A school idiom

Have you ever heard/seen/read the expression "bookworm"?

Whenever I do, my brain immediately pictures something like this:

However, this word refers to a person devoted to reading and/or studying.

New idiom!

I know, I know. Do not look at me (or your screen) like that. It wasn't my intention to leave this section apart. 

The reason why I haven't posted anything in the last weeks months is that I have not presented the concept of IDIOM to my new students. 

" a group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words."

Once explained, this section is officially restarted!

Let's start talking about the idiom: let the cat out of the bag.

If we took the words literally, it would seem as if we had tied up the poor animal and kept it in a sack.

But... in reality, this idiom is talking about keeping a secret or surprise. That is, we are not talking here about a real cat. Instead, the old guy in the picture is telling the other to discover the secret.

Song and Phonetics

Last Friday we did this activity dealing with phonetic symbols. It involves a well-known song, although this is a version by the band Muse with a new twist.

You can download the worksheet here (it is free):

Song and phonetics

And you can listen to the song here:

And while we were doing the activity, one of my students realised that this band was the one who refused to sing playback in an Italian show last year. The lead singer swapped places with the drummer in the performance. You can watch it here:

Talking about inspiration

I'm not going to lie, having a blog is hard. 

Well, maybe it's not as hard as marking essays/exams/notebooks... but it requires a lot of effort and time anyway.

Sometimes I can not find inspiration.

Sometimes I can not find the time.

But then I see this:

Or this:

And I find my muse straightaway!

World toilet day

Yes, you read it right. Last Thursday (November 19th) was the World Toilet day. When I told my students about it, they thought I was joking. 

Seriously. 

They couldn't believe there was an official day dedicated to toilets.

However, if we take a look to the figures, it does not seem a joke anymore.

According to the UN, 2.4 billion (!) people do not have adequate sanitation. And... among the consequences of poor sanitation are an increasing risk of disease and malnutrition. 

And while I'm writing these lines, I'm thinking about a famous Oscar-winning film and a shocking scene. Do you know what I'm talking about?

(WARNING: Do NOT watch this video immediately before/after meal times. It is disgusting, nauseating and somewhat hilarious).

If you are interested, you can have a look at the following webpage.

World Toilet Day

Listening Practise--> Flyers

I'm sorry but I'm having some problems with my computer and I can't post the screenshots of the documents below.  As a result, the post looks extremely boooooring.

But I think that the links are working, so you can have extra practice for this weekend.

YLE- STARTERS- LISTENING

LISTENING. STARTERS. PDF

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 1

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 2

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 3

LISTENING. STARTERS. PART 4

YLE- FLYERS. LISTENING

LISTENING. FLYERS. PDF

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 1

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 2

LISTENING. FLYERS PART 3

LISTENING. FLYERS PART 4

LISTENING. FLYERS. PART 5

Just in case...

Dear students,

Just in case you are tempted by the idea...

I'd like to remind you that:

Copy and paste is never a good idea. 

Copy and paste equals plagiarism.

Plagiarism is not a good idea either. 

And I'd also like to warn you (picture me with a wicked smile):

I will know.

(so, please, do NOT copy in your next essays)