Dobry den Hello Bonjour Hola assalam alekum Wa alaykum assalam Buongiorno! Ciao Guten tag Buenos dias Who is this newsletter for? It’s for all staff at our school Let us know what you think about it ISSUE Student of the Month: (student’s name) (student’s photo) Name: Class: Nationality: Age: Favourite subject: Any other information: Starter Activity: Noughts and crosses (the oldest Need are the tobest!) wind down for a few minutes? Feel like a quick puzzle? 1) Draw your Go togrid http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Try on the board Number the boxes so their students HANGMAN can pick and a box MATCH UP JUNE 2013 WORD OF THE MONTH: GYPSY Gipsy gypsy Gipsy Gypsy Gipsy Gypsy gipsy Gypsy What you think of when you hear the word: gypsy? Heather? Fortune telling? Beautiful flamenco dresses? Weddings, maybe? There is no denying the word also has many negative connotations In many countries, it has become synonymous with thief/miscreant and so on What is its derivation? It’s said to be an abbreviation of Egyptian because that’s where people originally thought they came from It’s now widely accepted that they came from Northern India What is the difference between Gypsy, Roma and Traveller? Gypsy is used to describe several ethnic groups, of which Roma is one Traveller is used to describe other people with itinerant lifestyles, for example Irish travellers Labels are important – should we say Roma or gypsy? The main difference in usage now, is political Many people believe that the word gypsy is too badly tainted and can’t be reclaimed Others go in for a ‘gypsy pride’ approach You should take your lead from your students themselves If they are happy with the word Cigani or whatever the word for gypsy is in their own language, then maybe that should be your guide Writing Activity : five by five This is a version of Below is the Roma Gypsy flag true or false 1)Make a grid of boxes by boxes 2) Fill some boxes with true information and the rest with false, the true following the shape of a letter What kind of teacher are you? Try this quiz and find out 3) Give them out and instruct your students to colour or http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/what-kind-teacher-are-you?page=2 shade the true info boxes They then have to correct the false boxes Two activities based on a grid 2) Put the class in two teams and appoint captains in case 4) The coloured/shaded boxes should spell out a letter of disagreement about an answer ADVANTAGES: it’s fun and the students are reading and mm 3) Toss a coin (heads or tails?) for which team goes first and writing There is a sense of achievement when they can also gets to choose whether they are O or X tell you the letter 4) Ask the questions! You know the rest! DISADVANTAGES: you have to write the twenty five ADVANTAGES: needs no preparation or paper/it’s a fun way spellings/sums/sentences, but the return is worth it to check learning/you can ask individuals questions if you (an example is attached.) want, so you can differentiate This FEATURED TEACHER: Interview: ONE THING! Teacher: (teacher’s name) One thing you would to improve the world: One thing to improve our school: One thing to improve yourself: One thing to share with colleagues: One thing about you that will surprise us all (maybe you’ve climbed a mountain or done something else amazing??) ‘NAME THE NEWSLETTER’ COMPETITION WINNER Thank you for your suggestions! They were: The Breakdown or The Brilliance from Nicolle (we all liked it!) Belle Views from Tom (brilliant!) ChitChat from Sema (it was the EMA team’s favourite) The @your finger tips from Camilla (good play on the word ‘tips’ rEALise , revEAL, The rEALity from Maria (very clever) The ReadEMA from your editor (it received nul points!) AND SO THE WINNER IS: SEMA!! I One thing you really love: One thing guaranteed to annoy you: s s is the Roma Gypsy flag What they stand for? EAL=English as an additional language EMA=Ethnic Minority Achievement What is the difference? EAL is teaching English EMA is taking a holistic approach - monitoring the pupils and striving to help them achieve their full potential within our system Have you got any suggestions for the newsletter? Would you like to contribute? Nominate a student of the month? Showcase a good activity or website? Email (your email address) with your ideas or contributions HIDDEN LETTER: Present continuous tense Shade the boxes which have CORRECT sentences in them Correct the sentences in the white boxes 1 The dog is They are He jumping I is washing Jan is playing eating its look at the up and down the dishes on his MP3 dinner board They is My mum is He am play Robert and 10 She is run in talking to the tidying up football Julius are the corridor teacher looking out of the window 11.They are 12 He eating 13 Are you 14 We is 15 They is laugh at their his dinner coming with thinking out phoning their me? loud friend friend 16 I am go to 17 Mr Smith is 18 Are you 19 John is 20 Are they town shouting at his come with me? watching TV come to school? class 21 I am 22 Maria and 23 I smiling 24 They 25 Maria is reading my John playing in for the camera walking very crying because book the garden fast she is upset This grid spells the letter X You can design grids which make most of the letters of the alphabet You can vary this: 1) Pair work One student has the completed grid His partner has an empty grid, with only the numbers The partner with the grid reads and tells his partner which boxes to shade Then, they check together Which pair can tell you the letter first? Or the second partner has to write in the correct sentences, so one student is dictating and one answering