October -Interaction and Body Systems

The year 4 classes are great because they are getting older so very mature but also full of energy too! In November, we looked at interaction and body systems. First, we looked at how the eye works and takes in light. I showed them how the pupil gets smaller if there is lots of light and bigger if it is dark by turning the classroom lights off and on again. They looked at each others' eyes and were astonished! We learned about how different parts of the body react to stimuli and how the brain sends messages to the different body parts. 

When we looked at muscles we all tensed our bicep contracts and the tricep relaxes and visa versa. It was great to use our bodies to learn.

We also played a game where the students had to work in teams and come up to the board one at a time to review what they'd learned about different body parts. The team that had the most words written down won!

For some more complex material, on the brain, for example, we looked at videos to help us.

This is the vocabulary they learned:

-    Brain, brain stem, cerebellum, interaction, musculoskeletal system, nerve and sense organs.
-    Gustatory nerve, inner ear, iris, lens, middle ear, mucous membrane, and nerve endings, olfactory nerve, optic nerve, pupil retina and taste buds.
-    Bone, joint, muscle and tendon.

Circulation

To learn about circulation, I put the students in groups of 5 and had each student play a different part of the circulatory system. One student was the artery, a vein, the heart etc and they had to present in front of the class (holding blue or red depending on if blood was oxygenated or deoxygenated) the circulatory system. They worked well using their English to explain the system! 

October with new English Language Assistant, Daniella

A whole month working as an English Language Assistant at CEIP Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar has flown by. My name is Daniella and I am 23, from the United Kingdom and currently teaching English at CEIP. I am in science classes teaching science in English, which I love because the students get to practice their English through their science learning. I think I am the first British language assistant that the school has had, so I am looking forward to bringing some British culture into the classroom. This brings me to one of the most exciting days so far at school… Halloween! 

Halloween at CEIP
It was so amazing to see Halloween celebrated at CEIP by all the teachers and students. I was blown away by the costumes. Halloween originated in Scotland and Ireland so it was a great festivity to intertwine with some British cultural history! I told class 4A and 4B about the history of Halloween and how people wore costumes to scare away the evil spirits. They seemed interested and learned some new vocabulary as well as the geography of the UK and Ireland. I asked the students questions about Halloween in Spain to find out how it is similar or different to the UK, where Halloween is a big deal. They were surprised that everyone puts a pumpkin outside their door in the UK, and that we eat the insides of the pumpkin sometimes too. It was great to see the students trying to explain what they do on Halloween and what they dress up as without realising they were improving their English by practising and learning new vocabulary.

Spooky Word Search and Bingo
We did a spooky word search and bingo. I taught them some new vocabulary like ‘broom’ and ‘cauldron’ by drawing pictures and writing the words on the board. They had to understand the new vocabulary for bingo because I would call out a word and they needed to know it to find it on their sheet (and as with all games, they all wanted to win so worked hard to remember the vocabulary).

First Impressions of English & Intentions

I have been so impressed by the high level of English across the year groups! The first step to learning a new language is motivation and to be motivated the children need to be excited and confident. I hope I can make the students have fun with their English learning and not worry about making mistakes (as that is how we learn after all).