Timelines with Timetoast

Some of the timelines of my students:

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2140346

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142254

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2138526

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142217

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2138515

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142870

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142982

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2143000

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141999

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142017

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141792

https://media.timetoast.com/timelines/2142362

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142402

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141934

• The learning objectives of the activity:

The objectives were: to raise awareness of the 19th century literature

To learn about the lives of the Brontë sisters

To reflect about the story we are reading now: Wuthering Heights.

To raise awareness of the situation of women writers and compare it to this day and age.

• The advantages of using TimeToast for this activity

By using Timetoast they could reflect about the life of the three sisters and its influence on their books.

• The steps you followed to set up the activity

I gave them this page to read and also the reader we are dealing with, Wuthering Heights. With these two things, they could decice whether to do the timeline abour their life, the book, or the period. First we read both texts, the book and the webpage. Then, I explained the way to do the timeline. In the timelines they had to include one link and photographs of their choice to illustrate it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bronte_sisters.shtml

• Any problems and how you and the students solved them. As they are Bachillerato students, no problems arose, and they did the timelines at home, some individually, some in pairs.
• The students’ reaction – how did they feel about using TimeToast to complete the task?

They enjoyed the activity and saw the possibilities of creating timelines with other subjects.

• Some things that you would change / improve next time

Perhaps I would tell them to choose the photographs more carefully and see if the links worked.

• At least 3 ways that the use of TimeToast helped you achieve your learning objectives

It helped to reflect more carefully on the elements of the Brontë’s life present in the book

It helped to set the novel in its right period of history

It helped to raise awareness of the situation of women writers.

Comics with Pixton

Pixton comic

We did this comic in a subject called “Inglés práctico”. There are 19 students and we only had one computer to access the internet, as all the ICT classrooms were full.

●     How did you organise the groups?

We had 4 groups of five people. 

●    What was the sequence of tasks that you followed to get to the final product?
First, we watched a tutorial on how to create a comic with Pixton. Then, all of them decided on the subject we were going to talk about. As we are studying environmental issues, such a comic was the chosen one.

Then, we organized the groups. One group wrote the script, which we decided was going to be simple because we wanted to use it to be shown to ESO students. Then, another group decided on the characters, their physical appearance, their clothing, the setting... Another group began creating the comic on the computer with the assistance of the other groups and the last team checked if there were mistakes or if anything should be added.

●     What were the specific learning objectives for this activity? How did the use of the tool help the learners achieve these objectives? Please be specific and give concrete examples.

Objectives:
-Reflect on the use of simple vocabulary to achieve a complex task: as the comic is for ESO students, they had to choose appropriate vocabulary
-Decide in groups what was going to be used: This took quite a long time, as they had to agree on the setting, the characters and the sentences used.
-Revise vocabulary related to recycling and the environment. They revise words such as reuse, revise, recycle etc.

●     In what ways (be specific) was creativity and the use of imagination encouraged in your students?

They had read many comics but never done one, so this was an opportunity to do some thinking about the way to do it.

●      What did your students enjoy most / least about this activity?

The technical part was hard as we only had one computer. They enjoyed creating the comic strip

●     What would you change next time?

We have two lessons per week, so I would dedicate two more apart from the two hours we used.

●      How were the finished projects shared with the rest of the class?

I sent them via Google Classroom

• ·         What opportunities were there for students to co-evaluate and discuss the learning experience with each other?

They reflected on the finished product by watching it on screen and giving their opinion as to what things to change and which were good the way they chose them.,

Wuthering Heights video

Check out this short video on the book and 1992 film

My reflections:

• give a reason for your choice of video.

This is one of my favourite books and we are also working on it in my 2nd bach class, so it could be a good idea to watch a short cllip.

• explain briefly the learning objectives for the session(s) and sequence of activities

Objectives:

- Revision of the story.

Activities:

As it is aimed at 2nd bachillerato, we will have a: 

-Reflection on what had happened before and predicting what will happen after the clip

- Explanation about the characters: explain if their mental image of the characters coincides or not with the ones on the film

• explain if you flipped your class (or any part of it) and how, if so, this has helped you achieve the learning objectives.

I did not flip the class because in Bach we only have 3 hours per week

• highlight the high points of the experience: what went well and what did you and the students particularly enjoy about the task

The prediction of the characters went well, the questions about the video were easy for them.

The main difficulty was to understand every single bit, so we played the clip with subtltles later on. My intention was for them to concentrate on the important parts rather than in understanding everything.

• suggest ways of improving next time

Let them watch or choose the video from the film, dedicate more time to the reading in class.

Timelines

Timelines

www.timetoast.com is a web in which you can create your own timelines. See my example and try it!

The rise of the VSCO girl – and how to spot one

Is this trend also in Spain?

Christmas Shopping and the Environment

Environment and buildings

Environment and housing

Watch this video on housing and the environment.

Apartments and buildings

Refunds and Exchanges

Listening on refunds

Halloween with F.R.I.E.N.D.S. And Zombies

Watch these videos and see what you can guess:

-Write down five costumes that will appear

-How many children will come to the house trick or treating?

-Mention weird or strange elements in the costumes

-Notice the decoration. What can you see?

How to survive a zombie attack

Compound adjectives

Compound Adjectives

A compound adjective is sometimes called a hyphenated adjective. What are they?

Let's look at the following sentences:

• I saw a man-eating alligator.
• I saw a man eating alligator.

The first sentence contains a compound adjective.

The second sentence doesn't.

However the meaning of the two sentences are very different as can be seen in the picture below:

I saw a man-eating alligator.

We are describing the alligator. What type of alligator is it? It is one that eats men (or people).

I saw a man eating alligator. 

This sentence without the hyphen sounds like a man is eating an alligator. 

(man is the subject, eating is the verb, alligator is the object or thing that is being eaten).

As you can see, the hyphen (or lack of it) makes a big difference in the meaning of the sentence.

Before we explain in more detail why we put that hyphen between those two words in the first sentence, we need to do a quick review of Adjectives.

Compound adjectives

A compound adjective is an adjective that contains two or more words.

In general we put a hyphen between two or more words (before a noun) when we want them to act as a single idea (adjective) that describes something.

• I live in an English-speaking country.

English-speaking is an adjective (used to describe the country). We use a hyphen to connect the wordEnglish with speaking to show that it is one adjective (or one idea).

This adjective with two words joined by the hyphen is called a compound adjective.

Some more examples of compound adjectives are:

• Our office is in a twenty-storey building.
• I have just finished reading a 300-page book.
• He is a well-known writer.

There are many types of Compound Adjectives. Here is a list of the most common types:

Compound Adjectives + Periods of Time

When he have compound adjectives using numbers + a time period, that word referring to a time period is in singular form and is joined to the number with a hyphen.

• I work eight hours every day --> I work an eight-hour day
• I'm going on vacation for three weeks --> I have a three-week vacation
• There was a delay of 5 seconds --> There was a five-second delay

Notice how we normally write the number as a word, not in numerical form.

Adverb + Past Participle

However when we have an Adverb + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• This is a brightly-lit room.
• She is a well-known actress.
• We live in a densely-populated city.

Noun + Past Participle

When we have a noun + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• We should start using wind-powered generators to cut costs.
• I love eating sun-dried raisins.

Noun + Present Participle

When we have a noun + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• I bought some mouth-watering strawberries.
• That was a record-breaking jump.

Noun + Adjective

When we have a noun + adjective, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• She is a world-famous singer.
• This is a smoke-free restaurant.

Adjective + Noun

When we have an adjective + noun, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• It was a last-minute decision.
• We watched the full-length version of the movie.

Adjective + Past Participle

When we have an adjective + past participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• That is an old-fashioned dress
• Reptiles are cold-blooded creatures.

Adjective + Present Participle

When we have an adjective + present participle, we put a hyphen between the two words to make it a compound adjective.

• She is a good-looking girl.
• It left a long-lasting taste in my mouth.

Compound Adjectives with Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the name of something or someone (e.g. John, Susan Sanders).

Compound Adjectives made from Proper nouns don't need a hyphen though must have capital letters.

• I bought the James Jackson tickets for us.

James Jackson is a compound adjective describing the tickets (What type of tickets? James Jackson tickets). Since the adjective is a Proper noun, we don't need a hyphen between the two names.

How do we know when to put a hyphen?

If you can use the word “and” between the two adjectives or words, then a hyphen isn't necessary.

• She has a big blue book.

(Big and Blue are adjectives)

Can we say: She has a big and blue book. (Yes, it is possible)

• He is a world famous singer

Can we say: He is a world and famous singer. No, it doesn't sound correct so we need a hyphen to join the words world and famous.

Also, look at the following:

• It's an old coal-mining town

Notice how we didn't put a hyphen between the word old and coal. If we had have done that, we would have been referring to old coal, as in coal that is old. We want to emphasis that the town in old and not the coal.

Here we can say it is old and a coal-mining one.

Adverbs and Compound Adjectives

Adverbs modify a verb.

• She walks slowly.

How does she walk? Slowly. Slowly is an adverb that modifies (or describes) the verb.

Adverbs can also be used to modify an adjective.

• It is very hot today. (Very is an adverb)
• She is extremely intelligent. (Extremely is an adverb)

Notice how we do not put a hyphen between an adverb and an adjective (not even before a noun).

• It is a very hot day.
• She is an extremely intelligent girl.