Today, I was having a coffee at my favorite coffee house while working on

an essay that I'm supposed to finish and hand in by tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I took a sip and felt something in my mouth. I figured it must be a
bit of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast so I didn't worry about it at first.
Then I remembered I didn't have cookies this morning. I reached in and
took it out of my mouth. It turned out to be a huge black fly. I screamed and
threw it away as far as I could. It flew across the room and landed on the
plate of this big bald tough-looking guy. He stood up and looked at me as if
he was going to kill me. His wife
had to hold him and keep him
from beating the hell out of me.
And that's not the worst part. I'm
kind of clumsy so in the process I
also spit coffee all over my open
laptop and knocked over the cup,
spilling the rest of the coffee on
the floor. I could see the
customers mumbling to each
other, shaking their heads and
calling me a loser. The waiter
wasn't too happy either. Even

Jak uit
anglitinu
pomoc
krtkch
pbh

though I apologized to him repeatedly for making him mop the floor and
gave him a nice tip, I don't think I'll be welcome there for a while. Oh, and
did I mention that my laptop died and all my files got wiped out, including
the essay I was working on? And that I got an F as a result? Some days just
aren't worth getting out of bed for.

I like to teach English by telling stories. I mean, I do

way more than just tell stories, but you get the idea.
Some stories I write myself, most I come across when
I least expect it. Either way, I take a lot of pride in all
of them. My students seem to enjoy learning from
them, too.
Now, make no mistake, finding good stories and
whipping them into shape is not easy. No siree.
There's not that many good stories out there and
those that you do dig up still need a lot of work before
they become presentable. So it's a challenge,
definitely. But it is so worth it.
Maybe you have tried using stories in your classes,
and it backfired for some reason or another.
Maybe you can't seem to work up the nerve to start
using stories, even though you've been meaning to,
like, for ever.
Maybe it has never occurred to you to use stories and
now you're like, huh.
Maybe you think your students would not take kindly
to the idea.
Maybe you simply think it's a stupid thing to do.
And maybe you're right.
But maybe not.

THE STORY
Je znm vc, e studenti na pbhy sly. (Obvykle
tedy jen na urit, akn ladn, typy pbh, to ale
zatm ponechme bokem.) Pedlome-li tedy
studentm srii poutavch pbh, mohli bychom
od nich oekvat alespo minimln snahu z nich
nco mlo pobrat. The ball's in their court, jinmi
slovy.
Na nsledujcch strnkch se pokusm ilustrovat,
jak typy pbh pouvm ve svch hodinch j a
jak konkrtn s nimi pracuju. Jako vzor jsem vybral
krtkou skicu A Huge Black Fly. Jde o
jednoduchouk pbh, v nm se na vyprave v
prbhu nkolika vtein sesype nkolik pohrom s
vce i mn dlouhodobmi nsledky.
Today, I was having a coffee at my favorite coffee
house while working on an essay that I'm
supposed to finish and hand in by tomorrow
morning. Anyway, I took a sip and felt
something in my mouth. I figured it must be a bit
of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast so I didn't
worry about it at first. Then I remembered I
didn't have cookies this morning.
I reached in and took it out of my mouth. It
turned out to be a huge black fly. I screamed and
threw it away as far as I could. It flew across the
room and landed on the plate of this big bald
tough-looking guy. He stood up and looked at me
as if he was going to kill me. His wife had to hold
him and keep him from beating the hell out of
me.
And that's not the worst part. I'm kind of clumsy
so in the process I also spit coffee all over my
open laptop and knocked over the cup, spilling
the rest of the coffee on the floor. I could see the
customers mumbling to each other, shaking
their heads and calling me a loser.
The waiter wasn't too happy either. Even though
I apologized to him repeatedly for making him
mop the floor and gave him a nice tip, I don't
think I'll be welcome there for a while. Oh, and
did I mention that my laptop died and all my
files got wiped out, including the essay I was
working on? And that I got an F as a result?
Some days just aren't worth getting out of bed
for.

* Pbh A Huge Black Fly lze dle mho soudu pout

pro jakoukoli vkovou skupinu. Neobsahuje
obskurn relie ani kulturn reference, nenajdeme v
nm dn vulgarity a s popisovanmi trablemi
nebude nikomu zatko se ztotonit. (Pvodn verze
z webu My Life Sucks se skldala z dvou a t vt,
dovolil jsem si ji upravit a vrazn nafouknout.)
Mj prvotn zmr byl (a je) pedloit pbh 1215letm km bn, tedy nevbrov, zkladn
koly, ppadn jakkoli stedn koly. Do jak mry je
tato pedstava naivn, nedoku posoudit. Standardy
vuky anglitiny v esku jsou ovem natolik nzk,
e jejich nabourn z jakkoli strany bude myslm k
dobru vci.
* pln pvodn jsem plnoval sestavit klasickou
Students' Book, kterou by sebou studenti nosili a
pracovali s n v hodinch (vedle n by samozejm
existovala komplementrn Teacher's Book pro
vyuujc). To by ale u prce s pbhy lo tko, u jen
proto, e u nich dleitou roli hraje prvek pekvapen
a fze prce, kdy studenti znaj text pouze z
vyprvn.

NOW WHAT?
So you got yourself a nice little story (hint: look right)
that you think might go over well in class. What do
you do next? Well, there are basically two things that
need to be done:
1.

You need to know exactly how you are

going to use the story. What's the sequence
of activities that'll work best? How do you
keep your students from getting bored with
the story? Good news is, once you figure it
out, the same process can then be applied to
pretty much any story. (Warning: Figuring it
out may take months, if not years of trial and
error.)

2. There's some worksheets to prepare. Oh

boy.
So... any questions?
Yes, one. Why do you keep switching between
Czech and English here?
That's a good question. And the answer is, I don't
really know. Everything sounds better in English,
doesn't it? Then again, my original intention was
to write all of this in Czech. Turns out I just can't
help myself. I'm sorry if this is too much of an
inconvenience. But hey, you teach English for a
living. If anything, you should appreciate this.

THE PROCESS
Kad text je teba pedpipravit ze dvou stran:
a) pichystat samotn pracovn listy, s nimi se bude v hodinch pracovat; to
vyaduje hodn prce, u kadho pbhu zante odznova, a v prvn fzi je to boj;
postupem asu jde nicmn tato prce m dl lp od ruky
* vce v oddlu worksheets
b) mt rozmylen samotn proces - tedy posloupnost aktivit - rozprosten do cca
3-4 hodin * vhoda procesu, oproti worksheets, tkv v tom, e jakmile jej jednou doladte
podle svch pedstav, mete jej aplikovat na vechny nsledujc pbhy

1.

INTRO + VOCAB
INTRODUCE the story (without giving away the ending or the best parts); just DROP it
into your hey-there-good-to-see-you-again speech and let them catch up
explain the vocabulary by DEFINING all of it in ENGLISH (keep explaining each phrase
until most students NOD their heads, then have them guess the correct translation)

2.

CONV. INTRO + VOCAB

students RECALL the intro and define the vocabulary using REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES
and complete, well-constructed sentences (as opposed to the usual primitive "bald is
without hair / take a sip is drinking a little bit" style); all the work is done in PAIRS (this
applies to every conversation-style activity)

3.

TELL STORY
just TELL the story as if it has just occurred to you
don't read from paper, try to keep it REAL and NATURAL
feel free to GESTICULATE to illustrate hard-to-grasp vocab (hand in / reach / threw etc.)
also feel free to REPEAT yourself or OVEREXPLAIN where either is called for
don't worry about SKIPPING or leaving stuff out, there will be plenty of opportunities to
catch up on it later (such as inquire/recall)

4.

CONV. PUT THE STORY TOGETHER

your students' FIRST attempt at recounting the story based on what they've just heard
of course there will be GAPS and CONFUSION, that's par for the course at this point
there's no need for students to throw up their hands in despair, it's all part of the game,
make sure they are aware of that

5.

INQUIRE
ask questions to make sure that EVERYONE knows the WHOLE storylittle things and
DETAILS matter, too, in fact they often carry the best bits of English
it's fun to use a different PERSPECTIVE (the bald guy, the waiter, the fly) to catch the
students off guard, thereby drawing them in and keeping them on their toes

6.

CONV. SPIN-OFF
IMPROVIZED conversations loosely based on the story
make it clear that there are to be NO EXCUSES (such as "I can't think of anything else to
say" / we have said everything there is to say"; out of ideas, you say? then how come you
never shut up when you're supposed to be quiet?)
the WEIRDER the conversation, the betteras long as it's conducted in good English

7.

FILL-IN / BLOW-UP / POINT-OUT

hand out the (A) version of the fill-in exercise and make your way through it one gap at a
time, stopping to EXPLAIN why this particular word makes a good fit rather than the other
one that everyone liked better (then hand out or email the B-version as homework)
alternatively, pick a bunch of GRAMMAR POINTS and explain the crap out of them
or you can just TEST the class on the best bits quickly and collectively (POINT OUT)

8.

CONV. POV (FUTURE / QUESTIONS ETC.)

more discussions from various PERSPECTIVES, or QUESTION-based conversations
there's a lot of examples in the CONVERSATIONS appendix, be sure to check them out
(TIP) KICK-OFF LINES: Pro kad konverzan set-up si pipravte strhujc opening
line, kterou jeden ze student rozhovor zahj. Danou vtu tsn ped zahjenm
konverzace td pedneste, nae ji jeden ze student ve dvojici zopakuje a tm se
konverzace rozbh. Tento krok je pnosn hned ve dvou ohledech. 1) Student, kter
vodn vtu zopakuje, je rd, e nemus nic vymlet, tud je o ni docela rvaka druh pak mus promptn reagovat, protoe by jinak byl za blbce - a u se vezou; 2)
vyhnete se otravn pasi jinak pedchzejc kadmu rozhovoru: "tak kdo chce bt
mn je to jedno mn taky tak j nevm j taky ne tak j budu teba ten policajt tak dobe j
bud ten druh tak nco ekni ale j nevm co j taky ne"

NSLEDUJC HODINY
Kad pbh je dobr rozprostt do nkolika hodin. Uitel zde ovem nalapuje po velmi tenkm lan. Na
jedn stran je teba, aby se nejpodstatnj obraty studentm opakovan pipomnaly a aby tito mli
dost pleitost je pout. Na stran druh, poten frisson z novho pbhu nevyhnuteln brzy vyum a
studenti budou mt mn a mn chuti se k nmu vracet. Je tedy nutn variovat, pichzet se zajmavmi
aktivitami, a pomalu utahovat rouby.
Sm za jednu dvouhodinovku taktak stihnu probrat ve, co si pipravm. (Respektive to nestihnu nikdy.)
Nedlm si proto dn iluze o tom, kolik se toho d zvldnout v prbhu klasick 45-min hodiny. U
dvouhodinovek m lovk as vnovat se simultnn nkolika pbhm, kadmu v jin fzi: bhem jedn
hodiny tud mete uvst nov pbh, pipomenout pbh uveden v hodin minul a jet jednou se
vrtit k pbhu zped dvou hodin. Vedle toho je as na testy, vysvtlovn gramatiky a konverzace.
Tyto monosti 45-minutovka bohuel nenabz. Pokud se ti po sob jdouc hodiny dkladn vnujete jednomu
jedinmu pbhu, je na mst obava, e vi nmu studenti otup a bude m dl t udret si jejich
pozornost. Doporuoval bych proto aktivity vztahujc se k pbhu prokldat zcela nesouvisejcmi
innostmi, kdyby jen pro osven atmosfry.
HODINA DRUH, NVRAT
1. RECALL 2. POINT OUT 3. CONVERSATION
RECALL: Nen od vci si pbh hned zkraje druh hodiny jet jednou pipomenout (ie. inquiry, akort
zase z jin perspektivy, protoe pro ne); jinak hroz, e absenti z minul hodiny budou mimo, a tedy
ruivm prvkem; celkov pak plat, e vichni studenti budou rdi za krtk pipomenut
POINT-OUT: Nkdy v prbhu hodiny pijde ada na dkladnj pipomnku nejpodstatnjch obrat
ty jen krtce nadhazujte, v namtkovm poad, a tda kolektivn pekld. Vbec nezakod do vt
vloit i jin, dve probran, jevy (viz 'had better' v prvnm pkladu). Nen nutn pekldat cel vty,
studenti rychle odtu, kter sek je podstatn
jak byste ekli: ne abys to rozlil --> spill! ... nejdv jsem to nechpal --> at first! ... pestoe jsem byl
posledn --> even though! ... nikdo t nenutil tam chodit --> make you go! ...
Dejte pozor, aby si nejpokroilej studenti neuzurpovali vechny peklady pro sebe. Pokud tomu nelze
zamezit, dejte alespo slabm jedincm as ve vstebat. Pipomnejte studentm, e se mus ptt na
vci, kter jim nedvaj smysl, i kdyby byli ve td jedin.
CONV.: vyut MUST-USE sheet? dt improvizovan dialog? zapojit marana? monosti tu jsou
HODINA TET
1. POINT OUT INDIVIDUALLY 2. CONVERSATION
POINT-OUT: Vyuijte stejnch obrat jako v kolektivnm point-outu z minul hodiny, tentokrt ale
bte od studenta ke studentovi a kadmu zadejte jeden i vce obrat na bleskov peklad (adekvtn
jejich rovni, bute milosrdn). Vdom, e budou pravideln a nevyhnuteln vyvolvni ped celou
tdou by mohlo nkter jednotlivce dohnat k extrmnm krokm, napklad tomu, e by se zaali uit.
CONV: hdka mezi mouchou a nkem? dv vdmy? pohebn e? podmnkov vty? televizn interview?

So far I have been a little heavy on the theory

and light on the practice. Let me remedy that.

INTRO
Here's one way you can open the class * there's a different take in the EXTRAS appendix
So... you know how sometimes you're having a drink or just sipping soda or something ... and
suddenly you feel like something's wrong ... like, there was something in that drink that you
swallowed and now it's in your mouth ... and it could be something totally harmless such as a
piece of food ... but it could also be something else, like a fly or a spider ... so anyway, earlier
today I was having a coffee and something like this happened to me ... let me tell you about it,
but first let's take a look at some vocabulary that you are going to need:

VOCAB
take a sip ... there are several kinds of drinking ... when you're really thirsty, after playing
some sports maybe, and you get a beer, you just knock it back quickly ... but if you're having a
quiet evening with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, you just take little sips, because that's
how those drinks are supposed to be taken * esky ani ne tak "usrkvat / srkat" jako spe
"popjet / trochu se napt"
reach ... so you're at a store, ok ... and you ask to pay with a credit card ... and you're told that
they don't actually take credit cards ... and you need to pay cash ... you remember that you
had put some bills or coins in one of your pants pockets earlier ... so you reach into your right
pocket first to see if that's where the money is... ok, now you get it
bald ... at a certain point in our lives, we all have full heads of hair, like in our teens or
twenties ... then later some of that hair starts falling out, that's especially true with men ...
and sometimes all of it falls out and then that person becomes bald ... right, that's pretty
obvious, huh ... anyway, some guys are ashamed of being bald and they try to hide it, but
frankly, it's nothing to be ashamed of, in fact it looks kind of cool

+ beat the hell out of sb clumsy knock over

spill mumble mop tip wipe st out

STORY
And here's how you can launch the story itself later on. Once again: no preparation, no
introduction, just plop it in:
So I'm sitting at this caf, right. I love coming here. It's quiet and everyone just minds
their own business and the waiters are really nice. And I love the coffee, too. But this time
I'm not here to enjoy my coffee. This time I'm here to work. I have a laptop with me and
I'm typing on it. The reason I'm working is that I have an essay to finish and the essay
needs to be handed in by tomorrow morning and if I don't finish it today I'll be in big
trouble. So I'm typing and sipping coffee and suddenly I feel like there's something in my
mouth and I figure...

INQUIRY / RECALL
OPTION 1: GUY (PAST) So I was having dinner with my wife, and we were having a good
time... let me ask you this: what do I look like? (You are bald and tough-looking.) --OPTION 2: THE FLY (FUTURE) So... whose plate am I going to land on? (Some guy's.)
All right. Is he going to be happy to see me? (No.) How come? (Because you're a fly.) What's
the big deal? (People don't like to see flies in their food.) Why is that? --OPTION 2: THE WAITER (PRESENT) So... I have just finished mopping the floor,
which I generally hate doing, and I'm glad I got it done. Now I won't have to do it again until
tomorrow... Right? Right? (No.) What do you mean, no? (You will have to mop again.) You
have got to be kidding me. What's going to happen? --OPTION 1 *EXTENDED VERSION* So I'm having dinner with my wife, right, and
we're having a good time... by the way, what do I look like? (You are bald and toughlooking.) Right. So suddenly something lands on my plate, something that doesn't belong
there. What is it? (Fly.) A fly. (A fly.) Ok. And it didn't just drop out of thin air. Someone
threw it. Who was it? (Some man.) A guy. (Yes, a guy.) So I have a bit of a temper, right,
meaning I get upset easily. And this definitely pissed me off. Right? (Right.) Ok. So did I kill
the guy? (No.) What stopped me? (Your wife.) If she hadn't been there, would I have killed
the guy? (Maybe.) Oh, I absolutely would have. Anyway, ...

CONVERSATIONS
This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. You need to come up with ways for students
to recount the story repeatedly without losing interest. In other words, you need to be very very
creative. In yet other words, you got your work cut out for you. Lucky for you, I got one or two
tricks up my sleeve that I'm wiling to share with you.

OSOBY
postavy, z jejich perspektivy lze pbh
vyprvt:
VYPRAV, pochopiteln
NEZASTNN POZOROVATEL,
popisuje dj zven
(zde) MOUCHA, protoe pro ne
(zde) BALD GUY / HIS WIFE / WAITER,
pi troe pedstavivosti

ASOV RMEC
MINULOST, nejastj, nejpirozenj,
nejproflklej
BUDOUCNOST, z pohledu lovka, kter
v/tu, k emu dojde
PTOMNOST, popis aktuln
probhajcho dje, vetn predikc

KOMBINACE *PKLADY
YOU AND I, ideln typ vyprvn, kdy se oba
studenti dopluj
TV MODERTOR NEZASTNN P.,
ncvik otzek
VDMA MATKA VYPRAVE,
konverzace o budoucnosti
MOUCHA NK, in medias res

Podrobn vet vech monch

kombinac, permutac, perspektiv a
konverzanch styl najdete v ploze
doporuuju nahldnout.

NEDJOV VYPRVN,
KONVERZAN DOVEDNOSTI
Nejen djem iv je lovk: vtina
kadodennch konverzac se to kolem nvrh,
posteh, dohad a podobn; na popis aknch
scn zas tak asto nedochz
NVRHY A BRAINSTORMING
* clem je nauit studenty pouvat spojen
typu why don't we... / what if I... / are you
suggesting that...? / you'd better not... / you
might want to... / I don't think you should... / if
I were you... / then again, ... / let's not... /
actually I'd rather... / sounds good / that could
work
* aby neszeli pouze na provaen maybe you
can / maybe we could / it is a very good idea
HDKY A SPORY
* you have got to be kidding me! / what a
horrible thing to say! / I don't think so / what
makes you think that? / what were you
thinking?! / come on, that's not true! / why the
hell would you do that?!
* it is horrible! / I think it is not possible! / it is
not a very good idea!
POCITY: RADOST, ZKLAMN,
ZMATEK
* but how come you didn't...? / I wonder if... / I
can't believe they... / what an amazing story! /
you did such a great job... / it's such a relief
VITKY A LTOST
* I wish I knew how to fight... / we shouldn't
have told them / it was stupid of me to... / what
was I thinking trying to...? / next time I'm
going to have to be more... / I can't believe I
didn't even ...

STUDENTS'
WORKSHEETS

TEACHER'S
WORKSHEETS

FILL-IN A+B: doplovaka typu mezera=slovo,

kde vtina mezer vyaduje jedno konkrtn slovo
(a pokud ne, pak je vloena npovda) ideln
pro prvn obeznmen s psanou podobou textu (A),
nslednou domc lohu (B) a konen postupn
prochzen v hodin s uitelovm vkladem (pro
zde mus/m bt prv toto jedno slovo a dn
jin)

READSHEET: pbh vytitn velkm fontem

jako pomcka pi samotnm vyprvn

*** nejjednodu na ppravu a skvl na

vysvtlovn gramatiky; dkladn doplnn jedn
strnky s krtkm vkladem u kad mezery vm
me klidn zabrat i celou hodinu ikovn se
pitom poukazuje na klasick chyby, jich se
studenti bn dopout (a kter nejsp nasekali v
domc loze)
MUST-USE: clem tohoto listu je donutit
studenty k pevyprvn pbhu za pouit
nejzajmavjch obrat; respektive zabrnit
tomu, aby pbh podvali zjednoduenou, a
primitivn, anglitinou (so some man drink coffee
and something is in his mouth and he think it's
cookie but it's fly so he throw it and it fly to plate of
some other man and...)
*** nejvc prce, ale urit se vyplat; pitom kdy se
studenti sna sestavit vty kolem pedpsanch
obrat a gramatik mte monost chodit po td,
zastavovat se u jednotlivch dvojic a opravovat
individuln chyby, na kter by jinak pi kolektivn
prci teba nedolo
PSYCH-OUT : v prvn fzi prce s textem se
studentm nejdleitj obraty pipomnaj
pomoc point-out, tedy jen slovn a krtce,
nicmn opakovan; ty nejdleitj z nich si pak
najdou cestu do psych-out sheet, kter slou jako
dlouhodob pipomnka postupn odplouvajcch
znalost, pout jej lze i jako homework sheet, aby
si studenti procviili peklady doma
*** pomrn pracn, but remember: this is for the
long haul, k vtm se mete (mli byste) v rznch
podobch vracet jet msce, proto dporuuju dt
si na nich zleet a do kad z nich pihodit jet
jednu gramatiku navc (namsto "pestoe nic
nevm" dt teba "pestoe se o tom nemme bavit",
aby si studenti navc pipomnli existenci "be
supposed to")
* Pracovn listy pro studenty i pro
uitele najdete v ploze

NOTES / IDEAS: pbh vytitn menm

fontem s vyznaenmi BEST BITS a prostorem
pro dopisovn poznmek
INTRO / VOCAB / STORY / INQUIRY
INTRO / STORY: prvnch pr vt vyprvn je
make-or-break - mete jimi okamit pozornost
student nebo naopak cel pbh zabt a odsoudit
k nespchu *** I will now tell you a story about a
man who is drinking coffee and he drinks a fly but
he thinks it is a cookie... * So I'm sitting at this
coffee house, right, and I'm nervous as hell because
I'm on a deadline...
VOCAB: i slovn zsobu lze vysvtlit tak, aby se
studenti nenudili; pomoc pklad ze ivota
definujte 3-6 slov/obrat v kuse, dokud je studenti
ve sv vtin neodkvaj, a pot spolen najdte
nejlep ekvivalent pro kad z obrat *** take a
sip = usrknout / trochu se napt
INQUIRY: kad pbh je po prvotnm
vyprvn poteba jet jednou a dvakrt
pipomenout - ne kad napoprv vechno
pochyt, e ano; ptte se tak, aby na sebe otzky
logicky navazovaly, studenti odpovdaj, vy je
opravujete - vsledkem je, e vichni ve v, co
umon pesun k dalm aktivitm
POINT-OUT (BEST BITS): clem vyprvn
nen, aby se studenti dovdli pointu pbhu nebo
aby se pobavili; clem je, aby se nemu piuili;
proto je teba jim nejdleitj obraty z textu
znovu a znovu pipomnat, nejlpe pomoc
rznch typ test; nsledn pak doufat, e si jich
takto co nejvce zaij a budou s to je asem sami
spontnn pouvat
BLOW-UP (GRAMMAR): nkter obraty i
gramatiky stoj za obrnj vklad; i pro studenty
je ostatn poutavj, pokud gramatika vychz z
njakho pbhu, ne kdy vypadne ze
vzduchoprzdna uebnicov lekce
CONVERSATIONS: jednm z prubskch
kamen nov nabytch znalost jsou konverzace
(v prech) bhem nich se uke, zda jsou
studenti s to pevyprvt pbh, s jeho obsahem
jsou obeznmeni, zda tent obsah dovedou
zasadit do jinch asovch souvislost a
povyprvt jej z pohledu jin osoby, a zda dok z
ist vody zimprovizovat zajmavou konverzaci

HUGE BLACK FLY *A TEACHER'S EDITION*

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

R E A D S H E ET

Today, I was having a coffee at my favorite coffee house while

working on an essay that I'm supposed to finish and hand in by tomorrow

morning.

Anyway, I took a sip and felt something in my mouth. I figured it must

be a bit of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast so I didn't worry about it at
first. Then I remembered I didn't have cookies this morning.

I reached in and took it out of my mouth. It turned out to be a huge

black fly. I screamed and threw it away as far as I could. It flew across the
room and landed on the plate of this big bald tough-looking guy.

He stood up and looked at me as if he was going to kill me. His wife

had to hold him and keep him from beating the hell out of me.

And that's not the worst part. I'm kind of clumsy so in the process I

also spit coffee all over my open laptop and knocked over the cup, spilling
the rest of the coffee on the floor.

I could see the customers mumbling to each other, shaking their

heads and calling me a loser.

The waiter wasn't too happy either. Even though I apologized to him

repeatedly for making him mop the floor and gave him a nice tip, I don't
think I'll be welcome there for a while.

Oh, and did I mention that my laptop died and all my files got wiped

out, including the essay I was working on? And that I got an F as a result?

Some days just aren't worth getting out of bed for.

HUGE BLACK FLY *A TEACHER'S EDITION*

N OT E S * I D E A S
Today, I was having a coffee at my favorite coffee house while
working on an essay that I'm supposed to finish and hand in
by tomorrow morning. Anyway, I took a sip and felt something
in my mouth. I figured it must be a bit of a cookie that I'd
had for breakfast so I didn't worry about it at first. Then I
remembered I didn't have cookies this morning.
I reached in and took it out of my mouth. It turned out to be
a huge black fly. I screamed and threw it away as far as I
could. It flew across the room and landed on the plate of this
big bald tough-looking guy. He stood up and looked at me as
if he was going to kill me. His wife had to hold him and keep
him from beating the hell out of me.
And that's not the worst part. I'm kind of clumsy so in the
process I also spit coffee all over my open laptop and knocked
over the cup, spilling the rest of the coffee on the floor. I could
see the customers mumbling to each other, shaking their heads
and calling me a loser.
The waiter wasn't too happy either. Even though I apologized
to him repeatedly for making him mop the floor and gave him
a nice tip, I don't think I'll be welcome there for a while. Oh,
and did I mention that my laptop died and all my files got
wiped out, including the essay I was working on? And that I
got an F as a result? Some days just aren't worth getting out
of bed for.

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

HUGE BLACK FLY *A TEACHER'S EDITION*

P O I N T- O U T

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

* B E ST B I T S*

JAK BYSTE EKLI:

zrovna jsme si dvali kafe

we were just having coffee

pi prci na eseji jsem zjistil...

while (I was) working on the essay...

do ztka to mus bt hotov

it has to be done by tomorrow

kal jsem si, e to je njak omyl

I figured it was some kind of a mistake

njak jsem to v tu chvli neeil

I didn't worry about it at the time

letlo to, protoe jsem tm hodil

it flew because I threw it

stl tam a kiel na m

he stood there and screamed/yelled at me

zabrnil jsem tomu, aby se to zhorilo

I kept it from getting worse

a to jet nen to nejhor

and that's not the worst part

nevdl jsem, e jsi takov neika

I didn't know you were so clumsy

a pitom jsem ji celou polil kvou

and in the process I spilled coffee all over her

nepevrhni to, jinak to bude utrat

don't knock it over or you'll mop it

kroutil hlavou a nco si mumlal

he shook his hand and mumbled something

nekej j, e je hrdinka

don't call her a hero

mn se to taky nelb

I don't like it either

i kdy to nebyla moje chyba

even though it wasn't my fault

komu se mme omluvit a za co?

who do/should we apologize to and what for?

nikdo t nenutil to dlat

no one made you do it

u tu nejste vtni

you're not welcome here anymore

mohls to aspo zmnit

you could have at least mentioned it

zuby vypadly vem, vetn m

everyone's teeth fell out, including mine

u ti nkdy takhle odeel telefon?

has you phone died like this ever before?

a kvli tomu jsem nedostal dko

and as a result I didn't get a tip

pak by to ale nestlo za to

but then it wouldn't be worth it

HUGE BLACK FLY *A TEACHER'S EDITION*

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

B LOW-U P *G R A M M A R*
BE WORTH ST
it doesn't/didn't really worth it * pomocn sloveso je BE, nikoli DO
the audiobook isn't worth to listen to *pokud nsleduje sloveso, pak v ING tvaru
will it worth it? / then it wouldn't worth visiting *BE zde nesm vypadnout
EVEN THOUGH
even though you're rich, I won't marry you * esk PESTOE, I KDY, poj se s celou vtou
I won't marry you despite all your money * esk PES, poj se jen s pedmtem
* varianty ALTHOUGH / IN SPITE OF bych v prvn fzi neuvdl, jen by mtly
even if you were rich, I wouldn't marry you * hypotetick I KDYBY, I POKUD
CALL SB ST
how do you call this? / don't call me like that * esky "JAK se tomu k", v anglitin "M se to nazv"
you shouldn't say about these people that they are heroes *esk "ekl o n, e je", sloveso "nazvat" se v
dnen etin moc nepouv
EITHER
I had a great time, too (kladn vta) / I didn't like it there either (zpor)
jin pouit EITHER: either of these is fine / either you tell her or I will
WORRY ABOUT ST
WORRY m spoustu eskch peklad, nejen DLAT SI STAROSTI:
I don't have to worry about money (nemusm eit penze, care about, solve) / hey, don't worry about it (to je
v pohod, to nee; never mind) / I worry about you (mm o tebe strach, I am afraid of you) / don't worry, I'll
be fine (neboj, don't be afraid)
KEEP SB FROM DOING ST
jako esk (ZA)BRNIT NKOMU V NEM, v podstat opak spojen MAKE SB DO ST (v textu: make
the waiter mop the floor), ppadn LET SB DO ST
pleitost pipomenout koncept ING tvaru slovesa po jakkoli pedloce: ve stejnm textu: apologized to
the waiter FOR MAKING him mop the floor

HUGE BLACK FLY: STUDENTS' WORKSHEETS

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

FILL-IN (A)
Today, I was ____ a coffee at my favorite coffee house ____ working on
an essay ____ I'm supposed to finish and ____ in by tomorrow morning.
Anyway, I ____ a sip and felt something in my mouth. I [f ]____ it must
be a bit of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast so I didn't worry about it
____ first. Then I remembered I didn't have cookies this morning.
I reached in and took it out of my mouth. It ____ out to be a huge black
fly. I screamed and ____ it away as far as I could. It flew across the
room and [l]____ on the plate of this big bald tough-looking guy. He
[s]____ up and looked at me as if he was ____ to kill me. His wife had to
hold him and ____ him from beating the hell out of me.
And that's not the worst ____. I'm kind of clumsy so in the [p]____ I also
spit coffee all ____ my open laptop and knocked over the cup, [s]____
the rest of the coffee on the floor. I could see the customers mumbling
to ____ other, ____ their heads and calling me a loser.
The waiter wasn't too happy [e]____. Even though I ____ to him
repeatedly for making him mop the floor and gave him a nice ____, I
don't think I'll be welcome there for a while. Oh, and did I [m]____ that
my laptop died and all my files got [w]____ out, including the essay I
was working on? And that I got ____ F as a result?
Some days just ____ worth getting out of bed ____.

HUGE BLACK FLY: STUDENTS' WORKSHEETS

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

FILL-IN (B)
Today, I was having a coffee ____ my favorite coffee house while
working on ____ essay that I'm ____ to finish and hand in ____
tomorrow morning. Anyway, I took a ____ and felt something in my
mouth. I figured it must be a bit of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast so
I didn't ____ about it at first. Then I remembered I didn't have cookies
this morning.
I [r]____ in and took it out of my mouth. It turned out to be a huge black
fly. I [s]____ and threw it away as far as I could. It [f ]____ across the
room and landed on the plate of this big ____ tough-looking guy. He
stood up and looked at me as ____ he was going to kill me. His wife had
to hold him and keep him from ____ the hell out of me.
And that's not the worst part. I'm kind of [c]____ so in the process I
also ____ coffee all over my open laptop and ____ over the cup, spilling
the rest of the coffee on the floor. I could see the customers [m]____ to
each ____, shaking their heads and ____ me a loser.
The waiter wasn't too happy either. Even ____ I apologized to him
repeatedly for ____ him mop the floor and gave him a nice tip, I don't
think I'll be [w]____ there for a while. Oh, and did I mention that my
laptop ____ and all my files got wiped out, ____ the essay I was working
on? And that I got an F as a ____?
Some days just aren't ____ getting out of bed for.

HUGE BLACK FLY: STUDENTS' WORKSHEETS

must-use
b e h av i n g s t *morning: coff ee house*
b e s u p p o s e d t o *work essay: hand in*
a t fi r s t *sip: feel, not worry: fi gure cookie*
r e a c h + t u r n o u t *fl y!*
* e xc e p t *not afraid fl ies x in mouth*
t h r o w *far* + fl y *room* + l a n d *plate*
a s i f *stand up look: kill*
ke e p s b f r o m d o i n g s t *wife - beat*
t h e wo r s t p a r t *clumsy: spit, knock over, spill*
t o e a c h o t h e r *mumble, shake heads, "loser"*
. . . e i t h e r *waiter happy*
e ve n t h o u g h *apologize+tip: no welcome*
m a ke s b d o s t *feel bad: mop fl oor*
i n c l u d i n g *mention: laptop + fi les, essay*
n o t b e wo r t h - i n g *get an F: some days bed*

keywords
c o ff e e e s s a y t o m o r r o w !
sip mouth! - cookie
worry? - remember!
o u t fl y ! - s c r e a m + t h r o w !
fl y p l a t e g u y u p + k i l l !
wife hold no beat
no worst! - clumsy: cup
spill customers (loser)
waiter? sorry mop! + tip
m e n t i o n : l a p t o p fi l e s F
out of bed?

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

HUGE BLACK FLY: STUDENTS' WORKSHEETS

psych-out
j bych se jim t a ky neomlouval
pestoe m nikdo n e n u t i l to st
p o d l e m by to nemli vbec z m i o va t
no a s t l o t o v be c za to?

myslel jsem, e m aspo p o t r e s t t e

mus j z a b r n i t v tom, aby odela
a n e j h o r je, e si ty penze nechal
kdybys nebyl n e m e h l o , n e p e v r h l bys to

tys o mn pede vemi e k l , e jsem loser

v kolik hodin to m m e odevzdat?
to vbec n e e , to poeme my (solve)
u k z a l o se , e ta moucha je jet naivu

kuata neltaj, bude je tam muset n a h z e t

ko m u to pistlo na tali?
pro vichni v s t va j ?
co kdy tvj syn z toho testu dostane p t ku ?

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

HUGE BLACK FLY: STUDENTS' WORKSHEETS

BEE'S KNEES ENGLISH

questions
ZJISTTE:
-- na em z r o v n a pracoval kdy se to stalo
-- pro m u s e l pracovat rychle
-- jestli u toho stolu b y l i nkdo jin
-- co si myslel, e ta vc j e

-- kdo mu tu mouchu do kafe d a l

-- j a k t o, e tu mouchu nevyplivl hned
-- k o m u ji hodil do tale
-- co se ten chlap c h y s t a l udlat
-- kdo mu v tom z a b r n i l
-- jestli to za ena d l v asto

-- co na to kali lid, c o to sledovali (think)

-- jestli tam jet nkdy p j d e
-- pro ho tam te vichni n e n v i d
-- copak to dko n e p o m o h l o ?

THE PROCESS

IN MY OWN WORDS
[1 . INTRO] Hey everybody. Good to see you

again. So, you know how sometimes you're out

having a coffee or something and you're on
your own and you're doing some reading or
catching up on stuff and everything is going
great, and then one little thing happens, like
you spill a little of your drink, and it leads to
another thing, like someone slips on it or
something, and before you know it, you're
getting kicked out of the restaurant or the bar
or wherever you are and everybody is
laughing at you or shaking their heads, saying
things like "What a jerk! Can you believe
that?!" and you can't show your face in that

computer by accident if you hit the wrong

sequence of keys or something. Does that
make sense to you? Ok, let's not translate it
just yet, let's first do a bunch more of these. ...
So, what't the next one? Ok, a tip. That's easy.
A tip is extra money that you give to a waiter
at a restaurant to reward them for good
service. You don't have to give tips, but it's
kind of a norm, especially in the U.S. where a
15% tip is expected after a meal. Got that? All
right, let's move on... ... so that's it.
Let's now take these phrases one at a time and
guess what the best translations are. Wipe
out? Zniit. V podstat ano. Mete pout pro
potaov data nebo teba ve sportu.
Samotn wipe je co? Utt, sprvn. Wipe off
by pak bylo sett, teba to co je na tabuli.
Dal... tip, to byste peloili jak? ...

restaurant for years ... Yeah, it sucks. So

anyway, something like this happened to me

... a to bude vechno. Te si mezi sebou

once ... Let me tell you about it. But first let's

vysvtlete co jednotliv slova na tabuli

take a look at some vocabulary that you are

znamenaj. Jeden se pt, druh definuje.

going to need:

Pozor taky na sprvn dotaz po vznamu

slova jak se teba zeptte "co je to 'tip'?"

[2. VOCAB] All right, there you've got the

Ne*. Ne*. Ne*. Nejlep je jednoduch

vocabulary, right on the whiteboard. Let's try

"What's a tip?" Jenom takhle, a s

to make it less boring than it has to be, people.

neuritm lenem. "Hey, what's a goatee?"

Remember, if you're bored, I'm twice as bored.

U sloves a nepoitatelnch slov a mnonho

So anyway, let's start... from the bottom, for a

sla pak bez lenu: "Hey, what's wipe out?

change. ... Wipe something out. Ok, you

What are cleats?" Co se samotnch definic

know what wiping is, right? You spill some

te, nechci slyet "wipe out is destroy" ani

water on the table, you grab a cloth and you

"tip is money for waiter". Chci pklady ze

wipe it to make the surface of the table dry

ivota, chci slyet snahu o pesn definice,

again. ... Wiping out is very different, though,

nechci aby tu za dv minuty znlo "Hotovo.

so I'm not even sure why I told you about the

My u to mme." *** What is it a tip? What

spilling thing. Sorry about that. Wipe out

means tip? What does mean tip?

means to destroy completely. Like you can

wipe out the other team in a game, or you can
be wiped out yourself, emotionally or
physically, after a difficult experience. You
can also wipe out all your data on your

3. CONVERSATION
DEFINE VOCAB

[4. STORY] Ok. Good job, everybody. So back

[6. INQUIRY] Ok. Good. So... whose plate am

when I was still in school, we had to write a lot

I going to land on? (Huh?) Whose plate am

of essays and we were graded on them, you

I going to land on? (Oh. You are fly!) A

know, we got grades depending on how good

fly. But ok. So? (Plate of some man!) All right,

our essays were. So essays were kind of a big

some guy's plate. Is he going to be happy to see

deal. You didn't want to hand in a poor essay

me? (No.) How come? (Because you're a fly.)

or miss the deadline because then you were in

What's the big deal? (People don't like to see

big trouble.

flies in their food.) Why is that? ...

Anyway, one time I was working on this essay

and I ha a really hard time with it and
couldn't finish it and I had to hand it in by the
next day. So I took my laptop to a coffee house
and I ordered a coffee and I started writing.
So I'm sitting there, trying to come up with
some good ideas and sipping my coffee when
suddenly I take a sip and feel something ...

... so let me recap: because of a stupid fly, my

laptop is now dead and I will have to have it
fixed. I will also get an F on my essay. And I
won't be able to go back to my favorite caf

... and we're almost done, there's just one last

bit: when's the next time that Mike will go get
a cup coffee at this place? (Not anytime soon,
is what I'm guessing.) What?! What was that?
Oh, I must have dreamed that. Anyway, right.
Not for a while. Why is that? (He's not
welcome.) That's right. So... where am I right
now? (We don't know.) That's right. Could I be
dead? (It's possible.) Yeah, but I'm not. What
if I met Mike again, though? What would he
do to me? (He kill you.) No. What WOULD he
do to me? (He would kill you.) Yes. Good.

because everybody hates me there or thinks I

Te zkuste vysvtlit maranovi co

am a crybaby. All because of this one stupid

pesn m v popisu prce nk a jak

little insect.

jsou vhody a nevhody tohoto

Vborn. Te si povyprvjte co jste

prv slyeli. Jeden z vs je vypravova
maminka a druh manelka toho
pleatho chlapa. Jeden z Vs zane
vtou, "I hear your husband almost
killed my son!" Tak do toho.

5. CONVERSATION
FIRST ATTEMPT

zamstnn. Jeden z vs je straliv

zvdav maran, kterho vechno
ohromn zajm a klade spoustu
vetench dotaz. Prvn dotaz je "Why
would someone want to be a waiter?"

7. CONVERSATION
SPIN-OFFS

* V tto fzi je nejlep volbou to play it by

[8-3: FILL-IN] Tady mte doplovaku,

ear. Podle dosavadnho prbhu hodiny,

kad mezera je jedno slovo, zkuste si ji ve

reakce student a celkov atmosfry ve

dvojicch doplnit ... ideln by bylo, kdyby

td se nabz ti zkladn monosti.

kad dvojice zaala u jinho odstaveku,

abyste se neodposlouchvali... ...

[8-1: POINT-OUT] Vborn. Jak byste

Plus mnus hotovo? Tak pojme mezeru po

ekli "J JSEM TAKY NEBYL

mezee. "Today, I was..." sprvn,

SPOKOJEN?" ... lep ne "satisfied" je v

"having". Vbec se nebojte pouvat

bn anglitin "happy", ono pece jenom

prbhov tvar od HAVE, ve vtch jako

"satisfied" m blzko k eskmu

"I'm having a party tonight." Take "I was

"uspokojen", take tam radi opatrn ... a

having a coffee at my favorite coffee

hlavn, co slovo "TAK" ... ne, "too" se v

house..." ... ne, tady DURING bt neme,

zpornch vtch nepouv, namsto nj

protoe...

mus bt... ano, "EITHER" ... take: "I love

you too", ale "I don't love you either" ...

[V ppad, e je jet as:] Posledn

jasn? ... ok, dal, "MYSLEL JSEM, E

vykldn: jeden z vs je vdma, druh

M ZABIJE" ...

je moucha, mouchu zajm co se j

[8-2: BLOW-UP] Pojme se podvat na

pr zajmavch gramatik. Co to spojen
"nkter dny nestoj za to vbec vylzat z

dnes stane. Prvn dotaz: "So I wonder...

am I going to die today?"

WORTH tam opravdu je klov slovo, ale

9. CONVERSATION
QUESTION / P.O.V.

nastv u nj pr komplikac. Zaprv: cel

Good job, everybody. Don't let the door

spojen zn BE WORTH, take v zporech

hit you on the way out.

postele," jak byste jej peloili? ... Dobe,

ani otzkch nesm zaznt DO ani DIDN'T

ani nic podobnho. Pracuje se jen se
slovesem BE. Take: jak byste ekli "nestoj
to za to?" ... a otzka: "stlo to za to?" ... a
potom: "bude to stt za to?" ... co teba "to
by nestlo za to." Vborn. Dal vc je
esk NUTIT. To se pekld pomoc...

I know I know I know. There's

no way in hell you can fit all of
that into one lesson. Not a
chance. I get that, I agree with
you and I'm sorry. But hey,
worth a shot, right?

Today, I was having a coffee at my favorite coffee house while

working on an essay that I'm supposed to finish and hand in by
tomorrow morning. Anyway, I took a sip and felt something in my
mouth. I figured it must be a bit of a cookie that I'd had for breakfast
so I didn't worry about it at first. Then I remembered I didn't have
cookies this
morning. I
reached in

CONVERSATIONS

and took it out of my mouth. It turned out to be a huge black fly. I

screamed and threw it away as far as I could. It flew across the room
and landed on the plate of this big bald tough-looking guy. He stood
up and looked at me as if he was going to kill me. His wife had to hold
him and keep him from beating the hell out of me.
And that's not the worst part. I'm
kind of clumsy so in the process I also
spit coffee all over my open laptop
and knocked over the cup, spilling
the rest of the coffee on the floor. I
could see the customers mumbling to
each other, shaking their heads and

examples
ideas
whatnot

calling me a loser. The waiter wasn't too happy either. Even though I
apologized to him repeatedly for making him mop the floor and gave
him a nice tip, I don't think I'll be welcome there for a while. Oh, and
did I mention that my laptop died and all my files got wiped out,
including the essay I was working on? And that I got an F as a result?
Some days just aren't worth getting out of bed for.

Konverzace student ve dvojicch jsou

vyjadovali co mon nejpreciznji.

naprost nutnost. Jinak nezjistte, jak

Easier said than done, I know.

na tom studenti s anglitinou skuten

jsou pekladov testy a zkouen ze
slovek ped tabul maj pramalou
vpovdn hodnotu. Odposlouchvnm
student tak zjistte, jak reln dopad
m vae vuka na jejich anglitinu.
asto to bv nemil zjitn.
Nen jednoduch studenty pesvdit o
tom, e by mezi sebou mli vst
nkolikaminutov rozhovory. Prvn
pokusy budou nevyhnuteln zanat
otzkou "So (tell me) what happened? /
So what did you do?" a po ticeti

NOTE: Ne uveden vzorky konverzac

jsou pochopiteln idealistick jen
studenti na velmi pokroil rovni by
byli schopni podobnou anglitinu
spontnn pouvat.
Nicmn: slovn zsoba v nich nen
nikterak extrmn, stejn tak gramatika,
tud by se dalo tvrdit, e asem by se
studenti k podobnm spojenm mli
vlastnmi silami dopracovat asi ne ke
vem a asi ne takto zhutn, ale
minimln se jedn o jaksi clov bod.

vteinch budou zavreny pnlivm

NOTE: Na tchto strnkch najdete

pohledem a vtou, "My u nevme o em

pehrle konverzanch situac. Zdaleka

mluvit. / Ns u nic nenapad."

ne vechny lze samozejm u jednoho

Vydra. Trpliv vysvtlovat smysl

ponn. Chvlit. Opravovat. Znovu
chvlit.
Studenti by si mluven mli uvat.
Nejsou z nj koneckonc znmkovni clem je, aby sami pro sebe zjistili, jak na
tom s anglitinou jsou, a zda dok
teoreticky nabyt znalosti pevst do
sv aktivn anglitiny.
Pi mluven mus bt vedeni k tomu, aby
si skkali do ei, navzjem se
doplovali, jednodue aby hrli svou roli
co mon nejpesvdivji a pitom se

textu aplikovat. Touto cestou se snam

ilustrovat, kolik monost kad pbh
nabz. Ne vechny jsou zjevn na prvn
pohled, ne vechny kadho okamit
napadnou.
Nepedpojat pstup ale oteve
kohoutek ke spoust originlnch
npad. Prost pevyprvn obsahu je
kadopdn jen jednou z mnoha
monost, jak se k tomu i onomu
pbhu vracet.

ASOV RMEC
V podstat existuj ti asov rmce, v nich se pi vyprvn studenti pohybuj.
MINULOST, kdy si procvi MINUL tvary sloves; mli by se ale snait i o vty s
POSUNEM AS (he knew it would not work) , zmiovat dje, k nim NEDOLO, ale
MOHLO i MLO DOJT (instead of leaving / she could have said something but... / he
wished he was less shy) a popisovat pocity postav (she must have been thrilled to see you /
what a bummer, right); jinmi slovy by nemlo jt ist o linern popis "A did then and
then B did that and then C did this, the end."
BUDOUCNOST, kde se studentm naskt monost procviit si pouvn BE
GOING TO; obratnou manipulac se slovesem BE si pak lpe zaij spojen jako BE
SUPPOSED TO / BE ALLOWED/ABLE TO nebo teba i BE WORTH; doporuuju t
procviovn dotaz v budoucm ase (Am I going to swallow a fly today? Whose meal are
you going to ruin tomorrow?)
PTOMNOST, tedy popis prv se odehrvajcho dje, kdy studenti v idelnm
ppad pepnaj mezi asy ptomnm prbhovm, ptomnm prostm,
pedptomnm, budoucm a dalmi (So I'm sitting at this table by the window. I have
never sat here before as far as I remember. I don't usually sit by the window anywhere. I'm
going to switch to a different table as soon as someone leaves. Anyway, I've been typing on
my laptop for the past two hours...")

ZKLADN TYPY VYPRVN

YOU AND I: V idelnm ppad se oba studenti pi vyprvn dopluj, piem kad
mluv za jinou postavu. Nikdo by neml v kuse mluvit vc ne pr vtein, slovo se pebr
klidn i vprosted vty, postavy nemluv jen o sob, ale popisuj i innost ostatnch
(WAITER) so I was serving some drinks (MAN) and you noticed a guy standing up
and I could tell he was going to spill his coffee and he did and I was like, oh no... - and
then you saw him throw something at me he did; and you stood up and...
QUESTIONS: Dal konstelac je tazatel odpovdajc, kdy jeden zahrnuje druhho
spontnnmi dotazy (a obas si ppadn prohod role, just to keep things fun)
So did you give any Fs this week? -- Yes, one. -- To who? -- This guy who normally gets
straight As. -- What happened? -- He didn't hand in his essay. -- He didn't? -- No. He said
he wrote it and then his laptop died. -- Did you believe him? -- I did. -- But you still gave
him an F. -- Well, I had to.
90-SEC: Kad student vede monolog v roli t i on postavy. Po zaznn zvukovho
signlu druh navazuje tam, kde prvn skonil. Ideln doba jednoho seku je 90-120
vtein. Naslouchajc student pedstr zjem, kv, mra se, ppadn orientan
napovd. Clem je, aby si studenti uvdomili, e nen dn legrace mluvit dv minuty v
kuse, pokud v spolenk vytrvale ml a do budoucna se podle toho zadili.

POSTAVY
... z jejich perspektivy lze pbh vyprvt; vedle pvodnho vyprave, ppadn
hlavn postavy, co se rozum samo sebou, a vdy vyuitelnho neutrlnho
pozorovatele, lze pbh (nebo aspo nkter jeho pase) vyprvt z pozice tm
kohokoli/ehokoli na koho/co vyjde v textu aspo drobn zmnka
VYPRAV
Let me tell you what happened to me at this very place last year ... I was sitting at
that table over there and I was really nervous because I had to finish this story...
NEZASTNN POZOROVATEL (VEVDOUC)
So my friend Mike, he likes to hang out at this coffee place ... he'll be there again
this time next week, typing at his notebook ... he will be working on an essay that he
will have to finish by the next day ... while he's typing, a fly will end up in his coffee ...
but he won't notice until he takes a sip...
THE FLY
So I'm at this coffee place ... it's my favorite caf in town ... people are nice here ...
they don't try to kill me like they do in other places ... they just sip their coffees while
I watch them from the wall ... right now there's a guy who's writing something on his
laptop ... this guy comes here all the time ... in fact I have seen him here twice this
week already ... I'm pretty sure he'll sit here typing on his notebook without paying
any attention to the world around him, as usual ... hey, here's an idea, why don't I fly
over there and take a sip of his coffee while he's busy working ... ok, I'm on my way ...
here we go ... damn it, now I'm all wet and I can't fly ... and now he's grabbed the cup
and he's lifting it... OMG, I'm going in!
WAITER / BALD GUY / HIS WIFE
I can not believe this. I have just finished mopping the floor and now I will have to
do it all over again, just because some clumsy kid knocked over his cup of coffee...
I have just seen a fly crawl inside a guy's cup. I'm pretty sure I know what's going
to happen next. I think he's going to take a sip and at first he's going to think that
the fly is actually...
(on the phone) Hey, sis, listen, I need your help ... I'm at this coffee house and my
husband is kind of freaking out because some guy threw a fly in his plate ... I know, I
know, same old story...

KOMBINACE POSTAV
Je samozejm mon, aby oba studenti ve dvojivi zastupovali stejnou postavu
a jen si pedvali slovo, nen to ale zcela pirozen. Samotn studenty bude
urit vc bavit set-up, kdy kad z nich popisuje tyt dje z jin perspektivy.
YOU & I * ZDE: BALD GUY + WAITER
So I looked at my plate and I saw this fly ... right, and you wondered where it came
from ... yes, so I looked over and I noticed this guy and I could tell it was him ... you
got pretty pissed off, right? ... you bet I did ... I can't blame you, I would have, too ... of
course, so I stood up ... that must have scared him ... it did, and he stood up too ... and
that's when he knocked over the cup ... yes, and that's why you had to mop the floor
again ...
TV MODERTOR THE WIFE
So how are you today, ma'am? -- Better. -- Compared to what? -- Compared to the
other day at the coffee place. -- Right. So what exactly happened there? -- Well, as
you know, I was with my husband... -- Let me stop you right there... What kind of a
person is your husband? -- Well, how do I put this... -- What I'm asking is, what is he
like when he gets angry? -- He has a temper, my husband. When he thinks that
someone is trying to hurt him, or me, he can get pretty violent. -- Is that what
happened at the coffee place? -- Pretty much. -- So let's take this from the start...
VDMA MATKA VYPRAVE
So this baby of mine, is he going to get in a lot of fights? -- Not very often, but
sometimes he will. -- Where? And with who? -- Let's see... ok, one time he will be at a
coffee place... -- A coffee place? People don't fight in coffee places! -- They do when
someone throws a fly in their food. -- Oh. Is someone going to throw a fly in my son's
food? -- Actually, it will be the other way around...
MOUCHA NK
Hey, fly, you'd better be careful now. -- What do you mean, careful? -- Just don't fly
into anybody's drink, that's all I'm saying. -- What if I do? -- Well, then you'll either
drown or you'll get eaten. -- Oh. I don't want that to happen. -- Of course you don't.
-- But if I end up in someone's coffee, they'll just spit me out. -- But in the process,
they might spill their drink. -- Oh, and you'd have to mop that, right? -- That's
exactly right. And I don't want THAT to happen to ME...

UNIVERZLN SITUACE
Nejen djem iv je lovk: vtina kadodennch konverzac se to spe kolem
nvrh, drobnch posteh, dohad a podobn. A prv v nich se objevuj obraty, s
nimi nejvce zpasme.

NVRHY: BRAINSTORMING/SPITBALLING
Why don't you two just talk it out instead of fighting? /// Why don't I pay for your meal
and we're even? /// You might want to stop flying into people's cups. /// I guess I'd
better start mopping the floor. /// Make sure you don't knock over that cup of coffee
while you're...
Look, I'm sorry man, I didn't mean to spill all this coffee on the floor. -- Right. But what are
we going to do now? -- Why don't you get me a cloth and I'll mop it? -- You can't do that.
You're a customer. -- But you're not making me do this. I offered. -- I know. But still. How
about I do it and then you buy me a coffee. -- Sounds good. What do you say I come back
later tonight after you get off work and we hang out together? -- All right, that could work,
I guess.

HDKY A SPORY
Honey, calm down. It's not such a big deal. -- How can you say that?! Didn't you see what
that guy just did? -- He didn't mean to do it, you know. -- I know. But he ruined my meal. -It's ok. I'm sure he'll be willing to buy you a new one. -- I don't think so. He kind of looks like
a student. -- And? -- Students are poor. -- Can't you let him off the hook? He's just a kid. -Well, he needs to learn his lesson. -- Or what? -- Or else he'll run around doing the same
thing to other people. -- Aren't you exaggerating a little? -- No, I'm not. I'm just being
practical about this...

POCITY: RADOST, ZKLAMN, ZMATEK

I feel so guilty. I have ruined someone's dinner and I have made a waiter work extra hard.
I'm such a klutz. And it's no one else's fault, either. I totally messed up. I mean, it was just a
fly. It wasn't such a big deal. I don't know why I overreacted the way I did. I could have just
put it on the table and left it there, or dropped it in the trash. Instead, I threw it into
another person's meal. And then I got scared when the guy got angry and I knocked over...

VITKY A LTOST
I feel so stupid for ruining that guy's evening. I wish I'd been more careful. -- Yeah, you
should have stayed away. -- If I'd just minded my own business, I wouldn't be in trouble
now. -- That's right. What were you thinking flying into that guy's coffee anyway? -- Well,
I'm a fly, that's what flies do...

GRAMATICK KONVERZACE
Nen na kodu as od asu nechat studenty, aby si
procviili podmnkov vty / posuny as / jin
gramatick jevy ve je mon aplikovat na jakkoli text.

PODMNKY
VYPRAV: PTOMNOST
I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't have to finish this damn essay. I'd be out with my friends. /// If
I wasn't afraid of flies, maybe I would just swallow this one and not worry about it too much.
NK: BUDOUCNOST
Well, if that guy spills his coffee, I guess I will have to mop the floor for the third time today. ///
Unless someone offers to mop it for me, I'll just grab the broom and do it myself.
MOUCHA: MINULOST
I wish I hadn't crawled into that guy's cup. If I'd stayed out, I wouldn't have been thrown into the
other guy's plate. /// If the first guy was a little bit stronger, I might have died or been killed.

POSUNY AS
Vtina pbh se d pevst do dialogov podoby, tady jako konverzace mezi astnky dje.
Pokud se o to studenti pokus, maj na vbr ze dvou monost:
a) velmi neformln vyprvn za pouit be like / go - to ale vtina uitel nem rda a jakkoli
jde o praktickou dovednost, u test s n studenti nepochod
So I'm like "Sorry man," and he's like "What just happened? and I go, "Well, I guess I just threw a
fly in your plate" and he goes, "You have got to be kidding me!" ...
b) nepm e pomoc say, tell, ask, explain, ale tak wonder, suggest, mention, insist a
jinch (studenti mus primrn znt rozdl mezi say / tell a vyhbat se answer jako slovesu)
So I said I was sorry and you said that just wasn't good enough. -- Right. And then you suggested
that you could pay for my meal and I told you not to bother. -- But I insisted and I explained that
I'd feel really guilty otherwise. -- But I pointed out that you'd ruined my whole evening. -- And I
admitted that I had. -- And you wondered how you could make it up to me...

FUZZY-TELLING
Ne vdy si je lovk jist vemi informacemi, kter m k dispozici. Dj se d pevyprvt i z
pozice doasnho pochybovae, pomoc seem, might, apparently:
I believe there's a fly in that guy's cup. It seemed to crawl in a few minutes ago. It might have flown
out while I wasn't looking, but I don't think it did. The guy seems to be working on something
important. He's on a deadline, apparently. He must be really nervous. Look how sweaty he is.

SPIN-OFFS: IMPROVIZED DIALOGS

Improvizovan dialogy jsou na jedn stran postrachem student *o em se jako mme bavit? j
vbec nevm co mm kat* a na stran druh poehnnm neomezuj je dn pravidla a nen
nutn pedchoz znalost tmatu i textu. Jinmi slovy, nen se na co vymlouvat *j jsem tu na
tenhle pbh nebyla, take...*
Pedstavivosti se meze rozhodn nekladou. m bizarnjch kontur konverzace nabude, tm
lpe. pln nejlpe pak je, kdy se studenti asem (ppadn hned zkraje) odchl od vyten
situace a vydaj se do zcela neprobdanch kraj.
Jedinou konstantou mus bt solidn, a v rmci monost bohat, anglitina. Primitivn
vyjadovn nejen, e studenty nikam neposouv, naopak jejich anglitinu v tto podob
konzervuje.
Posledn doporuen zn, aby se studenti nenechali pi vmn nzor (jakkoli je jejich
nesoulad hran) unet emocemi, ty kvalit jazyka nesvd: *It is horrible! I am so angry! How
can you do it! It is terrible! You must not do it! It is...! It is just...! So very horrible!*
a) ME - FLY: Why did you crawl into my cup, you ugly little thing? -- That's what we flies do, it's
not my fault. You should have been more careful. -- I can't keep an eye on my cup all the time, I'm
too busy. -- I get that. But you can't blame me for being me...
b) ME - MAN: Hey, what's the big deal, it's just a fly. No need to freak out like that. -- Just a fly?
Just a fly?! You have got to be kidding me! You ruined my meal! -- I'm really sorry, I didn't mean
to. Ma'am, you saw what happened. Could you explain to your husband... -- Leave my wife out of
this...
c) MAN WIFE: Honey, calm down, he didn't mean to throw it in your plate. -- I don't care if he
meant to or not... -- Please, just let it go. I don't want you to get in trouble again. You have only just
got out of prison. I know, I know. Just give me a second to cool down...
d) WAITER - ME: Oh you have got to be kidding me! -- Sorry. I'm such a klutz. I'll clean it up. -Oh don't worry about it. It's just that I've mopped the floor twice today already. -- Oh, that sucks.
I'll give you a huge tip, if that helps. -- Depends on how huge. -- Oh, you're blackmailing me now?
-- I wouldn't call that blackmail. -- I would.
e) ME TEACHER: You don't have the essay? -- I don't and let me explain why. -- You'd better
have a really good explanation for this. -- I do. Look, I never hand these things in late. You know
that. I do. So what's your excuse?
f ) TEACHER MAN'S WIFE: Hey, why are we talking to each other? -- You tell me. -- Let me
think. What is it that we have in common? -- I'm not really sure. I think that my husband almost
got into a fight with a guy whose essay you were supposed to grade? -- Oh. Oh. That's... not very
helpful, really.
g) FLY WAITER: Listen, fly, we have to make a deal. -- What kind of a deal? -- Well, you keep
flying into people's drinks and then I have to deal with the mess. -- I see. You could just kill me, you
know? -- I know, but there's so many more of you so... -- You can't win. -- Exactly. -- So what do
you want me to do? -- I want you to talk to the other flies and explain to them...
h) FLY SPIDER: Serves you right for flying into people's drinks, fly. -- Oh, like you don't freak
people out... -- I do, but unlike you, I'm smart about it. -- How? -- I scare them. -- And I don't? -Oh, don't make me laugh. -- Hey! I can be scary. -- No you can't. You're lame. And everybody hates
you. -- They do?

M OBLBEN SITUACE
NURSING HOME (PAST)
jakkoli dv postavy z pbhu (ppadn i zvnjku napklad kamard vyprave) se po
mnoha letech setkaj v domov dchodc a vzpomnaj
Have we met before? -- I don't know. You do look kind of familiar. -- Wait.Aren't you the guy that
threw that fly on my ex-husband's plate? -- I am! What a coincidence! Ex-husband, you say? ...
RUNNING COMMENTARY (PRESENT)
spolen jako policist sledujete zznam kamerovho systmu z msta inu a popisujete dj na
obrazovce imaginrnmu tetmu policistovi, kter jej na rozdl od vs jet nezhldl; pro
oiven doporuuju pi rozhovoru kreslit na kus papru nrtky prostor a pohybu postav
So as you can see, this guy has taken his wife out to dinner and they're enjoying their meal ... but
what's going to happen now is another guy is going to suddenly stand up ... that guy with the
laptop, see him? right, so he's going to take a sip of coffee right ... about ... now ... so what he just did
was he spit out a fly ... which got into his coffee earlier without him noticing ... and as you can see,
he threw it away ... let's watch that one more time ... see that? now, he didn't seem to be aiming
anywhere in particular, but as it happens...
TWO FORTUNE TELLERS TALK (FUTURE)
dv vdmy se spolu vydaly na prochzku a prbn komentuj budouc osudy lid, kter
pozoruj na ulici i v kavrn
So what about this guy? ... Oh he's going to have an interesting day today. ... That's right. He's
going to go to a coffee house ... But not to enjoy himself, but to work. ... Really? Oh, you're right. He
has an essay to finish ... And he won't be able to finish it in time ... In fact, he will lose the file by
getting his laptop wet...
FUNERAL SPEECH (PAST)
jedna z postav zemela a na jeho/jejm pohbu pron spolen dvojice jeho ptel nebo
pbuznch dojemn projev o ivot a charakteru, s drazem na jednu konkrtn udlost
(pbh); projev mus bt dojemn, pirozen a podan kvalitn anglitinou
Our friend Mike the fly is being buried today ... let us spend a few minutes talking about what an
exciting life he led ... Yes, right until the moment that jerk threw him across the room ... Now,
frankly, Mike kind of had it coming ... yes, he had no business getting into that guy's coffee ... but
Mike could never stay out of trouble for long, he enjoyed taking risks...
GOSSIP (PAST + PRESENT)
spolen jako kamardi vyprave (i hlavn postavy) vyprvte imaginrn tet osob o tom, co
se mu/j pihodilo; doporuuju v tchto situacch pouvat historick przens, co zn very very
fancy, ale v podstat jde jen o to, e v anglitin se minul dje asto popisuj ptomnmi asy
(v etin tak, ale mn asto)
Have you heard about Ed? ... Yeah, it's a crazy story. ... So here's the thing ... Ed's at work earlier
today, right, at the coffee house where he works ... and this guy comes in and orders a coffee and Ed
brings him the coffee and then he forgets about the guy until he hears this loud scream...

SALES PITCH *PRESENT TENSE

spolen jako scnrist pedkldte (velmi entuziasticky) nvrh na scnu ve filmu/serilu
reisrovi (ppadn reisr pedkld nvrh producentovi); popis by ml obsahovat i pouitou
pmou e a odehrv se v ptomnm ase (toho je teba se dret, a nen to pln snadn)
So here's the set-up, all right? This is going to blow your mind, it's such a great scene. So, are you
listening? Ok, here goes. There's a guy who's sitting in a coffee house ... He's all by himself ... He
gets out a laptop and he starts typing ... Meanwhile, a fly crawls into his coffee ... But he doesn't
notice ... Then he takes a sip and he's like, what the hell ...
... so then the tough guy gets up and he's all like, "What did you just do?" And the first guy goes,
"What do you mean, what did I just do?" And the second guy's wife is like, "Honey, calm down..."
because she's been there before, she knows what her husband is like and she knows very well what's
going to happen next unless she steps in...
THE MARTIAN DIARIES
Ne zanete kroutit hlavou: konverzace typu "vysvtlete maranovi..." jsou vlastn variac na
proflkl "vyprvn na dan tma" (zchrana velryb, je lep msto i vesnice, co dlat pro
zdrav etc.), dky nmu lidstvo zkoum mon hranice nudy. Maran je mnohem zbavnj.
Je pln fuk, e o danm tmatu jeden z dvojice zhola nic nev, aspo se od partnera nemu
piu. Je pln fuk, pokud ani jeden z partner o danm tmatu lautr nic nev. Mou
odhadovat, tipovat, vymlet si, ppadn pi prvn pleitosti odboit k pln jinmu tmatu.
Na maranskch debatch je zajmav to, e debatujc mus nad tmatem intenzvn pemlet,
co samo o sob lovka vyerp, a k tomu sv mylenky okamit vyjadovat v cizm jazyce.
Vysvtlete maranovi: a) co je to moucha, jak pesn mouchy vypadaj, co dlaj, co z nich mme,
co by bylo kdyby nebyly, z eho se vyvinuly a do eho se vyvinou v budoucnu, jakou lohu hraj v
populrn kultue (film?) etc.; b) jak funguje u lid vztek, co se pi nm v tl odehrv a jak se d
zvldat; c) k emu je utrn a jak tato innost probh, d) jak funguje a kdy nefunguje omluva, e)
co je to deadline, f) co dl takov nk (co pesn m v popisu prce), g) jakoto jeskynn lovk
navrhnte historicky prvn tal (plus historie kultury stolovn)
Vechna tmata vychz z pbhu, nad vemi budou studenti (a nejsp i vy) zpotku kroutit
hlavou, a o vech se pitom d vyprvt donekonena - za pedpokladu aspo minimln ochoty,
petky pedstavivosti a cel ay odboek.
Deadline is last moment when you must do something. ... tick tock ... tick tock ... [swivel head to see if
everyone else is still talking] ... tick tock ... tick tock ... tick tock ... [look at teacher, tap watch] ... tick tock ...
tick tock ... tick tock ... tick tock ... [sigh, stretch, stare out the window] ... tick tock ... tick tock ... tick tock ...
[shake head, roll eyes] ... tick tock ... tick tock ... tick tock ... Ok. So you have a task and your boss tells you
that it has to be done today because the client needs it and if you finish it tomorrow it will be too late and
they won't use it no matter how good it is, and oh, you might get fired because deadlines are pretty serious
affairs. But very often deadlines are... what's the word, oh yeah, flexible. Everybody knows that nothing
ever gets done in time so people usually just set a deadline and then they don't expect it to be kept. But they
still get angry when they are told that the dealine will not be met even though they really have no reason to.
Some people are just jerks and they enjoy getting mad and yelling at other people I guess. Deadlines are a
good way to create an opportunity to do that. But in some businesses, deadlines actually have to be kept.
For instance, in journalism, you can't just keep working on a story forever...

Pamatujte, e prvnch pr minut konverzace nen smrodatnch. Studentm vdycky chvli

trv, ne se dostanou do tempa a oprost se od jinch mylenek. Berte to jako game of chicken,
kdy ob strany ekaj, kdo cukne jako prvn: studenti se na vs co chvli obrac s m dl
pesvdivjm tvrzenm, e u nev o em mluvit, you call their bluff, oni otrven pokrauj,
po nkolika minutch ve td najednou nco pepne, a najednou jde vechno samo. Problm
nastane, kdy necuknete a ono se nic nepepne, i k tomu semtam dochz.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Otzky je teba procviovat asto. Studenti maj problmy s pomocnmi slovesy *why you
admitted it to me?*, nepmmi otzkami *I don't know who are you?*, otzkami na podmt
*who did know it all?* i delmi podmty *why did stay all your friends here?*.
Otzky by mly bt zajmav, mly by se odret od pedchoz odpovdi a reagovat na ni: And
did it? / So... were they? Otzky tak nemus bt nutn otzky: You didn't! / Oh that's too bad. /
You poor thing. Co nejmn by mlo znt generick What happened? / What did you do? Ve sv
podstat by tazatel ml fungovat, jako by byl placen od otzky neml by se bt skkat do ei,
pedstrat hlubok zjem apod. (Ideln je tak kadch cca 90 vtein zvukovm signlem ve
vech prech prohodit role, aby studenti nezlenivli.)
a) LIVE FROM CAF: Are you enjoying your meal, tough-looking man with no hair? -- What's
it to you? -- Well, I just think that you should watch out. -- Oh you do, do you? -- Yes I do. -- Why is
that? -- Could something maybe ruin your meal? Think. -- I can't think of anything that could do
that. -- Really? What if a fly somehow ended up in your food?
b) MEMORY LOSS: Why did I have to stop my husband from beating up that poor young man?
-- Because he was out of control once again. -- Does he do this often? I mean, lose his temper? -- All
the time. -- So what exactly did the young man do that was so horrible?
c) ASK A FORTUNE TELLER: Am I gonna get an A on my essay? -- No. In fact, you are going
to get an F. -- That's impossible. That never happens to me. Why am I going to get an F? -Because you'll fail to hand it in. -- Will it be because I'll procrastinate? -- Not really. -- Why then?
d) NURSING HOME: Hey, don't I know you from somewhere? -- Yeah, you're the guy that
almost killed me when I threw a fly...
Studenti by mli bt povzbuzovni ke kladen jak velmi krtkch, dernch,
doplkovch dotaz typu, And did you? Was he? So who does?, tak i tch rozvleklch v
nejlepm smyslu slova: So the guy that you saw while you were there, was he doing
anything that you found suspicious or was he minding his own business and the reason
you were scared was because you had been watching way too many horror movies lately?
Nevad, kdy studentovi trv dlouho ze sebe podobn dotaz vymknout. Je to urit
lep, ne kdy ze sebe bude roboticky sypat konstrukce typu ... so it was very interesting
for me because it was very good so I liked it very much and in my opinion it was very nice
and I think that it was a big advantage for me ...

Q'n'A
There's so many stories out there. How do you know which ones will go over
well in class?
If you have a story and you wonder if your students will enjoy it, simply tell
it to an empty room and imagine your students sitting right there and
listening to you. You'll know in your gut if it's going to work or not. By the
way, there are very few good stories. You'll be lucky to come across one
every once in a while. You can also ruin a perfectly good story in a number
of ways: with a clumsy opening, by letting it meander, or through too much
new vocabulary. You will be able to pinpoint and then remove all of these
problems by play-acting the hell out of it beforehand.
So you pick a story and that's it, you just tell it in class?
Hell no. I also spend a lot of time editing these stories and rehearsing them.
I add things and I trim a lot of fat in order to make sure there are no weak
spots and no confusing elements. I rephrase passages that are way too
simple to teach the students new phrases. At the same time, I try not to
overload a story with challenging language. It needs to strike just the right
balance between too simple and too complicated.
But a good story is a good story, right? I mean, if it's good, you can go ahead
and use it.
Not really. Plenty of fine stories don't make the cut. Others end up being
significantly altered. I have read hundreds of wonderful stories that for
some reason or another just wouldn't work in class or don't carry enough
language heft to be worth my time. Choosing the right story is a science. So
is making it fit your students' needs. So is presenting it right.
Doesn't it feel funny to be pretending someone you're not? In telling the
story, I mean.
It does. I used to feel slightly embarrassed at first doing this, but it turns
out that most students (all, actually, in my experience) are willing to
suspend their disbelief and play along. Or maybe I'm just that good of a
teacher.

Do I need to be a natural storyteller to pull this off?

Probably. Then again, I don't think I am much of a storyteller so... You can
get good at it with practice, I guess. It's definitely worth a shot.
Isn't that too much work to put into a single story?
It absolutely is. And it totally isn't worth it unless you spend at least three or
four lessons on each story, plus preferably use it in multiple classes.
I have a small quibble with this particular story (Amelia and John) in that it
probably wouldn't fly with a bunch of twelve-year-olds.
It wouldn't, no. But hey, here's a solution! How about you do a DIFFERENT
story?
Inquiry/Recall seems really hard.
It's really not. Don't think of it as an exercise. Pretend like you actually want
to know every single detail of the story. Don't interrupt the flow. Each
question should build off the previous answer. Before you know it you have
covered the whole story. I struggled with this activity at first, but once I got a
handle on it, it became second nature. By now I thoroughly enjoy it and don't
make any preparation at all.
Do your point-outs work in every language?
I'm afraid not. They do work in Czech and they'll probably work in other
Slavic languages. (Czech speakers grapple with a very specific set of
problems when it comes to English. I focus on those and those only.)
However, when teaching German or French speakers, you may need to drop
many lines as they don't present much of a challenge.
So will this exact same sequence of activities work for me?
Most likely it won't. Different strokes for different folks and all that. But it's
a good starting point. Getting to where you want to be takes constant
tinkering and modifications based on the feedback/response you get back
from your students. Also, some things work in some classes and not in
others. The same activity may work one day and not the next in the very
same class. Sometimes you just need to adjust one little thing for a failed
activity to suddenly work.
Don't be afraid to experiment. If something bombs twice, drop it and replace
it with something else. Make sure you notice what does work and under
what circumstances. Make this method your ownit needs to feel natural. If
it feels like you're constantly following somebody else's rules, it won't be fun
for you or your students. If necessary, scrap everything and rebuild it.

In each class alternate between different types of activity. You should not
explain vocabulary and then tell the story right after that. That's too much
talking and explaining on your part and your students' interest will flag.
Instead, it's a good idea to tell the story right after testing your students (on a
totally non-related text, if possible). Switching between different kinds of
activity will keep students on their toes.
My classes are usually structured kind of like this:
A. test-type activity, such as point out (5min.)
B. explaining/storytelling (5min)
C. conversation among students, aka 'a breather' (5-10min)
--> Back to A and the cycle begins anew.
Now, my students might be a little different from yours. I teach my own
private classes for groups of 8-10 peopleI'll explain why this is the best
class size elsewhereand my students are a mix of bright high school
students and ambitious intelligent adults. Yes, it's a dream setup. No, I don't
take it for granted.
So are your ideas in any way applicable to classes of bored teenagers?
I honestly don't know and I hope to never have to find out.
On a totally different note: what do you think of other teaching materials
available on the web?
They suck. Every single one of them. I mean, ugh.
How exactly do they suck?
I don't even know where to start.
Take your time.
Ok. They're too academical, too smarty-pants, too precious for their own
good, too marginal where they need to be practical. Need I continue?
Examples?
Oh I don't know, the meaning of imflammable, the difference between
comprise and compose, shall and whom and nor and needn't, murders of
crows and schools of fish, the past participle of spin, boring resumes and
ticket ordering scenarios, you name it.
I see. And yours is the only one that doesn't suck.
Correct.
All right. No further questions.
Good.