Proverbs

Students in class 4 have studied some of the most common proverbs.

They've been asked to write down some conversations and write in them the most appropriate proverbs.

This is one of the conversations they've written

A: Hey!
B: Hey! How are you doing?

A: I'm really bad, my girlfriend left me for another boy and I'm crying every day and I cannot sleep and leave home
B: C'mon my friend, let bygones by bygones, there are billions of girls in the world, it's no use crying over spilt milk.
A: I know dude, but she broke my heart and I don't know if another girl will be able to fix it
B: yeah,of course, don't worry about it. You are so young, you'll find a girl better than your former one.... of course
A: I hope, thanks for your encouragement
B: You're welcome..oh and for this reason tonight we're going to a party to have fun and to get distracted from our thoughts
A: What a wonderful idea, really...thanks for your help
B: You're welcome, you know, and remember ....She will get what she deserves
A: See you tonight

FIGURES OF SPEECH

What's a metaphor?

What's a simile?

Students have been asked to find metaphors and similes in songs

One of them has chosen 

Sound of silence (Oxymoron!!!)

by Simon and Garfunkel

She presented the song and she pointed out the metaphors and the similes

The words in red  are metaphors and the words in blue  are similes

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence”

TALK TO or TALK WITH

TALK TO or TALK WITH ?

Some say there’s NO difference when two people are having a conversation between talk to and talk with. Some just say that talk with is more used in American English and talk to is mainly used in British English.

Said that, you can say “Helen is talking to John” or “Helen is talking with John” – they’re the same!

However, some people on the Internet say there’s a difference. They claim that talk to should be used when it’s only one person speaking, and talk with should be used when you have a two-sided discussion.

What does it mean?

When we talk to someone, we are not always interested in their opinion, we just want to tell them what we think. It’s a one way interaction.

Talk with someone usually means having a discussion with someone. I tell him or her what I think and I also listen to what he or she has to say. It’s a two-way interaction.

In the first case

talk to = one person does most of the talking.

Example: I’ll talk to him tonight = I’ll give him orders to behave himself.

In the second case

talk with = two people speak with each other on an equal basis.

For example: May  I talk with you about a problem I'm having?

So if you consider the following  sentences there’s a slight difference

I talked to my mother and she said I had to stay at home

I talked with my mother  and she said I had to stay at home

In the first sentence she ordered me to stay at home.

In the second sentence we had a real conversation, a discussion, a two-sided conversation.

In conclusion if I say I need to talk to you means I have something to explain to you, to order, to communicate…stop.

If I say I talked with my friends during the party means I had a real conversation/discussion  with them.

Romeo and Juliet The ball

After having studied Romeo and Juliet and having focused on their first meeting at a masked ball,  I’ve told students to create an imaginary conversation where a boy  declares his love to a girl…..in a poetic way ….like Romeo does….then they decide whether she returns his feelings or not.

All of them have done well and it could be worth while reading all their written activities about that topic.

Anyway, I’ve had to choose just three of those activities…..the shortest ones.....(many of them are longer....)

A.   Hi, Juliet…

B.    Hi, Mike…how are you?

A.   I’m fine now because I have to tell you something

B.    What’s happened?

A.   I’ve thought over and over….. these days…..

B.    About what….?

A.   About us. I feel something for you. It’s not a simple crush. I’m really in love with you….When I see you I feel something inside me. It’s like to see the sun after days of rain or to see the water when you’re dying of thirst. Do you remember when I said to you that you’re pretty? You’re not pretty…..you’re beautiful like a rose that blooms in spring and you’ve bloomed in my heart. If you were in my head you’d understand how many things I’d like to tell you

B.    There’s no need for me to be in your head because I feel the same things for you and what you’ve said about me makes me feel very happy. The only thing I want to do now is to kiss you.

UNREQUITED LOVE

Lucas Dear Miranda I’m writing you this letter to tell you how much you are special to me, you are the only girl who makes my heart beat so loud, the only person that makes my soul shine and it shines more than sunlight. I love everything of you: your eyes, your hair, your smile, the way you speak. I know we are two different people, you are a rich girl and I’m a poor boy, sure I could not buy you rich jewels but I could give you my love and my soul. So I want to declare my love to you. I expect patiently for your answer.

Miranda Dear Lucas you won’t like the things I’m gonna tell you. I’ve just read the letter and I’ve appreciated the things you wrote me but I’m in love with another boy, I don’t feel anything for you….I hope you will understand this and I also hope you’ll find a girl who returns your feelings.

                              A.   I think we need to talk

B.    About what???

A.   A.   The two of us

B.    Okay...I’ll listen to you

A.   You know that after my last relationship I haven’t fallen in love again…

B.    Yeah, I know that..it was one year ago, I suppose right?

A. Right. One day my mum told me “You’ll fall in love again. It’ll happen again and it’ll be wonderful and amazing…just like it was the first time….and maybe also painful…but until then, be your own anchor”. I was the anchor of myself for a long time, but now I’ve realized that I’m in love with you. No matter if you refuse me or if you returns my feelings. I’ve had to tell you.

A.   Oh, I don’t know what to say, I’m shocked. I liked when you were engaged last year and I still like you.

A.   That’s the power of love… I suppose, every other little thing in your life could be perfectly  planned, but when you miss someone it’s hell…..and in my life I miss you

B.    I’ve never been so happy in my life..

A.   Me too. I’ve finally took off a huge burden from my mind. Do you wanna go out with me tonight?

B.    Yeah, obviously. First date?

A.   Maybe..see you tonight..darling

Shakespeare in Love | 'Bonus Feature' (HD) - Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Pal...

BEING BRAVE

What is courage?
What does "being brave" mean?
Who's your role model?
These were the questions of a speaking and writing activity, last week.
I think the most interesting text is the following one:



People need to show their courage in difficult situations.
My role models are immigrants. They leave their countries because of civil wars and political reasons.  They go to other countries on dangerous boats, risking their lives.
But when they arrive they need to show courage more and more because they are in poor conditions and they may be discriminated.
For them, it is difficult to show courage, but they have to  do, as they want to continue their lives. 






Another student has written about courage trying to use the linkers we've studied. Well done!!!

What's courage?

In some situations, you need to show great courage, for example disasters or incidents which may happen every day.

Firstly, having courage is a question of control. So, if you are afraid, keep calm and think over. Sometimes you need to make a choice very quickly.

Secondly, you have to act immediately, for example if there is an earthquake, you have to escape quickly, but first you have to wait some seconds under the table or under an archway.

In addition, it isn’t easy to show courage, because fear may paralyse you and you may do stupid things, so the situation may get worse and worse.

There are a lot of famous role models of bravery. They are well known heroes such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Pope Francis.

Mandela fought against racism and apartheid. Gandhi used non-violent means to obtain Indian independence. Pope Francis saved the life of many people in Argentina.

In conclusion, courage is a rare quality, but even common people can become heroes when they are obliged to do the right things and save lives.

CONNECTORS

We  use Sentence Connectors   to express relationships between ideas and to combine sentences.
Of course, it's very difficult for a non-native speaker to use connectors in spoken language.
The main tendency is to use  very basic sentences; to be honest sometimes even a more advanced learner of English can find some problems in using them when speaking fast.
However, when writing, it is very important to use sentence connectors to organize the text and give it some coherence.
Generally, I start telling students to consider the positive and negative aspects of " something".
Last week I told them to focus on social media sites and choose one of them, writing about its positive and negative aspects.
This is what one of my students wrote. He read the text and he didn't use any sentence connectors.
Then I asked the class to add up to the text the following connectors:
First of all, 

Secondly,

Thirdly,

Finally,

However, 

Firstly, 

In addition, 

What’s more, 

Also

In conclusion

They realized that it made more sense and in general the text "flowed" better.
These are "simple connectors" for students studying English at a basic level.
We'll keep on with some more difficult connectors.

A social network- Facebook

FACEBOOK  is a social network.

It’s popular everywhere in the world and it’s used by a lot of people.

This social site has both advantages and disadvantages.

First of all, you can communicate with your friends in real time.

Secondly, you can get information and news from all over the world.

Thirdly, it’s a very convenient means of communication.

Finally, you can share what you like (ex. songs, photos, videos…)

However, this social network, like others, has some disadvantages, as well.

Firstly, it can be addictive and this situation can lead to serious diseases.

In addition, you can lose your privacy.

What’s more, in recent years on this site there have been people with false identities that can deceive you and your friends.

There is also cyberbullying and a lot of teenagers suffer  very much because of that.

In conclusion,  Facebook is really helpful like some other social  sites but you  have to be careful when using it.

Shakespeare's idioms

This is a selective list of idioms coined by Shakespeare which are still used in the English language today....some of them are also used in the Italian language.....

  

All's well that ends well
Brave New World

Cold comfort
Devil incarnate
Fair play
In a pickle
Jealousy is the green-eyed monster
It was Greek to me

Much ado about nothing
Own flesh and blood
Star-crossed lovers
Something in the wind
Spotless reputation
Stony hearted
What's done is done
What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/shakespeares-idioms-lesson-1