Giovanna's blog

Virginia and Angela's Task

2008-06-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

According to our last task, we dicided to use our video to teach Conditional Tense.

This video is an informal chat. In some parts of it, we used the conditional tense in our dialogue.

Show to the learner, the use of the subject that is being studied, practicing it, can be one of the ways that improve your knowledge and I consider a way very interesting.

There are five possible ways to create sentences in the Condicional Tense. They are:

Simple

Subject + Would + Infinitive without 'to'

Ex: I would study.

Continuous

Subject + would + be + verb+ing

Ex: I would be studying.

Perfect

Subject + would + have + Past Participe

Ex: I would have studied.

2008-06-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

Be careful with your pronunciation!!! Watch this clip and see why...

Teacher's roles beyond the film "The Emperor's Club"

2008-06-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

The film The Emperor’s Club shows us a teacher who is actually crazy about his profession and who never gives up of his dreams because he believes the education is the base of all.
This teacher, called in the film William Hundert (Kevin Kline), is a Classic History teacher who works in a traditional school and is much respected by his students and by the headmaster school. He motivated his learners to study and to learn more and more. So he invented a cultural competition that gave the title to the film, The Emperor’s Club, an excellent resource to stimulate the teenagers. At first, like a planner, he realized a quiz with the students during the class to classify three of them and in the final competition, The Emperor’s Club, one of them would be the winner.
In the film, Mr. Hundert had one of the students who was an arrogant boy and rebel too, Mr. Bell. The teacher had more difficulty than all of the rest to begin this student in a motivated boy and interested to learn. But, Mr. Hundert, like a friend or maybe a father, was worried to involve specifically this student in the competition. That situation was challenging for the teacher. So Mr. Hundert decided to believe in Mr. Bell’s capacity. But the teacher failed because the boy despised your help and never changed his behaviour. Although he knew all about the subject, he only wanted to insult the teacher, he was a crooked in the competition, but didn’t become the winner. It makes the teacher feel very unhappy because as well as Mr. Bell’s father, the son thought Mr. Hundert should only give information, show the material, don’t matter all the rest of his abilities and how opened he was to help and to advice his learners.
During the film, this problematic teenager made the teacher reflects about himself posture mainly after he lost his work, when the headmaster school died. Mr. Hundert had a posture that was very criticized by the new people who will work in the school. He was a person who had a very traditional posture. He never thought to innovate.
When Mr. Hundert was unemployed, he suffered a lot. The teaching practice always had much importance in his life. He loved to be a teacher and he has spent more than 20 years of his life working in that school.
Some years later, the same group of his students was brought together by Mr. Bell, nowadays a married man who has two children and all of the others now graduated men. The old arrogant boy, Mr. Bell, wanted to a second edition of “The Emperor’s Club” with Mr. Hundert present, like the first time. But in fact, he just wanted to report your politic career to all of them influential people.
Then Mr. Hundert again saw how disloyal was that man called Sir. Bell. That man despised principles and thought only in himself. But at the end of the film, Mr. Hundert had a great surprise, he received an honor of the other men and could see how important he was and still has been for them, men who now practice all those principles that learnt with their best teacher, Mr. Hundert, in terms of knowledge and character.
If a teacher wants to be an excellent professional, so need to have a conscience about your practice, teacher roles and need to know about your importance for the formation of your students and always improve your knowledge. And shouldn’t forget that the students sometimes see us like a mirror, but it doesn’t make us perfect people.

Beatriz's task

2008-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

SONG:

I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

Chorus:
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing fingertips
It burned like a fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongues of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

Chorus

I believe in the Kingdom Come
When all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes I'm still running
You broke the bonds
And you loosened the chains
Carried the cross
Of all my shame
all my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

Use songs in your classes is a good resource to make your learners pratice vocabulary, pronunciation and also grammar. But it's necessary pay attention to your choice because some lyrics are made in a way not so good.