Nik's Daily English Activities

Read and Write Very Short Stories

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Reading and writing both help to improve your vocabulary and give you the opportunity to use your language skills in a creative way.

Today's activity will show you how to get simple quick writing practice and how to give and receive feedback and criticism of your written work. The activity is based around a site called Five Card Stories and will help you to create a story based on 5 images.

Task:

First you are going to read some very short stories based on images. Look at the five images that go with it, read each story and then vote how good you think the story is. If you think the story is really good, give it 10 stars. If you think it's really bad, give it just one.

Here are 5 very short stories for you to read and vote.
Done with work
A relaxing day by the water
George
After the wedding
The colour blue

Now you have read and voted on the stories try to improve them. Below each story, you have the chance to write your own version using the same images. You can either rewrite the story and try to improve it or write your own story based on the same images.

To write the story just give it a title, use add a name (it doesn't have to be your real name) complete the story and then type in the two security words and save it to the site. You''ll then be able to come back each day and see how people have voted on your story.

If you enjoy short writing activities you can come back to the site and create your own story by choosing images yourself. Just go to: http://web.nmc.org/5cardstory/flickr.php and select the images you want in your story. Tip: It's easiest if the first image you select is of a person or animal, this can then be the main character in your story.

I hope you enjoy this short reading and writing activity and create some wonderful stories. Please leave a link to any you create in the comments section below.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

A City Love Story

2009-10-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

Today's activity is about talking about your city and the things you love, and was inspired by a YouTube video that tells a short love story. The Story is set in Beirut in Lebanon and tells the story of how two young people meet and fall in and out of love. The video though is also a tribute to the city that they both love and the things that they like about it.

The wonderful thing about the video is that it shows you the inside of a city from the perspective of two people who live there. So in this task you will watch the video and then see how you can make your own tribute to the place you live.

Task:

So, first here is the video. It isn't in English, but it has English subtitles, so it will be easy to follow. Just pause the player if you need more time to read the subtitles.
The first part of the story shows the two people meeting and what they like about their city and what they like doing there. Watch and decide which of them has the most similar likes to your own.

Were you more similar to the girl or the boy? Were you surprised by what you saw of Beirut? Was it as you expected?
Think about the things they like about their city and the things that you like about your city.
Now take a camera and go round your city taking photographs of things that you like, places that you like to go and things that you like doing.
If you don't want to go taking photographs you could search for images on Flickr.com. Use the Creative Commons section where you can find images that are free to use without copyright restrictions as long as you aren't selling what you create. Just search for images of your city or things that you like doing.

Once you have collected your images you will need to make them into a video. You can do this using a free product called Photo Story 3, which you can download from here It is for use on PCs running Windows.

Photo Story 3 enables you to create projects using images music, your own voice and text and then covert them into video.
Here you can find a short video showing you how to create your photo story.
Photo Story 3 Tutorial

Create your project, add some music from your city and narrate the video in English, telling people what you like about your city. You can also add text to help people understand.
Once you have finished you can upload the video to YouTube and share it or you can keep it as part of your English digital portfolio.

I hope you enjoy making this video and please do share a link in the comments below once you have made one. Also be sure to post any comments if you need help or if you get stuck making your video and I'll try to help.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Write Your Auto Biography

2009-10-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

An important part of being a good conversationalist is being a good listener and asking people questions about what they tell you, but sometimes you also have to talk about yourself and be prepared to answer questions.

In today's task you are going to answer questions about yourself and in doing this create your autobiography. You are going to do this using a website called Biographicon which is a site that collects the biographies of ordinary people like you and me.

Task:

Go to: http://www.biographicon.com/ and click on 'Create a new biography' then type in your name and create a new biography.

You will then see the frame for your biography. Click where it says 'Answer a questions about ...' and a field will open with a question and answer that you should complete.

Complete the answer to the questions and then click on 'OK, next questions'.

You will the see the next question. Work through answering as many of these questions as you can. When you have finished answering questions, you can click on edit and you will be able to upload an image of yourself.

You can also add some basic information like when and where you were born etc in the 'Overview' section.

Once you are finished you should have quite a complete biography of yourself that you can link to or share with friends.

As your English improves and things in your life change you can also go back and edit your biography. You don't have to complete it all in one day you can do a little more each day and add few more answers to questions.

I hope you have enjoyed this activity and soon have your biography ready to share.

Here you can find more writing activities for EF ESL students.

Learn to Put Your Make Up on in English

2009-10-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

YouTube offers you so many opportunities to learn English and also to learn how to do new things, learn how to do things better or teach others how to do things.

In today's activity we'll look at some 'home' produced YouTube channels and learn a bit more about how to use make up and other cosmetics and develop your vocabulary in this area. We'll also look at how you can enter into a dialogue with the people who create the videos.

Task:

You are going to watch 3 short videos showing you how to apply make up. The first video is by Andrea and has no words, just text and images. Pause the video to make notes of any new words you see in the text.

Now look at the new words you noted down and check to find a definition for them on this site: Make Up USA Vocabulary.
Just click on the word to the left of the screen and you will find images of the kinds of products in the video.

Now that you have a bit more vocabulary, you can watch this second video and listen as Michelle Phan describes how she puts on her make up.

The vocabulary in these videos and the range of accents can be very challenging, but if you watch and listen to a number of different ones you will find they become easier to understand, and if you do have a problem with understanding some of the things that they are saying or doing, remember that you can leave a comment or ask a question by going to the video on YouTube.
Here's one more video for you to watch. In this one Elle describes the make up used in the 'Blockbuster' movie 'Twilight'.

One of the great things about people who produce these kinds of videos is that they welcome communication with the people who watch their videos, so you can either go to their channel on YouTube and send them a comment or question or you can follow them on Twitter and see what they have to say and ask them questions.

You can find Andrea's YouTube channel at: Andrea's Choice and follow her on Twitter at: Andrea's Choice
You can find Michelle's YouTube Channel at: Michelle Phan and follow her on Twitter at: Michelle Phan
You can find Elle's YouTube channel at: AllThatGlitters and follow her on twitter at: AllThatGlitters

I hope you enjoy watching these videos, learn a little more vocabulary and have some practice at understanding different US accents.

Here you can find more video based activities for EFL ESL students

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Study a Classic of Literature

2009-10-11T02:26:00.000-07:00

Many great works of literature have been translated into other languages, but there is nothing quite as good as reading a book in the original language. In today's activity you are going to study a classic of English literature; 'The Old Man and The Sea' by Ernest Hemingway.

You are going to use a number of different tools to make this easier and more enjoyable.

Task:

First go to Wikipedia and find a summary of the plot. You can do this with most books, just by searching for the name in Wikipedia. Click on the link to see The Old Man and the Sea Plot.
Read through the plot, then watch this animated video of the story. It takes about 20 mins, so make sure you have time before you start.

Now that you know the plot and have seen the video you should be able to tackle the book.
You can read the complete book online at Google books The old man and the sea
The book is quite long to read, but you should now have a good grasp of the story. If you want to study the story in more depth you can find notes and analysis of the story at: SparkNotes - The old man and the sea

This is a good way you can try to read and understand more classics of English literature.

Find information about the plot in Wikipedia
Find video clips of the story on YouTube or Google Video
Find the complete book on Google books
Find notes and analysis on SparkNotes

I hope you enjoy this classic story and find many more to read.

Here you can find more literature activities for EFL ESL students

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Learn from and Create Animated Music Videos

2009-10-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

Learning English from songs lyrics and music is a great way to study. In today's activity you are going to be able to watch and enjoy some simple 'stop motion' animated music videos and then find out how to create your own.
The videos for you to watch come from two sources; Music and Muffins and SereneRhapsody and you can find more examples on their YouTube Channels

Task:

For the first part of this task, you can simple watch and enjoy two short music videos and just decide which video you like the most.
This one is "You Could Be Happy" and the music is by Snow Patrol

This one is called "Rain drops" and the music is by Regina Spector

You can find more videos like this at Music and Muffins and Serene Rhapsody
Once you have chosen the video you like best, think about how the images illustrate the story of the song.
Try to think of a song that you like and the story behind the song.
Find the lyrics for the song at: http://www.lyrics.com/ and copy each line of the lyrics onto a sheet of paper.
Put the sheets of paper in order and then do a simple sketch on each sheet of paper to illustrate the line from the song.
Now using a simple digital camera you can create your own 'stop motion' video of the song.
Here you can find step by step instructions showing how this is done.

Here you can watch a video of how to make stop motion videos

Once you have create your video you will need to add the sound track too. This is a great way to enjoy music and develop your English.

I hope to see some of your videos on YouTube soon.

Here you can find 20 + more video activities for EFL ESL students

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Learning Phrases and Phrasal Verbs

2009-10-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

Most students find learning phrasal verbs a real challenge. They can be confusing and complex, but today's activity looks at a way that you can make learning them a little more fun.

This activity combines two different website Phrases.net and TransL8it to help you learn and test yourself on new phrasal verbs.

Task:

First decide on the phrasal verbs you want to learn or revise. If you can't think of any then just go to: http://www.phrases.net/ and you'll see some in the left column.

Click on one and you'll see that you get more information about it. This includes what it means, an audio clip example of how to say it and an example sentence. You can also get a translation.

Listen to the audio clip and then highlight the example sentence and copy it. Once you have copied it go to: http://www.transl8it.com/ and paste or write the sentence into the left hand field. Then click on the button that says 'transL8it-->'. This will translate your text into English sms texting language.

Now copy and paste the sms translation into a word processing document.
Go back to Phrase.net and repeat this process with ten more example sentences from phrasal verbs you would like to remember and copy them all into your document.
Once you have the ten sentences in sms text chat language, try to remeber them and translate them back to standard English ( You can leave this until the next day if you prefer).
Once you have finished check your answers by copying and pasting your translations of the sms text into the left column http://www.transl8it.com/ to see if you get the same translation again.

You can use this technique to rivise any new phrases or sentneces that you learn. You could even start translating example sentences from other vocaulary you want to learn. This will also help you to understand English sms and text chat.

I hope you enjoy this activity and try it regularly to develop your memory. here you can find more vocabulary building activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Learn How to Correct Errors

2009-09-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Students often expect their teacher to correct their written errors, but students can also learn a lot from looking for and correcting errors in written work.

This activity gives you the chance to test your correction skills and find errors in short texts using a site called BookOven and a tool called SpellChecker

Task:

Go to: http://bookoven.com/ Here on the front page you will see a short text that may have an error.

Look at the text carefully and try to find any errors. If you see one try to correct it. If you aren't sure you can copy and paste the text to http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/.
Paste the text in to spellchecker and then 'Spell Check.'

This will open a new window showing where any errors are.

Go back to BookOven and correct the error. You will then be given another error to check. Try to find and correct at least 10 mistakes.

You can do this everyday for a few minutes and it will improve your ability to check and correct your own work. You can also use SpellChecker to check your own compositions.

You can find more writing activities here.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey
7eaximfcj2

Learn About Science in English

2009-07-31T01:24:00.000-07:00

Learning English can help to make knowledge available to you in so many fields of study, especially science. So today's task looks at how you can learn more about science and improve your listening, reading and vocabulary at the same time.

This is quite a challenging task, so I'm also going to include a link to a dictionary site called Ninjawords which will help you.

Task:

Let's start with some listening. Go to: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/ Here you will see a collection of 1 minute audio podcasts.

Choose one to listen to. Here are some suggestions.

Get a pencil and some paper ready, turn up your volume and click the small button to play the audio. As you listen try to make notes about some of the facts. You can listen two times if you are finding it difficult.

Now scroll down the page and you will see the text that you heard. Read it and check how much of the information you noted down was correct. It may also help to listen again as you read.

Now go to http://ninjawords.com/ and check the meaning of any words you don't know.

Once you made notes about the new words listen to the podcast once more and this time try to read along copying the pronunciation of the speaker if you can.

If you are really interested in science and you found this activity useful then you can subscribe to the podcast using i-tunes or download the audio to your computer and print a copy of the text. This will be useful for revising the texts in a few days time.

Spending just a few minutes each day doing this activity will help to improve your listening, reading and vocabulary, so why not give it a try?

Here you can find more EFL ESL listening activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Ask and Answer Questions

2009-07-30T05:24:00.000-07:00

One key element of communication is the ability to formulate and answer questions. This is fundamental to using language in a communicative way to get information and build relationships.
Today's activity uses a site called Hunch which can ask you lots of questions and help you get useful information. The more you use the site, the more it will learn about you and give you better and more useful information.

Task:

Go to: http://www.hunch.com/ You will see your first question. You can either answer it by clicking your choice or skip it.

Work through the questions. These will tell Hunch a bit more about you and help it to provide better information.
After you get through the first few questions you will be offered help with making some decisions.

If these don't interest you explore more topics, or you can get some advice on learning a language by using the search and then answering the appropriate questions.
You can now get help with specific questions too by using the search and typing in what you want to know.

If you want to use Hunch regularly to ask and answer questions then it's a good idea to create an account and then it will store your answers and give you better results.

This is a great site for asking and answering interesting questions. I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find more question activities to help with your English.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Understanding Different English Accents

2009-07-24T01:53:00.001-07:00

It is great that English is spoken by so many people around the world, but this can make it very difficult to understand, because there are such a range of different accents.

In today's activity we use a website called The Speech Accent Archive to listen to different accents and compare them.

Task:

Your first activity is to listen to this audio file and try to write down what you hear. This speaker is from the UK and has an accent from around Oxfordshire.
Once you have listened a number of times and written down the complete text you can check here to see if it is correct. You will see both the written text and phonetic transcription.
Now you can listen to the same text again spoken by a variety of other nationalities. Listen to each one and try to decide what nationality they are:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Now click the links below to check your answers.

1. Check you answer
2. Check your answer
3. Check your answer
4. Check your answer
5. Check your answer

Now if you go to the link to the Atlas, you can try to find the same recording of an English speaker from your country. Atlas link

Just click on the atlas to go to the continent you come from, then click on the flag which is closest to you.

You can then listen to the speaker from your country and compare the accent to one of the other countries. You might want to see if you can hear important differences between the accent from your country and the accent of a country you want to visit. You can compare the phonemic script too and try to spot the differences. here's the script of a man from the UK.

I hope you find this activity useful. Be sure to listen to some of the other accents too and try to record your own accent and listen to the differences. You don't have to change your accent, but being aware of differences can help you to understand more.

Here you can find more pronunciation activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Take a Quick English Test

2009-07-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

Learning English can be very useful, but having a certificate telling potential employers what level you are can really help to open more opportunities for you.

If you aren't sure which exam to take or what you level is, today's activity could help you a little. It uses two websites, one produced by Cambridge ESOL to test your level and the other Exam English to help you practice for a test.

Task:

Go to: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/testyourenglish/ and click on 'Begin Test'

You will the see a series of multiple choice questions. For each questions you can select only one possible answer.

Once you have worked through the test, you will get a suggestion for the appropriate level of test that you should take.
Once you have your recommendation got to: http://examenglish.com/ Here you will see a range on practice tests. Try the type of test that is for your level.

If you do well at the practice test you might consider taking the real test and getting a certificate.

I hope you enjoy this simple test. Here you can find more tests of your English

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Images for Vocabulary Revision

2009-07-14T01:33:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary is the key to expressing yourself well in any language and the key to learning and improving your vocabulary is constant revision. Luckily there are lots of sites which can help to make this easier and more fun.

Today's activity is based around the PhotoMunchrs website that combines words and images into a simple game.

Task:

Go to: http://imagine-it.org/flickr/PhotoMunchrs.html here you will see a grid with images and at the top you should see a word.

To play the game you simply use your arrow keys to go to images that are connected with the word. Each time you find an image press the space bar.
If you are correct the image will disappear and you will score a point. If you are wrong you will loose one of your 3 lives.

You will have to find 7 example images to move to the next level and a new word.

Good luck. I hope you enjoy this game. You can find more activities to improve your vocabulary here.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Translate a Video Clip

2009-06-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Translation can be a very useful tool in helping you to learn a language. It can make you think much more closely about the relationship of your language to the language you are learning. Translating also makes you think very carefully about the meaning of the text you need to translate and how to express it in your own language. Translation is also a valuable skill and one that could help you to get work.

Today's activity uses a site called Social Translator where you can find lots of translated videos, and texts and some that are waiting to be translated.

Task:

You are going to start by listening to a short video clip and writing the text in English. You can watch the clip here:

Play the clip and pause it while you write down the text with a pencil and paper.
Once you have written down the complete text in English, check it against the English transcription on the site here by clicking on 'Play' next to English > English.

Correct any errors in your text. Then go to http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ here you can type in each sentence of your English text and click to translate it into your own language.

Computer translation is not very accurate, so you will need to think about the meaning and correct the translation.
Once you have the complete text translated, you can join the Social Translation site and add your translation to the video clip. Just click on 'Join' and create your account, then go back to the video and click on 'click here' underneath 'Translate This'.

This is a great way to practice your listening , grammar, vocabulary and translation skills.

If you want to request translations of words you don't know you can go to: http://socialtranslator.org/request and add a word or phrase.

If you enjoyed this activity you can find other videos to watch and translate here: http://socialtranslator.org/translations/videos These already have English transcription.

Here you can find more translation activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Learn from English Song Lyrics

2009-06-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

There are many great reasons to study song lyrics, not least because you enjoy listening to the song. You can learn new words from them, singing along helps with your pronunciation, reading as you listen helps with listening and reading skills.

So today's activity uses a site called Lyrics.com where you can find loads of song lyrics as well as music videos of people singing the songs.

Task:

Go to: http://www.lyrics.com/ think of a song in English that you like or a singer who sings in English.
Type their name or the song name into the search field and find the song or singer.

If you can't think of a song just select one of the popular ones from the home page

You will then see the lyrics and on most songs you can also find a video. Play the video, listen and follow the lyrics.

You can either just listen or you can try to sing along. Doing either one or both will help with your listening reading and pronunciation.
Try to listen to a new song each day, or select one song and try to memorise the lyrics by singing along a number of times.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here you can find more music related activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Find Idioms in Everyday Language

2009-06-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

The English language has a huge number of idioms and this number seems to be constantly growing. You have to be careful how and when you use these idioms, as many are used in very specific contexts.

Today's activity will help you discover how and where new idioms are used.

Task:

Go to the IdiomSite at: http://www.idiomsite.com/. Here you will see an index of idioms. You can either scroll down the idioms or select a letter from the alphabet.

The idiom site tells you what each idiom means, but it is really useful to find out how these are used in context.
Go to: http://www.americancorpus.org/ and click enter. Type in your idiom to the 'Words' field then click on 'Search' You will then see the idiom appear on the right.

Click on the idiom and you will get a list of example sentences that use the idiom.

If you click on the source of the sentence, you will be able to see it in a complete paragraph.

This is a great way to find examples of idioms in use that you can copy and add to your vocabulary notes. Try to find 4 new idioms each day along with an example for each one.

I hope you enjoy this activity and it helps you to learn and remember new idioms. Here you can find more vocabulary activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Find Words that Express Your Thoughts

2009-06-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

There are times when you know what you want to say, but you just don't know the right word in English. This can be very frustrating, but it is good to practice explaining the words you want so that you can get the word you want.
Today's activity will look at a website called OneLook Reverse Dictionary which can help you with this. You can also practice using the site by doing an online crossword puzzle.

Task:

To try out the OneLook Reverse Dictionary got to: http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
Type in the definition for a word (e.g. 'a bird tat can swim') and see if what the dictionary offers you. You will get a list of related words and the most likely matches will come first (my example got 'duck' at 3).

Click on the words and you will find definitions and examples of pronunciation.

This is a great tool to use to help you do crosswords in English. You can find crossword puzzles at: http://www.boatloadpuzzles.com/playcrossword
Copy the crossord clues and type them into the Reverse Dictionary.

Find a word that matches the number of letters for the clue and then type it in.

Soon you will be solving crossword puzzles, developing your vocabulary and developing your ability to explain words in English rather than relying on translation.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here you can find more vocabulary building activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Read a Film Script for Pronunciation Practice

2009-06-09T01:01:00.000-07:00

Reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary, but it can also be a good way to improve your pronunciation, especially if you can hear what you have to read.

Today's activity uses the IMSDB (Internet Movie Script database) and explores how you can use film scripts as reading to improve your pronunciation.

Task:

Find a movie in English that you like and which has good dialogue. If you don't have any English movies you may be able to find some at: http://quicksilverscreen.com/
Then go to http://www.imsdb.com/ and try to find the script.
There are lots of scripts on the IMSDB, but also a lot of advertising so be careful where you click. You can either search for the movie you want or browse by alphabet or genre.

Once you find the page with your movie on look for 'Read [movie name] script' and click on it. This will show you the movie script.

Here's an example of the script for the first Shrek movie which many people may have.

Once you find the script you want print up a few pages from it. Now find the movie and watch it. Try to follow the script and listen to the intonation of the speakers.
Intonation is the change in pitch and it usually either falls or rises at the ends of sentences or at commas just like punctuation in writing.

Try to mark on the script where you here the intonation rise or fall. Then try reading the script and trying to imitate the actors. try to copy their emotions and accents.

Read along while watching the the movie. You don't have to do this for the whole film, but trying to imitate small chunks will help to develop your pronunciation and your ability to hear and understand the changes in emotion that it conveys.

I hope you enjoy watching and reading movie scripts. Here you can find more activities to improve your pronunciation.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

A Virtual Job Interview

2009-06-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Doing a job interview can be a very stressful experience, especially if you have to do it in another language. That's why it's good to get as much practice as possible and have a chance to try different answers to common interview questions.

Today's activity gives you the chance to be interviewed, try different answers and improve your listening and reading skills. You'll also get some good interview tips too.

Task:

In a moment you will be able to try the interview. Here is what you will need to do. Click and watch the video introduction.
Then click 'Start' and watch the video for the first question.
Select what you think is the best answers.

Once you have chosen your answer you will get a score.
You can also get advice on how to answer the question by clicking on 'See our advice on how best to answer this questions'

Okay you are ready now, so start by watching the video below. Good luck and make sure you answer all the questions.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mystudiyo.com/act86407/mini/go/it_virtual_job_interview"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;it_virtual_job_interview&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here you can find more Business English Activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Revise your Vocabulary with Images

2009-06-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you know the word you want to use, but you just can't say it when you are in a situation that is putting you under pressure. This can be very frustrating.

So today's activity is going to use a timed image game to put you under some pressure to recall your vocabulary.

Task:

Go to: http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/ and click on 'Start labeling'

You will be paired with another person to play the game. You will then see a series of images. When the images appear you have to type as many words as you can to describe the image.

For this image, you could type a variety of word like, bird, fly, sky, soar etc.
You will get point every time your word is the same as your partner. Try to score as many points as you can.
At the end of two minutes, you can see the images again and see the words your partner suggested.

This is a great way to revise your vocabulary and put yourself under pressure to remember words. You can easily play this for a few minutes every day to improve your ability to recall vocabulary.

I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find more vocabulary activities

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Learn English in a Football Community

2009-05-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about English and the Internet is that they both allow you to connect with and share your interests and ideas with people from all around the world. Whatever your interest is, there is sure to be an online community that allows you to share your interests in English. That is never more true than in the case of football (or soccer if you prefer) .

So, today's task is based around joining an online community to share your interests and communicate with others in English. This can help you develop your vocabulary, help your reading and writing skills and may even help you to make some new friends.

Task:

Go to: http://www.footbo.com Make sure that you have selected to view the site in English by using the small icon at the top left of the screen.

Now complete the free sign up form. You just need to create a password and add an email address. You must be 13 years old or over though to access the site. Once you have completed the registration you'll get an email with a link . Click your link to activate your account.

You can then start adding information to your profile. This includes links to your favourite sites as well as information about yourself. You can skip this if you prefer.

You can also add favourite teams and favourite players to your profile as well as selecting players to be part of your dream team.

To start interacting with other members of the site you should go to the 'Forums'. here you can start adding questions and answering questions.

You can also play a game and try to predict the results of future matches by clicking on 'Predictions'

Or if you prefer you can click on Teams or Players and get information, images and watch video clips.

This is a great way to enjoy using and improving your English and sharing your interest in football.

I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find game related activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Create Your Own English Comic Strip

2009-05-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

The phrases and expressions used in written English are often different from those that would be used in spoken English, so remembering spoken English phrases is very important.

Today we will look at a fun way you can use spoken phrases to create comic strips using the Make Belief Comix website. You can use these either to remind your self of any new phrases you are learning, or just to enjoy creating your own comic strip.

Task:

Go to: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com and click on 'Enter Here' below the comic strip.
You will then be able to see the comic creator. Think of some spoken phrases that you have learned recently. Think about how they would be used in conversation and how the people you are talking to might respond.
Now create a comic strip using the phrases and making them part of the dialogue. It's simple to make a comic strip. You just click on the first character you want to use, then scroll through different emotions that you would like them to have.

Once you have the one you want, just click on the person and they will appear in the comic strip. You can drag the person to the position you want them. Add other characters and text balloons for your dialogue.

When you have finished you can print up or email the comic strip to yourself and keep it as a reminder.

If you enjoy this activity, there are also some story ideas that you could try. Try the first one 'Tell your life story'. This is a nice way to tell people about yourself.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here a some more activities that use cartoons.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

The 100 Most Common Words in English?

2009-05-22T01:56:00.000-07:00

It's great to learn new words and structures in English, but sometimes it's also a good idea to go back and review what you already know.

Today's activity comes from the Sporcle website and is a quick test to see if you know the 100 most commonly used words in the English language.

Task:

Go to: http://www.sporcle.com/games/common_english_words.php You will see a grid with 100 space and a time limit of 12 minutes set and ready.

Before you start, think about what some of the most commonly used words might be in your first language. In English articles, pronouns and prepositions are used in almost every sentence, so you might think about starting with those.
When you are ready click on 'Ready? Click to Start'.

Start typing words into the box. Correct words will appear in the grid. If not you will have to delete the word and try another one.

After 12 minutes the correct words will appear. Good luck.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here you can find more Quiz Activities or you could search the Sporcle site for more language related quizzes

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Poems for Pronunciation

2009-05-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

Reading short poems is a really good way to develop your vocabulary and reading skills and even your pronunciation. Poems are also good because many are quite short so you can read them quite quickly.

Today's activity will show you how to get a new poem each day from Every Day Poets and how you can get help with the pronunciation of the words and then record yourself saying the poems.

Task:

The first thing you will need to do is to go to: http://www.everydaypoets.com/ This site publishes a new poem everyday. If you add your email address to the subscribe box you will then receive a new poem everyday in your email.

When you receive your poem, or using the one on the website, try to read it out aloud. You can check the pronunciation of any new words by using http://www.howjsay.com/ just type in any word you are unsure of and you will hear someone saying the word.

Once you are sure that you can read the poem and pronounce all the words, then go to: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Here you can download a small piece of software that you can use on your computer to record and listen to yourself.
Once you have downloaded the software, simply open it, make sure you have microphone ready and then click the red 'Record ' button and read your poem. As you read you will see a sound wave being created.

Once you have recorded the poem press 'Stop' and then listen to yourself by pressing the greeen 'Play'. If you are happy with the poem save it, if you want to try to record it again and make it better, click on the X to delete the file and record again.

Be sure to save your recordings and come back and listen to them again a week or two later. As your pronunciation improves you might want to record them again. You can save the recordings by going to the File menu then clicking on 'Export As WAV'.

I hope you enjoy this activity and record a new poem everyday. Here you can find more Pronunciation Activities

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey

Write a Song in English

2009-05-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

Not everything you do when you are learning a language as to be serious. It's great to use the language you are learning to have fun and to communicate with people.

In today's activity we are going to use one of my favourite websites Let them Sing it For You to have some fun, create some songs and listen to famous people singing them.

Task:

First you need to write a song. This doesn't have to be difficult. You can write a song about yourself or a friend by using their name.
You simply create a sentence about the person using the letters of their name to start the first word of each line.
Here's how it is done using my name (Nik). I have three lines, each beginning with the letters of my name.
N
I
K

So a make a line about myself starting with each letter.
Not very good at sport
I like to go to the beach
Know a lot about different websites

Once you have your short song, go to Let them Sing it For You and type the words into the field and click on the arrow.

The site will then convert you words into a song that you can listen to. Here's mine.
Nik's Song

You then just email the song to your friends or yourself.

If you want to hear other songs you can go to a Lyrics website like A-Z Lyrics and copy and paste the lyrics to create songs to share with your friends. You could also send them some singing messages instead of emails.

I hope you have fun with this website and create lots of songs in English.

Here you can find more Song and Music Activities.

Related links for teachers:

Best

Nik Peachey