Emergent language when it's an unplugged huge-egg-lesson with a very young learner

Easter is approaching so why not make a huge paper-mache egg in the 1-2-1 lesson with a very young learner?

One very uncool (and I'm being mild) thing that happened today

Perhaps nothing to do with Mike's challenge, I'm juist a bit upset. Actually furious, literally swearing non-stop.

This is 15th March 19.15 p.m.
Yesterday in the morning hours it started to snow in my tiny country. It all turned into a severe blizzard that took for over 24 hours.More than 10000 people spent the night in cars on the roads. (Some of them are still there.) They were cold, hungry, thirsty and what's probably the worst part, had no idea when they would escape. Rescue professionals were working hard. And thousands of everyday people were ready to help. I saw the thing this morning, I read the news on Facebook and listened to the radio. On Facebook I saw an update by a guy who was stuck in his car, letting us know about a young couple (with a chihuahua) who were giving away food from a giant bag. Guerilla helpers.I thought I could help if there were people in need around here. I wanted to find a map or some practical info on where and how to help, but no use. The websites of the authorities/state services/etc. were just useless or not even working.I spent the morning sharing updates from people who sought help and others who wanted to help. I wished for some central hub for all these, to coordinate it all, finally by the afternoon there was that map. A group of volunteers created a simple Google map to coordinate it, thanks to them, marvellous people. I’m sure there have been examples of human kindness and help in numerous other cases, and I hope finally everyone is fine and I’m happy to know that our society has ample resources of humanity and care. 

The thing that bothers me is that ... I know how fast it can be in the 21st century to connect. I wonder what would have happened if we were more aware of ... that, we had more 21st century skills and tools up our sleeves.
So .. I’m sure those in governmental positions and the relevant offices are very intelligent professionals and they must hold excellent qualifications and certificates with the best grades and stuff.But ... what if that map had been created by those officials who are supposed to be in charge of these matters? Yesterday afternoon let’s say.
They just didn't think of that?



What I’m getting at is ... Do we really need to make kids memorize and regurgitate things at school? Do we really have to tell them what to do step by step, without making them aware why? Shall we go on spoon-feeding them? Isn’t it high time to do a bit more of project work? Problem solving? Creativity? Communication? Collaboration? Collaborative ICT tools? Responsibility? Ownership? Decision making? Setting up priorities? Dealing with unexpected situations? Snow in March? (It wasn’t an earthquake, for God’s sake.) Am I still the weirdo with those video projects? Should I really be entertaining my students and call it motivation? Shouldn't we rather kick their asses to get up and do something ... before LIFE gives that painful kick?


Just asking myself, never mind. Sorry, I’m very pissed off.

Ah, the ill-targeted text from the Ministry of Interior. saying "We're going to help you. Don't leave your car. If you run out of petrol, sit in another vehicle." Sent to ...everyone? I don't even have a car.

Early March Love Story

It all started with these two pre-schoolers, who left their Miss and Mr Potato here in the armchair. 

Two lessons later L arrived (a nine-year-old girl) with a booklet. It had girls and stickers of clothes in it. Obvious, let’s do something about clothes.
Then she spotted the two potatoes....

I took a picture of them and got the ShowMe app and asked her to draw clothes on the potatoes and I recorded a description of their outfits. She also drew a speech bubble in which Mr Potato showed his affection towards Miss P.


-


Then we somehow started to play with Miss and Mr Potato, she was the girl, me the boy.
This was the moment it turned out that Miss P didn’t reciprocate Mr P’s feelings, because she found him too fat.
I thought he could do something about it and suggested the diet and some exercise.
Unfortunately a potato won’t get any slimmer. Then L said this knife thing... And it was inevitable: Mr P had a plastic surgery!
So we recorded this video. L carved the he-potato :)

Then I thought it was time for a bit of reading: while L was doing the first and the third tabs of this and this I wrote the story on sticky notes. 

Then she ordered them to put the story together again. Then we recorded this video and drilled the text a bit. 





Now all the stuff is on her blog and hope she’ll have a look at that.

How will I test her on it? That’s the part that is not exciting at all for me... hmm... suggestions?