Forcing the Past Continuous

Funny Stuff, Students' Corner, , ,

For the past few days I have been thinking about possible situations where my students could use the Past Continuous. But, by far, the funniest one has been this one I’m about to tell you.
Bear in mind before going on reading that I work with teenagers. They can sometimes get quite emotional so I have to be careful not to push them too far so that they also enjoy the activity. Drama, on my side, is essential or they won’t buy my story. The more drama, the more fun you’ll get! This is my story and I have realised I love being naughty!!

(Going into the classroom with a gloomy face is a must for this story. Say nothing for a while and stare at them. Soon students will begin to feel uneasy and someone will eventually ask: “What’s wrong, teacher?”).

Well, you see! Yesterday afternoon I came to Grado (name the town where you teach) to do some shopping and a very unpleasant thing happened to me. (sad face and some more staring) . While I was leaving a shop (name the shop for realism) I heard a boy and a girl calling my name and running away. I couldn’t see their faces but I think I recognised their voices. When I went over to my car I realized someone had scratched my car with a key. That’s why I’m so sad. “Sara, the girl’s voice sounded just like yours!” ” Oh, no, no teacher” “What were you doing yesterday at 5 o’clock?” “I was doing my homework at home” and you David “Were you in Grado yesterday afternoon? Yes , but I was playing a football match!

As I said : I love being NAUGHTY!

Word of the Day: On the Internet

Word of the Day, ,

I know, I know! You don’t have to tell me! Internet is not a difficult word to learn. Why should I, then, dedicate a post to the word Internet?   Come to think of it  this  post might be only meaningful to Spanish students as they are the ones who make the most mistakes when using this word in context. Why? For these two reasons.

♥ We don’t use the article “the”

♥We have a problem with the prepositions in and on and we tend to use almost invariably in.

By the way, did you know that the word Internet is feminine in Spanish?

Reading or listening to a biography?

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Nobody can deny the pleasure one gets from reading a good book. I always boast  that I’ll never be bored as long as I have a good book by my side.

Reading certainly helps  students learn and biographies are definetely something quite light to read . Today I want to show a website I came across just by chance when I was looking for information about Whitney Houston (rest in peace). The site is called biography.com and here you can watch exclusive biographies about famous people like Christian Dior, Bob Dylan, Sarah Palin or Michael Jordan to name just a few. What I especially liked about this site is that you can choose between watching a minibio (2-4 minutes) or watching the full bio. What’s your choice? Don’t tell me  I think I can guess .

Now, watch this minibio about Pablo Picasso and tell me what you think about this site.

St Valentine’s Day: two activities

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I have never celebrated st Valentine. I cannot remember a single occasion in my life when I was given a present or  invited to a romantic dinner whatsoever.( If you are reading this and you are one of my ex-boyfriends, don’t hesitate to send me an email if I have forgotten what you did for me on that day. Don’t get pissed off, I am sure it was beautiful and it meant the world for me).

I’ve prepared two activities for two different levels.
The first one is a song by Whitney Houston “I will always love you”. It is my way of  paying  a little homage to one of the greatest singers in history. Click here to get the worksheet. Level: absolute beginners .

The other activity I have decided to do is on the other side of what love should be. Please don’t take any offense ! It is only a small  joke and although it is a bit sexist it is also good fun. And remember that I am a woman, too. In my opinion it would be suitable for intermediate students and I am planing  to give them the first part and ask them to work in pairs to predict what is the woman going to find on the sixth floor. There are lots of follow-up questions that can be the object of discussion and of a lot of fun, too.

A Word on Grammar: At the End or In the End?

A word on Grammar,

One week ago, my son came home from school and asked me: Mum, is there a difference between “at the end ” and “in the end“? Of course! I said. “But… is it very very important?”
I guessed he had made a mistake when writing his essay and the teacher had taken points off his mark .

If you go to a dictionary it will tell you that ” at the end” refers to a point when something finishes; and “in the end” introduces the result of the outcome of something . Well, you see,  I cannot disagree  with these grammarians but my son, being 16, would probably not understand these abstract definitions. So, I decided to show him some pictures and give him a more down-to-earth explanation to see if it helped him.
“In the end” means the same as “eventually” ” after something has been thought about or discussed a lot”

“At the end“ is more physical like “at the end of the road” “at the end of the book”, though you can also say ” at the end of the day”.

Hope this helps you! Now, why don’t you try doing an exercise about this?

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