"Print your guy" - how to find a perfect match!

'Print your guy' - how to find a perfect match!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mbUzEPr4iM

The plot

Pamela lives on her own in an apartment in Paris. One evening while watching a movie she sees a commercial for a company who claims they can print her a perfect guy, by logging on at printyourguy.com. Very excited, she runs to her computer to order one, but when it arrives, she realizes that the product wasn't exactly what she had expected! 

Topic: love, relationship
Time: about 20-30 minutes
Level: pre-intermediate +
Age group: 12 and above
Activity aim: 

• to present/revise and practice personality adjectives: manly, cultured, sensitive, cool etc.
• to practice speaking, class discussion

Vocabulary to pre-teach: fragile, manly, senstive, cultured, cool, order, commercial, print, guy

Grammar to pre-teach: questions: What does he/she like? What is he/she like?

Film address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mbUzEPr4iM

Stage one:

Divide your students into 2 groups (preferably boys versus girls). Ask group one to discuss and list as many adjectives describing perfect boys as possible. At the same time, the second group writes down the adjectives describing the types of girls that boys usually look for. Monitor, helping the less advanced students to find a perfect equivalent of the words they need. Try to control the use of L1. This part should be quick less than 5 min.

In the meantime, write on the board the words that appear in the video - manly, sensitive, cultured, cool.

When they have finished the discussion, ask them questions referring to the words from the board:
Do the words describe a boy or a girl?
What does each boy look like?
What is he like?

Revise or introduce the difference between:
What is he like? He is sociable and funny.
What does he look like? He is quite tall and strong.

Stage two:

Now draw two columns on the board. Column one BOYS, column two GIRLS and ask your students to fill in each of them with the adjectives they have written down before. Add the adjectives from the video, as well. You will quickly realise that column GIRLS has fewer adjectives than column BOYS. Boys are less demanding:) At this moment I usually discuss why it is like that and have a lot of laugh.

Stage three:

Now tell your students that there is this single girl living alone in the flat having no boyfriend. One day she notices a TV commercial which offers her to print a perfect guy. What do you think she does? What kind of boyfriend she would like? Any questions of prediction follow.

Stage four:

Play a film. Students check their predictions. Watch the video until 4.33 min, pause and ask further questions: What is she going to do now? Why can't she find a perfect boy?

Stage five:

Play the film to the end. Observe students reactions. Ask them for their comments. Ask why this was a perfect match. Where is the clue? How to find a perfect boyfriend/girlfriend? Students usually comment that common passions, interests or hobbies are very important, Others don't pay attention to details and haven't noticed the title of the book that dropped on the floor, which was the answer to the questions. Continue the discussion.

I have done this lesson with a few groups before and no matter what age group it was, it was a success and students loved it. Obviously, it is not the only way to use this film in the classroom if you try and have some new ideas just write in the comment. ENJOY!

Six reasons why animated films are so good for the students.

Why are animated films so good for your students?

We all know that animated films are amazing. Cartoons can make you feel better. They can soothe a sick child, make you calm when you are angry or make you laugh when you are sad! Who of us hasn't seen Shrek or Ice Age,  to name but a few? But, have you ever wondered why children love animated films so much? Why they could sit for hours on end glued to TV screen? What are the benefits of watching animations? Well, I have. And the results are presented below:

Reason one - universal

Animated films, often called cartoons are universal films that everyone can relate to. They also have a clear message kids can connect to. And this means they are universal so everyone can enjoy it! In Shrek, we learn what matters is what’s inside. All Toy Story films teach us about letting go and about friendship. The Lion King teaches us about responsibility and facing your problems. These are all things we can all relate to. There's always a good moral to the story that even a child, 3 or 4 years old can understand! 

Reason two  - fun, fun, fun

They keep children entertained. Most cartoons are funny and if they make our students laugh,  it creates a great, positive  atmosphere in the classroom and encourages students to come more willingly. What is more, when people laugh their brains produce and release endorphins that cause them to feel better, both physically, and mentally! It somehow prepares the brain for learning, creates the environment for that. 

Reason three - motivation

Watching cartoons in the classroom can boosts concentration and motivation. We all know how difficult is is sometimes to attract our students' attention during the class. A short film used as a warm up, filler or closer is a perfect solution. Sometimes animations can help us show and generate interest in something which we otherwise would not entertain. They can help learners to understand complex ideas more easily. They have the power to gain the attention of a person for hours without boring them. 

Reason four - touch emotions

Animated films are emotional - we learn and remember more when emotions are ivolved, so if you use an animated film to teach vocabulary or grammar structure or just to develop students' speaking skills - animated film can guarantee a success.  Neuroscientists believe that we remember more and longer if something touches our emotions. And the cartoons have them all: anger, fury, love, envy, excitement, confusion, joy, anxiety, anticipation, amusement, admiration and many more.

Reason five - cater for all ages

Animated films are suitable for every age. Even if we are adults -  while watching them we can feel as children again. I often use animated films with my adults - sometimes in their fifties and they just love them:) Using with teenagers, on the other hand, brings back positive memories of the time when their life was "much easier and interesting" ;) They would never say no to a short cartoon.

Reason six - delevelop creativity and critical thinking

Animated films enhance children's creativity and critical thinking. Why? Children love stories. Period. There is something magical in them, they can develop their imagination, they can create endings, they can imagine being one of the characters, they can associate with them, they can ask questions and many more. Cartoons also develop children imagination. Children feel the part of a movie. They see the world through pictures/images and there is nothing better than a good cartoon to help them understand the world that surrounds them.

Obviuosly, there many more reasons why animated films can be benefical in an English classroom but  I wanted to focus on the first six, which for me seem to be covincing enough to implement short films in the classroom.

Do you know other benefits of using animations with the class - feel free to write in the comments.
Soon the ways of using video in the classroom, with the examples.

Generation Z or screenagers? How do you call your students?

What generation do we teach nowadays?

Popular names

There seem to be a lot of names for students that we teach nowadys, I'm sure you have heard about the most popular names for children born between 2000 and 2015 - Generation Z, Digital Natives, Generation Like, Selfie Generation, IGen to name but a few. But let's go further:

A report by Sparks & Honey, a US advertising agency, describes this generation as the "first tribe of true digital natives" or "screenagers". 

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/11002767/Gen-Z-Gen-Y-baby-boomers-a-guide-to-the-generations.html

In one survey in America, people were asked the question: What would you name today's youngest generation of Americans? There were over 200 various answers from people of all ages and backgrounds. Here are some of them: 

"Social Generation (the Socials) I’d suggest The Technicals. To reflect the technology boom this generation will experience "

The Tweennials: “We are in the ‘tweens’ of this century after all.”

Screeners: “My students live and die by the screen.”

"Call it the POST-IT GENERATION"

As a mother I like the most the answer :Generation Y Me? I'm sure all parents know why:)

Source: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/12/what-would-you-name-todays-youngest-generation-of-americans/

A significant aspect of this generation is its widespread usage of the internet from a young age. Members of Generation Z are typically thought of as being comfortable with technology, and interacting on social media websites accounts for a significant portion of their socializing.

What does it mean for teachers?

It is hard to ignore that the generation of children now moving through our educational system is by far the most visually stimulated generation that system has ever had to teach. Having grown up with cable television, video games, computer software that educates and entertains, and the Internet, our children are truly visual learners coming of age in an increasingly visually oriented world. (Visual Impact, Visual Teaching , Gangwer 2001)

This generation of children needs to be taught the way they learn best—with visual stimulation accompanied by active learning strategies. As educators, we need to prepare our students for the world in which they will live and work. We must allow this understanding of the visual nature of our students to influence our teaching techniques and the educational technologies we employ.

Over 10 years ago all those applications didn’t exist. That means that in 10 years time we really don’t know what kind of tools and applications will be like and how it will affect our students, very often then adults. We live in the world that is surrounded by images – in Polish the term is called "picture culture" and if there is a special term for that, it means that this phonomemenon is really widely spread. 

Felfie

Do you know that more than 17 million selfies are uploaded to social media sites every week. Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/british-teenagers-addicted-taking-selfies-5481458. But these are not only selfies. there are also belfies and felfies (yes ,the ones you take with animals:) With information, technology and global access at our fingerprints, we have to decide what we are going to do with such powers and possibility. 

"Visual Impact Visual Teaching" Timothy Gangwer

Visual learners think in pictures, see in pictures, process, understand and communicate in pictures. Pictures are holistic. They tell the whole story all at once. Language is more difficult for the visuals because it’s linear and requires progressive, step-by-step processing, requiring extra time when operating in the world of language.

Let me finish with a quote by Ceri Jones:

„The power of an image often doesn’t lie in the image itself, but in its ability to trigger images and stories in the minds of our students and create a need and a desire to communicate.”

Soon the practical part. If you want to share your opinion about the new generation of students feel free to do it in a comment section below.

The role of a visual stimulus in the classroom

Vision - the power of the teacher

Why is vision so important?

You may have heard that some of our students are visual ones (maybe you are a visual type of a student yourself, I am) and that we remember more information if we see it in a form of a picture. But what it means for us teachers and how we can use such information in the lesson. Let me give you a short overview why the sight and vision are so crucial in a teachers' job first.

Time for some statistics:

•80% of what we learn is through eyes

•If the human eye was a digital camera it would have 576 megapixels.

•An eye is composed of 2 mln working parts

•Eyes are the second most complex organ after the brain.

•The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text.

•90 percent of information that comes to the brain is visual

•People with blue eyes have a higher alcohol tolerance – cheers:)

Source:https://discoveryeye.org/blog/20-facts-about-the-amazing-eye/

Numbers don't lie so we can’t turn the blind eye to the facts EYES ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS THING YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS HAVE.

How to use it in the classroom?

All of that means that the coursebook, the board and the teacher are not enough to satisfy the needs of students, nowadays. It seems logical that we should exploit the sound and vision as motivators, captivators and generators. More in an engaging article by Fiona Mauchline: http://eflmagazine.com/sound-and-image-where-it-all-begins/

Motivators of learners -if we use pictures and/or a short film in the lessson, students are going to be more motivated as they would know that their teacher has always something interesting to show. It can be also used as a prize for good behaviour.

Captivators of attention  - how many times it happened that English was the very first or the last lesson and for you as a teacher it was difficult to attract you students attention - a picture or a short film could be a solution. Let's not forget that according to neuroscientists the brain learns better if the material is intriguing, funny, important and unusual.

Generators of language -  including pictures and films in the lesson can somehow "force" students to open up and start communicating as the films or pictures are much closer to their heart than the text. Why?

More about the "multiple-stimuli" generation soon.

Time to start

Hello everybody! My name is Magdalena Wasilewska and I'm the teacher of English with over 20 years of experience in this profession. I used to work in public schools for a while, however, for the past 15 years I have been DOS in my own private school of English called Green Hills Academy. I teach every day - children, teens and adults. But my favourite age group are teens, those the most rebellious ones that nobody else wants to teach. Why, you may ask. Well, working with them is the most challanging and at the same time the most rewarding kind of activity. I just love them. My second favourite type of students are exam groups that I've been teaching all those years - the most motivated and goal oriented students I have ever had. But I can't complain as I love teaching them all. As Rita Pierson once said:

"(...)kids don't learn from the people they don't like (...)"

And it's completely true. (God, how much I love the woman) Starting this blog is something new for me but I simply think it's high time to do it and share my experience with others.