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Contents
Pages 4 to 14
Look out! There are elves in
your house!
Pages 15 to 19
Photocopiable activities.
Pages 20 to 24
Let’s play!
Page 25
Photocopiable activity.
Pages 26 and 27
Are you ready to be a
school leader?
Pages 28 and 29
USB memory stick: portable
office for the English
teacher.
Poster 1
Look out! There are elves in
your house!
Poster 2
Let’s play!
ear colleague,
This month’s edition welcomes the new season and brings
along lots of resources to make it special.
On poster 1 some mischievous elves pay us a visit and offer
the chance to revise some areas of grammar and vocabulary and
trigger the students’ imagination to write and retell stories.
Poster 2 presents a variety of children’s toys and games with which
you will be able to work in different ways to get your students’ oral
and written skills down to work.
Any teacher who wants to make a difference should read the article
on positive leadership, a key element for overall improvement in a
school, as well as the article on the benefits of using a USB pen drive
as a work tool.
We wish you a happy Teacher’s Day!
The Teacher’s Magazine team
D
AÑO 15 - Nº 161
SEPTIEMBRE 2013
ESTA ES UNA
PUBLICACIÓN DE:
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Dario Seijas / Archivo digital: Cecilia Bentivegna / Ilustración: Alberto Amadeo, Roque Angelicchio, Fernando Cerrudo, Emmanuel Chierchie, Gabriel Cortina, Mariano Martin / Color digital: Gonzalo Angueira, Mónica Gil,Viviana Kuhn,
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C 1999 The Teacher’s Magazine

44
lves are tiny men with pointed ears, long noses
and red pointy caps. They look funny and
amusing but most of the time they are
mischievous and play tricks on you.
They may be creepy, always lurking around the house, staring
at you out of those shiny little eyes; they may be naughty
spending long hours making mischief. They may tear cushions
apart and scatter the filling all over the carpet, write on the
walls, jump on your father’s favourite armchair, pull the toilet
paper out of the roll, strew clothes all over the floor in your
room, tilt pictures in the living room, hide your keys in strange
places where you would never lay them and many, many other
things. And the most curious thing is that you can never see
them!
However, a few days ago, our brilliant photographer caught
some elves red handed while they were having fun at breakfast
table.
Mum was upstairs helping the
children get ready for school,
while they were…. well, no need
to say, just have a look. Luckily
for us, we can take advantage of
these elves’ mischief to teach or
revise some areas of grammar and
vocabulary and trigger the
students’ imagination to write and
retell stories. You may present the
poster saying these previous
words as an introduction to the
subject, then get down to work.
Look! There’s an elf
in my coffee!
Show your students the
first part of the poster
where the elves are in
action. Have them
describe the scene using
there is/are and prepositions of place. The students in small
groups write sentences and share them with the class.
Ask them to count elves and things and say: There are … elves
in the picture. There are … lumps of sugar, etc. Then, the
students make a list with non-count nouns such as milk,
coffee, sugar, butter, toast and write sentences: There is some
butter on a tray.
Elves in the present, elves in the past
Let’s revise the Present Continuous Tense using verbs like
swim, slide, climb, hide, make, dive, and sit.
Present the second part of the poster to
deal with the Simple Past, Past
Continuous and Present Perfect.
Photocopiable activities on pages 6 to
14 will help you choose the most
appropriate exercise/s.
E

55
Writing about elves
Ask the students to draw their bedrooms after the elves paid
a visit and describe what happened/has happened in the
room.
Tell them to think about all the things elves could do in their
rooms, what mum would say and how they would tidy their
rooms up. You may want to write a list of words they should
use on the board.
Elves love chocolate chip cookies!
As elves love cookies, if we prepare some we can make them
stop from doing naughty tricks. The following is their
favourite recipe. Ask the students to make them at home and
share them with the class. They shouldn’t forget to leave
some for their elves at home!
Elves’ delis
Ingredients
• 1 cup of softened butter
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 3 cups of all-purpose flower
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of chocolate chips
First, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a bowl and whisk
the flour and baking soda.
In another bowl, you can use an
electric mixer here; put the white
and brown sugar and the butter.
Beat at medium speed until the
batter is fluffy. Next, at a lower
speed, add the salt, vanilla and
eggs. Mix for one minute. Add the
mixture of flour and baking soda
you have put aside. Mix a little
more. Finally, don’t forget the
chocolate chips. Put them into the
mixture. On a tray put spoonfuls of
the batter and bake for about 10
minutes until they are nicely
brown.
The elves will have no time for
naughty tricks!

6
WHAT IS GOING ON AT BREAKFAST TIME?
Level: Elementary + Age: All
It’s 8 o’clock and breakfast is ready. Mum is upstairs. She is helping the children get ready for school. Meanwhile,
downstairs, funny things are happening at the table. Can you write what the elves are doing? How naughty they are!
Write sentences using the vocabulary in the box.
Scene A
Scene B
climb up - dance
make angels - dive into
sugar lumps - toast
butter - milk and coffee
table cloth
eat - lie - slide
chocolate chip cookies
butter - spoon
sit - cookies’ tray
coffee spoon
Scene A
1) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
An elf is making angels in the butter on the piece of toast.

7
WHAT IS GOING ON AT BREAKFAST TIME?
Key: Scene A: 1) An elf is making angels in the butter on the piece of toast; 2) An elf is dancing on the tablecloth; 3) An elf is climbing up the sugar lumps;
4) An elf is diving into the coffee and milk. Scene B: 1) An elf is lying on the butter on a piece of toast; 2) An elf is sitting next to the cookies’tray; 3) He is
eating chocolate chip cookies; 4) Three elves are sliding down the coffee spoon. Scene C: 1) Two elves are hiding under a napkin; 2) An elf is sleeping under
the knife; 3) An elf is getting out of the butter; 4) Two elves are bathing into the milk and coffee.
Scene C
sleep - get out of - bathe
butter - knife - napkin
Scene C
1) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Scene B
1) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8
ELVES HERE AND THERE, ELVES ARE EVERYWHERE!
Level: Elementary+ Age: All
A) Can you complete the following sentences using the correct preposition?
1) There are two elves lying ……………… two pieces of toast.
2) There is an elf standing ……………… the brim of a cup.
3) There is an elf dancing ……………… the cups.
4) There is an elf ……………… top of the sugar lumps.
5) There are two elves ……………… the napkin.
6) There are two elves ……………… the cup.
7) There are two elves sliding ……………… the coffee spoon.
8) There is an elf ……………… the chocolate chip cookies.
9) There is an elf ……………… the butter.
10) There is an elf ……………… the knife.
11) There are three elves ……………… the sugar pot.
on

9
COUNT OR NON-COUNT NOUNS?
B) In the following box there are a lot of nouns. Some of them are count nouns and others are non-count
nouns. Colour the count nouns in blue and the non-count nouns in red. Then, complete the table.
C) On a separate sheet of paper make sentences using the nouns in the
box and quantifiers such as a lot, some, few, little, many and much.
Compare your sentences with your mate’s.
Key: A) 1) on; 2) on; 3) between; 4) on; 5) under; 6) in; 7) down; 8) next to; 9) in; 10) under; 11) behind. B) Count nouns: knife, tray, coffee spoon, sugar pot,
sugar lump, cookie, chocolate chip, curtain, saucer, window, table cloth, napkin, elf, dish, bowl, clock, fridge, drawer, box, chair. Non-count nouns: milk,
butter, toast, sugar, chocolate, fruit, coffee.
milk - butter - knife - tray - coffee spoon - toast
sugar pot - sugar - cookie - chocolate chip - curtain
coffee - window - chocolate - napkin - elf - sugar lump
saucer - dish - bowl - fruit - cloth - clock - fridge
drawer - box - chair - table cloth
Count nouns Non-count nouns

10
THE ELVES HAVE BEEN HERE!
A) What a mess! Look at the picture, match and complete the sentences using the Present Perfect Tense.
1) There are angels on two pieces of toast.
2) The sugar lumps are scattered all over the tablecloth.
3) There is a hole in the butter.
4) A napkin is crumpled up.
5) There are half eaten chocolate chip cookies and
many crumbs near the cookie tray.
6) The tablecloth is wrinkled and there is a set of
footprints on the tablecloth.
7) There are two footprints on the brim of the cup.
8) Coffee is swirling in the cup.
a) The elves …….…….…….…….… (bathe) in the milk and coffee cup.
b) They …….…….…….…….… (climb) up the sugar lumps in the sugar pot.
c) The elves …….…….…….…….… (eat) some cookies.
d) An elf …….…….…….…….… (dive) into the milk and coffee.
e) The elves …….…….…….…….… (make) angels in the butter.
f) An elf …….…….…….…….… (get into) the butter.
g) An elf …….…….…….…….… (dance).
h) The elves …….…….…….…….… (hide) under it.

11
WHILE MUM WAS AWAY… ELVES DID PLAY!
B) At 8 o’clock things were completely different at the table. What happened while Mum was away? Make
sentences in the Simple Past using the verbs in the box.
While Mum was away…
1) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
9) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
10) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Key: A) 1)-e) have made; 2)-b) have climbed; 3)-f) has got into; 4)-h) have hidden; 5)-c) have eaten; 6)-g) has danced; 7)- d) has dived; 8)-a) have bathed.
B) Answers may be different. 1) The elves made angels in the butter; 2) The elves bathed in the milk and coffee; 3) An elf dived into the coffee; 4) The elves
climbed up the sugar lumps; 5) The elves scattered the sugar lumps all over the table; 6) The elves ate the chocolate chip cookies; 7) The elves crumpled
the napkin; 8) The elves hid under the napkin; 9) An elf got into the butter; 10) The elves walked all over the tablecloth.
make - bathe - get into - crumple - eat - climb - dive - walk - scatter - hide

12
THE ELVES’ FAVOURITE RECIPE!
How to make angels on butter!
Key: A) 1-c; 2-e; 3-b; 4-f; 5-g; 6-a; 7-d.
A) Before going away, the elves left this recipe. They left in a hurry and it got mixed up. Put the sentences
into the correct order.
a) As you are doing this, move your legs in and
out as if you were doing jumping jacks while you
are lying down.
b) Make sure to make press all parts of your body
on the butter, especially your head.
c) Choose a piece of toast spread with a lot of
butter on.
d) Get up carefully messing up the butter as little
as possible.
e) Carefully lie down on your back in the butter,
with your arms and legs stretched out.
f) Stretch your arms out, laying them on the butter.
g) Move your arms back and forth across the
butter, keeping them straight.
B) Where can you make angels? Write the instructions in your notebook.

13
THE ELF AND THE SNAIL
Level: Beginner Age: Children
Colour the picture.
BLUE
BLUE
WHITE
WHITE
WHITE
GREEN
GREEN
GREEN
YELLOW
YELLOW
YELLOW
GREEN
GREEN
BROWN
BROWN
ORANGE
RED
PURPLE
RED

14
Key: (Father): Son, can you help me out? (Son): Sure, Dad. What shall I do? (Father): Please bring me a bucket of dew to water the flowers. (Son): Ok, Dad.
(Father): And bring some rich soil to fill in the flower beds, please.
HELPING NATURE
Level: Elementary Age: All
Father and son are helping Nature with its work in the woods. Write their dialogue in the right order.
– And bring some rich soil to fill in the flower beds, please.
– Ok, Dad.
– Please bring me a bucket of dew to water the flowers.
– Sure, Dad. What shall I do?
Father: ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Son: ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Father: ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Son: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Father: ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Son, can you help me out?

15
Ideal teachers are those
who use themselves as bridges
over which they invite
their students to cross,
then having facilitated their crossing,
joyfully collapse, encouraging them
to create bridges of their own.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Greek writer and philosopher
1883 - 1957

16
OUR GRANDFATHER’S FARM
It’s spring time and we are visiting our grandfather’s new farm. He asked us to help him measure it. Are you
ready? Have a ruler and pencil at hand.
A) First label the picture with the words in the box.
400m
a)………………
b)………………
c)………………
d)………………
e)………………
f)………………
g)………………
house – pen – shed – river – water tank – windmill – gate
B) Measure the distances and answer the questions.
We are at the gate.
1) How far is the bus stop? ………………………………………………
2) How far is the house? ………………………………………………
3) How far is the water tank? ………………………………………………
4) How far is the windmill? ………………………………………………
5) How far is the shed? ………………………………………………
6) How far is the river? ………………………………………………
7) How far is the pen? ………………………………………………
REMEMBER!
1 cm = 100 m
It’s 400m.
Key: A) a) river; b) shed; c) pen; d) windmill; e)water tank; f) house; g) gate. B) 2) It’s 300m; 3) It’s 800m; 4) I’s 900m; 5) It’s 600m; 6) it’s 1,000m; 7) It’s 500m.

17
MY IDEAL FARM
A) On a sheet of paper, draw your ideal farm. Colour and cut out the following pictures, paste them on your
design and label them.
B) Make sentences describing your farm. You can use there is, there are, have, etc.
Example: There’s a big pen on my farm.
C) What do you do on your farm? Make sentences with the verbs in the box.
Example: We collect eggs.
WINDMILL BARN SHEEP TRACTOR GATE HORSE
FARM HOUSE PEN HEN PIG COW WATER TANK
to collect – to milk – to water – to work – to plant – to drive – to feed – to ride – to plough

18
WELCOME, SPRING!
Level: All Age: Children
Colour the mandala, cut it out and laminate it. Then use it as a decoration for your classroom or bedroom.
Teacher: let students colour the picture in the colours of their choice.

19
LOVES ME, DOESN’T LOVE ME
Play this game and find out if someone loves you or not.
How to play:
1. Colour each daisy centre yellow and cut them out.
2. Pick a daisy, think of your favourite star and pluck out the first petal saying (Name) loves me.
3. Pluck out the second petal saying (Name) doesn’t love me.
4. Go on like this till all the petals are gone.

oster 2 presents a variety
of children’s toys and
games with which you
will be able to work in
different ways to develop your
students’ oral and written skills.
Classifying
Before the class ask the students to
bring their favourite toys and games
to the class. Teach the new
vocabulary and have the students
classify the objects on the poster. Let
them decide the headings under
which they are going to write toys or
games on the board. For example:
Girls’ games/Boy’s games. Indoor
games/outdoors games, etc. The
students can also add their own toys
and games to the list and show
them to the class.
Where can you see it?
The students ask this question
about each object on the poster:
Where can you see a slide? I can
see it in a playground. Where can
you see a tricycle? I can see it in my yard!
Describing toys and games
As an introduction you can describe the roundabout saying that
it is a rotating platform with bars to which children can cling to
push it while running around. We can see them in parks or
school yards. Another name is ‘Merry-go-round’ or ‘Carousel’.
Have the children describe the images on the poster using the
vocabulary and the structures they know. The following is a
guide for you to help them or to provide a different description.
A swing is a hanging seat/chair suspended from a wooden or
metal frame. It goes backwards and forwards until somebody
brings it to a halt. It can be made of plastic, wood or tyre.
You can see it on playgrounds.
A sandbox (or sandpit) is a low container filled with sand.
There you can play with buckets, shovels, trucks; build
sandcastles, dig holes or bury treasure.
A slide is a structure with a ladder on one side and a plastic or
metal smooth surface that goes straight to the ground. You can
climb, sit down on the top and slide down the slide.
A seesaw is a long, narrow board that pivots in the middle so
that when one end goes down, the other goes up. You and your
friend sit on it and go up and down
as many times as you like.
A yo-yo is formed by two disks and
a length of string. You usually insert
one finger in a slip knot and when
you throw it downwards the yo-yo
hits the end of the string, it winds
back to your hand, and then it is
ready for you to throw it again. It was
invented in Greece many, many years
ago.
A hobby horse is a long stick with a
model of a head’s horse at one end.
You can ride your horse wherever you
want!
A teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of
a bear. (FYI, it was named after
President Theodore Roosevelt who was
commonly known as Teddy.)
A doll is a model of a human being.
(FYI, it goes back to the ancient
civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome
around 100 AD.)
A skateboard is made of a board and
four wheels. To use it you have to put
one foot on the board and push with the other on the floor.
A rattle is a baby toy made of wood, plastic or cloth. It contains
pellets or bells that make sounds when you shake it.
A kite is a light framework covered with cloth or paper. You can
fly it in the wind at the end of a long piece of string.
A robot is a machine that resembles a human and can move on
your command.
A tricycle is a vehicle that has three wheels, one at the front and
two at the back. It also has pedals. It is used by small children.
What is it? What am I speaking about?
You may want to use this information to make a game. Divide
the class in two groups. One group will receive envelopes with
these descriptions and the other the names of the toys or
games. The groups in turns take a strip out of the envelope
and read. The opponents have to provide the part that matches
with the one which was read aloud.
To complete this activity, have your students describe and talk
about the toys they have taken to the classroom. They can say
why they like it, who gave it to them, how old it is, etc.
P
20

CARDS: LET’S PLAY! WHAT IS IT?
A ROUNDABOUT
A rotating platform with
bars to which children can
cling to push it while
running around. We can see
them in parks or school
yards. Another name is
‘Merry-go-round’or
‘Carousel’.
A TEDDY BEAR
A soft toy in the form
of a bear.
A SWING
A hanging seat/chair
suspended from a wooden
or metal frame. It goes
backwards and forwards
until somebody brings it to
a halt. It can be made of
plastic, wood or tyre. You
can see it on playgrounds.
A SKATEBOARD
A board and four wheels. To
use it you have to put one
foot on the board and push
with the other on the floor.
A SANDBOX
(OR SANDPIT)
A low container filled with
sand. There you can play
with buckets, shovels,
trucks; build sandcastles,
dig holes or bury treasure.
A RATTLE
A baby toy made of wood,
plastic or cloth. It contains
pellets or bells that make
sounds when you shake it.
A SLIDE
A structure with a ladder on
one side and a plastic or
metal smooth surface that
goes straight to the
ground. You can climb, sit
down on the top and slide
down the slide.
A KITE
A light framework covered
with cloth or paper. You can
fly it in the wind at the end
of a long piece of string.
A SEESAW
A long, narrow board that
pivots in the middle so that
when one end goes down,
the other goes up. You and
your friend sit on it and go
up and down as many
times as you like.
A ROBOT
A machine that resembles a
human and can move on
your command.
A HOBBY HORSE
A long stick with a model of
a head’s horse at one end.
You can ride your horse
wherever you want!
A TRICYCLE
A vehicle that has three
wheels, one at the front
and two at the back. It also
has pedals. It is used by
small children.
21

22
PLAYING IN THE PARK
Level: Begginer Age: Children
Colour the picture and label the toys and games.
Key: a) kite; b) ball; c) balloon; d) slide; e) seesaw.
a) ………………………………
b) …………………………
c) …………………………d) …………………………
e) …………………………

23
PLAYING IN THE PARK
Level: Elementary Age: Children
Read and draw the missing parts of the picture.
It is a beautiful day and lots of children are playing in
the park. Three boys and a girl are making a circle on
the grass. There are two girls playing in the roundabout.
There are three boys playing on the slide and a boy and
a girl are hiding behind the trees. A baby is playing ball
near his mother. She has a dog on a leash.

24
PLAYING HIDE-AND-SEEK
Level: Elementary Age: Children
Read and draw the missing objects, then colour the picture.
It’s a beautiful autumn day in the park. A boy and
a girl are playing hide-and-seek behind the trees.
The boy has dark hair. He is wearing a green
sweater, blue jeans and brown trainers. The girl has
blonde hair. She is wearing a red sweater, a blue
tartan skirt, pink socks and black shoes. There is a
bird making a nest on a tree and there are three
butterflies flying over some flowers on the grass.

25
SPRING BRINGS GOOD THINGS!
Level: Elementary + Age: Children/Adolescents
A) Choose the right name/s for each water can.
B) Draw the water droplets falling over the flower.
respect - honesty - courage - love - patience - humour - kindness
thankfulness - obedience - confidence - generosity
PETS SCHOOL MATES FRIENDS
FAMILY NEIGHBOURS TEACHERS

ecent research states that the key element for
overall improvement in a school is positive
leadership. What is more, leadership does not
apply only to the head of the school, but to any
teacher who wants to make a difference. In other
words, positive leadership is shared and everybody can benefit
from it.
Sharing leadership does not imply “I do this, you do that”; it
refers to initiating projects and letting others participate in
them. Being a positive leader in a school is very important
because schools are an essential part of society, and good
examples influence everybody: teachers, students, and parents;
consequently the whole school community wins.
Teachers who are leaders have two distinctive characteristics:
respect and affective bonds with the school environment.
School leaders are not a myth; they are real and you can be
one of them. Such teachers are interested and interesting; they
are involved not only in the long-term theoretical goals, but
also in the here-and-now school business. It can be said that
leaders encourage people to fulfill their skills, actions and
beliefs. Leaders are people who are committed to the school,
its people and, therefore, society. If you want to become a
leader, do not be afraid. Many leaders are not born leaders; on
the contrary they learn to exercise leadership. Some leaders are
not magnetic or inherently charismatic, but they work their
way through their calling to be role models.
Miguel Angel Santos Guerra, the Spanish psychologist
specialised in education says that there are two types of
teachers: type A teachers, who are optimistic, enthusiastic, and
willing to improve the school; and type B teachers, who are
pessimistic and discouraging; they phagocytose and
contaminate teachers type A. In fact, many teachers feel they
can ameliorate various school situations and they express that
desire to make a change, however teachers type B convince
them that it is not worth while doing it, saying that nothing
will ever change or no one will ever notice. Any teacher can be
a positive agent of change, as long as they do not let
pessimistic work mates weaken their motivation.
In order to be a leader, teachers must be perceptive and have
problem-solving traits. There are three stages involved in
leadership:
• Initiation: leaders start a project.
• Development: leaders carry out a project.
• Delegation: leaders need to be ready to pass on the torch to
others who feel inspired by the leader or the project; this is
important because leaders cannot do everything on their own.
More specifically, these are some of the tasks that a leader
should carry out:
• Identifying and articulating a vision: this vision symbolises
a personal desire, or a school/classroom need.
• Creating shared meanings: showing all the members of the
school/classroom how important the project is.
• Communicating: this is an essential skill to transmit the
importance of the goal that needs to be achieved.
• Creating and sustaining a competitive school: important
schools and relevant teachers transcend the classroom
activities.
• Empowering others to make significant decisions: this has
to do with attitude; the right attitude is contagious and gets
very good results, always moving the schools forward.
Characteristics of leaders at school
• Honesty: they always do the honest thing.
• Focus: they know where they are going and have a strong
stated mission to lead students/colleagues.
• Passion: they must have passion for what they want to do.
The project becomes their mission.
• Excellent persuasion abilities: People have to believe in
leaders and their credibility. It is not necessary to be a
charismatic preacher to talk others into something; actual
examples will also convince other school members.
• Confidence: Leaders believe in themselves. Leaders should
not confuse confidence with arrogance.
R
26

• Care: The strongest, and deepest leaders care; they show
they care through their words and actions.
• Engagement: Great school leaders are able to get a great
number of the school members engaged. They do this by
bringing a challenge to the school life.
• Celebration: In today's world, people are working very long
hours and celebration is necessary to recharge batteries.
• Collaborative: True leaders know the importance of team
work; therefore they encourage input and feedback from those
around them so that everyone feels part of the process.
Our modern world needs positive leaders. Our society claims
action. Students look at us, adults, all the time. Isn’t the school
the right place to begin? Are you up to the challenge? Do you
dare to become your school’s positive leader? It takes only one
step to make the difference, and we can all do it.
Aurea Obeso
References
• Brighthouse, Tim & Woods, David; How to improve your school;
Routledge;1999.
• www.e-lead.org/principles/successful.asp
27

owadays it is hard to imagine working at the
computer without using a USB memory stick.
These portable devices offer several benefits.
Apart from being small and having a big storage
capacity (up to 64 GB today), they are reliable and
can work properly with the three operating systems, Linux,
Windows or Mac iOS.
In this article we will show how to install free applications in
your USB pen drive, which may be useful for the English
teacher.
Let us start by mentioning some of the main advantages:
• As the applications can be operated directly from the pen
drive, teachers are not dependent on the contents of the hard
drive of any computer.
• All the generated files are saved in the removable device,
securing data privacy.
• Programs are completely operational and functional; they
may only lack a few components such as help files or some
language versions.
• There is a broad array of free programs covering all the needs
of a computer user including safety, office software,
multimedia, and graphic design.
Flexibility, autonomy and high performance are the immediate
strong points of using a USB pen drive as a work tool. Now we
shall see how to create this personalised portable office.
Portable applications
The applications we will recommend are free and can be easily
operated from a pen drive so they do not require special
computing knowledge nor do they demand any complex tasks.
You just have to follow these steps:
1. Searching the programs. On the Internet there are plenty of
sites offering a wide variety of free programs. We have chosen
www.portableapps.com, which is quite complete in spite of its
simple design.
When you click on the tab Get Apps, a new window will open
showing the available applications organised into sections such
as Accessibility, Office or Internet.
2. Installing the applications. Choose one, click on it and the
following screen will display:
Figure 1
It provides a brief overview of the program’s main features,
such as its size in MB, its main functions, license details (they
are usually free), installation help, and so on. You just have to
follow the steps taking care not to select the hard drive but the
portable device as the destination unit.
The application will open from the portable device and there
will be no need to access the hard drive of the computer you
connected the pen drive to.
Other interesting download sites:
• www.pendriveapps.com
• www.gratisprogramas.org/descargar/tipos-de-aplicaciones-portables/
• es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_aplicaciones_portatiles
Must-have software for your pen drive
Here are some useful programs to carry in your pen drive.
They are not strictly didactic, but still they are interesting to
facilitate classroom work.
ClamWin
Using a personal pen drive offers no guarantee of protection
against malware that may spoil your work. ClamWin is an
interesting option to feel at least reasonably safe when inserting
your pen drive in different computers, even though it is not as
powerful as some programs that are installed in the hard drive.
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28

With ClamWin you can scan any PC to which you plug in your pen
drive. The virus data base can be updated from any computer with
Internet access and it does not require many system resources so
you will be able to carry out several tasks at the same time. Just
remember that virus scans are not automatic, so the user has to
decide when to scan the PC or the pen drive.
Spybot Search and Destroy
Spyware is software that, without interfering with the PC’s normal
functioning, spies and tracks daily activity such as your web
surfing interests and habits, and transmits all the gathered
information to third parties. Spybot contributes to block the
unwanted activity of such intruder programs, thus preventing your
browser start page from changing or unnecessary navigation bars
from being installed.
Keepass Password Safe
Today you need to remember many passwords; to access your
email account, your LinkedIn profile or your favourite social
network, among others. And it has become even more difficult to
keep your data safe when you plug in your USB memory stick into
a variety of computer devices. Keepass Password Safe offers the
possibility of managing all your passwords in a secure way by
putting them into one database which can be accessed with one
single master password so that memory cannot play you a dirty
trick.
7-ZIP
File size may be a problem when it comes to download or send
files as attachments by email. The best option is to zip them, but
today there are so many ZIP formats that it may be difficult to
know which one to choose. With 7-ZIP you can zip or unzip your
files using the most popular formats like .zip, .tar or .rar.
Portable Firefox
When you surf the net sharing computers with other users, as it
happens in any educational institution, you usually leave a trail of
your activity or you may forget to logout correctly allowing the
next user to access.
Portable Firefox enables you to surf the web without leaving a trail
as the bookmarks, cookies or download history remain in your pen
drive securing your privacy.
The GIMP
With the portable version of this image editor the user can modify
images or photos by correcting faults, applying filters or adding
text. As images are so useful for teachers, it is a good idea to have
this application in your pen drive. Besides, it is very easy to
operate.
Inkscape
Using graphical elements has become commonplace for teachers,
especially for those who tend to design their own materials
tailored to their students’needs. The portable version of Inkscape
will allow you to draw freehand, create geometrical figures, edit
images (for photos the best choice is The GIMP), or colour shapes
in just a few easy steps.
Lightscreen
When surfing the net we generally come across images which we
would like to save but are not printable or cannot be partially
copied. If we press the key Prnt Scrn, we end up dragging
unwanted elements such as advertisements or accompanying text.
So Lightscreen offers a solution by enabling us to capture and save
only the section of the web page that we find interesting. Using a
key combination, the process takes a few seconds with the bonus
that the captured image is saved directly on the pen drive leaving
no trails on the computer.
Openoffice
With this office suite you may carry out a broad range of activities
from your USB memory stick because it contains a word processor,
a spreadsheet program, and a drawing or presentations
application called Impress that enables you to open and edit .ppt
files. In spite of being an office suite, it proves to be very useful for
teachers to make summaries, prepare exams, draw up students’
lists, create word search puzzles or make presentations including
image and sound.
VLC Media Player
When teaching a language it is common to listen to music or
watch films from the computer. It is also frequent to have such
problems as the lack of certain codecs required to visualise a
specific video format or the lack of plug-ins like Flash Player, which
is essential to watch animations. These difficulties can be avoided
using VLC Media Player, which reads and reproduces a broad
spectrum of multimedia formats, provided it is periodically
updated.
Artha Portable
Being an offline thesaurus, Artha Portable does not require an
Internet connection. Once installed and opened, its icon appears
in the system tray and it is activated using a hotkey (by default, Crtl
+ Alt+ W). This screen opens:
We have searched for the word
“fume”, which is not very
common, at least at primary
school level. Results show
several meanings including
synonyms, derivatives and
related words (Figure 2). This
easy-to-use tool can help you to
solve lexical doubts without
having to access the Internet.
GoldenDict Portable
For a more complex vocabulary
search, you can use this online
application. For example, if you
look up“Stonehenge”, in the left
column you will see numerous
search options (Figure 3).
Information is gathered from
Wikipedia, Babylon or any other
sources, and can be easily
accessed by clicking on the links.
To sum up
As we have shown, carrying a USB pen drive is highly
beneficial for English teachers as it can be uploaded with a
variety of useful applications. In this way you will gain
independence and privacy while working with your favourite
programs from any computer regardless of the software
installed in it.
Francisco García Jiménez
CEIP "Las Mimbres"
Maracena, Granada, Spain
Translated by Mariela Starc
Figure 2
Figure 3
29

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