[Note: I combined slides from two different lessons of English World 2 (this lesson here and this lesson here) to make one single lesson on the present continuous.]
Monday, September 22, 2025
News Round Up
We live in times that make you just want to scream, huh?
Philip DeFranco is once again worth watching in full:
Philip DeFranco is once again worth watching in full:
...the video mostly stands for itself. But one thing I do want to add is that whenever you see Christian nationalist politicians raising their heads, it's always useful to remember all of these guys are playacting. This has always been true, so I guess I shouldn't be shocked, but I find Pete Hegseth to be a particularly nauseating example of this. When he talks in the above video (at about 2:11) about fighting a spiritual war, just remind yourself of his past behavior.
Jenny is wife #3 who was married to someone else when she had his baby while he was married to someone else. During the overlap of the relationships a woman claimed he raped her. He claims it was consensual. Jenny had just had his baby. He just got divorced. No really. https://t.co/EZXZx5zEci
— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) January 14, 2025
I double checked this Tweet, and it all checks out. Go ahead and do your own research. Or check out any one of numerous articles on Pete Hegseth:
Anyway, in other news:
The Daily Show did a great satire on Trump's crackdown on freedom of speech:
The Daily Show did a great satire on Trump's crackdown on freedom of speech:
I also thought the discussion on PBS newshour was quite good:
On my Twitter feed, I found this:
Border Czar Tom Homan was caught by the FBI accepting bribes - on camera - to deliver government contracts in exchange for $50,000 in cash.
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) September 20, 2025
Pam Bondi knew.
Kash Patel knew.
Emil Bove knew.
And they made the investigation go away.
A corrupt attempt to conceal brazen graft.
Like so much of what we hear today, it sounds unreal, doesn't it? Like, you think that this couldn't possibly be true, but, go ahead and Google it. It's true. I'm surprised this hasn't gotten highlighted more in mainstream news articles, but it's definitely a real story.
This video does a good job of breaking down how blatantly corrupt the current administration is:
Last thing is this Tweet,
Our tax dollars at work, costing children's lives worldwide. @SecRubio, do you want this to be your legacy? My column: https://t.co/DlMW4ZULBh pic.twitter.com/Tl0upoPyND
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) September 21, 2025
which leads to this New York Times article, which is very sad to read.
I know... it's bad times, isn't it?
Addendum: Freddie Deboer's Things Are Really Bad is worth reading.
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Matching Cards for CVC words with -an
I use these cards in several stages.
I start out with some of the alphabet cards from this previous activity. I take the "A" card, and ask students what sound it makes. Then I take the "N" sound, and ask what sound it makes, and then put the two cards together, and try to get students to tell me the sound.
I then take out several consonants, and get the students to tell me the sound, and then put these consonants together with the -AN to make different words, helping students to sound them out.
At this point I put out the picture cards, and as we do different CVC -at words, I get students to identify the pictures.
Once all the words and pictures have been identified, then we play a memory card game to match the words and pictures.
Lastly, I put away the word cards, and just show students the pictures. The students have to write down the word on their mini-white boards.
Matching Cards for CVC words with -ap
I use these cards in several stages.
I start out with some of the alphabet cards from this previous activity. I take the "A" card, and ask students what sound it makes. Then I take the "P" sound, and ask what sound it makes, and then put the two cards together, and try to get students to tell me the sound.
I then take out several consonants, and get the students to tell me the sound, and then put these consonants together with the -AP to make different words, helping students to sound them out.
At this point I put out the picture cards, and as we do different CVC -at words, I get students to identify the pictures.
Once all the words and pictures have been identified, then we play a memory card game to match the words and pictures.
Lastly, I put away the word cards, and just show students the pictures. The students have to write down the word on their mini-white boards.
Matching Cards for CVC words with -at
(TESOL Worksheets--CVC Word Patterns)
I use these cards in several stages.
I start out with some of the alphabet cards from this previous activity. I take the "A" card, and ask students what sound it makes. Then I take the "T" sound, and ask what sound it makes, and then put the two cards together, and try to get students to tell me the sound.
I then take out several consonants, and get the students to tell me the sound, and then put these consonants together with the -AT to make different words, helping students to sound them out.
I start out with some of the alphabet cards from this previous activity. I take the "A" card, and ask students what sound it makes. Then I take the "T" sound, and ask what sound it makes, and then put the two cards together, and try to get students to tell me the sound.
I then take out several consonants, and get the students to tell me the sound, and then put these consonants together with the -AT to make different words, helping students to sound them out.
At this point I put out the picture cards, and as we do different CVC -at words, I get students to identify the pictures.
Once all the words and pictures have been identified, then we play a memory card game to match the words and pictures.
Lastly, I put away the word cards, and just show students the pictures. The students have to write down the word on their mini-white boards.
Once all the words and pictures have been identified, then we play a memory card game to match the words and pictures.
Lastly, I put away the word cards, and just show students the pictures. The students have to write down the word on their mini-white boards.
Once we've done all that, if we still have time I might read with the students some of The Fat Cat Sat on a Mat by Nurit Karlin.
* Alphabet Memory Game
I have some students who are struggling to learn the sounds of the alphabet, and I was thinking it might be useful to play a memory game with them where they had to match the alphabet cards to the word cards. I was going to make it myself, but then I thought: "You know what, I bet this already exists on the Internet somewhere." I searched around, and found this game: Alphabet Memory Game.
It's not exactly the same as I would have designed it. (I would have made the letter cards and the picture cards the same size, for example.) But it's close enough, and it saves me the trouble of making it myself. So I've been using this in my classroom the past few weeks, and it's been working well.
Memory Card Game (Pelmanism, Concentration)
(TESOL Ideas--Any Grammar Point, Any Vocabulary Set)
I grew up calling this game "memory", but I've met people who refer to it as concentration, and I believe it is known as Pelmanism in Britain. The standard rules for the game are on Wikipedia here.
I've mentioned this game before in Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point workshop and my Language Practice Activities document, so I'll just start this post out by repeating what I said there:
This works best in cases where there are two complementary sentences (e.g active/passive, reported speech/direct speech, past simple/present simple). It can also possibly work with sentences that can be divided into two halves (e.g. if clause and result clause). Sentence or sentence halves are put onto cards. The cards are put face down and, just like the classic game of memory, students have to turn over the cards to try to find a match.
For a purely receptive game, the students just turn over the cards. This game can also be turned into a scaffolded production game if students must predict what the matching card will be before turning it over. (e.g. for active/passive game, if they turn over a card in the active voice, they must say the passive equivalent correctly in order to get a chance to find the card).
Examples of where I've used this game before in the past for grammar points are below:
* 1st and 2nd Conditional Memory Game
* 1st and 2nd Conditional Memory Game
As mentioned above, despite my including this game in my list of Activities That Can Be Used for Any Grammar Point, it works best only with select grammar points.
It can, however, be easily adapted for any vocabulary set. Simply put the term on one card, and the definition on another card. (Or for lower levels, use a picture instead of a definition.)
It can, however, be easily adapted for any vocabulary set. Simply put the term on one card, and the definition on another card. (Or for lower levels, use a picture instead of a definition.)
This game can also be played on the computer, and I've mentioned a couple of websites in the past for creating online memory games:
* Pelmanism (Memory Game) in Google Slides : How to make and play it online
* Pelmanism (Memory Game) in Google Slides : How to make and play it online
I'll add a couple more notes/observations below:
* Like a lot of classroom games, this can be hit or miss depending on the group of students. I've had classes where the students got super into this game, and super competitive with each other, and we had a lot of fun with it. And I've had classes where the students are not focused on the game at all.
Because this game only words if the students are concentrating on the game, and remembering where the cards are, it can turn into a disaster if the students are not concentrating on the game.
Because this game only words if the students are concentrating on the game, and remembering where the cards are, it can turn into a disaster if the students are not concentrating on the game.
In my experience, this is particularly a problem when teaching online.
I remember particularly during the Covid shutdown period trying to play online memory games, and it was very obvious none of the students were paying attention when it wasn't their turn, and the game just dragged on and on.
But whether teaching online or offline, the lesson is that if the students aren't paying attention, don't be afraid to end the game early, and move on to the next activity.
* When playing this game in the classroom, I usually just print out the cards on normal paper, and then cut them up. Sometimes, depending on the thickness of the paper or the brightness of the room, the students can cheat by seeing through the paper. This could probably be fixed by using thicker paper, but I've actually never been too bothered by it. The point of the game is to practice the language, not the memory skills. Even if they can see through the paper, they still have to make the correct matches.
* When playing this game in the classroom, I usually just print out the cards on normal paper, and then cut them up. Sometimes, depending on the thickness of the paper or the brightness of the room, the students can cheat by seeing through the paper. This could probably be fixed by using thicker paper, but I've actually never been too bothered by it. The point of the game is to practice the language, not the memory skills. Even if they can see through the paper, they still have to make the correct matches.
* I've discovered that local rules for this game vary from country to country, and often from household to household. For example, when I lived in Japan they usually played it that when you were down to the last few pairs, you would mix up the cards again. (I thought this was unfair, since it I thought the whole point of the game was to reward players who could memorize the card positions. But that's how they played it there.)
Another alternate rule is that some people play that if you are able to make a match, you get to go again. This is how I grew up playing the game, so I'm partial to this rule. But in the classroom, you do need to be a bit careful as it can allow a smart player to dominate the game. And you want to make sure that all the players get equal practice with the language. So sometimes it is good to just give each player only one chance, regardless of whether or not they can get a match
Thursday, September 18, 2025
The History of Rome, Volume I: The Republic by Mike Duncan: Book Review
Started: August 13, 2025
This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.
I debated classifying this book as a reread, since it is just the transcript of the podcast, and I had already done the podcast. And is there really a difference between a podcast and an audiobook? But in the end, I decided that I'm going to consider the book and the podcast as different entities, and so this is not a reread.
Links to stuff mentioned:
My review of The History of Rome Podcast: https://youtu.be/67kZ5DIfXyk
Playlist of all my Mike Duncan reviews: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6McqrMCizy3sOdvd3d6JG9&si=1Nyps7byMsa_ZOVE
Related playlists:
* Books I read in 2025: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Fev7Uv6_tzuSf84LtYwQu&si=Im1rdozRXrgGnr99
* Book Reviews Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7dao6py7ODX_PkUvrAEch7&si=EJ7CG8iO9IouNaYY
* History of Rome Podcast Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4QxnawNiBpJ-KO4aUgSQh5&si=xBBEP2_3Z1tFCRpl
* Ancient History Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7tomUoLdvaX2CsHML6AjHz&si=1BR84Yy8nlDKWz6g
Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman
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Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4loh9jL (This is an Amazon Associate's Link. If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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