• listen until you think you can repeat what they said (repeat! Not translate!)
• check the subtitle to compare with what you said
• don’t worry about the terrible Google translator translation – we are practising comprehension of the words in English and pronunciation – not translation!
• Repeat what you hear (not what you read!!)
• Continue with next 5 seconds film
• Practice, practice, practice.

• So to start with, for the younger ones the expressions are introduced with an ACTION-SONG.

• I then usually get them to play SNAP with CHORES CARDS seeing if they can think of a complete sentence using this expression, perhaps adding a little fun by ringing a bell for the first person who can think of a sentence.  (Get students to draw pictures to illustrate the CHORES CARDS)

• or PRACTISING NATURAL SENTENCES with SPECIAL custom-made DICE.

• Every time they turn a card they have to throw one or more dice and create sentences accordingly.  

• Finally I show them a film with questions to verify how many of the expressions they remember.  The film is about a boy voluntarily carrying out a lot of household chores for a specific reason.  It’s very touching.

• so to start with, I divided the class into groups of 4-5 students and gave each group a pack of excellent Nomination-Cards by Tekhnologic, which have the function of obliging every member of the group to speak when called upon at random by the card that was picked.  This made sure that even the shy and reticent had to participate and it really worked.

• I then gave them a series of questions on social media to discuss which went down well since they enjoyed the topic.

• Finally we watched a film simulating social media for which I had created questions which stop during the film and have to be answered for the film to continue. 

• so to start with, for the younger ones ACTION-SONGS represent a fun, repetitive and meaningful way to learn natural expressions easily.

• once the expressions have been introduced, by action songs, flashcards or other means in the case of adults, I usually get them to play SNAP with the cards seeing if they can think of a complete sentence using this expression, perhaps adding a little fun by ringing a bell for the first person who can think of a sentence.

• but the MOST INTERESTING repetitive FACTOR which HELPS the STUDENTS CREATE and PRACTISE NATURAL SENTENCES is the introduction of SPECIAL custom-made DICE with the language you would like them to practise.

• Every time they turn a card they have to throw one or more dice and create sentences accordingly.   As you can see from the picture, it’s very easy even for beginners or younger students to form sentences and the constant repetition helps them instill the grammatical structure naturally so they get a feel for the language just as a native learner does as he’s growing up.

• Custom-made dice I have been using are:
• Subject pronouns
• Frequency adverbs
• Time expressions
• Expressions for Present Perfect (already, just…)
• Expressions for Simple Past (yesterday, ago…)
• Clock faces for learning to the time
• + affirmative, - negative, ? question to practise all forms
• Object pronouns
• Possessive adjectives

1. PEOPLE / ANIMALS / THINGS
2. PLACES

• ‘The airplane is flying over the waterfall,’  can become ‘The airplane is flying over the waterfall to show it to the tourists.’ 
• ‘The dog is running in the forest,’ can become ‘The big black dog is running in the forest to get some exercise.’

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Also check out MY PLAYLIST

for more of Susan's ESL Learning Videos (Chants & Songs)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrvV_PywFOlxgfR5RpMw7rLsI6ai3yHai

• the first thing to distinguish is THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NUMBER AND A DATE:

• a NUMBER is just read like any cardinal number:  21, 22, 24, 24, 25
• a DATE is always read as an ordinal number: 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th

• THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A YEAR AND A NUMBER:

• a YEAR is usually read TWO by TWO in British English: 
  • 1995 = 19 95 (nineteen ninetyfive)

• 2009 = 2009 (two thousand AND nine)

• 2016 = 2016 (two thousand AND sixteen)

• a NUMBER is ALWAYS read as a whole: 
  • 1995 refugees disembarked = 1995 (one thousand, nine hundred and ninetyfive)

• A PRICE:  £2.10 = £2. 10  (two pounds ten)   /  $2.10 = $2. 10  (two dollars ten)

• A STATISTIC: 
  • 20% = 20 %  (twenty percent)
  • 1.5 = 1  .  5  (one POINT five)

• A TEMPERATURE: 
  • 18°C = 18  ° C  (eighteen degrees Centigrade)   / 
  • 64°F = 64  ° F  (sixtyfour degrees Fahrenheit)