As far as I know, watching real English videos is a great way to learn and improve your English listening, comprehension, pronunciation, and so on. That's way I'd like to share with you this amazing You Tube channel: EASY ENGLISH (there are plenty of videos recorded on streets where some English speaking people talk about many different topics). I hope you'll enjoy it! ;)
Last week, I was surfing on the internet, actually looking for inspiration, when I met Rita Pierson's TED TALK by chance, every teacher should watch the video, it's really worthwhile!!! Rita Pierson has been working as a Teacher for over 40 years. I'd like to stand out some parts of her inspiring speech:
Kids don't learn from people they don't like",
...
"I have had classes that were so low, so academically deficient, that I cried. I wondered, "How am I going to take this group, in nine months, from where they are to where they need to be?
And .. it was awfully hard. How do I raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic achievement at the same time?
One year I told all my students, "You were chosen to be in my class because I am the best teacher and you are the best students". One of the students said, "Really?"
Teaching and learning should bring joy... Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be".
Last week, I asked my students (from 2nd year of ESO) to bring a special object for them. Once again, it has been a very enriching experience, they brought some cards, bracelets and some big toys ;) All of them took part, they got involved really well, and above all, they were speaking English! The language assistant and I asked them: Why is it special for you? Who gave you this? When did they give you this? Why? We just tried to elicit the whole story behind their particular object.
As you can see, it's a very simple oral task, they used the Past Simple, they learned new words, ... AWESOME!!! because Learning English is always Fun!!! :) PS Thank you, Westley!
Some weeks ago, I found out this English Teacher, Gabby Wallace, she's from US. I like her enthusiasm, her clear explanations, her useful tips to help us improve our English. I hope you'll like her too. Now, let's watch one her videos: HOW TO LEARN ENGLISH FLUENTLY, EASILY AND FAST BY YOURSELF.
One of the most difficult problems for non-native speakers is facing English pronunciation. It is nearly always a hard obstacle to overcome. But anyway, you'll be able to improve your pronunciation if you practise it a lot and follow some tips such as these ones ...
Well today, let's focus on pronuncing -ED endings!
There are 3 different ways to pronounce -ED ending of regular verbs in the Past Simple:
1. /id/ when the base form of the verb ends in /d/ or /t/, such as NEED - NEEDED /id/, WAIT - WAITED /id/.
2./d/when the verbs end ina voiced consonant or a vowel (since all vowells are voiced). To check if a consonant is voiced, you can put your hand on your throat, pronounce the verb and feel the vocal cords vibrating. Let's see some examples: CALL - CALLED /d/, LOVE - LOVED /d/.
3./t/when the verbs end in a voiceless consonant, so the vocal cords never vibrate when you pronounce these verbs, such as: KISS - KISSED /t/, LOOK, LOOKED /t/.
Now, look at the Woodward Chart which can help you to practise the -ED endings prnounciation.
At last, our dream came true! Thank YOU ALL, my lovely kids;)
In this video, my ESL students are going to explain how to make a Christmas Wreath. Besides, not only you can listen to them in the video, but also, you can read the instructions here too. Thanks a lot for your cooperation, enthusiasm, teamwork and motivation!!!! It's been really worthwhile and enriching experience!!!
Have you ever heard about HEADS UP! It's a really fun hilarious game which is always played by Ellen DeGeneres on her show.
Now, you can also play it with your friends in a party, with your family at home or in a park, there are many different categories, suitable for all ages. Thanks to one of my workmates, I know that you can download this game from the AppleStore, it's free! I strongly recommend you because it's a fantastic tool to practise your English!!!! I'm sure you'll have a great time!
It's time to speak up! Let's talk about your hobbies and interests. Take turns to ask and answer the following questions. Are you ready?
1. What are your hobbies or your favourite free-time activities?
2. Are you interested in sport? What sports do you like? Why?
3. What's your favourite kind of music? What is your favourite song?
4. Have you got any pets? Talk about them. Would you like to have one when you grow up? 5. Do you prefer playing computer games or chatting to friends on the internet? Why?
After these questions, you can use these speaking cards, every student chooses one character or card, then, you can start asking questions to others, don't forget to use the Present Simple and the questions above.
If you've got some free time, you can do the following worksheet in pairs.
It's essential to speak English if you really want to learn this language. So, let's practise, we are on the way!!!
In many oral exams, you will be asked to describe a picture, but how? Well, take it easy and practise!
Firstly, look at the picture and you'd better start talking about general things such as: what can you see in the photo?, what are these people doing? or what is that boy doing?
You can use these useful phrases:
In this picutre, I can see ...
This photo shows ...
Threre is /are ...
Pay attention to this picture and read carefully its description.
Use the Present Cont. and describe as much as you can. Then, let's focus on the setting or environment. At this point, you can use: in the foreground, in the background, on the left, on the right, at the top, at the bottom, ...
After that, use your imagination and make assumptions, using Perhaps, maybe, might, ... And you can also describe what these people may feel in that picture.
Hi,Guys!!!, Here I go again!!!Welcome to my English Corner, where our adventures begin!!!! I love that film, UP!
Can you see the words in the balloons? It's very symbolic, our house is our school, where our adventures begin. Therefore, at School, some words become really significant for us, such as: confidence, friendship, teamwork, willing, opportunities, kindness, motivation, challenge, generosity, culture, respect, ... and one balloon is flying away: DREAMS
Have you ever heard about Steve Jobs? I suppose so, he was really wellknown. He was the chief of executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Sutdios. And have you ever watched his speech at Standford University? It's really worthwhile. He encouraged those graduates to PURSUE THEIR DREAMS, no matter what could happen to them, ...
Hi, Guys!!!, Riddles can be an useful entertaining way to learn English. Some of these are easy, and even very similar to your language, but some others are difficult. Ready, steady, GO!!! 1. What is at the end of everything? 2. What starts with "t", ends with "t" and is full of "t"? 3. What starts with "e", ends with "e" but only has one letter? 4. What starts with "p", ends with "e" and has 10,000
letters? 5. Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son. Who
is that man? 6. Take off my skin. I won't cry, but you will. What am I? 7. I run all day but I'm always at the same place. What am I? 8. What is as big as an elephant, but weighs nothing at all? 9. What has four legs but cannot walk? 10. What has to be broken before you can use it?
ANSWERS: 1. The letter G. 2. A teapot. 3. An envelope. 4. The post office 5. My Son. 6. An onion. 7. A clock. 8. The shadow of an elephant. 9. A table. 10. An egg.
How can you make your lessons more attractive to your students? Well, our young learners are regarded as the digital generation, it's obvious! and most of them are good at ICT, they love computers, apps, ... For these reasons, there are plenty of useful tools which can help you teach English and they can feel more motivated and active in the process of learning. Let's see some interesting tools!!!
3. WORLDE: you can create WORD CLOUDS, you only need to provide a text and click on: wordle.net (I really love this tool, I think it's great and you can do many different activities with your students. Sometimes, I create a word cloud to introduce a reading text, I ask my pupils to concentrate on the most important words -which are the biggest ones- and try to guess what the text is about. The last time I used wordle was two weeks ago, because I wanted my students to make up as many sentences as they could using the words from the cloud). Click on this link and find interesting ways to use Word Clouds: edudemic.com/45-interesting-ways-to-use-wordle-in-the-classroom/
Have you ever heard about ORORO.TV? It's one of the best web to learn English!!! You can find lots of movies and TV series such as Modern Family, Castle, Scandal, ... with English subtitles. Since I recommended my students to visit this web, they have watched many TV series and they (as well as me) are delighted!!! Learning English is always fun!;)
This speaking exercise is very easy, you only need some pictures and divide your students into different groups.
Then, ask them to make up a story looking at these photos.
Every group has one image and they must answer these helpful questions:
(Make up a story)
What are they doing?
Where are they?
What happened?
What do they feel?
What do you think it's going to happen?
Your students must work all together, use imagination, share their ideas, come an agreement and tell their story to the rest of the class. I hope you'll discover crazy stories and have fun!
It's a very simple activity to encourage your students to use the Present Tenses. You can divide them into small groups or ask them to work in pairs.
Then, you can make copies of the following picture or project this on a white board.
Now, they start describing the photo and asnwer questions such as: what are they doing?, what are they wearing? As a teacher, you can walk around and help them with the vocabulary, pronunciation, ... Let's SPEAK UP!
English Calendar Project (my students are working on this)
Hi, There!!!,
These days, my students and I are working on an English Calendar, not only they can see the date, weather everyday, but also, they will learn a new English WORD, it's like a visual dictionary. I've divided them into eight groups, every group has their own month and they look up 20 words per month. Obviously, every month stands for a different topic and the students have to find the word, its phonetic symbols and a picture which helps them to understand its meaning.
Thanks to this interesting project, my students are getting involved in the process of learning, they are working in a cooperative way, they can learn a new word easily everyday, and last, but not least, they are decorating the class!!! It's a wonderful and enriching experience! I hope you'll like it.
Today, I'd like to show you some of my students' works, I'm really proud of them! These are really nice. From my point of view, these tasks are really motivating and enriching for them. So, whenever I ask my students to do this type of tasks, they learn and have fun while they are doing them. It's truly worhtwhile!!
This year, I asked them one question: WHO ARE YOU? Then, I told them: Take it easy and answer the following questions:
Hi, there!!!, 
Hi, Guys!!!, 
Hi, Guys!!!, 
Hi, there!,
Hi, Guys!!!, 
Hi, Guys!,
Hi, Guys!!!, 
Hi, Teachers!!!,
3. WORLDE: you can create WORD CLOUDS, you only need to provide a text and click on: wordle.net (I really love this tool, I think it's great and you can do many different activities with your students. Sometimes, I create a word cloud to introduce a reading text, I ask my pupils to concentrate on the most important words -which are the biggest ones- and try to guess what the text is about. The last time I used wordle was two weeks ago, because I wanted my students to make up as many sentences as they could using the words from the cloud). Click on this link and find interesting ways to use Word Clouds: edudemic.com/45-interesting-ways-to-use-wordle-in-the-classroom/
Here we go! 
Hi, There!!!,
