Tag Archives: vocabulary

Word of the Day: Crutch Words

Word of the Day, , ,

What are Crutch Words?

Crutch words are words or expressions that that we use far too often when we speak in order to give ourselves more time to think, to emphasize something we are saying or just because we use them so often that we don’t even realize we are using them. They are like tics but verbal and as such, more often than not, they don’t even add meaning and we often use them incorrectly .
Some of these crutch words are :

Think about it, when you use To be fair, honestly or seriously … do you really mean it? 🙂

Lesson Plan : Technology

Lesson Plan: Intermediate, Picture Description, Pictures, Speaking, , , , ,

Oh my God! can you believe we are already in May??? Three lessons left with my intermediate students and so much to teach them!

I have to admit that we are all tired. If last week felt long I wonder how is  this next week going to feel? I read somewhere that this feeling is called Short Timers Disease ( a disease, really?? ). Apparently , it is an ailment that prolongs time and saps your enthusiasm when a holiday is imminent.

So, being in May, are you suffering from this mythical Short Timers Disease?? Let’s hope not.

These are the Speaking Activities I am planning to do with Intermediate Students . There is a bit of everything in the hope that  they  enjoy my last lessons.

You can download the whole lesson plan here.

TASK 1. JUST FOR FUN . Ask one student to read the following poem aloud. ( good to introduce some new vocabulary). It is called BEFORE THE COMPUTER

BEFORE THE COMPUTER
An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account!
And if you had a broken disk,
It would hurt when you found out!

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You’d be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut–you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider’s home
And a virus was the flu!

I guess I’ll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody’s been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!

TASK 2. PICTURE DESCRIPTION. PREPARING FOR CERTIFICACION EXAM. Student describe  and comment on the following pictures. (useful vocabulary here)

TASK 3. VIDEO Ask students if they know what the term Nomophobia means. Play the video I forgot my Phone and ask students to share their thoughts.

Task 4. SOME QUESTIONS TO TALK ABOUT

· What are some of the benefit and dangers of the Internet?

· What is your favourite piece of technology?

· Are there any new gadgets that you really want to get?

· What are the main ways in which technology has changed society?

· What do you think elderly people think of modern technology?

· How have technological advances affected your life?

· Do you think modern technology reduces or increases stress? Why?

· How has technology changed education?

· How do you think face to face communication differs from communication using computers?

· Are you connected to the Internet at home? What do you use your connection for?

· What’s your favourite website?

· Do you often buy things over the net?

· Do you use social network services such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn?

· If you do, How often do you use it/them?

Tips to Describe Pictures: Music

Picture Description, Speaking, Tips to get a good mark in the EOI exams, , , , ,

OMG! Where does time go? It seems only like yesterday when with butterflies in my stomach I greeted my new students. It was early October and, at that time, the course seemed long enough to last a lifetime, and just now I ‘ve realized that spring is technically here,  in fact, it ‘s been here for several days though I don’t feel exactly in on spring-mode and… it doesn’t help that it’s been raining on and off for the last few days. 🙁

Anyway, the Certificación exam is fast approaching and we need to practise a lot, especially speaking.

In the second part of the oral exam you will be asked to describe pictures ( a max. of three) and, in this part, you will be on your own. The examiner won’t ask you any questions.

REMEMBER

♥the pictures are just an excuse to talk about the topic

♥describe what you can see, comparing and contrasting the pictures. We don’t want you to describe in detail, just give a general description.

♥Use a wide variety of vocabulary and structures. Join your ideas using connectors.

♥Talk about the topic explaining your point of view.

♥Normally the pictures show different sides of the same issue. Say which one you would choose and why.

You have three minutes to shine 🙂

LET’S PRACTISE WITH THESE PHOTOS.  (click here to see the original)

Some ideas to help you talk:

How important is music in your life?
How much time do you spend listening to music each day or week?
Do you think music is getting better or worse?
Do you ever go out to listen to music live? When was the last time you went to a concert/gig? Gig /ɡɪɡ/ is a slang word than means live performance

Now, let’s try this one. Original here



How important is music in your life?
How much time do you spend listening to music each day or week?
Do you think music is getting better or worse?
Have you ever illegally downloaded music? Do you think it is okay or not okay to download music illegally?
With the increasing rise of downloading from the internet, what do you think the future of the music industry is?
Do you think music is getting better or worse?

A Word on Grammar: While and Whereas

A word on Grammar, , , , ,

I can see why these two words might create confusion in my students, as they are very similar in meaning. I hope that the problem will be solved with this brief explanation.

WHILE
♥ it is used to introduce a longer background action or situation, which is/was going on when something else happens/happened.
While they were playing cards, someone broke into their house

♥ OR to indicate that two longer actions or situations go/went on at the same time.
Joe cooked while I watched TV

This use of “while” should not be a problem for students as it is relatively easy to understand.

WHILE/WHEREAS

While can also be used to introduce a balancing contrasting point, and with this meaning, it is very similar to Whereas because both are used to balance two facts or ideas that contrast, but do not contradict each other. Both whereas and while are conjunctions and their meaning is very similar to “on the other hand” though on the other hand is not a conjunction.

I like spending my holidays in the mountains, while/whereas my wife prefers the seaside.

They can also be placed before the first of the contrasting points

While/whereas some languages have 30 or more different sounds, others have five or six.
Some languages have five or six different sounds, whereas/while others have 30 or more.

NOTE: when while is used with this meaning, a comma is necessary.

RECAP
While is used to express at the same time
While/whereas are used to express  contrasting ideas. In that case, while must be preceded by a comma.

Source: Practical English Usage  by Michael Swan . Ed Oxford

Speaking: Describing a Dish

Cooking, Lesson Plan: Elementary, Speaking, , , , ,

Happy New Year to everybody! I am back!!! Hard to get started once again after this longish holiday. It’s been eight days now since we have let 2014 in and it is time we get down to some serious work, don’t you think?

Talking in class about food related things after some huge binge eating and drinking is not precisely what appeals to me most, but unfortunately I cannot choose.
This is an activity I am going to do with my Elementary students after some serious work practising food vocabulary.

The activity is simple. The students are sitting in pairs, one student facing the board and the other with his back to the board. Using the OHP, a picture of a popular dish is displayed. Now, the person seeing the picture has to describe it in as much detail as possible, talking about its ingredients and the way it is cooked and the other person has to guess the dish. Allow them two or three minutes and then display another picture for the other student to do the same. Below are some slides with the  dishes that I am going to use.

Some useful vocab they are likely to use

Nouns: pan, cinnamon, olives, tuna, blood sausage,

Verbs: to beat eggs, to fry, to boil, to add,  to stir with a spoon,to slice (apples)