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• Año
ño XV • Nro. 156 • $ 29 • Uruguay $ 110,00
• Paraguay GS 25.000 • El Salvador U$S 3,10
• Costa Rica $C 1.600 • Ecuador U$S 3,40
• Chile $ 1.900 I, II y XII Región $ 2.300 • Perú Sol 13
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Pages 4 and 5
FYI: Acronyms in English language

Contents
teaching.

Pages 6 and 7
My house, your house.

D ear colleague,
In this issue you will find lots of
resources for your classes: materials to
Pages 8 to 17
Photocopiable activities.

introduce, practise or revise vocabulary Pages 18 and 19

related to houses; flashcards for young learners Object pronouns.
presenting feelings and emotions accompanied
Pages 20 to 24
with imaginative ideas of how to deal with the What day is it today?
topic as well as the last set of flashcards for the Flashcards.
interactive calendar introduced in previous issues.
Three articles are included in this edition, which Page 25
will contribute to your professional development: Good morning, how are you
feeling today?
an informative article on acronyms frequently
used in English language teaching, an article on Pages 26 and 27
the teaching of grammar and an experience Is it old fashioned to teach
carried out with primary students about the grammar?
global influence of the English language.
Pages 28 and 29
We hope you like it. English is everywhere.
The Teacher’s Magazine team
Page 30
What’s the matter?

Poster 1
The house.

Poster 2
Object pronouns.
Feelings and emotions.

Directora: Patricia Sainz / Diseño y diagramación: Mario Madies / Colaboradores: Ana M. Martino, Mariela Starc, Aurea Obeso, Francisco García Jiménez / Administración: Claudia Traversa, Sergio Vicente / Asistente de dirección:
Dario Seijas / Archivo digital: Cecilia Bentivegna, Sandra Casanova / Ilustración: Alberto Amadeo, Roque Angelicchio, Fernando Cerrudo, Emmanuel Chierchie, Gabriel Cortina, Mariano Martin, Victor Sánchez / Color digital: Gonzalo
Angueira, Mónica Gil, Viviana Kuhn, Natalia Sofio / Comercio exterior: Walter Benitez, Pablo Fusconi / Comunicación y atención al cliente: Carlos Balajovsky, Maia Balajovsky / Congresos y capacitaciones: Micaela Benitez, Consuelo
Pérez Fernández / Corrección español: Elisabet Álvarez, Marcelo Angeletti, Agustín Hernandorena, Nicolás Fernández Vicente, Adriana Serrano, Liliana Vera / Fotografía: Fernando Acuña, Mónica Falcioni, Andrea González, Aldana
ISSN: 1514-142X
Meineri, Laura Monzón, Susana Natol / Marketing y publicidad: Favio Balajovsky, Fernando Balajovsky, Gastón Monteoliva, Reinaldo Perdomo, Maite Valiente Matilla / Recepción: Mauro De Los Santos, Patricia Perona / Recursos
AÑO 15 - Nº 156 humanos: Mariana Medina / Recursos multimedia: Francisco Del Valle, Leticia Magni, Mauricio Pérez, Pablo Yungblut / Sistemas y web: Javier Canossini, Leonardo Kenis, Leandro Regolf, Raúl Robbiani / Servicio técnico: José Celis /
ABRIL 2013
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ESTA ES UNA Editor Responsable y propietario: EDIBA SRL Brown 474, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires. Argentina.
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Escribinos a través de www.ediba.com. Anunciate con nosotros: publicidad@ediba.com.

Esta revista sólo se vende en los kioscos, aún no hemos implementando ningún sistema de suscrpción, por lo que ninguna empresa está autorizada a realizarlo.
C 1999 The Teacher’s Magazine Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial del contenido de esta revista. Registro de Propiedad Intelectual Expediente Nº 837781- Miembro de la Asociación Argentina de Editores de Revistas. Asociados al IVC

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A n acronym is a word made up by the first letters

of other words, for example CEO stands for Chief
Executive Officer. In the jargon of English
teaching there are many acronyms that are quite
• ICT: Information and Communication Technology
• IELTS: International English Language Testing System
• TBL: Task-Based Learning
• TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
common and teachers need to know. • TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language
• TESOL: Teachers of (or Teaching) English to Speakers of
• ADHD: Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder
Other Languages
• CELS: Certificates in English Language Skills
• TKT: Teaching Knowledge Test
• CIE: Cambridge International Examinations
• TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language (American origin)
• CLIL: Content And Language Integrated Learning
- TOEFL cBT (computer-based test)
• EFL: English as a Foreign Language
- TOEFL iBT (Internet-based test)
• ESL: English as a Second Language
- TOEFL pBT (paper-based test)
- ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages
• TOEIC: Test of English International Communication (American
• ESP: English for Specific Purposes
origin)

Another acronym that teachers of English should know is

CEFR that stands for Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages, which establishes a set of common
standards in language learning, understandable across
countries and institutions worldwide. There is a framework of
six levels of language proficiency that describes the skills a
student should be able to master to belong to a specific level.

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Level Code Skills

BEGINNER • No previous knowledge of English.
BASIC A1 • Can introduce him/herself and others.
Elementary • Can ask and answer questions about personal details.
• Talks slowly.
A2 • Can understand very basic personal and family information.
Lower intermediate • Can perform simple tasks.
• Can make simple descriptions.
INDEPENDENT B1 • Can deal with most situations related to work, entertainment, travel.
Intermediate • Can produce a simple connected text.
• Can describe experiences and events.
B2 • Can understand the main ideas of a complex text.
Upper intermediate • Has fluency and spontaneity.
• Can interact with native speakers.
• Can produce a detailed text.
PROFICIENT C1 • Can understand longer texts.
Advanced • Can use the language for academic and professional purposes.
• Can produce well-structured text, showing organisational cohesive
devices.
C2 • Can use the language like a native speaker.
Proficiency • Can understand mostly everything heard or read.
• Can summarise information.
• Can produce finer shades of meaning.

IELTS states that more than 1.7 million tests are taken each year around the world; the following grid shows all the levels
according to the different grading codes of the various testing organisations.

LOWER UPPER
Guide to levels BEGINNER ELEMENTARY INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED PROFICIENT
INTEMEDIATE INTERMEDIATE
European
A0 A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2
Framework

CAMBRIDGE KET PET FCE CAE CPE

CELS Preliminary Intermediate Higher

TOEIC 0-59 60-245 246-380 381-540 541-700 701-910 910+

TOEFL 0-44 45-95 96-125 126-175 176-235 236-275 276+

IELTS 0-1.0 1.5-3.0 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 5.5-6.0 6.5-7.0 7.5-9.0

Intermediate Higher
Pitman Basic Elementary Intermediate Advanced
1st Class Intermediate

Trinity 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12

Now you have some knowledge about very common acronyms References
and a worldwide guide to know the different levels of English • www.britishcouncil.org/bulgaria-english-language-courses-levels-equivalence-chart.htm
proficiency and what they imply. Now, if you want to go on • www.britishcouncil.org/slovenia-exams-cambridge-europe-language-levels.htm
researching on this topic on your own, it is U2U (up to you)! • www.ielts.org/about_us.aspx
• www.1stopesl.com/testnquizzes/englishlevel/EnglishTest_layout1.gif
• www.ets.org/toefl
Aurea Obeso
(*)
For Your Information

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I n this edition, poster 1 presents the parts of the
house, an issue that may be appealing to our
young learners if presented in an attractive way.
Here you will find some suggestions which will
provide you with plenty of activities. You may want to
adapt them to your needs and take advantage of all the
possibilities these images give you.
Label the rooms
Before the class prepare strips of paper holding the names of
the rooms and the elements in them. Start by asking your
students to label the rooms and then their contents.
What’s missing?
Distribute small squares of paper. In groups, the children draw
and colour objects to complete the rooms. They may want to
add ornaments, extra furniture, or just old stuff to put in the
attic. Allow them to use their imagination and take profit of
their drawings to teach more vocabulary.
Once the objects are ready, have the students tape them on the
poster in the corresponding room. They should write the word
on a strip of paper to complete the task. To preserve the poster
for future use, you may want to draw the structure of the
house on the board and have them complete the task there.
What can you see?
Taking one room at a time the students say, I can see a
bedroom/bed/lamp, etc. More confident students can add
adjectives to make the sentences more colourful: I can see a
red water can; I can see a green plastic bin, etc.
The students can practise dialogues like these:
S1: Can you see a desk in the dining room?
S2: No, I can’t but I can see a brown table in the dining room.
S1: Can you see a bookcase in the living room?
S2: No, I can’t but I can see a book on the coffee table.
What is there?
To recycle the new vocabulary, ask the children to describe the
rooms using There is/are. Have them ask and answer
questions: What is there in the attic? There are boxes/old
things.
6
Some or any?
We can go a little bit further and tell the students to include
some or any in their descriptions: There are some books in the
bedroom. There aren’t any flowers in the kitchen. Is there any
rug in the living room?
On, in, under or behind?
Divide the students into two groups. Write the list of
prepositions or prepositional phrases you would like them to
practise. For example: on, in, behind, under, over, above, in
front of, next, by, on the left, on the right.
The groups take turns to choose a preposition and say it aloud.
The second group has to use it correctly in a sentence while
pointing at the room they refer to.
G1: behind.
G2: There’s a window behind the sofa in the living room.
G1: on.
G2: There’s a vase with two flowers on the coffee table in the
living room.
Asking questions
On page 13 you will find several pictures of a boy and a girl
and different objects. Use them to teach or practise question
words and interrogative patterns by placing them in the
different rooms. Then ask students, for example:
Where’s the boy/girl?
Where are the trainers? etc.
Encourage the children to ask similar questions to their mates
about the rest of the objects.
Houses and descriptions
Ask the students to bring magazine or newspaper cut-outs of
furniture and gadgets for the house. Explain to them that they
are going to build their own houses. They may work in groups
of four. So distribute poster paper for each group and let the
students share the tasks of drawing the house and pasting the
cut-outs in their corresponding places. They can add as many
details as they decide to. Once the houses are completed they
stick their posters on the board and describe the different
rooms with the furniture and gadgets they have included.
156_ttm_ar_mar_Layout 1 3/5/13 12:15 PM Page 7

For further activities on

types of houses, materials
and reading and writing
practice, go to photocopiable
exercises on pages 14 to 17.
Go to www.ediba.com,
download and print the
characters and objects
presented on page 13.

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THE HOUSE
Write the names of the parts of the house and describe them.

…………………………………………

…………………………………………

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THE HOUSE
Write the names of the parts of the house and describe them.

…………………………………………

…………………………………………

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156_ttm_ar_mar_Layout 1 3/5/13 12:15 PM Page 10

THE HOUSE
Write the names of the parts of the house and describe them.

…………………………………………

…………………………………………

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156_ttm_ar_mar_Layout 1 3/5/13 12:15 PM Page 11

THE HOUSE
Write the names of the parts of the house and describe them.

…………………………………………

…………………………………………

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THE HOUSE

KITCHEN BATHROOM
LIVING ROOM DINING ROOM
BEDROOM GARAGE
ATTIC GARDEN
fridge cooker
sink countertop
cupboard dustbin
clock tap
tiles table
chair lamp
picture bed
night table closet
shelf alarm clock
watering can flower pot
hose tree
window sofa
armchair TV set
curtain coffee table
tool box floor lamp

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THE HOUSE
Cut these pictures out and use them with poster 1.

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Level: Elementary Age: All

WHAT KIND OF HOUSE IS THIS?
detached house – semi-detached house – wood cabin
country house – high-rise building/block of flats

A) Write their names in the spaces provided.

1) …………………………………… 2) …………………………………… 3) ……………………………………

4) …………………………………… 5) ……………………………………

B) Write a description of each type of house.

1) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Key: A) 1) semi-detached house; 2) wood cabin; 3) country house; 4) high-rise building/block of flats; 5) detached.

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Level: Elementary Age: All

HOUSES AND MATERIALS
What are these buildings made of?

1) The house is made of …………… 2) This cabin es made of …………… 3) This hut is made from ……………
and …………………………

4) This igloo is made of ……………… 5) This castle is made of ……………… 6) This shelter is made of ……………

Key: 1) bricks; 2) wood; 3) straw, mud; 4) ice; 5) stone; 6) leather.

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Level: Elementary Age: All

READ, WRITE AND COLOUR
Read the following paragraphs and write the names of the characters. Then connect them to their houses
and colour them.

1) Mrs Thompson has a pink car but she likes walking in the morning. Her house is very nice
and comfortable. She loves working in her beautiful garden full of colourful flowers. She loves
her house because the sun comes in through two big windows.

2) Every morning Mr Riches puts on his coat and goes to work on foot because his office is very
near his house. He drives his blue car when it rains. He lives in a very small house. It has a
chimney and a door with a small window.

3) Mr Jaimes goes jogging every morning. In the afternoon, he drives his green car to work. He
lives in a very small house. He likes it very much because he can see a very tall tree from the
window.

a. ………………………

b. ………………………

c. ………………………

Key: a) Mr Riches; b) Mr Jaimes; c) Mrs Thompson.

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Level: Elementary Age: All

WHO LIVES WHERE?
A) Label the pictures using the words in the box.

house - caravan - block of flats - hut - igloo - castle - shelter

1) ……………………… 2) ……………………… 3) ……………………… 4) ………………………

5) ……………………… 6) ……………………… 7) ………………………

B) Connect the words with the pictures.

1) The queen a. b.
2) An Eskimo
c.
3) A nomad
lives d.
4) A tribesman

5) A family e.
f.
6) A single person

7) A traveller g.

C) Write the sentences in full.

Example: The queen lives in a castle.

Key: A) 1) igloo; 2) castle; 3) house; 4) caravan; 5) block of flats; 6) hut; 7) shelter. B) 1) The queen lives in a castle; 2) An Eskimo lives in an igloo; 3) A nomad lives in
a shelter; 4) A tribesman lives in a hut; 5) A family lives in a house; 6) A single person lives in a block of flats; 7) A traveller lives in a caravan.
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P oster 2 includes a
new set of
flashcards that
represent Object
Pronouns, to complete
the series of personal pronouns
started in our previous edition,
and which you can use in
introduction, practice or
revision of the topic.
The activity on page 19 may
be useful for beginner levels to
consolidate the forms.

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Level: Beginner Age: Children

OBJECT PRONOUNS
me - you - him - her - us - them

Make sentences like the example using object pronouns.

Look at me!
1) ………………………………………… 2) …………………………………………

3) ………………………………………… 4) …………………………………………

5) ………………………………………… 6) …………………………………………

Key: 1) Look at me! 2) Look at her! 3) Look at them! 4) Look at him! 5) Look at you! 6) Look at us!

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O n pages 21 to 24 we include the last set of

flashcards presenting the names of the months to
complete the interactive classroom calendar presented in our
previous editions.

i it t d ?
Wh t d

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season

SEPTEMBER day
What day is it today?

day of the week

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season

OCTOBER day
What day is it today?

i it t d ?
Wh t d

day of the week

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season

NOVEMBER day
Wh t d

What day is it today?

i it t d ?

day of the week

23
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season

DECEMBER day
What day is it today?

day of the week

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T he flashcards on poster 2 will provide you with a

guide to help the children to interpret their own
feelings and emotions so that they can interact
and communicate effectively with their mates.
Buttons and Puppets
The children can create their own
buttons or puppets to discuss feelings
So we are starting with simple language: happy, sad,
and role-play classroom situations.
angry, scared, surprised, worried, bored, tired. Introduce the
vocabulary using the flashcards and have them mimic the To make the badges you need
facial expressions. Ask them to put each feeling into a context. • Cork sheets
For example, take the flashcard with the happy emoticon and • Wall filling
ask When are you happy? Provide an answer such as I’m happy • White glue
when I play with my dog, and let them give their own • Cutter
examples. Then, change the flashcard and follow the same • Plastic toothpicks, pieces
procedure. At this stage, they should only use the feeling-word of mosquito fly wire,
in English, no matter if they provide the situations in their hessian
mother language. • Punches
They can express the feeling represented in the flashcard • Acrylic paint.
through body language. In this case you have to make certain
that they do not hit each other or break things so that they do
not endanger themselves or their mates when you present the
angry emoticon.
Another favourable opportunity to discuss feelings is at story
time. When you read them stories, you may ask how a
character is feeling. The children should take the
corresponding flashcard and show it to you. Then they can
explain the reason why they think the character is experiencing
such feeling.
Procedure
a) Using a cutter, cut out the buttons the size you want out of
How are you feeling today? the cork sheet. Cut a set of buttons for each student.
This is a question you should ask every day before starting the
b) Punch two holes on each button.
class. It would be a good idea to make a chart divided into
squares. The children paste their photograph in each square. c) Mix the wall filling and the white glue evenly to make some
Every morning, when the come in, they can sellotape an paste to be spread on each button. Avoid covering the holes.
emoticon representing their feeling that day.
d) Before the paste dries, let the students draw the faces of the
They could make badges with different feelings and pin them emoticons expressing sadness, fear, anger, happiness, etc. with
to their clothes or bags to show how they feel in the moment a plastic toothpick. If they prefer, they can decorate using
they go into the classroom. different textures with fly wire or hessian.
e) Once dried, paint with acrylic.
Children will have fun creating these buttons which can be
Wh t d

worn as badges on clothes or packs. You may want to ask them

to choose the button showing their feeling and pin them on
just before the class and change it if they feel like doing it
as the class goes on. Every time they change their
i it t d ?

feeling, they should pin on a new button and tell the

class about it.
These buttons will be easily turned into puppets by
sticking an ice-lolly stick behind. They will be ready for
role-plays or for representing the feelings of the character
in their favourtie stories.
Go to www.ediba.com, download and print as
many copies as you need of these emoticons.

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T eachers know about the importance of

functions for meaning and communication, and
even some educators focus solely on them
leaving grammar aside. So we may wonder if
How should we teach grammar?
Grammar can be taught either inductively or deductively.
Using a deductive method implies giving rules to the students
and then letting them analyse and study different examples.
teaching grammar has become old-fashioned. If not, Using an inductive method implies presenting learners with
when and how should we teach grammar? various examples and then working out the rule with them,
Hooray to grammar! i.e. it entails discovering the rule. While deductive methods
are welcomed by adult learners, inductive methods foster
Grammar is the backbone of English; it is the “sentence-
more reasoning and participation from children. You should
generator device”. The knowledge of grammar helps students
explore what way is the one that suits your class best.
to find regularities in the language that will eventually lead
them to create more sentences. Therefore, when students
learn grammar they will be able to produce language.
Grammar also allows students to move from Basic
English into more sophisticated English, which is good
because we want our students to advance in their
knowledge of the language and be able to create longer
and more complex texts in the long run.
To acquire or “pick up” the language implies
internalising it naturally and developing fluency. Still,
during the acquisition process students need grammar
notions in order to avoid fossilisation of mistakes, i.e.
mistakes that cannot be easily corrected once they
become a habit.
Moreover, grammar provides a framework to help
students grasp the meaning of sentences. Many
learners, especially adults, urge teachers to teach them
grammar rules in order to feel more confident.

Beware of grammar!
Grammar is necessary, however bear in mind that if
your class is focused mostly on grammar, you run the
risk of underestimating meaning and communication.
According to Widdowson, we should make a distinction
between the concepts of usage and use. Usage refers to
the function of a linguistic item as an element in a
linguistic system, while use refers to its function as part
of a system of communication. For example, we may
study the present simple tense as an item of grammar
or usage, focusing on its structure and comparing it
with other tenses; or we may analyse it in terms of its
use to perform communicative acts such as speaking
about habits, making descriptions, etc.
Therefore, instead of concentrating only on structure
and analysing grammatical items in isolation, we
should expose students to chunks of meaning such as
Excuse me? You’re welcome; Have a nice day! For
instance, if we divide the phrase Here you are into its
component words, we will miss the meaning of the
phrase as a whole in real communication.

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When do we teach grammar?
We should begin with ideas, meanings and functions, and
then move towards the notions of grammar that will be
required by students to perform communicative tasks later on.
Grammatical concepts evolve naturally and effortlessly when
the starting point is communication.
To conclude, grammar is worth teaching as long as
communication is the engine that puts the class into motion.
Selecting the grammar teaching method that is best for you
and your class, while keeping the importance of meaning in
mind, will help you find a balance between fluency and
accuracy.
Aurea Obeso
References
• Thornbury, Scott (2000) How to teach grammar. Longman.
• www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/michael-swan/how-teach-grammar-0
• www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/grindex.htm
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T he influence of the English language in modern
society is undeniable. Films, music, fashion,
economics and technology are the fields where
English words and expressions are most
frequently used. In fact, we could say that there is an
invasion of English words, such as photocall, led, netbook,
blog, smartphones, coach, know-how, among others.
In this article we will describe a simple and profitable
experience carried out with sixth-grade primary school
students (aged 11-12) from a bilingual Spanish/English class.
We asked our students to focus on their immediate
surroundings and make a list of the most frequent English
words and expressions they came across.
They were given the
following record sheet to
write down the found word
or expression, the place
where they saw the word
and the date.
We set a week’s deadline for them to complete the task and
then we made a list with final results, which were quite
revealing, as we will see in the Outcome section below.
This simple task allowed our students to
• have a positive out-of-class learning experience,
• become aware of the global influence of the English
language, and
• assess their knowledge of English.
They reported becoming aware of the number of English
words and expressions used in their T-shirts, sports clothes or
file folders.
Here are some examples of completed record sheets:
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Outcome
Students expressed their amazement at the strong influence of
the English language in our lives.
They found English words and expressions in the following
sources:
• In the classroom.
• At home or in their relatives’ or friends’ houses.
• In computers, for example, words related to software
and hardware.
• On the Internet.
• On clothes, for example, scripts on T-shirts, jumpers, etc.
• In the street.
• In shops, such as computer shops, fast-food shops, etc.
• In the municipal library.
• On TV announcements, series, cartoons.
• In films with an English title.
• In the names of singers and bands.
Each student completed a 10-row table which
multiplied by 23 students gave us more than 200
entries; the first five categories are shown in the
following graph:
In conclusion, entertainment-related words are the most
frequent ones, with computing on top of the list.
We encourage you to carry out this word-searching
experience with your students. It’s easy, fun and
motivating!
Francisco García Jiménez
CEIP "Las Mimbres"
Maracena, Granada, Spain
Translated by Mariela Starc
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Level: Beginner Age: Children

WHAT’S THE MATTER?
Complete the sentences.

scared - angry - surprised - sad - worried - happy

1) The boy is ………………………… 2) The boy is ………………………… 3) The boy is …………………………

4) The boy is ………………………… 5) The boy is ………………………… 6) The boy is …………………………

Key: 1) happy; 2) angry; 3) worried; 4) sad; 5) scared; 6) surprised.

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