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TOONTASTIC for GETTING STUDENTS TO SPEAK ENGLISH creating cartoons

23/1/2018

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thereby unleashing their creativity, hiding their shyness to speak English behind the characters of the cartoon.

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Image credit:  https://toontastic.withgoogle.com
Hi teachers and language students! Have you ever heard of TOONTASTIC?

Today I'm really excited to present to you TOONTASTIC, which I discovered very recently. It's an excellent app that you download on your phone. You then ask students to prepare, either spontaneously or with a script, a small sketch in which they take advantage of all the fun activities that are available on this to create a short story.

It's very exciting, very easy to use, can be used offline as well and I'd like to give you some examples of what some of my students created in the video below.

The very young students under age six need a lot of help with laying out the story and practising what to say before recording the one-minute scenes but older students are able to do it all by themselves. I also use this with some high school students and they can explain a scientific experiment, a historical event or represent a topic, as some 10-year olds did recently, by inventing a sketch on bullying which was very effective to convey an important message.
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Image credit:  https://toontastic.withgoogle.com
There are three possibilities: a 3-scene sketch called Short Story, a 5-part sketch called Classic Story or a 5-part Science Report. The students can use the characters proposed as they stand, customise them changing their colours, adding photos of the students' faces on them or drawing the characters themselves. For language learning purposes I ask them not to waste time on changing the characters because our objective is practising the English language.

There are various settings to ignite the students' imaginations and in each setting many exciting things happen such as the cannonball shooting out when ignited, the volcano exploding when touched, the cable-car starting and stopping, doors opening and closing, all activated by the students touching various parts of the settings. The characters themselves also have exciting surprises such a those whose parachute opens, those whose tongue licks out unexpectedly and so on.

As you can see, it's a very flexible app that can be used by all ages and what's exciting is that even shy students can speak because they hide behind the character and it really gets people talking. So the most interesting characteristic of this application is that we're getting students to finally speak and speak spontaneously. That's why I don't correct every mistake they make because it's better for them to become confident making a few mistakes than correcting every grammar point and then being shy to speak.

So I definitely recommend TOONTASTIC. Have fun with it, try it out and as you can see, at the end it really turns out like a real film: they also show who made it which makes it a little more fun and realistic - directed by... starring... etc.

Please write your experiences with the app in the comments below. It will be really interesting to hear all the different ways you use this app.

Hoping to have shared some useful information.

Your fluency teacher,

Susan

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Images credit:  https://toontastic.withgoogle.com
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Repetitive PRESCHOOL NATIVITY PLAY SONG – a way of acting out the Nativity while learning adjectives, vocabulary, verbs, EMOTIONS, singing a nursery rhyme and Christmas Carol as well…

23/11/2015

29 Comments

 
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Preschoolers (and younger Primary School children) love singing to movements.  I invented this Preschool Nativity Play Song to act out the Nativity so as to learn not only the story but also a lot of vocabulary as well.
 
We usually do it altogether, assigning just the main roles to a few but everyone else joining in at the same time.  The more dramatic the movements, the more meaningful and fun:  father’s long long beard reaches the ground (pulling it from our chins), we put our hands up on our heads to imitate the donkey’s long long ears, and so on …
 
Depending on the size of the group we sometimes improvise costumes as well, or one of the bigger children as a donkey – we often make crowns for the Wise Men and a few ‘presents’ before starting the song.  Anything to make it fun and memorable.
 
I am posting it well ahead of time because some teachers like to do it as a one-off activity whilst others like to practise it for an upcoming Christmas show.
 
Either way, you can download the NATIVITY SONG and suggested tune in the audio below. 
 
Hope the children enjoy it!
Susan
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the_nativity_play_song_for_speak___travel.pdf
File Size: 1325 kb
File Type: pdf
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the_nativity_play_song_-_only_english.m4a
File Size: 2036 kb
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Focus on CHILDREN - acting CINDERELLA – recycling language in adapted versions of Nursery Tales and singing NURSERY RHYMES to PROMOTE FLUENCY

30/10/2015

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Repetitive NURSERY RHYMES with their easy rhythmic tunes and well-known NURSERY TALES lend themselves to SINGING and ACTING:  two activities which children love doing!!
 
Many years ago I ADAPTED three NURSERY TALES in increasing difficulty to RECYCLE the most important LANGUAGE we had learnt during the school year.  Children loved it and parents enjoyed watching their children's progress.  HAVING FUN was another key element to making sure they learnt EXPRESSIONS IN A MEANINGFUL CONTEXT.
 
NURSERY RHYMES can also be ACTED OUT whilst they are being SUNG to consolidate their meaning and enable children to pronounce somewhat complicated sentences to PAVE THEIR WAY TO FLUENCY...
 
CINDERELLA is the third and last in order of difficulty of the three to download with the pronunciation guide as well to help children practise alone at home.  (See previous posts dated 9th July 2015 for the easier LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD or the medium difficulty GOLDILOCKS dated 31st August 2015).  In those days children had no other way of practising autonomously.  Nowadays I prefer to RECORD AUDIOS of the pronunciations for them TO LISTEN TO REPEATEDLY all collected in a Dropbox folder for easy access.  Try these out!
 
Hope you have fun with it!
Susan

cinderella.pdf
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cinderella_by_susan.m4a
File Size: 1964 kb
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Focus on CHILDREN - acting GOLDILOCKS! – recycling language in adapted versions of Nursery Tales and singing NURSERY RHYMES to PROMOTE FLUENCY

1/9/2015

23 Comments

 
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Repetitive NURSERY RHYMES with their easy rhythmic tunes and well-known NURSERY TALES lend themselves to SINGING and ACTING:  two activities which children love doing!!

Many years ago I ADAPTED three NURSERY TALES in increasing difficulty to RECYCLE the most important LANGUAGE we had learnt during the school year.  Children loved it and parents enjoyed watching their children's progress.  HAVING FUN was another key element to making sure they learnt EXPRESSIONS IN A MEANINGFUL CONTEXT.

NURSERY RHYMES can also be ACTED OUT whilst they are being SUNG to consolidate their meaning and enable children to pronounce somewhat complicated sentences to PAVE THEIR WAY TO FLUENCY...

GOLDILOCKS is the second in order of difficulty of the three to download with the pronunciation guide as well to help children practise alone at home.  (See previous post dated 9th July 2015 for the easier LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD).  In those days children had no other way of practising autonomously.  Nowadays I prefer to RECORD AUDIOS of the pronunciations for them TO LISTEN TO REPEATEDLY all collected in a Dropbox folder for easy access.  Try these out!

Hope you have fun with it!
Susan

goldilocks___the_three_bears.pdf
File Size: 97 kb
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goldilocks___the_three_bears.mp3
File Size: 5989 kb
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ACTIONS Game – a fun miming activity to practice more complicated actions like chores…

1/8/2015

29 Comments

 
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actions_game_-_students_copy.doc
File Size: 34 kb
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actions_game-little!!_-_teachers_copy.pdf
File Size: 42 kb
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Actions can be practiced easily with a fun miming game.

I like to introduce more complicated actions like “popping a slice of toast into the toaster” by providing two teams with a list of less commonly known expressions in a fun miming game.  In this manner whilst they are trying to guess what the action represents, they are continuously scanning the various new expressions on the list thereby fixing them in their memory and using them to find out if the action corresponds.  In fact, as the game progresses they become faster and faster proving that they are learning the expressions at the same time.

There are a few rules to follow:

1.  Each team receives the same lists (but I usually give three different sheets to each team – one per person – so that everybody is involved in the search since not everyone in each team has the same sheet and so they cannot ‘sleep’ as they have to contribute if their teammates haven’t got the expression they are looking for).

2.  The person who is going to mime picks an expression (you have previously cut the expressions into strips) out of a bag.

3.  The person miming does so for their own team so that they are forced to do it well.

The team members ask:  "Are you ....ing?"
Answer:  "Yes, I am. / No, I'm not."

4.  If the team guesses the first time they gain 3 points, if they guess the second time they get 2 points and if they guess the third time they only get one point.

5.  If they still haven’t guessed the opposite time gets to try for one point.

6.  If they don’t guess the original team has a go for one point and they alternate until one team wins the point.

7.  Then the opposing team starts miming again for three points…

The game is always very popular and fun as well as being effective.

You can download the worksheets below.  Feel free to delete or translate the Italian into another language.

Hope you have fun with it!
Susan

29 Comments

LISTEN, REPEAT, MOVE:  the PREPOSITION CHANT -  combining movements with words to memorize the meanings...

19/7/2015

26 Comments

 
Immagine
GRAMMAR ONE Jennifer Seidl Oxford Univ. Press

Children and adults alike have always benefited from combining movements to rhythmic chants in order to memorize words and meanings in a FUN way without having to translate.  I have been teaching a PREPOSITION CHANT that I invented for children and decades later I meet former students who still remember them with pleasure.

Download the VIDEO below to see the movements connected to the PREPOSITIONS in the rhythmic CHANT! 

Try it out and have fun!

Susan

prepositions_etc.-big.pdf
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prepositions_etc.-big.docx
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preposition_chant_-_subtitles_-_by_susan.m4v
File Size: 7676 kb
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preposition_chant_-_fast_-_by_susan.m4a
File Size: 259 kb
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FLUENCY TIPS - the trick to PRONOUNCING LONG COMPLICATED SENTENCES...

14/7/2015

7 Comments

 
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Everyone stumbles at some point on a longer sentence, be it beginner, intermediate or advanced, young or old... but many years ago I read a very simple TRICK which WORKS INFALLIBLY every time and your students gain lots of confidence in a jiffy:  prepare saying it backwards!

Here's a phrase you want your students to be able to say fluently:
Are you wearing your yellow sweater to school?
No, I don't want to wear that today!


You prompt and they copy:
school
to school
sweater to school
yellow sweater to school
your yellow sweater to school
wearing your yellow sweater to school
you wearing your yellow sweater to school
Are you wearing your yellow sweater to school?

today
that today
wear that today
to wear that today
want to wear that today
don't want to wear that today
I don't want to wear that today!

It might seem incredible, but it works every time and students gain confidence in their ability to pronounce language they may not fully grasp!

Try it out and have fun!
Susan

Update:  Try out my 
LISTEN & REPEAT exercises to BOOST YOUR FLUENCY from my Video Course
and if you find them useful SUBSCRIBE HERE for UPDATES on my VIDEO COURSES to do in 10 mins a day AT YOUR OWN PACE.
Also:  Try out my  
LISTENING COMPREHENSION with Susan’s A WEARY TRAVELLER'S TALES on my YouTube Channel:
7 Comments

Focus on CHILDREN - acting LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD! – recycling language in adapted versions of Nursery Tales and singing NURSERY RHYMES to PROMOTE FLUENCY

9/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Repetitive NURSERY RHYMES with their easy rhythmic tunes and well-known NURSERY TALES lend themselves to SINGING and ACTING: two activities which children love doing!!

Many years ago I ADAPTED three NURSERY TALES in increasing difficulty to RECYCLE the most important LANGUAGE we had learnt during the school year. Children loved it and parents enjoyed watching their children's progress. HAVING FUN was another key element to making sure they learnt EXPRESSIONS IN A MEANINGFUL CONTEXT.

NURSERY RHYMES can also be ACTED OUT whilst they are being SUNG to consolidate their meaning and enable children to pronounce somewhat complicated sentences to PAVE THEIR WAY TO FLUENCY...

Below is the easiest of the three to download
with the pronunciation guide as well to help children practise alone at home. In those days children had no other way of practising autonomously. Nowadays I prefer to RECORD AUDIOS of the pronunciations for them TO LISTEN TO REPEATEDLY all collected in a Dropbox folder for easy access. Try it out!

Hope you have fun with it! 
Susan  


little_red_riding_hood__speak___travel_.doc
File Size: 47 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

little_red_riding_hood_by_susan.mp3
File Size: 4235 kb
File Type: mp3
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    Author

    My name is Susan Brodar, born in London into a multilingual family and brought up bilingual English / Italian.

    I went to school in London until 15 when we moved to Germany where I finished my British education at Munich International School. I started teaching Italian at evening classes aged only 17 and studied Mass Communications and Journalism at Munich University.

    I continued teaching parallel to interpreting at trade fairs and business meetings as well doing translations. After working at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade for a year I married my Italian globetrotting companion in 1983 and we set up our home near Venice, Italy where we continue to live with our two teenaged children.

    Having taken my British High School-leaving ‘A’ Level exams in English, Italian, French & German I am completely fluent in all four languages and am taking a DELE certification in Spanish to complement them.

    ENGLISH (native)
    ITALIAN (native)
    GERMAN (C2)
    FRENCH (C2)
    SPANISH (B2)

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  • HOME
    • Samples of FAST FLUENCY TRAINER
  • IMPROVE with SUSAN
    • ABOUT
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • How Being Bilingual Led Me To Teaching
    • PUBLICATIONS by Susan Brodar
  • English SPEAKING COURSES
  • BLOG
  • TRANSLATIONS & INTERPRETING
  • TRAVELLER's TALES
    • A WEARY TRAVELLER's TALES
    • TRAVELLING the world for sports: INLINE SPEED SKATING
  • CONTACT