Thanksgiving

Last week Sara taught grades 1 - 6 about the American holiday of Thanksgiving. The children learned about the customs of Thanksgiving, including the foods eaten and the spirit of gratefulness.

With the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders we did an activity to practice gratefulness. The students made the outline of their hands into turkeys, and then completed the sentence "I'm grateful for..." on each finger.

In 1st and 2nd grades, we focused on the vocabulary of the foods eaten at Thanksgiving. The students learned about turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, and then drew their own Thanksgiving plates. 

During art class, the 1st and 2nd graders got the opportunity to practice gratefulness as well. They made colorful turkeys out of construction paper and listed people to say thanks to. 

Story Time - Firefighters to the Rescue!

Last week, the 3-5 year old students got a special surprise: story time in English! Sara brought a picture book from the United States called "Firefighters to the Rescue" to share with the children. It tells the story of firefighters who save a puppy from a burning house.

After Sara read the story to them, the children had a great time play-acting with a pretend fire truck, firefighter jacket, boots, and hat. The children had fun pretending to be firefighters and learning vocabulary of clothes and colors.

Interview With Sara

Two students from 6th grade got the opportunity to conduct an interview with Sara, our English language assistant. Here is the interview:

1. What is your full name and birthday?

My full name is Sara Willa Arthur-Paratley, and my birthday is the 7th of December.

2. What city are you from? What traditions do you practice in your city at home?

I’m from Lexington, Kentucky. We love to celebrate Thanksgiving, which is also my favorite holiday.

3. Why did you come to Spain?

I came to Spain because I wanted to get experience teaching and because I wanted to live in a different culture and learn about Spain.

4. Do you like working as a teacher at our school? What is your favorite part?

I love it! My favorite part is getting to know the students and helping you all learn English.

5. What are your hobbies? If you were not a teacher, what would you like to do?

My hobbies include making art, dancing, and doing circus. If I wasn’t a teacher I would like to be an artist.

6. What do you miss most about home?

The thing I miss most about home above all is my family, but I also really miss the food we make at home.

7. Which is your favorite food? Do you like paella?

My favorite food is tacos and I really like spicy tacos. I love paella I think it’s delicious!

8. Do you like it here in Valencia?

Yes! Valencia is a great city and I’m happy to be living here.

9. Do you prefer cats or dogs? Do you have any pets?

I like both but I personally prefer dogs. I don’t currently have any pets but I had a dog when I was little and I would love to one day get another dog.

10. Did you like this interview?

I loved this interview! I’m honored to have been interviewed by you two. 

And now, some exclusive video footage of the students' favorite questions from the interview!

Halloween 2018

On October 31st we celebrated Halloween, a popular holiday in the United States. We prepared several spooky activities for different ages so that the students could learn about Halloween, practice English, and have fun!

Sara prepared a Power Point presentation for all ages with photos from her childhood celebrating Halloween in the United States. The children really enjoyed getting to see photos of Sara as a child dressing up in costumes, and they got to learn about the American custom of going "trick or treating." Sara presented with several classes, including 5 year olds, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 6th grade.

The next activity was an art project we did with the 1st and 2nd graders making "Jack O Lanterns" with collaged paper on plates. With this activity, the students got to learn about the American practice of carving faces into pumpkins during Halloween, and they practiced vocabulary relating to parts of the face like eyes, nose, mouth, and teeth. The results are sometimes funny and sometimes scary! The students enjoyed the opportunity to let their imaginations run wild.
 

 

Next, with the 4th graders, we made Halloween themed recipes. Some students made sweet recipes, some preffered savory, but all of them had a great time making spiders, pumpkins, ghosts, and other spooky things out of the food.  

 

 

Some of the 5th graders also brought some yummy Halloween cookies and cupcakes to share with their classmates. 

On the day of Halloween, we played some games with different groups of students. In 2nd grade, we played a Halloween game where the students sang a Halloween rhyme in English and pretended to be zombies, which they loved.

In 5th grade, we played a game where the students practiced Halloween vocabulary and other English skills in order to win Halloween stickers!

And last but not least, the main event of the day! The 6th graders came to school on Halloween prepared to dress up in all of their scary costumes. During the last period of the day, they changed into their costumes and even put on makeup, hair dye, and masks! Then they went around to each classroom, starting in preschool all the way up to 5th grade, passing out candy to the rest of the students at school. The 6th graders went all out to transform themselves into creepy characters, and the rest of the students had a great time getting visited in class and recieving the candy.

 

Overall, all of the students had a great time and learned a lot! We can't wait for next year's Halloween festivites!

English theatre "Time Machine"

Last Monday 22nd of October we went to the High School in order to see an interactive play with the students of 6th primary. The play's name was "Time machine". The children had fun with all the adventures of the main characters through history as ancient Egypt, Renaissence ...

The children loved the fact that the actors asked them to go on the stage and help them to continue the story. We will show you some pictures and video from this great time we had.