Category Archives: Vocabulary

The Voice:Blind Auditions. Revising Physical Descriptions

Whether you are a fan of this kind of programmes or not, nobody can deny this talent show has been a big success worldwide. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about The Voice is a singing competition that consists of a blind audition where four coaches (famous singers ) select the members of their teams, a battle phase and then the final, where the audience selects The Voice. It started in The Netherlands like two years ago and since then the format has been sold to many countries where it has also been a big success.

The idea for this activity came from the French teacher in my high school, Yolanda (see picture). Just by chance she commented  on how much fun their students had just had doing this activity and  right away I asked her to borrow her idea for my English class.

The instructions are fairly simple.

♥Students in pairs and with their backs to the whiteboard  listen to someone singing but they won’t be able to see them, that’s why it’s called Blind Auditions.
♥Working with a  partner, they decide what the person they are listening to looks like (see handout).
♥When the audition finishes and without turning their backs, they need to decide whether they want this person in their team to be THE VOICE. If they want them, they should raise their hand making the V gesture and saying I WANT YOU!
♥Now, they’ll have to compete against the other students who also want the singer. The singer will belong to the team who has the most accurate physical description of the singer.

I have selected these two videos you don’t like the game, at least enjoy the music!!

Backs to the Board: Picture Description

Oh My goodness! This first week has been hectic in the high school and by Friday  it had taken its toll on me;  I was worn out and I sort of needed to unwind. Can you think of a better way than going to the concert the great Gloria Gaynor gave in Oviedo and  dancing to the rhythm of  her hit I Will Survive? (fits like a glove :), it was just what I needed! Enjoy!

And now, to more down to earth issues. I wanted to show you an exercise I’m going to do with my second-year students  you might find helpful. If so, feel free to use it.

The aim is for students to use the vocabulary studied for Physical Description.

Preparation: Pictures of well-known people: celebrities, politicians,singers…

Procedure: Divide students into pairs. One of them faces the board and the other one sits with his back to the board. Display the picture of the famous person and ask the student facing the board to describe this person to his partner.

Some rules for the game: students must start by giving a physical description of the person and only then can they move on to give more information about this person. The student guessing can ask as many questions as he wants. I’m planning of setting a time limit for each picure; maybe  1m or 1.30m. Needless to say, only English is allowed. 😉

This is my choice of pictures
Picture Description on PhotoPeach

The World of Games : ESL Games

Yeahhh! Ok ! Sometimes students deserve a treat! It’s the end of the course and most of them have studied pretty hard for their exams and it’s only fair that you reward them with a class in the computer room playing games!

GAMES??? before you start thinking I’ve gone mad  allowing  teenegers to play games, iiiin the computer room and iiiiiiin the English class, let me tell you that the games are reasonably inside the scope of what even parents would agree with being academic stuff.

The site is called eslgamesworld.com and, even I, would be returning from time to time to play the games and have fun.

You can choose Grammar Games, Games for ESL Classroon Teaching ( you can play here The Wheel of Fortune, Who wants to be a  Millionaire …etc), Vocabulary Games and Pronunciation Games. Take your pick!

Aren’t you dying to try these games?

English Media Lab

I’m sorry I haven’t posted for some days now but I’m up to my eyes. Preparing and marking exams takes up most of my free time. June is chaos!

I imagine you have plenty of ideas  when half the class is taking an exam and the others ,sort of have already passed all the tests, but here’s another one in case you’re running short of them.

I have taken my students to the computer room and let them roam a bit about this website. English Media Lab offers Grammar, Vocabulary , Pronunciation  , Videos and Games for different levels, though I have only used the  Elementary Level. They have all loved the Memory Games revising Vocabulary and they’ve made me promise to take them to the computer room once again before the course ends.

The website is a bit confusing because it has a lot of things and it might sometime take you outside their own website. I don’t really mind as long as the new website has what I’m looking for. Anyway , have a look at it and tell me what you think!

Two Timesavers: BusyTeachers.org and ISL Collective.com

Being a full time teacher doesn’t mean that I’m not also a full time mum. I am! Trust me! When I get home from a school packed with teenagers I go home to more teenagers, my own children. They take up most of my free time. I help them with their homework, cheer them up when they have had a problem at school, cool them down when necessary, take them to their different after school activities – none of them in the same place where I live… and a long etc. Have I ever mentioned that I also try to teach them some English?
This means that I don’t enjoy as much free time as I did when I worked in the afternoons/evenings in the EOI, so I ‘ve had to look for timesavers and these are, in my opinion, the best online.

BusyTeachers.org is an amazing site offering about 6,300 worksheets divided into skills: grammar, pronunciation, listening, writing, reading, vocabulary. ..etc. . You can also find ppt presentations to illustrate what you are teaching. It’s free and you only need to register to download the files.

ISL Collective is probably my favourite because of the quality of the worksheets. Teachers from all around the globe contribute by uploading their own home-made materials. It is 100% free and you only need to register. Teachers and students of German, French , Portuguese , Russian and Spanish will also find lots of worksheets.

Give them a go and let me know if you know any other great timesavers!