French: Song Lyrics - Paroles Saez Jeune Et Con

Hi everyone, Aurore here. Here is a video that worked well in my class. At first your students can watch it and describe what they see; you can also ask them about the words they manage to understand. Then you give them the lyrics, and they have to complete the blanks. The vocabulary is easy, the singer is well known, and you can ask the students to listen to some other songs. That's spreading culture... Enjoy!




Paroles Saez Jeune Et Con


Encore ________se lève sur la planète France
Et je sors _________ de mes rêves je rentre dans la ________
Comme toujours il est ___________ du soir j'ai dormi tout le jour
Je me suis encore couché trop ________ je me suis rendu sourd encore

Encore une ________ où la jeunesse France
Encore elle va bien s'amuser puisqu'ici rien n'a de sens
Alors elle va danser faire semblant d'être _________
Pour aller gentiment se __________ mais demain rien n'ira mieux

Puisqu'on est jeune et con
Puisqu'ils sont _______ et ________
Puisque des hommes crèvent sous les _________
Mais ce _______ s'en fout
Puisqu'on est que des pions
Content d'être à ________
Puisque je sais qu'un jour nous gagnerons à devenir fous (bis)

Encore un jour se lève sur la _________ France
Mais j'ai depuis longtemps perdu mes _________ je connais trop la danse
Comme toujours il est huit heure du soir j'ai ________ tout le jour
Mais je sais qu'on est quelques ________ à chercher l'amour encore

Encore une soirée ou la jeunesse France
Encore elle va bien s'amuser dans cet état d'__________
Alors elle va danser faire semblant d'exister
Qui sait si l'on ferme les ________ on vivra vieux

Puisqu'on est jeune et con
Puisqu'ils sont vieux et fous
Puisque des hommes _________ sous les ponts


Mais ce monde s'en _________
Puisqu'on est que des ________
Content d'être à genoux
Puisque je sais qu'un jour nous nous ____________
Comme des fous (bis)

___________ un jour se lève sur la planète France
Et j'ai depuis longtemps perdu mes rêves je ________ trop la danse
Comme toujours il est huit heures du soir j'ai dormi tout le jour
Mais je sais qu'on est quelques milliards à __________ l'amour

German: Ballinstadt Museum und Fragen

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a link to the Ballinstadt Museum in Hamburg. The site features a great deal of useful information and provides some excellent opportunities for a cultural/historical lesson! Take a look at the site - Ballinstadt.

As a simple followup to the video here are a set of questions (with special thanks to Jason!) for discussing the video:

1. Warum will der Erzähler die Heimat verlassen?

2. Wann ist der Erzähler geboren? Was geschah in diesem Jahr?

3. Was dachten damals alle?

4. Was meint dieser Emigrant, ist die Hauptsache?

5. Wo befindet sich der Heimatort des Erzählers, welches Jahr ist es?

6. Warum litten (leiden: to suffer) die Menschen in den kleinen Orten?

7. Wie viele Leute wanderten damals aus, und was liessen sie zurück

8. Welche Vorstellungen hatten die Menschen von Amerika?

Teaching Approaches: Task Based Learning

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a useful video I found. For those of you who have heard of 'task based' learning or teaching but are not quite sure what it is, or for those who have never heard of it, this video does a good job of providing some background information. Have any of you used Task Based Learning or taken a course that was taught with this approach?

• What are the pros and cons of Task Based Learning?
• How does this compare with Communicative Language Teaching?
• Which do you prefer and why?

EFL: Listening Skills Video

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a useful video I found which focuses on helping students with their listening skills. In particular he discusses the usefulness of music in his classes. The video is geared towards EFL teachers but I think the content could be applied to for any language teaching situation. Enjoy!

Group Activities: Sentence Builder Board Races

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a fun activity that is applicable for any language and/or level! Everyone should be familiar with board races -whether as a language student or using them as a teacher. Typically board races are used as a vocabulary knowledge test or to test individual grammatical points. I have recently used a variation of this game since I noticed my students needed a bit of review and practice of both grammar and sentence writing.

To setup the activity I did the following:

1 Preparation: Using note cards, I wrote down a large variety of possible grammar/sentence configurations (about 50 different variations!). An example would be: 2 adjectives, preposition, past tense. There are many possibilities here and teachers could focus on a narrower range of grammar items if they wish to practice specific areas with their students.

2 The Game: I randomly divided the class into four roughly even groups. To begin, I read one of the cards aloud twice. Then, a student from each group would run to the board and attempt to write a sentence using the grammar items I specified. Should a student be unable to write an answer they may ask another student from their group to come and help them. The first student to write a correct sentence will earn a point for their group. The game lasts several rounds. I generally would spend 10-15 minutes on the game. Every student should have the opportunity to go to the board at least 2x.

3 Followup: A good activity to serve as a continuation from the Board Race would be to move students into a structured writing activity such as creating a short story in small groups. The teacher could provide the beginning of a story and each group would write their own addition to it. The teacher could further specify which and how many grammatical points should be included. Alternately, either of these activities could serve as a warmup for reading a text (especially one that employs specific types of grammar).

Questions and comments welcome!

German: Useful Site - Das Erste

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a useful site for German. Check out Das Erste which contains an extensive media (video) library of all of their TV shows. There is really a treasure trove of useful material here, ranging from informational shows, to comedy, drama, and cartoons for children.

You could integrate news programs into more advanced classes in preparation for having students create their own news reports, or create your own mystery in the class and have students participate in their own Krimi. The choices are virtually limitless. Enjoy!

Questions and comments welcome!

News: 2010 Impressions So Far

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to offer up a bit of a review of the progress we have made only two months into the new year! While I did start the site up in late 2009 and we did have some posts during those first few months, the site did not really get underway until January! From a humble little group of followers and contributors we have seen rapid growth in the past two months! The number of followers has blossomed to over 25 and we are closing in on 30! We now have followers across North and South America. We should soon have some from Europe as well as Asia.

I am happy to report that we have been adding to the Links section on 3 other teaching sites as of now! Truly we are starting to create a presence.

We have also shown strong growth in both the number of posts and the number of our contributors who have posted regularly. The goal for January was to reach 25 posts which we have met. The February goal was to at least match if not break this goal which have easily accomplished! Not bad for the shortest month of the year!

Nonetheless, we cannot rest or become complacent in any way. We will set even higher goals for March and beyond! For those of you who are followers, I would encourage you to tell your friends and colleagues who are also language teachers about the site! Also, everyone is encouraged to participate. If you are a follower please feel free to comment on any of our posts and let us know what you think, or if you have anything you would like to share with the site, please feel free to email us at clteacherstoolbox@gmail.com and we will work to get your material posted and of course we will credit you in the post. For those who are contributors I would encourage you to keep up the good work and keep the posts coming!

In the next few weeks we will be adding some exciting features to the site that have to remain secret for now! Stay tuned!

Thank you,

Christopher La Cross