Twelve Lays of Teaching

Our class garden book gets really big

Remember when I had written about the ongoing project with my E2 class, about the making of a class garden book, to go with the garden that they started to make with their teacher, Angelos Michalopoulos? Well, our book has become quite big now, and it is still going to grow a bit more…

The students are researching the way the seeds or plants they have planted look, then they try to convey that in the pictures they draw. Then they research some info about each plant, and write it in Greek and English. So far we have finished with the following, and there is still some info to be added:

Βαλεριάνα – Valerian

Σινάπι – Mustard

Μουσμουλιά – Medlar

Βλίτο – Pigweed

Σκυλάκι – Snapdragon

Στέβια – Stevia

Ρίγανη – Oregano

Πετούνια – Petunia

Ροδακινιά – Peach tree

Σέσκουλο – White beet

Κατηφές – Dour

Πασχαλιά – Lilac

Τομάτα Μεσσηνίας – Messinia tomato

Πατάτα σπούντα – Spud

Τομάτα Γαστούνης – Gastouni tomato

Μελισσόχορτο – Lemon balm

Κλήμα – Vine

Φασόλι – Bean

Χρυσάνθεμο – Chrysanthemum

Κολοκύθα – Pumpkin

Φακή – Lentil

Γλυκιά πιπεριά – Sweet pepper

Πιπεριά Πηλίου – Pelion pepper

Καλαμπόκι – Corn

Αγγούρι – Cucumber

Φράουλα – Strawberry

Μελιτζάνα – Eggplant

Ραδίκι – Radish

Τομάτα Ace – Ace Tomato

Πιπεριά Φλωρίνης – Florina Pepper

Καρπούζι βαρέλα – Oblong watermelon “Varela”

I had a hard time choosing the photos I wanted to show you, because many of the kids did amazing work, drawing. I will show you our book when it finishes, but for now I would like to show you some pictures I took of our garden this afternoon; I got emotional seeing this little paradise, knowing it grows just one breath away from where we have our lessons. Thanks so much, Angelos!

St. Patrick’s Day blessings!

I absolutely love St. Patrick’s Day! With my 6th grade students we analyzed a few Irish blessings and talked about Ireland a lot, we watched videos of Irish step dancing, we listened to Danny Boy and Molly Malone, we read a little bit about Irish history and we looked up some Irish recipes. And I know they loved making these Irish blessings into cards.

Blessing I:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Blessing II:

May God grant you always… A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.

These were some of the end products:

And one I made for myself:

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhaoibh!

Our class garden book, an ongoing project

Spring has sprung! It is still quite early to dress lightly, but spring is definitely in the air! I am so so happy that the E2 class students started a garden at the back of our school, with the help of their teacher, Angelos Michalopoulos and Mrs. Olga Venizelou-Rouva, a gardener who admins the Facebook group called Ομάδα Παραδοσιακών Σπόρων Πύργου Ηλείας.

I was around when they first started planting the seeds, so I helped them make the labels.

Then I offered help to make a kind of garden book, if they wanted to, and the students were thrilled! There’s a lot of artistic talent in this class, as some of the children can draw really beautifully, so this was another chance for me to try and put this side of them to good use.

We started by making a list of what they have already planted in the garden. The students googled the items to find the English translations and see images of them. Then they drew and painted. Then we wrote a few lines about each plant in Greek and English.

But the project is still unfinished, as there are plenty more plants growing from seed in small plastic, reused containers, waiting to be taken outside, which is when we will add more pages to our book! We are also thinking about adding photos and leaves or flowers from the plants. We have already found a great piece of cardstock to form the front and back covers of our finished book, but for the moment we are all waiting, patiently!

The Merchant of Venice experiment

It’s so interesting how, each time I tend to feel disappointed by a certain class, as a whole, the students often surprise me. Children from different backgrounds, families, cultures, and of course with different personalities, abilities and difficulties come together to learn, in the school environment, which sometimes feels very artificial… Unless one decides to make the most of this “coming together” and try to create something magical…

In this context, and pushed by the fact that, with my E1 class we are participating in a school programme about human rights, I decided to give this group of students the chance to do something memorable, which would in itself create stronger bonds among them. Now, it just so happened that the English coursebook sparked a discussion about Shakespeare and his works, so the students started bringing me summaries of plays, and we soon found ourselves talking about Othello, Ophelia, Titania and the Shrew. One day, I brought to class Sofia Zarambouka’s poster book “The Merchant of Venice”, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, for young children, in Greek. My students immediately recognized the differences from the original story, and then we found ourselves analyzing Antonio and Shylock, talking about Portia and the position of women and Jews in 16th century Venice. Above everything, I wanted them to think about the concepts of love and mercy, especially about forgiveness and how important it is.

And then it happened: During the break they kept playing by dramatizing the scene at the Duke’s court, and the next time we met they asked me if we could put up a small school play! For the younger kids to watch, etc. etc., but I knew they had identified with the characters. It took me a few days before I said “yes”, as these particular students are quite on the weaker side. But who am I to stop them from enjoying something that came out of one of our lessons?

Put up a small school play we would, even if that meant they were only going to read their part, instead of learning it by heart. I found an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice from English Class in Performance and I adapted it even more, so that the final text revises the Simple Past (!) and consists of even simpler language. Then I did the casting of the roles, and we are now at a point where we work on the actual reading.

What will eventually happen remains to be seen. Meanwhile, I would love to share some goodies with you. Here is the text in English, with the Greek mediation part and a translation also, for any of you who might be interested:

Al Pacino, as Shylock, and Lily Rabe, as Portia, in “The Merchant of Venice.” Credit Illustration by Andy Friedman, from The New Yorker.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
William Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564, in Stratford –upon – Avon in England. He wrote on all subjects of human behaviour, after keen observation of his surroundings. All his literary works will live as long as earth is alive. To him we respectfully dedicate this drama.

Scene 1
(Character introduction: All characters appear one by one & introduce themselves to the spectators.)
Shakespeare: I am William Shakespeare. I am the author of today’s drama. I wrote several tragedies and comedies. This is a tragic comedy. Shylock tries to kill Antonio but there is a happy ending after all.
Antonio: I am Antonio, one of the richest merchants of Venice. I have plenty of ships on the seas. Bassanio is my close friend. I borrowed money from Shylock to help my friend.
Bassanio: I am a friend of Antonio. I met a beautiful and rich lady, Portia, and I want to marry her. I don’t have money, so I asked my friend Antonio to help me.
Shylock: I am a Jew and money lender. I hate Antonio because he insulted me on several occasions. I am looking for a chance to take revenge.
Portia: I am the daughter of a rich man from Venice. I am in love with Bassanio. I will disguise as a lawyer. I will defend Antonio in court.
Duke: I will hear Shylock’s case in my court. I will hear both sides and give my judgement.

Scene 2
Bassanio: Oh, Antonio, my close friend, I need your help.
Antonio: Oh! My friend, tell me, what can I do for you?
Bassanio: I love Portia, a rich and beautiful lady. I want to marry her, so I need money from you.
Antonio: Don’t worry. I will help you. I have no money now, so I will borrow from Shylock.

Scene 3
(Shylock’s place)
Shylock: Oh! Antonio! Oh! Bassanio! What do you want?
Antonio: I need money, three thousand ducats.
Shylock: I usually give money for interest. But for you, if you can’t return the money in three months, I want one pound of flesh from your body.
Bassanio: Antonio, don’t sign. Don’t take the risk.
Antonio: Don’t worry. My ships will return next month. We can return the money.

Scene 4
(The Duke’s court)
Clerk reads out:
Plaintiff: Shylock
Defendant: Antonio
Defendant’s lawyer: Portia
Duke: Is Shylock here?
Shylock: Yes, your Grace.
Duke: Tell me Shylock, what is your case?
Shylock: Your Grace, Antonio agreed to give me three thousand ducats within three months after we signed, or I would take a pound of his flesh. The three months are over. Now he must give me a pound of flesh, as he signed.
Duke: Antonio, what do you say?
Antonio: My lawyer will speak for me.
Portia: (She bows and starts speaking) My Lord, Shylock wants a pound of flesh. Let him have it. Did you bring the knife, Shylock?
Shylock: Yes, I did.
Portia: Then, cut a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. Not more. Not less.
Shylock: It doesn’t say that in the bond.
Portia: Well, in the bond it also says you must cut a pound of flesh without dropping any blood. My Lord, is that even possible? Shylock planned to kill Antonio, so you must punish him.
Duke: Now it is judgement time.
Clerk: Silence…! Silence…!
Duke: I believe that you, Shylock, planned to murder Antonio. This is your punishment: I order you to give half of your fortune to the government and half to Antonio.
(Shylock walks off in shame. Antonio, Bassanio and Portia are in gay mood).

Of course, our small play would be incomprehensible without some translating in Greek. So I wrote this part for some of the students to read at intervals:

Ο Γουίλιαμ Σαίξπηρ γεννήθηκε στις 23 Απριλίου του 1564, στο Στράτφορντ απόν Έιβον στην Αγγλία. Έγραψε πάνω σε όλα τα θέματα της ανθρώπινης συμπεριφοράς, έπειτα από στενή παρατήρηση του περιβάλλοντός του. Όλα τα λογοτεχνικά του έργα θα ζουν όσο υπάρχει η γη. Με σεβασμό αφιερώνουμε τούτο το δρώμενο σε κείνον.

Σκηνή 1
Σαίξπηρ: Είμαι ο Γουίλιαμ Σαίξπηρ. Είμαι ο συγγραφέας του σημερινού έργου. Έγραψα αρκετές τραγωδίες και κωμωδίες. Ο Σάιλοκ προσπαθεί να σκοτώσει τον Αντόνιο, αλλά το τέλος είναι αίσιο.
Αντόνιο: Είμαι ο Αντόνιο, ένας από τους πιο πλούσιους έμπορους στη Βενετία. Έχω πολλά καράβια στη θάλασσα. Ο Μπασάνιο είναι στενός μου φίλος. Δανείστηκα χρήματα από το Σάιλοκ για να βοηθήσω το φίλο μου.
Μπασάνιο: Είμαι φίλος του Αντόνιο. Γνώρισα μια όμορφη και πλούσια κοπέλα, την Πόρσια, και θέλω να την παντρευτώ. Δεν έχω χρήματα, έτσι ζήτησα από το φίλο μου τον Αντόνιο να με βοηθήσει.
Σάιλοκ: Είμαι Εβραίος και δανείζω χρήματα. Μισώ τον Αντόνιο, επειδή με πρόσβαλε αρκετές φορές. Ψάχνω μια ευκαιρία να πάρω εκδίκηση.
Πόρσια: Είμαι η κόρη ενός πλούσιου από τη Βενετία. Είμαι ερωτευμένη με τον Μπασάνιο. Θα μεταμφιεστώ σαν δικηγόρος. Θα υπερασπιστώ τον Αντόνιο στο δικαστήριο.
Δούκας: Θα δικάσω την υπόθεση του Σάιλοκ στο δικαστήριο. Θα ακούσω και τις δυο πλευρές και θα βγάλω την απόφασή μου.

Σκηνή 2
Ο Μπασάνιο βρίσκει το φίλο του τον Αντόνιο και του ζητάει τη βοήθειά του, για να κατακτήσει την αγαπημένη του Πόρσια. Εκείνος του υπόσχεται ότι θα τον βοηθήσει, ζητώντας δανεικά από τον Σάιλοκ.
Σκηνή 3
Ο Σάιλοκ υποδέχεται τον Αντόνιο και τον Μπασάνιο στο σπίτι του, όπου ο Αντόνιο του ζητάει τρεις χιλιάδες δουκάτα ως δανεικά.
Σκηνή 4
Στο παλάτι του Δούκα, ο Σάιλοκ επιχειρεί να πάρει την εκδίκησή του, κόβοντας με ένα μαχαίρι μισό κιλό σάρκας από το στήθος του Αντόνιο, δίπλα στην καρδιά. Πριν όμως το κάνει, ο δικηγόρος του Αντόνιο, που είναι στην πραγματικότητα η Πόρσια που έχει μεταμφιεστεί, καταφέρνει να πείσει το δικαστήριο ότι η συμφωνία ήταν μόνο για τη σάρκα του Αντόνιο, χωρίς ούτε μια σταγόνα αίμα. Αυτό είναι αδύνατον, οπότε ο Αντόνιο αθωώνεται και αυτόματα ο Σάιλοκ τιμωρείται, καθώς η απόφαση του Δούκα είναι να δώσει το μισό της περιουσίας του στην κυβέρνηση και το άλλο μισό στον Αντόνιο, ως αποζημίωση.

And then, the ICT teacher asked me if I would mind him working on making comics out of The Merchant of Venice with 5th and 6th graders. I said I would love it, and if they could have the final product ready by the time we would present our play, so as to accompany us by showing it at the back of the stage, all the better! This is the text I will be giving them to work on:

Ο ΕΜΠΟΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΒΕΝΕΤΙΑΣ

Σκηνή 2
Μπασάνιο: Ω, Αντόνιο, καλέ μου φίλε, χρειάζομαι τη βοήθειά σου.
Αντόνιο: Ω, φίλε μου, πες μου: Τι μπορώ να κάνω για σένα;
Μπασάνιο: Αγαπώ την Πόρσια, μια πλούσια και όμορφη κοπέλα. Θέλω να την παντρευτώ, γι’ αυτό χρειάζομαι χρήματα από σένα.
Αντόνιο: Μην ανησυχείς. Θα σε βοηθήσω. Δεν έχω τώρα χρήματα, έτσι θα δανειστώ από το Σάιλοκ.

Σκηνή 3
(Στο σπίτι του Σάιλοκ)
Σάιλοκ: Ω, Αντόνιο! Ω, Μπασάνιο; Τι θέλετε;
Αντόνιο: Χρειάζομαι χρήματα, τρεις χιλιάδες δουκάτα.
Σάιλοκ: Συνήθως δανείζω χρήματα με τόκο. Αλλά για σένα, αν δεν επιστρέψεις τα χρήματα σε τρεις μήνες, θέλω ένα κομμάτι σάρκας από το σώμα σου.
Μπασάνιο: Αντόνιο, μην υπογράψεις. Μη ρισκάρεις.
Αντόνιο: Μην ανησυχείς. Τα πλοία μου θα επιστρέψουν τον επόμενο μήνα. Μπορούμε να επιστρέψουμε τα χρήματα.

Σκηνή 4
(Στο δικαστήριο του Δούκα)
Κλητήρας:
Ενάγων: Σάιλοκ
Εναγόμενος: Αντόνιο
Υπεράσπιση: Πόρσια
Δούκας: Είναι εδώ ο Σάιλοκ;
Σάιλοκ: Ναι, Εξοχότατε.
Δούκας: Πες μου, Σάιλοκ, ποια είναι η υπόθεσή σου;
Σάιλοκ: Εξοχότατε, ο Αντόνιο συμφώνησε να μου δώσει τρεις χιλιάδες δουκάτα μέσα σε τρεις μήνες αφότου υπογράψαμε, αλλιώς θα του έπαιρνα ένα κομμάτι από τη σάρκα του. Οι τρεις μήνες πέρασαν. Τώρα πρέπει να μου δώσει μισό κιλό σάρκας, όπως υπέγραψε.
Δούκας: Αντόνιο, τι λες εσύ;
Αντόνιο: Η δικηγόρος μου θα μιλήσει για μένα.
Πόρσια: (υποκλίνεται και αρχίζει να μιλάει). Κυριέ μου, ο Σάιλοκ θέλει μισό κιλό σάρκας. Ας το πάρει. Έφερες το μαχαίρι, Σάιλοκ;
Σάιλοκ: Ναι, το έφερα.
Πόρσια: Τότε, κόψε μισό κιλό σάρκας από το σώμα του Αντόνιο. Ούτε λιγότερο, ούτε περισσότερο.
Σάιλοκ: Δεν το γράφει αυτό στο συμβόλαιό μας.
Πόρσια: Ε, λοιπόν, στο συμβόλαιο λέει ότι πρέπει να κόψεις μισό κιλό κρέας αλλά καθόλου αίμα. Κύριέ μου, είναι αυτό δυνατόν; Ο Σάιλοκ σχεδίαζε να σκοτώσει τον Αντόνιο, επομένως πρέπει να τον τιμωρήσετε.
Δούκας: Τώρα είναι η ώρα για την απόφασή μου.
Κλητήρας: Ησυχία! Ησυχία!
Δούκας: Πιστεύω ότι εσύ, Σάιλοκ, σχεδίαζες να σκοτώσεις τον Αντόνιο. Αυτή είναι η τιμωρία σου: Σε διατάζω να δώσεις τη μισή περιουσία σου στην κυβέρνηση, και την άλλη μισή στον Αντόνιο.

(Ο Σάιλοκ φεύγει ντροπιασμένος. Ο Αντόνιο, ο Μπασάνιο και η Πόρσια είναι χαρούμενοι).

Διασκευή: Δήμητρα Φιλιπποπούλου

Shakespeare inspiration comics: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and The Merchant of Venice

My other 6th grade students, from ST2, wanted to create comics as well, around the time when we were talking Shakespeare. So they found information about several of the Bard’s plays, we discussed each one and then they voted on which one they would like to work on. I told them they only had to work on a scene, not the entire play, of course, so here’s what they came up with:

Nagia, Yiannis, Christos and Thanasis worked on King Lear. I was impressed by the way they worked, Thanasis did the drawing, the rest had created the text, Chris did the coloring and Nagia and Yiannis were coordinators. Well done!

Then, three girls, Yiota, Joanna and Athanasia, were absolutely focused on doing something from Romeo and Juliet. They each worked on a particular scene and finished it separately. They had a hard time agreeing on the text, though, in the beginning. Oh, and of course, they had fun by changing the story a lot!

And this is what the third team did, Zachary, Iliana and Gabriel, assisted by Thanasis and Yiannis, who were kind to help them towards the end, as they were running out of time:

I like how one thing a class does inspires another class to do something else, I love how my idea for comics was something that touched everybody. Also, the ICT teacher today told me he was inspired to do a comic on The Merchant of Venice with the students of the 5th and 6th grades, based on the English text that I wrote, a school play for the E class -which I will ask my students to adapt to Greek, before they make their comic version on Toondoo. Perhaps we will be able to present it alongside the performance! Cool. I promise you to write more on the play in a seperate article, coming soon! For now I’m still thinking about the casting of the roles, lol! Hope you enjoyed this post!

Reusing old toddler blocks to play around with sentence structure

Teaching the Simple Present never seems to stop. It is the most basic tense, the tense of tenses. And my 5th grade students needed help understanding sentence structure, especially in the interrogative form. So here’s what we did: I asked them to bring their old toy blocks, from when they were toddlers. Then we taped words and clusters of words on them. Then we played. We kept score among the teams, and I was surprised that even the most reluctant students now wanted to take part! Strong and weak students took their turn making mistakes to learn from. And many, correct, different sentences were created!

Special thanks goes to my colleague Maria Dimitrakopoulou, for sharing this idea on Facebook, and to our School Advisor, Mrs. Marianthi Kotadaki, who is a constant source of inspiration for sharing!

‘Daedalus and Icarus’ comics for the English class

‘The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.’

-Mark van Doren

That means getting your students out there in the real world and finding things they can relate to (with a certain filtering). One of the things I turn to is…

…comics!!!

Comics can be used to teach content, values, to coax reluctant readers, for fun and also be the outcome of students’ work. Here is an example, where, to begin with, 6th grade students from the ΣΤ1 class in our school wrote the story of Daedalus and Icarus as a dialogue.

The students worked in teams to produce dialogues based on the story of Daedalus and Icarus. They also practised the Simple Past and the Simple Present. This is the first draft.

After they wrote the final draft of the dialogues, it was time for them to show their artistic talents! At least one student in each team was willing to carry out the task of the actual drawing, but all the rest helped with their ideas and with how the text should be placed.

Previously, the students had been introduced to the terminology of comics and had been given some tips that would help them draw their ideas down to paper. With the aim to encourage creativity in mind, computer assisted comic making was not given as an option. For more information about comics in education, visit http://athenscomicslibrary.gr/εκπαιδευτικα –προγραμματα

Only two teams out of the four managed to finish in time (2 teaching hours), but the students of the other two promised to finish next time… You know how it goes! Of course, they all wanted to do more!

This was the result:

The Super kids team (Lydia, Theodosis, Rafaela and Mariefi) came up with this:

And the Koroivos fans team (Dimitris, Maria, Panayiota and Makis) collaborated on this:

Don’t you think my students are talented? Here’s a video I made to show their work (or, you can click here):

Enjoy!

My moodle cloud

I was lucky to have been included in the Moodle seminar for FL teachers, and this word cloud was produced as an assignment for the seminar.

Tutorial: How to reuse old magazine pages and make paperbags

This tutorial was produced with the help of E class students, to demonstrate a way of reusing paper in a new project. Paperbags are very fun to make and they are also practical, as they can be adorned, filled with goodies like candies, pencils or stickers and presented as inexpensive, handmade gifts in kids parties.Here are the instructions on how to make one:1. To make one paperbag, you need: One torn page from a magazine, preferably one you find appealing (the students chose this page for the tutorial), tape and scissors. You can also use brochure or leaflet pages.

2. Turn your page with its ‘good side’ facing down, onto the desk, and the torn side at the top.

3. Fold your page like this and then tape the edges together.

4. Fold the bottom part.

5. Open the folded sides apart and push them down like this.

6. Fold each side again, so that they face each other and tape them down.

7. Fold the sides like this, then turn your paperbag over and do the same towards the opposite side.

8. Open your paperbag gently and start forming the inside creases.

It’s ready!

The ancient theatre vs the English Renaissance theatre

I am so happy that my E class students enjoyed learning about the differences and the similarities of the ancient theatre and the English Renaissance theatre. After completing a series of lessons that I designed especially for them, where the aim was to give them new vocabulary and help them practise the Simple Past, they were able to produce the following sentences.

The Ancient Theatre

The acoustics was very good
The orchestra was circular
They were all actors
The seats were made out of stone or marble
It had paraskenia behind the scene
Behind the paraskenia there were two parodoi
The koilon was semi-cicular and it was amphitheatrical
The actors wore always masks

The English Renaissance theatre

It had balconies
It had wooden seats
The stage was above the ground
It was open, but the balconies had a roof
It was circular
The acoustics was bad
The actors spoke loudly and made gestures
The actors were all male

I also enjoyed this series of lessons very much! Especially the part where I prepared a presentation and a short video from the film Shakespeare in Love to show them.