English Teachers in Russia & Elsewhere, E-textbook — Issue #131

Contents
=> News: Chinese Consider New Zodiac Animals
=> The Year of the Woodpecker: text
=> The Year of the Woodpecker: Creative writing activity
=> Chinese Zodiac Animal Songs on English Teachers Everywhere.com

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News: Chinese Consider New Zodiac Animals
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The Chinese new year is coming on January 26. 2009 is the year of the ox.

Each year belongs to a different animal of the Chinese zodiac. These are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. People born in each of these years have certain personality traits.

But diid you know that the Chinese are considering adding more animals to their zodiac? Apparently 12 is not enough to describe all the varieties of people there are in the modern world.

The woodpecker is one animal under consideration. The following passage describes the characteristics of people born under the sign of the woodpecker.

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The Year of the Woodpecker - text
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Key vocabulary:
are prone to + noun = have a tendency, are inclined to
are fond + noun = like to do
can’t refrain from -ing = can’t stop from -ing
garrulous = talking a lot and about trivial stuff
they have been known to + verb = they occasionally + verb
sulk = mope; be silent or withdrawn

Those born in the year of the woodpecker are diligent, hardworking, and persevering. They will knock their heads against a problem for a long time, sometimes even knocking themselves unconscious before they can solve it.

Woodpeckers are attractive and flashy; they like to dress up. They are garrulous and can’t refrain from chattering during moments that call for silence, reflection, or sympathy: for instance, in church, at a funeral, or after someone has fallen off a bicycle.

Woodpeckers are fond of dancing and shopping, and they will often dance while shopping if they hear music in a store. However, they are prone to sudden fits of grumpiness, and have been known to sulk behind trees and bushes, or at the edges of ponds.

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The Year of the Woodpecker - creative writing activity
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You are right. The above paragraph was nonsense. Made up. Invented. Balrderdash. Lies. The Chinese, as far as I know, are NOT going to add new animals to their astrological calendar. But that doesn’t mean that you and your students can’t.

So here’s your activity. Give your students the above text. Or play them the audio below, and use it as a model for writing.

In pairs or small groups, they should write their own text. It should be about a NEW zodiac animal—crocodile, cockroach, owl, javelina, clownfish–and how people born in this year reflect traits of that animal. (Use your imagination though–no need to be too serious).

Begin with, “Those born in the year of the ….”

Incorporate, if possible, these phrases:

are fond of
are prone to
have been known to
can’t refrain from

Afterward, why not create wall calendar with your student’s new zodiac?

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Chinese Zodiac Animal Songs on English Teachers Everywhere.com
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Go to www.etseverywhere.com for some young learner activities about the Chinese New Year. Click on “holidays” or “new” under the Categories menu.

Copyright 2009 Kevin McCaughey, I.M. Poosheesty, and Javvy Javelina

 The Year of the Woodpecker [1:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here is a chant created by five teachers from Aqaba, Jordan, during a training session on November 12, 2008.

The Season Chant

Winter
Summer
Autumn
Spring

Winter is rainy
Summer is sunny
Autumn is cloudy
Spring is lovely

words by Sawsan El Khateeb, Ala’a Al Shaer, Areen Al Kamaysh, Eman Obeasat, Shiraz Ahmad. Music by Kevin

Have your students chant along with it.

After they’ve learned it, put them into pairs and ask them to think of two MORE adjectives to describe each season. Play the chant again and have each group add their adjectives (when the singer says “la la, la la). For example, “Winter is rainy, chilly, windy.”

 The Seasons Chant [1:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Watch a photo slide show with original music about girls’ who wear boots in Belarus.

English Teachers in Russia & Elsewhere, E-textbook — Issue #129

In this issue you have a new poem, with audio, about a monster called Paul.  Also you’ll find some activities from past ETs in Russia issues included below.

Contents
=> Paul the Monster Crashes a Party (poem with audio)
=> Ghostly Unfinished Sentences (speaking and grammar activity)
=> Two Witches (poem with audio)

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Paul the Monster Crashes a Party
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crash a party = attend a party without an invitation

Poor Paul the Monster!
Depression at last had set in,
from living alone the woods
With not a soul there to threaten.

What good is a monster
if there’s no one to see
what a hard, cold-hearted
hideous ol’ brute he can be?

So Paul the Monster crashed a party.
It wasn’t easy to get in.
But, my what a shock he got–
from all those there that met him.

They reached out their claws
or paws or tentacles in slime,
and our poor Paul yelled
“You’re monsters too–just like I am.”

Next to them, he wasn’t so bad,
so there was no one to threaten.
Then some creature cried out, “Let’s party!”
and popped a cassette in.

It was scary, wild, repulsively
pulsing monster music!
But they all rather liked it,
and it was their right to choose it.

Each creature had its own unsightly
unseemly, yucky dancing style
which, to his amazement,
Paul got used to after a while.

What kind of monster was he?
What kind of monster was Paul?
His heart was warm and fuzzy
He wasn’t much a monster at all.

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Ghostly Unfinished Sentences
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Students, in pairs or groups, can finish the sentences below.  There’s really no wrong answer. Use your imagination.  (No need to explain the rules of gerunds and infinitives-if such rules exist, they probably won’t help students learn.  Instead, this activity gives them lots of practice and exposure to certain verbs that take gerunds, and certain verbs that take infinitives.  In fact, you don’t have to mention gerunds and infinitives at all).

Compare the sentences when finished. Maybe award prizes to the most creative or funniest.

Examples:
Ghosts enjoy… walking through the halls at night.
Ghosts know how to… eat pizza in the dark.
Ghosts avoid… listening to Brittany Spears.

1. Ghosts enjoy…
2. Ghosts know how to…
3. Ghosts avoid…
4. Ghosts look forward to
5. Ghosts don’t mind…
6. Ghosts will often offer to…
7. Ghosts sometimes forget to…

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Two Witches
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What’s a C test? Well, starting from the second line of this poem, the second half of each word is missing. See if you can supply the correct letters to finish the words.

TWO WITCHES

Such a frightening witch I’ve never seen
with h_ _ hair s_ black a_ _ her sk_ _ so gre_ _,
and h_ _ rear s_ fat a_ _ her ey_ _ like chlo_ _ _ _.
On h_ _ broom sh_ flies li_ _ a garg_ _ _ _ statue
You c_ _ run fr_ _ her, b_ _ she’ll alw_ _ _ catch y_ _.

But _ know _ beaut_ _ _ _ witch t_ _.
with redd _ _ _ hair a_ _ eyes o _ moonlight bl _ _.
If y_ _ are sa _ she h_ _ a spe _ _ for y_ _.
On h_ _ broom n_ other wit_ _ can mat_ _ her.
You ru _ after he_, but yo_ won’t cat_ _ her.

Answers to “Two Witches”
Such a scary witch I’ve never seen
with her hair so black and her skin so green,
and her rear so fat and her eyes like chorline.
On her broom she flies like a gargoyle statue
You can run from her, but she’ll always catch you.

But I know a beautiful witch too,
with reddish hair and eyes of moonlight blue.
If you are sad she has a spell for you.
On her broom no other witch can match her.
You run after her, but you won’t catch her.

Copyright 2008 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty.

English Teachers in Russia & Elsewhere #128

Contents
=> 4 Riddles: Easy C-Test Activities
=> Kasha Malasha Translation Activity
=> Riddle Answers

Quick Riddle C-Test Activity

In a C-test, half of every second word is missing. An apostrophe counts as a letter.

In the four riddles below, students will figure out the missing letters and complete the words. Then, in groups, they can try to guess the answers to the riddles. (The answers are at the bottom of the page).

You write these on the board before the students even arrive. That way, students are thinking English language before the class even starts. are already filling the gaps and solving the riddles as class begins.

1. Can yo__ find th_ words fo_ three consec___ days with___ using Mon___, Tuesday, Wedn___, Thursday, Fri___, Saturday, o__ Sunday?

2. This thi__ has fi__ fingers, b__ it isn__ alive. Wh__ is i__?

3. What i__ white whi__ it’s dir__ and bla__ when it__ clean?

4. This belo__ to y__. Other peo__ use i__ very oft__ when th__ are wi__ you, bu__ you don__. What i__ it?

Kasha Malasha Translation Activity

I found this grocery shop in Mountain View, California, and outside was a banner reading “Russian Products.” So I went in and bought some of that kasha that comes in packages.

This kasha (buckwheat) was made for export, so there were English instructions how to cook it. These instructions made me laugh until a tear fell out of my eye and landed on my elbow.

It’s really a mish-mash of a translation–thus, kasha malasha.

Here’s the task (which will of course only work for Russian-speaking students of English).

1) Give a pair of students or a small group the English text. Their job is to translate it into Russian.

2) When they have done so, show them the original Russian text (see below). Discuss any surprises.

3) Now that they have both versions, ask them to re-write the English translation, making it accurate and comprehensible.

Here’s the English translation:

To place a bag in a plenty of the boiling added some salt water. To cook on moderate fire of 15 minutes. To get a bag, having picked up a plug for a loop, stipulated for this purpose. To allow water to flow down. To open a bag, having broken off it on a line of notches. To lay out a product on a dish and add oil to taste.

Here’s the Russian version

Поместить пакетик в большое количество кипящей подсоленной воды. Варить на умеренном огне 15 минут. Достать пакетик, и, подцепив вилкой за петлю, предусмотренную для этой цели, дать воде стечь. Открыть пакетик, разорвав его по линии надсечек. Выложить продукт на блюдо и добавить масло по вкусу.

Riddle Answers

1. Can you find the words for three consecutive days without using Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

2. This thing has five fingers, but it isn’t alive. What is it?

A glove

3. What is white when its dirty and black when its clean?

A blackboard

4. This belongs to you. Other people use it very often when they are with you, but you don’t. What is it?

Your name

English Teachers in Russia & Elsewhere #127

=> The Paper-Wrapped Surprise Game
=> In the Next Issues

The Paper-Wrapped Surprise Game

This game was explained to me — in English — by 10-year-old Dana Yastremskaya of Minsk, Belarus. Thanks, Dana. (Oh, incidentally, you can hear a recording of Dana’s song “The Bee” at ETsEverywhere.com.)

Here is what you do. Take an object. It can be a toy, a ball, or a candy bar. This will be called the “Surprise.”

The teacher then wraps a piece of paper around this. It can be a piece of scratch paper, newspaper, whatever. Around that, wrap another piece of paper. Keep doing this until there are ten or fifteen layers of paper around the Surprise.

The game is rather like musical chairs. Students stand in a circle. They pass the Paper-Wrapped Surprise around between them.

The teacher plays music. Then she abruptly stops the music. Whoever is holding the Paper-Wrapped Surprise at that moment unwraps the outer piece of paper. (You don’t have to play music. An egg timer works great too).

The student who removes the last piece of paper wins the Surprise.

Adding Language Tasks
Okay, you have noticed that the Paper-Wrapped Surprise Game is not much of a language task. Well, at least you can introduce appropriate English words: words like “wrap,” unwrap,” “prize,” and “surprise.”

But we can do more. Let’s add a task each time a student unwraps a piece of paper.

One way to do this is to give each student a piece of paper BEFORE the game is played and ask them to write, say, a personal opinion question (”What is your favorite kind of ice cream?”), or a time question (What time you get home from school/work every day?). Just give students some guidance with their questions so that they don’t all ask the same thing.

So, in this version of the game, the student who unwraps the paper, looks at it, and directs that question to someone else in the group. Now, we have some speaking involved at every step of the game (and writing practice beforehand).

If that sounds too simple for your adult class. Make the task more challenging. Try a “Name Three Things” task, where, on each paper, is written something like “Name Three Things People Do at a Wedding,” or “Name Three Things You Would do if you were in Tokyo.” (This will increase the amount of spoken language in the task.).

The kinds of tasks that can be done at each stage of paper unwrapping are virtually unlimited.

NOTE: It will probably help if you use smaller pieces of paper closer to the Surprise, and bigger pieces toward the outside. (Actually, I’ve never played this game before, so write to me if you try it: kevin at kevinmccaughey.com)

English Teachers in Russia & Elsewhere

E-textbook — Issue #126

=> The Great Song Translation Activity
=> Where to find songs?
=> Lyrics to Cole Porter’s “True Love”
=> In the Next Issues

The Great Song Translation Activity

Materials needed:

Step 1

Find an English language song. It should be a song the students don’t know. It shouldn’t be too long. You’ll need the lyrics and an audio.

Step 2

Translate the lyrics FROM English to the L1 of the students using a computer translator. Let your students know it’s a computer translation, but they should try to make the best English they can out of it. You’ll see that the translation comes out kind of funky. Here’s a Russian translation of the Cole Porter song “True Love.” (For the English lyrics see below).

Kind of funny, huh?

And here are translations (using Google: http://www.google.com/language_tools) in Japanese…

… and Arabic.

I suspect they are funny too, although I don’t read Japanese or Arabic.

Now if all your students speak Russian, or they all speak Japanese, paste the appropriate translation onto an MS Word document. You can fit about 20 on a single page in fact.Print that page, cut it up, distribute. Or you could even write the translation on the board.What if your class is a mixed group–made up of 5 Chinese speakers, 6 Arabic speakers, 2 Czechs, 2 Romanians, 1 Mexican, 1 Thai, and 1 Turk? Well, make translations in those seven languages. It’s easy. All you do is paste the English into a free translator, like Google’s, or one of these:

http://www.freetranslation.com
http://www.tranexp.com/win/itserver.htm
http://world.altavista.com/
http://translation2.paralink.com/

Then paste the various translations into your Word document. Print and distribute to the appropriate pairs and groups.It doesn’t take long to do even seven or eight computer translations, and you don’t mind because you’re such a good teacher, and you love making really interesting and useful activities.

Step 3

Distribute handouts of the translated song (NOT the English version), one per group. Groups will work together, translating the song into English.

Step 4

With the translations done, you now have several versions, one for each group. Ask someone from each group to write their group’s translation on the board, or on a poster so that everybody in the class can see

Step 5

Take a moments to compare the several translations. Students may want to talk about the differences.

Step 6

Give a piece of chalk or a marker to one student from each group. These students will stand at the board next to their group’s translation.

Announce that–at last–you are going to play a recording of the English language version of the song. The students’ job is now to listen very closely, to compare the original English version with the translation that they have written. The standing students will make corrections, trying to make the translated version exactly like the original. Members of these students’ groups will help by advising (or shouting) from their desks.

Do not stop the song. Play it all the way through.

Step 7

Does any group have the English version rendered exactly? If not, play the song again. Give groups another chance at listening. Discuss changes and corrections. If the song is short, you may even want to play it a third time.

Step 8

By now, everyone knows the words, and they are written for all to see. Play the audio and have the class sing along.

Where to Find Songs

You can use any song. I’ll you need is a recording of it and the original lyrics. Simple songs work best, of two minutes or less. A long song would be strictly for advanced learners.

Try English Teachers Everywhere (www.etseverywhere.com). You’ll find tons of songs, for adults, teens, and kids.

Free Kids Music has some cool songs, free to download, but you’ll have to write down the lyrics yourself.

Or use “True Love” below.

Lyrics to “True Love” by Cole Porter

I give to you and you give to me
True love, true love
For on and on through eternity
True love, true love
For you and I have a guardian angel
On high, with nothing to do
But to give to me and to give to you
Love forever, true

In the next Issues

Fathers’ Day stuff. Re-creation dictation. Text on the Sale of Alaska. Idiom - “Until the Cows Come Home.”

Copyright 2008 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty.

 "True Love" by Kevin and his mom [1:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Contents
=> Word Origins: Scavenger & Scavenger Hunt
=> 3 Scavenger Hunt Ideas
=> In the Next Issues

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Word Origins: Scavenger & Scavenger Hunt
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Scavengers are animals that find and eat dead animals. These include vultures, beetles, and raccoons. Scavenger comes from a Middle English word, skawager, which was, actually, a customs collector. (You can see what people think of tax collectors!). Ordinary people can scavenge too: meaning collect things by searching through a bunch of old stuff.

“A scavenger hunt is a game in which individuals or teams seek to find a number of specific items, or perform tasks, as given in a list. The goal is either to complete the list first, or to complete the list in the most creative manner.” (Definition from wikipedia).

Elsa Maxwell (1883-1963), an American author, songwriter and professional hostess is credited with developing scavenger hunts and treasure hunts as party games. The press called her “the Hostess with the Mostest.” (That’s most-est, a non-grammatical superlative form of the word most.) Giving parties was what she was most famous for.

Of her life and success she said,”not bad, for a short, fat, homely piano player from Keokuk, Iowa, with no money or background, who decided to become a legend and did just that.” (Homely is a polite word for ugly).

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3 Scavenger Hunt Ideas
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Scavenger Hunts are great language activities because they’re easy, quick, and fun, and they put students in the center of the action. Students work together, organizing their searches. They practice skimming or scanning, a useful reading skill. They use their imaginations and interpret things.

You can even ask students to make their own lists of things to be scavenged, once they understand how the game works.

You will need some magazines, five to ten per group. But you can add newspapers, books, posters, adverts, postcards, decorations on the classroom wall, etc. It’s best if these are in English. But they don’t have to be.

Put students into groups of 2, 3, or 4. Each group will have a pile of magazines or other things to look through. Hand out the Scavenger Hunt List to each group:

1. something red and round
2. the word “after”
3. two separate things that are physically connected
4. something in a glass
5. someone wearing glasses
6. an animal with a tail
7. a woman holding something
8. a chair
9. a sentence of exactly five words
10. a man who’s not smiling

This is a race. Each group will look through all their materials trying to find all items in the list. The first team to find all 10 is the winner. (They will need to show where they found them).

Afterwards, the teacher can elicit more language by asking questions. Ask students, for instance, to show and explain what they found that were separate but physically connected. Or “What is your five-word sentence?”

The activity works for any level. For basic levels, a Scavenger Hunt list might look like this…

1. a ball
2. a dog
3. something purple
4. a chair

And so on.

Tip: If you live in the U.S., public libraries or recycle outlets often have bins of magazines for the taking. Grab 30 or 40 for your classroom.

If you live overseas, ask your friendly neighborhood foreigner to donate old magazines. Or try your U.S., Canadian, British, Irish, Aussie, Kiwi embassies for material.

With basic-level groups, to reinforce utilitarian vocabulary, make a list of things that can be found in the classroom (or in purses and wallets), like this:

1. a pencil
2. an ID photo of a person
3. coin
4. a bill / note (money)
5. a folded piece of paper
6. something green
7. a paper clip
8. a dictionary
9. a cup or glass
10. some kind of fruit

Yes, it’s possible that some of these things won’t be found. That’s okay. Whichever team finds the most wins.

3. The Internet Scavenger Hunt

Make a list of questions.

1. What is the Alamo?
2. Who invented the skateboard? When and Where?
3. What does the idiom “till the cows come home” mean? (See the drawing to the right. Can you figure out the meaning? Click to enlarge.)

And so on. Each group will go to the Internet, and try to answer all the assigned questions. Once again, it’s a race.

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In the Next Issues
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“The Great Song Translation Activity.”

Thanks to Nadya Solovyova in Obninsk for reminding me to publish ETs in Russia.

Copyright 2008 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty.

Contents
=> Tapering Dialogues - a pair writing activity by Mario Rinvolucri
=> Following up Tapering Dialogues
=> In the Next Issues