The English Blog

"Skyfall" Product Placement Lesson

Today sees the global release of the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall. To mark the occasion I did a lesson with my final year EM Normandie marketing students about product placement in Bond movies, in particular the tie-in with Heineken beer, which has upset some fans of the 007 franchise.

We first watched the Skyfall trailer, and then did a comprehension exercise based on the BBC video above (click here to download a questionnaire and transcript). This was followed by a jigsaw reading activity based on articles I'd found about the Heineken/Skyfall deal (see here, here, here, and here). To finish, we did some discussion activities based on this PowerPoint. Have fun!

WRITING
Get your students to write an essay on one of these topics:
• Does the Heineken beer placement damage the Bond brand?
• What are the pros and cons of product placement? 

ALSO SEE
• Coke Zero 'Skyfall' Stunt Lets People Be James Bond (Huffington Post)
• The Skyfall's the limit on James Bond marketing (The Guardian)
• James Bond drinking Heineken in Skyfall? Whatever next ... (The Independent)
• The Evolution Of James Bond Movie Product Placement (Business Insider)
• Controversial James Bond Heineken Spot Shakes Up Viral Chart (Ad Age)
• The car, the watch, the make-up, the beer advert: James Bond - licence to print money (The Independent)

163 Questions to Write or Talk About

The New York Times Learning Network blog has a fantastic list of 163 discussion questions taken from its regular Student Opinion feature. Each question is based on content from the NYT and links to the relevant article. The questions can be used to help students practice writing (in class, for homework, or in an online forum), as inspiration for lessons, or as jumping-off points for class discussions and debates. Here are the first ten questions:

1. Do Apps Help You or Just Waste Your Time?
2. Do You Keep a Diary or Journal?
3. Should Schools Offer Cash Bonuses for Good Test Scores?
4. Would You Like to Take a Class Online?
5. Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public Education?
6. What Is Your Personal Credo?
7. How Do You Personalize the Things You’re Required to Have at School?
8. Should Students Be Required to Take Drug Tests?
9. Do You Participate in Class?
10. Do Attractive People Have Advantages Others Don’t?

NOTE
In case you were wondering, the word cloud above was created at www.tagxedo.com (by the NYT not me!).

eType Online Multi-Language Dictionary

eType is an online multi-language dictionary with translations and word substitutes to virtually any language in the world. eType is also a writing guide that auto-completes your words as you type them, enabling you to type faster and boost your level of confidence in your writing. eType prevents you from making spelling mistakes before they happen and helps you select the best word choice possible – even if you are not writing in your native language.

eType beta is now available and free to download and use. It runs on PC: Windows® XP service pack 2, Vista and 7. eType is available for use both online and offline. Internet connection is needed at first download and for dictionaries update. [via Free Technology for Teachers]

COMMENT
At first sight (I haven't tried it yet), eType seems like it could be a very useful writing tool for learners of English (and native speakers!).

READ MORE
• eType Auto-Completes Your Writing. Everywhere (TechCrunch)

UPDATE
I've now had time to install and test the eType program, and am pleased to report it works very much as advertised—even in my Typepad blog editor! What's more, it's free and you can turn it off whenever you want just by pressing CTRL+F8, so what's not to like?

NewsCred: Create Your Own Newspaper

NewsCred is a site which enables you to create your own personalised online newspaper. This could be an interesting activity for students, especially as they can write their own editorials. NewsCred is free and very easy to use. See a paper I made earlier.

Paul McCartney School Essay Found

From BBC News:

An essay written by Sir Paul McCartney as a 10-year-old has been found after lying undiscovered in Liverpool's Central Library for more than 50 years.
 
Years before the Beatles received their MBEs, he beat hundreds of other school children to win a prize for his 1953 essay marking the Queen's coronation.
 
In neat handwriting, he refers to "the lovely young Queen Elizabeth". Full story >>

ALSO READ
• Paul McCartney's schoolboy essay discovered (The Sunday Times)

COMMENT
I wonder how many of today's ten-year-olds would be capable of writing such a neat, well-constructed essay. By the way, the 'B' of 'But' was circled by the teacher because the rule used to be that you mustn't start a sentence with a conjunction like 'and' or 'but'. But the thinking on this has changed. 

The BBC News Styleguide

The BBC News Styleguide is a 92-page PDF document which you can download for free. In it you will find lots of fascinating entries about modern English usage, including Americanisms, Foreign Phrases, Vogue Words and Danglers (!). 

For more information about online style guides, check out this post from DailyWritingTips.

CBBC Newsround: News-Based Lessons

The excellent CBBC Newsround site has hundreds of news-based lessons for teachers. Categories include Arts, Business, Crime and Justice, Environment and Health. The Literacy lessons cover a wide range of grammar and punctuation topics.

COMMENTS

A fantastic resource for teachers.   

BBC Schools Bitesize: English

BBC Schools' Bitesize site has a collection of activities, revision notes and quizzes covering Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar. Although, the site is aimed at native-speakers, learners of English will find a lot of useful material here.

English Business Letter Generator

English Grammar Online has a useful business letter generator. To create a letter, you just have to choose one of the six templates and mark the checkboxes for the sentences you want to use. The result can be copied into the clipboard or saved as TXT or RTF file (e.g. for MS-Word).

COMMENT
A good way of introducing students to the standard phrases which are commonly used in basic business letters.

April Fool!

 

Here's a round-up of April Fool's Day stories from the British press:

• Swimming fish could be key to generating electricity for UK homes (Telegraph)
• Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink (Guardian)
• The Invisible Car (Express—my favourite)
• Queen Nefertiti's facelift (Independent—very elaborate)
• Travel Hoaxes (Telegraph) 
• Corporate Hoaxes (Telegraph) 
• April Fool's Day computer virus could cause internet chaos today (Telegraph—this one's true!)
• 10 stories that could be April Fools... but aren't (BBC News)

LESSON IDEA
Get your students to write a spoof article on the Newspaper Clipping Generator. The result should be something like this:

Six Word Memoirs

 

Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” 

Starting in 2006, SMITH Magazine asked its readers for their own six-word memoirs. The results have been published in two books which you can look inside on Amazon here and here. This video presents some memoirs from the latest book.

Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak from SMITHmag on Vimeo.

LESSON IDEAS
1. Get your students to expand a six-word memoir into a longer story.
2. Get students to write their own six-word memoirs.
3. Take a selection of memoirs and jumble up the words. Students have to put words in correct order.

20 Ridiculous Complaints Made by Holidaymakers

Telegraph.co.uk has an amusing picture gallery featuring ridiculous complaints made by holidaymakers.

LESSON IDEAS
1. Get students to choose a complaint (or several) and act out conversations between complaining holidaymakers and travel agents. These could be face-to-face or on the phone.

2. Get students to write a letter of complaint from the holidaymaker to the travel agent or tour operator.

3. Get students to talk about their own 'holiday nightmares'.

About.com: Grammar and Composition

About.com's Grammar and Composition site has a lot of resources which would be useful for teachers and learners of English:

• Writing Tips
• English Grammar
• Punctuation & Mechanics
• Correcting Errors
• Words
• Composing Sentences
• Composing Paragraphs
• Composing Essays
• Rhetoric & Style
• Readings & Resources
• Exercises & Quizzes
• Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary  
• 

Daily Writing Tips

Daily Writing Tips is a blog/website where you will find simple yet effective tips to improve your writing. Categories include Business Writing, Grammar, Punctuation and Vocabulary. The archives go back to May 2007, so there's an incredible amount of material here.

Verdict
A very professional site run by a team of experienced writers. Definitely worth subscribing to if you're a teacher or an advanced learner of English.

Garbl's Writing Center

Online since Nov. 1, 1997, Garbl's Writing Center is maintained by Gary B. Larson. Here you will find:

an annotated directory of writing resources on the Web

an editorial style manual

several guides to concise writing

a bookshelf of writing references 

Verdict: A very useful set of writing tools. Definitely one to bookmark.