Mothers' Day Flashcards

Mother's day is fast approaching!
Here's a set of flash cards using some figurative language with mom's in English!



Once you've studied with the flashcards you can try out the game scatter


Love studying with FlashCards but hate making them? I Just started offering my services creating flashcards for you! This includes audio and visual (if you like). Check it out on Fiverr

What's the buzz, and other bee idioms

As I promised in the last post, here's a post about different bee idioms. At the bottom you can see handouts you can use in your class!

1. What's the buzz?- What's new? 

Why? When people are in a room talking quietly it can sound like buzzing. "What's the buzz on your new student?"

2. Buzz with (something)-Be excited about (_)

 Why? As with above, the sound of many people sounds like buzzing, so these terms are very similar.  "The teacher's lounge buzzed with strangers only present for the conference at lunch."

3. Make a beeline for / to- To head straight for something

Why? Before we understood the science of the bee's waggle dance people noticed that bees tended to leave their hive and go straight for the source of nectar (usually flowers) , that is, 'make a beeline' for it.  "When I get to school, I make a beeline for my laptop."

4. Like Bees to honey- to be attracted to something

Why? Since bees are normally where honey is, people assumed that they must be attracted to it. Hence, "Women are attracted to him like bees to honey"

5. Buzz off- Go away!

Why? When you want a bee to leave you alone you can have it, "buzz somewhere else." Hence you ask it to buzz off. The same applies to people, cats and dogs :) "I've told you a million times; I won't date you because you're marries. Now buzz off!" NOTE: This is pretty rude.

6. Hive of activity- Very busy!

Why? Have you ever looked inside a hive? It is normally swarming with bees all very purposefully working. Hence, when a place is busy it becomes a hive of activity. "Normally the airport is quite empty, but Friday nights it turns into a hive of activity."

7. None of your beeswax- None of your business.

Why? This is a juvenile play on words because business and beeswax sound similar. I wouldn't suggest using it in an official setting, unless you're making a pun. "Stop asking me for your friend's grade! I told you it's none of your beeswax."
NOTE: Also MYOB: Mind Your Own Beeswax :)

8. Bee in his bonnet- To be very focused on one idea

Why? Imagine that you were wearing a bonnet like the one pictured on the left. Suddenly a bee flies into your bonnet. Would you be thinking of anything other than the bee?  "First time blog readers must think I have a bee in my bonnet about Springtime"

9. The birds and the bees

Why? This is what we say as a euphemism for birth (including sex). It become this as many parents would try to explain birth by using an example that didn't require mentioning intercourse, hence: the birds and the bees. "If I am not ready to explain the birds and the bees to a child, then I am probably not ready to have a child."

10. The bees knees- Awesome / Amazing

Why? This is a fun one! When I was younger I was taught it was 1920's slang for business. As in something was good business so it was the bee's knees. Others have suggested the bee's knee is where pollen is kept hence making that a great spot! In truth we may never know, but it is still fun to say :) "The new coffee place is the bee's knees" Note: Officially (in dictionaries) I see this bee's knees. I've also seen it bees' knees. In most newspapers it is bees knees. I am not sure there is a solid punctuation rule.

So there you are TEN idioms related to bees. There's one I left off just because I felt it was too easy :P If you think you know it you can leave it in the comments!

Following is a worksheet of five pages. Two are designed for children, two for older learners and the final activity page can be used with anyone.

 

Bee Idioms from Carissa Peck

Idioms Inforgraphic

Idioms are a lot of fun to teach and learn. Learners need them to communicate in business, to understand movies, and to enjoy songs.  This infographic covers lots of fun facts about idioms from the most used idioms to about how many idioms are used per minute!
  The Idiomgraphic - An infographic by LAL Schools

Mixed Metaphors and Horses

I was reading Shanthi's blog when it talked about horse idioms and it immediately reminded me of this clip from a movie I watched last week:

The idioms used are, "put the cart before the horse," and "get back on that horse."  Mixed metaphors always make me laugh :-)

There are two other horse idioms I say quite a bit; here's a sample conversation using both of them.

FRANK: I think I am going to ask Susie to marry me.
BOB: Hold your horses, didn't you just start dating last week?
FRANK: Well yes, but you and your wife got engaged the week after you met!
BOB: That's a horse of a different color. We had been dating online for years!

If you haven't figured out what these idioms mean yet, here are some quick definitions:

Put the cart before the horse: To do things in the wrong order (worry about something before you've gotten to that point).
Get back on the horse: Get back to doing something (normally after a failure)
Hold your horses: Slow down!
Horse of a different color: A completely different thing than the one previously discussed. Normally used to

Fun video for Business idioms

We are doing business idioms today and I found this great video!

The actual cartoon starts at the 5 second mark. I used it as an attention getter. We watched the video and then went over what the idioms meant figuratively versus literally. We talked about different ways to express the same idea as the idiom. Then we went into our lesson. The students really enjoyed the video!

Since once of the idioms used was, "It's curtains for you," I also mentioned Dr. Horrible. Some students recognized the reference and laughed. The rest just thought I was crazy.

You can grab a simple free worksheet (which includes the transcript) here at TPT. If you don't have an account it is free to create one; just register here!

Business Idioms & Phrasal Verbs

Today we had the start of a MOOC for teaching idioms in a business class. The class didn't work because of technological issues, but it reminded me of this e-mail I received ages ago. So I looked it up and I found it!

 

I believe in the power of humor in a class, and I think that this is pretty funny. In fact I made a quick worksheet to use with my University students in a business English class in the hopes that they will crack a smile too.  Though the class is teaching business English they are required to take the TOEFL to pass the course.

The intent is to get them to tell me a word's definition and then read the text. Hopefully they'll see that in the TOEFL they can't just guess what a word means without reading the text.

The worksheet is pretty basic but can be downloaded for free at Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Funny Sketch About Different English Learners' Problems

This is a fun sketch that goes over the different problems a student may have in a class.

One student struggles with grammar! This is the students I would be most like. With a student weak in grammar I suggest lots of reading, movies, fun drills, and maybe some grammar comics. 

There's another student who is pretty bad at spelling (and thus pronunciation!). There are a few great sites out there if your students can't spell, but I usually know a few good spelling tricks to help out students.

http://www.spellingcity.com/ 

http://www.spellingcity.com/ gave a free password for Teacher's Appreciation Day.

The next student struggles with idioms and proverbs. If you can find these in songs or movies it may help your students remember them.

The final girl has large problems with her vocabulary. There's an entire MOOC going on right now on how to teach vocabulary. I have an older blog post that covers some basic suggestions for activities, games, and quizzes.

And the last student struggles with emphasizing words (and vowel sounds). I am pretty bad with pronunciation other than using minimal pairs and jokes. but the 34th ELT Blog Carnival has given me many more ideas to work with.

The Carnival will be published on September 1st, so all submissions must be received before August 31st.

See http://eslcarissa.blogspot.mx/2013/07/the-34th-elt-blog-carnival-pronunciation.html for more information.

Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo- Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

Graphic per: http://www.tumblr.com/

I try to avoid using worksheets with songs as I prefer to use them with TPR or other activities that don't require a worksheet. However, I've had this idea stuck in my head for about 72 hours so I made a quick worksheet for my TOEFL students tomorrow.

NOTE: This (clearly) includes references to alcohol) please DO NOT use this unless your EFL students are old enough and your school is OK with it.


The worksheet basically replaces the phrasal verbs, idioms and lesser known words in the lyrics with synonyms. The students read the lyrics and match the synonyms with their original lyrics (found in a word bank below).

The song is a great because it really does use lots of idioms e.g. carry a tune in a bucket, drown my sorrows, left feet, etc. It is country (which I find tends to be a bit slower and easier to understand than other music genres). I know some people avoid country music because of the "twang" factor, but this one became pretty popular on the Bilboard charts, so it appealed to people other than country fans (like me).

If you want to check out the song here's a music video set to the music:

The original album

The single

This worksheet (one page with a one page answer sheet) is available for free on Teachers Pay Teachers. If you don't already have a membership it is FREE just sign up here. If you do download the worksheet please leave a review to tell me what you thought or comment here.

What's your favorite song to use with idioms?

Coffee and Dress Codes

It no surprise that I wasn't thrilled with my last minute Summer class, but I vowed to make the best of it and my small EFL class and I have had a good time studying different TOEFL techniques. We've played BINGO, used some jokes, and have rocked out to some tunes in class. Nonetheless it can be exhausting having the same class day after day and today I decided that we all needed coffee.

In the normal class

All of my students (who have been smiley-faced to protect their identities) and I meet in a perfectly fine classroom every day for three hours. We started class with business as usual with a quick idiom review in the form of BINGO and then taking the partial exam in our class and then students took their break (while I graded the exam and calculated their partial grade).

At the coffee shop

The possible dress

After, I told them we needed to get the heck out of the class and I took them to a cafe nearby (a short 5-10 minute walk of about 600 meters). There we talked about my friend's upcoming wedding and how I was unsure if we could wear a pink dress to a wedding because it had a cream top and you shouldn't wear white to a wedding. We talked about other wedding rules (like not to wear black to a wedding or how some cultures consider wearing green to a wedding bad luck). It was funny to me how one of the students whom I had always considered a tomboy was adamant, "Of course you can't wear cream to a wedding!" whereas the more feminine students were oblivious to any possible faux pas.

This transitioned well into the "actual" lesson about dress code. The lesson plan the curriculum called for was based on an article from the Christian Science Monitor on a middle school student who died his hair blue and earned detention. It is a good article, and a great topic, but it is over 10 years old. So I used this one about banning yoga pants in school instead. If you have school-aged students talking about dress code is usually great because it is something they love to discuss! Here's the quick worksheet available for free on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can use to help discuss this topic. I don't usually make my students fill out the comprehension questions, rather we use them as discussion points during the lesson. When we got stuck on a word I could quickly google it on my tablet and show them the google image result.

I am not sure if it was the topic, or the fact I got the students out of the classroom, but it went over really well. They stayed in English and relaxed as we talked about their opinions. Normally my EFL classes frustrate me a little, because they all share the same opinion. This time we had varied ideas. Some thought dress codes were essential especially in middle school since the students were too young to make their own decisions, but in high school they should be able to learn their own restraint. One thought that dress codes should never be implemented.  Finally one student thought that teenagers need regulations because they are too eager to show off.

Before they left I had them write a quick paragraph about how much of an influence they felt a school should have over students. Their casual attitudes were seen in the their writing too. They seemed to have less anxiety even though writing is their least favorite skill.

One student's answer

So there we go, a simple three skill lesson: Reading, Speaking and Writing. And like Mary Poppins said, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." Or, in this case a few cups of coffee!


If you have older students who you don't think would want to discuss school dress codes check out this Breaking News English mini-lesson about the dress code for train drivers.

Have you ever taken your students out of the classroom? How did it work?

Using jokes to prepare for the TOEFL

I picked up quite a few free joke books over the weekend to skim through and pick out some goodies.

Why did I pick up jokes? Well to help me teach of course! Just like I think comics are helpful, I think jokes can be great for a class. I am about to give a Summer long TOEFL class which consists of 3 hours a day of TOEFL training. The class isn’t my favorite to teach as it focuses on passing the test; that is to say, we spend more time on form than meaning. I try my best to make it a bit more communicative and fun through jokes, music videos etc. After all, a day without laughter is a day horribly spent.

Less than a penny a joke: $.99

So, to start: 101 best jokes. Are these the best jokes? Probably not. A lot of these are old, and quite a few I just didn’t find funny (including a section on "yo momma" jokes). However, as a teacher this book does provide reminders of some great jokes to use in class.

• For example, if you are going to review plurals (fox-foxes, datum- data, dice-die) this is a great joke to start the class
• “Julius Caesar walks into a bar, “I’ll have a martinus,” he says. The bartender gives him a puzzled look and asks, “don’t you mean a ‘martini’?”
  “Look,” Julius Caesar retorts, “If I wanted a double, I’d have asked for it”
• A classic grammar gem (usually underappreciated by students) 
• “The past, the present and the future walk into a bar. Then things get tense” 
•  Working on homonyms? They show up a lot in the listening section and sometimes in the reading.
• Here's a classic to review the different meaning bar can have: “Two guys walk into a bar. The third ones ducks” 
•  Practicing idioms for the TOEFL? 
• “I used to have a handle on life, but it broke” is an easy one.

It has a few other jokes that would fit each of the above categories and be a great addition to your class. Though honestly out of all the joke books here it wasn't my favorite and had quite a few jokes I felt perpetuated negative stereotypes (blonde jokes for example) and would prefer not to use in my class. Normally 99cents for your kindle on Amazon.com the price is right.

Usually sold for $2.99

The next book up is the  Ultimate Family Joke Book

Every single one of these was appropriate for class, though I am not sure I’d use every single one. Here are some that would be helpful for my TOEFL class.

• Working on homophones? 
•  What did the mother bird say to the baby bird when it didn’t talk nicely? Don’t use fowl language.
• What about homonyms?
• Why is it always so hot in a stadium after a football game? Because all the fans leave
• What color socks to bears wear? They don’t wear socks they have bear feet. 
• Similar Sounds: The TOEFL does a lot with similar sounds. Students need to differentiate between Leaf and Leave. Knock knock jokes can be great for this:
• Knock knock Who’s there Joanna Joanna who Joanna come out and play. 
• Practicing idioms for the TOEFL? Idioms often show up in jokes and this has a few examples. 
•  Which runs faster hot or cold? Hot, anyone can catch a cold.
• Patient: I think I am a pair of curtains Doctor: Pull yourself together.
• Patient: I think I am a needle. Doctor: Yes I can see your point. 

If you want to start (or end) each class with a laugh, any of these jokes are good for a laugh and I think I would end up using most of them, meaning the $2.99 would be a good investment.

Usually $2.99

Since I just talked about why knock knock jokes are good I may as well slide into the Ultimate Knock Knock Joke Book. I am not sure if I would classify this as the ultimate, but many of them would be useful for class. A lot of these are great to practice hearing words correctly, which comes up on the TOEFL listening a lot.

A few of my favorites:

• Knock Knock Who’s there? Gorilla. Gorilla who? Gorilla cheese sandwich for my lunch please
• Knock knock Who’s there? Turnip who? Turnip the volume, it’s quiet in here.

That being said a lot of these are old. If you think you can remember your own knock knock jokes then you can probably save yourself the $2.99. If, one the other hand, you think your class would enjoy knock knock jokes and you just can't remember any this would be money well spent.

Normally $2.99

At this point you get the drill. 101 kids Jokes is great because the jokes are all very basic. It still had a few for idioms and several for homophones and homonyms. Here are some of my favorite examples:

• Homophones
• What are twin’s favorite fruit? Pears
• Idioms
• Why can’t  a rooster every get rich? Because he works for chicken feed.
• Why did the picture go to jail? Because it was framed.
• Homonyms
• Why did the bicycle fall asleep? Because it was two tired

Some of these are REALLY corny and I am not sure older students would like them, but you know your class better than I do!

Normally $1.99 Currently Free!

2 books for $2.99!

The last two books are both by IP Factly: 101 Fish Jokes for Kids and Knock Knock Jokes for Kids DOUBLE PACK '101 Knock Knock Jokes for kids' and '101 MORE Knock Knock Jokes for kids'

• Minimal pairs sometimes pop up on the listening.
•  How do prawns and clams communicate? Shell-phones (from the Fish book)
• Knock Knock. Who’s there? Dishes. Dishes who? This is your friend let me in. (Knock Knock)
•  Homonyms 
• How do you know the sea is glad to see you? It waves
• Idioms
• What did the shark say to its broken hearted friend? There’s plenty of fish in the sea.

The moral of the story is, whatever website or book you use you are sure to find a few funnies you can use for your class! I snagged all of these books while they were being offered for free, so if you click now you too may be able to load them to your kindle (or whatever device you use) at no charge. If you are reading this later and they are no longer free they are all under $3.00 making them less than a coffee!

I'll make more posts later on how to specifically use jokes in the class, but if you come up with any activities on your own please post them in the comments!

What’s your favorite joke to use in class? Do you have a joke book or a web page you consult when you need something to tickle your funny bone?

Business Idioms and Proverbs "They Cooked the Books"

We are in the process now of changing one of our college English as a Foreign Language classes from an academic writing course to more of a business course. So when I found "They Cooked The Books": A Humorous Look at the World of White-Collar Crime I thought it would be a fun read and maybe useful! I was right on both counts.

The author, Patrick Edwards, is a fellow California native so we seem to have similar views on quite a few things. While his knowledge of the financial industry is different, I find most of his references very humorous. 

 I wouldn't suggest giving this books to students (unless they are pretty advanced and have an interest in finance), but I think that having read it I can now give a better history and some fun examples for business idioms!

Basically throughout the book he goes through different proverbs and idioms explaining where they come from and how we can see them used today. I admit I skim through most of the financial explanations, but I enjoy the origins a lot.

For example, his first chapter explains "Cook the books" comes from the 1930's when the Earl of Straffor stated, "The proof was once clearr, however, they have cooked it ever since." He even references a use in current pop culture like this Beetle Baily:

If you have some free time and are teaching a business class this is a fun book to scan.

What's your favorite place to find idiom origins? Or what's your favorite financial idiom to teach?

The History of English

This video is a great one! I also use it when my students ask me, "Teacher why is this word the same as the word in French?" or "Why do words get spelled differently even if they sound the same."



It is pretty fast for most students, but the visuals help and I can pause it and repeat as needed. When we go over idioms, congnates, or many other lessons, I enjoy showing this quick video; students seem to love it too.

Top 6 reasons I like MOONFLOWER to teach (and how!)

The Cover of Moonflower with Anthony Misiano.

You can read more about the movie at the official site.
1. Students won't have seen it before.

Since it was independently made, the odds of a student already having seen it are pretty low. That means it will be new and exciting to them so they won't get bored, and they will need to pay attention.

2. It is only 40 minutes!

It can be watched in classes as short as 50 minutes to COMPLETION! Awesome! No more remembering where the DVD left off. No more trying to squeeze it into one class by skipping “unimportant” parts. This movie actually fits a class time.

3. There are a lot of non-dialogue moments

The movie isn't all talking. This gives students a chance to infer, take a break from listening and still follow the movie's plot.

4. It is visually interesting

It isn't filmed in a known place (e.g. school). There's a desert, a forest, etc. These changing scenes allow students to easily plot the progress of the film and keep them engaged.

5. It is appropriate

In one scene the main character drinks a few beers before he goes to sleep; in another scene a pirate shoots another pirate (who is off screen). There is no bloodshed, cursing, nudity, sex, nor sexual innuendo. As such the movie doesn't make me want to fast forward at any point nor have my students plug their ears.

6. The price is right

Moonflower is LEGALLY available for download for just $4 online. I know that as teachers we are all strapped for cash, but that's less than a most medium drinks at Starbucks. Even making pesos in Mexico I am financially capable of buying it.

HOW TO TEACH WITH MOONFLOWER

1. If you have used Romeo and Juliet before, OR they have learnt it in other classes you can easily use Moonflower with a Romeo and Juliet theme.

• The movie recreates a scene from Romeo and Juliet. How is that scene appropriate to the rest of the film?
• Early in the movie Scott says, “Be confident. Be romantic. Be Romeo.” Do you find Romeo to be romantic? Why or why not? Use EXAMPLES! (Alternatively compare and contrast Romeo to Scott)
• Does Romeo and Juliet prove that “What young men do in the name of love is as much courageous as it is desperate” Use examples from Romeo and Juliet to support your opinion.
• The yeti says, “I was in love once, at least I thought I was; I loved I know that for sure but I don't think now that I was actually in love.” Were Romeo and Juliet in love or did they just love? Use examples from the play to prove your point. 
  

2. To practice/reinforce idioms. We all know that idioms don't translate literally as such they can be hard for students to grasp. There are lots of ways to use this movie to teach idioms.

• You can pre-teach the idioms (with pictures) and then see how many idioms they recognize during the movie.
• With higher level classes you can just tell them to make note of any idioms they hear in the movie (this is hard for many students).
• Alternatively you can simply teach the idioms before so that idioms aren't a problem for understanding the movie.
• A fun activity to do would be to pre-teach the real meanings, watch the movie, and then have them draw the literal meaning on one side of paper and the figurative meaning on the other (using the scenes from the movie as inspiration).

Here are a list of some idioms used throughout the movie:

Break a leg-

Has a crush on you-

Ask him out-

Things were going real nice-

I wanna make it right-

I won't hold back my wrath-

Don't try anything funny-

You'll have hell to pay in full-

The men were hoping to have a word with you-

I think we can spare a minute-

Word is he's lost it-

I make a mean cup of-

I can't put my finger on it-

I am out-

3. Paragraph Writing. Saying what something symbolizes is great practice for writing paragraphs. Students write what something symbolizes (Topic Sentence) and then they have to say why (3 Main Ideas/Concrete Details) and provide support from the movie (Details/Examples/Commentary).

• In one class I passed out a simple worksheet with a gap-fill of the movie (to make sure they paid attention). Each person was given a character (Post, The Pirates, or Big Foot) they had space to take notes on what their character, looked like, said, and basically did throughout the movie. In the end they were given a blank outline where they had to argue what their character symbolized. I had some really great ones! The Pirates symbolized obstacles in life; the Others symbolized Scott's repressed selves, etc. (Sample worksheet: http://www.scribd.com/doc/106303735/Moonflower-Teachers)
• Really any question involving symbolism would work, though some lend themselves to more research. For example:
  • He calls her first at 10:11, later he calls her at 12:10, when he wakes up it is 3:39 what significance could these times have? (Bible verses, Romero and Juliet lines, what the number spells on a telephone etc. Try to encourage creativity)
  • Research the plant called the Moonflower. How does it symbolize the movie?
  • Throughout the movie there are different beverages, water in the theater, beer at the house, and tea with the yeti. How do these symbolize Scott's emotional state? Or what else could these symbolize?

4. Random questions: Though these questions could also be answered in paragraph form they could also be simply answered.

• In the picture with Sara he has his eyes closed. What significance does that have compared to the rest of the movie?
• Appearances can be deceiving. Find examples of this in the movie (think about the yeti!)
• The only advice in the book is “Be Clever.” What other brief advice could you suggest? Why?
• Scott uses the key from the theater to open the door to another theater. Pretend you used your house key, what do you think you would find inside? How would it be different?
• Scott's speech for the pirates to stop in the theater could be considered a speech to himself. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

5.Summarizing and Paraphrasing 

• Summarizing is easy. Either, divide the movie into parts and have students summarize each part, or just have them summarize the whole movie. Giving them a word count or character count (like twitter) will help them really cut out unessential information.
• Take out lines from the movie and have them re-write them in their own words. This works well with many of the yetis lines though the Sand Pirates work well too. Remind students to keep the meaning the same!

6. Movie reviews: Show them a sample movie review and then get them to write one of their own. 

 If you get a chance to use any of these ideas let me know! Or, if you have any ideas on how to change an activity or use the movie differently please share!