ESSAY TIPS WITH VIDEOS

First Video

A very nice and helpful video:

Second Video

Such an interesting approach!

Third Video

Last video, but a nice one too!

TIPS FOR ESSAYS

·         Read the question carefully to make sure you understand what’s being asked.

·         Organize your ideas into a diagram, keeping an eye on vocabulary and grammar.

·         Use a formal style.

·         Start with a short but clear introduction.

·         Use examples, anecdotes or personal experiences to support your thesis.

·         Try to make a clear, concise, full, creative and comprehensible presentation.

·         Use transitional words and phrases to join ideas and paragraphs, and make it flow.

·         Let your personality show.

·         Try to make an impact on the reader.

·         Try to keep the reader interested at all times.

·         Think in your own language. Don’t use words adapted from other languages and don’t translate things literally.

·         Use a rich vocabulary and include idioms.

·         Use advanced grammar: variations of structures, clauses, subjunctives, correct sequences of verbs. Don’t use words unless you’re sure they’re correct.

·         Make sure your essay has the minimum number of words that are required.

·         Finish your writing by trying to impress the reader.

·         Use the last five minutes to proofread your essay.

EXERCISES TO LEARN VERSES

1.     Biblical table tennis

1. Say the text with the students.
2. Now, play table tennis with the words in the text.
3. Use the exact words in the text, one at a time, alternating between teacher and students.
4. Keep doing this until you finish with the text.
5. The competition can be held between two students or by dividing the class into two teams.

2.     The hot potato

1. The students form a circle with everyone standing.
2. Quickly, they pass the “potato” from one student to the next.
3. When the teacher says “stop”, the student who has the potato has to say the verse.

Note: It can also be done with music, with the teacher stopping it.

3.     Biblical puzzle

1. Write the text in a poster.
2. Cut it forming a puzzle.
3. The students can try to solve it.

4. The hidden verse

1. Write each word of the text in small pieces of paper or cards.
2. Hide them in the classroom.
3. The students have to find the cards, and put the text in the right order in front of the class.
4. You can use this biblical game by dividing the class into two teams to create some competition.

5. Crazy stops

1. Show the text.
2. Ask who had egg for breakfast. Those students stand up and repeat the text (it can be any other food or thing you come up with).
3. Repeat, changing the filter, as many times as you consider convenient.
4. The students sit down after repeating it.

MORE VERSE TEACHING TECHNIQUES

4.      Hanging the laundry (you can use two card holders)

a.      Divide the class into two teams.

2. Write in cards the words of the text (one set for each team).
3. Give a card to each member of the team, if possible.
4. There will be a rope hanging in front of them, as a cable.
5. When you say “go”, the team members have to try to “hang the cards” in the right order, according to the word each of them have.
6. The first team to put the text together wins.

5.     The candy basket

1. Form a circle with the students.
2. Put one candy for each child in the basket.
3. The basket is passed from student to student, while each one of them says a word in the text, in the right order.
4. If a student makes a mistake or can’t say the right word, he has to sit down.
5. This is repeated until all the students who are in the circle have said the text without making mistakes.
6. Divide the candies among the winners.

6.     The poisonous cloth

1. Repeat the text with the students several times.
2. Throw the poisonous cloth while saying the first word of the text.
3. The student who catches it repeats the next word in order.
4. That student throws it, and it continues that way until the whole text has been said.

KEEP YOUR CHILDREN STUDYING OUTSIDE OF CLASS

OUTSIDE OF CLASS

Some specialists suggest that if a child is doing well in school, he/she should do a couple of extracurricular activities that might keep them busy twice or thrice a week, but they insist that it should be a combination of activities requiring study (such as, music, painting) and recreation (sports). These activities will help them build habits, so the child may see his/her continuous process, not mere by entertainment.  We shouldn’t burden the child with overwhelming learning activities, as these should not take time from studying.

TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES

Video games, playstation, TV, computer... are just some of the time-wasting activities children as face with nowadays. The ideal would be not to have to hide these, but rather control the time dedicated to TV, video games. This should be done early on, for example since the age of seven and not at fifteen, so that these become habits and do not grow up to oppose parents authority and established rules. Some psychologists suggest putting a time limit for the use of such items, and allow their use only when they have finished studying.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

Children associate the Internet to games, not to studying. Therefore, monitoring their studies might be harder. The Internet is more of a game than a pedagogic tool that is why if it’s not used in the right manner it could get out of control. For new technologies to have a positive impact on their learning process, parents must have previous knowledge of how their children use these technologies, how they relate to them and in them, how they manage and see that this has become their window to the world, a universe in which, speed and interconnectivity have become best allies.