Four ways to make someone else smile

In a world surrounded by bad news, it may feel like an unhappy place sometimes. However, you can make a difference. If you make even one person smile today, you can help make this world a better place. Here is a list of ideas to help you. What are you waiting for? Go be amazing!

1. Send a handwritten letter

In this day and age where everything is sent via email, Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat, it’s a shock to receive a letter through the post. Putting pen to paper and writing a few words to a friend can be an easy way to make a positive impact. Even a postcard with a couple of sentences could really make someone’s day – all for the price of a stamp!

2. Volunteer

Requiring some time and research to find the perfect project, volunteering is one of the nicest things you can do. Whether you volunteer at your local youth group or take dogs from shelters for a walk, the simple fact that you are giving up your time to help someone else is incredible. There are so many opportunities, so you are sure to find one that is right for you. And it doesn’t necessarily have to take up all your time – it could be once a week or a couple of times a year.

3. Make something for a special person

Whether you’re creative or not, taking time to make something for someone else shows how much you appreciate them. Even if you think you’re not creative, the recipient will feel lucky to get such a unique gift that you put your precious time into. Some ideas could include a card, painting, drawing, song, poem or cake!

4. Tell someone ‘I love you’

Before you go ‘yuck’, it can be anyone – your mum or dad, grandparents, family member, friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. And you don’t even have to say ‘I love you’. Perhaps you can tell a friend that you appreciate all they are to you, or remind your mum that you love her. Sometimes, in our busy lives we forget to take a moment to tell people what they mean to us. 

Beginner, advanced and somewhere in between

Learning a foreign language is a demanding process and it can be easy to feel stuck at any stage. This may be at the beginning when you’ve just started, in the middle once you’ve mastered the basics or even much later on when you are approaching an advanced level of fluency. Sometimes these in-between stages can be challenging and disheartening, so it is important to always remind yourself how far you’ve come.

Maybe you mastered basic grammar a long time ago, but as things such as vocabulary and colloquialisms have improved, the parts you learned at the beginning have started to confuse you. In my case, I learned from this that it is OK to go back and revise simple things such as grammar and pronouns, as having focused on vocabulary improvement for so long it is only natural that you might slip on the basics.

Although being fully immersed in a language can be the best way to improve your comprehension and skills, it might also be frustrating when the language feels inescapable. When all you want is to hear your native tongue and have a conversation with someone without having to really strain your mind. It’s for this reason that in your free time you’ll probably be craving contact with your own language, maybe through reading or watching a film. There’s nothing wrong with this, but in my situation, I knew I was becoming lazy.

You might assume that living abroad is enough alone for you to progress to fluency. Of course, daily and consistent interaction with natives is one of the best ways of improving, but I realised I had sort of hit a wall. I knew enough to get by, but I wasn’t going the extra mile and using most of my free time to learn more. Language learning is a huge commitment, and if you don’t work hard to maintain it you can end up stuck at the same level, or worse, move backwards.

It’s inevitable that you’re going to need a break to relax with your own native language, but I now realise I had become too complacent and was no longer progressing as much as I would have liked. Since then, I’ve made more of an effort to read at least once a day and select options on Netflix in Spanish as opposed to English, allowing me to practise more skills which are equally important as speaking. I have some days when I feel like I’m really achieving advanced level and others when I feel more like a beginner, but I am now aiming to use this as motivation rather than an excuse for complacency.

Do emojis and GIFs restrict our language and communication?

Recently I read Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel by George Orwell set in a totalitarian state where even the language they use is controlled. Adjectives are forbidden and instead they use phrases such as 'ungood', 'plus good' and 'double plus good' to express emotions. As I first read this I thought how impossible it would be in our society to have such vocabulary. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realised in its own way it's already happening. I type messages to my friends and alongside each is the obligatory emoji. I often use them to emphasise something, or to not seem too serious, or because this specific GIF conveys my emotions much better than I ever could using just words. And I wonder, with our excessive use of emojis, are we losing the beauty and diversity of our vocabulary?

English has the largest vocabulary in the world, with over one million words, but who's to say what it'll be like in the future? Perhaps we will have a shorter language, full of saying 'cry face' if something sad happens or using abbreviations like LOL (laugh out loud) or BRB (be right back) instead of saying the full phrase. So does this mean our vocab will shrink? Is it the start of an exciting new era? Will they look back on us in the future and say this is where it all began – the new language? Or is this a classic case of the older generations saying, 'Things weren't like that when I was younger. We didn't use emoticons to show our emotions'?

Yet when you look back over time, the power of image has always been there. Even in the prehistoric era they used imagery to communicate, and what's even more incredible is that we are able to analyse those drawings and understand the meaning of them thousands of years later. Pictures have the ability to transcend time and language. Images, be it cave paintings or emojis, allow us to convey a message that's not restrictive but rather universal. 

How to Create a Backchannel on Padlet

Padlet is one of the most versatile tech tools that a teacher can have in his or her toolbox. From making KWL charts to exit tickets to simply posting ideas in a shared online space, Padlet can be used in nearly every grade level and subject area. And your notes aren't limited to just text on Padlet walls. In fact, there are ten types of notes that you can add to Padlet walls including screencasts, audio notes, and even maps.

Recently, I noticed that Padlet has a new wall template designed for hosting backchannel chats. In the following video I demonstrate how to create a backchannel on Padlet.

Classroom Ideas

As teachers prepare their classrooms and brainstorm back to school ideas for this year’s learners, they look at those blank walls and bulletin boards and envision the colorful possibilities. It can be loads of fun to create displays and give your classroom life and personality with the materials on your walls.

But interestingly, research actually suggests that there are certain types of decorations that supplement daily learning, and certain types of decorations that detract from daily learning. Which ones do you have?

Teachers tend to think of their classroom decorations, and other back to school ideas, as ways to set a particular atmosphere in their rooms. They want their rooms’ personalities to reflect a warm, inviting, academic tone that makes a positive first impression. And often teachers succeed with this. There is a certain freshness to newly created displays that extends that invigorating feeling a new year always offers.

So, as you decorate, definitely think about how your displays can help to set a certain tone about your classroom. Ask yourself, “What kind of atmosphere do I want my students learning in?”

What your decorations accomplish can go far beyond atmosphere. You must also ask, “How can my decorations enhance student learning this year?” Teachers often underestimate the long-term impact of what hangs on the walls. What hangs on the walls possesses enormous potential to “sink in” with students and provide them with a sense of community and ownership.

First, decorations -- namely posters -- provide opportunity for more passive absorption of information. When students are paying attention to you, they learn from you.

However, when students aren’t paying attention to you, they’re looking around the room. What will they see? Will they see signs and materials that reinforce the life lessons and academic insights you give, or will they see meaningless colorful décor that gives them something to think about other than learning?

Second, it is fruitful to preserve a portion of the classroom for displaying student work. When students see their own learning experiments and successes publically displayed, they obtain a unique sense of pride and ownership. Prominently displaying student work is akin to a parent hanging a kid’s test on the refrigerator: It’s a public affirmation of that student’s value.

Third, your decorations can help develop your class’ sense of community. The walls, after all, are something everyone shares and everyone can see -- so include visuals that contribute to a sense of togetherness or mutual understanding. For example, update what you or your students are currently reading on a big chart, have a question wall where students record their curiosities, or include an area where students’ academic goals are posted.

The above three areas -- learning, ownership, and community – make immeasurable contributions to student growth. But imagine the lost opportunity if the wrong decorations were used. Imagine how the wrong posters, the meaningless displays, or the same old, same old phrases were posted. Instead of supplementing instruction and aiding student growth, they would merely be bland, obligatory displays that communicate an equally bland sentiment about learning in that classroom.

So as you move to set the tone in your classroom with your unique decorations (and your other back to school ideas) this year, make sure that you consider what impact what’s on the wall can really have. Think about atmosphere, but also think about the learning, ownership, and community your decorations can facilitate. It’s amazing how much of an impact what hangs on the wall can truly have.

What do you have hanging on your classroom walls and bulletin boards? Share your ideas here and let us all benefit from your classroom decorations!

 

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