Dead tired after a long day, I finally sat down and turned on the telly .I took my ipad to see what was going on on my facebook while, at the same time, talking to my husband about my afternoon meeting, which I’m sure he only pretended to be interested in, when a man singing on TV caught my attention (This is called “multitasking”, in case you’re wondering, and it’s something we, women, are very good at).
Anyway, apparently the man was singing a version of David Bowie “Space Oddity” but the amazing thing was that he was floating . I soon learned he was an astronaut and he was singing it from the International Space Station. Wow!! And I’ve always thought astronauts were very serious people! I went to Saint Google, looked up this man and found that his name is Chris Hadfield, Canadian, and who among other things has become” the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave the Earth” (source wikipedia)
I got quite curious about this man and found in YouTube several videos he recorded while in space. I have chosen the one below for my Elementary students, which I’m sure they will enjoy. By the way, have you ever wondered how astronauts manage to clean their teeth in space?
LISTENING TASK
WATCH THE VIDEO AND THEN COMPLETE THE SENTENCES BY PROVIDING THE RIGHT WORD OR CHOOSING THE MOST APPROPRIATE ANSWER.
1. You need a _______ of water from the water bag
2. Then, get your toothbrush w_____
3. Grab some t_______
4. He says you have to brush your teeth for as long as you sing __________
5. After cleaning his teeth, what does he do with the toothpaste in his mouth?
a. he swallows it b. he spits it c. he reuses it
6.To clean his toothbrush, he gets w_____ in his mouth.
7. According to the astronaut, is the toothbrush…?
a. clean b. quite clean c. not so clean
Follow Up: If you could travel to the moon or to Mars, what would you take with you and why?
a written test – I have tried this little trick plenty of times, especially when trying to learn long lists of irregular verbs, but when your target is learning to speak a language, trust me , this little trick won’t work.
You might not believe it but it has been raining nonstop for more than two months now and I feel I need some sun to cheer me up. Added to this is the fact that I’ve been working mornings, afternoons, evenings and also two weekends in a row. Only today, I am quickly writing this post to leave again to go to work .
superlative sentences as they can about the people in their classroom. At the end of the time period, have one group share their sentences. If another group has the same sentence as the first group, both groups should cross that statement off their list. Continue until all groups have read all of their statements and any duplicates are eliminated. The group with the most statements remaining wins.
Once the sentences are completed, each person should write a list of the family members who appeared in their sentences. Students in pairs exchange the lists of people but keep their sentences to themselves. Each person should ask questions about their partner’s family and try to match each person to their superlative adjective. For example, a person might ask, “Is Lucas the oldest person in your family?” The other person should answer with a yes or an explanation. “No, Lucas is only four years old.” Give students time enough to ask each other questions, and then see who in your class figured out the most family member qualities!
Writing is probably one of the most difficult tasks students have to tackle but it is also true that we never dedicate enough time to improving this skill; there never seems to be enough time during lessons. Added to this is the fact that we are not used to writing in our own language, let alone in a foreign one. Therefore, what we normally get from our students are short sentences which usually fall short of our expectations.
