While learning English with idioms is not for beginners, two of my enthusiastic students are up for anything. On a unit about personality traits, I brought in a few examples of idioms to describe people (on the list were down to earth, daydreamer, out of one's mind, teacher's pet, cry-baby and others.) What do you think these two are?
Guess the English language idioms!
While learning English with idioms is not for beginners, two of my enthusiastic students are up for anything. On a unit about personality traits, I brought in a few examples of idioms to describe people (on the list were down to earth, daydreamer, out of one's mind, teacher's pet, cry-baby and others.) What do you think these two are?
3 Comments
M, A, R and J are my Thursday afternoon English "conversation" class participants. They are 9 years old, all cousins (two of them twins) and wonderful. Being cousins they know each other well and by the end of our time together they are often wrestling on top of each other on the couch in the living room. There is a lot of energy in the room, and early on I decided to avoid sitting in the chairs around the table unless they wanted the hard surface to write or draw on. We sit on the floor or on the couches. A couple of weeks ago we finished our topic of body parts. This was review for what they've already learned in school, but some new words came up (like thigh and belly button), and in order to let THEM take their learning in whatever direction they pleased, I asked if, in pairs, they would like to create songs with body part vocabulary. Within 30 seconds they were spitting and laughing out suggestions. Within 20 minutes they had choreographed dances and invented lyrics. We invited Abuela (Grandma) in to watch their performances. Here are the lyrics of R and A's song called "I'm Horrible!" Why is The Big Rock Candy Mountains a great song to sing with a class of Spanish 12 year olds? 1. This song has a ton of new awesome words and phrases (words even I had to look up before class). 2. It's about a paradise land full of free food and napping. 3. This song, first recorded in the 1920's by Harry McClintock, is said to come from one man's account of hobo traveling of the US in the late 1800's or early 1900's. In class my co-teacher could note on some US history that varies from today's pop-culture. "Railway bulls," for example, were those who policed trains to kick off ticketless riders into the Great Depression. 4. The song is a break from recognizable English song choices that students often know, such as hits from Bob Marley and the Beatles (which are fun choices, but they are not from the US, and as part of my role this year to share US-specific culture with the students I'd like to share US artists and songs when possible).
|
yes blog is currently 'archived'yes blog started when I moved from the States to Spain in 2012 and documented the results of saying 'yes' - to the people and learning opportunities - that came my way. Archives
October 2014
Categories
All
|