Tag Archives: lesson plan

Good table manners help dieting

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

If only I had known first I’d have paid more attention to my mother when she persistently tried to teach me and my siblings good table manners, but when you are a child you can’t see the point of not getting a bit of fun out of flinging crusts of bread, making a mashed potato snowman or getting my brother and sisters’ hair red with tomato sauce (my mother would have never allowed ketchup to enter her kitchen).  

My mother was educated in a nun’s school. It was a time when subjects such as Maths or Languages were not as important as knowing how to knit or embroider. In a way it wasn’t as different as the education received by the female characters depicted in “Jane Eyre” by Charlote Brontë or in “Pride and Prejudice”  by my very much admired Jane Austen.

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One of the things my mother was taught was good table manners and since me and my siblings were very young we were insistently reminded of  things such as keeping elbows off the table, eating small bites, sitting straight, placing the napkin on our laps and …. a long etc I’m not going to bore you to death with.
What I didn’t know and have just found out is that good table manners can help you lose weight so as I’m a bit on the plumpish side my mother might not have taught me so well.
That’s why I have paid careful attention to this video where Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, an Australian and an etiquette expert, explains how good table manners can help you lose weight.
Watch the video here and do the activity

If you are interested in this theme, Click here to see a whole lesson plan I have prepared for my pre-intermediate students on Restaurants and Food.

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Lesson Plan: Advanced, Listening, , , , , , , ,

The video you are about to watch is part of  an activity I will be doing with my students one of these days. The videos of Mali and Dubai and all the exercises from the videos have been provided  by my colleague MªJosé (visit her blog here). My only contribution has been to arrange what she so generously provided into a Lesson Plan which you will find here: Lesson Plan

[flashvideo filename=https://www.cristinacabal.com/videos/Mali.flv /]

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Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan

Let’s go Shopping

Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, Listening, Word of the Day, , , , , , , ,

I never say “no” when one of my friends phones me to suggest going shopping. I love it!!!

Although I like going shopping a lot I don’t see myself as a shopaholic: I am definitely not a compulsive shopper although I am one of those who sort of view going shopping as a hobby. It helps me relax but I certainly do not spend money I do not have and I am not drowning in debt because of my purchases. Well, this is what I tell my mother every single time she tells me off for wearing new clothes.

Anyway, this is a video from the film Pretty Woman, which I’m sure all of you have seen.

You can do three things:
♦ Just watch and enjoy it

For students in the elementary level
♦ Watch the video and do some exercises 
♦ Do a whole lesson plan on going shopping  Here

And now that we are on the subject what about learning some expressions containing the word shop?

→ talk shop
if people who work together talk shop, they talk about their work when they are not at work
Even when they go out in the evening, they just talk shop all the time.

→go window-shopping
to go about looking at goods in store windows without actually buying anything.
Joan said she was just going window-shopping, but she bought a new coat.

→shop around (for something)
 to shop at different stores to find what you want at the best price.
You can find a bargain, but you’ll have to shop around.

→be like a bull in a china shop
to often drop or break things because you move awkwardly or roughly.

Rob’s like a bull in a china shop – don’t let him near those plants.

Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , , , , , , , , ,

When last week I asked my students:

Have you ever put your life at risk? or Have you ever done any extreme sports? I began to wonder whether I’ve ever had .
The truth is I’ve never been an adventurous person; maybe I was a bit more in the past when I was younger. I remember I used to like horror films and talking about paranormal phenomena with my friends. I even played the Ouija Board once or twice and went with some peers to visit a mansion ghost, which was said to live in a house in ruins in my own hometown; but I, at least, was pushing the limits of my own courage although I pretended otherwise. I remember the rush of adrenaline I experienced and the feeling of being amazingly brave. But these can be hardly be named extreme sports although some people would say that playing with the unknown is much worse than risking your life doing bungee jumping or sky diving something, I know, I’ll never have the guts to try.

Come to think of it, I’ve sometimes put my life at risk like when I hitchhiked in England being only 19, or refusing to cross the road when seeing a gang of punks drinking and I had to walk past. This counts as risky , doesn’t it?

But the maddest thing I’ve ever done was about 10 years ago in the Wagner Bros Park, in Madrid, when I rode in one of these ride thrill attractions. It was a vertical tower of about 60metres. You are launched up and , believe or not, you take off from your seat and you literally fly before dropping in a breathtaking descent. When I think about it, it still gives me the creeps… Well, I warned you , I’ve never been a thrill seeker!!

And you… Do you live on adrenaline rushes? Are you hooked on the buzz of the extreme?

If you would like to do a lesson on Extreme Sports and Taking Risks , click HERE

Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Advanced, Listening, , , , , ,

2015  is about to wave goodbye. A new year is starting to blossom and I’m planning to dedicate it my full attention. For a start, I’ve made some New Year’s Resolutions which ,unfortunately, I won’t be sharing with you… I apologize!! …and you, have you made any? Do you want to share them with me or are they too personal, maybe?
Well, for my first class with my advanced students, I’ve thought that a nice way to link last year with this new one would be this video from Bridget Jones’s Diary, one of my favourite chick flicks. If you’ve seen or read Bridget Jones’s Diary, you’ll know it starts out with her New Year’s resolutions: lists of things she will and won’t do. These are some of them
I Will Not
Waste money on exotic underwear since pointless as have no boyfriend.
Fall for any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, chauvinists, freeloaders, perverts.
Have crushes on men, but instead form relationships based on mature assessment of character.
I Will
Go to gym three times a week not merely to buy sandwich.
Learn to program video.
Give all clothes which have not worn for two years or more to homeless.
Not go out every night but stay in and read books and listen to classical music.

Watch the video and then if you feel like going for the whole lesson I have prepared for my students,  you’ll find it here . My gratitude to Jeffrey Hill, who gave me the idea.
By the way, the soundtrack is one of my favourites!!

[flashvideo filename=https://www.cristinacabal.com/videos/bridget.flv /]

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