English and its teaching

It is not strange to see an Argentinean wearing a t-shirt with the British flag on it as if there was nothing wrong with this attitude. Suppose we talk about a girl who likes Pink Floyd, listens to the Rolling Stones all the time and who is fan of the Manchester United team. We can understand this fact, but there is a very painful real story she must not ignore or pretend to. If we consider Malvinas war as a deep wound that will stay in the hearts of those who, in a way or other, took part of it, it doesn´t seem fair to wear this t-shirt with the mere excuse of fashion. I am not going to refer to numbers, statistics or History books, but to human beings. Many soldiers, about 12000 were sent to die. And they were not experienced soldiers,   they were teenagers, eighteen year-old teenagers.   Imagine what an adolescent can feel with an old rifle in his hand, knowing that he had to shoot his weapon and kill another human being to survive, suffering hunger, dealing with the extreme w

Did you know that the word “folklore” was invented by a British writer? William John Thoms, who devoted his life to investigate folklore and myth, used “folklore” (" A good Saxon compound") in 1846  letter to the Athenaeum . He coined this compound word to replace the various other terms used at the time, including "popular antiquities" or "popular literature".  . Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics, and people who study folklore are sometimes referred to as "folklorists " . Thanks Mr Thoms!

When I had to teach “Animals and their homes” I thought of “The Jungle book” as a great setting.   I would teach lexical contents, such as   modal verb “can” , common verbs and new vocabulary to give information, adapting the story to their level, using realia, flashcards, posters, audios, and  projecting the movie. I could take advantage of it working on E.S.I, bringing some situations to the classroom    and asking questions such as: How do you think   the children reacted when they met   Mowgli?   Can you imagine their relationship? Did they accept him? Do we accept and respect our differences? ,   etc. Nice experience.