Tag Archives: speaking

Writing Elementary (A1): Write about a popular group

Writing, , , , , , ,

It’s not easy to find writing activities  that motivate students but Writing about Music is one of the most popular among teenagers. From my point of view, at this stage of their learning, writing should be partially guided and this is what this activity suggests.
This is the writing task my A1 students had to undertake. I thought I might share it here as I always find it hard to find activities such as this one. Hope you find it useful, too!

Step 1. Students think of a group they know and like and then they provide the following information about their group.
Name:
When popular:
Members of the group:
From:
Instruments:
Songs

Step 2. Students write  about this group , using their notes above.As I suggested , at this stage students need a lot of help and encouragement , so it’s really a good idea to give them a model they can refer to.

This is the model I gave them

The Fray are a popular group in the United States and all over the world today. In the group there are four musicians: Joe King, Isaac Slade, Dave Welsh, Ben Wysocki . They are all from the USA. They sing, write songs and play the guitar, the drums and the piano. Two of the group’s most popular songs are How to save a Life and All at Once.

Step 3:I decided to give my students an extra point if they gave a presentation about their group in class. Most of them did and they even brought along  some flash drives with the group’s most popular songs.

Presentations given by Karen and Alice . Thank you girls!

Who said English is boring?

St Valentine’s Day: two activities

Funny Stuff, Listening, Music, , , , ,

I have never celebrated st Valentine. I cannot remember a single occasion in my life when I was given a present or  invited to a romantic dinner whatsoever.( If you are reading this and you are one of my ex-boyfriends, don’t hesitate to send me an email if I have forgotten what you did for me on that day. Don’t get pissed off, I am sure it was beautiful and it meant the world for me).

I’ve prepared two activities for two different levels.
The first one is a song by Whitney Houston “I will always love you”. It is my way of  paying  a little homage to one of the greatest singers in history. Click here to get the worksheet. Level: absolute beginners .

The other activity I have decided to do is on the other side of what love should be. Please don’t take any offense ! It is only a small  joke and although it is a bit sexist it is also good fun. And remember that I am a woman, too. In my opinion it would be suitable for intermediate students and I am planing  to give them the first part and ask them to work in pairs to predict what is the woman going to find on the sixth floor. There are lots of follow-up questions that can be the object of discussion and of a lot of fun, too.

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 .