repeating the words. At the end of the year, working in groups they have to create a story based on the main words of the books chosen.

Finally, every child has to shift weekly to be the driver. The task is to organize the library and to give the books to their partners.

I hope that you enjoy with our proposal!

What do you think about reading?, Is it important for you to motivate children for read?

See you soon reader!

Once upon a time...Cinderella!

Hello readers! Today i would like to start my post with a question....

If someones asks you about Cinderella, what is it the fisrt thing that appear in your mind?

Probably you are going to think about the most famous version of this tale which was created by Walt Disnery in 1950.

But...did you know that Cinderella is a fairy tale with multiple versions, ral and written, in the entire world?

The story of Cinderella is considerate the most popular fairy tale around the world. This tale is more that 1.000 years old. Only in Europe there are about 500 different versions about this tale!!. We cannot know which is the oriin but it is believed that maybe it has a Chinese origin because the oldest version it is the Chinese version.

Do you know any version of Cinderella?

Some of the versions are:

•  The Cinder Maid, (various European).
• Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, (France):
• Katie Woodencloak, (Norway).
• The Broken Pitcher, (England).
• Cinderella, (Germany).
• The Indian Cinderella, (Native American).
• The Hearth-cat, (Portugal).

As you can see there are a lot of versions, and maybe you did not know these. The majority of these versions have common elements, but also there are different changes depending on the place, era, manners...But let me tell you about two of them!

The Cinderella of the Brothers Grimm.

The Brothers Grimm were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They were German academics and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the most well know storytellers.

The brothers Grimm wrote one of the most bloody and horrifying versions of Cinderella. The German Cinderella was called Aschenputel. She was helped by some birds and a tree that grow up over her mother's tomb. The tree gave clothes to Cinderella in order to make the prince fell in love with her. The two horrible stepsisters tried to cheat the prince. One of them cut a bit of her heel in order to force ther foot into the shoe, the other girl cut the toe with the same objetive. At the end of the story, the birds pecked out the stepsisters eyes and they became blind.

Cinderella ot the Litlle Glass Slipper of the Charles Perrault.

Charles Perrault was born in Paris in 1628. He was writer. He was famous in tales for children. With his literature he developed the imagination of lot of children.

The current and most famous version of the Cinderella is based in the Charles Perrault version. Perrault softened the story. In this case the France Cinderella was a kind and patient girl, who forgave her stepsisters and when she married and she became princess she invited her stepsisters to the castle and she  made her stepsisters married with two rich men.

Finally, I would like to say that I read the two versions. On the one hand, I am very surprised when I read the Brother Grimm's version, for me it is too horiible how the two stepsisters tried to cheat the prince. This type of version aimed for adult public. On the other hand, I found some differences between the Perrault version and the version that I know (Walt Disnery), but this version did not cause in me the same effect that the first one. This type of version is more aimed for children public. 

Did you know other versions of Cinderella tale?

See you soon reader! 

STORYTELLING!

Hello readers! Today I would like to talk about one interesting topic in children's literature: STORYTELLING!

Children's literature offers a lot of possibilities to work with children, so it is considerable that teachers know how important the aesthetic-literary education is. Poetry and literature is a chance for children to play with language and words. Moreover, as a future educators we have to achieve that children enjoy with it.

Recording the last class, we talked and saw one of the best-know figures in the children's book world: Michael Rosen.

Michael Rosen was born in 1964 in London. He is a British Children's novelist and poet. He started writing poetry when he was twelve. Today he teaches and he lectures in universities about children's literature, reading and writing.

I would like to show you the following video saw in class:

I like so much this video, I think that Michael Rosen achieve a great and attractive story for children. As we saw in class, storytelling must be: active, dynamic, interesting and purposeful and this example is perfect to show how we can elaborate a great storytelling. That is to say, it consists on getting the attention, feeling, curiosity, stimulation and fun of the children. 

Now see this other video:

This other video is the same story but in a different way, with drawings. Both are attractive for children, but from my point of view the first one which use body language is more poweful and dynamic. Furthermore children remember better the story if we use movements and we can use it to make different activities with children after the story.

Do you agree with me? Which video do you like more? Why?

I am very interested to know what it is your opinion about storytelling, Michael Rosen and the videos. 

I would like to end my post saying: " The best thin you can do with poetry is just enjoy reading it together with children" Michael Rosen.

See you sooon reader!

Bibliography.

Michael Rosen (s.d.). Retrieved from the web site: http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/

Nursery Rhymes!

Nursery rhymes are poems or songs for little children. 

Recording the last practical class at university, we learnt some interesting things about this beautiful topic, nursery rhymes. I would like to share with you the curious origin about nursery rhymes! 

These chants were not created to entertain children at the 14th century! They were originally created to hide political messages. I cannot believe it! How is it possible that nursery rhymes contain a political topic? I thought.

Then we analyzed the messages of some chants and we saw the true meaning. Exactly! these songs contain topics like sickness, poverty, historical events, against some queens or kings...to my mind is a curious question about the origin of these innocent children's songs.

After many years they have lost the original meaning and nowadays children's songs is a useful and funny tool to use at school. Songs can be used in classes for introduce a new topic, to learn new vocabulary, for daily routines etc. I believe that children maintain their attention and memorize quickly the new vocabulary with chants because they enjoy a lot with songs!

During my third practicum at school I learnt a lot about my practice's teacher, she was a creative and patient person. I remember that she always introduced the new vocabulary with songs and movements to represent the new word. Children sang all days these songs before the lesson, they learnt and enjoyed. Finally I remember too that my teacher has always started and finished her classes with songs and I would like to share with you.

To start the class: 

Hello, hello. How are you today?

I am fine thanks you.

I am ready to work and play.

To finish the class:

Goodbye, goodbye.

It is time to say goodbye.

It is time to put your things away.

It is time to say goodbye.

See you soon reader!