Memrise - how to create your own "mem"

In Memrise's own words:

What is Memrise?

Memrise is an online learning community where one can learn almost anything in the world, entirely for free! Through just the right mix of science, fun and community, learning on Memrise is speedy, enjoyable and lasts.

Most people I know who have used Memrise love it. It's available both on the web and on mobile devices. The mobile app is still undergoing improvements as I write. I know because I'm helping them test their betas. ;) My recommendation is to use both.

Every so often, I create my own reading/listening activity based on current news and I usually include a lexical exercise. But, as we all know, retaining vocabulary is extremely difficult and most students forget the words they learn almost immediately after.

Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to create a course on Memrise based on these said activities. One of the strongest features of Memrise is their mems (basically, mnemonics) and although I've created a mem or two for each lexical item, my mems very often are just sentences showing how the word was used in the article of the activity.

I encourage students to make their own mems as, really, that's a good way of helping them remember the words, but it seems that many don't understand how it can be done. So, here's a short pictorial tutorial. ;)

Say, you've gone into my course. You'll see something like this.

You may choose to review what you remember by clicking on Review, which will bring you to this screen.

Clicking on See answer will bring you to this one.

Now, click on Choose Another Mem.

You'll see arrows to the side of the mem. Click the right-facing arrow and you'll see the next one. When there aren't any more, you'll see the following image. I know, at the moment, creating a mem isn't as straightforward as it should be. Hopefully, that will change in the near future.

Before clicking on Add a mem, have a look at Memrise's tutorial on creating good mems.

When you click on add a mem, this is what you'll see.

Write any key words you like in the search box and click on search images. When you find one you like, click on it and then save. If you don't want to use any image or you wish to upload your own, skip the search, which will bring you to this:

Type in your text. The bold and italic option only works without images. Don't ask me why.

Click save and you're done. You can modify your mem at a later stage if you like.

I look forward to seeing your mems! Feel free to voice any doubts you may have.

The World Cup - all the words you need to know

Image by Neier reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

"The most direct and enduring way to reach the mind and imagination of the learner is through the mind, imagination and character of the outstanding teacher." Lowell Milken

Well, I don't know if Fabio Capello is an outstanding teacher or not (because I don't agree with his concept of football), but back in 2011, he claimed to be able to reach the mind and imagination of his English players with a mere 100 words.

Cambridge Dictionaries didn't waste any time in reacting and came up with the 100 words here.

However, if you fancy yourself as a top manager, you may want to disagree with Capello, and reach out for the full Cambridge Corpus list of 935 football words.

Meanwhile, contend yourself with looking for the 100 words in this wordsearch. Note that attack appears 3 times! As a noun, as a verb, and it its gerund form: attacking. :D 

And, enjoy the World Cup!

Oh, the way to play it is to click on the first letter of the word, drag it to the last word. However, I think there may be a problem - I used the hyphen in some words and I think it got confused with it. Oh, well, nothing's perfect! Have fun anyway!

Make Your Own Word Search

How do you teach English?

Kaplan surveyed more than 500 ESL teachers from around the world to discover what tools they use to enhance their lessons. Here's an infographic they created to show the results.

Which do you use?

Basic parts of a bicycle

It's been a long time since I created a tagging game, so it's about time I rectify that. Here's one on the basic parts of a bicycle. These are the answers. To play the game, click on the image.

1. bell
2. brake lever
3. stem
4. cable
5. top tube
6. brakes
7. spoke
8. fork
9. valve
10. flat tyre (puncture)
11. front reflector
12. down tube
13. saddle (seat)
14. seat post
15. seat post clamp
16. seat tube
17. tyre
18. chain
19. crank arm
20. pedal
21. rear reflector

If you need higher-resolution images, click on the following images.

Image by C. Pang

Image by C. Pang

Part 24 Idioms (Money) Infographic & Interactive Game

Take a look at this superb infographic from Grammar.net, study the idioms, then put yourself to the test by playing the game (click on the image below the infographic). If you would like to see the detailed explanations, go here. For more on idioms, go to the index file in Google Docs and scroll down until you see the heading Idioms.

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

For more on idioms, use the tag to search.

#ELTBITES Challenge: We like to move it, move it

Once in a while I read something and I find myself thinking, "Now, why didn't I think of that?". Well, Richard Gresswell had such an idea. He started a blog, called it ELTBITES, and challenged us:

"Describe an activity that requires no more than the teacher, students, and possibly making use of the board, pens, and paper. Describe the activity aims and procedure concisely in no more than 200 words."

Here is my contribution, which may not be all that original.

Image from ELTPics by @yearinthelifeof

Level: any
Time: as long as interest prevails
Material: your tongue, and students who obey instructions
Aims: vocabulary, warmer, filler, exercise, fun, ...
Procedure:

This is a simple activity to get the students moving, but, be warned, it can be addictive. I had students wanting to do it again and again, but, perhaps, it was just an excuse for them not to do any 'school work'! ;-)

Think of the language you want your students to work with. Say, you want to revise colours and clothes:

Those of you whose bedroom is white, stand up. (Notice use of relative pronoun, imperative.)

Remain standing.

What about blue?

And black? (I once had a student who has a black bedroom! Of course, we started a mini-conversation.)

Now, if you're wearing white trainers, sit down.

If you're wearing blue jeans, stand up.

You can vary the movements:

If you don't have a belt on, take one step to the left.

If you're wearing black underwear, take two steps back. (This will raise a lot of sniggers!)

Keep it dynamic. Think of unusual stuff (if you can touch your nose with your tongue...). Get them to observe each other (those who have short curly hair...). With higher levels, think of more challenging questions (those who believe in... those who would like to...).

Basically, the limit is your imagination. Hand the activity over to your students. Get them to ask the questions, and use their own commands. Encourage them to be creative.

If you do use this activity, tell us about it!

Idioms Part 23 (Food - Pie/Potato) Interactive Game

I can't believe that almost a month has passed since my last idiom activity!

We're still on food; this time we'll take a look at pies & potatoes.

as easy as pie

It means just that - extremely easy. Sometimes, you'll hear 'easy as apple pie': That test we did today was really easy as pie, wasn't it?

eat humble pie

When you eat humble pie, you admit your error and apologize (normally): I was forced to eat humble pie when I mistakenly accused him of stealing my mobile phone; he had one exactly like mine, but mine was in my back pocket the whole time!

have one's finger in the pie

- to be involved in something. Often, you'll hear this version:

have one's fingers in too many pies

This happens when you're involved in so many things that you're unable to do any of them well: My son has his finger in too many pies; I told him to just concentrate on one course instead of having to divide his time among the five he's doing right now.

pie in the sky

This refers to a plan or an idea that is rather far-fetched, and is unlikely to bear fruit: All his ideas had been previously dismissed as pie in the sky until he came up with his brilliant add-on to Twitter.

slice of the pie

To want a slice of the pie is to want a part of what is being shared. This expression is used mainly in the USA; the UK equivalent is slice of the cake: This year's education budget has been reduced dramatically, so each school will have a smaller slice of the pie.

couch potato

Originally, this is used to refer to someone who spends a lot of time on the couch (sofa) watching television, but now, it refers to anyone who leads a sedentary lifestyle: You're such a couch potato! It's about time you start doing something other than sitting in front of your computer screen all day!

drop (someone or something) like a hot potato

- to stop being involved with someone or something due to problems. Sometimes, you will hear 'drop like a hot brick' instead: He was dropped from the team like a hot potato when he was seen with the team manager's daughter.

small potatoes

This expression is used mainly in the US. In the UK, it's more common to hear 'small fry'. 'Small beer' also has the same meaning: something or someone unimportant or insignificant: He acts as though he's a big shot in the company, but, in fact, he's nothing but small potatoes.

meat and potatoes (mainly US)

These are the most important or the most basic parts of something. It's also used as an adjective to refer to someone with ordinary tastes, or something that is very basic:

The meat and potatoes of any computer is the RAM.

Sue gave a meat-and-potatoes explanation of the new camera, but everyone understood.

Now that you've learned these idioms, put your knowledge to the test on this interactive activity. Click the image below to begin. Although it isn't necessary, registration at Purpose Games will allow you to keep track of your scores. Have fun!

Be sure to check out the rest of this series on idioms. Go to the index file and search (ctrl F) for 'Idioms'.

A Day In The Life: One Song, Countless Activities: Simple Past Cloze, Phrasal verbs, Vocabulary, etc.

In We Are The Champions, I wrote about several ideas you could do with songs in the classroom, so if you'd missed it, you ought to take a look now.

Warm-up

Play the video, freeze it when Paul McCartney can be seen. Ask if anyone knows him, what they know: the group he belonged to, the instrument he plays, the period the song was written, etc.

Gap-fill

Play the video once, asking them to listen and, at the same time, watch the images carefully. Then, ask them what images they remember seeing, and if the images suggested anything to them.

Before playing a second time, get them to try the gap-fill activity, without asking for help. Remind them that each time they ask for help (?) or a hint, they lose points.

Phrasal Verbs

Once the gap-fill activity has been successfully completed, explain these phrasal verbs to them (after asking them to guess first):

blow out

turn away

turn on

wake up

get out

look up

As most phrasal verbs have multiple meanings, it's best to stick to what they mean in the context of the song, in order not to overly confuse the students.

blow out: the 'blow' here means to break into pieces and the 'out' gives a sense of outward direction.

   The gas explosion blew out all the windows of the house.

There may be no need to draw attention to the graphic imagery of 'he blew his mind out', but you could perhaps ask how he could have done this (answer: by shooting himself). However, if you want to go deeper, John could have been cheeky with his typical double entendre, and meant that the driver was stoned out of his head!

turn away: although 'turn away' is a phrasal verb meaning to refuse to allow someone into a place, here it isn't used as a phrasal verb as such. 'Away' is used as an adverb meaning towards a different direction.

'A crowd of people turned away' meaning if they were looking at the screen, they stopped looking at it by looking at a different direction.

turn on: mmm...this is a tricky one as one of the meanings has a sexual connotation, even a drug-related one perhaps. What was John thinking of when he wrote it? Depending on the age group of your students, you may wish to explain that it means 'getting someone interested in something'.

wake up: wake or wake up means to stop sleeping.

get out: to get out of bed is to leave the bed, especially after sleeping.

look up: As in 'turn away', the 'up' is used as an adverb to mean towards a higher direction.

'And looking up, I noticed I was late': remembering that he's gone downstairs to have a cup (of tea, probably) (you could also ask them about rooms in the house - he'd obviously went down to the kitchen from his bedroom upstairs), he could be looking back up the stairs, but more likely, he was looking up at a clock on the wall, and saw that he was late.

Analysis and interpretation

One could write a doctorate on this song, really! There are many aspects that can be discussed depending on the level and the age group of your students. You can analyse each line and draw multitudes of hidden layers behind John's irony and sarcasm. You can talk about subjects such as urban life, suicide, drug abuse, fame, politics, and so on. Whether he meant it intentionally or not, there is so much to be read behind John's words (and you could guess which were John's words and which were Paul's).

To put it in a nutshell, discuss the lyrics in class. Ask them for their personal interpretation (or work in groups). Compare interpretations. As homework, set a group webquest - ask them to find out interesting things about the song and prepare a presentation (leave the choice to them: could be PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster, Vocaroo, Wallwisher, well, whatever tickles their fancy!)

You can also ask them to add another verse based on a piece of news they have read in the newspapers or heard on the TV.

I have also prepared a short quiz, testing rhymes, synonyms, antonyms and phrasal verbs. If you ask your students to enter your email, their results will be sent to you. Alternatively, if you make sure they enter valid references (such as class/school), ask me, and I'll forward their attempts to you.

Related posts:

Index of all Material by Category
We are the champions: Present Perfect activities
Conditional Type II with Norah Jones
Conditional Type III with Keith Whitley

Dialogue - Ordering by Phone, Interactive Sequencing Activity

This is a short exercise to put a telephone dialogue in the right sequence, appropriate for elementary level.

Related posts:

At a hotel

At the airport check-in desk

At the passport control

Booking into a hotel

In a restaurant

In a shop

Invitation to the cinema

On the telephone

How to create and embed Classtools games into your website

As promised, here's a brief tutorial on creating games using Classtools. Well, actually, not quite ;-P. I just remembered that Teacher Tube has a video tutorial, and it may well save me the effort. I'll embed it here, and if you still have problems, just post a comment and I'll try to help.

One thing worth mentioning, however, is that Classtools host the games in their own server. You cannot download your creation and host them yourself. Whether you use the embed option or the html file, it leads you back to the game in their server.

I've used their games quite a bit. Here are 2 examples:

Irregular Past Simple Arcade Game

Pronunciation of Regular Past Simple Dustbin Game

Related posts:

Index of all material by category
How to create Content Generator games
How to embed or link games in your website
How to force links to open in a new window
How to take a screen shot

How to create and embed Content Generator games into your website

I've had some requests for a tutorial on creating games using Classtools and Content Generator, so here it is - a very quick guide to get you up and running. If you still have problems, let me know and I'll try to help. In this post, I'll explain Content Generator; Classtools will appear in a separate tutorial.

To create games on Content Generator, you will have to download the game creator. They offer 4 free generators: match up, multiple choice, fling the teacher and grade or no grade. To download, go here, click on the one you're interested in, and follow instructions.

I'll show you an example using the Match-up generator. When you start up the program, this is the first screen you'll see:

Choose the first option if you want to create a new quiz. You'll then be invited to input the title of your quiz and your name. When you've done that, click Continue, and here's what you'll get:

Key in your matching pairs. Hint: you can use the tab button to move from box to box.

And, there you have it! The generator creates both a .htm file and a .swf file. You'd need only one. The choice is yours, but bear in mind that some hosting sites do not permit .htm files.

Related posts:

Index of all material by category
How to embed or link games in your website
How to force links to open in a new window
How to take a screen shot

Idioms Part 19 (Food - Fish) Interactive Game

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime".
Chinese Proverb

Cartoon dedicated to Janet Bianchini & Nik Peachey

So, folks, are you still swimming with me? Or did you keep getting egg on your face? The world's an ocean, and this time we'll work with fish.

sounds fishy

When something sounds fishy to you, you find it hard to believe that it is true: He said he just came back from Jamaica, but it sounded rather fishy to me.

a big fish in a small pond

This refers to someone who is important or powerful only in the company of mediocre people, or in a smaller group, and under different circumstances, they wouldn't be so: Jack behaves like a big shot, but really, being a manager of this small branch, he's just a big fish in a small pond.

a cold fish

refers to someone who is unfriendly: The new girl in the office is a bit of a cold fish, isn't she? I'm not sure if she's shy or arrogant...

drink like a fish

If you drink like a fish, you drink often, and in large quantities.

a fish out of water

When you feel like a fish out of water, you are in an unfamiliar situation, and you feel awkward: I was the only one who didn't speak Chinese at the table, so I felt like a fish out of water.

have bigger/other fish to fry

You use this expression to say that you have more important things to do: I've got to rush off now, John; I've got a lot more fish to fry today.

neither fish nor fowl

This is used to refer to something you cannot categorise easily: We just stood there and stared when that strange animal appeared out of the blue. It was neither fish nor fowl!

there are plenty more fish in the sea

You say this when you want to encourage someone who's just had a bad experience, such as losing a job or breaking up with their partner, and it means that there are more opportunities out there: I didn't know what to say to Suzie when she told me her boyfriend had left her, except that there are plenty more fish in the sea.

a different kettle of fish

This is not to be confused with a fine kettle of fish (see below) and means something that is completely different to what you were previously talking about: Joanne is very loud and boisterous, but her sister, Jenny, is a different kettle of fish!

a fine kettle of fish

Don't confuse this with the above. This is used to talk about a situation that is rather unpleasant: I've got a plane to catch in a couple of hours and I can't find my passport! A fine kettle of fish, this is!

OK, now you're ready to put your knowledge to the test! Click on the image at the beginning of the post to begin. Be sure to check out the rest in this series. Go to the index file and search (ctrl F) for 'Idioms'.

       

Idioms Part 18 (Food - Eggs) Interactive Game

This train of idioms is still moving on...and we're now on Part 18. Look through these before you attempt the game (by clicking on the image at the bottom).

a good egg /a bad egg

a good person or a bad person

can't even boil an egg

This is used to say how bad a person cooks: Rashid does all the cooking at home; his wife can't even boil an egg!

have/get egg on your face

When you have egg on your face, you are embarrassed because you have done something very stupid or committed a silly error:  He was bad-mouthing his company to this man at the party last night, but it turned out that the man is his new boss! Boy, did he have egg on his face!

put all your eggs in one basket

When you're risking everything on just one thing, be it an idea, a plan, or even a person, you're said to be putting all your eggs in one basket: Sam's just inherited quite a sum of money, and she's invested it all in her friend's new company. I told her she shouldn't have put all her eggs in one basket.

chicken-and-egg situation

This is a situation where you don't know which the cause is and which the effect is - which came first? The chicken or the egg?

teach one's grandmother to suck eggs

You do this when you give advice to someone who knows more than you: Can you believe that my 7-year-old son was trying to teach me how to use my new mobile phone? It was a bit like teaching his grandmother to suck eggs!

walk on eggs/eggshells

When you're walking on eggs or on eggshells, it means that you're being very careful, especially because you might hurt someone: We've been walking on eggshells in the office lately because our boss has just lost his wife.

Be sure to check out the rest in this series. Go to the index file and search (ctrl F) for 'Idioms'.

       

Conditional Type 3 with Keith Whitley: Interactive Cloze Activity

 

Here's a simple fun activity for you to practise listening and conditionals.

First, listen to the song, and you can follow the lyrics if you want (there are some minor errors).

Then, click on the image below the lyrics, and this will direct you to an interactive cloze activity, prepared using Lucy Georges' Cloze Creator. Try to fill in the gap (with or without listening to the song again).

Tip: You can use the TAB key to move from one gap to the next.

When you've finished, answer these questions:

1.  Under which genre would you classify this song?

2.  What's your opinion of the song?

3.  Did the singer love his lover 'all night long'? How do you know? How does he express this?

4.  Is the singer still with his lover? How do you know?

5.  Construct three sentences with a similar grammatical structure.

Keith Whitley - I Would Have Loved You All Night Long

Thanks to Nik Peachey for telling us about Batlyrics.

20 Most Commonly Misspelt Online Word Search Activity

Thanks to Nik Peachey and Janet Bianchini, I had the chance to put this online embeddable word search to the test. The pedagogical benefits of doing word searches (especially on paper) in classes is highly dubious, and I remember, with horror, how a CLIL teacher I worked with was so fond of doing group activities on them as a means of learning vocabulary. When I suggested other games, he went for bingo in a big way and promptly started using it all the time! Talk about variety!

Anyway, I digress. Being a paperless preacher, I'm naturally pleased to learn of this program. As I mentioned in Janet's blog, I believe word searches have a valid place in our teaching vocabulary resources box, but more as homework, or in the computer lab, as part of a range of other activities rather than using up valuable class time. I also believe, as does David Deubelbeiss, that it's useful to have students prepare a word search themselves. I'd done this last year with a class where a group was assigned the task of preparing a word search on rugby. Doing that on this word search program would have been a piece of cake, and would have freed the students to do other tasks.

Even though I'm very fond of this website, I did find some niggles. I found no way of making corrections, so you'd need to be very careful with your typo. I've requested the creators for some improvements, especially the ability to remove the clues. If and when they comply, I will prepare another word search.

Meanwhile, have a go at this (and your students, too!). Search for these 20 commonly misspelt words (apologies for the inconsistent upper- and lower-case letters). When you've finished, prepare a word search of your own commonly misspelt words. If you copy the embed code and send it to me as a comment, I'll publish it.

To select the word, all you need to do is to click on the first letter of the word, and then click on the last letter. You'll see that the word automatically gets highlighted for a second or two. Or, you can do it the other way by clicking on the last letter first.

Make Your Own Word Search now!