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My 2nd post about this Teacher Learning Community

Very Proud of being a Member and an Ambassador

One month ago, after participating at RSCON4 (Reform Symposium Conference), I was selected as one of the 5 Ed Teachers Inspire and I won this wonderful prize: Having a full membership to this Teacher Learning Community. 

I was a member already, but with a limited access and I really didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Once I became full member, I log in very day and I participate in forums, in webinars and in sharing resources a lot! I can say that I've become "addicted" to it.

I've met wonderful teachers and have interacted with lots of presenters not only in the webinars I've been attending but also in Twitter (SimpleK12 in Twitter). All of them have been very kind and helpful.

Now, after this month, I applied to become an Ambassador and to my surprise... I've become one! I've been promoting the community among my colleagues and at school. Now, it's time to promote it everywhere I go, esp. all the conferences and congresses I attend. Unfortunately, we start our summer holidays in Argentina, but I'm sure, I'll be able to start doing it next February when we go back to school.

There are tons of resources, tons of webinars, tons of lessons, tons of forums... tons of everything! And of course, tons of awesome educators! 

Why did I write in the heading this is my 2nd post about SimpleK12? Because I wrote one when I started participating actively in the community. You can read about it here: My 1st post about SimpleK12

So do you want to ...

* Learn about the latest technologies helping other teachers excel?

* Join discussions with other educators about implementing new standards? 
* Stay in tune with what matters most in today's schools?
* Feel up-to-speed on the "latest and greatest" strategies and tools?

If you answered YES to any of the above, join me inside the hottest education resource: SimpleK12’s Teacher Learning Community.

==> Create a FREE Basic Membership Today. http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/courses/view.asp?lid=1003116

SimpleK12, the leading provider of 21st century teacher professional development, brings the fun, energy, and excitement back into learning.

200,000+ educators from around the world have access to SimpleK12's PD resources, information, and training ... and you can too!

Take learning into your own hands and explore the fastest-growing social network and Professional Development community for educators...

==> Create a FREE Basic Membership. http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/courses/view.asp?lid=1003116

Thanks Ayat for having nominated me, thanks RSCON for having selected me and thanks SimpleK12 for teaching me everyday!

I'll be looking forward to seeing you inside the community!

I love the bunnies :)

The world of puppets

Why are puppets useful in the EFL classroom?

Some time ago, I started using puppets in the classroom. Some of them were simple socks and some others were more sophisticated as I bought them. However, after seeing that my students thought puppets were silly, I put them aside.

This year I met (virtually speaking) Juan Alberto Lopez Uribe who showed me how important puppets are in the classroom. He shared some wonderful videos and interesting blog posts so I decided to bring puppets back to my class.

Juan's blog about puppets

Also, when I participated at RSCON4, I listened to Sam Pattersen who also works with puppets. He showed funny puppets in action and some days ago, I listened to him again in another webinar by "Classroom 2.0" talking about... puppets!!

Sam's site about puppets

Why are puppets useful in the EFL Classroom? Because they can be used in stories, songs, chants, roleplay and pairwork. They provide motivation even if the students think they are silly.

Puppets are fantastic for meaning, for fluency, for communication, for cross-curricular activities. They are great to teach vocabulary, to teach language and of course, to evaluate.

My experience with puppets this year has been awesome.

First of all, I have to thank my dietitian because she sends my lunch very well wrapped in paper bags. As I have tons of those paper bags, I decided to recycle them by creating puppets. I browsed tons of websites to see how I could make them. I pinned them and then I let my creativity run!

My Pinterest - My pins about puppets

The original paper bags - My 1st puppet

When I taught "animals" to my 6th graders, I told them they had to make a puppet so as to round up our term. They loved the idea immediately. So I gave them the paper bags and they came with lovely "puppet animals". It was such a success what they did, that I invited the kids' parents to attend a "puppet show" in the classroom. My students had to describe their animal to three different parents. It was an incredible day as both parents and students got surprised with all the English they had learnt in 3 months!!!!

Students talking to parents in our classroom

I also did the same with my secondary students. My 1st year students had to talk about pets so... I told them that they had to create a puppet and I was going to evaluate them with the puppet. The kids did beautiful puppets and the test was oral, of course. Our school principal congratulated them because they could produce tons of vocabulary.

My Secondary School Students' Puppets

So... give puppets a try! You'll surprise with all your students can do and say!

Thanks Juan! Thanks Sam! You have inspired me a lot!! Smiles for you both! :)

Thank you for reading :)