Tag Archives: A2

Writing and Speaking : A Biography

Create your own stuff, Speaking, Students' Corner, Writing, , ,

It’s with great pride that I  show you the work of two of my students; they are  twelve and thirteen-year-old students  who, with a lot of effort on their part,  have managed to overcome the difficulties of speaking and pronouncing a different language. My Congratulations and Thanks  to Patricia Alonso and Juan Fernández for their effort and contribution to this blog. Keep up the good work!

Patricia has written and recorded  Marco Polo’s Biography  and Juan has done the same with  Fernando Alonso.Ladies first!

 

Useful Posts to Revise for Finals

A word on Grammar, Create your own stuff, freeware, Grammar, Grammar and Exercises, In the Computer Room, Plain Grammar and Exercises, Resources, , , , , , ,

I have been meaning to give MentorMob a try for some time and I never got around to doing it but when my students asked me where to revise for finals, MentorMob flashed in my mind and I saw the light. ;).

This little tool  allows you to organise your favourite posts or websites into a playlist  in a very easy way  and then you can always share it and embed it in a blog or website. In this way you can easily organise videos, pdfs, documents, websites, articles….. into playlists and then  assign them to your students in the computer room, as homework or  in a flipped classroom setting .

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Going to the Doctor!

Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, , , , , , , ,

This is a lesson I created about three years ago. As it often happens with my lesson plans I have written  some of the exercises myself, while some others have been taken here and there; in this case, some of the tasks link to a website ELLA, which I highly recommend  not only because  it is run by some of my colleagues from different EEOOII in Asturias but also because it is the best I have found so far that offers, for free, lesson plans where you can work all skills.

At the time of creating this lesson I wrote a post dedicated to my father  that you can read here. He passed away a few years ago but I still miss him and think he was the best doctor ever  and not just because he was my father and girls always think the best of their fathers but because, when treating his patients,  he relied more  on  instinct and experience than on books and this is essential to a doctor.

Click on the picture advertising the lesson plan if you want to do some practice.Level: A2

Listening: How to Clean your Teeth in Space

Listening, ,

Dead tired after a long day, I finally sat down and turned on the telly .I took my ipad to  see what was going on on my facebook while, at the same time, talking to my husband about  my afternoon meeting, which I’m sure he only pretended to be interested in, when a man singing on TV caught my attention (This is called “multitasking”, in case you’re wondering, and it’s something we, women, are very good at).

Anyway, apparently the man was singing a version of David Bowie “Space Oddity” but the amazing  thing was that he was floating . I soon learned he was an astronaut and he was singing it from the International Space Station. Wow!!  And I’ve always thought astronauts were very serious people! I went to Saint Google, looked up this man and found that his name is Chris Hadfield, Canadian, and who among other things has become” the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave the Earth” (source wikipedia)

I got quite curious about this man and found in YouTube several videos he recorded while in space. I have chosen the one below for my Elementary students, which I’m sure they will enjoy. By the way, have you ever wondered how astronauts manage to  clean their  teeth in space?

LISTENING TASK

WATCH THE VIDEO AND THEN COMPLETE THE SENTENCES BY PROVIDING THE RIGHT WORD OR CHOOSING THE MOST APPROPRIATE ANSWER.


1. You need a _______ of water from the water bag

2. Then, get your toothbrush w_____

3. Grab some t_______

4. He says you have to brush your teeth for as long as you sing  __________

5. After cleaning his teeth, what does he do  with the toothpaste in his mouth?

a. he swallows it      b. he spits it     c. he reuses it

6.To clean his toothbrush, he gets w_____ in his mouth.

7. According to the astronaut, is the toothbrush…?

a. clean   b. quite clean     c. not so clean

Follow Up: If you could travel to the moon or to Mars, what would you take with you and why?

Listening:What are the best ways to memorise new vocabulary?

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Have you ever asked yourself how you acquire new vocabulary? Have you ever wondered if things such as sticking post-its on the walls of your bedroom (or bathroom) really help you memorise new words? Well folks, I should say it might work when your aim is just passing a written test – I have tried this little trick plenty of times, especially when trying to learn long lists of irregular verbs,  but when your target is learning to speak a language, trust me , this little trick won’t work.

For example, what’s the point of learning the word “listen” if you don’t know that it collocates with the preposition “to”? I’ll tell you what, you’ll end up writing or saying things such as “I’m listening you”; does it ring a bell?

I could try to explain what has always worked for me but I’ve found this useful video where an expert, Michael McCarthy from Cambridge University Press, pretty much sums up what I wanted to write  and gives you tips about the best way to learn new words. Stick to it! It really works!

Listening Task: Listen to the video and write down the four tips the expert gives about the best ways to learn new vocabulary. Play the video and stop when you get to 2.20 . Play it again if necessary. Check your answers ; you’ll find them at the end of the video.

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