A blog to help secondary school students improve English. You can find mind maps, worksheets, videos and songs as well as some of the project works and activities done by the students.
Hello! My name's Liliana. I'm a teacher of English (Language and Literature) to Italian teenage stu
After having seen a video on Wordsworth's biography and having read a text related to his life and his works, students are asked to close their books and figure out a possible interview to him.
This is the situation- one of the students plays the role of Wordsworth. He is introducing his new collection of poems Lyrical Ballads to a group of people.
His purpose is to give information about the book, while answering the questions asked by the other students.
That speaking activity has proved to be useful to memorize the main points of an author's biography and to improve speaking skills while asking questions.
Thinking over and over an activity that students in a fourth class could do at the beginning of the school year, both to revise some of the grammar structures studied in the previous years and to learn new words and expressions while improving their speaking skill, I've had an idea that has proved to be successful.
Students have been asked to make a conversation in groups of four, using modal verbs and the words that they have learnt, while watching a video on the plot of Romeo and Juliet.
The conversation was about the following situation: the character of the Nurse tries to persuade Juliet to marry Count Paris and she replies saying that she can't and giving her reasons.
While “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” matches
Wordsworth’s description of poetic process in the preface to Lyrical Ballads, he actually composed the poem some years after the success of that
anthology.
In 1802 he spent some time in the English Lake
District. On April 15 he and his sister Dorothy went for a walk near
Ullswater lake. In her journal, Dorothy recounts the experience of seeing the
daffodils:
When we were in the woods beyond
Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that
the lake had floated the seeds ashore & that the little colony had so
sprung up—But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last
under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along
the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils
so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested
their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest
tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with
the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing
ever changing. This wind blew directly over the Lake to them. There was here
& there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they
were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one
busy highway—We rested again & again. (85)
Quando eravamo nei boschi oltre il parco di Gowbarrow abbiamo visto alcuni narcisi vicino al lato dell'acqua, abbiamo immaginato che il lago avesse fatto galleggiare i semi a riva e che la piccola colonia fosse così sorta —ma mentre procedevamo ce n'erano di più e ancora di più e alla fine sotto i rami degli alberi, abbiamo visto che ce n'era una lunga fascia lungo la riva, circa la larghezza di una strada a pedaggio di campagna.
Non ho mai visto narcisi così belli da crescere tra le pietre muschiose intorno e intorno a loro, alcuni appoggiavano la testa su queste pietre come su un cuscino per la stanchezza e gli altri si lanciavano, barcollavano, ballavano e sembravano davvero ridere con il vento che soffiava su di loro sul lago, sembravano così allegri che guardavano sempre e cambiavano.
Questo vento soffiava direttamente sul lago verso di loro. C'era qua e là un piccolo nodo e qualche ritardatario qualche metro più in alto, ma erano così pochi da non disturbare la semplicità, l'unità e la vita di quella trafficata autostrada—. Ci riposammo ancora e ancora. (85)
Group Performance Activity: "Bring the Daffodils to Life"
Objective
To interpret and perform the poem "Daffodils" in a theatrical and expressive manner that captures its imagery, emotions, and rhythm.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Weird stories
These are the stories created by students (level A 1/2) in a group activity. After each group, made of four students, was given two flashcards representing objects or people having no clear, logical connection, it was asked to make a very short, funny story.
These are the weird, unreal, fantastic, dreamlike stories created by them!
Of course,while reading them, they couldn't stop laughing!
One day a beautiful princess Julia was walking along a
river. Her dream was falling in love with a handsome, fantastic, good boy. That day the princess
wanted to get her feet wet into the river. Suddenly, a witch took a frog to make
an experiment, but the witch’s son killed the frog and for revenge the witch
transformed her son into a frog.The only way to be human again was to get a
magical kiss.
The princess was so depressed that she kissed the frog,
which changed into a prince, and they lived happily ever after……
In the afternoon, Federica comes back home, she goes in her
bedroom, switches on her lamp, opens her bedside table and finds a pair of
socks, which were a present from her grandmother for her birthday and starts to
remember all the best moments with her!!!
The mouse birthday
Once upon a time there was a family who had a mouse as a
pet. Today it’s his birthday andhis
family is making a cake for him, actually a cheese cake. After the celebrations, the mouse, called Tommy, tries to drink some tea but the tea is too hot
and he
falls off inside. After that, the family realizes he is dead!!!
One morning in spring, Tom wakes up and gets up. His mum
calls him for breakfast. Tom enters the kitchen and sits at the table. Tom takes
a cup of tea and under it he finds a
mouse and he starts screaming…he’s really scared.
One day I bought a bus ticket, but after that I realized I had
run out of money, so I decided to get some money from the bank. While I was
coming back to the bus station a stranger in a black coat hit me and our bags
fell off the ground, then we picked them up.
Only ten minutes later, I realized that we had exchanged our
bags and mine was full of money!
I want to leave my footprints on the sand of time Know there was something that, something that I left behind When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets Leave something to remember, so they won't forget
I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done, everything that I wanted And it was more than I thought it would be I will leave my mark, soul, everyone will know, I was here
I wanna say I lived each day, until I died You know that I, been something in, somebody's life The hearts I have touched Will be the proof that I leave That I made a difference And this world will see
I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done, everything that I wanted And it was more than I thought it would be I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done, everything that I wanted And it was more than I thought it would be I will leave my mark so everyone will know, I was here
I just want them to know That I gave my all, did my best Brought someone some happiness Left this world a little better just because, I was here
I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done, everything that I wanted And it was more than I thought it would be I wanna leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here I did, I've done, I was here
