Shakespeare invented new words and idioms

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS CREATED BY SHAKESPEARE in a class activity.

The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of English common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original. Below some  conversations built up by the students in a fourth class using some of the words and expressions created by Shakespeare. Their task was to write down dialogues trying to use the most famous Shakesperian inventions.

1) SOMETHING IN THE WIND

Emilie and David have had a relationship for 5 years, but one day Emily meets Alexander, her new classmate.

He's handsome and everyone enjoys his company, but he's aggressive with her.

In fact he really likes making fun of her.......but maybe between them there's something deeper and for all the studnts of the school there's "something in the wind"

Emily is really confused and so she decides to talk with Jasmine her best friend

Emily: Hey Jasmine! I'm really confused because David is my boyfriend and I love him, but I really like Alex too. What can I do?

Jasmine: Oh, my God! Alexander! Really?! But he's so stupid instead David really loves you and he's generous with you.

Emilie: Yes, I know! But there's something strange between us....and I can't stop thinking about him.

Jasmine: Oh, I've understood that there was " something in the wind"!!!

But now, you've to choose between them

Emilie: I think I'm in love with Alex

Jasmine, yes, I know. After all " love is blind"

2) BREAKING THE ICE
Alex hey Pedro! How are you?
Pedro Hey! I'm fine and you?
Alex I'm fine and I want to tell you about a girl that I like
Pedro Sure Who is she?
Alex Her name's Claudia....I've liked her since last year!
Pedro Oh for goodness' sake! I know who she is....She's so ugly!
Alex What are you saying?She's the most beautiful girl I' ve evere seen
Pedro There's no doubt that love is blind!
Alex Anyway......What is done is done! I'm so in love with her.
Pedro I don't believe that you are in love because you're so stony hearted
Alex That's not true because when I'm in love I have a heart of gold
Pedro Have you ever talked with her?
Alex No, I haven't. I want to break the ice but I don't know how
Pedro I could help you because Claudia has been my friend since we were children
Tomorrow there'll be a movie at the cinema and she will go. we can meet there at 7.
Alex Perfect! See you there , By Pedro...I love you!

What makes a good friend?

A game to consolidate words related to personality

In groups students create posters on the topic What makes a good friend or classmate?

After about 30 minutes each group will present their posters and they will create a wall display.

They will write an essay on the same topic.

Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit?

Features of the detective story 

·         A mysterious MURDER......it must be significant

·         A professional DETECTIVE ....he is clever,eccentric, he is a bit out of ordinary

·         A DETECTIVE Friend......he usually helps the detective,but he is usually slower than him

·         All the suspects are present early in the story.

·         There are false suspects and false clues

·         The criminal must be a worthy opponent. As the detective must show off his great skills, he must match wit with adversaries of equal cleverness

·         An inefficient Police force

·         All clues discovered by the detective must be made available to the reader, he must get the clues as the detective

·         A DETECTIVE story is a jigsaw puzzle, the true detective story challenges the reader to a mental contest to solve the crime along with the characters in the story

·         The solutions must be logical

·         An unexpected final twist

·         A detailed reconstruction of the crime 

The first detective story is considered to ne Edgar Allan Poe The Murders in the Rue Morgue 1841

Another example  is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins published in 1868.

The most famous fictional detective following in Poe footsteps was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1887 he published A Study in scarlet, the first of four novels about Holmes and Dr Watson. In addition, Doyle wrote over fifty short stories featuring the famous detective. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of detective story

Why the detective story?

• ·         The 19th century was characterized by the birth of slums having problems  of poverty and crime
• ·         The press was particularly interested in crime news 
• ·         Police forces were reorganised.

King Charles I (1600-1649) - Pt 2/3

King Charles I (1600-1649) - Pt 2/3

SECOND PART

1. What happened to Sir Buckingham?
2. What about Sir Elliot?
3. What happened in March 1629?
4. How many years did Charles I rule without Parliament?
5. What did the king do to modernize the country?
6. Did the relationship with his wife improve?
7. Did the king like art?
8. What did many people believe about the king?
9. What was the Scots’ reaction when Charles I introduced the Common Prayer Book?
10. What happened in April 1640?
11. When was  Parliament summoned again and for the last time?
12. What happened in January 1642?

King Charles I (1600-1649) - Pt 1/3

King Charles I (1600-1649) - Pt 1/3

1. Charles I believed in the Divine Rights of Kings. What was that?
2. Who was left behind when James I moved from Edinburgh to London?
3. What about the health of Charles when he was a child?
4. What about his brother Henry?
5. What happened when he was 12?
6. What about the personality of the young Charles I?
7. Did Charles I approve his father’s lifestyle?
8. What happened in 1625?
9. Who did Charles I  get married?
10. What about their relationship?
11. What happened in June 1625?
12. Which social class did the members of Parliament belong to?
13. What was the king’s reaction when Parliament refused to give him the money he asked for?
14. Did Sir John Elliot hate the King?

Top 10 Notes: The Picture of Dorian Gray

THEMES 
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

• SPLIT BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY------------physiognonomy (appearance reveals character)
• ART for ART's SAKE
• SIN AND REDEMPTION
• VANITY
• THE DOUBLE ------------Good and evil
• THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF INFLUENCE/MANIPULATION
• ("Corrupting influence")
• THE SUPREMACY OF YOUTH AND BEAUTY
• THE OVERREACHER

The influence of Walter Pater 

Walter Pater was an English critic, essayist, and humanist whose idea of “art for art’s sake” became a cardinal doctrine of the movement known as Aestheticism.

In the concluding essay in The Renaissance, Pater stated that art only exists for the sake of its beauty, and that it has neither moral standards nor utilitarian functions.

Art shouldn’t  instruct or deal with  social, moral, or political problems.

The Artist is the creator of beautiful works of art. 

A real fun game!

On the first day I had my English lesson in a second class, after Christmas holidays the students were asked to do the following activity.

I told them to write a sentence on a sheet of paper about something they had done or hadn't done during their Christmas holidays, using the Present Perfect.

Then I asked them to make a small ball of each paper and to throw them away to the other classmates.

The thing was really enjoyable...they went on throwing the paper balls ( while music was going on) till I told them to stop.

After being sure that everyone had a paper ball, each student was invited to read the sentence and the others were asked to guess who had written that sentence.
Of course,they had a great time.....and I had the opportunity to make them consolidate some past participle forms. They also learned new expressions and words.

A game to revise Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous


The class was divided into two teams and I dictated them ten short sentences to be translated into English giving them 20 seconds to write them. Then I gave them some extra time to revise the sentences and be quite sure about the final version of the sentences.
Each team got one point for every right sentence. At the end, of course there was a team which won the competition.
The activity was far more interesting and fun than an ordinary translation made by each student working on his/her own. They also seemed to be more focused on the mistakes.

1. Nelle ultime settimane mi sto allenando per la gara
2. Suono il violino da due anni
3. Da quanto tempo conosci il tuo migliore amico?
4. C'e Sara alla fermata del bus. Mi chiedo da quanto tempo sta aspettanto.
5. Lui ha dipinto più di 200 quadri. Dipinge da molti anni
6. Non ti vedo da secoli. Cosa hai fatto?
7. Il test scritto era troppo difficile. Non sono stato in grado di finirlo
8. In questo momento il mio allenatore, che è un tennista professionista, è malato
9. Che tempo terribile! piove da un giorno intero
10. Smetti di guardare la Tv. La guardi da due ore!
    
    
    
    
    
    

Consolidation games

A game to get started after the Christmas break to  revise the vocabulary related to music and entertainment.

I've realized recently that one of the main challenges for an English teacher is to make  students to learn words and use them properly.

It's much easier to teach grammar...but words? After all,  in some situations, words are more important than grammar to be understood.

As a result, over the last months I've been trying to do lessons where the center of interest or of the activity done is vocabulary.

However ...there's a problem.... what about the students' involvement and their easily getting bored?

So yesterday I divided the class into teams and I dictated the students the definitions of some of the words related to music and entertainment they should know, as we have paid a particular attention on them recently.

There's no need to say that I realized that I had taken lots of things for granted. It wasn't so easy to write the right words and in some cases to write the words using the right spelling.
Anyway, while doing the activity, time flew off quickly and students had a good time.

These are the definitions I dictated:

1. A person who performs music in a public place to get money from people walking past (Busker)
2. to make a Cd or a movie available for people to buy or see (Release)
3. The people who sit and watch a performance at a theatre, cinema... (Audience)
4. the words of a song (Lyrics)
5. The raised area in a theatre where actors perform (Stage)
6. In a gradual, regular rate (Steadily)
7. A natural ability to do something (Talent)
8. A large musical instrument with strings inside and black and white bars that produce sounds when you press them (Piano)
9. To copy computer programs, music or other information electronically using the Internet (Download)
10. An informal word to refer to a performance of pop or rock music (Gig)
11. A collection of songs (Album)
12. A person whose job is to find talented musicians and singers (Talent Scout)
13. A gig or a concert in front of an audience (Performance)
14. A metal musical instrument that you play by blowing into it and pressing buttons to make different notes (Trumpet)