BELLS 'N' WHISTLES

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-26T08:45:00.001-08:00

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-25T13:09:00.001-08:00

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

TRAILER # ?

2008-02-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

JUGGLING WITH WORDS # 4

2008-01-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Puns are examples of word play. They also have a humorous edge because of the confusion that they intend when exploiting the confusion between two words that are very similar.
I have just this in you tube. They are a series of visual puns to guess. I tried myself but I didn't manage to guess them all...ok, to be honest I got only one or two right(!!)

JUGGLING WITH WORDS # 3

2008-01-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

RIDDLES are puzzles or guessing game like the one below:
My first is in tea but not in leaf
My second is in teapot and also in teeth
My third is in caddy but not in cosy
My fourth is in cup but not in rosy
My fifth is in herbal and also in health
My sixth is in peppermint and always in wealth
My last is in drink, so what can I be?
I’m there in a classroom, do you listen to me?
In English there are riddles that have a humourous effect because of the double meaning of some words, or because of homophones.
Why is six afraid of number seven?
Because seven eight nine.
It's funny because eight an ate are pronounced exactly the same. They're homophones. You can find a few more examples on the right bar of this blog (I'll make sure I change them now and then...)

By the way, the solution to the first riddle is: teacher.

Phonetic Wordsearch

2007-12-28T03:50:00.000-08:00

Click here for a phonetic wordsearch. You can revise the pronuciation of vocabulary related to transport and travelling.

JUGGLING WITH WORDS # 2

2007-12-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

I propose this game:
Think of a word in English with very few letters and keep adding letters to form words that have meaning in English.
For example:
I
is
sit
sits
suits
suites
TISSUES
With the last word on your list you can challenge your partners doing the same game, but the other way round:

JUGGLING WITH WORDS # 1

2007-12-26T04:38:00.000-08:00

LIPOGRAMS
Have a look at this text:

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it! In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching!

Have you spotted what is wrong with the text?

Here goes a clue...there is a very frequent letter missing

The text is an example of lipogram. It consists of writing paragraphs excluding one or more high frequent letters. In English the most common vowel is e so it can be a challenge to write a long text without it. In fact, the text you read above is an example of one, written by Ernest Vincent Wright. There is no e!

Why don't you try yourself? Think of your daily routine or what you did yesterday and write a paragraph without the letter e.

This is the first of a series of posts I would like to create with word plays, so watch out for the next!

LEARNING TIP# 2

2007-12-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY WHEN WRITING

"I had difficulties reading and understanding your text."
This is a sentence you might have heard from your teacher more than once when you are given your compositions back. Maybe the remark is about one particular paragraph or the whole text. It has to do with communicating your ideas effectively. This is the aspect of writing I would like to reflect on in this post.

I know that nobody likes to hear that there is anything wrong with their compositions, but I feel that some mistakes are perceived as better than others. Correct me if I am wrong, but let's say your compostion has a lot of grammar problems. You'll probably feel bad about it, but you know it is a question of revision, so you can take certain control over it and, on top of that, hope you will make less mistakes the next time.

But when you hear that your writing is not effective because it forces the reader to go back again I am not sure everyone is aware of the fact that this can be improved too. But first, you need to understand why the text is ineffective. And this is not always easy.

Firstly, because as a writer you know what you want to say. The information is clear for you. So, when you read your own text again it is difficult to perceive the communication problems that the reader has because you can understand it pretty well yourself.
Secondly, because you probably haven't had much experience reading ineffective texts in Spanish.

But...I found one a couple of days ago. I hope it is useful to illustrate what I mean.

It is a flim review I found in a local paper (I am sorry for the writer but I really couldn't help using it as an example).

Why don't you have a look yourself?

Just think of the impression you get as a reader. DON'T ANALYSE IT. Simply read it just as you would read any article written in your own language.
This experiment is going to be specially useful for those of you who haven't seen the film.

Click here to download the text.

XMAS CAROL: The Twelve Days of Xmas

2007-12-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

Listen to this version of The Twelve Days. You can check some activities on this song in another post

COOL COOL XMAS

2007-12-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

By now you are either full of excitement and happiness because it's Xmas or you are completely fed up with it all.
Anyway, here go two activities of a very popular Xmas carol you can listen to now that we are under the spell of the season's spirits ;)
The song is "Twelve days of Xmas", but the one showing is a special version by the Shrek troop
Choose one of the following activities on the same carol:
Click here for the easy activity
Click here for the challenging one

The Best Time of the Day

2007-11-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

Describe the best time of the day for you and why.
For me, one of the best times of the day is breakfast time. I usually have breakfast at about half past eight. When I am at home I have a large breakfast with coffee and biscuits. I enjoy it a lot because I can listen to the radio, plan the day, or do nothing.

VERB-NOUN COLLOCATIONS

2007-11-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

I was in a café this morning and suddenly the song Every Breath you Take by The Police was played and I realised it was a great song to practise verb-noun collocations.
A collocation is defined as a sequence of words which often go together, for example which prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which verbs and nouns are used together.
It is important to be aware of collocations in English, because words usually occur in context so, when you learn a new noun it is valuable information to know which verbs it collocates with.

Click here to download the exercise on collocations.

LEARNING TIP # 1

2007-11-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

How to make vocabulary learning useful and relevant?
A couple of days ago we talked about this in the classroom. Some of you were worried about how much vocabulary was needed to learn.
No doubt, the more lexis you know, the more resources you will have to interact with others in a conversation and the more precise you will be when you give an explanation.
But this has to be done step by step.
If you are an elementary student you will learn useful vocabulary for certain contexts. It is important that you are familliar with all those words and their meaning and pronunciation. But it is essential that you pay special attention to words which are relevant to you. For instance, if we are learning to describe our daily lives, make sure you know how to describe yours, and look up the action verbs you will probably need to describe your own personal experience e.g. go fishing, have a snack at 12, pick up the children...

In class we haven't got time to learn every single action verb. It is your responsibility to shape and personalise the language you need. You can do this in your own sweet time by looking words up, checking their pronunciation and asking the teacher if you have any problem. You will find that these words are easier to remember because you need them and you will probably have the opportunity to use them.

By the way, about asking the teacher. When you are speaking in class and you suddenly need a particular word, go ahead and ask the teacher but...at least pay attention to it and try to reproduce the word or write it! I have the impression that there are very valuable situations to learn vocabulary in the classroom which are wasted. ;)

VOCABULARY ABOUT FAMILY

2007-11-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

These days in class we have been looking at vocabulary related to family and relationships. The family is probably the most immediate and influential community one will ever belong to. But what do we understand by family today?
The concept of family has very much changed. There are many examples of non-conventional families which are perfectly accepted today, such as single-parent or blended families. There has definitely been a deep social transformation in this sense.
However, I don't think it is a question of novelty, as happens with the Internet for instance. I am not sure that it is actually something new. I think that in the past there were scores of families which were not standard. In fact, there has always been fiction based on the ups and downs of famous foster and step families, from Cinderella to The Brady Bunch. But maybe the difference lies in the fact that they lacked the support and acceptance they have today. Besides, nowadays we assume family diversity in the same way we assume the different roles of men and women, their individuality and the actual choice of marrying. Fewer marriages and informal relationships are widely recognized, as well as the rights of children.
Here is where language comes. As we do accept them nowadays, new terms have been coined to adapt to this new situation in order to refer to them freely and precisely. Examples of this are civil union marriages, continuing families, blended families or homoparental families, assisted reproduction and plural parentship -just to name a few.
New words allow us to refer to the individuals in these families too: foster carer, birth mother, social mother, partner or mutual child.
There are also public policies which support and protect families, and a whole network to guaratee the well being of children: social worker, health care services, etc.

Probably language develops at the same speed as social issues do. No sooner there is a new idea or concept than there will be a new word for it. No matter if you agree or not, or if you belong to a community in which these new terms are not yet needed.

The only problem with these new words may come when the concept itself is not clear. Take the word blended and mixed family, for instance. Are they synonyms? What is the difference between them? It is quite common to come across definitions which don't match your initial idea or what you had learnt. So, there seems to be certain confusion at first. But it is only a question of time.

Remember, remember the fifth of November...

2007-11-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why

gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes, is celebrated on the fifth of November. It is funny how nowadays I associate November to Halloween when I have never really celebrated it as a child. In fact, I didn't realise until just a couple of minutes ago that what I did celebrate was Bonfire Night.

Back in 1605, Guy Fawkes and a group of men attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. They were disappointed with King James I. They had expected him to be more tolerant with catholics but it turned out that he wasn't.

Ever since, that night is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and a burning Guy Fawkes dummy.

WORK IN SPAIN

2007-11-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here goes an activity for elementary students. Read this text:

The traditional organisation of working time is being discussed in Spain. Working time patterns remain the same as they were 50 years ago, but the structure of Spanish society has changed considerably. This imbalance creates stress for workers and affects society in different ways, leading to, for example, reduced labour productivity, weaker social cohesion and a decreased birth rate. The whole text can be found in .eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2006/03/ES0603019I.htm.
Write about your daily life and working hours. Do you like it? Would you like to change?

FAVOURITE WORD IN ENGLISH

2007-11-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

What's your favourite word in English?
There are over half a million words in the English language. Words that describe everyday actions, feelings, images, people...; some are nice to hear, others are difficult to pronounce -I'm sure you can think of more than one which is both!
In November 2004, the British Council asked over 7,000 learners in 46 countries what they considered to be the most beautiful word in the English language. Here are the top ten: mother, passion, smile, love, eternity, fantastic, destiny, freedom, liberty, tranquility. Have you ever thought of your own favourite words?
Here are some of my own: thank you, amazing, mummy, release, smile, twilight and fizzy -I've always liked this word-.