The Dancing Classrooms project

Four years ago our 4th graders started a new school project. They  took part in the “ Dancing classrooms” program. I was lucky to attend some ballroom dancing lessons to get fully involved in the practice and to be a part of this great event outside the dancing classes. From the very first lessons I realized that dancing lessons helped my students solve social problems. It helped them learn about honor and respect, improve self-confidence, cooperate, listen to others.

The pupils learned to behave in “ a lady- gentleman” way even outside the dancing lessons. Students were taught the vocabulary of various dances in a classroom setting. The vocabulary was presented and taught  in English by the dancing teacher,which made the dancing program multidisciplinary .There was a unique and successful combination between English lessons and a dancing practice.  My  teachers colleges and I decided to do something more than just repetition and learning the dancing vocabulary. We decided to turn this dancing program into an interdisciplinary project. The kids wrote a story with the “dancing plot” in Hebrew. I translated it into English and the 4th grade student Ella Gavor brilliantly illustrated it. This is how the scrapbook “Everybody, dance now” came to life It was successfully presented at the school dancing ball along with the other materials in English and Hebrew that were created in the classes who took part in the dancing program. After the ball I was asked to send all the materials to the Dancing Classrooms headquarters in Netanya. Then they were sent straight to NYC Dancing Classrooms manager Alee Reed. This is a short quote from her email :

Thank you for doing this so fully – and more!  I love that you created a way to enhance English studies with ballroom by teaching the dance vocabulary in the classroom, and that the repetition in the ballroom lessons helped reinforced what they learned.  And you made it fun, too, by combining creative writing with art, and even word puzzles! I am giving you a standing ovation right now!!!

For me as an English teacher “The Dancing classrooms” program was an unforgettable experience and a new challenge . It was also a fun activity as well. The unique combination of several school subjects made it the most educational, inspiring and memorable school event ever!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

Benjamin Franklin said: "Tell me and I’ll forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn."

A good teacher has to be able to activate the pupils, raise their curiosity and boost their motivation.
A good teacher nowadays has to be interesting, versatile, innovative – like a juggler or a magician!
A creative teacher can achieve all of the above and Rania Essa is such a teacher.

Some of her activities require some preparation: a Gallery Walk, Interactive notebooks, Quizlet games, videos (such as Learning English Idioms is a piece of cake), PowerPoint presentations, Powtoon videos, Bitmoji…But other activities that she creates are quite simple to execute in class and hardly demand any preparation.

Gamification is an educational approach whose goal is to motivate students to learn by using video game design and game elements in learning environments and to increase pupils' involvement and joy while studying. Gamification, in Rania's book, can also apply to simple, non-elaborate games.

Take, for example, the game "Who is the winner?!" Stick blank post-it notes on a board, divide the class into teams or groups and address questions in turn to each group. If they answer correctly, a representative comes to the board, chooses a blank note and lifts it. On the back of the note there are points. Most are 'plus' points (+5, +10…) but some are 'minus' points (-3, -5…) and this can create a 'twist'. It's a non-predictable element which turns it into an exciting game since everyone likes winning, but the surprise factor – "Lady Luck" - may turn the whole thing around and there's no way of predicting who the winner is going to be.

Luckily for us, Rania Essa's motto is "Caring is Sharing." She shares her ideas constantly on her website, on Facebook and in several teachers' groups.

Rania leads the way and inspires many teachers and those who follow her are no doubt all the better for it.

creating and making games in the 5th garde

This is the first time I'm using this format and I'm not so sure I'm doing it right but, here it goes. 

I used a few of my lessons with my 5th graders to come up with a topic that they like and create board games in English. 

The pupils are divided into groups and came up with amazing things such as Fortnite Monopoly, go fish around the world (food around the world), memory game, a book of games e.t.c
Before collecting the games in a box you should make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes, you also have to make sure that everyone in the group took part in the process of making the game.

I collected all of the games and put everything in a box in the classroom. Now we have a lovely shared games corner in our classroom and pupils can go and play whenever they've finished a task. 
I really recommend doing this activity with your students. This can really enrich their vocabulary in a fun and exciting way. You can also use this activity to practice grammar and basically whatever you like,    

Ganit, Ahavat Zion

news quiz- in 10th grade

I would like to share with you what I have done in my 10th class, 5 pointers.

I loved the amazing idea of "News quiz" (thank you Leo,the course's lecturer),and I thought that it could be a great opportunity to combine fun and enriching the general knowledge of my students.

I followed Leo's instructions on his amazing website and chose to use the intermediate level for my students.Additionally,I downloaded the different exercises to practice the new collocations.

I went over the new words with the students,as a pre-activity.

I also let them use their cellphones because I could not count on their knowledge. 

To sum up, they enjoyed it immensely and worked wonderfully together.The winners got a bonus.I attach some pictures to give you a glimpse of my classroom.Enjoy!

The activity was done in our new English classroom.You can see a smart board with movable chairs-tables.

I would like to hear and experience more fun activities to apply in my class.Do you have interesting ideas?

Let's blog!

Hello and welcome to our blog!

Image source: pixabay.com [CC0 license]

This is a place where you, the participants of the English Boost in-service course, can post our thoughts and reflections, express our opinions and generally boost your English.

New to blogging? Don't worry, we'll explore the possibilities together.