Tag Archives: fun

Forcing the Past Continuous

Funny Stuff, Students' Corner, , ,

For the past few days I have been thinking about possible situations where my students could use the Past Continuous. But, by far, the funniest one has been this one I’m about to tell you.
Bear in mind before going on reading that I work with teenagers. They can sometimes get quite emotional so I have to be careful not to push them too far so that they also enjoy the activity. Drama, on my side, is essential or they won’t buy my story. The more drama, the more fun you’ll get! This is my story and I have realised I love being naughty!!

(Going into the classroom with a gloomy face is a must for this story. Say nothing for a while and stare at them. Soon students will begin to feel uneasy and someone will eventually ask: “What’s wrong, teacher?”).

Well, you see! Yesterday afternoon I came to Grado (name the town where you teach) to do some shopping and a very unpleasant thing happened to me. (sad face and some more staring) . While I was leaving a shop (name the shop for realism) I heard a boy and a girl calling my name and running away. I couldn’t see their faces but I think I recognised their voices. When I went over to my car I realized someone had scratched my car with a key. That’s why I’m so sad. “Sara, the girl’s voice sounded just like yours!” ” Oh, no, no teacher” “What were you doing yesterday at 5 o’clock?” “I was doing my homework at home” and you David “Were you in Grado yesterday afternoon? Yes , but I was playing a football match!

As I said : I love being NAUGHTY!

Lesson Plan: New Year Resolutions

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , ,

Happy New Year to everyone  and good luck with your New Year Resolutions. I have a dozen  resolutions myself  but I no longer believe I am going to keep them. The title of this post is not what one might think it means though it’s true that I have had the same New Year Resolutions for quite a number of years. But I want to be positive, start off on the right foot and mentally prepare myself for, this time, keeping them. Time will tell!

Why the title, then?  There is a very funny lesson that I prepared two years ago called Bridget Jones’s Diary that has to do with Resolutions. A few days  I got a comment to a post in this blog where I introduced this  lesson (here) and so I thought I might show it again .

Punctuaction is important

Funny Stuff, The English language,

You might not agree with me at first, but you’ll soon do it when you have read the following :

If only they had punctuated , grandpa would be alive!

 

Now , look at the difference between these two emails. Jane was very much in love with John but she never gave much thought to proper punctuation.This is the  letter John received  from her beloved Jane , which caused him great sorrow

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Jane

After sending the letter Jane was ditched by John. This is the letter she wanted  John to have.

Dear John:

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be yours?

Word of the Day: To text

Word of the Day, ,

Who said we cannot learn a new word and have a good laugh at the same time? The word to learn today is “to text” which means “to send a  written  message to someone using a mobile phone”.  For ex. She texted me when she arrived.

Before you proceed to read the message in the picture, let me be honest with you. The word to be taught here should have been  “crotch“ , but I know my mum would disapprove if I started the post saying I was going to teach you a word  meaning “the area between your legs where they join your body“.  And now, straight for the laugh! 😉

The Translator: a funny sketch

Funny Stuff, Phonetics, , ,

Have you ever wondered how we sound to speakers of other languages when we speak our native language? Some languages are easy to imitate, as for example the Italian language or the German one but I would never have guessed how a Spanish speaking native sounds to the rest of the world.

While I was in Malta, and to introduce some intonation issues, we were shown this video. It was so funny that I ended up crying with laughter. At the end I was probably only paying attention to faces rather than to the mimicking of accents. I highly recommend you watch the video until the end as it only gets better.

In this video the British Sketch comedian, Katherine Tate, volunteers to translate into seven different languages. Hilarious! And I hope nobody takes offence.