Teaching or learning English as a foreign language (EFL) by using authentic materials which have been prepared for native speakers in real-life conditions is an excellent way to stimulate your English language learners to acquire health and beauty-related foreign language vocabulary. English language newspapers and magazines are readily available in most parts of the world. So you be easily able to pick up a regional or international periodical to use in your English as a foreign language (EFL) class room setting. Let’s briefly look at extracting some extensive English language teaching using the regular columns in a periodical.
Health and Beauty Columns
Talking about good openings to teach parts of the body, this is certainly one. Add containers, medicines, health problems and home remedies to the possibilities list too. You could present / practice verbs for getting dressed, putting on make-up and performing bodily care functions. Mind your manners and personal hygiene now.
Food & Culinary Arts Columns
Likely you’ll find recipes for entrees, soups and desserts of all kinds. Tips for special occasions and food service etiquette might appear here too. You could use these to work with sequence of steps in a process, giving directions, naming kitchen, cooking and dining utensils, ingredient names and quantities along with rare or specialty food items. The topic area is almost limitless. Who doesn’t like to eat?
Travel Page or Column
Travel is an interesting, fun area for almost everyone, whether it’s a destination piece or a descriptive one on a hotel or resort. If a quantity of related photos isn’t provided on the page or in the column, you can add your own (or have the learners do it). This makes a great assignment for learners to dig up relevant support photos to help “flesh out” a text-only piece. What is the location, region or country noted for? What other or unusual activities might be available there? A historical background of the area may quite well yield some surprises. Have you or one of your learners ever been there? Would you or one of them like to go? Why or why not?
Editorial / Opinion / Commentary
Relevant topics, opinions and commentary on current local, regional and national or international events can offer support for essays, compositions, debates and oral or written reports from your learners. Learners have opinions too you know. Get them to express their ideas, opinions and feelings on contemporary issues that directly or indirectly affect them.
Classifieds
Of course you’ve used the classifieds in some way in your classes before, haven’t you? If not, shame on you and get cracking. They are literally a gold mine of opportunity to enrich English (or foreign language) language communicative skills. A brace of good classifieds can keep you “in the clover” for weeks, months, or even years if you really want to “milk” them. Try “shopping” them, having “yard” or “garage” sales while adding pictures, photos, graphics or “realia” to illustrate the item ads. Job interview dialogues can very easily come out of the classifieds. “Dating games” should flow quite easily from the “personals”. Don’t even think about passing any of these up.
Get Started ASAP
Be sure to pick up an authentic English language periodical to use in your English as a foreign language class room as soon as possible, later on today or first thing tomorrow morning. You be delighted at the possibilities you’ll discover. If you e-mail me at lynchlarrym@gmail.com and you’re nice, I’ll send you a free copy of my e-book, “The Foreign Language Learner’s Startup Guide” by return e-mail.
By: Larry M. Lynch
Posts Tagged ‘English As A Foreign Language’
Extracting the Maximum Use From English Language Periodical Columns
February 7th, 2010Learn Spanish on the Internet – Five Fun, Easy Ways
January 22nd, 2010
A Useful and Versatile Foreign Language Learning Tool
If you’re a foreign language teacher or foreign language learner, you should take advantage of one of the most useful and versatile language learning methods available – the Internet. While using the internet for English as a foreign language learning is not exactly news anymore, using the internet as a foreign language learning tool has yet to be fully explored even among institutes and those whose progress in foreign language acquisition has been stalled. Two highly useful approaches that can be successfully applied to the learning of almost any foreign language are content-based instruction and task-based learning.
Learning Spanish Online Using CBI and TBL
As an example, suppose you want to learn or improve your Spanish using the internet. Using content-based instruction and task-based learning you might go onto websites in Spanish in order to learn by using the foreign language to acquire knowledge in cultural or Spanish-language-related areas like foods, travel, geography, music, folk lore, dance and other Spanish-speaking-country-based aspects. Here are some practical websites you could surf for ideas to boost your Spanish language skills while steeping yourself in related language elements. The sites are in Spanish but are not Spanish language teaching sites, instead the focus is on teaching and learning other themes which are taught and practiced in Spanish. Since they are principally web sites for native Spanish speakers, you’ll be getting authentic language throughout while your foreign language communicative skills take off like the space shuttle.
SENA Virtual
SENA or the Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje in Colombia offers quite a number of free online courses. These are great for learning and practicing the Spanish language in an authentic context while developing knowledge and skills in other areas too. I’ve actually gone through a couple of the cooking courses offered online here too – with excellent results, I might add. It’s an interesting, delicious introduction into the varied cultures of Colombia. Check out one of the cooking videos I produced during the SENA Colombian Foods cooking course in Spanish for “Arroz Llanero” online at YouTube.
Emagister
This adult education site also features free online courses in Spanish. The areas of specialization here include Business Administration, internet, marketing and sales, and human rights, as well as finance, accounting and technical science and mathematics course offerings.
Mailxmail
This website boasts more than 1242 free online courses in Spanish. So whatever else interests you, you can very likely practice your Spanish language reading, writing and comprehension skills using authentic language. More than 270 internet and computer courses are offered including topics in Power Point, MS Word, Excel, Photo Shop, MS Office, Linux, Java, Flash and programming language tutorials. Another 390 plus courses are business administration and information based to help to hone your Spanish language and business operation skills. This could offer some great insight if you’re living and working in any one of the world’s 21 Spanish-speaking countries.
AulaFacil
At this likewise excellent web site for a flurry of free online courses in the Spanish language, the extensive lineup is headed by courses in Cooking, crafts, pets, painting and drawing in addition to several self-help course offerings. I found some of the cooking courses online here to be especially interesting too. After all, you do still EAT, don’t you? Well then, one great way into a foreign culture is through its foods.
coEduca
Another good site with a Spanish ton of free online courses for those willing to take the plunge in ramping up their Spanish language skills to new and greater heights. The course theme areas vary from Arts and Culture to Science and Technology through Economics and Business in addition to Computer Sciences and Tourism and Gastronomy.
So your Spanish language acquisition can not only be intersting and fun but lively and delicious to boot. Who said that foreign language learning has to be boring, tedious or dull? In the words of Shaggy, “It wasn’t me”!
By: Larry M. Lynch
A Perfect English as a Foreign Language Writing Lesson
January 20th, 2010
Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking
If your English as a Foreign Language learners are anything like mine, then many of them don’t like to write in English. But since we wish to empower our foreign language learners with all four of the basic language skills, writing needs to be included in our class lessons. So, how can writing be introduced in such a way as to inspire interest and facility to our EFL classes – that is the question.
One approach that has worked for me is to have my EFL learners write a “travel” piece about the city, region or foreign country we are living in. This exercise is usually called something like, “A Perfect Day in Bogota”. For a longer written piece or an assignment, you could use, “Three Perfect Days in Barcelona” or “A Perfect Week in Quito” or wherever it is that you live.
Generally, learners love to brag about their city. By allowing them to boast about their favorite activities and places in the city, you can not only get them to write with enthusiasm, but glean some insight into their personal likes and preferences. I’ve even gotten more than a few “hot tips” on unique places or events that eventually panned out into some of my own haunts.
Procedure at a Glance
The learners write a description of their favorite local hotels, restaurants or places to eat, interesting sites to visit, unique slants on local festivals, holidays and other events. Preferred night clubs or discos, and types of music along with days and times to go, help to round out the writing.
Instead of insisting on a particular “format” or style, I’ve found it useful to allow a variety of expression in this area. Learners can use “bullet points”, narratives, essays or advert-style formats and writing. Depending on the level of the learners, I may precede the writing lesson with a class on order of adjectives, paragraph structure, the basic five-paragraph essay or a brief study and analysis of travel ads and travel articles or columns from an English language newspaper.
To Be or Not To Be
For a different type of approach, your English language learners could write a poem about their city, region or country. Often these prove to be both insightful and humorous.
Consider this slightly “tongue-in-cheek” example:
“The Feria de Cali”
Waves of December heat
are here to meet and greet
those “Gringos” who dare
our Feria to share,
while dancing to a Salsa beat.
Parades of slender, bronzed beauties abound,
as classic antique cars are found
In ten days the Feria ends
with sugar cane sweet tastes
and aguardiente-filled friends
You’ll sadly leave less heavy
than a pink and green ’57 Chevy.
Okay, so Shakespeare it’s not, but the poetry writing process worked for the learners.
The next time you’d like to “squeeze in” a bit more writing into your English class, try a variation of these ideas. You may be more than pleasantly surprised at the attitude of the learners and what they ultimately produce. Don’t forget to read aloud and post the more interesting examples. If you give the writing as an out-of-class assignment, your learners can include photos, graphics and perhaps “realia” in their writing as well.
By: Larry M. Lynch