Goodbye Omar and hello Navneet
Post categories: Teacher blog
| 14:32 UK time, Wednesday, 10 October 2012
First of all a sad goodbye to Omar. You wrote some fascinating and thought-provoking blogs. You certainly got people talking and sharing ideas: well done! Good luck with the books and dinner parties!
Secondly, welcome to Navneet who was born in India but now lives in...well, I'll let her tell you more later.
Navneet: you have written a blog to touch people's hearts. What a wonderful mother you have.
Whether or not we have a mother, we all need that special someone in our lives: someone you can call or who calls you and "makes your day" (like Clint Eastwood!).
You mention typical games. I don't know 'last and first': can you explain it? Many years ago one of our bloggers explained the rules of a game with a handkerchief: I still play it with children even now. Children's games bring back memories and are even great ice-breakers for adults. The children I work with love the '2p game'. A 2p is a British coin of small value. It is brown in colour and so if you play this game on a wooden or brown coloured floor it works very well. This is how to play. You need two teams. They sit on chairs (or on the floor) opposite each other. Give everyone in team 1 a number. Give everyone in team 2 a number - but start at the opposite end of the line. This means that if you have 2 teams of ten, number 1 in one team sits opposite number 10 in the opposing team. In a line down the middle of the floor between the 2 teams, place 5 coins. Mark a square on the ground (or put a chair) at each end of the room.
One square belongs to team 1 and one square to team 2. The aim of the game is to get 3 coins in your square. This is how you do it. The person in charge of the game calls out a number. The 2 people with that number run to the middle, pick up a coin, run to their square, put the coin in the square and then run back to pick up a second coin and put it in their square. Of course there is now only one coin left, so it is a race to see who can pick up the last coin and take it back to their square. The person who has three coins, wins a point for their team. The coins are then replaced and another number is called. This is very simple, but kids get very excited and there's a lot of screaming! I'm looking forward to hearing about typical children's games from your country!
Navneet, your English is very good and you write in a nice, chatty style. A couple of points to pick up, before I set you some homework.
"My mother has been a typical Indian homemaker." Is she still a homemaker? If so, it would be better to say 'My mother is a typical Indian homemaker.' (you could also use the word 'housewife') or you could say 'My mother has always been...'.
"From typical": the correct phrase here is 'By typical'
Lovely use of the phrase "the empty nest syndrome creeps in"
"Inter-religion marriages still raise eyebrows and are not fully accepted by the society...": you don't need an article with the word 'society'
"As much as I remember...": the phrase you need here is 'As far as I can remember...'
"...stand up and face so many audiences!!" In this case, audience is a singular word, so it doesn't take "many". You could either say 'face so many people' or maybe 'face such a big audience'.
So...now to the homework. You use "Mom" to talk about your mother. Of course, it's correct, but it's not British English. British English would be "Mum". So here's a short quiz about some of the differences between British and American English. Can you match the British English words 1-24 with the American English words A-X?
British English
1. Pavement
2. Aubergine
3. Chips
4. Crisps
5. Caravan
6. Petrol
7. Autumn
8. Football
9. Queue
10. Handbag
11. Bill
12. Vest
13. Waistcoat
14. Gearbox
15. Lift
16. Trousers
17. Pants
18. Postcode
19. Jam
20. Boot
21. Courgette
22. Biscuit
23. Curtains
24. Bank note
American English
A. Fries
B. Gas
C. Fall
D. Zucchini
E. Undershirt
F. Jelly
G. Trunk
H. Chips
I. Transmission
J. Cookie
K. Purse
L. Elevator
M. Drapes
N. Trailer
O. Zipcode
P. Eggplant
Q. Check
R. Bill
S. Pants
T. Underpants
U. Vest
V. Soccer
W. Sidewalk
X. Line
Take care...and don't forget to tell me about tradional children's games in your country.
Carrie
ice-breakers: games and activities designed to help people get to know each other
in charge of: in control of
Comment number 1.
At 10th Oct 2012, Soler wrote:Hello Carrie,
I matched some of them by memory,some of them by guessing. British English American English
1. Pavement Sidewalk
2. Aubergine Eggplant
3. Chips Fries
4. Crisps Chips
5. Caravan Trailer
6. Petrol Gas
7. Autumn Fall
8. Football Soccer
9. Queue Line
10. Handbag Purse
11. Bill
12. Vest
13. Waistcoat
14. Gearbox Transmission
15. Lift Elevator
16. Trousers Undeshirts
17. Pants Trunk
18. Postcode Zipcode
19. Jam Jelly
20. Boot
21. Courgette Zucchini
22. Biscuit Cookie
23. Curtains Drapes
24. Bank note Check
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Comment number 2.
At 12th Oct 2012, KAITHIE wrote:Hi Everyone, I've just signed in to this blog and I would like to know more about this Blog. I am and English Teacher in Colombia and still learning the language.
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Comment number 3.
At 12th Oct 2012, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Learning English wrote:Hi drsofiko,
Well done for having a go at the homework. You've done very well: your score is 17 out of 24!
Welcome Kaithie! I hope you enjoy this site!
Take care
Carrie
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Comment number 4.
At 13th Oct 2012, Adnan Haider wrote:Hi Cathie! I have newly signed in. I also want to make an anonymous entry in this student blog. What will I have to do? Thanks.
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Comment number 5.
At 13th Oct 2012, bomsan wrote:Yes, it 's always confusing to fully aware of the difference between British English and American English. I liked to match. It helped me to learn both English. Thank you very much.
1. Pavement- sidewalk 13. Waistcoat- Vest
2. Aubergine- Eggplant 14. Gearbox- Transmission
3. Chips- Fries 15. Lift- Elevator
4. Crisps- Chips 16. Trousers- Pants
5. Caravan- Trailer 17. Pants- Underpants
6. Petrol- Gas 18. Postcode- Zipcode
7. Autumn- Fall 19. Jam- Jelly
8. Football- Soccer 20. Boot- Trunk
9. Queue- Line 21. Courgette- Zucchini
10. Handbag- Purse 22. Biscuit- Cookie
11. Bill- Check 23. Curtains- Drapes
12. Vest- Undershirt 24. Bank note- Bill
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Comment number 6.
At 14th Oct 2012, Navneet_Kaur wrote:Hi Carrie....
Thankyou for ur warm welcome and appreciation.....
I hope that I too will be able to engage people the same way Omar did....
In my first blog i mentioned about the game 'first and last' ...and it is a good game to increase our vocabulary ..... Suppose first team said the word 'goat' . Now the second team will have to say another word starting from the last alphabet of the word team 1 just said..... Like team 2 may choose to say 'table'
Goat ends with 't' so second team will say suppose table starting with 't'
Table ends with 'e' so first team will say suppose elephant starting with 'e'
We can choose to make it more difficult by limiting the game to either names of animals , films or places....
In India the most popular game as I mentioned is 'antakshri'.... Where we use songs instead of the words.... So its a fun pastime game.... Even we had a very popular tv show on this game running for over 10 yrs....
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Comment number 7.
At 14th Oct 2012, Navneet_Kaur wrote:Here's my home work Carrie...
1. Pavement -- Sidewalk
2. Aubergine -- Eggplant
3. Chips -- Fries
4. Crisps -- chips
5. Caravan-- trailer
6. Petrol -- gas
7. Autumn -- fall
8. Football. -- Soccer
9. Queue -- line
10. Handbag -- purse
11. Bill -- check
12. Vest-- undershirt
13. Waistcoat-- vest
14. Gearbox-- transmission
15. Lift -- elevator
16. Trousers-- pants
17. Pants-- underpants
18. Postcode-- zipcode
19. Jam-- jelly
20. Boot -- trunk
21. Courgette-- Zucchini
22. Biscuit -- cookie
23. Curtains-- drapes
24. Bank note-- bill
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Comment number 8.
At 15th Oct 2012, mahsud wrote:hi i m mahsud and i want learn english....
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Comment number 9.
At 16th Oct 2012, Jayashani wrote:Hi everyone. I registered to this blog just now.
Hi Carrie I tried your homework.
1. Pavement -Sidewalk
2. Aubergine-Eggplant
3. Chips-Fries
4. Crisps-Chips
5. Caravan-Trailer
6. Petrol-Gas
7. Autumn-Fall
8. Football-Soccer
9. Queue-Line
10. Handbag-Purse
11. Bill-Bill
12. Vest-Undershirt
13. Waistcoat-Vest
14. Gearbox-Transmission
15. Lift-Elevator
16. Trousers-Pants
17. Pants-Underpants
18. Postcode- Zipcode
19. Jam-Jelly
20. Boot-Trunk
21. Courgette-Zucchini
22. Biscuit-Cookie
23. Curtains-Drapes
24. Bank note-Check
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Comment number 10.
At 21st Oct 2012, beatriz wrote:Hi Carrie and the rest of the group,
Here is my list: 1-Pavement-Sidewalk
2- Aubergine-Eggplant
3-Chips-Fries
4-Crisps-Chips
5-Caravan-Trailer
6-Petrol-Gas
7-Autumn-Fall
8-Football-Soccer
9-Queue-Line
10-Handbag-Purse
11-Bill-Bill
12-Vest-Undershirt
13-waistcoat-vest
14-gearbox-transmission
15-lift-elevator
16-trousers-pants
17-pants-underpants
18-postcode-zipcode
19-jam-jelly
20-boot-trunk
21-courgette-zucchini
22-biscuit-cookie
23-curtains-drapes
24-bank note-check
I wish I hadn´t made many mistakes. The best for you. Beatriz.
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Comment number 11.
At 21st Oct 2012, Reygine wrote:Hello all,
In the US we can call a banknote (#24) a bill but we ask for the check at the restaurant (#11 bill). I've never heard about jam called jelly, they're actually two different products in our stores too.
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Comment number 12.
At 23rd Oct 2012, Huseyin wrote:Hi.. Ä° m a teacher from Turkey. Not an English teacher. Just a technical teacher in a High School. Ä° want to learn English through ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ special English learning program. Ä° Think this is the amazing place for learning English. Ä° used to follow Voice of special English in voa.gov. But not my favourite place for learning English is ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.com. Thanks for all employee in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
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Comment number 13.
At 24th Oct 2012, tenocht wrote:Hi Carrie and everyone,
When we were children we used to play with a big, old tyre.
One of us was inside of the tyre while the other children were rolling the tyre and waiting for their turn, we had a lot of fun, those were the days !
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Comment number 14.
At 26th Oct 2012, shurjomukhi wrote:Hello Carrie
How are you?
Here is my homework-
1. Pavement-Sidewalk
2. Aubergine-Eggplant
3. Chips-Fries
4. Crisps-Chips
5. Caravan-Trailer
6. Petrol-Gas
7. Autumn-Fall
8. Football-Soccer
9. Queue-Line
10. Handbag-Purse
11. Bill-Bill
12. Vest-Vest
13. Waistcoat-Undershirt
14. Gearbox-Transmisson
15. Lift-Elevator
16. Trousers-Pants
17. Pants-Underpants
18. Postcode-Zipcode
19. Jam-Jelly
20. Boot-Trunk
21. Courgette-Zucchini
22. Biscuit-Cookie
23. Curtains-Drappes
24. Bank note-Check
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Comment number 15.
At 4th Nov 2012, Mudib wrote:Hi, let me introduce my self. i am Mudib from Indonesia. What a nice blog, love this blog so much. hello my teacher, Mrs. Carrie and all students here. my English is still poor but i am sure by studying together here, there must be a great improvements. i would like to study written English but i am going to read as much as possible first.
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Comment number 16.
At 5th Nov 2012, ezgi gürbüz wrote:maybe you justified but i think not criticize the people. its false...
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Comment number 17.
At 5th Nov 2012, ezgi gürbüz wrote:ı am sory my first comment because ı dont understand blog but ı am understand now :))
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Comment number 18.
At 9th Jan 2013, zain wrote:i liked the way teacher carrie taught, superab well i am very happy to learn these new words
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Comment number 19.
At 21st Jan 2013, tulip25 wrote:Thanks for this blog I thinkits useful very much and it is helping me to improve my english.:)
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Comment number 20.
At 22nd Apr 2013, matahariku wrote:Hello Carrie and everyone here,
I'm new here.. I want to improve my poor English and I'm enjoy reading the teacher blogs. It's contain full of knowledge to help me improve my English. Is any way in this blog that I can to interact with each other? Thank You very much.
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