Top 10 Banana Printables!

3 – HOTEL ANAGRAMS (Intermediate) - Talking about English for Tourism...I’ve found at www.englishbanana.com this wonderful and relaxing vocabulary exercise in which students have to unscramble some anagrams. Nice!

Something about another book.

As a private teacher I’ve already taught certain students who wanted to improve their English because they were working in a hotel. I really believe that in these cases the best thing to do is to work with a specific material because they get more motivated, deal with real situations and that’s why it’s possible for them to practice what they learn in class at work every day! So I decided to get this book some time ago. What a regret! Honestly, I didn’t like it. The book doesn’t bring useful dialogues and instead, it presents lots of grammar and also some information which are not, in my opinion, relevant to those kind of students who look for an English teacher simply in order to learn how to communicate with their foreign guests. Well, that's it for today, colleague! Have a wonderful weekend!

The old and good Tic-tac-toe!

This is one of those activities that are extremely simple and very nice but which is usually forgotten in class. I myself can count the times I've made use of this old and good game with my students. But yesterday two of them wanted to play a game on the board at the end of the class and we decided to play "tic-tac-toe". I said "OK". But they would have to answer the questions I'd ask them before they put their signs on the board. Actually, I had seen this variety of the game somewhere and it would be a great chance for me to see if it really works in class and also to review the content we studied some time ago. They were really excited about the idea because it would make the activity a little different and even more challenging! They could only mark on the board if they asnwered the question correctly and if they didn't....their opponent had the chance to win the game! Simple and wonderful! Have a great day, colleague!

"Yesterday something different happened...."

So a long time ago there was this TV show in which the guests were supposed to create a story and include some strange objects the host would show them at the same time. I remember it was very funny because the stories were the craziest! And it couldn't be any different once the objects were shown by the time they were speaking so they didn't have any time to make it logical. Then I thought about bringing it to class. I got some of the objects I have at my mini school like the flute I got once at a R$1,99 store (remember?) and also some plastic objects I have to teach such as animals and fruits. Then, at the end of the class I wrote the following sentence on the board: "Yesterday something different happenned..." and I asked my student to continue the story, but she would have to include all the objects I would show her by the time. Activity approved!

My mural in July.

Yesterday I had a difficult mission: think about a theme to change my mural decoration in the shortest period of time. World Cup is gone and it's already July. Once we are in the middle of the month (Gosh! Time simply flies!) I decided not to decorate it for Independence Day and use a decoration I could keep next month, too. So I thought about searching on the Net for some simple and interesting facts about the American way of life. Things like: What they do in their free time, their eating habits, what they love, their favorite sports, etc. I guess it would be interesting for the students to know a little about some of the American habits. Check it out!
PS: You can take a look at some more pictures at www.myminischooldecor.blogspot.com

A second-hand book in class!

Using an English book in class is just another way of practicing reading and have fun at the same time. And the best thing is that we don’t have to spend too much money on one of those books. You can get great options at the second-hand store closest to you! This one I bought at one of those and it was a bargain! Well, I’m gonna list four suggestions of using and old English book in class. Here they are:
a) Teacher takes copies of a page of the book. Don’t forget to read it first so that you can select the one which is gonna fit your lesson better. If you work with large groups, you can divide them in smaller teams or even in pairs and have them identify and underline certain structures. You can list them on the board, for example and set them some time for the activity;
b) Another idea would be to select a page from the book, take copies and cut them in parts. Students then participate in a competition in which they have to put the text in order. The ones who finish first or the students who made fewer mistakes, win the game! You can also set a time for them to do it, and the winners would be the ones who finish within that time or even the ones who could put in order most parts of the page correctly;
c) The instructor takes copies of a page and cut the last part of it. Students try to guess how that last paragraph would be. It can also be a written exercise;
d) Students act out the page you’ve selected. Give them some minutes to prepare the play and have fun!

It's great to see you again, colleague!

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