Tag Archives: fun

Want to learn English through music? Lyrics Training helps you

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Do you want to learn English and/or French, Italian, German… through music? Well, if this is so, this is your place. This cool site is called Lyrics Training and it’s just amazing and hear this ,free to use!

This is how it works: at the bottom on the right-hand side you can see some lyrics, choose according to your level. There are three: easy, medium and hard. Then, when the window with the song you’ve chosen opens up, choose your mode; again, there are three, beginner,(fill in the blanks10%), intermediate (25%) and expert (full lyrics).

Now, this is what you’ll see if you choose  the song Tell him  in the beginner mode.  One of the best things is that if you get to a word and you can’t understand it or if it goes too fast, it will stop until the blank has been filled. The song literally WAITS for YOU!!!

But there’s even more. If you click on HELP at the bottom you can see what else the programme can do for you. Let’s imagine that you want to listen to the same line again, press Backspace, and if you are still unable to understand the word, don’t worry, just press TAB and the word will be written for you. Aren’t you dying to give it a go!!

Can you spot the error?

The English language, ,

Have a look at this photo and read what the notice says with attention . Can you spot the error?

Well, have you? According to the information the kindergarten is really exclusive.

Remember the difference between : the kids’ studio and the kid’s studio . In the first case, the studio is for kids in the plural  whereas in the second case it’s just for one kid. I can’t see why anybody would want to send their children to a kindergaten where the kid will have to play with the teacher .

Word of the Day: To Remind, To Remember and Tool to Send Reminders

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Today, this section Word of the Day, has a double aim. On the one hand, it is going to help my students see the difference between these two verbs “remember ” and “remind” and on the other hand, it is going to serve as an excuse for showing you a little tool to help you remember things.
Some of my students have problems seeing the difference between these two verbs, so here’s a written explanation and a short video explaining this difference. I recommend you to see the video first as it’ll definitely serve a double purpose, that of helping you improve your listening ability and at the same time solving your doubts regarding these two common verbs.

  • If you remind somebody about something, you make them remember it. It is a transitive verb, i.e. it always has an object which may be followed by to + infinitive or a that-clause.

                   Remind me to set homework at the end of the lesson.
                   Cristina reminded us that the exam  had been brought forward to Tuesday

When you say that someone or something reminds you of sth/so. you associate it with a memory from your past.

                       This boy reminds me of a boyfriend I had when I was at university .

  • If you remember, you have an image in your mind of a person, place or thing that happened in the past.It is very often used with a to+infinitive

                          I’ll always remember the first time I saw him

                         Remember to buy bread on your way home

In summary:

People ARE REMINDED of things. (it doesn’t appear in their head)
People REMEMBER things. (it does appear in their head)
REMEMBER = Person doing it themselves
REMIND = Other person making someone else remember

Click to do some EXERCISES . Link 1, Link 2

What is a good way to remind  people of things that need to be done without seeming like a nag? Is there a way to politely remind people to do things? Yes, there is: it’s called RemindPost and it is a simple, free service to let you send reminders to people or to yourself  and be notified when they’re done.

It works like this: You email someone a task. If they don’t mark it complete by the time you specify, both of you will be notified.

Hope you find it useful!

Blog de Cristina is also on Facebook. Follow it!

A Game to Practise Spelling with Teens

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Yes, yes… here I am again, struggling to find ways to teach my demotivated students from E.S.O. That’s why I’m constantly surfing  the net  looking for different ways to teach the same things over and over again.

This game can be used to revise vocabulary from the lesson and at the same time practise spelling. It goes like this:

♥ Divide the class in two teams, A and B and ask them to invent a name for their team.
♥Then, divide the backboard into two halves and mark each side  of the board for each team.
♥ On each side of the blackboard draw either:

• a river with stepping stones for students to get across the river. The winner is the team that crosses the river first.   For every correct word they write, mark a stepping stone.


• a ladder. The winner is the team that climbs the ladder first. For every correct word they write, mark a step on the ladder.
• a mountain with climbing points for the teams to climb and put their country’s flag up on the top. The winner is the team that climbs the mountain and puts their country’s flag up first. For every correct word they write, mark a climbing point.
• a daisy. The winner is the team whose daisy is wiped out first. For every correct word they write, wipe out a petal and after all the petals have been wiped out, then wipe out the leaves and the stem until the whole daisy has gone.

♥Call a member from each team up on the board and dictate a word from their vocabulary to them. The students write the word they hear on their side of the board making sure at the same time that the student from the opposite team cannot see what the other student is writing. So cheating is eliminated.

This has proven a very nice and exciting way to check spelling, listening comprehension and pronunciation in a fun way.

Many thanks to Barbara Koziori for this idea

There are also lots of sites on the web to practise spelling with the typical hangman game so if you have a little time to spare ,why don’t you try some of these?

http://www.hangman.no/ divided into categories ( Harry Potter,Countries of the World , Musical Instruments..etc

http://www.playhangmanonline.com/ also divided into categories , namely, music, sports , geography …etc

http://www.englishbanana.com/hangmanhome.html and that’s the place you want to go if you want to play the game with colours, everyday adjectives or household things.

If you are feeling creative or just need a specific category to work with (as is my case) , you might want to create your own hangman. To do this try this site http://www.what2learn.com/. It’s good fun!

Blog de Cristina is also  on Facebook.

A bit of magic

Funny Stuff, In the Computer Room, ,

Hi!  Welcome back!! After this, some-would-say, longish holiday (you know there are some things you never get tired of ) I am back and so are you, if you are reading this post.

Today I want to introduce you to Akinator, the Web Genius. Akinator can read your mind and tell you who you’re thinking of by answering a few questions. Think about a real or fictional characte, and he will try to guess who it is !
You too can try to trick Akinator. You will see that he is not infallible. But hush… he does not like to hear it. Be careful though: you must answer honestly. Remember the frightening warning of our genie!

“I am capable of guessing who you are thinking about with a few questions. If I cannot, if you beat me, then I shall leave you alone. But be careful! Answer my questions accurately or… or you will take my place in the lamp.”

Click on the genie or follow this link http://en.akinator.com/.

Kind of creepy,isn’t it?