Contents
=> Vampire Gap-Fill Activity
=> Mr Poosheesty’s Scary Adjectives
=> Who are the First Subscribers to ETs in Russia?
=> Stuff: Events and Links
=> Tip: email
=> Word Origins–”Give Someone the Finger”
=> In the Next Issue

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Vampire Gap-Fill Fun Activity
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Well, why not. Halloween’s coming up soon. First have students fill out this form in groups of 3 or 4. Tell them to think of unusual words. Classroom objects are not allowed.

1. (noun) ___________________
2. (part of the body) ___________________
3. (liquid) ___________________
4. (noun) ___________________
5. (adj.) ___________________
6. (part of the body) ___________________
7. (noun) ___________________
8. (transitive verb) ___________________
9. (plural or non-count noun) _________________
10. (adj) ___________________
11. (noun) ___________________
12. (name of person in room) _________________
13. (name of city) ___________________
14. (adj.) ___________________
15. (plural noun) ___________________
16. (name of another person in room) ___________
17. (transitive verb) ___________________

Once that’s done. Hand out the following text. Students will fill in the words they thought up. Have the groups read their version out loud, if you like. Usually it’s funny. Try it yourself with a couple of friends if you don’t believe me.

The Truth About Vampires

A vampire is a kind of supernatural (1. noun)___________ who lives by biting the (2. part of body)______________ of his victims and sucking out (3. a liquid). _____________. A vampire sleeps during the day. He sleeps in a (4. noun). ___________________. At night he goes out in search of (5. adj) ________________ victims. The vampire has the power to hypnotize his victims by looking into their (6. part of body).______________.

If you see a vampire, do not invite him into your (7. noun) ______________. A vampire can’t come in unless you (8. transitive verb) _______________ him.

Also, it’s good to remember that vampires don’t like holy water, garlic, crosses, or (9. plural noun). _________________. The only way to kill a vampire is by hammering a (10. adj.)___________ (11. noun)__________ into his heart.

The most infamous vampire was named Count (12. name of person in room) _______________ . S/He lived in (13. name of city) _________________ for hundreds of years.

Some people say s/he is still alive today, living there, and wandering the streets at night in search of (14. adj.) _____________ (15. plural nouns) _____________.

If you think you might have seen this vampire, please contact
(16. name of another person in class). ______________. S/He likes to _____________ (17. transitive verb) vampires.

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Mr. Poosheesty’s Scary “Y” Adjectives #2
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These 3 Y-adjectives are really common in speech, especially in October.

scary = frightening. When you are afraid of something, it is scary. YOU are scary if you frighten other people.

creeepy = when something’s not right, unexplainably weird. Example: You come one night. You’re sure you locked the door. But the door is unlocked, and there’s a chicken bone in the center of your bedroom floor. Creepy. Lots of people think insects are creepy too, especially spiders. They “give you the creeps.”

spooky = scary, but not quite. It’s an atmospheric scariness. It comes from the word “spook,” which is a ghost. If you see an old abandoned house with broken windows and spider webs everywhere, it’s spooky. Graveyards are spooky at night.

<><>*TIP<><><><>TIP<><><><>TIP*<><>

If you send an E-MAIL ATTACHMENT, always mention it in the body of your email. If you receive an ATTACHMENT and don’t know what it is, do no open it.
Lots of viruses around these days. (Out of 350 messages in my mail this month, 11 were infected).

<><>*TIP<><><>>TIP<><><><>TIP*<><>

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Who are the First Subscribers to ‘ETs in Russia?’
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Well, after the first issue, 23 of you have subscribed. You people are pretty smart. Among our readership are

<>Russians
<>Americans (living n Russia and Georgia),
<>1 Montenegrin (our favorite Montenegrin too),
<>1 Tajik
<>1 Romanian (living in Moldova)
<>1 Moldavian living in the US
<>1 Yugoslav, but from where we don’t know

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Stuff: Events, Links
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<> In Samara, September 22 and 29: “Towards Democratic Society.” Speakers: Ben Hanson, M.A. Kulinich, I.G. Kuznetsova, and the inimitable Andrew Reilly.
At the American Center. Phone: (8462) 36 24 95

<> A great free website is The Bank of English. http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk There you can check a database of millions of words used in print–in magazines, newspapers and so on. Let’s say you wanted to see if the word “gay” is still used to mean “merry.” You’d type the word in and get a list of forty uses. (I tried it, and “gay” doesn’t mean “merry” very often nowadays.)

You can also get statistical analysis of word partnerships: how many times one word will appear with another. Great for those interested in collocations.

<> Soros National Foundations are at www.soros.org/natfound.html

<> The English Language Teacher Center in Samara, Russia is at
www.elc.galanets.com

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Word Origins — “Give Someone the Finger”
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This profane gesture is said to have its roots in 1415, at the Battle of Agincourt. The Brits were known to be good archers, and the French boasted they would cut off the middle finger–the one used for drawing the bow string –of the English archers. To the Frenchies’ surprise, the British won the battle, and made a display of theirn index fingers to the French.

Like most origins of words and gestures, this one is uncertain. The gesture has probably been around since the middle ages, but, what the heck, this explanation sounds pretty good.

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In the Next Issue (About October 2nd, 2001)
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Humor. Can it cross borders? Does it need a visa? Tips on how to make a joke out of your class. Or at least how to use jokes as a valid speaking and listening activities.

All about NERDS too.

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Copyright 2001 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty
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