Every teacher is constantly searching for effective ways to reach his students. This is undoubtedly a great challenge, especially if students are teenagers with varied interests and an eagerness to experience original, creative ways of learning every minute. Facilitating memorable learning instances has always been our goal as teachers, no matter how long one has been in the field or what methodologies one has experimented with. In recent years, content-based instruction has become one of the answers to this quest for high-quality education. In addition, educating in values contributes to the enhancement of any educational program seeking an integral formation of the whole person. Therefore, I have tried to find ways of integrating these two aspects into my teaching. The following is an example of how I developed a thematic unit around the topic of friendship, in order to celebrate Friendship Day with my teenage students  August

برگرفته از وبلاگ http://zabihjavanbakht.blogfa.com/ 

ادامه مطلب

Which Words Should ESL Teachers Focus on First 

Since some words are so rare and knowing them will not make a big difference in understanding written texts, recent research has suggested that it is better for learners at the beginning of their second language acquisition journey to focus on learning the most frequent words first and then move on to acquiring the vocabulary related to their interests and needs. The focus of lexical research on beginning ESL learners is not on average vocabulary size, but on learning the "right words".

Lexical studies suggest that some words are more frequent than others, therefore more useful for second language learners. Decades of corpus research and the advent of online text databases motivated some researchers to focus on identifying the most frequent words that are necessary to understand a written text. Francis and Kucera (1982) suggest that the 2000 most frequent word families of English make up 79.7% of the individual words in any English text, the 3000 most frequent word families represent 84%, the 4000 most frequent word families make up about 86.7%, and the 5000 most frequent word families cover 88.6%.

By knowing the 2000 most frequent word families of English, readers can understand approximately 80% of the words in any text. Therefore, the goal of an English learner should be to acquire these 2000 word families first, since this relatively small number of words is recycled in any piece of writing and ensures the basis for reading comprehension.

Acquiring vocabulary at random does not necessarily ensure that the most needed and frequent words are learned before less frequent and useful words. Cobb (2007) suggests the fast-track alternative of learning the 2000 most frequent word families from online frequency-based word lists linked to dictionary explanations. In order to simulate rich natural contexts, Cobb's (2007) publicly available computer program displays word lists linked to a software providing concordances, which are authentic contexts for each word, derived from a large collection of texts.

While using computer-provided contexts may not be as powerful as meeting words in natural contexts, Cobb (1997) suggests that "using computer concordances can get the learning process off to a good start". ESL teachers can incorporate the use of lexical concordances in their practice, either by facilitating computer-assisted vocabulary teaching if their classroom environment provides access to online technologies or by preparing printed handouts of concordances for the 2000 most frequent words.

However, knowing only the 2000 most frequent word families or 80% of the words in a written text gives a second language learner only a general idea of what is being said in a text, without ensuring deep reading comprehension. A much better reading comprehension power is ensured if a reader knows the meanings of at least 90% of the words in a text.

Nation and Waring (1997) suggest that by knowing the 2000 most frequent word families, plus the Academic Word List (AWL), a second language reader would understand about 90% of the words encountered in any academic text. There are approximately 570 words in the Academic Word List (AWL) and they are also available online and linked to concordances (Cobb, 2007). After teaching the 2000 most frequent words, ESL facilitators can use Cobb's online resources to address the words from the Academic Word List.

Even if understanding only 90% of the words in a text does not ensure ideal reading comprehension, it is a foundation on which second language learners can build on by subsequent reading, more advanced vocabulary instruction, and exposure to natural contexts.

Introduction

Mind maps are tools which help you think and learn. This module describes how to do a mind map and most of the sections are organised into areas of university study where students have found mind maps useful. Often you will find a mind map in a section and you will be able to click on various parts of it to discover just how the mind map will help you. Other sections in the module contain actual samples of student mind maps. The information in this module has been adapted from the work of Tony Buzan and others who have promoted mind mapping as a learning and thinking tool

ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of angry at aware of capable of careless about familiar with	fond of happy about interested in jealous of made of married to	proud of similar to sorry for sure of tired of worried about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for ask about ask for belong to bring up care for find out	give up grow up look for look forward to look up make up pay for	prepare for study for talk about think about trust in work for worry about

Mind map

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hand-drawn mind map

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

It is an image-centered diagram that represents semantic or other connections between portions of information. By presenting these connections in a radial, non-linear graphical manner, it encourages a brainstorming approach to any given organizational task, eliminating the hurdle of initially establishing an intrinsically appropriate or relevant conceptual framework to work within.

A mind map is similar to a semantic network or cognitive map but there are no formal restrictions on the kinds of links used.

The elements are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts and they are organized into groupings, branches, or areas. The uniform graphic formulation of the semantic structure of information on the method of gathering knowledge, may aid recall ofmemories. existing

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

مصاحبه با خدا

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

در رويا ديدم که با خدا حرف ميزنم

 So you would like to interview me? God asked.

او از من پرسيد :آيا مايلي از من چيزي بپرسي؟

If you have the time? I said.

گفتم ....اگر وقت داشته باشيد....

God smiled. ? My time is eternity.

لبخندي زد و گفت: زمان براي من تا بي نهايت ادامه دارد

What questions do you have in mind for me?

چه پرسشي در ذهن تو براي من هست؟

What surprises you most about humankind?

پرسيدم: چه چيزي در رفتار انسان ها هست که شما را شگفت زده  مي کند؟

God answered...

پاسخ داد:

That they get bored with childhood,

آدم ها از بچه بودن خسته مي شوند ...

they rush to grow up, and then

عجله دارند بزرگ شوند و سپس.....

Long to be children again.

آرزو دارند دوباره به دوران کودکي باز گردند

That they lose their health to make money...

سلامتي خود را در راه کسب ثروت از دست مي دهند

and then lose their money to restore their health.

و سپس ثروت خود را در راه کسب سلامتي دوباره از صرف مي کنند....

 That by thinking anxiously about the future,

چنان با هيجان به آينده فکر مي کنند.

They forget the present,

که از حال غافل مي شوند

Such that they live in neither the present nor the future.

به طوري که نه در حال زندگي مي کنند نه در آينده 

 "That they live as if they will never die,

آن ها طوري زندگي مي کنند.،انگار هيچ وقت نمي ميرند

and die as though they had never lived.

و جوري مي ميرند ....انگار هيچ وقت زنده نبودند 

we were silent for a while.

ما براي لحظاتي سکوت کرديم

ادامه مطلب

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black...
And you White fellow, When you born, you pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you blue,
When you scared, you yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray...
And you call me colored