- What is your all-time favorite movie? Why do you like it? Who was it directed by? Who starred in it?
- Is there a movie you could watch over and over again?
- Are there any kinds of movies you dislike? If so, what kinds? Why do you dislike them?
- Do you like to watch horror movies?
- Have you ever seen the same movie more than once? If yes, name it (or them).
- If a book has been made into a movie, which do you prefer to do first, see the movie or read the book? Why?
- What do you think of people who talk during movies at a movie theater? What is your reaction to such people?
- What is the worst movie you've ever seen?
- Which do you like better, action movies or comedy movies?
- What movie star would you most like to meet?
- Who is your favorite actor or actress?
- What do you think of reality shows?
- Who's your favorite director?
- Can you say that you are a movie buff?
- What is your favorite movie soundtrack?
- Can you remember the name of the first movie you saw that made you cry?
- Have you ever watched a movie that you disliked twice because you wanted to understand what it was about? If so, did you change your mind about the movie after doing so?
- What movie ratings are enforced in your country?
- Have you ever said after watching a movie: "The movie trailer was a lot better!"
- Do you like foreign films that are dubbed in your mother tongue or do you like watching the film in the original?
- What kind of movie would you like to star in? Why?
- Do you think there should be more movies made in your country?
- What things happen too often in movies?
- Which movie star do you think should die today?
- Which movie star should live forever?
- If a movie star wanted to marry you, would you divorce your spouse?
- If you could be a movie bad guy, which one would you be?
- Have you ever thought about what super powers you would like to have?
- How often would you go to the movie theater if you always had free tickets?
- If they made a movie about your life, what kind of movie would it be? Who would star in it?
- Do you want your children to be actors or actresses?
- How would your life change if you could do TV commercials?
- Would you like to be a movie extra?
- Do you think there is too much violence and nudity in movies? Does it affect children?
- Why do some people become famous and others don't?
- Would you rather be in a movie, or be given $500.000?
- Would you like to be in a television drama?
- What kind of character would you like to play in a television drama?
- Would you be willing to be on a TV show in only your underwear?
Hidden Meanings: "
Related posts:
This is the first in a series of posts on this topics. Look to learn more about:
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There are a lot of words in English. A lot of them have almost the same meaning, or meanings that are related. But, often, picking one word over the other can weaken the meaning of your sentence and—in the worst case—even hurt feelings.
Consider a few questions:- Would you rather be faced with a challenge or a problem?
- Would you rather that someone called you a ‘natural leader’ or a ’skilled leader?’
- If someone takes five minutes to make a decision, would you call them ‘deliberate’ or ‘indecisive?’
What’s the difference? The difference is the connotation of the words. We’ll talk more, soon, about the meaning of connotation, but for now it helps to say this: the connotation of a word is its ’second meaning.’ Often, we use the words ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ to describe this: a challenge is a positive thing, a problem is a negative thing. But it can be more than that.
Why does it matter? If you’re speaking to a native—or fluent—speaker who is aware of the connotation of the words you use, it’s very possible that misunderstandings can happen when you say in English what you’d normally say in your native language.In the next days and weeks (I don’t know how fast I can prepare stuff) I want to talk about this idea. We’re going to start with some vocabulary to describe this, we’re going to cover specific examples, and we’re going to talk about how you can find out connotations on your own. (After all, every word has some kind of connotation.)
Normally, I’ve organized my lessons at Bite Sized English into different levels: from pretty simple to native level. The lessons we work on for this topic will be all ‘native level.’ You’ll need pretty good English to really make use of them. (Though, it never hurts to learn the extra vocabulary.)Related posts:
vegangelical: "vegangelical
n.
An extremely zealous vegan who is eager to make other people believe in and convert to veganism. [Blend of vegan and evangelical.]
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are vegangelicals with a sense of humor, a sense of proportion and a sense of adventure. What else would you expect from two gals who host a podcast called The Post Punk Kitchen (ThePPK.com)?
—Ted Scheffler, "Eat Your Veggies," Salt Lake City Weekly, January 31, 2008
'I'm not a vegangelical,' she said. 'He's an adult and I respect his choices just as he respects mine.'
—Kate Murphy, "I Love You, But You Love Meat," The New York Times, February 13, 2008
The way that the writer uses vegangelical in the earliest citation is quite matter-of-fact, as though the word was no big deal in his or her neck of the linguistic woods. Yes, maybe that person just happens to write in a relentlessly matter-of-fact style, but I think it's reasonable to assume that the term is older, perhaps much older, than 2005.
n.
An extremely zealous vegan who is eager to make other people believe in and convert to veganism. [Blend of vegan and evangelical.]
Example Citations:
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are vegangelicals with a sense of humor, a sense of proportion and a sense of adventure. What else would you expect from two gals who host a podcast called The Post Punk Kitchen (ThePPK.com)?
—Ted Scheffler, "Eat Your Veggies," Salt Lake City Weekly, January 31, 2008
Dynise Balcavage, 42, an associate creative director at an advertising agency and vegan who lives in Philadelphia, said she has been happily married to her omnivorous husband, John Gatti, 53, for seven years.
We have this little dance we've choreographed in the kitchen,' she said. She prepares vegan meals and averts her eyes when he adds anchovies or cheese. And she does not show disapproval when he orders meat in a restaurant.'I'm not a vegangelical,' she said. 'He's an adult and I respect his choices just as he respects mine.'
—Kate Murphy, "I Love You, But You Love Meat," The New York Times, February 13, 2008
Earliest Citation:
When I first made the step to becoming vegan, I was a militant little prick. Not in a bad way, I mean I wasn't a vegangelical, if that's what you're wondering.
—"The right reasons," The Smoking Vegans, April 15, 2005
—"The right reasons," The Smoking Vegans, April 15, 2005
Notes:
The way that the writer uses vegangelical in the earliest citation is quite matter-of-fact, as though the word was no big deal in his or her neck of the linguistic woods. Yes, maybe that person just happens to write in a relentlessly matter-of-fact style, but I think it's reasonable to assume that the term is older, perhaps much older, than 2005.
Is your brain making you fat?: "OPINION: We're getting fatter, but it's not all our fault, says physiologist Professor Michael Cowley."
Homework: "Advertise on TEFL Tips
Index
● Looking for jobs? Go to The LA Job List.
● Want information about teaching in Peru? Go to A Country Guide to TEFLing in Peru
Homework
Mention homework and you're sure to elicit a couple of groans from your students. The problem is that often teachers assign long, unnecessary, useless exercises for homework. Look at the suggestions below and you'll find that although your students won't be bouncing off the walls when you give them a homework assignment, they will stop complaining.
Daily: Homework should be given daily. Here's why: chances are that if you don't assign homework the majority of the students aren't going to review what you did it class. If you only have class once a week or have night classes with adults students, it's your call as to how much homework you assign. If your students have the time and are motivated, I would give them short assignments to be done daily. If you can't do that, then I recommend that you assign homework after every class.
KISS: Keep it short and simple. Homework doesn't have to last 30 minutes or an hour. It can be a short assignment that only takes up ten minutes. Your students could easily do that while waiting for the bus. Remember to keep the task simple as well. You don't want them spending ages trying to figure out what they have to do.
Make it relevant: Fill in the gap/blank grammar exercises are a necessary evil. But let's face it, when will your students be faced with a task like that in real life? Probably never. So make the homework assignment relevant to their lives. Creating schedule (present), describing people (present), explaining about how they met their partner (past), talking about their favorite teacher (past), naming goals (future) or making predictions about their country (future) are all relevant issues that can be used to practise grammar. But don't forget there's more to learning than just grammar, for example reading.
Comprehension questions are the norm in EFL classes, but again, not very relevant to real life. Opinion and T/F questions are good. In fact, I would try asking your students to simply read an (online, newspaper, magazine) article, tell the class about it and give their opinion on what they read. Students would enjoy doing that more than simply answering questions. And best of all your letting them practise something in English that they already do in their native language.
Listening is a bit harder to do. But can be done. Especially with the internet or cable TV. Ask students to listen to something (news, movies, interviews, even youtube), though I would probably be against having them listen to music. Lyrics being what they are, they're probably too difficult to understand due to all the noise, or grammatically incorrect. Then, like the reading, explain a couple of things they learnt/remembered, or what the segment was about. Then have them give their opinion if applicable.
Speaking can be a challenge and for some students embarrassing. If students have friends or family members that speak English, then it might be eaiser. If they don't, they might be able to speak to English speakers studying or working at the school where they are. The problem is that often this is an artificial environment. Students usually ask set questions or do a survey, which is something that they might not have to do outside of the classroom. Even so you should try to assign speaking homework. Things like asking people what they think of the country they're living in, what they do in their spare time, etc are good questions. However, as mentioned above, unless your student and the other person are friends, the questions maybe in an artificial environment. That being said, they are practising and the questions are relevant.
Don't assign homework at the end of class: Typical classes are often wrapped up by the teacher saying, 'Ok class, do exercises A and B on page 27.' This is bad, very bad. Students might not have heard what the homework was, they will probably forget because they are rushing out of class, and nothing was explained. Give homework at the beginning or middle of class. If for example, you correct homework at the beginning, you could assign the new homework right after that. Write the assignment down on the board and go over the exercise to make sure the students know what is expected. Another idea is to assign homework after you deal with the particular teaching point you were practising. For example, if you just finished explaining a grammar point, you could give the homework out then.
Acknowledge it: Obviously if you have many classes and you assign daily homework, it'll be nearly impossible for you to correct it all. And don't even try. While there are many reasons for homework: to practise, to show you what the student knows, so the student knows what their weak areas are, etc, correcting every homework assignment will just leave you bitter and exhausted. You should go over the assignment and correct it as a class. Students can check their own or exchange papers. The biggest advantage to grading in class is that if a student has a question, he can ask you then and there and you can answer it. Chances are other students will have questions about the same issue. While you shouldn't grade every assignment, you should mark down who has their homework and who doesn't. Then at the end of the term, you can give points for each completed assignment.
Do grade some homework. Whether you tell your students ahead of time which pieces of homework will be graded or simply randomly choose, you will need grades for your students. I'd suggest trying to get a grade a week. And as mentioned above, you can easily have your students grade their assignments during class.
If you liked this article, look at the following about teaching and classroom issues.
Index
● Looking for jobs? Go to The LA Job List.
● Want information about teaching in Peru? Go to A Country Guide to TEFLing in Peru
Homework
Mention homework and you're sure to elicit a couple of groans from your students. The problem is that often teachers assign long, unnecessary, useless exercises for homework. Look at the suggestions below and you'll find that although your students won't be bouncing off the walls when you give them a homework assignment, they will stop complaining.
Daily: Homework should be given daily. Here's why: chances are that if you don't assign homework the majority of the students aren't going to review what you did it class. If you only have class once a week or have night classes with adults students, it's your call as to how much homework you assign. If your students have the time and are motivated, I would give them short assignments to be done daily. If you can't do that, then I recommend that you assign homework after every class.KISS: Keep it short and simple. Homework doesn't have to last 30 minutes or an hour. It can be a short assignment that only takes up ten minutes. Your students could easily do that while waiting for the bus. Remember to keep the task simple as well. You don't want them spending ages trying to figure out what they have to do.
Make it relevant: Fill in the gap/blank grammar exercises are a necessary evil. But let's face it, when will your students be faced with a task like that in real life? Probably never. So make the homework assignment relevant to their lives. Creating schedule (present), describing people (present), explaining about how they met their partner (past), talking about their favorite teacher (past), naming goals (future) or making predictions about their country (future) are all relevant issues that can be used to practise grammar. But don't forget there's more to learning than just grammar, for example reading.
Comprehension questions are the norm in EFL classes, but again, not very relevant to real life. Opinion and T/F questions are good. In fact, I would try asking your students to simply read an (online, newspaper, magazine) article, tell the class about it and give their opinion on what they read. Students would enjoy doing that more than simply answering questions. And best of all your letting them practise something in English that they already do in their native language.
Listening is a bit harder to do. But can be done. Especially with the internet or cable TV. Ask students to listen to something (news, movies, interviews, even youtube), though I would probably be against having them listen to music. Lyrics being what they are, they're probably too difficult to understand due to all the noise, or grammatically incorrect. Then, like the reading, explain a couple of things they learnt/remembered, or what the segment was about. Then have them give their opinion if applicable.
Speaking can be a challenge and for some students embarrassing. If students have friends or family members that speak English, then it might be eaiser. If they don't, they might be able to speak to English speakers studying or working at the school where they are. The problem is that often this is an artificial environment. Students usually ask set questions or do a survey, which is something that they might not have to do outside of the classroom. Even so you should try to assign speaking homework. Things like asking people what they think of the country they're living in, what they do in their spare time, etc are good questions. However, as mentioned above, unless your student and the other person are friends, the questions maybe in an artificial environment. That being said, they are practising and the questions are relevant.
Don't assign homework at the end of class: Typical classes are often wrapped up by the teacher saying, 'Ok class, do exercises A and B on page 27.' This is bad, very bad. Students might not have heard what the homework was, they will probably forget because they are rushing out of class, and nothing was explained. Give homework at the beginning or middle of class. If for example, you correct homework at the beginning, you could assign the new homework right after that. Write the assignment down on the board and go over the exercise to make sure the students know what is expected. Another idea is to assign homework after you deal with the particular teaching point you were practising. For example, if you just finished explaining a grammar point, you could give the homework out then.
Acknowledge it: Obviously if you have many classes and you assign daily homework, it'll be nearly impossible for you to correct it all. And don't even try. While there are many reasons for homework: to practise, to show you what the student knows, so the student knows what their weak areas are, etc, correcting every homework assignment will just leave you bitter and exhausted. You should go over the assignment and correct it as a class. Students can check their own or exchange papers. The biggest advantage to grading in class is that if a student has a question, he can ask you then and there and you can answer it. Chances are other students will have questions about the same issue. While you shouldn't grade every assignment, you should mark down who has their homework and who doesn't. Then at the end of the term, you can give points for each completed assignment.
Do grade some homework. Whether you tell your students ahead of time which pieces of homework will be graded or simply randomly choose, you will need grades for your students. I'd suggest trying to get a grade a week. And as mentioned above, you can easily have your students grade their assignments during class.
If you liked this article, look at the following about teaching and classroom issues.
?English. The new disease?
It pours out of television speakers and computer screens
Disregarding Babel with its very cocky fluency
Sticking on its labellings at every opportunity.
Nothing?s safe; it won?t stop when it begins to spread
it dominates the airwaves and reigns/rains on the internet
leaving cultures altered and confused as to what?s what
turns the dialecting of the youths to a hotch-potch
rag-tag scrabble bag; everyone?s affected
the little languages will not survive unprotected.
So hold your own, but get a firm hold of English
and every last one of us shall be a multilinguist ??
taken from www.macmillandictionary.com
It pours out of television speakers and computer screens
Disregarding Babel with its very cocky fluency
Sticking on its labellings at every opportunity.
Nothing?s safe; it won?t stop when it begins to spread
it dominates the airwaves and reigns/rains on the internet
leaving cultures altered and confused as to what?s what
turns the dialecting of the youths to a hotch-potch
rag-tag scrabble bag; everyone?s affected
the little languages will not survive unprotected.
So hold your own, but get a firm hold of English
and every last one of us shall be a multilinguist ??
taken from www.macmillandictionary.com
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