Young Learners, level 6: It’s festival time

3rd September 2022

Many countries have festivals that can be:

colourful / dangerous / exciting / fun / noisy / peaceful / traditional / unusual

Question 1:

What festivals do you have in your country ?

What do people do ? What are the customs ?

Is there special or traditional food ?

Complete this piece:

In Vietnam, the biggest festival is Tet Holiday. At Tet the custom is for parents to give …

Vietnamese eat special food such as …

People wear beautiful, colourful … and watch …

Festivals around the world

Tell me about these festivals. Use the new adjectives to describe them. Would you like to go ? Why or why not ?

Do you think these people are crazy or brave or just having fun ?

First, to Europe, and this famous festival in Spain:

Staying in Europe, we go to the UK:

Now we are off to Africa, to the country of Niger:

Now let’s cross the Atlantic and head to Mexico:

Time to head back to Asia, stopping at Thailand:

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Young learners, level 6: Adjectives and grammar review

5th July 2022

First, let’s build a word bank of incredible, useful and unusual adjectives:

amazing / beautiful / Chinese / colourful / cute / dangerous / difficult / energetic / English / famous / fantastic / generous / greedy / great / hard-working / healthy / intelligent / interesting / Japanese / kind / lazy / loud / messy / naughty / nervous / outgoing / popular / quick / quiet / rich / rude / selfish / talkative / top cat / unhealthy / unusual / valuable / wealthy /

Game 1 – say are these adjectives positive (good) or negative (bad) or neutral (neither good nor bad)

Game 2 – make sentences using present continuous and two adjectives

EXAMPLE: She is reading a heavy, interesting book.

I ___ play ___________________ , ______________________ music.

You ___ watch a _______________ , ________________ film.

He ___ talk to a ____________ , _____________ film star.

She _____ study every day because she ___ __________ and ___________.

Ms H ____ smile because she is so _________ and ___________ .

The fat cat ___ not share her food because she is ______ and _________ .

We ___ learn ________ grammar but it is _____________ .

President __ wear a _________ dress. She ____ very _________ .

The boy ___ leave school because he was __________ and _____ to the teacher.

The teacher ___ laugh because the ________ , _________ student was sent home !

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Young Learners: Ancient Egyptian Gods

12th May 2022

An activity that combines listening & reading, collecting information, and allows for creative thinking, not to mention introducing students to different cultures and legends.

Today we are going to learn about some of the ancient Egyptian gods. First, where is Egypt ? In which continent is Egypt ?

Egypt is in the north – east of Africa.

What ancient buildings can you see in Egypt ?

The Pyramids, the largest one was built about 2,500 BC (about 4,500 years ago), and at 481 feet (146.6 metres) was the tallest building for 3,800 years (NOTE 1).

The creature in front is called the Sphinx. What kind of animal is the Sphinx ?

The Sphinx has the face of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird (maybe a falcon or eagle).

Ancient Egypt was thousands of years ago, from 3150 BC (BCE) to 332 BC (BCE). Animals were very important.

What animals can you see in this picture ?

We are going to focus on four Gods:

Thoth // Bastet // Ra // Anubis

Vocabulary

Pyramids

Sphinx

Tomb

Hieroglyphs

Let’s return to our two gods

Thoth and Bastet

Watch this video, and write down information about the gods.

What animals do they look like ?

What can they do ?

What animal was Bastet ?

Bastet was a cat, and cats were very important in Ancient Egypt. Can you think why ? What do cats like to chase and eat ? Check your answers:

Now … be creative. Invent a God from your country. First, think what animals you have, then what they can do. Don’t forget to tell me why.

Use crayons, colour pencils. If you can’t draw, it’s OK; just write me a magnificent story. Don’t forget to use the amazing adjectives you have been taught.

Would you like some music to help you while you work ?

Bye Bye from Egypt

Note 1: The first buildings to be taller were cathedrals, in England. St Paul’s was in London, then the cathedral in Lincoln became the tallest building in the world.

Note 2: The British Council ‘LearnEnglishKids’ page has some excellent resources and free print-outs.

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Some light relief

15th January 2022

For a break from conjugating verbs (yes, I make my class recite verbs, the old-fashioned way and guess what – it works, go figure), here are some clips to chase away the grammar Blues.

Firstly, who doesn’t love a funny animal ?

How about some not so friendly animals ? One of my Top Cat students loves pandas and was adamant that they were always cute and cuddly and safe. I hated to break it to her, but the truth will out …

Occasionally a student will deliberately disobey a teacher. Recently, I reiterated some information about preventing COVID, namely not touching eyes, nose and mouth. No sooner said than a young man began ostentatiously inserting his fingers into his nostrils. What could I say ? I thought of a famous political phrase from former President Barack Obama:

You need only watch the first seven or eight seconds. You probably will watch it again, seven or eight times (unless you are the person to whom former President Obama referred).

To end on a happier note, look what you can do if you practice:

Yoyoka from Japan
A 6-year old Chinese girl – I wish i could play half as well.

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Love Minus Zero: basic vocabulary for maths

4th December 2021

Some useful words for basic maths. Firstly, in the UK we say ‘maths‘ while our cousins across the pond in the USA say ‘math.’

To begin we have addition (+)

Noun = addition // verb = add // sign + // may hear ‘plus

EXAMPLE:

If you add 17 and 13 what is the answer ? [17 + 13 = ?]

The = sign is pronounced equals

Furthermore you may hear:

What is 17 plus 13 or What is 17 and 13 ?

What do you get if you add 17, 13 and 3 together ?

Practice: I’m very good at ________ (noun). I can ______ (verb) many numbers very quickly.

Next we have subtraction (-)

Noun = subtraction // verb = subtract // sign – //

may hear ‘minus

EXAMPLE: Can you subtract 12 from 111 ? [111 -12 = ?]

Furthermore you may hear:

What is 111 minus 12 ?

80 Pieces Pi Latex Balloons Math Symbol Balloons Pi Day Party Balloons for  Pi Day Math Party Decorations : Amazon.in: Toys & Games
𝝅 – a piece of cake

Moving on we have multiplication (x)

Noun = multiplication // verb = multiply // sign x // may hear ‘times

EXAMPLE: Can you multiply 7 by 4 ?

Furthermore you may hear:

What is 7 times 4 ?

And finally, division (÷)

Noun = division // verb = divide // sign ÷ // may hear ‘into

EXAMPLE: What is 100 divided by 4 ?

Furthermore you may hear:

How many times does 4 go into 100 ? What goes into 100 4 times ?

Practice – how would you say these:

25 + 30 =

12 x 10 =

95 – 35 =

39 ÷ 13 =

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Young Learners, Level 6: Sensational sentence building

28th October 2021

Crosby Scholars receives $10,000 from Duke Energy to support STEM  programming for African American and Latina girls - Crosby Scholars Forsyth
Image from crosbyscholars.com

Who can build the highest word tower ?

Arrange class into small groups, named after famous architects from English speaking countries, e.g. Christopher Wren, Frank Lloyd Wright & Amanda Levete

Sir Christopher Wren
St Paul’s Cathedral, London
Frank Lloyd Wright
Fallingwater Building, Pennsylvania, USA
Amanda Levete
MAAT Museum, Lisbon

Therefore we have Team Wren, Team Levete & Team Wright

Game 1 Synonyms: give me a better word for …

yummy // good // big // very small // smart // very friendly // someone from Korea // scared // not easy // not clean // has a lot of money //

(1 point for each correct answer)

Game 2: Correct these sentences …

The Science book is very boring or bored.

I feel so excited or exciting about learning English.

She was disappointed or disappointing about the Japanese film.

(2 point for each correct answer)

Game 3: Make sentences using adj + noun

EXAMPLE:

Qri from K-pop band T-ara

The beautiful lady is a popular singer in a Korean group.

The Korean woman is smiling. She is cute and happy. She has long, brown hair.

Qri is a popular singer. She is Korean and is a fantastic dancer.

Team Wren:

The scientist Albert Einstein. He was born in Germany.

Team Wright:

Happy rich woman Stock Photos & Royalty-Free Images | Depositphotos
This lady was born in Russia

Team Levete:

Dean of School - Job by Unicaf University Zambia
This lady was born in Zambia

(2 point for each adjective + noun structure)

Game 4: Adjective salad bar.

Look at the photos. Choose one you like and make a sentence or sentences. However, you will earn more points by using higher-level adjectives.

Earn 1 point for using these adjectives:

big, fat, friendly, happy, new, old, sad, small, young, yummy

Earn 2 points for using these adjectives:

amazing, angry, beautiful, clean, clever, cute, dangerous, easy, English, fast, funny, great, Greek, healthy, high, Japanese, kind, Korean, quick, Russian, shy, sleepy, tired, Zambian

Earn 3 points for using these adjectives:

bored, boring, delicious, electric, excited, exciting, fantastic, greedy, hard-working, huge, intelligent, lazy, messy, nervous, outgoing, polite, popular, rude, selfish, talkative, tiny, ugly

Earn 5 points for using these adjectives:

Asian, confident, curious, difficult, disappointed, European, Indian, important, Portuguese, outgoing, spicy, Swedish, talented, unusual, valuable, wealthy, xenophobic, year-long

Ronaldo from Portugal
Teacher from India
chummy - Search - Larastock Stock photos, royalty-free images, vectors
Very Old Lady In Funny Fur Hat With Two Tentacles With A Bored, Sulky  Expression Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Image 32431557.
Sweden's Indigenous Sami People Held Their First-Ever Pride Event
The Sami people from Sweden

Game 5: Where would you like to live or visit ?

We have ‘visited’ many amazing and unusual places in our lessons, and met many friendly, outgoing people.

So, where do YOU want to go ?

Tell me where, tell me why and tell me something about the country.

EXAMPLE:

I want to visit Korea because it is a very beautiful country and has many friendly and outgoing people. The food is spicy but delicious and very healthy. The history is amazing and the museums are very interesting.

(2 point for each adjective + noun structure, 1 point for every other adjective.)

adjectives

amazing, angry, Asian / beautiful, big, bored, boring /clean, clever, confident, curious, cute / dangerous, delicious, difficult, disappointed /easy, electric, English, exciting / fantastic, fast, fat, friendly, funny / greedy, great, Greek / happy, hard-working, healthy, high, huge / important, Indian, intelligent / Japanese / kind, Korean / lazy / messy / nervous, new / old, outgoing / polite, popular, Portuguese / quick / rude, Russian / sad, selfish, shy, sleepy, small, spicy, Swedish /talented, talkative, tiny, tired / ugly, unusual / valuable / wealthy, wide-awake / xenophobic / year-long, young, yummy / Zambian

Are Vietnamese hard working? - Quora

Bye bye from these hard-working Vietnamese ladies

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Young Learners: Amazing Adjectives

9th August 2021

Movie and TV Cast Screencaps: Maggie Cheung as Flying Snow / Hero (2002) /  32 Screencaps
The amazing Asian actress Maggie Cheung in the famous film ‘Hero’.
The brilliant breathtaking Blues musician Robert Johnson

Adjective Game 1

Let’s start with ‘A’, the first letter. Who knows these adjectives ?

Am__________ (This word means very good, wonderful)

What other adjectives can you think of beginning with ‘a’ ?

Be___________ // (This word means very pretty)

What other adjectives can you think of beginning with ‘b’ ?

Cu__ // Dan______ // ele_____ // fan_______ (very good) // gr_______

// he________ // int_________ // Ja____ (from an Asian country) // ki___ //

la__ // me____ (not clean. Also the name of a talented footballer) //

ner___ // outg______ (opposite of shy) // pop_____ // qui__ // ru__

// sel____ // tal________ // unu_____ // valu____ (costs a lot of money)

Here Are 10 Of The Most Expensive Paintings In The World Right Now

// wea______ (if you can buy the Mona Lisa, you must be extremely wea_____) // Xenop_______ (do not like people from other countries) // ye__ – _____ (lasts for 12 months) // Zamb___ (person from Zambia)

Zambia
Zambia country profile - BBC News

Suitable answers: amazing / beautiful / cute / dangerous / electric / fantastic / greedy, great, Greek / healthy / intelligent / Japanese / kind / lazy / messy / nervous / outgoing /popular / quick / rude / selfish / talkative / unusual / valuable / wealthy / xenophobic / year-long / Zambian

Adjective Game 2

Sentence building using adjectives is very easy. Even using basic adjectives can improve your English. Colours, sizes and where someone is from are all easy adjectives. Look at this example:

The flag is very large and is white with a red circle in the middle. The flag is Japanese.

Look at these flags. Choose one and describe it to the class. Points for the students who guess which flag. Extra points if they know the country.

Adjective Game 3

Describe these people:

Albert Einstein, born in Germany
Usain Bolt, born in Jamaica
Park Soyeon - T-Ara - Posts | Facebook
Park Soyeon from Korea
Omar Sharif born in Egypt
Dr. Vandana Shiva DS.jpg
Vandana Shive from India

Young Learners, Level 6: Engineering projects

27th April 2021

Warm up – Here are some symbols of Viet Nam:

Can you think of symbols of the UK ?

Question: Why is Britain so big in Sai Gon ?

England Symbols And Icons. Vector Illustration Royalty Free Cliparts,  Vectors, And Stock Illustration. Image 137889874.

Answer:

Khám phá The Landmark 81 - Tòa nhà cao nhất tại Việt Nam

Landmark 81 is a super-tall skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam, that was designed by the British firm (company) Atkins.

Landmark 81 is the tallest building in Vietnam, and the 14th tallest building in the world.

The 461.5 metres (1,514 ft) tall, 81-storey building is built on the western banks of the Saigon River.

The development comprises (has) hotel and conference rooms, luxury apartments, high-end shops, restaurants, bars, and a multi-story observation deck.

Image result for landmark 81

Comprehension review:

What is the building called ? // Where exactly is it ? //

What firm designed it and where are they from ?

How tall is it ? // What does the complex comprise of ?

Landmark 81 Skyview Review: Is it worth? - Mylittleplan.com
How would you feel so high in the sky ?

Can you think of any tall buildings from history ?

Can you think of any amazing engineering works from history ?

Information gathering

Watch the video and collect the following information (answers at end of blog):

1) What year was Philadelphia City Hall built ?

2) Where is the Singer Building ?

3) How tall is the Metlife Tower ?

4) What year was the Chrysler Building built ?

5) How tall is the Empire State Building to the very top ?

6) What is the tallest building in Chicago called ?

7) What is the first building in the video NOT in the USA ? Where is it ?

8) How tall is Taipei 101 ? What plant does it look like ?

9) In 2010, what was the world’s tallest building ? Where is it ?

10) What will be the tallest building in the world ?

11) Work on the Jeddah Tower stopped in 2020. Can you think why ?

Interesting fact: the US architect Adrian Smith designed both the Burj Khalifa and the Jeddah Tower

However, it’s not all plain sailing. Sometimes things go wrong:

(suggest starting at number #48 at 1:20)

Answers

1) 1901 2) NYC 3) 213metres or 700 feet 4) 1930

5) 432 m or 1416 ft 6) Sears Tower (now Willis Tower)

7) Petronus Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

8) 508m or 1667 ft. It resembles a bamboo plant

9) Burj Khalifa in Dubai 1

10) Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia 11) Work stopped due to COVID-19

A useful website, from April 4th 2021: https://constructionreviewonline.com/project-timelines/jeddah-tower-project-timeline-and-all-you-need-to-know/

Young Learners, Level 6: adjectives and adverbs review.

8th April 2021

A typical Vietnamese breakfast; pork, noodles, fresh vegetables and noodles.

Objectives:

Encourage students to speak in long, interesting sentences.

Making the use of adjectives and adverbs a natural part of their English

Develop their ability to express themselves, giving reasons (because) and examples (like, such as)

Show them how much fun English can be by the use of idioms (once in a blue moon, it’s raining cats and dogs)

VOCABULARY BANK

Match the word(s) to the meaning

gigantic / enormous __________ everywhere

tiny / petit _____________________on time

delicious / mouth watering ___very rarely

difficult ________________________ yummy / tasty

once in a blue moon ______ big / huge

punctual______________________ clever

intelligent ____________________ hard

ubiquitous ____________________ very small

IDIOMS:

once in a blue moon

piece of cake (very easy, no problem)

it’s raining cats and dogs (very heavy rain)

NOW … practice:

Street food in Vietnam is (everywhere) ___________________ .

Fish And Chips Là Gì? Xuất Xứ Của Món Ăn Đặc Sắc Này

The British love fish and chips because it is (yummy)_________________ and _____________________. However, it is not very healthy eat it __________________________________________(very rarely)

The man is (very big) however the lady is (very small)

Dolphins that swim up to humans mostly saying 'f*ck off' | The Daily Mash

The young lady is saying hello to the dolphins which are very (clever) __________________ animals.

This rabbit is always (on time) _________________

Is it (hard) ____________________ for a gorilla to play drums ? No, it is easy – it’s a piece of cake.

Don’t believe me … OK, just watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La7B8mBnTXs&ab_channel=TomSinger

The capital city of Viet Nam is _____________ . It is a large( very busy) city. Motorbikes are (everywhere) ___________________. Street food is cheap and (yummy) __________________________.

However, sometimes it rains very heavily. In this photo, people are (not happy) because ____________________________________.

Adverb practice

always

usually // often // normally

sometimes

rarely

once in a blue moon

never

EXAMPLES:

Eating fruit and vegetables has this unexpectedly good side-effect - Mirror  Online

I always eat fruit because it is extremely healthy

I usually read a book when I drink coffee because I love reading.

I sometimes drive my car to work because it is fun. However, driving in Viet Nam is ________________________.

I rarely go to Singapore because it is extremely expensive.

I only go home to London once in a blue moon because it is so far away

I never smoke because it is extremely unhealthy !

NOW … your turn: tell me what you do and why.

I always … because …

I usually … because …

I sometimes … because …

I rarely … because …

Once in a blue moon I … because …

I never … because …

See you next week

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Young Learners, Level 6: Stay healthy

13th January 2021

Healthy Smiles Dental Care, PC | Dentist Windsor Locks CT

Everybody Up 6, Unit 4: Review new vocabulary, fixed expressions and sentence building

What does she use ?

Personal Work : Perfume Ad Amphores Dior on Behance

In my opinion she uses perfume. She needs shampoo as well as conditioner.

Dior Perfume ad Featuring Johnny Depp Sparks Outrage on Social Media

NOW … Your turn

In ___________________ he uses ___________ . He wants ___________ as well as ______________.

Asian girl Pictures, Images, Stock Photos | Depositphotos®

__________________ she uses __________ as well as ____________. When her hair looks great, she feels de__________ .

Man with messy hair making face - Stock Photo - Dissolve

In ___________________ he doesn’t ever use __________ or __________ on his hair. He has a b_____ so he doesn’t need to buy a r________ .

Downstate Juniors VBC – Everything about Downstate Juniors!

________________ she uses _________ before playing in the sun. After sports, she takes a ___________ so she needs a b_____ of s______. When she’s finished she puts on d____________ .

old toothless man | Meme Generator

I reckon he has no t________ so he doesn’t need to buy a t_____ of __________ or use d_______ f_______. However, he may want to use some m___________ .

Rainy Day Blues: The Weather + Mental Health Connection | by UMiami Health  System | University of Miami Health System | Medium

I r___________ the dog wants to go out. The dog doesn’t need ___________ or _________ . However, it is raining cats and dogs, so he feels very dis_________________ .

You should use ________________ before you go to school.

You should ________________ before you go to bed.

You should use ________________ after shower.

You should ________________ after you eat.

What happens next ? Can you act these scenes ?