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THE SWEETEST LES EVER
Elementary Grade 2-3
Are You Hungry?
Don't you just love working with books on Epic! It's one of my favorite website ever. These activities were created to use with "Draw your own dessert", an interactive book on Epic. All tasks are differentiated for Grade 2-3 classes. Video are integrated to engage students in interaction on each of the four themes.
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MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION
Elementary Cycle 2
C3 Writing Task
In this C3 writing task, students will have the flexibility to choose one of the three writing tasks. A model text is also provided for them. Teachers could also decide to use one of the texts to model the task and then offer two choices for the actual final task.
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THE PET SHOP
Elementary Cycle 2
C2 Reinvestment Task
In this reinvestment task, students will read about different animals from the pet shop as well as different potential adopters. Students will have to match each animal to its new master and write blog entries for the pet shop's blog about successful adoption stories.
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POUTINE WEEK
Elementary Cycle 2
Oral Interaction Task
In this oral interaction task, students will discuss the creation of different poutines by experimenting with the types of gravy, cheese, fries and other extra ingredients. Later, they will have to agree on the 6 final ingredients to include in their teams's ultimate poutine.
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THE MONSTER WHO STOLE MY COOKIES
Elementary Cycle 2
Who Dunnit?
Follow Ben and his family in a quest to find the monster who stole his cookies. After completing each different task, a new clue will be revealed to help you solve the mystery. In this LES, students will learn the different monster body parts, they will create funny monster at the monster factory and they will play monster Guess Who. Complete the 4 tasks and collect clues to find characteristics of the monster. Tested and approved by students.
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CHAIN REACTION
Elementary Cycle 2
When Someone... You...
Finding engaging ways to teach some classroom functional language and vocabulary to students can be challenging. With this quick chain game, students will have to do the action written on their card when the right moment comes. They’ll have to pay attention to what’s going on in the classroom. Different versions of the cards are offered to suit groups of 20 to 26 students.
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MY EMERGENCY PLANNING
Elementary Cycle 2
Teaching ESL Remotely
What will I do with my students if a classroom closes and I have to teach online? This question is on everyone’s lips, along with “when will I find the time to do all this?”. Well hopefully this emergency planning will give you a hand. This planning springboarded from my service center’s 9 day schedule in which 1st cycle students receive 2 hours of English and other cycles get 3 hours (each period actually lasting 54 minutes). You will therefore find activities for a complete cycle in this planning. It includes everything you need, from the presentation documents to the students documents ready to share. We use Google for Education so you’ll find most documents in the Google format. However, I did create either a PowerPoint or PDF version of all documents for teachers using other teaching platforms.
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ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS
Elementary Cycle 2
A New Era
It is unavoidable! The ESL classroom will be very different as of May 11th. Some schools might even remove ESL from the curriculum until June. But for those of you who will teach ESL with all the measures in place, I hope this document helps you find a couple ideas to use in the classroom. In no way does this document replace your official MEES documents. It only presents my take on how to go about the next few weeks in the ESL classroom. You will find essential elements to be learning from the Progression of Learning for each level as well as ideas to continue leading activities for all three competencies.
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IF I BUILT A HOUSE
Elementary Cycle 2
House Design
Little Jack has a very vivid imagination. We he thinks about redesigning his house, he comes up with tons of ingenious ideas like adding a space-age robotic machine in the kitchen and furniture that spins in the living room. In this LES, your students will learn vocabulary related to different rooms and house objects and survey their classmates about their room preferences. As a final task, students will have to use their creativity and imagine their own amazing house. Using and explicit model, they will write about the wonderful house they will have designed.
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LET'S FIND A TREASURE!
Cycle 2
Coding With Bee-Bot or Blue-Bot
Have you tried the "Real Video Game" Bee-Bot activity yet? Here's another supercalifragilisticexpialidocious activity generously shared by my colleague Pascale. While learning and experimenting with some useful coding skills, students will be also be invited to collaborate and interact in English with their peers. During this learning activity, students will become pirates and lead a captivating treasure hunt.
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FOOD AROUND THE WORLD
Cycle 2
Would You Taste it?
What food from around the world would you be willing to taste? This LES is based on a series of videos entitled American Kids Try Food From Around the World. In this LES students will design their own candy, play Roll-a-Dinner and write about their perfect breakfast. Your students will enjoy watching other kids react, with gusto or profound revulsion, to different food in the suggested videos.
MY REAL VIDEO GAME
Cycle 2 Year 2
Coding With Bee-Bot or Blue-Bot
Are you wondering what to do with all the new robots that were bought for your school? Here's a fun activity to introduce Bee-Bots or Blue-Bots in the ESL classroom. In this learning activity, students will learn and use with language needed to give directions while experimenting with the basics of programming. In teams, students will have to interact orally in order to solve the different challenges. Then, students will produce their own task card and thematic map.
MY CANADIAN PASSPORT
Grade 4
Our Country in Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is a great way to make students travel around the globe. Why not use technology to make them discover our own awesome country. Through these six different destinations, students will explore Canadian provinces and territories. Guide them through a visit of the Green Gables, an outside view of the CN Tower or a tour of a traditional sugar shack. Take them to the Police Museum, observe skiers in Lake Louise and visit a school in Nunavut. Vocabulary cards are provided in different formats to fit your needs (and photocopy quota).
WHAT'S UNDER THE BED
Cycle 2 Year 1
Reinvesting With 3rd Graders
Here's a captivating and engaging C2 task for elementary students. Bring a flashlight to class to set the scene when starting this LES. Through this learning and evaluation situation, students will develop vocabulary related to colors, sizes and body parts. They will also learn functional language to identify and describe basic characteristics. Students will brainstorm together to create a vocabulary bank. After exploring the text, students will have to draw and write about the hidden monster. All three competencies can be evaluated.
REHOMING PARROTS
Cycle 2 Year 2
100 Year Old Parrots
In this learning and evaluation situation, students will learn about different species of parrots. They will come to understand that parrots very often outlive their owners. Therefore, pet parrots often need to be rehomed. Students will be guided through the note taking process while reading about three parrots; Bingo, Rocky and Skittles. They will then answer true or false questions about the texts to demonstrate their understanding. And finally, as a reinvestment task, the will create an adoption form for a parrot looking for a forever family.
REAL OR FAKE
Grade 4
Become an Expert
During the learning and evaluation situation, students will become experts on one of the following subjects; Cleopatra or the T-Rex. By working with their expert group, they will inspect the differences between real and false information. Students will demonstrate understanding of texts by answering questions. In the end, as a writing task, students will have to come up with real and false statements on a given topic.
NO BOX - VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER
Cycle 2 Year 2
Breakout Activity on a Budget
Same engaging activity but without the expensive box. This activity is done in teams of four instead of being a whole group activity.. Inspired by the "Escape the Room", the concept has been used in schools all over the world to foster cooperative learning. It is an interesting context for our ESL learners to engage in authentic interaction situations while developing functional language and vocabulary. The Case of the Video Game Controller was inspired by a short film. Will your students be able to help Benjamin's mom escape?
VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER
Cycle 2 Year 2
Encourages Cooperation
Breakout EDU activities are definitely a new trend in education. Inspired by the "Escape the Room" puzzle and adventure games, the concept has been used in schools all over the world to foster cooperative learning. It is an interesting context for our ESL learners to engage in authentic interaction situations while developing functional language and vocabulary. The Case of the Video Game Controller was inspired by a short film. Will your students be able to help Benjamin's mom escape?
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
Grade 3 - Grade 4
C3 Flexibility
Being flexible in the classroom is fundamental. Not only does it provide a better learning experience for students, but it allows for differentiated instruction. These writing tasks have been created to share the same learning outcomes and to be evaluated with the same criteria. Students could chose a first writing task as a formative evaluation on which teachers would give feedback. Then, students would select a second task among the three choices in order to be evaluated.
BODY PARTS CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
Cycle 2 Year 1
Stations Promoting Oral Interaction
Learning stations became very popular in the grade 6 intensive classes. Not only does it engage students in tasks in which they interact orally, collaborate and develop their vocabulary, but it also empowers the teacher to meet students individually. Therefore, we came up with learning stations for second cycle students about body parts, clothing and accessories and it focuses on the oral interaction between students.
THE CIRCUS
Cycle 2 Year 2
Magic Tricks and Fortune Tellers
At my board, learning stations became very popular in the grade 6 intensive classes. Both the students and teachers enjoyed this instructional strategy. Not only does it engage students in tasks in which they interact orally, collaborate and develop their vocabulary, but it also empowers the teacher to meet students individually. Therefore, we came up with two sets of learning stations for second cycle students. This set is about vintage and not so vintage circuses and includes activities related to all competencies.