DECYPHER AND LEARN

Age: Any
Proficiency level: Any
Objective: To review vocabulary, to ask and answer questions, to learn new information about a topic, or anything you can think of that can be encoded in QR. 
Materials: 

• Printed QR codes created by the teacher for a specific task.
• a set of questions, answers, synonyms, etc, depending on the teacher's objective for the activity.
• Tablets or smart phones with an app that reads QR codes.  

 Place the printed QR codes on the walls around the classroom. Pair students up and give each pair a tablet, or ask them to use their own device. Tell them to figure out the message in all the QRs, paying attention to the information given. When they finish, they close their device and try to solve the task presented by the teacher (answering questions, matching vocabulary items, etc). They get together with other pairs to try to complete the task. They open their devices again and check ir they were correct. 

Although we can encode pictures, sound, and videos, the only kind of QR that does not need internet connection is the text message. Therefore, only encode the other items if you are sure your connection will work well. 
Here is an example of activity prepared as a warm-up for a lesson entitled "Amazing Nature". It talks about animals that migrate or hibernate during the greatest part of their lives.The grammar topic related to the unit is the use of future perfect and future perfect continuous, so we made a point of starting to present the topic.
     
The sentences encoded are:

1 – In its lifetime, the Arctic Tern will have made three round trips to the moon

2 – The Chilean Flamingos can travel up to 700 miles, or 1,126 km, a day.

3 – Male and Female Arctic Squirrels hibernate in different periods of the year.

4 – The Elephant Seal can travel 21,000 km, mostly under water, and keep its sense of direction.

5 – The groundhog’s heartbeat drops from 80 to 4 beats per minute, and its body temperature can go below zero.

6 – The Sooty Shearwater travels around 64,000 km in its migration round trip.

The questions students were supposed to answer after collecting the information were:

1 – Which animal will have made three round trips to the moon during his lifetime?

2 – Which animal can travel up to 700 miles a day?

3 – What can the elephant seal do?

4 – What happens when the groundhog is hibernating?

5 – How far does the Sooty Shearwater travel in his migration route?

6 – What is interesting about the Arctic squirrels’ hibernation?

We used the site www.qrstuff.com to create the codes, and the app SCAN to read them.

TELLING TALES

OBJECTIVE - To explore reading passages in a more fun, creative way. To develop the ability to tell stories coherently and to negotiate opinions.
AGE - Teens and above.
PROFICIENCY LEVEL - Intermediate and above.
MATERIALS - One ipad or another piece of equipment for recording. A story, narrative, or text that students need to read.

Before class time, record a story, a narrative, or any other similar text you want your students to work with. The recorded version of the story needs to be slightly modified, so you can change some facts, the names of the characters, the beginning or the end of the story. Have the original text at hand.

• Divide your group into two smaller groups, preferably with the same number of students. If that is impossible, there will be a trio working together at the end of the activity.
• Ask one group to leave the classroom. Give them the ipad with the recorded version of the story and ask them to listen attentively to all the details.
• Go back inside the classroom and read or tell the real story to the students who are with you. 
• Bring back the group that was outside and pair students up, one from each group. 
• They will tell each other their version of the story and guess which one is the real one. There can be an opinion poll when they are done. They can also work on a third version of the story, compiling the parts they think are more interesting. 

EXAMPLES

  Version 1- I was riding my bike to school when I saw a strange man standing at a bus stop. He pointed at me and shouted something. I couldn't hear him, so I rode by. A few minutes later, a bus passed me and I saw the man sitting by a window. Again, he pointed and shouted. This time, I almost fell off my bike because I was looking at him, trying to understand what he was shouting. I got really angry and shouted as loud as I could, "You, idiot!!!" When I got off the bike at school, I saw that my backpack was open. "Oh, no!", I thought. "He was trying to tell me that my bag was open."  I looked inside and noticed that my math book was missing. I had no time to worry about it. I was late for class and a new teacher was starting that morning. When I opened the classroom door and rushed in, I saw him standing there. He recognized me and said, in a very friendly way, that he was trying to tell me about my backpack. I felt really embarrassed!

Version 2 -  I was riding my bike to school when I saw a good-looking man standing at a bus stop. He pointed at me and shouted something. I couldn't hear him, so I rode by. A few minutes later, a bus passed me and I saw the man sitting by a window. Again, he pointed and shouted. This time, I fell off my bike because I was looking at him, trying to understand what he was shouting, and didn't see a big rock on the street. I hurt my leg and my hand, and got really angry and shouted as loud as I could, "Mind your own business!!!" When I got off the bike at school, I saw that my backpack was open. "Oh, no!", I thought. "He was trying to tell me that my bag was open."  I looked inside and noticed that my wallet was missing. I decided to ride all the way back to try to find it, because all my money and documents were in it. Not very far from the school, the Principal passed by and saw me. He stopped his car and made me return to school. I tried to explain what had happened, but he wouldn't listen! I felt very sad and frustrated!

This activity was suggested by Daniela Lyra, from Brasília, Brazil.
 

Making Posters

This is our first activity involving technology. We hope you enjoy it!

We all know that students enjoy working with technology. To take profit of their abilities and to increase their motivation in class, have them create an account on www.glogster.com, a free visual communication site that offers countless resources for the creation of posters and the similar.

Objective - To offer a more modern, fun way of writing posters that will accompany oral presentations.
Age - Any
Proficiency level - Any
Materials - None
Equipment -  PC's, laptops, tablets, etc, for students' use; one computer and one data show in the classroom; one big screen.

1. Choose a topic you want your class to talk about, or make presentations on. Some possibilities are: selling a travel package; teaching how to do or make something; show the development of an object, such as the telephone, the televison, the automobile, etc; presenting a project that will help protect the environment; the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city/country area. In fact, any subject can be adapted to this kind of presentation.

 2. On their tablets, laptops, or in the school lab, students work in pairs, reading about the topic and choosing free pictures on the Internet. They may want to save the pictures.

3. They log in to the site and choose the background, the kind and color of the font, and any other feature offered. 

4. They create a poster and save it in Glogster. They need to rehearse their presentation, so give them some time for that.

5. In class, they log in again and use the data show and a big screen to present their work.

RUN, READ, DICTATE!

RUN, READ, DICTATE

Age level: children and teenagers

Proficiency level: basic and low intermediate

Objective: To practice reading, speaking, and writing in a kinesthetic, fun manner

Materials: two sets of slips with the words, sentences, parts of a sotry, or dialog lines for a dictation

 Prepare two sets with the same number of slips. You can practice vocabulary items, simple sentences, or more complex dialog lines. It also works if you cut a short text into smaller segments. Here are some examples: 

Vocabulary (very basic)

1 - refrigerator                                  2 - couch

3 - bedroom                                     4 - bathroom

5 - living room                                  6 - kitchen

A dialog

1 - Hello. How can I help you?         2 - Yes. I'm looking for jeans.

3 - What size do you wear?              4 - I'm not sure. Maybe 30...

5 - Let's see... I think a 32 will do.    6 - OK. Let's try them on.
      

....

A story

1 - It was a dark, stormy night. Jeffrey and Paola were driving through a deserted road.

2 - They were having an argument because Paola didn't like to travel at night.

3 - Suddenly, the car started making funny noises until it stopped completely.

4 - Jeffrey tried to start it many times, with no success. 

.....

 1) Place the odd-numbered slips on one side of the classroom and the even-numbered ones on the opposite side.

Pair students up. Decide which student in each pair is going to read the odd-numbered and the even-numbered sentences. Tell tehm to get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Odd number students stand up, run to their side of the classroom, read the first slip, run back to their seat and dictate what they read. As soon as the even number student finishes writing, they run to the other side, read the first slip on that wall, run back and dictate what they've read. This goes on until everybody has finished, but the first pair to finish and get everything right is the winner. 

VARIATION: If you choose to work with a text or story, you can leave the ending out and ask the pairs to come up with an interesting, intriguing ending to it. They tell the group what they came up with.

Erase and win!

Age level: Children and Teens

Proficiency level: any

Material: slips with the tasks you want your students to perform (two sets); board markers; tissue paper to serve as eraser

Objective: To practice a grammar topic, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc.

Divide the class into two groups. Give each student a piece of tissue paper to erase the board. Divide the board into two parts and draw a square in each part. Inside the square, draw any shape you want (a heart, a flower, a circle, anything). The shapes and squares have to be as similar as possible. Number the members of each group and seat them in a semi-circle facing the board.

1                       8                              1                       8

  2                   7                                 2                   7  

     3            6                                         3            6

         4    5                                                  4    5

Give each group a slip with the same task and ask them to discuss and agree on an answer. When they are done, call a number. Both students with that number have to run to the board, erase the shape inside the square (without leaving any mark and without erasing the square) and go back to their seat. The one who sits first gets to give the group answer, this time without any help from the peers. Give the group a point for each correct answer.

Contribution made by Lisel Fleury, from Brasília, Brazil.