GAMES FOR CONVERSATION

 

Shared by Shawn Redwood:

This website also has games that you can download and use right away, especially for conversation and getting students talking in class, while making learning fun. The link is below.

https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/activate-board-games

USING ART TO TEACH IN ENGLISH

 

Shared by M. Carmen Carbajo:

I would like to display three links related to art. The first, is packed with art lessons for kids and teenagers. Lessons are categorized by age, medium and grade.
https://kinderart.com/art-lessons-by-medium/

The second is a repository of digital images of the collections of The National Gallery of Art. On this website you can search, browse, share, and download images. It facilitates learning, enrichment, enjoyment, and exploration.
https://www.nga.gov/open-access-images.html

The third is a platform where you can find videos about art and artists from more than 50 cultural institutions from around the world.
http://www.artbabble.org/educators/

Shared by Shawn Redwood:

Here are some links to help you learn how to use art to teach English.

Teaching English through Art

https://neurolanguagecollective.com/edition-6-march-2021/teaching-english-through-art/

8 Brilliant Art Activities

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-art/

Please add more links to this thread. It is all about sharing resources

Shared by Santos Suárez:

I would like to share a recent study showing why integrating visual arts into English teaching can be a particularly appropriate and rewarding strategy. 

It is a brief article that offers an overview of how this topic has been investigated as well as the main conclusions that can be derived from the research carried out. 

Although it does not offer didactic suggestions (as the ones provided in this blog) on how to carry out this integration of the visual arts in language teaching, it offers arguments to understand why it is important to contemplate the integration of art in the teaching and learning process of a foreign language.

LINK: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344144548_Incorporating_Visual_Arts_into_English_Language_Teaching#fullTextFileContent

Shared by Remedios Gómez:

I'd like to share this section included in Google Arts&Culture webpage: https://artsandculture.google.com/category/artist?hl=es

It is a compendium of all the artists and styles from different periods; by clicking on each artist, you will find not only their history, but also all their works.

Shared by Nuria Sierra:

Here are a couple I've used to find information about famous paintings to prepare tasks for my C1 students:

https://historylists.org/art/20-of-the-world%E2%80%99s-most-famous-art-pieces.html

https://artanddesigninspiration.com/category/famous-painting-reviews/

Shared by Isabel Gejo:

English through Art (2011) by Grundy, Bociek & Parker is an amazing book that contains many activities for different levels. I have used in my lesson for many years.

Shared by María Esteban:

Create to Communicate. Art Activities for the english as a Foreign Language (efl) Classroom.

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/create_to_communicate_2nd_edition-508.pdf

Palimpsest, by Doris Salcedo. Talking about migration in the Mediterranean

 

Shared by Santos Suárez:

Taking advantage of the fact that in the Unit an exercise deals with the work of the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo, I would like to share a video about one of her works I find particulary interesting. 

I´m referring to her work "Palimpsest" that was exhibited in Madrid a few years ago. It tackles a terrible issue (dead inmigrants in the Mediterranean) in a surprising and poetic way.

 A good example of the ways in which art helps us reflect on social problemas and on ourselves.

Glass ceiling for B2 learners

Shared Ana Isabel Torres:

I am sending you an old video by a Mexican video-artist , Teresa Serrano, dealing with the topic of gender discrimination. 

The title is  'Glass ceiling' (Teresa Serrano,2008) and  I have used it with B2 students to introduce the topic and try to make them think about the possible causes and consequences for this unfair situation. 

Tolkien's inspiration in The Lord of the Rings

 

Shared by Mariví de la Rocha:

A pre sequel of The Lord of the Rings -but not quite the Silmarillion- will be soon on a tv platform (Gandalf help us!) and this is the excuse for me to bring you  some of the places which are said to have inspired Tolkien:

St. Edward’s Church, Stow-on-the-Wold

This entrance  seems to have inspired the Doors of Durin in the Lord of the Rings trilogy:

"It’s no secret that the ancient and magical yew trees of Britain have guided us for centuries and are shrouded in an air of mystery.  In fact, you’ll find most ancient yews in churchyards as they have a sacred status. The tree’s ability to regenerate from “deadwood” represents life, death, and resurrection which strongly echoes chapters of Christian texts."

There is a local legend that says that J. R. R. Tolkien visited Stow-on-the-Wold on his many tours of the Cotswolds while he was an academic at Oxford.  His brother lived in the market town of Evesham and they regularly met up at Moreton-in-Marsh at The Bell Inn pub too.

 The Tolkien Society has proven that the nearby Bell Inn of Moreton-in-Marsh was used as inspiration for “The Prancing Pony” in the town of Bree. They even had a special print made for the owners!

      

The Four Shire Stone on the A44 was confirmed as inspiration for the “Three-Farthing Stone”. This is mentioned in both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as the boundary marker for The Shire and its four farthings.

Source: https://thirdeyetraveller.com/st-edwards-church-stow-on-the-wold-door/   You will find videos and more information about these sites on the links above.

This graphic novel is a nice gate into Tolkien's world for you and as a reading book in the classroom. 

The Hobbit, by Chuck Dixon (Adapter), David Wenzel (Illustrator), Sean Deming (Adapter), J.R.R. Tolkien (Creator). Paperback, GraphicNovel, 133 pages

Published November 1st 1990 by Ballantine Books

Literary maps

 

Shared by Mariví de la Rocha:

I cannot visit a region, city or hamlet without a paper map. Then when I arrive to the site, I will buy a literary, historic, touristic, or vintage one.... sometimes all of them.

This is one of my favourites:

Shared by Sofía Belles:

I would give them a blank map, and the students would have to put different points of interest and explain them to their classmates.

Travel books, travelling books

 

Shared by Mariví de la Rocha:

Travel preparation is almost as satisfying as the travel itself. I rejoice looking for maps, travelling guides, web pages...One of my favourite quests is to find out which well-known author was born there or set their books in any of the places I'm visiting.

I would like to recommend you this book set England. 

The island where the murder happens reminds me of Mount St. Michel very much:

"... So he built his house—a sturdy house too, as it needed to be, on the little windswept gull‐haunted promontory— cut off from land at each high tide."...

"The sturdy house was added to and embellished. A concrete causeway was laid down from the mainland to the island. ‘Walks’ and ‘Nooks’ were cut and devised all round the island."

In this article you can find Agatha Christie's novel settings. It has become a habit to buy one of her books when I visit one of them, that's how my collection started.

In this article you can find Agatha Christie's novel settings. It has become a habit to buy one of her books when I visit one of them, that's how my collection started.

https://internationalcrimefiction.org/2021/01/20/agatha-christie-one-hundred-years-of-confinement/

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

 

Shared by Mary Marsell:

I spent the entire day yesterday with eight other foreign language teachers on the Californian Central Coast to talk over our classroom practices, possible new textbook adoptions (and what we deem most important in our materials, which nowadays always has a digital aspect) and how to bring the outside world to our untraveled students.

One BIG topic was virtual learning in the classroom, including students being able to actually direct the steps of the GPS to see the Prado, Chitzén Itza, or whatever destination as if s/he were there in real life. 

What do you think of this kind of cultural experience for our students? How would you best incorporate it into your classroom?

Fostering speaking by "reading" illustrations: Anno's Journey

 

Shared by Shawn Redwood:

This is a great resource to foster speaking in the classroom.

Told through brilliant illustrations, a colorful, wordless book takes young readers on a wonderous tour of northern Europe, seeing its landscape, geography, and architecture along the way." The author also has written: Anno's Spain.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

 

Shared by Shawn Redwood:

Help your students classify ideas and communicate more effectively with these free graphic organizer templates, available for download. They can be used to structure writing projects and help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research, and brainstorming.

https://www.hmhco.com/blog/free-graphic-organizer-templates

Shared by Mariví de la Rocha:

these graphic organizers edited as nice classroom doodles, as a follow up of the ones shared in the unit.

I have found them in this instragram account which shares many interesting resources for the classroom:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZETgQRsB4l/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

VOLUNTEER TRAVEL

 

Shared by Santos Suárez:

Volunteer travel has recently becom a relatively widespread trend. It has been proposed as a way to combine two rising values in our society: travel as an opportunity to open one´s mind and citizen commitment to build a better world. 

But this type of trips can have a dark side. I would like to share a web where information is provided about this type of trip and a video about the dangers associated with this experience.

Link Web: https://www.holiable.com/news/understanding/volontourism/

Blog supporting lifelong learning

 

Shared by Shawn Redwood:

A community-driven blog supporting educators, building lifelong learners, and shaping the future of education.

There are many free resources for teachers.

https://www.hmhco.com/blog

Hello by Adele. Classroom activity

 

Shared by M. Carmen Carbajo:

Adele is one of the best artist of the moment. Her voice is special and her lyrics catch you. From my point of view, she has interesting songs that can be used to learn English. One of them is “Hello”.

I would like to share the song, a video related to the story behind the song and some activities on vocabulary and expressions.

ACTIVITIES

Exercise 1. Match the following expressions with their definitions

1. to look up a number
2. to hang up
3. answering machine
4. phonebook
5. to lose signal or to have a poor/strong mobile phone signal (reception)
6. pick up the phone
7. to leave the phone off the hook
8. to be on the phone
9. to dial a number
10. telephone box/booth
11. to call someone
12. the line is busy
13. a flip phone

A. refers to the strength of the signal received by a mobile phone from a cellular network
B. to finish a phone call
C. a small mobile phone that closes by folding in the middle to make it easier to carry
D. to answer a telephone call
E. personal list of phone numbers
F. to press the buttons, or to turn the dial, on a telephone in order to call someone
G. a small structure containing a telephone that you pay to use
H. to be speaking to someone through the phone
I. not to put the handset back correctly and it will not ring.
J. a machine that answers your telephone and records messages that people leave for you
K. to contact or attempt to contact a person or number by phone
L. to try to find a number by looking in a book or on a list, or by using a computer
M. being used when you try to call

Exercise 2.Find the following in the lyrics:

§ a verb meaning to desire to know something.
§ three phrasal verbs.
§ an informal contraction that some people consider incorrect.
§ an idiomatic expression meaning to be lucky, successful and greatly admired.
§ a modal+ perfect infinitive
§ an idiomatic expression meaning to cause someone great emotional pain.
§ a combination that goes against grammar, but which is very common in casual registers.
§ an idiomatic expression meaning to achieve a goal, to be successful.

Exercise 3. The lyrics

Hello, it's me
I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet
To go over everything
They say that time's supposed to heal ya
But I ain't done much healing
Hello, can you hear me?
I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet
There's such a difference between us
And a million miles
(chorus)
Hello from the other side
I must've called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry
For everything that I've done
But when I call you never
Seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry
For breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly
Doesn't tear you apart anymore
Hello, how are you?
It's so typical of me to talk about myself, I'm sorry
I hope that you're well
Did you ever make it out of that town
Where nothing ever happened?
It's no secret
That the both of us
Are running out of time
(Chorus)

Hello by Adele: The Story Behind the Song

WEBSITES TO LEARN & TEACH ENGLISH THROUGH MUSIC

 

Shared by Santos Suárez:

I´d like to share some interesting websites in order to teach/learn English through music:

http://mondostoppops.blogspot.com/ This site is for learning English through songs and song lyrics. There will be a number of different resources put up every week.

http://www.forefrontpublishers.com/eslmusic/ This site features articles supporting the use of music as well as an annotated bibliography of books and CD’s that teachers will find particularly helpful when they use music to instruct English. This site was created for educators who are interested in promoting the acquisition of English through music.

https://busyteacher.org/2728-classroom-songs-16-creative-ways.html It offers a list of interesting activities to get profit from music in the teaching-learning process of English

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-use-songs-english-language-classroom An interesting post by Adam J. Simpson with suggestions to make a successful song-based lesson.

https://myeltbrewery.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/beyond-gap-fills-using-songs-to-learn-a-language-why-how-and-which/  To get some ideas about going further "Fill in the Gaps" activities in song-based activities.

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/forum_article_-_beyond_the_gap_fill-_dynmaic_activties_for_song_in_the_efl_classrom.pdf More suggestions to go beyond the Gap Fill activities.

https://sandraheyersongs.com/ It offers a lot of resources and ideas to teach english through music (lessons ideas, activities to practice grammar, and so on...)