Dear Teacher,
I hope you had a relaxing Easter break, here in Europe we are now just a few months from the summer break.
The 25th of April commemorates Liberation Day in Italy, but is also celebrated in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC Day remembers those who served and died in military operations for their countries.
This month’s new Downloadable Worksheets in the Teachers’ Area of www.tuneintoenglish.com is are all from “Down Under” – the first, by Simone Kate Svampa, from there but now based in Alba (CN), is the unofficial Australian national anthem Waltzing Matilda. There is a Past Simple activity as well as a look at the country’s colloquial language.
The second addition is based on the events of the battle that ANZAC Day originally commemorated – although written by Eric Bogle, a Scotsman, in 1972 it perfectly captures the events of the 25th April 1915. This worksheet, with an ordering activity, uses The Pogues’ version of And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.
Simone also submitted the third new worksheet. The New Zealand rugby team, The All Blacks, are closely associated with the Ka Mate Haka, the traditional ancestral dance from the Māori people – this fun worksheet teaches students how to dance the Haka!
Thank you to all teachers who have submitted worksheets – I look forward to receiving your contributions in the future.
The Tune Into English Roadshow visited the Universities of Seville and Huelva in March, as well as TESOL’s 36th Annual National Convention, and has been invited to return in May. I met Prof.ssa Maria Carmen Fonseca Mora who was en route to Madrid to lecture about melodies in the reading process – she has kindly allowed us to publish three of her articles, which you can see on the Media/Articles page of the Our Theory page of the site.
Thank you to all those who have sent in comments on the show – the tour will continue until the end of May. You can see a large selection of videos and photographs from over six years of the Roadshow on the Tune facebook page.
The Karaoke page of Tune Into English now features over 8,500 songs. You can sing along with the UK Top 10 Charts on the Speak Up site – updated weekly, there is a link on the Tune Home page too.
Why not film your students singing in the classroom? We would be delighted to publish the video!
Don’t forget to tell your students about the Tune Into English Drawing Competition – we have received some wonderful pictures, and look forward to receiving more of your students’ (or even your own!) masterpieces!
New Team Up in English, the ideal course for the Scuola Secondaria di I° Grado, published by ELI, is now available – click here for more details.
Finally, we were saddened to hear about Italian singer Enzo Jannacci’s passing – our tribute is here…
Until next month, with a very special celebration!
Best wishes,
Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com