tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14888668652210517892024-03-18T16:06:58.007+01:00Spice Up Your English ClassA blog for English teachers and learners Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-608365110788332042020-05-31T09:08:00.001+02:002020-06-01T11:57:05.240+02:00My Teaching Reflections - Differentiation Over the last few months I have been busy teaching online. I have learnt lots of new things about teaching and learning and I have decided to create a new series of blogposts about my teaching reflections in which I will give practical tips and hacks and suggest some reading about the topic I am dealing with each time. I will follow the KISS 💋 rule - I will Keep my posts Short and Simple in order not to get you bored.<br />
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👩🏫 👨🏫Differentiation is not discrimination.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8HEi3U1CvI/XtNXnPWgxwI/AAAAAAAACoQ/K7gk4DIqm3AXgXgVPGl1PXPhz297aibbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0ED327BAD560-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8HEi3U1CvI/XtNXnPWgxwI/AAAAAAAACoQ/K7gk4DIqm3AXgXgVPGl1PXPhz297aibbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0ED327BAD560-1.jpeg" width="400" /></a>▶️When students are assigned different tasks, they are not concerned about the task itself but the <br />
reason behind that allocation - we, teachers, should communicate to ‘less confident learners that our aim is to find ways to include them in the lesson’.<br />
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▶️ Inclusiveness and togetherness play an essential role in classroom dynamics - it is advisable not to use differentiated activities at the beginning/end of the lesson.<br />
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▶️ Dominant learners tend to shout 🗣 their answers, talk over one another and interrupt other students. On the other hand, less confident students will assume a passive role. Especially during online lessons they just mute their microphones 🤐. The ‘random tool’ (a feature you can find in https://www.classdojo.com or you can make on your own by simply using lollipop sticks) gives all the students an equal opportunity to answer questions.<br />
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The book 📖 I recommend today is:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6fWq3bycXrk/XtNV9tTRToI/AAAAAAAACoE/q4MXhoVOWH8Y33ZW7ihZqnAFfOsVejWowCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/5C9C678A-A914-425A-B6D3-D421018A2C31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6fWq3bycXrk/XtNV9tTRToI/AAAAAAAACoE/q4MXhoVOWH8Y33ZW7ihZqnAFfOsVejWowCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/5C9C678A-A914-425A-B6D3-D421018A2C31.JPG" width="179" /></a></div>
<i>Mixed-Ability Teaching</i> by Dudley and Osváth.<br />
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<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ciXiCwAAQBAJ&dq=mixed+ability+teaching+elt&source=gbs_navlinks_s%C2%A0" target="_blank">You can find it here.</a><br />
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That’s all folks!<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
Larissa<br />
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P.s. If you (student/teacher) want to take up Skype lessons with me, fill out this form!Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com164tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-85783544539255148532020-03-29T17:34:00.000+02:002020-03-29T21:59:26.201+02:00EFL Talks Italy 29.3.20 - 6 Engaging Instagram Activities for TeensSome weeks ago we started our lockdown due to COVID-19 in Italy. Teachers had been obliged to move to online teaching; students and teachers alike had to get used to completely new way of teaching/learning. I read several posts on Facebook about how difficult it was so I got in touch with Rob Howard who is the creator of <a href="http://www.efltalks.com/">http://www.efltalks.com</a>. (Take a look at this great website).<br />
He came up with the fantastic idea of holding an EFL Talks event all dedicated to Italian English-language teachers.<br />
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I presented 6 Instagram activities to engage teenagers. Here you are the slides!<br />
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Some of the teachers' caption were:<br />
- Shall I change the 'autocertificazione' again?<br />
- What's happening? What's all this noise?<br />
- Can I go out?<br />
- Who's knocking?<br />
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<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-23444811012466105162020-03-04T09:46:00.001+01:002020-03-06T08:32:46.764+01:00Lost in London - A digital EFL Escape ClassroomEveryone is aware the coronavirus is having a dramatic impact on the world and governments are ordering or contemplating school closures in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. In this worrying scenario we cannot stop teaching our students, though. This is the reason why I created a digital EFL Escape Classroom. I know it is nothing like a real one, but it will take you and your learners on a virtual tour of London.<br />
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<a href="https://sites.google.com/view/digital-efl-escape-classroom-a/home-page"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Lost in London</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0w1mb84d3s/Xl9tkvy3JYI/AAAAAAAACkI/nGGRv2DTLjws_HovZ9wyK2jO5oR92y1nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-03-04%2Bat%2B09.57.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="432" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0w1mb84d3s/Xl9tkvy3JYI/AAAAAAAACkI/nGGRv2DTLjws_HovZ9wyK2jO5oR92y1nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-03-04%2Bat%2B09.57.24.png" width="466" /></a></div>
P.s. If you (student/teacher) want to take up Skype lessons with me, fill out this<a href="https://forms.gle/17orJKKK3UqXJy4GA" target="_blank"> form</a>!<br />
P.s. 2 If you want me to run a digital EFL Escape Classroom online with your class, use the contact form.Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-69988729929258085352020-02-28T16:34:00.001+01:002020-02-28T16:55:39.047+01:00When was the last time you went red-faced? A lesson plan about embarrassing momentsHi everyone,<br />
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I know coronavirus is what you expected I was going to talk about today, but no, I won't. There is a lot of going on already and I'm not a medicine expert.<br />
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I'd like to share with you a lesson plan I created some time ago for my DipTesol teaching practice. I used it with B2 adult learners but it can work with teenagers, too.<br />
I was inspired by this article <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2200185/Top-50-embarrassing-moments-revealed.html" target="_blank">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2200185/Top-50-embarrassing-moments-revealed.html</a> and this viral video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8nFR4sXkFE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8nFR4sXkFE </a>.<br />
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The objective of the lesson was to enable Ls to talk about an embarrassing moment in their/someone’s lives.<br />
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Here you will find the lesson stages, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bsPdu1cZT3yFO_okh7IRjiGMhx2vkLEh/view?usp=sharing%C2%A0" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bsPdu1cZT3yFO_okh7IRjiGMhx2vkLEh/view?usp=sharing </a><br />
and these are the materials I used<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2tuX4jr3zeuy4U8IfMIeVTEM0FNPrKS/view?usp=sharing%C2%A0" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2tuX4jr3zeuy4U8IfMIeVTEM0FNPrKS/view?usp=sharing </a><br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1opExPAk55C1YPSl4vL0bnp1mR6BB8U7o/view?usp=sharing%C2%A0" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1opExPAk55C1YPSl4vL0bnp1mR6BB8U7o/view?usp=sharing </a>.<br />
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Let me know if this lesson plan has worked with your students too!<br />
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Ps. If you (student/teacher) want to take up Skype lessons with me, fill out this<a href="https://forms.gle/17orJKKK3UqXJy4GA" target="_blank"> form</a>!<br />
<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-71311339750717861202020-02-18T18:50:00.000+01:002020-02-18T18:57:24.817+01:00'Station Squabble': a picture-telling activityHi folks,<br />
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here I am again with a new teaching idea I came up with thanks to a photograph which went viral last week. I'm talking about the shot 'Station Squabble' which has made Sam Rowley win the Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX People's Choice award. Apparently Sam spent late nights at a central London tube stop, down on his belly trying to get the perfect low-angle view. His two subjects had been foraging separately until they chanced across the same morsel of food. For a split second, they argued over who should have it before then going their separate ways.</div>
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If you haven't seen the picture yet, I am sure your curiosity has been aroused. I'm not going to show you the photo now, though, I'd like to share my lesson plan first!</div>
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Level: A2<br />
Age: Pre-teens/Teens<br />
Target language: Cohesive devices - Substitution/Ellipsis + Sentence stress<br />
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Procedure:<br />
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1. <u>Warm-up activity - <i>Call My Bluff</i></u></div>
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Board the phrase 'Station Squabble', most Ls at this level will struggle to understand the meaning of 'squabble' so you can play the game <i>Call My Bluff</i>.</div>
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Provide Ls with three/four definitions of the word squabble, but only one of them must be correct ('an argument over something that is not important' - www.dictionary.cambridge.com).</div>
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Ls in pairs/small groups guess which the correct definition is through a poll activity. (If you're a tech-savvy teacher, you might use <a href="https://www.polleverywhere.com/" target="_blank">this website</a>.)</div>
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2. <u>Self-assessment</u></div>
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Without telling Ls which definition is the correct one, ask them to read a short dialogue which is an example of a 'squabble' that really happened between two friends. This task will get Ls to understand whether their answers were right or wrong and avoid direct teacher's corrective feedback.</div>
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<u>3. Working on the text</u></div>
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Ask Ls to work in pairs.</div>
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a. Ls decide which word is missing in the first line. </div>
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b. Ls describe the two characters (whose name is the same).</div>
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<u>4.a Focus on TL</u></div>
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Ask Ls work in small groups.</div>
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a. Ls try to explain the difference between 'my' and 'mine'.</div>
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b. Ls say which word 'did' replaces.</div>
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<i>Substitution involves some linguistic item substituting for another item occurring in the prior linguistic context.</i></div>
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<i>Ellipsis is like Substitution except that it involves deleting information recoverable from some prior context rather than replacing the information with a word like do or so. </i>(Meyer, 2002)</div>
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<u>4.b Focus on Phonology - Sentence stress</u></div>
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We know that grammar words are usually unstressed. However, in this short dialogue they are. Drill the sentences focusing on the stress by using bullets on the words which are 'strong'. </div>
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<u>5. Showing the photograph</u></div>
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It's time to show the photograph! </div>
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Tell Ls you have a picture of the squabble you've been talking about. Show it to your students and they check out their predictions.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flb_OzsLLls/XkwUCa2xLkI/AAAAAAAACiE/jz98aOzraiMPZ9fUFC0wD_rYFdWSRblXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-02-18%2Bat%2B17.42.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1000" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flb_OzsLLls/XkwUCa2xLkI/AAAAAAAACiE/jz98aOzraiMPZ9fUFC0wD_rYFdWSRblXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-02-18%2Bat%2B17.42.28.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sam Rowley/Wildlife Photographer of the Year</td></tr>
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The word missing is 'food'; the phrase 'food morsel' is correct, too. </div>
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-27581235512154386842020-02-10T12:48:00.000+01:002020-02-10T12:52:50.638+01:00Valentine's Day - 'Print Your Guy'<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yes, I know I'm a soppy romantic young lady, but I couldn't help sharing with you this video you can use in class over this week or even better on Valentine's Day. My students really enjoyed watching this short film and found it much easier to learn and memorise the target language I had decided to introduce with it.</div>
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Video : <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mbUzEPr4iM" target="_blank">Print your guy</a></i></div>
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Level: B1-upwards </div>
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Age: Teens/Adults</div>
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Target language: Adjectives to describe personality + character</div>
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Procedure:</div>
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<u>1. Warm-up: Vision off </u></div>
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I told my students I was going to play a short film but they couldn't watch it. They had to listen and guess what was happening. </div>
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Typical answers were: Someone is watching TV. It's a TV advert. It's about love. Etc.</div>
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Another option would be starting off with telling students the beginning of the story.</div>
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<i>Pamela lives on her own in an apartment in Paris. One evening while watching a movie she sees a commercial for a company who claim they can print her perfect guy, by logging on at printyourguy.com. Very excited, she runs to her computer to order one, but when it arrives, she realizes that the product wasn't exactly what she was expecting! </i></div>
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Ask students, 'Why didn't the product live up to her expectations?' (You might need to elicit the meaning of 'live up to')</div>
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After getting some feedback from the students I showed them these screenshots.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HEZzA2YHuNk/XkECY6qbgCI/AAAAAAAACg0/LEwrNiAks7onfgHwTw9LC5-pu29WSTEpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-02-10%2Bat%2B08.05.32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1431" height="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HEZzA2YHuNk/XkECY6qbgCI/AAAAAAAACg0/LEwrNiAks7onfgHwTw9LC5-pu29WSTEpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-02-10%2Bat%2B08.05.32.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from 'Print your guy'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hYaKh8PU6Cc/XkEC3dmOqSI/AAAAAAAACg8/3ukWobGKSkkZBaPcyKpqHS4c6tfgDCIsACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-02-10%2Bat%2B08.13.58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="869" height="352" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hYaKh8PU6Cc/XkEC3dmOqSI/AAAAAAAACg8/3ukWobGKSkkZBaPcyKpqHS4c6tfgDCIsACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-02-10%2Bat%2B08.13.58.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;">Screenshot from 'Print your guy'</td></tr>
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2. <u>Target language: Adjectives to describe personality</u></div>
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Starting from the principle we never know how much our learners know, I asked all the class to tell me what their perfect guy/girl would be like by only using three words.</div>
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Of course, just a few people were confident enough to answer, (but I had already expected that).</div>
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I boarded the adjectives that came up, I elicited their meanings and drilled their pronunciation. </div>
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Then I gave each group a set of adjectives and they had to find their definitions on the post-it notes I had stuck on the walls before the lesson started.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy_1cGpinfE/XkE3vKTFA-I/AAAAAAAAChI/7mA2WhxVRIIRE8NbmjXo1Rm2zQZuHtSAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8392.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy_1cGpinfE/XkE3vKTFA-I/AAAAAAAAChI/7mA2WhxVRIIRE8NbmjXo1Rm2zQZuHtSAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8392.HEIC" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some adjectives and their definitions</td></tr>
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3. <u>Speaking activity:</u></div>
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<u>3.a Predictive task</u></div>
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Back to the short film! I asked my students to look at the picture of Pamela (the main character of the video) and predict which type of guy she was looking for. In pairs learners used the TL learnt and then shared their ideas with the other students. I showed them the short film till 02:16, then we had some whole-class feedback. </div>
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<u>3.b Drawing dictation</u></div>
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The second 'perfect guy' is the manly type. Students worked in pairs, one could watch the video (till 03:28) while the other one had to draw what their partner was dictating them. We had some feedback and voted for the best drawing, too.</div>
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<u>3.c Free conversation</u></div>
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Students felt that the third attempt was the right one and instinctively expressed their opinions about who the perfect guy could be. I was really glad that they were autonomous and for a few minutes I let them speak without interrupting them. However, as a teacher, I need to take into account time management, so I asked them to watch the short film till 04:25.</div>
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<u>4. Writing activity: Review</u></div>
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After four attempts Pamela has not found her 'perfect guy' yet. I asked students to put themselves in Pamela's shoes and write a short review about the website and its products.</div>
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5. <u>Cooling-down activity: Reflection</u></div>
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I let students watch the short movie till the end and I asked them about the meaning of 'perfect match'. I was really satisfied with the fact that students felt so comfortable that they spoke about their private lives and relationships. </div>
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I hope you will spend a great Valentine's Day with your students and loved ones!<br />
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--> I'm going to give an online course via Skype. If you want to participate in the free trial class, fill out this <a href="https://forms.gle/U6efoUncZrP6Btzz6" target="_blank">form</a>.Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-58644123799037239962020-01-26T10:13:00.003+01:002020-01-26T10:41:29.035+01:00Creativity in the EFL classroom: a task-based activity<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hi everyone!</div>
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Another week has just gone by and here I am again to share a teaching activity I carried out with a group of my students with you.</div>
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I'd like to start this post with a quote by one of my favourite writers. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-THa3vVhsDeI/Xi1KjRuGNmI/AAAAAAAACeY/_NONPSViOlsS04lpN7T6HAwkwzVqp0dCwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8064.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-THa3vVhsDeI/Xi1KjRuGNmI/AAAAAAAACeY/_NONPSViOlsS04lpN7T6HAwkwzVqp0dCwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8064.PNG" width="497" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">www.google.com </td></tr>
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Creativity is one of the four 21st skills (along with critical thinking, collaboration, and communication) that students need to have in order to succeed. Moreover, according to Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Development creativity is considered one of the higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). In particular it is defined as the ability to put parts together to create something new and unique by giving major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns or structures. (If you'd like to read more about Bloom's Taxonomy, I suggest that you visit this<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/blooms-taxonomy-the-incredible-teaching-tool-2081869" target="_blank"> webpage)</a>.</div>
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Some time ago I read <i><a href="https://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/attachments/pub_f004_elt_creativity_final_v2_web-1.pdf" target="_blank">Creativity in the English language classroom</a></i> edited by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey from the British Council series. You can find fantastic ideas here to use in your classrooms.</div>
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What I decided to do was to collect some of the definitions of 'creativity' which are true for me. I printed out a poster and put it on the wall of the room where I usually plan my lessons. I came up with the idea I'm sharing with you in the paragraph below while I was staring at it one day when my mind had gone blank. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqm65zsjJZ4/Xi1ObVgUH1I/AAAAAAAACek/5EwkfCDM-zMrRQZAE_ErVqM5AfTbSnzxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/CREATIVITY%2BIN%2BTHE%2BEFL%2BCLASSROOM-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqm65zsjJZ4/Xi1ObVgUH1I/AAAAAAAACek/5EwkfCDM-zMrRQZAE_ErVqM5AfTbSnzxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/CREATIVITY%2BIN%2BTHE%2BEFL%2BCLASSROOM-2.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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CREATIVE CAFES<br />
Level: B1 - upwards<br />
Time: 2 hours<br />
Linguistic Skills: Speaking, Listening, Writing<br />
Soft Skills: Creative thinking, Problem Solving<br />
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Warm-up activity<br />
I showed my Ls this picture, I told them it was the sign of a shop and they brainstormed ideas about which type of business it could be and then I asked them, 'What is special about this cafe?'<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwglAC5t__g/Xi1QEGfklBI/AAAAAAAACew/NWUqwtq6eRwDymv1r64OFEMm-7NryxzdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-26%2Bat%2B09.35.06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="459" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwglAC5t__g/Xi1QEGfklBI/AAAAAAAACew/NWUqwtq6eRwDymv1r64OFEMm-7NryxzdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screenshot%2B2020-01-26%2Bat%2B09.35.06.png" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">www.google.com</td></tr>
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In order to check their answers, Ls watched this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT-fyB3Ru94" target="_blank">video</a> up to 00:35. Some of my Ls were really surprised about this business model and one of them even said that it was not worth it since anyone can eat everything up.<br />
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Listening activity - Running 'question' dictation<br />
In order to improve my Ls' listening skills without making some of them stressed about it I decided to carry out a peer-learning activity. Instead of giving them the comprehension questions I wrote them on post-it notes and put them on the classroom walls. Ls were divided in groups of four, but only one member could stand up and read the questions on the walls (of course everyone had a go) and then report them to the other members of their groups.<br />
Ls watched the video till the end twice and then answered the questions.<br />
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These are the questions they had to answer.<br />
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1) What's the English word for Ziferblat?<br />
2) Is the owner disappointed about people eating a lot?<br />
3) Why do customers enjoy going to this cafe?<br />
4) What's the shortest time someone spent at Ziferblat?<br />
5) What's the longest time someone spent at Ziferblat?<br />
6) What's the feedback the owner gives about his own experience?<br />
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Creative activity<br />
Ls had to create their own business idea about a special cafe.<br />
What's the name of the place?<br />
What's special about it?<br />
What are special features about its interior design?<br />
What's its sign like?<br />
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By working in groups, I had the opportunity to monitor them better. Lots of new language came up and everyone was engaged in the task.<br />
Plus, what I loved about the classroom setting was that I could challenge them with possible problems they could have in their businesses and ask them to think about how they might solve them.<br />
For example, one of the cafes, 'The Dice Cafe' gave the chance to their customers to pay half price for their coffees if they rolled a dice and got 6. I asked them, 'What if the customer were a gambler, s/he wanted to roll the dice again and an argument arouse?' They discussed about it and then decided to hire a bouncer.<br />
Also, two groups chose the same name, 'Once upon a cafe', for their businesses. I asked them to explained their cafes to the other groups who had to decide which group was going to keep the name.<br />
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Here you are some creative cafes my Ls were working on.<br />
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When they finished, they presented their ideas to the class.<br />
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Through a blinding voting operation :), they decided which idea we were going to upload in a crowdfunding website such as https://www.indiegogo.com.<br />
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That's all for now, folks!<br />
<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-77526101418327966352020-01-19T19:11:00.001+01:002020-01-20T06:43:17.164+01:00 What if you spent a night at ‘Hotel California’? A ‘song-telling’ activity for advanced learners<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">We are all more than aware that music is a great tool in the classroom. In particular, Murphy (1992), who analysed the discourse of pop songs, stressed their effectiveness in the foreign language classroom for their highly affective and dialogic features. He also added that pop songs present vague references (he also referred to them as ghost discourse) which allow listeners to use them in personally associative ways. Ding dong. Yes, it does ring a bell to you too, right? These are some of the reasons why we love using songs in class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Starting from the ideas above I decided to create a lesson plan based on the song ‘Hotel California’. (Yes, I went back to the Seventies). It was pretty successful because my learners had had bad experiences (well, not as bad as in the song, of course) at hotels during their holidays. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Happy to share some of my ideas with you!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">WARM-UP ACTIVITY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">(In order to engage Ls).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Show Ls this text and these two pictures and ask them to match the text with the picture they think it is describing. (Remember to ask, 'Why?')</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNzYHUtmctc/XiSRc1W2b7I/AAAAAAAACdk/CjiEzMvhdzU9i9PEKo2yYL501iRl9DQfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.25.58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="354" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNzYHUtmctc/XiSRc1W2b7I/AAAAAAAACdk/CjiEzMvhdzU9i9PEKo2yYL501iRl9DQfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.25.58.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">*The word 'colitas' might put you in trouble, sorry!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">www.flickr.com </td></tr>
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SONG TELLING ACTIVITY</div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">1) Ask Ls to answer the following questions in pairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">1. Who do you think the person speaking is?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">2. Where is s/he?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">3. What is s/he been doing? Why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">4. What do you think s/he going to do? What would you personally do? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">2) Now you can tell Ls that our ‘friend’ is actually going to stop over at a hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Show Ls the following picture and ask them to brainstorm ideas about what can possibly go wrong there. (E.g. no hot water, too much noise, etc.)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_HMRSyElxP0/XiSTP7DvOQI/AAAAAAAACdw/21d5ey8ZsY4ddWGH7gGGaG9hxnA1JOHJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.14.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="588" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_HMRSyElxP0/XiSTP7DvOQI/AAAAAAAACdw/21d5ey8ZsY4ddWGH7gGGaG9hxnA1JOHJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.14.24.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picture taken from www.google.com </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">3) Ls listen to the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWGFdL4tNW0" target="_blank">'Hotel California' </a>and check whether the problems they brainstormed are the same or different the singer experiences. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dZIxQJx8R0/XiSbz69SeII/AAAAAAAACeI/a8EC7x3zkJUYdSxX1-XoUD61Jk5HZ8NgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="1125" height="249" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dZIxQJx8R0/XiSbz69SeII/AAAAAAAACeI/a8EC7x3zkJUYdSxX1-XoUD61Jk5HZ8NgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7893.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">4) Ls listen to the song again, this time with the support of the<a href="https://genius.com/Eagles-hotel-california-lyrics" target="_blank"> lyrics</a><a href="http://lyrics./">.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Elicit or explain new vocabulary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">5) Tell them that the singer was not happy with the hotel services. Thus, he decided to write a complaint letter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">I found useful phrases for writing a (Cambridge CAE exam)</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"> complaint letter in this <a href="https://freeenglishlessonplans.com/2017/05/04/caecpe-writing-formal-letter-of-complaint-task-phrase-sheet/" target="_blank">website</a>. Hand out the worksheet you can download from the page. Ls go through the expressions in small groups. Provide them with translation if necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">6) Ls complete this <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ysxEp_REnXE_AF3PX4JB3PuhCwNNcy_50rjHPpBHKVE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">text</a> with phrases from the handout. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKp_DCE7fLU/XiSWFvdcjqI/AAAAAAAACd8/7WbNUFZPSv8jlRnku3LIe587zGVAK8FwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.46.42.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="686" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BKp_DCE7fLU/XiSWFvdcjqI/AAAAAAAACd8/7WbNUFZPSv8jlRnku3LIe587zGVAK8FwACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screenshot%2B2020-01-19%2Bat%2B18.46.42.png" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">What will the manager of the Hotel California do when he gets the singer's complaint letter? This type of task will let Ls be autonomous and go for either a writing or a speaking activity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">My students really enjoyed this lesson and I hope so do yours. If you use these activities or change them a bit, please let me know!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";">Bye for now ;)</span></div>
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-7169648574633153952020-01-12T10:09:00.000+01:002020-01-12T10:14:49.199+01:00GenZ and viral papal slap: teaching ideas<div style="text-align: justify;">
It’s been ages since last time I blogged. One of my new year’s resolutions is to be more ‘social’ and share my teaching ideas, so here I am! Back to tell you about my class experiences. </div>
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At the moment I’m working with teenagers (mainly) at ‘Liceo’ in South Italy and I find it really interesting and exciting teaching Generation Z. If you are wondering about who Generation Z members are like, well, let me give you a quick description about two of their main features. </div>
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GenZ - Open-minded people with a witty sense of humour</div>
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According to Seemiller & Grace (2019) more than 70% of today’s teenagers have described themselves ‘as loyal, thoughtful, determined, compassionate, open-minded and responsible’. The word that most caught my attention was open-minded and Seemiller & Grace go on saying that ‘their open-mindedness may help them look at situations and issues from multiple perspectives and in unconventional ways’. Moreover, ‘growing up alongside YouTube, the hub of entertaining videos, it makes sense that those in Generation Z would seek out and use humour as a way to balance the more serious concerns they have in life’. The other day I was able to confirm all the above-mentioned characteristics through a lesson about an incident that happened on New Year’s Eve and whose video went viral. </div>
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What I planned, what actually… happened in class…</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-b8SZQ9sd0/Xhrh92bSe1I/AAAAAAAACdA/n6UgzUDuVBk4GHit5NZYutpvUZRyxg0VQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-12%2Bat%2B10.07.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="399" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-b8SZQ9sd0/Xhrh92bSe1I/AAAAAAAACdA/n6UgzUDuVBk4GHit5NZYutpvUZRyxg0VQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot%2B2020-01-12%2Bat%2B10.07.38.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://www.neatoshop.com/product/pope-slap </td></tr>
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My lesson plan was all about the Pope and what happened with the pilgrim who grabbed his arm in St Peter's Square on New Year's Eve. I wanted the learners to watch this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/pope-francis-apologises-after-slapping-womans-hand" target="_blank">video </a>and then do a series of activities (I am going to share with you). However, when I arrived in class I realised that Internet was not working. ‘No panic’, I said to myself, ’Let’s show off my entertaining storytelling abilities’. I started by saying that I was going to tell them the story of a famous man and an unknown woman. Then I asked them who they thought the man was and they yelled, ‘Trump’. (See? They are into the news). But I said no and I added that he was neither British or Northern American. Here we go, a storm of nationalities came up. (Really good exercise to revise pronunciation of countries and nationalities). When they realised he was from Argentina, one of the boys immediately said, ‘Messi’. Once again I put on my ‘sorry face’ and I said they had to try again. That was when they asked for more hints. So, I added he often wears white and they exclaimed, ‘Oh, yes! It’s Pope Francis’ and they bursted into laughter. They went on telling the story themselves and asked for some new vocabulary such as ‘grab’, ‘pull’, ‘slap’ and ‘yank’. I felt so proud of them!</div>
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Ideas to take away and use in your classrooms!</div>
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1. WARM-UP ACTIVITY </div>
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2. What did the pilgrim tell the Pope? What did he reply? In pairs, Ls act out a dialogue between the two characters. (Remember to give Ls preparation time and ask them to vote the best performance according some criteria, e.g. the funniest dialogue, the most grammatically correct dialogue, etc.)</div>
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Make it different - Get Ls to create comic strips. You can use the picture below. (If you use a WhatsApp group with your class, they can use their smartphones to carry out the task.)</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2os2XJFIu2c/XhrcjY0cCYI/AAAAAAAACcU/6JB2tIrJ1TE893iATbD05HVm5SmaifhawCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-12%2Bat%2B09.21.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1028" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2os2XJFIu2c/XhrcjY0cCYI/AAAAAAAACcU/6JB2tIrJ1TE893iATbD05HVm5SmaifhawCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-01-12%2Bat%2B09.21.23.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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2. FOCUS ON LANGUAGE: Functional language - How to apologise</div>
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Elicit the meaning of apologising (e.g. If I say, ‘I am sorry’, I am apologising).</div>
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Elicit forms from Ls and board them. Take a look at this <a href="https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/fl-apologizing.htm" target="_blank">webpage</a> for more ideas. Suggest also forms to respond to apologies (visit this <a href="https://7esl.com/make-and-accept-an-apology/" target="_blank">page)</a>.</div>
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In pairs Ls act out a dialogue in which the Pope apologises and the pilgrim accepts (or maybe not) his apology. </div>
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Here you are one of the performances. (Spoiler alert: the learners in this video felt embarrassed.)</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyBBNU0_Y4rozbzUFPVior22hF4zfk15EkPx_v71utSpoNqBBvtb1VZ8b4DtsUWvNjuEYLj3_IaHDtJGlFobA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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3. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY</div>
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There is an eyewitness of the incident, who is he? The bodyguard! </div>
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In pairs, once again, one student is a journalist and the other one is the bodyguard. The journalist interviews the bodyguard about what happened. I asked Ls to write and act out a five-question interview. </div>
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Make it different - What would the bodyguard tweet? Use this <a href="https://simitator.com/generator/twitter/tweet" target="_blank">fake tweet generator </a>to make your Ls carry out the task.</div>
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‘That’s all folks’ from me for now.</div>
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Have a great teaching year!</div>
Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-45486980820757686102019-09-04T12:22:00.003+02:002019-09-04T12:29:01.415+02:00'Escape EFL Classroom' workshop: Behind the scenes - Game-based learning and gamification (1)<div style="text-align: justify;">
A new school year is about to start here in Italy and I am ready with a new project. If you have been following this blog, you would know by now that I am really into games. Thus, my new workshop for secondary school students is a special Escape Room, which is a 60-minute real-life adventure game. When I played this game for the first time with a group of friends I immediately thought it was great for my students because</div>
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- it involves the use of the four linguistic skills,</div>
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- it promotes peer-learning, </div>
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- it entails different teaching methods and approaches which suit different types of students.</div>
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I have decided to write a series of blogposts about my new workshop which analyse the different parts of it. Today I will start with the reasons why I use games in my workshops for students and teachers. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2sg4DkV3bE/XW-QRybv6aI/AAAAAAAACZ8/t_zkVgqhlPg8Lg0QWm6zYwMY4KUpa5W-wCLcBGAs/s1600/Spice%2BUp%2BYour%2BEnglish%2BClass%2Bpresents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2sg4DkV3bE/XW-QRybv6aI/AAAAAAAACZ8/t_zkVgqhlPg8Lg0QWm6zYwMY4KUpa5W-wCLcBGAs/s640/Spice%2BUp%2BYour%2BEnglish%2BClass%2Bpresents.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
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Why 'gamification'?</div>
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Kapp describes gamification as ‘the careful and considered application of game thinking to solving problems and encouraging learning using all the elements of games that are appropriate’ (Kapp, 2012, p.12). We can infer, thus, 'gamification' is an integration of game elements and game thinking in activities that are not games. In particular, games have some distinctive features which play a key role in gamification:</div>
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- users (students) are all participants,</div>
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- challenges/tasks that users perform and progress towards defined objectives ('levelling up' raises interesting questions for educators - not least the fact that players are allowed to tackle challenges and tests like exams as many times as necessary - and with no lasting consequences - in order to progress from one level to another),</div>
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- points that are accumulated as a result of executing tasks,</div>
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- levels which users pass depending on the point.</div>
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Why 'game-based' learning?<br />
Unlike 'gamification', which adds game-inspired elements to your teaching practice (e.g. points), 'game-based' learning entails the use of games to meet learning outcomes. It is through the game that students learn. Moreover, playing games is intrinsically motivating because by and large it’s a voluntary activity. Games encourage independent inquiry and exploration; interests and passions can branch off from the individual game. Finally, a consensual and transparent adherence to a fictional setting or role allows players to experiment with skills and identities without suffering the consequences of failure in real life.<br />
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In my next post I'll be writing about what traditional Escape Rooms are. Stay tuned!<br />
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For further information about the 'Escape EFL Classroom' <br />
workshop email me spiceupyourenglishclass@gmail.com.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
LarissaLarissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-23703399171405070672019-08-26T08:39:00.001+02:002019-08-26T15:49:20.444+02:00Generation Z and Social Networking Apps: Back to School and Instagram<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some time ago I started my DipTesol independent research about the use of social networking apps to engage learners in communicative tasks inside and outside the EFL classroom. Last spring I also set up a closed Facebook group to share activities which include the use of social networks to learn English as a foreign language. </div>
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Social scientists who study young people have found that their digital use can be inventive and even beneficial. This is true not just in terms of their social lives, but their education too. In fact, thanks to the online world, young people can now publish ideas not just to their friends, but to the world. And by writing for strangers, their sense of “authentic audience” makes them work harder, push themselves further, and create powerful new communicative forms.</div>
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One of the apps which is most used by young people in Italy and in Europe is Instagram, which is a social networking service built around sharing photos and videos. (If you want to know more about it, check this <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-instagram-3486316" target="_blank">article</a>.</div>
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It is almost time to start your lessons again and I know you are more than excited to meet your new and old students! I am also sure that you are looking for an activity which is not the usual 'What did you do last summer?', though. This the reason why I am going to share with you the following Bingo game.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ank8xks9RQ/XWN7Vfg-aLI/AAAAAAAACZs/jpvCqqIKBcg9FShxYDZTMRk92cWicozTgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot%2B2019-08-26%2Bat%2B08.24.50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="581" height="633" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ank8xks9RQ/XWN7Vfg-aLI/AAAAAAAACZs/jpvCqqIKBcg9FShxYDZTMRk92cWicozTgCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot%2B2019-08-26%2Bat%2B08.24.50.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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RULES OF THE GAME</div>
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1. Distribute the cards and pens or pencils to each student.</div>
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2. Tell the players that they must interview each other. Have each player go around the group and ask other students questions.</div>
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3. When they find someone who replies positively to their question, they have to write down their name and then move on to another student for another question.</div>
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4. The student who first completes the grid with 9 different names, raises his/her hand and shouts, “Bingo!”</div>
E.g. A: Did you use #summer and #beach?<br />
B: Yes, I did.<br />
A: Can you show me, please?<br />
B: (Showing his/her Instagram account) Here you are.<br />
A: (Writing down B's name) Thank you.<br />
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Download the template<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pA-_4O4BVVAXAtlU3_UG9Pm28CMaRoBb/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> here</a>. You will also find a blank template you can use to write down your own questions.<br />
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Have a wonderful back-to-school time!<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
Larissa<br />
<br />
Ps: If you use this activity, let me know your feedback please!<br />
If you are interested in learning how to use social networking apps in your English classes, email me spiceupyourenglishclass@gmail.com.Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-49014970779997452292018-12-10T15:49:00.000+01:002018-12-10T15:49:55.720+01:00POINT YOUR FINGER: a game my adult learners really enjoy<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A few weeks ago I gave one of my workshops for teachers about how to use games in order to teach English as a foreign language. Only one of the participants didn’t show interest at all, and yes I took it at heart. I approached the neglectful lady while everyone in her group was focused on the task and she was phubbing instead. ‘I don’t want to sound rude but’, I began. She looked up, glanced at me then looked down back to her smartphone. I hesitated but then I continued, ‘Don’t you like this game? In the next session there will be more exciting activities, don’t wor…’, ‘I don’t care at all, my boss paid for this course but I teach adults, professionals, business people, I have nothing to do with snotty kids’, she cut me off. Well, at that very moment the angel me and devil me started arguing. ‘Move on to the next group and try to be helpful’, ‘No way, she insulted all your theories you should show off your knowledge about how powerful games are for adults when it comes to learning’. As you know (or you don’t), I chose to follow my angel me’s advice and I carried on with my monitoring activity’. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>That evening, on my way back home, I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘ Why do so many people still think that games are only for kids? And more importantly, what’s wrong with adults playing games?’ </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I’m sure that adult students’d better let their hair down after a long day at work rather than being in the spotlight if they got an irregular past simple wrong. Especially professionals and business people who are always under pressure benefit more when they learn in a playful environment. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>There is no doubt that children’s learning process is way too different from the one of adults but a playful activity has never harmed anyone. There are games for children and games for adults, there are games for children which can be adapted for adults. There are games adults like and games they do not like but that doesn’t depend on the fact that playful activities are only for kids but because the structure or goal of the game isn’t interesting/exciting enough. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This is the reason why I’d like to share with you one of the games my adult students enjoyed most. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GAME: Point your finger</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hXKAewB4ibU/XA57fKTNqPI/AAAAAAAACRY/RdVOI3HudM0cboiB6t6oOrhxaHMAUXBJwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hXKAewB4ibU/XA57fKTNqPI/AAAAAAAACRY/RdVOI3HudM0cboiB6t6oOrhxaHMAUXBJwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_1308.JPG" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">LEVEL: Intermediate - upwards</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">LINGUISTIC SKILLS: Speaking/Listening</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GRAMMAR FOCUS: Have you ever + Past participle? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Present perfect VS Past simple</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1lsj4D_SQWg/XA572mKqvOI/AAAAAAAACRk/ruLYXRwGJSE2yffiZC9OLrZYf52oj3p9ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="1600" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1lsj4D_SQWg/XA572mKqvOI/AAAAAAAACRk/ruLYXRwGJSE2yffiZC9OLrZYf52oj3p9ACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1309.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4-6 p/group</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">WHAT YOU NEED: 1. A set of ‘Have you ever…?’ cards</span></span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">2. A truth metre and sticker finger for each student. (Tips: 1. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Fold an A4 paper in 3 parts so that the truth metre cannot be seen by the other students. 2. Use a sticky note to make the finger.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">RULES: 1. Ask one of the students to pick a ‘Have you ever…?’ card and read out the question. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Everybody (including the student who has read out the question) needs to stick the finger onto one of the four options:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">0=never</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">1=once</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">2=sometimes</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">3=always</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Students need to be careful not to show their answer.)</span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ah_eDMeEjo/XA57yLpOLuI/AAAAAAAACRg/gEUFI9P7sQYkxKtcfC5Iu9MYqeVOEr2uQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ah_eDMeEjo/XA57yLpOLuI/AAAAAAAACRg/gEUFI9P7sQYkxKtcfC5Iu9MYqeVOEr2uQCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_1306.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Truthmetre'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: inherit;">3. When everybody has answered (I suggest that you set a time limit), ask students to point their own finger at the person they think has answered 3 (always).</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. Start to check the answers by asking the student pointed by the one who read the question and then continue clockwise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">5. The students who have pointed to the ones who have answered 3 win 3 points, those who have pointed to the students who have answered 2 win 2 points and so on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I played this game for the first time I was amazed because when a student said, ‘0’, she couldn’t stop talking, she had to explain about her answer because the students who had pointed at her wanted to know why she answered ‘never’. Honestly, all the students talked a lot because they were eager to share their personal experience, I had to stop them talking! </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It was such a pleasure to see them speaking English and having fun. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>
</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Thus, ‘fingerly'-speaking, thumbs up for games, all the time… all ages!</i></span></span></div>
Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-42044108712769874682018-10-06T18:39:00.000+02:002018-10-06T18:39:03.414+02:00Jenga in the EFL classroomHi everyone!<br />
<br />
Here I am with another board game you can play in your EFL classroom!<br />
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Name: JENGA<br />
Rules: <a href="http://www.jenga.com/about.php">http://www.jenga.com/about.php</a><br />
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In my opinion this game is great because it can be adapted to different levels and needs.<br />
I used the following activities with my learners.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcpiJVTvy_I/W7jje8VtJDI/AAAAAAAACQA/bVLL7RmUYrUI0V84miYaV5P0KppYiE7owCLcBGAs/s1600/43169819_1950303795052787_3249233486313160704_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="1080" height="568" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcpiJVTvy_I/W7jje8VtJDI/AAAAAAAACQA/bVLL7RmUYrUI0V84miYaV5P0KppYiE7owCLcBGAs/s640/43169819_1950303795052787_3249233486313160704_o.jpg" width="640" /></a>ACTIVITY 1<br />
Level --> Beginner to Advanced<br />
Age --> Teenagers/Adults<br />
Type of activity --> Ice breaker<br />
Skills practised --> Speaking and Listening<br />
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Before the lesson: 1. Put <a href="https://www.eslconversationquestions.com/small-talk-many-random-questions/" target="_blank">ice-breaking questions</a> on the Jenga blocks.<br />
2. You can either use labels or permanent markers.<br />
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During the lesson: 1. Each learner pulls a block.<br />
2. They need to answer the question AND ask it to someone else.<br />
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ACTIVITY 2<br />
Level --> Beginner to Advanced<br />
Age --> Any<br />
Type of activity --> Storytelling<br />
Skills practised --> Vocabulary, Speaking, and Writing<br />
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Before the lesson: 1. Put words on the Jenga blocks.<br />
2. You can either use labels or permanent markers.<br />
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During the lesson: 1. A learner pulls a block and starts a story using the word on that block.<br />
2. The next student uses the word they pull to continue the story.<br />
3. If the tower falls they need to quickly end the story.<br />
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In case you have a large class: While each learner comes to the front and continues the story, have the whole class write their own version using the blocks pulled.<br />
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ACTIVITY 3<br />
Level --> Beginner to Advanced<br />
Age --> Any<br />
Type of activity --> Revision<br />
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Before the lesson: 1. Put numbers on the Jenga blocks.<br />
2. You can either use labels or permanent markers.<br />
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During the lesson: 1. Divide the class in two teams.<br />
2. Have two learners from each team come to the front of the class.<br />
3. Ask one of the two students to pull a block.<br />
4. Read out the corresponding question.<br />
5. The first student to answer the question correctly can choose if they want to pull a block, or have the other team pull a block.<br />
6. Once the next block is pulled, read out the question corresponding to that block.<br />
7. The first team to make the tower fall loses.<br />
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ACTIVITY 4<br />
Level --> Intermediate +<br />
Age --> Teenagers/Adults<br />
Type of activity --> Recognising minimal pairs<br />
Skills practised --> Listening (Receptive pronunciation)<br />
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Before the lesson: 1. Put two different colours on the Jenga blocks.<br />
2. Choose some minimal pairs to focus on, e.g. /iː/ /ɪ/<br />
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During the lesson: <br />
1. Tell the class that each colour corresponds to a sound.<br />
2. Read out a word.<br />
3. A learner needs to pull the right block.<br />
4. If the learner pulls out the wrong block, let them play again.<br />
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I'm sure you will have more ideas and I'd be pleased if you could share them.<br />
<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-57125207061729390242018-08-31T13:16:00.001+02:002018-08-31T13:16:33.557+02:00Spice Up Your English Class - WorkshopsHi everyone!<br />
'Tis the season to come back to school! If you want me to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZlfxFbLlgtZVjYzdaPJ-r_4qHZWQXO6I/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Spice Up Your English Class</a> one of these days, please let me know!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKrwB6f7RS0/W4kja_HzxQI/AAAAAAAACPg/Mr4c7loN-Ug04E0CFsEsnFJ1w6l5Q6IHQCLcBGAs/s1600/29261364_364122824078133_2672098825676048605_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="958" height="638" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKrwB6f7RS0/W4kja_HzxQI/AAAAAAAACPg/Mr4c7loN-Ug04E0CFsEsnFJ1w6l5Q6IHQCLcBGAs/s640/29261364_364122824078133_2672098825676048605_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Bye for now,<br />
<br />
LarissaLarissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-49111197402827643542018-08-14T19:33:00.000+02:002018-08-15T18:43:33.223+02:00Hit The Target - A brain teaser for your summer holidays!‘Tis the season to close books and put them away. Teachers and students alike are ready to set off on their summer holidays but wait, what about English?<br />
Here you are a game you and your students can play under a beach umbrella!<br />
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Name of the game: Hit The Target 🎯<br />
Level: B2 upwards<br />
Age: teenagers, young adults, adults<br />
The game can be played individually or in pairs.<br />
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Objective<br />
Starting from the word indicated by the arrow, reach the center of the target by eliminating all the words included in it, which can be found in any ring, not necessarily in order, according to the rules below.<br />
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Rules<br />
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1) The word can be an anagram of the previous one.<br />
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2) It can be a synonym or an antonym of the previous one.<br />
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3) It can be a homophone (a word that is pronounced like another word but has a different spelling or meaning, for example some, sum /sʌm/) of the previous one.<br />
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4) It can be obtained by adding, removing, or replacing a letter in the previous one.<br />
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5)It can be associated to the previous one because of an idiom, collocation or saying.<br />
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6) It can form, together with the previous one, the name of a celebrity, or a place.<br />
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7) It can be associated to a work of art (book, theater, poetry, etc.), its author, or its title including any genre.<br />
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In your answer, you should explain and/or justify each association.<br />
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I made the one below for you, have fun and enjoy your summer holidays!<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-veChqQ6nL38/W3MRoD-Bv2I/AAAAAAAACOs/YLFl8y5vNAU6CNjYzPXZsgyA4Sw_TV_lACLcBGAs/s1600/HIT%2BTHE%2BTARGET%2BEXAMPLE.001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-veChqQ6nL38/W3MRoD-Bv2I/AAAAAAAACOs/YLFl8y5vNAU6CNjYzPXZsgyA4Sw_TV_lACLcBGAs/s640/HIT%2BTHE%2BTARGET%2BEXAMPLE.001.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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E.g. The first word is WILLIAM, the second word is PRINCE (Prince William), word number 3 is KISS because it's the title of one of Prince's songs.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIGHj8gHCvo/W3RXxgCHx5I/AAAAAAAACO4/SNaODPPuOPgyPqAww6OGEZaD-lz3dnudACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-15%2Bat%2B18.40.48.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="969" height="502" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIGHj8gHCvo/W3RXxgCHx5I/AAAAAAAACO4/SNaODPPuOPgyPqAww6OGEZaD-lz3dnudACLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-08-15%2Bat%2B18.40.48.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Last but not the least, here you are template to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f183KDivnyVmW8qe7fjikDrkjS7P3PFD/view" target="_blank">create your own HIT THE TARGET!</a> </div>
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P.s. If you want to know all the answers, leave a comment! ;)</div>
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-18494026201427095642018-04-11T08:26:00.001+02:002018-04-11T08:26:50.592+02:00From Scratch Paper To Speaking: a low-prep activityA couple of weeks ago my laptop broke down. I felt desperate. The last time I had felt like that was when I broke up with my boyfriend 😭! And now the fateful question everybody asked me, ‘Did you back your data?’ And my dumb answer, ‘I don’t do that,’ feeling like Carrie Bradshaw in <i>Sex and The City. </i><br />
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What shall I do? Just go back to basics: pen and paper!<br />
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<img src="webkit-fake-url://443d0c6a-6a61-4551-add6-f1403f688eac/imagepng" /><br />
Activity: improvised speaking<br />
Level: B1+ and above<br />
Students: young adults and adults<br />
Materials: colourful pieces of paper, pens<br />
N. Students: 6 or more<br />
*Depending on the number of students you need a different number of pieces of papers. In the following instructions you will find the materials I used with a class of 6 students<br />
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1) Give each student 5 pieces of white paper and ask them to write a person name or noun on each piece.<br />
E.g. Donald Trump, baker, violinist, Silvio Berlusconi (examples from my students)<br />
2) Give each student 1 piece of yellow paper and ask them to write an outdoor place. E.g. beach.<br />
3) Give each student 1 piece of green paper and ask them to write a place where entrance is free. E.g. library.<br />
4) Give each student 1 piece of pink paper and ask them to write the worst place for them. E.g. Underground at rush hours.<br />
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Now you are ready to play!<br />
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5) Two students come to the front and pick two cards from the deck of white cards and one card from the colourful deck.<br />
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6) They need to talk to each other pretending to be the people on the white cards in the place on the colourful card for two minutes.<br />
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7) After two minutes, students from their seats can try to guess who they are and where they are while the two ‘actors’ continue speaking for one more minute.<br />
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8) Give one point to the students for each person and place they guess.<br />
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Improvisation is quite difficult for foreign language students so I strongly recommend that you use this game with a class whose level is upper-intermediate or above at the end of the course so that students already know each other well and they feel comfortable to come to the front.<br />
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My students and I had a lot of fun. Let me know about you!<br />
<br />
PS: I took me a while to type this post from my iPad 😅Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-66166930860456116992018-02-20T08:18:00.001+01:002018-02-20T08:18:43.237+01:004 Ps to encourage teenagers to speak English in the classroomWhat are the 4 Ps?<br />
Presentation, planning, practice and participation.<br />
Surely this acronym will remind you of the PPP paradigm which is a teaching approach describing the presentation of new language through the 3 steps of Presentation (new language is presented to learners in order to make the form and meaning clear and memorable), Practice (the learners engage in concentrated controlled practice of the new language) and Production (the learners participate in simulated communication tasks). This form of language teaching has been fiercely criticized over the last few years. For instance, it is seen as a series of “products” that can be acquired as “accumulated entries”, but L2 acquisition is a “process” that is incompatible with teaching seen as the presentation and practice of a series of “products”. However, if the level of the students is low it is much better to introduce the target language in order to avoid the doom and gloom feeling in the classroom.<br />
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Why does it work well with teenager learners?<br />
Teenagers, more than young children and adults, are afraid of being judged. According to the APA, American Psychological Association, (http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr07/teenage.aspx) a lot of teenage behaviour is about avoiding the anxiety of feeling left out. The four 'p's approach addresses that worry by the presence of the plan stage. Bear in mind, this stage does not correspond to the controlled practice of the PPP approach. By planning what they are going to say they have time to think and rehearse. This makes students feel more confident.<br />
The activity I'm going to describe was successful because I divided it into four stages - present, plan, practice and participation.<br />
Firstly, I acted as a student performing the task they were required to carry out, in this case a speaking activity. Secondly, students had some time think and take notes about what they were going to say. Thirdly, students started to speak in pairs in order to break the ice. Finally, we played a game so that everyone had the chance to revise the target language and have fun.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-evSUeeaqPzE/WovLvon0a3I/AAAAAAAACLY/XrVPOPiaKKc4UzsAhjFuFitmwN9_5cghwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-evSUeeaqPzE/WovLvon0a3I/AAAAAAAACLY/XrVPOPiaKKc4UzsAhjFuFitmwN9_5cghwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_4821.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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1) Presentation - model the target language<br />
Although I am mindful of teacher talking time, learners need a model for inspiration. You are that model.<br />
Just before Christmas holidays, I asked my class of teenager English learners:<br />
'Guys, how do you usually spend Christmas Eve?'<br />
Nobody answered. I smiled and I replied to the question myself. I said that I usually wake up late, I wrap presents for my family and friends, I watch Christmas movies on TV and I listen and sing Christmas carols, bake mince pies, etc.<br />
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While I was speaking I wrote some vocabulary on the board especially collocations such as wrap/unwrap presents, sing Christmas carols, bake cookies and asked the learners yes/no questions, for example, “Do you bake Christmas cookies?, Do you usually wrap presents?”.<br />
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2) Planning - give learners time to think about what they will say<br />
Learners need time to plan before speaking, especially at a beginner/elementary level of proficiency.<br />
I asked everyone to write notes about what they usually do on Christmas Eve. I checked their papers to see if their grammar and spelling were right and asked them to write their names on their papers. Then I stuck their papers on the classroom walls. I asked them to stand and walk around the classroom for five minutes to read about how their friends usually spend Christmas Eve.<br />
Alternatively, teachers can ask learners to think about what they will say. Learners can also take notes. I suggest that they don’t write everything they want to say but only some words/phrases. This reduces the chances of learners reading - rather than saying - what they have written.<br />
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3) Practice - give learners a chance to say it and say it again<br />
When the learners went back to their seats I paired them and I asked them to say to each other their Christmas Eve routines. After two minutes I asked them to change partner, and they repeated the activity until they talked to all the other students. When they showed more confidence and fluency while speaking, I thought they were ready to play a game.<br />
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4) Participation - RULES OF THE GAME<br />
In turns one student seats on the “hot chair”<br />
All the other students need to say a Christmas routine activity s/he does<br />
If they are right they get one point.<br />
Students cannot repeat routine that has already been mentioned.<br />
If they repeat something which has already been said they lose one point.<br />
Everyone had to speak about somebody’s else so no one was excluded from the speaking activity. They were all eager to speak and they had a lot of fun. In addition, they had to pay attention to what was being said. A game is, definitely, a good way to encourage teenage learners to participate. Games provide a task and a goal.<br />
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In a nutshell, tweaking a method which is not considered effective due to its lack of correspondence with the research findings and theories of second language acquisition gave me the chance to make my students learn and use effectively the target language. After all, as Machiavelli said, “ends justify the means”.<br />
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PS. You can use this game with daily routines, "what did you do yesterday?", likes & dislikes, etc.Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-5264538113613418232018-01-23T07:15:00.000+01:002018-01-24T10:57:53.430+01:00Animal 🐠🐶🐴idioms out of the box 📦 <div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">GAME:Animal 🐴🐶🐷🐱🐠🐝idioms out of the box 📦</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Target language: idioms which include animals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Level: B2-C1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">What you need: a shoebox </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Pictures of animals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Words (which form the idiom) on paper strips</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Rules of the game</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">1) Learners in teams (pairs/small groups) try to create idioms which include animals using the pictures and the words from the shoebox.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">2) When they think they have one ready they shout out "miaow miaow". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3) Teacher checks it out </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and if it is correct they win one point. If it is not they need to put the picture+words back into the box and try a new combination.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cbCjeCTPXco/WmbTz3QXrLI/AAAAAAAACJ8/KXTajmzl7mg76UM4ygM0KDnOefd6U-xlQCLcBGAs/s1600/26992020_1608359585913878_5232851115126835224_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cbCjeCTPXco/WmbTz3QXrLI/AAAAAAAACJ8/KXTajmzl7mg76UM4ygM0KDnOefd6U-xlQCLcBGAs/s640/26992020_1608359585913878_5232851115126835224_n.jpg" width="474" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 4) </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When all the idioms have been created, the teacher will give the whole class feedback by writing the idioms on the board eliciting their meaning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">5) Learners change teams. One team calls out an idiom and the other teams have to come up with a sentence which includes that idiom. The fastest team wins a point and must call out the next idiom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">My students and I had a lot of fun and I hope this post might be useful with your students, too! </span></div>
Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-4580274504424451362017-11-26T22:18:00.002+01:002017-12-11T09:20:29.639+01:00Teaching For Exams? Have fun! Word Formation... Bingo!⚠️UPDATE⚠️<br />
This blog post has been shortlisted for this month’s TeachingEnglish blog award 💖🥇<br />
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Hi again my fellow EFL teachers!<br />
Are you in trouble with training your students for English language exams? Don't worry! Here I am with a new, fun game you can play with your students!<br />
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This time I'm focusing on:<br />
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Cambridge First Certificate<br />
Reading and Use of English part 3<br />
This task is called<b> word formation</b> and it focuses on candidates' knowledge of how prefixes, suffixes, internal changes and compounds are used in forming words.<br />
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So many affixes, which don't always follow a rule, drive my students nuts. Thus, I created this simple, but fun game!<br />
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What you need:<br />
a 3x3 grid [students can make their own grids during the lesson]<br />
pencils/pens<br />
What you have to do:<br />
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If you make copies beforehand, write a suffix (e.g. -ist) or prefix (e.g. ir-) on the top of each box and write a grammar category (e.g. person noun), whether the word is negative/plural at the bottom of each box. Otherwise, you can write the affixes and the other information about the word formation on the board and ask students to copy them on their papers.<br />
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Rules of the game:<br />
1) Once all the students have their grids,<br />
E.g.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cncgj2Ryv2k/WhstnYXw-9I/AAAAAAAACIM/XTQ-A9jkYI05P-KT7G0d62QcXcqWw35PgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-26%2Bat%2B22.08.52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1240" height="396" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cncgj2Ryv2k/WhstnYXw-9I/AAAAAAAACIM/XTQ-A9jkYI05P-KT7G0d62QcXcqWw35PgCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-26%2Bat%2B22.08.52.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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the teacher says a word<br />
E.g. <i>football</i><br />
2) The teacher says a grammar category<br />
E.g. <i>noun person</i><br />
3) The learner writes the noun person for football in the right box. --> <i>Footballer </i><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PJYrXKsVk0/Whstom0sA4I/AAAAAAAACIQ/hAXcaJzq0BgG512Jgxff2dcDhGSZMVuBgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-26%2Bat%2B22.09.03.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1212" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PJYrXKsVk0/Whstom0sA4I/AAAAAAAACIQ/hAXcaJzq0BgG512Jgxff2dcDhGSZMVuBgCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-26%2Bat%2B22.09.03.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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4) When the learner has completed all the boxes, s/he shouts out BINGO!</div>
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The list of words for the grid above are:<br />
- football (person noun)<br />
- society (adjective)<br />
- survey (person noun)<br />
- polite (abstract noun)<br />
- maintain (abstract noun)<br />
- relevant (negative adjective)<br />
- journal (person noun/plural)<br />
- patience (negative adjective)<br />
- happy (manner adverb)<br />
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5) To make it more challenging add a few more words to the list which don't fit in the grid. Students need to realise that they must not write anything when the teacher calls out that word + grammar category. Remember to tell them before you start playing!<br />
E.g.<br />
- kindness (negative adjective --> UNKIND)<br />
- politics (person noun --> POLITICIAN)<br />
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IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MORE GAMES TO PRACTISE THIS PART OF THE EXAM, TAKE A LOOK <a href="https://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2014/10/teaching-for-exams-have-fun-gift-bags.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-24088687607280028492017-10-18T07:32:00.000+02:002017-10-18T07:32:32.518+02:00Egg-straordinary phrasal verbsHi everyone!<br />
<br />
Here I am to introduce a new game I've been playing with my intermediate and upper-intermediate teen learners.<br />
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The focus is on phrasal verbs. What are phrasal verbs? Take a look at this blogpost! <a href="http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2013/05/phrasal-verbs-at-glance.html" target="_blank">Phrasal Verbs at a glance</a><br />
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Activity: Egg-straordinary phrasal verbs<br />
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Aim: Practise phrasal verbs in context<br />
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Age group: Teenagers and adults<br />
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Materials: an egg carton, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kHxqaIZQRRS0pOT2RJWG1sQVk/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">disk-shaped tokens</a>, timer, paint, paper, pens (pencils)<br />
*Students work in groups of 3-4 so you may need more egg cartons and copies of the disk-shaped tokens.<br />
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Before the class:<br />
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1) Paint four random sections of an egg carton any colour.<br />
2) Print and cut out the tokens. There are two types of tokens, the blue ones are the particles (prepositions and adverbs) and the purple ones are the verbs.<br />
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During the class:<br />
1) Put all the tokens in the top of the egg carton, close the lid, shake the carton, and flip it over. (You can ask a student to do this for you).<br />
2) You can't shake the box after the flip is done!<br />
3) Give students paper and pens (pencils)<br />
4) Once the cover is lifted, players can remove the tokens that are in the painted sections and spread them out on the desk.<br />
5) Set a timer (I had 5-minute sessions) and each player write as many sentences as possible using just the tokens on the desk. They decide how to match the verbs with the particles.<br />
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6) When the timer runs out, learners have to stop writing. Ask them to draw a line across the paper at the end of their sentences (so they can't add more while you get feedback).<br />
7) Ask students to read out their sentences and board phrasal verbs which other students don't know or don't remember.<br />
8) Give 1 point for each correct sentence and 2 points if learners use a two-particle phrasal verb (E.g. I was driving when I ran <u>out of </u>fuel.)<br />
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Why I like this game:<br />
It helps students' autonomy and make them feel aware of what they know and what they don't know. Plus, taking into account the statement "If you don't use it, you lose it", you can have a five-minute session at the beginning or at the end of every class.<br />
<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-3412106056728758202017-05-23T08:09:00.002+02:002017-05-23T08:10:40.651+02:00Teaching for Exams? Have fun! - Key-word transformations with a twistOne of the most tricky and challenging parts of the Cambridge First Exam is Use of English part 4. Students always complain about how difficult it is and prefer to skip it rather than taking the bull by the horns.<br />
If you don't know about this part of the exam, here you are the description from the Cambridge English website.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;"><i>KEY WORD TRANSFORMATION: Each question consists of a sentence followed by a ‘key’ word and a second sentence with a gap in the middle. You have to use this key word to complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">I do think that students need to learn to face their weaknesses and practice makes perfect. On the other hand, in their shoes, I understand that training for an exam must be boring so I decided to match a fun game with this exercise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">KEY-WORD TRANSFORMATIONS WITH A TWIST</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">What do you need? Worksheet(s) of Key word </span>transformations </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A spinner board (optional)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A Finger Twister board</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">KEY OF THE COLOURS (for those who don't have a spinner board)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">GREEN - LEFT HAND - THUMB</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">ORANGE - LEFT HAND - INDEX FINGER</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">PINK - RIGHT HAND - LITTLE FINGER</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">BLUE - RIGHT HAND - RING FINGER</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">RULES</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">1) Students work in pairs</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">2) Students in turns rotate the spinner board. The arrow indicates a finger and colored circle. OR Students in turns call out a colour and number.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_2YXQu7PCjo/WSPQMQhxT2I/AAAAAAAACDA/NQTgWlCgz5k2uVVNJsxxUiuMGHy61yQQwCLcB/s1600/IMG_9102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_2YXQu7PCjo/WSPQMQhxT2I/AAAAAAAACDA/NQTgWlCgz5k2uVVNJsxxUiuMGHy61yQQwCLcB/s640/IMG_9102.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">3) The teacher boards the corresponding transformation.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8-A-IRPTSh8/WSPQfKn7vwI/AAAAAAAACDE/TPTQnLosgesBbonb3fKtmmGMWHsf8781wCLcB/s1600/FullSizeRender-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8-A-IRPTSh8/WSPQfKn7vwI/AAAAAAAACDE/TPTQnLosgesBbonb3fKtmmGMWHsf8781wCLcB/s640/FullSizeRender-16.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">4) The student needs to answer the question.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">4a If the student answers correctly, they don't put any fingers on the board.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">4b If the student makes a mistake, they have to put their finger on the corresponding circle according to the spinner/ the number and color they have previously called out.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">4c The teacher gives the chance to another student to answer correctly. If they can answer correctly, they take off one of their fingers from the finger twister board.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kophix3aQYY/WSPRQSpJMlI/AAAAAAAACDM/OYPkpNCCZvU7W8mPQbHNuXBDGT_OMk0gQCLcB/s1600/IMG_9099.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kophix3aQYY/WSPRQSpJMlI/AAAAAAAACDM/OYPkpNCCZvU7W8mPQbHNuXBDGT_OMk0gQCLcB/s640/IMG_9099.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">5) The winner is the student with fewer fingers on the board, that is, the one who has made fewer mistakes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">My students have never had such fun doing this exercise. :)</span></span><br />
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-45699002162695369112017-04-11T07:36:00.001+02:002017-06-15T16:56:47.510+02:00The dice game: a fun, low-prep speaking game<div style="line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow; color: #00327f; font-family: "coming soon"; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;">UPDATE: This blog post has been awarded the 'Blog Award for Innovative Teaching Ideas' by Teaching English British Council for the month of April 2017.</span></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A fun game to revise the question form of past simple and of course... to speak 🇬🇧!!!</span><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxwvNRljFxM/WOxs2CQyB7I/AAAAAAAACB0/NjO_Ft5YqEYFPhzDGPnfYnpqcMVlURJEACLcB/s1600/Schermata%2B2017-04-11%2Balle%2B07.51.49.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 12px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxwvNRljFxM/WOxs2CQyB7I/AAAAAAAACB0/NjO_Ft5YqEYFPhzDGPnfYnpqcMVlURJEACLcB/s640/Schermata%2B2017-04-11%2Balle%2B07.51.49.png" width="640" /></a></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Level: elementary</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Age of students: Children, teenagers, adults</span></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Aim of the game: Practising past simple forms</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>What you need: a dice each 3 students</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*You can adapt easily this game to meet your students' needs. For example, it can also be used to practise present simple and frequency adverbs.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rules of the game</span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">1) Think of 6 actions you did yesterday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">2) Write them down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">3) Work in groups of 3.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">4) In turn, roll the dice and read out the sentence that corresponds to the number you got.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">E.g. I roll the dice and I get 1. I read out the sentence "I ate fish and chips".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">5) The other two learners in the group need to make up a suitable question for my answer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">E.g. Question by Maria: " What did you eat for lunch yesterday?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Question by Francesco: "What did you eat for dinner yesterday?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">6) The student who rolled the dice decides which question is the most suitable for their answer. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">7) The learner(s) who guessed the correct question get(s) as many points as the spots on the face of the dice)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">E.g. In this case Maria got 1 point because I had fish and chips for lunch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>Some feedback</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My students and I loved this game because:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">- it was a good way to drill the question form of past simple;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">- they practiced irregular verbs;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">- and finally, they got some points to become the best student of the month 😜</span></div>
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Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-28196775790754308192017-04-10T07:55:00.001+02:002017-04-10T07:55:47.039+02:00The Best Blog Posts about IATEFL Glasgow 2017 Online<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pezoxED_274/WOseVASJzpI/AAAAAAAACBM/zlK4P-boPB0qGh7NvEg4HXgclG-0jb9EgCLcB/s1600/GlasgowRegBloggers_150x150.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pezoxED_274/WOseVASJzpI/AAAAAAAACBM/zlK4P-boPB0qGh7NvEg4HXgclG-0jb9EgCLcB/s1600/GlasgowRegBloggers_150x150.png" /></a><a href="https://theodorapap.blogspot.it/2017/04/iatefl2017-motivational-teaching-by.html" target="_blank">A very interesting talk about motivation based on new book Motivational Teaching by Nicholas Thorner</a><br />
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<a href="https://theodorapap.blogspot.it/2017/04/wellbeing.html" target="_blank"> A Wonderful session by Rachael Harris, focusing on activities that enhance our students' and our own well-being.</a><br />
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<a href="https://theodorapap.blogspot.it/2017/04/iatefl2017teacherpreneur.html" target="_blank">A very interesting session, full of ideas on how to actually become a teacherpreneur by Marina Kladova</a><br />
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<a href="http://elt-connect.com/iatefl-2017-day-two-overt-not-covert/" target="_blank">An excellent session and one that has really made me think about the discrepency between what learners believe they have learned from a lesson and what teachers believe they have thought by Mark Heffernan (Queen Mary University of London) and David Byrne (EC London) </a><br />
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<a href="http://elt-connect.com/iatefl-2017-day-three-empathy-language-teaching/" target="_blank">Empathy may be one of the qualities which distinguishes an average teacher from an excellent teacher in the eyes of the student. In this session, Kieran Donaghy (Film English) examines the importance of empathy in language education and proposes practical activities to encourage teachers, teacher trainers and students to be more empathetic.</a><br />
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<a href="https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/the-human-element-iatefl2017/" target="_blank">This post is based on the IATEFL opening plenary Connecting minds: language learner and teacher psychologies by Sarah Mercer (Day 2 of IATEFL 2017 in Glasgow). </a><br />
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<a href="http://fionaljp.blogspot.it/2017/04/iatefl2017-infographic-summary-of_7.html" target="_blank">Here is an infographic summary of Brian Tomlinson's presentation on Let's Listen to the Learners, some of the resources he referred to on how to involve the learners in their learning</a><br />
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<a href="https://eflnotes.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/iatefl2017-stopping-the-buck/" target="_blank">The interviews with Andy Hockley 1 and Marek Kiczkowiak 2 discuss the issue of native speakerism </a><br />
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<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-48885305314603391172016-12-06T11:42:00.000+01:002016-12-07T07:44:17.514+01:00Have you ever...? Christmassy QuestionsHi Teachers!<br />
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At the moment I'm teaching present perfect simple in order to express personal experiences. Since Christmas is coming I thought that my students could practise the target language focusing on their own experiences about the best time of the year!<br />
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I made up a set of cards with "Have you ever...?" questions about Christmas.<br />
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TYPE OF GAME: CARD GAME<br />
STUDENTS: YOUNG ADULTS/ADULTS A2-B1<br />
LINGUISTIC SKILL: SPEAKING/LISTENING<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ag6_-rjnxog/WEaVEFBEV0I/AAAAAAAAB8U/GOq-M9T4DTcH0FHAZO0kpYwQZ_asoufIgCLcB/s1600/Schermata%2B2016-12-06%2Balle%2B11.44.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ag6_-rjnxog/WEaVEFBEV0I/AAAAAAAAB8U/GOq-M9T4DTcH0FHAZO0kpYwQZ_asoufIgCLcB/s400/Schermata%2B2016-12-06%2Balle%2B11.44.28.png" width="288" /></a></div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kHxqaIZQRRclFocV9PTVU5emc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kHxqaIZQRRclFocV9PTVU5emc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">HAVE YOU EVER... CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS</a><br />
Just cut out the cards and put them face down on the desk.<br />
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Each student turns a card and read the question. Then decide who they want to ask the question to.<br />
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Or you can give each student 3 cards (I played with 5 students) and if the person they ask the question answers "Yes, I have" they can get rid of their card by putting it on the desk. But if the person they ask the question, answers "No, I haven't", they have to keep the card. The person who gives away all their cards first, wins! Of course students need to give explanation for their answers if they don't want to pick up their classmates' cards!</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-noe8L_IbifA/WEevGuL3YoI/AAAAAAAAB8s/t51tNoOwDeEAuIhywL7Cs3xG8ztVHRo1QCLcB/s1600/15391532_1189945451088629_3674500123967912959_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-noe8L_IbifA/WEevGuL3YoI/AAAAAAAAB8s/t51tNoOwDeEAuIhywL7Cs3xG8ztVHRo1QCLcB/s320/15391532_1189945451088629_3674500123967912959_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I hope you will have fun with your students!</div>
Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1488866865221051789.post-2175618891247618892016-11-12T21:14:00.003+01:002016-12-02T19:49:27.315+01:00Teaching for Exams? Have Fun! UNO Card Game<span style="background-color: yellow; color: #00327f; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">UPDATE: This blog post has been shortlisted for the 'Blog Award for Innovative Teaching Ideas' by Teaching English British Council.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: yellow; color: #00327f; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
Hello EFL teachers,<br />
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I am back with a new post for the "Teaching for Exams? Have Fun!" series!<br />
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I wanted my students to revise the following target language for their Cambridge First for Schools exam:<br />
- phrasal verbs,<br />
- collocations,<br />
- grammar,<br />
- idioms.<br />
I didn't want to make them feel bored, though.<br />
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What did I come up with, then?<br />
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A card game, yes a card game!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ7b6AbOY_Q/WCdxFk9kVLI/AAAAAAAAB6s/wy2qxwbyHw0AdvUgQqaa5TtLQ3O0oQLNwCLcB/s1600/14938284_1158852224197952_5399070795627004416_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ7b6AbOY_Q/WCdxFk9kVLI/AAAAAAAAB6s/wy2qxwbyHw0AdvUgQqaa5TtLQ3O0oQLNwCLcB/s640/14938284_1158852224197952_5399070795627004416_n.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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Do you know UNO? If you don't, have a look <a href="http://www.unorules.com/" target="_blank">here </a>.<br />
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If you do, keep reading!<br />
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The rules of the game are the same as those of UNO except for the following additional rule: students need to make up a sentence using the target language on the card they are about to place.<br />
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If your students are training for the Cambridge First for Schools you can download my own deck of cards from this <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10QMqplM2p2oXzpjA3TycBkzCGj6bRwUwaQkdP0En-uM/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a> or if you wish, edit them according to your needs (<a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AGVZP5UOC_yr_6HkCpKDeqxbppvBmW1D4tUfGU4XRBw/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>)!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fQEXc4pDv68/WCd4LKVmSeI/AAAAAAAAB68/aovhFfB_UYw1pwow9SUB_nwyf73QcZTiQCLcB/s1600/14991791_1158852210864620_4688926669633985195_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fQEXc4pDv68/WCd4LKVmSeI/AAAAAAAAB68/aovhFfB_UYw1pwow9SUB_nwyf73QcZTiQCLcB/s640/14991791_1158852210864620_4688926669633985195_n.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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P.S. I played this game with a class of 6 students, if your class is larger you can divide them into small groups. For example, for a 20 student class you can make up 2 groups of 10 so you only need to print out two decks of cards.<br />
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<br />Larissa's Languageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04599021225723006452noreply@blogger.com23