Learning diary

Victoria Harbuz, Kovel

1. Learning Diary (Task nr.2)
Task nr. 1: Introduce yourself
Viktoriia Harbuz, Ukaine

Hallo! I'm a teacher of English and German from Ukraine. My students are 10-16 years old. I love
travelling and working in the garden. I'm looking for partners for mutual eTwinning projects from
European countries.


Task nr.3: The survey "How innovative are you?"

Task nr. 4: Design your ideal classroom
I like the idea of the classroom when every student has his/her own desk with a laptop or a computer on
it, a big smartboard in the front. It should be a light, spaciious classroom equipped with all modern
technology devices.

2. Task nr.5: The methodologies
Project-based method used in eTwinning projects is used by me in the classroom. Due to the work with
partners in the eTwinning platform it helps to develop different competences. The work in eTwinning is
based on the interactive aspect, team work and develops students’ abilities in critical thinking. At my
lessons I use such methods as creative writing and comic strips; ICT; different kinds of games and
interactive tasks like Learning Apps.

Task nr.6: Children's thinking skills development
For problem solving I sually split my students in groups, give them the task and ask them to suggest
different viewpoints how to solve it. All ideas are welcome. Students disscuss pros and cons, make a
poster of their ideas and present their viewpoints to the whole class. The viewpoints of all groups are
later compared.

Task nr.7: CREATE A GAME




When was Kovel founded?
a) 1580 b) 1830 c) 1380
Where is Kovel situated?
a) In Volyn region b) in Rivne region c) in Kyiv region
Who was Kovel Founded by?

3. a) The king Yaroslav b) the king Danylo Halytskiy c) the king Stanislav
What does Kovel coat of Arms represent?
a) an ancient castle b) a horseshoe c) an ancient castle and a horseshoe
What does Kovel coat of Arms mean?
a) happiness and prosperity b) happiness c) prosperity

Task nr. 8a: CREATIVE WRITING
In my eTwinning project "A short adventure story in my town' the task was to create a story with real or
imaginative characters which happened in our towns. Firstly, I asked students to brainstorm the ideas
what our story would be about. Then we voted for the best plot. After that we decided who would write
the beginning, the main body and the ending for the story. After having collected all the ideas we
corrected our story. Finally, students created a crossword puzzle to their story.
Task nr.8b: Snowball game
Person1 says a word, person2 adds one more word to the previous word to make a phrase logical.
Person3 makes a logical phrase cosisting of 3 words. The game continues until all the words in the
sentence are said in the correct order. In this way we teach students to make long sentence from one
word suggested at the beginning.
Task nr. 9: Lesson plan “Seasons”
Visual aids and hand-outs:
 pictures of four seasons;
 sheets of paper for every student to complete the poem “Seasons”;
 charts for every student to fill them in with necessary information from the story;
 pens, markers.
Objectives:
 to practice students’ grammar skills, such as use of Past Simple in oral speech;
 to develop students’ communicative skills and critical thinking;
 to teach students to analyze information and draw conclusions.
Explanation
The target vocabulary is based on the topic “Seasons”. The story can be used for developing four
basic linguistic skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking. The activities suggested to the story can be
used at any stage of the lesson (beginning, the main part, ending) appropriately as pre-reading/listening,
while- reading/listening, after- reading/listening tasks.
Story “Four Wishes”
(children are not told the title of the story and the ending of it)
“One winter day Dan came home from the skating-rink. He was very happy. His face was red and
fresh. He said to his father:
“How nice it is in winter! It is so frosty and snowy. I can skate the whole day I want winter to be
all the time!”

4. ”Write down your wish in your notebook”, said the father.
Soon spring came. The weather was warm and sunny. Dan ran and played with his friends in the
yard and in the garden all days long. One day he said to his father:
“How nice it is in spring! I want spring to be all the time!”
”Write down your wish in your notebook”, said the father.
Then summer came. Dan and his father were busy in the garden. The flowers were so beautiful
and bright, berries and fruit were so sweet. One day Dan said to his father:
“How nice it is in summer! It is so hot and the sun shines brightly! I want summer to be all the
time!”
Soon autumn came. The weather was windy, cloudy and cool. There were a lot of red apples,
yellow pears, blue plums and grapes in the garden. Dan was very happy, so he said to his father:
“How nice it is in autumn! I want autumn to be all the time!”
The ending of the story which the students do not read/listen:
The father took out the notebook, showed it to his son and said:
“Now, Dan look at your wishes and read about winter, spring, summer and autumn. So, what is
the best season of the year?”
Pre-reading/listening activities:
1) Drawing the mind map in four groups. The teacher divides students in four groups and gives
each group the task to draw the mind map “Seasons”. After having done the activity one
student from each group presents the mind map to the class.
2) Memorizing the poem “Seasons”. Each student is given the sheet of paper with the poem
“Seasons” which has got four blanks and asks students to fill in the blanks with appropriate
colour given in the list:
BRIGHT, YELLOW, WHITE, GREEN
Spring is _________ (green),
Summer is ________ (bright),
Autumn is _________ (yellow),
Winter is __________ (white).
Students may use different appropriate markers in the gaps to draw the colour of the season. Firstly in
chorus, then individually students recite the poem.
3) Brainstorming. The teacher asks the children to brainstorm the idea “ Why do you like winter/
spring/ summer/ autumn?” All suggested ideas are written on the blackboard.
While-reading/listening activities:
1) Lining up the pictures that depict the events of the story in order they happened. Firstly, the
activity can be done in groups, later on the blackboard as the model to check if the children
were right.
2) Suggesting the title for the story. This activity can be organized in the form of the competition,
the group with the most interesting title wins.

5. 3) Predicting the end of the story. The activity can be done in groups at first, then presented in
front of the class. The group with the most interesting ending wins.
After-reading/listening activities:
1) Filling in the table with the information from the story.
season weather why Dan liked it





2) Retelling the story using the information from the table.
3) Acting out the story.