The English Blog

New Year Resolutions Lesson

I did a lesson about New Year Resolutions this morning, which I thought I'd share with you.

First, I got the students to work in pairs and ask/answer the questions on Worksheet 1 of this Onestopenglish lesson. We then watched the first 8 minutes or so of Bridget Jones's Diary (with the English subtitles). The students then had to work in groups to fill in a worksheet. After getting some feedback on that activity, I distributed the script of the movie extract we'd watched and went over the language items marked in bold. I took advantage of the opportunity to explain the British system of weights and measures (Bridget resolves to lose 20lb).

For homework, they have to write an essay titled 'My New Year Resolutions'. I gave them some examples of New Year resolutions and encouraged them to use similar constructions in their essay.

 

Here's another clip from the film which could be used in class:

The End of Traditional Light Bulbs

The Daily Mail is outraged by the fact that the EU has forced Britain to stop selling traditional incandenscent light bulbs:

Millions of Britons are finally waking up to the fact that their beloved light bulb will disappear for good after 120 years.

Traditional 100-watt bulbs are vanishing from the High Street because of a controversial European Union decision.

Yesterday panic buyers were snapping up the remaining bulbs in a last-ditch attempt to stockpile the final supplies. Hundreds of leading supermarkets and DIY chains - including Sainsbury's, Asda and Homebase - have already sold their last remaining bulbs after a surge in panic buying.

Other stores say they have enough stocks to last until the end of next week.

The supplies are running out after the Government signed up to an EU decision to replace conventional 100w light bulbs with supposedly greener low energy alternatives.

Ministers claim the switch will reduce carbon dioxide by around five million tons each year.

But experts have questioned whether or not the new bulbs, far from being environmentally friendly, are actually harmful. Read full story >>

Click to enlarge

Lesson idea: It's always interesting to compare the Mail's anti-EU, morally outraged treatment of a story with a more objective source, e.g. The Daily Telegraph. You could get your students compare and contrast the language used by different newspapers (tabloids vs. broadsheets) when reporting the same story. For example, the Mail's headline goes: "Revolt! Robbed of their right to buy traditional lightbulbs, millions are clearing shelves of last supplies"—note the exaggeration, sensationalist exclamation, tone of moral outrage—whereas the Telegraph settles for a more measured "Traditional 100 watt light bulbs to be phased out in favour of low-energy alternative."

Cartoons for the Classroom: House on Fire

The latest Cartoons for the Classroom lesson is based on the cartoon below, which shows Barack Obama, dressed as a fireman, taking an emergency call. Unfortunately, he can't do anything about the burning house (=economy) before January 20th, which is, of course, Inauguration Day, when he finally becomes President.

• Download the lesson as a PDF file.

A new year's resolution: the politeness manifesto

Telegraph.co.uk has 25 examples of bad manners we should resolve to stop doing. Here are the first five:

1 Talking on a mobile phone while being served by a shop assistant
2 Playing music through a mobile phone's loudspeakers in a public place
3 Sending text messages while at the dining table
4 Writing abusive comments on internet messageboards
5 Listening to music through headphones in the office

See the complete list

Lesson idea: Give your students a selection of items from the list and get them to rank the items according to how annoying they find them. They could do this individually and then in groups. Follow up by asking them to come up with their own examples of bad manners.

TimeRime Time Lines

TimeRime.com is a website that allows visitors to view, create and compare timelines. These timelines can be illustrated with pictures, text, YouTube movies and MP3 files. On the website, you will find timelines about music, movies, history, politics, art etc. 

Lesson idea: Get your students to create their own time lines (their own life story, for example) and use them as visual aids for presentations. It will make a change from PowerPoint! 

CNN Video - Christmas is cancelled

In these harsh economic times, office Christmas parties are feeling the pinch. Life-size ice sculptures, fireworks and champagne fountains are out. Cheap food and cash bars are in—assuming the party's not been cancelled. CNN reports:

Discussion activity
Office party negotiations by Alex Case

Crappy Graphs

 

Crappy Graphs! is a micro-project by Brian Shaler. The simple graphs and charts cover topics including office/white collar life, programming, and marketing. They are based on the author’s observations while working in those environments/industries.

Comment: What's really interesting about this site/blog is that you can create your own 'crappy graphs' and submit them for inclusion. Here's a fun example:

Lesson idea: If you have a videoprojector, you can get your students to produce their own crappy graphs and present them to the class. Or you could put them on a class blog. This is a good opportunity for students to use their imagination and sense of humour! 

Mr Bean's Christmas Lesson

Many years ago I used to do a Christmas lesson based on the 'Merry Christmas Mr Bean' video cassette. The programme is full of examples of great British Christmas traditions (stuffing the turkey!)

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my hard drive, I managed to locate the lesson material (created with an ancient version of Word). Anyway, some of you may find it useful so I'm uploading it here:

• Download Merry Christmas Mr Bean Lesson 

As for the video, you can, of course, find it on YouTube. Here's the first part. I've put links to the second and third parts below.

• Part Two
• Part Three

Edicy - Site Creation Tool

There are plenty of free website creation tools available but Edicy has got to be one of the simplest. You just have to give your e-mail address, confirm your registration by e-mail and you can start building your site. You can choose from a range of attractive themes and add, delete, modify any text or pictures as you desire.

Comment: I got my last group of English for Marketing students to create a blog but another possibility would be to get them to create a website for an imaginary company. Edicy would be the perfect platform for such a project.

Buy Nothing Day

Yesterday was Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year in the U.S. By complete contrast, today is Buy Nothing Day, which is being promoted as 'a global holiday from consumerism'. You can find out more on these sites:

• www.buynothingday.co.uk
• Bonfire of the Brands
• Adbusters.org
• BBC Magazine: Should shopping be a patriotic duty? 

Comment: Buy Nothing Day comes at a very interesting time this year. Governments all over the world are trying to kick-start their economies by encouraging consumers to go out and spend, spend, spend. Does this mean that we are not good citizens if we participate in Buy Nothing Day?  Won't we be contributing to the recession? Will you be 'celebrating' Buy Nothing Day? Is BND a stupid idea?

Lesson idea: Show the video below to your students and organize a debate on the following topic: What makes a good consumer?

Black Friday Lesson

Chris Cotter has a lesson about Black Friday on his Heads Up English site. The lesson is at Lower-Intermediate level and consists of an article, comprehension questions and a recording of the article.

Cartoons for the Classroom - Sisyphusian Auto Bailouts

Here's the latest cartoon lesson from Cartoons for the Classroom. For an analysis of the cartoon and an explanation of who Sisyphus was (CLUE: think Greek mythology), download the PDF worksheet.

• For more on the auto bailouts, see this earlier post.

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Cartoons for the Classroom

The latest cartoon from Cartoons for the Classroom features many of the catchphrases, soundbites and buzzwords which defined the 2008 election campaign. How many of the words and phrases are you familiar with?

• Download the cartoon and lesson plan.

Click to enlarge

Man, 100, still on the job

The French parliament recently voted to extend the age at which people can retire to 70. At present companies can force employees to retire at 65. That's nothing compared with American James 'Jimmy' Shaw, who is still manages his family-owned garage at the age of 100. 

Lesson idea: You could use this video as a starter for a discussion about the retirement age: 

• Should people be forced to retire at a certain age? 
• What should be the minimum retirement age? 
• What can governments do to solve the problems caused by an ageing population?           

Additional resources

• Breaking News English lesson on the retirement age
• Conversation questions on youth and age
• Conversation lesson on retirement  

Inside Out e-lesson: The Presidential Election

The latest Inside Out e-lesson from Macmillan is about the U.S. presidential election on 4th November, which, they helpfully inform us, was won by Barack Obama. On the site you'll find a Student's Worksheet, Teacher's Notes and Glossary (all in PDF or Word format) as well as some Related Links. 

While we're on the subject, you could also check out the Macmillan English Dictionary Word of the Week which is Obamamania.