Listen to an interview with an executive of a well-known publishing house, where he discusses the impact of bookshop closures on the publishing business.
Before you listen, think about what your answers to these questions would be, off the top of your head:
Do publishers rely heavily on physical shops for their book sales, or is the online market more substantial?
What book genres are selling well at the moment?
Are new books scheduled to be launched in the near future?
Is there going to be a new crop of writers emerging from lockdown?
[Your predictions may not be right. However, they can help you spot the right information when it comes up during the interview- you may become more alert to specific data or key words if you are waiting for them to appear to check whether your prediction was right or wrong].
Now, listen to the interview. Take notes to answer the questions above. You can listen to the extract twice.
Listen to some short extracts from interviews with world-famous writers. Match each extract (1 – 6) with the best heading (A-H) and write the letter in the appropriate box. ONE of the headings does not correspond to any of the extracts. The first extract is an example. You can listen to the clips twice.
El CARLEE organiza los talleres de ámbito autonómico “Ideas on How to Use Literature in the ESL Classroom”, dirigidos a docentes especialistas de lengua inglesa en secundaria. En ellos se aportarán ideas prácticas para trabajar textos literarios en el aula de lengua inglesa. Se trabajarán textos como Boy, Revolting Rhymes, o las historias cortas ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘The Landlady’ y ‘The Great Automatic Grammatizator’, de Roald Dahl; Wonder, de R.J. Palacio; poemas de Michael Rosen como ‘Chocolate Cake’ o ‘No Breathing in Class’, o fragmentos de The World’s Worst Teachers, de David Walliams. También se planteará cómo los recursos estilísticos propios de la literatura están presentes en canciones pop o anuncios.
Los talleres se realizarán en el CARLEE (C/ Eugenio Lucas s/n, Zaragoza), en las siguientes fechas y horarios:
FECHA
HORARIO
CONTENIDO
lunes 11 de noviembre 2019
17.00-19.00
Roald Dahl: Boy, Matilda, Revolting Rhymes
miércoles 13 de noviembre 2019
17.00-19.00
Roald Dahl’s short stories: ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘The Landlady’, ‘The Great Automatic Grammatizator’
lunes 18 de noviembre 2019
17.00-19.00
Literary devices in pop songs / Wonder
miércoles 20 de noviembre 2019
17.00-19.00
Michael Rosen: ‘No Breathing in Class’, ‘Chocolate Cake’; David Walliams’s The World’s Worst Teachers
La actividad se plantea como una serie de talleres independientes. Se certificarán entre 2 y 8 horas de formación, en función del número de talleres a los que se haya asistido.
This is a list of books for children, teenagers and young adults, by no means comprehensive, which could be used as reading material in the English classroom, or as recommendations for independent reading:
In a world where social media prevail (or can it be ‘prevails’?), it might be interesting to bring them into the classroom. Basically, because the language to be used in social media is sometimes different to the language of other media, or may require some adaptation; therefore should be dealt with in class. On top of that, because this kind of communicative activity may prove motivating for students, regardless of their ages.
You can find below a list of online tools and apps I have been using lately. For all of the tools described below, my advice to students (and teachers) is for the tweets/texts to be typed on a word document/pages document first, then copy and paste them onto the website or app. That way, if something happens (if the connection gets lost, for example), you will still keep a copy of your work.
Fake Twitter generators:
Twister– very quick. Just type the (invented) username of the tweeter, their real name, and the tweet. It will create a ‘twister’ post in seconds, with a picture of the person/ character.
*Tip: if you’re creating the tweets on a laptop/desktop, when you finish your tweet you can click on the button “save image”. However, if you’re using a tablet, iPad, or any mobile device, the button is likely not to work. Try taking a screenshot instead.
Fakebook: ‘Fakebook’ page, can include character bio, posts, interactions with other users… Different students can access the page if the teacher shares the code.
example- Fakebook page for Nicola Thorp– a British actress who started a petition against dress code in the office. (Started by me as a teacher, comments by students).
Fake text messages / WhatsApp:
Fake WhatsApp texts: up to two characters / people can take part in the conversation. Plenty of options: delivered, read; time; emojis…
text created by teachers in a CPD course
Fake iPhone messages: the conversation can include up to three characters. You can customise the operator, battery, signal, time…
Texting Story: This Android and iOs free app allows you to showcase dialogues between several characters as if they were texting. The product you get is not an image, but a video of their conversation.
WhatsPrank (iOs app)- to create fake WhatsApp texts, including the icon for audio messages.
What kinds of activities can you do with these websites and apps?
Turn any ‘write a dialogue between’ activity into an ‘imagine the texts that X sent to Y, and their reply’ activity.
Create profiles for (and write comments about) historical characters
Rewrite well-known plots (literature, film, TV shows), or imagine how they could be retold in tweets, or the conversations the characters could have at a certain point in the plot.
Create custom conversations/social media posts as input for a mediation activity in the classroom (Not recommended for exams-whatever input you provide should be real-life material).
Can you think of other activities? Would you like to share your thoughts on this? Leave a comment.
Finally, Roald Dahl wrote several short stories for adults, some of which have to do with crimes. You may read “Lamb to the Slaughter“, for example, or “The Landlady“. You can also watch TV episodes based on the stories.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents– “Lamb to the Slaughter” (directed by Alfred Hitchcock, script by Roald Dahl based on his own short story):
Tales of the Unexpected (Anglia Television)- “The Landlady” (introduced by Roald Dahl):
