It seems that the wall that divided Nicosia since the late 60's has finally come down. My friend, Chris just phoned from the capital to say that he is witnessing the first steps towards the reunification of the last divided capital in Europe. As he spoke Greek Cypriot army conscripts were busily knocking down the barrier that runs down the centre. He told me that
"A local woman is walking up with a red rose to give one of the Greek construction crew."
He said that the huge banner that had hung outside his house saying for several years;
"Nothing is gained without freedom and a sacrifice without blood."
was gradually being dismantled until it said
"Freedom without blood."
Truly history in the making. Here is hoping that the two communities can live in peace, harmony and prosperity. For more information about the background to this click here.
For the BBC story (I beat then to the scoop, aha!!!) click here.
Today I was doing a short gap filler exercise with magazines and photos when I thought of a more interesting variation. The basic idea for this activity is that you give your students a magazine and ask them to choose a picture. They, then describe it in as much detail as possible and when they're finished ask their partner to find the photo.
The students complained that this was a pretty lame as it was too easy to find the answer, so it can to me why not use the 20 Questions game?
Lesson plan
1 Divide the students into pairs.
2 Give each pair a magazine and ask one of them to choose a picture.
3 Their partner now has to find out as much as they can about the picture by asking 20 questions. However, the other student can only answer yes or no.
4 The student then hands over the magazine and their partner has to find the picture chosen.
Ernest Hemming was once asked to come up with a story in six words. His reply;
"Baby shoes for sale. Never used."
I thought that would be a great idea for a filler activity or as a writing warm up exercise.
Lesson plan
1 Write the Hemmingway's story on the board and the questions words;
who what where when why
2 Now explain to the students that they have to think of questions using the question words
E.g Who do the shoes belong to? Why are they selling them?
3 Check the student's grammar and spelling then answer their questions. Try to make your answers as dramatic as possible in order to fire their imagination.
4 Now ask students to write down their own six-word story.
5 They then show their story to their partner who asks them six questions using the question words.
I wonder if ELT has realised that the 90's are over. I was just over at the Guardian's education pages and came across an article on the nominations for the ELTONS, which are awards given for educational materials. They would be a wonderful example of EFL/ESL embracing change if the world had stopped in 1997. To imagine that many of these "innovations" are considered cutting edge. CD-ROM dictionaries and yet more gap fill exercises are hardly my idea of using the full power of the web and computers. In many cases all the "innovators" have done is transfer book based exercises to the computer screen. More web 1.0 thinking, alas.
Apparently this video was banned by MTV in the USA as being too controversial!!! That reminds me of a line from Apocalypse Now in which Kurtz, the renegade American leader of a brutal, rag-tag army fighting the Viet Cong says;
"They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write f##k on their airplanes because it's obscene! "
Bombs
If I don't get out of this I I wish, I just want you to know that I really really love you.
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
We think we're heroes, we think we're kings We plan all kinds of fabulous things Oh look how great we have become
Key in the door, the moment I've been longing for Before my bag hit the floor My adorable children rush up screaming for a kiss, and a story, they're a gift to this world My only claim to glory I surely never knew sweeter days Blows my mind like munitions I'm amazed
So much heaven, so much hell So much love, so much pain So much more than I thought this world could ever contain So much war, so much soul Moments lost, moments go So much more than I thought this world can ever hold We're just children, we're just dust We are small and we are lost And we're nothing, nothing at all
One bomb, the whole block gone Can't find me children and dust covers the sun Everywhere is noise, panic and confusion But to some, another fun day in Babylon I'm gonna bury my wife and dig up my gun My life is done so now I got to kill someone
So much heaven, so much hell So much love, so much pain So much more than I thought this world could ever contain So much war, so much soul Moments lost, moments go So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much heaven, so much hell So much love, so much pain So much more than I thought this world could ever contain So much war, so much soul Moments lost, moments go So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
These lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com
I was doing a lesson last week and it suddenly dawned on me that I could use Solitaire to teach English, more specifically, prepositions of position. I tried it using the Windows version to help my student with this tricky area. The beauty of using a game is that you can use repetition and not bore the students silly.
Lesson plan (for beginners)
1 Pre-teach the phrases.
under on top of next to left right
One idea is to hide a ball in the classroom and ask students to say where it is.
E.g. Is it under the table? Is it near me?
2 Now pre-teach the other words you're going to use.
ace jack queen king
hearts clubs spades diamonds
One idea for teaching the card names it play another game in which the students turn over cards in the deck and the first one to name it correctly wins.
3 Finally pre-teach the verbs needed.
click here put _______ here. move
4 Ask students if any of them know how to play the game. They them become the teacher and in groups teach the others the rules of the game. This could e done in the students own language if dealing with lower levels.
5 Now students get in pairs and play the game on a PC (or you could use a deck of cards, of course). The idea is that they have to finish the game as quickly as possible. The only rule is that they're only allowed to speak English. Anyone found breaking the rule can't touch the PC for 60 seconds.
My Proficiency class preparing for their Michigan speaking exam by interviewing each other.
Some American Mormons preaching in Navarinou Square on Friday night. Just to the left were the junkies on their way to get their next hit in the alleys behind the square.
The hidden symmetry of cities
This was once a mosque during Ottoman times. Now it is an art gallery.
The local punk scene. It is enough to make you nostalgic seeing 80's style mohicans.
I'm a teacher, originally from England, now living in Northern Greece. I also blog, photograph and tweet about the current economic and refugee crisis.
It seems that the wall that divided Nicosia since the late 60's has finally come down. My friend, Chris just phoned from the capital to say that he is witnessing the first steps towards the reunification of the last divided capital in Europe. As he spoke Greek Cypriot army conscripts were busily knocking down the barrier that runs down the centre. He told me that
