Funny Creatures of Fantasyland (LS-HU-508)
I have planned a learning scenario for English language teaching which shows a way to help students practice describing animals, thus applying previously learnt vocabulary and grammar.
Introduction
Pictures of different animals are cut into pieces and the pieces are grouped according to body parts. Students work in groups. They choose one picture from each group and create a new “animal” from the pictures. This results in funny creatures. Students make a drawing and a description of their creature (what they look like, where they live, what they eat and what they can do) and also add a sound to it from Europeana.
Online tools
Some online tools are used for the activities:
To learn and practice vocabulary we use Quizlet and often play Quizlet Live, which can be a great help for revision, too. Students really enjoy this activity and like using their own smartphones as well.
We use Google Classroom with my class, which provides a great platform for creating and sharing documents, handing out tasks and for collaborative work among students.
The descriptions are made on Padlet, which also offers a good platform for online collaboration. When the groups are working on the common Padlet, they have to respect each other’s work as well.
On the other hand, after finishing the activity, students will have an online poster, which can also be shared in Google Classroom or downloaded as a picture or PDF file.
Implementation
The implementation of this learning scenario, unfortunately, could not go through as it was originally planned.
During some English lessons, we learnt about animals and parts of their body. We also described the physical appearance of animals.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t go on with the syllabus at the same pace in distance teaching as before, so we didn’t have time to work on the vocabulary and grammar needed for a more detailed description planned in the learning scenario.
Online teaching and learning
This learning scenario can be adapted to online teaching and learning as well. In this case, the pictures can be chosen in an online lesson with the help of an online tool, e.g. Wordwall.
In this app, you can create an activity called ’Open the box’. Here the pictures can be hidden in different boxes. Students open some boxes and they get the pictures of the body parts.
Online documents are used for group work and the teacher can send the chosen pictures to the groups as well.
When finished, the Padlet can be shared with every student, so everybody can read the posts or they can read them together in an online lesson.
Would you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:
Did you find this learning scenario interesting? You might also like:
- We’re Going on a Tree Hunt created by Ivana Busuttil
- My Best Friend – Cats vs Dogs in Life and Art created by Małgorzata Filip
- Exploring Species’ Habitats created by Elena Vladescu
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the KIM.bl.