54299 esl newsletter

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 1

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
/>on the board. Number the boxes so
their
students
HANGMAN
can pick and
a box.
MATCH UP.

1
2
3

JUNE 2013

WORD OF THE MONTH: GYPSY

Gipsy gypsy Gipsy Gypsy Gipsy Gypsy gipsy Gypsy
What do 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 5 boxes by 5 boxes.
2) Fill some boxes with true information and the rest
with false, the true following the shape of a letter.
What
4
5 kind of
6 teacher are you? Try this quiz and find out.
3) Give them out and instruct your students to colour or
/>shade the true info boxes. They then have to correct the
7
8
9
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 do 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 do 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

2. They are

3. He jumping

4. I is washing

5. Jan is playing

eating its

look at the

up and down.

the dishes.

on his MP3.

dinner.

board.

6. They is

7. My mum is

8. He am play

9. 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.