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.