Languagelab.com Blog

Repetition is one of the most common activities in any language course for beginners. Repetition is also used in SL.
Repetition help learners to retain new vocabulary, and to learn its pronunciation and intonation. There are different kinds
of repetition which should be combined to avoid boredom and enhance vocabulary learning.

Repeat after me is probably the kind of repetition most commonly used in the language classroom. Students can be asked to
repeat in groups – choral repetition or drilling – or individually. However, no teaching technique is suitable for all
classes and all teaching contexts. Choral repetition is no exception. Due to sound problems, choral repetition is not
recommended in SL. The sound of all the students speaking at the same time makes it impossible to distinguish who is
pronouncing correctly or not; thus, providing feedback is not feasible. Individual repetition is suggested, but always
making sure to vary the questions asked to each participant. For example, if you are presenting new vocabulary using images,
the following questions could be used:

• What is this?
• Is this a _____?
• Is this a ____ or a _____
• What is (next) to the ______

Prompting students to ask other participants is also another way to vary repetitions. Short dialogues performed
in pairs where each student takes turns to represent the two speakers in the dialogue.

We will describe other kinds of repetition next week.

Our next post will be about the use of repetition. Stay tuned!

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Last week, our advanced English class learnt about different kinds of questions used in holiday situations.
We talked about how these questions not only give information but also can express target =”_blank”>emotions from anxiety to anger. We also role played different situations where we had to
negotiate something.

In this week’s lesson, our English teacher gave us a challenge: To make the first episode of a
soap opera
using the language we have learnt.

First, we talked about the characteristics of a good soap
(colorful people, families, greed, betrayal, secrets were some of the answers,) Then, we talked about the
characters for our soap
and the story which had to include a holiday situation and a negotiation. Finally, we took pictures of the characters
acting out their parts and added dialogue to the pictures.

We have some great stories including 2 sisters (who don’t know
they are sisters) who meet accidentally at a space airport terminal and a rich spoilt American girl who meets a poor (but very handsome)
artist. Already the sparks are beginning to fly!

Tune in next week for another exciting episode.

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This week at LanguageLab we practised using English language related to going on holiday.

The first part of the lesson was spent doing vocabulary work. We matched the names of holiday destinations and items of clothing with pictures.
This kind of vocabulary work is very useful. It’s the kind of activity you might find yourself doing in English lessons all over the world.

How good is your vocabulary for clothing in English? click here to do a fun practice exercise online.

The second part of the lesson was a little different. The students had to work independently to create a holiday
itinerary. They needed to choose a destination, find a flight,
decide on some activities they would do on holiday and then choose some clothes to take with them that would suit both the destination and the activities.

Although the students had to work independently they were not alone! This is because two of our resident native English speakers,
Griffin and Lane stepped in to help out.
Griffin was working at Millie’s
Cafe so he was on hand to give students advice about travel destinations. He also showed them some websites they could use to
find flights. Once students had chosen their destinations they went to LanguageLab’s clothing
store, Periwinkles and discussed the kind of outfits they would need with Lane

For the final part of the class we met back at Millie’s café and talked about the holidays we had planned, the flights we had selected and the three
outfits we had chosen. Everyone said that it was a little difficult to work alone at first but that it was really useful to get advice from the City People.

Have a look at the photos I took of my outfits. Where do you think I chose to go? Why did I choose those outfits? Write your responses in the comments please.

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Gamer is a noun for a person who plays games. Until recently a gamer was someone who played and enjoyed role-plays
(in which you take on a fictional character and create a
target=”_blank”>role) or war games (in which you play military games).
A gamer is now the word for someone who plays a lot of computer games and is very good at them. They are able to think quickly,
make decisions and react to their environment, and some say that gamers may do very well when they learn or practice English,
because of the very fact that they are able to make logical and quick connections between ideas and the world around them.

In the context of this word, and its meaning, there are adjectives that you can use before it to make more phrases. Some are:

• console, game
• handheld game
• pc game
• video game

Interestingly enough, gamers have a special phrase for people who like games with simple rules and who don’t like to spend a lot
of time playing computer games. They call them ‘casual gamers.’ The phase for the opposite of a
casual,
gamer is a ‘hardcore gamer’ which means that they spend most of their free time playing video or computer games.

Of course there are many other games but we don’t always call the people who play them gamers. This is now mainly used for the
players of online, computer or video games.

Is it only teenage boys who play video and computer games? Research has shown that 40% of gamers are female and that the
number is rising. My favourite game is Scrabble but I don’t think I’m a gamer.

This post isn’t only about some gamer vocabulary. I’m not a normal gamer but maybe I’m an English gamer because I’m helping Languagelab experiment with
English learning activities
which have gamer ‘rules’. It’s really really interesting. In fact students who have tried it out found it
addictive,! Imagine that -addictive learning :-)))

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