December 2013 – It's (Almost) Christmas Time!

Dear Teacher,

Christmas is already in the air, with lights and trees appearing in the different cities the Roadshow has recently taken me to. Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome I was given – you can read comments on the show here, and also see the television and newspaper reports on the Arzignano show. I look forward to meeting you and your students in the coming months.

There is a link to eight Christmas-themed worksheets on the homepage of www.tuneintoenglish.com, as well as the Christmas Karaoke page with over 100 festive favourites – why not treat your students to a sing-along before the break?

The first of this month’s three additions to the Downloadable Worksheets section of the Teachers’ Area of the site is David Essex’s melancholy tale of lost love. A Winter’s Tale, submitted by Claudia Cantaluppi from Como, is a useful review of tenses.

Love Me Again by John Newman never fails to get students singing in the Roadshow, and regular contributor Mena Bianco from Naples has prepared an opposites activity with a focus on the Past Simple for this.

As previewed in last month’s newsletter the third worksheet is Walk On The Wild Side, our tribute to Lou Reed, focussing on the Past Simple.

Thank you to those teachers who have submitted worksheets, I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Thank you also for the positive feedback I have received for Notes from an ELT Consultant, my 95-page e-book collection of 15 workshops from when I first began as a Teacher Trainer. This is available to download for supporters of the site (you decide how much!) – remember, however, www.tuneintoenglish.com is free and always be! Thank you for your support.

There has been a lot of activity on the Tune youtube page – as well as the TV A, Vicenza report you can see the interview with Teleclubitalia on the occasion of the wonderful Marco Polo, Calvizzano Comenius closing party (Tune also featured in the RAI Gulp report) – it’s interesting to compare the interview with this 2005 one! I have also added my interview on Fabiodisera, TV Luna in April.

You can sing along with the UK Top 10 Charts on the Speak Up site – updated weekly, there is a link on the Tune Home page too.
The Karaoke page of Tune Into English now features over 8,800 songs.

Tune Into English also works with schools in the UK and Ireland to promote study tours and teacher refresher courses there. Further details are here – note that these can be funded through the Comenius/Grundtvig scheme.

Un bienvenue to those teachers I met at TESOL’s 32th Annual National Convention in Paris last month, who are receiving their first Tune newsletter. I will be taking a break for the festive season, so the newsletter will return in February 2014.

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Best wishes,

Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com

P.S. If you’re looking for a Christmas gift for a travelling friend, Fodor’s Italy 2014, which I had the pleasure of working on, has just been published.


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