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

My first day of school

A few days ago students built up a mind map to focus on the main points about the following topic
MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
These are three of the assignement.
These students chose to talk about their first day in their high school  (for some of them it was last year)....

1)On my first day of school I got up at seven.

I was very happy and I wanted to meet new friends.

I wore jeans and a shirt and I went to school by myself

I didn’t take too long to arrive at school.

In a few minutes I was there.

Some ex-classmates of mine were with me in the same classroom and luckily I wasn’t alone.

I met new older students than me;in the classroom I had a deskmate of my age.

I knew him but one month later he left this school.

In the break I ate nothing but I talked with my new classmates and took part in their conversations.

Then, when the break finished I knew other teachers.

At first sight, I understood teachers in this school were able to teach and they were very good.

We are a big class.

On the first day there weren’t enough desks for all and so we moved out.

The first day was fun and it was a very important experience.

2)On my first day of school I wore a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers.

My father drove me to school.

I was very happy because I liked that a new experience had already started.

I didn’t know many new students, instead I knew my deskmate.

During the break I ate a sandwich and I visited the canteen, talked to my friends a lot and we exchanged views about the school.

 The teachers explained to us that we should study hard to pass the school year.

In the end it was a nice and quiet day.

3)I remember that on my first day of school I wore a pair of baggy jeans and a yellow t-shirt.

I went to school with my sister and ny cousin on my father’s car.

I was happy,very happy and a little nervous because I didn’t know all my classmates and now one of them is my best friend

My deskmate is shy and very nice.

Getting to know my teachers made me nervous and frightened because I had never seen them before.

During the break I went to the canteen and I ate a ham sandwich.

We studied immediately.

I made friends with my new classmates, we talked about our new teachers.

It was one beautiful first day of school.

Instead these students chose to talk  about their first day ....(this year)

My first day of school  was strange.
Yesterday I was strange and a little bit nervous because some teachers  have changed and I don't know the new ones.
I went to school on foot at half past eight and on the first hour we met the Italian teacher.
She's one of my favourite teachers because I like studying literature.
On the second hour we met the Eglish teacher and we revised some topics and on the third hour we did the same with the French teacher.
On the last hour we met for the first time our new  teacher of Spanish and we had fun.
We talked about the new year, about the subjects , about the new classmates. We have six new classmates!

This year my first day of school was happy because I met all the classmates I didn't see during the summer.
The awakening was shocking, because for three months I woke up in the late morning.
On the bus there were a lot of people that this year have started high school.
There are also new people in my class.I hope to make friends with them.
We met new teachers and we were sad because some of the  teachers we had last year have changed school.
However, it was a beautiful day and I hope that the next days will be good like this one.

These are some of the letters my students in the second class wrote me about the following topic"My promises and expectations for this school year"




1)   Dear teacher
I hope that you spent a good holiday and I'm happy to start a new school year with you.
My name is XXXXX, I live in XXXXX and I'm a student.
I want to learn as much as I can because I like studying the English language and culture.
I want to improve my English, above all I want to speak fluently and to write in a correct way.
I would like to learn new expressions and to use them when I need.
I want to start this year in the best way possible.
I want to do homework every time and I want to be accurate.
I know it's important to work hard for the written tests and also for the oral tests. I need to study grammar with attention and do a lot of exercises.
I know I can't use my mobile phone during the lessons or the tests and I'm happy to have the possibility(the opportunity is better) to learn English very well because foreign languages are very important nowadays.
Thank you for your competence
XXXXX

2)  Dear teacher
Another school year has started. I hope this year will be the same as the last one.
I mean, as the last one I'll come on time and Ill always do my homework. As a student I'll try to find time to study English EVERYDAY.
I'll not use my phone during the lessons.
You always get me to improve and study English.
You always respect us.
You like your job and this is of great importance.
From you I expect that you'll always try to give us clear instructions and you'll try to dedicate enough class time to speaking,listening and pronunciation work.
You are an example to follow!

3)Dear teacher
It's September and this year I want to learn a lot and I want to learn to speak English fluently.
so to spend a great year, I promise I'll do my homework.
I'll speak English whenever I can, I'll show respect and care for everyone. I'll be honest, I'll try to get good marks and I won't use my mobile phone during the lessons.
I have big expectations for me and for my classmates.
I hope we'll spend this year quietly and we all will pass in the third class.

4) Dear teacher
My summer was great because I had fun with my friends.
I'm happy that school has started again.
this is the second year for me.
I'll study very much and I'll do my homework every day.
I'll respect my teachers and I'll behave properly.
I'll try to improve my English by speaking it with my classmates and my teacher.
I won't use my mobile to send messages during the lessons and I won't cheat during written tests.

5)Dear teacher
I'm writing this letter to talk to you about  the way I hope we will study English this year.
I'd like to use the method we used last year: learn through the computer, have online lessons, watch videos and listen to English songs.
I hope that we will go to see a play in English or a movie.
I'm sure that like last year you'll teach us new words and grammar rules.
My goal is to learn to speak English and I hope that you'll help me get this goal
Best regardsXXXXXX

ICEBREAKER First lesson

An activity which always works with students you don't know.
Also this year my students in the first class have done the following activity.
I give them a mind map with some words about me.
The words are the answers I could give them if they ask me the "right question".

                                                             YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER 

1994

                                                                                                                           2000

                                 two

                                                                                                   about 20 years ago

a cup of coffee and some biscuits

                                                                        The USA

                                                     

reading, travelling, visiting new places

                                       

                                                 

                                            doing the housework

As homework they'll do the same activity about themselves.
I'll choose some students(two or three) and the classmates will guess the questions.

It's a good way to practise easy questions

This is a film review written by a student of one of my colleagues.

At the end of the school she sent me that film review, asking me to publish it.

I'm doing now and I'm pleased to do that.

This is the assignment:

An introduction with the title, year, genre, director and main actors.

A short summary of the plot, without revealing too much about specific scenes, do not tell the ending.

A description of the characters, both physical and psychological. Write how realistic/interesting the actors’ portrayal was.

A conclusion which summarizes the best and worst qualities of the film, its message and theme.

The film is " Silver linings playbook" an American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell, adapted from the novel The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. 

This is what the student wrote about the film.

Talking about my favourite film is very hard for me, mainly because I don’t have one. There are a lot of films that make me feel very emotional, but today I want to tell you about this brilliant film: "Silver linings playbook"

It was made in 2013, if I’m not wrong, but I can’t remember who directed it. In this film starred well-known actors, such as Robert  De Niro,  Bradley Cooper and the amazing Jennifer Lawrence, she also won the Oscar because of this film and she is my favourite actress as well.

This film deals with a lot of difficult themes, managing to keep it light and pleasant to watch though. The chief character is affected by bipolar disorder and has to redefine his life. Ha has a tottering relationship with his father (Robert De Niro) and a morbid one with his mom. He is obsessed with his ex-wife but can’t get close to her, because of his restraining order. Later on he meets a young widow that seems to understand him, so they become friends. After a few weeks they understand they’re in love and take care of each other’s illnesses. The plot is much more complicated than that and it plays a lot with details, this is probably one of the best features of the whole film.

The actors did a great job creating the characters’ personalities, giving them authenticity and passion. I would recommend this to anyone, because it’s funny, smooth and enthralling, yet very moving.

The title points out the goal of this film, because the protagonist slowly learns to live his life as much as he can, looking for the silver lining.

Welcome
It's school time again.
Here's a letter this year I've written for my students.

Dear Students of  XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It’s school time again!

I hope that your summer was happy, filled with many positive experiences and special memories.

My name is  XXXXXX and I’m looking forward to working with you this school year. I live in XXXXXXX and I ‘ve been teaching English in this Liceo for more than ten years.

I like teaching English very much and every day it’s a challenge for me. I think that a teacher can learn lots of things from his/her students and every school year, when it finishes, I realize I’ve learnt  so much together with my students. I know you matter to your family and to your friends. You also matter to me!

The most important thing for me is to help you improve English, so that you can speak more fluently, you can understand English better and better, you can write expressing your opinions and ideas more and more correctly using the right words and expressions.

I know we will have a successful and productive school year.

I’m sure you’ll learn a lot this year.

Now please note the following information and rules.
Homework will be given every lesson. Some of the activities will be completed on loose-leaf paper, because I’ll take them home so that I can check them.  So a “homework folder” will be used. Homework is expected to be completed and handed it on time. My policy is to mark any homework handed in after the due date as late ( that is “impreparato” on the register-on line). I’ll check homework almost every lesson. Some of the activities done as homework could be published on my blog https://englishmajorana.blogspot.it/

You will have two written tests in the first “quadrimestre” and three written tests in the second “ quadrimestre”.  Every activity or exercise gets a score. All the scores will be added together so that they may get the maximum total sum that is 100, which is equal to mark 10.

You will have two or three oral tests per “quadrimestre”. The evaluation will be given on the basis of an evaluation grid, which is common to all first classes. Of course, pronunciation, accuracy in grammar and in the choice of words, fluency and text organization will be highly regarded when giving the final mark

One of my aims is to make classroom instruction as interesting as possible and look for new and different ways of presenting materials. In my classroom, I will incorporate many different and varied tools to maximize your learning potential, including songs, pairwork, role-plays, videos on youtube, power point presentations, mind maps created on the LIM, webquests  and even your mobiles  may be useful as well as the traditional books and paper (of course!)

In addition, I’ll try to devote enough class time to speaking, listening and pronunciation work.

I expect you not to use mobile phones during English classes, not to lose the photocopies I give them, not to take school rules and English lightly, not to cheat during written class tests

I promise I’ll try to involve you all, to be fair, to take the same action with those who misbehave, to see things from your perspective….I’ll try to teach you as well as I can

Best of luck

ü     

PRONUNCIA INGLESE PER ITALIANI

Cambridge exams KET-PET Useful Phrases for short notes or informal letters

Cambridge exams

Useful Phrases for short notes or  informal letters

I was very happy to receive your letter/e-mail,message…..

I would like to meet/have lunch/go out/ study……

We could meet/go/ask……

I’m looking forward  to seeing you

Let’s meet at……..

I’m really happy that you’re coming to see me

It’s great that you’re coming to stay with me

I expect to arrive in your city……

I plan to stay for……

I don’t really know what I’d like to do….

I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your party

I was wondering whether you'd like to come over for dinner one evening                                                

I’m so sorry I won’t be able to come to your party

What about going to the cinema?

Write back and let me know

I would like to have some more information

I tried to phone you but your mobile was off

Please answer this email ASAP (as soon as possible)

What’s happening?

What happened to you?

I don’t think it’s a good idea because

That sounds great…

I’m having a good time/I’m having a fantastic holiday…

I’m sure we’ll have a great time

What about you?

Tomorrow we’re leaving very early for the school trip

The only subjects I’m interested in are….

I can’t stop thinking about my last holiday…..

I’m going to visit your town next….

I have some questions for you

It’ll be nice to see you next month

Next year I am planning to do a one-year course..... 

What’s the swimming pool like?

I think It’s awesome/brilliant, cool, great

It’s horrible, terrible, boring, strange….

Can you meet me at the station….?

Will you meet me…..?

What time shall we meet?

Thanks for asking me to do an English course….

Thanks for asking me to dinner….

I was amazed at the view of…..

I’m taking my friends to London on Saturday to do a bit of sightseeing

If you can’t make Saturday, how about Friday?

We’ll have a nice time together

If you come, we’ll have a lot of fun

i'll look forward to it

I said I'd call you last night and I completely forgot

i suggest meeting at 9.00

i recommend taking the train/ I recommend you take the train

Starting your letter (Paragraph 1)

Thanks for your letter. 
Lovely to hear from you.
How are you? 
 I hope you’re fine
 How are things?  
 Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote 
I  hope you're well.    
Great to hear from you      

                                               

Commenting on something (Paragraph 1)      
 I'm sorry to hear/learn ...                                                                                               

 I'm so pleased to hear ..
It's great to hear ...
What wonderful news about ...    
 Congratulations for your new job ..... 
 I'm writing to complain about.....

Moving the topic on (Paragraph 2)

Anyway, the reason I'm writing ...

I thought I'd write to tell/ask you

Anyway, I was wondering ...

Ending your letter (Paragraph 3)

 Thanks for your help

 Well, that's all for now

 Write back soon
 Looking forward to hearing from you  again  
 We must meet for a chat soon  
Hope to hear from you soon  
Give your father my regards when you see him
 All the best
 Best wishes   
 Kind regards    
See you soon 
Take care  
 Keep in touch
 Yours 
Love 
Lots of love