Now that the Christmas spirit is still fresh this presentation from EFL Classroom 2.0 is ideal to find an excuse to read in English while getting some food for thought which might result in some personal improvement.
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Self-study activity:
Read some stories and repeat them in your own words. If you have the opportunity to work with a friend or classmate, you can also express your opinions.
Fasten Seat Belts is a web created by the European Commission within the programme Life Long Learning aimed at helping travellers to learn the cultural norms of the places they plan to visit, either in Europe or in Asia. You can search for videos by country or by theme (table manners, bar customs, etc). It also offers a small explanation about the origin.
Self-study activity:
a) For Básico 1 and Básico 2 students.
Go over some of the videos and later on write down some of the norms you have read about. In doing so you will have to use the imperative.
b) For Intermedio 1 and Intermedio 2 students.
Go over some of the videos and rephrase the information using must (to express obligation) or mustn't (to express prohibition).
Self-study activity: If possible, get together with an English speaking friend or relative and discuss the questions below. If you have nobody to talk to, just talk out loud to yourself.
What’s your name? Where are you from? What languages can you speak? How long have you been studying English? What’s the most difficult part about learning a language? Do you have any fears when learning another language? What advice would you give for teachers?
Now watch this video where a number of students answer the questions above. Some of them are students of English, some others are native English speakers who are studying some other languages. All in all is good listening practice, although some speakers are easier to understand and the background music is an obstacle at times.
Smories is a video site which shows children reading stories, some classic stories and poems. Those with the tag "read along" checked also have subtitles.
From the language point of view, I think the site can be interesting for intermediate learners, so that they can get used to hearing children's voices which, for some reason, pose problems to non-native speakers of English.
Losing weight seems to be a universal worry, and the beginning of a new year is the perfect excuse some people find to achieve this goal, especially after all the Christmas feasts and meals.
The video below deals with some strategies to lose weight, either at the beginning of a year or whenever one wishes to do so.
It is quite lengthy and not easy by any means. However, I think that intermediate students will find it within their grasp to understand the general ideas Elizabeth Somer offers.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say what Elizabeth Somer says about the phrases below.
Two mistakes A journal A plan Breakfast Eating at weekends Checking your weight on the scales Older women
Language Garden is a beautiful site, or rather a swf application, which presents us with an interactive grammar course. It is divided into 5 levels, and has 12 units per level.
The top prioritiy is grammar, but some dialogues are recorded and there's some work on vocabulary, comprehension, writing.
All in all, a very interesting site with a poetic touch on which we must invest some time to get to know well and benefit from.
