1

Finish the Sentence

Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es
Level: Good beginner/Intermediate.
A simple activity which at first sight looks like a grammar-type exercise. However, the
students must complete each unfinished phrase truthfully. The example given, for instance,
can have many different endings, according to each person's situation.
Most importantly, I would advise you to start this activity in silence, with each student
writing down his or her own completion. This guarantees that people will not be stuck for
words, which usually happens if you present somebody with a half-finished sentence and ask
for an immediate verbal reaction. I have found that, if you give students time to think, they
will produce better sentences. The bonus here is that if, for example, you have a group of
seven, each student will probably come up with a different finish. This will definitely trigger
interest on the part of the other students, and reduce tension. Moreover, it is the student who
gets to create something. The teacher merely oversees, and hence does not dominate the class.
Example:

My car ...
o My car broke down two months ago while I was coming home from work.
o My car cost a lot but I don't like it anymore.

Now you try it.

My best friend ...

Last night ...

I have never ...

The third world ...

Politicians ...

Parents ...

I once dreamt that ...

Christmas ...

I get really angry when ...

Some people ...

Going on holiday ...

Having my hair cut ...

Making my bed ...

Talking to a drunk ...

Hippies ...

A millionaire ...

When it rains, I ...

Vegetarians ...

Generalisations
Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

Level: Intermediate and Up

Generalisations are general statements or opinions which are only partly true because they are
based on a few cases or incomplete knowledge. Below there is a list of my own ad hoc
"generalisations." They are sometimes quite cheeky, but the point is not to teach the concept
but to have fun, provoke the students gently and trigger verbal exchanges. Even the most
humble of statements will very often lead on to further talk, through opinion, disagreement,
comment, adding to, agreeing and so on.

Activity A
The following statements can be read out individually by the teacher, who awaits reaction
(and there should be in most cases) and the ensuing exchanges between all present; or
students can be divided into pairs to debate the statement, reporting back to the rest of the
group subsequently.

Married people are boring.

Footballers are not intelligent.

You can't be friends with your boss.

Old people have no fun.

Men are bad at languages.

Young girls are brighter than young boys.

Engineers and accountants are very rational people.

Mathematics are for intelligent people.

All politicians are corrupt.

Rich people have a great life.

Top sports stars have fewer worries than most other workers.

City people are more cultured than those from the country.

People who talk a lot don't say much.

People who act are basically exhibitionists.

Artists are different from most people.

Poor people are happy in their own way.

Activity B
Have students make up their own generalisations.
Here are some examples of what I got.

You love what you don't have

English food is terrible

Women talk more than men

People Who Live the Longest

Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

Levels
Good beginner up

Lead-in
Some people live for a hundred years or even more. Many of these live in either
the Mediterranean region, or in parts of rural Japan, and Russia. What is their
secret? Here is a simple activity I used in order to get people thinking.

Activity A
Give the pupils the following sentence: "People who live the longest normally ...".
They must write down several reasons explaining why they think some people
live to a very old age. Each student must write down at least two reasons which
complete the sentence. The teacher collects all the scraps of paper. My students
came up with the following:

People who live the longest normally...

Live in the country

Are thin

Don't eat much meat

Exercise a lot

Don't have any stress

Don't smoke

Have children

Feel young at heart

Drink good wine

Walk a lot in the mountains

Eat good food vAre somewhat selfish

Are active

Take care of their health

Don't abuse anything

Are married

Activity B: Pros and cons of what was said.

This part of the class is dedicated to what I did in my class: debate the pros and
cons of what the students have just said and written. The students can even talk
about very old grandparents they have, maybe telling the rest of the class
something about the former's lifestyle.

Activity C: Aspects of being old.

A brainstorming-type activity aimed at getting the student to think, to say
anything at all about the above heading. (If the class is composed of any retired
person, you would have to be tactful). My students said the following:

More confident

Quieter

Experienced

Take more tablets

Wear more wigs

Have more grey hair

More wrinkles

More nephews and nieces

Spend less money

Save more money

Read the death columns more

Listen to opera and classical music

As I say, be careful-and positive! Some of the above could definitely be removed

from a definitive version on old folk.

(Optional) Activity D
In this part of class get the pupils to make a list of what retired people can do to
pass time. My students came up with:

Painting classes

Walking

Reading

and others

You can also ask the students if they are afraid of, or if they ever think about, old
age. What do they expect to feel like? What will they do? How do they see
themselves when old? And so on.

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Possible Dangers Associated With Becoming a Millionaire Overnight
Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

The following activity basically takes an old idea and exploits it from a different angle.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Age: Adult

Activity A
I split up the students into pairs and got them talking about millionaires or being
millionaires.

Activity B
I then got them to offer comments on the main title above, and here is what I
got: (Do not show these to your pupils until they have made an effort)

Avoiding friction with partner

Leaving work

Having too much free time

Becoming arrogant

Losing old friends

Worrying more about what to do with the new-found wealth

Being unaccustomed to luxuries

Making foolish investments

Being taken in by financial advisers

Handling media interest

Going to too many parties

Having nothing to fight for

Becoming more attractive to the opposite sex

Activity C
The idea now, apart from debating any interesting comments ensuing from
above, is to look for more new angles on old topics.

Some suggestions:

Positive aspects of a rainy day.

Negative aspects of a night out on the town.

Positive aspects of school.

Negative aspects of being a vegetarian.

Positive aspects of watching TV.

Negative aspects of doing sport.

Positive aspects of being poor.

Positive aspects of being in jail. (!)

Negative aspects of being very beautiful.

Etc.

Very often, what starts out as a brainstorming exercise can turn into a full-blown
conversation.
Predictions for This Year
Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

Activity A
As the title says, think of as many things or events that will take place (or that
you think will take place) in the coming year. If the students do not want to
commit themselves too much, then they don't have to use the pure future (will).
They could list off the possible developments that lie ahead this year, by using
the modal auxiliaries (may, might, could, should), or verbs like "think". They can
also use "going to" or the present continuous for imminent happenings or
planned events or arrangements. If they cannot name some major international
event, they could just make predictions about themselves.

My students came up with the following:

Clinton will stay on as president.

Monica Lewinsky will write a book.

A vaccine for AIDS will be discovered.

The situation in Israel will remain the same.

Man will discover something more about Mars.

The weather will get worse.

TV will get worse as more and more programmes are offered.

My quality of life will get better because I am going to get a job.

The situation in Africa will not improve.

NB I found that some people had problems thinking of a "definite" prediction; if it

does not work, you could move the goalposts and allow the students to use a
possibility modal verb (may, might, could).

Activity B
Now do the same for your city, town or neighbourhood.

Activity C
Fifty Years from Now

You could get the students to complete the following: (or think up new ideas yourself).

Life will ...

I will ...

Houses will ...

People will ...

Rivers will ...

My present friends will ...

TV will ...

Newspapers will ...

Men will ...

Women will ...

Cars will ...

Work ...

Money ...

Food will ...

1 The sentences do not have to start off with the words I have given; these may
figures in the middle, so that you could have "Fifty years from now, money will

9
not exist", for example. 2 You could mention genetic engineering, cloning,
diseases, hobbies, schools, shops, public transport, car parks, hospitals ...
The Environment
Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

Activity A
A judge in Spain handed down a novel sentence recently to a factory-owner who had
contaminated the environment (a local river). By obliging the man to attend classes on the
fragility of the environment, the judge was able to waive the initial sentence-a six-monthspell in jail.
Get students to comment on the above punishment and crime. This should spark a good deal
of chat.
My students then went on to say that:

The decision was a good idea

The decision was too lenient

He should go to jail as well

He should also pay a heavy fine

He should carry out community work/service

Pay towards the cost of a purification plant

Now get your students to suggest other forms of punishing the man/polluters in general.

Activity B
Imagine the above person had caused poisonous substances to be dumped into a local river,
killing 10,000 fish in the process: how can he be punished? Order him to restock the river?
Close the factory? And the workers? A huge fine could drive him out of business? Get the
students to debate on the concept of work versus that of the environment (which is more
important at the end of the day?); this always generates excellent conversation.

Activity C
Survey: Have you damaged the environment in any way?

All of the students will say no, initially, until you mention little things like throwing away
paper, smoking, and so on. As usual, if the student cannot remember any recent action, get
him to go back in time--or he or she can relate an anecdote involving a friend or a neighbour.

10

This should be a moment of gentle provocation, not an interrogation. My students related the
following:

Emptying my ashtray in an isolated mountain car park

Changing the oil of my car in a lay by

Using sprays, although I did not realise their noxious effects

Washing dishes in a river (while camping), using non-environmentally

friendly liquid

Throwing batteries away

Smoking

Driving

If they cannot think of any personal story, get them to list off how we-or a neighbour-as
ordinary citizens, may be polluting the planet without realising it.

Activity D
A survey on "Who is most concerned about the environment" produced the following results
(from "most concerned" down):

Finland

Germany

Japan

UK

Spain

Korea

USA

Russia

Turkey

India

Nigeria

Mexico

Venezuela

11

Do they believe this?

You could give this list of countries to your studnets and ask them to comment on above, as
well as simply describe a country they think is very ecology-conscious. They can talk about
their own countries, and how their fellow countrymen and government are tackling
environmental issues.

Activity E
Finish the sentences:

If I saw somebody throwing an empty packet on the street, I would ...

If I discovered the factory I worked in was secretly polluting the

environment, I would ...

If I were minister for the Environment, I would ...

If I had to do without perfume/deodorant, I would ...

If I were a fish, I would ...

If I were a fisherman, I would ...

If I could not eat tinned tuna fish, I would ...

If I lived on an island, I would ...

If a nuclear bomb exploded, I would ...

If they tried to build a nuclear power station near my house, I would ...

If I lived in a jungle, I would ...

If I were an endangered species, I would ...

If I had to light my fire with either coal or wood, I would ...

If I had to travel to work by car or by public transport, I would ...

If I wanted to dump a box of rubbish, but I could not find a bin, I would ..

If the local council were planning to build a dump near my house, I would ..

Times Have Changed

Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

12

Level: For upper intermediate and advanced levels.

Age: Adult
Some intellectual writers recently spoke wistfully of the war years in Europe, saying that the
people then were perhaps "better" than their contemporary counterparts (you and I) because
of having had to live through a war, with the trauma and misery which the latter entails. They
spoke of a sense of void reigning among modern youth and society in general, saying that we
are more concerned, for example, with football and insurance policies, than with the real
meaning of life.

Activity A
Obviously enough, you don't start off the class by making a sweeping statement on the above
ideas (I did, and the students of the first class were left speechless, a traumatic experience in
conversation class!). I went on to tackle the class in the following way; write down these two
headings, one on the left of a page, the other on the right:

People before

People nowadays

Then get the students to compare and contrast the people/society before with what is like
nowadays. Look for simple statements about the past/people in the past. If the students are a
bit slow to contribute, give them a few stereotypical comments on the past. Age is no excuse,
for everybody has some idea on life years ago, from their grandparents or from films they
have seen. Here are some of the statements they made in my classes (don't show the students
until they have produced their ideas):

People in the past watched less TV.

People nowadays prefer TV to talking.

They lived from day to day.

They are always thinking of the future.

They appreciated the small things.

They are very materialistic.

They made more sacrifices.

They are more selfish.

They had more babies.

They have very few.

They lived more in the street.

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They cannot wait to get home.

They died more often from illnesses.

They live longer.

They took less medicine.

They have tablets for all.

They complained less.

They never stop.

They worried about staying alive, surviving.

They worry about football, cars, and jobs.

They had less expectations.

They have too many?

There was more solidarity.

They are individualistic.

They were more spiritual.

They have no time for that.

They were constantly challenged by life.

They have it easy.

They called it "hard work".

They call it "stress".

Start off a debate on your students' comments.

Activity B
Now, show the students' opinions. Many of the above statements can be challenged. For
example, people before had no televisions so it is little wonder they spoke more. For
example, what is "living from day to day?" What are the differences between those who lived
through a war and those who did not? For example: the former valued life more; they feared
for their life; they lived for their children; they were hungry, and did not waste or throw away
food; they did not throw away old things ... So, were they better people?

14

Activity C
An offshoot activity could be the following: What achievements or experiences will you have
to talk about when you are older, say 75? What stories will you tell your grandchildren? If
this is too abstract, get the students to remember stories, anecdotes and so on that they were
told by their grandparents. Or, what do the elderly talk about in general, nowadays? What do
children talk about at and after school?
Word Associations
Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

Level: Intermediate to advanced

Age: Adult
This activity needs only a few words to start the ball rolling, just make sure the words you
choose lend themselves to some sort of comment.
There are many words in the English language which mean the same thing for everybody or
mean something different for everybody. It depends on the actual word, the experiences
people have been through and their imagination. But everybody has something to say about
the following words,and the mental images that they evoke when heard.

Activity A
What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear ...?

The word "Friday" (I got: Fun, Night-life, Friends, Partying)

The word "Africa" (I got: Tarzan, Poverty, Animals, Heat, Dryness, Safari,
Pyramids, Colours, Huts, Tribal dancing, Views, Sunset)

The word "Hippie" (I got: Peace, Songs, Long hair, Dirty, Hash, Flowers,
Daisies, Herbs, Necklaces, Low-productivity, Love)

The word "Beauty" (I got: Scenery, Flowers, Women)

The word "Hero" (I got: Superman, Rambo, Ronaldo (a footballer), Lady Di,
Elvis)

The word "Catastrophe" (I got: Plane, Hurricane, Floods, Earthquake,

Hiroshima)

The word "rain" (I got: Ireland, Umbrella, Floods, Sadness, Wet, Trains)

The word "Intelligent" (I got: Books, Stephen Hopkins, Success, To be open,

To be able to assimilate, To listen, Able to retrieve information from your
memory and use it when you need it)

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The word "California" (I got: Surf, Weather, Sand, Skating, Beverley Hills,
Drugs, Big cars)

Money

Politicians

Poverty

Unemployment

An ambulance siren

Holidays

Activity B
Get more words and images from the students. If, of course, any of the above
leads on to a digression, seize upon it and enjoy the chat.

Activity C
In a slight variation on this, I gave the students several words which aimed to
generate full-blown conversations rather than just focusing on spontaneous
thoughts and images (and some of the words above will lend themselves to this
too). I gave them the following list of words, each one followed by suspension
points:

Vegetarians ...

Christmas ...

My best friend ...

Going abroad for a holiday ...

I once dreamt that ...

Etc.

We looked at the first word, and I basically asked them to "finish the sentence".
With "vegetarians" we got:

... are strange.

... don't look healthy.

... are more imaginative because they have less at their disposal

... are a little fanatical.

... are usually thin people who have no problems with weight.

16
Note: Here, as the success of the class was unexpected, I jumped on the
occasion and asked them the following questions:

Why do people become vegetarians?

Are vegetarians healthier?

Is meat bad for you?

Are there any other types of names involving restricted diet?

As in many cases, you simply have to be on your guard and seize the moment, when
somebody says something interesting or when a good idea occurs to you during a
conversation. If you are a divergent-type teacher, who loves speaking topically and letting the
topic drift, then this type of activity is for you.

Talking Cards
Michael J. Brown
mjbprac [at] datainternet.com
Hong Kong
Materials required:
One or two packs of playing cards and the questions sheet.
Objectives:
To get the student used to answering general questions at a level that resembles
normal speech. To give the students conversational confidence.
How to play:
You distribute the cards among your students. If you have a large class use two packs
of cards. The student answers the corresponding question to that card. The student is
awarded 4 points for a complete answer, 3 points for a reasonable answer, 2 points for
an incomplete answer, and 1 point for any answer at all. If your class is up to it, you
can get them to award the points.

Spades (Describing things)

Ace
Describe your face.
King
Describe your clothes.
Queen
Describe your mother.
Jack
Describe your father.
Ten
Describe an apple.
Nine
Describe your bedroom.
Eight

17

Describe your best friend.

Seven
Describe what you had for breakfast today.
Six
Describe your English teacher.
Five
Describe the difference between a dog and a cat.
Four
Describe a pencil.
Three
Describe your favourite hobby.
Two
Describe this game.

Hearts (what questions)

Ace
What did you have for dinner last night?
King
What did you have for lunch today?
Queen
What is your favourite sport? Why?
Jack
What did you do last night?
Ten
What type of music do you like? Why?
Nine
What is your favourite game? Why?
Eight
What does your mother do?
Seven
What does your father do?
Six
What is your favourite lesson at school? Why?
Five
What did you do last Sunday?
Four
What is your favourite television programme? Why?
Three
What would you do if you could do anything in the world?
Two
What is the one thing you would change about yourself?

Clubs (mixed questions)

Ace
What is your address in English?
King
What time do you usually get up?

18

Queen
Where did you go for your last holiday?
Jack
Where were you born?
Ten
Why are you studying English?
Nine
Which do you prefer, summer or winter, and why?
Eight
Which magazines do you like to read?
Seven
How many hours do you usually sleep at night?
Six
Do you like shopping? Why?
Five
How often do you go to the cinema?
Four
What was the last movie you saw?
Three
Would you like to travel to other countries? Why?
Two
How many friends have you got and who are they?

Diamonds (if clause)

Ace
If you could have a pet what would it be?
King
If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on?
Queen
If you could meet any person in the world who would it be and why?
Jack
If you could change something about your school what would it be?
Ten
If you had to live in another country which one would you choose?
Nine
If you could do anything in the world what would you do?
Eight
If you could speak three languages well, what would they be?
Seven
If you were rich, what would you do?
Six
If you had to spend a day alone at home, what would you do?
Five
If everyone in the world suddenly disappeared, what would you do?
Four
If you could choose how old you were, how old would you be and why?
Three
If you could choose any meal you wanted, what would it be?
Two

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If you found $100,000 what would you do?

Sample True (T) or False (F) Questions

1. If your fork falls on the floor, pick it up, clean it with your napkin, and
continue using it. (F)
2. When you have finished eating, refold your napkin to the way it was before
and put it next to your plate. (F)
3. You should excuse yourself if you must leave the table during a meal. (T)
4. You should stand up to get the salt if it is out of your reach. (F)
5. Don't burp because it is considered rude. (T)
6. Always use the water glass to your right. (T)
7. Keep your elbows off the table, especially when you are eating. (T)
8. Your bread and butter plate is located towards the left of an imaginary line
across your service plate. (T)
9. When you finish your meal, put your fork and knife back on the table
where they were before. (F)
10.If there are two forks on the table, you should start using the fork closest
to the plate. (F)
11.If there are bones in your food, spit them out and put them on the
tablecloth. (F)
12.Make slurping sounds when you are eating noodles to show how good they
are. (F)
13.In the American style of using silverware, you switch the fork to your right
hand to bring food into your mouth. (T)
14.If you do not want a certain food, make an elaborate excuse about why
you can't have it. (F)
15.Ask your hostess for a doggy bag to take home the food you cannot finish.
(F)
16.If you are the guest, you should not order the most expensive item on the
menu unless it is recommended by your host. (T)
17.Go to the bathroom to remove food caught in your teeth. (T)
18.If a piece of food falls off your plate, don't touch it and leave it on the
table. (F)

20
19.Spoon the soup away from you and sip it from the side of the spoon. (T)
20.If the dessert spoon and fork are already on the table, they should be
above your plate. (T)
Classroom Handout: The Order of Descriptive Adjectives
Yen-Ling Teresa Ting
yltting [at] yahoo.com
University of Calabria (Calabria, Italy)

There are six common types of descriptive adjectives.

age

size

material

shape

colour

nationality

What is the correct order of these adjectives?

Opinion adjectives (e.g. beautiful, fantastic, terrible etc.) precede descriptive
adjectives.
Be a deductive language detective and use your deductive reasoning to find out
what the correct order of these six descriptive adjectives is: Read the following
dialogue where two friends comment on the contents of their rich friend's house.
Opinion adjectives are in italics and all descriptive adjectives are in bold print.

A: David really has a nice big house!

B: He sure does. And I like the beautiful red wooden door with that old
yellow bell.

A: Did you see the big round Indonesian teak table in his study?

B: Do you mean that big old black table?

A: Yes, that one. Isn't it nice?

B: No, I think it's just an enormous old round thing. I prefer that small
round red table he has in the kitchen. The plastic one.

A: No, I think red plastic looks cheap*.

(* cheap in this case is used as an opinion adjective.)

21

B: But you can't say that the elegant big crystal table he has in the
dining room isn't nice, can you?

A: Oh, that round Italian crystal table? Beautiful!

B: And what a wonderful green Italian leather sofa!

A: That long green couch? No, I didn't like it - too green! But I did like the
small modern red chairs he has. Adds a very nice touch.

B: Those round red plastic chairs? I thought you didn't like red plastic.

A: But those are nice. Let's say that it's wonderful to have enough money
to buy small red French plastic chairs, isn't it?

How good a language detective are you?

What is the correct order of these six categories of descriptive adjectives?

A. colour - material - size - age - shape - nationality

B. shape - colour - size - material - nationality - age

C. size - shape - colour - age - material - nationality

D. shape - size - colour - nationality - material - age

E. size - age - shape - colour - nationality - material

F. age - size - shape - colour - nationality - material

Additional Notes about Descriptive Adjectives

I) Another way to remember the order of descriptive adjectives is that they
usually go from more general to more specific adjectives, or from an adjective
which can describe more items to one which describes a more limited number of
items.

For example, another category of descriptive adjectives is function which

is more specific than most of the other descriptive adjectives. Where
would you put the function of dining in the list of adjectives which describe
a table: Italian, antique, wooden,?

II) Now try these, remembering that opinion adjectives come first, then the
descriptive adjectives in the order you found above:
1. We bought a [lovely comfortable / comfortable lovely] sofa.
2. She was wearing a [clean nice / nice clean shirt] with [red leather / leather
red] shoes.
3. Their house was [big and tidy / tidy and big].

22
4. Did you see the [Italian new / new Italian] film.
5. She has ____ ______ ____curtains in her living room.
brown, ugly, polyester.
III) We also place comparative and superlative adjectives before other types of
adjectives:
If you want the most wonderful home-cooked food, you should go to
Mark's house. His mother is the best Italian cook I know.

Now Try These

1. Maria has ______ ________ _________ ________ hair
false, black, beautiful, thick
2. I saw the _______ ________ ________ table this morning.
wooden, most ugly, round
3. She looks so elegant in her ________ _______ ________ coat.
wool, Italian, long
4. That is the _________ ________ _________ sculpture in this museum.
metal, most unusual, modern
5. They bought a lot of ________ ________ ________ furniture on the trip.
Indian, antique, interesting

The Answers
If you, Language-Sherlock, chose the fifth order, you are right!

Additional exercises:
I. Hopefully, you would say antique, Italian, wooden, dining table.
II. 1. lovely comfortable sofa; 2. nice clean shirt with red leather shoes; 3. big and tidy; 4. the
new Italian film; 5. ugly brown polyester curtains
III. 1. beautiful, thick, black, false; 2. most ugly round wooden; 3, long Italian wool; 4. most
unusual modern metal; 5. interesting antique Indian.

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Vowels
be
need
clean

big
did
fish

best
bread
dress

am
and
back

bus
but
done

do
juice
new

book
could
good

all
caught
saw

clock
drop
got

age
cake
day

by
five
like

down
how
loud

go
hope
road

boy
coin
toy

first
girl
learn

born
door
more

are
art
hard

clear
ear
here

air
chair
hair

fire
hire
tire

1.

a. eat

b. it

6.

a. dead

b. dad

23
2.

a. laid

b. led

7.

a. made

b. mad

3.

a. said

b. sad

8.

a. fun

b. fan

4.

a. not

b. note

9.

a. fond

b. found

5.

a. cot

b. caught

10. a. book

b. back

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Consonants
but
been
back

chance
change
chair

do
did
dog

for
find
fast

get
go
game

his
he
who

just
July
jump

can
cake
keep

not
now
name

put
page
pay

write
read
rich

same
say
so

she
short
shoes

to
time
test

think that
thanks they
thing this

last
long
let

many
me
most

very
violin
visit

was
one
week

1.

a. just

b. dust

6.

a. base

b. vase

2.

a. long

b. wrong

7.

a. cheap

b. keep

3.

a. see

b. she

8.

a. road

b. load

4.

a. they

b. day

9.

a. hue

b. few

5.

a. bog

b. dog

10. a. shell

b. sell

Practicing Pronunciation through Proverbs

Yi Yang
yangyi [at] gse.harvard.edu
Practicing pronunciation can be very tedious. Proverbs, however, will give fun.
For example, when practicing "a", students will prefer reading "No pains, no
gains" to some monotonous sentences such as "He looks pale today."

Sentences with several words involving the same sound are good materials for practicing that
sound. Many proverbs contain the rhetorical devices related to sound such as alliteration,
rhyme and repetition, and thus very suitable for pronunciation exercises (For instance:
Practice makes perfect. / Where there is a will, there is a way.) Repeating a sound two or
more times in a short sentence can give the student a deeper impression, and the euphonic
rhythm can keep the boredom away.
The following is a list of proverbs that can be used for pronunciation exercises. Sounds are
marked with boldface instead of being represented by phonetic symbols because the
American and British symbols are different, and some symbols may be distorted on the
internet.

24

Vowels

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Every bullet has its billet.

A good wife and health is a man's best wealth. / East and west, home is
best.

A drowning man will catch at a straw.

He laughs best who laughs last.

He who has an art has everywhere a part.

A little pot is soon hot. / A spot is most seen on the finest cloth.

New lords, new laws. / Walls have ears.

One man beats the bush, another man catches the bird.

Well begun is half done.

Finders keepers, losers weepers.

Kind words are the music of the world. / The early bird catches the worm.

Haste makes waste.

Little strokes fell great oaks. / As you sow you shall mow.

Good advice is beyond price. / Might makes right.

An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning.

No joy without annoy.

Constant dripping wears away a stone.

Consonants

Penny wise, pound foolish./ Practice makes perfect.

There is nothing which has been bitter before being ripe.

Time and tide wait for no man.

A bird in hand is worth two in the wood. / Every dog has his day.

Care killed the cat.

25

A good name is better than a golden girdle.

Fair feathers make fair fowls. / Birds of a feather flock together.

Even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.

Something is better than nothing. / Birds of a feather flock together.

Least said, soonest mended. / More haste, less speed.

A lazy youth, a lousy age.

No sunshine but hath some shadow. / Better be sure than sorry.

Labor is often the father of leisure.

Work has bitter root but sweet fruit.

There is no royal road to learning.

It is hard to be high and humble. / Do on the hills as you would do in the

hall.

Everybody has his merits and faults.

No garden without its weeds.

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

Every Jack has his Jill.

Try before you trust.

Better be drunk than drowned.

A miss is as good as a mile. / Many a little makes a mickle.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Seeing is believing. / Everything must have a beginning.

Look before you leap. / A cracked bell can never sound well.

Willful waste makes woeful want. / Where there is a will, there is a way.

Students could later be asked to interpret the meaning of the proverbs orally or
in writing, which will lead the pronunciation activity naturally to a speaking or
writing activity.
Teaching the English Newspaper Effectively

26
Kenji Kitao
Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan)
k.kitao [at] lancaster.ac.uk

This is an excerpt from "Culture and Communication" (1995) Kyoto: Yamaguchi Shooten.
Reprinted with permission.
Many Japanese students would like to read English newspapers, but they find it too difficult,
in part because they do not know enough about the conventions of newspapers and
newspaper articles. Since the early 1980s, I have been teaching students how to read
newspapers. As a result of the lessons students became interested in reading newspapers and
could learn to read them independently using a dictionary.
For this series of lessons, I developed materials to introduce English newspapers and
exercises to help students understand newspapers (Kitao & Kitao, 1989; Kitao & Kitao, 1991;
Kitao & Kitao, 1992). The following is a list of basic areas I cover in these lessons and a
review test that I devised to help students identify the concepts they had been learning.
1. Importance of Reading English Newspapers
2. English Newspapers Available in Japan
3. Organization of English Newspapers
o

news stories

feature stories

business section

news stories

feature stories

the stock market report

exchange rates for foreign currency

sports section

news stories

feature stories

columns

editorials

Ietters to the editor

27
o

reviews

schedules

cultural events

other

comics

classified advertisements

weather reports

4. Headlines
o

one- or two-sentence summaries of the article

deletion of short words (articles, "be" verbs, etc.)

verb tenses (different from ordinary use)

abbreviations

short words instead of common longer words

5. Organization of News Stories

o

bylines, credit lines, and datelines

arrangement of news articles (inverted pyramid)

leads

6. Grammar of Newspaper Articles

o

shorter sentences

omitting relative clauses

using more noun phrases

avoiding using "of" forms and prepositional phrases

7. Specifying the Source of Information

8. Objective; Avoiding Writer's Opinions

The following is the review exercises which students do using any copy of an
English newspaper, which is included in the teacher's manual of our textbooks.

28

REVIEW EXERCISES
Year_____Dept._____Number_______ Name_________________

Use a copy of an English newspaper and answer the following questions. If the question is
not applicable (for example, if the type of article asked about in the question does not appear
on that day). write "NA."
1. How many pages are there?
2. How many pages are taken up by news, business, sports, TV and radio
schedules, and feature stories?
3. What is on each page?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.11.12.4. What is the most important news story? Where is it? How many columns
does it take? What percentage of the page does it take up? Does it have a
photo?
5. What is the second most important news story? Where is it? How many
columns does it take? What percentage of the page does it take up? Does
it have a photo?
6. How many news articles are there on the front page? How many of them
are domestic news? international news?

29
7. Classify the news articles on the front page according to dateline, credit
line. and whether they have a byline.
dateline
credit line
with byline / without byline
8. Where is the index? What page do you find news articles on? business
news? radio and TV schedules? sports news?
9. Where do you find editorials? columns? feature stories? information about
the stock market?
10.Is the editorial reprinted from another newspaper? If so, from what
newspaper? When was it originally published?
11.On what page do you find reviews? What is being reviewed? Is the
reviewer Japanese or non-Japanese?
12.On what page do you find TV and radio schedules? What else do you see
on that page?
13.On what page(s) do you find comics? How many are there?
14.On what page(s) do you find classified ads? How many are there? What
are they about?
15.On what page(s) do you find letters to the editor? How many are there?
Were they written by Japanese or non-Japanese people? If any of the
letters were written by non-Japanese people, can you tell what country the
writer came from?
16.On what page(s) do you find reprints of articles? How many are there?
What are they about? What publications are they from?
17.Where do you find international news articles? domestic news articles?
How many of each are there?
18.What are the three largest headlines, in order of size?
a.
b.
c.
19.

Look for examples of headlines with the following characteristics, and fill in
the chart with the page number, the headline, and the headline rewritten as a
regular sentence.
a. "and" omitted and replaced with a comma
b. a "be" verb omitted

30
c. a pronoun omitted
d. an article omitted
e. a simple present tense verb that refers to a past event
f. an -ing form of the verb
g. "to" and a verb
h. a past participle used for the passive voice
i. three headlines with abbreviations for names of countries or regions
j. an abbreviation with an apostrophe
k. an abbreviation with a period
1. the name of a capital city used to refer to the government of that
country
m. three other abbreviations
n. three short words often used in headlines
Page
Sentence
a.

Headline

Regular

b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.

20.

Find three wire services, besides American and Japanese ones. What are
they?

31
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

a.

26.

Find three articles with bylines. Who wrote the articles?

b.
c.

27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

headline

author

a.
b.

33.

c.

Find three articles with datelines outside of Japan and the US. Where did
the articles come from? What were the dates?

34.

headline
date

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.

a.

40.

Find leads with the following information:

place

b.
c.

a. what, who, where, and when

b. what, who, where, and why
c. what, who, where, and how
41.

Find one sentence where a relative pronoun is avoided by putting the noun
phrase before the noun it modifies.

42.

Find a sentence where a noun or noun phrase has been substituted for the
name of a person or organization, in order to give more information about that
person or organization.
a.
b.

43.

Find two examples of sentences where "of" is avoided.

a.
b.

44.

Find a direct and an indirect quote.

a.
b.

32
45.

How many feature stories are there? Choose five feature articles, and fill
out the following chart.

46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.

a.

Headline

Topic

Author(s)

b.
c.
d.

57.

e.

How many sports news or sports feature stories are there? Choose four
sports stories and fill out the following chart.

58.

Headline

59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.

News or Sport

Japanese or feature?

international?
a.
b.
c.
d.

68.

Where can you find an editorial? What is the topic? Is the topic of local,
national, or international interest? What is the editor's position on that issue?

69.

Fill out the chart below with information about the columns that appear in
the paper.

70.

Page

Topic

71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.

Column

Headline

Author
a.
b.
c.
d.

81.

List the articles on the business page. How many of these are
international?

82.

What is the selling price of the yen against the dollar?

83.

What was the Dow Jones average?

84.

How many classified ads do you find? What are they?

33
85.

Are there any foreign movies or other foreign programs on TV in the

Kansai area? What are they? What channel are they on?

86.

What subject is the advice column about? Is the person giving advice
Japanese or non-Japanese? What is the advice given?

87.

What topics do you find digests for (news, business, etc.)? How many
individual stories are there in each digest?

88.

What else do you find in this newspaper?

A Fun Reading Comprehension Activity
Mehmet Ali Akgn
makgun [at] indiana.edu
Many EFL teachers are familiar with the type of reading comprehension exercise
in which students are required to read the passage and then answer a set of
multiple-choice questions. No matter how hard you may try to make this type of
reading fun and comprehensible to the learners by brainstorming activities or
drawing flowers on the board, you know that, after a while, you may end up with
a boring reading class in which your students are not 'reading for
comprehension', not 'enjoying themselves', not 'learning new words in context',
not 'practicing their grammar', and not 'involved in a communicative and
interactive learning activity'. Does all of this sound familiar. If so, you can
achieve all of the above and maybe more with this very simple, easy-to-prepare
activity.

Preparation
Find an interesting text, which you think may appeal to most of your students
such as a joke from a magazine, a brochure about Disneyland, or anything that is
colorful and fun. Then, type that passage on a page using large margins so that
the text itself is not spread from one end to the other but rather it is squeezed up
into a thin column.

Make enough copies to go around and then grab a pair of scissors as you go to class.

In Class
After you tell your students you want them to read a passage and probably after
a few groans and long faces here and there, in front of the whole class - now
comes the fun part- take out the papers and the scissors. Even the sight of the
scissors will signal to the students that they will be doing something different
that day. Then, cut along a line so that the last one or two words at the end of
each line are cut off.

Hand out the papers and ask the students to read the text and try to find the missing word(s)
for about five minutes. You can tell them to work in pairs or groups and discuss it. They will
engage in a true communicative negotiation while they are attempting to prove to the others
that what they have come up with as the answer is correct. After you let them work for a

34

while, you will hear the words they have found. You will be amazed to find out how creative
they may become when they shout out words that are not the originals but are quite correct as
alternatives.
Let's see what kind of language skills all this involves.

First, they will be reading for comprehension.

Second, they will have to think of words/phrases, which calls for both their
passive and active vocabulary stocks.

Third, they will also have to practice their spelling.

Fourth, they will absolutely use their grammar knowledge since they will
need to know the parts of speech to guess the words.

Fifth, they will practice speaking and listening while they are discussing in
pairs and will have the opportunity to learn the different ways that others
reason things.
Vocabulary Lesson: If a Runner Runs, Does a Sweater Sweat?
Rolf Palmberg
rpalmber [at] vmail.abo.fi
Department of Teacher Education, Abo Akademi University (Finland)

Introduction
It is true that a person who runs is a runner, but is it also true that a person who
sweats is a sweater? And if you call someone who writes a writer, would you call
someone who draws a drawer? And does the fact that a teacher points to
something make him or her a pointer?

English words that end in "-er" fairly often follow the pattern "to run" - "a runner". As
demonstrated in the first paragraph, however, this may not always be the case. Sometimes the
"-er" words may have additional meanings, and occasionally they have entirely different
meanings.

Purpose
Playing with words and word meanings is something that appeals to linguistically
intelligent learners in particular, but also to other types of language learner. The
purpose of the classroom activities presented below is to increase EFL and ESL
learners' vocabulary awareness and dictionary skills. Although the activities are
aimed primarily at intermediate and advanced learners, the teacher can easily
modify their level of difficulty by selecting or adding words that suit less
proficient learners as well.

35

Sample Classroom Activities

To indroduce the topic, ask the learners to produce sentences such as: "A person
who buys is a buyer". Next, ask them to share and compare their sentences with
their classmates.

Give the learners the following list of words:

carrier

diner

drawer

duster

hanger

joker

mower

prayer

pointer

poster

reader

rubber

shower

sleeper

slipper

starter

sticker

sweater

thriller

toaster

Next, ask them to look up the words in a dictionary and decide which words
1. refer to people,

36
2. refer to animals,
3. refer to objects,
4. refer both to people and to something else,
5. have three or more distinct meanings.
When they are finished, ask them to compare their results with their classmates.

Ask the learners to produce sentences such as: "Although he plays records he is not a record
player". Next, ask them to share and discuss their sentences with their classmates.
Ask the learners to produce sentences such as: "The man sleeps in a sleeper". Next, ask them
to share and discuss their sentences with their classmates.
Ask the learners to produce sentences which all include several of the words listed above.
Next, ask them to read out their sentences in class.
Invite the learners to search their dictionaries for words that end in "-er" but do not fit the "to
run" - "a runner" pattern. Next, ask them to produce sentences such as "A smoker smokes, but
what does a holster do?" and "A listener listens, but can an oyster oyst?". When they are
finished, ask them to read out their sentences in class.
A Reading Exercise with Food Related Phrasal Verbs
Yen-Ling Teresa Ting
yltting [at] tin.it
Faculty of Sciences, University of Calabria (Calabria, Italy)

This is a lesson using food-related phrasal verbs in context. Print it out. Have your students
guess what the phrasal verbs mean. This activity can be followed-up with the Internet TESL
Journal's quiz on Food Phrasal Verbs.
Tom Smith Bolts It Down
Phrasal verbs add colour to spoken language. Here are some phrasal verbs
related to food and eating. Guess what they mean as you read.

Tom Smith usually has only 15 minutes to eat lunch so he bolts it down (1). This does not
mean he eats much for lunch since he only has a sandwich and a coffee. However, his wife
Susan loves cooking and she always whips up (2) a wonderful dinner. This explains why
Tom is not so thin. He pigs out (3) every evening on a full course dinner - a roast with
vegetables and a pasta side and to top it off (4), a big dessert which Susan picks up (5) on
the way home from school where she is a teacher. Susan is quite petite, so it is not surprising
that she only picks at (6) all the food she prepares and just gnaws at (7) a carrot or some
other vegetable while she listens to Tom speak about his day. For breakfast, Tom sometimes
warms up (8) Susan's left-overs and then he runs off for another day of work. This is against
the doctor's advice so Tom should think about cutting back (9) on meat and eggs to bring

37

down (10) his cholesterol. Actually, Mary, the woman who helps them with their house also
has high cholesterol, even though she has cut out (11) meat and eggs and is on a diet of fish
and steamed vegetables. Recently, however, Susan has noticed that the whiskey bottle is
emptying out quite quickly so she suspects that Mary is knocking it back (12) now and
again. This would be OK except for the fact that this is Susan's favourite bottle of whiskey!
So, what did the phrasal verbs mean? Write a short explanation for each.
1. to bolt down
2. to whip up
3. to pig out
4. to top off
5. to pick up
6. to pick at
7. to gnaw at
8. to warm up
9. to cut back
10.to bring down
11.to cut out
12.to knock it back
Activities to Teach the Count and Noncount Noun Distinction
Ron Belisle
ronb [at] mfwi.org
Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute (Spokane, WA, USA)
Look carefully at these sets of sentences below.
I bought some I bought some
flour.
flowers.
My father has
company.

My father has a
company.

38

It is in the
woods.

It is in the
wood.

I need some
glass.

I need some
glasses.

I like
strawberry.

I like
strawberries.

I ate
hamburger.

I ate a
hamburger.

There is none. There is a nun.

Baseball is
popular.

Baseballs are
round.

Use some
pepper.

Use some
peppers.

Orange is
beautiful.

Oranges are
beautiful.

She likes
chicken.

She likes
chickens.

You need
some peace.

You need some

pieces.

I like Apple.

I like apples.

To a Japanese learning English, what is confusing about the pairs of sentences

above? Unlike Japanese nouns, English nouns have a count or noncount
distinction. In English singular count nouns require some kind of article or
determiner as follows: (See exceptions below.*)

the definite article (the car)

the indefinite article (a pencil, an apple)

a possessive determiner (my dictionary, your car, etc.)

a demonstrative pronoun (this dog, these cats, that house, those people,
etc.)

39

To help students understand this important grammatical distinction and to

provide ample classroom practice, I introduce the lesson by orally asking the
students to translate the following English sentence into Japanese. (I don't write
the sentence on the blackboard, but just repeat it orally.)
Yesterday, I bought flour.
Almost always the students translate the sentence incorrectly as follows:
Kino, hana o kaimashita.
The students mistake the word "flour" to mean "flowers."
To provide practice and reinforcement of this grammatical distinction, I use four
activities which students enjoy. In addition to teaching the count/noun count
distinction, these particular activities also teach the use of the following:

Use of there is/are

Use of many/much/a lot and few/little

Use of focus questions

Use of a rejoinder

Use of future tense

Activity 1: Shopping List Game

Skills taught: Count or noncount distinction.
This is a commonly used activity among ESL teachers that can take various
forms.
Students sit or stand in a circle. The teachers starts by saying. "Let's go
shopping! Do you like shopping? (Let students respond.) I'm going to buy some
______ ." The teacher says something like "some apples" or "some rice" or
another count noun or noncount noun. The student to the left of the teacher has
to continue the shopping by saying "I'm going to buy some ______ (what the
teacher just said) and some ______ (something new). Then the next student
continues by adding another item to the list. "I'm going to buy some ______ and
some ______ and some ______ . After about five or six students and when
memories begin to falter, the next student can start with a new single item.
This game reinforces the use of count or noncount items related to food or
products bought at a store. The teacher's role is to correct the student's
grammar. If a student says, "I'm going to buy some egg." The teacher should
repeat the correct sentence and have the same student repeat it correctly again.

40

Activity 2: This is a
Skills taught: Use of indefinite article, focus question, rejoinder
Items needed: hand held items of singular countable nouns using "a" instead of
"an"
Write this on the board:
Student
Student
Student
Student
Student
Student

A:
B:
A:
B:
A:
B:

This is a ________ .
A what?
A _________
A what?
A ___________
Oh! A ________!

This is a rhythm/repetition game in which students stand in a circle, pass items

(countable singular nouns) to adjacent students while saying the pattern above.
(It's best to use singular count nouns which are short in length and start with a
consonant.) Try to get the students to stay in sync.

Activity 3: Let's Go Camping!

Skills taught: countable and uncountable distinction
Write this on the board.
Let's go camping!
My name is ________. I'm going to take a/some ____________.
This is both grammar practice and a kind of language puzzle. Students sit or
stand in a circle and practice repeating this sentence using correct English
grammar while trying to figure out the puzzle (or pattern) at the same time.
Quick movement around the circle and repetition are important. Be sure to let
students know that the main purpose is the grammar practice and not to figure
out the puzzle, or they will sit and think too long about what to say. The puzzle
part involves certain things which are okay to take camping and certain things
which are not depending on the first letter of the student's first name.
Each student repeats the sentence above in turn around the circle. The teacher
gives correct (grammar and puzzle) examples often. For example, "My name is
Ron and I'm going to take some rice. How about Emi?" (Referring to the student
to the left of the teacher.) Students should practice repeating the whole sentence
inserting whatever noun they want. If Emi does not choose a noun that starts
with an "e" (the first letter of her name), then say something like "Good English
(if the English is actually correct ), but I'm sorry. You can't take any ________ .
Usually by the first time the circle around two or three students have figured out
the pattern. Continue until all (or most understand).

41

Activity 4: Wally's World

Skills taught: There is/are, much/many, countable/uncountable distinction
Items needed: students
Write this on the board.
In Wally's World there are/is ___________,
but there are/is no ____________ .
This is another grammar practice game with a language puzzle twist. It should be
noted that the use of "Wally" has no particular relation to any book or place. It's
purely fictitious I use it because it sounds good to me and it's good pronunciation
practice for my students. Another name could be used instead.
In this game students try to figure out the pattern and all the while they are
practicing certain forms and learning to distinguish between countable and
uncountable nouns. Quick repetition is important.
Students sit in a circle and in turn repeat the sentence above inserting nouns of
their choice. Only nouns which have a double letter (for example, trees) are
acceptable in Wally's World, which of course is a fictitious place. The teacher
starts with an example. Below are some acceptable ones. You could undoubtedly
think of dozens more on the fly.
In
In
In
In

Wally's
Wally's
Wally's
Wally's

World, there are feet, but there are no hands.

World, there is coffee, but there is no tea.
World, there are walls, but there are no buildings.
World there is beer, but there is no wine.

At first the teacher should occasionally interject an acceptable example for every
second or third student to help them try to figure out the pattern. The teacher's
role is to correct a student's grammar and to let the student know if their
sentence fits the correct pattern. Always be sure that students have the
opportunity to repeat the correct grammar form.
One note on this grammatical structure. You many want to mention that in
spoken English, the contractual use of "There's + plural noun" is common, for
example, "There's five people in the room." or "There's two cars in the parking
lot." However, rarely will one hear the non contractual use of sentences like
"There is five people in the room" or "There is two cars in the parking lot."
*A few exceptions to the use of articles and determiners before a singular count
noun are as follows:

He went home. He went downtown.

He went to bed.

42

She goes to work every day.

They watch TV every night.

Or when referring to traveling

by car, train, bus, airplane, on foot, etc.

Or when referring to meals

I ate lunch.

I ate supper.

I ate breakfast