In this blog, I want to show different kinds of activities that can be used in an ESL classroom from 4th ESO or 1º Bachillerato. I am focusing on different aspects, such as traditions, literature and history so that the students get a wider approach to the English World
the 1920s received the name of the roaring 20s or the jazz age. this was a time where many changes took place in the American Culture.
The purpose of the following activity is looking for information about one of the following aspects. this activity is perfect to be started in class and finished at home.
Process:
Choose a group of 3-4 people
Choose one of the following topics: fashion, cars, entertainment, sports, women, Technology or crime.
Go to the resource list below and become as informed as possible.
consider the themes, people, and achievements and start shaping your presentations.
In the presentation, you can use text, images or videos to support your information.
Short reading for Halloween:
This story is not just great, it also contains an audio version you can listen to in class or the students at home.
Something was going on. Jason felt it in his bones. Polly was too happy, too cheerful. No woman could be that upbeat and still be faithful to her husband. Jason sat down to a delicious, warm meal every night, and Polly sang to herself as she washed up. What kind of woman could be cheerful doing dishes? Try as he might, Jason never heard anything that hinted of a secret romance. It drove him crazy. Life was not this perfect.
Maybe Polly was seeing the milkman, or the grocer. Jason started getting up early in order to see who it was that delivered the milk. Much to his disappointment, the fellow looked as if he’d been born several centuries ago. Then Jason started doing the food shopping, and checked out every single male employee in the local grocery store. They were either antediluvian relicts—like the milkman—or still in diapers.
Later that month Jason was over at his father-in-law’s house working in the garage when he over heard his father-in-law call to Hank…Polly’s high-school boyfriend. Now he knew! He knew why Polly was so happy all the time. Her parents must have told her that Hank was coming home, and she was planning on running off with him.
Enraged with jealousy, Jason was waiting in the kitchen when Polly got back from church. He was beyond reason. He snatched up a newly sharpened steak knife, howling: “You’ve cut out my heart, now I’ll cut out yours!” Jason leapt around the table and ripped Polly’s still-beating heart out of her chest. Blood streaming everywhere, he sailed out the back door into the dark night and flung her heart, still thumping, over the side of the bridge that spanned the creek next to their home.
Jason cleaned up the blood-stained house with extreme care and buried Polly’s body deep in the woods outside of town. Then he wrote several letters, carefully mimicking Polly’s handwriting, and mailed them to himself and her parents. Within a few days, everyone in town believed that Polly had been secretly seeing a man from the next town and that they had run away together.
Late one evening, he went out to the bridge to gloat in triumph over his unfaithful wife. Polly had gotten what she deserved, he thought. As he stood staring down at the water, he became aware of a vibration under his feet. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. It floated softly through the air, a simple rhythmic thudding. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Jason’s hands began to tingle as he recognized the soft thudding sound. It was the same beat he had felt when he held Polly’s bleeding heart in his hands. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum.
The heartbeat rang in his ears, thundering so loud that he was afraid it would wake the neighbors. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Jason clapped his hands over his ears and ran back to the house. But he could not escape the terrible sound: Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. Even the floorboards seemed to vibrate to the slow, steady rhythm. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum. It sounded like a heart-beat. Polly’s heartbeat. Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum.
Jason screamed in terror and flung himself out of the house, running toward the bridge as the heartbeat grew louder and louder in his ears. Jason leaned over the railing.
“Curse you, Polly!” he shouted.
Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum.
With a wild shriek, Jason flung himself headfirst off the bridge like a diver, and was smashed to death on the rocks below.
Underfoot on the bridge, the pavement still vibrates to the beat of a dead heart. For now and always.
Here are some examples of games for adults, although you can play with kids too:
Charades – Everyone loves a good game of guessing. Use Halloween themes for the game topics. Pick teams such as guys against gals, ghouls against goblins, or even dead against undead.
Who's Who – This game involves the costume you choose. For example, the invitation may state that you should come as your favorite scary character. At a chosen time during the party, everyone will go into character, giving everyone else time to guess who they are and write it down. Keep the characters as obscure as possible to keep the guessing going. Mystery Whodunit – The invitation for this type of party should stress an RSVP. Upon arrival, each guest gets a piece of paper detailing who they are to play in the mystery as well as instructions for their character. The host is the detective who helps solve the crime. Choose someone in your family who agrees ahead of time to play the murder victim. At the prescribed time, each person goes into character. When the lights go out, the murder occurs. When you turn the lights back on, there are clues to find out whodunit. Fear Factor – Blindfold those who dare take the challenge and have them touch a series of things and try to guess what they are. It can be a bowl of cold spaghetti worms, gelatin brains, peeled grape eyeballs, or anything else that makes your guests get all creepy crawly inside.
Halloween is the one holiday we get to pull out all the stops and anything goes. Make your party as spooky and eerie as you like. Pick a fun and freaky party theme and start planning today!
What do you know about Shakespeare? When and where did he live? What other pieces of his work do you know?
What can you tell me about drama? Features
I’d do the follow activity to catch their attention: in a box, I’d put four medium cards with one word in each (ambition, fate, guilt, revenge) as well as realia (a bloody knife, a three puppet witches and several others portraying Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo and Duncan).
After taking them out, I would ask them what they think we are going to read and discuss it in pairs. If they don’t understand the cards, I would ask if anybody knows and if not, if they can get the meaning from the context. If still they don’t know I’d explain it.
I’d ask them where and when the play is set (taking into account the puppet’s costumes)
Activities /Tasks
Pre-Literature Class Task: I would make groups and assign different activities: some would have to look on the internet for information related to Shakespeare, his works, the setting.
1. Reading: First of all, I would show them this interesting slide
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First of all I’d tell them to have a look at the text, comparing both types of language (medieval English and the Modern version).
Skimmed reading: Answer some questions: What characters do we have? Where and when is it set? What is happening?
Read the text aloud: putting intonation, different accents (how would a French accent sound like?).
Comprehensive reading: look for difficult words or structures.
Compare both versions: Are they alike? Which are the differences you can see? (Vocabulary, grammar, word order...)
2. Writing
As you can see, I have chosen different extracts, but I haven’t included the end of the play, so I would ask them to imagine which end the play can have.
3. Listening:
I would choose some videos where we can learn different aspects:
Shakespeare
Socio-historic approach to Shakespearean England
Macbeth
4. Speaking
As I have mention before, I would ask them to look for information on the internet, so they would have to deliver a short exposition about what they have found.
Giving opinions: do you like the play, the theme of revenge, fate?
Talk in pairs and in small groups what impressions they have: What they think about the setting, the characters, and the witchy atmosphere of the beginning.
Extension:
In the following classes, we would see examples of comparisons so they can infer how it works.
We would go on reading about Shakespeare, how his works influence modern literature.
From a historical point of view, we can study the English culture of the time, what key events took place by the time Shakespeare was writing.
Follow-up: conclusion
I think that they can learn a lot from this type of class. They will learn not only literature and features related to it, but also they will get historical information as well as influences in post-Shakespearean times.
Resources
Digital whiteboard
Realia, Cards
Internet: In the previous class, I’d want them to look for information about the topic.
Videos from internet talking about:
Macbeth: http://www.sparknotes.com/sparknotes/video/macbeth Shakespeare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24zZETMzR8&feature=related
Assessment
Can the learners:
Name what features are characteristic of drama and how we can distinguish it from poetry or prose.
They will know who Shakespeare was, which other works he published, what his main themes are.
They will also know about the time when Shakespeare wrote and
They will be able to discuss about what they have like or dislike about the play.
Welcome to HaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllowwwweeeeeeeennnN!!!!!!!
I hope you are not to afraid of the activities we propose in this blog!!!
About Halloween
Halloween is a traditional celebration held on October 31st. Today, Halloween is an excuse for Halloween theme costume parties, and entertainment with horror films, haunted houses and other activities around the popular themes of ghosts, witches, Dracula, werewolves and the supernatural. Children love to dress up in halloween costumes and go from door-to-door in their neighborhood following the old tradition of trick-or-treating, collecting sweets and gifts, sometimes money.
Halloween began as an ancient Celtic festival in Great Britain and Ireland, and has survived most strongly among Irish, Scottish and Welsh communities. Immigrants from these communities carried the tradition to North America where it has gained in popularity. In turn, as part of American pop culture, Halloween has spread in popularity to most corners of the English speaking western world, and increasingly into Western Europe in recent times.
Originally Halloween was a pagan festival, around the idea of linking the living with the dead, when contact became possible between the spirits and the physical world, and magical things were more likely to happen. Like most pagan festivals, long ago it was absorbed into the festivals of the expanding Christian church, and became associated with All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day, which eventually fell on November 1 under the Gregorian calendar. A vigil for the festival was held on All Hallows Evening on October 31. In the vernacular of the times, All Hallows Evening became Hallowe'en and later the Halloween we know today.
The celebration of Halloween survived most strongly in Ireland. It was an end of summer festival, and was often celebrated in each community with a bonfire to ward off the evil spirits. Children would go from door to door in disguise as creatures from the underworld to collect treats, mainly fruit, nuts and the like for the festivities. These were used for playing traditional games like eating an apple on a string or bobbing for apples and other gifts in a basin of water, without using your hands. Salt might be sprinkled on the visiting children to ward off evil spirits. Carving turnips as ghoulish faces to hold candles became a popular part of the festival, which has been adapted to carving pumpkins in America.
Halloween is usually celebrated by both adults and kids. Some families celebrate by having costume parties and playing special games like bobbing for apples and telling ghost stories. Sometimes children go "trick or treating" - knocking on doors in their trusted neighborhoods collecting candy. Other times they may attend a community party instead. Parents should use common sense when supervising their child's Halloween activities.
In earlier years, Halloween was a time for playing harmless pranks. However, in more recent times, Halloween pranks have sometimes gotten out of hand - causing damage and injury to others.
Schools usually prefer to celebrate Halloween by having children dress as storybook characters. In this way, children are still allowed to "dress up, " and the holiday becomes both fun and educational.
I consider that it is very important to include culture knowledge in our (daily) classroom. Celebrations such as Christmas, Halloween or Forth of July should be present in an English learning classroom since the development of English language is closely related to the culture and to traditions.
For that reason, I will publish some celebrations with different kinds of activities, classified by age or level.
