Graffiti to Story: Round the World in 60 Minutes

Who says art is useless and only for the creative minds?
Look at what can be done with  art + 'just-do-it, no-sweat' attitude~

This idea actually came up quite randomly....ad-hoc...wasn't planned. My actual plan was to use dictionary and do discussion. But when I saw them doodling endlessly on the board, my lightbulb ding-ed! Haha!

From a list of vocab to doodling on the blackboard till it became a big piece of art. Yeah, yeah... they enjoyed drawing on the blackboard. ^^'''

At first, they thought that it was just the usual vocab lesson but when I told them to create a story out of their 'graffiti', they gasp! HOTS! Linking all the pictures which doesn't look like linked to each other. But, they made it with a little guidance. And this activity got them overwhelmed and speaking out! Plus, their teamwork as a class got better since they have to discuss about what they drew and coming up with just one story.

Here's their story:
    I am from Malaysia. I like travelling. The first place I traveled to was the 'Sushi Land' which is Japan. There were many people in Japan. The Japanese like to eat sushi and ramen. They eat sushi and ramen in the restaurant. I enjoyed travelling around in Japan.
    Then, I flew to Saudi Arabia. I enjoyed eating kebab the most there. The people in Saudi Arabia speaks Arabian. I did not understand the language. At the hotel, the bell boy spoke something to me in Arabian. As I did not understand, I walked away. But, someone translated them for me and I got a shock to hear them. I ran away as quick as possible. (hahahaha! ^^''')
    After a few days in Saudi Arabia, I flew to India, the "sayur-land". Many Indians were vegetarians. I did not enjoy the food there because I do not like to eat vegetables. So, I always felt hungry in India. Before leaving,I bought a sari for myself.
    Wearing a sari, I flew to the Philippines. I was so hungry. So, I stopped at a shop to buy some bread. I need to use peso to pay up. When I was at the counter, the cashier thought that I was a Korean and said "Anyeonghaseyo" and bowed to me.

Okay, I know it sounded funny. But they did their best already! There were a few other versions in between. It's not that bad after all, right? They can actually create a story out of doodles~

Classroom Idea : Ask-me Bag!

Let me introduce something familiar yet different.

Have you heard of Parking Lot? The 21st century learning classroom idea? Yeahhhhh~~

This is something similar to Parking Lot. The difference is that this bag is not placed behind the classroom / not static. Rather, the bag will be passed around the classroom. And Question Slips are prepared by the teacher in advance.

Things to prepare:

1. Paper bag (used but in still in good condition ones)

2. Label (use your creativity to create an interesting one)

3. Question slips (use your laptop and print...then make copies of it...then cut them into slips)

The paper bag and the question slips (not cut yet)

When to use:

At the end of the lesson (as summary or QnA session)

Rationale:

I noticed that the pupils did not even touch the Parking Lot at the back of the classroom. Maybe, they're just too busy to be bothered by it...too busy to even think of questions to ask....or maybe, not even knowing what to ask.....I don't blame them in a way, because it is true that their schedule is pretty much jam packed. And, who wants to do extra work when they can't even handle the one they're supposed to do? They will surely take every opportunity to rest if they can find it due to their jam-packed daily schedule. I myself will do it if I am in their shoes, don't you?  

So, I was thinking, there must be another way where they can do it. 

After sitting down, day-dreaming, thinking, and analyzing,...I noticed that pupils will do something which is prompted on the spot. So, everything must be done there and then. That was when the idea of passing the bag around came up. I was thinking about the pass-the-box game and another incident of passing the box from the front to the back of the bus to collect back caps from the pupils during our recent field trip to Penang island and how smoothly it went compared to teachers shouting and yelling for the caps. ^^

With this bag, everyone will have to write a question on the slip given. The prepared slip will guide them on how and what to write instead of just giving a blank piece of paper; which I did once and got back blank and crumpled piece of paper. ^^'''

This way, they will be able to practice on their questioning / inquiring skills too. 

What question to write?

I set a limit to one question per slip per lesson (per person).

They can write any question they want to ask about the topic we have just discussed.

How does the teacher answer the questions?

Orally or you can take your time to write the answers behind the question slip respectively.

Impact:

Writing is a good form of communication for the shy / introverted people. Everyone in the classroom manage to come up with a query each. 

Examples of questions posed by the pupils ... spot some funny and  difficult questions

Let's watch a short video on it~ Enjoy!