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Blog de Cristina

Digital tools and ideas to transform education, 3 spook-tacular halloween activities to thrill your students.

This lesson plan aimed at B2 students or + is loaded up with  engaging activities, some of which are easily adaptable to other levels.

As you’ve probably noticed over the years,  I am not a huge fan of Halloween. In fact, when I was a kid, I didn’t even know what Halloween was . But, even if it’s not my cup of tea, embracing Halloween in the classroom can be a fun and meaningful way to connect with students and broaden their cultural awareness. A nd this particular combination of  activities will surely prove to be a hit in my classes and hopefully, a time-saver  for some of you!

Do you have a smartboard in the classroom? Then, you already have some Halloween decor, like this one below,

Right , now that we are in the mood, dim the lights and ask students to think of a time in their lives when they felt fear or anxiety. After about 5 minutes and with just the light from the smartboard, ask students to share their stories.

In this 10-minute film Katie, a young girl, is babysitting her younger brother Steven while her parents are out for the evening.

Useful vocabulary

• A fuse box is an electrical panel that contains fuses, which protect circuits from overloads.
• To give the creeps  means to make someone feel uncomfortable, scared, or uneasy.
• To be haunted means to be visited or troubled by a ghost or spirit. It can also refer to a place that has a spooky or eerie atmosphere.

Ask students these three questions related to what happens at the beginning of the film

• Why is Katie babysitting her brother Steven?
• Why does Katie panic when asked to go to the cellar for the fuse box?
• What is the backstory behind Katie’s fear of the cellar?

Enjoy this short film; one of the best, in my opinion!

In this activity, students argue for or against the global adoption of Halloween traditions. This activity will, hopefully,  challenge my students  to use advanced language skills, including persuasive techniques, formal language, and complex argumentative structures.

Expanding their Vocabulary. In this activity and with the aim of expanding their vocabulary, students will be asked to use the verbs in the exercise below

How to do it

• Divide the class into two teams: one supporting the global adoption of Halloween, the other opposing it.
• Give those in favour these three ideas to get started and some preparation time to organise their ideas

Potential arguments for global adoption:

• Cultural exchange and understanding
• Economic benefits for businesses
• Entertainment and creative expression
• Give those against these three ideas to get started

Potential arguments against global adoption:

• Cultural imperialism and loss of local traditions
• Commercialization and consumerism
• Religious or cultural conflicts in some societies
• Pair up students to discuss their opposing views on the subject
• After the debate, have a class discussion to reflect on the arguments presented.

I hope you have enjoyed this 3 Spook-tacular Halloween Activities.

A Simple Way to Add Digital Decor to your Halloween Lessons with YouTube

OMG!The things you can find on the Internet. We are talking Halloween here  and setting the right mood before a Halloween activity with some engaging digital decor.

If you have a digital board or a computer, you can easily transform your space into a Halloween environment using YouTube.Yes, YouTube!

• Head over to YouTube
• Search for “Halloween window projection. ” You’ll find a wide variety of options, from eerie landscapes to fun, animated scenes.
• Choose the one that fits your classroom vibe best, and set the mood for your students!

I’m still thinking how to do it but I might turn off the lights before my students enter the classroom or I might dim the lights before doing the Halloween activity to enhance the experience.

I have recorded small clips with some examples of what you can find online. It’s a simple way to add a little magic to your Halloween lessons!

halloween by cristina.cabal

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Exploring the World of Work (with a little help from Brad Pitt!)

Oh, this lesson sounds like it’s going to be SO much fun! I love how interactive and engaging it is—plus, who can resist Brad Pitt doing all sorts of jobs? Those who know me know that Brad Pitt is a constant in my life, and whenever I can, here he is—brightening my lessons or adding a little spice to the mix! And in this activity, how could I resist? 😄

By the way,  I used AI to generate the images. Hopefully, Brad Pitt won’t mind being used for educational purposes!

First up, hand out the vocabulary, guiding students to describe what jobs involve. Responsibilities, pros, cons, you know the drill! Here’s the handout I have used + it contains a QR code to help with pronunciation.

This is what I’ve done to introduce the vocabulary little by little

• I asked them to silently read all the information under the heading General Responsibilities.
• Then, I played the audio to work on pronunciation
• After that, I displayed the image of Brad Pitt performing a job, and they used some vocabulary to describe the general responsibilities this job involves.
• I repeated the same procedure for the heading Advantages and Disadvantage s to ensure they were comfortable with all aspects of the vocabulary.

This is the image I have used for this part

Now for the fun part—and this one is guaranteed to get the whole class involved! Here’s the game plan and again we go from guided practice to free practice .

FROM GUIDED PRACTICE TO FREE PRACTICE.

HOT SEAT with a volunteer.

• Pick a student to face away from the board (let’s call them the “guesser”).
• Display one of the job images on the board for everyone else to see.
• The rest of the class will give clues about the job, but here’s the catch—they have to use the vocabulary from the handout! So, instead of saying, “He works in a hospital,” they might say, “This job involves communication skills because you need to explain medical conditions clearly to patients.”
• IMPORTANT:They must describe the job without mentioning the place of work or giving obvious clues! For instance, if Brad Pitt is playing a chef in the image, the student can’t say “restaurant,” but they can say things like, “This job requires excellent time management because you need to prepare things on time, and it can be physically demanding because you’re on your feet for long periods”.

Students will work together as a class, tossing out clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job, and the guesser has to figure out what job Brad is performing in the image! We’ll play a couple of rounds to give students the opportunity to use the language.

HOT SEAT in TEAMS

• Divide class into 2 groups and ask a representative from each group to take the hot seat facing away from the board.
• Give each representative a bell.
• The whole class will now start giving clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job. The first representative to guess the job will score 1 point for their team.
• Rules: they have to ring the bell every time they want to guess. If they make a mistake, they won’t be able to ring the bell again until the other team has had a chance to have a guess, too.

Here you have the rest of the images I have used.

Add a heading by cristina.cabal

Students will team up: one student will face away from the board while their partner looks at the image.

The goal is for students to dig deep into their vocabulary  knowledge to give accurate but challenging descriptions. This not only pushes them to be precise with their language but also forces them to think critically about the roles we see in different jobs.

Do you think this activity will work well for your C1 students? Are there any jobs you’re dying to see Brad Pitt doing? Let me know!

Time to get students working in groups of 4 or 5. One student in each group will choose a job—it can be their real job or their dream job. The rest of the group has to figure out what it is by asking up to 10 questions.

Important: Encourage students to use their newly acquired vocabulary. Instead of asking simple questions like “ Do you work in an office?” they could ask, “Does your job require strong problem-solving skills?” or “Is teamwork a key part of your role?”

This brings the lesson full circle, with students practising vocabulary while keeping the conversation interactive and personal!

Another activity further practising this vocabulary is coming. Keep posted!!!

Challenge 3. Magic! from a YouTube Video, Create a Quiz on Google Forms or a Presentation on Google Slides

Before I start, let me tell you that I’ve officially dubbed myself “ The Free App Teache r” because every tool I share with you is either 100% free or comes with a super generous free version—perfect for teachers like us.

And you know how we’re always on the lookout for the next tool that can make our teaching lives easier and more dynamic, right? Well, this is Challenge 3, but hold on… it’s got a little twist. We’ve got two challenges using the SAME tool! Yes, that’s right. We’re about to take on two challenges with one amazing Chrome extension: Brisk Teaching .

Brisk Teaching is about to blow your mind with how easy it makes creating resources from just a YouTube video. In the quick and easy video (yes, it’s in Spanish, but trust me, you’ll follow along with no problem), I walk you through how in under 1 minute, you can generate either

1. A fully editable presentation in Google Slides or 2. A fully editable quiz in Google Forms

And it’s all with just one click—seriously. It’s like magic!

The first thing you need to do is install the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension . Don’t worry, I’ll show you how in the video. It’s super simple!

1.  Open the YouTube video of your choice (find something that’s relevant to your lesson). 2.  Open up the Brisk Teaching Chrome extension. 3. Now comes the fun part—choose what you want to create: – If you need a presentation, click the “Presentation” button. – If you’re in quiz-mode, hit Quiz instead.

And BOOM!  In seconds, you’ll have either an editable Google Slides presentation or a Google Forms quiz ready to give your students

Challenge 2: Creating Comics in Under 1 Minute? Yes, Please! Meet AI Comic Factory

Have you ever thought about how cool it would be if your students could create their own comics in just a minute? Sounds impossible, right? Well, guess what! I’ve found an AI tool that allows you and your students to create comics in under one minute —and it’s FREE! Yes, you read that correctly! Let me introduce you to AI Comic Factory , a fantastic platform that brings storytelling to life with a few clicks.

How It Works

• Visit the Playground : Head over to the AI Comic Factory Playground . You don’t need to sign in. It is optional.
• Choose Your Style and Grid : Select from a variety of comic styles.
• Let the AI Work Its Magic : Type in a brief description or a short story and the AI instantly generates a comic strip based on your input. In seconds, you’ll have a unique, personalized comic!
• Redraw: if you don’t like a picture in the grid, hover over the image and change it.
• Add a Caption or maybe not : Encourage your students to write short stories or dialogues under the images. It’s a fun and creative way to blend visuals with literacy.
• Download and Share : Once you’ve created your masterpiece, download it for free and share it with the class!

Here’s a short tutorial in Spanish. Don’t worry! It is easy to follow! Maybe you’ll learn some Spanish too.

Possible Drawbacks? (Let’s Be Real)

Of course, no tool is without its limitations. AI Comic Factory, while incredibly fast, is somewhat limited in terms of customization. You won’t get the level of control that, say, a student might have. The characters and backgrounds are AI-generated, meaning they may not always turn out exactly as you imagined.

Also, while it’s free, it does require internet access, which could be a drawback for classrooms with limited connectivity. But overall? The pros FAR outweigh the cons.