INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY: online syllabus for third year exam

These days third year students have been revising for their Middle School final exam. We've been flipping our lessons since September and our blended learning methodology has allowed us to work completely without a textbook. To tell the truth, even before setting up a flipped classroom , my students hardly ever opened their textbook during class time. I'm not against textbooks, of course, but I think that the best part of a teacher's job is preparing activities for students, to keep them busy during class time and to maximise their learning. Moreover, coursebooks tend to standardise ways of introducing content and what I need for my classes is differentiation and personalized learning. I know there are ways to "humanize" textbooks but still I prefer not to use them.
In the past months we worked on a lot of different resources and material, all published on an online platform and on the virtual classes on Edmodo and I thought having a visual reminder of all the covered topics might help students organize their revision. So I created a sort of Game of the Goose, a game board where each space has a topic on it, with links to downloadable paper handouts, videos and mindmaps. On the space "Keep calm and speak English" a link has been added to a recording with all possible questions students could be asked at the oral exam. To make it a little more interactive students have been invited to create speaking cards to be used for practice both in class and at home.
 My friend and colleague Daniela has kindly made a video to explain students how to create the cards. Hope this will be useful.
Click here to download the paper version. I have printed one for each student and laminated some to keep on the table when they are taking their oral exam. They might even "play" with the exam commissioners..!


Here is the online syllabus







And the video "How to create your own speaking cards"

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY:how can I revise for third year exam?

This is a revision board I created with my colleague Daniela Becchio. The drawing was made by a very creative girl, Clara (Daniela's daughter). We gave her some instructions, basically that we wanted something like a bookcase. Then, we linked the different parts of the picture to a digital source (audio recordings, videos, glogsters, exercises).
 We wanted to give students:
 - a complete digital version of the curriculum
 - a possibility to revise for the exam autonomously ( that's why we provided both the written and the oral version of the stories, for example)
 - suggestions on how to practice grammar and vocabulary
 - examples of student-created content ( "my grammar book" and "personal coursebook")
 - a possibility to check their material, in case they missed some lessons during the school year.

 Our aim was  to help them with pronunciation, to support parents and also to facilitate success for dyslexic students.

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY: third year exam

This post is dedicated to III A and III E students.
You can listen to the texts related to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.
For the oral exam - conversation phase - you should practise answering the questions. I suggest you listen to a question, pause the audioboo, answer using at least 3 sentences, and then move on to the next one.

listen to ‘questions for exam’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘questions oral exam’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘MLK LING VERSION’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘M.L.K short version’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘ROSA PARKS’ on Audioboo

KET VOCABULARY : glogster

A big thank you to Cristina ( III E ) and Martino ( III A ) who created e-flashcards and greatly contributed to the realisation of this Glogster. It may come in handy for those who are studying for KET exam.

Click here to open full size.