Wednesday 18 March 2015

How to write a letter: formal or informal style?


Knowing how to write a letter is a very important skill (at school, in business, for general personal relationships).
I have created two simple Glogster interactive posters to show  formal and informal letter layouts. By moving your cursor over the images, some links will appear. Click on them to get more information.

You will learn:
  • the structure of a letter
  • the difference between a formal and an informal style
  • the conventions of formal letter writing



Informal letter


Formal letter


Some useful resources about letter writing:
http://www.letterwritingguide.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/writing-a-letter
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php
http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/business-letter-parts.html
http://esl.about.com/od/businessenglishwriting/a/Formal-Letter-Structure.htm
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php

Some exercises:
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/writing-letters-exercises


Monday 16 March 2015

St. Patrick' s Day QR Webquest!

A different Webquest for St. Patrick' s Day!

For this webquest I am going to use QR codes! My students will have to use their own device (smartphone or tablet) in the classroom (BYOD) to get all the information they need and answer the questions!

Goals:
  • Talking about cultural aspects of a festival in a fun way
  • Facilitating students' engagement
  • Ensuring aesy access to selected information and material
  • Allowing students to aquire digital skills

Anticipatory Set and Instructions:

For this webquest I have created some QR (Quick Response) codes. They are two-dimensional barcodes that can be read using tablets or smartphones. You need a camera and a QR code reader on your device to read them (there are many free apps available). These codes link directly to websites, videos and more.
Of course if you want to create your own QR codes you also need a QR code generator (there are many of them for free online, as well).
For my webquest, I have used the "QR stuff code generator" (online on my pc) and I have asked my students to download the "QR code reader" free app (for Android) on their mobile devices. It's very easy and quick!

Classroom activity:

On St. Patrick' s Day I am  printing the QR codes and I am putting them on the walls of my classroom (you can also use more than one room or a different location). I am going to divide the students into teams, they will have to answer some questions (to get points) after having read the information and watched the video.
I have prepared a Google form with all the questions and of course it is available with a QR code, as well! 
The team with the most points will win. 

Follow-up:

After our classroom activity, students will have to write a report, make a poster or a presentation to sum up all the information about St. Patrick' s Day.

If you don't want to create your own QR codes but you  like this activity, you can use mine, just print them or show them on your pc or your Interactive Whiteboard of your classroom. All the students have to do is use their mobile' s camera to open the links and get the information  through the QR codes.

ST PATRICK' S WEBQUEST


1) St. Patrick' s Day origins

2) Sacred sites linked to St. Patrick

3) Watch the video

4) What is a Leprechaun?


5) St. Patrick' s poems
Choose a poem and memorize it!

And now open the form, answer the questions and click on "send"!
You will get 1 point for each correct answer 
and 5 points for the poem!