Άρθρα με ετικέτα writing

End of School Year Activity-Δραστηριότητα για το τέλος της σχολικής χρονιάς

kitties patternhappy pattern
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There are so many creative people out there and I’m thankful that I am able to reach their work and ideas, especially when these are kindly offered and can really inspire me and  my work! Such is the case with  patternsforcolouring (the first two pictures) and doodle-art-alley  (the third picture belongs to this site), where amazing colouring pages can be spotted. All you need to do is choose a pattern you like, download it, print it out and start colouring. The colouring pages in  patternsforcolouring are offered under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK).

I particularly like these sites, because there are artistic colouring pages, like the ones above, that can generate writing activities.  I am thinking of using the “kitties” one as a prompt for a cartoon-like dialogue among the kitties, after the pupils colour, cut and stick their figures on a seperate sheet of paper. I will ask my pupils to write summer themed dialogues and this is going to be a cute activity for the last days of this school year. 

I can do something similar with the “Happy” one. The children can assort their colouring with sentence completion:

In summer I am happy because…

Summer makes me happy because…

In summer there are a lot of happy moments. I like…I usually…

As for the underwater scene, it is a game itself since it belongs in the Blopper category, where the colouring pages hide irrelevant figures. When the students have spotted them, they can simply label them or even create a story according to their level.

Great! I have new activities for this year’s last class! What are you planning to do?

English for Greek University Exams:On-line Resources / Ειδικό Μάθημα Αγγλικά:Διαδικτυακά Τεστ και Υλικό Εξάσκησης

alphabet-pixabay

The following links lead to exercises or tests that can help you revise and test your knowledge of the English language at an intermediate to advanced level (B2-C2). Because of their level, they are appropriate for Greek University Candidates who wish to have an overall evaluation of their competence.

GRAMMAR

Short exercises at edufind.com

Quizes at grammar-quizzes.com

Test at depts.washington.edu

READING 

Intermediate at web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone

Upper-Intermediate at web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone

Advanced at web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone

Intermediate at usingenglish.com

Advanced at usingenglish.com

Intermediate/Advanced at infosquares.com

WRITING

Guide and exercises at owl.english.purdue.edu  

FCE/CAE/CPE/TOEFL/IELTS and more…

Tests at boostyourenglishscore.com

Tests at english-online.org.uk

IELTS reading and writing tests at ielts-exam.net  (check the writing tasks because there are model answers)

IELTS sample tests at ielts-exam.net  (check the writing tasks because there are model answers)

 

You may also be interested to check the rest of the resources labeled “Exams” and  “Ειδικό Μάθημα Αγγλικά” from the unit on the right.

 

 

Unusual Greek Customs-Project by Grade E

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 The students of Class E1 prepared and displayed their project on “Unusual Greek Customs”. The customs chosen were “The Day of Babo” and “First Weekend of Lent”. It was an excellent activity for the students to investigate, learn new vocabulary, use the Present Simple, collaborate.

Here comes the procedure followed:

  1. introduction of the project topic
  2. assigning the students with the task of finding information in Greek about 2-3 unusual Greek customs
  3. having each student choose one custom and describe it in brief in class
  4. recording each custom on the board
  5. having the students vote for two of the most interesting customs
  6. assigning two different students with the task of writing a brief description of each custom and bringing it in the next class
  7. distribution of these descriptions in photocopies
  8. board translation of the descriptions by the whole class (great collaboration kids!)
  9. assigning different tasks to the students: bring stationary, engross text, find photos, write captions, help with the layout, etc.
  10. composing the final pieces

In order to help my students better understand and organise their information I also handed them the following questions to answer:

  1. Where does this custom take place?
  2. When does it take place?
  3. What does this custom celebrate?
  4. Who can take part?
  5. What do people do this day?
  6. Where does this custom come from?

Amazing work, dear students!

My Name in English Handwriting Sheet – Φυλλάδιο Εργασίας:Το όνομα μου στα Αγγλικά

name handwriting sheet with photo frame

We have been doing so much with introducing ourselves and recognising names in Grade A and B! In addition to the curriculum activities, I thought that an extra writing one would be a great learning tool for the pupils to practice writing their names in English. So, I created the above handwriting sheet, which I am happy to share with you, along with some ideas I used in class.

Έχουμε κάνει τόσες πολλές δραστηριότητες με την Α και Β τάξη για να συστηνόμαστε και να αναγνωρίζουμε τα ονόματά μας! Επιπλέον από τις προτεινόμενες δραστηριότητες, σκέφτηκα ότι μια δραστηριότητα γραφής θα ήταν θαυμάσιο μαθησιακό εργαλείο, ώστε οι μαθητές να εξασκηθούν να γράφουν το όνομά τους στην Αγγλική Γλώσσα. Έτσι δημιούργησα το παραπάνω φύλλο εργασίας, που με χαρά μοιράζομαι με εσάς, παράλληλα με μερικές ιδέες που εφάρμοσα στην τάξη.

You can find the handwriting sheet below in PDF format, but before getting there, you may be interested in the following steps I followed in class.

Μπορείτε να βρείτε το φύλλο εργασίας παρακάτω σε μορφή PDF, αλλά πριν φτάσετε εκεί, ίσως σας ενδιαφέρουν τα βήματα που ακολούθησα στην τάξη.

Read more

(περισσότερα…)

Improve your Writing with Transitional Words and Phrases-Βελτίωσε το γραπτό σου με συνδετικές λέξεις και φράσεις

A bumpy writing ride

Transitional words and phrases are used to connect one idea to the next. They show how the main idea and its further development are connected within a paragraph or within a sentence. They are like the asphalt (bitumen) that glues the materials of the road surface together.

If the amount of the asphalt is little or of bad quality, then the road surface will come out cracky and rough, and our ride rather bumpy. Likewise, if we use little or inappropiate transitions in our writing, the meanings will be disorganised and the reader will not be able to read smoothly from one point to the next.

On the other hand, too many transitional phrases make our writing unnatural. Thus, it is necessary to fully understand what kind of transitions there are and how they are used.

Two helpful lists follow: the first includes some basic transitional words and phrases  and the second presents links to examples and exercises. 

Read more

(περισσότερα…)

What’s the story?

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When Octo met Pinky, it was love at first sight. He had never seen such a beauty before and she had never felt so ecstatic in her life. Their little lodging soon became a refreshing love nest. They held hands and hugged and kissed tenderly while they were floating in real bliss.

However, soon everything changed. That day they hadn’t been holding each other for long when suddenly …

 

WATCH the movie to find out what happened. Then WRITE the rest of the story.

 

 

REVISE some short story basics here.

USE  the prompts to help you:

  • a yellow-gloved hand / the scales / a container 
  • a tall, thin fisherman driving his three-wheeler
  • narrow streets
  • the box of the van
  • the door of the van
  • windshield, windshield wiper
  • the bank / the side wall of the street
  • swimming pool
  • ink
  • washing line
  • a sea gull

CONSIDER the following connectors to make your sentences clear and interesting.

  • Connect with 

at first / afterwards / later = (Moments later) / then = (At that moment) / in the meantime / meanwhile /

 

I read the morning papers for a while. Afterwards, I checked my e-mails.

First I read the morning papers for a while and then I checked my e-mails.

 

At first, I couldn’t understand a word. Later, however,I was able to communicate quite well.

 

The wedding is on Sunday, but  in the meantime I have to prepare the lady’s night out.

 

They’ll be here soon. Meanwhile, let’s have coffee.

 

  • Contrast to show unexpected result with

Nevertheless/However/Yet/Nonetheless         Even so

 She waited watching the front door all morning. Nevertheless/However/Yet/Nonetheless, nobody came out of the house.

 It’s raining. Even so, we must go out.

 

  • Emphasize with

in fact    indeed    as a matter of fact     actually 

 

He is quite wealthy. In fact, he is one of the richest men in the town.

 

I like cycling. As a matter of fact, it is my favorite sport.

 

Lewis is a highly talented f1 driver. Indeed, he has an extraordinary gift for driving fast cars.