The "Pub Discussion" session had to come early in our English Without Books course, since Czechs love going to pubs and so do native speakers living in Brno.
So we agreed to meet at the Sherlock Holmes pub, at 5:30pm as usual, and talked and laughed and drank/ate and discussed the English language. A few even partied till the wee hours (or so I heard :).
I want to thank Glenn, Matt and Aaron, my native speaker friends, who kept the students busy all evening. They made sure everyone spoke a lot of English, while I was trying to record parts of the meeting. Why don´t you have a look for yourself... (please, be tolerant, this was my first video editing attempt with Windows Media Maker)
THE GAME
I chose 14 sentences which the Czech group had to translate from Czech into English. The "native speaker" group was not allowed to help the students; in fact, I gave them the same phrases in Czech and they had to show how much Czech they know by translating them into our language. After both groups were done, they got together in order to find the pairs, however they were not allowed to look at the correct printed version. This started quite a few language discussions, (e.g. "shall" x "should" in "Shall I open the window"). Here are the sentences:
I didn´t have to go to work this morning.
Are you even listening to me?
Are you having a good time?
I´ve never been here before.
I´ve been waiting here for ages!
Shall I open the window?
If you want, I´ll give you a lift.
Can you hear me well?
Do we have to go now?
I had to wait for a friend.
If I were you, I wouldn´t do it.
No worries, Tomáš is cool.
No pain no gain.
Don´t you dare!
If you were one of the participants, I would love hear your feedback and ideas for improvement. And share your favourite moment with us! Mine was seeing Matt after quite a long time. Looking forward to his Cooking lesson with us.
Nina
7 comments:
Hi Nina, our third session was the best of all. I had a really good time and there was no shame. I was speaking English for 6 hours and I was really exhausted but so experienced :). Thanx to all native speakers and you for great support! And of course thanx to our team which is great! :). Zuzka
Hi Nina and everyone. I think that lesson 3 was very funny, very interesting and very good for our English (or certainly for me:-). Aaron, Matt and Glenn was very funny and very patient:-) during our conversation about different things they explained some grammar or corrected words what we didn´t know. The games were funny - we played but we learned. I was one of those who stayed longer and we played Aarons´game and we spoke a lot about different and very interested things:-)all the night. I didn´t never have so many English conversation:-)I look forward of other lesson and thank you at great evening.
Lenka
Hi Nina, you're welcome! this was a terrific event for me to participate in so thanks for inviting me. A fantastic group of people were there and the evening flew by quickly...until those "wee" hours that you mentioned ;) It has been interesting for me to see everyone become more and more comfortable with speaking in English. I've seen this several times before with my students in Dukovany and in Trebic. In the beginning there is that uncomfortable struggle to find words or ask questions. Then with some practice a little more self-confidence is gained and the words and questions aren't so uncomfortable to say. So I appreciated seeing it in the pub with your group of students.
Zuzka, it is great to read that you didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed. You have no reason to feel this way! I think it is a HUGE step to feel comfortable speaking from my own experience in learning Czech. So, congratulations!
Lenka, I had my longest conversation (5 hours) in Czech last evening in a pub with a friend of mine. So it was nice to read that you had your longest conversation in English last Wednesday. :)
I am sorry I signed up as Lenka but I am Léňa:-)
Nina, dear!
I´m so happy for you and your group, it´s really nice to know that everything is working wo well!!! Ýou´re doing a great job, everybody is enjoying themselves and having a great time while learning (a lot), and that´s the whole point of your course: have fun and be independent. :)))
Thanks for the update, your blog is great! :) Love ya! Beijinhos for you too :)))
Doris - the one :P
Hi Nina, it was an amazing evening:-) Unfortunately I could not stay so long but I found this evening very funny and very helpful for all of us!! I learned for example- I will give you a lift or No pain no gain. I used this sentense/If you want, I´ll give you a lift/ today evening:-) and I was so proud of myself:-):-) I am happy to met so good teachers as you!!
Lenka Čerm.
Of course - No pain no Gain - I could´nt remember this sentence. Now i will never forget :). Zuzka
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