Elvis says . . . Sing your grammar lessons!

Hello to all my friends around the world! I’m glad you’re learning English! To my teacher friends: Did you know using popular culture in your teaching may help motivate your students? (Perhaps you've already read this research from the University of Hong Kong.) That’s why every month I invite teachers and students to travel with me on an educational, online field trip.

These past few months we’ve been visiting our friends in Argentina, and teaching English grammar and vocabulary with lessons using: classic movie tunes, songs from the Beatles, Broadway show tunes, and oldies from the café jukebox. Next month we’ll visit friends in Europe, to teach reading comprehension with pop music trivia. I hope you and your students will join us! You can email your teacher friends about our travels, by using my free, singing postcards. My favorite is All Shook Up! (Students, you can email your friends about our travels, too!)

Comic Creators - Write a comic!

To see the entire comic, click on the comic.

Let's create! Students, can you identify any nouns, adjectives or verbs from today's "Garfield" comic strip? If so, what other English words have similar meanings as those used in this comic? [Tip: If you need help thinking of other words, scroll down and use the "Online Reference - Dictionary," below, to find synonyms.] Or, if there are no words spoken by a character in the comic, what do you suppose that character may be thinking?

Now, let's rewrite this comic, using different nouns, adjectives or verbs; or, by writing their thoughts to show what they're thinking. Create your new comic using Garfield's Comic Creator! When you have more time, create another Garfield comic, using brand new ideas!

Teachers, in addition to your own lesson plans using comics to teach English, check out Grammarman, a site with comics for EFL/ESL students, and Awesome Comics, a webquest for ESL students. Both sites were created by Brian Boyd, an ESL instructor and author in Thailand. Also, see The Comic Book Project, from Columbia University's Teacher College in New York.

Special thanks to Jim Davis, creator of Garfield.

Cooking State

Students, you'll discover it's lots of fun reading a recipe in English!

To find a healthy recipe to read:

(1) Click on one of the three small photos, above.
Then, you'll see a small pop-up page. On that pop-up page:

(2) Click on the RECIPE TITLE located to the right of the photo.
A new, full-page "recipe page" will then appear, showing the recipe.

After you read the recipe, write the ingredients on a list. Working with a classmate or independently, decide which category on this "Grocery List" chart is the correct category for each ingredient. Do a buddy-check with a classmate to check your answers, before your teacher checks your answers.

If you're in an English speaking country, bring your written list of ingredients when you shop for food. Then, write the name of the grocery store aisle or section where you actually found each ingredient. Did you know the correct category for each ingredient?

Practice these listing, categorizing and organizing skills again tomorrow, with a new recipe here. Now you're cooking!

Note to Teachers: Create your own ideas for ESL reading, speaking and writing activities by using today's recipes -- and the accompanying information found on the "recipe page" including: nutritional information and preparation. Or, click on the tabs from that recipe page for recipe reviews and a large photo of the finished dish. (And, remember: each day you'll find that one new recipe replaces a recipe in this group of three recipes!)

Caption Central - Write a caption!

Students, these three pictures need your captions!

Ask your teacher to show you how to write a caption. If you learn at home, ask your mom or dad, or whomever takes care of you at home, to show you how to write a caption. Examples of imaginative captions are shown at the bottom right of this homepage in "Daily Slideshow: Beautiful Sunsets."

Then, write your own imaginative captions, and share aloud. [Tip: If you need help thinking of a descriptive English word for a caption, scroll down and use the "Translation Dictionary," below, to translate a word from your language to English. Then, use the "Audio Dictionary," also found below, to hear the English word.]

Three new images will need your captions tomorrow!

Image #1 - How would you describe this picture in English?

Read a caption from Wikipedia here.


Image #2 - And what's your caption for everything you see here?
Click on the above picture to read about it from National Geographic.

Image #3 - Here's the last photo:
Click on this photo to learn more about its location.

Special thanks to Wikipedia, National Geographic, localpics.com, and Google Gadgets for providing these daily pictures.

Museum Town: Ready to Research

Students, let's practice researching and reading for information. We'll research today’s masterpiece artist to find out:

Which museums display this artist's work?

Here is today's artist, and a famous painting by the artist:


To find out which museums you can visit to see this artist's work, look up the artist's name on this search site.



Did you discover which museums display today’s artist? Which of these museums is nearest your town? And, which museum, if any, displays this famous painting?

If none of the museums are close by to where you live, which of these online museums do you think might show this artist's work? Why do you think so?

Building Art - Are you a poet?

Students, have you ever wanted to write a poem? People of all ages enjoy writing a Japanese form of poetry known as haiku. You, too, may enjoy writing haiku to build your creative writing portfolio.

Haiku is defined as: ...a brief verse which attempts to convey a feeling or experience through the use of images drawn from nature. Instead of merely stating a feeling, it says: "This is what I saw; perhaps it will rouse in you a feeling similar to mine when I experienced it."

The following poem is an example of haiku from Canada, written by Linda Pilarski with a photo by her, and published in Daily Haiku:



To inspire you to write your own haiku, here's today's nature photo: