One of the most difficult things about learning a language is its phonetics. Unlike other languages that have pronunciation rules, the English language has very few pronunciation rules and lots of exceptions. Knowing the International Phonetic Alphabet can help you pronounce words correctly. Phonetizer is a little tool that transcribes English texts into the International Phonetic Alphabet. Phonetizeris very easy to use. It has two panels: in the first one, you write or paste the text and then click “Transcribe” and in the second panel you will get the transcription. In this second panel you can also select a word or a phrase and click “Speak” for the software to read your selected words or phrases.
Wanna have a laugh? Try to guess the answers to these jokes. They are written with phonetic symbols using the International Phonetic Alphabet. (answers below)
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” Art Williams
Of all the parts in the English exam my students, without a single doubt, fear the speaking test the most.
Oral exams require lots of study and preparation. Don’t dream for a minute of taking this exam without putting some real elbow grease into it. It’s only the very skilled ones who feel at ease while facing a board of two or three teachers asking questions and taking notes.
Very often my students feel frustrated by their inability to react to questions; they mention things such as their mind going blank, panicking, having absolutely nothing to say on the issue, words not coming etc. While it is true that in an oral test you have to think on your feet and some students don’t have this ability, it is also true that, very often, you know or can guess what topics you can expect in the exam ( they are quite a few, yes, I know 🙂 ) so before the test, why don’t you practise how you would answer some questions and see what vocabulary you need to study ?. If you do it, you’ll be absolutely fine!
So, my nothing-to-write-home-about tips
♥ Write a list of all the topics in the exam
♥Think of some questions you might be asked for each topic
♥ Study relevant vocabulary to talk about these topics. If you are talking about Technology, you might want to use the expression” keep in touch” or the word “gadget”
♥ Practise how you would answer these questions
♥ Record yourself
♥ Concentration during the speaking test is essential.
♥ Be positive. “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there”
To help you prepare for this part of the exam, I am going to share with you a nice site to practise your responses to questions you might be asked in the test. The site is called Conversationstarters .com and it generates random questions for different topics. So, click the button and start practising!!
Isn’t that what everybody would like? Isn’t it a good reason to read every day? In this post I am sharing with you a wonderful tool that is basically a newsreader with wonderful customizable features. The idea is to encourage students to read every day the things they like to read about.
The benefits of reading when learning a language are many and nobody can deny that. When you read you:
– acquire new vocabulary in a natural way
-learn to infer meanings
-learn to punctuate
-write better
-speak better
– learn the grammar in context
We, as teachers, tend to ask our students to read mainly graded books or the texts in their textbook. We certainly feel confident our students won’t be struggling to understand or won’t get demotivated because they cannot easily grasp the meaning of the words.
On the other hand, I firmly believe we need to show our students how to develop strategies to encourage autonomous learning. It is essential if we want our students to keep improving when the course finishes.
Whenever a student asks me, “Are there any compulsory books to read this term?” I never fail to remember the 50 or 60 books I had to read if I wanted to have a chance at passing some certain subjects at university. I used to be keen on reading but having to compulsorily read, I would say “swallow” those books chosen by somebody else turned me, for some years, into someone who would refrain from getting close to a bookshop, let alone a library.
For this reason, I never choose the books my students have to read. We go to the school library together and choose the ones they find most appealing from their level section. I encourage them to read regularly, every day if possible, and not to use the dictionary every single time they don’t know a word, as this would discourage them. Instead, I ask them to try to guess the meaning and only use the dictionary if it blocks comprehension or it appears frequently in the book.
Reading books is Ok, but what about magazines, blogs, newspapers… In this post, I would like to share with you a tool to motivate students to read every day and the key to motivation is READING WHAT THEY LIKE.
The tool I use is called FEEDLY . It ‘s for me the best way to organise and read my favourite sites on the Internet. It’s mainly a newsreader and it’s highly addictive. Everything on the same place with a very nice layout. Imagine Feedly as a newspaper with only the news you are interested in. You feed Feedly with online sites that interest you.In this sense I recommend my students to feed it with a variety of sites including news, fashion, cooking, IT, learning languages …etc and why not, gossip.
Feedly is customizable and the only thing you need to do is Click on Add content, paste the url of the blog or site you want to have in your newspaper. Can I suggest you try adding this blogand this other one🙂 to get started?
If you want to know more about how Feedly works, here is a very visual tutorialhere .
Are there any sites or blogs you would recommend? Please, let me know
Who doesn’t like music? Today I am inviting you to take a glimpse at the Top Ten Musicals in London. Tough job to choose one ! A video-based lesson you’ll positively enjoy!
Level: B1/B2
Skills :listening, writing and vocabulary
Step 1. WARM UP. In pairs, talk about the questions below
♥How important is music in your life?
♥Have you ever been to a musical show? Why(not)?
♥Do you know any famous musicals?
♥There are lots of things to do in London, would you consider going to a musical?
Step 2. Look at the following collage containing pictures of different musicals. In pairs, can you identify any?
Get feedback. Most possibly students won’t be able to come up with the names for all the musicals. If this is the case, show them the options below.
A. The Lion King
B. The Phantom of the Opera
C. Wicked
D. Mamma Mia
E. Thriller
F. Billy Elliot
G. Les Miserables
H. The Book of Mormon
I. The Commitments
J. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Step 3. Play the video for the first time without giving students any task.After watching it , ask them whether they would fancy watching any of these musicals. Students watch the video a second time and fill in the gaps in the exercise below
Number 10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.Grab your won golden ticket and step inside the ____ (1) and wonderful Wonka Chocolate factory
Number 9. The Commitments.Originally a novel, then a hit movie, this musical is jam ____ (2) with classic soul hits
Number 8. The Book of Mormon.From the ____ (3)of South Park, this outrageously funny musical is not for the faint -hearted
Number 7. Les Miserables.An epic tale of broken dreams, passion, ____ (4) and redemption
Number 6. Billy Elliot.The ____ (5) story of a boy’s struggle against the odds to become a ballet star
Number 5. Thriller Live.The spectacular show takes you on an electrifying journey through Michael Jackson’s musical ____ (6).
Number 4.Mamma Mia. Abba’s timeless songs create the ultimate feel-good tale of love , laughter and ____ (7)
Number 3. Wicked.The untold story of the witches of Oz has won 90 international awards and is loved by ____ (8) and critics.
Number 2.The Phantom of the Opera.Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ____ (9) continues to captivate audiences
Number 1. The Lion King.Set in the Serengeti, this epic show explodes with glorious colours, stunning effects and ____ (10) music
Step 4.Vocabulary. Find a synonym for the following words in the video
-ageless
-impressive
-strange
-fight
-located
-prize
-full
Step 5. Writing . You’ve been asked to create a poster to advertise your high school end-of-the-term musical.Use postermywall.com to create the poster and think of something to say about the musical to attract an audience . Use some of the adjective+noun combinatios below
Level: IntermediateTopic: Dating, Family and FriendsAim: To develop all four skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking .
Has our lifestyle changed so much that it has affected the way we socialise, date and communicate with our family? Here is a nice visual lesson plan to talk about these issues TASK 1 Look at the picture below. Which of these adjectives would you use to describe the picture? Give reasons
As I normally have large classes I have written two texts containing the target language so I will divide the class into two groups and I’ll dictate the texts in turns, following the dictogloss technique. Texts will be then written on the board or /and a copy of the texts handed out.
Has traditional dating become a thing of the past? Look at the pictures below showing different ways of dating. In pairs, discuss which ones you prefer, which ones you wouldn’t mind trying and which ones you would never try, giving reasons to support your opinion.
TASK 4. LISTENING: What makes for a good friend. See on youtube
Time to improve your listening abilities. This time we are going to listen for specific vocabulary. Ready?
Listen to a man talking about What Makes a Good Friend and fill in the spaces in the exercise embedded below.
TASK 5 . SPEAKING: A CLOSE FRIEND. Think of one of your close friends. In pairs, ask and answer these questions
How long have you known him?
Where did you meet?
Do you get on well? What do you have in common?
Do you ever argue? What about?
How often do you see each other?
How do you keep in touch? Have you ever lost touch? Why?
TASK 6. SPEAKING.
Students sit facing each other using the speed-dating technique. Some students remain seated during the whole event ( in real speed dating, women remain seated). When the bell rings, students sit across from another student and they use their questions to start a conversation. They need to keep on talking for 3 minutes. Then a bell rings and “men” need to stand up and move to their right to start a new conversation with a different partner and the whole process is repeated again. Instead of a bell so I use a Class Timer (here).
Display with the OHP, on the whiteboard, the pictures with the questions and ask students to talk about the question on the picture for about three minutes. When the time’s up, students change partners and a new picture is displayed.
TASK 5 Writing. Choose any of the questions in the exercise above and write an essay making sure you use the vocabulary you have learnt in this lesson. Do you need some inspiration? See what other students have written here, here, here and here
