Workshops

THE BASIC WORKSHOP: PLAYING GAMES IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS!

It's a 3-day workshop (22 hrs) focusing on young foreign language learning

The basic workshop presents the framework of the Project-Based Approach (PBA). They are the steps which address language skills through peer cooperation.

The approach is child-centred, topic-mixed and involves gamified activities. All mentioned, addresses the child's concept of the learning: NATURAL, ENGAGING and MEANINGFUL of the information. The gamified activities can be adapted to different topics.

The language is introduced in its function, which means the vocabulary is always put in the context of an activity (text, poem, game, song etc.) and therefore used in a sentence.

The participants leave the workshop with the knowledge of the step-by-step approach to teach the use of language, to address the child's point of view, to organise gamified activities for learning the language (not isolated words) and social skills, and to organise a topic-mixed project.

This basic workshop is carried out through the project AUTUMN and gives teachers the means for approximately 25 lessons.

THE UPGRADE of the workshop Playing Games Is a Serious Business: SATURDAY MEETINGS (Four Saturday meetings, 8 hours each)

New ideas need time and practice to ‘sink in’. Therefore, Saturday meetings shine some extra light on the PBA.

Every meeting has different topics scaffolded in a project.

WINTER Saturday Meeting (in autumn) addresses the step SOCIAL GAMES (speaking)
SPRING Saturday Meeting (in winter) addresses the step LITERACY (reading and writing)
SUMMER Saturday Meeting (in spring) addresses the step LISTEN AND RESPOND (listening)
EVALUATING AND GRADING Saturday meeting (end of spring)

TARGET AUDIENCE for the workshops are beginner and experienced native or non-native teachers, who teach young learners (aged 5-11), with at least intermediate knowledge of English language.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOPS:

to present a topic-mixed and open-didactic approach in ELL;
to present how a story (picture book) can be the source of different topics and the red-line in cross-curricular focus;
to present a multi-sensory approach to different tasks;
to present a multi-sensory approach to storytelling;
to present the steps in a project work in which a certain step provides tasks and activities leading to learning different language skills;
to present how to create serious games and how to teach through them;
to present the elements which turn the activities and tasks into serious games, which can address different levels of pupils’ English language knowledge and at the same time practice their social skills;
to present a child-centered approach in which the teacher's role is to organise the learning process where the child is an active learner.

You can read more in the article: Mija Selič, Making Early Language Learning Effective, HLT Magazine, October 2015

THE FOLLOW UP WORKSHOP: VISUAL GRAMMAR (2 days, 16 hours)

The workshop presents the visual and tactile approach when introducing grammar, time concept, and tenses.

Moreover, it shows how to address writing, reading, speaking and listening with students aged 9 and 10 through a context (story). For that, the unique teaching tools (link do teaching tools) are used to provide the means for Visual Sentences, Visual Story, Word Web and Visual Grammar.

You can read more in an article: Mija Selič, Visualising Grammar and Literacy in Young Language Learning, HLT, October 2016

If you want to follow our posts on the PBA, follow us on the C00lSch00l blog, or sign up on our mailing list.

If you would like to have a workshop in your country, you can contact us at info@c00lsch00l.eu.

Frequently asked questions:

Podelitev diplom - Seminar Ljubečna avgust 2015

Who should attend the workshop?

Workshops are meant for the teachers who teach English as a foreign language to children aged 5-11/12. Also, some teachers who teach Spanish and German as a foreign language described the workshop as "very useful for their teaching". They adapted the activities to their target language. The framework of the programme (the PBA), however, can be used with any language.

Do I get any practical examples of the activities that can be readily used in a class?

All the activities presented at the workshops are ready-to-use in the classroom.

Do I get any materials?

All of the material used during the workshop is given to the participants. All of the teaching aids are available for the participants to try them out during the course of the seminar. Some of the material is free to be downloaded from our website, the CoolTool and the Cool Houses, however, can be ordered and delivered after purchasing.

What is the target language that the workshop covers?

The beginning seminar (teaching children up to the age 9) demonstrates activities through games in a concept (approach) that can be tailored to any language. As for its sequel, it currently covers only learning English language.

What can be achieved by using the C00lSch00l teaching aids?

By using the approach presented on the seminar together with the C00lSch00l teaching aids a lot can be achieved. Apart from the vocabulary, other aspects of language knowledge is learned. Up to the age of 8 the approach is focusing on children becoming familiar with some grammar (personal pronouns, indefinite articles as a part of the word, verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’, and plural) and the use of target vocabulary. By the time children are 11, they are already consciously aware of and can use plural, some modal verbs (can, must) and the verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’, as well as being familiar with the basic use of articles. Furthermore, they are aware of time relations (past, present and future) and know that verbs change according to the time of happening. They also know the time adverbs that determine past, present and future actions. Moreover, they become familiar with word order (subject – verb – the rest) and are also acquainted with writing a structured text. By using cooperative learning social aspect of language learning is covered as well as speaking.

How would you describe the essence of the approach?

Just because something’s a game it doesn’t mean it isn’t serious.

Where can we attend the workshop?

The seminars are currently taking place in Slovenia. However, for organised groups they can be arranged in other countries as well. The seminar fee varies, depending on the number of seminars held in a country, number of participants attending one seminar, and the prices of accommodation and travel.

How can the C00lSch00l teaching aids be purchased?

There are four types of C00lSch00l teaching aids. The CoolDoodles are free and can be downloaded HERE. Computer games are also free and can be played HERE. As for the CoolHouse and the CoolTool, they can be purchased separately or in sets. The detailed description together with the pricelist can be found HERE. In order to get the whole extent of the use of the CoolDoodles, the CoolTool, and the CoolHouse the seminars are recommended.
If you want to place an order, follow the link HERE.

How many sets of the C00lSch00l teaching aids does one school need?

If the school can organise its schedules so that the language classes do not overlap (at least the same grades do not) then one ‘Complete Set’ is enough for the entire school with up to 500 students. The 'Complete Set' consists of the two CoolHouses (the Cool Theme House and the Cool Alphabet House) and all of the cards (700 words, 3500 cards altogether).