CETP Newsletter

We haven't gone away!

2007-03-05T19:07:00.000+01:00

Due to Blogger's upgrade, combined with Laura's and my technical incompetance, the CETP newsletter / blog has moved. As you brainy people can surely figure out from the URL, this is the old version. Visit the new (and frequently updated) version at:

cetpnewsletter.blogspot.com

Thanks,
Emily

I Love the Coffee!!!

2006-12-11T14:04:00.000+01:00

One of my teacher friends sent this email to me the other day. It happened to be on a day when I was a little down. I was struggling to remain positive, and was looking at only the down falls of my day rather than seeing the good I had accomplished. Also every time we get together we often talk shop (Kat's term I stole it), when we do this often times we are reflecting on our struggles more so then our great adventures. This story hit me just right that day so I hope it also is encouraging to you as well.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eying each others cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. "The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

Becky's Interview

2006-12-11T13:59:00.000+01:00

Sara Noel was nice enough to send this to me. It is an interview that Becky was asked to take part in. It was given to me about a week ago and I am sorry it took this long to make the blog.

Becky was interviewed by this expat website http://www.xpatloop.com/interviews_list_detail.php?id=261

Donna's Spicy Roasted Sausage and Vegetables

2006-11-28T13:25:00.000+01:00

Spicy Roasted Sausage and Vegetables

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes or so
Temperature: gas mark 7, 220 C, 425 F

Ingaredients:
8 oz. sausages – you choose what kind
1 tsp cumin (I used pepper, paprika and parsley instead of the spices the recipe calls for since it was what I had!)
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 clove garlic
3 medium to small potatoes
1 red onion , quartered
2 carrots, cut into this chunks
6 large mushrooms cut into halves or quarters

Place the sausages into a roasting pan.
In a small bowl mix together the spice ingredients, if you have them.
Place all the vegetables into a large heat proof bowl.
Cover with boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain. (I just dumped them into a pan of boiling water and then drained them.)
Return vegetables to the bowl and mix with the spices.
Place the vegetables into the roasting pan with the sausages. Drizzle a little olive oil or whatever kind of oil you have over them. Maybe 4 Tbsp.
Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or a little longer.
Serve with bread and butter.

Lost Island (to practice must, mustn’t)

2006-11-24T09:19:00.000+01:00

This a good lesson to practice “must” and “mustn’t,” which my 7th graders learned from their grammar classes this week. They get to draw a little bit and use their imaginations, and they all seemed to enjoy the lesson.

First, divide the into groups of 3 or 4 students. Don’t let them pick their own groups, because there will inevitably be one group that finishes in 20 minutes and one that uses up the entire 45. Mix them up.

Give each group a piece of paper, or have them use one of their notebooks. Tell them to draw a map of an island. It helps if you have one that you’ve drawn as an example. The island can include beaches, mountains, hills, forests, lakes, rivers, natives, or whatever (side note: some groups will get really creative - one of my groups drew a candy island, complete with ice cream hills, cotton candy clouds, and a river of vanilla. Another group drew a nightmare island where children who get bad grades are tortured by some of my school’s stricter teachers and made into zombies, who then go and torment good children).

Give them 5 or 10 minutes to complete their islands. As each group finishes, explain to them that this island is like the island in the TV show “Lost” (they all know “Lost,” if you don’t just click the link), and that their group is lost together on this island. Have them write 20 rules, using must and mustn’t, to help live on the island. Examples: We must look for food. We mustn’t drink the ocean water.

When they finish, have each group pick their most important rules and share them with the whole class.

If you have extra time: have them write short stories of how they got to the island, or how they got home.

If they’re really into Lost, and have learned future tenses: have them write what they think will happen this season (meaning in the 2nd season, which is playing in Hungary right now).

Monsters (body parts and ‘have got’)

2006-11-24T09:15:00.000+01:00

This is a lesson I did with my fifth-graders this week. They are currently learning body parts and reviewing “has/have got,” so this tied in perfectly. In most classes it took the entire 45 minutes or slightly longer.

Start by drawing on the board a chart three boxes across and 10 (or 12 or 15) boxes down. Label the rows 1. to 10. and label the columns body parts, adjectives (melleknévek) and numbers. Fill in the first few lines as a class to get them started:

body parts / adjectives / numbers
1. eyes ------ fat ---------- 8
2. nose ----- blue -------- 3
3. foot ------ dirty ------- 12

After the students have filled in their charts, have them write sentences with the form “My monster has got 8 fat eyes. My monster has got 3 blue noses / 12 dirty feet / etc.” Point out that they should use the plural form of the body part.

Final step: have them draw the monster. My students really enjoyed this, especially the sillier combinations like “14 happy legs.”

Almost every student finished the writing part; about half finished the drawing. I told the other half to finish it as homework. Make sure to leave 5 minutes at the end of class so that the students who are finished can show their monsters to the class.

Vocabulary Review Game

2006-11-17T15:53:00.001+01:00

All month I have been teaching my students new vocabulary with the use of flashcards. We are getting very good at it, and I can use the same set of flash cards with all levels, excluding some for the 1.a and 2.a classes. To review we played BINGO.

Listening Skills and Following Directions
I hand out a piece of paper to each student. Listen carefully, fold the paper in half the long way. Now do it one more time. I would like you to now fold this in half, now again, and you are finished. (The paper will be folded to make a small square, when opened it will reveal 16 small boxses, this is your BINGO BOARD). Everyone take a black pencil and draw in the lines.

Making your own BINGO boards takes up time and gives the students a quick refresher on the vocabulary before the game starts. It helps those who fall a little behind as well.

Depending on the age, I have the students write or draw certain vocabulary words. Again I use listening for this. If you are a boy draw a king, if you are a girl draw a queen. If you are 12 years old draw a monkey, if you are not draw a goat. If you are wearing red draw a rose, if you are not draw a boat. If you have a brother draw a.....you get the picture. I do this until every student has filled in all 16 boxes.

Then we play BINGO...I made them all fill every square to win, and I just had them take a red pencil and put an X on the word I called out. When they had BINGO they recieved a sticker. Wow, they love stickers!!! This time mine were fruity smelling stars!

2006-11-17T15:53:00.000+01:00

A Thanksgiving Idea

2006-11-16T14:32:00.000+01:00

I hate teaching all of the Holidays, but some of the schools like it when we do so....Na. With my older grades 7th and 8th we have been discussing Native Americans and their lives. It has to be pretty basic because their language level is lower, but we can talk about basic things, like how they lived, how they live, and what kinds of things they did.

Bean Counting Game

If you were an Iroquis Native would you play games of chance?

The Iroquios loved these kinds of games. They would often bet on the outcome of any contest. One favorite was a game played with beans made of polished elk horn. Ther were about an inch in diameter and burned on one side to make them dark-colored. You'd put eight in a bowl and toss them. If six turned up the same color, you got two points. Less than six, no points; seven, four points; all the same color, twenty points. There was a pile of extra beans on the side. The winner received a bean for every point.
A similar game was played with six peach stones blackened on one side and shaken in a bowl. The peach stone game was often played on the last day of the Green Corn, Harvest, and New Year's Festivals.

First: I had the students read this out loud to work on their pronunciation.
Second: We discussed the reading to make sure all of us were understanding it.
Third: The students got into pairs and I handed out 8 beans and a sharpie to each group.
Fourth: They colored one side of each bean.
Fifth: I also handed out nuts and dried fruit as money to bet with, the students loved this. We had a great laugh on how teachers never have real money!!
Sixth: The students played the game until they ran out of "money".

Thanksgiving Email

2006-11-16T14:28:00.000+01:00

I am sorry to say that I, Laura, do not have all of your e-mails so I am putting this on the blog, so hope you check it!!!

Hajni is away on a little journey to Spain. She has called all of your head masters in order for you to have Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off. So eat well, enjoy yourselves and in the words of Hajni, Be Safe.

10-minute time filler: The longest sentence

2006-11-07T17:08:00.000+01:00

Today, my 8th graders completed their worksheet on relative clauses ten minutes before the end of class. To keep them occupied, I challenged them to write “monster sentences.” On the board, I demonstrated how to divide a normal sentence into parts and extend each part:

The man gave his mother a flower.
The man / gave / his mother / a flower.
The young, good-looking man who had red hair and lived in a gray house / sweetly gave / his old, sad mother, whose other children never called nor visited her, / a bouquet of yellow flowers to show how much he loved her.

That’s 39 words. The winning sentence in my class, with 58 words, was this one:

The woman watched TV with her cat. -> The old, retired, nice and kind woman, beloved by everybody, watched the old, black-and-white, huge, loud TV with total affection with her big, heavy, fat, striped, red, Persian cat which was eating small fish from his painted green catplate which was bought in the newest and biggest supermarket opened on the corner of Mary Queen of Scots Lane.

Halloween Board Game

2006-10-24T10:01:00.000+02:00

Be the first player to get around the neighborhood in an educational Trick or Treating board game. Earn chocolates along the way, but watch out for empty houses, and homes which give apples, bubble gum, and jaw breakers! The Trick or Treater with the most chocolate wins!!
Step One:
Create a game board, or use an existing game board like the Candy Land game board.
Have 3 or 4 so you can have small groups playing.
Have 25-100 spaces depending on the level of your students.

Step Two:
Color coordinate the game board and write objectives on each space, also depending on the level of your studetns.
Examples:
Grades 1-3--They know only simple things like colors so each color represents how many chocolates they would earn.
Grades 4-6--They understand simple sentences like Go back 3, move forward 2, You get 4 Chocolates.
Grades 7-8--Mr. George gives you a chocolate. Bad Luck, Only apples given here.
Grades 8 and up--I do not have these grades but more complex sentences would work too I assume.

How to Play.
Each group is given a Board, a Dice, and a Score Card.
One player rolls the dice and moves the amount shown. They read the space and do what it says.
If they earned a chocolate they mark it on the score sheet. Who ever has the most chocolate wins.

My students have enjoyed this, it was an excellent way to curb some of their anticipation of the up and coming break from school.

One Person Card Game

2006-10-10T10:40:00.000+02:00

Laying Seige, Sham Battle, or Beleaguered Castle

This is a one person card game to fill up some of the one on one time we often find ourselves with. TV is boring, and sometimes one gets a little tired of reading. Plus the weather right now is wonderful, but soon it will be foggy and dreary, and lets face it we need something to do.

A= Aces

1-48=the rest of the deck in dealing order.

Set up

Step One: Remove all four aces from one deck of regular playing cards.

Step Two: Place these aces in a column in the middle of a table.

Step Three: Shuffle the remainder of the deck.

Step Four: A column of four is delt to the left of the aces followed by the right.

1 A 5

2 A 6

3 A 7

4 A 8

Step Five: Continue dealing in this way until the deck is gone. There should be 6 cards in each pile.

1 9 17 25 33 41 A 5 13 21 29 37 45

2 10 18 26 34 42 A 6 14 22 30 38 46

3 11 19 27 35 43 A 7 15 23 31 39 47

4 12 20 28 36 44 A 8 16 24 32 40 48

The object is to build on the foundations, the aces suit sequences up to the kings. A 2 3 4---K

The cards available or open to play are those on the far end of each row. Cards 41-48 at first. i.e those cards whose faces are fully exposed.

Open cards can be played directly onto the foundations(aces), or onto another open card in decending order of rank, irrespective of suit, e.g. a 6 can be packed on any 7.

When one row is empty it can be filled with any available card. There are always 8 available cards for play.

J and J in the kitchen again!!!

2006-10-10T10:24:00.000+02:00

Here is an idea for the upcoming Hungarian celebration of the 1956 revolt. This dish is also very Octoberish.

Needed stuff- this is for two people
One squash aka TŐK - this should be gord shaped, skinny on top and fat on the bottom
Cashue Nuts - spelling may be off but U know what I have in mind - 1 pkg
Raisins - small package
Sunflower oil
Brown Sugar
Honey
Garlic - one full large head per person (2)
Red large paprika - fresh
Paprika powder - mild
Aluminum foil
baking pan
ground beef - 250 grams
packaged "steak" seasoning
egg - 1
mushrooms
onion
rice
lettice
Instructions are simple. First chop up mushrooms and raisins in a small bowl. Next cut garlic into good sized bits, about size of little finger nail. Put garlic, raisins and cashues into a bowl, Nuts should be lightly broken up first. Add a big tablespoon of paprika powder to nut mix. Next, prepare ground beef patties by mixing chopped mushrooms and chopped onion and egg plus a two tablespoons of "steak" premix flavoring. Form into patties and put in oven at setting 5 (cook for 30 minutes minimum). While cooking meet, cut squash into half the long way. Clean out seeds. Poke with fork and put in microwave at high setting for about 12-15 minutes. It should be juicy and kind of soft when done enough. Cut several slits into the half sections and drizzle honey over, also pat on a generous amount of brown sugar. Put halves into their individual "dish" of aluminum foil and place in oven. These need to bake about 25 minutes or more. When the meet patties are done the oven can be turned up to "6". Be careful not to tear the foil or you will have one ^&$% of a mess in the oven.
Now do the rice. Nothing special here.
Prepare several large lettice leaves. Now the fun part.
About the time the rice is done everything should be done. So at about rice done minus 8 put the nut mix in a pan with oil and fry. This should start to smell quite yummy and drive off any local vampires. Check the meet and squash for your preference of "done". The "Tők" should be soft and the sugar bubbling. Remove from oven very carefully as the sugar will cook anything it touches including you. Put squash on plate and fill hole with nut/garlic mix. Put extra all over the top of the squash. Put meat patty on plate. Put lettice leaf on plate. Put a quantity of rice on the lettice leaf. Sprinkle red paprika powder on top of the rice. Voila, you have a mini Hungarian flag.
Serve with bread and cold beer. PS- don't eat the skin of the squash.

J and J

The Last Poppet Lesson

2006-10-03T10:20:00.000+02:00

I have had my students reading Poppet for several weeks now, and reviewing the vocabulary found within the book. Interestingly enough we are just getting it down, but are rather bored with the book.

To finish the book off, and enjoy the poem once again, I brought art into the classroom. I brought with me some paper bags, the ones we used as children to carry our lunches to school. I walked studetns through how to make a paper bag puppet. We made the puppet resembling out favorite animals and wrote the poem used earlier on the back in a sharpy marker. They like how they smell!!

When the puppet was finished we took turns saying the poem, but ending with I am not a mouse, I am a (whatever animal they created). When we all had our turn, we partnered up and practiced... what is your name? how old are you? and what is your favorites?

Kat Woman's Lesson Idea!!!

2006-10-03T10:17:00.000+02:00

Tic Tac Toe Review

Make a 5x5 or 7x7 grid on the board.

Write the pronouns at the top of each column (i.e. I, you, they, we, he/she/it) or you can use professions which has been my target vocabulary for the week (i.e. a flight attendant, a nurse, a vet, an architect, a builder...)

Next to each row, you can write different verbs (i.e. see, have, eat, go, do) and for the advanced classes, I put a question mark.

Divide the class into two teams: Team X and Team O. (Interestingly enough, no one wanted to be Team O...I think they equated it with "loser").

Then, give each kid a chance to make a sentence using the grid. The sentence must be grammatically correct (The flight attendant sees airplanes). When a student matches a pronoun or profession with the question mark, they have to make a correct question (Do you eat cake?) Then that team gets either an X or an O in their box. If they get three in a row (up down, diagonal, or across) their team gets a point. The advanced classes were not allowed to help each other, but the lower level classes had a lot of trouble with it, so I let them help each other. They should eventually see how their team not only has to give grammatically correct sentences, but use strategy on where to put their X's and O's.

This game is great because you can use it multiple times for review and every single kid was involved. I got it from Dave's ESL Cafe at www.daveseslcafe.com.

From the kitchen of Jon and Jori!!!

2006-10-03T10:14:00.000+02:00

Here is something to make your stomach happy. Hope you give it a try. We got all the items at SPAR.

From the kitchen of Jon and Jori:

Chicken-Mushroom Paprikash California-Style,
with carmalized honey carrots, and pepper salad

Ingredients:
(you should be able to find everything at Spar)

for the chicken:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package Maggi brand Tejszínes-Gombás Ragu
1 175 gram container of Tejföl (like sour-cream)
roughly 4 big white mushrooms
pepper (fekete bors - comes in a packet, not a shaker)
semi-sweet white wine (we recommend Muscat Ottonel)
mild virgin ground paprika (we recommend stuff that is hand-ground by the mayor of your town)
sunflower oil
milk (2.8%)

for the carrots:

Akácméz (honey)
1 package of majoranna morzolt
1/2 pound carrots
1 med-sized white onion
brown sugar (barnacukor)

for the rice:

white rice (risz)
little bit of sunflower oil
little bit of sea-salt (tengeri só) or regular salt

for the salad:

leaf lettuce
half a pale yellow pepper
a third of a big green spicy pepper
more big white mushrooms (as much as you want)
salad dressing (we recommend a creamy light dill - kapros salatóntet)

YOU WILL NEED:

two saucepans, one with a lid (for the rice)
a decent skillet
a gas grill oven with at least three burners
nice knife
wooden spoon (metal will not work well with the carrots!)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Carrots: Peel and slice. Put in a saucepan of 1 cup of boiling water (with a little bit of salt). Boil 5 min.

2) Carrots: Chop the onion into medium-fine pieces, and add to the carrots.

3) Rice: Add salt and 1 tbsp of sunflower oil to the water for the rice. (Cook rice as usual.)

4) Chicken: Lightly grease the bottom of the skillet with sunflower oil. Put salt and pepper on chicken, then brown lightly until they are cooked through, no pink (~5 min).

5) Salad: Make any kind of salad you like. We suggest leaf lettuce, half a pale yellow pepper, and part of a spicy green pepper (sliced thinly), and/or tomatoes, a sliced up apple, and dill dressing.

6) Chicken: Turn chicken every now and then. Add to the pan the crushed mushrooms, and stir. This should soak up most of the remaining oil.

7) Carrots: Thoroughly drain water. Add 2 tbsp of honey, 1 heaping tsp of marjoram spice, and 1/3 cup of brown sugar. Put them on medium high heat. CONSTANTLY watch and stir! At first they'll be watery, but be careful not to boil away all the liquid. Boil and stir until the water is reduced to syrup.

8) Chicken: In the mean-time... Have your handy kitchen-helper add to the chicken the sour-cream, mushroom sauce packet, and 1/4 cup milk. Simmer on low heat 5-10 min.

9) While these things are simmering, relax and have some wine while your assistant does the dishes and monitors the carrots.

10) Carrot: When carrots have almost no liquid left, take them off the stove, stir again once quickly to distribute the syrup evenly. They should be firm and not mushy! They're done now.

11) Chicken: Add 3 tbsp of wine, and 2 tsp of paprika. Stir. Let the sauce and chicken simmer, and flip the chicken around a lot to coat it. It's done now.

12) Serve with the rice underneath, and sauce on top. Furthermore, we recommend dining on a nice, bright balcony and eating as the sun sets. With fine wine. And a nice table-cloth.

What Time Do You... Lesson Plan

2006-09-23T17:42:00.000+02:00

This lesson I did with my 5th and 6th graders, to review daily routine, telling time, and using simple present. Including the extra activity below, it took the whole 45-minute period.

*First, make a list on the board of daily routine activities (get up, eat breakfast, have a shower, go to school, go home, watch TV etc).

*Next, write some example questions on the board, leaving two lines between each question:

1. What time do you get up?
x
x
2. What time do you eat breakfast?
x
x

*Demonstrate asking the questions, and giving first person answers. Fill in your own answers.

1. What time do you get up?
I get up at 6:30.
x
2. What time do you eat breakfast?
I eat breakfast at 6:45.
x

*Ask the questions to a couple of students, and then write their answers on the board. Remind the students that in third person, the verb changes.

1. What time do you get up?
I get up at 6:30.
Csaba gets up at 6:15
2. What time do you eat breakfast?
I eat breakfast at 6:45.
Dorka eats breakfast at 7:05.

*Have the students write 10 of their own questions, and fill in the answers for themselves. When they finish this, they should work with their partner, ask their partner the questions, and then write down the answers in third-person form.

This was a good activity for my students because they got to speak some, but the writing kept them on-track. Some of them finished much earlier than others, so I came up with an extra activity: the game Memory (Memória, in Hungarian). I cut up some index cards, wrote the numbers 1-10 and the words one, two, three, etc to make one set (so they have to match 1 with one, 2 with two etc). The game was the biggest hit of the week, other grades even asked to play it.

Sara's FIRE Lesson

2006-09-21T14:46:00.000+02:00

Here's one of my lessons that went well. (I used this with 6th graders but you could change the words to make it more or less difficult). First I wrote FIRE on the board and asked them to tell me about fire- what is it? etc. Then I told them that in English we have alot of words that start with the word fire.

I gave them each a paper with a 'fireword' on it (I made it seem random but I gave the harder words to the kids who I knew could handle them and easier ones to the kids who struggle a bit.) I then told them to draw a picture of what they THOUGHT the word was. I left one word out to use as an example- this time it was FIRE TRUCK, I said, "I know what a truck is, it is like a car, and I know what FIRE is so maybe a FIRETRUCK is like a car with fire on it that can drive through fire" and I drew a picture of a flaming car.

After they drew their pictures they shared with the class. "This is FIREFLY, I think it is like a fly that looks like fire." They were all very into their pictures and used lots of color- some drew some very funny ones (I gave some hints- I told the boy with FIRE HYDRANT that hydro=water.)

Next I passed out slips of paper with definitions of each word (from a learners dictionary and simplified) and had them go around the room and find a match. Once they had a match they wrote a sentence using the word. Then they shared their sentence and told the class the definition of the word. (they all thought it was hilarious that a firefly really was like a fly that looks like fire!)

I used: firefly, fire truck, firefighter, fire station, fireworks, firewood, fire alarm, fireplace, fire hydrant and fire eater (this one was also a hit)

-Sara Noel

Poppet Take Two! Picture Dictionary

2006-09-19T10:40:00.000+02:00

The second week of Poppet by Dick King-Smith has ended, and I found it went well. I used it with all of my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students.

The students and I re-read the book listening for words we did not know. At the end of the reading we wrote those words on the board. I then handed out a piece of regular sized paper to each student.

Step by step we went through how to fold the piece of paper so that 16 boxes were formed (that is how many words the children struggled with).
1.Africa 2. Mouse 3. Do not understand 4. Jungle 5. River 6. Lizard 7. Beetle 8. Caterpillar 9. Snake 10. Hole 11. Frog 12. Grass 13. Scared 14 Trunk (elephant's nose) 15. Sneeze 16 Unhappy
Some they knew, but it helped that they shouted the animals out because it helped with the next part of the lesson.

We wrote word 1 in box 1 and then drew what the word meant. So in box 1 was Africa, and a picture of Africa. That one is hard to explain without a map in the room!!!

When the picture dictionary was finished we playes Hangman using the words in our new picture dictionary.

A Lesson Brought To You By Kat

2006-09-19T10:34:00.000+02:00

Lessons on Giving and Asking Personal Info/Describing

A. Here's something that worked well for me last year and this year. You can use it to gauge the level of a class and keep the noisier kids constantly writing and working at their desks. Unfortunately, it doesn't involve much speaking, but it does give them a chance to practice listening and writing...and drawing instead.

1) I give each of the kids a blank piece of paper
2) Tell them to write numbers 1-11 on one side. I usually tell them to draw lines with rulers so that they write in a straight line.

a. #1 My name is____________________
b. I've got ___________(color) hair.
c. I've got ___________(color) eyes.
d. My favorite color is__________.
e. My favorite food is__________.
f. I like ____________.
g. I don't like ______________.
h. I can _____________.
i. I can't____________.
j. I am _________ years old.
k. My favorite animal is a(n)_________.

Obviously, you can adapt the statements to your class level, but I used mine with a beginning fifth grade class.
3) As they are writing their personal information down on their paper, I'm doing the same thing on the chalkboard so that they can find out a little about me.
4) When everyone is finished, I tell them to turn their papers over and they draw and color their face on the other side. Some kids really get into it and some growl at me for making them draw.
5) When both sides are complete, I collect the papers and mix them up. I read their sentences aloud except for their name and the rest of the class has to guess who it is. This won't be too difficult for them, because the classes usually know each other well. If they can't guess who after ten sentences, then I show the drawing of that person's face. By this time, the kids should know who it is.

The kids loved it...just make sure you leave time to read everyone's.

B. TEN MINUTE GAME:

I used this today when I had five-ten minutes left at the end of class. I gave each student a small piece of paper. They fold it in half and write their name on one side. I put all their names in a bag and quickly model the game. I choose one piece of paper from the bag. Put it in the collar area of your shirt so it's sticking out, but you can't see it. Make sure the class can see it. (It's not really necessary to put it in your shirt, but it's fun and adds flair :)

Then, I ask yes/no questions to figure out who it is. (i.e. is this person a boy or girl? is this person wearing a black shirt? is this person tall? is this person wearing glasses? etc.) The person whose name I drew will go next.

Swedish Apple Pie Recipe from Donna

2006-09-13T20:22:00.000+02:00

This recipe comes from Donna, who said "I found this recipe EASY and delicious. I didn't have lemon juice or ice cream or nuts. I even substituted powdered sugar and it came out great. I baked it in a loaf pan for lack of anything else and John could not eat it fast enough!!!"

Donna gets the prize for being the first person to email Laura or Emily something for the blog. Yay Donna! Yay CETP blog! Yay apple pie!

Swedish Apple Pie Recipe
"Apple Recipes Online"

Apples, cored, peeled, and tossed with lemon juice (2 1/2 to 3 cups)

1 t. cinnamon

1 T. sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 C. sugar

1 C. all-purpose flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 to 1 C. nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.

Place apples in pie plate, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over top of apples.

Combine butter, sugar, flour, nuts, and egg in a bowl and mix well. Batter will be thick. Pour batter over apples and spread evenly.

Bake at 350° F. for 55 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with Cool Whip or ice cream.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: Recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9 x 13-inch baking
dish.

Pencil Box lesson for level 5

2006-09-12T11:21:00.000+02:00

I have one level 5 class that is behind the rest english speaking wise so I made a real easy I like lesson to help them with vocabulary.

1. I started with handing some 9 students the letters P E N C I L B O X with scrable pieces. I asked the students holding the letters to stand up and tell me the letter. I wrote the letters on the board in the order the students told them. I then put dashes representing the 2 words the letters would spell. Simiar to hangman dashed. I started them out with P_ _ _ _ _ B _ _ , and continued to give them clues until they could see the words PENCIL BOX.
2. I walked around the room and asked simple questions. What color is your pencil box? How many pens are in your pencil box? Where is your pencil box?
3. I made some columns on the board with 6 headings. Color, Pets, Sports, Food, Jobs, Subjects I then asked all of the students like questions. What color do you like? We tallied the answers to see how many liked each color, pet, sports etc.
4. Each student rolled a dice(di). The number they rolled determined which heading they would write about. They followed the same outline but put in the correct number and thing.
Example
Color
In our class 7 students like red. In our class 4 students like yellow.
When we were finished we shared a few out loud.

Lakes, Rivers, and Oceans Lesson: Middle School

2006-09-12T11:04:00.000+02:00

On the board I wrote Lakes Rivers Oceans.
On slips of paper I had the 5 biggest lakes, the 5 longest rivers and the oceans.
1. Caspian Sea 1. Nile 1. Pacific
2. Superior 2. Amazon 2. Atlantic
3. Victoria 3. Chang Jian 3. Indian
4. Huron 4. Mississippi 4. Southern or Antarctic
5. Michigan 5. Yellow 5. Arctic

I had the students first guess which ones where lakes, rivers, and oceans. Once we were in agreement we then played a guessing game to see which ones were the biggest/longest to the smallest/shortest. I also put the sizes on the board later.

We followed this with a writing activity. We set some standards 1. Read and understant the lesson. 2. Answer in complete sentences. 3. Practice out loud. 4. Share with the class. 5. Listen!!!

The assignment
Invent a water vehicle.
1. Describe which type of water your invention will use. 1 senence.
2. What does your invention look like? 4 sentences.
3. What special things can your invention do? 5 sentences.

I give some examples and explain that the students should do a minimum of the specified sentences, but may do more it they wish.

Poppet by Dick King-Smith Elementary level 3 and 4

2006-09-12T10:53:00.000+02:00

I have been reading the book Poppet to my level 3 and 4 students. It is a month long lesson that will be added to each week. This is part one of this lesson.

PART ONE

I started the lesson with simply reading the book out loud. It is a book about a baby elephant making friends with a mouse and finding out why elephants are afraid of mice. We then answered some simple questions like who is this? What is this? etc.

There is a chant that came with the book which helps the students with I am I am not statments. The chant goes as follows:

What is a mouse?

Are you a mouse?

No, I am not a mouse.

I am a frog.

What is a mouse?
Are you a mouse?
No, I am not a mouse.

I am a lizard.

What is a mouse?
Are you a mouse?
No, I am not a mouse.

I am a beetle.

What is a mouse?
Are you a mouse?
No, I am not a mouse.

I am a caterpillar.

We took turns saying this chant, then we drew a picture of out favorite animal in the book. When the students are finished their name goes into my jar. The last 10 minutes of class I choose a name and they go around with a puppet doing the chant to their classmates. The classmate then answers No, I am not a mouse. I am Csaba.

Bicycle Lesson Plan: Middle school age

2006-09-12T10:33:00.001+02:00

I have tried this lesson with my level 8 students and it worked well so I thought I would share it with you. Again my level 8 students did well, but I also felt it would work with my level 6 and 7th students too.

I started the lesson with Bicycle Math Marathon:

One day at a bicycle marathon, 4 cyclists started at point A. They picked up 10 more at point B. At point C, 23 cyclists were waiting to join the pack. Onto point D, they collected 12 speedy cyclists. At point E, 17 individuals joined the pack. Then 2 poor souls dropped out due to dehydration. At point F, 29 more joined the troop. Finally, at point G, 3 stragglers entered the group. How many total individuals finished the bicycle marathon?

The students who completed the word problem correctly recieved a starburst. We then wrote on the board all the words that meant to add, and all those that meant to subtract. In the end they all had the correct answer.

I followed this with breaking into 5 groups of 2 students, handing out objective slips and setting standards for the lesson.

1. Read and understand.

2. Answer the questions in complete sentences.

3. Prepare to share.

4. Share out loud.

5. Listen when it is not your turn.

The objective slips

A) Imagine you are an inventor and have invented the greatest bicycle machine ever. Describe what it looks like and what special things it can do.

B) There are many things a bike is good for. Imagine all the things you can do with a bike. Name 10 things and describe how it will work.

C) There are unicycles, bivyvles, and tricycles. Design a pentacycle, and new kind of cycle with 5 wheels. Describe what it looks like and how it works.

D) Design the fastest and best bicycle you can possibly imagine. What does it look like, and why is it the fastest and the best?

E) Unicycles are traditionally used in circuses. Design a circus act that could be used with a bicycle and then a tricycle.

The students both had to speak when sharing. Most decided to have one read the objective while the other shared what they came up with.

Bicycle Lesson Plan: Middle school age

2006-09-12T10:33:00.000+02:00

I followed this with breaking into 5 groups of 2 students, handing out objective slips and setting standards for the lesson.

1. Read and understand.

2. Answer the questions in complete sentences.

3. Prepare to share.

4. Share out loud.

5. Listen when it is not your turn.

The objective slips

A) Imagine you are an inventor and have invented the greatest bicycle machine ever. Describe what it looks like and what special things it can do.

B) There are many things a bike is good for. Imagine all the things you can do with a bike. Name 10 things and describe how it will work.

C) There are unicycles, bivyvles, and tricycles. Design a pentacycle, and new kind of cycle with 5 wheels. Describe what it looks like and how it works.

D) Design the fastest and best bicycle you can possibly imagine. What does it look like, and why is it the fastest and the best?

E) Unicycles are traditionally used in circuses. Design a circus act that could be used with a bicycle and then a tricycle.

The students both had to speak when sharing. Most decided to have one read the objective while the other shared what they came up with.

Lesson: Time Stretchers

2006-09-05T17:49:00.000+02:00

We all have those times when your lesson plan, no matter how good it looked on paper, falls a little short in practice. Or when half the class finishes an assignment ten minutes before the other half. Or when you just get sick of grammar and need to finish with something fun.

So in this entry, 11 ways to kill 5 or 10 minutes, while still using the time semi-educationally. None of these mini-activities require any prep work. I’ve done them with my 4th through 8th graders, but I think they could be adapted for higher levels.

1. Hangman, 2. Bingo, 3. Simon Says, 4. I Spy
I don’t think these little games need explanation, but if you want to brush up on the rules you can use these links: Hangman, Bingo, Simon Says, I Spy. From my own experience, they only work as time-killers if you don’t use them every lesson.

5. The Minister’s Cat
Use the name of someone in the class, yourself, or the class’s form teacher. The first student starts with the letter A, “Csaba’s cat is an awesome cat.” The next student repeats and adds an adjective with B, “Csaba’s cat is an awesome, bouncy cat.” If the repetition part is too difficult, skip it .

6. Word Boxes
Draw a four-by-four grid. Label the columns A, B, C, D, and the rows E, F, G, H. The students should draw the same, and try to fill each grid box with a word which begins and ends with the two relevant letters. For example, where E and A intersect, they could write able or extra. Where D and G intersect, they could write god or dog. See who can fill the most boxes within a set time.

7. Word Chain / Chained Sentence
Give the students / groups a word to start with, for example ‘wash’. The word chain builds on the last letter of each word. For example: wash, house, energy, yes, sheep, pillow, wind, dog... etc. No repeating words. See who can make the longest chain within a set time. Eighth grade and older are capable of making complete sentences this way - ex: We enjoy your red dress.

8. Say Something ____
Do in groups or with individual students. Name a category (“say something green, say something fast, say an animal on a farm”). Start with a group or student, they have 5 seconds to say an appropriate word. If they can’t, they’re eliminated from the game. Change the category after 5 or 6 groups / students. Play until only one is left.

9. Line Up Games
This is a good reward for a class who’s sat quietly all hour. Have them stand and divide them into groups. Put each group in a different area of the room (go outside if you can). After explaining the game, have the students in each group line themselves up in order of: height, birthday, name day, length of hair, number of siblings, length of name, alphabetical by name, alphabetical by mother’s name, etc. The group to do it fastest is the winner.

10. Sylvia’s Board Game
Have the students line up in two or three lines so that the first person of each line is standing at the chalkboard. The basic idea of the game is that you say something and the students see who can write it the fastest. Things you can say: numbers or letters, vocab words, verb tenses (for example, you say ‘do’, the student write ‘did’), or have a volunteer say words in Hungarian for the students to write in English.

11. When all else fails: Quiet Homework Time
If you’ve assigned homework, let them work on it in class. If they have homework from their other English classes, offer to help them with it.

Lesson: How was your summer?

2006-09-05T10:45:00.000+02:00

A good second week lesson plan idea.

Since I have had the pleasure of teaching last year I was unable to conduct a get to know you lesson. I took this opportunity to jump right in and start with the learning. This activity went well with all of my students ages 4th grade to 8th grade. Of course a few tweeks here and there were needed according to the levels of each class.

On the board I wrote out the following questions... How was your summer? What did you do this summer? Where did you travel this summer?

Underneath each question I also wrote examples of appropriate answers. Example: I had a wonderful summer. I played computer games this summer. I traveled/travelled to Lake Balaton this summer.

We reviewed and checked to make sure we understood all of the questions.

Students paired up and talked about their summers for 10 minutes using the board as a helper. Only ENGLISH was allowed during the talking period. The only time they were allowed to use Hungarian was when they were asking how would I say foci in english.

As they were discussing I went around and passed out paper and took some time to listen and discuss with them. On the paper the students were to write 3 to 5 things their partner did over the summer. I also went around to help with sentence structure and adding and subtrating a few things like rode a to He bike, or taking the from He played the football.

The pairs then took turns telling the other students what there partner did this summer. Having it written down really helped for those who had first day jitters.

Welcome to a wonderful teaching year!!!

2006-09-05T10:37:00.000+02:00

First of all a warm welcome to all new CETPers, and a welcome back to our old friends. Orientation went well, there was plenty of bonding, great dining, exciting dancing, and a little learning. I hope everyone is settled and happy in their new homes. If you are bored please feel free to call one of us, that is what we are here for, a talk here and there, a chance to visit on the weekends, and plain support! I hope the first day of teaching went well, and ideas are brewing in your brains. Please feel free to email Emily or myself, Laura with any cool ideas for teaching, cooking, free time, and of course weekend adventures.

Last Week Writing Activity / Game

2006-06-09T10:16:00.000+02:00

This is something I did with my kids last week. It’s pretty quick and simple, I did it with 4th through 7th grades (with some variations, below).

First, say a couple sentences about what you are doing in the summer. “I am going to America” is a good starter. All the kids will copy with “I am going to Balaton, I am going to Italy, etc.” On the board, write three or four example sentences like:

In the summer, I will go to America.
In the summer, I will swim in the Tisza.
In the summer, I will visit my grandparents in Törökszentmihály.
or, for the younger kids who don;t know future yet:
In the summer, I am going to America.
In the summer, I am eating ice cream.
In the summer, I am playing with my dog.

Have each student write 8 or 10 or 15 sentences about their own summer plans (if you want to use Variation 3, below, it’s important that they write on loose paper, not in their notebooks). When everyone is finished, go around the room and have each student read one sentence. The other students have to listen and if they wrote the same sentence, they can a check next to it. The first person to have 6 or 8 or however many checks is the winner. It’s fun because they will argue with you about if “I visit my grandmother” and “I visit my cousin” are the same or not.

Generally, this activity has taken between 35 and 45 minutes.

Variation 1 - with younger students, you can have them write only 5 or 6 sentences, and also draw pictures to go with them. When I did this, I never got to the game part because they drew for the whole hour.

Variation 2 - with one class, I had them draw a board with 16 squares, 4 by 4, and write a sentence in each square. Then as the students read off their sentences, we played bingo with the boards.

Variation 3 - my best idea yet. At the end of each class, I collected all the papers. If I can manage to not lose them between now and next year - presto, instant lesson. The plan is to hand them back in September and have a lesson like “So what did you actually do this summer?” Hopefully, it’ll be interesting for the kids to read something they wrote months ago.
Even those of you who are going home or switching schools could still do this and leave the papers as a gift for the new teacher. It would be nice because in addition to a free lesson, he/she would also get an idea of their writing abilities.

Good luck, everyone. Have a great last week!

A letter from Mary Rose

2006-05-24T12:58:00.000+02:00

A letter from Mary Rose

This is a letter from Mary Rose that was emailed to me recently. I think it is a nice letter that should be read by all. For those of you who are lazy and just skim I put some of it in bold. I will be out of toch with many of you and will be missing the Balaton gathering so I too hope all well if I do not see you before you leave. laura

Thanks Everyone for the Great Job of Teaching this Year!
This is Mary Rose back in Portland. All year you’ve been so great about sending me invitations to all of the festivals and get-togethers, and each time I’ve been pea-green with envy!
But more than that, I want to thank you for the great job you’ve all done in your teaching careers! You know how Hungarians are—so no news is truly good news. We’ve acquired quite a few new schools for the coming year, due not only to Hajni’s efforts, but due also to word of mouth. The schools are happy with our wonderful CETP teachers and are spreading the word.
I have a favor to ask (but really, I wasn’t just buttering you up!) A couple of our teachers have mentioned that our website features photos and quotes mostly from before 2000. You’ve been such a great group and seem to have had such a wonderful time—would you be willing to write short blurbs for us to add to our webpage and also send photos of you teaching, traveling, and just living during this year? I am working on updating the website and this will be of great help (plus you will be slightly famous!)
OK, I have two favors to ask. If you’ve had a positive experience, would you spread the word about CETP? Hajni and I are so proud of our organization—like Hungary, it seems a little hidden jewel—but we’d prefer that it not stay hidden! Talk to your friends, write a nice message on Dave’s Internet Café (that would be a BIG help!), or whatever comes to mind. I mention CETP whenever I can—just last week a man walked his dog past my house and after he mentioned he was retiring this summer, I said, “Why don’t you come teach English in Hungary this fall?” He’s seriously considering it, as is my mailman, who retires next year. It pays to speak up. Talk to your folks—wouldn’t they like an adventure? Have them come teach!
I’m so happy that so many of you are coming back for another year! Last year we had about a quarter of our teachers return, and this year it’s more like a third. And for those of you who are following other dreams, please let me know if you would like me to write you a recommendation letter. My new email address is cetp@comcast.net, although I have kept my cetp@att.net address as well. Unfortunately, AT&T blocks most email from Hungary due to excessive spam from certain Hungarian ISP’s (I feel so fancy when I can throw around a term like that). For months I couldn’t correspond with Hajni via email so I finally switched to high-speed internet and I must admit I love it.
If any of you are going to be in or near Portland this summer (I know you are Rosemary), let’s get together at Jim and Patti’s for coffee.
For those of you leaving, enjoy your last weeks in Hungary, and good luck with whatever you decide to do. For those of you staying, hopefully I’ll see you in Budapest for orientation. I’ll write more about orientation when I know more.
Again, thanks! You’ve been a great group. I remember how proud I felt when we all met for the welcome dinner and there were tables and tables full of exuberant faces (maybe you were all jet-lagged and dazed and I just misread your expressions). Now a new group will be coming in. I know that you who are returning will help them feel at home just like you did during winter orientation. Won’t it be fun to be an old-timer?
If there is anything I can do for any of you, please let me know. Last year at this time you were mostly all just names to me with a few resume-type facts to go with, but now you’re all friends and I’ll remember you forever. If you would like to be listed on the web’s alumni page, let me know and make certain that we have your current email address.
Mary Rose

A recipe from Liz

2006-05-17T12:52:00.000+02:00

Kokuszkocka

(coconut and chocolate covered honey cakes)

Ingredients for the honey cake

30 dkg (300g) flour

20 dkg (200g) sugar

5 dkg (50g) butter

12g baking powder

1 egg

2 TBSP honey

Ingredients for the chocolate coating

20 dkg (200g) melted butter

6 TBSP sugar

3 TBSP cocoa powder

6 TBSP milk

The Honey Cake

1. Grease and lightly coat a 9x13 pan with a flour and baking powder mixture.

2. Beat together by hand or with beaters the Sugar, Butter, Egg, and Honey until it reaches the consistancy of whipped egg whites. (The suggested time is 20 to 40 minutes).

3. Gradually mix inthe flour and baking powder mixture stirring each time.

***If the mixture seems to thick add 1 dl (1/4 cup) of milk, keep adding until the mix is at the right consistancy.

4. Bake slowly at a low temperature for at least 40 minutes. Check with a toothpick and let cool. When finished cut the honey cake into small squares.

The Chocolate Coating

1. Stir together all of the ingrediants until soft.

*** If it seems to thin add more cocoa powder until it reaches desired thickness.

2. Cover the squares with the chocolate coating.

3. Cover with a thin layer of coconut.

Some helpful travel tips

2006-05-17T12:44:00.000+02:00

Here are some web sites that will make travelling in Hungary a bit easier.

www.elvira .hu train schedules
www.volan.hu bus schedules
www.mozi.hu movie schedules and play lists

Also something that many of us may know already, but I seem to always need a little help are the letters in front of the times on bus signs. Liz was smart and wrote them down so here they are...

M working Monday thru Friday
O Saturday only
+ Sunday only
X every day but Sunday
e school days
Z Saturday and Sunday

Messy Room, by Shel Silverstein

2006-05-10T23:03:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Nicole for sending in this idea:

I've done this with a few of my 5th and 6th grade classes, but it has been kind of a bust in one larger class that has problems staying on task and being quiet.

I printed out sheets with the following poem on it:

Messy Room
by Shel Silverstein
from A Light in the Attic

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

First we define the words poem and poet, and in most of my classes we have just the right amount of people for everyone to read a line. So we go through it once, stopping after each line to work on words they don't understand, and then one more time practicing reading with expression in our voices. Then I ask them to draw a picture of this room using each line as directions...I check to make sure their pictures correctly reflect the prepositions used in the poems (eg: scarf and one ski beneath the TV, not next to).

This usually takes close to 45 minutes. I'm being optimistic and hoping with my 7th and 8th grade classes we won't draw pictures, but rather everyone will create one line describing something in a messy room for an entire class poem.

My younger brother claims Shel Silverstein got his start drawing cartoons for Playboy. (True; according to Wikipedia he also lived in the Playboy Mansion for "an extended period of time")

Good luck and thanks for all the other good ideas.

Questions Game

2006-05-09T21:51:00.000+02:00

All right, it’s an unoriginal name, but it was the best I could do. But I promise it’s a good game, much better than the name would indicate. It’s great for if you, ahem, forgot to plan a lesson or something, because it takes zero prep work and can be replayed every few weeks.

Divide the class into teams of 3-5 students. Each group needs one person to be the writer. Let each group pick a topic (or theme, Hung: téma); ones I offer as examples are things like Animals, Sports, Music, Food, Films, Szolnok, Hungary, Geography, History, Politics... you can come up with more complex things for higher levels (I’ve done this game with 5th through 8th grades). Each group picks one, or makes up their own, and then writes 5 questions about their topic (or 7 or 10 questions, depending on time and level). The important things about the questions:

-Question #1 should be easy (nagyon könnyü), and question #5 should be very difficult (nagyon nehéz). This is because question 1 is worth 1 point, 2 is for 2 points, etc.
-The questions need to be factual. To explain to lower levels, you can say the questions need to have one answer only. “What’s your favorite food?” or “How are you?” don’t work.

While the kids are working on questions, you need to write the groups’ chosen topics on the board. Under each topic, write the numbers 1-5. Also find some way of keeping score. Usually I just draw a scoreboard, but sometimes I’ll give out pieces of colored paper or playing cards as points.

When they’re finished writing their questions, check them, then start playing: Team 1 looks at the board and selects a topic and a point value, for example, “We want/would like Animals for 3 points.” You (or a game keeper) crosses this question off the board (so it can’t be asked for again), and whichever team wrote the question reads it. If Team 1 can answer correctly, they get the 3 points. If not, no points. Move on to Team 2; keep playing until all the questions have been used or the bell rings (hopefully the latter).

Variation one - if the class is small, you can also be a team yourself. It takes about 1 minute for a native speaker to come up with 5 or 7 questions; I usually use a topic like America or The English Language. One time with a 5th grade class I did the topic “Emily” and the questions were all things like “What is Emily’s favorite color?” “What state is Emily from?” Self-indulgent, yes, but they loved it.

Variation two - if you have a class which is easily distracted, the game can fall apart when Team 1 is asking Team 2 a question, because the other 2/3/4 teams are doing nothing. To counter that, you can let them steal the points (lehet rabolni, according to my 6a). So everyone has to listen to the question being read (only once, and only in English!) and if Team 2 can’t answer the question after a certain time, the first group with a hand up and the correct answer gets to take the points.

Remember M.A.S.H.???

2006-04-25T11:21:00.000+02:00

M.A.S.H. Mansion, appartment, shack, house.

I remember playing the game M.A.S.H. all through Jr. High and High School. It was the game that determined who you were going to marry, what you would wear, how many kids and so on. I was sitting at home bored of reading for the day, so played a round of it with my imaginary friend I have developed through the help of Emily. The friend is Alice the Cow. Poor Alice had to marry Jared the Jaguar and was not at all happy. Anyway, I decided that this would be a fun way to get the students to think about the future and in this use the future tense.
I used this with all of my grades, I just had it tailored to whatever level I was working with at the time. I explained the word Category and translated MASH for them. They laugh because shack in hungarian is putri, which means really outhouse. The categories went as follows, but can be change and adapted to fit the needs of your students.
1. Write MASH on top of your paper.
2. Name 5 colors (dress/tux)
3. Name 5 boys/girls
4. Name 5 days of the week
5. Name 5 numbers 1-30
6. Name 5 months
7. Name 5 colors (explain that it is again, you are not stupid and did not forget we have done this)
8. Name 5 modes of transportation
9. Name 5 numbers 1-10 (kids)
10. Name 5 animals (pets)
11. Name 5 countries
12. Name 5 jobs
13. Name 5 numbers 100 and up (their weekly salary)

Have the students name their favorite animal and count the letters. Ex. monkey = 6, or cat = 3. This number becomes their counter. 1 2 3 cross out the S in MASH 1 2 3 cross out the number 2 color until their is only one in each category left.
It was an enjoyable way to learn the future tense, and the students really enjoyed sharing their information.

Mrs. K and her book and movie reviews.

2006-04-25T11:17:00.000+02:00

Book Reviews

I read Harpswells "The Secret Life of Bees" and could hardly put it down once I started. It's about a little white girl in the south in the 60's who runs away from home with her black nanny and the personal and racial struggles they encounter.....I don't want to tell anymore cuz I don't like giving away too much.....but it's very good....
Another one I read recently and loved is called "The Things They Carried." Gaines loaned it to me and I'm greatful she did. It's about Vietnam, but it's nothing like any other war story; it's about the things they carried with them and is a narrative, almost like the author is sitting there telling you his deepest confessions 30 years later. It's wonderful.
Oooh, and another one I just got in a little book shop in Sopron is called A magyarok kolteszete (the o has two dots and the first e has a dash). ie Poetry of the Magyars. It's great cuz you know how the hungarians love poetry and this book is bilingual. It's apparently, too, a famous book of poetry. The dude who put it together is Sir John Bowring in 1830 (I'm reading about all that in the extensive introduction right now). Apparently all his translations are pretty bad but, according to introduction, this is a book that all Hungarians know about, even if they've never read it, and even though it's super famous, it's never been reprinted before this year. So I'm pretty syched. I had hoped it would help me with my Hungarian, but now that I know the translations are apparently pretty bad, well, we'll see.

Film Reviews

Oh!!! A few more recommendations: last night Yerik and I watched 2 Hungarian movies. Speaking of working on my Hungarian, these two films would be highly entertaining ways to do so, especially since some of the translations for the subtitles leave out the most colorful phrases, it seems worth learning enough to understand what they're saying. The first film is called "Magyar Vandor" (there's a dash on the last a). I don't even want to begin to describe the plot, but I will say that it's full of little jokes about Hungary and Hungarians and I at least loved that I got most of the jokes. I'm fairly certain that a Hungarian would tell you that it's a cheesey flick, but I at least am looking forward to finding a copy of this one to own.
The second film is Kontroll. This one you may have heard about. It's the one about the Budapest metro line ticket controllers. It's quite good. Gives me a new perspective on those dudes we love to hate.

Again any other reviews of just lists of who has what books would be helpful.

Stuffed Cabbage brought to you by Liz

2006-04-25T11:05:00.000+02:00

First of all I would like to thank everyone for sending us information to put on this blog. This helps keep the blog interesting as well as easy. We hope you had a wonderful spring break. From those that I have talked to it sounds like a fun time was had by all.

This is a recipe that Liz learned while taking a cooking class from her contact teaher in preperation of going home for christmas and impressing her friends and family. I have tasted her leftovers of this and must say, it was delicious, and this is coming from one of the more picky CETPers.
Stuffed Cabbage
2 heads of cabbage
1 can of sour cabbage (.5 kilo)
1kg minced meat (turkey or pork)
60g rice
2 big white onions
5tsp paprika
1tsp salt
2tsp black pepper

Cabbage leaves: Core 2 heads of cabbage. Boil pot of H20. Pour hot H20 over the heads of cabbage in a large bowl. Let the cabbage sit in hot water.

Stuffing: In a bowl combine minced meat, spices (3tsp paprika), 1 onion finely chopped, 10ml warm water and a handful of sour cabbage.

In a shallow, wide large pot: cover bottom of pan with olive oil and half a chopped onion. simmer for 3 minutes. take off heat and add 2tsp paprika and mix. Add half of the rest of the sour cabbage spread on the bottom of the pan. Stuff the cabbage leaves after draining the water and peeling leaves from the head. Place the stuffed leaves on the bed of sour cabbage. Cover the top with the rest of the sour cabbage. Fill the pot with H20. Cook on low heat and cover the pot, but leave a crack open. Cook like this for about 2 hrs. Before serving add 1 cup of water, cook 10 more minutes and serve. Serve with a side of sour cream.

**Stuffing the leaves can be tricky and messy. Hold the leaf flat in one hadn and add a handful of stuffing. Wrap the leave as best you can and seal off the ends the best you can. Practice makes perfect!

Keep checking the blog because I have been promised the secrets to Jenna's brownies, and an onion ring recipe from Emily!! Anyone else with something yummy to share please let me know.

Book Reviews

2006-04-16T14:54:00.000+02:00

Gaines has a copy of a wonderful book called One Hundred Years of Solitude written by Gabriel García Márquez. This book tells the story of the rise and fall of a fictional village called Mocondo. It is a story filled with mythical characters and events. It has unforgettable characters, and is very well written. It is also a Nobel Prize winner. This book has been in CETP circulation for a while and all who have read it that I have talked to have recommended it. If you would like to read this let Gaines know.

Mariah has loaned me a copy of The Drowning Tree written by Carol Goodman. It is a book about a women trying to solve the murder of her best friend as well as uncover some secrets about the founders of their prestigious college. She feels that it may be connected with the mental institute where her husband ended up only two years after their wedding. I have not finished the book yet but at this point it proves to be a good story.

Laura has some copies of some classics such as Ivenhoe, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Davis Copperfield, and The Brothers Karamozov (these two are Harpswell's copies but I am sure she would not mind someone else reading them).

Please Email me some other good books or not, anything in English is good. I will include them on the next posting. Also email anything you would like included on the blog.

Post Holiday Lesson Plans

2006-04-16T14:13:00.000+02:00

WELCOME BACK FROM BREAK

Emily and I once again have picked up the priviege of updating and issuing the CETP newsletter with Brandie's decision to go back to the United States of America. We thought that it would be easier and a little more interesting if we continued with our idea of a Blog. It just seems more practical.

We hope everyone is enjoying their little break from teaching and having wonderful adventures in the many places they traveled.

We congradulate all those who have made the difficult decision to stay and teach another year or to start a new adventure elsewhere be it in the United States or some other place. In either case the decision was not an easy one to make. We will miss all those that are persuing other experiences.

IDEA NUMBER ONE
Emily has a wonderful idea that worked for her classes when she returned from Transylvania, she admits stealing the idea from someone else, but has used it and it worked. It can be adapted for all ages.
1. Give a list of vaccation vocab to the students. (Transylvania, palinka, dogs, bus ride, families etc.)
2. Have the students come up with cartoon strips explaining what you could have done on your break.
3. Give opportunities to share their results.
4. Tell them what really happened, but keep it appropriate no drunk bar fights allowed.

IDEA NUMBER TWO
Another wonderful idea given by our one and only Emily can also be used for post break lessons.
1. Have the students write a story or draw a cartoon describing what they may have done on their holidays. It is important that the students include some things that did not happen in order for this to work.
2. Have the students share their adventures with the class.
3. The class tries to guess what actually happened and what was false.
4. This could be made into a competition between teams if that helps get the students working.

MODIFIED VERSION
A third modification of this could be done as well.
1. Students write 10 vacabulary words concerning their holiday.
2. Pass the list to the neighboring student.
3. The neighboring students write a story about what they think happened according to their vocab list.
4. Let the sharing begin.
5. What really happened time.

Anyone with other variations of this activity or other excellent teaching ideas please share using the comments section or email them to Laura at hob2213@yahoo.com

Up and Running!

2005-12-24T16:57:00.000+01:00

Hello to all the CETPers. This is Emily and Laura writing you from here in Magyarország, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are also relaying the message that as of today we, again Emily and Laura, will now, most be in charge of the CETP Newsletter. We are very excited to be your news correspondents in Hungary and promise to do our best in relaying all news information type stuff, including but not limited to the following: events, recipes, lesson plans, and - above all else - alcohol. We're open to bribes, gifts and monetary donations... but we'll publish whatever you send anyway. Feel free to email anything worth publishing to Laura (hob2213@yahoo.com) or Emily (ekhandler@yahoo.com).

Second order of business: Welcome to all the newbies who will be joining us for the second semester. We are excited to have you and hope that your experience is as tökjó as ours.

Third and final order of business: Emily and I would love to announce that once again we are spending our Poor Girls Holiday drinking caffeine-free non alcoholic beverages and watching the MTV European Music Awards. It is just as good the second, third and fourth time. That is all the news from the home front. This is Emily Handler and Laura Stigen signing off. Check back again soon to see this wicked awesome brand new NEWSLETTER!!!

CETP Newsletter

We haven't gone away!

I Love the Coffee!!!

Becky's Interview

Donna's Spicy Roasted Sausage and Vegetables

Lost Island (to practice must, mustn’t)

Monsters (body parts and ‘have got’)

Vocabulary Review Game

A Thanksgiving Idea

Thanksgiving Email

10-minute time filler: The longest sentence

Halloween Board Game

One Person Card Game

J and J in the kitchen again!!!

The Last Poppet Lesson

Kat Woman's Lesson Idea!!!

From the kitchen of Jon and Jori!!!

What Time Do You... Lesson Plan

Sara's FIRE Lesson

Poppet Take Two! Picture Dictionary

A Lesson Brought To You By Kat

Swedish Apple Pie Recipe from Donna

Swedish Apple Pie Recipe"Apple Recipes Online"

Pencil Box lesson for level 5

Lakes, Rivers, and Oceans Lesson: Middle School

Poppet by Dick King-Smith Elementary level 3 and 4

Bicycle Lesson Plan: Middle school age

Bicycle Lesson Plan: Middle school age

Lesson: Time Stretchers

Lesson: How was your summer?

Welcome to a wonderful teaching year!!!

Last Week Writing Activity / Game

A letter from Mary Rose

A recipe from Liz

Some helpful travel tips

Messy Room, by Shel Silverstein

Questions Game

Remember M.A.S.H.???

Mrs. K and her book and movie reviews.

Stuffed Cabbage brought to you by Liz

Book Reviews

Post Holiday Lesson Plans

Up and Running!

Swedish Apple Pie Recipe
"Apple Recipes Online"