THIS IS IT!

It's over! Our great PE seminar came to its end! On June 11th, we developed our last meeting at Malva-rosa beach. It was the best way to end up our experience. Nobody missed it but Gaby, who is working and she couldn't make it. Everybody had planned playful beach games and we didn't stop playing until our last breath!

As usually, I don't know if I'll remember the exact order of the games and their real names but that's not a big deal, is it? I think we started with Vicent, who explained us a type of volley very useful because... net is not needed! That makes it easier to play anywhere anytime! It works practically equal to volley but you have to mark a big square in between both team's places. That big square works as a net. So, if you hit the ball and it bounces inside the square, it's a turnover and the other team gets 1 point.

Then, Luis showed us a very funny game: Jumping Frog. We used the same volley court as in Vicent's game. It's a sort of a cooperative volley. Both teams hold a sheet and they have to throw a little balloon filled with water. The other team has to catch with their sheet and, again, they have to throw it back. So on so forth until any team misses the shot. We had a great time playing Luis' game even more when the balloon exploded!

After that, Mònica explained her game. She called it Frisball because it mixed Frisbee and Baseball. In fact, it works equally to baseball but, instead of a ball, you use a flying disc. However, at the end, there was a little surprise... The winner team could wet the looser team with water! Every winner teammate had a balloon filled with water and they had to chase the looser teammates.

Susana's game was also a cooperative game. It was called Transport the wounded. It was very funny because each team had to bring their wounded players to the hospital using a towel. It was a kind of a relay race because every teammate had to be "wounded" and transported to the hospital. The winner team is the one that finishes sooner.

Later, Fernando explained us the game he had planned. It was called The code. First of all, we set in a circle holding hands. We had to keep kicking a ball until it went off the circle. When it did, the teacher had to call out a number -1, 2 or 3- and, depending on the number, everyone had to do an action we had decided before. If you were the last in doing the action, then you had to sing an english song in front of the rest. It was very embarrassing because Jose Luis -CEFIRE's coordinator- joined us at the end and he could see some of us singing in english!

Last game was Nuria's. It was also a playful game and very adapted to the beach because it was a kind of a Crab's race! I don't remember the exact name of it but I like to call it in a funny way: Crab attack! What do you think, Nuria? Do you like it? The game has to be played in the shore, near the water. First of all, you have to make a pretty big circle. Somebody will be the chasing crab and she o he has to touch the others. If you are touched, you have to get off the circle like a crab and reach the water. When you do so, then you can come back to the circle. It was very funny watching a bunch of adults moving like crabs on the beach!

This was the last game but, still, there was missing a special activity, a little surprise. Actually, it was my turn. I told them I wanted to finish the course myself and since they had worked so hard the last activity was going to consist in inviting them: we were having a beer at the bar! It was a little detail, the least I could do for them after enjoying so much this months shearing my english with these great teachers. So, Fernando, Nuria, Nacho, Luis, Susana, Carles, Enrique, Belen, Jose Luis, Mònica, Vicent... Thanks a lot for the good times!

See you soon, folks!

Didac Botella

OUR BEST GAMES!

Hi, every body!

I'm back to our blog just to write a little report of our last meeting. It was May 26th at IES Font de Sant Lluís and the topic we had choosen this time was to develop our best game; that game it always work with our students. It was a pity because practically half of the group (Luis, Fernando, Nacho, Gaby, Belén...) couldn't make it but still, we had a lot of fun.

I'm not sure what was the real order but I think we started with Susana's game. She called it "Ball sit down!" and it was a ball chasing game which is played individually. The game starts everybody running around the place. One of the pupils holds a ball in his hands. When the teacher says "Go!", he has to try to hit somebody. If he touches you, you will have to seat down. The game will finish when everybody is seated. Here you are the main rules Susana wrote:

There are no teams.  It consists of throwing the ball against everybody and avoiding being touched by it.  When someone is touched by the ball, this person has to sit down on the floor. The ones on the floor are eliminated but they are allowed to play again if they  catch the ball from the floor. At this moment they have to stand up and throw the ball. If  the ball touches the floor first, the player is not eliminated. If the player catches the ball in the air, the one who threw it is dead. The game ends up when there is only one player standing up with the ball and the rest of the students are sat down. Then, it was Mònica's turn. Her game was a kind of a basketball race, where you had to bounce the ball and do different things with your partner. You have to play in a circle and everybody does the same action at the same time. Afterwards, Nuria explained her game, which you could name "Terrific square" because everybody has to fit in a small square and avoid the tennis balls the teacher is throwing to us. If the ball touches you, you have to call out in English what part of the body the ball has hit you and you have to step out of the circle and pick up three balls and bring them back to the bag. Vicent explained to us a pretty famous game that he adapted to English: "Land, Sea, Air". It's a very simple game with only three commands: "Land" calls for jumping ahead; "Sea" means jumping backwards; "Air" calls for jumping up. However, it gets tricky as the teacher goes faster in calling them. After that, we play a game called "Black and White". This was Enrique's game. It was also a simple game but very exciting because it needs to be very focused. It's played by pairs. Everybody stays still, right behind his or her playmate, back to back. One will be "White" and the other, "Black". When the teacher says "White", "Black" has to scape running strait until crossing the end line. If "White" is able to touch "Black" then he or she has got 1 point. If not, "Black" gets the point. After that, I explained a very close game but I added a new rule. In this game there is a third command. It's called "1, 2, 3... Reaction!". It works practically the same but there are a few changes. First of all, pairs won't situate back to back but side to side, separated by one meter, plus or minus. Then, it's the same as Enrique's game but if the teacher says "3" pairs have to hug each other. Both members of first pair in hugging, get 1 point. Moreover, Carles explain another "dramatic" way of playing this game. He called it "The Prince, the Dragon and the Princess". The game is played in a very similar way. Nevertheless, a dramatic rule it 's added: the teacher doesn't call out none of the three commands; he calls out "Go!" and in that moment, everybody has to show his character to his pair by body expression. so, if you act like a Dragon and your partner is the "Princess", the "Princess" will have to run away; "Dragon" will scape from "Prince" and "Prince" will scape from "Princess". By the way, Gaby had prepared one game but we couldn't develop it. She sent it to me because she couldn't come. Anyway, we must be happy this time because she couldn't make it because she started to work in a school! good for you, Gaby!  Well done, everybody! And remember: we'll meet next June 10th at Malva-rosa beach in order to play water and sand games! Start preparing the games! It looks to me we'll have a lot of fun! Don't miss it this time! DIDAC BOTELLA