A very special school

I want to share with you a very interesting experience I had last week. I observed a fourth grade double lesson at Eitan School. Eitan School is a special elementary  school which has a language immersion program. The school is situated in my neighborhood Armon Hanatsiv. Each student gets 10 hours of English learning lessons a week. Four hours of English language is taught and there is    usually an additional subject taught in English such as science or math

When I entered the classroom the first thing I noticed was that there were two teachers, Leah and Tamar. I also noticed how the class was divided into four groups according to level, for this reason the number of students per group differed. Each teacher was in charge of two groups. I sat next to Tamar, therefore I watched her specifically. There was a group of three strong English Speakers who read the same book for about twenty minutes, while Tamar worked with the weaker group, which was a group of eight Students. They worked with vocabulary for their next story to be learned. After the break, Tamar worked with the English Speakers while the others did worksheets  about the vocabulary they have learned. Tamar is in charge of eleven pupils every English hour.

I was impressed by the fact that almost each child was participating. This could be because each student received the assignment to their level. The teachers kept them busy for the entire lesson.

There wasn't a typical quiet classroom environment and the teachers were constantly on their feet, working with each group. However, I felt this learning style was very interesting and different.

 ? Would you like to teach with another teacher or assistant in the same class every single hour

Week 10 Research Tools  

I explored Noodletools. It offers so many possibilities but the most amazing for me was the research about the sounds. Go the category (in green) "I need a specific type of media " and then go to " sounds. You can hear so many sounds (from animals, the office, the nature,...). You can organize a game for your students asking them to recognize the sound and give the answer in English of course!

The second site I chose is http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. It can be very useful for my students and for myself. It has a very clear dictionnary: Simple Englsih Wiktionary. Type a word and you will have the pronunciation, different meanings, comparative, superlative, antonyms, synonyms and examples. 

week 6

Week 6 - five tools I would like to use in class

1. http://www.spellingcity.com/  proposes so many learning activities and game. You can use it for all your classes from 2nd grade to 12th grade. It has games with initial sound (looking for words starting with the same letter) with final sound, with syllables, ... The best thing is that towards spelling, this site develops the listening skills and prununciation because you can hear the words.

2.  http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmsv/smg/  

Spelling match game. It is a very friendysite you first choose a rade then a unit. You can time your game or not. You can match words with the same sound but also you can match the beginning of a word and the end of the worls. It develops your vocubalary. I tried grade 8 and it wasn't so easy but I really enjoyed it. 

3.   http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/games/story-maker  - Even students from the foundation level can create their own story. because they have picture a dictionary to choose from. Try it  You will feel like an author

4.    http://storybird.com/ has a library on line. You can read books - for free. to help you choose, you have a book summary, you have the number of pages and because you're on the computer you can easily check a word you don't know on any dictionary on line.

5.     https://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp - This site is cute. If you want to impress your students, publish their story, their names or the task you want to give them.

week 4

Hi, I spent a lot of time on this site: http://funnytimes.com/?site_section=cartoon-treasury&s=school#.UTe4JNZ7L84 . I read a lot of comics and it was fun. This site is friendly because the cartoons are organised in themes and you can even create your own cartoon.

I thought of bringing a new cartoon to my class every week. The students will expect it and it will develop their motivation to the language, trying to read and understand.

Week 3 

I chose again an article from Teachthought. I always say that I am not a psychologist but only a teacher. But this article makes me think. Sometimes we have to step out of our teachers shoes and step into the shoes of  the students. Read this article, it worths it.

Teachers, This Is What I Need From You

http://www.teachthought.com/

 Week 2
Hi

One of the blog I chose is teachthought. This blog got real deep articles about teaching but also simple tools to use in class. I read "10 tools to get them talking" and every tool there is amaizing: " Survey Monkey", "Kahoot", Quizizz, and ....

1week 12

Week 1

Hi my name is Joelle.I am an English teacher in elementary school.

This year I am studying at Hertzog.It's quite fun.

I hope that after this on line course i willbe able to sit at the computer and

do anything I need without the help of my dear family.