Beckie Loewenstein

Listen to 21 Chump Street: The Musical about a love story between a senior highschool student and an undercover police officer on This American Life . Read the transcript.

When listening to English songs, be aware of the short forms and contractions of words. Then, practice pronouncing these words to speak more quickly and smoothly. This lesson greatly improves English listening comprehension :

What type of language does the Supreme Court consider on Facebook? graphic violent threatening scary

My student Batur, 9, draws and folds paper ships, waves, clouds, and the Sun onto separate pieces of paper. As he moves each piece around, he imagines a story. I listen and write out the story for him to read out loud: Two ships sail the Marmara sea. The ships become a sea monster. He eats the captain. Then, the monster opens its mouth and eats the clouds. Next he drinks the sea because it likes salty water. Finally, he eats the Sun: it is hot so steam comes out of his mouth and the ship stacks.

Even monster dolls play a role in language learning in my English lessons in Istanbul. Realia such as toys inspire holistic language while playing with the toys cultivates the kinesthetic learning style. When my student Rita, 8, brings her monster doll to our lesson, I challenge her to describe the doll in a 100 ways. At first, she says this sounds too tough, maybe impossible. But she soon realizes how much she would like to say about her doll and rises to the challenge. Imagination games bring out the best of creativity. These authentic, free response tasks contribute to a more interactive, effective and enjoyable lesson. Let's play together :)

Rain and high humidty brings the land snails out of their hiding places and into English lessons in Istanbul. In our playground lesson, Rita, 8, and I imagine and tell stories about snails. There are two snails, each with one brown spiral shell, one muscular foot, four tentacles, two eye-like light sensors, brown grey skin, and maybe a mustache. They carry their houses on their backs, and extend and retract their tentacles to look and feel around. photo: Beckie

Gardening is my graffiti. - Ron Finley, 2013 Ron Finley describes his guerilla gardening as a defiant, therapeutic, and artistic way to beautify and bring nourishing food -- fruits, vegetables, and beans -- to his neighborhood in South Central LA. This English lesson gives my Turkish students listening practice with the African American accent and cadence of a hopeful gardener and designer, Mr. Finley. Personally, I would like to garden more at home in Istanbul. Parsley, dill, mint, green onions, garlic, and strawberries grows the best in direct sunlight. Arugula grows well in the shade in the garden. What would you like to grow in Istanbul?

Listen to Imogen Heap's " Wait it Out " on TED talks: How does time heal?