The Travelling Teachers: webquest

Showing posts with label webquest. Show all posts

Sunday, 24 April 2016

Shakespeare for young learners - A webquest and some resources

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in the Tudor England at the time of Queen Elisabeth I. He is one of the world's greatest writers. He wrote plays for the theatre but he composed sonnets, too.

At the beginning of his career he went to London to be an actor, but he suddenly became famous for writing plays.

Nowadays Shakespeare plays are performed all over the world.

Shakespeare died 400 years ago, on April 23rd 1616.

Surf the following mindmap I made with Cacoo and Thinglink. Then answer the questions.

Click here to open and enlarge.

In 2016 England, and all the world, will commemorate 400 years since the death of the Bard. Can you list any of the events and activities planned on this occasion?
What is the "Complete Walk"?
Where and when was Shakespeare born?
Who were Shakespeare' s parents?
When did he get married?
When did he move to London to begin his theatrical career?
Where did he die and where was he buried?
Where does the name "Globe" come from?
Was the Church happy with theatre performances? What did the Church call the theatre?
What was the name of Shakespeare' s acting company?
Describe briefly the structure of the Globe.
Where there any actresses in the Elisabethan theatre?

Some resources

Shakespeare invented a lot of words and expressions that are still used today all around the world! Here you can find some of the most famous Shakespeare' s quotes:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_shakespeare.html http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/quotes/quotes.htm http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/shakespeare

Would you like to perform any Shakespeare' s play in your school? Below you can find some free scripts, adapted and revised, for students. Enjoy!
http://www.shakespearefreelibrary.com/scripts.html

Monday, 16 March 2015

St. Patrick' s Day QR Webquest!

A different Webquest for St. Patrick' s Day!

For this webquest I am going to use QR codes! My students will have to use their own device (smartphone or tablet) in the classroom (BYOD) to get all the information they need and answer the questions!

Goals:

Talking about cultural aspects of a festival in a fun way
Facilitating students' engagement
Ensuring aesy access to selected information and material
Allowing students to aquire digital skills

Anticipatory Set and Instructions:

For this webquest I have created some QR (Quick Response) codes. They are two-dimensional barcodes that can be read using tablets or smartphones. You need a camera and a QR code reader on your device to read them (there are many free apps available). These codes link directly to websites, videos and more.

Of course if you want to create your own QR codes you also need a QR code generator (there are many of them for free online, as well).

For my webquest, I have used the "QR stuff code generator" (online on my pc) and I have asked my students to download the "QR code reader" free app (for Android) on their mobile devices. It's very easy and quick!

Classroom activity:

On St. Patrick' s Day I am printing the QR codes and I am putting them on the walls of my classroom (you can also use more than one room or a different location). I am going to divide the students into teams, they will have to answer some questions (to get points) after having read the information and watched the video.
I have prepared a Google form with all the questions and of course it is available with a QR code, as well!
The team with the most points will win.

Follow-up:

After our classroom activity, students will have to write a report, make a poster or a presentation to sum up all the information about St. Patrick' s Day.

If you don't want to create your own QR codes but you like this activity, you can use mine, just print them or show them on your pc or your Interactive Whiteboard of your classroom. All the students have to do is use their mobile' s camera to open the links and get the information through the QR codes.

ST PATRICK' S WEBQUEST

1) St. Patrick' s Day origins

2) Sacred sites linked to St. Patrick

3) Watch the video

4) What is a Leprechaun?

5) St. Patrick' s poems

Choose a poem and memorize it!

And now open the form, answer the questions and click on "send"!

You will get 1 point for each correct answer

and 5 points for the poem!

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Carnival and Pancake Day in the UK: a webquest

It's carnival time!

Surf the following websites and have your own (virtual)
pancakes race!

First of all let' s take a look at some Carnival glossary:
http://www.carnivalarts.org.uk/Portals/0/Carnival%20Glossary.pdf

Now let's see UK carnivals by region:
http://www.carnivalarts.org.uk/Carnivals/UKCarnivalsbyregion.aspx

Carnival festival culminates on Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. 'Shrove' derives from an old English word 'shrive', meaning 'confess all sins'. In the UK it is also called Pancake Day because on this day people traditionally eat pancakes.

Surf the following site for more information about Shrove Tuesday in the UK:
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/shrove-tuesday

Pancake day in London:

http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/pancake-day-in-london

Basic Pancake recipes:

http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/recipes/eggs/pages/basicpancakes.aspx

Some videos:

Pancake Day

The great pancake race

WEBQUEST

Your own pancakes race...

Click on my Thinglink image below (I made the mindmap with Spiderscribe), follow the route, open the Word documents, answer the questions about the websites you have just visited... and win the pancakes race!

Monday, 16 June 2014

London - let's make preparations for our journey!

Next July I am going to London with some of my students. I would like to give them some information before leaving. Here there are some activities, videos, tips and a final webquest!

Top 10 Attractions of London

A brief history of London:
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/a-brief-history-of-london

If you want to investigate the British history further:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/

A virtual tour

Now let's take a virtual tour of London! Click on the image above. You are on the London Eye and you have the whole city at your feet! Choose a place and click on it. You can take a virtual tour of each landmark and have all the information (clicking on "More Information") about its history. After visiting a place, click on "Back to London Eye" to go back in your capsule and choose another destination. Sometimes, while visiting a place, you will see the following button:

It redirects you to the website of that specific sight. Click on it to have more information.

The Tube

While visiting London, you can't help taking the Tube! It's the easiest way to get around the town. Visit the following site to learn more about the London underground, there are some useful tips for the travellers:

http://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-around-london/london-tube

How to use the London Tube

The London tube is the oldest underground in the world. It was opened in 1890. Let's practise to use the tube map! Click on the following image and look for your destinations:

WEBQUEST

Now you are ready to complete this simple questionnaire I prepared for you about London! Surf the sites I suggested above, watch the video you will find at the beginning of the webquest and answer the questions. Write your name and click on "send" at the end of the quiz. If your answers are right you are ready to leave!

See some other posts of mine about London.
London landmarks:
http://thetravellingteachers.blogspot.it/2013/09/london-august-2013.html
London museums:
http://thetravellingteachers.blogspot.it/2014/05/international-museum-day-may-18.html

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

St Patrick's Day - March, 17th

St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated on March 17th. On that day, that falls during Lent, people traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast! The traditional St. Patrick meal consists of Irish bacon and cabbage.

The shamrock is a symbol of St. Patrick Day and Ireland in general. It was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. When St. Patrick came to Ireland he used the Shamrock to symbolize the meaning of the church's teaching on the Trinity.