English Banana.com ESL Blog

The latest free material and news from English Banana.com

Monthly Archives: September 2011


by

Get a really fabulous free suite of teaching tools at Triptico!

David Riley at Triptico is offering a fantastic set of materials for teaching which really needs to be seen to be believed! An online teacher told me about the Word Magnets which he was finding really useful for teaching Talk a Lot vocabulary lessons. But there is much more in the set of 20 different tools, which is offered – amazingly – absolutely free.

I contacted David and he told me: ‘The app is free and contains 20 or so interactive resources – all of which can be edited and adapted by teachers to perfectly suit their subject and students.

‘I try to add new resources whenever I have time and also try my best to respond to teacher feedback by updating and improving the resources.

‘As for Word Magnets, I am constantly amazed by the many different ways in which teachers make use of this resource. Grouping, ranking, sorting, etc. activities are very popular – and I have added a number of backgrounds to the resource to help with this.

‘I also made a short video about ‘Mystery Magnets’ – it may be useful too:

http://www.screenr.com/vIf

Thanks, David, for providing a valuable set of resources – for free! I can imagine that they would be especially beneficial to teachers who are lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard in the classroom.


by

Darren Hayes – Bloodstained Heart

I love this new song by Darren Hayes – and the proper video is fantastic (below is the lyric video). The first time I watched it my heart was in my mouth by the end. It’s very moving! For someone who has had This Delicate Thing We’ve Made playing on repeat since it came out in 2007, it’s great to be finally getting a new album from Darren. But this song sets the bar very high… If the new album – Secret Codes And Battleships – matches up, it is going to be amazing!


by

My New Polish Vocabulary Words (05.09.11)

Because I live in Poland, I’m a student of Polish (at pre-intermediate level). I’m currently working through “Polish in 4 Weeks – Level 2” by Marzena Kowalska. It’s a great course book to work through on your own. Here are 15 of the latest vocab items that I’m learning – without diacritical marks, because I haven’t got a Polish keyboard. 😮

brzmiec: to sound, e.g. “sounds interesting”

pobyt: stay

znakomity: great

wliczony: included (e.g. in a hotel package)

odmiane: changes

sluzbowo: on business (adverb)

wywiad: interview

pech: bad luck

jedyny: the only

przestan!: stop it!

zajmowac sie: to deal with

dzial: department

mnie rowniez: me too

nie mozna wytrzymac…: I can’t stand…

magazyn: warehouse