http://www.kevinmccaughey.com English Language Teacher Trainer / Writer Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:52:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 en © wp_kmc@likomaisland.com () wp_kmc@likomaisland.com English Language Teacher Trainer / Writer wp_kmc@likomaisland.com No no http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.kevinmccaughey.com 144 144 http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/jordan/the-season-chant http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/jordan/the-season-chant#comments Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:11:27 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/jordan/the-season-chant http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/jordan/the-season-chant/feed 1:01 Here is a chant created by five teachers from Aqaba, Jordan, during a training session on November 12, 2008. The Season Chant Winter Summer Autumn Spring Winter is rainy Summer is sunny Autumn ... Here is a chant created by five teachers from Aqaba, Jordan, during a training session on November 12, 2008. The Season Chant Winter Summer Autumn Spring Winter is rainy Summer is sunny Autumn is cloudy Spring is lovely words by Sawsan El Khateeb, Ala'a Al Shaer, Areen Al Kamaysh, Eman Obeasat, Shiraz Ahmad. Music by Kevin Have your students chant along with it. After they've learned it, put them into pairs and ask them to think of two MORE adjectives to describe each season. Play the chant again and have each group add their adjectives (when the singer says "la la, la la). For example, "Winter is rainy, chilly, windy." Jordan wp_kmc@likomaisland.com no No http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/videos/boots-of-belarus http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/videos/boots-of-belarus#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:34:38 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/videos/boots-of-belarus http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/videos/boots-of-belarus/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/129-halloween-stuff-2008 http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/129-halloween-stuff-2008#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:24:23 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/129-halloween-stuff-2008 http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/129-halloween-stuff-2008/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/128-2-quick-riddles-kasha-malasha-translation http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/128-2-quick-riddles-kasha-malasha-translation#comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:36:35 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/128-2-quick-riddles-kasha-malasha-translation http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/128-2-quick-riddles-kasha-malasha-translation/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/127-the-paper-wrapped-surprise-game http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/127-the-paper-wrapped-surprise-game#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:23:22 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/uncategorized/127-the-paper-wrapped-surprise-game http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/127-the-paper-wrapped-surprise-game/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/126-the-great-song-translation-activity http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/126-the-great-song-translation-activity#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:11:49 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/126-the-great-song-translation-activity http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/126-the-great-song-translation-activity/feed 1:18 English Teachers in Russia Elsewhere E-textbook -- Issue #126 Contents => The Great Song Translation Activity => Where to find songs? => Lyrics to Cole Porter's ... English Teachers in Russia Elsewhere E-textbook -- Issue #126 Contents => The Great Song Translation Activity => Where to find songs? => Lyrics to Cole Porter's "True Love" => In the Next Issues The Great Song Translation Activity This activity has many steps, but that's what makes it good. Students are challenged to use several skills along the way: translation, composition, correction, listening closely. And then there are interpersonal skills like negotiation, discussion, comparison, speculation. Time: 30 minutes. Depends on the length of the song lyric. Materials needed: (1) Recording of a song. You can use the song "True Love" (1:18) if you want. You'll find a free downloadable mp3 of it at the bottom of this post, sung by me and my mum. (There she is, to the right, in 1946 at the age of 22.) But any song or poem will work, of course. (2) Handouts of translations of this song into students' native language (L1) (3) Blackboard, whiteboard, or poster paper. Step 1 Find an English language song. It should be a song the students dont know. It shouldn't be too long. You'll need the lyrics and an audio. Step 2 Translate the lyrics FROM English to the L1 of the students using a computer translator. Let your students know it's a computer translation, but they should try to make the best English they can out of it. You'll see that the translation comes out kind of funky. Here's a Russian translation of the Cole Porter song "True Love." (For the English lyrics see below). Kind of funny, huh? And here are translations (using Google: http://www.google.com/language_tools) in Japanese... ... and Arabic. I suspect they are funny too, although I don't read Japanese or Arabic. Now if all your students speak Russian, or they all speak Japanese, paste the appropriate translation onto an MS Word document. You can fit about 20 on a single page in fact.Print that page, cut it up, distribute. Or you could even write the translation on the board.What if your class is a mixed group--made up of 5 Chinese speakers, 6 Arabic speakers, 2 Czechs, 2 Romanians, 1 Mexican, 1 Thai, and 1 Turk? Well, make translations in those seven languages. It's easy. All you do is paste the English into a free translator, like Google's, or one of these: http://www.freetranslation.com http://www.tranexp.com/win/itserver.htm http://world.altavista.com/ http://translation2.paralink.com/ Then paste the various translations into your Word document. Print and distribute to the appropriate pairs and groups.It doesn't take long to do even seven or eight computer translations, and you don't mind because you're such a good teacher, and you love making really interesting and useful activities. Step 3 Distribute handouts of the translated song (NOT the English version), one per group. Groups will work together, translating the song into English. Step 4 With the translations done, you now have several versions, one for each group. Ask someone from each group to write their group's translation on the board, or on a poster so that everybody in the class can see Step 5 Take a moments to compare the several translations. Students may want to talk about the differences. Step 6 Give a piece of chalk or a marker to one student from each group. These students will stand at the board next to their group's translation. Announce that--at last--you are going to play a recording of the English language version of the song. The students' job is now to listen very closely, to compare the original English version with the translation that they have written. The standing students will make corrections, trying to make the translated version exactl English,Teachers,in,Russia,&,Elsewhere wp_kmc@likomaisland.com no No http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/125-scavenger-hunts http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/125-scavenger-hunts#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 23:15:01 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/125-scavenger-hunts http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/125-scavenger-hunts/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/tapering-dialogues-a-pair-writing-activity http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/tapering-dialogues-a-pair-writing-activity#comments Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:01:04 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/uncategorized/tapering-dialogues-a-pair-writing-activity http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/tapering-dialogues-a-pair-writing-activity/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/articles-assorted-stuff-thats-true/%d1%81%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%bc-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8b%d0%bc-%d0%bf%d1%81%d0%be%d0%bc http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/articles-assorted-stuff-thats-true/%d1%81%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%bc-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8b%d0%bc-%d0%bf%d1%81%d0%be%d0%bc#comments Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:24:17 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/articles-assorted-stuff-thats-true/%d1%81%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%bc-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8b%d0%bc-%d0%bf%d1%81%d0%be%d0%bc http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/articles-assorted-stuff-thats-true/%d1%81%d0%bb%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%bc-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8b%d0%bc-%d0%bf%d1%81%d0%be%d0%bc/feed http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/123-writing-your-own-fortune-cookies http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/123-writing-your-own-fortune-cookies#comments Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:17:12 +0000 Kevin McCaughey http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/uncategorized/123-writing-your-own-fortune-cookies http://www.kevinmccaughey.com/e-textbook/123-writing-your-own-fortune-cookies/feed