Intermediate to Advanced

Reading, listening (primary focus); speaking (secondary focus)     

During this activity students will do the following:

·       Practice listening skills while learning the importance of code

·       Practice reading on-screen instructions while coding

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers/chalk, computer and printer
• Students: pencils or pens, notebooks
• Computer lab: computers for each student (if possible) or one computer per small group of students (2-3 students per group)

1. Read through all the materials carefully.
2. This activity uses the websites Code.org and Scratch. Before using this activity in class, visit the websites to become familiar with them. If you are new to coding, try some of the basics yourself!

This activity begins with an “Hour of Code” on the Code.org website. The Hour of Code allows students to practice the basics of coding with videos and tutorials that guide them through the process. After they have completed their hour of code, students can print out a certificate of completion.

1. Begin the class by having students go to a computer. Students can work individually or in small groups.
2. On the whiteboard/chalkboard write down the website Code.org and have the students navigate to that webpage.
3. Once the students are on the Code.org webpage, have them click on “Students.”
   
   1. Note: The “Students” area is to the lower left of the screen and colored in purple. Students may need to scroll down the page to see the student area.
4. On the student page, have the students click on the Hour of Code start button.
1. Note: The Hour of Code option is the second option on the screen.
2. Once the students are on the Hour of Code page, they can choose which Hour of Code they would like to do. The webpage offers a variety of options from famous characters to famous video games, but they all teach the same content.
3. After the students have selected their Hour of Code, have them begin the activity. Each activity begins with a short video that students should watch.
4. After watching the video, students should follow the on-screen directions to begin building their code.
5. Have the students work on their code for as long as time permits. Students who do not finish their code in class can work on it after class as a homework assignment.
6. If time permits at the end of class, have the students share what they did and what they learned by presenting their work to the class for an optional speaking activity.

Note: On the first day of incorporating this activity in your classroom, you may wish to walk students through the process and conduct this as a whole-class learning experience and demonstration. You could display your own computer and have all students choose the same activity in order to become familiar with it.

This second activity can be completed as an extension of the first activity or as a stand-alone activity.

1. Begin the class by having students go to a computer. Students can work individually or in small groups.
2. On the whiteboard/chalkboard write down the website scratch.mit.edu and have the students navigate to the Scratch webpage.
3. Once the students are on the Scratch webpage, have them click on “Try It Out.”
4. On the Try It Out page, have the students click on the “Getting Started with Scratch” section of the website on the right side of the webpage.
   
   1. Note: To begin the tutorial, have the students click on the blue ”Start Moving” button.

5.     Have students follow the tutorial while they create a small project on Scratch.

a.     For students who already know code or who are eager to learn more, encourage them to explore the Scratch webpage. Scratch is less structured than Code.org, but it allows students to make more complex projects.

Note: As mentioned for the first activity, you may wish to walk students through the process and conduct this as a whole-class learning experience and demonstration on the first day. You could display your own computer screen and have all students work as a whole class on the first project before they work in independent groups.

Optional activity: If students show interest and excitement over coding, have them work in teams to build an English language learning game on Scratch. Once the games are completed, students can share them with the class. For examples of English language learning games on Scratch, check out: https://scratch.mit.edu/search/projects?q=english+learning

Skype in the Classroom is an online platform with several free tools that connect students to international experiences that they may not otherwise get to have. These experiences not only can expose your learners to new information and ideas, but with your guidance, they can help your students develop a global perspective and think critically.

This week in the Teacher’s Corner, we will present some of the free educational tools available from Skype and ideas about how to utilize them to build global citizens in your classroom. To use the free tools, you will need to register in the Microsoft Educator Community and create a Skype ID.

High beginner to advanced

Speaking, listening, reading, writing

Throughout these activities, student will be able to do the following:

• Practice listening comprehension and speaking proficiency
• Learn information about other people and places throughout the world

Activity 1: explore the world beyond your classroom with virtual field trips

Skype’s Virtual Field Trips allow students to see parts of the world that they may have never seen before. Field trips are organized by topic, including animals, art and architecture, history and culture, ecology and conservation, and more. Field trips are live and are conducted in English by a professional from the organization that hosts the trip. Students even have a chance to ask questions during the session.

On the website, you can view all available field trips and register for your class to participate. Skype will take into account your local time zone and let you know which dates and times are available for the virtual trip.

Before the Field Trip

• Before the field trip, have students brainstorm what they know already about the topic or place. Their ideas can be based on personal experiences or on information that you have studied in class leading up to the trip.
• Create a list of questions to ask the host of the trip. During the field trip, the class may not be able to ask more than one question because other classes may be participating. Therefore, students may want to vote for their top three questions ahead of time. Then, if they are able to ask a question, they will be prepared with the questions that are most interesting to the whole class.

After the Field Trip

• Ask students to reflect on the trip in small discussion groups or as a whole class. Some possible questions are below, and you may think of more to ask. Encourage students to think about how this experience relates to global problems or their own lives.
• Can you think of a place in our city/country that is like this?
• What did you learn about _______ by going on this virtual field trip?
• What questions do you still have? How can you find the answers?
• How do you think this type of place/career helps people with ________?”
• As an extension activity, students can continue to research questions they have and present what they learn to the class. Another option is for students to write thank-you notes to the host of the field trip and tell the host about something interesting that they learned or a part of the trip that they particularly enjoyed.

Activity 2: mystery skype

Mystery Skype is a game where classrooms in different locations around the globe are paired together to play and learn together. During the game, the locations of both classrooms are not revealed. Students (or pairs of students) must ask each other yes/no questions in order to guess the location of each other’s classrooms. This game helps students learn about geography and different cultures while practicing English, developing critical thinking and reasoning skills, and working collaboratively.

Before the Game

• Explain to your class how Mystery Skype is played and how they will need to ask yes/no questions to guess the location of the other class in the game. Have students work in pairs to generate questions they could ask the other class. Ideas for questions include:
  • Is your country large/small?
  • Do you speak ________ (name of language)?
  • Does your country border an ocean?
  • Is the weather in your country hot year-round?
• The class also needs to plan a short introduction for the beginning of the game, such as, “Hello. We are a class of grade 8 students studying English.” The first pair of students to ask a question in the game will provide the introduction for the class.
• Review students’ ideas for questions and plan for each pair of students to ask a particular question during the game. Tell students that they can change their questions during the game based on the information they are learning.

During the Game

• If possible, use a projector or have your class gather around a computer so that everyone can see, or at least hear, the Skype interaction. As each pair of students asks their question and gets an answer from the other class, your class should try to identify where the partner class is located.
• To help them identify the country, provide atlases or display a world map, if available. Give students some time between questions to analyze the information they receive and to begin to eliminate places where the other class could not possibly be located.
• Students will also need to answer questions posed by the partner class. Monitor the interactions and help as needed. If someone in your class thinks they have a reasonable guess, let the other team know and see if the guess is correct.

After the Game

• Students can create a Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences of their own country with the country of the partner class.
• Have students talk about the facts they remember about the partner class and their location. This discussion can be done as a whole class or in small groups. Students can share things they enjoyed about the game and things they will remember about the students or their country.

Activity 3: meet students around the world with skype collaborations

Skype Collaborations is another option for helping students to explore cultures beyond their own. This tool allows teachers and students to post online to share an idea for a collaborative project or to get help with a problem. Classrooms anywhere in the world can choose to collaborate with another class that has posted a project or problem.

This tool is particularly useful in building global citizens because it allows students to interact with other students around the world to find solutions or develop ideas. The interactions in these activities vary and can range from more simple interactions, such as students reading aloud to each other during video calls, to more complex interactions, such as collaborating to complete whole projects together online.

Regardless of which tools from Skype you choose to use in your classroom, the ability to interact with peers from different parts of the world can encourage your students to consider the ways in which we are all connected. 

This is a step-by-step description of an activity that demonstrates how learners at all levels and of all ages can use percussion and percussion instruments to support their learning of English pronunciation.

This Teaching Technique explains what the author describes as a pre-task for teaching students to write descriptively about a photo diary that students create themselves.