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=> “I Really Like” Lists - easy speaking and writing activity
=> In the Next Issues

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“I Really Like” Lists - writing and talking activity
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The last several issues of ETs in R & E have been, well, longish. So as promised, here’s a real shortie.

Listing–the making of lists–is an easy undertaking that promotes writing and speaking.

You can make lists of almost anything:

“10 Things I Like Better than Ice Cream”
“20 Things I Hate Doing”
“30Things I’d Rather DoThan Homework”
“59 Reasons It’s Good to Be Alive”

Please note that the first list above (about ice cream) will generate only words, only nouns. The others will generate phrases and sentences. You can match the complexity of the list to the level of your students.

For our list today, let’s do something thematically simple but that can elicit some complex sentences from students:

“20 Things I Really Like Doing . . . especially . . . “

The “especially” is an invitation for students to get very specific, and that makes the lists more fun. Here are a couple examples of things I really like… especially…

1. I really like drinking coffee with chocolate, especially when I’m in bed and it’s raining, and I’ve got a cat on my lap.

2. I really like reading adventure stories, especially from the Victorian era, whether they’re nonfiction (a biography of the amazing Sir Richard Burton, for instance) or fiction (like the novels of H. Rider Haggard).

And so on.

Give examples like those above and students will avoid blasé and general sentences such as “I really like reading.”

How many things should you ask students to list? It depends on their level, of course. But I think it would be wonderful to make a list of 50 things you really like doing (give students a week for this). It sounds corny*, but having a reminder of all those things we really like in life can make you feel good.

*corny = trite, dated, melodramatic, or mawkishly sentimental (from answers.com)

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In the Next Issue
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So many people from Asia and Ukraine and Moldova and Russia have written in the last couple of weeks to thank us for ETs in Russia. We really appreciate that. Except Mr. Poosheesty hasn’t done any of the work. It’s all Kevin. Mr. P keeps going to the disco.

What’s up next? Is it time for new slang or a new story? That’s the question.

copyright 2006 by Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty