Want to decorate a wall? Use Glogster

Create your own stuff, Resources, Students' Corner, ,

I’ve been meaning to use  Glogster for quite a while but I was waiting to for the right activity to make the most of it. As you already know, if you’re a regular reader, I normally teach adults so I didn’t quite know what sort of activity was best for this tool to show off.

But, what is Glogster? It is a tool that allows users to create free interactive posters (also called “glogs”). How can you build your poster?


♥Uploading video or photographs
♥Decorating your poster in different styles (retro, pop…)
♥Adding  text, choosing from different backgrounds
♥Putting a link to another page, video…etc
♥Choosing your own background image for the wall of the Glog
♥You can make your wok public or private
♥You can embed it in your blog or website

It goes without saying that you’ll need to register, but it’s free. I’ve created a poster with my youngest students who still ahh and ohh about bright colours, moving graphics and funny stuff. You can see the poster below, nothing to write home about but I’m sure you can do better than me.

Once I got started, I saw the potential it had, even for my adult students.
♥Photograh description
♥Book /film reviews
♥Post stories or poems
Time to be creative and have fun!

Word of the Day: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Funny Stuff, Listening, Word of the Day, , ,

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?

An American in Asturias: Football and the SuperBowl Sunday

General

This article is the first of a series that my colleague Beth Reddish is going to publish about some cultural aspects of The United States.
The first one is about Football and the Superbowl Sunday, which is going to take place this Sunday.I hope you enjoy it!!

Football: Go Team!!

One of the most important and well-followed sports in the United States is football, which is known in other countries as American football, and is often compared to rugby. The first form of football was created in the 18th century, but over the years the rules, players, and positions have changed and evolved into what we know as football today. Every year, people watch anxiously as their beloved teams play against each other between the months of September and January. When the regular season ends, the best teams go to the playoffs, or elimination games. The winners from the playoffs are the teams that go to the Super Bowl, the championship game, which always takes place on the first Sunday of February. The 2011 Super Bowl is on February 6th, and the teams that are playing are the Green Bay Packers from Wisconsin and the Pittsburgh Steelers from Pennsylvania.

The (simplified)Rules!

>> There are 11 players on each team.

>> The point of the game is to reach the opposite side of the field and score a touchdown. A touchdown is worth 6 points.

>> After a player makes a touchdown, he can kick the ball through the goal post to score an extra point.

>> Another way to score points is a field goal. If the player is close to the end zone, he can kick the ball through the goal posts to score field goal.

>> A field goal is worth 3 points. If a player makes a field goal, he can’t try to score a touchdown.

>> The team with possession of  the football has 4 tries, or “downs,” to go 10 or more yards.

>> If the team goes 10 or more yards, they can continue to try for another 10 or more yards.

>> If the team does not go 10 yards within 4 downs, they have to kick the ball to the other team or they can try to score a field goal.

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is the day that the two winning teams from the play-offs play in the Super Bowl, the game that determines the champion of the season. Many people have Super Bowl parties, where friends unite to watch the game, eat, drink, and enjoy each other’s company.
There are two reasons why Super Bowl Sunday is very popular, and they have nothing to do with the sport! Of the 80 million people who watch the game, many of them watch only the Super Bowl, and not the rest of the season. Why do they watch? One reason has to do with the entertainment. A football game is split into two parts, or halves, separated by halftime. This break between the halves usually has a halftime show. The show often consists of the team’s cheerleaders, who try to get others excited about the game, and a marching band, a musical group associated with the team that marches as they play. On Super Bowl Sunday, the halftime show is a much larger show, with famous singers, dancers, and performers, and draws the attention of many non-football fans watching the Super Bowl.
The second reason people love to watch the Super Bowl is the commercials. The commercials during the breaks in the game are some of the best commercials of the year. Advertisers pay up to $3,000,000 for a 30 second advertisement – millions of people watch the Super Bowl, so they can reach a large audience. The ads are very funny, and they are made so that people will remember them for days, weeks, or years to come.

Text2Phonetics: a useful tool

In the Computer Room, Phonetics, ,

Text2Phonetics is a wonderful tool that can save a lot of time if you need to transcribe something. I have tried it with small texts (two or three lines) and it’s incredible!
Just paste the text you want to transcribe and click the Transcribe Button to get the transcription.

 

Why don’t you try some words to see how they are pronounced?

Type , for instance, since, cold, danger, aunt, parents … were there any words you usually mispronounced?

Remember :
Since | sɪns |
Cold | kəʊld |
Danger | deɪndʒə |
aunt | ɑːnt |
parents | peərənts |

English Phlegm

Funny Stuff,

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.