Jazz Music

29th October 2021

Charlie Parker (sax) with Miles Davis (trumpet)

JAZZ MUSIC

I love all types of music, but one of my favourites is Jazz. It can be exciting, or thought-provoking, upbeat or mellow, but it’s always different.

Unlike other types of music, Jazz is spontaneous. This means that you never hear the same song the same way; each performance is different.

Jazz started in New Orleans but moved up to Chicago, New York and even west to California. The first records were made in 1917 and the first true Jazz genius was Louis Armstrong. If you want to hear jazz, you should listen to his records from the 1920s.

You may know some famous Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. I can recommend these musicians to you as first-rate examples of Jazz.

I hope this has made you curious about Jazz, and that you go online to listen for yourself. Who knows, maybe you too will learn to love Jazz.

Duke Ellington's Far East Suite by Duke Ellington (Album, Big Band): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music

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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

Fallingwater Building, Pennsylvania, USA

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:

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

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

Bye bye from these hard-working Vietnamese ladies

Subject Index: Film, TV, Theatre & Music

4th December 2020

A list of some of the major films and songs that I’ve used in various lessons

Films, TV & Theatre

Around the World in 80 Days // Young Learners 5 // 27th October 2019

Big Bang Theory // Young Learners 5 // 17th November 2019

Blind Date // Adult Speaking Class. Theme: Love & marriage

Car Share // IELTS // 19th February 2019

Chungking Express // Adult C, L 1 // 5th March 2019 /// IELTS // 16th April 2019 /// IELTS // 4th March 2019

Dead Poet Society // Adult C, L 3 // 7th November 2019

Dracula // Adult C, L 1 // 2nd January 2019

Dragon’s Den (US Shark’s Tank) // Adult C, L 3 // 18th March 2019

Far Flung Floyd // Adult professionals // Adult mechanics: What can go wrong ?

Far Flung Floyd // Vietnamese Party Food // 19th May 2020

Four Weddings and a Funeral // Adult Speaking Class. Theme: Love & marriage Part 2

Holidays from Hell // IELTS // 10th February 2019

Ing … // IELTS 5-6.5 // 4th September 2019

Inglorious Besterds // Adult C, L 1 // 26th February 2019

Live and Let Die // Young Teens // 27th February 2019

Lost in Translation // IELTS // What do you like this film ? // 6th April 2020

Man Who Fell To Earth // Young Learners 4 // 16th November 2019

Most Haunted // Adult C, L 1 // 2 January 2019

Nosferatu // Adult C, L 1 // 2 January 2019

The Owl and the Sparrow (Vietnam) // IELTS // 16th April 2019

Psycho // Adult C, L 3 // 12 November 2019

Rebel Without A Cause // Adult C, L 3 // 15 August 2019 \ 12 November 2019

Reservoir Dogs // Adult C, L 3 // 23rd September 2019

Social Network // IELTS 5-6.5 // 4th September 2019 /// Adult C, L 3 // 5th September 2019

Star Wars The Last Jedi // IELTS // 14th January 2019

Summer Holiday //Young Learners 4 // 23rd November 2019

Take Care of my Cat (South Korea) // IELTS // 16th April 2019

Tokyo Story (Japan) // IELTS // 16th April 2019

Top Gear // Adult professionals // Adult mechanics: What can go wrong ?

Top Gear / Vietnam / Porsche challenge / Tesla car / Break for the border /

Twin Peaks // Young Learners 5 // 17th November 2019

2001: A Space Odyssey // Young Learners 4 // 16th November 2019

Waiting For Godot // Adult C, L 1 // 5th March 201

Music

Abba ‘Mamma Mia’ // Young Learners 2 // 18th May 2019

The Archies ‘Sugar, Sugar’ // KinderGarten 1 // 5th May 2019

Louis Armstrong ‘Hello Dolly’ // Young Learners 2 // 26th April 2019

Louis Armstrong ‘Wonderful World’ // Young Learners 2 // 1st June 2019

The Bangles ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ // Young Learners 2 // 1st June 2019

The Beatles ‘I’ll Be Back’ // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1

Beatles ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ // Adult C, L 3 // 14 November 2019

David Bowie ‘Changes’ // IELTS // 16th April 2019

David Bowie ‘Space Oddity’ // Young Learners 4 // 16th November 2019

Bucks Fizz ‘Making Your Mind Up’ // Adult Class, Level 2 // 27th May 2019

Chic ‘Good Times’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

The Coasters ‘Poison Ivy’ // Teenagers: Architecture & Mythology // 13th March 2020

The Deep Six ‘It’s Happening’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

Bob Dylan ‘Times They Are A-Changin’ // Adult C, L 3 // 3rd December 2019

Eifel 65 ‘Move Your Body’ // KinderGarten Safari 1 // 2nd March 2019

Flying Lizards ‘Money’ // Adult Class, Level 3 // 14 November 2019

James ‘Sit Down’ // KinderGarten 1 // 24th January 2019

Gene Kelly ‘Singing in the Rain’ // Young Learners 3 // 17th August 2019

Gladys Knight ‘Baby, Don’t Change Your Mind’ // IELTS // 16th April 2019

Kraftwerk ‘The Model’ // Young Learners 5 // 17th November 2019

Kraftwerk ‘We Are The Robots’ // KG 1 // 24th January 2019

Ali Hassan Kuban ‘Habibi’ // Teenagers: Architecture & Mythology // 13th March 2020

Led Zepplin ‘Whole Lotta Love’ // Adult C, L 1 // 12 & 19 December 2018

John Lennon ‘Starting Over’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 14th August 2019

John Lennon ‘Imagine’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

Lykki Li ‘Little Bit’ // Young Learners 4 // 1st May 2019

Don McLean ‘Vincent’ // Young Learners 4 // 26th October 2019

Men At Work ‘Down Under’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 21st August 2019

Paul McCartney ‘Another Day’ // Adult Speaking Class, level 2

Kylie Minogue ‘can’t get you’ // IELTS // 21st January 2019

Nirvana ‘Teen Spirit’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

Ohio Express ‘Yummy, Yummy, Yummy’ // KG 1 // 5th May 2019

Otis Redding “Dock of the Bay’ // IELTS // 16th April 2019

REM ‘Stand’ // KinderGarten 1 // 24th January 2019

Cliff Richard ‘Summer Holiday’ // Young Learners 4 // 23rd November 2019

Russian National Anthem (2 versions) // Young Learners 3 // 7th September 2019

The Sonics ‘Have Love, Will Travel’ // IELTS // 10th February 2019

Spice Girls ‘Tell Me What You Want’ // Young Learners 4 // 9th November 2019

Steppenwolf ‘Born To Be Wild’ // Adult Class, Level 3 // 22nd April 2019

Stray Cats ‘Strut’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

Sweet ‘Love is like Oxygen’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019

Talking Heads ‘Once In A Lifetime’ // Adult Speaking Class, level 2

Tchaikovsky ‘Swan Lake’ // Adult Class, Level 3 // 4th December 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/12/03/adult-class-level-3-the-russian-soul/

Tuareg music // Adult Speaking Class, level 3. Theme: Travel // 11th February 2020

10cc ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ // IELTS 5-6.5 // 4th September 2019

Hank Williams ‘I’m so lonesome’ // IELTS // 21st January 2019

‘Run, Rabbit, Run’ // KinderGarten 1 // 24th January 2019

Reading exercises

Arabian Nights // Adult Speaking Class, level 2, Part 6 24th January 2020

Reading practice // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3. Theme: Crime & Punishment

Sherlock Holmes // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3. Theme: London 3rd March 2020

Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Part 3

16th January 2020

Contents

Grammar / third conditional

Jazz Music

Listening Practice / TOEIC

Money

Speaking practice

Speaking skills

Vocabulary

Grammar: 3^rd Conditional

I was very hungry but too lazy to cook, so I went out to grab a bite to eat.

I thought I’d try the new pho restaurant.

I, obviously, ordered pho bo.

However, after I had eaten

I saw the chef !

If I had known the chef was filthy, I wouldn’t have eaten there !

This is the 3^rdconditional.

Something that happened in the past BUT you can’t change it now.

If I had known the film was so bad, I never would have gone !

If he had bought his wife flowers, she wouldn’t have been angry at him

If they had studied English, they would have passed the test.

Listening Practice

TOEIC test:https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part3.htm#

TOEIC test: https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part4.htm

New vocabulary: accurate/ correction / administration

Money

Verbs for things you can do with money:

spend / lose / waste / save / make / invest / forge / donate / pay / worship

I go to work to …….. money.

She always ………… money to charity.

He …………. money buying property

The police caught the man who was ……….. money.

Some people think the iPhone X is a ………. of money.

King James Bible
“For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

Many people over the years have tried to buy the Mask of Tutankhamen from the Egyptian Museum, but unsurprisingly the authorities here believe it is priceless so they won’t sell it

Ebenezer Scrooge was such a stingy man, so much so that in English, we sometimes use the word Scrooge to describe people with this characteristic (who are like this). A miser is someone who hates spending any money.

He spent a lot of money on what he thought was a gold watch but when he had it valued, it turned out to be worthless.

I sometimes disagree with stall holders, so I haggle which sometimes gets the price down

Big companies like Pepsi make a killing. They should put their prices down. I sometimes like to splash out on new clothes, but not very often

When I was a student I didn’t have enough money to live on so I took out an overdraft at the bank. I paid it all off in the end (finally)

The men were sent to prison for forgery, that is, making counterfeit money

Speaking practice:

This dialogue has a lot of expressions and phrases.

Joe Hi Bill. Why so glum ? You look down in the dumps.

Bill Oh, just worrying about money. The cost of living keeps going up …

Joe And our wages stay the same. Tell me about it. I’ve had to economise.

Bill Same here; no more beer or Highlands coffee. I feel so stingy !

Joe I always haggle at the market now, try to get the price down. I hate being ripped off.

Bill I’m worried about paying off my overdraft. The interest alone is crippling me.

Joe We should invest in land. My friend sold some land recently and made a killing.

Bill But we’ll need money to invest in the first place. Then there’s always bills.

Joe Yes, my bike’s in the shop, so I’m having to use Grabbike and that ain’t cheap !

2. This is to practice wedding and money phrases.

Tom Congratulations ! You’re finally tying the knot and getting spliced.

Bob Yeah, it’s time to settle down. I’ve taken out a mortage and a loan for the wedding.

Tom It must be costing you an arm and a leg: catering, hall, flowers, photos, invitations.

Bob Absolutely, I’ve withdrawn all my saving and gone into the red. I hate being overdrawn; the interest is sky-high. And, not forgetting, the honeymoon.

Tom You can put down a deposit and pay later. Cheer up ! Don’t be a Scrooge

Bob That’s easy for you to say. I’m gonna be broke and in debt … until I retire !

Sentence building

Use more interesting adverbs and linking words e.g.

although / as well as / somewhat / therefore

Rearrange these basic sentences to make more interesting ones (we use ‘one’ as a pronoun for the noun instead of repeating ourselves)

Examples:

I went to the market today. I bought fish and chicken and vegetables.

Today I bought fish, chicken as well as vegetables in the market.

Last night I stayed at home because it was raining.

It was raining last night therefore I stayed at home.

Your turn:

I saw the new action film. It was a little boring.

Peter was tired but he met his friends for a drink.

Sophie studied very hard. She passed her test.

For western people, Thailand is cheap. Vietnam is cheaper.

Speaking skills

To help you improve your speaking skills, here is a small project:

Write a short piece about something you love or adore.

Start with an introduction

Say why you like it

Maybe tell some history or an anecdote (a short, personal story)

Give some examples

End with a short conclusion

EXAMPLE:

JAZZ MUSIC

I love all types of music, but one of my favourites is Jazz. It can be exciting, or slow, but it’s always different.

Unlike other types of music, Jazz is spontaneous. This means that you never hear the same song the same way; each performance is different.

You may know some famous Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. I can recommend these musicians to you as first-rate examples of Jazz.

I hope this has made you curious about Jazz, and that you go online to listen for yourself. Who knows, maybe you too will learn to love Jazz.

Vocabulary builder

Health: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/health

Young Learners, level 2: Hello Dolly, this is Louis …

26th April 2019

A lesson plan for a very active, very loud young learners’ class. They are certainly a handful, but they are good at English; there is simply no way to control them for two hours. Just have to use their energy and make very kinetic lesson plans to keep the class occupied.

After break, we focus on book work and workbooks (though some students complete these at home, and I’m faced with ‘Teacher, finished !’). I insist on fast – finishers to say ‘Dear Teacher, I believe I have finished,’ while having a stack of worksheets at hand so they have something fun but educational to do while I check individual work.

This is for tomorrow afternoon:

Warm-up: Magic Bag. I’ll pretend to have various items of clothing in my bag. I’ll mime putting them on and the students have to shout out the answer. This reviews vocabulary from a previous unit.

Yes / No game. Can be very fun – I just ask the students questions and they have to answer within five seconds BUT are not allowed to say ‘yes’, ‘no’, shake or nod their heads and make any other yes/no word (yeah, naw etc).

Hello Dolly. For fun, and to expose them to some REAL music, they can listen to Louis Armstrong and try to imitate his unique voice. Points for the best version (s):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7N2wssse14

Run ‘n’ Write. The last weeks have focused on rooms in the house. I will ask in what room do we …

sleep

cook

watch TV

wash

Then, with the class in two or three teams, one member must run to the board and write the correct room. It can be made lively by assigned a colour marker to each team and hiding them around the room, or even outside the classroom (though security probably won’t care much for that).

Who has what ? Here I choose six students and give each a flash card which they show quickly to the class, then hide behind their backs. The class must answer but using the correct form of ‘to have’, i.e. He has a sofa, she has a computer. This is a fun memory game but also drills the third-person verb form.

Picture Description. I’ll show a picture and ask the class to tell me what they see, especially asking about relative positions, looking for ‘next to’, ‘behind’ and ‘in front of’. This is from the famous toy shop, Hamleys, in London.

Vocabulary boost. A quick game to review some recent words and their antonyms. I’ll board these words, the students have to write the opposite. For this, I’ll hand out small writing boards and they can work in small teams.

clean

quiet

polite

friendly

The class probably won’t know the last two, so it’s a chance to show how we form opposite words. I can follow this up by asking the opposite of happy, well, tidy etc.

Student Survey. These are a great way to get the students talking to each other. I prepare a short questionnaire, and they have to ask three other students the questions. These are based on today’s lesson of counting, and recycled vocabulary.

How many …. do you have ?

pens / books / brothers / sisters / pets / computers

After that, it’ll be break time, then book work … and then my day will be over !

Young Learners, Level 1: Let’s get them speaking !

24th April 2019

This is the plan for my early morning class on Saturday. To set the scene, there are about 19 students, aged around 7 or 8. It’s a standard classroom; chairs with built-in desktops, and there’s not a lot of space for movement or activities. The students, therefore, are mostly confined to their seats for the two-hour session, not conducive to a productive lesson. Add to that loud students, slow students and the (seemingly obligatory) special-needs student(s), and we have a potential catastrophe … but there are ways to mitigate these issues …

Firstly, the assignment of a class captain. I choose the loudest, toughest boy and he becomes proxy teacher. Usually, they love the responsibility, while I’ve turned a problem into an asset.

Secondly, the ‘montage of attractions’, lots of different but related activities to prevent boredom as well as promoting as much participation as possible. To this end, I try to vary the lesson plan (the first hour is activities, the second, devoted to book work where I can also check students individually).

Thirdly, I really want to break the teacher – student dynamic; I want the students talking to each other in English. Sometimes I have the top students act as teacher, ‘Thay’, and address the class, but today I want everyone speaking to their partner in English. To do this, I’ve prepared a short series of questions they have to ask and answer. But first, a review about ‘what can you see ?’ and prepositions.

I’ll show this landscape and then attach various animal flashcards, asking ‘Can you see a frog ? Where is it ?’ and so on …

Now for the speaking interaction: with all speaking exercises, it’s good to model first. The questions I’ve chosen represent language they have already learnt and should be able to use. I’ll show the following questions, then drill an appropriate reply:

To prepare, I just need to stick some flashcards around the room (food, animals).

Can you see a tiger ? IF there is a tiger picture the answer is Yes, I can, if there is no picture then No, I can’t.

Do you like pizza ? / Yes, I do or No, I don’t.

What are these ? (showing flash card of toes) These are my toes.

How many marbles are there ? (showing picture of marbles) There are seven marbles.

How old are you ? / I’m …..

What can an elephant do ? An elephant can walk and swim and run.

I will then hand out a short questionnaire and, with the invaluable aid of my TA, monitor the class, making note of those who will not or are not taking part. The questions will be:

Can you see a zebra ?

Do you like cake ?

How many puzzles are there ?

How old are you ?

What can a bear do ?

When the first partner has finished, the second will have these questions:

Can you see an ant ?

Do you like rice ?

How old are you ?

How many games are there ?

What can a zebra do ?

The next activity is a ‘run ‘n’ write’. The class is split into teams and have to run to the board and write a word that has appeared in a previous lesson:

penguin / kangaroo / giraffe / science / animals / flower

We also get to review the plural form of nouns (games, marbles) plus the ‘an’ article before a vowel noun (an elephant). Next up … music time; an old favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vpvFx0-uyI

When the band… This could be used as a background to a musical statues game, but the names of the instruments will be highlighted. They then have to identify them:

Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong … the one and only.

David Carradine as Bill playing Japanese flute.

Again, Thay Student time: a top student will ask the class:

Can you play …. trumpet ? … piano ? … guitar ?

Now a miming game. I will tell a student an instrument, and they will mime playing it. The opposite team has to guess, getting points for correct answers. Any kind of game or competition can really raise energy and motivation levels.

I want to move the lesson closer towards today’s subject (science, specifically parts of the body), so will select six students, giving each a flashcard from last week’s class. Very quickly, they will show their card to the class. Then I will ask ask which student has which card, but using the verb ‘to have’, i.e. “He has toe”, “She has arm.”

Finally, and if time allows because this already could be too long (no problem with that … a plan should be overlong in case any activity falls flat and a Plan B, C & D is needed), more ‘Thay Students’. They will review questions from last week, namely:

What are these ? These are my arms

What are these ? These are my toes

What are these ? These are my fingers

But, to stop them getting too complacent, some good old British irregularities:

What are these ? These are my feet.