Language learning, cultural imperialism, fun?

This is a great short film (hat tip to Benny Lewis):

I hope there are lots of people like this around the world.

David Lisgo’s new card games

I am a big fan of David Lisgo‘s work, especially the Switchit card game.

Recently he has made a new set of card games based on verbs. Unlike Switchit, which is similar to UNO, these are more like a combination of Go Fish and Happy Families or Rummy.

There are nine sets of cards:
-three sets of irregular past simple verbs
-three sets of regular past simple verbs
-three sets of present continuous verb

Play is simple: players are dealt a number of cards and they try to collect sets of four by asking other players: if the other player has the cards, they hand them over; if not, the asking player takes a card from the middle (like Go Fish). Play continues until all the cards are gone or the time is up.

One caveat is that the game if played in full can take a long time: I have found setting a time limit or removing cards or sets from the deck helps speed things up.

Our students enjoyed the new game and I liked it very much as well. Students are talking a lot more, using full sentences, and getting a lot of practice with verb forms. These cards are a great addition to a teacher’s toolbox.

Social Skills Written Test

You’ve probably seen this already, it’s all over the English J-web, but just in case (thanks to goodandbadjapan):

A Christmas ‘Treat’

Merry Christmas! Here is a link from my distant past that you may or may not enjoy (warning: it’s fairly catchy):

http://web.archive.org/web/20051119202358/http://www.human.gr.jp/matu/eigo/uta1/

Created by the very talented Mr. Matsumoto, who also taught me almost everything I know about teaching English in elementary schools.

Tragically my recording career begins and ends with this track.

English Teachers episode 7

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