Xmas 2010

Halloween (click here to find some classroom materials)

October 31st

First of all, here is an excellent "recut trailer" of Mary Poppins, very appropriate for Halloween:

A SONG: This is Halloween, from Nightmare Before Christmas

and

A WITCH, or so they say (by Monty Python)

Vocabulary: stroke. The British F.A.S.T. campaign

Here is a very effective campaign to help people identify the symptons of a possible stroke on another person and make them act FAST. Click on the image to go to the site.

Here is another campaign, this time to help you identify the symptoms of a heart attack in yourself and act on them before it's too late.

Unfinished crossword (personality adjectives):

Here are the definitions for the crossword we could not finish in class.



Help: you completed many of the definitions in class.
Handicap: these are dictionary definitions and that means that the vocabulary and structures used in them are more complex than those used in class.

1 DOWN: painfully desirous of another's advantages / suspicious or unduly suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival.
2 DOWN: Treated with excessive indulgence; having the character or disposition harmed by pampering or oversolicitous attention;
3 ACROSS: having or displaying warmth or affection
4 DOWN: (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering / causing suffering and pain.
5 DOWN: having or showing good spirits / pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
6 DOWN: offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power.
7 ACROSS: concerned chiefly or only with yourself and your advantage to the exclusion of others.
8 ACROSS: not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent / habitually speaking the truth.
9 DOWN: combining clever conception and facetious expression.
10 DOWN: characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity.
11 DOWN: marked by independence and creativity in thought or action.;
12 ACROSS: possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching.
13 ACROSS: disinclined to work or exertion.
14 ACROSS: pleasing in appearance especially by reason of conformity to ideals of form and proportion.
15 DOWN: responsive to physical stimuli / being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others.
16 DOWN: tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield.
17 DOWN: enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance.
18 ACROSS: expressing or feeling or resulting from compassion or friendly fellow feelings / having similar disposition and tastes.
19 ACROSS: acting or arriving or performed exactly at the time appointed.
20 DOWN: willing to give and share unstintingly / not petty in character and mind.
21 ACROSS: showing lack of care for consequences.
22 ACROSS: dependable - worthy of trust / worthy of being depended on.;
23 ACROSS: having an unreasonable dislike of or preference for someone or something.
23 DOWN: showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior, etc. / marked by refinement in taste and manners.
24 ACROSS: showing a brooding ill humor / subject to sharply varying moods.
25 ACROSS: inclined to or conducive to companionship with others.
26 ACROSS: favorably disposed; not antagonistic or hostile;
27 DOWN: lacking civility or good manners.
28 ACROSS: marked by simplicity / having a humble opinion of yourself / free from pomp or affectation.

(Note: click on the picture for more crosswords)

Opinion article

Write an opinion article of a minimum of 150 and a maximum of 200 words on one of the two following topics:

1) Psychics, believe it or not.

2) Reconsider Columbus Day. Watch the following video and write an article for a magazine expressing your opinion:

On page 49 in your books you will find some help about the structure of this composition. Deadline: Wednesday 20th October.

Me too / So do I

We introduced in class the structures "so do I" and "neither do I" to replace "me too" and "me neither".

If you need to revise how this structures work, click on the following link and read section

2. So/Neither do I, I do, I don't., etc.

If you don't know or you are not sure about when you can use "me too" and when you should use "so do I", here is the answer from the BBC Learning English site to this question:

Finally, here are some exercises about the structure "so/neither do I":

Man Invents Machine To Convert Plastic Into Oil

The "Fun Theory" attacks again

The Fun Theory: fun can change behaviour for the better. This trend has given birth to excellent advertising campaigns like the one with the musical stairs.

Here is another example which combines technology with fun. It comes from Sweden and it intends to make people pay for their broadcasting fee, a tax citizens must pay also in the United Kingdom in order to be entitled to watch TV at home (click here for details).

Here are the two campaigns. Which one do you find more effective?

SWEDISH CAMPAIGN

(click on the picture to go to the site)

BRITISH CAMPAIGN

The Queen's Speech

TimesOnline:The Queen's Speech: Live reaction
Date: Tuesday May 25, 2010
Time: 11:30 BST

By Peter Brookes, cartoonist for TimesOnline

Elephant Parade

The elephants are on the streets of London from May until July, and are attracting an estimated audience of 25 million...(click on the picture to continue reading)

International Biodiversity Day

To read about the meaning of this celebration, click on the picture.

And here is a beautiful story to make us think:

Interview with woman suing telephone company after cell bill exposed her infidelity

Yesterday, the Canadian newspaper National Post published an interview with Gabriela Nagy, the woman who is suing her phone company, Rogers Wireless Inc., claiming that a breach of her contract had led to her husband discovering she had had a love affair. Click on the picture to read the interview.

Plurilingualism: how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull

Although we have been getting news of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull practically every day since its eruption started, you rarely hear its name on the news.

Firstly, its real name is Eyjafyoll, as the rest makes reference to the glacier which covers it and not to the volcano itself. You can read more about this and about the fun Icelandic people are having with the mispronunciation of this landmark in Telegraph.co.uk : British attempts to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull causes hilarity in Iceland

As for the pronunciation, here is a fragment from abc.NEWS.com which is available in yahoo.news where an Icelander pronounces it. But she does not make clear the fact that the real name is shorter. Maybe she wants to keep the difficulty for the fun of it.

How to Pronounce Eyjafjallajökull

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Election Day Vocabulary

Tomorrow, 6th May 2.010 is election day in the United Kingdom.

Students sometimes ask about the vocabulary related to this, especially on the voting day.

Here is a piece of authentic material which can be used in order to extract information about the terms listed below.

Students should suggest a definition and/or their translation into their language after reading it. Click on the pictures to see them better.

Tip: you can role play a voting situation when they have to elect their class representatives.

Local Goverment Elections

Parliamentary Election

Poll Card

Polling Station

Ballot Paper

Polling Booths

Ballot Box

Presiding officer

Life-cycle: John Lewis's ad

As a teacher, I tend to choose materials by how useful they are in the learning context but some other times their artistic or entertaining value makes them worth mentioning.

Here is an ad for John Lewis which has both. When I first saw it I really liked it but it also made me think about how good it was to introduce the topic and vocabulary of the different ages we go through in life: childhood, adolescence, maturity... (see other suggestions below)

It seems I'm not the only one who liked it, as it has gone viral on YouTube this week. Here is the video and a link to MailOnline, where you can read an interesting article about it.





The £6m ad that's got Britain talking - and sobbing

Added on May 9th:

Why the John Lewis advert has us hooked

More ways of exploiting the advert:

* "Can" for abilitiy: the song, Billy Joel's She's Always A Woman is based on the repetition of the structure "she can ..." to make a list of the "abilities" a woman may have (from the point of view of the singer, of course). This can also be used as a topic for discussion at higher levels.

*Descriptions: students may describe the different actresses and see their similarities and differences (on top of age). Actually, at a certain point, they might notice some slight change in height in one of them. Also the background changes but here is where the ad has received the only negative criticism, as it does not seem to change in time.

*Biographies: the story in the ad could be used to invent a biography and add details which are not mentioned, like the woman's job, her husband, where they live, etc.

More suggestions?

Logorama: A Story with Brand Names and Logos.

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

Teacher helps pupils cheat

GCSE: the General Certificate of Secondary Education is "an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland" (Wikipedia)

Public school: although it may sound like a contradictory term, a public school is that which is run by private hands, as opposed to a state school, which is run by education authorities and on public funding.

Teacher at princes’ school helped his pupils to cheat in French exam (Timesonline)

Gordonstoun teacher banned after pupils get exam 'tip-off' (News.scotsman.com)

Tube workers taught how to use toasters after burnt toast shuts King’s Cross | News

Some friends managed to escape the volcano ash crisis and met with the dangerous workers' burnt toast.



Tube workers taught how to use toasters after burnt toast shuts King’s Cross News

Games: The Times Spelling Bee

The Times Spelling Bee is part of the TIMESONLINE and a good way to practise your spelling and listening skills. It is addressed to native children, so you will need to know quite a good range of vocabulary. It's worth trying and you can also learn new words.

Remember the menu on the right where you can choose different types of games.



Spelling is not consistent in English and that creates serious problems to both native and foreign learners of the language. That is why you may have seen some reference to spelling championships in some movie or series from an English speaking country. Something totally strange to Spanish speakers, for example.

Summer Term

Classes shut and exams threatened as ash cloud clogs working Britain - Times Online

The problem comes from the fact that most schools start today after the Easter Holidays and many teachers and students were abroad when the "ash crisis" started.

The academic year in primary and secondary schools in the UK is divided into three terms: Autumn, Spring and Summer (traditionally called Christmas, Easter and Summer terms, these names have changed due to political correction). In the middle of each term there is a week holiday called half term. There are also some bank holidays scattered along the year as well as the main vacation periods: Summer, Christmas and Easter.

For more detailed information about the British school calendar you need to check the information about a particular area. Here is the calendar for 2009/10 at the London Borough of Hackney:

The Learning Trust - The Future for Education in Hackney

It is interesting to contrast this calendar with that of New South Wales in Australia: New South Wales School Calendar

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Shakespeare's Birthday: What A Piece Of Work Is Man!

Today, 18th April, is Shakespeare's Birthday, and it is celebrated at The Globe, the reconstruction of the theatre built for his company, although this one is not in the exact location of the original. Click on the picture on the right to read about its history.

References to Shakespeare and his works my appear anywhere and at any moment in the English speaking culture. An example:

In the the musical "Hair", at the moment in London, also a film, one of the songs is "What A Piece Of Work Is Man" and the lyrics come from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Act II, Scene II). It is a beauftiful although not very uplifiting passage (Hamlet is a tragedy and this quotation summarises Hamlet's melancholic mood at a certain point).

The song is also beautiful and it is sung at a critical moment in the musical.

The lyrics

What a piece of work is man!

How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculties!

In form and moving how express and admirable!

In action how like an angel!
In apprehension how like a god!

The beauty of the world!

The paragon of animals!

...

I have of late--but wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth,

This goodly frame, the
Earth, seems to me a sterile promontory,

This most excellent canopy, the air, you,

This brave o'erhanging firmament,

This majestical roof fretted with golden fire,

Why, it appears no other thing to me

Than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
...

What a piece of work is man!

How noble in reason!

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Act II, Scene II)

HAMLET

I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation
prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king
and queen moult no feather. I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.


If you want to read Shakespeare's works, this is an excellent site:

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Chatroulette

Jeffrey Hill has an interesting post about Chatroulette. You can find it by clicking on the picture. He explains what it is and inserts some links to articles commenting on the advantages and the risks of this new "social game".

This now is a video made using Chatroulette, which I find quite funny. In it, somebody is singing invented songs for the people who appear on screen. And he does it in front of an audience.

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Click on the picture to watch the video (or on the link below)

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http://www.wimp.com/livechatroulette/

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Note: You might like to consider your background and/or clothes next time you play "chatroulette" (if you do, of course).

Giving Directions: Some useful authentic material

Here is some material which can be useful for a lesson on giving directions. It is based on real information provided by Transport for London .

The picture on the right has been taken at Russell Square underground station and in it you can see a poster with a list of places of interest in the area and "how to get there". You can click on it for a closer look.

The indications include all the basic expressions and landmarks frequently used for giving directions, although some verbs, like "take" or "turn" have been omitted (to save some room, I guess).


The idea is to create an exercise by reproducing the information in the poster except for the names of the places, which the students will have to identify in a map after following the directions.

Here we have some more help from Transport for London , as they have also created some maps with places of interest in the area surrounding some underground stations. They are distributed for free at the stations but they can also be downloaded from their web (and easily printed and laminated for use in class). The one for Russell Square is this (the most useful part for this exercise is page two):

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/Download/EnvMaps/tfl/TK_russellsquare.pdf

As the last stage, if we want to work on this topic as a task, we can ask the students to create a similar poster for the area where they live which might be of help for visitors. They can take as reference their own school or any other relevant landmark. Depending on the level of autonomy of the students, maps could be provided by the teacher or by the students themselves as part of the task.

Note for tourists:

If you are visiting London, you might find these maps a good way of exploring different areas starting from an underground station. Unfortunately, it does not replace guides for further information and also pubs, restaurants and some other places of interest will not be listed, but it can always be fun to find these places by pure chance.

Oxford & Cambridge: The Exchange Boat Race.

Tomorrow, 3rd April, the annual boat race between the Oxford and Cambridge squads will take place on the River Thames.

Where to watch it? Click on the picture >>>>

To read about the origins of this famous race:

http://www.theboatrace.org/article/introduction

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April Fool's Day (Santos Inocentes)

Related vocabulary

Hoax: Act intended to deceive or trick.

Practical joke: a prank or trick usually intended to make the victim appear foolish.

Prank: a mischievous trick or practical joke.

Spring regatta

Double meanings: Obama's package

Happpy St Patrick's Day!!

For information on St Patrick's Day, see the previous post.

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's day is coming closer (17th March) and most places where there is a big Irish community are getting ready to celebrate it. Of course, Ireland will start first, on the 12th, that is today, with big events in Dublin and Limerick:

In the UK, Trafalgar Square in London will have its own celebration, although Manchester claims the biggest parade in the UK this year.



Birmingham, Liverpool, and many other cities around Britain will also be celebrating this day.




And of course New York and other major cities around the globe where Irish people are settled.

But watch out even in the smallest of places, as you might get a celebration of Saint Patrick's Day either at your local Irish pub or in students' flats where there is a single Irishman/Irishwoman.

Here is a web where you can find all the symbols associated with Ireland and St Patrick, along with more information about this celebration:

If you see them in your city or village, you might be able to join in the celebration...

Teachable: help for CAL teachers.

Browsing through the pages of the Education section in the Times Online I came across this website which offers quality materials for teachers of different subjects. It's worth giving it a try.

Click on the picture and watch the video, although you might get the impression this is like the "Lazy guy's corner" (El rincón del vago), this time for teachers (it was about time, though!).

Then try with some of the subjects below. They are nicely organised not only by subject but also attending to age groups (in the British system) and then again by rating / date / title / contributor.

I hope you find it useful. I have created a new entry under "useful links" on the right for easy access from this blog in the future.

4th March: Grammar Day (USA)

To celebrate Grammar Day (4th March), The New York Times published some tips on how to be aware about some uses of grammar while reading the newspaper. Some of the tips could be useful in order to find authentic materials for an EFL lesson (i.e. the use of the passive voice to emphasize topic). Click on the picture to read the article or click on the title of the post to find out more ways to "celebrate" Grammar.

Let's play: Word Machine

Wait for the advert to finish (if your speaker is on, you will hear some kind of mysterious music). Click on the flag of the language in which you want to play, English or French, and get ready.

Write words beginning with the big letter given on the left. Then write words beginning with that letter and containing the ones given. How far can you go?

Día de Andalucía: icons.

In November 2008 I published a post with a link to a page which should have had an entry of its own. In this website, you can find a collection of different items which can be considered English icons, along with an explanation about them. It was this:





Next Sunday we are celebrating the Día de Andalucía and I was wondering what I would include in a similar collection called ICONOS. un retrato de Andalucía.




Here is one which shocked me when I realised it was something "anomalous" in a British pub:



If you actually look at the picture of the interior, you feel you must be in Andalucía but might not know why until you pay attention to the "elements" hanging from the cupboard. Yes, it is "un jamón" and it is in the centre of London.

This happened to me in what is called a "gastropub",which is a pub converted into a restaurant. This one is supposed to be Spanish, hence the decoration.

Going back to the icons, here are some suggestions for Andalucía. Do you agree? Can you add more?

Valentines and love letters.

Here is a video that could be used to introduce a class about St Valentine's Day:

One thing I like about it is that it uses lots of song lyrics in the sentences the character is trying to write and it could be a good idea to make some competition in class to try to identify (and sing!!) some of them. Students could also try to "help" the man to write his love letter or valentine without watching the end of the story.

If you need more materials about St Valentine's Day, Larry Ferlazzo's blog could be of use. Here you will find more links to what he considers the best sites to learn about St Valentine's Day.

Now here is a song which is not mentioned in the video above but which is directly linked to its theme. It could represent the reaction of the lady who receives the letter from the man in the video.

The song is "Love letters", a classic, in the voice of Alison Moyet (the first version I heard although not necessarily the best, that is up to you).

To help you write valentines, here is a suggestion I have taken from Times Online. The two first lines are the "cliché" of valentine "poetry". The rest is a highly political statement and the basis for the joke.

It makes reference to an interview in which the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, opens his heart about private matters in front of the cameras. This has been perceived by some people (the cartoonist Peter Brookes , for example) as a change of attitude in the prospect for votes in the next election.

TV shows and teenagers

Here is an article (click on the image) from Guardian.co.uk, the online version of The Guardian , a British broadsheet newspaper.
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In the article, some of the most popular UK TV shows among teenagers are described by one of them, Liberty Love (15), by answering to three questions:

- Who watches it.

- Why it is good (written as an indirect question, thus the word order).

- Best character.

A similar activity could be done in class (about programmes in your own country, other types of programmes, or for other age groups) and present it as an article or as a short talk.

Of course, as it is an opinion article, disagreement and debate could be another ingredient in the final recipe.

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Interesting vocabulary: must-see (adjective created from shortening the sentence "must be seen", meaning you cannot miss it or worth seeing). Read about its origin in Wikipedia.

Messages: which one is more effective?

Warning: You might not want to watch the following advert if the previous one already managed to convince you and left you with a very good feeling.

Which one is more effective in your opinion?

Graffiquette

Banksy is a famous British graffiti artist whose real identity has been kept secret for years. El Pais made reference to him in connection with the release of his film "Exit
Through The Gift Shop", which will take place at the Berlinale.

A world with no rules?

Meanwhile, the "war" between Banksy and Robbo, another graffiti artist, still continues on

Regent's Canal walls (in the Camden area), as reported by the Camden New Journal.

Will this be a case of lack of "graffiquette"? (I just made it up from netiquette) or just hype to promote both artists?

How would you define "graffiquette", as used above, if such word existed?

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day. You might not know what it is, but it surely is an excellent opportunity to watch a great movie with lots of tips for language learners, as dialogues are repeated and repeated.

In the following scene you have basic questions for introductions and how to ask somebody to marry you (in a traditional way):

If you actually want to know about Groundhog Day, here is the "official" link:

Everyday activities from a multidisciplinary perspective

Here is a link to a video (unfortunately it cannot be embedded), where everyday activities are analysed under a new perspective.



It could be used for elementary levels and for CAL groups, identifying the different disciplines which have connections with what appears in the video. Click on the image to watch it.