DON MACLEAN - AMERICAN PIE ACTIVITY

 "American Pie" is a song by Don McLean, released in 1971. It's known for its cryptic lyrics that reference various events and figures from the 1950s and 1960s, often interpreted as a reflection on the decline of American innocence and the loss of a simpler time. The song's chorus famously refers to "the day the music died," which is commonly understood to symbolize the plane crash that killed rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson in 1959. "American Pie" is considered one of the greatest songs in American popular music history and has been analyzed extensively for its lyrical depth and cultural significance.

In this activity you can go deeper in the meaning McLean was supposed to give the lyrics. It is just an interpretation but it seems quite faithful to what the author wanted to put across. Who knows?

PowerPoint activity: American Pie

Activity Key: American Pie key

SAYINGS ABOUT MONEY

Money is a medium of exchange that facilitates transactions of goods and services. It's a unit of account, enabling people to assign a value to different items and compare their worth. The great value people give to money has made it has had many symbolic sayings people have stated about it. In this post you can find an activity for your students to do about famous quotes.

Here's a famous saying about money:

"Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable." - Clare Boothe Luce

This quote humorously highlights the complex relationship between money and happiness, suggesting that while money may not directly bring happiness, it can certainly improve one's quality of life and alleviate certain stressors.

Download the activity: Sayings about money

IDIOMS GAME - JEOPARDY

An idiom is an expression or phrase whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words. In other words Idioms mean something different than the individual words. However, students often confuse proverbs with idioms.

Here you can find an activity to play in class with your students. It's an Idiom jeopardy. Tons of fun. Give it a whirl.

To download the PowerPoint: Idioms Jeopardy

LIVEWORKSHEETS ACTIVITIES: COMPARATIES & SUPERLATIVES

Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern:

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest). They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a group of objects. Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object)

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

MODAL VERBS

Modal verbs indicate possibility, obligation or ability. Find out how your child will be taught about modal verbs in grammar lessons in KS2 and the kinds of activities they might be asked to complete in the primary-school classroom.

Try out these activities to review what we've seen in class.

ACTIVITY 1

ACTIVITY 2

ACTIVITY 3

PRESENT CONTINUOUS LIVEWORKSHEETS

The following is a mind map summary of the handout I gave you on the Present Continuous. You will learn how to form it, its uses and the correct spelling when forming the present perticiple, that is, the ing form. And there are some examples for you to get and idea of what to do exactly.

Try these activities:

Present Continuous 1

Present Continuous 2

Present Continuous: matching

FUTURE ONLINE EXERCISES - LIVEWORKSHEETS

We have different ways of talking about the future. We often use going to (+ infinitive), the present continuous (to be + -ing) or will (+ infinitive). The structure we use depends on the function of what we want to say, whether we are talking about arrangements, plans, predictions, etc.. I thought will was the future tense in English.

Now try these activities, starting from Activity 1:

Activity 1: Mixed futures (1)

Activity 2: Mixed futures (2)

Activity 3: Future continuous

PAST PERFECT ONLINE EXERCISES

The past perfect is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past. The past perfect tense is for talking about something that happened before something else. The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula doesn’t change.

For a thorough working consolidation try these links in the order given:

1. Past Perfect: structure
2. Past Perfect vs. Past Simple: excercises
3. Past Perfect vs. Past Simple: Story

QUANTIFIERS ONLINE EXERCISES

Quantifiers are very important words because they let us express the quantity of something. There are several quantifiers in English and they can be a little tricky to use. So here’s a website to work with quantifiers and  with examples to help improve your understanding of them.

Quantifiers website 1

Agendaweb (some/any)

Agendaweb (much/many)

MARSHMELLO - FRIENDS SONG AND HANDOUT

“FRIENDS” is a pop song by American DJ Marshmello. The track is a collaboration with British singer Anne-Marie and is on her long-awaited debut album, Speak Your Mind.

The song centers on the idea of “friend-zoning” someone. Anne-Marie narrates her experience warding off unwanted romantic advances from a friend, repeatedly telling this person that they’re nothing more than “F-R-I-E-N-D-S.” The song marks the first collaboration between Marshmello and Anne-Marie.

This popular song will help your students learn English through lyrics. For this reason, here you can find a handout and links for the two videos, one with no lyrics and the other one, easier for students to follow.

Friends handout

Videos: Friends song (no lyrics) / Friends song (with lyrics)

MAKING YOUR OWN AVATAR ONLINE - AVATAR MAKER

Avatar Maker is an online tool. You can create your own avatar for free in 4 different styles. You can also select your gender and get a cool username in two clicks. It's absolutely free a d esy to download your final avatars.

Create your own character avatar from wide variety of options. Replace your photo on social media sites, forums or chat programs with your own created cartoon avatar.

From here, you will be able to make your own avatar within the limitations of selected gender styles. Once you decide, you can begin customizing your avatar from the very first tab you are given for options.

To start creating your avatar, click on this link: Avatar Maker

QUEEN ELIZABETH II - SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.Buckingham Palace said the queen, died peacefully, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. Her son became Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III.

In this post you can find some activities to make your students learn a bit more about Queen Elizabeth's life. 

Queen Elizabeth II Curious Facts

Queen Elizabeth II Activity - for students - In this activity students updated it by changing all the verbs need changing to make it suitable for these times. It helps students revise structures from past years

Queen Elizabeth II Activity updated

Queen Elizabeth II KEY

PRESENT PERFECT - LIVEWORK SHEETS

Liveworksheets transforms your traditional printable worksheets into self-correcting interactive exercises that the students can do online and send to the teacher. In this page there are some exercises on Modal Verbs available for you to practice what we have been doing in class.

You will have to send the answers to me, as I stated in the details:

Click on the following links. Follow the teacher's guidelines to do them in the correct order:

PRESENT PERFECT 1

PRESENT PERRFECT 2 - SINCE & FOR

PRESENT PERFECT 3 - JUST, ALREADY & YET

PRESENT PERFECT 4 - ALL WORDS

PRESENT PERFECT 4 (2) - ALL WORDS

PRESENT PERFECT 5 - PRESENT PERFECT VS. PAST SIMPLE

PRESENT PERFECT 6 - BEEN VS. GONE

MODAL VERBS - LIVEWORKSHEETS

Liveworksheets transforms your traditional printable worksheets into self-correcting interactive exercises that the students can do online and send to the teacher. In this page there are some exercises on Modal Verbs available for you to practice what we have been doing in class.

Click on the following links. Follow the teacher's guidelines to do them in the correct order:

1. MODALS FOR DEDUCTION

2. MODALS FOR DEDUCTION (2)

3. MODALS OF OBLIGATION, PROHIBITION OR NECESSITY

4. MODALS OF OBLIGATION, PROHIBITION OR NECESSITY (2)

5. MODALS OF ABILITY, PERMISSION OR ADVICE

6. MODAL VERBS: MULTIPLE CHOICE

 

REPORTED SPEECH GAMES - WORDWALL

Interactives and printables

Explore the different ways of using indirect speech with Wordwall.

Wordwall can be used to create both interactive and printable activities. Most of our templates are available in both an interactive and a printable version.


Interactives are played on any web-enabled device, like a computer, tablet, phone or interactive whiteboard. They can be played individually by students, or be teacher-led with students taking turns at the front of the class.

Printables can printed out directly or downloaded as a PDF file. They can be used as a companion to the interactive or as stand-alone activities.

Reported speech Liveworksheets: activity 1 / activity 2

Link to go to the Reported Speech games: Wordwall Community

PHONETICS THROUGH LYRICS - BAD HABITS by ED SHEERAN

                   ˈɛvri taɪm jʊ kʌm əˈraʊnd, jʊ nəʊ aɪ kɑːnt seɪ nəʊ
                   ˈɛvri taɪm ðə sʌn gəʊz daʊn, aɪ lɛt jʊ teɪk kənˈtrəʊl

                                   ...

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system where each symbol is associated with a particular English sound. By using IPA you can know exactly how to pronounce a certain word in English. This helps in improving English pronunciation and feeling more confident speaking in English.

In this activity, by the song Bad Habits you can offer your students a great activity to inmerse in hte Phonetic world and work out the parts f the song encrypted to lyrics.

Here you have the hand out: Bad habits (Phonetics)

And the complete lyrics: Bad Habits (Lyrics)

THE KING'S SPEECH CLASS ACTIVITY

The king's speech

 

SPELLING BEE GAMES

This game is very simple: you just look at the image and then spell the word. You can click on the letters on the screen or use the keyboard to type. The keyboard seems to be a lot faster than clicking with the mouse. So, if you are looking to get a good score, then it would be advisable to use the keys.

Before you start, you have to select a set of content to use. There are 30 different sets available for this game and each one has about 25 items to spell. You have to spell out each item once and there is also an audio clip for each image which should play just as the image is first shown.

It is possible to add your own images and audio clips. To do this you click on the 'add' button when in the content selection screen. They you can select images from your desktop computer and they get added and displayed on the screen. The file names of the images you add become the target word that you have to spell. So if you add an image called 'beach holiday', then the target to spell for that image will be 'beach holiday'. Although, you can change the target words by clicking on the textbox directly below the image. Note that for this game it is not possible to add numbers or special characters - these are automatically removed on teh content screen. This is because the keyboard that is displayed on screen only contains letter.

Spelling Bee ESL 

Spelling Bee Spell Quiz

Spelling Bee - Maths Playground

WORKING WITH LYRICS: ED SHEERAND - HAPPIER

 

For downloading the activity filling the gaps in the lyrics: Ed Sheeran - Perfect activity

For downloading the full lyrics: Ed Sheeran - Perfect Full Lyrics

TEA CONSENT VIDEO

If you're still struggling with consent, just imagine instead of initiating sex, you're making them a cup of tea. You say, "Hey, would you like a cup of tea?" And they go, "Oh, my God, I would love a cup of tea. Thank you." Then you know they want a cup of tea. If you say, "Hey, would you like a cup of tea?" And they're like, "No, um, you know, I'm not really sure." Then you could make the a cup of tea or not, but, be aware, they might not drink it. And if they don't drink it, then, and this is the important part, don't make them drink it. Just because you made it doesn't mean you are entitled to watch them drink it. And if they say, "No, thank you," then don't make them tea at all. Just don't make them tea. Don't make them drink tea. Don't get annoyed at them for not wanting tea. They just don't want tea, OK?