domingo, 29 de septiembre de 2013
miércoles, 25 de septiembre de 2013
THE "SECRET" LIFE OF WORDS : ANTANACLASIS
(NO connection whatsoever with Isabel Coixet´s film of the same name.Sorry, like two people with the same name and surnames)
Words, like people, have their own stories and histories. They are born, they develop, they change their meanings and eventually may become old-fashioned or even disappear or appear only on the web or some dictionaries....
I´m indebted to Henry Hitchins "The secret life of words or How English became English" who analysed the fascinating stories behind just sixteen words:
Words, like people, have their own stories and histories. They are born, they develop, they change their meanings and eventually may become old-fashioned or even disappear or appear only on the web or some dictionaries....
I´m indebted to Henry Hitchins "The secret life of words or How English became English" who analysed the fascinating stories behind just sixteen words:
ensemble
invade
saffron
volume
bravado
genius
powwow
bonsai
onslaught
connoisseur
teapot
blizzard
ethos
voodoo
angst
shabash
1)FIND OUT BOTH THE ORIGIN & MEANING OF EACH ITEM ABOVE
2) WRITE JUST SIX WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE SECRET TO A HAPPY LIFE
3) GOOGLE "SECRET WORDS OF POWER" and see what you find...
4) WHAT "SECRET WORDS" COULD DESCRIBE YOUR LIFE?
5) ANTANACLASIS is a type of verbal play in which one word is used in two contrasting senses:
" And there´s bars on the corner
And there´s bars on the heart"...Tim Mc Graw Where the green grass grows..
Find out 5 polysemic words both in Spanish and English...
viernes, 20 de septiembre de 2013
P.S. Phonetically Silent English
One of the greatest difficulties for Spanish speakers is the nightmarish pronunciation of English, its stress, rhythm and intonation, its lack of consistent rules and the large number of silent letters both vowels and consonants:
silent
a : logically (unstressed vowels tend to become schwas)
b : climber, plumber, debt, thumb, doubt....
c : muscle, indict,...
ch : fuchsia, yacht,..
d : handkerchief, sandwich, Wednesday,...
e : hate, fate, mate, lake,..
f : halfpenny, halfpence,..
g : gnome, physiognomy, foreign, though,...
h : honest, heir, hour, why, ghost,...
i : business,..
k : know, knight, knee, knife,...
l : could, would, salmon, almond,halves,...
m : mnemonics,..
n : autumn, condemn, column,..
o : colonel,..
p : pneumonia, psalm, receipt, cupboard,..
r : barley, parsley,..
s : island, isle,...
t : castle, listen, fasten, often, Christmas,...
u : guess, guitar, tongue...
w : answer, sword,..
x : faux pas
z : rendezvous
Try to find some more examples:
sábado, 14 de septiembre de 2013
LOOPING THE LOOP or POLYPTOTON: Cognate objects or Internal Accusative
If you say "he sang a song" or" he slept a troubled sleep" you are using a cognate object: the verb´s noun form which has the same root.
In the phrases below find the object etymologically related to the verb. (Both could be the same):
TO RUN A ....................
TO DRINK A.................
TO PAINT A................
TO GIVE A ................
TO DIE A...................
TO READ A ..............
TO LAUGH A...........
TO SMILE A...............
TO TALK A................
TO WRITE A...............
TO SPEAK A..............
TO DO A....................
TO BLEED SOME.........
TO DREAM A ..............
TO THINK A................
jueves, 12 de septiembre de 2013
PUZZLE AND PROBLEM PARADISE
Students seem to enjoy brainteasers more than we do and there seems to be no end of books, textbooks and compilations of them, including cryptic crosswords, word searches, optical illusions, mind mazes, riddles and mental meltdowns.
Here´s just a sample of what you can find on the web and in many puzzle compendiums:
"Twenty-questions" riddles are designed for oral practice.In order to solve them students have to ask you 20 questions to which you may only reply "yes" or "no"
F) Charlie went for a walk without an umbrella. He did not wear a hat and he did not take refuge under a shelter; yet, not one hair on his head got wet. How was this possible?
G) In the "Left" family, each daughter has the same number of brothers as she has sisters.
Each son has twice as many sisters as he has brothers.
How many sons and daughters are there in the family?
Here´s just a sample of what you can find on the web and in many puzzle compendiums:
"Twenty-questions" riddles are designed for oral practice.In order to solve them students have to ask you 20 questions to which you may only reply "yes" or "no"
A) During an expedition to the furthest icy reaches of Scandinavia, an archeologist comes across two bodies, entombed in a perfectly preserved state. After examining the bodies, he declares:"These are the corpses of Adam and Eve" Why is he so sure?
B)A spice merchant enters a tavern in Bordeaux and orders the chef´s special, a cormorant stew. As soon as the dish is served, the merchant takes a mouthful and immediately bursts into tears. Why?
C) Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine are in love and have been married for 15 years. However, when Eleanor tells Henry she wants a divorce, Henry is delighted. Why?
(From the Big Book of Paradoxes, Puzzles and Problems by Fabrice Mazza Carlton Books2010)
D) A carrot, a pile of pebbles, and a pipe are lying together in the middle of a field. Why?
E) How can you prove that a man has three heads?
(From The most enormous book of Brainteasers ever. Sevenoaks 2002)
Answer to E:No man has two heads.A man has one head more than no man. Therefore a man has three heads. Remember my name is "heads"
F) Charlie went for a walk without an umbrella. He did not wear a hat and he did not take refuge under a shelter; yet, not one hair on his head got wet. How was this possible?
G) In the "Left" family, each daughter has the same number of brothers as she has sisters.
Each son has twice as many sisters as he has brothers.
How many sons and daughters are there in the family?
I could go on and on ad lib and ad infinitum....
For more examples see the Reader´s Digest Compendium of Puzzles and Brain teasers 2000.SHORT FILM PROJECTS
We have developed numerous film projects in the EFL classroom over the years. In fact, most students have volunteered to take part in these projects, sometimes conducted outside the school timetable.The most significant ones which automatically come to mind and which can be viewed any time are as follows:
DO TEACHERS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THEIR STUDENTS´ HAPPINESS?(1993)
ONE DAY IN NERJA & LOCAL SPORTS IN ACTION (1992)
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SPANISH STUDENT (1991)
A CONCERT IN AN ENGLISH LESSON (1994)
NIGHTMARES AND DREAMS ABOUT CLASSROOM LIFE(1995)
ENGLISH TEACHING THROUGH THE AGES: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF EFL (1996)
SCHOOL TENSIONS AND CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE(1997)
BRITISH EXPO (1998)
LABELS (1999)
OUR SKETCHES PERFORMED IN DIFFERENT ANDALUSIAN SCHOOLS
AZNAR-ANSAR (2004)
THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS FLOW (2006)
THE WORD SHOP (2008)
A GUIDE TO YOUR TOWN (2009)
OUR MULTICULTURAL SCHOOL (2011)
FACES, PLACES AND SPACES (2012)
SMILES, MILES & ISLES (2013)
"! $ % & / ( ) = ? ¿*¨_ @" (2014)
(One day we´ll have a link to see them on the net)
lunes, 9 de septiembre de 2013
DIFFICULT STUDENTS
Fashions in educational psychology come and go. There was a time when many students were diagnosed as "dyslexic", then ADHD, then "autistic", and more recently as "bipolar"..
I´ve agreed with Carl Rogers on the unconditional acceptance of the worthiness of every human being.
Even when teachers have found some students as distressing and "potentially dangerous",I´ve seen them just as attention seekers whose families do not allow them to express themselves and that´s why they often need their piercings and tattoos or the latest fashion either showing their underwear or their new accessories...
Teenagers are subjected to the fashions of urban tribes, a question of interest to both Anthropology and Sociology (Neo-hippies, Punks,Gothics, Chavs, Rappers,Retros,Emos, Skaters,Indies,Otakus,Heavies, Rastafarians..) and their unstable minds are slowly getting fixed in these turmoil years.
Our school is all-inclusive, an integration centre and we´ve had SNE (Special Needs Education) students with serious syndromes:
Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia
Achondroplasia
S M A (Spinal Muscular Atrophy)
Schizophrenia
I B S
M S
Down Syndrome Trisomy 21
Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne
Addison´s disease
Turner syndrome
Williams syndrome
Prader Willi
Tourette
Asperger
Hallervorden -Spatz
Suicidal
Etc..
CLASS TROUBLEMAKERS: (Don´t pigeon-hole them.. I will...)
the clown/ joker
the latecomers
the loud mouth
the interrupter
the bully
the griper(ever complaining)
the know-it-all
the drop out
the bragger/ cocky
the hostile
the doubting Thomas
the perpetually absent-minded
the aggressive
the dictator
the permanently bored
the play boy/ play girl
the beauty queen
the techno addict
the whisperers/talkers/shouters: time wasters
the enigmatic silent type
the teacher´s pet( avoid them)
(See my short film LABELS)
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