How to text in English. Some examples

As non-native english speakers, it is difficult for us to text in English as natives do. Having a look at some examples may give you some clues so that you can begin to practice your texting.
Just try to do this activity first, andthen, try to create new messages based on these ones.

An app to engage discussion in the classroom

Here you have an app that attempts to make from the Internet a place to deliberative and to open debate. KIALO www.kialo.com
Through this app you can debate anything, big or small. It has been designed to keep decisions balanced, claer and concise from both sides, making easy to weigh the pros and cons. You can dive as deep into the debate as you want, just click on an argument and other supporting or opposing claims will be display.

Rewordify

One of the harder things a CLIL teacher must do is crete material and adapt teaching materials to their students' english level. Here I leave you one online application to simplify difficult English text into simpler ones.  REWORDIFY- https://rewordify.com/
With Rewordify.com you just have to enter hard sentences (or whole chapters) into the yellow box at the top of the page. (You can also enter a web site URL. Click Rewordify text and you'll instantly see an easier version, for fast understanding. The reworded words are highlighted— click them to hear and learn the original harder word. You can change how the highlighting works to match the way you learn!

ERCcOMICS

ERCcOMICS is a creative and ambitious project that exploits the power of visual storytelling
to innovate the way European science is communicated.

https://www.erccomics.com/ 

You can read these comics in Class and later work on them or ask your students to think of an end. 

How can ICT help in CLIL? (II)

Here I bring you another great example of how ICT can help you and your students to make learning more engaging. If you want to teach them about the digestive system, it is always difficult for them to remember which nutrients begin to be digested in the mouth, which in the stomach, and which ones are exclusively digested in the intestine. It may be also difficult to understand that water is never digested, and is exclusively absorbed in the large intestine. With this interactive game (made by John Kitses, 2008), you can:

Aquí os traigo otro gran ejemplo de como las TIC pueden ayudar a tí y a tus estudiantes a hacer más interesante el aprendizaje. Si quieres que ellos aprendan sobre el aparato digestivo, siempre es dificil para ellos recordar que nutrientes comienzan la digestión en la boca, cuales en el estómago, y cuales son exclusivamente digeridos en el intestino. También puede ser dificil comprender que el agua nunca se digiere, y es exclusivamente absorbida en el intestino grueso. Con este juego interactivo (hecho por John Kitses, 2008), puedes:

 

How does your body digest different foods?

 - Test  how much your students know about the digestive system

 - Learn about the different organs that make part of the digestive system and the main processes that occur in each one

 - Test if your students know which are the main nutrients found in a selection of foods

 - Help your students understand and learn in a more significant way the process of digestion

 - Comprobar cuanto saben tus alumnos del sistema digestivo

 - Aprender sobre los diferentes órganos que forman parte del sistema digestivo

-  Comprobar si tus alumnos conocen los principales nutrientes en una serie de alimentos

- Ayudar a tus alumnos a comprender y aprender de un modo más significativo el proceso de la digestión

You can work this orally or make your students write about it. They may work alone, in pairs or small groups. This depends on what skills you prefer them to practice. What is more, you can bring other foods to the class, and ask them to draw or represent by using ITC the digestive process of these new foods.

Puedes trabajar esto oralmente, o hacer que tus alumnos escriban sobre ello.   Ellos pueden trabajar solos, en parejas o en pequeños grupos. Esto depende de las destrezas que prefieres que ellos practiquen. Además, puedes traer otras comidas a la clase, y pedirles que dibujen o representen mediante el uso de las TICs el proceso digestivo de estas nuevas comidas.

How can ICT help in CLIL?

CLIL adds difficulty to content learning as we are teaching students in a foreign language in which they are not fully competent. This can bring boredom to classroom and the feeling that they will not be able to learn and memorize something. ITC can help us to do lessons more engaging and support them with visuals. Here I leave you a very simple example of how I used a prezi to explain students aged 15 years old what is cancer and how it develops in a body. Later, you can suggest them to research about another disease, or give them the steps (just text)  all randomly mixed and ask them to order, to illustrate and create a similar prezi.
 

El AICLE añade dificultad al aprendizaje de contenido al estar enseñando a los alumnos en una lengua extranjera en la que no son completamente competentes. Esto puede traer aburrimiento a la clase, y el sentimiento de que no serán capaces de aprender y memorizar algo. Las TICs pueden ayudarnos a hacer nuestras lecciones más motivadoras y apoyarlas con imágenes.Aquí os dejo un ejemplo muy sencillo de como usé un prezi para explicar a mis alumnos de 15 años qué es el cáncer y cómo se desarrolla dentro del cuerpo. Después, puedes sugerirles investigar sobre otra enfermedad, o darles las etapas (solo el texto) y pedirles que las ordenen, ilustren y creen un prezi similar.
 

How does cancer grow and spread?