New Squidoo Lenses in March 2009

New Squidoo Lenses in March 2009


For your continuing interest and information, here are some new Squidoo lenses posted in March 2009. I post and use these as readings, for web quests and extra assignment material fro various ESP classes such as Health, Business Administration and Computer or Technology language groups.


A Fat Loss Workout Slim Down Plan
http://www.squidoo.com/fat_loss_workout_plan

Five Traits of a Successful Woman
http://www.squidoo.com/successful_woman_traits

Successful Weight Loss in Women
http://www.squidoo.com/women_weight_loss_keys

Why Women’s Fat Loss is Easy
http://www.squidoo.com/womens_fat_loss

Can UFOs Be Explained By Natural Phenomena?
http://www.squidoo.com/UFOs_explained

Piraña: Deadly and Delicious
http://www.squidoo.com/piranha_deadly_and_delicious

Dynamite Salt Water Lures: Make Your Own for 75 Cents or Less Each with These Easy Steps
http://www.squidoo.com/make_fishing_lures

Free Technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/03/explaining-daylight-saving-time.html


Making Effective Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching
http://www.squidoo.com/shorts_for_English_teaching



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Making Effective Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching

A Well-Proven Method of Language Acquisition

One of the most effective long-term methods of learning a language is that of an on-going series of readings. In fact, among the ways native speakers of English, French and other languages continue to improve and grow their first language (L1) skills, reading ranks very high up on the list. Whether or not language learners are able to wade through a complete book or novel, reading short stories is a time-proven method of language learning and acquisition.

Edgar Allan Poe

The “invention” of the short story, then Horror story and the Detective mystery story are all credited to Edgar Allan Poe (pictured) who first began publishing series of less-than-book-length stories in the mid-1830s. Many of his most popular and famous stories have been passed down through the decades and filmed as full-length feature films. Among the more noteworthy of his Horror and Detective / Mystery stories are these, my personal choices:

• The Fall of the House of Usher published September 1839
• William Wilson published in 1839
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue published in April 1841
• A Descent Into the Maelstrom published May 1841
• The Masque of the Red Death published in May 1842
• The Pit and the Pendulum published October 1842
• The Tell – Tale Heart published January 1843
• The Gold Bug published June 21, 1843
• The Black Cat published August 19, 1843
• The Premature Burial published July 31, 1844
• The Purloined Letter published in 1844
• The Cask of Admontillado published November 1846

Detailed information on Edgar Allan Poe, his life and his collected works is available from the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.

But why are short stories so useful and effective in English language teaching and learning?

Advantages of Short Stories in English Language Teaching and Learning

There are several distinct advantages in using short stories in ELT. The principal advantages include but are not limited to:

• The controlled length of short stories
• The concise writing with carefully selected vocabulary and lexis
• The use of contemporary or colloquial language
• Insertion of authentic, natural dialogue
• Short stories typically maintain high interest and attention levels

With the difficulty normally associated with getting foreign language learners to read, short stories quite readily lend themselves to capturing and holding the often brief attention spans of learners in societies which are predominantly non-reading ones. Get the learners interested in the story’s beginning and leave it from the, Poe will more than likely do the rest with his inimitable, attention-grabbing style and in-depth visual imagery.

Consider this terrifying excerpt from “The Pit and the Pendulum”:

“Down — steadily down it crept. I took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward with its lateral velocity. To the right — to the left — far and wide — with the shriek and the plunge of a damned spirit; to my heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed and howled, as the one or the other idea grew predominant. Down — certainly, relentlessly down! It vibrated within three inches of my bosom! I struggled violently, furiously, to free my left arm.”

You can feel and imagine the ravings of a man slowly being tortured to death as he waits to be slowly, methodically sliced in two by the descending cold steel from which, it seems, he has no escape.

Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching – A Never-Ending Supply

A virtually unending supply of fresh, original short stories is almost always available from a broad range of reference sites and resources such as short story contests online and in print, online and print libraries, both public and private, author and writing websites – and, Public Domain repositories like Gutenburg. English language teachers and learners need never lack for fresh, original short stories to read or use for language teaching or language learning.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

April Fool's Day

Happy April!

“I hope nobody made a fool of you today, being April Fools Day!

I woke up this morning to my husband telling me it snowed last night and the ground was covered. Ha! I would NOT be taken for an idiot this year, no tricking me with something so absurd!

Usually, I’m quite gullible and always forget it’s April 1st and fall for everyone’s lame attempts (one year my mom called me and said there was a man and elephant walking down the road...).

This year, I went to bed remembering not to fall for anything dished out by my husband or my son. So, after my husband made his stupid joke, I slithered out of bed shaking my head and slightly irritated that he would wake me up when I still had 7 more minutes I could have been sleeping (I wouldn’t call myself a morning person).

There was a sliver of doubt nagging in the back of my head, but was not going to be taken for a fool...or was I?

I glanced over my shoulder, made sure my husband wasn’t looking, crept up to the bedroom window and quietly pulled the blinds back to peek outside. I suppose I was the fool, after all, whether my husband was or wasn’t watching me, I was looking, wasn’t I!

Guess what?

I was a double fool, not only did I not believe him, but he was telling the truth! Urgh, there’s over two inches of white stuff on the ground and still coming down heavily.


Post text by permission of Rhonda Callow at Bright Hub



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Anatomy Activities Websites in English

Human Anatomy Online for English Language Learners


If you have English as a foreign language learners who have the need to study anatomy, feel free to direct them to any number of these useful websites. In my health faculty class groups, I schedule two computer room sessions to allow my Nursing and Physical Therapy English language learners time to visit up to four or five of these websites to explore and “play around” in. Most of the anatomy-based websites are inter-active, allowing the language learners to manipulate organs, acquire new vocabulary in context and expand their working knowledge of the human anatomy. Even I learn something new each time one of these class sessions is held. On occasion, I schedule a quiz the following class session to help the students internalize new material.

List of Websites on Human Anatomy Web Quest:

Human Anatomy Online
http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
The site activities are separated into ten body systems, skeletal, digestive, muscular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardio-vascular, urinary, male and female reproductive. body parts are identified using the cursor to locate and click for a description to appear to the left of the figure.


Artificial Anatomy using Jerome
http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/bodyparts/nma03_bodyparts.html
Jerome is the name of the male anatomy figure which can be turned 180 degrees for different views of body parts. Learners match the body part close-up with the full figure image.


Anatomy Body Parts Gap Fill British Council
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/words/activities/body01.html
Learners drag and drop boxes with names of body parts onto a body figure, then check their answers

Anatomy Arcade
http://www.anatomyarcade.com/
This site is six different anatomy arcade games featuring muscles, bones, the eye, the brain, the heart and the digestive tract. Learners drag and drop body part images onto the correct location in the body. There is a computer voice and sound to accompany each game and give feedback to learners.

Anatomy of the Human Body – Henry Gray
http://www.bartleby.com/107/
This detailed illustrated text on the human anatomy is by Henry Gray from his classic anatomy text for serious students of anatomy.

The Interactive Body
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml
This site requires an updated version of Flash, available for free download. Body parts are dragged and dropped to form a correct sequence.

The Virtual Body
http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
First, choose between English or Spanish to work with parts of the brain, heart, skeleton or digestive tract. Learners can view and identify parts, see animations and listen to narrations.


Visible Human
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/
At the stunning, animated visual “Visible Human” site, the human body is explored via a series of 1800 cross-section views for a full-featured guided tour. There are transverse, coronal and sagittal cross section views to elaborate on virtually any body organ, part or system for the more serious student of the human anatomy.

Basic Anatomy – Tissues and Organs
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/14-anatomy.htm
The Basic Anatomy site has the sound of a heart beating in the background. Learners can read about basic organs and systems of the human body with simple illustrations posted to the left of the text.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

12 Keys to Using Songs for Teaching Children English as a Foreign Language

Teaching Children English Using Songs

In answer to a reader question on using songs for teaching Italian children English, I gave the following twelve quick keys. They’re equally effective, however, for children from any country, or of almost any age too for that matter.

Here they are:


1. You can use most songs for English Language Teaching, but learners usually prefer songs which are currently popular. Both you and your learners can collaborate on selecting songs.

2. You should also select songs with easy-to-understand lyrics, absolutely NO profanity, violent, illegal or immoral themes like sex, drug use, prostitution, gang violence, kill-your-mother, suicide, etc. (It’s easier to fall into this trap than you think. Many popular song lyrics are horrid)

3. For motivating children take along a dozen or so children's songs on cassette or CD with the lyrics. Beg, borrow or steal a selection of popular children’s songs and you’re all set. (Okay, don’t steal them, ask – politely, about a million times until they say “yes”)

4. Most popular song lyrics are available online. You’ll need to be very, very careful of downloads from sites like these since they frequently FULL of viruses, Trojans, worms and lord only knows what else.

5. Walt Disney has a truckload of great children's songs. Us e films and shorts directly or just a recording with display pictures for visual support.

6. In addition to the above keys, there are the standard children's favorites any primary song child or teacher can tell you. You can even use songs from your childhood, if you were ever a child, that is.

7. Use inter-active games and Total Physical Response (TPR) along with the songs. Choreograph simple moves and actions to the beat and rhythm of the song.

8. Keep a fairly fast-paced class going as children get bored and restless easily with their short, short, short attention spans. Change activities every 15 minutes or so – even LESS with tiny “Chiquiticos”.

9. Try incorporating some simple “dance” moves into the songs too for some added benefit. Have the “kiddies” ad lib, lip sync, pantomime, swing, sway kick, hop, slide, glide, whirl, spin, dip, step, jump and wave – you get my drift?

10. Use pictures as an aid in teaching key words in the song lyrics. Cutouts, posters, drawings, anything that provides positive visual support and reinforcement for lexical elements, grammatical them, connected speech, pronunciation or use in context is fair game in EFL classes for children (and adults too, actually)

11. Practice a couple of the songs and activities beforehand in front of a mirror on your own. (See how silly you look! That’s okay though, so don’t worry. We can’t see you)

12. Oh yes, and be sure to have lots of FUN yourself! Whoever said English and foreign language teachers can’t have fun too? (Certainly not me. Despite my scholarly appearance, sometimes I’m nuts in EFL classes!)

So “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.

I hope this helps you with using songs to teach English to children. Be sure to check out the other article posts of mine like "9 Reasons Why You Should Use Songs to Teach English as a Foreign Language" on this blog for teaching English using songs.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Three Terrific English Language Teaching Movies

Dynamite English Language Learning Skills

If you’re looking for ways to dynamite English language learning skills in your classroom, try using clips from popular and classic movies. It certainly works for me. My learners enjoy speaking practice far more using scenes from these well-known Hollywood offerings. Written and oral reports and discourse take on new meaning when pulled from the context of an enjoyable film – either the whole movie or just a selected short clip. Here are seven more of my learners’ (and my) sensational favorites for you to try out in your English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. Here are three more of my EFL class room tested favorites for video-based, in context language learning practice.

INDIANA JONES and the Temple of Doom

If you know this movie at all, you’ve just got to love the exotic banquet scene. My English language learners all talk about that scene long after the video scene has faded from the class room screen. And no wonder, with the myriads of things to feast on world wide, new meaning is given to the axiom, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”. Harrison Ford’s charismatic character, Indiana Jones (pictured), the adventure-seeking university professor, is known and loved worldwide. This second in a series of three (so far) films only adds to the mystique of this character. Your language learners can act out scenes, Interpret dialogue, and alter the script to provide endless scenarios for language learning practice.

Codename: SWORDFISH (2001)

Still my all-time favorite “terrorism” film, an anti-terrorist agent played by John Travolta recruits a super-hacker (Hugh Jackman) to help him steal a multi-millions secret government bank account funds. The supporting castoff this fast-paced thriller also includes Halle Berry in a topless scene and Don Cheadle. It’s got reams of action, top-class dialogue, humor, suspense and even a “steamy” scene or two (watch out for these) to capture and hold the learners’ (and your) interest. This film will make for an interesting addition to your film and video clip repertoire.

ROCKY

If you haven’t already used “Rocky” or one of its sequels in class, shame on you. The original classic, set in the Italian-American neighborhoods of south Philadelphia, illustrates not only the brutality associated with the sport of boxing, but the qualities and attributes that go into the making of a champion. Authentic setting scenes, acceptable dialogues and glimpses into the ethnic culture of the area contribute to make Rocky a valuable addition to your English language teaching film collection. The original script was written by Sylvester Stallone himself. His autobiography makes for some interesting material when coupled with additional aspects from the film.


Try a Variety of Language Learning Techniques

Whether you opt to show the film in its entirety, show it in shorter, time-controlled installments or simply use selected scenes for language learning practice, pronunciation, connected speech illustration or other linguistic aspects, be sure to try a variety of techniques. Videos and clips from popular movies are a dynamic, welcomed way to reach your language learners, lower their affective filters and develop meaningful English language learning skills.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries worldwide. Get your FREE, pdf format report on CD or via e-mail, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

The English Language Learning Frequency vs. Fluency Debate

Which is More Beneficial?

Which is more beneficial for improving English or foreign language proficiency: more hours or more classes? At first it would seem that they are the same thing. They are most definitely not. Let me explain.

Academic and Private English Language Institutes

Many academic and private English and foreign language institutes are increasingly demonstrating an alarming tendency towards fewer and fewer actual contact hours and increasing the number of “self study” hours - which you pay them for, by the way. The preference is to lump learners into one long weekly class in leiu of several shorter ones during the week. Although this might seem top aid the institute’s bottom line, it ultimately will negatively impact teachers and learners when overall language learning and skills are diminished.

More Hours of English

To provide learners with more hours of English means to increase the actual number of English language learning hours without specifying any particular distribution. To go from three to five hours of English per week to ten or even fifteen hours per week cannot necessarily be deemed a bad thing. Or could it?

If you have three contact hours, that is, three hours of actual class time in front of an English teacher, this of course is far too few hours for any substantial, true English or foreign language skills development even over a long term. Raising that to additional hours but having the additional hours as “self-study”, virtual or other types of non-contact hours does little, in my opinion, to aid in the development of English or other foreign language skills.

More English Classes

Now if you add more “in-person” classes however, and you’re definitely going to impact both English language teaching and English language learning skills. Using five hours per week as an example, learners would make substantially more progress in language skills development by having five one-hour classes, one class hour per day from Monday through Friday, than they would by having one language class of four or five hours duration only once per week. In fact, learners with one-hour classes on three different days of the week would develop their foreign language skills far faster than a group of learners taking one five-hour long class once per week.

English or Foreign Language Exposure

The added input and practice days would automatically promote English or foreign language exposure each day as opposed to a more intensive, lower exposure, but tiring once-per-week classes. The benefits of having more classes would extend to both English language teachers and foreign language learners alike.

What do you think?



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

What Birds Can Teach You About English Language Learning

What can some of our fine feathered friends teach you about English language learning? Plenty. So let’s briefly look at some of the techniques you can apply in your own English language teaching and learning situations.


Bird Species to Note
A variety of bird species have an innate ability to imitate foreign sounds.

Species include:

• Parrots and Parakeets
• Mynahs
• Mockingbirds
• Cockatiels
• Starlings
• Macaws


This ability includes the imitation of or “mocking” of human speech as well as whistling tunes and making “rude” noises. Surely you’re all familiar with the “Polly want a cracker” speech imitation mode. A former neighbor’s parrot annoyed almost everyone with a recognizable, but naughty whistle it “learned” to give whenever anyone walked by. But do you know exactly how these birds are “taught” to imitate human language?

Stimulus and Reward
One key technique used to train birds and other animals as well, is the “stimulus and reward” method. The other is “time interval repetition”. When combined, birds of several different species can be “trained” t “talk”. That is, they repeat an imprinted sound pattern sequence and are then rewarded with a morsel of food. Sound stimulus and repetition then finally lead to a reward if “performed” by the bird. In the wild, Mockingbirds can imitate the sounds of predators and other bird species like hawks, to trick or scare enemies and rivals away.

The EFL or Foreign Language Learner
So how then, does this impact an EFL or foreign language learner? Simply that by imitating correct or native speaker connected speech patterns a high level of pronunciation and speaking fluency can be achieved. To accomplish this, the learner essentially requires the following:

• A native (or near-native) English or foreign language speaking model

This can be a “live” person or a series of audio or video repeatable recordings. Whether on VHS, BETA video cassettes, CD ROMs or DVDs, the learner must be able to stop and repeat as necessary.

• A manner of receiving any necessary error-correction and fine-tuning of connected or pronunciation elements

This is mostly accomplished through the efforts of an instructor or speech coach whose responsibility is to provide needed demonstration, correction and feedback for the learner’s improvement.

Audio Only?
Although the use of audio cassettes and voice only media are also useful, the process can be more difficult because learners do not have the ability to see the movement and positions of speech-producing organs. Not only are the throat and vocal chords used in speech, but also the lips, teeth, tongue hard and soft palates play important roles. In addition, models can be acquired from online sources in a number of formats. CALL (Computer-Aided Language Learning) author Gavin Dudeney, in his work with web quests and online learning projects advises having a multi-modal approach to English or foreign language learning which includes connected speech and pronunciation aspects.

By applying the techniques of “mimicking” or “shadow Talking” to your English or foreign language learning repertoire, substantial progress in connected speech improvement can be achieved in a relatively short period of time. The technique is referred to as “Shadow talking” or “mimicking” as noted by Australian English language-learning researcher Christopher Dugdale. We’ll have more on the application of these techniques in upcoming article posts.

Note: For an example of a Cockatiel imitating human speech check out this YouTube video at: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DsyAZYYB2ig


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.