Missing editorial We asked—you said: Reactions to the first issue This looks great! Congratulations on the initia- tive! Make it last... Martina Šturm, Senior Adviser, Education and Teacher Training Agency Wow, what a great newsletter!!!! Jon Noble, Adjunct Lecturer; Center for English as a Second Language - University of Arizona Bravo! It is excellent! I really, really like it! Romana Gašpar, School of Economics and Tourism, Daruvar It’s a splendid idea. A truly activists’ move! Eamonn Shanahan, teacher trainer, British Council I was rendered speechless. Nikolina Huđber Mesar Elementary School Čazma Ever since John McConnell has presented the idea of celebrating our planet on a UNESCO conference back in 1969, April 22 nd has been known as Earth Day. The date marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environ- mental movement in 1970. It is a day when more than a billion people all over the globe – the young, the old, the tall and the small, together or as individuals – rec- ognize this astounding planet we are blessed to live on and play their part in order to protect it. In Croatia, this date has been regularly marked on a larger scale since 1990. This year we mark the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day under the slogan “The Face of Climate Change”. Check out the official website of this year’s Earth Day and upload your photo to help build a global mosiac. ▪ M.I. http://www.earthday.org/2013/ Inside this issue: William Shakespeare 2 DIY: Adapt a Shakespeare play 3 STUDENTS’ CORNER Fun facts 4 STUDENTS’ CORNER Harlem Shake 4 STUDENTS’ CORNER How to... 5 TEACHERS’ CORNER Verbing 6 TEACHERS’ CORNER Why is pronunciation important? 6 APRIL 2013 ISSUE 02 /13 Monthly newsletter for and by English learners and teachers in Bjelovar-bilogora county Editors: Maja Ivanović, prof. Komercijalna i trgovačka škola Bjelovar Irena Pavlović, prof. mentor Srednja škola Čazma email: [email protected]DID YOU KNOW? Earth Day The Earth Day Flag Contributors to this issue: It was a cold morning on March 25th, and although Easter was only a week away, it felt more like we were headed on an Advent trip. Nonetheless, spirits were high, expectations even higher as the bus full of hard core Gibonni fans set off to Budapest for a night of exceptional music and new friendships. Irena and I were invited to be a part of the promo- tion of Gibonni’s new album “20 th Cen- tury Man”. This is his first album to be released for the European market and is completely in English. So, you can imag- ine the thrill this had given us! A track list of ten songs, written by Gibonni himself, makes up a great new album which we practically learned by heart by the time we reached our destination. The concert at Papp Laszlo Arena was amazing. Gibonni gave his best and had completely taken in his audience. Needless to say, the whole concert hall was on their feet, singing and dancing in time with the beat. The highlight of the eve- ning was meeting Gibonni in the lounge bar Spoon on the Danube, where he thanked his fans for support by signing his new CD we were given as a gift. Finally, we have to add that the situation re- lated to the Hungarians speaking English has much improved in the recent years. Contrary to the widespread stereotype, Hungarians speak pretty decent English and neither shop- ping nor dining presented an obstacle. All in all, a day so etched in our memories we barely had the time to think of anything else... let alone editorials. ▪ M.I. Ivan Golubić, High School Čazma Ivan Diktić, High School Čazma Nikola Nesvadba, High School Čazma Kristian Pintar, Grammar School Bjelovar Mihovil Sudar, High School Čazma Silvije Devald, Vladimir Nazor Primary School, Daruvar Ivančica Puškarić, Braća Ribar Primary School, Sisak Emilia Wallheim, Comenius Assistant in VNPS, Daruvar
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Transcript
Missing editorial
We asked—you said: Reactions to the first issue
This looks great!
Congratulations on the initia-
tive! Make it last... Martina Šturm,
Senior Adviser, Education and
Teacher Training Agency
Wow, what a great newsletter!!!!
Jon Noble, Adjunct Lecturer;
Center for English as a
Second Language - University of Arizona
Bravo! It is excellent! I really,
really like it!
Romana Gašpar, School of Economics and
Tourism, Daruvar
It’s a splendid idea. A truly
activists’ move! Eamonn Shanahan,
teacher trainer, British Council
I was rendered speechless. Nikolina Huđber Mesar
Elementary School Čazma
Ever since John McConnell has presented
the idea of celebrating our planet on a
UNESCO conference back in 1969, April
22nd has been known as Earth Day. The
date marks the anniversary of what many
consider the birth of the modern environ-
mental movement in 1970. It is a day
when more than a billion people all over
the globe – the young, the old, the tall and
the small, together or as individuals – rec-
ognize this astounding planet we are
blessed to live on and play their part in
order to protect it. In Croatia, this date
has been regularly marked on a larger
scale since 1990. This year we mark the
43rd anniversary of Earth Day under the
slogan “The Face of Climate Change”.
Check out the official website of this
year’s Earth Day and upload your photo
to help build a global mosiac. ▪M.I.
http://www.earthday.org/2013/
Inside this issue:
William Shakespeare 2
DIY: Adapt a
Shakespeare play
3
STUDENTS’ CORNER
Fun facts 4
STUDENTS’ CORNER
Harlem Shake 4
STUDENTS’ CORNER
How to... 5
TEACHERS’ CORNER
Verbing 6
TEACHERS’ CORNER
Why is pronunciation
important?
6
AP
RIL
2013
ISS
UE
02 /
13
Monthly newsletter for and by English learners and teachers in Bjelovar-bilogora county
Editors: Maja Ivanović, prof. Komercijalna i trgovačka škola Bjelovar Irena Pavlović, prof. mentor Srednja škola Čazma email: [email protected]
DID YOU KNOW?
Earth Day
The Earth Day Flag
Contributors to this issue:
It was a cold morning on March 25th,
and although Easter was only a week
away, it felt more like we were headed
on an Advent trip. Nonetheless, spirits
were high, expectations even higher as
the bus full of hard core Gibonni fans set
off to Budapest for a night of exceptional
music and new friendships. Irena and I
were invited to be a part of the promo-
tion of Gibonni’s new album “20th Cen-
tury Man”. This is his first album to be
released for the European market and is
completely in English. So, you can imag-
ine the thrill this had given us! A track list
of ten songs, written by Gibonni himself,
makes up a great new album which we
practically learned by heart by the time
we reached our destination. The concert
at Papp Laszlo Arena was amazing. Gibonni
gave his best and had completely taken in his
audience. Needless to say, the whole concert
hall was on their feet, singing and dancing in
time with the beat. The highlight of the eve-
ning was meeting Gibonni in the lounge bar
Spoon on the Danube, where he thanked his
fans for support by signing his new CD we
were given as a gift.
Finally, we have to add that the situation re-
lated to the Hungarians speaking English has
much improved in the recent years. Contrary
to the widespread stereotype, Hungarians
speak pretty decent English and neither shop-
ping nor dining presented an obstacle.
All in all, a day so etched in our memories we
barely had the time to think of anything else...
let alone editorials. ▪M.I.
Ivan Golubić,
High School Čazma
Ivan Diktić,
High School Čazma
Nikola Nesvadba,
High School Čazma
Kristian Pintar,
Grammar School Bjelovar
Mihovil Sudar,
High School Čazma
Silvije Devald, Vladimir Nazor Primary School,
Daruvar
Ivančica Puškarić, Braća Ribar Primary School,
Sisak
Emilia Wallheim, Comenius Assistant in VNPS,
Daruvar
N o playwright is quoted as often
as he is, no plays are better
known around the world,
there's an incredible 150 million pages
devoted to him on Google, yet, he is
still unavoidable - at least in April. La-
dies and gentlemen, Mister William
Shakespeare and some of the less
known facts about him.
I t is most likely that William Shake-
speare died on his 52nd birthday.
He was born in April 1564 and
died on 23rd April 1616. It is certain
that he was baptised on 26th April
1564 which, due to established custom
of that time, makes scholars believe he
was born three days earlier. Moreover,
April 23rd is St George’s Day - how
appropriate that Shakespeare is closely
identified with the patron saint of Eng-
land.
H e married Anne Hathaway at
the age of 17. She was 26 and
pregnant at the time. Their
first child, Susanna, was born six
months after the wedding. The twins,
Judith and Hamnet, were born in 1585.
The son Hamnet died as a child; Judith
had no children and Shakespeare's only
granddaughter Elizabeth – daughter of Susanna – died childless. Therefore,
Shakespeare has no descendants.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE "Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations." Oscar Wilde
Page 2 STUDENTS’ CORNER
William Shakespeare,
portrait by Dario Kirin, Čazma high school
Expressions coined by Shakespeare
which are still used.
RIP Shakespeare was buried in a church in
Stratford-upon-Avon, his home town,
and apparently put a curse on anyone
daring to move his body. His epitaph
was:
Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Needless to say, his remains are still
undisturbed.
What a career... During his life, he wrote 37
plays and 154 sonnets! It is believed
that he wrote even more plays which
have been lost - scholars assert that he
wrote twenty more that have gone
without a trace. Besides that, he was
also an actor and often performed in
theatre. It is highly likely that he played
the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You
Like It.
Did he or didn't he? Some scholars have claimed that
Shakespeare did not write the Shake-
speare plays, with at least fifty writers
having been suggested as the “real”
author. However, the evidence is his
favour is very strong.
Can't spell his surname?
Neither could he! Some of Shakespeare’s original signa-
tures have survived and in none of
them does he spell his name in what
has become the standard way. He
spells it Shakespe; Shakspe; Shakspere
and Shakespear.
Daniel Day-Lewis?
No, the President himself! The American President Abraham Lin-
coln was Shakespeare’s fan and known
for reciting his plays to his friends. His
assassin, John Wilkes Booth was a fa-
mous Shakespearean actor.
Shakespeare around the world...or the galaxy
Two of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet and
Much Ado About Nothing, have been
translated into Klingon. ▪ I.P.
Creatively speaking, there aren't many original
ideas left. All kinds of art pull from the past, revis-
iting what was good about it and giving it a mod-
ern flare. And what is better than William Shake-
speare? The themes and plots he wrote about are
recurring throughout history, proving that human
nature is basically the same across time and place.
Want to set a play? Adapt one of his.
1. Use your own voice to create the dia-
logue. The play needs to be adapted mainly
because the original language now falls flat on
our ears. Use modern vocabulary and allusions
that will do the trick with contemporary audi-
ences.
2. Go for a theme that resonates now.
Find something people talk about nowadays,
possibly something causing controversies.
3. Adapt the number of characters. It's
simple - you’ll stack the odds against your play
if the number of characters requires more
than a dozen performers to play them all.
4. Make it short. In the good old days plays
took audiences for long rides; it doesn't work
nowadays. If it takes more than 45 minutes, it's
highly likely you'll lose your audiences to Face-
book and Twitter - 21st century viewers are
multitaskers with a rather short attention
span. ▪ I.P.
DO IT YOURSELF:
ADAPT A SHAKESPEARE PLAY
A humorous perception of Shakespearean tragedies.
Ghost: Son...now listen to me very carefully, I shall say this only once. Ham: What's with the accent?
Ghost: I am your father's spirit from the future. I came to tell you sth about your father Ham: My father's dead...
(Ghost bitchslaps Hamlet)
Ghost: I know that... But do you know how he died? Ham: dunno...I got his horse, who cares...? Ghost: He was murdered!!
Hamlet: Dude, u've been watchin' to much CSI... Ghost: No, you botox fancy-pants moron, he was really murdered!
Hamlet: OK, let's say he was murdered...How would you know that? Ghost: Because, I AM your father... Hamlet: ...Wait, I thought he was dead...
Ghost: He...I mean, I am...I'm his ghost... Hamlet: No way.
Ghost: Yes way... Hamlet: Can you fly and go through walls'n'stuff...? Ghost: Yes, but that's not the point...I have to tell who killed me?
Hamlet: Was it my evil stepbrother? Ghost: You dont' have a stepbrother...
Hamlet: Yeah, right...I forgot...I give up. Ghost: He's now on my throne, and is beloved by my wife... Hamlet: Well, Mum does like the iPod, and I thought that's what killed you.
(Ghost slaps Hamlet) Ghost: No, you negative IQ offspring of mine. YOUR UNCLE!!! Hamlet: MY UNCLE?
Ghost: YOUR UNCLE!
Hamlet: YOUR BROTHER?
Ghost: MY BROTHER! Hamlet: MY BRO...sorry...MY UNCLE?!? Ghost: OK, Nevermind the bollocks...You have to revenge me...
Hamlet: How? Ghost: You have to kill him...In order to avenge my death. That's
how it goes... Hamlet: It would be easier to take a ring to Mt. Doom and stay
alive...
Ghost: This isn't a movie, Hamlet. You have to do it... Hamlet: I won't... Ghost: You have to...
Hamlet: Nope... Ghost: But...I'm your father...
Hamlet: So...?
Ghost: ......I'll get you the Playstation 3...? Hamlet: ....OK...
Ghost: Allright...I'm gonna go talk to your mother now. Hamlet: OK, bye...
Ghost: Beware, my son... (Hamlet turns away and goes) Hamlet: ...the 60's wasted him...
(Horatio enters)
Horatio: Yo, Hammy, I got some herbs!!!
Hamlet: Not now, I have some stuff to do... Horatio: Where are you going? Hamlet: I gotta go and whack my uncle...
Horatio: Cool, can I come?
Hamlet: Yeah, whatever...▪ I.G., I.D. & N.N.
ADAPTATION OF HAMLET
Page 3
Students performing
W. Shakespeare’s adaptation,
Čazma high school
The word 'news' didn't come
as a plural of 'new'. It came from the first letters of the words: North, East, West and
South. This was because the information was gathered
from all directions.
The word 'Canada' comes from Indians and means 'big
village'.
In English a group of fish/dolphins/whales is called a
school.
The word 'set' according to
Oxford English Dictionary has 192 definitions. There's
no word in English with more
definitions.
A hamlet is a village without a church. And a town is not a
city until it has a cathedral.
The idiom 'It’s raining cats
and dogs' originated in 17th century England. During heavy rains, many poor
an ima ls unfor t unate ly drowned and their bodies
would be seen floating in the rain torrents that raced
through the streets. That looked like it had really
rained 'cats and dogs' and led to the expression used
today.
Before the year 1000, the
word 'she' didn't exist in English. Instead people used
the word 'heo' which was also used for the plural of
all genders. The word 'she' appeared about 200 years
later, probably derived
from the Wiking word 'seo.'
The term 'Junk food' was
first used in 1970's.
And, in the end, did you know that 80% of all communication
Have you read this? Have you seen this? Have you heard this?
Although released back in 2008,
The Host, Stephenie Meyer's (yeah,
the Twilight author) romance science
fiction novel came under spotlight
again due to its romantic-SF-action-
thriller adaptation that came out at
the end of March. It introduces
Souls, an alien race taking over the
Earth, describing one Soul's pre-
dicament when her human host's
mind refuses to cooperate with her
takeover. Completely different,
riveting and unforgettable, and
Meyer apparently promised two
sequels. Can't wait! ▪ I.P.
We all know L. Frank Baum's story
about the adventures of young
Dorothy in the Land of Oz, after
being swept away from her Kansas
home in a tornado. This year, the
story gets a new twist with Sam
Raimi's adaptation called Oz The
Great and Powerful. The film intro-
duces a small-time magician arriv-
ing in an enchanted land who's
forced to decide if he will be a
good man or a great one. Imagina-
tive and enthralling! ▪ I.P.
Though it's hard to decide which
date will be celebrated as The
Beatles 50th anniversary, we'll take
March 22nd 1963 as the starting
point since that's when their first
album was released. In their hon-
our, I recommend an old compilation
of virtually every number-one single
released in the UK and US. Aptly
named, 1 has 27 tracks and was a
commercial success which topped
the charts worldwide. A must-have
in everyone's home collection. ▪ I.P.
Tips for tests - useful strategies for the matura exam
Gapped text
Some sentences have been
removed form the text.
You will find them after the
text but not in the right order.
This task tests how you can understand the structure and
the organization of the text.
STRATEGY:
1) Read the whole text and focus on the parts of
the text before and after the gap.
2) Read the sentences that have been removed
from the text. Pay attention to language links
(pronouns, articles, possessive adjectives) and
topic links between the text and the offered
sentences and decide what they refer to (before
and after the gap).
REMEMBER, the sentence must fit both the
meaning and the grammar before and after the
gap.
3) Decide on a sentence for each gap.
4)Read the text again to check if it makes sense
(if you decide to change an answer, and use the
sentence in a different part of the text, you will
probably also need to change two or more other
answers).
Drawing by:
Monika Petrović, 17 KTŠ Bjelovar
Do you Google? Of course you do. Just like you Facebook and tweet. But don't worry, this
is not an article on new technological wonders, it is about the VERBING of English HAVE YOU TRIED?
Students today tend to avoid reading, don’t like classics, prefer Internet summaries to complete
works, always read the translations, not the originals and don’t want to engage in any kind of
extracurricular activities. Or do they? Engage them in an out-of-classroom project and see what
they are capable of. Students from High School Čazma performed Shakespeare's plays and
adopted Hamlet into the 21st century English. What will you do?
OUT-OF-CLASSROOM PROJECT PHASES
1. Deciding on a topic: give students at least some possibility to choose a topic - motivation!
2. Specifying the objectives and the final outcome: be as specific as possible
3. Planning: everyone needs to know exactly what they are supposed to do and how to do it
4. Implementation: student do the job, you have to steer if necessary
5. Public presentation: students want others to see what they’ve done
6. Evaluation and analysis: self-assessment, peer-assessment and teacher assessment ▪ I.P.
IDEAS FOR TEACHERS
TEACHERS’ CORNER Page 6
A Croatian politician has recently and unintentionally created a useful teaching resource for pre-senting the importance of proper pronunciation. A Youtube video of Ingrid Antičević-Marinović (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOW49mAQ5I) has had numerous clicks and we have
decided to use it in our classroom.
As with all listening tasks, certain steps have to be made in preparation for such listening. The first thing to do is to find a clip of a foreigner speaking Croatian. It can be a foreign diplomat accred-ited in Croatia or an everyday foreigner speaking our language in an intelligible way. They are
not that hard to find.
Having played the video or the audio recording, get your pupils to express their opinions on the speaker; their vocabulary, syntax, grammar and pronunciation. Then introduce the ”feature video“. Give them some background information (a Croatian politician speaking in the European Parlia-ment). The pre-listening task is identifying Croatians who speak a foreign language well (politicians, sportspeople, journalists …). Then play the video. The first watching and listening is just for content. After the playing, elicit the topic that the politician was discussing. Announce the second viewing and listening and ask the pupils to pay attention to the good and bad sides of the speech. The pupils should notice the good syntax and grammar, a good command of the vocabulary in English and the miserable pronunciation. Make them point out the mistakes and, if possible, correct them. In the final stage of this exercise you can ask the pupils to identify their colleagues who make
similar mistakes in their pronunciation.
This exercise has multifold aspects. Pupils learn about the importance of proper pronunciation and build their self-esteem since many of them have mastered English pronunciation. And who can say
that Croatian politicians do not care about pupils learning foreign languages! ▪ S.D., I.P. & E.W.
One of the blogs that I follow had a post dedicated to the language legacy of London Olym-
pics and included examples of nouns being used as verbs. Apparently, "competitors no longer
stood on the podium and won a medal, but podiumed and medalled. Athletes also finalled
(reached a final) and PB-ed (achieved a Personal Best)".
This phenomenon - conversion of nouns to verbs or 'verbing' is particularly common in the field
of technology. What is more, we got used to the usage of verbs that originally were nouns so
quickly that we didn't even have time to think it through. Nowadays, we email, text, message
and whatsapp others and skype to keep in touch. We bookmark websites, youtube to watch
video clips, friend and unfriend people on Facebook and tweet about hot issues. We used to
say "Think before you speak" and now we say "Google before you post". It won't be soon be-
fore we'll brag to friends about something we'd ebayed.
However, this change is nothing unusual; it's as long as English itself. Steven Pinker, the author
of The Language Instinct tells us that ‘Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English
grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that makes English English.’ Base form of verbs
in English has no special ending which makes this conversion a rather simple process.
Just take a look around and you'll see plenty of examples. In the meantime, while you coffee
with your friends - hopefully in ‘Let’s Coffee’ somewhere abroad, think twice about correcting
your students who couldn't do their homework because they facebooked all day. ▪ I.P.