Amazing Creatures

In their chosen groups, according to the habitats, my Class 4 pupils have created their presentations of jungle, sea, grassland, desert, polar and forest animals. They were proud and excited to share them with their peers.

TALE Fast Forward

This autumn, I joined the innovative project Teach Art Learn English of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection from Novi Sad and the Association of English Language Teachers ELTA from Belgrade.

The project is aimed to bring older students closer to the cultural heritage of the town and art in English.

The curators from our National Museum, another English language teacher and I have designed educational materials for workshops in English: Fashion, Before Selfies, Chat & Chill, Cool Stuff, and Spin & Play.

Before the visit, I organised a pre-visit lesson on 23 November for a group of Class 7 and Class 8 students. They shared their favourite museum memories, read the text about our National Museum, answered some comprehension questions, went through the glossary, watched a video clip showing how not to behave at the museum, and enjoyed playing the escape game.

The pilot TALE workshop at the National Museum was organised on 27 November and was greatly enjoyed by everyone. First, the students visited the permanent exhibition of the Museum with curators. Then, they were divided into five groups, according to the topics. In their groups, they chose a work of art or exhibit to analyse, and finally designed something by themselves.

Best inventions

 A car, a bike, a computer and a phone are just a few inventions both of my Classes 4 pupils voted as the best.

 

They also enjoyed designing their word clouds with the names of different inventions listed by their friends.  

Favourite Sports

Think about your favourite sport. It can be the one you practise or just watch. Write about it in 80-100 words.
Organise your writing into 4 paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: What sport do you like? Is it an individual or a team sport? How long have you played it? Are you good at it? Why is this sport more special than the others?
Paragraph 2: Is it an indoor or outdoor sport? Where do you practise or watch it? How often? Who with? What equipment do you need for this sport? What is its aim? If it's a team sport, how many players are there in each team? How do you get points?
Paragraph 3: What are the good sides of this sport? What are its bad sides? Remember the injuries!
Paragraph 4: Why do you like this sport? How does it make you feel when you do or watch it?

My favourite sport is volleyball. It's a team sport.
There are six players and you play it on the court. You need knee pads, a ball, really tight shorts, a club or team T-shirt.
You play it until you win three sets to twenty-five points. When both teams have win two sets, the fifth set is played.
When I played it, I had lots of fun, I made new friends and most importantly I was healthy. Unfortunately, you can twist your ankle, pull your muscle and sprain your wrist.
I like it because you have fun playing it, it`s healthy, it`s easy to play it and it's relaxing.

Lara Avramov, VI2

My favourite sport is table tennis. This is an individual and sometimes a team sport.
We play it in the gym.
It's a match between two or four players. Every player has a racket and the main goal is to send the ball in opponent's half of the table and that he/she doesn't return it.
One of the good sides is that you can make new friends. The bad side is that you can break your arm or leg.
I have played for 2 months and during this time I have had a great time. I hope I will play table tennis for a long time.

Bogdan Đurović, VI1

My favorite sport is folk dance. A lot of people say that folk dance is not a sport but they are wrong. Folklore is played in a circle. I have been folk dancing for 7 years, and I am good at it. This sport is special because we learn traditional dances, hang out and travel.
We play indoors, three times a week. We wear T-shirts, leggings and ballet flats, and we wear a national costume at concerts. There are no specific numbers of players.
The bad side of this sport is that we jump a lot and we can pull a muscle, and the good thing is that we learn something new.
I love folk dance because we hang out, travel, play and sing.

Marina Veljin, VI1

My favorite sport is volleyball. I have played it for one year. I like team sports because I can play with friends and we have fun.
We play three times a week at Technical School and there are 6 players in a team. My friends and cousin also train volleyball and at weekends we have volleyball competitions.
For volleyball you need a ball and a net and players have to hit the ball over the net.
This sport is nice and it makes us very tall. Unfortunately, we can hurt our knees or hands if the ball is very hard.
I love volleyball because it is a team sport, I meet a lot of friends and I feel nice while playing.

Teodora Čudan, VI1

We all have something that can make us happy even on our worst days. For me, that is my favourite sport, volleyball. I've been playing it for four years. It's a team sport with six players on the court and some on the bench. I am pretty good at it. Even if people think it's basic, it's the only sport or thing that can make me feel the way it does.
It's an indoor sport and I practise it on trainings with my team, but also alone in my garden. I have volleyball practice three times a week. Volleyball may look easy, but believe me, it's not. It's also very complicated with so many rules. The aim is to score points. There are lots of ways to score points, but the most simple one is that you score when the ball touches the opponent's side of the court.
The good sides of this sport are that your arms and legs get much stronger, you get better at focusing and analyzing the situation you're in. For example, if you see that your opponents are a bit farther from the net, you throw the ball weaker, shorter. The bad sides are that you can get hurt very easily, by twisting your ankle, pulling a muscle or if you fall really badly, you can even break your leg or your arm.
I like this sport because it makes me happy, it's exciting and I also like it because you have multiple choices of what you will do next or how to trick the opponent. Volleyball makes me so excited that it feels like some kind of power or electricity going through my body. When I play it, I feel like something is telling me what to do, showing me what to do and if I realize the ball is going to fall, I feel like something is pushing me to start running towards it. I understand that this thing I am describing is most likely me, but I am still thankful to it for always being there for me and helping me everyday.

Jovana Karić, VI2

The sport I do, and also my favourite, is ballet. Ballet is a team sport, because we all have to work as one. I have been dancing ballet for six or seven years, non-stop. I'm very good at it. I remember every name of the combination and jumps. In my opinion, ballet is difficult, and everyone thinks it's easy, but it's even harder than volleyball or football, so, in my opinion, it's more special.
Ballet is an indoor sport, but it can also be outdoors due to various performances.The building where I train ballet is the Cultural Center. There we have two halls, a small and a large one, and one locked room. Both halls have a mirror, a stick for combinations and a piano for the accompanist. For ballet, you need: white tights, leotards, soft and pointed ballet flats.There is no specific number of students, there can be twenty of them in one class, as was the case, but only four of them finished. There are no points, but every June we have an exam where we get a grade from one to four.
The good sides of ballet are that we learn another language, French, since all the combinations are in French, you make a lot of friends and both girls and boys can enroll.The downsides, or disadvantages, are that we get very tired in class and have to arrive early in the morning on some days.The worst injury happened to me last week.We were doing a special reel in the back and we had to bend our head to do it. I ended up with twelve bruises and my left leg was swollen.
I love ballet because it suits me, I have fun during class or while composing choreographies. As I do the combinations, I feel tired and worried. I worry about whether I hold my legs and arms well.

Sara Stepanov, VI2

My favorite sport is water polo. That's what I've been training for three years. Water polo is a team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins the match. This sport is very good because it develops the whole body.
I have a practice every evening and it lasts two hours. When summer comes, we swim outside.
The advantage of this sport is that in summer you can play it in a lake or in the sea. The downside of this sport is that it's rough. You can't see it when you watch it on TV. There are a lot of cities that don't have an indoor pool, so that's one of the drawbacks.
Water polo teaches you to be a member of a team, to love water and to be strong.

Vukašin Ćurčin, VI1

My favourite sport is volleyball. It is a team sport.
It is played on the court. Volleyball players wear elbow and knee pads. The match lasts three sets. A point is scored when the opponent fails to defend, when the ball hits the net or goes out.
The good side of this sport is that the team consists of a lot of members so you can meet new friends. It is exciting because you don't know how the opponent will play.
It is not an expensive sport because you don't need  a lot of equipment. Possible injuries are a twisted ankle or a broken finger.
Volleyball is my favourite sport because a team has to think like one to play well. I love volleyball the most and that's why I train it.

Iva Todorić, VI2

Keeping in touch

Meeting and singing with our friends from Slovenia was a real adventure for my youngest pupils!

Tangram

With the help of their parents and/or older sibling, my Class 2 pupils, have recently cut out their own tangram pieces, so, after showing and making a few basic images, we turned it into a competition.

Home, Sweet Home

We've just started learning the rooms in the house, and what's better way for my youngest pupils to remember them than by making paper houses and drawing the furniture in each room.

What's this?

This song is great for revising school things and reminding the children to clean after themselves. My 8-year-olds just love it!

Look at the desk,
Look at the desk,
The desk is in a mess!

Is it your pen?
Is it your book?
Is it your pencil case?
Yes or no?
Tell me, Joe.

It isn't my pen.
It isn't my book.
It isn't my pencil case.
Oh, no, no!
No, no, no!

Look at the desk,
Look at the desk,
The desk is in a mess!

II2

Sports

As a warm-up for our lessons on sports, I asked my Class 6 pupils a few questions:

• What's your favourite sport? 
• What sport are you good at? 
• What sport are you not so good at? 
• What sport would you like to try? Why?

Here are some of their answers:

My favorite sport is ping pong. I'm good at ping pong and also basketball. I'm not so good at volleyball. I would like to try basketball, but ping pong is still my favorite. Basketball is kind of an interesting and fun game to play with your friends.

Nikola Andrić, VI1

My favourite sport is table tennis and I am good at it. I am also good at handball, but not at gymnastics. I would like to try tennis because the racket is bigger and the game is played outside.

Nevena Kiurski, VI1

My favorite sport is football.
I'm good at football.
I'm nod good at swimming.
I would like to try volleyball because it's an exciting sport.

Iva Kiš, VI2

My favourite sport is volleyball. When I played it, I was very good at it, but unfortunately I had to stop because of corona virus and my health. But I don't know if I'm good at it now.
I am not good at skating because I don't have so much balance when I am on moving things without a handle to hold on to.
I would really like to try figure skating because I like the costumes, they are shiny and they have so many bright colours. I've always loved being on ice and I love ice-skating. 

Lara Avramov, VI2

My favourite sport is volleyball and I am pretty good at it. However, I am not good at football, because I find it really hard to run for a long time. I would like to try ice skating. It looks very exciting and fun, but I know it's also very hard.

Jovana Karić, VI2

My favorite sport is volleyball. Except for volleyball, I am good at athletics. But, I am extremely bad at basketball. Apart from volleyball, I would like to train swimming. It seems fun and challenging.

Teodora Nikolin, VI2

My favorite sport is basketball. I'm good at basketball. I would like to try handball, because it looks interesting to me.

Vanja Šibul, VI3

My favorite sport is handball. I play it with my friends most of the time. I love this sport. It is very interesting.

Stojan Barbul, VI3

Eco Fighters

 Imagining ourselves as eco superheroes can be very interesting and a lot of fun. 

Cubbies and Games

Although we were sent on a forced break, several of my Class 6 pupils joined the first online meeting for the eTwainiacs. They shared their virtual cubbies and enjoyed playing some online games about the USA prepared by the French teacher.

Postcard Exchange

 Thanks to the Walking around Europe eTwinning project, we met a lot of new friends and explored our continent in a more interesting way, by exchanging postcards. 

Soon after we'd sent our handmade postcards, we received the postcards from the pupils and their teachers: Beata from Poland, Canan from Turkey, Clary from the Netherlands, Esther from Spain, Janka from Slovakia, Jitka from the Czech Republic, Melinda from Romania, Selma from Bosnia and Herzegovina. A month later, we received the postcards from Maria, Marina, Elena and Laura from Italy, Nina from Croatia, and Diane from Spain.

Restaurants

• What's the name of your favourite restaurant or café? Where is it? How often do you go there? Who with? 
• What does it look like? Is it big or small? What colour are the walls? Are there any paintings on the walls? 
• What can you order there? What's your favourite thing on the menu? Why?
• Why do you like going there?
  

My favourite restaurant is McDonald's. I visit it once a month, with my family.
It is big and the colour of its walls is white. There are no pictures.
You can order burgers, chips, coca cola, ice cream. My menu includes a burger and a vanilla shake.
I like going there because the prices are okay.

Marija Nađ, IV1

Dante is my favorite restaurant. Dante is near the bus station in Kikinda. I go there with my mother a few times a week.
Dante is a big and very modern place. The walls are blue and white. There are some  paintings and lamps on the walls and some  flowers.
We can order food, drinks, coffee and desserts there. My favorite thing on the menu is soup, chicken nuggets and chips with cucumber salad and for dessert a pancake with chocolate cream. I like eating there because the food is very tasty.
I like that restaurant because the place is very nice.

Petra Milica Fazekaš, IV1

My favourite restaurant is called Rebos. I was there once with my sister and my mother.
It is big and very cosy. Everything is made of wood and looks like a big, warm living room. The walls are brown, just like wood.
You can order cooked meals, sandwiches, all kinds of pizza and cakes.
My favourite food to order is pizza. I like it veeeery much!
I like going there because it feels like home. 

Vukašin Badrljički, IV2

My favorite restaurant is Bob. Bob’s in Melenci.
It is a small place and the walls are green, but it it beautiful.
The menu has burgers, sandwiches, hotdogs, coca-cola, and orange juice. My favorite thing is a burger.
The prices are good, and I like eating there because the food is delicious!

Nikolina Pilipović, IV2

The Magical World of Beatrix Potter

My Class 2 pupils have just stepped into the magical world of Beatrix Potter and liked it. 

By the way, they've recently started learning the Latin alphabet, so Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes turned out to be just the right choice for them.

A Scary Experience

Think about a scary experience you had in the past. Write about it in 80-100 words.
Organise your writing into 3 paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Where were you? Who were you with? What was the weather like? What happened first?
Paragraph 2: What happened next? Pay attention to the order the events happened!
Paragraph 3: What happened in the end? How did you feel?

When I was five I went to a friend's house. It was a dark December night.
My friend and I were playing hide and seek. When we finished, she turned off the lights and took a lamp. She turned on the lamp and every time she did that she made a creepy noise. I started screaming and crying.
After my parents heard me screaming they got in the room and turned the lights on. That's how my scary experience was over. 

Lara Avramov, VI2

I was always afraid of bad weather.
It was in the summer 6 years ago. My parents and I took my brother to a friend's birthday party, and when we were returning home, the wind started to blow hard. Thunder started and it was raining hard. My dad immediately hurried to get home. A tree branch fell on the car. I saw a woman running after a stroller. She failed to reach it and it rolled over. Due to the crowd, Dad couldn't stop the car.
After the storm, we picked up Vukan from the party.
I'm still worried about the baby in the stroller.

Ognjen Orašanin, VI2

It was a cold, spooky night. Last day of October, Halloween has finally come. I was with my family at my grandpa’s house in a small village near our town. He lives in a street with only two houses, his and his neighbour’s. My sister and our cousin went out in the street to take some photos. The street is very small and all of the street lights haven’t lit up for years.
Just like I said, I was taking photos of them and suddenly, I saw something moving in the darkness of a small road, a bit farther. I told them, but they didn’t even look there and told me that it’s grandpa’s neighbour. I kept telling them that something scary was slowly walking toward us. They were really scared when I told them what it looked like. It was really tall, I wasn’t even able too see its face because of the trees, with long arms that were reaching his knees and it was very slim, it looked exactly like a horror character Slenderman. You probably wonder why they got scared at that moment. It’s because grandpa’s neighbour is pretty short and chubby. They looked and it was still walking towards us, but even a bit faster. We ran as fast as we could to the house. We were terrified, but I was also a bit excited.
So, if someone tells you a creepy creature is coming towards you, believe them, it might be true. I am going to my grandpa tomorrow. Wait, isn’t Halloween tomorrow!?

Jovana Karić, VI2