Teaching YLs with English Movies

Movies are a useful tool to learn English if you tie them to language activities.The students have been watching children's movies enhanced by many language activities.  This week the movie was "Goonies." They practiced some of the to go with our 80's theme.  They practiced some of the important vocabulary from the movie playing vocabulary games.  They also watched a trailer of the movie and made predictions about what they thought the movie would be about.



They watched the movie with English subtitles to support students with lower English levels.  During the movie they worked as a group to answer some simple questions that checked their understanding.  Finally the next day we shared what part of the movie they liked best.  Then they drew their favorite part of the movie and wrote a sentence to describe it.  The students had enjoyed "Goonies" so much that some asked to draw and write about more than one favorite part.

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Has un intercambio online

There are various offers to make exchanges online.

• My Language Exchange

• Conversation Exchange

• Open Language Exchange  - This one also has quite easy registration. It offers you the option to video chat with your own system or do it in person in your city. It has a dictionary at hand that you can use if you need it during your conversation.

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Consigue un intercambio en tu ciudad

Hay varios sitios en internet que te ayudan a contactar gente para hacer intercambios.  Para sacar lo mejor de los intercambios debes acordar el tiempo que le dedicaras a cada idioma. A mi me gusta cambiar entre los idiomas cada 10 minutos.  De esta manera es menos presion para cada individuo. Si quieres puedes poner un temporizador y asi te olvidas del tiempo y te concentras en la conversacion.  Tamtien es importante que consigas un intercambio que tenga un nivel similar a ti.  Si tu eres principiante consigue una persona que sea principiante o que tenga un nivel pre-intermedio porque si no puede haber frustracion de parte de la persona que sea mucho mas avanzada.

• Base de datos de Intercambios - Este sitio me gusta porque te da la opcion de hacer el intercambio con gente fuera de tu area y hacerlo online o encontrar a alguien en Madrid para quedar en persona.
• Intercambios - Este sitio es muy facil de usar. Elijes si deseas hacer el intercambio en persona o online, elijes que idioma quieres que tenga la otra persona, tu idioma, el pais y la ciudad y listo.  Te da una lista de candidatos con su informacion de contacto.

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Ponte metas para aprender inglés

Decide lo que puedes hacer para aprender inglés  Cuanto tiempo le puedes dedicar. Se realista con el tiempo que tienes disponible. Empieza con metas cortas y alcanzables. Una buena manera es hacer un examen, de los muchos que hay online, para saber tu nivel al principio de tu meta y volverlo hacer al final de la meta. Así te das cuenta de que en verdad has aprendido.  Cuando las alcances date un premio y ponte nuevas metas.

Prueba de Nivel English Club - Muy bien porque te da un porcentaje y te da una idea de que nivel tienes: Intermedio, etc.

Prueba de Nivel ESL Lounge -- Muy bien porque te da un porcentaje y te da una idea de que nivel tienes: Intermedio, etc.

Prueba de Nivel ESL Blue - Este solo te da el porcentaje, pero lo bueno es que te da una lista de tus errores y links para que trabajes en cada uno de ellos.

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Cree que es posible

La actitud al emprender cualquier empresa es sumamente importante y creer que puedes aprender ingles es vital. Si has intentando una y otra ves aprender ingles y aun no lo logras no te des por vencido. Aprender un idioma necesita dedicacion y constancia.  Si tomas un curso y por alguna razon por un tiempo ya no puedes tomar otro curso hay varias cosas que puedes hacer por ti solo para que no pierdas lo que has aprendido.

"Cada artista primero fue un amateur." 

"Every artist was at first an amateur." 
- Ralph W. Emerson

"Si  te encuentras diciendote a ti mismo 'Pero no puedo hablar ingles...' intenta agregar la palabra '...aun'

"If you find yourself saying 'But I can't speak English...', try adding the word' ...yet' 
- Jane Revell & Susan Norman

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A Taste of Summer: Learning about our Senses

I had forgotten how it feels to be working with kids for five hours straight. Add to it 40 degree weather and I come home exhausted everyday.  The summer camp at the  International Institute of Madrid is all about learning English and practicing it.  We have four themes this summer. This week it is the Five Senses.  I like this theme because there is so much vocabulary to work with and you can do so many activities.   Today we did a Taste Test so that they could learn the words salty, spicy, sour, bitter and sweet.  During our vocabulary lesson we went over these words and associated them to different foods and they wrote them in their notebooks.   I put salt, black pepper, coffee grounds, a lemon wedge and sugar in small trays.  I had students write in their notebooks the title Taste Test.

Then I had each table (four students to a table) come up to my desk to do the test.  They took their finger and tasted the salt. I had them tell me what it tasted like and then sent them to write the word salty in their notebooks. We did this with each item and each table. 

Next I had them come to the carpet and help me write sentences on the board, so that they can extend their learning to phrases instead of loose vocabulary words with no connections.  We wrote the following:

The salt tasted salty.

The pepper was spicy.

The coffee tasted bitter.

The lemon was very sour.

The sugar was sweet.

The look on their faces when they tasted salt and lemon was precious. They amazingly liked the bitter taste of coffee and of course they loved the sugar which I left until last so they were left with a sweet taste in their mouth and a positive experience. It was no problem getting them to help me write the sentences they had learned the vocabulary words quite well.

Tomorrow we will review with a taste sort so that they can use these words again and continue to associate them to different food items. The students are six and seven, so I don't want to overload them with too much vocabulary, but I want them to make these few words part of their vocabulary.

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English Writing Resources

Your writing should be well organized and focused.  Here are some links that show you how to organize your writing, so that it stays on topic and your ideas are supported. The 4 Square Writing Method helps you make a  simple visual outline of your topic with supporting details.  It helps you put together your ideas and stay focused on your topic.  It also helps you see if you are supporting your ideas. It keeps you from getting off-topic and rambling on (too long and confusing).

4 Square writing method powerpoint


Here an example of the connecting words you can use to connect your paragraphs.

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