How to Explode Your English Language Teaching Online Presence in Less Than 48 Hours

Instant Exposure to Millions of Web Surfers
Whether you’re selling a product or service, job hunting, exploring or just surfing the net for pleasure, teaching English online, providing foreign language learning content on the internet or other reasons, you can explode your online presence and be seen or known by hundreds of thousands or even millions of persons. It needn’t be a lengthy process to do so either. The very nature of the internet allows for views to me made by hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in a matter of days or hours, in many cases. So how can you ramp up your online exposure forthwith without spending your inheritance in the process? Read on.

The Internet’s Top Five
Essentially, you’ll need to get exposure on the internet’s top five websites. This will almost automatically expose you to views from millions of online views from web surfers worldwide. Once exposed on these sites, in a matter of a few hours, you can be seen and on the lips and minds of literally millions of people. How does that sound? Here are the internet’s top five sites and what they offer.

YouTube
www.youtube.com
The internet’s newest online mega-site player, you can post screen captures and videos here for free. Setting up an account takes only a few minutes. Uploading a video can be done within an hour or so and be available to millions of viewers. You can also link to your video’s individual site using hypertext and back links to speed the viewing process along.
Videos are rapidly snatched up by search engines so your video’s presence will be noted sometimes in a matter of minutes.

Blogger
www.blogger.com
Blogs are all the rage from business and technical to personal thoughts and insights on virtually any topic. The top two are Blogger.com and Wordpress with no-cost Blogger being more widespread at the moment. Again you have the potential for millions of viewers almost instantly and they can come fast and furiously too depending on your blogging topic. Since blogs are picked up quickly by the major search engines too, your exposure can skyrocket in a matter of hours.

My Space
www.myspace.com
Another people-to-people biggie, you can create your own personal site here and post to your heart’s consent on any topic or theme of your choosing. Add photos, graphics and sound clips to round out you space, making it more interactive and you can easily wind up with a winner on your hands. Network like crazy to your other online presence sites and you’ll get checked out by hundreds of views per hour if your topic and theme are hot. Even if they’re not, you’ll still have massive exposure potential.

EBay
www.ebay.com
You’ve heard of the mega-site EBay for sure unless you’ve been living on another planet, the ozone layer or a desert island somewhere. So get yourself a posting here to garner at least a piece of the internet’s millions of viewers and surfers. Be it a product, service or information offer, this is a site you need to be on as part of your web presence explosion process. Payments are managed through PayPal which reaches globally to more than one hundred countries. Now you can offer services and products just as easily in Hanoi, Hong Kong or Hoboken.

Craigslist
www.craigslist.com
The place to advertise globally for free, this vast site allows you to reach potential clients, customers and other interested parties in a global market of your choice. You can hawk your wares and information by continent, country, or city area. Want to become known in Mexico, Malaysia, Madagascar or Mongolia? Then this site is definitely the place for you.

Summary
Yes, you can certainly explode your online presence in 48 hours or less by posting to these top five internet websites with your information, voice, videos, products and services, among other options. Only you can set the limits as to what you can achieve. Think up your campaign and get your posts and materials ready. Then set up your accounts at each of these massive exposure web site mega-sites and then just watch as your online presence soars through the roof.


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.

Using Games to Make Language Learning Interesting, Innovative, and Fun

Games are Useful in Language Learning
We can successfully use games in the language learning classroom to teach and practice numerous skills including:

• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Grammar and structure
• Idioms and expressions
• Pronunciation
• Listening and speaking



Factors Affecting Choice of Games
What kinds of games we can use will depend on their intended purpose. Whether it’s to introduce a topic, practice a particular skill or aspect, or reinforce previous learning topics games help by providing much-valued practice while effectively lowering the affective filter of the students (Krashen and Terrell, 1993).

Other factors which can impact our choice of games are:

• The number of students
• The size of the classroom
• Classroom environmental aspects
• Length of time
• Materials, realia or aids available


Kinds of Games

We can vary the kinds of games considerably to help our students to make learning interesting, innovative and more fun. Useful and commonly-practiced games available for almost all teaching and learning venues consist of:

• Board games
• TPR and physical movement games
• Inter-active games
• Strategy games
• Online and computer games


Create Good Language Learners
By using a wide variety of language learning games in the EFL or ESL classroom the teacher is able to promote a number of qualities which positively contribute to a lowered affective filter and improved language acquisition. You should include games among your strategies to promote these qualities that make for a good language learner (Rubin, 1975)

• Willing and accurate guessing
• Language related risk-taking
• Uninhibited communication
• Spontaneous language practice
• Self-monitoring of speech
• Attention to language meaning


Where and How
Where you can get an ongoing variety of pre-produced games, how to use them creatively in the EFL or ESL classroom and techniques for creating your own games customized to meet the needs of your students will depend on your learners’ location.
If you'd like some samples to try out on your learners just e-mail me with "ELT game samples" as the subject.

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.

You Call THAT Music?

You Call THAT Music?
Using Music to Teach English as a Foreign or Second Language

You Call THAT Music?

“What are you listening to? I asked a student in a seeming state of euphoria from the sounds being fed into his ear.

“I’m listening to some music.”

“I’d like to hear what you’re listening to”, I remarked.

He hesitatingly passed me the other earphone dangling from his shoulder. I listened, but what assaulted my ear was neither melodic, pleasant or discernable.

“You call THAT music?” I blurted out incredulously.

He laughed a bit, then grinned sheepishly. “You kinda have to get used to it”, he added.

“Kinda”?

There Was a Time
There was a time, I pondered, when in order to be called a singer, you actually had to be able to sing. That is, you needed a good voice and a melodic way of producing lyrics. This required some natural talent, likely some voice training and an extensive amount of practice. Even emotion was conveyed through songs; sadness, joy, concern or worry and regret came through clearly in the singer’s voice.

Nowadays, much of what passes for music relies on high volume background instrumentals overlaid with what sounds like a “vocalist” screaming at the top of their lungs. Either that or “raps” with lyrics that feature a stream of profanity that could make a sailor blush.

Using Songs as an Aid to Teaching and Learning EFL
Let’s consider using songs as an aid to teaching and learning English as a foreign language. The same principles could easily be applied to teaching and learning almost any foreign language as well. For using songs, there are a number of useful possibilities. Some adaptable ones include:

• Illustration and modeling of connected speech aspects
• Pronunciation practice
• Use in lowering the learner’s Affective Filter
• As part of a grammar or other themed lesson plan (holiday, festival, vocabulary, etc.)
• Vocabulary acquisition or reinforcement
• Simply to have a bit of fun in the EFL classroom

What Kind of Music?
Just what kind of music works best in teaching or learning English or other foreign language? That depends on many different factors of course, but certainly songs and lyrics should:

• Be clear and understandable
• NOT contain profanity or objectionable language
• NOT contain or “promote” violence, explicit sex, race hatred, crime or other objectionable themes
• Be a positive influential element on the learners
• Provide some discernable didactic value

One era which is ripe with large numbers of enjoyable songs is the American 1970’s. Music produced by such artists as the following. I’ve also provided some links to audio or video examples so that you can listen for yourself.

• The late Minnie Riperton (pictured above) who was famous for her ability to sing very high notes.
Song: “Inside My Love”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwgffbjjsU

• The Isley Brothers
Song: “Footsteps in the Dark”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dXkP5Bae3xg

• The Emotions
Song: “Don’t Ask My Neighbor”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7O1LBFICE

• Teddy Pendergrass
Song: “Come Go With Me”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Q8izAflak

• Toni Braxton
Song: “Another Sad Love Song”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LN9R2HB1J68

• Isaac Hayes
Song: “Never Can Say Goodbye” also popularized by the Jackson 5
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=P-yKMgG-DRw

• Dionne Warwick
Song: “Déjà vu”
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=nvJ1NggZ0bM

Not only are these and many songs from this era useful for teaching English as a foreign or second language, but are in themselves, beautiful to listen to. They will certainly provide a soothing alternative to what in many instances passes for “music” in our present era. So listen, enjoy and make use of these and other examples to practice English with you learners. Now these and many other examples from this era are what I call music.


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.

Part 2 Use These Examples to Create Unique Videos That Generate Massive Website Traffic

In the first part of this two-part article series, we began to discuss creating a video or series of videos in order to promote your business products or services in previous articles. The idea is to produce a unique video or series that will pique interest and drive massive traffic to your website, blog or squeeze pages. Here in part two, we’ll continue that theme and add more online examples for you to consider as well. As before, in each category I’ve tried to include two or three examples for variety of theme illustration. The videos listed are from YouTube.com, with others from the Metacafe.com video posting website.

Photo: T. Kobyashi, world hot-dog-eating champ

Let’s Pick Up With Number Six

6. Gross – Try using key words like awful, disgusting, terrible, insane, horrible, perverted and revolting to associate ideas, concepts and situations to your wares, whatever they may be. Look for unusual records in the Guinness Book of Records as shown in these examples.

Lady Popping Her Eyes Out (Guinness Book of Records)
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=HX_5zIXxKEU

Watch Da Big Lady Elephant....Her Name Is in the Guinness Book Of World Records
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQCqRTGRFc

Making Scars with Bubble Gum
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/847434/scars_with_bubblegum/

7. Sexy – I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, many people may not like it but sex sells. It likely always has, and likely, it always will to some extent. Companies and campaigns from food, politics to clothing, cars, appliances and schools or even power tools continue to use “sexy” ads and commercials. Why? Because they work, that’s why. But sexy videos need not be risqué, distasteful or x-rated. Take a look at these covertly sexy ones for example.

Chinese Girls – Amazing Contortionists
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=JhL8OncB5CU

Photo Shoot of Riya Sen
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/856501/photo_shoot_riya_sen/

Sexy Korean Commercial
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRwk6lSIyQ

Sexy Korean Commercial for Lemon Tea
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivuu3scBE7Q

Korean Girls Photo Sequence – Useful for Commercials
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=VIRGht3vKzU

Chinese Super Sexy High Quality Song (sung in Chinese)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ7Sn65K2Uw

8. Funny - Who doesn’t love humor? If your video can make people laugh or even just smile, you’ve got a winner on your hands. Think of comic, humorous angles related in some way to your service or product.

Beer Portal
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=m5MK6XElfx4

Funny novelty fishing lures that really catch fish!
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=KL5F-k64Nr4

Mr. Bean Dancing to an East Indian Song
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=V_bnAlxRGBg

A Really Funny Sports video clip
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/880759/really_funny/

9. Shocking – Could you associate your products and services with any surprising, stunning, stupendous or stupefying experiences, images or situations?

Giant Anaconda Attacks dog
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0XSNlhWCPJk

Hurray for the Bull
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/872395/hurrah_for_the_bull/

The Most Terrifying Bull Ride
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/926978/the_most_terrifying_bullride/

10. Weird - Use words and phrases like odd, strange, dumb, silly, unusual, and unique to start and continue brain storming sessions to come up with possibilities, situations and ideas for your promotional videos.

World's largest Piranha (world record)
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zc2NJDqkqPw

Incredible Night Fishing video
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTKCZur1vM

Weirdest Animals on the Planet
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/813073/weirdest_animals_on_the_planet/

Hopefully, you’ve been inspired enough by these examples to come up with your own original video segment ideas to generate massive traffic to your website or blog or squeeze pages. These examples are but a few of the literally hundreds of thousands of videos available online. YouTube.com alone has more than one million vides at the time of this writing. Look around at others. You can Google search additional video websites to generate as much input and as many unique ideas as you can. Soon you too will be producing your own personalized videos to build your niche marketing lists and online profits.


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. View my YouTube video playlist at: http://au.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B156E95F69660E9E Do you 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 at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com .

Thanksgiving Day

It’s the Thanksgiving Holiday Today

In the U.S.A., it’s the Thanksgiving holiday today. The day is traditionally celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November with an emphasis on home and family. In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. Usually in the U.S. there’s a huge dinner served for all the extended family to enjoy together. The first official declaration of a national observance was in York, Pennsylvania (which is my hometown and where Mom still is) on November 1, 1777. The first national Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated on Thursday, December 18th of 1777.

Photo: Plaque in downtown York, PA on the first national Thanksgiving

During the American Civil War from1861 to 1865, American President Abraham Lincoln declared the observance of Thanksgiving to be held on the last Thursday of November.

And did you know that today, November 22, 2007, is the 44th anniversary of the assassination of American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963?

But Wait, There’s More
Today also happens to be my Mother’s birthday, and every few years it falls exactly on Thanksgiving Day. You can be sure that I’ll try to call and talk to her later today.

Here in Colombia, South America
Here in Colombia, the holiday isn’t officially celebrated. I still have to work so I’m giving two final exams at the Santiago de Cali University. Later this evening I have an important meeting to attend.

Thanksgiving is the one traditional holiday that I miss by living as an ex-pat English language teaching professional in Colombia. The weather today is sunny and 80 plus degrees – quite typical for much of the year here in the city of Cali.

Although turkey is in fact available here, it’s horrendously expensive, with a large bird costing more than a day’s pay. Other traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner ingredients may or may not be available, like cranberry sauce or even cranberries for that matter.

For those of you with your family enjoying a traditional dinner of roast turkey with cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, greens, cornbread, with other scrumptious goodies and pumpkin pie for dessert, my jealous best wishes for a memorable day today. And I also wish you many more. And for those of you in other lands who have never experienced a traditional Thanksgiving holiday dinner, well, you just don’t know what you’re missing!


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. And by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

Part 1 Use These Examples to Create Unique Videos That Generate Massive Website Traffic

We discussed creating a video or series of videos in order to promote your business products or services in previous articles. The idea is to produce a unique video or series that will pique interest and drive massive traffic to your website, blog or squeeze pages. Here we’ll continue that theme and add some online examples for you to consider as well. In each category I’ve tried to include two or three examples for variety of theme illustration. Some videos listed are on YouTube.com, but others are on Metacafe.com.

The Ten Best Video Types With Examples

1. Instructional - Directly related to demonstrative types of videos, instructional videos are designed to teach the viewer how to do something, learn and perform a skill or accomplish a specific result. Literally thousands of these types of videos are all over not only YouTube.com, but other personal video posting websites like Metacafe.com too. Have a peek at these unique examples.

"Black guy Teaches How to Pronounce Words Like Ask"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=nlWOu9FHm-I

"Create Teeny Tiny Solar Insect Robots"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YzFCA-xUc8w

"Boiled Egg Peeling Trick"
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/930150/peeling_egg_trick/

2. Interesting - Again, try for relevant, but little-known, facts or stories related to your products and services. How about world, country or even state records that might be somehow related? Look for unusual or unique statistics or facts that you could parlay into a slick video segment. Try different slants and takes on the same or similar themes. Keep in mind that if you find it to be of interest, unusual or unique in some way, so will many of your potential customers. Here are two online video examples to get you started.

"Hungry Bullhead Catfish Being Fed"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=67c_4YZLc04

"A Talking Cockatiel"
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DsyAZYYB2ig

3. Inspirational - Look for personal stories of inspiration that might be somehow related to your business offerings. Don’t forget animal stories and anecdotes as well. Consider these compelling online videos as inspirational examples.

"Free Hugs Campaign"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

"Working with Children"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QwDjA4tqtGY

4. Demonstration – For these types of videos you should show features and benefits, focusing on benefits to future customers or clients and people will literally flock to your website for more information and purchases. Show demos of different people, young and old, using your products. Make them practical. Make them kooky. Make them different and make them memorable. Here are a couple of good examples.

"How to Make Small Batch Strawberry Jam"
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=jaPpxWlyrfw

“How Turn Soda Can Into Popcorn Machine” video online at: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/921777/how_turn_soda_can_into_popcorn_machine/

"How to Make Photos Talk"
Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/920976/how_to_make_photos_talk/

5. Personal - Find a way to “personalize” your videos to a specific client or customer type, as if speaking directly to them, you’ll almost certainly be very successful with your marketing video efforts. Are your prospective customers youth-oriented? Are they nature lovers, cooking enthusiasts or sports fanatics? Prepare your videos accordingly for your best chances of success.

Like insects? Check this video out!
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=iDw5P46VCe4

Direct Art Australia - Unique and Personalized Gift Ideas
Link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rf4y4gFlUrc


Hopefully, you’ll be inspired enough by this series of examples to come up with your own original video segment ideas to generate massive traffic to your website, blog or squeeze pages. These examples are but a few of the hundreds of thousands of videos available online. In part two of this two-part series, we’ll look at some additional online video examples. See you then.

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. View my YouTube video playlist at: http://au.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B156E95F69660E9E Do you 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 at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com.

Have Harrison Ford to Help to Improve Your English Language Speaking Fluency

FRANTIC
This 1991 film stars Harrison Ford and Betty Buckley as a doctor and his wife who are visiting Paris for a medical convention when she suddenly disappears. The desperate husband, who doesn’t speak any French, eventually goes to the Blue Parrot Disco in his search for his missing wife but meets a smooth-talking drug dealer instead. The accents, idioms, expressions, slang, setting and dialogue in this scene are absolutely great. I have a comprehension worksheet I use with learners just for this eight-minute clip from this film. If you have access to this movie just e-mail me and I'll send a copy of the worksheet to you.

Using Popular Films to Improve Speaking Skills
During the course of my 15 plus years of English as a foreign language teaching, I have come across a number of popular films which not only aid EFL learners in improving their English language speaking skills, but are enjoyable for them to watch. In each of these films a scene is selected and the dialogue and setting are exploited for cultural, linguistic and connected speech elements. While there actually many such films, I’ll mention five of my English language learners’ favorites in this series of articles.

In the movie “Frantic”, the distinctive cultural differences in the way countries might investigate crimes, solve cases and handle problems is illustrated. Since the main character doesn’t speak the local language, French, he is severely handicapped in his communication attempts.

What strategies could he use to help him communicate with people? If you’re traveling to a foreign country should you study or try to learn some of the local language first? Why or why not? Are the locals sympathetic? How can you support your response from the film? Have you ever seen any mistreatment of foreign visitors? What happened? Have foreign visitors even acted improperly in your culture or country? What are some common problems with foreigner visitors to your area or country? How could the situation be corrected or improved?

Have your learners practice and act out the scene in pairs or small groups. Write in changes to the scene dialogue. Add dialogue to the scene as well. Update the dialogue into more modern or colloquial English language. May the dialogue funnier, more serious or use idioms and expressions common to the area where the EFL learners live.

Create vocabulary lists, puzzles like crosswords or word searches from the key vocabulary in the scene. The extent of possibilities are limited only by the imagination of you and your English or foreign language learners. Above all, have fun! If you're not familiar with this award-winning actor, just check out this short video clip at: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/292511/harrison_ford/

Key Film Elements
While many popular films contain selected scenes which could be used to illustrate cultural, linguistic and connected speech elements, these five have proven to be useful and well-received by a variety of English language learner profiles. If you can get a hold of any or all of them, give them a try and watch your learners’ motivation and English language speaking skills skyrocket.

By the way, let me know how well this works for you. If you have any questions or would like one of the worksheets I use to accompany each of these film scenes, just drop me an e-mail. I’ll be happy to help.


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.