A Few Fun Lesson Ideas with Images and a Blog, Starring Fluffy - The Blogging Mega Star!

Insert a picture of yourself or a pet into the Gallery section of a photo editing site such as Tuxpi, Photofunia, and then ask this question:

How did X get to be exhibited at the National Gallery, London?

Set a time limit of 5 minutes for students to come up with an inventive story either written or orally. The class gets to choose which story they like the best.
This is a fun activity and works well as a filler / warmer /
Invite students to photo edit a photo of theirs and get the class to imagine how they came to be in the particular situation. An example is below:

Fluffy has become a world-famous feline mega star after her Storybird Fluffy The Mouse Catcher sold millions of copies around the world! Her portrait is now hanging in the National Gallery and thousands of visitors are flocking to view it.
Fluffy purrs contentedly when she explains her newly acquired superstar status: "I always knew it would happen one day!"

You can do the same sort of activity with a billboard poster:

Victoria - The Reclusive English Moggy

Image above edited with Dumpr and then screenshot taken.

Lesson Idea to practise Idioms / Expressions
Write a paragraph based on an image of your choice such as the one above of Victoria, Fluffy's house-mate, and create a Wordle by copy pasting your paragraph. Try to include a few examples of idiomatic expressions as a review. Ask students to predict the main content of the short paragraph.

Can you guess some of the content from the words in the Wordle? Sample paragraph is below.


Sadly our English moggy Victoria has been completely overwhelmed by the presence of 5 Italian felines, which include the mischievous Fluffy, and she keeps them all at arms's length. She eats separately from the gang, and keeps herself to herself during the day. Whenever a little mischievous kitten approaches her to try to make friends, she stiffens, hisses and gives it a wide berth.

Victoria's Daily Routine
Ask your students to imagine the daily routine of their favourite pet or animal. Get them to write a few sentences using the present simple. In the past I have used the example below with beginners to practise present simple, and adverbs of frequency. Using images of animals is just a change from always using images of famous people. Young learners in particular find this activity fun.


Fluffy's Blog - World Premiere!!!
Fluffy has agreed to star in her very own blog, which has been set up on Posterous Spaces. The title of her blog is The Hectic Life of a Fluffy Kitten. She may decide to change the name of the blog, so watch this space! It's been kept private for a few weeks while she got a feel for the blog space, but now she feels comfortable with it and I am delighted to feature it here on Janet's Abruzzo Edublog.

She has an "About" page, and also a special page dedicated to Fluffy Idioms!!!

The very first post is entitled "Welcome to Fluffy's World!". I hope you enjoy following her adventures in Abruzzo.

Why set up a blog for Fluffy?
Well, it is to showcase what can be done with a blog, and also to encourage all age groups from young learners to adults to see how much fun it can be to play around with a theme that you are passionate about. It improves literacy skills and writing skills and practises web tools in a fun context!!

I hope these ideas inspire you to try out some of the activities and have fun with editing your images!!

English Raven's Blogging Tips
I have been following Jason Renshaw's fantastic posts on why blog with students, and the posts offer a more in-depth analytical argument for starting a blog. I hope you will be inspired to get your students to write a blog!

Blogging with students (1): Why get them blogging?
Blogging with students (2): Choosing a blogging platform

Christmas 2011 Wishes from Janet's Abruzzo Blog

During this festive period, I would like to send a heartfelt message of joy, peace and goodwill to all the readers of my blog, and all the members of my PLN. Thank you very much for your support and kind comments throughout 2011. It's been a fun-filled year.

Here's an Animoto message from The Motley Crew below:

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

If you would like more ideas for creative Christmas messages using apps and other fun sites, look no further than Shelly Terrell's amazing post "30+ Holiday Apps for Creativity and Learning". It is packed full of great ideas to keep you busy over the coming days.

Below are some festive mince pies that were made today by K and I. For me they represent a typical Christmas tradition from England. We followed Delia Smith's recipe.

A few of my Christmas tree decorations to get into the festive spirit! One of my lovely angels...

..and a peacock!

Father Christmas on the fir tree outside the house, waiting to come in from the cold!!

A personal message from Fluffy:

Best wishes to you all.

To finish off, here's a fun, easy to create e-card message from Jib Jab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Storybird: Fluffy The Mouse-Catcher

I am proud to display my very first Storybird on my blog.

I had been meaning to create a Storybird for ages, but had never got round to doing one. Now as a result of being a participant on the fantastic free SEETA e-course called Humanism and Modern Technology, I have had the opportunity to try it out as part of a challenging task. The task was to choose a tool we would like to explore, learn how to use it, and then create something with it.

I will write up a feedback post on this really enjoyable and worthwhile Humanism and Modern Technology course once I have finished. Our tutor Hanna Kryszewska is wonderful, and I am learning lots and enjoying the great debates!

Choose a Tool
Here are some of the free tools I contemplated exploring further for the task:

Audioboo -allows you to record and upload audio
Prezi - allows you to create zoomable and exciting presentations
Knovio - allows you to add voice and video to your Powerpoint presentations
Storybird - allows you to create beautiful story books

I chose Storybird because I fancied creating a visually appealing story to send to my young nieces and nephew for them to enjoy. That was a big motivation for me. I had viewed some beautiful stories via Storybird like this one for example, and I really wanted to know how to create one as well. Doing it as part of a task was an excellent opportunity for me to learn how to create one.

Gems on The Web
I remembered reading a guest post on OUP ELT GLobal blog written by Russell Stannard called "Gems on the Web - Storybird." I went back to it, read it carefully, then followed the links to his easy to follow tutorial on Teacher Training Videos. I played it, paused it, and copied each step and hey presto, my first Storybird about a pretty naughty Fluffy had taken on life!!

Image above captured by Jing in seconds. No more fiddling around like I used to!!!

Use Your Imagination
With Storybird, you are provided with an array of stunning, and beautiful images drawn by different artists. You choose the images you want for your story and then you let your imagination run free! You write the words and Storybird does the arranging for you in a brilliant and professional-looking manner. You can also choose amongst many tags such as "Teacup", for example, and then use artwork which includes the theme of teacups.

The end result is an e-booklet, with flippable pages, and one that you can email to your friends or embed on your blog. I couldn't find the embed code at first, but once you have published your story, the embed code or link to Twitter and Facebook are clearly visible.

You have the option of keeping your Storybird completely private, viewable only by you and whoever you choose to view it. You can also create a collaborative story, and that is an excellent feature, great for youngsters of any age. There is also the option of being able to buy your published Storybird in various formats to give away as gifts for example, or simply to keep as a lovely souvenir.

There is Storybird for Schools and you can read all about it here.

More Links and Resources on Storybird
I have discovered a fabulous wiki collated by Fiona Joyce called MFL - Storybirds, which houses a colection of Storybirds written in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Here is a collection written in Italian. What a fantastic way to learn a foreign language by reading these fab examples!! There are clear instructions for how to add your Storybird to this wiki collection, if you wish.

Below is an excellent and comprehensive presentation called Storybird for Linguists also by Fiona Joyce.

View more presentations from Fiona Joyce

Here is a link to a fab blog post about "Using Storybird" compiled by Lisa Dabbs.

I do hope you find this information will inspire you to create your very own Storybird and also encourage your students to create their own masterpieces!

The Adventures of Fluffy, The Mischievous Kitten
To finish off this post you can view a photo of the real Fluffy, who is the most expert mouse and lizard-catcher in the whole of Abruzzo!! She is also a real minx and a complete tearaway!!

Fluffy has been driving me up the wall recently because:

• she has taken to wanting to nibble and then bite my ankles for some unfathomable reason
• she play fights with her 4 youngest siblings, who are only 3 weeks old, so I have to keep a watchful eye over her
• she keeps on jumping and pouncing on her mum, Samantha, who really needs a bit of a rest after having given birth to 8 kittens within 4 months!!
• Today my computer was offline for several hours, because she had been playing around with the cables!! This put me out a fair bit, as you can imagine!
• Below, an exhausted Fluffy after having played around my desk!
  

Do you recognise the blog that I am viewing in the image above? A clue: the blog owner is an adventurer, a polyglot, and he loves pandas!! Please write who you think it could be in the comments!!

Here Fluffy is again thankfully fast asleep having a catnap with one of the earlier set of siblings. Does the expression "Butter wouldn't melt" spring to mind?

Below you can see Fluffy looking after her new set of tiny siblings!

Will there be more Storybird adventures featuring this irrepressible kitten? You'll have to wait and see what happens!!

Abruzzo Diary of a Country Lady - Part 2: Voltaire & Wild Gardens

This view from home formed the basis of my recent "unplugged" lesson here.

A growing squadron of toads in pots, chickens crowing ever more heartily and fluffy kittens up olive trees is all part and parcel of the country jetset lifestyle. All slugs and snails have miraculously disappeared since I last wrote on this topic in Part 1, and I guess it's all due to these lovely creatures below, one of whom is seen squatting comfortably in my prized pots.



An image-edited photo of mum Samantha and kitten in the garden.

Wild Nature versus The Internet
The pull of nature or the pull of the Internet? These are things I have been thinking of recently. It's difficult to manage the two together as I can't be in two places at once. The more work I take on online, the less time I can devote to trying to keep the vegetable plot in order and tame the weeds that threaten to engulf the plot. This leads me to the next paragraph, where the eminent French gentleman below has a lot to answer for...


Il Faut Cultiver Votre Jardin
Voltaire famously wote these words in his mordant satire called Candide. I read this for my French degree and it made me realise that yes, it's true. A wild garden reveals a lot about the owners. You really have to "cultivate your garden" in the most basic sense of the words.

As I write the strimmer is whirring away in the distance. K valiantly and single-handedly trying to keep the ever growing jungle in check. The state of the garden is a constant topic of household conversation. Voltaire's words keep ringing in my ears. Why do these simple words have so much resonance after 32 years since I last read Candide??

"You have to cultivate your garden". If you don't cultivate your garden, it will become unruly and unmanageable. If it becomes wild and untameable, it will dominate your thoughts. If it dominates your thoughts, it will affect your life. If it affects your life, things will stand still. If things stand still, you are lost or doomed.

I guess that's the pretty hard-hitting message that I imagine is contained in these few simple words. So, what to do? Maybe this gentleman will have the answer?

Before I sign off to cultivate my garden, I'd just like to point out this great quote by Thoreau I found on this very interesting blog post simply called "Cultivate your garden". It's a good quote for discussion, don't you think? I'm not sure I agree with it entirely, though.

Anyone care to make a comment?

"In wildness is the preservation of the world."
You might also like to read this fantastic guest post by Eric Kane on Teaching Village blog, called "Proactive Discipline - Tend to your Garden". I love the gardening analogy!

Kittens in Olive Tree
Below is a short video of 3 of the kittens playing happily, freely and fearlessly amongst the olive tree branches high up. This video was taken this morning in the garden.

Having Kittens, Literally!!

From being a kitten to having kittens herself very soon, Samantha's life has been a dramatic rollercoaster ride in just 8 short months. Having been cruelly abandoned by her owner, she found her way to our home and this is her amazing story "Welcome to Samantha's World". You can also read "An Open Letter to Valentina from Samantha".

She's been wandering around like the cat that got the cream recently, and has according to a very reliable source, been getting bigger and bigger by the day. I would like her to organise herself so that she can have her kittens when I get back to Abruzzo, so that I can enjoy the excitement and all the fun involved!!

Click on the image below from the Visual Thesaurus to find out some synonyms for the idiom "To have kittens".


The Imminent Arrival of Frederick!
Yes, you may by now know that Frederick had his literary debut at IATEFL Brighton. I can now purposefully "let the cat out of the proverbial bag", or in other words, reveal a secret! Frederick is also the name of the future cockerel that I will buy as soon as I get back to Abruzzo. It has always been the intended name, just as little capon "Al Capone" was named way before he was ever bought!! Unfortunately, Al didn't last long. In fact he suffered a very untimely and gory ending at the talons of a wild local hawk. I doubt whether a baby cockerel would experience the same exit, but I guess I had better not tempt fate!

Below an image sent to me by K of a bird taken in the garden in Abruzzo yesterday. What is it? A falcon? An eagle? A buzzard? It looks quite pretty, anyway!!

You can view a video from BBC News ( 2008) about Basil the noisy cockerel here.
A story about an interesting hen can be read here.

Tulip Fever
How is my garden faring? I have to content myself with images of my tulips such as the one below, sent to me by my hubby K. I do hope I will see some of the many tulips and spring flowers I planted before I left! Apparently all my seedlings are growing dutifully, and I can't wait to inspect them in military fashion, and then transplant them.

The photo of my tulips has been embellished with the use of Tuxpi, my fave tool of the moment.

A chicken-proof area has been set up and so hopefully this year, my veggie crops won't be decimated and trampled over by the last four chickens left standing!

Happy Easter!
I wish all my readers a very happy Easter 2011. I hope you are enjoying the same kind of weather as in the UK at the moment - sizzling sunshine!!

Breaking News on Easter Day!!
Samantha has had 4 kittens today. Please see the first born below. More pictures to follow later!! It's a pity I've missed out on all the fun. Can't wait to see them all soon.

An Idiomatic Story - Part 2: The Return of the Lost Soul

Part 1 of this evolving digital story began here.

As he approached the bar in the tiny Abruzzo village, he paused for a moment and savoured the smells of cooking wafting across the terracotta rooftops. He was so hungry he could eat a horse, or a chicken or two.

Coming towards him was the most stunningly beautiful cat he had ever set eyes upon. The cat's eyes bored into him and made him feel uncomfortable. He looked away, full of remorse.


Bar del Principe was within a cat's whisker. He was absolutely penniless, without a bean to his name, but he was hoping the barman's daughter would take pity on him and forgive him if he gave her one of his devastatingly charming smiles.

He opened the door and walked in, slowly. The few customers drinking their Grappa Julia stopped and stared, mouths wide open in utter amazement. It was as if they had seen a ghost. "Non e possibile!! Frederick!! Ma... che fai qui???? We thought you had been kidnapped and.... .....", their voices trailed off in disbelief.

Frederick sought the eyes of the ravishingly beautiful Isabella behind the bar. She had just made a fresh Tiramisu and a jar of Kaki jam and was busily arranging the food on the counter.

"Mia cara Isabella.....," he began tentatively, hoping against all hope that she would find it in her heart to forgive him for abandoning her in such an ungallant and ungentlemanly fashion the year before.

Isabella's heart skipped 2 beats and her face turned as white as a sheet. She had been obliged to put her shoulder to the wheel in order to keep the wolf from the door, ever since that fateful, terrible day in December.

Mia cara, Isabella???

To be continued.....whenever I get inspired again

Addendum
Being a relaxing Sunday afternoon, I decided to challenge myself to continue the story I had begun a short while ago.

Firstly, I made a Tiramisu and then a small jar of kaki jam (Persimmon). I wanted to somehow include these two things into the story.

Secondly, I wanted to involve some idioms I had found on blogs and I came across 2 in Ken Wilson's blog in the comments section to Guest post 16 by Emma Herrod. If you scroll down the comments, it is number 23! A fabulous example of 3 idioms in one sentence. When I saw them for the first time I knew I had to use them in a story. So thank you Ken for the inspiration! Also, thanks to Scott Thornbury for the push for me to make the persimmon jam (kaki in Italian) today as a result of his message and lovely image of persimmons on Twitter.

Thirdly, I thought to myself, why not kill 2 birds with one stone by adding to the story for me to use in my presentation for Iatefl Brighton in April.

Fourthly, Barbara Sakamoto's inspiring post on 2011:Challenge: Become a Beginner (again) motivated me a lot.

Finally, I am getting myself to do what I usually ask my students to do, and this is a fresh perspective for me and a real challenge for 2011.

2010 - The Year of Going with the Flow!

2010 has far exceeded my very modest but wildly unknown expectations. My sidebar notes started off the new year with the following lines: "I have no idea what 2010 will have in store for me, whether virtually or on terra firma".

Long gone was the person who planned everything meticulously. The Janet who always had Plan A, B, C and then even D, just in case of unforeseen circumstances. The person who had to know everything in advance. I wrote the section below on my blog on December 30th last year - 2009:The Year of Living Technologically.

The Future of 2010
Where do I go from January 1st 2010? I don't really know. I will find out.

Will my life change overnight? I very much doubt it.

Will I continue to do my best in whatever I choose to do? Yes, absolutely!

Will I challenge myself enough? I hope so. Nobody else on this planet will do it for me.

Will I continue writing my blog? Yes, I very much want to. It has become an essential part of my life.

Will I strive to incorporate new e-tools wherever practicable? I hope so.

Will I finally unleash the demons preventing me from creating a Power Point Presentation? Yes, I really really want to!!

Taking the Powerpoint Plunge
Well, my goal of finally taking the plunge and creating my very first PowerPoint presentation has well and truly been achieved. I have created 10 Powerpoints this year and I plan to do many more in 2011. Having waited so long to use this tool, I feel there is a lot I want to learn. How to insert videos and other media into my presentations is a modest goal for the new year. Many thanks to Noel for sending me some great and inspirational videos.

A Year of "Flow"
Many wonderful things have happened in 2010 and it has been an action-packed year which I would never have imagined possible at this time last year. I would like to say a huge Thank You to every single person (and furkid), who has contributed to 2010 being one of the BEST ever in my whole life.

With the help of my amazing PLN I have:

• presented at the Reform Symposium
• presented at The 3rd Virtual Round Table
• presented at L'Aquila for Tesol Italy
• presented at Tesol-Italy's 35th National Convention in Rome
• been an e-moderator on the Learning Technologies Forum at IATEFL Harrogate Online
• written 3 Moodle book reviews for Packt Publishing
• written a book review for Zen and the Act of Teaching by David Deubel
• attended an EVO course on Images4Education
• woked for Macmillan as a proofreader / editor
• worked for the Consultants-E on an exciting "DM2" e-tutoring course
• taught on Teacher Refresher courses at the fantastic Lake School of English
• been interviewed by Marisa Constantinides for ELTChat podcast
• joined and contributed to Blog4Edu comments crew
• written guest posts for the following inspiring blogs: A Journey in TEFL, Teacher Reboot Camp, Teaching Village,(can you spot Joey in the lovely images' collage?) OUPELTGlobal, & Bits'n'Bobs/ Show and Tell.
  
• written my favourite blog post of the whole year- 1955:The Look of Love
• taken part in a few blog carnivals including this one
  

On a personal level I have:

• enjoyed being with my family and friends in Oxford and Abruzzo
• been back to England on the back of the Aprilia Rally Raid Capo Nord
  
• had lots of fun with Samantha, the new furkid on the block
• written a personal book review of "R U Listenin'? by Terry Bianchini
  
• made loads of home made tomato sauces
• made loads of fig jam / peach jam / apple sauces
• have made loads of Tiramisu, courtesy of Chikita, Berry, Ken Cluckie, Filito, (& Norris & Nikita now sadly demised)
• tended to and helped pick lots of olive trees
• made lots of homemade birthday cards / special events cards and Christmas cards
• unpacked a few more boxes
• collected a few more owls!

The Future of 2011
So, what does 2011 have in store for me? Well, this time I do know a little bit about what is planned!

I would like to do a 5-week Tesol Electronic Village Online course starting in January. I haven't chosen which course yet because there are so many fantastic choices.
I am interested in the following courses:

• Mentoring 2011
• Digital Storytelling
• Village 2011
• Podcasts ESL - EFL 2011

Please do join me in experiencing the excitement of being a student again. It's a wonderful feeling!! I can guarantee you will learn a lot!!

February 2011
I am doing another workshop in L'Aquila for Tesol-Aquila Action Group on Wednesday February 2nd 2011. I am really looking forward to seeing all the amazing teachers again.

On February 5th I hope to be presenting at Connecting Online 2011. My wonderful mentor and former tutor on the Moodle for Teachers course Dr Nellie Deutsch has invited me to present online. It will be a great pleasure!!

In February I will be tutoring on another e-course on behalf of the Consultants-E.

April 2011
I will be presenting at IATEFL Brighton on April 17th. I can't wait to meet members of my fabulous PLN and fellow tweeters during that time.

I would like to brush up my very basic riding skills and do my CBT (Compulsory Basic Motorbike Training) again at Abbey Motorcycle Instructors.

I hope to teach on more Teacher Refresher courses for the Lake School of English.

An Open Year Book
The rest of the year is an open book, waiting to be filled. More book reviews are on the cards. Who knows, I might even get down to writing my own e-book. That would be really cool.

Finally, I hope to achieve the very important goal below:

I would also like to do the following:

That's it!! The rest, I really don't know at this stage. I look forward to the new year and to seeing how it will all evolve.

Once again, many thanks to everyone I know who has helped me develop as a teacher and helped me to do my best.
In particular, I owe a lot to the amazing Shelly Terrell for encouraging me to venture into the thrilling world of online conferences and presentations. Without her constant support, I may not have given it a go.

I wish all my readers and fellow bloggers, tweeters, teachers, and students I have taught this year, a very Happy and successful New Year.

"Don't just dream it. Do it!"

Have fun, and may all your dreams come true!!

Back into the Grove!

The cultivation of olive oil makes for a nice alternative to the day job. Recently it was a case of "straight off the plane from England, and into the grove". The olive grove now has 70 trees which were each individually handpicked for 3 days by myself and K. We aim to expand to 100 trees soon, with the help of Xmas and birthday present money from "la famiglia". The posts to mark where each young 2 or 3 -year-old tree will go have already been dug in, ready for the grand event. A 5-year-old olive tree costs 25 euros, and anything older costs much, much more.


I didn't get bored at all. I found it was a very relaxing exercise and the thought of being able to cook with 100% extra virgin olive oil for a whole year and beyond, was a big spur in terms of motivation. After a few initial showers, which hindered progress somewhat, the weather turned out to be perfect for olive picking. Blue skies, not too chilly and peace and quiet. The different types of olives and the colours were fascinating. Small, big, wrinkled, all sorts went into the bucket I had. Perched rather precariously along an embankment, some of the olive trees were a bit challenging for me to pick and I had to do so with great care.

I was aided and abetted by 4 chickens. We used to have 7, but 3 of them are now sadly defunct, due to being whisked away by external wild forces. Trying to remove Samantha from the branches was also a little bit tricky!


Below is a Tuxpi-edited "Swirl" image of Samantha.

Here's me relaxing on the edge of the embankment. Below you can see some more trees in the olive grove.

A view of the back of the car, fully loaded up with our freshly picked olives, ready to go to the local olive mill. We paid 30 euros to have the olives pressed and given back to us in containers. We then poured the lovely oil into a big stainless steel container, which now has pride of place in our cool (no central heating yet) hallway.

Can you guess which of the glasses below contain:

a) 2009 olive oil
b) 2010 olive oil (unfiltered)
c)2010 olive oil (freshly filtered)

If trends continue to go upwards, as indicated in the graph below, I wonder if in the future, I could devote myself more fully to the cultivation of olive oil? It would be something very exciting.

Here is a link to a post I wrote last year on the subject of olive oil cultivation in Abruzzo.
You might also like to read the latest post by About Abruzzo Blog, which tells you about the Abruzzo Sunday lunch that was recently cooked using some lovely olive oil. It sounds absolutely delicious!
Here is another interesting post you might like to read about Abruzzo olive oil.
Have a look at this video from the Guardian, which features "The olive harvest in Italy".
Many thanks to Bits'n'Bobs blog for letting me know about it!!

Before I sign off, I would like to add an image of little Al Capone, taken with his buddy Kelly, shortly before his unexpectedly sudden and rather dramatic demise a few weeks ago.

Lauretum Vinum et Oleum
The historic centre of Loreto Aprutino is hosting "Lauretum Vinum et Oleum" on 4, 5, 6 and 7th December. This offers visitors the chance to taste delicious local delicacies based on the local olive oil produced in the region, and sample the lovely local wine, all at the amazing price of 10 euros a head. The stunning and beautiful ceramics of Castelli will be on display in the Acerbo museum of Castelli ceramics, where part of the wine tasting takes place.

Image above of ornate Castelli pot found via Yahoo search on Castelli images

Here is a link to the information. K and I will be going to the event in Loreto Aprutino this Saturday. We'll miss you N and P!