Tag Archives: cities

Digital Gallery Walks to Boost Speaking Skills

At this time of the year, after students have received their first marks and we go back to normal lessons, I rack my brains trying to find an activity that will get them back into the mood of focusing on learning, and not so much on exams and their results.

I like to make sure I have a fun activity up my sleeve for these first days and one of my absolute favourites is Gallery Walks, in all its variations. I love asking my students to move around, change partners, and seeing their smiles when doing the exercise. I love the hustle and bustle of my classes when students are doing the gallery walk and talking at the top of their voices while commenting on a poster or complaining about how difficult it is to use one or other expression. I love their complaints; I love their smiles and their aha moments when they have managed to squeeze in a term I have suggested. I think I feel nostalgic.

Sadly, movement during lessons is not an option now due to the pandemic. But wait… “If the mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the mountain”

And this is what I have done, a digital Gallery Walk.  I have used Google slides to design a fake museum and I have shared the presentation (Present Mode) with my students.

Have I managed to pique your interest? Then, have a look at my presentation featuring a museum  here.

On a side note, if you don’t know how to share your Google slides in presentation mode, I have you covered. Have a look at this video (0:36). It is really very easy and for this activity, it makes a real difference.

PROCEDURE

In class- or break out rooms-, I have asked students to take out their mobile phones and shared the link for the presentation, using an URL shortener. In my case, bit.ly bit.ly/3oO4PfW

I have asked students to work in pairs or groups of three and instructed each group to start on a different slide. Students read the question on the poster and  I give them 1-2 minutes thinking time before they start talking within their groups. I have also included some lexical prompts to “force” them to use new vocabulary.

For example Group 1, slide 1; Group 2, slide 2; Group 3, slide 3 and Group 4, slide 4.

 After 5-7 minutes talking, I have asked groups to move to the next slide, ie, Group 1, slide 2; Group 2, slide 3 and so on.

You can get a copy of the Digital Gallery Walk here

You can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Enjoy teaching; enjoy learning!

 

Lesson Plan: Cities,Towns and Villages

This is a lesson for Intermediate students (B1).

Hopefully, at the end of this lesson you’ll have learnt useful vocabulary to talk about a city/town/ village you like, you’ll be able to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city or the countryside and you’ll be able to understand people talking about it.

What’s your hometown like?
Are you happy with the city/town/village you live in? What are some of the pros and cons?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the coutryside or in a town

These are some common questions  in oral exams. Before reading any further, think about how you coud best answer these questions. Try really hard. Imagine you’re taking the real test.

Ok! Now!!! Do you have all the words you need or, are there things you couldn’t say because you didn’t have the right words? If this is the case, then go on reading, this post is for you.

Below you’ll find some ideas to help you get started.

Mapa Mental creado con ExamTime por cristina.cabal

 

Now, watch these two short videos and answer the questions below. The first one is about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city and the second about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a small town ( could also be applied to living in the countryside)

Video 1. Advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city

Speaker 1. What’s the disadvantage he mentions?

Speaker 2. What are the disadvantages he mentions?

Speaker 3. What is, in his opinion, the main advantage? What two disadvantages does he mention?

Speaker 4. What’s the huge advantage cities have compared to rural areas?

Speaker 5.  What’s, according to this speaker, the main advantage?

Answers here

Video 2. Advantages and disadvantages of living in a small town (could be applied to the countryside)

Speaker 1. What’s the advantage and the disadvantage he mentions?

Speaker 2. What does he say about the pace of life in small towns?

Speaker 3. What’s the advantage and the disadvantage he mentions?

Speaker 4. For him, what’s the advantage and the disadvantage  of living in a small town?

Speaker 5. What does he say happens in small towns?

 Answers here

♥By the way, do you know the difference between a city and a town???

A city is larger than a town and it has a cathedral 🙂 , at least in the UK

Now, do you think you can describe your hometown? Can you talk about your favourite city? Can you talk about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a city or in the countryside? Hope you can!

 

Lesson Plan: Talking about Your Hometown .

This is a lesson for Elementary students.

Step 1. Reading and Listening

Mind mapping is a very important  learning tool for visual learners. This mind map has been created with Exam Time, which is very easy to use and  embeddable, a feature I always appreciate.

There are some steps previous to this mind mapping  we wrote on the board, essentially reading and listening about this issue. Form these listenings and readings we gathered and sorted vocabulary that was, then, written on the board.

Step 2. Mind Mapping

What you see below is a nice way of displaying what was written on the board of the classroom  with the help of my students.

por cristina.cabal
Step 3. Speaking

For this activity, instead of the typical photocopy with the list of questions to talk about, I have put students in groups of three or four and given each group a set of cards, which they had to place face down on the table. Students in turns pick up a card and talk for as much as they can about the given question. At this point I give my students the usual talk about how important it is now, to “show off.”

This is a snapshot of the cards. Click here if you want to print them.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndro…

….bwllllantysiliogogogoch
I was 14 ,and staying in England, the first time I heard this word. We were a group of teenagers attending classes from 9.00 to 13.00 and we really needed some funny breaks in-between the sometimes tedious lessons.
So I remember the teacher challenged us to try to give her the longest word we could think of, and I offered the popular ” supercalifragilisticoespialidoso”. Well, I was pretty sure nobody could beat me there but then she said she had an even longer one.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch .
Phew!!!
She was at pains to write it and… to pronounce it.
But what is this long name? What does it stand for?
It is the name of a village on the island of Anglesey in North Wales ; in fact, it’s one of the most-photographed places in North Wales and it has been officially recognised as one of the longest words in the world, but it cannot be considered an authentic Welsh toponym as it was made up in the 1860s to give the railway station the longest name of any railway station in the UK to mainly attract visitors . And this early publicity stunt has worked as thousands of visitors visit this place every year.

By the way, this toponym has a meaning: “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave”.

Want to have a go at pronouncing it?llanfair.mp3

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Now, there is some homework , what do you call the people living in this tiny picturesque village?