Tuesday 22 December 2015

Unfill and Fill it yourself

Something all teachers understand is how much work goes into the preperation of classes. With a little bit of experience planning time is reduced massively but when it comes to prep we`re all accutley aware of how much time it takes. That's why we all love the internet so much. Ideas can be shared, used, reused abused adapeted and so on. For those quick ideas I love the internet.

One thing I love even more, however, is learner autonomy. Students taking charge of their own learning. I, like a great number of you out there, also like to take this one step further. Rather than the students simply being in charge of their own learning why not let them take charge of their fellow students learning. The best source of information, support and materials is obviously the students themselves.

A week or so ago I posted a blog with a questionnaire about my students so I could tailor the class to their needs, likes and desires. I've used this in my classes to get my students more involved in class.

Added to this I've always been keen on students taking control of the class and teachers sitting back and shutting up. The esl classroom is a place for students to learn and use the language they're learnt. Not a place for teachers to fulfil their unacheived ambitions of becoming an actor and hogging the entire class.

The first small step towards this, as I've found, is asking students to create their own gap fill exercises. First for a song they like (as you can see here.) Then for a part of the Use of English exam from an article they have read.

Here is a very basic lesson plan for this kind of actvity.

1. After using the questionnaire here to find out some of the things your students are interested in, suggest a few different websites or blogs they could read to improve their English. A number of my students love football, I tell them to read BBC sport or I trawl back through the archives of the joy of six from The Guardian news paper. Here's a great one about Hipsters' favourite football clubs.

2. Next I ask students to read their text.
If they're making a part 1 reading activity I then ask them to write 5 or six multiple choice activities for the text.

3. For reading part two simply take out a few seperate sentences and invent a few new ones.

4. If they're making a Use of English part one I ask them to select two paragraphs and remove words they can then find synonyms for. Particularly those which are parts of phrasal verbs or have a strong collocation or a dependent preposition.

5. If they are making a Use of English Part 2, again just two paragraphs this time removing the function words like prepositions, pronouns, relative pronouns and so on.

6. The final exam part I usually ask students to do is the UOE part three where they remove words from the text and place a root word as a hint. The word formation activity. I try and make sure they find at least one negative within their text.

You can do this next part in a couple of different ways.

7. I tend to use these examparts as a quick review in class and i get the students who has prepared it to correct the work and then explain to the group why each answer is what it is.

An alternative option here is to get all of your students to do one part then in the class do each others work, then mark them together. I find this good as a fun way to do it but far less productive than the other option. With option one there is real ownership of the work and you're provided with a wider variety of exam practice.

This activity can take a little while to get into production but once it gets going you'll see some remarkable results and the constant search for past exam papers can slowly come to an end.

It also takes the fear away from the exams as they see just how easy it can be when you know what you're doing.



Monday 21 December 2015

Boldly Taking Movie Quotes Where They Have Never Been Before

Happy Friday one and all. Just a few more hours 'til the weekend and for many of us the promise of a nice or two off.

Reported Speech is something well covered from about B1 level. After getting to grips with the grammar I have a two stage activity. Partly to get used to reported speech and then partly just for the fun of it and to see if my students have managed to remember some of the world’s most famous movie quotes.
There are a myriad of games to allow your students to practice their new found skill. One I was introduced to a couple of days ago tests your student’s movie knowledge, their ability to translate from the language they first saw the movie and then how to convert some of the most famous quotes in movie history into reported speech.


Your student´s level will, obviously, dictate the difficulty of the task, the reporting verbs they use and whether they chuck a few adverbs in there as well.

The first step is to get onto the fantastic  Movie Quotes then run through each of the images to identify which movies the quotes come from.

Step two, hit the timer and get the students to take turns in giving you a quote to one of the movies on the screen. 

Seven minutes later the time will have run out and all the missing quotes will be revealed and the students will have a chance to take the famous quotes and report them to their classmates.  

This works as a wonderful cooler after going through the "rules" of reported speech or as a warmer in the next class to make sure they still have it down.. My students really enjoyed it.

 This was a big first step for a lot of my classes. A huge number of them had absolutely no clue as to the original quotes due to the fact Spain has a reputation for dubbing films. Even to this day 90% of cinemas don't have original versions of films.

After the students have got their heads around the fact these quotes exist outside their own language give it a weekend or so to digest. 

When they come back what I have done, taking the lead from my good friend Neil, is taken these quotes and misquoted them from a film with a similar name. Students have to then match films to quotes and correct them for their original. 

You can find the worksheet with misquoted lyrics here Or just copy and paste these below.

1.       “This Boat is too small.”
2.       “Luke, you are my son.”
3.       “Say hello to my small friend.”
4.       “Are you speaking to me.”
5.       “Johnny is here.”
6.       “Houston, we appear to be having some technical issues.”
7.       “I can see Ghosts”
8.       “You deal much better with lies.”
9.       “Hi I’m James, James Bond.”
10 “I’m going to make him an offer to which he can’t say no.”
11.   “My favourite.”
12.   “Can I call my house.”
13.   “Home is the best place.”
14.   “To infinity and past it.”
15.   “Don’t walk Forrest, Don’t Walk.”
16.   “You’re good at Magic, Harry.”
17.   “I’m a monarch of the Earth.”
18.   “Why are you being so serious?”
19.   “Until the next time, darling.”
20.   O’ boss, my boss

And here are the wrong movie names.

a.       War of the Stars
b.      Bus Guy
c.       Henry Porter
d.      The Ring Man
e.      Apollo 15
f.        Royal Casino
g.       Another Sense
h.      A Story about Toys
i.         Woodsy Gumble
j.        The Father of God
k.       Boat vs Iceberg
l.         The Alien Chap
m.    Terminationer
n.      A Society of Dead Writiers
o.      Some ok Blokes
p.      The Magician from Australia
q.      Cutface
r.        Batbloke: A gloomy evening
s.       Shark
t.        The Brightness

Right that's all for today.  Have a great holiday where ever you may be. If you don't have a holiday just go ahead and have a great weekend.

For regular updates why not follow me on twitter @thefluencyfella


ANSWERS


1.s 2. 2.a 3.q 4.b 5.t 6.e 7.g 8.o 9.f 10.j 11.d 12.l 13.p 14.h 15.i 16.c 17.k 18.r 19.m 20.n

Friday 18 December 2015

Phrasal Verbs Battle Ships

I spent this morning sitting in a Cambridge seminar thinking and talking about various techniques for the Use of English and Reading exams. There was a huge amount of idea sharing and some wonderful idea. 

At one stage the speaker asked us if we had any interesting ways of teaching our students phrasal verbs. I piped up with my idea of phrasal verb battle ships. So for those of you who were there you just need to click on this link and look for "Phrasal Verb Battle Ships"

The worksheet contains the game board, definitions of each phrasal verb and an example sentence. It also has a space for students to write their own example. 



The rules are simple: 

1) Draw your ships on anywhere your Grid.

2) Say sentence using a phrasal verb to select a question.

3) If you HIT a Ship Answer the Question if you MISS all ships it’s                                       your partner’s turn to guess.

4) Win by sinking all your partner’s ships.  


It tends to take a fair while so I usually use it as a warmer and then later as a cooler or as a warmer for three or four classes in a row. 

Good luck and have fun.

Thursday 17 December 2015

Language Upgrade Lesson 1. Extreme Adjectives

We all know that out students need a little help when it comes to improving on their language. an extensive vocabulary is what makes someone proficient in a language, in my opinion.

The first steps to doing this can be taken very early in a language learners quest to be understood. It's also something that turns into a bit of a battle the closer students get to their B1 and B2 exams.

I created this worksheet because I was bored of hearing my students refering to something as a good idea over and over and over again. I decided that I needed to do try to help my PET students get to grips with some extreme adjectives and with the hope they might start in incorporate them into, not only thier writing but their speaking as well. This was the first step.I ask questions focused on the use of these adjectives at the start of each class by way of reinforcement. I've been doing this over the last couple of weeks and it seems some of my students are using these adjectives almost naturally.

A gradable adjective is one which can vary in size. Eg. The dog was quite big. Or maybe your bedroom is usually extremely clean.
Extreme adjectives, on the other hand, can’t be graded. It can’t be very freezing outside in winter it can be freezing or absolutely freezing. Using extreme adjectives adds interest to both written and spoken language.

The full printable is available here. Look for extreme adjectives.

1.       Match the extreme adjectives in box 1 with the normal adjectives in box 2.



EXTREME ADJECTIVES
Gigantic/Enormous BIG
Filthy_____
Boiling______
Freezing______
Hideous______
Gorgeous/Stunning______
Amazing/Fantastic______
Spotless______
Furious_______
Starving______
Stuffed_______
Terrible______
Tiny_______
 Normal/Gradable
Full
Ugly
Beautiful
Good
Bad
Cold
Hot
Angry
Clean
Dirty
Hungry
Big
Small
  


2.       Circle the correct answer.
a.       The dining room was very/absolutely big.
b.      After I cook the kitchen is usually a bit/absolutely filthy.
c.       Seville is absolutely/very boiling in the summer
d.      When I get home from school I’m usually quite/absolutely hungry.
e.      The view from my balcony on holiday was absolutely/a bit stunning




3.       Write some sentences using both gradable and extreme adjectives.
Eg. My brother is quite good at football but I’m absolutely amazing.
a.       Enormous________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b.      Furious__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c.       Stuffed__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d.      Starving_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e.      Tiny____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
f.        Boiling__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
g.       Hideous________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
h.      Gorgeous________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
i.         Amazing_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
j.        Filthy___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



4.       Finally I’d like you to write a short piece about your last holiday. Make sure you use at least 5 extreme adjectives and 3 gradable adjectives.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Amazing Work Guys. 
Well Done

Wednesday 16 December 2015

Guardians of the Galaxy

As it's coming up to Christmas and students are getting a little ragged i decided to bow to their pressure and put a film on over a couple of classes. Obviously, I had to find a film appropriate to their age group and one which I would still be able to enjoy. I plumped for Guardians of The Galaxy.
It really is a wonderful movie.
Anyway, after the first class of watching the film I got students to go away and write 10 words that they related to the film. the next class I got them to predict the ending then after the last 20 minutes of the film we set about writing our reviews.
I decided that spoon feeding them some ideas first, using the words they'd provided, would help things run a little more smoothly.
So here are the materials below. There is a short gap fill, using words from a wordsearch. the solution is attached too. If you want the printable just look here for Guardians of The Galaxy Review. You'll find most of my other materials in and around that area too. Or just do the copy paste thing.

Christmas homework is going to be students writing their own movie review from any of the films they watch over Christmas. Let's see how they do.


USE THE WORDS FROM THE WORDSEARCH BELOW TO COMPLETE THE REVIEW

You might think that Guardians of the Galaxy is just ___________ Marvel superhero action movie.____________, unlike Spiderman, Avengers and each one of the seemingly _______stream of X-men films that have been pumped out by Marvel this masterpiece has something a little bit __________.
Set in the not too distant future in _______space this exceptional film turns comic-book cinema on its head.  It ________Chris Pratt as a Junker in his mid- thirties ______ Peter Quill.
Quill finds _______ in possession of a hugely powerful orb which leads him to all manner of trouble and him having a huge bounty put on his head.  Luckily for him those who are chasing him at first turn out to be those keep him _______.
My favourite ________ in the film is ________Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper. He is a genetically modified Raccoon with a very bad attitude and a love for money and _______weapons. I find him is absolutely _________ and his unlikely relationship with the treeman Groot is a great addition to the comedy of the film.
I would_________ it to people of all ages because it is full of action and is also really funny.  I give Guardians of the Galaxy 4.5 out of 5.

NOW WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW BELOW
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SOME FILM REVIEW WORDS


G
Y
Y
I
T
L
R
N
O
D
G
R
R
B
H
I
X
Z
S
A
F
U
S
G
I
J
S
E
J
I
K
M
H
X
N
C
S
F
C
F
E
B
V
S
M
P
L
V
I
A
E
R
D
R
F
Z
F
E
A
S
A
S
Z
L
L
V
M
E
D
E
R
E
W
L
E
M
J
L
D
L
A
C
G
S
R
W
G
O
F
L
L
E
N
I
L
O
R
I
P
E
E
O
H
X
F
D
E
V
Q
M
R
G
I
B
N
A
V
P
Z
B
V
E
L
M
Z
K
O
Y
O
T
P
R
I
S
S
O
Q
E
C
K
G
K
L
L
U
Y
E
F
L
U
N
N
S
R
A
T
S
X
D
P
S
T
N
O
A
D
D
R
E
T
C
A
R
A
H
C
U
T
O
E
M
M
O
C
D
M
S
D
T
U
V
O
F
Q
D
A
F
D
E
F
I
N
I
T
E
L
Y
E
G
T
D
J
Z
X
P
A
N
O
T
H
E
R
O
Z
J

ALIVE
ANOTHER
CALLED
CHARACTER
DEFINITELY
DIFFERENT
ENDLESS
EVIL
HILARIOUS
HIMSELF
HOWEVER
OUTER
POWERFUL
RECOMMEND
STARS


Solution

+ + + + + L + + + D + + R + H
+ + + + + + U S + I + + E + I
+ + H + + C S F + F + + V + M
+ + + I A E + + R F + + E + S
+ + + L L + + E + E + + W + E
+ + L D L A C + + R W + O + L
+ E N I + O R + + E E O H + F
D E V + M + + I + N + V P + +
+ E + M + + + + O T + R I + +
+ + E + + + + + + U + E + L +
+ N S R A T S + + + S T + + A
D + R E T C A R A H C U + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + O + + +
+ + D E F I N I T E L Y + + +
+ + + + + A N O T H E R + + +

(Over,Down,Direction)
ALIVE(15,11,NW)
ANOTHER(6,15,E)
CALLED(6,3,SW)
CHARACTER(11,12,W)
DEFINITELY(3,14,E)
DIFFERENT(10,1,S)
ENDLESS(2,8,NE)
EVIL(2,9,NE)
HILARIOUS(3,3,SE)
HIMSELF(15,1,S)
HOWEVER(13,7,N)
OUTER(12,13,N)
POWERFUL(13,8,NW)
RECOMMEND(9,4,SW)
STARS(7,11,W)