READING STRATEGIES

IDIOM OF THE WEEK!!!!

OFF THE HOOK



 



OFF THE HOOK: free from blame, not held responsable.

Motivating speaking activities for lower levels

 

 Motivating speaking activities for lower levels
 

These activities are all designed to motivate lower level learners to speak in pairs or small groups.

Activity type: several short speaking activities
Level: A2+
Age: Teenage/Adult

Planning time has been shown to increase production in speaking tasks. Lower level learners often find it especially difficult to speak spontaneously, so these activities incorporate ‘thinking time’ during which learners can prepare for speaking by planning what they are going to say, and asking the teacher or using a dictionary to look up missing vocabulary. The following activities are relatively short, with minimal materials preparation time for the teacher. They are designed for use as a warmer or a filler in the middle or at the end of a class.

Definitions lists

 

This activity is good for activating existing vocabulary or revising vocabulary studied in previous lessons.
Procedure:

• Choose a vocabulary topic (this can be vocabulary you have recently studied or a topic you want to introduce). Tell students to write a list of 10 words they associate with this topic. To make the activity shorter, reduce the number of words.

• Pre-teach / revise structures for definitions e.g. It’s a thing which / that.... You use it for... You find this in.... It’s an animal / object / place... It’s the opposite of... etc.

• Tell students to look at their lists and give them time to think of how they can define these words (3 -5 mins).

• Now students work in pairs (or groups of 3) to define their words. Their partner must guess the word they are defining.

A faster moving, fun alternative to this activity is a team game.

• Change the vocabulary to lists of famous people / books / films / objects.

• Each team writes a list for another team (students can also 3 or 4 words each on strips of paper to draw out of a hat)

• Pre-teach / revise structures for definitions e.g. It’s a thing which / that.... You use it for... It’s a film / book / object.... He/ She’s an actor / a politician.... He’s British / American / Spanish...

• Each team nominates one person to define the words to their team.

• Each team has 1 minute to define as many words as possible.

What were you doing...? (What are you going to do....?)

This activity can be adapted to revise a range of tenses (present simple, past simple, continuous, future tenses) by changing the time prompts.
Procedure:

• Write a selection of time prompts on the board e.g. yesterday at 6 o´clock, this time last year, on September 11th 2001 etc

• Tell students to choose some of the prompts and think of what they were doing at these times. Tell students that they are going to tell a partner / small group.

• Give students time 5 minutes to plan what they are going to say and ask for any vocabulary they need.

• Students tell their partner / small group. Encourage students to ask for more information. E.g. –I was watching TV yesterday at 6. -What were you watching?

• After speaking, students feedback and tell the class what they learnt. E.g. Marie was watching TV at 6 o´clock yesterday. She loves chat shows!

Adjectives

This is a variation on the above activity and is great for practising adjectives. Students personalise the discussion by talking about experiences and feelings.
Procedure:

• Write a selection of adjectives relating to feelings on the board.

• Tell students to choose several adjectives (increase or decrease the number depending on how long you want the activity to take). Tell them to think of a time when they felt this way, and that they are going to tell their partner / small group about their experience.

• Give students time to plan what they are going to say. They can make notes and ask for vocabulary if they want to.

• Students tell their stories.

• Feedback to the class.

Cartoons, cartoon stories and unusual pictures

There are many copyright-free comic strips, cartoons and unusual images available online; you can also find cartoon stories in many EFL resource books. These can be used in class in a number of ways.
Information gap activity: Order the story
Information gap and jigsaw tasks have been shown to be beneficial task types in terms of promoting obligatory, as opposed to optional information exchange and as a way of promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. In this activity, students work in pairs and the information, i.e. the pictures are divided equally between them. Students must work collaboratively to put the story together in the right order. Suitable for strong Pre-intermediate students and above.
Procedure:

• Before the class, find a cartoon with at least 4 vignettes. The cartoon can be with or without dialogue. The more vignettes and more elements in the story, the more difficult the task.

• Print the cartoon and cut up the vignettes. Divide the vignettes equally between student A and student B.

• Give students time to think about how to describe their pictures and ask for any vocabulary they need.

• Pre-teach any difficult vocabulary that has not come up as well as phrases for talking about pictures and sequencing: e.g. In my picture there is... I can see... I think this is the first / second / last picture... Then.... After that....

• Tell students to work together to put the story in the correct order.

• Optional extension: Tell students to write the story.

ENGLISH IDIOMS

Learning Styles

Your learning styles have more influence than you may realize. Your preferred styles guide the way you learn. They also change the way you internally represent experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose.

Research shows us that each learning style uses different parts of the brain. By involving more of the brain during learning, we remember more of what we learn. Researchers using brain-imaging technologies have been able to find out the key areas of the brain responsible for each learning style.

For example:

• Visual: The occipital lobes at the back of the brain manage the visual sense. Both the occipital and parietal lobes manage spatial orientation.
• Aural: The temporal lobes handle aural content. The right temporal lobe is especially important for music.
• Verbal: The temporal and frontal lobes, especially two specialized areas called Broca�s and Wernicke�s areas (in the left hemisphere of these two lobes).
• Physical: The cerebellum and the motor cortex (at the back of the frontal lobe) handle much of our physical movement.
• Logical: The parietal lobes, especially the left side, drive our logical thinking.
• Social: The frontal and temporal lobes handle much of our social activities. The limbic system (not shown apart from the hippocampus) also influences both the social and solitary styles. The limbic system has a lot to do with emotions, moods and aggression.
• Solitary: The frontal and parietal lobes, and the limbic system, are also active with this style.

IDIOM OF THE WEEK!!!!

INTERESTING

 

 

 

 

 

Happy weekend!!! Enjoy it!!!  :)

 

 

 

 

INTERESTING!!!!! 

 

 

Never Stop Learning!!!

 



“Learning never exhausts the mind.”

 

 

BODY IDIOMS!!!

CRITICAL THINKING

Why Critical Thinking? 

     
The Problem Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

A Definition Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and
imposing intellectual standards upon them.
 
The Result A well cultivated critical thinker:

• raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
• gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
• thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
• communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.  

HAVE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO!!! IT'S VERY INTERESTING!!!

Questions that get students thinking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=O0C1kSmUUGo

IDIOM OF THE WEEK!!!!!

 

IDIOM OF THE WEEK!!!

MUSIC AND THE BRAIN

This is a nice web page with different songs and activities!!!

                          ( If you want to print the activities, you have to log in)

 

                 http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs

Music in the ESL Classroom

Benefits of using Music in the Classroom

Have you ever heard of anyone who doesn't like music? Some people may not like art, dancing, reading, or movies, but almost everyone likes one kind of music or another. Most people like many different kinds of music. Studies have shown that music...

• improves concentration
• improves memory
• brings a sense of community to a group
• motivates learning
• relaxes people who are overwhelmed or stressed
• makes learning fun
• helps people absorb material

"Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned." Chris Brewer, Music and Learning.

Techniques for Using Music with L2 Learners

There are a variety of different ways to use music in the classroom. Some teachers prefer to use background music and others use music lyrics as the basis of a lesson. Music can be used to:

• introduce a new theme or topic (Christmas/colours/feelings)
• break the ice in a class where students don't know each other or are having difficulty communicating
• change the mood (liven things up or calm things down)
• teach and build vocabulary and idioms
• review material (background music improves memory)
• teach pronunciation and intonation
• teach songs and rhymes about difficult grammar and spelling rules that need to be memorized ("i before e", irregular verbs, phrasal verbs)
• teach reading comprehension
• inspire a class discussion
• teach listening for details and gist

Tips for Using Music Effectively

• When teaching students a song, it is a good idea to introduce an instrumental version first (If an instrumental version is not available, play the song softly in the background while they are working on something or hum the melody before introducing the lyrics). If students become familiar with the sound of the music first, they will be more likely to understand the words.
• Make a vocabulary list ahead of time. Go over the words once before you introduce the song.
• Expose students to a certain song many days in a row. Within a few days, students will not be able to get the song out of their head!
• Choose interactive songs whenever possible. Adding actions enhances language acquisition and memory.
• Have soft or upbeat music playing before class to encourage a positive atmosphere. Turning the music off is a great way to signal to a large class that it is time to begin.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

   Nelson Mandela