Write Outside the Box: 2015

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Christmas in the UK - Our Poster

Our goal this month was to introduce pupils to some key vocabulary and a few fun facts about how Christmas is celebrated in the UK. What better way to achieve this than by decorating our classroom with a related poster!

This way, students not only get to expand their vocabulary through visual prompts, but they also familiarise themselves with the British customs and traditions associated with this special celebration.

Did you know...? Click to enlarge.

Labelled pictures.


British history, customs and traditions in relation to Christmas. Click to enlarge.

Making a Nativity scene with our Prejuniors

In one of our last lessons with Prejunior just before the school breaks up for Christmas, we decided to teach our young learners some Christmas vocabulary in a more experiential way - through craft-making.

Watching a video on the whiteboard while making crafts.

Colouring parts of the Nativity scene.

Working quietly in pairs.

Snapshot of our craft: the three Magi offering their gifts to baby Jesus.

Tuesday 15 December 2015

My Phobia of the Dark, by Jim

I have a phobia and it is the phobia of the dark.

Sometimes when I'm in the dark I imagine monsters under my bed or I hear scary noises. Yes, I know. This is not true, but sometimes I feel it's true. On the other hand, in our mind we do whatever we want. We can fly or lift a building. But I have a big problem. A huge problem, because I cannot sleep or go out at night, it looks like I'm in jail. I must beat my phobia no matter what!

The next day I go to the computer and all day long I watch scary films but then I imagine all the monsters in the film. I go to my room and close the doors and the windows. But the monsters open the door and come inside my bedroom. I say "please, don't eat me." But the monsters don't listen to me. I freeze for two seconds and then I say: you are all figments of my imagination. "Go away or I'm going to smack you down. All the monsters go away and now I can sleep without monsters, zombies or ghosts. Because all this is in my imagination.

The Broken Mirror, by Marios

One day when Mr. LOL woke up and went to comb his hair, the mirror fell down and broke. Mr. LOL thought that he was going to have bad luck for seven years. After that, he went out for a walk. Suddenly, he stumbled on a rope and fell down. All the people laughed at him. He woke up and continued his walk to his best friend. He knocked on the door. When he opened the door a bucket with water landed on his head. After that, he got back to his home, but he remembered that it was the 1st of April. And finally it wasn't the broken mirror to blame.

The Broken Mirror, by John

Mr. Badluck was a man who had bad luck everyday. One day he broke a silver mirror. On Friday 13th, he went to a casino and something strange happened to him. He won a bet. The other day he won the lottery and then he changed his name to "Mr. Goodluck". When he did that, he lost a bet, a lottery and broke another mirror. Sometimes he won some games and sometimes he lost. He became normal. The other day he won three lotteries and became rich. He also bought a black cat. The cat brought him bad and good luck and finally it wasn't the broken mirror to blame.

Do you believe in superstitions? We don't!

My Ideal Neighbourhood, by Elias & Cleo

After being introduced to fictitious stories, B Junior students were asked to write about an ideal neighbourhood. Here you will have the chance to learn more about what Elias and Cleo's ideal neighbourhoods look like.

It is our firm belief that assigning such tasks (familiar, yet imaginative; simple, yet challenging) helps spur pupils' imagination and boost their creativity - two traits that prove highly valuable in school and later on in life.

My Superhero, by Alexander

When Alexander had to write about Spiderman, he decided to accompany his assignment with a drawing of his favourite superhero. Like many of his classmates, Alexander is a young artist in the making, don't you agree?

Tuesday 8 December 2015

A Frightening Experience, by Mary

It was a cold, snowy February day in Halandri. My friends and I were celebrating my birthday in my house.

As we were dancing, two robbers broke into my house and kidnapped us. They were wearing black clothes and holding guns.

Guess what! The two robbers were two of my friends, Jason and Ellie. When they took off their masks, we all burst into laughter. I felt so silly!

Irregular Verbs

After playing these games, the irregular verbs will be a piece of cake for you!

Hangman

Matching exercises:

Help the hungry little fish eat

Football Penalty game

Songs and Videos:

Gulliver's Travels, by Jason

After reading Gulliver's Travels on the BBC website, pupils were asked to summarise the episodes they had seen. Below is just a sample of Jason's amazing work.

Episode 1

Doctor Gulliver was a healthy man that lived in London with his wife and their two children. One day a friend knocks on the door asking Gulliver if he needs a job for a lot of money. Gulliver and his family were really poor, so he answered "yes". His friend explained to him that they will go on a trip by ship and that the journey will be long.

The next day Doctor Gulliver and the others started their journey. In the middle of the journey, they were somewhere near the East Indies when a terrible storm hit! The crew jumped in boats, but a big wave smashed them into a rock.

Episode 2

Gulliver wakes up on an island. A really small man with a bow and arrow is in front of him. Then a lot of little men like the one in front of Gulliver come out of their hiding spots. They were talking in a strange language. Gulliver showed them his mouth to tell them to bring food. In a little bit they brought him a lot of fruit. He ate every single one! But they had put a sleeping potion in the food, so Gulliver fell asleep. When Gulliver woke up, he was in a temple tied up.

To be continued...

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Monday 30 November 2015

A hamster, a dog and our A Juniors...

Last week, Ann presented her writing project 'My Pets' in class... along with her pets in the flesh!

What's even more surprising, though, is that Ann is a Junior A student! Only two months into our A Junior course, students are not only familiarised with the alphabet, but they are also perfectly able to read and write small assignments like this one. To top it all, our pupils were highly engaged and enthusiastic throughout their first-ever writing project and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ann (A Junior) presenting her project and little Barney in class.

Ann's project "My Pets". Click on the image to enlarge it.

Barney in the flesh!

A hamster, another cute furry visitor in Knock English.

Την περασμένη βδομάδα, η Ann παρουσίασε στα Αγγλικά την εργασία της 'Τα Κατοικίδιά μου' στην τάξη... καθώς και τα κατοικίδιά της με σάρκα και οστά!

Αυτό, όμως, που είναι πραγματικά εκπληκτικό είναι το ότι η Ann αποτελεί μαθήτρια της A Junior! Μετά από μόνο 2 μήνες μαθημάτων A Junior, οι μαθητές όχι μόνο έχουν εξοικειωθεί πλήρως με την αλφάβητο, αλλά μπορούν ήδη να διαβάζουν και να γράφουν μικρές εργασίες σαν κι αυτή. Και το καλύτερο φυσικά είναι ότι όλοι τους ήταν προσηλωμένοι και πολύ ενθουσιασμένοι καθ'όλη τη διάρκεια της πρώτης τους γραπτής εργασίας στα Αγγλικά.

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Halloween mini-event

In Knock English we consider it imperative that students be acquainted with certain aspects of the culture of the foreign language they are learning. In other words, language instruction is not our sole purpose; we seize every single opportunity to raise our students' cultural awareness!

Below are some snapshots of the students' brief introduction to the Halloween celebration.

Halloween decorations everywhere.


Our cute Jack O' Lantern.

Posing all together with our Jack O' Lantern masks.

Playing around in front of the camera minutes after the end of the lesson.

Having a blast!

Μέρος της φιλοσοφίας του Knock English είναι η επιτακτική ανάγκη τα παιδιά να γνωρίσουν κάποιες πτυχές της κουλτούρας της ξένης γλώσσας που μαθαίνουν. Με άλλα λόγια, η εκμάθηση της γλώσσας δεν είναι ο αποκλειστικός μας σκοπός. Παράλληλα προσπαθούμε να αξιοποιήσουμε κάθε μικρή ευκαιρία που μας δίνεται έτσι ώστε αυξήσουμε την πολιτιστική συνείδηση των μαθητών μας.

Παραπάνω είναι μόνο μερικά στιγμιότυπα από την μικρή εισαγωγή των μαθητών στον εορτασμό του Halloween.

Present Simple and Continuous

Who said grammar is not fun? Click on the titles of the games below to practise the Present Tenses and have endless fun at the same time.

Help the Boy with the Rollers Spell the Verb-ing