May 25, 2013

The Pacifier: Simple Past x Past Continuous

This activity was provided by Bruno Dias. Thank you, Bruno, for your great contribution. Don't forget to visit his blog, a great resource for English teachers. Here's his short bio data:



My name is Bruno Dias Gonçalves and I´m a 28-year-old English teacher. I´ve been teaching for 9 years basically for adults, but recently I´ve started teaching elementary and high school students. I am also the owner of the blog http://teacherbruno1.blogspot.com where I post many video classes teaching grammar rules and contexts, song classes and video classes.  

I´m graduated in English Language and Specialized in Applied Linguistics on English Language. 















A class by @TeacherBrunoGon


Watch the scene and complete the sentences using Simple Past or Past Continuous:




a- He ____________________________ (teach) the girls how to fight.

b- While he ________________________ (read) the book, he _________________ (take care) of the baby.

c- He _________________ (say) the girl to go and she ________________ (start) driving at the parking lot.

d- He __________________ (make) 2 different groups of people crawl on the floor.

e- He __________________ (run) and when he _______________ (enter) the classroom the girl _________________ (present) a piece of homework.

f- He ________________ (observe) the play cast ____________________ (rehearse).


g- He ________________ (challenge) the girl to drive by back gear.



Discuss the questions:


Do you know how to fight? If so, what? If not, would you like to learn it?
Do you know how to drive? Are you learning how to? How does it feel?


WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE PACIFIER

May 21, 2013

Sunshine Award

I'm very happy to have received The Sunshine Award. Thank you Pilar for the nomination.


The Sunshine Award is an award given to bloggers by other bloggers. It is given to "bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere". I do feel honoured that such great bloggers have given me this thoughtful award.
As with other similar awards, there are certain rules that must be followed:
Rule 1.  Post the Sunshine Award logo on your blog.
Rule 2.  Nominate 5 to 10 other wonderful  bloggers.
Rule 3.  Announce their nomination in their blog’s comment section.
Rule 4 .Mention links back to their blog, including a link to the person who nominated you.
Rule 5. Answer seven questions about yourself.  This is designed to help people get to know you better.

1. Kieran Donaghy - Film-English
 Very creative ideas and an inspiration to us all.

2. Sue Swift - An ELT Notebook
 Sue's articles are a must for language teachers
3. Ozge Karaoglu - Orze Karaoglu's blog is a resourceful blog that I refer to all the time.
4. Ana Maria Menezes - Life Feast
 I'm a great fan of Ana's blog and professionalism. Her blog is awesome.

5. Vinicius Lemos and Vania Rodrigues. If the Ship Sinks, We Have the Survival Kit is my favorite source of games and activities. I love their blog.

A bit about myself.
 
1. Favorite colour.
Blue. Always blue.

2. Favourite animal.
Dogs. Can't live without them. I have three!

3. Favourite number.
13.

4. Favourite non-alcoholic drink.
Coke Zero.

5. Favourite alcoholic drink.
I don't drink much, sometimes when I go out with friends, beer.

6. Facebook or Twitter.
Facebook. Finding old friends and relatives.

7. My passions.
Movies and soccer.

May 18, 2013

Hotel Transylvania & Mr. Popper's Penguins: Modal for Ability/Permission CAN







Hotel Transylvania is an awesome movie. Funny, somewhat scary, and with lots of interesting lessons to teach. Mr. Popper's penguins is an effective family movie, but the penguins are fantastic!

I. Watch the movie segment from the movie Hotel Transylvania about Dracula and his daughter, Mavis, and complete the blanks with can/can't and the verbs in parentheses. 




1. Mavis __________ (crawl) up the walls.
2. Mavis ______________ (go) outside .
3. Dracula ______________ (play)  the guitar.
4. Mavis and Dracula __________ (fly).
5. Dracula and Mavis ________________ (be) humans and bats.
5. Mavis _____________ (read).
7. Dracula ___________ (sing)


II. Which item in I CAN is not used for permission, not ability?


III. Guess what the penguins can do. Check the items you think they can.

1. __ Speak English
2. __ Walk
3. __ Run
4. __ Fly
5 __ Walk in line
6 __ Dance
7 __ Cross streets
8 __ Jump


IV. Watch the segment from the movie Mr. Popper's Penguins and check your answers.






V. Write 3 sentences saying what penguins can do and can't do.

1______________________________
2______________________________
3______________________________


Answer key


I.
Mavis can crawl up the walls.
Mavis can't go outside .
Dracula can play the guitar.
Mavis and Dracula  can fly.
Dracula and Mavis can be humans and bats.
Mavis can't read.
Dracula can sing


II. # 2



III.
Penguins can't speak English, fly and jump.





May 11, 2013

Melancholia: 2nd Conditional

Although many people criticized this movie, I really liked it. Thought-provoking, its two different stories hypnotized me until the last scene. This activity is to practice the use of the 2nd conditional orally.




I. Work in pairs. Let's suppose that the Earth will be hit by another planet. Nothing can be done to stop the collision. It will be the end of days and there will be no survivors. The impact will be so hard that death will be painless and instantaneous. 

a. Apocalypse Abbr. Apoc. Bible The Book of Revelation.

b. Any of a number of anonymous Jewish or Christian texts from around the second century b.c. to the second century a.d. containing prophetic or symbolic visions, especially of the imminent destruction of the world and the salvation of the righteous.

          c. Great or total devastation; doom: the Apocalypse of nuclear war.



1. What would you do three weeks before the collision?

2. What would you do on the day of the collision.

3. Who would you like to be with if that happened?

4. Where would you like to be if the end of times were inevitable?

5. What would probably happen around the world on the day of the apocalypse if everyone knew what was about to happen?

6. Would people still go to work if they knew the world would end within three weeks? What consequences would it bring to every one's lives?


II. Watch the movie segment and then discuss the questions that follow.




1. How did they decide to spend the last minutes of their lives?

2. What's your opinion about their decision?

3. Would you do the same as they did? Why (not)?

4. Do you think the world will ever end? If so, what would probably happen?

5. What's your view of the apocalypse?

6. Why is there so much speculation about the apocalypse? How afraid are you?



May 4, 2013

Hall Pass: Modal for Possibility - COULD




This is a funny movie with great scenes. I had a lot of fun watching it. I used this scene to talk about modals for possibility, especially COULD.



I. What are the possible consequences  of Mr. Will's buying his twenty-year-old  babysitter some beer? What does his conscience tell him about the possible consequences of buying alcohol for a minor? Check the actions you think he believes could happen to him.





















( ) 1. He goes into a lot of trouble.

( ) 2. He is arrested by the police.

( ) 3. His action attitude becomes a scandal.

( ) 4. He is fired.

( ) 5. His fiancée is  furious at him.

( ) 6. He falls in love with his babysitter.

( ) 7. His babysitter falls in love with him.



II. Now rewrite his fears using modals for possibility

WORSHEET 

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - HALL PASS





Answer key:

I.

1,2,3,4,5

II.

1. He could go into a lot of trouble.

2. He could be arrested by the police.

3. His action could become a scandal.

4. He could be fired

5. His fiancée could be furious at him.

6. He could fall in love with the babysitter.

7. The babysitter could fall in love with him.