There it is! I don’t think you need any further explanation for what Juxio is . I can only add that it is great fun and that actions speak louder than words. Have a look at these two posters I’ve made for my classrooms and then just explore the website. I only hope my students , after reading this post, will be thrilled about decorating the walls of the classroom with their own posters (in English , of course)
Never have I seen so many people around me trying to lose some 
weight ..Spring must be the season when we realize there is no way we will be able to hide our love handles(excess fat around the hips and buttocks, sometimes also called saddle bags- I imagine they are called this way when they are big and ugly) .
Anyway, when it is not summertime and you’re not looking your best, you can always use this funny tool to make you look thinner , even though you haven’t bothered to go on a diet to lose a bit of weight or go to the gym to sweat off your excess of baggage in the treadmill.
The tool I was telling you about is called slimpic.com and with only a few clicks, you can make yourself or someone in your pictures gain or lose weight (the point here is losing weight, we don’t need to go to the Internet searching for tools to make us look uglier, do we?).
Me , before and with 10kgs less! if only it were so easy!
Some time ago I went to Edinburgh to do a course for teachers. I spent about a fortnight enjoying the city and struggling to understand Scottish people.
I remember that, on my last day , there was a girl on Princess Street , which is Edinburgh’s main street , trying to sell flowers. She was shouting ,like mad, two or three words . I stopped and decided not to move ‘till I could grasp what she was saying. It was
important for me at that time. I can’t tell you ,without running the risk of lying , the time I spent staring at her mouth trying to see what my ears couldn’t hear but at the end , I convinced myself that she was saying something on the line of: “three for a bunch” but to be completely honest, I think I tricked myself into believing I could finally understand the Scottish accent!
Why is it so difficult to understand Scottish Pronunciation? To start with, English has 5 more vowels sounds . Scottish people don’t pronounce the schwa as English people do , for example, the pronunciation of the vowel in “the” is the same as the one in “sit” ; they don’t make long /o/ , for them ,”cot” and “caught” are both pronounced with short /o/ . What is more, the diphthong in “coat” is also pronounced as /kot/ and the vowel in “heard” is the same as the vowel in “bet”.There is no /æ/-/ɑː/ distinction so bath, trap, and palm have the same vowel
And finally /ɪ/ may be more open for certain speakers in some regions, so that it sounds more like [ɛ] Other speakers may pronounce it as [ɪ], just like in many other accents, or with a schwa ([ə]) quality. Others may pronounce it almost as [ʌ] in certain environments, particularly after /w/ and /hw/. (from Wikipedia)
And now, after this boring explanation , watch this hilarious clip in which two Scottish guys get stuck in a lift which uses voice recognition for selecting the floor.
Should you have problems understanding the accent ,read the transcript below.
Why the hell (excuse my enthusiasm) does a lesson have to be boring when you can teach grammar using jokes and unbelievably the only thing you have to do is a click away.
ESLJokes.net offers us ready-made lesson for teachers and for students. The jokes are graded as elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper intermediate/advanced and they cover lots of grammar points from present simple to reported speech .
If you are student ,you can use them for autonomous learning because it also provides the answers to the exercises and if you are a teacher, then this is just pure heaven! Everything done for you!
I’m planning to use the one about the Penguin (please, see Intermediate) to teach reported speech and I’m sure my students will be glad to have reported speech introduced in this way. Wouldn’t you if you were a student?
It’s never been easier to write a comic. This fantastic site
http://www.writecomics.com/ allows you to create your own comics in just a few minutes and you don’t even need to register.
It’s great to do with your own students in the computer room or ,alternatively ,set this task as homework.I can almost see my students’ faces lighting up when I tell them.
How to do it:
♥Choose a background by clicking on your choice
♥Choose the people or the animals. You can also add props and/or aliens
♥Then, the speech bubbles, as many as you need
♥Type the text
♥If you change your mind about something, double-click to delete it
♥Add as many scenes as you need
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The only thing I don’t like about this site is that you cannot save or embed your comic strip. The only thing you can do is copy the url or use a screen capture program to take a picture of it and then embed it into your blog.
Some ideas
To practise tenses
To write role-plays
To make an interview
This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek and as you’ve probably guessed it means that different people have different ideas about what is beautiful, something I totally agree with. Don’t you?
But what is beauty?According to scientists , beauty has to do with symmetry combined with some gender-specific traits. For example, for women : full lips, large eyes, small jaw and nose ; and for men : squarer jaw, deeper-set eyes, full lips. Can you think of anybody with these traits? I surely have some in mind. All right ! Time’s up! Stop daydreaming and go back to reading!
By the way ,did you know that women’s perceptions of beauty change throughout their menstrual cycle? I know it sounds a bit weird and I don’t want to believe it but unfortunately this is what research shows.
Anyway, this is a brief (or rather not so brief) introduction to what I wanted to say from the beginning of this article and this is that beauty is nothing without brains and the video below is proof of this.
I’m planning to use it with my elementary students, who are now studying the semantic field of FOOD.
Want to give it a go? Yes? Great!! So, now, watch it and then answer the following questions (if you want to do the hot potatoes exercise, click here)
1. What does the girl order?
2. Where are they?
A few years ago an English family, holidaying in Scotland, came upon a small country house while they were walking one day, and they thought that it would be an enchanting place to spend the following summer.
They inquired who the owner was, and it turned out to be the local vicar, who they asked to show them the property. Having looked it over, they were so impressed by its situation that they agreed to rent it.
Once back in England, they sat down to go through the details one by one, and suddenly realised that they haven’t seen the WC. They decided to write to the vicar and inquire about this fixture in these terms:
“Dear Vicar,
A few weeks ago we decided to rent your property in the coming holidays. However, we omitted to ask you about one particular detail. Would you be so kind as to let us know exactly where the W.C is situated since we didn’t notice it during our visit”.
They closed the letter in the usual way and posted it. When the vicar read it, he didn’t recognise the abbreviation “W.C”, but thought it must refer to a chapel of his religion called WELLS CHAPEL, and so answered as follows:
“Dear Madam,
I am delighted to inform you about the place you refer to. It is a mere seven miles from the house, rather a nuisance if you go on foot. Some of the locals go by bus and they usually arrive in time. There is room for 200 people comfortably seated and a further 1oo standing. There is air-conditioning to prevent suffocation. The children all sit together and sing during the ceremony. A sheet of paper is given to each person as he or she enters, but if these run out people can share them. The sheets should, however be given in as one leaves, so that they may be used in other ceremonies. Photographers frequently capture different moments of the event and their work is published in the “Society Page” of the local paper, so that the readers may see their neighbours at such natural function”.
The English family decided to spend the summer elsewhere, because the property didn’t come up to the required standard.
Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain, and gathering them
about him, he taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor.
“Blessed are the hungry.
“Blessed are those who mourn.
“Blessed are the oppressed. . . . ”
Then Simon Peter said, “Do we have to write this down?”
And Andrew said, “Are we supposed to know this?”
And James said, “I don’t have papyrus with me.”
And Philip said, “Will we have a test on this?”
And Bartholomew said, “Do we have to turn this in?”
And John said, “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this.”
And Matthew said, “Can I be excused?”
And Judas said, “What does this have to do with the real world?”
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus’ lesson
plan and inquired: “Is this lesson aligned with state standards? Does
it address multiple intelligences? Where are your objectives in the
cognitive domain?”
And Jesus wept.
Though I did find it funny and witty, and though I agree that “Times change” but “Feelings remain the same”, I do think that there are some traditions that should never change and this is one of them.
… and deep inside I know this video is food for thought!
How Many?
There are 6 — no joke!
Read it again!
Really, go back and try to find the 6 F’s before reading on.
The reasoning behind is that the brain doesn’t process ‘OF’.
Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 6 ‘F’s’ on the first go is a genius.
Three is normal, four is quite rare.
