This week, I've signed up for two webinars on the subject of listening.
Today, I'll be connecting my computer at 3pm to watch:
Then, on Wednesday at 4, I'll be online again to take part in another webinar on Listening:
It's a shame that they are taking place this week because last Friday, I was in San Sebastian, giving 2 seminars on ...... Listening! For Cambridge English: First and Cambridge English: Advanced in my case!
Maybe some of you will also be connecting today or Wednesday :·))
I'll be uploading some activities that I prepared for the Cambridge English: Advanced Listening session in my next post!
I said I'd keep an eye out for the advert when it came out and share, so here is the link!
Even more teaching material on this story I felt when I saw it!
There is no talking, just images.
You could do an ordering activity - what are the stages of buying something online and then actually getting it and using it?
You could get students to think about what each person in the video is saying or thinking - the man taking the small box out of the mailbox, the woman and the boy watching out of the window, the buyer when he sees the lorry pull up and then when he gets into the car to drive it for the first time.
And then, at the end, there's a brilliant question for discussion:
It'll be interesting to see what suggestions people come up with!
This story and the video provide discussion material about how much our shopping habits have changed and what things you would/wouldn't buy online.
It's a great way of showing students and teachers what to expect in the test and Olivier's answers and the examiner's reactions and responses really illustrate how candidates need to respond in each part of the test.
For example, if they have to put a small picture next to something in the big picture, then it should be next to that thing, not on it. In that part of the test, candidates' understanding of prepositions of place is tested and the examiner can really see if they understand them well.
We can also see how the Starters Speaking Test moves from understanding and doing (pointing to things in the picture, identifying the small picture and placing it somewhere in the big picture) to speaking more about things related and familiar to the candidates (eg What colour are the buses in Luxembourg?) to questions about the candidates themselves (eg How old are you?, Who do you play with at school?)
And seeing the new visuals for the speaking tests, I'm impressed! Very attractive and colourful!!
Last November, a new form of keeping in touch and sharing ideas with teachers was launched. Each month, teachers who are registered with Cambridge English in Spain will receive a newsletter by email. In November, the newsletter shared information on the Spanish seminar programme and the Cambridge English Teaching Support website. There were also activities around the theme of November 5th, written by Cathy Myers and information on English Penfriends.
In January, Jane Delaney shared some ideas for kicking off the year and you could find out about the Cambridge English seminars taking place in January. (I'll be in San Sebastian on Friday 24th and Bilbao 31st)
And there's a link to new videos for the Young Learners' speaking tests! Yes!!!! Must pass that link on! It's so helpful for candidates to see what the speaking test is all about.
If you're not signed up, and you'd like to now after reading this post, the link to register is:
These days, I am seeing more and more posts and articles about 3D printing. It's something that I have picked up on, but haven't had enough time to explore further.
So this morning, when I was checking my email inbox, I clicked on a link to read an article with the title:
The ‘World’s First 3D-Printed Book Cover’ Features Pop-Up Typography
After reading the article, I am still no further to knowing what the book 'On a full sea' is about, but I must say that I found the cover attractive. I imagine that if you want to buy a copy of this special edition, it would cost considerably more than a normal copy (only 200 have been made and they are all signed by the author) and you couldn't really put it away on a bookshelf because the letters might get squashed and it would look awkward!
Then again, you probably wouldn't want to hide it away because it does look good and wouldn't you agree that the 3D on it looks great from different angles?
The short video about how the cover was developed is available on Youtube. I thought it would be great material for advanced classes, working on language for reviewing and and giving opinions. There is a lot more lexis here than you generally find in coursebooks I felt.
slick, clean, futuristic
And I like the way that Helen Yentus expresses herself and you could work on points that both she and the author make, etc.
I am always struck by how little learners remember about the books they're using - they sometimes remember what colour the cover is, sometimes the name of it, but very often, very little! (Especially if they've covered the book at the start of the school year!!! So maybe having an unusual cover would get over this.
And as a defender of print (I much prefer reading a book rather than an ebook - probably because I spend so much time in front of a screen these days!!!)
I came across an amusing story the other day. It really brought home the power of social media and how difficult it is for anyone to do anything quietly, without anyone noticing.
Of course, the thing that was supposed to happen quietly was quite likely to not happen that way - I mean you can't really hide a box this big away!!!
Another image of this same box was also shared on Imgur with the question:
What's the largest item you can have shipped from Amazon? Because I think my neighbor just got it.
Readers of reddit and viewers of Imgur started speculating about what could be inside this box.
Very quickly, Ad Age media news got hold of the story and linked it to a campaign announced last September by Nissan and Amazon. 3 car buyers would have their brand new Nissan car delivered in an Amazon box.
Nissan then planned to release pictures and videos of the deliveries via social media next week - but the general public beat them to it by sharing the photos on social media themselves!
I think this story will make great class material. Show the picture of the box on the back of the lorry and get students to speculate what's in the box and where the truck is, who it's for, etc.
Then, show them the box with the car visible inside. They discuss why a car was delivered like this.
Next, they can read the story of how the secret was revealed on social media and they could also discuss if this is a good or bad trend.
Language work could include work on wordbuilding and collocation. Here is a screenshot of the word 'secret' from the English Profile vocabulary profile.
And here are the results of my search for 'secret' in the Cambridge dictionaries online:
I'll keep an eye out for the official launch of this campaign next week and share it with you.
This is my first post of 2014 and as usual after a break, it's sometimes difficult to choose what to write about.
This afternoon, I set off with my border collie pup Panda and my daughter Victoria for a walk. We're just coming out of the 'orange alert' for strong winds and strong tides here in Santander, and our walk had to be rerouted when we discovered that we couldn't walk down the walkway along the back of one of the nearby beaches as we'd planned. (In fact, we couldn't even get down to the beach because the whole walkway and steps had been swept away).
A friend of mine was due to travel back to the UK on the ferry. With the strong currents, waves and tides, the ferry didn't sail from the UK to Santander last weekend. She has to wait a week now.
But I realise that all these inconveniences mean nothing against the suffering of people in places like Tacloban the Philippines.
The destruction I saw today made me think about how many times life involves restarting, picking up the pieces, or the threads of what we were working on.
Many teachers will have restarted their classes today or will do tomorrow no doubt (at least here in Spain that is the case).
Many individuals will have made a new year resolution to improve their English, get a qualification (as well as getting fitter, stopping smoking....) Let's hope that many of them are successful and that we can help!!!
Just like those beautiful tiny crocuses that emerge among the snow - I hope that you sprout, grow and shine this year and that your students do too!
