Christmas gathering

This year for Christmas we organised a Christmas gathering. The students performed one short play in Macedonian and one in English. A group of students sang some traditional Christmas carols in both languages and the parents contributed to the event by providing home made food. The guest of honour was the British ambassador to Macedonia  Charles Edmund Garrett with his family.

Christmas Brunch - Learning can be fun!

My opinion is that learning a language does not only focus on vocabulary and grammar of a certain language but also learning about a different culture, customs, holidays and habits. That’s why I try to present this and cherish this as much as I can with my students. This is how we learn about Christmas.

Christmas is the time of year where good will and joy are all around us. Last year we decided to organize a Christmas Brunch. The whole event was organized in the way that we had a Christmas crafts display in the hall of the school, a group of Carolers performing traditional English and Macedonian songs, as well as some traditional American/ British and Macedonian Christmas dishes.

This is how my students performed the carols. My colleague and I made the costumes out of different kinds of paper. It took some time and effort but it was worth it!

A friend in need is a friend indeed - eco play text

You can see the video of the play in one of my previous posts and now here's the text

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

Mary: Ahhh I love being here in the park, I like listening to the birds sing and I like looking at the flowers, come Tom let’s sing a song :

Flower song

Red flower, red flower, you look so nice

Green flower, green flower, you bring me the light

Yellow flower, yellow flower standing tall in the sun

Purple flower, purple flower you are so much fun

Pink flower, pink flower how sweet you are

White flower, white flower you look like a star

Blue flower, blue flower you are a special thing

All the flowers, all the flowers they make me wanna sing.

Black flower, black flower haven’t seen you in a while

Orange flower, orange flower you make me wanna smile

Brown flower, brown flower, so beautiful to see

All the flowers, all the flowers they make me wanna sing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBoHLbIicxY

Flower: Oh please stop! I can’t listen to that song,

Boy and Girl: But why???

  Flower: Well can’t you see???? I’m lonely and sad, my friends are all dead

                 I have no fresh smell, and I don’t feel well.

                 Every day I live in fear that a foot is coming too near,

                 No children, no people care for us, the colourful flowers and the green grass.

Boy and Girl: Oh my, oh dear, we didn’t know you live in fear

Tree:  Ha! Listen to me! I have a sore throat and my lungs and head hurt both.

A number of cars speed by, but nobody hears me cry.

The air is becoming thick and gray, the nasty fog is covering us and is here to stay.

I see no children’s play and I’m dreaming of a bright new day.

Boy and Girl: Oh my, oh no, we didn’t know the situation was so

Fish: And what should I say? I have no place to swim or play

As polluted as ever is this stream, and a nice clean water is only a dream.

Children: We hear you all, and we’re opening our heart to you like a door.

We promise you all now and forever, we’ll care for you all together.

We will not pick the flowers or walk on the grass

We will ride a bicycle or a bus

We will not throw any garbage in the water, and we will care for you like I’m your daughter.

Our friends will help too and we’ll say to all the bad habits shoo shoo.

We promise to keep you safe and these problems will no longer be grave.

Fish, Tree, Flower : Thank you for such a good deed. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

They sing all together:

The more we get together, together, together

The more we get together the happier we’ll be

For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends

The more we sing together, together, together…

2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate?

The more we sway together, together , together…

2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate?

The more we dance together, together, together….

2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate?

The more we clap together, together, together…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lldmkrJXQ-E

More drama in the classroom - Learning can be fun!

I'm still convinced that drama is one of the best way to learn phrases and words in English.

In our country we usually prepare some activities on the 21 March to celebrate the first day of Spring. So last year I wrote a really short text on the topic of ecology, we made some costumes, we found the right music and the kids had a blast performing it for their classmates. Here's the video. 

And that's not all. My colleagues and I decided to perform this for some of the students. I can't tell you how much fun we had:)) 

Drama in the classroom - Learning can be fun!

I personally think that drama can help students learn a language easily. I did this with my students last year. I got inspired by the storybook The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. I don't know if you've heard of it but it's a very interesting story. I adapted it a bit and we prepared a lovely play, with music, costumes and all. I hope you enjoy the video. 

Bare in mind that the students who act in the play are age 8-10, and English is their second language.