Archive for the Uncategorized Category

Selling the lists of life

Posted in ESL, Music, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2010 by EslImaginarium

Music clip: Quadron – Buster Keaton

Ask the students to watch the music video and write down the words they see.( The words start after 50 secs)

Play this music video a few times:

Tell the students that we are now going to use some of these phrases and words to discuss and debate issues. Students have to check to see if they managed to find the words we focus on.

1. Advertising slogans

Look at the following slogans from the music clip:

stay fresh!!!   Ready to shine    A new star     driven by desire      be cool    dream catcher

These positive slogans could all be used to advertise a product.

What type of product do you think you could sell with each slogan?

Ask students to look at the following slogans and match them with the products.

Click here for a link to many ideas of popular advertising slogans


I’m Luvin’ it      Impossible is nothing     It’s the real thing     The best a man can get     Just do it


Gillette          McDonald’s          X-Box          Adidas          Coca-cola

Show the students the following slide show to check if they are correct:

In groups students think of a product and a catchy slogan to sell it.  Students make a poster of  their advertisement.

2. Lists

The following lists are shown in the music video(1.40)

Warning maybe NSFC (Not safe for the classroom)

This is only appropriate for adult students as the phrase “have sex with honey” may be considered inappropriate with less mature students.  I suppose it all depends on what your students are like and how you think they may react to this sentence.

Ask the students if they know what the word ‘breadwinner’ means.

‘One whose earnings are the primary source of support for one’s dependents.’

Ask the students who the breadwinner is in their family.

Ask the students to make pairs.  One students is given the ‘work list’ and the other student is given the ‘home list’.  Each student will read their list as a dictation and the other will write what they here.  They will each check to see if they managed to write down the list correctly.

Ask the students what their thoughts are about the female who made the list.

Ask what lists they tend to write during the week.(shopping/house work etc.)

Ask the students what is expected of them at home and at work.

‘They always want more’ (1.01)

Who in your life wants more?   Boss/ partner/friends/siblings

Students have to think about their expectations and write their own home/work list.

Students discuss their lists with the other students.

Homework idea:   Students bring a list they have made into the class.  Put all the lists into a box.  Give the lists back to the students making sure that they do not get back their own list.  Each student has to decide who the list belongs to and why.  Students present their findings to the class and discover if they are correct.

3. What is life to you?(2.39)

Students use this ‘wordle’ to think what life means to them now and what it meant  to them throughout the different stages of their life.  Use this as a basis for an essay topic.

Childhood (1.12)Teenagehood(3.14) adulthood (2.40)

Some other suggestion for the students to think about:

Time – Person of the year (2.20) – What award would you like to be given?

Think about the many contrasts throughout life (2.26) :

rise/fall    slower/faster   yes/ no

Can you think of other contrasts?

Using the title ‘What is life to you‘, students write a speech and then present it to the class.

I feel better baby

Posted in ESL, Uncategorized, you tube with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2010 by EslImaginarium

Manufactured pop Vs talented musicians?

Let the students listen to the following two tracks without showing them the videos.

Students have to write down what words/sentences they here.

Let the students listen a second time. Students  have to close their eyes and visualise what they think the video would be to accompany the song.

Students write down their ideas and discuss them with the other students.

Students decide which song they prefer and are separated into groups depending on the track they prefer.

Students now watch the music videos and compare the video with what they thought the video would look like.

1. Baby -Justin Bieber

2. Hot Chip- I feel better

Use this video as a “What happens next” activity.

Stop the video at 1.40 and ask students what they think will happen next.

Give some examples of what could happen and get students to guess what will happen.

1. The alien has a breakdancing  competition with the boy band.

2. The alien shoots the boy band with lasers.

3. The boy band shoots the alien with lasers.

Time to debate:

Do you wish the ‘hot chip’ alien made an appearance  in the Bieber video?

After watching both videos the students have to again decide which they prefer and see if their preferences have changed after watching the video.

If they have changed their minds than ask them to give a reason why.

The students form groups depending on which video they prefered.

Each group has to put forward an argument to why they prefer their chosen song.

The groups battle it out with each group having a set time limit to state their cause.

The Bieber phenomena.  WHY?

Show students the following clip and ask if they think it is funny.

Do they want to see more videos of Justin Bieber being humiliated?

Students use computers to research the Bieber phenomena.

Here is a recent quote form ‘’

“For quite some time now, teen singing sensation Justin Bieber has enjoyed his permanent spot on Twitter’s Trending Topics list. However, as of very recently, Bieber appears to have been knocked off and his fans are wondering what’s happened.”

Why do they think he is so popular?

Do you think he deserves this popularity?

Is there going to be a Bieber backlash?

It’s time to ‘tweet’

Students join the twitter debate and write their own tweet(140 words max.) about their thoughts on the Bieber phenomena.

Too much Bieber – let’s ‘feel better’ with  some more “Hot chip”

Here is another version of the hot chip song featuring the very talented “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy”

Students decide which version they prefer.

Students write down some ideas for a music video for this version.

Make a ‘wordle‘ of all the sentences from the song

Students look at the ‘wordle‘ and put the sentences in the correct order.

Some last words

I ‘feel better’ when I don’t listen to Justin Bieber.

Students write a tweet (140 words max.)and discuss what makes them ‘feel better’.

Working this F*$#!ing job

Posted in ESL, Music, Uncategorized, you tube with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2010 by EslImaginarium

*Warning NSFC-Controversy in the classroom*

Show this clip at the students discretion only.  Advise the students that the following clip is a little controversial and that if they are of a sensitive disposition then maybe it’s best that they do not watch the clip. This clip contains risky language and some scenes of violence.  You could easily edit it so that the words are deleted from the video.

Watch the music video:

Drive by truckers – Working this job

Controversy issues:

Start a discussion about censorship in videos.  Ask the following questions.

1. Why do you think they use the “f-Word” ?

2. What do you think about the use of violence in this clip?

3. What impact did the violence and language have on you?

4. Is it really necessary to include the violence and f-word?

5.  Does it relate to the song and video?   Why?

6.  Is this clip being controversial just to provoke people, which will in turn generate more sales through the media exposure?

Lights, Camera, Action

Students choose from 3 scenes in the clip.  They write a dialogue for the scene and then act it out.

(0.43) Scene outside ‘burger world’.  Dialogue between the  boss of ‘burger world’ and the protagonist.

(2.05) Scene with the man robbing the store. Dialogue between the store clerk and the protagonist.

(3.25) Scene with the police confrontation.  Dialogue between the policeman and the protagonist.

Lyrics – What lyrics do you hear?

Students listen to the clip a few times and write down as many lyrics as they can.

The students compare the lyrics they have written with the other students.

Story time

The students use the lyrics to help them write a story about the clip.

Ask some questions for them to think about.

Why did the man do this?

What were his responsibilities?

“What makes it all worthwhile?”

“Can a family live on fast food wages?”

Game–  In groups students try to write down as many jobs as they can in a set time limit (5mins).

Each group reads out the jobs they have written and if the other groups have the same word then they score it out.  The groups only get points if they have a different word from the other groups.  Subtract points for wrong spelling.

Word magnet-(My first attempt)

Please click here to watch Russell Stannard’s training video about word magnets.

If students have computers in your class room then this application is really good.  If they don’t then use sheets of paper.

Students have to write down as many job words as they can and then separate them into what they consider to be worthwhile jobs and  not worthwhile.

Let’s debate about jobs

When they have divided the jobs into categories the students have a debate about their opinions and why they consider some jobs more worthwhile than others.

Call out a job and have the students who think it is worthwhile go to one side of the classroom and the other students go to the other side.  Both sides think about what they can say to support their arguments in a debate.  Each side is given a time limit to present their ideas.

Some final words

Students have to think about and then discuss what they think is important in life and what responsibilities they have.

Let’s write a story


Students watch “Let’s write a book-Field Music” and try to find the words.

1. Make a wordle using the vocabulary you see in the music video

Watch the music video:

Give the students each a copy of the ‘wordle’.  Drill the words in the ‘wordle’ and check for understanding. Ask the students to circle the words they see  in the video.  Watch the video three times as the images are very fast.  Students count how many words they found.

Add some words to the wordle which are not in the video to make the task more difficult.

To make this activity more competitive put the students into groups.

Ask students what other things they saw which were not in the wordle.  e.x. periscope, rhino etc.

Voice Thread- My first attempt;

I learned how to use this application by watching this helpful step by step guide by Russell Stannard.

I circled all the objects in the movie to show the students where the words are.

Check it out by clicking here.

If students know how to use ‘voice thread‘ then they could add their own comments to the video.

[This is my very first attempt. If I did this again I would choose a brighter colour to highlight the images.]

Let’s write a story

Explain to the students that the song title was called “let’s write a book”.  Tell them that they are not going to write a book but they are going to write a story using as many words from the ‘wordle’ as they can.

How to train your dragon(esl- Movie critic)

Posted in ESL, Movies, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2010 by EslImaginarium

How to :   Offering practical advice and detailed instruction on an activity.

ESL – Movie Critic

Show Mark Kermode’s review of; “How to Train Your Dragon”

Explain to the students that Mark Kermode is a very popular and opinionated movie critic from the UK, who is renowned for his”big flappy hands” and dreadful movie impersonations.  He is very difficult to understand as he talks very fast and this speed, along with his body language show how enthusiastic he is about movies.

This clip can be used in several ways.  Here are some suggestions:

Cloze activity, dictation, Questions about the dialogue.

What did the critics say?

Divide students into groups and allocate each group a different critics review of “how to train a dragon’.  The students have to summarise the thoughts of the critic.

The following are links to reviews of movies:

Roger EbertEmpireMetacriticFlixsterRotten Tomatoes

Now it’s time for critic idol.

Students now have to write their own critique for a movie.  If they have not seen ‘how to train your dragon’ then they can choose the last movie they went to see.

Students watch the following clip to inspire them with ideas on how to conduct a review.

Students are given the following suggestions on how to plan their review.

(1) brief summary

(2)Strengths and weaknesses.(like/don’t like)Why?(give examples)

(3) What characters do you identify with and why?(personality traits)

(4) What was the director intention/message

(5) Marks out of ten :     /10

Students compete in “Critic idol”.

Each student performs their critique in a Kermodian fashion(See the first movie clip of Mark Kermode).  The other students have to decide who is the best critic in the class by giving each critic marks out of ten.

Jing idea- Students record their review of the movie using pictures from the film as a background.

Twitter idea-  Students write a review no longer than 140 characters and they make a twitter board using a big poster to put up in the class or to add to the classes blog.

How to train your dragon (esl trailer-Dialogue)



Listen to the trailer without watching

1. Dictation activity.

Students have to listen to the trailer and write what they hear.  Students are the controller of the video and can ask the teacher to stop/rewind/play.

2. Cloze activity

Students are given the dialogue and are asked to fill in the gaps.

Hiccup: This is my _home____, we have __fishing_____, hunting and a charming view of the __sunsets_____.

The only __problems__ are the pests.  You see, some places have _mice__ or mosquitoes, we have dragons.  Fighting ___dragons__ is everything around here.

My name is ‘Hiccup”.  Iv’e always wanted to be a _great__ viking.

Viking: Oh no you __don’t___.

Hiccup: Oh, come on let me out.  I need to __make__ my mark.

Viking: You can’t lift a __hammer____,  you can’t swing an axe,  you can’t even __throw__ one of these.

Hiccup: But this will throw it for me.

Did I _hit__ it?

Yes, I hit it.   I have brought __down__ his mighty beast.

Hiccup:  eh, _nice__ dragon.  Okay.

no,no, no



Astrid: Get __down___.

Hiccup:  It’s okay.  Astrid,  toothless.

Astrid: You are sooooo busted.

Hiccup: da,da,da,da,da we’re __dead___.

Viking: Either we finish them or they’ll __finish____ us.

Hiccup: Everything we __know____ about them is worng.

Viking: You’re crazy, I ___like__ that.

Hiccup: Let me __show____ you.  Gently

Thank you for ___nothing____ you useless reptile.

3. Questions about Hiccup and his home(answer using sentences)

1.  What is the only problem about Hiccups home?

The pests are the only problem about his home.

2. What two activities can you do?

You can do fishing and hunting.

3.  What view is charming?

The sunsets are charming.

4.   What pests do some places have?

Some places have mice or mosquitoes.

5.  What is everything around there?

Fighting dragons is everything around there.

6.   What has he always wanted to be?

He has always wanted to be a great Viking.

7.   What does he need to do?

He needs to make his mark.

8. What 3 things can’t he do?

He can’t lift a hammer, swing an axe or throw one of these.

9. What does he bring down?

He has brought down a mighty beast.

4. Madlibs

In groups the students try to fill in the gaps with their own ideas.  The funniest mad lib wins.

This is my home.  We have _skiing_____, __snowboarding_ and a ___beautiful__ view of the ___moon_____.

The only problems are the _monsters__.  You see most places have _goblins___ or __trolls____.  We have __yeti___. ___kissing__ __Yeti____is everything around here.

My name is ___Andy____.  I’ve always wanted to be a _great warrior ___


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