How to write a letter: formal or informal style?

Knowing how to write a letter is a very important skill (at school, in business, for general personal relationships).

I have created two simple Glogster interactive posters to show  formal and informal letter layouts. By moving your cursor over the images, some links will appear. Click on them to get more information.

You will learn:

• the structure of a letter
• the difference between a formal and an informal style
• the conventions of formal letter writing

Informal letter

Formal letter

Some useful resources about letter writing:

http://www.letterwritingguide.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/writing-a-letter
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php
http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/business-letter-parts.html
http://esl.about.com/od/businessenglishwriting/a/Formal-Letter-Structure.htm
http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter-writing.php

Some exercises:
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/writing-letters-exercises

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!

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!

Saint Valentine' s Day activities

February, 14th is Saint Valentine' s Day! On this day cards, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones.

But do you know where this festival comes from? Are you ready to say or write something special to the people you care about?

Clicking on the following Thinglink image (that I previously created with Cacoo), you will find some useful activities to get prepared for that day.

• You can read some information and watch some videos about St. Valentine' s Day origins 
• You can learn some useful vocabulary and play a vocabulary game
• You can listen to some hints on how to make a perfect Valentine' s gift
• You can learn to write a great Valentine' s card
• You can learn some love poems for your boyfriend or girlfriend (but also for a member of your family or a friend)
• You can read some love poems written by the greatest British and American poets
• You can have fun by taking some quizzes!

Now it' s up to you! 

Show your love to the people you care about!

Never too young to remember - International Holocaust Remembrance Day

“If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, 

when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, 

will be held up as an example.” 

Anne Frank

January 27th is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated by the Soviet troops during World War II.

What is World War II?
http://history.parkfieldict.co.uk/world-war-ii/why-did-world-war-ii-start

Learn more about the Remembrance Day at the following websites:

The United Nations site:
http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/

The Unesco site:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/commemoration-in-memory-of-the-victims-of-the-holocaust/

Over one million children under the age of sixteen 

died in the Holocaust...

Children of the Holocaust

Click on the images below to open my Blendspace lessons about the Holocaust children and Anne Frank.

Anne Frank - A graphic biography

Anne Frank

Anne Frank - the only known video

STUDENTS' TASK

Click on the image below and surf the links.
Read and listen to some excerpts from Anne's diary, then take a quiz.

“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”

Primo Levi