Oct 30, 2016

The Jetsons - Rosie, the Robot - Reported Speech









This creative activity was provided by a reader, Graziela Pinheiro. She's from São Paulo and has been a private teacher for about 10 years now.


Thanks, Graziela, for the contribution. We can't wait for more..



Can you complete these sentences?
'I don’t want pizza'.
She said _____________________________________

‘I hate it’, he told me.
He told me he _________________________________

‘Remember me? We met at last year’s party’, Mary asked John.

Mary asked ____________________________________________

Don't Forget:

1.      Pronouns
2.      Backshifting
3.      Reporting verbs – say, tell, ask are most used; try different verbs and adverbs to represent the mood of the speaker. Eg: quietly agreed, happily told, angrily shouted, confidently declared, categorically denied.


Complete the gaps using the correct form of the verbs below.
Watch the video and check your answers (1.10):
rest
think
swim
mean
say



TV:         Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
This is Jack Jetwash, your slipped disk jockey on 3-D TV at half past 700 hours, on this good, good, good morning, with your modern mother’s muscle tone program of the air.
Now, chins up! I____________, chin up, index fingers out.
Ready for your push-button finger exercises? (1)
Jane:     I’m ready (2)
TV:         One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two!­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ __________!
Judy:     Okay, Mom, take five! (3)
Good morning! And did you change your mind?
Jane:     No! It’s too cool to go ___________after school. Besides, you won’t be home in time for dinner. (4) 
Judy:     From Acapulco?
Jane:     Oh! I __________ you were going to Hawaii (5)  .
Well, all right if your father says yes.
Judy:     Oh, he will! (6) 
Daddy? Daddy, are you asleep? (6) 
George: Yes… (7) 
Judy:     Thanks, daddy! (8) 
                Daddy __________ yes! (9) 
Jane: Ok, then!

Work with your partner.
Use reported speech to re-write the following dialogs:
(1) Jack Jetwash asked if everybody was ready for their push-button finger exercises.
(2) Jane ______________________________________________________
(3) Judy ______________________________________________________ and
(4)  ______________________________________________________
(4)  Jane ____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
(5)  Jane ___________________________________________________________.
(6)  Judy ___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
(7)  George ______________________________________________________________
(8)   Judy ____________________________________________________________
(9)  Judy ____________________________________________________________

Complete the gaps using the correct form of the verbs below.
Watch the video and check your answers (1.10):
rest
think
swim
mean
say

TV:         Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
This is Jack Jetwash, your slipped disk jockey on 3-D TV at half past 700 hours, on this good, good, good morning, with your modern mother’s muscle tone program of the air.
Now, chins up! I MEAN chin up, index fingers out.
Ready for your push-button finger exercises? (1)
Jane:     I’m ready (2)
TV:         One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two!­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ REST!
Judy:     Okay, Mom, take five! (3)
Good morning! And did you change your mind?
Jane:     No! It’s too cool to go SWIMMING after school. Besides, you won’t be home in time for dinner. (4) 
Judy:     From Acapulco?
Jane:     Oh! I THOUGHT  you were going to Hawaii (5)  .
Well, all right if your father says yes.
Judy:     Oh, he will! (6) 
Daddy? Daddy, are you asleep? (6) 
George: Yes… (7) 
Judy:     Thanks, daddy! (8) 
                Daddy  SAID yes! (9) 
Jane: Ok, then!


Suggested answers. 
As this is only a review, it’s good to encourage students to use different verbs and leave “say” and “tell” behind as well as making their speech more colorful, using adverbs when possible. 
(1) Jack Jetwash asked if everybody was ready for their push-button finger exercises.
(2) Jane SLEEPILY SAID she was.
(3) Judy SUGGESTED her mother took a rest and
(4)  ASKED if she had changed her mind.
(4)  Jane POINTED OUT that it was too cool for swimming and reminded Jane that she wouldn’t be home in time for dinner.
(5)  Jane REPLIED that she thought Jude was going to Hawaii.
(6)  Judy EXCLAIMED her father would say yes.
(7)  George MUMBLED yes
(8)   Judy HAPPILY THANKED her father
(9)  Judy told her mother that George’s answer was yes.




Oct 15, 2016

Batman Begins: Wh Questions





This is another awesome activity developed by Bruno. His activities are even better now. Thanks, Bruno, for another perfect contribution.



My name is Bruno, I´m a Brazilian English teacher specialized in Applied Linguistics. Currently I work for a language institute teaching adults and in a regular school teaching elementary and high school. I believe knowledge is something to be shared and that´s why I post my classes to everybody who wants to study/learn English. In the last years I counted and have been counting on many partners who are always there: Adriana Pin, Bhyanka Itaborahy, Claudio Azevedo (Movie Segments), Diego Cassionato (Inglês com Rock) and Dani Bertocchi... You guys are also "guilty" for it. THANK YOU.



Batman Begins
A class by @TeacherBrunoGon

To do this activity, you must know the characters of the video:

Mr. Earle

Bruce Wayne

Mr. Fox

                                                                                Alfred

1 – Watch the video segment and check the Wh-Question words missing:


The meeting has already started, sir.

Earle: - _________________ meeting?

Earle: Under _____________ authority?

Earle: _____________ makes you think you can decide _____________'s running Wayne Enterprises?

Earle: ________________ are you talking about? The company went public a week ago.


2 – Still about the video, make questions using the lines spoken:

a-      _____________ got fired before?
Fox got fired

b-      _______________ job Fox has now?
Mr. Earle´s job

c-      ______________ calls Bruce Wayne to understand what´s is happening?
Mr Earle calls Bruce

d-      ______________ gives Bruce the newspaper?
Alfred does

e-      ______________ has the authority to make decisions?
Brune Wayne has the authority of deciding

f-       _______________ has got the first page?
Batman got the first page

g-      _____________ has got page 8?
Bruce Wayne got page 8

h-      _______________ did the company went public?
It went public a week before

i-        _____________ bought most of the shares?
Bruce Wayne bought most of the shares

j-        ______________ company´s future is secure?
Bruce´s company is secure for the future



Oct 6, 2016

TV Series for Learning

I am very proud to share a blog about TV Series for Learning, developed by Ronaldo Lima Jr.  This is an awesome blog, and I am sure you will profit a lot from it. Make sure you visit it. You will be flooded with amazing ideas.
tvseries4learning.wordpress.com