Cerca tra vari insegnanti di Inglese...
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What's something you're good/bad at? (practice modal verbs of ability)
Hi guys!
I used these questions in a lesson recently to work on modal verbs of ability and I thought they might make for a fun discussion! Answer the questions however you like, but if you're learning English and would like to challenge yourself, you could try using the modal verbs of ability like I have (see highlights).
I look forward to hearing about your talents!
What's something you're good at?
I'm pretty good at languages. I learned French when I was really young and since then I've found that I've been able to pick up new languages quite quickly. Obviously, it depends on the language and if you really want to learn a language properly you have to study it, but if I'm exposed to a new language I usually manage to learn the sounds in quite a short space of time. It's useful because it means that when I'm travelling I can use it as a kind of "ice-breaker" with the locals.
What's something you're bad at?
I'm really bad at directions. I've just never been able to retain that kind of information. Seville is a historic city with lots of really narrow streets and when I first moved there (before I had a smartphone), I just couldn't remember my way around. Nowadays, though, I have technology to help me. Thanks to google maps, I was able to get around York pretty quickly when I moved there last year.
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What's been your favourite quarantine game to play with your friends on Zoom?
I've played scattergories, skribbl.io (basically online pictionary), quizzes, and scrabble.
I think my favourite is scattergories.
All of these, by the way, make for fun warm-ups and cool-downs for teachers, and can be especially good for keeping younger learners engaged, except maybe scrabble which would take too long.
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Strange phrases your parents or older relatives use
My mum is a native English speaker (her parents were Scottish and she grew up in England), but there are many phrases she likes to use that I've never really heard anywhere else. One that we all tease her about is: "I've been running around like a dingbat". She uses it to mean that she has been very busy doing lots of things for work or around the house.
I googled "dingbat" today out of curiosity, and apparently it means a stupid, silly or ridiculous person.
Do your family members have their own "catchphrases" that wouldn't make sense to anyone else?
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What value does knowing/learning another language bring to your life?
There is a lot of emphasis on professional opportunities in the world of English teaching especially, although I think it's fair to say that it applies to language teaching in general. To a large extent, this makes sense, as it drives the industry and keeps us all in work, and as someone who makes a living from teaching languages, perhaps it seems strange for me to criticise this emphasis on CVs. I also realise that knowing another language can make the difference between being called in for a job interview or moved to the bottom of the pile, and I am very aware of the global dominance of English and the (problematic) lines it often draws between the educated and the uneducated (in certain contexts).
Sometimes, though, I feel as though the dominance of a very utilitarian model of language teaching and acquisition obscures the joy in language learning as a means of uncovering another viewpoint on the world. I love those lists of terms for concepts that only exist in one language. I like the sounds of words as they are strung together. I like thinking about how the way we express things says something about who we are. These are the facets of language which can get overlooked in teaching as well as learning, but for me they are what gives colour to the whole process.
Just a thought.
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Resources for students
Hi everyone!
Since it's something I get asked about a lot from my students, I'd like to create a space where teachers can share their recommendations for listening and reading materials for students to explore independently.
Here are a few of my personal favourites to start us off:
Reading:
<ul><li>Newsela is good for news articles for different levels. You have to sign up but it's free! You can adapt the difficulty level of each article. There are other websites for this, like breakingnewsenglish, but the design tends to be quite old-fashioned and not very user-friendly</li><li>Dreamreader also has lots of articles which can be adapted to your level.</li><li>BBC News has lots of short articles which are good for ambitious intermediate-level students and above</li><li>The Guardian is good, but I'd say for very ambitious upper-intermediate and advanced students only</li><li>Medium is good for advanced reading materials that are less news-based</li></ul>Listening (and watching)
<ul><li>I'm sure everyone here already knows about TED but I can't recommend it enough! Great for exploring different accents and practicing your own through shadow-reading. One of the few of this kind of websites to offer subtitles in multiple languages so potentially good for all levels.</li><li>The Guardian's video section offers some fantastic short, documentary-style videos, and they also have a fantastic podcast, called Today in Focus, which I highly recommend for advanced students</li><li>Channel 4 has a brilliant series of interviews, called Ways to Change the World. Good quality subtitles available so potentially an option for anyone with at least an intermediate level. You would have to be ambitious though because they are quite long, about 40-50 minutes each. Maybe something to break up into multiple viewings...</li><li>Vice (available on youtube)</li><li>Nowness (on youtube and, I think, vimeo) also has some great documentaries. Not really suitable for less than ambitious upper-intermediates or advanced students though because subtitles are auto-generated only.</li></ul>These are just some ideas off the top of my head. Feel free to add your suggestions so we can build a library :)
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