Needless to say how vast the repertoire of music you can use in class is, and what you can do with it!... Language learning is definitely one of the things you can do through music! Philochko suggests these titles of three popular songs amongst students to explain the meaning of some American English expressions!
Muse, the English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, was formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards, keytar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, sampling).
Since the release of their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations, keyboardist and percussionist Morgan Nicholls has performed live with the band. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances and their fusion of many music genres, including space rock, progressive rock, alternative rock, heavy metal, classical music and electronica.
Muse were in Portugal last June 10th, at Dragon Stadium, O'Porto, to play an unforgetable show in the band's current world tour: The Second Law Tour. I was one of the mesmerised Portuguese fans to attend the concert! Since then, their music has been spinning around my mind: Dominic's powerful drums in Survival; Christopher's hypnotic harmonica in Knights of Cydonia; Matt's unbelievable voice in Supremacy and Madness, among all the other exquisite moments! Below follows one of the photos I took during the concert. Even though singing Uprising altogether with a surrendered stadium has become an indelible memory, FOLLOW ME was the moment I expected the most, and the song I dedicate to you all!
What do you do when you come across an English word which has several meanings? Using a monolingual dictionary is always the best option. I strongly advise you the use of these dictionaries, as you can access the online edition at anytime and anywhere, for free. Dictionary.com, Oxford dictionaries and Urban dictionaries are the ones I use the most. Leave the Google translator for occasional doubts. The more you read in English, the more vocabulary you will learn, and, thus, improve your language skills!...
Image via ELLL - English Language Learners Facebook Page
Do you feel that you could do better at the English classes if you had some extra-time for practising your weaker, or stronger skills?
Well, if you want to improve your speaking or listening, writing or reading competences as far as the language of Her Majesty is concerned, join us at 'Clube de Inglês'. Talk to your English language teacher, and Brush Up Your English!... Once or twice a week, depending on your timetable, we are waiting for you!
"Oscar Wilde once said, 'Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes'. This holds true for everyone starting out in a new career, and ESL teachers are no exception. But one thing is accepting we’ll make mistakes as we go and chalk it up to a lack of experience, and another is completely ignoring the worst kind of mistakes you could make. Since anyone can learn from their mistakes, then we can certainly learn from the five worst mistakes beginner ESL teachers make.
In an ESL class, what is the most common reason students are enrolled? They want to SPEAK English! And what happens when the teacher speaks most of the time? They don’t have enough chances to actually practice their speaking skills. Those who are new to ESL teaching often make this very crucial mistake: They take up too much of the talking time, either because they feel uncomfortable around silence or long pauses, or because they are over-enthusiastic to share their knowledge. So clearly, hogging most of the talking time is out of the question. But, how to find the right balance between student talking time and teacher talking time?
As a general rule of thumb, students should speak for 70% of the class time, while teachers speak for the remaining 30%. These percentages could be tweaked in cases where students are absolute beginners (50-50), or at the other end of the spectrum, very advanced learners in need of intensive speaking practice (90-10). This means that in most cases, your participation should be limited to giving instructions and explaining essential points, but above all to eliciting response from students and facilitating all types of speaking activities."
This article was written by Claudia Pesce for BusyTeacher.org. She has been an ESL teacher for 20 years and has taught a wide variety of students from pre-schoolers to senior citizens, complete beginners to advanced students. This vast teaching experience has helped her write over 100 articles for BusyTeacher.org. Follow this link in case you want to read the full article, the title of which is '5 Worst Mistakes All Beginner ESL Teachers Make (And You Too?)'. Suggestions of speaking activities are also presented.
Students are also allowed to publish on my wall... as long as they respect the rules that I have established. They are also asked to preferably write or post anything labelled in English!... That's what that page is about: reading, writing, commenting, hitting 'like', and even laughing, in English... As some kind of a reminder, it can be read in my page that 'Céu is now using Facebook in English (US)'.
The following screenshots ilustrate posts published by students of two different 10th form classes, which show that some of the things we do or talk about in class end up in my wall. Take a look:
found pic @ ELL (FB page)
Last, but not the least, I enjoyed reading the conversation between four students when I published this picture. These were some of the answers: 'Step 5 in math; but in the end I did it correctly, so step 8.' Another added: 'Step 3 - I'm studying Physics and Chemistry.' A third student joins the conversation and says: 'Step 7; I will do it someday!' Later on, a fourth student says with a smile: 'Step 8, everyday!'
I simply find this conversation DELICIOUS!!!...
Tomorrow, last entry on FACEBOOK (the theme chosen for this week's posts): a cartoon!
«Not a word, no!... It's one of those things, really...
I should have paid more attention in school, you know...»
A very funny way to lecture the unit 'A world of many languages', particularly the issue 'the British accent', for instance; or simply a moment of humour at the end of the lesson, minutes before the bell rings... Last, but not least, enjoy this 'Keep calm and...' phrasal template version:
pic via Google Images
Tip:
Show your students the picture above and challenge them for a British vs American accent contest... Would their answer be 'Challenge accepted' or 'Challenge denied'?
'She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells by the sea shore are sea shells I'm sure.'
How fast can you read this without saying 's' instead of 'sh' or otherwise?
I have already talked about tongue twisters on a previous post. I decided to do it again because in the meantime I found this video on the YouTube and showed it to a special 10th form class that I have this year.
These are students that do love English, have a good proficiency level and want to learn more and more!... When I showed this video in class, they all got motivated to practise tongue twisters!... It was a very funny moment, yet productive. Those who didn't make it at first, at second or at the third time, didn't give up until they made it right!...
Tongue twisters are funny, 'silly' but if you have the ideal class in front of you it's great to practise the pronunciation of specific sounds!...
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
I'm lecturing my 10th form students the unit 'A world of many languages'. I found these two videos on the YouTube and I think I'm going to use both of them in class. The first, 'English and Empire - The history of English 6/10', is the 6th video of a collection that teaches the history of English in 10 minutes, by the Open University. I'll start my lesson with this one and then explore the text 'English worldwide'.
The second video brings humour to the class. An American entertainer imitates not only the fantastic British accent but also the English spoken by people of different nationalities... It's a blast!... And it goes perfectly along with the reading/comprehension of the text 'English - other voices'!...
