Videos and Vocabulary (Picks of the week)

It is a fact that technology has made it easier for us to remember and to understand things.
What I find extremely useful when I teach, is my mobile phone.
I can teach without a book but I honestly can't teach without my phone.
It serves as a dictionary, as an advisor to pronunciation problems, as a place where I keep lesson plans, mp3's for listening activities, videos and I can google everything right there right now!

And since I never stick to my lesson plans, songs and GIF's are really helpful in introducing new vocabulary.

Here are the video picks of this week:

Illuminate: 

1.      archaic  : brightened with light 

2archaic  :intellectually or spiritually enlightened 

prosper: :to succeed in an enterprise or activity;  especially  :to achieve economic success 

cold hearted: :marked by lack of sympathy, interest, or sensitivity  

• coldhearted criminals

• 
  

heartless: lacking feeling, cruel

And a bit of grammar
Stop + ing vs Stop + to infinitive

I know I have reminded you good old times with this, so even if you don't use it with your students, at least, watching them has "fixed" our mood!
Happy teaching

Reasons to be happy

Why I am actually writing something like this on my teaching blog?? I could have used my personal blog to do so.... but.... I am doing it because I gave it as homework to one of my advanced students!!
Why? Just because I get these crazy ideas and people just do it because they never question me!! (just kidding!)
Well, I was talking about procrastination and I just showed him the sketches a girl had made during a lesson.

I just loved the Minion on the picture and I said that there is a great song from the "Despicable me" movie that I found really interesting and I wanted to do something with it with my students,

And then it just hit me!
Why are we happy? You can have a great discussion in class...
Reasons to be happy...
Happy moments (lesson plan over here)

So what does the word "happiness" actually mean?

 hap•pi•ness (ˈhæp i nɪs)

n.

1. the quality or state of being happy.

2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy. 

(from  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/)

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.^[1] A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, endeavor to apply the scientific method to answer questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained. It is of such fundamental importance to the human condition that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" were deemed to be unalienable rights by the United States Declaration of Independence.
Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue 

(from Wikipedia)

My questions on the subject:

• Is the state of happiness permanent  or are there only happy moments?
• Is happiness the same for everybody?
• Or is it one person's happiness is the other person's sadness?
• Do all people want the same things in the end?
• What does personal fulfillment actually mean?
• Does pure happiness (or joy) exist?
•  Is the children's happiness different from what adults experience?

Speaking of happiness, here is another post that might interest you!

Adventsblog day 7

A wonderful link with Christmas songs accompanied by EFL activities!
Enjoy!
http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/christmas-songs.html

Adventsblog Day 8

I think that Jingle Bells is the mostly heard song during this season!
According to Wikipedia, it was composed by James Lord Pierpont, originally copyrighted as "One horse open sleigh" in 1857.

Original Lyrics:

Dashing through the snow

In a one-horse open sleigh

O'er the hills we go

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bobtail ring

Making spirits bright

Oh what sport to ride and sing

A sleighing song tonight.

|: chorus :|

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way!

O what joy it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago

I thought I'd take a ride

And soon Miss Fannie Bright

Was seated by my side.

The horse was lean and lank

Misfortune seemed his lot

He got into a drifted bank

And we — we got upsot.

|: chorus :|

A day or two ago

The story I must tell

I went out on the snow

And on my back I fell;

A gent was riding by

In a one-horse open sleigh,

He laughed as there I sprawling lie,

But quickly drove away,

|: chorus :|

Now the ground is white

Go it while you're young,

Take the girls tonight

And sing this sleighing song:

Just get a bobtailed bay

Two forty is his speed

Hitch him to an open sleigh

And crack! You'll take the lead.

|: chorus :|

Adventsblog Day 5- Xmas songs

Lesson idea:

Everybody is familiar with the Wham song, but now that a very similar video clip has come out, I thought it would be a good idea to use it in my lessons.

Have the students watch the videos, compare and contrast them and then say which one they like the best and why.

Are these images traditional Christmas images? How do we celebrate in our country, what is different?

Students can also guess what happens next in the stories, maybe combine the two songs together and create one story out of both songs!
Enjoy!!!

Wait till you see my smile

I came across a very favourite song the other day and I immediately knew that I could work with my students with it!

• Let the students listen to the song
• Ask them what makes them smile
• Do they use smile only on their happy moments or also in difficult situations?
• Have them write a list with 10 or 5 things that make them smile - they can also bring pictures of their favourite moments and describe what happened.
• I used Pearl Trees to make a beautiful collection of my students work. It is a great site and you can post everything in it (links, notes, pictures) in a very easy way!

And remember! Don't forget to smile! Happy teaching!

Let's go la la la!!!

Recently I discovered this wonderful song! When I first listened to it, I thought it was a bit silly, but when I watched the video, I know there was something more into it and I could use it with my students. (B2 level and upwards)
Lesson plan:

• Show the video to the students
• prepare Wh- questions (Who? Where? What? How? etc)
• Let the students speculate what is happening in the story
• Give the song-text to the students. 
• Who is the singer referring to?
• Ask students if they block negative people / feelings and how 
• Have them speculate what happens in the end... (the video clip has an open ending)
• As homework ask students to find the story behind the video and have them present it to the rest of the class (they can use traditional carton and pictures or a power point presentation - it's up to them )

Notes: The video story is based on a Bolivian legend, it has to do with the fight against evil (negative people) and you can also compare it with the "Wizard of Oz", so you have endless possiblilites
(i.g. Show the movie to the students, ask them to compare the video clip of the song with the film, which character is which etc)
Whatever you do, have fun!

 

Mit Musik arbeiten... Warum auch nicht im Daf??

In den letzten zwei Jahren habe ich mich viel mit Liedern im Unterricht beschäftigt, besonders in meinem Englischunterricht. Nach zwei Präsentationen in TESOL Greece über die Verwendung von Musik im Unterricht und nicht nur als Lückentextergänzung, sondern auch als Anlaß zur Diskussion und Wortschatzerweiterung!
Die Wahrheit ist dass im Englischunterricht leichter ist mit Liedern zu arbeiten, denn die meisten Jugendlichen solche Musik zur Unterhaltung hören.
So sollte der Deutschlehrer mehr arbeiten, die richtige moderne Lieder zu finden und allein Übungen konstruieren.
Meiner Meinung nach lohnt es sich aber, denn es ist wirklich langweilig sich nur mit dem Kursubuch zu beschäftigen.
Eins meiner Lieblingslieder ist "Du hast" von Rammstein. Obwohl diese Band nicht so populär mit älteren Leuten ist, und Lehrer sind skeptisch, ob sie mit solcher Musik etwas mit ihren Schülern tun können, finde ich es fantastisch. Diese Gruppe spielt einfach mit den Wörtern.

Der Songtext ist ganz einfach, aber der Lehrer kann mit den Vokabeln "spielen

Du hast Songtext

Du,
du hast,
du hasst mich,
Du,
du hast,
du hasst mich,
Du,
du hast,
du hasst mich,
Du,
du hast,
du hasst mich,
du hasst mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt!
Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet, treue sein für alle Tage?
NEIN!
NEIN!
Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet, treue sein für alle Tage?
NEIN!
NEIN!
Du,
du hast,
du hasst mich,

Die  Schüler hören die erste Verse des Liedes: 'Du hast - Du hast mich"

Frage: Was ist gemeint? Was hat er? Ist es eigentlich "du hast?" oder "du hasst?"
Wen hasst er?

Dann hört man :"du hast mich gefragt und ich hab' nichts gesagt"
Was ist die Frage??

Und dann kommt die ganze Frage  "Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet, treue sein für alle Tage?"
und die Antwort "NEIN!"
Man kann danach eine tolle Diskussion über Liebe und Treue anfangen.

Mindmap mit Vokabeln die mit LIEBE, TREUE, EIFERSUCHT zu tun haben

Als Hausaufgabe könnte man eigentlich einen Aufsatz mit  Thema "Glück" schreiben.

Mit Musik arbeiten

Ein wirklich tolles Lied über die Zerstörung der Umwelt und wie apathisch die Leute sind. Bevor die Schüler das Lied hören, sammeln sie Vokabeln zum Thema Umwelt. Nach dem Lied kann man eine Diskussion über die Probleme der Umweltzerstörung. Wer ist verantwortlich? Was soll getan werden?
Als Hausaufgabe kann man einen Aufsatz zum Thema schreiben.

Working with songs - part 3

When taking exams, students are asked to look for specific information, especially in the reading and listening parts.
This is something really difficult, and the technique has to be taught to them.
So one great idea, especially for the selective listening comprehension, is to use songs with really fast pace, songs that are hard to understand without having the lyrics in front of you.

What you have to do is:
Take some words of the song and mix them with some similar words in meaning or with homophones (like "peace" -"piece")

In our case:

• population
• immigration
  
• games
• tames
  
• hurry
• marry
  
• furries
• fight
  
• bright
  
• light
• plight
• crush
• blood
• world
• word

Have the students find out which words are mentioned while listening to the song.

This particular song is also great as introduction to lessons having to do with the destruction of the environment. You could start a coversation about environmental problems and have students write an essay (or look for more information on the internet possible solutions, enviromental orgamizations etc)

Working with songs - part two

This is a wonderful classic and you can do so much with it, working on conditionals.
Give the students the song title "if" and let them brainstorm what the song could be about.
Write their ideas in the board.

Play the song ( lyrics are simple and repeating - no unknown vocabulary)

Discuss with your students how it could be a better world in all aspects (health, peace, environment, relationships etc)

Let students complete the sentence "if it weren't for this......"

Make a poster on a carton with all "ifs"

Working with songs - part one

One of the songs I've been working on these last weeks, is "If that were me"
It is a wonderful song talking about homeless people.

Lesson Plan

Students listen to the song and try to write down all the "Wh- questions"

Compare what the students have noted and then ask them what the song is about, who is the singer talking to and finaly if they have experienced a situation like this.

Next step: Brainstorm vocabulary about "Poverty". You can use "Mind Maps" and colourful markers to make things more interesting.

I have also found some great worksheets on the internet if you have time to continue the discussion. Here and here.

There are so many songs to go on on this subject like





and




What I did with these two particular songs is to find and their stories on Wikipedia and cut them into paragraphs, and let students find which part goes where. They can work alone or in groups.

As homework they could make a poster or an article talking about poverty in the world or in their own country.

Two years without my dad ...

This is dedicated to my dad... I can't believe that 2 whole years passed...
I miss you...

Favourite Christmas songs...

I thought I could bring Xmas mood to everybody today... I do need it!!
Here's my top ten!
So what's your favourite?





















I couldn't find the original version of every song but I tried to be .... original
Especially the last one "I'll be home for Christmas" performed by Twisted Sister is one of my faves!!!
Have a nice holiday everybody!

This blog will continue with Xmas projects by my students!
Until next year!!!!

Shut up!!

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Belgium (VRT)
Performer: Oliver
Song title: Shut Up
Song writer(s):
Song composer(s):
Jouw lach deed mij smelten
En je ogen maakten mij blind
Ik liep voordurend op stelten
En jij ging steeds door het lint

Ik was het beu
en dat had je wel gehoord
Maar je hoefde niets te zeggen
want ik was aan ’t woord
Ik zei

Shut up, shut up
Geluk bestaat maar niet voor ons
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
Shut up, shut up
’t Ging voor een tijd maar niet voor lang.
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij

Ik zag de liefde op je lippen
en verleiding in je blik
Je hoefde maar te knippen
het was een vreemde kick

Ik was het beu
en dat had je wel gehoord
Maar je hoefde niets te zeggen
want ik was aan ’t woord
Ik zei

Shut up, shut up
Geluk bestaat maar niet voor ons
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
Shut up, shut up
’t Ging voor een tijd maar niet voor lang.
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij

Ik was het beu
en dat had je wel gehoord
Maar je hoefde niets te zeggen
want ik was aan ’t woord

Shut up, shut up
Geluk bestaat maar niet voor ons
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
Shut up, shut up
’t Ging voor een tijd maar niet voor lang.
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij
’t Is voorbij, ’t is voorbij

I'll try to translate the chorus:
Shut up, shut up
Luck does not exist for us
It's over, it's over
Shut up shut up
It lasted for some time
But not for long
It's over....


I usually don't watch Junior Eurovision - this time I sat down with Yianni and had the time of my life commenting on the children and the songs!
Until I heard this song - Although the singer / composer is very young, he captured very "mature" feelings ... A big bravo (it doesn't matter that it didn't win!)
The language is Flemmish ( Yes! I do understand that language, too)
Especially dedicated !!!!

Cold November day

Gnarls Barkley Lyrics
Crazy Lyrics

On my way to work this morning... I must say it is VERYYYY cold today, but I just love it...
The wind blew and all the leaves just flew in the air, on me! Such a wonderful feeling... After getting rid of the latest "disturbances", ready to be myself again!!!

BTW 31 days to Christmas!!! Preparing a new Avendskalender this season...

Wednesday blues

I am a...

Because I am not only a teacher...
I am all of the above!
Dedicated to the people I love and the ones who love me... As I am!!

Here comes the rain again...

Italian nights...