Sweet and Bittersweet

 It's the last month of the calendar year, and keeping students focused on learning when there are all sorts of distractions around can be difficult. Today's blog focuses on a recent successful series of lessons with our MLLs (multilingual learners) in our ESL classes, as well as our recent 2025 First Lego League Qualifier / Regional Competition.

Spicing Up Lessons on Comparative/Superlative Adjectives and Noun/Verb Agreement

It was less about spice and more about sweets for this lesson! The activity served multiple purposes. The theme emerged after I asked students to make a list about things they'd like to get from me as a present. We learned about the qualities of a list (written in a column, sentences not required) and in their lists, I noticed that a lot of them requested candy. There are lots of different kinds of candy, so I decided to purchase a few different kinds of candy so that we could have a taste test. It was important for me to discover which kind of candies they liked the best, so that I didn't waste money on buying treats that they would not want to eat.

I actually conducted this lesson twice and improved it the second time. The first time I taught it, I wrote the names of the candies for them. This led to a bit of a backlog. The second time I taught it, we were able to review how to write adjectives and how to determine if we should use "IS" or "ARE" as the verb in our sentences, based on if the noun was singular or plural. Plus, with little cards with the names of the specific candies on them, I could shuffle and rotate the cards among the students, meaning there was less wait time between them writing, sampling, and then evaluating.

I really liked how I was able to differentiate this lesson. I conducted it with both my primary division ESL students and my junior division ESL students. For the STEP 1 primary division ESL students, we focused on the words good and bad. For the STEP 2 primary division ESL students, we added more words, such as best. For the STEP 3 and 4 junior division ESL students, they had to use other adjectives that I introduced on the first day, such as soft (softer / softest), sweet (sweeter / sweetest), and tasty (tastier / tastiest). Below is a sample of the "easiest" version of the task.

For my junior division STEP 1 and 2 ESL students, we added another oral component to the activity. We went to the office and asked our wonderful office administrator, Ms. Williams, to try some of the candy and tell us what she thought. 

I'll write about Ms. Deliah Williams at length some time in the future. Let me just say here that she is such an important part of my ESL program. She isn't a trained educator, but she knows exactly what to ask my ESL students and what to say to them to encourage them to talk in English to her. I didn't tell her the lesson objectives beforehand, but she a) listened intently as each child asked her to try a candy, b) acknowledged their efforts by trying every candy she was offered, c) used the vocabulary we were working on to describe what she personally thought of the candy, and d) asked the students which candy they liked the best, and rephrased it to ask which was their favourite type.

The data, based on their written responses, will help me select which candies to buy for their gifts. Having the sweets was an extremely motivating task and I had students who are usually reluctant writers quickly complete their sentences so that they could have more snacks. What I really loved seeing was how some of the students helped the others who were struggling. My fellow ESL teacher said she was so pleased with the results that she is considering doing the same task with the intermediate division ESL students.

York Mills C.I. Qualifying Tournament for First Lego League

On Saturday, December 6, 2025, Matthew Malisani and I took eight students to York Mills Collegiate Institute to participate in a major competition. We have been working since the first week of school to prepare for this First Lego League event. 

The students were super-excited and super-nervous. 5/8 of the team had done this last year, and for 3/8 of them, this was their first time. 

Matthew began the day on a sweet note by providing loot bags filled with treats and toys for each competitor.

Our school principal came by to see the students in action. He generously financed our AMPS Robotics t-shirts, which included the Unearthed design created by one of the team members. (Even the coaches got shirts.)

We were really well prepared, and started out quite strong. Points are earned during Robot Game challenges, as part of the Innovation Project presentation, and for Robot Design. At one point during the day, we were in first place for points on the leaderboard. (We have photographic evidence to prove it!)

Last year was our first year competing. We didn't expect to rank, but we were surprised and delighted when we earned the Rising All-Star prize. This year, we had high hopes. Our robot was built better than last year. Our presentation was well-rehearsed and hit all of the required elements within the allotted time. During our rehearsed practice matches, we earned more points and completed more missions than we had the year before. In 2024 we were in the top 40%, placing 17th out of 43 teams. This year, we were in the top 55%, placing 6th (I believe) out of 11 teams. It was a little bittersweet, knowing that we had improved as a team but not enough to earn a place at the provincial competition. 

The students still had a wonderful time, both during the official portions of the day, and during their "off times". They played games like Buildzi, Spot It, Ring and Ding Ding, and Tenzi, ate McDonalds for lunch, and were rewarded with snacks and 3D printed fidget clickers (sold by the York Mills C.I. Robotics Team as a fundraiser).

Big thanks to the students on our team (J, J, J, E, E, A, L, S) as well as L and E's family members, who also came to see their children compete. Even though the end result wasn't what we were hoping for, it was a great learning experience.