iTeach: blogul Alexandra Naghi

Academic Vocabulary

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 15:09:46 +0200

English Vocabulary is divided into Academic Vocabulary and Content Vocabulary. Academic Vocabulary refers to the words that do not belong to a content area and which can be found in academic texts, for example: consist, occur, establish, significant, recognize, respond, etc.

English words originating in other languages

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 15:08:23 +0200

English words originating in other languages include: Dutch – deck, dock, skipper ( sea-related words); cookie, boss, waffle (American English); apartheid, commando, trek ( South African); German – terms related to geology, literature, philosophy, psychology ( inferiority complex, wishful thinking); adjectives (unclear, meaningful); other words (round trip, ring road); Italian – music terminology (allegro, cantabile, vibrato); words related to architecture ( corridor, cupola, piazza); literary terms (burlesques, stanza, canto); Spanish – cigar, mosquito, tornado, vanilla; Arabic – alcohol, assassin, algebra, sugar, syrup, zero; Hebrew – amen, messiah, rabbi, Sabbath; Hindi – guru, cheetah, shampoo, punch, polo; Welsh – flannel, penguin; Persian – paradise, chess, salamander; Finish - sauna; Russian – soviet, vodka, sputnik; Hungarian – paprika, goulash; Chinese – tea, ketchup; Japanese – karate, tsunami, shogun, samurai; Polynesian – taboo, tattoo; Portuguese – flamingo, molasses, marmalade; Basque – bizarre.

The origins of English language

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 15:06:28 +0200

English is and Indo-European language, originated from the Proto-Indo-European, spoken 5,000 years ago by nomads from the southeast European plains and considered by scholars a Germanic language, a descendant group of the before mentioned language. But in time, English developed differently from German, slowly simplifying its words.

Consonants pronunciation in English

Alexandra Naghi — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 17:04:45 +0200

C can be hard (c + a / c + o/ c + u - c = /k/ sound – e.g. cone, can, cube) or soft ( c + e/ c + i/ c + y – c = /s/ sound – e.g. cells, circular, cycles); k can be used instead of c followed by e, i, y ( e.g. keep, kiss, Kyle); g can be hard ( g + a/ g + o/ g + u – g = /g/ sound - e.g. gave, good, guy) or soft (g + e / g + i/ g + y – g = /j/ sound– e.g. gel, ginger, gypsy – exceptions: give, get, girl, etc); final f changes to v + es to make plurals ( e.g. wife – wives; wolf – wolves); y – does not change to i if preceded by vowel ( e.g. play – played – playing) but otherwise changes to i if adding –ed not –ing ( e.g. cry-cried-crying);

Activities that include songs in lessons

Alexandra Naghi — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 17:00:03 +0200

1. Creating booklets with illustrations of lyrics;
2. Karaoke, singing along, lip-sync video performances;
3. Dancing and choreography – moving body parts on music;
4. Rewriting a song, changing lyrics, in a creative way or by replacing parts of speech with other parts of speech;
5. Gap filling the words missing from the lyrics of a song;
6. Making comic strips out of songs that tell stories;
7. Ordering the verses;
8. Writing new verses to add to the song, etc.

An Nou Fericit!

Alexandra Naghi — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 16:53:02 +0200

La multi ani si un An Nou cu impliniri, tuturor!

Crăciun fericit!

Alexandra Naghi — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:21:36 +0200

Dragi colegi,
Vă doresc să aveți parte de un Crăciun cu sănătate și pace! Vacanță plăcută tuturor!

Colind drag sufletului meu

Alexandra Naghi — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:19:48 +0200

https://youtu.be/LOZG4nPBIe0?si=wheNUxlvBRp8oiXT

The importance of modern teaching strategies

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:47:33 +0200

It is very important to provide the nowadays students the appropriate learning methods, because the generations have changed and they belong to the Information or Digital Age, which is characterized by the use of modern gadgets and of the Internet. Children are born with the capacity of using smart phones, computers, tablets and other technological means and they do so from a very early age. Their minds are very different and they need updated strategies and ways of learning things at school, in order to be kept motivated and interested.

Teaching English as a foreign language

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:43:48 +0200

Teaching English as a foreign language is not easy, because it implies a lot of patience and communicational skills, especially when dealing with young learners and teenagers, at different levels. As an English teacher it is very important to create a safe and supportive environment, use many visual supports, make fun lessons, set classroom rules, use different learning techniques and use modern technology.
As a primary, lower intermediate and technological high-school teacher, vocabulary has been a challenge for me, because I have been trying, for ten years, to find and use the best strategies and methods for my students to learn English as easy and as fun as possible, although many times it can be quite difficult to keep them motivated and involve them actively in the learning process.

English as a global language

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:42:56 +0200

English is a global language, spoken by hundreds of million of people all over the world, both as a first and as a second language and it is used in various fields, such as business, medicine, science, academic, journalism, literature, diplomacy, modern technology, etc. So, nowadays, it is necessary not only to speak good English, but also to have language certificates, in order to enter a University, to gain scholarships, to have a good job and a good position in the society. Also, it is very useful when travelling abroad and when using social networks and modern gadgets.

Metaphors related to collocations:

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:35:58 +0200

1. Metaphors based on the body, for example: face the facts ( accepted reality), shoulder the blame (take responsibility for something bad), foot the bill ( paying), head a team (leading a project), keep someone on their toes (making someone stay focused), have an eye for ( good observer), go hand in hand with ( happening at the same time).
2. Metaphors based on weight, for example: a) heavy = serious, difficult (heavy responsibility); a heavy burden = a heavy object / a big responsibility; a heavy book = big weight / difficult content; b) light (opposite of heavy) = carefree ( to do something with a light heart)/ lacking seriousness (light reading); c) slim chance = small chance; d) fat chance (very informal) = no chance.
3. Metaphors based on movement, for example: run into difficulties, hopping mad (extremely angry – informal), walk straight into a job (get a job very easily), hit the rocks (ended), jump to conclusions, run into trouble, etc.

Collocations acccording to the register of English language

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:34:50 +0200

According to the register of English language, collocations fall under three categories: formal, informal and neutral, as following: 1. Formal collocations are found in official or academic writing and in official legal speech, for example: submit assignments, request an extension, consulting a tutor, subject to police investigation, etc.; 2. Informal collocations are used in conversations, personal letters and emails and sometimes in journalism, for example: to dig out info about, totally awesome, to not have a clue/ the foggiest idea, to grab a snack, etc.; 3. Neutral collocations are found in journalistic texts, for example: investigating/ looking into, to probe, hand in assignments, ask for an extension, have a word with, etc.

Classification of collocations according to grammatical categories

Alexandra Naghi — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:32:51 +0200

1. Verb + noun, for example: draw up + a list / a contract (preparing something official in writing), pass up + a chance/ an opportunity ( fail to take advantage of), withstand + pressure/ the impact ( bear), etc.
2. Noun + verb, for example: opportunity + arise, standards + slip, etc.
3. Noun + noun, for example: a spate of attacks/thefts, a barrage of questions/insults ( describe groups or sets), a stroke of luck (sudden luck), a snippet of information (a piece of information), etc.
4. Adjective + noun, for example: idle threat (simply a threat), vain hope (unlikely to be fulfilled), mounting concern (growing concern), plain truth, etc.
5. Adverb + adjective, for example: intensely personal, stunningly attractive, etc.
6. Verb + adverb or prepositional phrase: failed miserably, drives recklessly (without care), burst into song, foam at the mouth, etc.
7. More complex collocations: taking it easy for a while, put the past behind, etc.

Matching exercise - Synonyms - Intermediate

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 14:32:30 +0200

Aim: To improve students’ listening comprehension skills and enhance words related to people’s moral and physical appearance.
Preparation: The teacher makes a worksheet with two lists of words, one consisting of adjectives from the song lyrics and one with their synonyms.
Procedure: The teacher gives the students the worksheet and explains that they are going to listen to the song carefully and match the given words, with their synonyms, as following:

Listen to the song and match the given words, with their synonyms:

1. beautiful a) ideal
2. sweet b) good-looking
3. messy c) more powerful
4. perfect d) untidy
5. stronger e) cute

Note: Correct answers: 1 b; 2 e; 3 d; 4 a; 5 c.

Matching exercise - Opposites - Intermediate

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 14:31:27 +0200

Aim: To improve students’ listening comprehension skills and enhance words related to people’s moral and physical appearance.
Preparation: The teacher makes a worksheet with two lists of words, one consisting of adjectives from the song lyrics and one with their opposites.
Procedure: The teacher gives the students the worksheet and explains that they are going to listen to the song carefully and match the given words, with their opposites, as following:

Listen to the song and match the given words, with their synonyms:

1. beautiful a) unpleasant
2. sweet b) weaker
3. messy c) imperfect
4. perfect d) ugly
5. stronger e) tidy

Note: Correct answers: 1 d; 2 a; 3 e; 4 c; 5 b.

Listening comprehension - Intermediate - Gap fill

Alexandra Naghi — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 14:29:52 +0200

Title: Gap fill exercise Aim: To improve students’ listening comprehension skills and enhance words related to people’s moral and physical appearance. Preparation: The teacher makes a worksheet with the lyrics of the song: Perfect by Ed Sheeran and leaves some words out, which are listed in a wrong order above the lyrics. Procedure: The teacher gives the students the worksheet and explains that they are going to listen to the song carefully and fill in the gaps, using the words given: Listen to the lyrics carefully and fill in the following words: a mess, stronger, beautiful, perfect, sweet: I found a girl …………..… and …….………………. When you said you looked …………… I whispered underneath my breath But you heard it darling, you look……………tonight Well I found a woman ………………….. than anyone I know/

Fill in the correct adjective - intermediate

Alexandra Naghi — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 18:07:03 +0200

Mary makes good jokes. She is funny.
Tom is a positive person. He is optimistic.
Our teacher is always on time. She is punctual.
My friend talks a lot. He is talkative.
My sister always tells the truth. She is honest.
Our Grandma gives us a lot of presents. She is generous.
Jane is open and nice. She is friendly.

Winter words - drawing on dots - clasa pregatitoare

Alexandra Naghi — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 18:04:46 +0200

Christmas vocabulary on LCD screen - clasa pregatitoare

Alexandra Naghi — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 18:03:36 +0200