When's your birthday?

A little idea that popped into my head just the other day whilst doing a wee bit of research (looking on wikipedia) with my good lady about her birthday.

It was a simple little idea about a mini project. Either written or spoken. Or better still both.

We're told in the world of TEFL that translation is bad. I tend to disagree with this idea as I feel it has a useful place in almost any class. Perhaps not as a general rule but as a one off activity it seems foolish not to utilze this option. This very activity thrives on the translation side of learning.
Much like many activities using songs! But that's for another day all together.

Anyway, this super simple activity can make students feel valued and that you genuinely care about them. After all what's better than someone remembering your birthday and not thanks to a notification on facebook. This activity will get it stuck in your mind and you might learn something new yourself.

I simply sent my students home and told them to research their birthday on wikipedia in their native tongue. I then asked them to choose 5 events from their birthday in history, translate them, research them a little and come up with a quick 10-15 minute presentation. Leaving them just 2-3 minutes on each event/celebrity birthday.  I emphasis that it needs to be searched on wikipedia in their own language is that each different page has different events and national events are often more interesting to the students.

My birthday, for example, is one of the least interesting days in history with very few notable birthdays and a derth of interesting events.

My quick presentation consisted of a mini biogrophy of Clyde Barrow and his antics with Bonnie Parker.
James the VI of Scotland becoming James I of England.
The Abolishion of slavery in Venezuela.
Elvis being drafted into the army.
The bombing of Kosovo by NATO.

I threw in the bonus my namesake of Harry Houdini being born on the illustrious qday of March 24th.



I found my students got really involved and I could now tell you the birthdays of all of those students in my B2 class. If you wanted to send them a card or something.


I hope your students enjoy this as much as mine did feel their true value as people rather than just students.

Movie reviews with a twist. Or just twisted movie reviews?

It's been more than just a little while since I last posted anything. That's not to say I 've been resting on my laurels, I most certainly have not. I've merely been lacking in what some might call free time. Be that as it may, the summer has arrived and I shall be presented with a little more free time. For that very reason I'm going to try and churn out as many ideas I've come up with/adapted over the last six months, in the coming months.

Today's post came about thanks to one of those silly games I tend to play with a group of friends that lends itself very well to teaching. We decided to make new movie titles by taking old ones and adding just one word.

Some of the first to come out were things like NOT Saving Private Ryan and Million Dollar Baby Sitter.

I took this game into a classroom environment. As a warmer I got students to think of as many films as they could in English. After two minutes I gave them an additional two minutes with their phones to get as long a list as possible.

as soon as they'd got their list at the ready I told them to get started on the game.
Captain South America, Paranormal Sexual Activity, The Rubbish Pianist and African American Beauty were but a few of the titles that popped up.

After their lists had been compiled I asked students to get together and talk about what their films would be like and who'd star in them.

Next up was reading reviews of real films. I gave the students a list Review sites and set them about looking for reviews of some of the films we'd talked about. I also ensured they took some useful chunks of language from the reviews for later use.

All that was left after the discussion was to set the homework. After going through a few movie reviews online I set got them to set about the task of writing their own. using at least 3 phrases they'd come across in the movie reviews we'd read together in class.

The results were nothing short of spectacular. I had by far the largest amount of homework handed in this year with this activity and it was by far and away of the best standard.

I found that doing exam style tasks just a little away from the exam really gives the students a chance to express themselves.

right that's all from me today.

I hope this gives your class something to write about.

Until the next time

Why are you so petrified of silence?

Why is it as language teachers we sometimes feel grossly uncomfortable when the class is sitting in silence. We sometimes think, these guys are learning a language why on Earth aren't they speaking it, ALL THE TIME?

Last year I had the good fortune of working with some great teachers and here I picked up a number of great activities. One of which was centred almost entirely around the notion of a silent classroom. I used this wonderful warmer and have since adapted it for my teenage PET class and will do so with my pre-advanced class later in the term.

So the big question. How can we make students speak without making a sound?

It's pretty simple really, they write to each other. The first time I did this in class, I did it with every single level I had.

I made sure they entered the class in absolute silence. There was a slide on the board (which you can find here) which told them they weren't to speak to each other but they could communicate through scraps of paper and a pencil.
The slide also contained a couple of starter questions to help them on their way.
For the kiddies it was stuff like: "What did you do at school today?"
For the adults something similar but a little more complex like: What did you get up to at work today?


It worked really well.

For that very reason I decided to do it again, this time with my PET students. I told them to make sure they brought their mobile phones to class.

When they entered the room in silence they could see the activity outline up on the board . I sat them in a circle facing away from each other and gave each of them a piece of paper to write their number on.

I then gave the numbers out to different students.  I then let them chat to each other, freely. In English, in silence. I put a few ideas up on the board to help them out. I gestured questioningly towards my students to see if anyone wanted to make a suggestion at a conversation starter. If so they had the chance to write it up on the board (without using words of course)

The next step was to see if they could deal with multitasking.  I ushered them to change numbers and add the new person to their group. There were then three people in each group and everyone was speaking to in two groups each.

At first this caused a bit of an issue, but soon enough their amazing teenage brains adapted to it and their multiwhatsapping brain came to the fore. After a good ten minutes I stopped everyone and asked them to read aloud what had come up in their conversations.

Some of it was surprisingly deep, two of the students had got themselves into a discussion as to how the Spanish education system was in desperate need for reform. Other students were talking about how good Cristiano's goal was the night before. Best of all though they had been writing in English and correcting each other's work and having fun at the same time. Never in my life have I seen a group of 12 teenagers so happy to sit in silence and speak English to each other. It was utterly glorious.

Give it a go. If your students don't have phones, just give them some scraps of paper and get them to pass them around.

'til the next time

Talking Movies

I have got a great pre-advanced class. I only get to see them once a week on a Friday for three hours. Sadly for them next week is parents day so they'll be missing their class. As I'm obviously a very conscientious teacher and know that whilst being away from the classroom, even the best of students will lose touch with the language. For that reason, rather than just setting a whole bunch of homework from the book and past papers I decided to set a movie review as homework.

Whilst having a chat with my DOS, Chris,  we came up with a nice little idea. Rather than just setting them on their way to write about any old film we came up with a lesson plan to really engage our students in the lesson process.

1.Speaking part three with grabactivity

2. Select two movies each, discuss in pairs, down to one.

3. Each pair puts their idea forward. Class decides on final from the four or five selected.

4. Students decided which film to watch.

5. Find real reviews of the film online for them to read at home.


In the next class.


1. In pairs then as a class. Discuss the film.

2. Talk about the language used in the reviews they read as homework.

3. Create a plan.

4. Work in pairs to write review or do a circular writing.

5. Homework. Write your own review.


Right then. I'm off to class. Have a delightful weekend one and all.

'til the next time

H

PET writing Part 3. The Fun Bit. Part 2

After the not quite borefest but let's be honest not exactly enthralling, yet incredibly useful, opening to this class I provided you with on Tuesday. Today's blog is going to get your students to practice what they've learnt and get it to stick in their memory.

So after you've made Frankenstein's letter and the students have the options available to them to create their own master piece I present the students a chance to really play with it.

Step 1:   Do a secret Santa style phone number swap.

Step 2: Students to find out who their partner is by sending a hello message on whatsapp. From now on the class must remain silent. Only speaking through whatsapp.

Step 3: Get students to decide who will be person a and who will be person b.

Step 4: Person A sends the greeting to person B.

Step 5: Student B sends the first line of the informal letter to student B. In doing so they should use as much of the text talk vocabulary and as many emojis as they can. eg:

  S'up? Thnx 4 the letter,             I was over the  when it arrived.

Step 6: Partner B must then complete the first paragraph with the reason for not writing sooner.

I'm sry I didn't  b4, I've been really busy with work.


Step 7: Students to work their way through the letter until they've finished their correspondence. When they're done I get them to sit together and decode their messages onto the PET writing part 3 template. 

Step 8:  Finally, ask your students to take their completed templates and write their final, perfect, informal letter.

NB for the final step I like to get my students to write up their final letter on a piece of paper wrapped in tin foil. It is that extra bit of writing outside the box which will really stick what they have done in class in their memories. It will also have them writing the final letter once more and not even complaining about it because it's going to look shiny and lovely. They can then be put up around the classroom of a constant reminder of what a great teacher you are and how much fun they have in your classes.

Well, I really hope your students enjoy this class. I've found it's really worked well with mine and it makes them really happy to leave the books aside for a day and focus on developing their writing in a slightly different way.


FULL LESSON PRINTABLE LESSON PLAN HERE

'til next time

PET Writing Part 3. Informal Letter. Part 1.

What's the big deal with mobile phones? Why is there so much debate about having them in class or not? I personally have no idea. I love it when my students use their phone in class. To me it is a huge waste of a glorious tool if they don't use it. Getting a teenager to actively want to use their phone to study English is a huge step towards autonomous learning.

So there are hundreds of activities you can do with mobile phones. This lesson plan was designed around using their mobile devices to write the informal letter in part 2 of the PET exam. It's a full 60-80 minute class depending on numbers. It may seem complex at first but it's a simple 6 step class that will leave your students prepared to write in the correct tone, using paragraphs and most of all, remembering some important vocabulary and structures to help them when they reach the exam.  Most importantly though it will stick in their minds long beyond the exam. While I realize this doesn't leave a huge amount of room for flair, but the sad fact is when trying to pass the PET exam formulaic writing tends to win out. This letter will provide students with a formula with a dash of added flair.

In this first blog I'm going to describe Part 1, 2 and 3 which can be used apart as a separate activity. In Thursdays blog I'll be describing how it can used in conjunction with the other parts and lead students to becoming more engaged and end up drilling exactly what they need to the exam.

After you've warmed you class up the first step to this class is getting them in the writing zone. always start with a few questions about PET writing part 3.

1) Text talk warmer <- - -  click there(10-15 minutes max)
Cut up the "text talk" and get students to work in pairs matching it to the correct description. I give one students the cut up "test talk" and the other the board of answers and try and get them to figure out the answers without looking.

CUl8er = see you later
S'up = what's up
GTG = I've got to go
NE1 = Anyone

and so on. Each pair will then keep hold of their completed, checked work.

After you've warmed you class up the first step to this class is getting them in the writing zone. always start with a few questions about PET writing part 3. 

2) Ask students to describe part 3. Elicit which part is easier, the letter or the story.
The letter.

3) Next go on to ask students the basic conventions to a letter and elicit a few suggestions for each part. This will usually take about 20 - 25 minutes. It's the whole skeleton to the class

i) The Greeting

• Hey Jane, (COMMA)
• Hi Jane, (COMMA)
• Hello Jane, (COMMA)

Students often forget to use a comma.

ii) Opening Paragraph

Elicit that this paragraph is used to ask a)how your friend is, b)thank them for their letter and, words permitting c) apologise for not responding sooner. This paragraph doesn't depend on the question. This paragraph never needs to change. This is a chance to use a number of different tenses and an idiom or two. Elicit ideas for each sentence.

Here are some from my PET class.

a)

•  How're you? (stress the fact contractions are a part of informal writing)
• How's life? 
• What's up?
• What's happening?
• What's new?
• How have you been lately?

b)

• Thanks for your letter. I was very happy to read it.
• Cheers for your letter, I was over the moon when it arrived.
• Thank you so much for your letter, it was great to hear from you after so long.

c)

• I'm sorry I haven't written for so long, I've been really busy. 
• I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I've been up to my eyeballs in revision.
• Sorry I didn't write back sooner. I am very busy with work at the moment.

iii) Paragraph two

Elicit that this paragraph is used to answer the question asked by your "English speaking penfriend" this is when I give my students the question.

This is part of a letter you receive from your penfriend James.

In your next letter, please tell me about the music you like. 
What’s your favourite kind of music? Do you play an instrument?

I now get students to fill in the gaps of a model paragraph two. I stress to them that being honest is in no way important and grammatically correct lies are perfectly sufficient.

You asked me what_____________________________.  I'm really keen on___________ because it's really_____________ not to mention _________________. You also asked me if I_____________________. Well, I've been_______the _________ for _______ years now. It isn't _______but I love it. 

iv) Paragraph 3

Elicit that this is a sign off and is again unrelated to the questions. In this paragraph you should a) say you hope you've answered your friends questions, b) say you have to go and give a reason for leaving and c) ask your friend to write back/suggest meeting

a)

• I hope I've answered you questions.
• Did my answers help you?

b) 

• I've got to go now. I've got an exam tomorrow and these books won't study them selves. 
• I have to go.The bus is arrives in 2 minutes and I'll be late for school if I miss it. 
• Sorry, I have to stop writing now. My mum needs a hand with the shopping. 

c) 

• Write back soon.
• Maybe we could meet up this weekend.
• We should meet up soon, it's been too long. 
• Don't be a stranger. 

v) The sign off

Emphasise that without this part they will lose points for organisation and it's as important as the greeting. 

• Love
• Lots of love
• All my love
• See you later 

                             NAME

In the end they'll have a sample letter that looks something like this. 

Hey James,

              What’s up? Cheers for your letter, I was over the moon when it arrived. I'm sorry it's taken me ages to reply. I've been up to my eyeballs in revision.

You asked me what music I like.  I'm keen on rock music because it's really exciting and fun to listen to. You also asked me if I play an instrument. Well, I've been playing the triangle for seven years. It isn't very glamorous but I love it. 

I hope I've answered you questions. I have to go. The bus arrives soon and I'll be late if I miss it. We should meet up soon.

See you later

Harry

 In Thursday's blog I'll go on to explain the more interactive and exciting part of the class. The endlessly engaging aspect of having students take out their phones and use them in class. 

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.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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)