A LITTLE OF SUNSHINE

JUST A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO REMEMBER!!

CHRISTMAS SEASON

Time flies!

My holiday is from 21st of December to the 7th of January.

Probably, I should bring the balance of this year, which has brought to my life, new experiences, new jobs, new friends.

An ESOL project has been developed, and the classes are going to be delivered next year.

I am very excited and I am looking forward to next year.

I have to declare:

I have had time for myself,
I have shared,
I have laughed,
I have cried,
I have dreamed,
I have faced some obstacles,
I have skipped them,
I have made friends,
I have had time for the old ones,
I have helped who I can,
I have lived,
In Jesus name. Amem

MERRY CHRISTMAS..........HAPPY NEW YEAR.......

CHRISTMAS CARD

Are you good at art craft? If you are , or at least if you enjoy it, I would like to invite you for a very fun class.

Material required:

*colouful card; green, red, blue, cream, white, silver and golden;

*scissors;

*silver and golden sparklin;

*colourful pens;

PORTUGUESE FOR FOREIGNERS

My experience in teaching Portuguese is basically zero. But, for the first time, I had a chance to prepare a lesson for beginners in Portuguese for a ten-minute presentation. Of course, I did some research on the Internet, and I also went to the library to check the material available in the area. Very interesting! I found quite a lot. In fact, nothing that made my eyes shine. I see, the approaches are basically based on translation, especially for beginners, and, some of them are very difficult, because they are based on the previous knowledge of the language, which meant to be Portuguese for Hispanic. So, I have decided for something new and based on my background knowledge in ESOL, I prepared the lesson. UNIDADE 1 1-Texto Oi, meu nome e’ Suzel, tenho 46 anos e sou Brasileira. Meu apelido e’ Su. 2-Exercicio Oi, meu nome e’___________________, tenho______anos, e sou_________________. Meu apelido e’___________________. 3-Cumprimentos a) na chegada b) na partida Oi. Tchau! Bom-dia! Divirta-se! Boa-tarde! Boa sorte! Boa-noite! Bom Descanco! Tudo bem? Vai com Deus! Como vai? 4-Dialogo __ Bom-dia. __ Como esta o senhor? __ Eu estou bem, obrigado. __ Boa-tarde. __ Como esta a senhora? __ Eu estou bem, obrigada. __ Boa-noite. __ Como esta voce? __ Eu estou bem obrigado. __ Boa-noite. __ Como esta? __ Tudo bem. 5-Origem Pais Nacionalidade Brasil Brasileiro/Brasileira Inglaterra Ingles/Inglesa Escocia Escoses/Escocesa Portugal Portugues/Portuguesa Espanha Espanhol/Espanhola Franca Frances/Francesa PLANO DE AULA Objetivos Saber se apresentar, usando os varios cumprimentos de “chegada” e de “partida”. Contexto Se apresentando, cumprimentando e se despedindo de um brasileiro em diferentes partes do dia. Metodologia A unidade 1 impressa e distribuida ao(s) participante(s) e com a instrucao do tutor e feita leitura e pratica dos exercicios e dialogos. 1-Texto: fazer uma leitura em voz alta e em seguida o grupo repete para fixar a pronuncia. 2- Exercicio: cada participante se apresenta e em seguida pratica o dialogo com os outros colegas de sala. 3- Cumprimentos: o instrutor deve ilustrar atraves de gestos e figuras os cumprimentos para que os participantes compreendam e entao possam pratica-los. 4- Dialogo: usando os varios cumprimentos de “chegada” e “partida” do item3, praticam o dialogo com todos os participantes. 5- Origem: o participante deve usar o quado para completar o exercicio 2. Caso o seu pais de origem nao esteja na lista, o mesmo deve ser acrescentado pelo instrutor. Conclusao Ao final da aula, o participante deve ser capaz de se apresentar em diferentes partes do dia, dizendo o seu nome, idade, apelido (se houver), e se despedir. Tempo: 45 minutos

BILINGUAL SUPPORT

I would like to start writing down all the experiences I have had at schools in Scotland as a bilingual teacher support.

I have developed my own material and activities to work the English language with the pupils, and I am very happy with the result.

When I worked the activity "PIZZA", I found out that 2 of them didn't know what it was. It has just confirmed that English teaching is an exchange of cultural knowledge. I had the chance to bring them a taste of a delicious meal that is eaten "almost" every where, but in Indian and in Thailand, these 2 kids hadn't tried it yet. I don't need to tell you that when they went to the supermarket after that day, they not only saw it, but bought and ate pizza for the first time.

I hope I can bring them all the new and good for their future as human being.

Months of the Year

If you have a calendar at home that you don't use any more, cut the names of the months, laminate them and practice spelling.

The pupils can memorize the months, review the alphabet, improve their writting and they have fun.

To check the subject, play hangman. They love this activity.

Parts of the body

I love memory game, and it is always such an excitement to prepare the cards .

I have printed some parts of the body which match with the words.

Ex: ear shoulder hand foot knee leg arm mouth

head eyes finger toe neck nose teeth

Laminate the cards and enjoy while the kids learn.

EXPERIENCE

I have had the best experience of my life as a teacher of foreigner students from a primary school in Scotland.

P1/2 Kamil, Joseph, Gvidas and Theodor;

P4/5 Joell and Supany;

P7 Nida.

I have developed some activities to interact with them, and I hope in a short term to reach the target.

For P1/2 I intend to help them to develop primary writing, reading, speaking and listening skills.

For P4/5 I intend to help them to cope with writing and reading skills, to make them able to follow the grade they are at the moment.

For P7 I intend to to help her to improve her grammar skills.

God bless me!!!!

PAPER PLATE PIZZA

Make a paper plate.

Ask to your students to design their favorite pizza. Ex: Cheese, tomato, ham, pineapple, chocolate, pepper, mushroom, onion, garlic, tuna fish, etc...

Use the pictures and the names to build up food vocabulary.

Display the pizzas on the wall.

Have fun!!!!

ARE YOU A DOG?

If you want to teach "VERB TO BE" for your students, try to introduce it in a simple way.

1- Give each student a card with a picture of any animal; dog, cat, horse, hen, kitten, zebra, fish;

2- the tutor starts asking one-to-one; ARE YOU A LION? ARE YOU A PIG?

3- each one say; NO, I AM NOT. I AM A .........

4-then the tutor asks about one of them; IS HE A LION? NO, HE ISN'T. HE IS A.....

IS SHE A PIG? NO, SHE ISN'T. SHE IS A......

ARE THEY A PIG AND A HORSE? NO, THEY ARE NOT. THEY ARE......

CREATING A DICTIONARY

The dictionary can be created for any beginners.

They are going to colour a card with a picture and the correspondent word.

Ex: FISH

The Title for this sheet is the letter "F f". They are going to complete the sheet with words they know with the letter Ff.

READING A STORY

I chose the story "Dirty Dermot".

1- motivate the students to read the pictures;
2- ask questions about the pictures;
3- in few words give each student a chance to make up a story;
4- read the story;
5- ask some questions to check comprehension;
6- the students write the story using their words, simple and short.

Have fun!!!

THE CELEBRITY HOT LIST ACTIVITY

This is an activity, using an interesting article about "CELEBRITIES FASHION HOT LIST" from the newspaper, which brings some expensive items celebrities usually wear, and have turned into fashion must-haves.

You can find it easily in some famous magazines available in the market. This is a subject girls love talking about.

a)Show the article;

b) give the students some time to observe the pictures, labels, prices and general comments about it;

c)start the questionnaire;

Q1-How much should you save to buy:

a pair of shoes - £______________
a hat - £______________
a pair of gloves -£______________
a scarf -£______________
a bag -£______________
a dress -£______________
a ring -£______________
an umbrella -£______________
a watch -£______________

Q2-Is Paris Hilton as fashion as Jennifor Aniston?
A-

Q3-Is the brolly as cheap as the ring?
A-

Q4-What can you buy with £1,000?
A-

Q5-Choose and describe the hottest celebrity from the list?
A-


Objective: pre-reading, reading comprehension, math skills, link the object with names - vocabulary, world knowledge, adjectives, comparison, superlative, superiority, sentence building.

SUPPLY TEACHER

Today, it was my first day in a primary school as a supply teacher. I observed the method, subject, students behaviour to understand the problems foreigners are facing to acquire English as an Additional Language.

Liza, 10 years old, can communicate, understand instruction, but not able to write and read the task she is doing.

Peter, 12 years old, has the same difficulties.

Three kids are very little, 5 years old. They are learning how to spell, phonetic sounds, and recognize words and pictures. Almost zero of English at all.

Monday morning, I am starting to help them to cope better in the school.

When I was leaving one the students, looked at me, said good bye, opened his hand with a candy for me. It was very sweet of him.

ESOL EFL ESL EAL

My experience in Brazil as an English teacher gave me full registration for Language - Modern and Community with GTC in Scotland. It means that I can teach English as an Additional Language (EAL).

What is the difference in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), as a Foreign Language (EFL), as an Additional Language (EAL), and English for Speakers of other Language (ESOL )?

Basically, I need to understand the contest I belong at the moment.

Many Eastern European have launched in this country. Schools have had a huge number of pupils as speakers of other languages where the L1 in Scotland is English.

Which approach should be applied in the schools?

These pupils need English as an Additional Language.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Dusky scene from a Scottish coastal cave

PROJECTS

I am very interesting in some projects, that I could carry on with ESOL students.

The space is open for suggestions, and this is one:

THIS IS "ME" or you can use your name SUZEL'S BOOK or DO YOU KNOW ME?

The students can choose the title and have 10 minutes to vote the best.

For the content, all the topics covered throught out the semester can be used as a review, and the students may bring the material availabe to have their own book made in classroom:

Magazine, pictures, drawings, writings,...

Below are some suggestions for topics with page references for vocabulary from The New Oxford Picture Dictionary .

When I was born
Where I live pages (27-34)
The Country I Came From (70-71)
The Clothes I Like to Wear (19-24)
My Favorite Season (25-26)
My favorite Animal (65-69)
The Food I Like to Eat (6-18)
My Family (2-3)
Places I Go (56, 70-74, 87, 90-91)
My School (76-79)
Cars I Like (50-51)
Sports I Like to Play (92-97)
Where I Work (14-15, 82-86)
Plants and Trees That I Like (60-61)
Music (98-99)
My Future Goals

This is only an example http://members.aol.com/Jakajk/ESLLessons.html#PROJECT

ORIGAMI VOCABULARY

outside reverse fold

inside reverse fold

turn around

turn over

fold and unfold

SAMPLES OF ORIGAMI

I think they are really cute.

ORIGAMI

I enjoy very much craft work. Maybe, because my mummy was a taylor, and she used to motivate me a lot with her beautiful job, which I know, she loved it so much.

This week I have been reading and practicing ORIGAMI and its benefit.

ORI means to fold and KAMI means paper.

It is a very good brain exercise for your students, as they can have developed some skills such as reading, listening, writing, attention, patience, concentration, sequencing, proportion, symmetry, problem solving, geometry, creativity, language speed development, measurement, ecology, self confidence, social, temporal spatial, visual motor, and so many more.

You can teach them the specific words, as well as to get them involved in this creative environment. ORIGAMI

DRIVER'S CLASS

It is very hard to drive in a country where the road signs are different. I have been studying not only the signs, but also the right procedure to get my UK driver's licence. I need to know very well the traffic rules.

Introduce some important vocabulary and signs for your students. It might be useful if they intend to live abroad.

Print some signs and the correspondent vocabulary to be linked.

Have fun!!!

PLANETARIUM

Children love to search on the internet.

Would you like to find a good subject?

Try PLANETARIUM.

They can find all the planets in the universe, their positions, and clicking in each image, they can enjoy the beauty of a full size image of any planet.

Check the details: Size, shape, colour...

Prepare a beautiful board with drawings, pictures and names.

They are going to be delightful with the experience

POST OFFICE VOCABULARY

Type all the important vocabulary about POST OFFICE;

Letter, envelope, stamp, sheet of stamp, stamp book, greeting cards, postcard, postman, postbag, letterbox, counter, scale, counter assistant, posts, delivery-rider, delivery-courier, airmail, express mail, first class mail, postcode, label, address, return address, address sender,

money order,

Bring pictures to match the vocabulary;

Give the students some time to recognize and number them;

Check the answers;

Repeat the vocabulary building the scenery of a Post Office;

Try to check all the new words the students have acquired in the end of the activity.

Enjoy...it can take about 2 hours

COMPUTER VOCABULARY

If you want to introduce IT classes in your English ones, prepare your students to work with new vocabulary.

Make some slip of papers with names of computer parts and ask them to stick in the right place:

Ex: Monitor, Screen, Buttons, Power on/off, Power Cable, Leads, Mouse, Right and Left Click, Keyboard, Computer Base ( stand/low), Headphone.

Start an instruction how to use it:

Ex: Press the Power button (switch it on), open Microsoft Word, File, Type, Save as, etc....

Teach them how to shut down, switch it on an repeat the instructions.

Review the vocabulary in the end of your class.

VOCABULARY ACTIVITY

This is very funny!!!

Ask your students to form two queues and give a sheet of paper for the first ones.

On the back of last students you write a word (the same for both). If you are working verbs, or new words, select a few of them (at least one word per student).

When you say start, the lasts are supposed to write the same word they felt on their back on the back of the colleague on the front, until it gets to the first one who has to write it on the paper. The first go to the end and you repeat the process with different words until everybody has participated.

The team winner is the one with more scores.

They are going to love it...enjoy !!!!

GOLF CLUB

If you have a field or a space where the children can play, I found this idea at PAJAMA MOMMY very insteresting. You can get the kids involved to build up this MINI GOLF COURSE.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

3-liter plastic soda bottle
Colored tape
Markers
Cardboard
Cardboard tubes
Duct tape
Time needed: About 2 to 3 Hours

Lets play!

CRAFT ACTIVITY

This craft activity is a very good one to be developed in your classroom.

What are we going to do? COASTERS...

Yeah...we need them at home...and the children are going to love being involved with.

MATERIAL

White and colourful paper, painting, crayons, magazine...

clean contact paper;

scissors;

Cut some circles, triangles or squares for the base;

use collage, drawings or paintings...

cover both side with contact...

It is charming, isn't it?

BEHAVE YOURSELF

It is for me, and for you. Think about your students.

How do we tend to behave in some situations?

How the behaviour can affect other people?

First lets understand them.

PASSIVE: you allow people to get what they want. You don't express your needs.

(Ex: Yeah...you can have it.)

AGGRESSIVE: You impose yourself.

(Ex: Give me that!)

MANIPULATIVE: You get what you want.

(Ex: Ok, you have it, I don't need it.)

ASSERTIVE: You express your needs without imposing.

(x: I like it, don't you? Let's share it up?)

ASSERTIVENESS SKILLS

Our behaviour towards others can be different depending on the situation and people.

At this time lets understand 4 of them:

PASSIVE

AGGRESSIVE

MANIPULATIVE

ASSERTIVE

LEARNING MORE EFFECTIVELY

I have researched how to learn more effectively this week.

The resource in the area is really impressive, but one book in particular has caught my eyes. It is colourful, big letters, pictures, and every section is very well explained and separated.

TIPS...oh yes...they help us a lot...I love them

If you understand that we use both side of our brain to learn more effectively, you are going to agree that we need to combine some techniques to improve the way we learn. I would say that everyone has a particular strategy of learning.

What is yours?

Ex: If you want to learn PHRASAL VERBS, what is the best method to use and to be applied in classroom for your students?

PHRASAL VERBS

There are at least 7 other phrasal verbs in the text. Can you find them?

to make out
to make off with
to drop off
to set off
to get out of
to get into
to get ready
to be up to
to take off
to grow up
to make up
to set off
to turn down
to get into
to bring up
to break out

PHRASAL VERBS

Read the text below and underline the phrasal verbs:

ADVENTURES GROWING UP

"I was brought up in a small town in the countryside. Growing up in the countryside offered lots of advantages for young people. The only problem was that we often got into trouble as we made up stories that we acted out around town. I can remember one adventure in particular:

One day as we were coming back from school, we came up with the brilliant idea to make out that we were pirates looking for treasure. My best friend Tom said that he made out an enemy ship in the distance. We all ran for cover and picked up a number of rocks to use for ammunition against the ship as we got ready to put together our plan of action. We were ready to set off on our attack, we slowly went along the path until we were face to face with our enemy - the postman's truck! The postman was dropping off a package at Mrs. Brown's house, so we got into his truck. At that point, we really didn't have any idea about what we were going to do next. The radio was playing so we turned down the volume to discuss what we would do next. Jack was all for switching on the motor and getting away with the stolen mail! Of course, we were just children, but the idea of actually making off with a truck was too much for us to believe. We all broke out in nervous laughter at the thought of us driving down the road in this stolen Postal Truck. Luckily for us, the postman came running towards us shouting, "What are you kids up to?!". Of course, we all got out of that truck as quickly as we could and took off down the road."

PHRASAL VERBS

Introducing phrasal verbs is a constant challenge, because they are just rather difficult to learn. A dictionary can help, but students really need to read and hear phrasal verbs in context for them to be able to truly understand the correct usage.

My suggestion is to begin with a reading comprehension of some interesting student stories for discussion peppered with phrasal verbs. The second part is to propose a brainstorming for students to create a list of phrasal verbs to share with one another.

QUESTIONS

I believe you are in panic when you have to deal with some questions in classroom.

Well, I have experienced an activity that the students enjoy very much. It requires a lot of attention and concentration because the student has always to answer his friend question, I mean the question before.

Ex: start with the teacher...so the first question the class ask to the teacher.

1- What is you name?

Mary.

the second question is for the student;

2-Where do you live?

Peter.

3- When do you come to the school?

I live in Arbroath

4-Do you work?

I come to the school twice a week

5-What is your hobby?

No, I don't work

If the student forgot the question, or misunderstood the question, keep it and repeat is later.

Don't make it to long. It is an activity to have fun, to stimulate concentration and to bring motivation and self confidence.

Enjoy the activity and have fun

A TEXT IN PIECES

Have you thought about a group with discipline problems? I believe everybody has already had at least one experience in the career. I don't mean the students are bad, but they are talkative and so noisy that is extremely impossible to keep a good development of the planning activities.

I would like to share a planning class to keep them busy, and they also can talk with a partner, but of course, it is all about the subject you intend to work with.

Find a very interesting text, suitable for the group;

make copies enough for the group to work in pairs;

cut the text in some pieces; ex: 6 pieces;

make sure you have a complete mixing piece text for each pair;

they are supposed to read it and order the pieces to get a fully understanding of the text;

prepare some questions to be discussed in pairs and later without the text they can report to the class in a sharing bases.

It is funny, you are going to keep them busy, and they can still talk to their partner and to the class.

Try it and let me know the results. Good luck!

ENGLISH LITERATURE ACTIVITY

A very good activity in English Literature class.

When studying Shakespeare (ex.), choose some of his plays and give to the students a choice to work in group and perform it freely. The groups shouldn't be more than 5 members.

Each group is supposed to introduce the author, the play, time, space, characters, and perform it in about 45 min.

Enjoy it. You are going to be surprised with your students creativity.

Learning Process

I HEAR AND I FORGET, I SEE AND I REMEMBER, I DO AND I UNDERSTAND

Confucius.

In spite of Confucius quote, I would consider all of them very important in the learning-teaching process. Every person has his/her one way to learn, and it has to be understood and respected.

A very good activity can be applied in your classroom to identify the main learning skill in your students.

Ask to your students to write a password, choosing 4 numbers from 1 to 9 and 2 symbol from * ? ! +

Example 4?2!87

Each student is supposed to write his own code in a paper without showing it to the class. The teacher can also participate if necessary. The students are going to work in pairs.

Here is the test:

1) Visual

In pairs they are going to show to each other their code. Count in your memory until 10. This is the time they have to look at the code. Say STOP. They are supposed to write what they saw.

Choose another code. Example ?!9413

2)Listening

They are going to say their code 3 times in their partner ear. Don't break the speech. Take a breath between the repetition. They are supposed to write what they heard.

Change the code again. Example 69+5?!

3)Kinesthetic

Draw in their partner back the code. Repeat 3 times. Then write the code.

Check the codes written with the original ones.

Now you and your students have an idea of their cognition to acquire any information. Use it to help your students in the process of learning

"Curriculum and instruction can be developed to help all students make progress in enhancing their talents in each of these eight areas of intelligence"

CHOOSE YOUR CAREER

Have you ever thought to prepare your students for a career? Think about it.

Prepare some job descriptions and let the students choose one;

Ask them to prepare a list with their skills;

Research the skills for that specific job requirement;

Does your student still want that career? If not, open a discussion in classroom to find the best option;

It is a beautiful opportunity to know different professions, cultures and develop a positive interaction in classroom.

TRY IT, FIND PICTURES, SEARCH ON INTERNET, LOOK AT STATISTIC, KNOW THE MARKET IN YOUR AREA, COUNTRY AND ABROAD.

INTERPRETATION

How about to take the 60 Second challenge! Creating your own interpretation of a famous writer in one minute - make a film or audio, take a scene or whole play, keep it classic or make it modern, it's up to you.

Any idea?

How about Shakespeare?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/

If you want to teach the days of the week...try this song...

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE (CURE)

Fill in the blanks with the days of the week.

I don't care if ........................'s blue
Tuesday's grey and ..................... too
.........................I don't care about you
It's .......................I'm in love
..........................you can fall apart
......................, .......................... break my heart
............................ doesn't even start
It's .......................... I'm in love

..............................wait
And ..........................always comes too late
But .............................. never hesitate...

I don't care if ..........................'s black
............................ , ....................... heart attack
........................... never looking back
It's .......................... I'm in love

.......................... you can hold your head
Tuesday ........................ stay in bed
Or ......................... watch the walls instead

It's ......................... I'm in love
........................... wait
And ....................... always comes too late
But .........................never hesitate...
(Dressed up to the eyes
It's a wonderful surprise
To see your shoes and your spirits rise
Throwing out your frown
And just smiling at the sound
And as sleek as a shriek
Spinning round and round
Always take a big bite
It's such a gorgeous sight
To see you eat in the middle of the night
You can never get enough
Enough of this stuff
It's ...........................)
I'm in love

HAVE FUN

I believe everybody has a good story to tell about teaching. Take a look at this one...

School Kids

"If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?" I asked the children in my Sunday school class.

"NO!" the children all answered.

"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?"

Again the answer was,"NO!"

"Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?" I asked them again.

Once more they all answered, "NO!"

"Well," I continued, thinking they were a good bit more theologically sophisticated than I had given them credit for, "Then how can I get into heaven?"

A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOT TO BE DEAD!"

STAFFROOM

The TES Staffroom is where the teaching community goes to let off steam, swap ideas and get advice from TES Experts. The topics discussed range from practical classroom ideas to celebrity gossip.

HOW TO KEEP INTERACTION IN CLASSROOM

It is a good idea to bring to the classroom lots of oral activities, so that the students can work in pair, group or individual.

For individual work, give them something purely subjective to speak about 2 minutes, for instance, sharing personal hobbies and interests, aspirations and dreams, opinion on a particular political, economic, social, educational, moral subject or issue, or, anything relating to hypothetical situations using "Conditional Sentences - IF."

For pair activities, they can practise role-play, or activities that could include group discussions on current affairs, general topics, debates, picture description, reading comprehension tasks, games like spotting the differences between two similar pictures, quiz, dumb charades, twenty questions, and so on. Bring local newspaper to the classroom, and you also can let them choose the news that was the most interesting. They are supposed to support their opinions, and for sure they are going to express themselves with sincerity.

Help them giving language hints, structures and lexis on board or in hand outs.

Don't forget. Teacher talk should ideally be kept to the minimum, and, you must encourage them to talk in the target language as much as possible with your gentle guidance and help.

In a typical Communicative English class,especially for the age-group you're going to cater to, the teacher should act more like the facilitator, friend, and, moderator rather than the traditional authoritative figure that he/ she usually represents.

Books might help, I personally consider them a guider line, you don't get lost. Use audio material for listening and it is always a good source to help a second language acquisition, as well for group discussion.

Don't focus too much on accuracy. The thrust should be more on appropriate of structure,form and function, and, overall communicative competence or fluency. And, of course, give them topics that they would be interested in and feel comfortable with.

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

As a foreigner, if you want to speak more naturally and understand better the meaning of a native English life, it will be a great help if you you learn some idiomatic expressions.

It is not common for writing, but it is quite often used in everyday conversation for native speakers.

You can also compare the idioms in English with the ones in other languages. You can have great fun.It is a nice idea to take to your class a local newspaper and organise some small groups to find the idioms. You can easily find them on the letters to the editor, or if you wish to plan something different, the book Essential Idioms in English by Robert J. Dixon, can help you.

Ex:

He plays the cards very close to his chest.

That car cost me an arm and a leg.

ENGLISH IDIOMS

If you know any IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS in English, please let me know...

AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY.

A SCRIPUTURE A DAY KEEPS THE DEVIL AWAY.

Pray in English

" 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

Amen

Translation

I see how Scotland has been prepared to welcome immigrants from Poland, Bulgaria and other countries. Many centres are provided with booklets and interpreters in their native language. According to The Times, 11 June 2007, "translations discourage integration, warns Ruth Kelly
The Times has covered Ruth Kelly’s call to local authorities to encourage immigrants to learn English instead of routinely translating documents into foreign languages.
Kelly, who is Communities Secretary, said translation has become used too often and can be a ‘crutch’ which discourages integration. The practice of routine translations means that new immigrants can avoid learning English, she argued. "

ESOL Course Project

The Magazine, an ESOL Course Project 2006-2007, has been published.

Congratulation Teachers

Angus College-Arbroath

Scotland

I Am Back...

Haya for all my visitors.

I was out on my beautiful holiday, I would say...the best of the best.

But fortunately, I am back and happy as always to share some experiences with you...

Visiting another blog I was questioned about teaching and learning. Have you thought about this complex process?

Lets meditate about our performance, the student's response and in the process in itself.

Expectation, Learning, Self-Confidence, Creativity, Determination, Perseverance, Leadership, Team Working, Autonomy, Discipline, Motivation, Harmony , Overcoming.

Distance Learning

My friend Filomena has just started blogging, http://www.distanteperto.blogspot.com ,and it is all about Distance Learning.
We graduated at the same year but we have followed different directions. Without being apart and always in touch we have just found out that we are addicted learners. Do you love initials? There is one for you, if you are a person who is always interested in continuing personal and professional development (CPD). That is it...CPD...

If you have any comments, please do it. It is a pleasure to get different opinions, and discuss about so many important subjects in educational area.

A hug.

Valentine's Memory Game

Prepare some pictures for Valentine's Day surprise!

Lovely symbols cover:

a teddy bear with heart, a happy heart, a "be mine" heart with bear, cupid, heart balloons, a pair of hearts, heart with a lace edge, a pink heart sketch, an arrow through a heart, a "Bee Mine" character, and friends.

Cut them in two halves to play a memory game.

When you find a match, a part of the surprise gets revealed.
Each time you play, the cards get shuffled around.
How many attempts will it take you to find all the matches?

Enjoy yourself!!!!

Valentine's Activity

Heart Hunt

Make paper hearts of all shapes and sizes in red, white, blue, yellow and green;

Cut each heart into four pieces and scatter these all over the room, on the floor, chairs, tables, behind pictures, etc;

Allow a certain length of time for the hunt, and when all the pieces have been collected;

The students are supposed to put his pieces together and see how many whole hearts of the same color he has collected.

The one scoring the greatest number of hearts is the winner of hearts and deserves a prize. A booby prize may be awarded the one who has only broken hearts.

Valentine's Day Origen

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th every year. It is a day to show your affection to the ones you love, friends and family, sending cards (valentines) to the loved ones. Verses, poems, and rhyme, pictures or puns sometimes humorous can express love and affection-but almost all ask, "Be My Valentine."
Valentine's Day falls on the feast day of two different Christian martyrs named Valentine. The customs of Valentine's Day has nothing to do with the lives of the saints. It is believed that the customs come from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage - and Pan, the god of nature.
Valentine's day is a great day to celebrate our friends. School children decorate their classrooms with bright red paper hearts. They exchange gifts, candy, flowers or "valentines."

Writing Review

If you are a new investor or an entrepreneur looking for a new opportunity to invest your money in a market that changes all the time, and the risks really exist, you need to contact VENPAR-VENTURE ALLIANCE PARTNERS.

It is a venture modern leading capitalist company dedicated to helping and encourage the new members to participate and join to look out for each other interest, providing financial strategist, headhunter, investment banker, corporate therapist, and more.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 24 May 2007
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact suzelsuzel@hotmail.com.
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Memory Game

We all know how difficult it is internalising the use of some verbs and nouns. Most of the time we don't understand which preposition we should match with the right verb to get the right meaning. Trying to find an explanation is not always so helpful, when what we need is only to use them properly. As a suggestion, we can play a memory game practicing the combinations below in a very interactive activity.

For instance: * print the cards (below) in different sizes for verbs(small) and nouns(bigger);

GO ON HOLIDAY GO FOR A WALK GO SHOPPING GO CYCLING HAVE DINNER LISTEN TO HEAVY METAL MUSIC WATCH TELEVISION DEPEND ON MY FATHER

*put the cards upside down; *play them in a way the students are supposed to match the words in a correct form; *use as much as vocabulary your students need; and....HAVE FUN.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Writing Competition

This activity is to make your students to write sentences. The tools are the words you are going to give them in a chart. Try to focus on the topic you have been working at the moment. For instance:

______________________________________

Pronouns - I, He, Me, We, It...

______________________________________

Verbs - sent, took, said, met, spoke, wrote...

______________________________________

Nouns - letter, flowers, parks...

______________________________________

Preposition - to, in...

______________________________________

Aux. Verb - is, was, ...

______________________________________

Useful Words - never, how...

______________________________________

Ex: I remember how we met.

Rules:

*Ask them to write five sentences;

*They can't add any different words;

*They can't repeat the words;

*Link the five sentences together in order to make sense;

*The winner is the one who follows the rules and makes no mistake.

Enjoy yourself and have a beautiful class!!!

Movie Scenes Activity

Usually, it is very good to make students moving in the classroom, where they can act and interact with their colleagues.

Activity:

*Write on paper a sequence of scenes of a movie in a different order of how it happens. *Give the paper to your students and let them watch the movie. *They will have to put the scenes in order. *Try one of the episodes of Mr. Bean. *They have to recognize some irregular verbs and, at the same time, it is fun. 

Ice Breaker

I would like to mention the importance of activities that you can play in the classroom to break the ice. If you think that there is no ice to be broken, great! But, how about an activity that can make your students feel more confident and aware about their own behaviour? Here it is: *put a sticky note on everybody's back; *ask the students to write a positive comment or an uplifting word about his/her colleague(s), *remember everybody is supposed to participate; *the notes can be read only after everyone has finished; *allow them to use their books, dictionaries, or if necessary, to ask for a possible translation; You might be surprised about what you can get. Enjoy yourself! It is fabulous!!!!

Adopt Your Marking System

You have to decide for some techniques in ESL classes to correct written work. Here is a suggestion of a simple method that you can apply if you wish. Explain your marking system and give some examples. The students get used to them. GR = grammar WO = word order Sp = spelling L = Incorrect choice of lexis ^ = Omission X = Addition E = Expression 

Schoolhouse Rock - Three is a Magic Number

The First Draft

All the stages we go through during the process of writing is the main reason to generate ideas, in case you don't want to hear..."I can't think about anything". Through small steps you break down any barrier for learning.

The teacher can draw a mind map with student's ideas on the board. It is a very good tool to show and share their thoughts.

Now, give them a chance to write their own first draft, I mean individually. This is a moment they have to express their opinion and learning experience. Grammar rules, spelling and punctuation should be ignored at this stage. Any difficulty with vocabulary the learners are allowed to write in their L1.

Remember to make available a good dictionary. The words or even phrases that they may have written in L1, they can find out among themselves if you give them another 5 minutes to share their draft.

Since the students have their first sketch, it is going to be easier to organize the text. Bring an example of the same genre you are working on. Discuss with the class the main topic of each paragraph and let them group similar ideas in one paragraph.

The students will get used to generate a second draft, or and a third one if it is necessary.

It is a good recommendation to have a code to signalise each type of mistake, so that they have a chance to reflect about their own writing. We usually learn through mistakes.

Writing

When I think about L2 learners, I am always concerned about bringing up the main four skills; speaking, listening, reading, and writing to the learners. Some learners can find writing challenging as the English progresses. Why Writing?

Writing involves, genre, grammar, spelling, and language convention. Genre can be discussed in reading and writing classes. The learners can compare and recognize the variety of texts , such as menus, formal and informal invitations, examples of letters, resumes, articles, poems, abstracts, researches, medicine instruction, dictionary, comic strips...which can be in groups, in pairs or, with the teacher. It also can be used between L1 and L2, so that the students can find out the differences.

When you have defined what exactly type of writing you want to develop, you start from your planning class.

Example: Write a small paragraph about your Trip to Glasgow.

1st stage - Brainstorm. Prepare some questions about the subject, and discuss with your students. Give an opportunity for every one to participate.

2nd stage - Prepare an interview about a trip, but to somewhere else, and give them a chance to interview each other.

3nd stage - Change partners and let them to share their stories.

4th stage - Working on revisions - make a remarkable review about the subject, the similarities, the differences, an amazing fact, etc.

5th stage - Edit

Observe the stages above are planned in advance to flow smoothly through the practice.

Finally EDIT it , or if you wish, draw THE FIRST DRAFT.

Realia

I have had a lovely time in Scotland and I would like to share some of my experience. 

We all have an idea of what interdisciplinary means. We bring a topic to the classroom and through some other subjects, we work on it. 

Lets give an example: EXCURSION. 

This topic can be very good to teach English. We can include Geography as the parallel discipline to bring up some knowledge about the place we are going to visit, for instance, reading a map, searching for location, population, roads and distance. History will help to develop our knowledge about time, facts, people and relevance of the area. Through Science we are going to find out how to preserve the environment, and exactly how we should behave ourselves. 

I could extend this topic as much as I need, but I want to register the brilliant idea the TESOL teachers in Scotland are offering to the students. We went to Glasgow to visit The People's Palace, The Oldest House, and St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art. As part of the program, we also were in Edinburgh to see the Castle and The Parliament. We walked around those gorgeous streets of Edinburgh and we were delighted with such  magnificent architecture. If you are surprised, I will tell you more. We visited the spectacular exhibition and the recreation of the voyages of the Royal Research Ship Discovery, built in Dundee to take Captain Scott to Antarctica,  the Discovery Point. The Verdant Works a heritage museum tells the story of Dundee's jute industry, the glorious Jute time, that represented a lot not only for the development of Dundee, but also of the world. 

Are you wondering about "Realia"? That's right!!! "Realia" in EFL (English as a Foreing Language) terms refers to any real objects we use in the classroom to bring the class to life. How rich is the unique experience to live the environment in its real sense. I can't forget to mention about the occasion when a Scottish Policeman came to introduce himself, and talked about his job, his career, and informed foreigners about basic British law, which everybody should know. Talking about career, The Career Centre can help you to find the way. Astonished!!!! Next week we are watching a play in a Theatre. Brilliant!!! This is "Realia". Enjoy yourself and make your class fun, educational, and motivating. This way you expose the students to more language than simply destinations.

TESOL Teachers

I would like to offer this space for all TESOL  (Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages) Teachers. It is a place to exchanging ideas, planning classes, bringing relevant topics, doubts, grammar, and lots of activities.

I have been using the internet since 1994 to research, to make friends and to be in touch with colleagues, but I never thought that one day I could have a blog and express myself world wide.

When I arrived in Scotland in 2006, I had lots of free time, and I thought to look for an Educational Community which I could belong to. I sent an e-mail to the principal of a school, Angus College in Arbroath, requesting a meeting to introduce myself. I received a phone call back on the same day confirming the date and time for the appointment. I was very glad to know that everybody in the school was friendly. In a few hours I was with the ESOL Team Leader and to the Librarian Manager. I was allowed to use the computers any time I wanted and I was welcomed to the Course and to the school community. For two weeks I observed the English classes, and then I started working as an English Teacher Volunteer with Polish, Russian and Czech Republic students. I would like to say that teaching English for speakers of other languages makes more sense when you are in an English speaker country. It was part of my job to support written English classes to prepare the students to write articles for a magazine, which was part of a project for the conclusion of the ESOL course. 

A Dream Coming True

I had dreamed all my life to have an experience abroad with English native speakers, and I thought it would be the best way to become proficient at speaking the language. 

In 1994, I enrolled in a foreign exchange programme with EF Student Exchange Programmes. It was an intensive two-week-summer course in London, which gave me plenty time to include Cambridge and Canterbury in my short tour in the UK. I was amazed and fascinated by the old and new architecture, as well as by the colourful gardens, forms, shapes and styles of so many historical buildings. 

I was young, enthusiastic and very motivated to return to the Uk after living the British culture briefly for two weeks. I would need a longer period to develop my own personal life experience. In fact, you never know when it is the right moment to live the dream as life circumstance changes without warning you. 

For some time, I explored a variety of pathways to work and to study abroad. I looked at work permit, student scholarship, tourism and meeting new friends online. I also tried a visa to The United States of America, for three times it was denied and I saw my dream fading away. It was not as easy as many people might find.

The opportunity came much later in life,  when I moved to Scotland in July 2006.