Quizlet Folder HERE
Unit 5
--Reading 1: Surprising Benefits of Travel p.77-80
Monday, September 16, 2024
Reflect Reading & Writing 3 (Supplementary Materials Index)
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks Subdivisions)--This index uses the style described in this post here.
Google Drive Folder HERE
Sunday, September 15, 2024
The blog in question is here: https://malingual.blogspot.com/. At the moment it doesn't have any posts, but thank goodness for archive.org@ebefl I'm a big fan of your old blog, so I have to ask... is it gone for good, or is it just temporarily down for repairs?
— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) September 15, 2024
https://web.archive.org/web/20240709230243/https://malingual.blogspot.com/
I've also linked to that blog numerous times over the years, so I guess all those links are dead now. (Unless I go back and update them to the archive.org versions.)
Link rot is a big problem with this blog. Well, I guess that's just the nature of the Internet, huh?
Link rot is a big problem with this blog. Well, I guess that's just the nature of the Internet, huh?
Recently, I've stumbled upon a niche group of Youtube channels that make parody vintage songs using AI. (I know. Once again, I'm late to the party.)
Anyway, these parody AI songs are surprisingly good. And I've got mixed feelings about it. I don't know whether to be delighted or depressed.
I mean, on the one hand, I can totally see where this is a lot of fun. These songs are really funny, and they actually sounds really good. (Like, it took me a while to realize that these weren't genuine lost vintage songs--that these were AI generated parodies.)
[The comments for each video, in which commenters play along with the conceit and claim to remember these oldies from back in the day, is half the fun as well.]
On the other hand... I'm really not sure if I like the idea of computers making songs. Part of me thinks that something about the inherent appeal of music is listening to another human. If I know that that the breathy soulful vocals are a computer, instead of a human like James Brown, is it as meaningful?
And like everyone else, I'm now envisioning a possible future where a lot of the music we listen to is produced by AI. And I'm not sure I like that idea.
Anyway, here are a few of the gems I've stumbled upon.
Sentence Skeletons
I've previously mentioned this activity in Language Practice Activities Grammar. It is semi-controlled practice.
Students are given the key words of a sentence, and must grammaticize them into a fully grammatical sentence using the target language. For example: cat, mouse, chase. Depending on the target language, this can be grammaticized into the present simple “Cats chase mice”, present continuous “The cat is chasing the mouse”, present perfect “The cat has chased the mouse”, present passive simple “Mice are chased by cats”, etc.
Sentence Skeletons are a common prompt in controlled practice exercises. They don’t always need to be gamified. For a more sedentary class, it is perfectly fine to do the sentence skeletons sitting in desks with paper and pencil. However, if you want to gamify them for a more active class, they can be combined with other activities: Board Race, Crossword Puzzle, Garbage Man, Grass Skirts, or Hurricane, etc.
Here is an example of sentence skeletons for reviewing the passive tenses: drive, docs, pub
Active Passive Review
cat mouse catch
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
boy hamburger eat
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
students test take
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
girl ball kick
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
man car drive
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
thief steal wallet
Active
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
Passive
(present)_________________________________________________________________
(past)_________________________________________________________________
(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________
While searching for a good video on imbedded questions, I found this youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@listeninenglish-easyembedd1403
The channel has a lot of good material on it for EFL lessons. Although, it looks like almost all of this material is from traditionally published sources (e.g. Pearson, American English File), which this channel has re-uploaded, and is claiming fair use of. (I'll have to leave it to others to discuss whether or not this is actually fair use. All I'm saying is that these videos exist, if anyone wants to make use of them.)
They are linked to a website, https://listeninenglish.com/, which has a lot of additional listening activities.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia by William Shawcross: Book Review
This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost. For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:
In this case, the old blog post is here:
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Swamp Thing (1982): Movie Review
This is my first time watching this movie, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.
Watch this movie on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/pUUFa6oejiY?si=InYKSJYa4BmbONfo
My previous video (Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age: Volume 3: Book Review): https://youtu.be/PY1zbzlmHzE
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
started: Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four Volume 2: The Micro-World of Doctor Doom by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (On my shelves since June 16, 2024)
Monday, September 09, 2024
Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age: Volume 3: Book Review
On my shelves: June 16, 2024
Started: August 10, 2024
(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)
Sunday, September 08, 2024
This is a quizziz game that was made by a colleague of mine. I've used it in my classes, and found it useful, so I'm positing it here.
The students are presented with a sentence, and have to identify whether the -ing word is a continuous verb, a gerund, or a participle.
The students are presented with a sentence, and have to identify whether the -ing word is a continuous verb, a gerund, or a participle.
It would work well as a follow up to this sorting activity that I have previously posted.
Grammar: Future Forms p.124+125 of Reflect 5 Listening and Speak
When teaching Reflect Listening & Speaking 5 p.124+125, I converted the textbook grammar explanations and exercises into a quizziz game. That link is HERE.
I am also posting it here because it could possibly be used as an independent resource on Future Forms.
...maybe.
Actually, this quizziz is designed to be used in conjunction with the textbook. (Students can find the answers to all of the questions by looking at p.124 and 125 of the Reflect textbook. Without that textbook, the answers to these questions might not be very intuitive.)
So... use, at your own discretion, I guess. This game probably won't work great without the textbook it's based on, but possibly students may be able to guess some of the answers.
Friday, September 06, 2024
Board Race for Reporting Verbs
(TESOL Worksheets--Reporting Verbs)
[Notes: This is a standard Board Race using gap-fill sentences. It recycles sentences that I have previously used in a Kahoot game (links here and here for that Kahoot game.). I tried to design the Kahoot game so that there was only one correct answer from among the available options. But because this is a board race, there are not options to choose from, and students have to supply their own word. Consequently, for many of these sentences, there are multiple correct answers in addition to the suggested answer, and teachers should be flexible on awarding points that don't match the suggested answer.]
Trip to the Central Highlands in Vietnam
(For more information about these videos, see HERE)
We took a family trip to the Central Highlands in Vietnam (W). As usual, my wife planned everything, and I just went along for the ride. But I took some videos, so I'm going to post them here.
Although it's a capital city, it's a provincial capital, so you don't need to drive far from the city center to see a lot of farmland and nature. And there are a lot of little tourist spots to showcase this nature.
We went to Upes Garden and Coffee in Pleiku City:
and then Bien Ho Tea Coffee (...I know. But that's apparently the name of this place.)
and Bien Ho Pleiku (otherwise known as Sea Lake) (W),
We stayed the night at Tien Son Pleiku Homestay. (It's not actually a homestay. "Homestay" is apparently Vietnamese English for staying at a rural resort.)
The next day we visited Yali Falls Dam (W), apparently one of the biggest hydropower dams in Vietnam.
For lunch, my wife's friends (who were showing us around the area), took us to a restaurant that had picnic tables alongside the river. It was right in the center of Pleiku city, even though it felt like we were in the countryside. (Which I guess we were, kind of. Pleiku is, after all, a provincial capital. The feeling is a lot different than Saigon.)
And then onto Dinosaur Park:
And then we left Gia Lai province and drove to the neighboring Dak Lak Province (W). We stayed at my wife's aunt's house in Buon Ho town (W).
Although it's not famous for anything, I thought the view from the Aunt's front porch represented a nice little slice of life of small town Vietnam. So I took a video:
...and we later drove out to visit the aunt's durian (W) farm.
We also visited my wife's brother in law's house in Krong Nang District (W). We walked around the neighborhood, and I took some video.
We stopped by a touristy coffee place: Doi Thong Coffee
The next day, we set off to see the sights near Buon Ma Thuot City (W) (the capital city of Dak Lak province).
We saw Dray Nur Waterfall, which was impressive.
Next is Trung Nguyen Coffee Village. Trung Nguyen (W) is a popular coffee brand in Vietnam, and since it is original from this city, there's a little tourist attraction here to celebrate.
We then went to a place called "Kotam".
"What is this place?" I asked my wife.
"It's Kotam," she said.
"No, but, what is Kotam?" I asked.
"I don't know. It's just a place for tourists," she said.
It seemed to be a park type area. We walked around it for a bit.
The last place we stopped before the flight home was Lake Ea Chur Kap.
This lake had a few different restaurants/resorts around it. The first one we stopped at was TNN Garden, but they were closed. I took some video from their driveway anyway, but then we went on to Jun's Home Resort, just a little ways down the lake, and stayed there.
...and that was the end of the trip.
Full playlist HERE:
Wednesday, September 04, 2024
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Book Review
On My Shelves: July 16, 2023
Started: August 28, 2024
(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)
This new camera I'm using has a 30 minute time limit before the recording stops. Unfortunately I did the thing I normally do, where I gave a long winded introduction, and then had to rush at the end to make the points about the book that I wanted to make. And the camera cut me off before I said everything about the book that I wanted to say. But, I said at least half of the things that I wanted to say about this book, so I'm going to call it good.
Links to stuff mentioned:
My video review of The Iliad: https://youtu.be/BwJBerNrwIY
My written review of The Iliad: http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-iliad-by-homer-book-review.html
Written reviews in which I admit that I struggle with Mary Renault's prose style: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2015/03/fire-from-heaven-by-mary-renault.html
Steve Donoghue's review of this book: https://www.stevedonoghue.com/steves-reviews//the-song-of-achilles-by-madeline-miller
Past videos in which I mentioned how I had lobbied for this book in our book club:
Tuesday, September 03, 2024
Started: Tyrant by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (On my shelves since December 24, 2023. I actually started this book back on September 1st, but I was travelling at that time, so I didn't get a chance to post.)
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