Contents
=> “Luck Phrases” - gap-fill activity
=> “What Good Luck! What Bad Luck!” - writing/speaking game
=> Answers to “Luck Phrases”
=> “Lucky Discussion Questions”
=> “Solo Language-Learning Tips (Part III) - Experimental Flashcards”
=> Cool Link: ELF Jennifer Crandall’s website
=> “ETs in Russia” Format
=> In the Next Issue

———————————————————————–
Luck Phrases - gap-fill activity
———————————————————————–

Thomas Jefferson said, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”

Check out these 5 “luck” phrases:

are in luck (to be in luck)
are out of luck (to be out of luck)
as luck would have it
push your luck (push one’s luck)
try his luck (try one’s luck)

Directions: Fit one of them into each sentence below, and in doing so you will understand the meaning.

1. When Poosheesty got to the party, his friend said, “You ___________________. The beer is all gone.”

2. Mother offered him one cookie. The boy tried to take two. She said, “Don’t
___________________.

3. The idea of winning the lottery thrilled Mr. Poosheesty, so he decided to ___________________ and buy a ticket.

4. They went to the shores of Lake Baikal for a picnic, but ___________________, it started to rain.

5. She went to the post office to see if her package had arrived. The clerk there said, “You ___________________. It just arrived.”

———————————————————————-
What Good Luck! What Bad Luck - a speaking/writing game
by I.M. Poosheesty
———————————————————————-

When I was a kid–a younger kid than I am now–I had a cool book. It told of this kid who had alternating good luck and then bad luck. I forget the kid’s name, so we’ll call him Poosheesty. His story went something like this . . .

What good luck! Pooheesty got a ride in a hot air balloon.
What bad luck! He fell out of the hot air balloon.
What good luck! He had a parachute.
What bad luck! The parachute had a hole in it.
What good luck! Poosheesty landed on a haystack
What bad luck! The haystack had a pitchfork sticking out of it.
What good luck! He missed the pitchfork
What bad luck! He missed the haystack.

You get the idea. It will be like a game of verbal ping pong between two students, or two teams of students–back and forth, back and forth.

That’s your class activity. Give learners the above example, or some similar example. You can begin with any good luck sentence, like: “What good luck! Poosheesty got a birthday present.” Ask them as a group to add a few items to the list, alternating good luck and bad luck. Once they get the idea, they can do it themselves in pairs or groups. It’s easy to do a written version or a spoken version.

What good luck! Such an easy activity!
What bad luck! It’s never been done before.

———————————————————————-
Answers to “Luck Phrases”
———————————————————————-

1. are out of luck
2. push your luck
3. try his luck
4. as luck would have it
5. are in luck

———————————————————————-
Lucky Discussion Questions
———————————————————————-

1. What things does your culture consider lucky? Horseshoes? Clovers? Spiders in the home?
2. What things are considered unlucky in your culture? Black cats? Shaking hands through a doorway?
3. Do you have any personal lucky objects?
4. Do you have a lucky number?
5. Give an example of good luck you’ve had lately.
6. Give an example of bad luck you’ve had lately.
7. American entertainer Garrison Keillor said, “Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.” In your own words, what does Keillor mean?

———————————————————————–
“Solo Language Learning Tips (Part III) - Experimental Flashcards”
———————————————————————–

How do you practice a language when you’re alone? In the last two issues our tips mostly involved internet use. This time we’ll talk of that old standard method: flashcards.

Tips 11-15 are new, creative–and probably more effective–ways to study using flash cards.

11. Collocation Flashcards. Put a word on one side of the card, like “work.” On the other side, right a few words that collocate with “work”–that is, words that often appear with “work.” Examples…

out. “Work out” means to exercise, usually in a gym.
day. A “work day” is not a holiday.
-aholic. A “workaholic” is someone who works too much, someone addicted to work.

You can gradually add more and more collocations to the guard, thereby enriching your vocabulary.

Remembering words in combinations–whether collocations, phrases, or sentences–is generally a better language-learning strategy than memorizing words in isolation.

12. Picture Flashcards. You’ve seen these before: a word on one side of the card, and a picture on the other. But try drawing your own pictures to represent words–even difficult abstract words. There is something in the act of drawing your own image–no matter how uartistic it is–that helps you remember the language. View the picture side of the card and try to remember the word on the other side.

13. Art Flashcards. This method relies on images too. It takes a bit of effort, but I find it worthwhile. Take a magazine photo, a postcard, or a painting that you like and glue it to one side of your flashcard. On the other side you write words that correspond to images in the picture in their corresponding locations. Where you write the words will function as a sketch or outline of the picture. Naturally, you will want to write words that you are not entirely familiar with, words that you want to learn.

You might use a cool painting like Hunters in the Snow (View image) “, by Pieter Breugel.

On the back write words or phrases such as “skaters,” “leafless,” “pack of dogs”–whatever you want to reinforce or learn.

14. Association Flashcards. Put a word on one side of the card, say, “shark.” On the other side, map out any associations you have with that word: “grey, toothy, scary, powerful, ugly,” etc. You may use a dictionary to add words you are unfamiliar with in English. Each time you see the card you will try to repeat as many of the associated words as possible. Feel free to add more words to the back side of the card too.

15. Unfinished Sentence Flashcards. On one side of the card begin a sentence. It may be as simple as “I wish…” On the other side finish the sentence. Add words to the second half of the sentence that you want to learn. Gradually, add more sentences. You may have 5 or 10 different ways of finishing that sentence on the back of the card. Each time you look at the “I wish…” side of the card you will try to recreate the second parts of the sentences.

———————————————————————–
Cool Link: ELF Jennifer Crandall’s website
———————————————————————–

Jennifer Crandall, English Language Fellow in Novosibirsk, has a very nice website. There are gorgeous photos as well as useful links to English writing web-oriented activities.

———————————————————————–
“ETs in Russia” Format
———————————————————————–

As you may have noticed, we have experimented this year with different looks and formats recently. Let us know if you have a preference: a nice HTML version or a simple plain text version. Is there anything wrong with the way “ETs in Russia” looks in your email program?

If you want a fancy version of ETs in Russia, you can always go to the “ETs in Russia” archive.

———————————————————————–
In the Next Issues
———————————————————————–

#74 on February 21, 2005
Aphoristically Speaking
Statistics on Russian-American Exchanges
Solo Language Learning Tips (Part IV): tips from “ETs in Russia” subscribers

#75 on February 28, 2005
“He Doesn’t Know I’m Alive”: contemporary relationship lingo
by John Harrington, English Language Fellow, Rostov-On-Don

Copyright 2004 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty