Category Archives: Lesson Plan: Advanced

Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

When last week I asked my students:

Have you ever put your life at risk? or Have you ever done any extreme sports? I began to wonder whether I’ve ever had .
The truth is I’ve never been an adventurous person; maybe I was a bit more in the past when I was younger. I remember I used to like horror films and talking about paranormal phenomena with my friends. I even played the Ouija Board once or twice and went with some peers to visit a mansion ghost, which was said to live in a house in ruins in my own hometown; but I, at least, was pushing the limits of my own courage although I pretended otherwise. I remember the rush of adrenaline I experienced and the feeling of being amazingly brave. But these can be hardly be named extreme sports although some people would say that playing with the unknown is much worse than risking your life doing bungee jumping or sky diving something, I know, I’ll never have the guts to try.

Come to think of it, I’ve sometimes put my life at risk like when I hitchhiked in England being only 19, or refusing to cross the road when seeing a gang of punks drinking and I had to walk past. This counts as risky , doesn’t it?

But the maddest thing I’ve ever done was about 10 years ago in the Wagner Bros Park, in Madrid, when I rode in one of these ride thrill attractions. It was a vertical tower of about 60metres. You are launched up and , believe or not, you take off from your seat and you literally fly before dropping in a breathtaking descent. When I think about it, it still gives me the creeps… Well, I warned you , I’ve never been a thrill seeker!!

And you… Do you live on adrenaline rushes? Are you hooked on the buzz of the extreme?

If you would like to do a lesson on Extreme Sports and Taking Risks , click HERE

Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan

2015  is about to wave goodbye. A new year is starting to blossom and I’m planning to dedicate it my full attention. For a start, I’ve made some New Year’s Resolutions which ,unfortunately, I won’t be sharing with you… I apologize!! …and you, have you made any? Do you want to share them with me or are they too personal, maybe?
Well, for my first class with my advanced students, I’ve thought that a nice way to link last year with this new one would be this video from Bridget Jones’s Diary, one of my favourite chick flicks. If you’ve seen or read Bridget Jones’s Diary, you’ll know it starts out with her New Year’s resolutions: lists of things she will and won’t do. These are some of them
I Will Not
Waste money on exotic underwear since pointless as have no boyfriend.
Fall for any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, chauvinists, freeloaders, perverts.
Have crushes on men, but instead form relationships based on mature assessment of character.
I Will
Go to gym three times a week not merely to buy sandwich.
Learn to program video.
Give all clothes which have not worn for two years or more to homeless.
Not go out every night but stay in and read books and listen to classical music.

Watch the video and then if you feel like going for the whole lesson I have prepared for my students,  you’ll find it here . My gratitude to Jeffrey Hill, who gave me the idea.
By the way, the soundtrack is one of my favourites!!

[flashvideo filename=https://www.cristinacabal.com/videos/bridget.flv /]

Related posts:

Food and cooking. Working with Flickr

Having fun with my computer

A book review

Improving your writing skills

Working with “work”

and so that’s it, “literally”. In the advanced level we’ve been working with the semantic field “Work” .

This is the pdf with all the work-related expressions and collocations  you helped me build on the blackboard and also the exercises created with your own contributions. Thanks to you all!!

I also nicked and adapted from the Internet some tips about Job Interviews. I’m afraid I can’t name the source as I did it a long time ago and it was never my intention to get it published. My sincere apology !

There are also two video-based activities. The first one from an outside source www.eslvideo.com, which I highly recommend,  and the second one  created by me.

Related posts

Are you a Cat or a Dog Person?

Well, this person you are going to see in the video is ,without doubts, crazy about cats. This is what would happen to me if I had to live with even one cat , let alone 130 as this lady… no wonder she’s called the crazy cat lady. Hey! No offence meant I’m just repeating what everybody seems to think about her.Honestly speaking, I admire what she does and I only wish I had the guts to do the same with my beloved dogs.
Now watch the video and if you fancy answering some questions about it. Click here



And as we are on the subject , how about learning some idioms containing ” cat and/or dog” ?
From the popular ” it’s raining cats and dogs” there’s a wide range of idioms containing these two words. I’m just going to write the ones easy to remember and whose meaning can easily be inferred from context, but bear in mind there are plenty of others.

The 32-year-old actress spent a large proportion of the week playing cat and mouse with the press
We were planning a surprise birthday party but Jack let the cat out of the bag and now she knows about it
I had a dog’s life at school: I was always being beaten.
After years of neglect, the old artist’s work was recognised and honoured: every dog has his day.

Related Entries:
How do you say 2010?

The Englishlanguage does not have a Real Academia de la Lengua

Do yu espic inglish?

 

Food and cooking. Working with Flickr

Food! Food!! Food for thought! Always nice to learn something so useful. Nive way to teach too when it is as funny as doing it using this amazing tool which borrows pictures from Flickr and allows users to input sentences, phrases or even entire paragraphs and then turn them into illustrated slide shows .

Why don’t you try your own images and share them? Have a look at what I’ve done.
Ways of cooking
http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=17840

Kitchen equipment
http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=17841

Taste:
http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=17844

What’s the difference between Sour and Bitter?
1.Take a drink of Vinegar : This would be sour or so considered to be.
2.Take a bite of Real pure dark chocolate: This would considered bitter
1.A Grannysmith green cooking apple would be sour
2.Coffee without sugar or cream would be bitter
Sour lemons and limes, or unripe fruit before it becomes sweet.

Vegetables
http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=17846

Enjoy your meal!!