One thing I’d really reproach my mother is that she gave me the “can’t draw” gene. My natural talent is limited to lines, points, circles and stick figures. The animals I sometimes try to draw (in an attempt to please my 3-year-old twins) look like mutants from a bad futuristic film. However, I take some comfort from the […]
Listening for Specific Information
This listening comprehension activity I found on BBC Skillswise aims to train your listening skills in getting specific information from telephone messages. Firstly, you have to go to the activity page. Follow the instructions listed there. Now, pick up the question sheet and begin with the first activity. After finishing the first part of this […]
World Cup 2010 in South Africa – A Project Idea
The countdown has begun: the last 100 days to the start of the FIFA2010 World Cup. How can we, English teachers, deal with this interesting and soon-to-be hottest topic? In this post I’m presenting an idea of integrating the major football event in the English class in form of a (global) blog-project. The idea behind it draws upon Tourism […]
South Africa: Join the Disky Dance!
TV adverts aimed at attracting tourists are quite predictable when it comes to presenting the characteristics of a country and its people. Showing the most beautiful and interesting places of the country, inserting the adequate background music, adding some filters to create the specific atmosphere of those places and people, and there you are, you […]
How to Build Your Own Vocabulary: Creating Videos!
When learning a foreign language a tedious task is learning and training new vocabulary. You can do this by means of rote memorization or you might want to build up your own word bank in a more creative way. Some might use a web-based flash cards builder and tester, such as Quizlet or Ediscio. The […]