I can’t remember if I ever mentioned Monty Python to my students but today I watched one of my favourite episodes of this incredible gang.
I know lots of my students have asked me to help them with job interview questions but I think this video that you are about to watch will give you a hand. Just picture the situation: You’ve sent your cover letter and CV and have been invited to a job interview. You’re closer to getting your dream job! Now you ask yourself how to handle a possibly difficult interview. How should you respond to tricky questions? Check out this skit by Monty Python!
After you’ve watched the video think of some common job interview questions and share them with other people who visit the blog.
I know times are tough and the economy is going down but what do you think of a restaurant where the servers are monkeys?
A Japanese restaurant has two new employees and they pay them peanuts. The local hangout just north of Tokyo employs a pair of Japanese monkeys called Yat-chan and Fuku-chan to serve their customers.
The younger of the two, Fuku-chan, usually begins the first shift and is quick to hand out customers a hot towel to help them clean their hands before they order their first drinks. Fuku-chan, who is four, has only two years experience under his furry belt and his work load is limited to hot towels.
Both monkeys are well appreciated by customers who tip them with boiled soya-beans to enjoy during their down time. Kaoru Otsuka, who owns the restaurant in Utsunomiya, Japan, said he did not teach the sake-serving monkey its waiting skills.
Mr Otsuka claims Yatchan watched him serving customers and remembered how to do it.
“Lots of customers come to look at the monkey. He works everyday,” said Mr Otsuka.
The simian, called Yatchan, is also used to serve hot towels to the grateful customers who give him soya beans as tips. Mr Otsuka said the monkey also likes fruit, but was not fond of the sushi that the restaurant specialises in.
Watch this video from CNNand then answer the questions.
Questions for discussion
Do you think it is a good idea to employ animals to do jobs that are normally done by humans? Why (not)?
Would ever eat in a restaurant where animals take your order? Why (not)?
What other jobs could be done by animals? Name some.
don’t forget to answer the questions on the comments section
NB: If you’d like to watch the same video but with captions just click here
I think I have already mentioned that ESLPOD is by far one of the best ESL resources available on the Internet. The website has tons of podcasts with different topics and valuable vocabulary for students.
I’ve been using ESLPOD with my students for quite a while and the feedback was always positive. Mainly, I used to send them to my students who would listen to it, make notes of any useful expressions, and write something similar following the topic and preferably using the expressions they have learned.
So from now on all you have to do is listen to the podcast of the week from ESLPOD (I will choose one and post it here) and write your own essay based on the same topic and using the vocabulary (I will also post the vocabulary chunks here in order to make your life easier)
Here’s your first podcast of the week – Tell me about yourself <– (click here to listen)
And the vocabulary (you should listen to understand the usage and meaning of the expressions)
born and raised
spring chicken
to be spoiled
happy/sad childhood
to keep up with the Joneses
grade/high/elementary school
go on to
to learn the ropes
to become + a + noun
professional student
finish up something
to be happily married
Don’t forget to write your paragraph on the comments.
I think everybody knows that tomorrow we’re having a field trip to Little India. We are leaving at about 12 pm and we’re going to explore and learn a little bit about Indian culture. But, it is always good to learn something in the meantime, and that’s why I have prepared a list of questions for you to answer.
Click on this link (little-india-questionnaire) for the word version or just read them below. Don’t forget to write your answers on the comments section, okay?
Little India Questionnaire
1. Name 3 typical Indian dishes.
2. Where is ‘Little India’ located? How do you get there by TTC? Explain
3. What’s the typical dress for Indian women?
4. How do you say “hi” in Hindi or any other dialects in India?
5. Tell me something that you have learned today and did not know.
I have been thinking about good topics for my afternoon classes and today I think I just came up with a good one after reading a grotesque (strange and unpleasant) story about plastic/cosmetic surgery.
I know beauty plays an important role nowadays and people are doing crazy stuff in order to look more attractive, but I think this Korean woman has gone way too far.
Her name is Hang Mioku. Here’s a picture when she was an attractive , young lady in her 20’s. Ever since then, she has had numerous cosmetic surgery procedures. Click here to read the article.
Now that you have read the article, take these questions into consideration and answer them. (You can write your answers on the comments area).
A) DISCUSSION
What do you think about plastic surgery?
Would you ever have plastic surgery? If so, what would you change?
Woud you ever consider cosmetic surgery to make yourself more attractive to the opposite sex? Why (not)?
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Only someone who is shallow and vain would consider cosmetic surgery.” Why (not)?
B) VOCABULARY
After you have read the article, focus on the words below and try to guess the meaning from the context. If you are not able to do it, you might want to use Cambridge Online Dictionary as a reference.
hooked
disfigured
carry out
grossly
notoriety
C) LISTENING
If you still want some more practice, here’s an interesting listening from ESL-Lab. This is an interesting lecture about Comestic surgery with Pre-listening, while-listening and after-listening tasks. All you have to do is click here and go for it!
D) EXPRESSIONS
Here’s a list of expressions connected to the topic. Enjoy!
Nose job: A type of surgery on your nose to make it look better. (“She’s been thinking about getting a nose job because her friends are always commenting on how big her nose is.”)
A nip (here) and a tuck (there): plastic surgery. (“I think she’s had a nip and tuck to look like that at her age.”)
Facelift: a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful appearance, basically by tightening the skin on the face to remove wrinkles. (“I’m sure my neighbour had a facelift so she can look younger than she really is.”)
Hope you have enjoyed this lesson and don’t forget to say your piece (express your ideas and opinions) in the comments section!
Here’s an interesting video website to help you practice your listening skills – it’s VIDEOJUG.
This website contains professionally made videos produced internally,as well as videos produced by and uploaded by amateurs. I think it’s an amazing way to practice listening skills and also learn some cool things such as how to make your own clothes or make a barbecued shawarma chicken sandwich. Yum!
If you are having problems with your kissing skills you gotta check this one out. It teaches you how to kiss someone passionately using a step-by-step approach. If at the end of the video you haven’t improved your kissing skills, you have at least practiced some listening skills!
Hello everyone. This is this blog’s first post and I hope it won’t be the last. I have always flirted with the idea of creating a blog to use as an extra resource for my students – they always want some more – and I finally decided that it was about time to get started.
I had a similar project to this one but instead of posting everything on the internet I created a mail-list on gmail and sent all the extra resources (links, audio files, pdfs, articles, etc.) by email. I have got to admit that my students all loved the idea and still do but let’s face it that it’s a heck of a work doing this every weekend. My wife was complaining that I was spending all my Saturdays emailing my students and I can’t blame her!
But thanks to a workshop called “Bloggin basics for beginners” by Karen Thomson I could finally create my own blog and now I intend to use this as both a tool to enhance and foster my students autonomy when learning a foreign language and also an online portfolio of everything I am doing in my classroom with them. I intend to post not only activities for my students but also videos, essays, audio, pictures produced by them.
Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck on my new endeavour!
