This blog has been designed to offer my students of English as a foreign language in Argentina a new tool to learn. However, this is also a useful resource for all students and teachers of English. You will find activities specially designed for secondary school students that will enlarge their knowledge of the language and will empower them through practice. Grammar explanations, photos, videos, and a lot of activities are part of this blog. Feel free to surf and enjoy it!
Jess Glynne is an English singer and song writer. In 2015 she became the second British female solo artist to have five number-one singles in the U.K., among them Hold my Hand. Hold my Hand is a catchy song about somebody being there when you feel insecure in a situation and that person is just there to make you feel better. I really love it! Let's watch the video and listen to the song!
And now... let's work!! Click HERE to start! Now... it's your turn! Answer:
Have you ever felt insecure or needed the help of someone?
When was it? What was happening?
Did anybody "hold your hand"?
Who? How?
Continue working with the song in Lyrics Training! Click HERE!
Chandelier is a song laced with haunting melody and tribal escalations that give the song a solemn feel. What's more, its lyrics reflect the thoughts going on inside the singer who was suffering an alcoholism problem. She tries to tell herself that she shouldn't continue drinking anymore, but peer pressure and need for love always brings her back, convincing her that she can handle anything, that she should live life while the moment is there. In other words, she can't give up her addiction.
Dressed in Black is a personal song by Sia, both sad and uplifting at the same time. It probably refers to darkest time in her life when she was battling against drugs, alcohol addiction, and drepression in 2010. Her boyfriend had died after being hit by a car and she had lost much of her privacy after getting public recognition as a singer. In that situation she contemplated to commit suicide and a friend called her and convinced her to opt out of it. It is not known if she wrote this beautiful song for that friend or for her husband, Erik Anders Lang, who must have helped her to get out of that situation. What do you think? Let's work with the song! Watch and listen to the video:
Now, click HERE to work with the lyrics! We'll share another song soon!
stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and refers to teaching subjects such as science, history or geography to students through a foreign language. According to Marsh, Marsland & Stemberg (2001) CLIL is about using languages to learn. It installs a "hunger to learn" in the student and it gives the opportunity for them to thim about and develop how they communicate in general, even in the first language. So, what are we waiting for? Let's start!
We'll try a lesson focused on the causes of the Second World War (WWII). It is a listening activity based on a recording form the BBC. Read carefully the preparation and procedure before starting. Click HERE to start!
Moves like Jagger is a song by the American band Maroon 5 recording artist Christina Aguilera, which was released in 2011. The song refers how the narrator has the ability to impress women with his dance moves, which he compares to those of legendary iconic Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger. Let's watch the video!
To understand more about the song, click HERE and you'll get information and more activities.
Continue working with this beautiful song on Lyrics Training!
Click HERE and remember you can't advance if you don't complete the lyrics properly but you can listen to the song as many times as you need by clicking into (). And you can get help by clicking on the botton right arrow.
Answer the following questions about the song. If you need the lyrics, click HERE.
Does the song have a pessimistic or optimistic view of the world? Account on your answer.
What colour does the singer want everything to turn to?
What do you think the song is about?
What season of the year is it? How do you know?
Explain these words from different stanzas of the song. In your opinion, what do they represent? Account on your answers.
* "I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. With flowers and my love both never to come back."
* "I could not foresse this thing happening to you."
* "I have to turn my head until my darkness goes."
* "Like a newborn baby it just happens everyday." * "I look inside myself and see my heart is black." * "I see my red door, I must have it painted black."
* "Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts." * "No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue."
* "I want to see the sun blotted out from the sky."
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