Tag Archives: speaking

Weird Hotels: Lesson Plan

Funny Stuff, Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, Listening, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you planned your summer holidays yet? Are you in the mood for something different? Weird and even wacky? Are you tired of the conventional hotels everybody goes to? Have a look at these photographs.

These are some of the weirdest hotels you will ever see. But don’t hold your breath …some of them are very expensive and most of them are fully booked for this summer; so I guess, it must definitely be an experience for some people  sleeping in one of those but, trust me on this… you won’t find me there!

Given the chance I don’t know whether it‘d be easy to choose one of them to spend a nice relaxing holidays. I guess you think it would be a rush of adrenaline sleeping in a cabin hanging from a slender tree but I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink waiting for the branch to crack.

And an underwater hotel… are they paying me???

In my humble opinion, the Survival Pod Hotel in The Hague, this orange alien-shaped thing, seems to invite people to choose to die if the option is living in these claustrophobic capsules. Can’t imagine having to pay for it!

Some other picturesque pictures show the Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim in Austria and I have to admit that, at least, it has been cheap to build. The idea is that you sleep inside a piece of concrete sewage pipe and guess what?? This is cheap …’cause you pay only what you think they are worth!!

As for me, I’ve always felt an attraction for luxurious hotels where the service is impeccable, the views from the balcony breathtaking, the place a haven of peace and relaxation and the bed as comfortable as a bed should be. I  don’t want to spend the night killing cockroaches or freezing to death just to have the time of my life, thank you very much.

Anway, why this post on Weird hotels?  ’cause my students are about to study this lesson and I came across some of these pictures while looking for different things on the web. I prepared a lesson about hotels this morning, which I thought I’d share with you. So, if you are interested, and you’re not one of my Pre-Intermediate students (we’ll be doing this lesson on Monday, God willing!) Click here .

If you are one of my pre-intermediate students and still want to do something about hotels, you can click here and listen to this postcast about Weird Hotels.

And then watch this video… but don’t expect it to help you with your English!!!



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ELLA: English Language Lab Asturias

Audio, In the Computer Room, Listening, Resources, Speaking, Vocabulary, Writing, , , , ,

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to recommend you this wonderful site , but …better late than never!
This site has been created and is maintained by three colleagues from three different EEOOIII . On their own they have been awarded different prizes and together they have created this wonderful site. My admiration and thanks to you three: María (from EOI Oviedo), Carmen (from EOI Mieres) and Javier (from EOI Luarca).

Now , for you my dearest students and because I can guess that right now you must be frantic (exam is on Monday) looking for new listening comprehensions to do, I am going to link you straightaway to the listening section of ELLA. The link will lead you to a page with all the listenings , find the ones for you level…. ADVANCED.
http://web.educastur.princast.es/proyectos/ella/?cat=17
If you like the site , don’t forget to send them a post. It is always nice to hear that all you effort has been worthwhile !

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Some help with the Speaking Test … or not?

Funny Stuff, Listening, , ,

I think we all feel very much the same about oral tests, they are really stressful. I m not that old to have forgotten the ones I did while training to become a teacher facing, more often than not, a three member board of unsympathetic professors jumping at their chance to make you feel utterly miserable. They were my personal crossing of the Rubicon or, at least, this is how they are stored in my memory.
Having said that much, you all have to see the necessity of these tests or rather you don’t, but this is, I am afraid, not open to discussion. What I wanted to show you is that everybody gets nervous when they have to answer a question in public; moreover, if they cannot use their native language, which would be your case , But.. Miss South Carolina is American, isn’t she?

Well, she did what some students do when they are not very confident. She learnt, by heart, an answer she thought might suit every possible question and so, when asked one that didn’t quite fit in with this answer she struggled to make it fit. Unfortunately , ….
The only two coherent utterances are:

1. The judge’s question : Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?
2. Miss south Carolina’s final sentence: …so we’ll be able to build up our future for our children.

Fancy watching it?

And now the hilarious explanation Jimmy Kimmel gives analysing her words on a blackboard.