Teachers’ Day 2022

20th November 2022

Many, many thanks to Ms Cherry, Ms Mia, Ms Hannah and Mr C.

Butterfly Decal: an introduction

18th November 2022

Niall, my musical partner in Butterfly Decal, will be hosting a radio show in the UK, and playing some of our music. He asked me to write a short introduction, so here is a brief history of Butterfly Decal.

Hello, I’m Paul. Niall and I are in a band called Butterfly Decal. Only, this band is a little different because we live several thousand miles apart; Niall’s in the UK and I’m based in Sai Gon, Viet Nam.

Thanks to modern technology, we are able to make music, create videos and upload online.

Niall and I met in the 80s, played in a few bands, played a few gigs and made a few demos but neither fame nor fortune came knocking.

However, Niall kept playing, I kept moving around yet we always stayed in touch. And we always said that one day, we would play together again. And now we are.

So the band’s name … this is a bit of an in-joke; I love jangly Rickenbackers, and I once made Niall watch ‘The One I Love’ video by R.E.M. over and over, just to see and hear the guitar, so we took the name from an R.E.M. song.

Musically, we both love Jazz and Blues, Classic 60s bands, Bowie and 80s Indie music, but we’re also looking to do something a little different, Post-Rock and Maths Rock … yes, we’re British, we call it Maths Rock. We like playing around with different time signatures, using non-traditional song structures … and mixing spoken word with music, making a musical collage.

We hope you like the track Niall’s going to play … now, I’ll say tạm biệt from Sai Gon.

Butterfly Decal: ‘Lavender Girl’ – demo version.

17th November 2022

A low-fi home recording of a new song with the working title of ‘Lavender Girl’.

Special thanks to Ms Huong for making the unbearable bearable.

Thanks to the friends in the video

Butterfly Decal are Niall Keohane and Paul Pacifico

Thank you very much for listening

Young Learners, level 2: Greek heroes to help you learn.

14th November 2022

Divide the class into small teams. Each team is given paper, crayons, markers and a board.

The teams are names after Greek heroes:

Heracles

Theseus

Perseus

The heroes need to fight evil monsters.

Heracles must beat Cerberus, an angry dog with three heads.

Theseus must beat the Minotaur, an animal half man, half bull. The Minotaur is very, very strong.

Perseus must beat Medusa, a woman with dangerous snakes in her hair. Anyone who looks at Medusa will turn to stone.

The task is not easy, it is a task for heroes. The heroes must answer questions, write, draw and conjugate verbs.

The first team to get 10 points will win. Let’s get started.

1) Write down an animal that is black and white

2) Write down 2 animals that can fly

3) Write 3 animals that can swim

4) A _________ can _____ a house

5) A _________ can ____ fruit and vegetables

6) A ________ can ____ people who are not well.

7) A football player scoring / scores goals.

8) A teacher teach / teaches students.

9) I play / plays guitar.

10) Chose one person to draw. On the board, draw your monster (Cerberus, Minotaur or Medusa). You have three minutes each.

11) Complete the sentences with adjectives.

A dog is very ____ and _____ .

A crocodile is very ______ and ______ .

A panda is very ______ and ________ .

12) Write 2 things you do in the morning

13) Write 2 things you do in the afternoon

14) Write 2 things you do in the evening

15) Draw a clock on your board

Show me five o’clock

Show me seven o’clock

Show me twelve o’clock

16) Write 2 words that begin with bl, cl, pl.

17) Conjugate these verbs

Heracles:

I am scared of lions / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

Theseus:

I am very strong / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

Perseus:

I am not scared of snakes / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

18) Answer ‘Sure, that sounds fun,’ ‘Good idea,’ or ‘Not really.’

Do you want to fight a lion ?

Do you want to do homework all day ?

Do you want to play tennis ?

19) Team Heracles suggest something to Team Theseus and get a response. Team Theseus ask Team Perseus, and Team Perseus ask Team Heracles.

EXAMPLE: Do you want to drink water ?

20) Some or any.

There is ____ milk.

There isn’t ____ chicken.

There are _____ grapes.

Are there ______ eggs ?

Is there ____ juice ?

_____ there _____ water ?

21) You have 10 seconds. Write food that is healthy. Write food that is unhealthy. Write some drinks.

22) Write 2 fun places for children in Sai Gon

23) Write a sentence using

exciting / dangerous / happy

24) Sing the finish work song (“Dear teacher, I am finished.”)

25) How can you kill a skeleton. Watch the hero Jason.

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.

Parables from the Land of the Scorpion.

9th November 2022

The All-Knowing Parent

The House of Gesundheit opened its doors. Before long, a parent charged in, dragging a sickly child. The Doctor of Gesundheit examined the child, increasingly concerned with the findings.

“I must conduct further tests,” the professional explained.

“Ah, no problem, my child always passes tests,” the self-assured reply, with a pat on the money bag.

As the doctor suspected, the poor child had cancer, but it was at an early stage. Help was available, a full recovery was expected.

“Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no,” the parent countered, “the hair will fall out, children at school will laugh. I will not have my child laughed at, I will not have my child looking like an egg ! No, no, no, just give the child some pills, some medicine and all will be well. I know my child. I know my child much better than you do.”

The Doctor of Gesundheit protested, remonstrated, pleaded. The words fell on stony ground. So many pearls, such a large swine.

Eventually the doctor had to acquiesce. Parent and child walked away, victoriously.

Some months later the parent returned, bursting into the House of Gesundheit, screaming, ranting, pointing an accusing, accursing finger at the doctor.

“You killed my child. I brought my child to you for help. Instead … I bury my child. You killed my child. You are a terrible doctor, you are a murderer !”

The other patients heard this and got angry, they sided with the grieved parent and shouted abuse at the disgraced doctor.

The House of Gesundheit closed down.

The doctor abandoned medicine and looked for work from village to village.

In a small grave in a small graveyard lies a small child. Over the coming years, the graveyard grew bigger and bigger.

‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ by Lennon & McCartney. August 1966

Young learners, levels 1 & 2: what to do in Sai Gon

8th November 2022

An activity for lower-level students, to help develop listening skills as well as creative thinking. Students should be encouraged to speak in sentences as opposed to shouting out single-word answers.

Putting students into teams, creating a competitive atmosphere is very beneficial. Therefore split the class into groups of four or so students. Each group is given a marker and board, paper and crayons.

The video is about activities for children to do in Sai Gon (the actual video starts around 0:30, and the subtitles are not always correct):

Tell the class to watch very carefully; they will be asked questions about the video.

After the first viewing, ask some basic questions, such as what activities did they see, have they been or done any of these, did the children have fun etc.

Then play the video again and ask more detailed questions

Question 1: What was the first activity ?

2: Name 5 animals you saw 3: What can you do there ?

4: What was activity 2 ? 5: how high is the wall ? 6: do you think this is dangerous ? 7: how much does it cost ?

8: what was activity 3 ? 9: what can you hear ? 10: is the show in English or Vietnamese ?

11: what was activity 4 ? 12: what day is it closed ? 13: what is the cost for adults and children

Part 2: what activity do you like best. Tell me why. Try to use these adjectives:

fun / exciting / healthy / dangerous / happy

Part 3: draw a day out in Sai Gon and write about your day. You may have 1 activity or many.

Example:

I go to Dam Sen Water Park with my family.

It is fun and we are happy.

We can swim and play in the water. The Water Park is exciting.

It is a great day.

Part 4: Grammar

I am very happy // You … very happy // He … // She … // It … // Ms Huong // We … // They …

Answers 1: Artinus 3-D Museum 2: cheetah, lizard, gorilla, butterfly, unicorn, frog, dinosaur, birds, bears, fish, octopus, lion 3: take photos 4: X-rock climbing 5: 20 metres 6: yes, it can be dangerous 7: $6 an hour 8: water-puppet show 9: you can hear singing and traditional music 10: in Vietnamese 11: Dam Sen Water Park 12: Tuesdays 13: $6 adult, $3 child

How to kill a vampire: post-Halloween review game

1st November 2022

A chance to review recent lessons, and be a brave hero.

First, split the class into two or three teams: Vampire, the Mummy & Werewolf.

Second, what can kill these evil creatures ?

For a vampire, we can use garlic, and a crucifix or cross.

For the Mummy, we can use fire, and a cat.

For a werewolf, we can use a silver bullet or mercury.

Team Vampire

Team Mummy

Team Werewolf

The game:

Ask the students questions, testing vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and writing skills.

A correct answer means the student may roll a die. The following numbers represent weapons:

1 = garlic // 2 = mercury // 3 = an Egyptian cat //

4 = fire // 5 = silver bullets // 6 = crucifix or cross

Therefore, Team Dracula needs a 1 or 6, Team Mummy needs a 3 or 4, Team Werewolf needs 2 or 5

The first team to reach 5 points is the winner

Sample questions

Adjectives: what is the opposite of …

sharp / smooth / easy / cheap / high / modern / soft /

Countries: what countries begin with letter …

B / D / E / G / H / R / S / T / V /

Grammar: conjugate the following verbs …

I don’t like vampires / You / He / She / It / Ms Anh / We / They …

I’m not scared of the Mummy / You’re …

I don’t want to be a werewolf / You …

Speaking: tell me about the pairs of food, using adjectives and your opinion

Example: water and cola

I always drink water because it is very healthy. However I never drink cola because it is bad for my teeth.

Pair 1: banana and crisps

Pair 2: hamburgers and salad

Pair 3: phở bò (beef noodle soup) and pizza

Free speaking. How long can you speak about …

Give the students some time to prepare as a group, then select one spokesperson.

Sports //

What you can do at home //

Your family //

Bonus Goth points … an extra throw of the die for the student who can sing this song, ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead.’

The song builds up, and the vocals don’t start until around the 2:50 mark

Bauhaus

Young Learners, level 2: Basic Simple Past exercises

26th October 2022

A chance to review the simple past (verb 2).

I expect all students to be able to use the past tense by the end of the seminar.

infinite / present (verb 1) / past (verb 2)

1 to be am / was [I am / I was]

are / were [they are / they were]

2 to have have / had

3 to do do / did

4 to say say / said

5 to go go / went

6 to get get / got

7 to make make / made

8 to know know /knew

9 to think think / thought

10 to take take / took

11 to see see / saw

12 to come come / came

13 to want want / wanted

14 to use use / used

15 to find find / found

Past Tense Exercise

1. You (have) a test yesterday.

You had a test yesterday.

2. They (do) their homework last night.

They ——- their homework last night.

3. You (are) lazy last week.

You ——- lazy last week.

4. I (am) hungry yesterday.

I ——- hungry yesterday.

5. Sam (go) to Hong Kong last year.

Sam ——- to Hong Kong last year.

6. The man (make) tables and chairs yesterday.

The man —— tables and chairs yesterday.

7. Two weeks ago the boy (has) a new bicycle.

Two weeks ago the boy ——- a new bicycle.

8. In London I (know) many people.

In London I _______ many people.

9. I (get) 10 points in my English test.

I ______ 10 points in my English test.

10. I (want) to see a great film.

I _______ to see a great film.

Extra work for Top Cats

Corrections: Write in the past tense

I (am) born in Vietnam and (arrive) in Sai Gon in 2020. I (go) to school in District 1 because I (want) to work near my home. Last week, my friend (have) a party. She (dance) all night and I (hear) her singing. In the morning, she (have) a headache.