Teacher Discussion Forums

If you have a big screen connected to a computer in your class then this is a great series for the low-levels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8cjNXxPZgI

This one is about colo(u)rs.

I'm mainly posting it here to hear if you know some other nice stuff along similar lines, cartoon characters and that kind of thing would be good....
(sesame street has some useful stuff too, I know)

I followed the link and watched that, then another, somewhat more interesting 'Real English' clip on nationalities (loved the way though that the colour changed in advance of the answer so that students watching can rack their brains to supply the appropriate word):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vPmDofOe4&NR=1

The question in the second clip was "unsurprisingly" 'What nationality are you?' (as a way of eliciting adjectives rather than countries - the latter would be in answer to simply 'Where are you from?'*), which strikes me as a bit too..."method(olog)ical". (Yes, yes, I know it's "basics", and it's one way of asking for that info, but there are other ways to get into those adjectives). The only people who continually ask about 'Nationality?' are probably Immigration officers. And as for 'What's your nationality?', let's not even go there.

Towards the end there was an interesting exchange (presumably unscripted): Are you from London, originally? No, I'm Danish. (Note the "mismatch" of forms). Oh, you're Danish!

All that being said, 'What _____ are you?' does have some further uses (in relation to e.g. blood type (popular question in Japan), star sign (etc?)), and I am sure that used in moderation, low-level students would gain something (even just enjoyment) from watching such clips (I'd still be wary though of calling it "real" English).

*They did however ask a couple their nationality ('German'), and then where they were from too ('Germany'), "just to be sure".

The bearded guy from New Jersey had a small problem. He wanted nationality vocab, but he couldn't think of an everyday question to elicit that. So he thought, "Well, I'm asking a list of questions on the street, a formal question isn't really out of context. And anyway, I've given the globe so much "real English", there is no need to be fanatical about things". So he chose a rather formal question. I think he did well.

Even if it turns out the most common Q/A is in fact "Where are you from? I'm Canadian/Irish....." I've no intention to use that formula in introductory lessons. You have to teach simple formulas and then move on, even if native speakers seldom use simple formulas.

How's this for an "English" lesson!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TCFgSFF3E&

If you scroll down in the 'Related Videos', you'll come to some 'Funniest English' clips (which are a bit more genuine).

woodcutter wrote:Even if it turns out the most common Q/A is in fact "Where are you from? I'm Canadian/Irish....." I've no intention to use that formula in introductory lessons. You have to teach simple formulas and then move on, even if native speakers seldom use simple formulas.

In China my Business English boss surprised me one day by allowing for 'I'm Chinese > I'm from China' in a short receptionists' course she'd typed up; both would satisfactorily answer any question (Where are you from/Where do you come from/What nationality are you/(Are you (from))...?), but she'd halved the learning load in that context at least (assuming that country names are more well-known or learnable than nationality adjectives - because of football etc?). Could you get much "simpler" (simplifying) than that?

It still makes things more complicated, to my mind. I generally seem to have many more things in the "they can work it out for themselves anyway" box than other teachers. I always work on the principle that students are fairly smart but find it hard to focus on my classroom fronted ranting.

When I learn a foreign language I certainly prefer to grab onto simple half-truths and run with them.

(Having said that, the example from Fluffy is reasonably simple so it is not a good example to work forom...)

woodcutter wrote:It still makes things more complicated, to my mind. I generally seem to have many more things in the "they can work it out for themselves anyway" box than other teachers. I always work on the principle that students are fairly smart but find it hard to focus on my classroom fronted ranting.

Dusty Linguistics Professor 2: And they'll certainly need to work a lot out for themselves, with you teaching, or rather, ranting.

DLP 1: That's not what I was saying.

DLP 2: Yes, you weren't saying anything, you were ranting.

etc.

When I learn a foreign language I certainly prefer to grab onto simple half-truths and run with them.

That's certainly better than pulling your hair out like some ESL learners seem to (Shuntang being the poster boy).

(Having said that, the example from Fluffy is reasonably simple so it is not a good example to work forom...)

Depends on what poison you are.