Quotes - discussion

The relationship between literature and learning English can fulfill the learners communicative needs. Literature can be very motivating in language learning, especially when it comes to speaking.
The authors of Global (an English course for adult learners from Macmillan Education) published Classic Literature Cards with quotes from a classic English work of literature, and also with a set of discussion questions.

You can also prepare your own set of cards for the students of different age and level.

Here is one example:

• “Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.” (Louisa May Alcott, Little Women)

Discussion questions:

1.  What do you think the author means when she says 'when we go'?
2. Do you agree with this quote?
3. What else could make 'end so easy'?
4. How do people priorities change as they grow older? Can you think of examples?
5. Are there any famous sayings about love in your language? What are they in English?
   

 

The Missing Piece Meets the Big O

Very interesting video about becoming the whole self.
You can use it with Sts of different age and hold discussion about different issues depending on how mature your Sts are.
You can first read it to your Sts, and later show them the video.
You can ask your Sts to translate the texts or to create their own similar stories (they can draw).
You can ask them the following questions:
1) who is the missing point?
2) who is the Big O?
3) how did the Big O help the missing point?
4) what does it meat to feel whole?
Ask if your Sts found any additional meaning in the story. They can relate it to their own experience.

or here in a manual way
click it

Chandelier Made from 3,000 Gummy Bears

Kevin Chempeny, the artist, made a chandelier from 3,000 gummy bears.
You can show it to your Sts and ask questions:
1) How long does it take to make such a piece?
2) What other materials could be used to make it?

Encourage your Sts to make up their own designs.
Tell them they can use whichever material they like.

 


For more, visit here: click it
*
You can also show them more of the artist's works, such as e.g. the USA flag made of toy soldiers.

For more, visit here click it

Solve if you are genius!

Give your Sts a challenge :-)

How to spot a lie? (TED)

Here is a very interesting speech by Pamela Meyer about lying.
You can use it to generate discussion about the following quotes from the video:
1) Do you agree that we live in a "post-truth" society? What does it mean?
2) "Everybody is willing to give you something. They're ready to give you something for whatever it is, they're hungry for" and "if you don't want to be deceived, know what you're hungry for". 
Ask your Sts: "What are YOU hungry for?"
3) Why do people need "white lies"?

You can also concentrate on different issues from the video. 

Test Your Awareness: Do The Test

20 Optical Illusions That Might Break Your Mind

from the blog: The Idealist

Cover the middle of the corridor and the animation speeds up; cover the sides and it slows down

Which way is the wheel turning?

Paperman - Full Animated Short Story

 

The whole lesson is here: lesson plan

30-day happiness challenge

Here is an inspirational video you can use during your lesson.
Below you can find notes on the video.

Balance, walk, sweat, kiss, dance, rock, dream, love, create, live

It only takes a moment to…………

1. Plant a seed
2. Walk me
3. Find Balance
4. Listen to your body
5. Be wild
6. Break a sweat
7. Run
8. Be love
9. Take a break
10. Rock out
11. Dream
12. Daydream
13. Create
14. Speak your truth
15. Kiss
16. Ignite your passion
17. Be you

Life is Magic

_*_____________________________________________
  Ask your Sts to plan the whole month of happiness: 30-day happiness challenge. 


Additional exercise:
 

How do you see it?

Inside by Unkle - a good video for an interpretation.

Cut the world (music, art)

This video has hit the Internet recently.
You can use it as a nice creative lesson, but mostly for adult students.

Music: Antony and the Johnson, Cut the World
Art: Marina Abramovic - 'grandmother' of performance art
Discussion: Present your Students with some Internet comments and ask for their own opinion. Also, you may introduce the topic of transgender and discuss it.
Activity: Ask Sts to write their own Internet comments on their understanding of the video 

Directed by photographer and video artist Nabil Elderkin, Cut the World is an extremely simple yet beautiful video open to interpretation.

Lyrics:

For so long I've obeyed that feminine decree
I've always contained your desire to hurt me
But when will i turn and cut the world?

My eyes are coral - absorbing your dreams
My skin is a surface to push to extremes
My heart is a record of dangerous scenes
but when will I turn and cut the world
When will I turn and cut the world?

Art: Marina Abramovic appears in the last scene of this video to make a clear link between the content of the video and the body art she performs. She is a very interesting artist and her piece "rhythm 0, 1974" (HERE) is very important in performance history.

Internet comments:
1) "The end of the patriarchal systems of governance encapsulated in one music video... WOW."
2)  "This video is horrible and sends a false message. We are shown the 'feminine' is overtaking the 'masculine' when the truth is that we need a balance of both"
3) "Oh God, women no longer need men! But this video is absolutely right, because we men are primarily responsible for the biggest crap of humanity" [pay attention that crap is vulgar]
4) "The lyrics explain that this person is a man who urges to become a woman, therefore he has to kill his male self, which is frightening. It has nothing to do with female rebellion or inciting violence against men".

"The 3rd Letter" by Grzegorz Jonkajtys

During its 15 min runtime, The 3rd Letter presents the Orwellian vision of the future "where humans utterly depend on bio-mechanical alteration to withstand the deteriorating climate".

It is an amazing sci-fi film, open to interpretation and full of a rare, bleak beauty.

You can link the movie with the book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. You can present some memorable quotes from the book, such as:

1. "If you want a picture of a future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face"
2. “War is peace.
   Freedom is slavery.
   Ignorance is strength.” 
3. “Big Brother is Watching You.”
4. “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” 
5. And highlight one of the best opening line ever: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Choose some more quotes HERE

Show them also the book covers of Nineteen Eighty-Four HERE

As a follow-up activity ask your students to prepare a film poster for The 3rd letter

different types of plugs

"A girl" by Ezra Pound (literature and art)

Try poetry :-) It is an invaluable source of inspiration.
Give your students a chance to let their imagination fly.

The poem "A girl" by Ezra Pound is based on the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne. The first stanza is told by Daphne who is going the transformation and the second is told by Apollo who is seeing the process (Daphne is turning into a laurel tree to escape from Apollo).
The poem is short and it is full of images (Ezra Pound started the poetic movement called imagism).
You can encourage your students to draw it afterwards.

1. Start with a story of Apollo and Daphne. You can prepare a gap-filling text (appropriate for your students level)

2. Highlight that Ovid is, after Homer, the single most important source for classical mythology.

3. Point out that artists throughout the centuries have depicted scenes from Ovid’s work in their own paintings. You can even show some of them: a) a sculpture by Bernini HERE or b) a painting by J.W. Waterhouse HERE

3. Say that the major theme of the Metamorphoses, as the title suggests, is metamorphosis, or change. Gods are continually transforming their own selves and shapes, as well as the shapes and beings of humans.
You can give random examples from mythology:

• Narcissus changed into a flower
• Zeus into a swan (to get near Leda)
• Arachne was transformed by Athena into a spider
• Medusa was changed into a hideous gorgon by Athena
• Daedalion was a man transformed by Apollo into a hawk
• Arethusa was transformed into a fountain

4.  The poem has 10 verses. Cut it into 10 pieces. 1 piece = 1 verse.
You can have either a pair work or group work. Ask students to compose the poem out of these 10 lines. They can arrange it whatever they like (make sure they understand the meaning of each line).
Give them a glue and a sheet of paper to sick their version of the poem on. Don't give them a title. Let them come up with a title themselves.

5. At the end introduce them to the final version by Ezra Pound.  Interpret the poem together with your students. Make is easier by asking questions:

• Who is speaking in the first part? And who in the second?
• What transformations do you see?
• What does the last verse mean? What is folly to the world? Why is that folly?

As in the poem a girl is one with nature. You can also show your students this poster HERE as a basis for discussion. You can also encourage them to make something similar themselves as a follow-up activity.

PhraseMix teaches natural language

Very interesting short pictorial lessons with common English phrases, e.g.:

You're at a restaurant. The waitress asks what you want to drink. You'd like a beer, so you ask this.
What do you have on tap?

http://www.phrasemix.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short story: "Fat and Thin" by Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov's short story "Fat and Thin" (1883) is a good source for the lesson on friendship.
Your students would probably get little chance to read 19th-century Russian literature, so keep it more like fun reading stuff rather than a serious academic lecture.

You can have it with students who are at a strong intermediate level or above.
The short story you can find on the web, e.g. HERE
 
Plot: It is about two former school friends (one is fat, the other is thin) who meet by chance after many years at a railway station. One of them tries to show off to the other about his successful job and life. He gets surprised when his friend (the fat one) reveals his high social status. Then comes the sudden change in the first man's (the thin man) attitude towards his friend and he becomes servile. The friendly meeting turns into a shameful ritual of self-abnegation.

Exercises:
1. You can prepare a handout similar to this one: HERE 
2. You can ask questions:

• Why did the author entitled the story Fat and Thin?
• What are the similarities or differences of the two main characters?
• How can you relate the story in real life?
• What did you learn from the story?
• Where do you find some humour and satire in the story?

 3. Use vocabulary section "Friends" from Advanced Vocabulary and Idioms by B. J. Thomas

Twitter for language learning

If you are a language teacher and haven't been using Twitter yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. My friend Tom introduced me to the concept and I am totally fascinated with the opportunities it creates.
If you have no idea how to start that will be helpful: free online video tutorial HERE.

Be connected and get inspired :-)

Yellow Boat Project (video)

The Yellow Boat Project is a national movement that provides yellow boats to kids in the Philippines who have to swim to get to school. 

Use this as an inspirational video to raise awareness of different communities experiencing different school problems. It has subtitles, so it will be easy for students to follow.

You can start by asking your students a question: How do you get to school? 
You will get different answers (e.g. by bus, by car, on foot, etc.).
Ask them: Can we swim to school? They would probably start laughing and say "No". 
Use the video as a chance to open their minds and hearts.

Everyday objects can fire our imagination

When you introduce your students to language of everyday objects, such as: newspapers, coat hangers, wire hangers, matchsticks, bricks etc., you can show them pictures of contemporary art which makes use of those day-to-day objects

• You can have quite stimulating discussions on finding new meaning in everyday stuff. 
• You can put students into groups, give each of the group one common daily thing (e.g. a pencil, a plastic cup, a toothbrush etc.) and ask them to create something out of it.
• Or you can simply show your students pictures and stimulate their mind.

You can make a whole lesson out of it or just briefly expose your students to a richly-coloured world of everyday objects. Even a 2-minute slideshow would give your lesson a fresh touch.

And here is the artistic context for you:
David Mach is a Scottish artist who uses everyday objects and materials to construct extraordinary pieces.
He said of himself: “I’m a materials junkie, I just can’t get my hands on enough stuff to make things with.”

He uses:
1. newspapers (old magazines; look HERE)

 

2.  matchsticks (look HERE)

3. christmas cards and playing cards (look HERE) 


4. coat hangers (look HERE)


5. bricks (look HERE)

6.car tyres (look HERE)


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*If you are interested in it here is more on the subject of "recycled art" - HERE

Rembrant lesson (#music art)

Great blend of language music and art.

The Song by King Crimson titled The Night Watch (click and listen HERE)
It is inspired by Rembrandt's painting of the same title (click and see HERE)

The lyrics of the songs narrates the painting (click and read HERE)

The song may seem a bit difficult for interpretation. It is challenging but with advanced students you can create very inspirational lesson. The song is almost like a poem, you can analyse it verse by verse.

Remember also to set the background: this song talks of a painting of 17th century Dutch society. It shows us the prosperity they now enjoy after their struggle for independence from Spain has ended. This period is called the Dutch Golden Age.

You should also point out that the actual painting which is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is massive. Its colossal size is 363 x 437 cm (11 ft 10in x 14 ft 4in). You can ask your students to what extent does the music express its greatness.

There is also a great BBC documentary series by Simon Schama about the power of Rembrandt's art.
You can watch it HERE.
More about Simon Schama's Power Of Art HERE.