Beckie Loewenstein

This advanced English lesson challenges students to find multiple layers of meaning in music, comedy and social commentary. Listen to Nellie McKay: "Mother of Pearl"on TED talks for the main idea: the perception of feminism in American society. Clearly, McKay supports feminism through her sense of humor and sarcasm. This English lesson explores the more advanced topic of tone, sarcasm, multiple voices, interjections and slang. Listen for the tone, sarcasm and different pro-feminist and anti-feminist voices. 0:24 ♫ Feminists don't have a sense of humor. ♫ 0:31 ♫ Feminists just want to be alone -- boo hoo, hoo, hoo. ♫ 0:38 ♫ Feminists spread vicious lies and rumors. ♫ 0:43 ♫ They have a tumor on their funny bone. ♫ 0:50 ♫ They say child molestation isn't funny -- ha, ha, ha, ha. ♫ 0:58 ♫ Rape and degradation's just a crime -- lighten up, ladies. ♫ 1:05 ♫ Rampant prostitution's sex for money -- what’s wrong with that? ♫ 1:11 ♫ Can't these chicks do anything b...

--> As a non-smoker in Istanbul, I often feel sensitive to the presence of second-hand smoke. Generally, my students and neighbors smoke. Istanbul's smokers include active and social ones. On birthdays, engagements and weddings non-smokers may become social smokers. In fact, even people who consider themselves non-smokers may smoke in public if they like. Non-smokers include passive smokers, the people who breathe in secondhand smoke. Can you smell cigarette smoke at the cafes on the subway, in the car, in the hotel rooms and on someone's clothes? Firsthand smoke is the smoke inhaled as the person breathes in directly from the cigarette. Secondhand smoke is the smoke exhaled that dissipates with air flow. Thirdhand smoke is the residue that remains on people, clothes, and surfaces after the cigarette has been extinguished. Residual toxins react with each other to become even more hazardous. I'm trying to avoid intensely smoky cafes and bars. I often miss out on...

The Free Dictionary defines the English idiom " to show true colors " as "to let others see what someone or something is really like." Somebody or something can reveal the true character.  I to show my true colors You your He her She his It its We our They their Listen to John Legend perform "True Colors" for TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_legend_true_colors/transcript Target language: adjectives: -ed and –ing, be, delexical verbs, present simple, verbs in time clauses and if clauses 1.      bear 2.      call up 3.      know 4.      laugh 5.      lose 6.      make 7.      realize 8.      remember 9.      shine 10.   show 11.   take   0:22 ♪ ...

Listen to the classical music of the Pacifica Quartet's Tiny Desk Concert on NPR: http://www.npr.org/event/music/340684297/pacifica-quartet-tiny-desk-concert? My student C. describes the music as part of an English writing assignment: The Quartet that I listened was felt myself in a thrilller film. It was sarcastic and dark. I am not a fan of classical music but the quartet succeed to pull me into his world Can you find the mistakes? Write the corrections in the comments. Hints: active vs. passive voice reflexive verb present vs. past tense pronouns verbs followed by -ing clauses What adjectives does NPR use to describe the Shostakovich quartets? brilliant cataclysmic crepuscular dark eerie flashy hair-raising intense intense introspective jaunty light nuanced page-turning piercing powerful sarcastic sinister slightly more pleasant sober transparent twitchy violent witty

Listen to Scientific American 60-second tech: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/software-culls-boring-video/ Ask  questions in advance for the listening task: What is the problem the software solves? How does the software solve it? What is another word for boring?  Listen for the answers: A person records every single thing they do and then has a lot of footage from life-logging to sit through. The software evaluates and analyzes the video to pick out unique activity and skip over the repetition or when nothing happens. inspid Read the transcript. Find the verbs: record log evaluate analyze cull pick out skip over Ask a follow up question for a free response: What would you use the video for? Respond: I would analyze all of the Jackie Chan movies to pick out the fight scenes. I would pick out all of the punchlines of a comedy video.