9/07/2013

Piano Man

The following video session is dedicated to Freddy Castro, who brought love and happiness to my life. He was a friend, a father and someone I will never forget.




Before you watch

  • The song you’re about to listen to really inspires me in a way that not many songs do. It  makes me feel really emotional. Is there any song that makes you feel this way? Which one? Who is the song by? What is it about? Why do you find it so inspirational/ moving?

Watch the video and listen to the song.
  1. Identify
-          Time and place
-          Main characters
-          Reason why they have gathered
-          Kind of atmosphere

  1. Listen again and join with arrows

  1. The old man                  a. think the piano man is very good and tip him.
  2. John                              b. is in the Navy.
  3. Paul                               c. practices politics.
  4. Davy                             d. sounds like a carnival and brings comfort to the people at the bar.
  5. The waitress                  e. is a single real estate novelist.
  6. The businessmen            f. wants the pianist to play a song he used to know by heart.
  7. The piano man               g. is a bartender who wishes he were a movie star.
  8. The manager                  h. get drunk.
  9. The people                     i. makes the people at the bar forget their troubles..
  10. The piano                       j. is happy about the big crowd that has gathered to see the piano man.

  1. Spot words in the word cloud which may help describe the atmosphere at the bar or the feelings the different characters may be experiencing. Explain how the different words may relate to the story.


Word cloud made with WordItOut



  4. Do you know the expressions in the box? Listen to the song again and fill in the blanks with them.

get stoned                    for free                    for a while                 for life                     in the mood (x3)

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes."

La la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all ________________for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks _________________
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
As the smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be _______________

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly ________________
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone

Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all _________________for a melody
And you got us feeling alright

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about life _____________________
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all ________________for a melody
And you got us feeling alright

After you watch

  1. The people in the song have come to the bar to listen to the piano man and forget about life for a while. What do you do when you want to forget about life for a while?
  2. John works as a bartender but there’s some place that he’d rather be. Is there anything in your life you’re not so happy about or something else you'd rather do? What?
  3. Have you ever felt lonely? When? What do you do when you feel this way?
  4. At the end of the song the piano sounds like a carnival and seems to bring some comfort to the crowd that has gathered in the bar. What/ who brings comfort to you when you feel (a bit) down? 

7/21/2013

True friends: How many?


Discuss before you watch


  1. How many close friends do you have?
  2. How many friends do you have on Facebook? How many of those pals do you regard as true friends? Are most of your friends on Facebook just acquaintances?
  3. Do you think social networks like Facebook or Twitter bring people closer? Why? Why not?
  4. How can you tell who your true friends are?


Watch and answer


  1. How many friends does the average user have on Facebook?
  2. What has the University study mentioned revealed?
  3. How can you tell who is a true friend according to Psychologist Michelle Callahan?
  4. What is the effect of social networks in relationships as far as Michelle Callahan is concerned?
  5. What’s good about social network interaction in Michelle’s opinion?

Focus on collocations
Watch the video again and try to match up the collocations

1.    Brag                                a. stress
2.    Have                               b. on somebody
3.    Share                               c. secrets with sby
4.    Rely                                d. to yourself
5.    Friend                             e. roughly 1000 friends
6.    Loan                                f. about the number of friends you have
7.    Build                               g. someone
8.    Keep information            h. somebody money
9.    Relieve                           i. an intimate relationship
10. Make                               j. a positive change in your life


Focus on Phrasal Verbs

Get into pairs. Open your Facebook accounts and let each other see your friends. Take turns to ask questions.

1.    Who’s this? Is he/she a close friend or just an acquaintance?
2.    How long have you known each other? How/ Where did you meet him/her?
3.    Is there anything you used to do together that you no longer do?
4.    Do you keep in touch?
5.    What does s/he do (go to school/college/ work)?
6.    Do you share any activity outside Facebook?
7.    How do you and (you mate’s name) get on?
8.    Has he/she ever let you down? When?
9.    Have you ever fallen out with each other or had a big argument? Why? How did you make up?
10. Have you ever been cross with him/ her or He/ she with you? Why?
11. Tell me a time one of you stuck up for the other.
12. Can you always count on him/ her?.
13. Do you think your friendship will last long? Why?


Focus on conditional II

Cut out the following questions. Get into pairs or small groups and take turns to ask each other the questions below.

1.    What would you do if your best mate started hanging out with the wrong people?
2.    If you could choose a friend to go on vacation with, who would you choose and why?

3.    If your best friend forgot your birthday, would you get cross?

4.    If you discovered your best friend has lied to you. Would you talk to him/her or fall out?

5.    If your best friend started to drop in on you all the time and expected you to spend all your free time with her/ him, what would you do? Would you get cross?

6.    If you had a huge argument with a close friend and he/ she asked you to apologize. Would you do it and make up even if you knew that you are right?

7.    Would you get into big trouble in order to stick up for a friend?

8.    Would you lie to a friend in order not to let him/ her down?

9.    If you ran into a friend you have fallen out with, would you say “hi” or pretend you haven’t seen him/her?

10. Would you hit it off with somebody even if you knew he/ she has let down your best friend?

11. Would you keep counting on somebody who has let you down once?


Follow up: Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%ADa_del_Amigo 

7/13/2013

Birth Order and Personality


   A. Discuss before you watch.

  1. What do you understand by “the birth order effect”?
  2. Do you think it could be true?
  3. What are the common personality traits connected to first- born, middle-born and last-born children?
  4. Do you believe there is a child who is in the favorable position in the family? Why?
  5. Are there any variables concerning how birth order might affect personality?
 
B. Look at the word cloud below and spot some personality traits. Then, watch the video and place them under one of the 3 categories.


First-borns tend to be…
Middle-borns tend to be…
Last-borns tend to be…














C.After you watch
  • Would you say the personality traits decribed in the video apply to your family? How?

D.Expand your vocabulary: Adjectives used to describe somebody's personality
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/words-for-describing-personality.html (elementary) 
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/more-words-for-describing-personality.html (intermediate)
http://www.lingolex.com/personalidad.htm  50 adjectives to describe the personality
in English and Spanish
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2941  (PRACTICE) 

 
E.Speaking: Get together with a classmate and write down the names of  4 people you know. They might be members of your family, friends or just acquaintances. Then, write two or more personality traits associated with each of these people, scattered on the sheet of paper. Take turns to ask each other questions and find out who the people are and what they are like by asking and answering questions.

 
F. Follow up Reading from Wikipedia. 
(the class may divide into 5 groups and each read and present one of the following parts)

1 Theories
2 Personality
3 Intelligence
4 Sexuality
5 Fourthborns
SOURCE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_order 

5/29/2013

Are robots hurting job growth?


Links to online video: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2lDmF8ZShI 
http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/2325167104/are-robots-hurting-job-growth 

 

Before you watch

  1. What do you make of the cartoon above? What do you expect this video session to be about?
  2. What are the most common reasons why people may lose their jobs?
  3. What do you understand by “technological unemployment”?
  4. Can you think of jobs that are now done by robots? Do you find any downside to this? What about the advantages?
  5. Do you think that all the work will be eventually done by machines?

FOCUS ON LANGUAGE
COLLOCATIONS 1

1.      white collar/ routine/ middle-skilled       a. sample
2.      heavily automated                                 b. warehouses
3.      blood                                                   c. teller
4.      state-of-the-art                                     d. job
5.      wide and varied                                    e. operator
6.      assembly                                               f. product
7.      Sales                                                    g. robots
8.      Switchboard                                         h. product line
9.      Bank                                                    i. line
10.  flagship                                                 j. clerk 

COLLOCATIONS 2

1.      perform                                              a. an order/ a prescription
2.      portray                                               b. the job of a human/ a task
3.      Give way/ surrender                            c. stocks on Wall Street
4.      Fill                                                      d. a robot/ a computer
5.      Ship                                                   e. a robot as household help
6.      Make                                                 f. somebody’s plans/ mission
7.      Trade                                                 g. to something
8.      Run                                                    h. a lab/ a company
9.      Upgrade                                             i. a living/ a comeback
10.  level                                                   j. merchandise for retailers
11.  bring                                                  k. the playing field
12.  jeopardize                                          l. to mind

After you watch

A-Watch and fill in the table below

What I already knew
What I learnt watching this video
Something that surprised me
Something I’d like to find out more about















B-Get together with your group and share what you've written. Then choose something you'd like to know more about and look it up in wikipaedia. Then, prepare a short presentation (using PPT) and share your findings.


 Language Follow up

COMPARATIVES
How have things changed over the past years? Make comparisons. You can use the words below.
MORE              FASTER                       MORE EFFICIENTLY                       FEWER                   BIGGER                        HIGHER                   

·         Interactions with machines
·         Interactions with human beings
·         The economy now and before the Great Recession
·         Business investment in hardware and software
·         Way the merchandise is shipped