Monthly Archives: February 2014

Speaking: Practising Modals

Speaking, , , , ,

I shouldn’t be saying this but I have to… I hate teaching modals and I am not a hundred per cent  sure I  am the only one to blame for this. Maybe grammarians should reach an agreement on how best categorise them ?

Anyway, let’s face the teaching of modals with some speaking activities to help lift spirits. Mine, of course!

ACTIVITY 1.EXPRESSING ABILITY: CAN

Work with a partner. Take turns asking your partner questions about the abilities in parentheses. Use Can in your questions and Can or Can’t in your answers. Demonstrate you can -let’s have fun, shall we?- where necessary:)

♥ (say the alphabet backwards)

♥ (wiggle your nose)

♥ (read in a car without getting sick)

♥ (touch the end of your nose with your eyes closed)

♥ (curl your tongue)

♥ (remember your first teacher’s name)

♥ (raise one eyebrow without raising the other)

♥ (cross your eyes)

♥ (pull your fingers backwards to your wrist)

Do you have any other outstanding abilities?

Ready to continue…?

ACTIVITY 2. In pairs once again, talk about the following…

Picture Description: Elementary Level

Pictures, Speaking, , , ,

I want to share a few pics that I am planning to use in today’s elementary classes to practise Picture Description. I published this activity last year and it worked so well that I guess I’ll be forever using it. So here it is again!

For this activity the students are sitting in pairs, one student facing the board and the other with his back to the board. Using the OHP, a picture of people performing something is displayed. Now, the person seeing the picture has to describe it in as much detail as possible and the other person has to draw the picture. Allow them four or five minutes and then choose the best picture. Below are some of the photos I’m going to use and some expressions they need to use. (note: we have just begun describing photos, so right now I am teaching the basics. Hopefully, I’ll be teaching the contents in this photocopy soon ( Click here to see it)

Introduce the photo: This photo shows…. I can see

Location: on the left/right , in the middle, at the front/back

The people (appearance and actions) She looks sad. He is reading

Your opinion: I think…. I like it because…

Easy Peasy! Have a nice weekend!

A Word on Grammar: While and Whereas

A word on Grammar, , , , ,

I can see why these two words might create confusion in my students, as they are very similar in meaning. I hope that the problem will be solved with this brief explanation.

WHILE
♥ it is used to introduce a longer background action or situation, which is/was going on when something else happens/happened.
While they were playing cards, someone broke into their house

♥ OR to indicate that two longer actions or situations go/went on at the same time.
Joe cooked while I watched TV

This use of “while” should not be a problem for students as it is relatively easy to understand.

WHILE/WHEREAS

While can also be used to introduce a balancing contrasting point, and with this meaning, it is very similar to Whereas because both are used to balance two facts or ideas that contrast, but do not contradict each other. Both whereas and while are conjunctions and their meaning is very similar to “on the other hand” though on the other hand is not a conjunction.

I like spending my holidays in the mountains, while/whereas my wife prefers the seaside.

They can also be placed before the first of the contrasting points

While/whereas some languages have 30 or more different sounds, others have five or six.
Some languages have five or six different sounds, whereas/while others have 30 or more.

NOTE: when while is used with this meaning, a comma is necessary.

RECAP
While is used to express at the same time
While/whereas are used to express  contrasting ideas. In that case, while must be preceded by a comma.

Source: Practical English Usage  by Michael Swan . Ed Oxford

Be My Valentine

General,

Sorry to spoil all the fun but I’m totally one of those girls who doesn’t give a damn about Valentine’s Day. And it’s not because now I’m a grown woman who has been with the same guy it-seems-like- for- ever but because it is not a traditional Spanish celebration and I am …very Spanish in my celebrations so most of the times I am like.. Is it Valentine’s Day again? Well , I guess if you gave me flowers and some chocolate I wouldn’t complain but for me , at least in Spain, it is just a thing El Corte Ingles introduced in my country so that they could make more money .

Anyway, it is a good opportunity to post  some idioms about LOVE and also for a beautiful song.Here they go!

And my most admired Tracy Chapman with The Promise