Question of the day

What is your daily routine?

  • Media: Video
  • Language focus: Routines, Verbs

What is your daily routine?

My daily routine is the backbone of my success. I am nauseatingly disciplined and predictable. Even when I’m on vacation, I still need to do some of the same tasks to start the day on the right foot. For example, whether it’s a normal week, or I’m in the woods camping, I must start the day sitting quietly with a hot latte. Even my children have learned not to disturb me during that time.

Making Peace with my Limits

Clearly, somewhere down the road of my life, I have made my peace with the fact that if I don’t eat well, I feel like crap. If I don’t do enough exercise, my jeans get tighter. If I don’t make lists and prioritize, I feel overwhelmed and stressed. And if I don’t get a good night’s sleep, it all goes to hell.

Discipline and Repetition

Undoubtedly, the secret for me is doing the same things, in the same order, every day. It may sound boring, but it works. I don’t even have to think about it. And if I get that evil voice that says “forget the push-ups, just for this morning”, I really try to ignore it. It’s not that I am overly rigid, but in the grand scheme of things, I know what I need to feel good even if that means that while doing it, I feel like I’m dying.

Lesson Notes

For this lesson on daily routines, I found a great animated short that really sparks the good vs the bad habits. So not only can you generate the vocabulary of habits, you might get into a debate about why we need our habits and why it is difficult to maintain the good ones and push the bad ones aside.

You can use the accompanying handout ($1.99 on TPT). It includes key vocabulary and answer key. Or you can just watch the video and discuss with the questions included in this post.

Handout on TPT

Pre discussion

  • What do you do every day?
  • What do you do every week?
  • What do you do every year?
  • What routines make you feel good?
  • What routines make you feel not so good?

The Video: THE CHOICE by Project Better Self

Discussion

  • Make a good and bad list
  • What are some of the choices you make every day that contribute to your health?
  • What happens when you make good choices (mentally, physically)?
  • What are some of your “guilty pleasures”?
  • Is it possible to be too disciplined?
  • Do you agree with everything in the video?
  • If you were to change one thing in the good example, what would it be?

Can you name a tiny awesome thing?

  • Level B1, B2, C1
  • Questions in post (so free)
  • Language focus: vocabulary of things
  • Competency: listening, reading and speaking

Why I Choose Uplifting Topics in my Classroom

I don’t know if you noticed, but given that this blog is dedicated to prompting discussion, most of my topics centre around uplifting positive subjects. It’s not that I am a “positivity shaman” who closes her eyes to the stressful realities in the world. And it certainly does not mean that I feel we need to crush negative feelings or deny ourselves time to grieve, or time to process life’s challenges.

Believe me, I think about difficult and uncomfortable topics too–political authoritarianism, human cruelty, isolation, stigmatization, loss and pain.

But when I step into the classroom, I choose to focus on things that help students feel grounded, hopeful and connected. I chose to talk about things we can control. Things that make us feel safe and seen. Things that build resilience and empathy.

1000 Awesome Things and Counting

That’s why it is no surprise that Neil Pasricha’s TED talk immediately grabbed my attention.

Can you name a tiny awesome thing is the question this work spurs in me. He can name 1000! And can we name more?

From getting the booth table in a restaurant to pulling on a warm pair of underwear just fresh out of the dryer, Pasricha’s blog 1000 Awesome Things, is a smorgasbord of little, everyday moments that often go unnoticed yet spark little joys. Moments that pass through us like tiny flints –quick bright sparks–before disappearing in the recesses of the ordinary unless we don’t stop and take notice of them.

From Thrill to Delight: A Powerful Classroom Resource

What makes this TED Talk such powerful material for a discussion class? First, it is fairly simple from a language perspective, making it ideal for ESL and secondary students. It also includes an immigration story, which might resonate with many of your students, and centres around three themes:

  • Awareness
  • Authenticity
  • Attitude
  • But mostly, it ignites a flood of little scenes that spark anything from quiet comfort to genuine thrill.

Warm up

  • Think of your day yesterday or today. Did anything spark tiny feelings of happiness?
  • If you were to look at the world for the first time, what would you notice?

Video: TED The 3 A’s of awesome by Neil Pasricha

Comprehension Questions

On the TED-Ed site, you will find 8 comprehension questions.

Discussion Questions

  • Can you share a time in your life when a change in attitude helped you through a difficult situation?
  • Why is authenticity important to small joys? (in the video Rosey Grier, the football player, and his love of needlepoint is given as an example)
  • Do you think authenticity makes life easier?
  • Which of the A’s (Attitude, Awareness, Authenticity) do you relate to most?
  • Why do you think it is easier to focus on negative things rather than positive ones?
  • How does social media affect authenticity?

Finally, take a look at the blog and see if you can add to it.

What helps you feel brighter during the darkest, coldest months of the year?

Picture a fireplace roaring, the smell of baked goods in the kitchen, music in the background, a hot beverage, or a little cocktail–you can’t help feeling the warm fuzzies, can you? These are classic soul-lifting ingredients.

Did you know that this is also the basic theme of the Winter Solstice and even the root of many Christmas traditions? After years as an ESL teacher, I find this time of year is sometimes a little tricky to talk about in class. Christmas is exploding everywhere, but not for everyone. That’s why I prefer to introduce the holiday season through its precursor: the Winter Solstice.

Warmth and Light for Everyone

The Winter Solstice is one of the most universal celebrations in the world — and one of the easiest for ESL students to connect to, no matter their cultural or religious background. What makes it so rich for class discussion is that it’s a non-denominational event based on nature, not religion. The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and it can get a little depressing when the sun goes down at 4:00 p.m. We need a collective “pick-me-up” do you think?

How to we do this? We respond to this darkness in similar ways across the world: we decorate with lights, share food, exchange gifts, listen to music, and gather with people we love. These traditions help us feel hope and joy during a cold and difficult time of year.

The Comfort of Traditions

Many modern celebrations, including Christmas, use symbols that come from ancient solstice traditions. For example, decorating trees with lights, sharing meals, and giving gifts are always to bring light into the darkness — both literally and emotionally.

If you want to discuss traditions with your students, I found this interesting article in Reader’s Digest on festive traditions around the world. Then I suggest you open the discussion with some traditions your students might like to share under the umbrella of “Making Spirits Bright.”

Warm up

  • Mind map some of these words (which are also in the article): darkness, light, hope, feast, tradition, comfort, gather, celebrate, return, gift-giving
  • Why does giving and receiving gifts make people feel good?
  • Do you celebrate something in winter?
  • What helps you feel connected to others?

The article: 15 Fascinating Winter Solstice Traditions Around the World

Discussion Questions

  • What is the Winter Solstice — why is it significant for many cultures?
  • Name two different solstice traditions from around the world described in the article. What do people do in those traditions?
  • Why do many solstice celebrations involve food, family gatherings, or rituals at night or with lights? What might these actions “represent”?
  • According to the article, how is the solstice connected to some modern holidays (or winter celebrations)?
  • Which of the solstice traditions you read about would you like to try?
  • Why is community especially important during the darker, colder months? Is there a downside to getting together?
  • In your own culture (or family), are there traditions or habits that feel similar to solstice celebrations.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Turn off the lights and get the flashlights out.–it’s time for some ghost stories! When I was a teenager, we used to break out the Ouija board and pretend that spirits were floating around us, trapped in a silent world desperate to make contact. The room would be hushed, someone would stiffle a nervous laugh and furtive glances would dart to see who truly believed and who was just pretending. We’d ask the “Ouija Master” all kinds of crazy questions, haf-convinced that as the glass slid along the board, we were brushing against the world beyond.

To be honest, I’m not sure what I believe when it comes to ghosts, but I do love a good ghost story. So many evenings spent swapping tales of flickering candles, Grandma’s favourite serving dish mysteriously appearing on the table, ghost dogs coming to deliver warnings, and shadows creeping along the walls before vanishing into the corners. Just writing about it is giving me goose bumps.

Here is my suggestion: invite your students to share ghost stories of their own– it can be inspired a real experience or totally invented. Alternatively, have them read this article and summarize one of the 10 real-life ghost stories. Then gather everyone in a circle, turn off the lights, and set the mood by playing a virtual fire on your smartboard or even on a tablet or Chromebook placed in the center. Now let the storytelling begin!

Warm up

  • Do you believe in ghosts? Why and why not.
  • Why do you think horror movies and ghost stories are popular?

Article: 10 Scary Ghost Stories to Make You Sleep With the Lights On-(source: USA Today)

Discussion Questions

  • The article mentions places being “haunted” because of their history or atmosphere. What factors make a place feel haunted? Can you think of a place you know that would fit those factors?
  • Which type of explanation seemed most convincing to you, and why?
  • If you were to write your own ghost story (based on the article’s style), what setting would you choose (house, hotel, old forest, etc.) and what would the ghost be trying to say or do?
  • What lesson(s) do you think a ghost story can teach us (even if we don’t believe in ghosts)?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Do you talk to strangers?

Do you talk to strangers? Maybe we should.

Did your mother tell you not to talk to strangers? Mine did. Was that really good advice? Of course, we don’t want to compromise the safety of our children and we are not all social butterflies. We have our personalities and our boundaries and it is important to respect ourselves in that way.

How to break isolation

But isn’t there something alarmist, maybe even cold, about stranger danger? Are we encouraging isolation, apathy, disengagement, fear, tribalism? Even though it is natural to gravitate toward people who have familiar ideas and beliefs, could we be missing something in those who are different from us?

In Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “Talking to Strangers” he exposes how opening ourselves up to others has a lot to teach us. But it is not all touchy-feely shiny happy people communing. Talking to strangers can be very destabilizing and may even reveal or confirm that there are some twisted people out there. Not everyone is truthful and not everyone is empathetic. But some are, and by closing ourselves off for fear of landing on a bad one, we are pruning our outlook and our own empathy.

Talking to strangers is the key to more peace

Justin Trudeau’s keynote address to the NYU graduates takes this notion to the next level. He calls us out on our hidden biases, our fears, our tribalism. He wants to inspire us to have courage and get to know those who make us uncomfortable, get to know those who don’t resemble us and get to know those who don’t think like us. For him, and perhaps for Gladwell as well, talking to strangers is the path to world peace…no less.

Warm up

  • What do you think talking to strangers can achieve?
  • Why is it so difficult for us?

The Video: Justin Trudeau Diversity doesn’t have to be a weakness!

Discussion Questions

  • What are some of the main messages that stuck with you?
  • What does Trudeau mean when he talks about ‘tribalism’?
  • What does he mean when he says “win the argument”?
  • What can we do to know the good strangers from the bad strangers? Are there tools, tricks?
  • Do you think Trudeau is being naïve? In what way?
  • What are some of the ‘juicy’ words and expressions? Make a list and see if you can put them in other sentences.

What is your comfort food?

What is your comfort food? I dare you to NOT think of the answer. Too late? I bet your favourite dish is already in your mind. Maybe you are even seeing a memory or a person attached to this dish. Is it something your mother made when you were sick? Something you eat at Christmas? Is it sweet or salty?

Healthy…probably not

Chances are your comfort food is not too healthy. Right? Generally speaking, comfort foods are hardy, starchy and fatty. All great words that describe food. And that is exactly what you will find in this Insider Food video featuring 20 different people from 20 different cultures describing their comfort food.

But it makes me happy

Food makes people happy, conjures memories, and heals us when we are sick or sad and is often the heart of most celebrations. It is also a super fun thing to talk about. It ties in food, feelings, events and people, thus a nice integrated vocabulary exercise. The perfect Whole Language exercise.

While you listen

This video is chalk-a-block full of vocabulary, so I made a Google docs handout available through Teachers Pay Teachers to help collect the essential ideas. Or you can try this cool interactive worksheet. Of course, if you are working with more advanced students, you might want to ditch the handout and just let the students note what they can. Rember you can turn the CC on and slow down the video.

Google Docs Handout

Pre Discussion

  • Just to get the food words flowing, do a Mind Map
  • What is your comfort food?
  • Why?

The Video: 20 Comfort Foods From around the world

Discussion

  • Which story did you find the most interesting?
  • Which dish have you tried?
  • Which dish would you like to try?
  • What do most of the dishes have in common?
  • What were some of the reasons the dishes were considered comforting?

7 types of icebreakers that will get your students laughing, thinking and connecting

The art of asking the perfect question is my own personal Mona Lisa. It is the element in my practice that I am always improving and perfecting. In fact, I even made a little video about some of the cognitive elements involved in questions.

Let go of perfection

Crafting a perfect question takes audience intuition, subject knowledge and most of all genuine curiosity about the result. But getting it right can be a mix of experience, trial and error and just plain luck. Jump in with something you find interesting and see where it takes you.

Have my questions bombed? Oh yes. Have I had the uncomfortably long blank stare? Yep. I have even been asked why on earth I would ask such a boring question. Ouch.

Most of all, when you are ‘on’ and right in the middle of a lesson, you need a certain amount of preparation, as well as have enough spontaneity to roll with the group if they want to go another way.

listen for patterns

It is the simplest yet the most powerful tool to see how articulate and fluid your students are. If you can, try to set an intention for what you listen for. Perhaps you can focus on speaking patterns like verbs, or use of modals, or vocabulary from previous lessons. If you notice mistakes, try to pick the most prevalent pattern and then give it some attention. Or perhaps you notice that the students are incorporating a bunch of previously learned vocabulary–make sure you point it out and praise them.

Question Tag-You’re it!

During the COVID confinement, I taught an online conversation course with about 10 students at a time. To allow everyone to speak, we played a game I called “question-tag”.

Students choose a question from the list and ask another classmate. Then that classmate is “it” and chooses the next question and classmate. Simple concept, but it puts the control in the students’ hands and adds just a touch of suspense to keep people engaged.

Want to play…You can use these 7 types of icebreakers to get going. The questions are meant as a corporate team-building exercise. Thus they are authentic and funny. Let me know how it turns out.

How exactly does gender work?

Books have been written about it, alcohol-based dinners never go without it, and more recently, we are digging into what defines it.  Put simply, what are the differences between men and women? This TED talk by biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu really got my attention. First of all because she presents some of the new discoveries from epigenetics and research in DNA that explain the differences between men and women from a biological perspective. Gotta love science. This lesson is filled with tons of scientific vocabulary to describe how DNA works to create gender differences.

However, here is the twist, Sanbonmatsu, a transgender scientist, also talks about the challenges she faced through her struggle with her own identity. This content is layered and complex. On one hand the objective is to help science-based students become more verbal with DNA related vocabulary–an important corner stone topic for biologists. But beyond that, the speaker pulls in the social challenges of the “old boys club” that exists in the scientific community as well as the very misunderstood transgenderism.

Pre discussion

  • What are some of the theories you have heard about the differences between men and women?
  • Do you think there are differences?
  • What does it mean to be transgender?

The Video: The Biology of Gender

There are really two aspects in this video mashed up together. 1) Sanbonmatsu shares the science of gender. 2) Sanbonmatsu talks about the reactions of her scientific community towards transgenderism.

I would first untangle each aspect.

  • What does the latest research tell us about gender?
  • What is the behaviour of our DNA?
  • How is Sanbonmatsu contributing to a society of tolerance inclusion?
  • Why does Sanbonmatsu expose the scientific community as being especially hard on her choices?
  • Do you think there are other social circles where transgenderism is more difficult?
  • What about less difficult?

I leave you with that for the weekend…have a good one.

Mel

Why do we believe weird things?

  • Level: B1, B2, C1
  • Handout on TPT
  • Media: Video
  • Language focus: beliefs, superstitions, conspiracy theories, fake news, disinformation.

Why do we believe weird things?

Fake news, misinformation, disinformation, these concepts are all over the media. We all know it’s out there, but how can we tell what is true and what is fake? First, let’s play a game…

True or False

  • Salt makes water boil quicker.
  • You should never swim right after you eat
  • Some people are more right-brain thinkers and others more left-brain thinkers.
  • Toilets flush differently in the southern hemisphere than the northern hemisphere.
  • Einstein failed math.
  • Humans and dinosaurs co-existed
  • Vaccines cause autism.
  • You need to wait 24 hours to file a missing person’s report.
  • We use only 10% of our brain.
  • Most of our body heat leaves through our heads.
  • You should never wake a sleepwalker.
  • Bats are blind.
  • Alcohol keeps you warm.
  • Sugar creates hyper children.
  • Your hair and nails keep growing after you die.
  • Slaves built the pyramids in Egypt.

In case you use this to generate discussion with your class, I won’t give you the answers. You could invite your students to check for themselves at Readers Digest.

It’s your brain’s fault

Famous debunker and Skeptic.com’s editor-in-chief  Michael Shermer gives us a bit of insight into how our brain is wired to makes us believe weird things.  He explains and demonstrates how things like priming and cognitive bias are natural neurological predispositions that lead us to faulty conclusions. This discussion utilizes vocabulary in both pure science and psychology to demonstrate, in very cool ways, how media can create what I will term “information blind spots.”

Lesson Notes

***Caution! I did this lesson with a high intermediate student and they were overwhelmed with Shermer’s speed. I would recommend slowing the video down and using this True/False handout to explain and explore some of the vocabulary and concepts in the video. Have your students read through the statements and make predictions about the possible answers. Then have your students watch the video to confirm or correct their original impressions.

warm up

Go through the handout and predict which statements are true or false.

The Video: Why People Believe Weird Things

Discussion

  • What makes us believe weird things…make a Mind Map of all the elements you hear?
  • Are you a skeptic?
  • Why don’t we listen to science?

Enjoy!

Mel

Do you believe in luck?

  • Level: A1, A2, B1, B2
  • Handout: Free on TPT
  • Media: Video
  • Language focus: emotions, actions, comparisons

Do you believe in luck?

I once introduced one of my girlfriend’s to a boy that seemed to be a good match for her. When I asked if things had worked out, she said no. She said he was nice, but he did not seem to have luck. She said it as if ‘luck’ was something you could be born with.

Is luck something you are born with?

That was such a strange way of looking at luck. It made me realize that this idea can be seen in so many different ways depending on your culture, your beliefs and perhaps your superstitions.

On the one hand, it can open up discussions on gratefulness, positivity and recognizing all the things in our lives that make us feel lucky…our children, our health, various aspects of our lives that make us happy.

Luck and Culture

But luck can also be explored culturally. For instance, in Japanese mythology, the Seven Gods of Luck are believed to have the power to grant luck. Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism, also have gods or figures that are believed to bestow luck. I suppose this means that you can believe in luck like you would believe in god. Or that if you are unlucky, it may be because you don’t deserve luck.

In this wordless animated short by Mike Bidinger & Michelle Kwon called Jinxy Jenkins & Lucky Lou, yet another facet of luck is explored. Jinxy is a walking disaster. Every step he takes is laced with misfortune. He is nervous and unhappy all the time. Conversely, Lou is so lucky she seems bored and unchallenged. I will let you watch to see what happens when the two meet.

Lesson Notes

Warm up

Free on TPT

When I taught this lesson, I used this template to collect the answers. Feel free to use it too. It is a free handout on Teacher Pay Teachers. I included the results of our discussion in case you need some ideas to prime your discussion.

  • Do you think you are lucky?
  • What makes you feel lucky?
  • Does your culture have any beliefs or superstitions about luck?

The Video: Jinxy Jenkins & Lucky Lou by Mike Bidinger & Michelle Kwon

Discussion Questions

  • What actions or events in the movie make the girl (Lou) lucky?
  • What actions or events make the boy (Jinxy) unlucky?
  • Why do you think Jinxy is so unlucky? Is there anything in his attitude?
  • Why do you think Lou is so lucky?
  • What happens when they meet?
  • Why does Lou seem unhappy about being lucky?
  • Do you have any examples in your life where luck was important?
  • Would you be happy if you were as lucky as Lou?

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