Contents
=> Introduction
=> “How Do We Learn to…?” - speaking or writing activity
=> “Famous Events: How I Remember It” - writing activity
=> In the Next Issue

—————————————————————
Introduction
—————————————————————

The activities for this issuse come from Aaron Carlson. After three years in Samara, Aaron will move to Saratov and begin his 4th year in Russia as a Senior English Fellow at the State University in Saratov.

Aaron has also worked in Moldova, Finland, Slovakia, Poland, and Tajikistan. He likes Russian history and Soviet-era films. He’s a pretty darn good bowler too.

On July 15th Aaron and his wife Adelia had a little boy. His name is Erik.

—————————————————————
How Do We Learn to…? by Aaron Carlson
—————————————————————

Note: The following activities can be used as speaking practice for advanced learners. They will also work extremely well as writing activities for intermediate learners on up.

DIRECTIONS:
In this activity, you’ll describe how a person comes to learn to do a specific task. Give a logical step by step description. Describe the event in a way that creates imagesin the listener’s (or reader’s) mind.

EXAMPLE: “How We Learn to Ride a Bicycle”

Every child at some point wants to learn how to ride a bike. Once there is a will, assistance is needed. This usually comes in the form of a patient father. It is in the evening, warm outside and still light out. Dad and child are on the street. The father is holding the child by the shoulders and making sure the bicycle is balanced. Now it is time to move forward; the father is slowly pushing the bicycle and the child while the inertia is taking over.

Dad’s hands are close to the shoulders in order to provide reassurance to the child that if balance is lost somebody is there to save the day. This technique is repeated until both the parent and child are satisfied with the completion of the task. I can still remember the pride that I had when I could ride a bike by myself. Learning to ride a bicycle, like many other tasks, once you learn you never forget.

OTHER POSSIBILE SUBJECTS: A Child’s First Steps, Learning to Read/Write, How to Drive a Car, Learning to Skate, Train a Dog, Speak a Foreign Language, Knit a Sweater, Sew on a Button, Learn to Add/Subtract, Tie a Shoe, etc.

—————————————————————
“Famous Events: How I Remember It” by Aaron Carlson
—————————————————————

DIRECTIONS: In this activity, you will pretend that you took part in a particular historical event and you will describe that event through your own eyes. This
means that because you were there, you might have seen events or things that other people may have not seen. Model the activity for your students and then see if they can do the same for one minute.

EXAMPLE: “1492″

The year is 1492. We set sail from Spain on the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Our leader was Christopher Columbus. Although we were sailing from Spain, he was an Italian. You knew this was true because spaghetti was served every evening for supper. I came to hate spaghetti after two weeks on our voyage to India. Columbus himself had a strange way of relaxing after his spaghetti dinners. He would retire to his cabin with a bottle of red wine and sing Italian opera. He claimed that this was good for his digestion. This would have been fine, if he’d had any kind of singing voice. His tones were somewhere
between those of a man’s and a woman’s. We sailed for what seemed like a year when Columbus cried that we had come to India. I thought to myself this seems a bit strange, but I thought that people in India wore clothing, etc.

OTHER EXAMPLES: Orbiting the Earth, Race to the South Pole, Discovering Pluto, Gold Rush in San Francisco, The Founding of St. Petersburg, Defeat of the Tatars, Landing on the Moon, Hitler’s Last Days, 1917 Bolshevik Revolution,
Founding of the United States, First Flight, Adam & Eve, Noah’s Arc, Death of Julius Caesar, First Fire, Invention of Alcohol, etc.

————————————————————–
In the Next Issue (August 4, 2002)
————————————————————–

Euphemisms
Writing Activities

————————————————————–
Copyright 2002 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty