Missing editorial

We asked—you said: Reactions to the first issue

This looks great!

Congratulations on the initia-

tive! Make it last... Martina Šturm,

Senior Adviser, Education and

Teacher Training Agency

Wow, what a great newsletter!!!!

Jon Noble, Adjunct Lecturer;

Center for English as a

Second Language - University of Arizona

Bravo! It is excellent! I really,

really like it!

Romana Gašpar, School of Economics and

Tourism, Daruvar

It’s a splendid idea. A truly

activists’ move! Eamonn Shanahan,

teacher trainer, British Council

I was rendered speechless. Nikolina Huđber Mesar

Elementary School Čazma

Ever since John McConnell has presented

the idea of celebrating our planet on a

UNESCO conference back in 1969, April

22nd has been known as Earth Day. The

date marks the anniversary of what many

consider the birth of the modern environ-

mental movement in 1970. It is a day

when more than a billion people all over

the globe – the young, the old, the tall and

the small, together or as individuals – rec-

ognize this astounding planet we are

blessed to live on and play their part in

order to protect it. In Croatia, this date

has been regularly marked on a larger

scale since 1990. This year we mark the

43rd anniversary of Earth Day under the

slogan “The Face of Climate Change”.

Check out the official website of this

year’s Earth Day and upload your photo

to help build a global mosiac. ▪M.I.

http://www.earthday.org/2013/

Inside this issue:

William Shakespeare 2

DIY: Adapt a

Shakespeare play

3

STUDENTS’ CORNER

Fun facts 4

STUDENTS’ CORNER

Harlem Shake 4

STUDENTS’ CORNER

How to... 5

TEACHERS’ CORNER

Verbing 6

TEACHERS’ CORNER

Why is pronunciation

important?

6

AP

RIL

2013

ISS

UE

02 /

13

Monthly newsletter for and by English learners and teachers in Bjelovar-bilogora county

Editors: Maja Ivanović, prof. Komercijalna i trgovačka škola Bjelovar Irena Pavlović, prof. mentor Srednja škola Čazma email: sparkles.newsletter@gmail.com

DID YOU KNOW?

Earth Day

The Earth Day Flag

Contributors to this issue:

It was a cold morning on March 25th,

and although Easter was only a week

away, it felt more like we were headed

on an Advent trip. Nonetheless, spirits

were high, expectations even higher as

the bus full of hard core Gibonni fans set

off to Budapest for a night of exceptional

music and new friendships. Irena and I

were invited to be a part of the promo-

tion of Gibonni’s new album “20th Cen-

tury Man”. This is his first album to be

released for the European market and is

completely in English. So, you can imag-

ine the thrill this had given us! A track list

of ten songs, written by Gibonni himself,

makes up a great new album which we

practically learned by heart by the time

we reached our destination. The concert

at Papp Laszlo Arena was amazing. Gibonni

gave his best and had completely taken in his

audience. Needless to say, the whole concert

hall was on their feet, singing and dancing in

time with the beat. The highlight of the eve-

ning was meeting Gibonni in the lounge bar

Spoon on the Danube, where he thanked his

fans for support by signing his new CD we

were given as a gift.

Finally, we have to add that the situation re-

lated to the Hungarians speaking English has

much improved in the recent years. Contrary

to the widespread stereotype, Hungarians

speak pretty decent English and neither shop-

ping nor dining presented an obstacle.

All in all, a day so etched in our memories we

barely had the time to think of anything else...

let alone editorials. ▪M.I.

Ivan Golubić,

High School Čazma

Ivan Diktić,

High School Čazma

Nikola Nesvadba,

High School Čazma

Kristian Pintar,

Grammar School Bjelovar

Mihovil Sudar,

High School Čazma

Silvije Devald, Vladimir Nazor Primary School,

Daruvar

Ivančica Puškarić, Braća Ribar Primary School,

Sisak

Emilia Wallheim, Comenius Assistant in VNPS,

Daruvar

N o playwright is quoted as often

as he is, no plays are better

known around the world,

there's an incredible 150 million pages

devoted to him on Google, yet, he is

still unavoidable - at least in April. La-

dies and gentlemen, Mister William

Shakespeare and some of the less

known facts about him.

I t is most likely that William Shake-

speare died on his 52nd birthday.

He was born in April 1564 and

died on 23rd April 1616. It is certain

that he was baptised on 26th April

1564 which, due to established custom

of that time, makes scholars believe he

was born three days earlier. Moreover,

April 23rd is St George’s Day - how

appropriate that Shakespeare is closely

identified with the patron saint of Eng-

land.

H e married Anne Hathaway at

the age of 17. She was 26 and

pregnant at the time. Their

first child, Susanna, was born six

months after the wedding. The twins,

Judith and Hamnet, were born in 1585.

The son Hamnet died as a child; Judith

had no children and Shakespeare's only

granddaughter Elizabeth – daughter of Susanna – died childless. Therefore,

Shakespeare has no descendants.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE "Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations." Oscar Wilde

Page 2 STUDENTS’ CORNER

William Shakespeare,

portrait by Dario Kirin, Čazma high school

Expressions coined by Shakespeare

which are still used.

RIP Shakespeare was buried in a church in

Stratford-upon-Avon, his home town,

and apparently put a curse on anyone

daring to move his body. His epitaph

was:

Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear,

To dig the dust enclosed here:

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones.

Needless to say, his remains are still

undisturbed.

What a career... During his life, he wrote 37

plays and 154 sonnets! It is believed

that he wrote even more plays which

have been lost - scholars assert that he

wrote twenty more that have gone

without a trace. Besides that, he was

also an actor and often performed in

theatre. It is highly likely that he played

the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You

Like It.

Did he or didn't he? Some scholars have claimed that

Shakespeare did not write the Shake-

speare plays, with at least fifty writers

having been suggested as the “real”

author. However, the evidence is his

favour is very strong.

Can't spell his surname?

Neither could he! Some of Shakespeare’s original signa-

tures have survived and in none of

them does he spell his name in what

has become the standard way. He

spells it Shakespe; Shakspe; Shakspere

and Shakespear.

Daniel Day-Lewis?

No, the President himself! The American President Abraham Lin-

coln was Shakespeare’s fan and known

for reciting his plays to his friends. His

assassin, John Wilkes Booth was a fa-

mous Shakespearean actor.

Shakespeare around the world...or the galaxy

Two of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet and

Much Ado About Nothing, have been

translated into Klingon. ▪ I.P.

Creatively speaking, there aren't many original

ideas left. All kinds of art pull from the past, revis-

iting what was good about it and giving it a mod-

ern flare. And what is better than William Shake-

speare? The themes and plots he wrote about are

recurring throughout history, proving that human

nature is basically the same across time and place.

Want to set a play? Adapt one of his.

1. Use your own voice to create the dia-

logue. The play needs to be adapted mainly

because the original language now falls flat on

our ears. Use modern vocabulary and allusions

that will do the trick with contemporary audi-

ences.

2. Go for a theme that resonates now.

Find something people talk about nowadays,

possibly something causing controversies.

3. Adapt the number of characters. It's

simple - you’ll stack the odds against your play

if the number of characters requires more

than a dozen performers to play them all.

4. Make it short. In the good old days plays

took audiences for long rides; it doesn't work

nowadays. If it takes more than 45 minutes, it's

highly likely you'll lose your audiences to Face-

book and Twitter - 21st century viewers are

multitaskers with a rather short attention

span. ▪ I.P.

DO IT YOURSELF:

ADAPT A SHAKESPEARE PLAY

A humorous perception of Shakespearean tragedies.

Ghost: Son...now listen to me very carefully, I shall say this only once. Ham: What's with the accent?

Ghost: I am your father's spirit from the future. I came to tell you sth about your father Ham: My father's dead...

(Ghost bitchslaps Hamlet)

Ghost: I know that... But do you know how he died? Ham: dunno...I got his horse, who cares...? Ghost: He was murdered!!

Hamlet: Dude, u've been watchin' to much CSI... Ghost: No, you botox fancy-pants moron, he was really murdered!

Hamlet: OK, let's say he was murdered...How would you know that? Ghost: Because, I AM your father... Hamlet: ...Wait, I thought he was dead...

Ghost: He...I mean, I am...I'm his ghost... Hamlet: No way.

Ghost: Yes way... Hamlet: Can you fly and go through walls'n'stuff...? Ghost: Yes, but that's not the point...I have to tell who killed me?

Hamlet: Was it my evil stepbrother? Ghost: You dont' have a stepbrother...

Hamlet: Yeah, right...I forgot...I give up. Ghost: He's now on my throne, and is beloved by my wife... Hamlet: Well, Mum does like the iPod, and I thought that's what killed you.

(Ghost slaps Hamlet) Ghost: No, you negative IQ offspring of mine. YOUR UNCLE!!! Hamlet: MY UNCLE?

Ghost: YOUR UNCLE!

Hamlet: YOUR BROTHER?

Ghost: MY BROTHER! Hamlet: MY BRO...sorry...MY UNCLE?!? Ghost: OK, Nevermind the bollocks...You have to revenge me...

Hamlet: How? Ghost: You have to kill him...In order to avenge my death. That's

how it goes... Hamlet: It would be easier to take a ring to Mt. Doom and stay

alive...

Ghost: This isn't a movie, Hamlet. You have to do it... Hamlet: I won't... Ghost: You have to...

Hamlet: Nope... Ghost: But...I'm your father...

Hamlet: So...?

Ghost: ......I'll get you the Playstation 3...? Hamlet: ....OK...

Ghost: Allright...I'm gonna go talk to your mother now. Hamlet: OK, bye...

Ghost: Beware, my son... (Hamlet turns away and goes) Hamlet: ...the 60's wasted him...

(Horatio enters)

Horatio: Yo, Hammy, I got some herbs!!!

Hamlet: Not now, I have some stuff to do... Horatio: Where are you going? Hamlet: I gotta go and whack my uncle...

Horatio: Cool, can I come?

Hamlet: Yeah, whatever...▪ I.G., I.D. & N.N.

ADAPTATION OF HAMLET

Page 3

Students performing

W. Shakespeare’s adaptation,

Čazma high school

The word 'news' didn't come

as a plural of 'new'. It came from the first letters of the words: North, East, West and

South. This was because the information was gathered

from all directions.

The word 'Canada' comes from Indians and means 'big

village'.

In English a group of fish/dolphins/whales is called a

school.

The word 'set' according to

Oxford English Dictionary has 192 definitions. There's

no word in English with more

definitions.

A hamlet is a village without a church. And a town is not a

city until it has a cathedral.

The idiom 'It’s raining cats

and dogs' originated in 17th century England. During heavy rains, many poor

an ima ls unfor t unate ly drowned and their bodies

would be seen floating in the rain torrents that raced

through the streets. That looked like it had really

rained 'cats and dogs' and led to the expression used

today.

Before the year 1000, the

word 'she' didn't exist in English. Instead people used

the word 'heo' which was also used for the plural of

all genders. The word 'she' appeared about 200 years

later, probably derived

from the Wiking word 'seo.'

The term 'Junk food' was

first used in 1970's.

And, in the end, did you know that 80% of all communication

is self-talk?

I find that rather

unbelievable...

Wait a minute! I do it all the

time.▪ K.P.

Fun facts

Harlem shake

When we first mentioned it in

school, our teacher had no idea

what it was. Then she saw our

video but still didn't understand it.

Ok, we admit it can be a bit

confusing. Let's explain what it is.

The Harlem shake was originally

called albee. It is a dance introduced

in 1981 by a Harlem resident

named "Al B" (hence the name). It

later became known as the Harlem

shake as its prominence grew

beyond the neighbourhood. It

consists of a 30 second video

starting with one person moving to

the beat. Once the beat drops,

everyone starts shaking.

We were inspired (just like the rest

of the world) to try it after Baauer's

heavy bass instrumental track with

the same name became extremely

popular and thousands of Harlem

Shake versions flooded YouTube.

Now knowing what we are doing,

our teacher did a little research and

told us what to do to improve our

Harlem shake and asked us to bring

it on! You can check it out for

yourselves on www.youtube.com/

watch?v=J9s--iDrioI.

Can you shake it better?▪M.S.

Page 4

STUDENTS’ CORNER

GRAMMAR TITBIT:

1st CONDITIONAL

1st Conditional:

If + Present Simple, will +

infinitive.

For possible or likely

situations now or in the

future.

“If you hear a voice within

you say ‘you cannot paint’,

then by all means paint, and

that voice will be silenced.” Vincent Van Gogh

Being an English teacher is easier

than being a Maths teacher...

Be very inspired - ignore him/her, chew

loudly, make animal sounds, just do every-

thing opposite of what he/she says.

Marija Jurina, 17

Don't say anything. At all.

Martina Grošinić, 15

If you have math, for any result asked just

yell 1 million. Pick up a watch and blind your

teacher with reflecting light. If nothing else

works, simply ask your teacher a bunch of

personal questions.

Matija Ciganović, 18

Play with toy cars and make car sounds dur-

ing the lesson. Or come to school dressed as

Genghis Khan. Or sing the same 30-second

song in high-pitched voice all over again.

Ivan Pavleković, 15

Talk to your neighbour about something and

look at your teacher to make him/her think

you are talking about them.

Denis Prigorec, 19

Use swear words and curse in the classroom.

Anđela Filipović, 15

HOW TO DRIVE YOUR TEACHER CRAZY

Page 5

STUDENTS’ CORNER

CHECK IT OUT!

Have you read this? Have you seen this? Have you heard this?

Although released back in 2008,

The Host, Stephenie Meyer's (yeah,

the Twilight author) romance science

fiction novel came under spotlight

again due to its romantic-SF-action-

thriller adaptation that came out at

the end of March. It introduces

Souls, an alien race taking over the

Earth, describing one Soul's pre-

dicament when her human host's

mind refuses to cooperate with her

takeover. Completely different,

riveting and unforgettable, and

Meyer apparently promised two

sequels. Can't wait! ▪ I.P.

We all know L. Frank Baum's story

about the adventures of young

Dorothy in the Land of Oz, after

being swept away from her Kansas

home in a tornado. This year, the

story gets a new twist with Sam

Raimi's adaptation called Oz The

Great and Powerful. The film intro-

duces a small-time magician arriv-

ing in an enchanted land who's

forced to decide if he will be a

good man or a great one. Imagina-

tive and enthralling! ▪ I.P.

Though it's hard to decide which

date will be celebrated as The

Beatles 50th anniversary, we'll take

March 22nd 1963 as the starting

point since that's when their first

album was released. In their hon-

our, I recommend an old compilation

of virtually every number-one single

released in the UK and US. Aptly

named, 1 has 27 tracks and was a

commercial success which topped

the charts worldwide. A must-have

in everyone's home collection. ▪ I.P.

Tips for tests - useful strategies for the matura exam

Gapped text

Some sentences have been

removed form the text.

You will find them after the

text but not in the right order.

This task tests how you can understand the structure and

the organization of the text.

STRATEGY:

1) Read the whole text and focus on the parts of

the text before and after the gap.

2) Read the sentences that have been removed

from the text. Pay attention to language links

(pronouns, articles, possessive adjectives) and

topic links between the text and the offered

sentences and decide what they refer to (before

and after the gap).

REMEMBER, the sentence must fit both the

meaning and the grammar before and after the

gap.

3) Decide on a sentence for each gap.

4)Read the text again to check if it makes sense

(if you decide to change an answer, and use the

sentence in a different part of the text, you will

probably also need to change two or more other

answers).

Drawing by:

Monika Petrović, 17 KTŠ Bjelovar

Do you Google? Of course you do. Just like you Facebook and tweet. But don't worry, this

is not an article on new technological wonders, it is about the VERBING of English HAVE YOU TRIED?

Students today tend to avoid reading, don’t like classics, prefer Internet summaries to complete

works, always read the translations, not the originals and don’t want to engage in any kind of

extracurricular activities. Or do they? Engage them in an out-of-classroom project and see what

they are capable of. Students from High School Čazma performed Shakespeare's plays and

adopted Hamlet into the 21st century English. What will you do?

OUT-OF-CLASSROOM PROJECT PHASES

1. Deciding on a topic: give students at least some possibility to choose a topic - motivation!

2. Specifying the objectives and the final outcome: be as specific as possible

3. Planning: everyone needs to know exactly what they are supposed to do and how to do it

4. Implementation: student do the job, you have to steer if necessary

5. Public presentation: students want others to see what they’ve done

6. Evaluation and analysis: self-assessment, peer-assessment and teacher assessment ▪ I.P.

IDEAS FOR TEACHERS

TEACHERS’ CORNER Page 6

A Croatian politician has recently and unintentionally created a useful teaching resource for pre-senting the importance of proper pronunciation. A Youtube video of Ingrid Antičević-Marinović (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOW49mAQ5I) has had numerous clicks and we have

decided to use it in our classroom.

As with all listening tasks, certain steps have to be made in preparation for such listening. The first thing to do is to find a clip of a foreigner speaking Croatian. It can be a foreign diplomat accred-ited in Croatia or an everyday foreigner speaking our language in an intelligible way. They are

not that hard to find.

Having played the video or the audio recording, get your pupils to express their opinions on the speaker; their vocabulary, syntax, grammar and pronunciation. Then introduce the ”feature video“. Give them some background information (a Croatian politician speaking in the European Parlia-ment). The pre-listening task is identifying Croatians who speak a foreign language well (politicians, sportspeople, journalists …). Then play the video. The first watching and listening is just for content. After the playing, elicit the topic that the politician was discussing. Announce the second viewing and listening and ask the pupils to pay attention to the good and bad sides of the speech. The pupils should notice the good syntax and grammar, a good command of the vocabulary in English and the miserable pronunciation. Make them point out the mistakes and, if possible, correct them. In the final stage of this exercise you can ask the pupils to identify their colleagues who make

similar mistakes in their pronunciation.

This exercise has multifold aspects. Pupils learn about the importance of proper pronunciation and build their self-esteem since many of them have mastered English pronunciation. And who can say

that Croatian politicians do not care about pupils learning foreign languages! ▪ S.D., I.P. & E.W.

One of the blogs that I follow had a post dedicated to the language legacy of London Olym-

pics and included examples of nouns being used as verbs. Apparently, "competitors no longer

stood on the podium and won a medal, but podiumed and medalled. Athletes also finalled

(reached a final) and PB-ed (achieved a Personal Best)".

This phenomenon - conversion of nouns to verbs or 'verbing' is particularly common in the field

of technology. What is more, we got used to the usage of verbs that originally were nouns so

quickly that we didn't even have time to think it through. Nowadays, we email, text, message

and whatsapp others and skype to keep in touch. We bookmark websites, youtube to watch

video clips, friend and unfriend people on Facebook and tweet about hot issues. We used to

say "Think before you speak" and now we say "Google before you post". It won't be soon be-

fore we'll brag to friends about something we'd ebayed.

However, this change is nothing unusual; it's as long as English itself. Steven Pinker, the author

of The Language Instinct tells us that ‘Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English

grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that makes English English.’ Base form of verbs

in English has no special ending which makes this conversion a rather simple process.

Just take a look around and you'll see plenty of examples. In the meantime, while you coffee

with your friends - hopefully in ‘Let’s Coffee’ somewhere abroad, think twice about correcting

your students who couldn't do their homework because they facebooked all day. ▪ I.P.

CPD is a must, yet there is only a little

time and even less money to travel

Solution: conferencing at home!

Webinars, web conferencing or online

workshops are probably the way most of us

will fulfil our need for professional

development in the future. The terms refer

to a service that allows events to be shared

with remote locations. It is, of course, made

possible by Internet technologies and implies

two-way communication between the

presenter and the audience. In short, you can

get the most of seminars, lectures and

workshops while being comfy in your

armchair, dressed in your pj's. Definitely

worth trying out and I'd recommend:

www.teachingenglish.org.uk and

www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org. ▪ I.P.

PRICELESS:

WATCHING TV

“I spend a lot of time on TV

programmes.”

“I watching in single time.”

“I watch TV really rear.”

“I like educate emitions like

from Đelo Hadžiselimović.”

“TV have more information to

learn young population for

everything.”

“Programmes for teenagers

aren't so good because ther is

too much sex.”