Puppet activity

Today on class we had made our own puppet .
We had seen that they are many ways for doing puppets .
I choose to do a sock puppet  and I decorated it with  color carboards and other materials .
And this is the final result .

I think that puppets are a very important  tool to use on a Second language accquisition class .

I´m going to give some reasons of why we should use them  as a teachers on our  English class .

Why we should use puppets on our English class?
 Puppet acts  as a mediator between the teacher and the student in many situations . 
It can help students to express their thoughts by whispering needed vocabulary into their ears .
The teacher can use the puppet to let it actively create  the lesson and its content : it can create tension , curiosity , and excitement , it can be used to impart knowledge by repeating something said or repeated wrongly so that the students had to correct it . 
The teacher can act out some sceanes while the students observe , by this students can learn how and in which situations can use language .
It can help teachers to represent the foreing language in an authentic way  . 
The puppet can only understand and speak English v , therefore students are forced to speak in English . 

 IN WHICH ACTIVITIES WE COULD USE PUPPETS?

- For introducing new vocabulary and sentences structures
- For repeating and deepening knowledge.
 -  For storytelling
- Singing songs 
 - Playing action games.
- Creating ryhmes
- For creating authentic situations through dialoges  between teacher and puppet . 


Rules for using puppets 
  a) It needs his own place in the classroom
   b) The hand you use tu impersonate the puppet should be relaxed , the wrist is the highest point so that the puppet can keep eye contact with students . 
c) The moves of the puppet should be use sparsely, depending on the size and the possible movements of the puppet . 
d) When the puppet doesn´t speak or act  the teacher should hold it on a neutral position
 e) When the puppet is speaking the mouth should move on an authentic way .

 
f) The puppet is always looking at the person that is talking to them   :
- When the teacher is talking to their pupils , the puppet is looking at the teacher. 
- When the puppet is talking to students  , the teacher is looking to the puppet . 
Teacher and puppet never look at the students at the same time . 
 - When teacher and puppet are talking to each other they also have to look to each other .  During the conversation the onlyone who is allowed to look at the children is the puppet .



 

Fable

Today on class we where told to say  at least one fable , as if we were  telling the fable to children that  belongs to infance education .

I  decided to tell the fable of the Fox and the Crow.

For doing  the actitvity more entertaining for children , I decided to perform the story .
So i gave one different voice to each character , to help students to distinguish them .
I also  decided that if i had to tell this fable to children i would also included  some gestures  , I would tell students that when they heard the word Fox  me and them had to touch their bellies and say i am very hungry .

And when they heared the word crow they would have to make the sounds of a crow and laugh .

The story is about a Fox that once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree.
The Fox that was very hungry told the Crow that the piece of cheese was for her , and she walked up to the foot of the tree .

The Fox to have the crow on his poket started making catcalls  to the craw .
 "How well you are looking today: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds."
The Crow lifted up her head and began to sing her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by The Fox. 
That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future: "Do not trust flatterers."

Don´t trust flatters is the moral of the fable . 

The Turnip story

Today in class we were given different short stories  , we had to preparred them individually and then we had to tell them to our classmates  .
Here   i´m going to include  a summary of the story i was given , and also  I am going to explain the materials that I used to  tell the story  .

Once   upon a time  on a  farm lived a man and a woman , one day they decided to grow a  turnip on their orchand   , so the man will put the seeds and the woman will put the water .

After some days has passed the turnip was ready to  pick up ,  but by the time they were trying to get the turnip off the earth they couldn´t do it because it was too heavy .

Suddenly it appeared a girl that was walking near by  , when the girl saw the  man and the woman , she offered her help .
So know the three of them tried to get the turnip off the earth , so they pull and pull  to get the turnip off the earth but they couldn´t .
So suddenly a boy that was also  walking near by  joined them and offered his help .
So know the man , the woman , the girl  and the boy , all of them tried to get the turnip of the earth , but they couldn´t it was still being so heavy .

But by chance  there was a dog  also walking nerby , so when she saw the man , the woman ,  the girl and the boy , he decided to join them and helped them pulling the  turnip .

So again all together they pull and pull trying to get the turnip off the land ,  but the turnip was still too heavy so they couldn´t take it .

Finally it appeared a mouse and it also offered it help , at first they all reject the mouse help ,  because they told him that it was too small .
But when the mouse started crying they accepted him , so now the man , the woman , the girl , the boy , the dog and the mouse , all of them tried to get the turnip off the land .
And gess what ?

They pulll and pull , but this time with the help of all they could get the turnip off the earth .
So finally the woman decided to make a soup with the  turnip , and all of them ate it  .

I think that this could be a very good story   telling  for  infant education children , because it always has the same sctructures and repetitions .
And i found it an easy way  to explain children the proccess that plants suffers  from the moment they are plant to the moment they are picked up .
To tell the story  i used images of all the characters that the story had .
That way it is easier for children to follow the story and know what is happening and also they can distinguish between characters .

Rapunzel Adaptation

On this activity we were asked to get one orginial version  of a  fairy tale. We will have to read it  and then make our own adaptation from the story as if we were telling the story to infant education children .

Who are between 0-6 years old.

Firstly with the same structure of the main story , and later changing the story end.

Also we will have to explain which criteria we made for choosing this tale and not other ones and also  which things we have done to addapt the tale.

Firstable , I would like  to say that this was a class group activity and I did it with :

- Lucía Castro

- Celia Coronado

Criterias we based on for choosing this tale:

We chose to adapt this story because we thought that children could follow it easily with no difficulties , some of them could even know the story or other version of the story. 

And if they haven´t heared it before , they will also enjoy it  , because they could identify themselves  with the characters of the story  ; that are kind of characters that commonly appears in children tales and most children like them .

- Aspects that we took into account to make our adaptation

We decided to short the story a little bit and removed some unimportant details , because we thought that it was very long and with too many stuff that can confuse children .

We also made some vocabulary and grammar structures changes , we thought that it was so difficult for children from this age so we decided to simplified and use more basic language .

We have include dialoges between characters to make the story more interesting to children and also more undestandable . 

Also we have include some repetitions and similar structures .

For making the story end we thought to make the usual kind of ends that children enjoy and  commonly have heard in other tales from this kind and maybe in others versions from this story .

So right know i´m going to include hear also our Story adaptation but also with the end that we have invented . 

Rapunzel

Many years ago there were a Queen and a King who wanted to have a baby.

They had a small window at the back of their house , where they could see a garden  with beautiful flowers and plants.

It also had a big wall ,where nobody could go , because an evil witch was living there.

One day the queen was looking at the window to see the garden ,when she saw a bed with beautiful roses on it.

Suddenly, the queen felt ill and she told the king he should go to the garden and get one of the roses for her. The queen was going to eat the rose to feel better, so he took the rose and gave it to her wife.

Next day in the afternoon, the man went again to the garden, but Guess what, the witch saw him and got furious:

• Witch: ¿Why did you steal my rose? You must be punished for it.
• King: I'm sorry, please don't be angry with me, I did it because my wife is terribly ill and she needs to eat it.

• Witch: Ok, I will let you get all the roses you need for your wife , but when the princess is born , you must give me the baby .
• 
  

The king was heartbroken , he didn't want to give his baby to the evil witch , but he had no choice.

When the princess was born , she was given to the witch , who called her Rapunzel .

Rapunzel grew up as the most beautiful girl. At the time she was twelve years old, the witch locked her in a tower in the middle of the forest.

The tower didn't have any stairs or doors, but it had a small window.

When the witch wanted to get into the tower, she shouted to the princess:

• Witch:  Rapunzel, Rapunzel ,Let your hair down for me .

Rapunzel had extremely beautiful blond long hair and every time she heard voice of the witch, she put her hair down and let the witch climb up to the tower.

One day, a prince was riding his horse through the forest , when suddenly he saw Rapunzel’s tower .

Then, he heard Rapunzel singing and fell in love with her voice.

He wanted to climb the tower to see Rapunzel, but he didn´t know how.

One day, the Prince saw the Witch climbing up Rapunzel's tower , so he learned how to get to Rapunzel.

When the night came, the prince returned to the tower and shouted:

• Prince:  Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let your hair down for me.

Rapunzel, let her hair down and the prince climbed up the tower.

When Rapunzel first saw the Prince, she was scared of him, but the prince reached her patiently and gently, and the princess finally felt in love with him.

They  decided to escape from the tower and get married.

But when they were trying to escape from the tower, the witch appeared, she was very angry and tried to kill the prince.

Just in the right moment, Rapunzel took the Prince sword and killed the Witch.

Now that the evil witch was gone, Rapunzel and the Prince could escape from the tower and lived happily ever after.

Continuation of th activity working with stories

The Lion and the mouse

Before
I will show the books cover to students , and I will ask them :

What do they think the book is going to be about?

That way i will make students predict what the book may be about.
I will also ask them :
Who are the characters?
Where they are?
Do you know what lions eats?
Have you ever seen a lion?
Which other animals can we find in the jungle?
Finally I will ask them if there is any way a mouse could help a lion?
2.
I will give them images with pets and wild animals and they will have to cut all the images and later stick them on their correct place .
I will give them two columns one for the pet animals and other for the wild animals.

Pictures :

- Tiger , cat , mouse , lion , rabbit , dog , snake , monkey , cow , horse , elephant , donkey , sheep , crocodile, jiraffe , goat , zebra , hippopotamus , hen .
 While 

I will give students five images from different parts of the story , and they will have to
put it in the correct order.

- One in where the mice scrambeled over the  sleepy lion.
- The last mouse woke up the lion and the lion trapped him with his paw.
 - The lion was inside a hunters trap and couldn´t scape from it.
- The mouse save the lion by cutting the trap with his teeth .
- The lion thanking the mouse for helping him.

I will give them some words from the story and they will have to mach it with his picture.

Words :
-Lion
- Mouse
 -Paw
- Trap
 After 

I will ask students  to tell me if they have ever helped someone and made a friend .
And I will also ask them to tell me what things do they do to help others?

I will ask them :
What value is the story teaching us?
What does the story teach us about working together?

Working with stories

In this activitie we have been said to present some stories to children and designed : Before , while after activities
 So we have some different stories and we have to create activities  to work with this aspects that i had previoulsly mentioned.

Before  Having heard the story

The Rainbow fish

To Capture their attention and let them make predictions about what the book is going to be about I will show them the cover of the book and I will ask them what they think the story is going to be about? And if they have heard it before?

I will also tell them to identify ways that make them different from their peers , such as different hair colour , eyes colour etc.

I will also ask them if they have a fish on their homes.

Later, I will ask them what do they know about fishes and where do they life and do.

To connect prior knowledge and experience

I will do a power point with some images of the words that appears in the story that they already know, but to revise them.

Octopus, Star fish, Cave, Sea.

While we are hearing the story activities

Activity 1.

When we arrive to the part when no one wants to be Rainbow fish friend will ask them how they might feel if no one wants to be their friends.

And I will choose some students to go out and perform how they will feel.

I will do the same in the part in where Rainbow fish gives one of his scales to The Little blue fish.

I will ask students if they would give a scale to someone if they had one.

 Activity 2

I will give them a Table in where  I made four different coloumns i will write this in each of them .

1. First

2.  Next

3. Then

 4. Last

 I will give them this pictures and they will have to glue them in the correct order.

Rainbow fish gives his scales away

Rainbow fish meets the little blue fish

Rainbow fish meets the Octopus

Rainbow fish was alone 

After 

I will draw a big fish on a white  big cardboard and I will give some colour tissue papers to students so they will have to glue all the tissue colours papers on the fish . That way all togeher we will be participing on creating our Rainbow fish .

Once we have finished doing it we will put it on a class space that we are all going to decide which .That Way children could remember always the story by the creation of their fish they  created.

The tortoise and the Hare

Before activities

  
Before starting any activity firstly i will tell them that we are going to study the Tortoise and the Hare story.
I will tell them that this story is a fable and I will explain them what a fable consists on . 
Which animal they will like to be?  and  If they know others fables.
 
 Motivating activity

Activity one: 

I will draw a chalk - truck on the classroom floor with a finish line on the end.

I will tell students that we are going to do a race some of them are going to be tortoise the others are going to be Hares.

I will tell them that they will have to move as if they were hares ant tortoise walking, and they have to go to arrive to the finish line on the first place.

We will see who arrive first, if the ones that are tortoise or the ones that are hares. 

Learn new vocabulary or connect with previous knowledge

Activity 2:

 I will ask them if they know what is a hare if they don´t know I will explain them.

Connect with previous knowledge

 Activity 3:

 I will perform some actions that tortoise and herbs do or not do, and they will have to tell me if they do or not do that, and who do it the herb or the tortoise or if both do it.

Jump, eating grass, walk slowly, fly, run fast, Eating meat, Swim.

While

Activity 1

I will give students some real images from things that had really happened on the book , and others which i have changed them .
Students must identified and tick the ones that really happens in the story and they have to cross out the ones that i invented.

The images will be the following ones :
One in which the hare wins the race.
The hare falls to sleep.
The tortoise makes laugh of the hare.
The tortoise win the race .

Activity 2

I will stop in the part in where the tortoise challenge the hare to do a race and tell him that she will win the race . The hare told the tortoise that she couldnt win him .
I will tell the students to think about a situation in where someone told them that they couldnt do a thing but they didn´t give up and finally they achieved it .
I will tell them to tell me this moments and how do they feel when the finally achieve what they want.

Activity 3 
I wil give each student one worksheet in where they have to match one word from the story with his corresponding picture.
Tortoise : Picture of the tortoise
Hare : Picture of the Hare
Race : Picture of a race
Finish line : Picture of a finish line
Other animals : Picture of the other animals.

After activities
Activity 1 
I will give each students some paper with explanations of how they can do their own puppets of the tortoise and the hare .
So we will do it and later i will ask some students to go out and perform some parts of the story with the puppets that they had made .
I will read the part of the story that they have to perform and they will do it by the same time im reading .
"Five little monkeys jumping on the bed"
Before activities
Making predictions
I will show them the books cover and ask them if they know what the book is going to be about?
I will ask them if they could predict what things are the monkeys of the story going to do .

Connect with previous knowledge
I will ask them if they know what kind of animal is a monkey ?
Do you know where they life ? What do they eat?
What do they do?
When i ask them this last question , i will tell them to behave like if they where real monkeys.

While activities
Activity 1 
We will Make five little monkeys flashcards images  , and other flashcards in where we will draw a one a two a three , four , five .
We will have a white cardboard  with a  drawing of a bed on it .
And also we will have a little box on the top right corner of the cardboard 
The activity consists on sticking the 5 little monkeys on the bed and place the number 5 in the box . Then while we are telling the story we will remove the monkeys one by one  ( as they fall off the bed)
Children will have to know how many monkeys are on the bed on each time , and they have to put the correct number of monkeys on the  box .

We could also teach children about ordinal positions  1st, 2nd 3rd , 4th and 5th
Activity 2 
 We can make pictures of the five little monkeys activities that they do before going to bed .
1 . Take a bath
2. Put on their pijamas
3 Brush their teeths
They will have to put it on the correct order .
Later on we will chek if they have put them on the correct order .  Then I will ask them which things they do before going to bed  , and i wil tell some of them to go out and to show the class how they do them , and who tells them to do them .