FLOWERS

    

Last Sunday we went for a fantastic walk. The weather was really nice and we hiked for a couple of hours. We just wanted to relax and enjoy, and we did, but I hadn't imagined that fostering curiosity in my kids could go that far...

   We found a flower and we took a picture of it (a yellow one, not a big deal!); then we came across an orange one; next, a beautiful indigo flower was right there, kind of waiting for us...

   And the questions arose...

   'Mum, why do you buy flowers when you are happy?' 

   'They represent happiness', I answered.

   'Really? I've seen flowers in cementeries'

   'You are right...', 'I also buy them when I want to set a nice table'

   'Are flowers edible?'

   'Some of them are'

    'What a waist of time!'

    'What?'

   'I'm saying that you waist your time cooking then because you can buy edible flowers. You don't have to cook, our table looks nice and we have fun eating decorations!'

   'Mum, can flowers be the dessert for cows?'

   'Let me think...'

   'And mum, if the cauliflower is a flower, does cauliflower perfume exist?'

I could continue writing down our conversation, but I think it's enough...

Anyway, find vocabulary about flowers here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbwSSXmzoqA

https://7esl.com/flowers-vocabulary/#List_of_Flower_Names

 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/flower_1?q=flowerexamples-flowers_1.php

Writing, writing and writing.

 I love writing. It relaxes me a lot. It makes me stop and think, reflect about life, and what’s more it helps me remember vocabulary that I hardly use.

I also find it exciting from the artistic point of view, and lettering has become one of hobbies.

My children like and hate writing. One of them loves writing, other hates it, and the other likes it but is lazy enough to do it as frequently as I’d love to.

My solution (or not): finding excuses and making them write without thinking of writing. How?

1. They are in charge of writing the shopping list: 

2. They write letters to their grandparents, previously blackmailing them with a nice set of envelopes.

3. Create a story (all together inventing it).

4. Ask them to leave crazy notes around the house.

5. I pretend I have an ear infection and I ask them to please please be in silence and do not talk to me, just write things down  (LOL, I love this one).

6. Let them write nice messages on windows using window markers.

I hope you can also enjoy this crazy ideas.

PAINS AND ILLNESSES

Thinking about illnesses and the difficultness that sometimes our kids encounter to express pain, I have selected some pages that our children can use to learn some vocabulary about this topic.

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/word-games/health-and-illness

https://agendaweb.org/vocabulary/health-illness-exercises.html

https://agendaweb.org/vocabulary/health-illness-intermediate-exercises.html

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/search/illnesses

I have also created a list of the most frequent words and expressions (from my experience, of course). Get the PDF for free here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cpJggQ_RuC7G8bIdEhMWQj6UIQRSlZBd/view?usp=drivesdk

Following my teacher instinct I remembered some folk tales that talk about sick people and that can be used in the classroom. Take these two examples: two wonderful versions Little Red Riding Hood:

A poem written by Ronald Dahl:

https://learn.stleonards.vic.edu.au/yr8literature/files/2012/07/Little-Red-Riding-Hood-and-the-Wolf-by-Roald-Dahl.pdf

And the politically correct version of Little Red Riding Hood (Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, by James Finn Garner)

http://wordyenglish.com/p/little_red_riding_hood_pc.html